Hampshire

Related Category: British and Irish Political Geography

county (1991 pop. 1,511,900), 1,503 sq mi (3,893 sq km), S central England. Winchester is the county town. The terrain is undulating and is crossed by two chalk downs, rising in places to more than 800 ft (244 m). The principal rivers are the Test, the Itchen, and the Avon. Hampshire is an agricultural county, devoted to corn production and dairy farming. Market gardening is also significant. There is oil refining at Fawley and aircraft engineering at Farnborough. Gosport, Southampton, and Portsmouth are three of Britain's leading ports. Evidence of prehistoric and Roman settlement is found in the county. Hampshire was once part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex and has numerous historical and literary associations.