Farlington, Hampshire

Suburb of Portsmouth, England

Farlington is a primarily residential district of the city of Portsmouth in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. It is located in the extreme north east of the city on the mainland and is not on Portsea Island unlike most of the other areas of Portsmouth. Alice only held the manor for a short time, for by 1330 it had come into the king's hands, and was granted to John Montgomerie and his wife Rose for life. ), with the intention of turning it into premier tracks. However race meetings were suspended during World War One and the War Office turned the course into one of the country's biggest ammunition dumps. After hostilities ceased, the War Office held control of the site and it was not released until 1929 when it was bought by Portsmouth City Council. The council then sold on the land for private housing development, eventually leading to the end of Farlington as a distinct community. Farlington is also the site of the Portsmouth Water Company's filtration beds. In 1812 Thomas Smith built a reservoir to hold spring water from Farlington Marshes. The waterworks were built in 1908 and by 1924 there were five reservoirs and eight sand filters. Many of the local roads to the north of the Havant Road were named after senior company officers. Among these are Grant, Woodfield, Galt, Gillman and Evelegh roads. Farlington was also home to Farlington Redoubt, part of the defence ring of forts around Portsmouth now known as "Palmerston's Folly". The redoubt was initially a camp with an Admiralty semaphore erected in 1822. However, this camp was demolished by 1867 and the area gradually developed into a full fort to protect the city from a possible French invasion. The redoubt was demolished after the Second World War when the site was excavated as a quarry and later developed as an underground gas storage area and aggregate recycling facility. Nothing of the fort remains except the outline of the pit in which it sat, however some of the other forts still remain, including Fort Purbrook, Fort Widley and Fort Southwick. On 1 April 1932 the parish was abolished and merged with Portsmouth and Havant, part also went to form Southwick and Widley. It is now in the unparished area of Portsmouth.

Farlington has several parks and open spaces for public recreation, most of which are owned by Portsmouth City Council. These include the Farlington Playing Fields (a large area of open space with football pitches and cricket fields), East Lodge Play Area (an open space with a children's play area and ball court), Zetland field (a small triangular open space with a children's play area) and the Waterworks Field Play Area (a neighbourhood park with play area and ball court). The nearest public library is Cosham.

Farlington is bordered to the south and east by the A27 road and A3 road respectively. The A2030 road known as the Havant Road is the principal local road that runs east/west through the middle of Farlington. The M27 motorway lies 1 km to the west of Farlington. Farlington has no immediate railway station and lies midway between Cosham railway station to the west and Bedhampton railway station to the east. Farlington had its own station, Farlington Halt but this closed on 4 July 1937. The station was built at Station Road in Drayton to serve Farlington racecourse but was later used for munitions and other light industrial traffic. On 23 July 1894, the station was the scene of an accident when a brake van derailed and the first two coaches overturned. The guard on the train was killed and seven passengers were injured, one of whom seriously. A slightly later document from Southwick Priory in 1215 also dedicates the church to St. Andrew. Adjacent to the south west corner of the church is the First World War memorial containing 84 names of those from the area who died during the war. To service the increasing local population of Farlington, the Church of the Resurrection was built in 1930. Designed by the architect Randoll Blacking of the firm Paget and Seeley, the church was built by S. Salter and Company. The marshes are a Local Nature Reserve, owned by Portsmouth City Council and managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), the marshes now host a vast number of migratory, overwintering wildfowl, including Brent Geese, Wigeons, Teals, Avocets, Redshanks and Dunlins. The marshes were gradually reclaimed from the harbour in 1770 by the Lord Mayor of Farlington.