Hampshire Day? Did you know that Hampshire has a day?
Don’t worry if you didn’t know that this was a *thing* and had never actually heard of it. Until recently, I hadn’t either!
Here’s a brief history to a day dedicated to the county of Hampshire.
👑 HAPPY HAMPSHIRE DAY! 👑
Here’s your low down to the origins of the day dedicated to Hampshire, it’s history, culture and traditions, everything from the historic Pannage in the New Forest to Victorious Festival.
When was the first Hampshire Day?
Hampshire Day is a modern celebration and invented in 2018, and implemented, and the inaugural events held for the first time in 2019.
Why is it on that date?
The council picked the 15 July as it’s the feast of the county’s native Saint Swithun. This saint has a long history and connection with Winchester and the wider county.
Find out more about Saint Swithun.
The Hampshire Flag
The county has a brand new flag that launched alongside the day in 2019.
The flag is a horizontal red stripe on top of a yellow one. In the red section on top is a golden three point Saxon crown and in the yellow half below a red Tudor rose.
It’s quite pretty and would look excellent on top of a sand castle. No emoji yet though, I’ll keep you posted.
Why did the day get invented?
It was a national campaign, joined by Hampshire County Council to celebrate England’s historic counties, residents, traditions and culture.
I can’t find exactly who invented it and the nitty gritty of why we have one other than fostering a bit of county pride (there’s a whole Gov.uk document online about the importance of celebrating the historic counties- I kid you not!) but, here we are. AND, we’re we weren’t the only ones, since then Somerset and a few other counties organised a dedicated day too.
Want some ideas of things to do in Hampshire?
Read my post on THE A TO Z OF THINGS TO DO IN HAMPSHIRE
