Southampton

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Southampton Hampshire

Approximate Population: 228,600

There are 120,305 jobs in Southampton, and 3,570 people claiming job seeker’s allowance, approximately 2.4 per cent of the city’s population, as of March 2007.  This compares with an average of 2.5 per cent for England as a whole.

As of June 2006, 74.7 per cent of the city’s population are classed as economically active.

Just over a quarter of the jobs available in the city are in the health and education sector.   A further 19 per cent are property and other business and the third largest sector is wholesale and retail, which accounts for 16.2 percent.  Between 1995 and 2004, the number of jobs in Southampton has increased by 18.5 per cent.

As of January 2007, the average annual salary in the city was £22,267.   This was £1,700 lower than the national average and £3,800 less than the average for the South East.

Southampton has always been a maritime centre, and the docks have long been a major employer in the city.   In particular, it is a port for cruise ships; its heyday was the first half of the 20th century, and in particular the inter-war years, when it handled almost half the passenger traffic of the UK. Today it remains home to luxury cruise ships, as well as being the largest freight port on the Channel coast and fourth largest UK port by tonnage, with several container terminals.

Unlike some other ports, such as Liverpool, London, and Bristol, where industry and docks have largely moved out of the city centres leaving room for redevelopment, Southampton retains much of its inner-city industry. Part of the docks has been redeveloped, however, as the Ocean Village development, a local marina and entertainment complex.   Southampton is home to the headquarters of both the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch of the Department for Transport.

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Aldershot

Web Design Aldershot Hampshire

Approximate Population: 33,840

Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about 60 km (37 miles) southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 33,840, whilst the Aldershot Urban Area, a loose conurbation (which also includes other towns, such as Camberley, Farnborough, and Farnham) has a population of 243,344, making it the thirtieth-largest urban area in the UK.

Aldershot is known for its connection with the British Army which established a permanent camp in the area for instruction in military manoeuvres in 1854. This led to rapid growth from a small village to a Victorian town. Today, Aldershot is known as the “Home of the British Army”. Aldershot is twinned with Sulechów, Meudon and Oberursel.

The name may have derived from “Alder”, indicating that it was a wet, boggy place. Aldershot, Alreshete, dates back to an Anglo-Saxon settlement. Aldershot was included as part of the old Hundred of Crondall referred to in the Domesday Book of 1086. The map of Hampshire in the 1722 edition of William Camden’s Britannia or Geographical Description of Britain and Ireland shows a symbol for habitation in Aldershot in the Crundhal (Crondall) hundred.

In 1854, at the time of the Crimean War, the heath land around Aldershot was established as an army base with Aldershot at its centre. This led to a rapid expansion of Aldershot’s population going from 875 in 1851, to in excess of 16,000 by 1861 (including about 9,000 from the military). The town continued to grow, reaching a peak in the 1950s.

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Southampton

Web Design Southampton Hampshire

Approximate Population: 228,600

There are 120,305 jobs in Southampton, and 3,570 people claiming job seeker’s allowance, approximately 2.4 per cent of the city’s population, as of March 2007.  This compares with an average of 2.5 per cent for England as a whole. As of June 2006, 74.7 per cent of the city’s population are classed as economically active.

Just over a quarter of the jobs available in the city are in the health and education sector.   A further 19 per cent are property and other business and the third largest sector is wholesale and retail, which accounts for 16.2 percent.  Between 1995 and 2004, the number of jobs in Southampton has increased by 18.5 per cent. As of January 2007, the average annual salary in the city was £22,267.   This was £1,700 lower than the national average and £3,800 less than the average for the South East.

Southampton has always been a maritime centre, and the docks have long been a major employer in the city.   In particular, it is a port for cruise ships; its heyday was the first half of the 20th century, and in particular the inter-war years, when it handled almost half the passenger traffic of the UK. Today it remains home to luxury cruise ships, as well as being the largest freight port on the Channel coast and fourth largest UK port by tonnage, with several container terminals.

Unlike some other ports, such as Liverpool, London, and Bristol, where industry and docks have largely moved out of the city centres leaving room for redevelopment, Southampton retains much of its inner-city industry. Part of the docks has been redeveloped, however, as the Ocean Village development, a local marina and entertainment complex.   Southampton is home to the headquarters of both the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch of the Department for Transport.

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Portsmouth

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Portsmouth Hampshire

Approximate Population: 197,700

Portsmouth is administered by Portsmouth City Council, which is currently a unitary authority.   Portsmouth was granted its first charter in 1194. In 1904 the boundaries were extended to finally include the whole of Portsea Island. The boundaries were further extended in 1920 and 1932, taking in areas of the mainland.

Until April 1, 1997 it was a non-metropolitan district of Hampshire.   Portsmouth remains part of the Ceremonial county of Hampshire.   The city is divided into two parliamentary constituencies, Portsmouth South and Portsmouth North, represented in the House of Commons by, respectively, a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament, Mike Hancock, and a Labour MP, Sarah McCarthy-Fry.

