Southwick (St. James)

SOUTHWICK (St. James), a parish, in the union of Fareham, hundred of Portsdown, Fareham and S. divisions of the county of Southampton, 4 miles (N. E. by E.) from Fareham; containing 749 inhabitants. A priory of Black canons founded by Henry I. at Porchester, in 1133, was soon after removed to Southwick, where it flourished till the Dissolution, when its revenue was valued at £314. 17. 10. per annum. It acquired some celebrity as the scene of the marriage of Henry VI. with Margaret of Anjou; and a few remains of the buildings are still visible in Southwick Park. The parish comprises 4100 acres, of which 1727 are arable, 1167 meadow, 1016 wood, and 190 waste, &c.: good buildingstone is quarried, and there are kilns for burning chalk into lime. The manor-house, which was destroyed by fire in 1840, was a large building of some antiquity, with two wings terminating in gables. Charles I. was on a visit to the owner of the mansion at the time when the Duke of Buckingham, whom he had accompanied thus far from London, was assassinated by Felton, at Portsmouth; George I. was also entertained here. The publicans at Southwick enjoy the privilege, under a charter of Queen Elizabeth, of having no soldiers billeted upon them, or quartered in their houses. A fair for horses is held on April 5th; and here was formerly a market, granted to the priory in 1235. The living is a donative, with that of Boarhunt united, in the patronage of T. Thistlethwayte, Esq.; income, £156, with a house and garden: the tithes of the parish have been commuted for £147. The church contains a peal of bells valued at £1000.