Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HAVANT

HAVANT, a small town, a parish, a liberty, and a district in Hants. The town stands on Langstone harbour, at the intersection of the South Coast railway with the London and Portsmonth railway, 2½ miles W of the boundary with Sussex, and 7½ N E of Portsmouth; was known at Domesday as Havehunte; consists of four streets, in cruciform arrangement, and named after the cardinal points; communicates with Hayling island, across the Langstone channel, by a swing bridge; is a polling place; and has a head post office, ‡ a railway station with telegraph, two chief inns, a public newsroom, a church, a dissenting chapel, a Roman Catholic chapel, a national school, and a workhouse. The church contains portions of all periods from Norman to late perpendicular; is cruciforni, with a central tower; and contains an effigies of Thomas Aylward, the secretary of William of Wykeham. A weekly market is held on Saturday; and fairs are held on 22 June and 17 Oct. Tanning, malting, brewing, parchment making, and a trade in flour and coals are carried on.—The parish contains also the hamlets of Brockhampton, Leigh, and Langstone. Acres, 3, 201; of which 438 are water. Real property, £9, 648; of which £100 are in gas works. Pop., 2, 470. Houses, 480. The manor belonged anciently to the monks of Winchester. Leigh Park is tlie seat of Sir W. Stone, Esq. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Winchester. Value, £489.* Patron, the Bishop of Winchester. The rectory of Redhill is a separate benefice.-The liberty is conterminate with the parish.—The district contains the parishes of Havant, South Hayling, North Hayling, Warblington, Bedhampton, and Farlington. Acres, 24, 527. Poorrates, in 1863, £4, 465. Pop. in 1861, 7, 212. Houses, 1, 463. Marriages in 1862, 48; births, 216, -of which 13 were illegitimate; deaths, 142, -of which 44 were at ages under 5 years, and 5 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 408; births, 1, 957; deaths, 1, 350. The places of worship, in 1851, were 9 of the Church of England, with 3, 937 sittings; 4 of Independents, with 943 s.; 1 of Baptists, with 200 s.; 1 of Wesleyans, with 100 s.; 1 of Roman Catholics, with 100 s.; and 1 undefined, with 20 attendants. The schools were 10 public day schools, with 852 scholars; 24 private day schools, with 448 s.; 13 Sunday schools, with 926 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 22 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, a liberty, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Havant CP/AP       Havant RegD/PLU       Hampshire AncC
Place names: HAVANT     |     HAVEHUNTE
Place: Havant

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