About
Housed in Serle's House, an elegant Georgian townhouse on Southgate Street in Winchester city centre, The Royal Hampshire Regiment Museum commemorates nearly three centuries of service by one of England's county regiments. The regiment was raised in 1702 as Colonel Meredith's Regiment of Foot and would serve under the designation of the 37th Regiment of Foot before becoming the Hampshire Regiment in 1881 and, following the award of the prefix Royal, the Royal Hampshire Regiment in 1946. In 1992 the regiment amalgamated with three other regiments to form the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, bringing a continuous military tradition to an end after 290 years.
Serle's House provides a fitting setting for the museum's collections. Built in the early eighteenth century, the house occupies a prime position in Winchester's historic city centre, just off the ancient city walls and a short walk from Winchester Cathedral. The period architecture of the building — its handsome façade, sash windows, and panelled interiors — harmonises with the Georgian and Regency uniforms and artefacts displayed within, giving the museum an integrity of period and place rarely achieved in regimental heritage institutions.
The collection chronicles the regiment's service across every major conflict in which Britain was engaged: the Wars of the Spanish Succession and Austrian Succession in the eighteenth century; the Peninsular War and Waterloo under the Duke of Wellington; the Crimean War and Victorian colonial campaigns in India, Egypt, and South Africa; both World Wars, where the regiment raised numerous battalions and served on every major front from France and Flanders to the Western Desert, Burma, and Italy; and the post-1945 era of Cold War garrison duty, Malaya, Cyprus, Aden, and the 1991 Gulf War.
The museum is particularly distinguished for its medal collections — including a Victoria Cross awarded during the First World War — and for its regimental silver, an outstanding collection of mess plate and presentation pieces spanning from the eighteenth century to the regiment's final years. Temporary exhibitions regularly broaden the museum's thematic range, exploring the domestic and community dimensions of regimental life and the social history of Hampshire through the medium of military service.
Admission is free of charge and the museum is managed as an independent charity, relying on donations and the support of the regimental association and Friends groups to maintain its collections and public programme.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
📅 Best Times to Visit
Quietest: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Busiest: Saturday
💡 Weekday mornings
💡 Visitor Tips
- Serle's House is a Georgian building on multiple floors with no lift access — visitors with mobility difficulties should call ahead to discuss what is accessible on the ground floor.
- Winchester is compact enough to visit several museums in one day: the Royal Hampshire Regiment Museum, Winchester City Museum, the Gurkha Museum, the Westgate Museum, and Winchester Cathedral are all within a 15-minute walk of each other.
- Free entry makes this an ideal addition to a Winchester city centre itinerary — plan at least 90 minutes for a thorough visit including the silver and medal collections.
- The Serle's House building itself is worth a careful look — the original Georgian interior details are visible throughout and provide a wonderful period context for the collection.
- For visitors arriving by train, Winchester station is a pleasant 10-minute walk through the city, passing the Great Hall — well worth a stop on the way.
- The Gulf War display is one of the more unusual features of the museum — relatively few regimental museums have strong coverage of the 1991 campaign, and the Royal Hampshires' participation is well documented here.
- Photography is welcome — the silver collection and Colours are particularly photogenic.
- Family historians researching ancestors who served in the Royal Hampshire Regiment should contact the museum before visiting — archive access can be arranged by appointment.
Highlights
The Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross held by the museum was awarded to a member of the Royal Hampshire Regiment during the First World War, representing the regiment's most exceptional act of courage in the field. The medal is displayed with the official citation, a portrait photograph, and personal effects, allowing visitors to understand the specific action in which the award was earned.
The VC is the most prestigious gallantry award in the British honours system, awarded only for acts of valour in the face of the enemy — and its presence in a relatively small county regimental museum underlines the extraordinary courage of Hampshire's soldiers.
The Regimental Silver Collection
An outstanding collection of regimental silver accumulated over nearly three centuries of mess life is displayed in the museum's principal rooms. The silver includes presentation centrepieces given by officers on retirement, campaign trophies, sporting awards, and ceremonial plate used at formal dinners and regimental occasions.
Pieces range from elegant Georgian wine coasters and salvers to Victorian campaign trophies inscribed with the battle honours of colonial service.
The collection was carefully assembled and maintained through the regiment's history, and its survival in near-complete condition is a remarkable testament to the regiment's institutional pride.
Serle's House Architecture
The museum's setting in Serle's House — a fine early eighteenth-century townhouse on Winchester's Southgate Street — is itself an attraction.
The house was built around 1730 and preserves much of its original character: panelled walls, period fireplaces, sash windows, and a graceful staircase typical of the Queen Anne and early Georgian style. The period architecture provides a remarkably harmonious setting for the museum's eighteenth and nineteenth-century collections, and visitors often comment on the pleasure of seeing Georgian and Regency military artefacts in an authentically Georgian domestic interior.
The house is a listed building of significant architectural interest.
First World War Displays
The Great War is represented with particular depth in the museum's collections. Hampshire raised numerous battalions from across the county's varied communities — market towns, fishing villages, chalk downland farms, and industrial centres — and the museum traces their service through diaries, letters, photographs, campaign medals, and personal equipment.
The Western Front dominates the displays, but the regiment's service at Gallipoli, in Palestine, and in Salonika is also covered.
The human dimension of the war — the experience of soldiers from Hampshire communities, the impact on families, and the long shadow of loss — is handled with sensitivity and depth.
Collections
The Royal Hampshire Regiment Museum holds the principal collection documenting the history of the Royal Hampshire Regiment (37th and 67th Regiments of Foot / Hampshire Regiment / Royal Hampshire Regiment) from its raising in 1702 to its amalgamation in 1992. The collection encompasses one Victoria Cross with full documentation; a comprehensive run of campaign medals from the early eighteenth century to the Gulf War; uniforms from the early Georgian period; weapons including flintlock muskets, percussion and breech-loading rifles, and twentieth-century infantry weapons; an outstanding collection of regimental silver; historic Colours and standards; extensive photographic archives; diaries, letters, and official documents; and personal effects of soldiers across the regiment's history.
The archive is accessible to family historians and researchers by appointment.
The Royal Hampshire Regiment: 1702–1992
The principal permanent display presents the regiment's 290-year history chronologically through artefacts, documents, and personal testimony. Each major period of service is covered in depth, from the eighteenth-century European campaigns through the Victorian imperial era to the two world wars and the post-1945 period of decolonisation.
The regiment's final campaign in the Gulf War and its amalgamation in 1992 provide the conclusion to a remarkable story.
📍 Multiple Floors
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.