Hampshire (/ˈhæmpʃər/, /-ʃɪər/ ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, Dorset to the west, and Wiltshire to the north-west. The city of Southampton is the largest settlement.
The county has an area of 3,769 km2 (1,455 sq mi) and a population of 1,844,245, making it the 5th-most populous in England. The South Hampshire built-up area in the south-east of the county has a population of 855,569 and contains the cities of Southampton (269,781) and Portsmouth (208,100). In the north-east, the Farnborough/Aldershot conurbation extends into Berkshire and Surrey and has a population of 252,937. The next-largest settlements are Basingstoke (113,776), Andover (50,887), and Winchester (45,184). The centre and south-west of the county are rural. For local government purposes Hampshire comprises a non-metropolitan county, with eleven districts, and two unitary authority areas: Portsmouth and Southampton. The county historically contained the towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch, which are now part of Dorset, and the Isle of Wight.
Undulating hills characterise much of the county. A belt of chalk crosses the county from north-west, where it forms the Hampshire Downs, to south-east, where it is part of the South Downs. The county's major rivers rise in these hills; the Loddon and Wey drain north, into the Thames, and the Itchen and Test flow south into Southampton Water, a large estuary. In the south-east are Portsmouth Harbour, Langstone Harbour, and the western edge of Chichester Harbour, three large rias. The south-west contains the New Forest, which includes pasture, heath, and forest and is of the largest expanses of ancient woodland remaining in England.
Settled about 14,000 years ago, Hampshire's recorded history dates to Roman Britain, when its chief town was Venta Belgarum (now Winchester). The county was recorded in Domesday Book as divided into 44 hundreds. From the 12th century, the ports settlements grew due to increasing trade with the European mainland resulting from the wool and cloth, fishing, and shipbuilding industries. This meant by the 16th century, Southampton had become more populous than Winchester. In 20th century conflicts, including World War One and Two, Hampshire played a crucial military role due to its ports. (Full article...)
All Saints' Church was a church building in Southampton City Centre, located on the corner of the High Street and East Street, a short distance south of the Bargate.
The original church on the site was named All Hallows, and was constructed in medieval times on land granted by the monarch at the time, Henry II, to the monks of St. Denys Priory. This building fell into disrepair and in the 1790s a new church building was constructed and the church renamed to All Saints. The old church was demolished in 1791 and the new building was completed in 1795, following two acts of Parliament allowing trustees of the church to raise funds from rates on property and rents in the parish. The All Hallows catacombs were incorporated into the All Saints building, and a separate graveyard was established. The church was regularly attended by author Jane Austen while she lived in Southampton and painter Sir John Everett Millais was baptised there. A new organ was installed in the church in 1861 and a substantial refurbishment programme took place in 1872. All Saints was heavily damaged in the Southampton Blitz and was subsequently demolished.
The All Saints building was designed by architect Willey Reveley and featured an arched ceiling that spanned the whole sanctuary, some 90 feet (27 m) long and 60 feet (18 m) wide, without the use of any supporting pillars. The neoclassical frontage of the church was dominated by four columns supporting Grecian pilasters and a triangular pediment.
The catacombs were the resting place of a chancellor of the Exchequer and two notable Royal Navy officers among others. In August 1944 the remains of all 403 people buried in the catacombs were transferred to a communal grave elsewhere in Southampton. (Full article...)
Colin Andrew Firth CBE (born 10 September 1960) is an English actor and producer. He is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2011, Firth was appointed a CBE for his services to drama, and appeared in Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world.
Identified in the mid-1980s with the "Brit Pack" of rising young British actors, he had leading roles in A Month in the Country (1987), Tumbledown (1988) and Valmont (1989). His portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice led to widespread attention and roles in more prominent films such as The English Patient (1996), Shakespeare in Love (1998), The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), and Love Actually (2003). He starred as Mark Darcy in the romantic comedy films Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), and Bridget Jones's Baby (2016), and also acted in the musical comedy Mamma Mia! (2008) and its 2018 sequel.
Firth won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of King George VI in the historical drama The King's Speech (2010). He was Oscar-nominated for playing a grieving gay man in the romantic drama A Single Man (2009), which earned him the BAFTA Award and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor. He subsequently played secret agent Harry Hart in Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and its 2017 sequel. He also performed in films such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Mary Poppins Returns (2018), 1917 (2019), Supernova (2020), and Operation Mincemeat (2021). For his roles on television, he received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his portrayals of Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart in the BBC film Conspiracy (2001), and Michael Peterson in the HBO limited series The Staircase (2022).
In 2012, he founded the production company Raindog Films, where he served as a producer for Eye in the Sky (2015) and Loving (2016). His films have grossed more than $3 billion from 42 releases worldwide. Firth has campaigned for the rights of Indigenous people and is a member of Survival International. He has also campaigned on issues of asylum seekers, refugees' rights and the environment. He commissioned and co-authored a scientific paper on a study of the differences in brain structure between people of differing political orientations. (Full article...)
More articles: Business in Hampshire | Geology of Hampshire | History of Hampshire | Portsmouth | Recreational walks in Hampshire | Southampton | Winchester
Lists: List of churches in Hampshire | List of further education colleges in Hampshire | List of Parliamentary constituencies in Hampshire | List of places in Hampshire
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