Concept

Hampshire

Summary
Hampshire (ˈhæmpʃər, -ʃɪər; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent strait to the south, Dorset to the west, and Wiltshire to the north-west. The county town is the city of Winchester. The county has an area of and a population of 1,844,245, making it the 5th-most populous in England. The South Hampshire built-up area in the south-east of the county has a population of 855,569 and contains the cities of Southampton (269,781) and Portsmouth (208,100). In the north-east, the Farnborough/Aldershot conurbation extends into Berkshire and Surrey and has a population of 252,937. The next-largest settlements are Basingstoke (113,776), Andover (50,887), and Winchester (45,184). The centre and south-west of the county are rural. For administrative purposes Hampshire is divided into 13 non-metropolitan districts. Eleven are part of a two-tier metropolitan county governed by Hampshire County Council and eleven district councils, and the Portsmouth and Southampton districts are governed as a unitary authorities by Portsmouth City Council and Southampton City Council. The county historically contained the Isle of Wight and the towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch, the latter of which are now part of Dorset. Undulating hills characterise much of the county. A belt of chalk crosses the county from north-west, where it forms the Hampshire Downs, to south-east, where it is part of the South Downs. The county's major rivers rise in these hills; the Loddon and Wey drain north, into the Thames, and the Itchen and Test flow south into Southampton Water, a large estuary. In the south-east are Portsmouth Harbour, Langstone Harbour, and the western edge of Chichester Harbour, three large rias. The south-west contains the New Forest, which includes pasture, heath, and forest and is of the largest expanses of ancient woodland remaining in England.
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