FAREHAM  , a

market town in the Fareham parliamentary division of Hampshire, England, 76 m . S.W. from London by the London & South Western railway . Pop. of urban district (19oi) 8246 . It lies at the head of a creek opening into the north-western corner of Portsmouth harbour . The principal industries are the manufacture of sackings, ropes, bricks, coarse earthen-ware, terra-cotta, tobacco-pipes and leather . Fareham has a considerable trade in corn, timber and coal; the creek being accessible to vessels of 300 tons . Three miles E. of Fareham; on Portsmouth harbour, are the interesting ruins of Po -chester 176 Castle, an extensive walled enclosure retaining its Norman keep, and exhibiting in its outer walls considerable evidence of Roman workmanship; Professor Haverfield, however, denies that it occupies the site of the Roman Port= Magnus . The Church of St Mary has some fine Norman portions . It belonged to an Augustinian priory founded by Henry I . At Titchfield, 3 M . W. of Fareham, are ruins of the beautiful Tudor mansion, Place House, built on the site of a Premonstratensian abbey of the 13th century, of which there are also fragments . The fact that Fareham (Fernham, Ferham) formed part of the original endowment of the see of Winchester fixes its existence certainly as early as the 9th century .

It is mentioned in the Domesday Survey as subject to a reduced

assessment on account of its exposed position and liability to Danish attacks . There is evidence to show that Fareham had become a borough before 1264, but no charter can be found . It was a mesne borough held of the bishop of Winchester, but it is probable that during the 8th century the privileges of the burgesses were allowed to lapse, as by 1$35 it had ceased to be a borough . Fareham returned two members to the parliament of 1306, but two years later it petitioned against representation on the ground of expense . A fair on the 31St of October and the two following days was held under grant of Henry III . The day appears to have been afterwards changed to the 29th of June, and in the 18th century was mainly important for the sale of toys . It was abolished in 187f . Fare-ham owed its importance in medieval times to its facilities for commerce . It was a free port and had a considerable trade in wool and wine . Later its shipping declined and in the 16th century it was little more than a fishing village . Its commercial prosperity in modern times is due to its nearness to Portsmouth .