Hamilton, chasing his first win for Mercedes after leaving McLaren in 2012, started the session with a wave for the crowd from the pit wall and ended it with the fans saluting him.
Mercedes said over the team radio:"Storming job there, Lewis, storming job."
'I JUST WANT TO PAY THEM BACK'
The pole was the 28th of Hamilton's career and Mercedes' fifth in eight races.
Hamilton said: "The crowd do make a huge difference...I come here with an extra boost of energy. I just want to pay them back.
"That was a lap for them."
Red Bull's triple world champion Sebastian Vettel qualified third and will share the second row with team mate Mark Webber, in what will be the veteran's last British race before quitting F1 at the end of the 2013.
Vettel said: "They are bloody quick in qualifying...they seem to be in a different world on Saturday afternoons, but points are scored on Sunday and the last few races have been pretty good for us."
MCLAREN MISERY
Force India's Paul Di Resta and Daniel Ricciardo, the Toro Rosso driver bidding for Webber's drive in 2014, will line up together on the third row.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, 36 points behind Vettel in the championship, qualified 10th in a disappointing performance from the Italian team, who had Felipe Massa in 12th place.
Alonso said: "We were not competitive all weekend and it's not normal to see Ferrari out of Q3 (the third phase of qualifying).
"We need to recover now and it was a bad Saturday. We didn't improve the car enough in the last four to five races and we ordered some new parts but they didn't do what we expected. We need to keep on working."
McLaren had another miserable qualifying, with 2009 world champion Jenson Button 11th on the grid and team mate Sergio Perez 14th.
Former champions Williams, who have made their home race a celebration of their 600 grands prix in the sport, fared even more dismally.
Valtteri Bottas failed to make it through the first phase and qualified 17th behind team mate Pastor Maldonado in 16th.
2013 British Grand Prix: Results
Qualifying:
1 Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1min29.607
2 Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1min30.059
3 Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull 1min30.211
4 Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull 1min30.220
5 Paul Di Resta (Britain) Force India 1min30.736
6 Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Toro Rosso 1min30.757
7 Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India 1min30.908
8 Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus 1min30.955
9 Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Lotus 1min30.962
10 Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 1min30.979
11 Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 1min31.649
12 Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1min31.779
13 Jean-Eric Vergne (France) Toro Rosso 1min31.785
14 Sergio Perez (Mexico) McLaren 1min32.082
15 Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Sauber 1min32.211
16 Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Williams 1min32.359
17 Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams 1min32.664
18 Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) Sauber 1min32.666
19 Charles Pic (France) Caterham 1min33.866
20 Jules Bianchi (France) Marussia 1min34.108
21 Giedo van der Garde (Netherlands) Caterham 1min35.481
22 Max Chilton (Britain) Marussia 1min35.858
1-10: Third and final qualifying session
11-16: Second qualifying session
17-22: First qualifying session
Second practice results
First practice results
Stay with Wheels24 for the 2013 British GP weekend.