A MOVEMENT that started in mainland Europe, was piloted in 1992 by local historian Lesley Burton and the Gosport Society has mushroomed nationally and led ultimately to the launch in Winchester of a new organization, the Hampshire History Trust (HHT). Spearheaded by Nicky Gottlieb and Becky Brown, it started five years ago as the Winchester Heritage Open Day (actually growing to 10 days), which was so successful that it has now triggered a much more ambitious plan to create a county-wide, history-based organization. HODs originally began by offering free visits to places that people might not normally visit – such as museums and galleries – and others that are not normally open. The aim was to showcase and present new ideas to communities, so, anyone could be a ‘tourist for a day’. Since then, it has developed into much more, with guided walks and visits, talks, exhibitions, workshops, and children’s activities.
FOR hundreds of years, individuals – all male, unpaid and with no requirement for legal training – were rubber-stamped as JPs onto the Commission of the Peace, to run local government and sit in judgement in the lower courts. The only condition was that they owned freehold land of a certain value (latterly £100), and had the approval of the Chancellor (in practice the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire) who awarded a dedimus potestatem writ (meaning ‘we have given the power’). Lists of hundreds of JPs who were appointed to the Commission are held in the Hampshire Record Office under headings such as ‘Our most dear Cousins and Councillors’. The one for 1836 covers seven large sheets and represents the great and the good of the county.
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THE advent of the internet has meant that never before has it been so important to choose the name of an organisation with care. Ideally, the obvious search term from a name, as well as its acronym, should lead straight to the organisation itself. Googling ‘Hampshire archives’ does indeed lead to Hampshire Archives Trust, as it should. But ‘HAT’ gives…well, what do you expect? HAT chairman David Livermore said: “This year is our 35th anniversary and the founders of the trust therefore had no inkling of the internet or its consequences. We are very happy that Googling ‘Hampshire archives’ is so successful, as many people think we are the same as the Hampshire Record Office, which is definitely not the case – though we are close ‘friends’.
EVERY map-maker who ever put Christmas Island in its rightful position in the Indian Ocean must have wondered how it got its name. But at least there is an answer. In contrast, Hampshire is full of names that have no obvious meanings and their origins have to be teased out of old documents and other sources. There are no prizes for places such as Portsmouth, Hedge End, Freshwater, Weston, and Easton – and Christmas Island, by the way, got its name in 1643, when a captain of the East India Company spotted it on Christmas Day with his telescope. Also, there may be rational explanations for the several houses named Christmas Cottage in the county – at Odiham, Bishop s Sutton and Freefolk – as well as Christmas Hill in South Wonston.