England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Farlington St Andrew

The Parish

The parish of Farlington lies in the extreme southeast of Hampshire forming a stretch of Hampshire's coastline with Langstone Harbour and also being not too far from the county's border with neighbouring Sussex. Farlington lies about 5 miles northeast of the port and town of Portsmouth and whilst once a discrete and separate village has now been engulfed by the growing spread of Portsmouth's conurbation. Farlington once sat upon the busy A27 road which parallels the coast from Southampton through to Brighton, thankfully that busy road has been bypassed to Farlington's south.The parish is curiously shaped, being extended as thin strip from coast over the ridge of chalk and into the interior, one presumes this was done to allocate each parish a share of the land-use types available. As a consequence within Farlington there are grazing marshes bordering Langstone Harbour, sheep grazing on the chalk ridge and arable farming beyond making for a varied economy which would have been supplemented by the resources of the harbour, fishing and shell fisheries as well as wildfowl and reed. Today Farlington is very much a suburb of its near neighbour, the defending fort of Fort Purbrook still dominating local views but with a continuous stretch of housing and industry from the eastern edge of Farlington to Fareham and Portchester in the west. Modern developments include the coastal railway line from Portsmouth headed for London, Farlington not having a station and the modern A3(M) which runs northwards towards the capital to the east of Farlington. More peaceful developments include the creation of Farlington Marshes nature reserve an oasis of peace and tranquility in this very urban area. As a coastal settlement Farlington is drained by numerous small streams into nearby Langstone Harbour and thence to the English Channel. Farlington is sited at just 20 metres above the sea but the fort-topped chalk ridge just inland rises sharply to reach close to 100 metres. Farlington parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering just over 2,300 acres it would have supported a population of close to 800 parishioners. Farlington is not specifically mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Andrew's church lies towards the eastern edge of Farlington on the northern side of what was once the A27 now the Havant Road. Sadly the building illustrated here is not that in which these events took place, the present St Andrews is a Victorian replacement for a prior medieval building The former building was completely rebuilt in two campaigns, the chancel in 1871-2 and the nave & northern aisle 3 years later so that little remains of the original structure, Hints of a 13th century origin are present in the chancel arch and in the northern arcade but they are mere hints, Despite this modern reconstruction the church is considered by Pevsner to be one of the architect's (G.E.Street) "best small village churches". Despite its downgrading Havant Road is still busy but thankfully the church has a substantial car park to its east. Fronted by a head-height brick wall and slightly elevated relative to road level, the church sits in a small churchyard with many trees hugging the eastern end, in particular, and making for a challenge for the photographer