A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



FAREHAM 



Ferneham (xi cent.) ; Ferham (xiii cent.) ; Fare- 

 ham (xiv cent.). 



The parish of Fareham consisting of 6,736 acres, of 

 which eleven are covered by water, is situated on the 

 shore of a deep inlet of the sea forming the north- 

 western branch of Portsmouth Harbour. The two 

 main streets of the town are West Street, on the Ports- 

 mouth road, the houses extending from the railway 

 station on the east to the tidal mill on the west, and 

 High Street, which runs northward from the west end 

 of the former street. From the middle of West Street 

 another road runs southward to the harbour, skirting 

 the quays on the west. In its western part West 

 Street is bordered by small red-brick villas, and then 

 broadens out into what is really an elongated market- 

 place, with shops, inns, and public buildings. The 

 modern church of the Holy Trinity is on the south 



ROCHB COURT, FAREHAM 



side of West Street. The High Street, though broad 

 at first, narrows down quickly as it ascends a rise on 

 the crest of which stands the old church, well back from 

 the road in a large churchyard. There are many 

 specimens of good eighteenth-century brick fronts in 

 the town. The most picturesque part is at the east, 

 where the river is held up by the sluices of a tidal mill, 

 and forms a wide sheet of water with wooded banks. 

 The mill is an old tarred wooden building at the head 

 of the harbour, on the eastern side of which are the 

 wooded grounds of Cams Hall. There are 2,768 acres 

 of arable land, 2,299 of permanent grass, and 415 of 

 woods and plantations. 5 The road from Southampton 

 to Havant crosses the parish from west to east ; a 

 second road enters the town from Bishop's Waltham, 

 while a third runs southwards to Gosport. The 

 London and South Western Railway has a station at 



Fareham, at which is also the junction of a branch 

 line to Gosport and Stokes Bay. Fareham Harbour, 

 formed by a long broad inlet called the Cams, lies 

 to the south-east of the parish, and though unimport- 

 ant to-day, in the seventeenth century it had a con- 

 siderable reputation, as may be seen from the following 

 letter written from Portsmouth in 1630 to Sir John 

 Coke, Principal Secretary of State. ' The river leading 

 to Fareham within a mile of the town is an absolute 

 good and safe place to moor ships and in all respects 

 as convenient and safe a harbour as Chatham. 2,000 

 may be saved to the king in moorings and men.' 6 The 

 Portsmouth road cuts across the head of this inlet, on 

 a causeway with swinging water-gates opening inwards, 

 through which the tide flows into a big natural reser- 

 voir, the water being used to work the old mill already 

 mentioned, probably formerly known as the ' Tyde or 



Sea Mill." There is 

 a small house in West 

 Street, now used as a 

 lending library, where 

 Thackeray is supposed 

 to have written several 

 of his novels. A little 

 out of the town on the 

 Wickham road is Roche 

 Court, now occupied 

 by Mr. H. F. Raw- 

 storne, who acquired it 

 through his wife a 

 member of the Gardi- 

 ner family whose an- 

 cestors have possessed 

 the estate since 1661. 

 It is of some antiquity, 

 the original house being 

 said to have been built 

 by Peter des Roches. 

 The oldest part now 

 existing is a block stand- 

 ing east and west, with 

 thick walls of flint 

 masonry, but, unfortu- 

 nately, no architectural features of very ancient 

 date. It is doubtless mediaeval, but its original 

 windows, &c., have long been replaced by later 

 work. At its east end is a large chimney breast, 

 and against it on the north-east is built a wing 

 standing north and south, of timber construction, 

 with two pretty half-timbered gables on the east side. 

 The first floor room contains some good early seven- 

 teenth-century panelling, and the wing is probably 

 an addition of this date. It has been lengthened 

 northward in the eighteenth century, and the panel- 

 ling is made out in the detail of the time. The main 

 entrance is on the west side of this wing, and with 

 the entrance passage, is a comparatively modern 

 addition. In front of it is a fine cedar, which is, 

 unfortunately, rather too near the house. The 

 stables and offices stand to the south-west, and the 



Statistics from the Ed. of Agric.(i9O5). 

 * Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, App. iii, 

 406. 



"> Exch. Dep. Hil. 6 & 7 Chas. I, No. 6. 

 There were two mills in the 1 7th century 

 the Tyde or Sea Mill and Wellington 



210 



Mill rented at 4 in money and 5 quar- 

 ters of wheat ; Close, 24 Chas. I, No. 

 41. 



