Market town on Portsmouth Harbour, England
Human settlement in England
Fareham
(
FAIR
-?m
) is a
market town
at the north-west tip of
Portsmouth Harbour
, between the cities of
Portsmouth
and
Southampton
in south east
Hampshire
,
England
. It gives its name to the
Borough of Fareham
. It was historically an important manufacturer of bricks, used to build the
Royal Albert Hall
, and grower of strawberries and other seasonal fruits. In 2011 it had a population of 42,210.
History
[
edit
]
The town has a documented history dating back to the
Norman
era, when a part of William's army marched up from Fareham Creek before continuing to the Saxon capital of England, Winchester.
[1]
Originally known as
Ferneham
(hence the name of the entertainment venue Ferneham Hall
[2]
), it was listed in the
Domesday Book
as having 90 households.
[3]
The ford of Fareham Creek (at the top of
Portsmouth Harbour
) was the location of the
Bishop of Winchester
's
mills
; the foundations were subsumed in the A27 near the railway viaduct. Commercial activity continued at the port until the 1970s and continues on a smaller scale.
In the 1960s Fareham experienced major residential development. By the 1970s the town had expanded to almost encompass the surrounding villages of
Funtley
,
Titchfield
,
Catisfield
and
Portchester
. In the late 1990s a settlement called
Whiteley
, straddling the boundaries of Fareham Borough and the
City of Winchester
, was developed to the north of Junction 9 of the
M27 motorway
. It is predominantly residential but includes the extensive
Solent Business Park
.
In 1995
Cams Hall
, a derelict
Palladian
mansion, was restored for office use, and the surrounding
Cams Estate
was developed as a golf course and modern technology park.
Since 1997 Fareham has been the home of the United Kingdom's
Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre
(ARCC), at the National Maritime Operations Centre (NMOC), and responsible for coordinating all
Maritime & Coastguard Agency
Search and Rescue
(SAR) helicopters.
An urban renewal initiative began in 1999, renovating the town centre and historic buildings to include a new entertainment and shopping complex. It featured a major iron sculpture park
[4]
installed in 2001 to celebrate the work of influential Lancastrian iron pioneer,
Henry Cort
, who lived in neighbouring
Gosport
but who had an iron rolling mill in Funtley (or Fontley), on the outskirts of Fareham.
Arts and culture
[
edit
]
Fareham was home to Ferneham Hall, a multi purpose venue with a capacity of over 700. The hall opened in 1982 and closed in 2020 to allow for renovation.
[5]
Work on the remodel began in 2022, including rebranding the centre to
Fareham Live.
[6]
The
Ashcroft Arts Centre
, on Osborn Road, has a 150-seat theatre, a gallery, a dance/music studio and a fully licensed bar. It offers a varied programme of events including films, theatre, comedy and workshops.
[7]
The pedestrianised area of West Street, in the town centre, is home to a permanent exhibition of the work of 12
blacksmith
artists celebrating the achievements of
Henry Cort
, the 18th century 'man of iron' who pioneered the iron refining process at
Funtley
near Fareham. The puddled wrought iron sculptures are themed on Fareham's market town history and the exhibition is the largest of its type in Britain.
[8]
Education
[
edit
]
In 2017
Fareham College
was rated by OFSTED as "Outstanding".
[9]
Sport and Leisure
[
edit
]
Fareham has a
Non-League football
club,
Fareham Town F.C.
Transport
[
edit
]
Road
[
edit
]
The
M27 motorway
passes around the northern edge of the town, and is the main traffic
artery
into and out of the area. It provides rapid access to
Portsmouth
and
Southampton
, and from there to
London
via the
M3
and
A3(M)
.
The
A27
was the original route along the south coast before the building of the M27, and runs from
Brighton
to
Southampton
, passing through the centre of Fareham. The
A32
passes through Fareham at the Quay Street roundabout, a notorious bottleneck, on its way from
Gosport
to
Wickham
and through the
Meon Valley
to
Alton
.
