HLB – Page 12 – Hampshire History

Tournai Font Winchester Cathedral

The Tournai font Winchester Cathedral Hampshire, is still the only font in the Cathedral and used for baptisms. Carved with the story of St Nicholas, it has on one side a ship carrying travellers.

Tournai Font East Meon

The Tournai font East Meon tells the story of Adam and Eve Many people come to the pretty village of East Meon to visit its magnificent Norman church and to gaze upon its black Tournai font, situated to the left hand side just as you enter the church’s south door. A gift from Bishop Henry…

All Saints Church East Meon

The imposing All Saints church East Meon is a striking cross shape Norman building that sits above the floor of the Meon Valley and contains one of Hampshire’s four black Tournai marble fonts

King Alfred the Great, May He Finally Rest?

King Alfred the Great final resting place

King Alfred the Great, his final resting place uncertain for so many years, could it finally have been resolved? The Winchester Uni team have some answers. To be revealed in a documentary in January 2014

St Peter’s and St Paul’s Church Exton

The C13th flint church of St Peter’s and St Paul’s nestles into the Meon Valley in Hampshire as if it has been there as long as the river itself. It has an unusual weeping chancel.

Corhampton Church and King Cnut

A possible link between Corhampton church and King Cnut The Anglo Saxon church is awash with historical gems and it’s interesting to consider some of the connections made between its architecture and artefacts and other events that occurred in its long history. Go to the northern side of the church and look at the blocked…

Baptismal Font Porchester

Hampshire baptismal fonts consist of many marvelous Norman examples. The baptismal font at Porchester St Marys, is an unusual example of a round font, carved with intricate symbols.

Odiham Pest House

The church yard of All Saints Odiham contains a rare survivor from the past, a pest house. The Odiham pest house is a tiny single cell cottage where members of the community with infectious diseases could be isolated.

Abbey House Winchester

Abbey House, built upon land once a gift to Queen Mary Tudor and now the residence of the Mayor of Winchester The site of Abbey House was once occupied by the Abbey of St Mary and St Edburga, formerly the Saxon Nunnaminster. When the abbey was dissolved in 1539, most of the buildings were destroyed.…

Nunnaminster Winchester

Nunnaminster in Winchester was the Saxon abbey founded in 903AD by King Alfred and his wife Ealhswith. It was a wooden structure re-built in stone and then enlarged by the Normans.

West Worldham Church

The West Worldham church of St Nicholas is set in a quiet place down Hampshire lanes, perched on a bank close to an ancient manor house. The small rectangular structure served as a cell to the Benedictine Abbey of Tiron in France.

Richard Cromwell

Richard Cromwell Lord Protector of England and son of Oliver Cromwell, lived at Hursley in Hampshire and is buried in the church of All Saints Hursley.

Portsmouth Harbour

The fortifications of Portsmouth Harbour still look immensely commanding when seen from the deck of one of the many ferries that sail in and out of the harbour on a daily basis.

Paulet Family in Hampshire

The Paulet family are an ancient and important family in Hampshire and also played an important role in the history of England. Memorials to the Paulet family and its variant spellings abound in churches around the county.

Old Baptismal Font Hurstbourne Tarrant

The old baptismal font in the church at Hurstbourne Tarrant lies behind one of the pews. It dates from the Anglo Saxon period.

Baptismal Font Hurstbourne Tarrant

The baptismal font Hurstbourne Tarrant St Peters, is the newest in the church, dating from the C13th. There is another older one tucked away behind a pew. The font in present day use is a new one relatively speaking, dating from the C13th and has a plain circular bowl resting on a stem which is…

Baptismal Font Crondall

A Puritan font in Crondall, a symbol of the change afoot in the English church in its turbulent post Civil War period

Bursledon Windmill

Bursledon windmill is Hampshire’s only working windmill and represents a time when agriculture depended upon local manufacturing. It fell into decline when new technology for milling overtook the old but somehow Bursledon Windmill managed to survive and is now a popular tourist attraction.