Fareham is a coastal town just about half way between Southampton and Portsmouth and it is to Portsmouth I look for clues to the town's commercial success.
I write in my blog piece on Portsmouth of the key role it had in British naval history. It looked to Fareham for key manufactures at its time of greatest need: the Napoleonic Wars. The Navy needed iron for various uses in its ships and a Gosport blacksmith named Henry Cort had taken on a business of supplying chains. Cort was not satisfied by the then current methods of making iron and through extensive experimentation arrived at his puddling process which produced strong wrought iron. In this venture he took on a foundry in Fareham where he produced iron for the Navy. Cort's methods were adopted widely and he is regarded as the father of the iron industry. I write of him in how Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World.
The second contribution came later when Lord Palmerston ordered the building of defences around Portsmouth and this time Fareham supplied great quantities of high quality bricks. There is evidence of the Romans making bricks from the mud of the estuary mixed with shell fragments. Later rich reserves of clay were discovered to make the London Blue which can be seen in much of the railway infrastructure. Fareham Reds can be seen in the Albert Hall and at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. As well as bricks, chimney pots and tiles were made and supplied to nearly all western counties.The clay was also used for making pipes when tobacco became more generally available. Cigars and cigarettes later put pay to clay pipes.
The third contribution is probably the oldest and is the production of leather. The tanneries of Fareham date back as far as bricks if not farther. Leather was used as a strong flexible material before the days of plastics, as well as for shoes, clothing, bags etc. Coaches and wagons were comprised largely of leather and of course there were many million saddles and bridles. The Army and Navy were major users and hides came to Fareham from all over the country.
There is no record of whether the fourth contribution was supplied to the Navy, it was however enjoyed by many in the towns and cities: strawberries grown over 2,500 acres.
During the Second World War, Fareham became the location for the construction of the Mulberry Harbours for the D Day landings.
Further reading:
Lesley Burton and Brian Musselwhite, An illustrated History of Fareham (Southampton: Ensign Publications, 1991)
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