| FAREHAM | ||||||||||||
| It has been established that Fareham has been
occupied ever since the Romans were here and by the 12th century
it was a small rural settlement built around a church and the churchyard
was used to hold a market. This market was later moved to the south of
the High Street and evidence of it can be see by the island block of
buildings which closes the High Street. The town grew to become a prosperous market centre and a port and in the 18th century it was a favourite place for naval officers who occupied many of the fine Georgian houses here. Local stories also say that the town was visited by Queen Elizabeth 1 and that it got its name from the comment she made 'Oh what a fair town'
The town itself is about 10 miles east of the City of Southampton and sits on a small creek to the northwest of Portsmouth, and it was in the 18th and 19th century that the Royal Naval first realised the potential of the shipyards here and from then on the town flourished, with large houses being built to accommodate the high ranking Naval Officers and it is said that both Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington had connections here. Not only did the town have the shipbuilding but it also had the smaller industries that ran alongside and it also had links to flower growing! Today there is hardly any space left to separate Fareham from the neighbouring parishes due to the amount of building, which includes a large shopping precinct and the town centre becoming pedestrianised making it safe and popular shopping area. The church of Holy Trinity stands in West Street and was built about 1839, the old council offices in Westbury Manor have been given a new home and the manor turned into a museum. The High Street is said to be one of the best examples of a country town in the south of England with its fine Victorian and Georgian architecture and the church of St Peter and St Paul has been rebuilt many times.
One of the things that the motorist notices here are the arches that dominate the roundabout on the approach to the town from the M27 motorway, here the town is linked to Fareham Creek which is the home to the Dredegers that work in Southampton Water. HMS Collingwood continues the naval links as a training establishment since 1940 though this has now been changed to the Royal Naval Weapons Engineering School. With the building of the M27 motorway easier links to the west have been established, making the journey to Southampton about a third of the time compared to the old road, and links to Bournemouth and the west country are more popular today.
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