Hampshire in the context of A303 road

The Isle of Wight (/waɪt/ WYTE) is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and skerries, is also a ceremonial county. The county is bordered by Hampshire across the Solent strait to the north, and is otherwise surrounded by the English Channel. Its largest settlement is Ryde, and the administrative centre is Newport.

The Isle of Wight has a land area of 380 km (150 sq mi) and had a population of 140,794 in 2022, making it the largest and second-most populous English island. The island is largely rural, with the largest settlements primarily on the coast. These include Ryde in the north-east, Shanklin and Sandown in the south-east, and the large villages of Totland and Freshwater in the west. Newport is located inland at the point at which the River Medina broadens into its estuary, and Cowes and East Cowes flank the estuary on the northern coast. For local government purposes the island is a unitary authority area. It was historically part of Hampshire.

A pixie (also called pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, piskie, or pigsie in parts of Cornwall and Devon) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are speculated to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas around Cornwall and Devon, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name. However, the word 'pixie' (under various forms) also appears in Dorset, Somerset and to a lesser extent in Sussex, Wiltshire and Hampshire.

Similar to the Irish and Scottish Aos Sí (also spelled Aos Sidhe), pixies are believed to inhabit ancient underground sites such as stone circles, barrows, dolmens, ringforts, or menhirs. In traditional regional lore, pixies are generally benign, mischievous, short of stature, and childlike; they are fond of dancing and wrestling outdoors, which they perform through the night.

Surrey (/ˈsʌri/) is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the west. The largest settlement is Woking.

The county has an area of 1,663 km (642 square miles) and had an estimated population of 1,248,649 in 2024. The north of the county, which includes the towns of Staines-upon-Thames and Epsom, is densely populated and forms part of the Greater London conurbation. A second conurbation along the western border of the county includes Camberley and Farnham and extends into Hampshire and Berkshire. Woking is located in the north-west, and Guildford in the centre-west. The south of the county is rural, and its largest settlements are Horley in the south-east and Godalming in the south-west. For local government purposes Surrey is a non-metropolitan county with eleven districts. The county historically included much of south-west Greater London but did not include what is now the borough of Spelthorne, which was part of Middlesex. It is one of the home counties.

Dorset (/ˈdɔːrsɪt/ DOR-sit; archaically: Dorsetshire /ˈdɔːrsɪt.ʃɪər, -ʃər/ DOR-sit-sheer, -⁠shər) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south-east, the English Channel to the south, and Devon to the west. The largest settlement is Bournemouth.

The county has an area of 2,653 km (1,024 sq mi) and had an estimated population of 798,914 in 2024. A conurbation on the south-east coast contains the towns of Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole. The remainder of the county is largely rural, and its principal towns are the seaside resort of Weymouth in the south and Dorchester in the south-centre. For local government purposes Dorset comprises two unitary authority areas: Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. The county did not historically include Bournemouth and Christchurch, which were part of Hampshire.

Winchester (/ˈwɪntʃɪstər/, /-tʃɛs-/) is a cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, at the western end of the South Downs National Park, on the River Itchen. It is 60 miles (97 km) south-west of London and 14 miles (23 km) from Southampton, its nearest major city. At the 2021 census, the built-up area of Winchester had a population of 48,478. The wider City of Winchester district includes towns such as Alresford and Bishop's Waltham and had a population of 127,439 in 2021. Winchester is the county town of Hampshire and contains the head offices of Hampshire County Council.

Winchester developed from the Roman town of Venta Belgarum, which in turn developed from an Iron Age oppidum. Winchester was one of the most important cities in England in the Anglo-Saxon period.

Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in southern England covering 300 square miles (780 km). It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, but stretches into Hampshire.

The plain is famous for its rich archaeology, including Stonehenge, one of England's best known landmarks. Large areas are given over to military training; thus, the sparsely populated plain is the biggest remaining area of calcareous grassland in northwest Europe. Additionally, the plain has arable land, and a few small areas of beech trees and coniferous woodland. Its highest point is Easton Hill.

