VCH Hampshire Publications

Volume I

This volume was published in 1901. It was the very first produced by the VCH, edited by William Page, and was the only volume published within the lifetime of Queen Victoria. It contains the following entries:

• Natural History
• Early Man
• Romano-British Remains
• Silchester
• Anglo-Saxon Remains
• Introduction to the Hampshire Domesday
• The Text of the Hampshire Domesday
• The Winchester Survey (dating to the reign of Henry I, known as the 'Winton Domesday')

The full text is available via the Internet Archive.

Edited by William Page, this volume was published in 1903. It contains entries on the following topics:

• Ecclesiastical History
• Medieval Religious Houses
• Early Christian Art and Inscriptions
• History of Schools
• Forestry and the New Forest
• The parishes of Alton Hundred

The entries on medieval religious houses are on British History Online.

The full text is available via the Internet Archive.

Edited by William Page, this volume was published in 1908.

It contains accounts of parishes in the following hundreds:

• Selborne
• Bishop's Sutton
• East Meon
• Finchdean
• Havant Parish and Liberty
• Bosmere
• Portsdown Hundred with the Liberties of Portsmouth and Alverstoke
• Fareham
• Titchfield
• Hambledon
• Meonstoke
• Bishop's Waltham
• Fawley Hundred with the Liberty of Alresford
• Bermondspit
• Micheldever
• Buddlesgate
• Mainsbridge
• The Borough of Southampton

This volume is on British History Online

The full text is available via the Internet Archive.

Edited by William Page, this volume was published in 1911.

It contains accounts of parishes in the following hundreds:

• Crondall
• Bentley Liberty and Parish
• Holdshot
• Odiham
• Basingstoke
• Mainsborough
• Bountisborough
• Overton
• Chuteley
• Kingsclere
• Evingar
• Pastrow
• Andover
• Wherwell
• Barton Stacey
• King's Somborne
• Thorngate
• Redbridge
• Fordingbridge
• Breamore Liberty
• Ringwood
• New Forest
• Lymington Borough
• Beaulieu Liberty
• Dibden Liberty

This volume is on British History Online.

Edited by William Page, this volume was published in 1912. It contains entries for the parishes in the following Hampshire Hundreds:

• Winchester
• Christchurch
• Westover Liberty with parishes of Holdenhurst and Bournemouth

It also contains entries for the parishes of the two hundreds of the Isle of Wight:

• East Medine Liberty or Hundred
• West Medine Liberty or Hundred

This volume is on British History Online.

Cliddesden, Hatch and Farleigh Wallop, by Alison Deveson and Sue Lane, was published in 2018.

The book traces the history of two small, closely-linked parishes which lie to the south of Basingstoke on the edge of the chalk downlands, and a third parish, Hatch (abandoned towards the end of the 14th century and has formed part of both of the others).

Read more about Cliddesden, Hatch and Farleigh Wallop.

Dummer and Kempshott, Two Chalkland Parishes, by Jennie Butler and Sue Lane was published in 2022

Dummer, a small parish on the chalk downlands south of Basingstoke, has a rich and well documented history which is of interest to a wide audience beyond Hampshire. Manorial records from the 16th century onwards provide a fascinating account of communal farming practices before enclosure of the land in 1743. The parish was distinguished by an unusual level of protestant non-conformity in the late 17th century, followed by the strongly evangelical outlook when John Wesley visited and preached in All Saints' church in 1736 and 1739. The diaries of lord of the manor, Stephen Terry (d. 1867), which vividly bring to life Dummer and Kempshott in the 19th century, are excellent exemplars of the value of personal testimony in local history. Read about Jane Austen, the Swing Riots, emancipated enslaved Africans, trade unionist Joseph Arch and the childhood home of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. At Kempshott, joined with Dummer in 1879, the Prince of Wales (future George IV) leased the grand mansion as a hunting lodge and transformed the social life for the gentry of north Hampshire.

The original VCH account of both parishes appeared in Hampshire volume IV, published in 1911. This can be read at British History Online(Opens in new window).

The first Hampshire VCH 'Short', published in 2015, by John Hare, Jean Morrin, and Stan Waight, Mapledurwell was the work of the revived VCH Hampshire project.

Read more about Mapledurwell.

The original VCH account of Mapledurwell appeared in Hampshire volume IV, published in 1911. This can be read at British History Online.

Written by John Hare, Medieval Basingstoke was published in 2017.

Basingstoke is frequently seen as a very modern town, the product of the last decades of the 20th century. In reality it has a long, rich and prosperous history. From its beginnings c.1000 it became a significant market centre for the area around, and a place on the route to London from the west. By 1500 it was among the top 60 towns in England by wealth and taxpayers, and the centre of a major industrial area, whose manufactured cloths formed part of international patterns of trade.

Read more about Medieval Basingstoke in VCH Shorts University of London Press

Steventon, by Jean Morrin, was published in 2016.

A chalkland village near Basingstoke, it is best known because Jane Austen, the famous novelist and daughter of the local rector, spent the first 25 years of her life here. 

Read more about Steventon.

The original VCH account of Steventon appeared in Hampshire volume IV, published in 1911. This can be read at British History Online.

Basingstoke Reinvented, 1800–1925: from Agricultural Town to Manufacturing Centre is available from Hobnob Press.