The city council is made up of 42 councillors. There is no overall majority control of the city council, with 19 Liberal Democrat, 19 Conservative, 2 Labour, and 2 members of the Independent group. The Council is currently led by the Liberal Democrats with the two independents forming part of the administration. Gerald Vernon-Jackson is the council leader. Councillors are returned from 14 wards, each ward having three councillors. Councillors have a 4 year term, only one council seat is up for election in each Ward at any one election.

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Gosport

Web Design Gosport Hampshire

Approximate Population: 79,200

Gosport is a town and district in Hampshire with around 79,000 resident inhabitants, with a further 5-10,000 during the summer months, situated on the south coast of England. Part of the South Hampshire conurbation, it lies on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour opposite the city of Portsmouth, to which it is linked by a pedestrian ferry.

Until the last quarter of the 20th century it was a major naval and military centre associated with the defence and supply infrastructure of Portsmouth Harbour. With the decline of these activities, many of its fortifications and installations, such as Fort Blockhouse and Palmerston Forts like Fort Brockhurst, have been opened to the public as tourism and heritage sites, with extensive redevelopment of the harbour area as a marina. Stokes Bay and the Solent are popular areas for yachting. Other tourism sites in Gosport include the Royal Navy Submarine Museum based just outside of Fort Blockhouse, the Explosion! exhibition, the Gosport museum and Little Woodham.

The Rowner area of the peninsula was known to have been settled in Saxon times, mentioned in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles as Rughenor (Rough bank or slope). Both Rowner and Alverstoke (a village now within the boundaries of Gosport), the name coming from the original point where the River Alver entered the Solent at Stokes Bay, were included in the Domesday Book. Settlements in the wider region date back much earlier. Rowner is recorded as being the earliest settlement of the peninsula with many Mesolithic finds and a hunting camp (presently sealed under the reclamation site) being found, tumuli are located on the peninsula (all investigated). Bronze Age items found during a 1960’s construction in HMS Sultan included a hoard of axe heads and torcs (now stored by Portsmouth museum services).

A three-celled dwelling unearthed during construction of the Rowner Estate in the 1970s points to a settled landscape. Adjacent to the River Alver which passes the southern and western edges of Rowner can be found a Norman motte and bailey, the first fortification of the peninsula, giving a high vantage point over the Solent, Stokes Bay, Lee-on-the-Solent and the Isle of Wight. The Rowner estate and HMS Sultan are situated upon the former Naval air station, first known as RAF Gosport and later as HMS Siskin and gives its name to the local infant and junior schools. The barracks at Browndown (Stokes Bay) were used in the first series of Bad Lads Army.

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Portsmouth

Web Design Portsmouth Hampshire

Approximate Population: 197,700

Portsmouth city located in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is the UK’s only island city and is located on Portsea Island. It is commonly nicknamed Pompey. The administrative unit itself has a population of 197,700, which forms part of the wider Portsmouth conurbation, with an estimated 442,252 residents within wider the urban area, making it the 11th largest urban area in England.

Portsmouth is administered by Portsmouth City Council, which is currently a unitary authority.   Portsmouth was granted its first charter in 1194. In 1904 the boundaries were extended to finally include the whole of Portsea Island. The boundaries were further extended in 1920 and 1932, taking in areas of the mainland.

Until April 1, 1997 it was a non-metropolitan district of Hampshire.   Portsmouth remains part of the Ceremonial county of Hampshire.   The city is divided into two parliamentary constituencies, Portsmouth South and Portsmouth North, represented in the House of Commons by, respectively, a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament, Mike Hancock, and a Labour MP, Sarah McCarthy-Fry.

The city council is made up of 42 councillors. There is no overall majority control of the city council, with 19 Liberal Democrat, 19 Conservative, 2 Labour, and 2 members of the Independent group. The Council is currently led by the Liberal Democrats with the two independents forming part of the administration. Gerald Vernon-Jackson is the council leader. Councillors are returned from 14 wards, each ward having three councillors. Councillors have a 4 year term, only one council seat is up for election in each Ward at any one election.

Web Design Portsmouth Hampshire

Winchester

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Winchester Hampshire

Approximate Population: 40,000

Other important historic buildings in Winchester include the Guildhall dating from 1871, the Royal Hampshire County Hospital designed by William Butterfield and one of the city’s several water mills driven by the various channels of the River Itchen that run through the city centre.   Winchester City Mill, has recently been restored, and is again milling corn by water power. The mill is owned by the National Trust.

Although Winchester City survived World War II intact, about thirty percent of the Old Town was demolished to make way for buildings more suited to modern office day requirements (in particular for Hampshire County Council and Winchester City Council).   Since the late 1980s the city has seen a gradual replacement of these post war brutalist structures for contemporary developments more sympathetic to the medieval urban fabric of the Old Town.