Wiltshire (/ˈwɪlt.ʃər, -ʃɪr/; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east and south, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to the west. The largest settlement is Swindon.

The county has an area of 3,485 km (1,346 sq mi) and had a population of 767,575 in 2024. The county is mostly rural, and the centre and south-west are sparsely populated. Swindon is located in the north-east, and the county's other major settlements include the city of Salisbury in the south-east and the towns of Trowbridge and Chippenham in the west. For local government purposes the county comprises two unitary authority areas, Swindon and Wiltshire.

Sarsen stones are silicified sandstone blocks found extensively across southern England on the Salisbury Plain and the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire; in Kent; and in smaller quantities in Berkshire, Essex, Oxfordshire, Dorset, and Hampshire.

New Hampshire (/ˈhæmpʃər/ HAMP-shər) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. Of the 50 U.S. states, New Hampshire is the seventh-smallest by land area and the tenth-least populous, with a population of 1,377,529 residents as of the 2020 census. Concord is the state capital and Manchester is the most populous city. New Hampshire's motto, "Live Free or Die", reflects its role in the American Revolutionary War; its nickname, "The Granite State", refers to its extensive granite formations and quarries. It is well known for holding the first primary in the U.S. presidential election cycle, and its resulting influence on American electoral politics.

New Hampshire was inhabited for thousands of years by Algonquian-speaking peoples such as the Abenaki. Europeans arrived in the 17th century, with the English establishing some of the earliest non-indigenous settlements. The Province of New Hampshire was established in 1629, named after the English county of Hampshire. Following tensions between the British colonies and the crown in the 1760s, New Hampshire saw one of the earliest acts of rebellion, with the seizing of Fort William and Mary from the British in 1774. In 1776, it became the first of the British North American colonies to establish an independent government and state constitution. It signed the United States Declaration of Independence and contributed troops, ships, and supplies in the war against Britain. In 1788, it was the 9th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution, bringing it into effect. Through the mid-19th century, New Hampshire was an active center of abolitionism, and fielded close to 32,000 Union soldiers during the U.S. Civil War. Afterwards the state saw rapid industrialization and population growth, becoming a center of textile manufacturing, shoemaking, and papermaking; the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester was the largest cotton textile plant in the world. French Canadians formed the most significant influx of immigrants, and a quarter of New Hampshire residents have French American ancestry.

South East England is one of the nine official regions of England that are in the top level category for statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex. South East England is the third-largest region of England, with a land area of 19,072 square kilometres (7,364 sq mi), and is also the most populous with a total population of 9,642,942 in 2024.

South East England contains eight legally chartered cities: Brighton and Hove, Canterbury, Chichester, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Portsmouth, Southampton and Winchester. Officially it does not include London, which is a separate region. The geographical term for "South East England" may differ from the official definition of the region, for example London, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex are sometimes referred to as being in the south east of England. This article only considers the South East as being the official statistical region.

South Hampshire is a term used mainly to refer to the conurbation formed by the city of Portsmouth, city of Southampton and the non-metropolitan boroughs of Gosport, Fareham, Havant and Eastleigh in southern Hampshire, South East England. The area was estimated to have a population of over 1.5 million in 2013. It is the most populated part of South East England excluding London. The area is sometimes referred to as Solent City particularly in relation to local devolution, but the term is controversial.

West Sussex is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Crawley.

The county has a land area of 1,991 square kilometres (769 sq mi) and an estimated population of 915,037 in 2024. The largest settlements are located on the coast, and include the towns of Bognor Regis, Littlehampton, and Worthing; the last two are part of the Brighton and Hove built-up area, which extends into East Sussex. The interior of the county is generally rural, and contains the towns of Crawley and Horsham in the north-east and the city of Chichester in the south-west. For local government purposes West Sussex is a non-metropolitan county with seven districts. West Sussex and East Sussex were historically a single county, Sussex.

