Andover, Hampshire

Coordinates: 51°13′00″N 1°28′00″W / 51.2167°N 1.4667°W / 51.2167; -1.4667

Andover /ˈændoʊvər/ is a town in the English county of Hampshire. The town is on the River Anton some 18 miles (29 km) west of the town of Basingstoke, 18 miles (29 km) north-west of the city of Winchester and 25 miles (40 km) north of the city of Southampton. Andover is twinned with the towns of Redon in France,Goch in Germany, and Andover, Massachusetts in the United States.

History

Early history

Its name is recorded in Anglo-Saxon in 955 AD as Andeferas, and is thought to be of Celtic origin: compare Welsh onn dwfr = "ash(tree) water".

Andover's first mention in history is in 950 when King Edred is recorded as having built a royal hunting lodge there. In 962 King Edgar called a meeting of the Saxon 'parliament' (the Witenagemot) at his hunting lodge near Andover.

Of more importance was the baptism, in 994 of a Viking king named Olaf (allied with Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard). The identity of that man was either Olav Trygvason or Olof Skötkonung. The baptism was part of a deal with King Ethelred II of England (“The Unready”) whereby he stopped ravaging England and returned home. Olav Tryggvason became king of Norway in 995 and tried to convert his country to Christianity before his death in the Battle of Svolder in 1000. Olof Skötkonung was already king of Sweden and became its first Christian king and began c. 995 to mint Sweden's first coins with the help of English expertise.

Hampshire

Hampshire (/ˈhæmpʃər/, ⁱ/ˈhæmpʃɪər/; abbreviated Hants, archaically known as the County of Southampton) is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, the former capital city of England. Hampshire is the most populous ceremonial county in the United Kingdom (excluding the metropolitan counties) with almost half of the county's population living within the South Hampshire conurbation which includes the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth. The larger South Hampshire metropolitan area has a population of 1,547,000. Hampshire is notable for housing the birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force. It is bordered by Dorset to the west, Wiltshire to the north-west, Berkshire to the north, Surrey to the north-east, and West Sussex to the east. The southern boundary is the coastline of the English Channel and the Solent, facing the Isle of Wight.

Hampshire is the largest county in South East England and remains the third largest shire county in the United Kingdom despite losing more land than any other English county in all contemporary boundary changes. At its greatest size in 1890, Hampshire was the fifth largest county in England. It now has an overall area of 3,700 square kilometres (1,400 sq mi), and measures about 86 kilometres (53 mi) east–west and 76 kilometres (47 mi) north–south.

Hampshire sheep

The Hampshire or Hampshire Down is a breed of sheep which originated around 1829 from a cross of Southdowns with the Old Hampshire breed, the Wiltshire Horn, and the Berkshire Nott, all horned, white-faced sheep — these were native to the open, untilled, hilly stretch of land known as the Hampshire Downs.

History

John Twynam, a Hampshire farmer, crossed his then-Hampshire flock with Cotswold rams in around 1829. The resultant half-bred rams were compact and blocky animals and from around 1835 were sold into six or more of what were to become the first recognised pedigree Hampshire Down flocks in the United Kingdom.

The Southdowns had long dark brown or black legs, matured early, produced the best of mutton and a fine quality of medium wool. The original Hampshire was larger, coarser, but hardier, slower to mature, with inferior flesh, and a longer but coarser wool. The Southdown had always been remarkable for its power of transmitting its special characteristics to its progeny by other kinds of sheep, and hence it soon impressed its own characteristics on its progeny by the Hampshire. The horns of the original breed have disappeared; the face and legs have become dark, the frame has become more compact, the bones smaller, the back broader and straighter, the legs shorter, and the flesh and wool of better quality, while the superior hardiness and greater size, as well as the large head and Roman nose of the old breed, still remain. Hampshires of the 1890s matured early and fattened readily. They clipped from six to seven pounds of wool, suitable for combing, which was longer than Southdown wool, but less fine.

Hampshire (PAT station)

Hampshire is a station on the Port Authority of Allegheny County's light rail network, located in the Beechview neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The street level stop is located on a small island platform in the middle of Broadway Avenue, through which The T travels along former streetcar tracks. The station serves a densely populated residential area and also the neighborhood's small but crowded business district. It is located in an area where bus service is limited because of the hilly terrain.

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