Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for FAREHAM

FAREHAM, a town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, a hundred, and a division in Hants. The town stands contiguous to the Gosport Junction railway, and to the branch line thence to the Portsmouth railway, on slightly elevated ground, at the north-western extremity of Portsmouth harbour, 5 miles NNW of Gosport. It sent members to parliament in the time of Edward I., but petitioned to be excused from sending them in that of Edward III.; it evidently was then declining, and it continued to decline till, in Leland's time, it became a small fishing village; but it has, of late years, acquired great improvement and extension; and it now is lighted with gas and paved, and is a place of considerable trade. It has a head post office, ‡ a railway station with telegraph, a banking office, two chief inns, two churches, two dissenting chapels, a literary institution, a workhouse, and an endowed school and other charities with nearly £500; and it is a seat of petty sessions, and a polling-place. The parish church was mainly rebuilt in 1812, but retains the chancel of a previous early English edifice. Trinity church is a recent erection, with good architectural features; and was built and endowed by benefaction of the Rev. Sir Henry Thompson. The branch railway to the Portsmouth line traverses a creek on a viaduct of seventeen arches. A market is held on every alternate Monday; and a fair on 29 and 30 June. Vessels of 300 tons burden can come to the quay. A considerable trade in corn, coal, and timber is carried on. Vessels have been built; there is a considerable tannery; and draining-tiles, flower-pots, and other articles of coarse pottery are largely made. Fareham House, the seat of the Benetts; Cam's Hall, H. P. Delmé, Esq.; Uplands, the Hayne family: Roach Court, Sir J. W. S. Gardiner; Blackbrook, Colonel Le Blanc; and Heathfield, General Hore, are in the neighbourhood. A county lunatic asylum and two new forts also are here; and the former contained, at the census, 234 male and 304 female patients. Portsdown hill, a lofty eminence of 7 miles, extending east and west, commences immediately above Cam's hill. Pop. of the town, 4, 011. Houses, 884.

The parish includes the hamlets of Catisfield, North Fareham, Fontleigh, Wallington, and part of Crocker Hill. Acres, 6, 705; of which 180 are water. Pop. in 1851, 5, 842; in 1861, 6, 197. Houses, 1, 184. The property is much subdivided. The parochial living is a vicarage, and that of Trinity a p. curacy, in the diocese of Winchester. Value of the former, £530;* of the latter, £100.* Patron of the former, the Bishop of Winchester; of the latter, Sir H. Thompson.—The sub-district contains also the parishes of Porchester, Wymering, Widley, South-wick, and Boarhunt. Acres, 21, 089. Pop., 9, 640. Houses, 1,804.—The district comprehends also the sub-district of Titchfield, containing the parishes of Titchfield, Rowwer, and Wickham, and the extra-parochial tract of Wickham Forest. Acres, 42, 225. Poor-rates in 1862, £9, 024. Pop. in 1851, 13, 924; in 1861, 14, 864. Houses, 2, 858. Marriages in 1860, 86; births, 401, -of which 22 were illegitimate; deaths, 299, -of which 64 were at ages under 5 years, and 14 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 761; births, 3, 858; deaths, 2, 977. The places of worship in 1851 were 13 of the Church of England, with 5, 461 sittings; 5 of Independents, with 1, 244 s.; 1 of Baptists, with 120 s.; 1 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 230 s.; 1 of the Wesleyan Association, with 80 s.; and 1 of Independent Methodists, with 50 s. The schools were 11 public day schools, with 1, 123 scholars; 26 private day schools, with 583 s.; 15 Sunday schools, with 1, 534 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 6 s.-The hundred is conterminate with the parish. The division contains also the hundreds of Portsdown, Titchfield, and Bosmere, and the liberties of Havant, Alverstoke, and Gosport. Acres, 72, 717. Pop. in 1851, 38, 269; in 1861, 45, 001. Houses, 7, 813.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, a hundred, and a division"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Fareham CP/AP       Fareham Hundred       Fareham SubD       Fareham RegD/PLU       Hampshire AncC
Place: Fareham

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