Place:Sarisbury, Hampshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Sarisbury is a village to the west of Park Gate within the borough of Fareham. Its focal point, The Green, originated as a tongue of land at the extremity of Titchfield Common which was left when the rest was enclosed. Its focal point is still the parish church of St Paul, built in 1836 to a design by Jacob Owen.

In previous times it was a rural locality dependent on fruit growing, but is now largely populated by urban workers who commute to Fareham, Southampton or even London from the nearby Swanwick railway station.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Sarisbury from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"SARISBURY, a chapelry in Titchfield parish, Hants; on the river Humble, 5¼ miles W by S of Fareham [railway] station. It was constituted in 1836; and it includes Warsash hamlet and Swanwick village, the latter of which has a post-office under Southampton. Real property: £4,142. Population: 1,406. Houses: 280. The living is a [perpetual] curacy in the diocese of Winchester. Value: £120. Patron: the Vicar of Titchfield. The church is a neat edifice."

Sarisbury was formed as a civil parish from part of the parish of Titchfield in 1894. It was located in the Fareham Rural District until 1932 when it was abolished. Its area was divided between Curbridge and Fareham civil parishes. The area has been part of the Fareham Borough since 1974.

NOTE: Although Swanwick and Warsash were parts of Sarisbury and never were separate administrations, they each are sufficiently significant settlements to merit individual articles within WeRelate.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 3, chapter on Titchfield.
• GENUKI has a list of archive holders in Hampshire including the Hampshire Record Office, various museums in Portsmouth and Southhampton, the Isle of Wight Record Office and Archives.
• The Hampshire Online Parish Clerk project has a large collection of transcriptions from Parish Registers across Hampshire.
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 together with tables listing the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered, along with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. Do respect the copyright on this material.
• The three-storey City Museum in Winchester covers the Iron Age and Roman periods, the Middle Ages, and the Victorian period.
• Volumes in The Victoria County History Series are available for Hampshire through British History Online. There are three volumes and the county is covered by parishes within the old divisions of "hundreds".

A collection of maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrating the English county of Hampshire over the period 1832-1932 (the last two are expandible):

• The Hundreds of Hampshire, a map from HMSO Boundary Commissioners, dated 1832
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts as of 1900, a map from the Ordnance Survey
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts after the alterations of 1932, a map from the Ordnance Survey

• A group of maps of the post-1974 municipal districts or boroughs of Hampshire on Wikipedia Commons