A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



FARLINGTON 



Fcrlingeton (xi cent.) ; Farlington (xviii cent.) 



Farlington is a parish running northwards from 

 Langstone Harbour with a nearly uniform width of 

 about a mile and a quarter, its extreme length being 

 a little over four miles. The parish included in 

 1831 the villages of Purbrook, Portsdown, Stakes Hill 

 or Frendstaple, and part of Waterlooville called 

 ' Wait Lane End ' on the north side of Portsdown 

 Hill, and the hamlet of Drayton, a mile west on the 

 south. 



In the south of the parish is the low-lying expanse 

 of Farlington Marshes, from which the ground rises 

 gradually to the foot of the range of Portsdown, 

 beyond which to the north is the well-wooded 

 country of Purbrook, Stakes Hill, and Waterloo, 

 which once formed part of the Forest of Bere. The 

 parish is crossed about midway by a road which runs 

 along the downs between the villages of Portsdown 

 and Bedhampton at a height of 300 ft. above the 

 sea-level. Parallel to it at the base of Portsdown 

 runs the main road from Portsmouth to Havant, 

 along which lie the hamlets of Drayton and Far- 

 lington, the former at the western extremity of the 

 parish and the latter about half a mile to the east. 



The church and rectory, with Farlington House, 

 the residence of Mr. Robert Edgcumbe Hellyer, and 

 one or two houses to the south of the road, make up 

 the whole of Farlington village. 



To the south of the road between Drayton and 

 Farlington are the Borough of Portsmouth Water- 

 works, while to the north on the slopes of Portsdown 

 are large reservoirs belonging to the waterworks 

 company. These are used in conjunction with 

 Havant for supplying the forts on Portsdown and 

 the towns of Portsmouth, Portsea, and Southsea. 

 There is a race - course south of the waterworks 

 between Drayton and Farlington Marshes, and 

 meetings are held there under the National Hunt 

 Rules. There is a station near it which is a junction 

 for the London and South- Western and the London 

 Brighton and South Coast railways. Fort Purbrook 

 and Farlington Redoubt are situated in this parish on 

 Portsdown. 



The hamlet of Drayton is now gradually develop- 

 ing into a residential locality. To the north of the 

 road immediately past the New Inn is the Drayton 

 building estate, on which new villas are rising steadily. 

 South of the road is Drayton Manor, the residence 

 of Lieut.-Col. Alfred Robert William Thistlethwayte, 

 approached from the main road by Drayton Lane. 



The village of Purbrook in the north-west of the 

 parish lies on the London and Portsmouth road, and 

 is surrounded by small copses and woods which once 

 formed part of the Forest of Bere. Along the main 

 street of the village, which is composed of a few houses 

 and inns, among them the 'White Hart,' the ' Leopard,' 

 and the ' Woodman,' runs the Cosham and Horndean 

 light railway. The church of St. John the Baptist, 

 built in the last century, stands opposite the junction 

 of Chalky Road with the High Street. On one side of 

 it are the schools, and on the other the Primitive 

 Methodist Chapel erected in 1875. Purbrook 

 Heath House, the residence of Mr. Thomas William 



Harvey, stands to the west of the village on the 

 borders of the parish of Cosham. Purbrook Park, 

 the property of Mr. William Deverell, and the 

 residence of Major Henry Gundry, is about eighty 

 acres in extent, and through it runs the stream which 

 gives the village its name. The Portsmouth and 

 South Hants Industrial School, a rather gloomy- 

 looking building, stands to the south of Stakes on 

 the Stakes Hill road. To the east of Purbrook is 

 Morelands, the residence of General Sir John William 

 Collman Williams, K.C.B., J.P., and near it a lane 

 leads to Crookhorn farm, probably the remains of the 

 small manor of Creuquer in Farlington. 



The village of Portsdown, also in this parish, lies 

 on the main road from London to Portsmouth, one 

 and a half miles north by east from Cosham Station 

 and four miles north by east from Portsmouth. On 

 the northern slope of Portsdown to the east of the 

 road is Christ Church, built in 1874, an d opposite to 

 it is Portsdown Lodge, at present unoccupied. To 

 the south on the summit of Portsdown are the 

 George Inn and the Bellevue Tea Gardens. 



Stakes Hill or Frendstaple, as it was formerly called, 

 once the site of a small manor, is now a hamlet in 

 the northern part of the parish, about a mile south- 

 east of Waterlooville, and is surrounded by woods 

 known as Stakes Hill Coppice. Stakes Hill Lodge, 

 with 400 acres of well-wooded land attached, is the 

 residence of Mr. John Henville Hulbert, while Oak- 

 lands, a fine house half a mile to the south, is at 

 present unoccupied. 



Waterlooville, a modern settlement, as its name 

 implies, lies on the London and Portsmouth road 

 about three miles north of Cosham, traversed by the 

 Cosham and Horndean light railway, and provided 

 with numerous inns, including one with the appro- 

 priate name of the ' Heroes of Waterloo.' The church 

 of St. George, built in the early part of the nine- 

 teenth century, stands to the north of the road to 

 Barn Green on the borders of the parishes of Cosham 

 and Farlington, and in the main street is the Baptist 

 Chapel, erected in 1884-5. 



The soil varies a good deal ; there is a mixture of 

 clay, sand, and loam along the southern part of the 

 downs ; the subsoil is flint and chalk. The area of 

 the parish is 2,389 acres of land, 10 acres of water, 

 56 of tidal water, and 535 of foreshore. Of the 

 land 878^ acres are arable, 1,205^ acres permanent 

 grass, and 206^ acres woodland. 1 In Waterloo there 

 are 32 acres of arable land, 125^ acres of permanent 

 grass, and zo6f acres of woodland. The soil around 

 Waterloo is clay, with a clay subsoil. 



FARLINGTON seems originally to have 

 MANORS been a royal manor, lands in which were 

 leased out by the king to various tenants. 

 On his death in 1312 John de Berewyk is said to 

 have held the manor of Robert le Ewer,' who was 

 probably the tenant-in-chief. 



William de Curci was holding land in Farlington 

 in 1187'; and in 1200 a suit concerning the pre- 

 sentation to the church was in progress between 

 Robert de Curci and Roger de Scures, the latter 

 claiming that Robert, uncle of Robert de Curci, had 



1 Statistics of Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



1 Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. II, No. 43. 

 148 



Pipe R. (Pipe R. Soc.), 33 Hen. II. 



