COPP Memorial

COPP Memorial Hayling

The COPP Memorial at Hayling. The Combined Operations Pilotage Parties (COPP) memorial on Hayling Island is a reminder of how the bravery of a few people had such a huge impact on WWII. The Combined Operations Pilotage Parties were made up of members of all three services, the Royal Navy, the Royal Airforce and the…

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An Alresford Toilet and the Cold War

Cold War in Hampshire

What is the connection between New Alresford in Hampshire and the Cold War? Well it might surprise you to know that one of the most unremarkable buildings in Hampshire a toilet block in New Alresford has a vital connection to the Cold War.

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Hamble Le Rice

Hamble Le Rice

Hamble Le Rice is bursting with history and delightful scenery. The settlement on the River Hamble estuary is ancient and intriguing and perfect for exploration.

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1950’s Racing Chart of the Solent

America's cup

1950’s Racing Chart of the Solent A chance find in a charity shop today turned up a racing chart of Solent and Spithead, how appropriate on the first day of the ‘America’s Cup’ hosted in Portsmouth for the first time in 164 years. Not being a sailor the chart is full of mysteries for me. The…

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The Pompey Pals

In WWI Portsmouth was able to raise two battalions of ‘Pompey Pals’ the 14th and 15th Hampshire Regiment. Many enlisted at Fratton Park, home of Portsmouth Football Club. How must it have felt to these men of Portsmouth, many of whom would be fervent Pompey supporters, to enter the gates of Fratton Park, not to join the fray of a football game but to enter the affray of war?

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WWI Guy Victor Baring Northington

Guy Victor Baring is remembered in Northington Church by amongst other things a simple wooden cross. Just another poignant reminder of the lives given by Hampshire men in WWI.

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WWI Memorial Donald Wood Chawton

The church of St Nicholas Chawton has a lovely memorial to a man, Donald Wood, who gave his life fighting for his country in World War I. Whilst visited for its Austen connections its lovely to remember others who also lie here.

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Bonham Carter WWI Memorial

In remembrance of those who gave their lives in WWI, Hampshire History will be posting images of WWI memorials and associated artefacts and events,discovered as we travel through Hampshire.

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Guy Burgess and West Meon

The remains of Guy Burgess, the Englishman who turned his back on his own country during the Cold War to become a Soviet spy, lie in Hampshire, in West Meon church yard by the grave of his father.

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New Zealand and Brockenhurst

Brockenhurst

The New Zealand Cemetery at Brockenhurst in the New Forest, is a beautiful calm and serene place where over one hundred headstones remember those who died in the hospital in Brockenhurst.

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Froyle Village of Saints

Froyle Hampshire village of saints

Froyle in Hampshire is known as the village of saints because of its intriguing saints statues which gaze out from many of the village houses.

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Petersfield War Memorial

Petersfield War Memorial

The Petersfield War Memorial was designed by Harry Inigo Triggs who lived at the house he designed, Little Boarhunt in Liphook Hampshire

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Portsmouth Remembers D-Day

D-DAY

Thousands of people came to Portsmouth to remember the 156,000 Allied troops who left the shores of southern England, launching themselves into the choppy sea of the Solent before landing on the beaches of Normandy in northern France at the start of a major offensive against the Germans.

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Preparing Southampton for D-Day

Southampton, D-Day

The city of Southampton and its docks were critical to the success or failure of Operation Overlord and D- Day. The city that had been devastated by air raids, somehow managed to become the greatest naval and military port the world had ever seen.

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Bramshott and the Canadians in WWI and WWII

Bramshott and Liphook in Hampshire became home for thousands of Canadian soldiers during both great wars. The links between these villages in Hampshire and the Canadian nation are touchingly deep, with 318 soldiers buried in the churchyard.

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