Welcome to Hampshire Archives Trust
The Hampshire Archives Trust (HAT) is a member-led charity that works to support and promote Hampshire’s rich archival heritage.
We deliver this work by giving grants, through education and events, and developing local history networks – preserving memories for the future.
HAT works closely with and supports the Hampshire Record Office in Winchester, the Southampton Archives and the Portsmouth History Centre which between them hold archive collections dating back over 1000 years from across Hampshire.
You can help to save important local archives by applying to us for a grant to fund your project, becoming a HAT member or making a donation.
The Perfect Gift
Want to buy an exciting and thoughtful gift for someone? Why not buy them a Hampshire Archives Trust membership? It’s so easy.
= figures below relate to grants awarded since 2018 to March 2025.
Grants Awarded
Projects Funded
Success Rate
Upcoming Events
Finding Hampshire’s railway workers
2025Nov19 Event description: This talk will showcase the Portsmouth Area Railway Pasts project – a collaboration which has found out more about the working, family and community lives of railway staff in the south-east Hampshire area. We’ll introduce railways in the area, how the project came about, some of the people we’ve researched, and offer some […]
Christmas Charity and Paupers: The Christmas Experience for the Poor of Hampshire in the Twentieth Century to early Twenty-First Century
2025Dec10 Event description: During the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries the custom of Festive Charity became a core aspect to the celebration of Christmas in England with emphasised importance. This talk will be exploring charitable acts across the county of Hampshire that provided relief to the poor during the Christmas period, with examples from local workhouses […]
Our News
Papers came up for sale at auction November 2025 relating to the Bigg-Wither family of Manydown, Wootton St Lawrence, near Basingstoke, containing estate, official and family material dating mainly from...
- Grants, Grants - Saving Archives, News
Do you love History? Do you want to become a good historian? Do you want to find out more about archives? Do you want to win a prize? Hampshire Archives...
- Education, News
This project to digitise and restore colour & monochrome film negatives (glass & wet negative) of British aviation research & development at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) Farnborough in the...
- Grants, Grants - Preservation, News
HAT has awarded a £4000 grant to the The National Aerospace Library (NAL) with Farnborough Sixth Form College for a digitisation, research and training project. NAL holds programmes from the...
- Grants, Grants - Access to archives, Grants - Preservation, Grants - Promoting Archives, News
The Newnham Oral and Written History Project is all about ‘celebrating the past and building the future’ as it aims to use local heritage and history as a vehicle to...
- Grants, Grants - Access to archives, Grants - Community Commemorative Events, Grants - Publications
Southampton Archives has a wealth of material deposited by community groups and individual community leaders, who have worked for change on a variety of local, national or international issues. Archives...
- Grants, Grants - Access to archives, News
Gift
Make a Financial Gift
By making a financial gift to the HAT you are directly funding the preservation of valuable local history archives for future generations. The HAT awards grants to local history projects which are judged to be of particular historical value in Hampshire. Whether you’d like to make a one-off donation, leave a legacy in your will or make a regular donation, it is very straight-forward.
Stories from the Archives
- Podcast
Dr Alistair Dougall was recently elected as Hampshire Archives Trust’s Chair at our recent AGM on Saturday 11th October. Alistair has been a longstanding Trustee of Hampshire Archives Trust and...
- Blog
- Podcast
- Podcast
I’ve been a member of the wonderful Sarah Siddons Fan Club for 15 years and have had lots of exciting opportunities to perform the amazing tales that make up Southampton’s...
- Blog
In this anniversary year, spare a thought for Jane Austen’s elder brother George. The historical record says something about his life. We know that he had severely impaired cognitive and...
- Blog