Hampton
Hampton names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Hampton an English village situated on the Thames
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
an English village situated on the Thames, a few miles above West-minister Abbey. It may be reached by rail, or by one of the numerous wherries plying on the river. The village is noted as the seat of Hampton Court, a royal residence built by Cardinal Wolsey for his own use, but subsequently presented to Henry VIII. It was the favorite residence of James I. The order to make the translation known as King James' Bible was given here. The buildings are of red brick with battlemented walls. Since the time of George II the king has ceased to reside there. The buildings are used for various purposes. A score or two of rooms in suites, seemingly acres in extent, are devoted to galleries of paintings and antiquities. A portrait of the cardinal hangs in the great hall. The latter is over 100 feet in length, with other dimensions to correspond. The visitor is much more interested in the grounds, however. The garden in front of the palace is laid out in flower beds and shady avenues. A grapevine of the black Hamburg variety, planted in 1769, has attained an immense size. The stem is over a foot in diameter and presents a mass of foliage over 100 feet in height. In productive years as many as 2,500 bunches of fine grapes have been obtained from this vine. In the so-called wilderness adjacent, there is a noted maze or labyrinth. It consists of a neatly kept hedge about twice as high as a man. Although not exceeding half an acre in are the hedge has so many windings, lanes, and deceptive gaps, that, even though one knows the way, it requires several minutes of rapid walking to reach a plot of grass at the center. The glory of Hampton, however, is a royal park of about 11,000 acres. It is planted with white thorn, limes, and horse-chestnuts. In June or toward the end of May, when the latter are in full blossom, the display of bloom is unequaled, it is said, in Europe. Every spring the newspapers announce the fact that the chestnuts of Hampton are in blossom. At this season thousands and thousands of people go out to wander through the park. See Maze
Hampton a town and county-seat of Elizabeth City co.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a town and county-seat of Elizabeth City co., Va., on the James river, and on the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, and several steamship lines; 15 miles N. W. of Norfolk. It is the seat of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute for Indians and Negroes, and a National Soldiers' Home. It is a fashionable resort, having a good bathing ground at Old Point Comfort, and being within 2 miles of Fortress Monroe. It carries on considerable trade in fish and oysters, and manufactures brick and fish oil. The town has weekly newspapers, and a State bank, library, Soldiers' Home and a National Cemetery. Pop. (1910) 5,505; (1920) 6,138.
Hampton a village of Middlesex
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a village of Middlesex, England, on the Thames, 15 miles S. W. of London. In the vicinity are many fine mansions and beautiful villas, including Garrick's villa. Pop. about 7,000.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 park of "about 11,000 acres" was a generous estimate — Bushy Park and Home Park together come to roughly a tenth of that — but the maze and the Great Vine are still there, the vine now billed as the largest in the world. Hampton Court Palace survived a serious fire in the Wren-built King's Apartments in 1986 and reopened restored in 1992; it has been run by the charity Historic Royal Palaces since 1989, and the Middlesex village Collier's described in 1921 was swallowed by Greater London in 1965, now part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The Virginia town has changed beyond recognition: Elizabeth City County, of which Collier's calls Hampton the seat, ceased to exist in 1952 when it merged into the city, and the population of 6,138 in 1920 is now around 137,000. Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute is today Hampton University, a leading historically Black university, and NASA's Langley Research Center in the city trained the Mercury astronauts.
Written for this edition, 2026.