The city of Winchester is twinned with Laon in France and the Winchester district is twinned with Gießen in Germany.  The city of Winchester gave its name to a suburb of Paris, France, called Le Kremlin-Bicêtre (23,724 inhabitants), due to a manor built there by John of Pontoise, Bishop of Winchester, in the end of the 13th century.  The city is also the sister city of Winchester, Virginia. The Mayor of Winchester (UK) has a standing invitation to be a part of the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester (VA) each year in the Spring.

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Waterlooville

Web Design Waterlooville Hampshire

Approximate Population: 10,000

Waterlooville is a town in Hampshire, England approx 8 miles north of Portsmouth.

The town has a population itself of about 10,000 and is surrounded by Purbrook, Blendworth, Cowplain, Lovedean, Clanfield, Catherington, Crookhorn, Denmead, Hambledon, Horndean and Widley. It forms part of the South Hampshire conurbation. The old A3 London to Portsmouth road still goes through the town.

The town is twinned with Maurepas, Yvelines in France and Henstedt-Ulzburg in Germany.

Legend has it that it was named after the pub that stood at the centre of town, then known as Waitland End. The Heroes of Waterloo was named because on its opening day a long column of weary soldiers, who had just disembarked at Portsmouth returning home from the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, decided to stop there and celebrate their victory. According to local legend, many of them settled there; at any rate the public house was renamed in their honour and the area around the pub became known as Waterlooville.

The main shopping precinct is served by First in Hampshire & Dorset bus routes 40/X40, 41, 45 and 45A, and Stagecoach services 37 and 39. The A3 Bus Corridor priority route (being constructed between 2003-2007) serves the town. As of 2006, the shopping precinct is closed to all road traffic other than buses.

The nearest train station is located in Bedhampton[2] and is on the main train route between London and Portsmouth. South West trains provide a direct bus link to Petersfield railway station via Horndean, enabling quick access to fast London-bound trains.

The town’s senior non-league football side is Havant & Waterlooville F.C. Havant & Waterlooville F.C. was drawn against Liverpool FC in the FA Cup in the 2007/08 season. Liverpool won the match 5-2, after Havant & Waterlooville had taken the lead with a goal from Richard Pacquette in the 8th minute. With Havant & Waterlooville F.C. twice leading Liverpool, the match was promoted by the English FA as a fine example of what the FA Challenge Cup is all about. Waterlooville also has a swimming pool which is home to Havant & Waterlooville Swimming Club.

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Basingstoke

Web Design Basingstoke Hampshire

Approximate Population: 80,477

Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is 48 miles (77 km) southwest of London, 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Southampton, 16 miles (26 km) southwest of Reading, and 20 miles (32 km) northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2006 it had an estimated population of 80,477. It is part of the borough of Basingstoke and Deane and part of the parliamentary constituency of Basingstoke. Basingstoke is often nicknamed “Doughnut City” due to the number of roundabouts.

Often mistaken for a new town, Basingstoke is an old market town expanded in the 1960s as part of a tripartite agreement between London County Council, Hampshire County Council and Basingstoke Borough Council. It was developed rapidly, along with Andover and Tadley, to accommodate part of the London ‘overspill’ as perceived under the Greater London Plan, 1944.

Basingstoke market was mentioned in the Domesday Book and Basingstoke remained a small market town until the 1950s. It still has a regular market, but is now bigger than Hampshire County Council’s definition of a market town.

Basingstoke is a prosperous town, with an above-average standard of living and low unemployment. It is an economic centre, and the location of the UK headquarters of Sun Life Financial of Canada, The Automobile Association, Ericsson Mobile Platforms, GAME, Motorola and Sony Professional Solutions (Europe). Other industries include drug manufacture, IT, communications, insurance and electronics.

Web Design Basingstoke Hampshire

Basingstoke

Web Design Basingstoke Hampshire

Approximate Population: 80,477

In the 19th century Basingstoke began to move into industrial manufacture, Wallis and Haslam (later Wallis & Steevens), began producing agricultural equipment including threshing machines in the 1850s, moving into the production of stationary steam engines in the 1860s and then traction engines in the 1870s.

Two traders who opened their first shops within a year of each other in the town, went on to become household names nationally: Thomas Burberry in 1856 and Alfred Milward in 1857.  Burberry became famous after he invented Gabardine and Milward founded the Milwards chain of shoe shops, which could be found on almost every high street until the 1980s. London Street includes a variety of architecture from the 17th to the 20th century.

Ordinary citizens were said to be shocked by the emotive, evangelical tactics of the Salvation Army when they arrived in the town in 1880, but the reaction from those employed by the breweries or within the Licence trade quickly grew more openly hostile.   Violent clashes became a regular occurrence culminating on Sunday 27 March 1881 with troops being called upon to break up the conflict after the Mayor had read the Riot Act.   The riot and its causes led to questions in Parliament and a period of notoriety for the town.

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