Fareham was named the most car-dependent town in the UK by the Office for National Statistics in July 2014 with 538.7 cars registered to addresses in the town for every 1,000 residents.
[10]
Rail
[
edit
]
Fareham railway station
is on the
West Coastway Line
, with regular services to
Portsmouth
,
Southampton
,
Brighton
,
Cardiff
and
London
. Passenger services also ran south to
Gosport
until 1953, and north along the Meon Valley to Alton until 1955.
[11]
Bus transport in the town is provided by
First Hampshire & Dorset
, which runs nearly all bus routes.
Stagecoach South
service 69 does run as far north as
Winchester
. The
bus station
is adjacent to Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and replaced an older station that was demolished in the late 1980s.
Places of interest
[
edit
]
Local media
[
edit
]
Fareham is home to the local ITV franchise, covering the South and South-East of England, called
ITV Meridian
, based at
Whiteley
, with the BBC region being
BBC South
, based in
Southampton
. All BBC and ITV Services are available in Fareham, with transmissions from the
Rowridge Transmitter
on the
Isle of Wight
, although signals from the
Hannington
and
Midhurst
transmitting stations can be picked up from certain areas of the town. Also, the town is served by a local television station, named
That's Solent
, it was launched as part of a UK wide roll out of local Freeview channels, being broadcast from the Rowridge Transmitter.
The local commercial radio station is
Wave 105
on 105.2FM, also
Heart South
is based in the town, on 97.5FM, plus
Capital South
on 103.2FM, other radio stations based elsewhere serve Fareham, with
Easy Radio South Coast
on 107.4FM,
BBC Radio Solent
on 96.1FM and
Nation Radio South Coast
(formerly SAM FM) on 106.0FM, and Portsmouth based non-profit community radio station Express FM on 93.7FM.
The town has two daily local newspapers, the
Southern Daily Echo
and
Portsmouth News
, together with a free weekly newspaper, from the same publisher,
Johnston Press
, called
Fareham View
.
Politics
[
edit
]
Parliament
[
edit
]
The current
Member of Parliament
for the
Fareham constituency
is
Suella Braverman
, first elected as MP for Fareham in the
2015 UK General Election
. Braverman is notable for being the shortest serving
Home Secretary
in British history during the
Truss ministry
, but was again reappointed as Home Secretary by
Rishi Sunak
on 25 October 2022.
[12]
[13]
Local government
[
edit
]
Fareham is a part of the slightly larger
Borough of Fareham
local government district, with some local services provided by a
non-metropolitan district council
called
Fareham Borough Council
. Following the most recent elections to the council, the council's
administration
is currently made up of
councillors
from the
Conservative Party
which as of 2022 have a total of 12 councillors. The second largest party and therefore opposition on the council is the
Liberal Democrats
with 3 councillors.
Some local services are provided by the larger
Hampshire County Council
, with Fareham residents also able to participate in this Hampshire-wide (except
Portsmouth
and
Southampton
) election.
Welborne
[
edit
]
Welborne is a proposed new town to the north of the M27 at Fareham,
[14]
intended to include 6,000 houses with businesses and community facilities.
The Planning Inspectorate Hearings into Welborne took place in 2014.
[15]
Building is yet to start, with the completion date for the first houses now scheduled for 2023/24. On 6 June 2022 the
Planning Inspectorate
reported back on its examination of the 2037 Fareham Local Plan, and in the post-hearing letter noted that they considered completion of the first Welborne houses by 2023/24 to be "overly ambitious" and that "the site should be pushed back a year in the trajectory".
[16]
Twin towns
[
edit
]
Notable residents
[
edit
]
- Randal Cremer
(1828?1908),
Liberal
Member of Parliament
(MP) for
Haggerston
from 1885 to 1908, and the receiver of the
Nobel Peace Prize
in 1903 for his work with the international arbitration movement, was born and educated in Fareham.