Sussex (/ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English Sūþseaxe; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area of South East England that was historically a kingdom and, later, a county. The current ceremonial counties of East Sussex and West Sussex cover approximately the same area. The two ceremonial counties border Surrey to the north, Kent to the north-east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. Sussex contains the city of Brighton and Hove and its wider city region, part of the South Downs National Park and the national landscape of the High Weald, and Chichester Harbour. Its coastline is 137 miles (220 km) long.

The Kingdom of Sussex emerged in the fifth century in the area that had previously been inhabited by the Regni tribe in the Romano-British period. In about 827, shortly after the Battle of Ellendun, Sussex was conquered by Wessex. From 860 it was ruled by the kings of Wessex, and in 927 it became part of the Kingdom of England. By the Norman period, Sussex was subdivided into six administrative districts known as rapes, which were themselves divided into hundreds. By the sixteenth century, the eastern three rapes and the western three rapes had been combined for most meetings of the court of quarter sessions, a division which was reinforced when the administrative counties of East Sussex and West Sussex were established in 1889. Subsequent local government reforms maintained the division into east and west. The county retained a single lord lieutenant and sheriff until 1974, when they were replaced with separate posts for East and West Sussex and Sussex lost its status as a ceremonial county.

Cheam School is a mixed preparatory school located in Headley, in the civil parish of Ashford Hill with Headley in Hampshire. Originally a boys school, Cheam was founded in 1645 by George Aldrich.

Verica (early 1st century AD) was a British client king of the Roman Empire in the years preceding the Claudian invasion of 43 AD.

From his coinage, he appears to have been king of the probably Belgic Atrebates tribe and a son of Commius. The distribution of his coins also shows that Verica's kingdom was centred on modern Sussex and east Hampshire, and its capital would have been in or close to what became the Roman Noviomagus Reginorum (modern Chichester). He succeeded his elder brother Eppillus as king in about 15 AD, and may also have reigned over the northern Atrebatic kingdom at Calleva Atrebatum, today called Silchester. He was recognised as rex by Rome and appears to have had friendly trade and diplomatic links with the empire.

Calleva Atrebatum ("Calleva of the Atrebates") was an Iron Age oppidum, the capital of the Atrebates tribe. It then became a walled town in the Roman province of Britannia, at a major crossroads of the roads of southern Britain.

The modern village of Silchester in Hampshire, England, is about a mile (1.6 km) to the west of the site. The village's parish church of St Mary the Virgin is just within the ancient walls. Most of the site lies within the modern civil parish of Silchester, although the amphitheatre is in the adjoining civil parish of Mortimer West End. The whole of the site is within the local authority district of Basingstoke and Deane and the county of Hampshire.

West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of the West Country, an area found in the southwest of England.

The West Country is often defined as encompassing the official region of South West England: Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, Bristol and Gloucestershire. However, the exact northern and eastern boundaries of the area are hard to define. In the adjacent counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Hampshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire, it is possible to encounter similar accents and indeed, much the same distinct dialect, albeit with some similarities to others in neighbouring regions. Although natives of all these locations, especially in rural parts, often still have West Country influences in their speech, their increased mobility and urbanisation has meant that in the more populous of these counties the dialect itself, as opposed to the people's various local accents, is becoming increasingly rare.

The A34 is a major road in England. It runs from the A33 and M3 at Winchester in Hampshire, to the A6 and A6042 in Salford, close to Manchester City Centre. It forms a large part of the major trunk route from Southampton, via Oxford, to Birmingham, The Potteries and Manchester. For most of its length (together with the A5011 and parts of the A50, and A49), it forms part of the former Winchester–Preston Trunk Road. Improvements to the section of road forming the Newbury Bypass around Newbury were the scene of significant direct action environmental protests in the 1990s. It is 151 miles (243 km) long.