This Heritage Fair was organised by a subcommittee of the Southampton Heritage Federation which has not held this annual fair since 2019 because of the Covid Pandemic and the ill health of the Federation’s Chair. A subcommittee of the members was formed to organise a fair
following discussion with the chair and with his agreement.
The fair took place in the Art Gallery at Southampton Civic Centre on 6 June 2026 and was supported with stands provided by 28 local heritage groups.
The event was funded by the exhibitors paying a fee for a table, a raffle and generous sponsorship from Hampshire Archive Trust (HAT) and Paris Smith Solicitors. The limited funds available from the Heritage Federation and Paris Smith’s donation were used to pay for the hire of premises and insurance. The grant of £500 from HAT funded the printing and promotional costs.
The event on the day attracted 1,011 visitors (a record number for the fair) and which was said to be the most successful of recent events.
Exhibitors were asked to bring resources form their archives for visitors to see and we were very pleased to see rare WW2 memorabilia on display as well as early 17th century printed maps of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Also on show were rare coaching route maps and stage coach itineraries. Models of the Mayflower and Speedwell were also on display as well as books on local history which included many for sale.
Also included in the Fair was a programme of local history talks, walks and a film show. These events were free and were well supported.
The Heritage Fair is the main city centre event programme co-ordinated by the Heritage Federation to raise public awareness of the city’s history and the wealth of fascinating archive material that evidences this. As well as displaying material from their collections and encouraging potential new members the fair is also linking with the Southampton Archives and the University of Southampton, Southampton Records Series to showcase the importance of the Southampton Archives, how material has been made accessible via the Record Series and how the material has been used by some of the exhibitors in their public engagement events and publications. The archival material on display will include documentary archives, archaeological material and photographic archives.
| 28 local heritage groups participated and exhibited details of their work and collections.
Lectures took place through the day including a talk on “Hiding in Documents, the challenges of researching the history of marginalised communities”. Walking tours were held in two of Southampton’s important Central Parks and another focusing on “The Civic Centre and D-Day” As 2026 is the 50th anniversary of Southampton Football Club winning the FA Cup arrangements were made for the open top bus in which the team toured the City and celebrated their victory with the townspeople to be on site through the day. Visitors were able to go aboard and share any memorabilia and memories of the day. Local University students recorded and captured those memories. |