[18]
- Sir Digby Dent
RN (1739?1817) Rear Admiral
- Brendan O'Dowda
, (1925?2002), an Irish tenor, lived in Fareham.
- Tom Oliver
(1938 ? ), actor who played
Lou Carpenter
in the Australian soap opera
Neighbours
, was born in
Chandler's Ford
and grew up in Fareham.
[19]
- Robert Goddard
(1954 ? ), English novelist, author of 26 novels, born and educated in Fareham.
- Steve Claridge
(1966 ? ), English football pundit, manager and former player grew up in
Titchfield
and started his career at
Fareham Town
.
- Andy Vernon
(1986 ? ), British
long-distance runner
was born in Fareham, and attended
Cams Hill School
.
[20]
- Anjali Mulari
(1993 ? ), New Zealand international ice and inline hockey player. Lived in Fareham while playing for the Solent Lizards at
Solent Arena
.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Rotary Club of Fareham Meon The News, Portsmouth, 20/09/01"
. Archived from
the original
on 27 July 2011
. Retrieved
1 September
2010
.
Sept 2001 Portsmouth News article concerning the Norman Invasion, as reported by the Fareham Meon Rotary Club ? "....and Fareham Creek was the landing site for 1,000 men whose mission it was to capture the ancient Saxon capital of Winchester."
- ^
http://www.fareham.gov.uk/town/activities/fernehamhall/
Archived
18 July 2006 at the
Wayback Machine
fareham.gov.uk
- ^
Anna Powell-Smith.
"Fareham ? Domesday Book"
.
- ^
"Visit South East England: The Sculpture Park"
. Retrieved
21 August
2021
.
- ^
Unnamed, N/A (1 October 2021).
"FBC Press Release, Ferneham Hall"
.
FBC website
. Retrieved
27 March
2022
.
- ^
Council, Fareham Borough (2 January 2019).
"Press Release"
.
www.fareham.gov.uk
. Retrieved
8 January
2024
.
- ^
Fareham Borough Council (21 January 2013).
"Ashcroft Arts Centre"
.
- ^
"Henry Cort Sculpture Park"
.
Fareham Town Centre
. Archived from
the original
on 24 April 2016.
- ^
"Inspection report: Fareham College, 3?6 October 2017"
(PDF)
.
Ofsted
. Retrieved
13 November
2017
.
- ^
[1]
telegraph.co.uk
- ^
Davies, Hugh. (2011).
Variety on the Southern, 1948 to 1968
. Noodle Books, Corhampton, Southampton.
ISBN
978-1-906419-58-5
.
- ^
"Fareham MP Suella Braverman is eliminated from the race to be the next PM"
.
www.portsmouth.co.uk
. 14 July 2022
. Retrieved
15 July
2022
.
- ^
"UK's Sunak reinstates Braverman as interior minister"
.
Reuters
. 25 October 2022
. Retrieved
26 October
2022
.
- ^
"Welborne Garden Village ? Live, Work, Visit"
.
Welborne ? Garden Village
.
- ^
"Welborne Plan: Examination Library"
.
- ^
"Examination Library"
. 24 February 2022.
- ^
"British towns twinned with French towns
[via WaybackMachine.com]
"
.
Archant Community Media Ltd
. Archived from
the original
on 5 July 2013
. Retrieved
12 July
2013
.
- ^
"The Nobel Peace Prize 1903 Randal Cremer"
.
nobelprize.org
.
- ^
Lamb, Rachel (1 February 2001).
"From Fareham to Ramsay Street"
. Hampshire, United Kingdom: thisishampshire.net. Archived from
the original
on 11 October 2007
. Retrieved
19 July
2010
.
Actor Tom Oliver is known to millions of viewers as wheeler-dealer Lou Carpenter in Aussie soap, Neighbours. Although the 62-year-old actor has made his name in a show produced in the Antipodes, he was born in London and grew up in Fareham, Hampshire.
- ^
"Vernon claims victory in battle of the Brits"
.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for
Fareham
.
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