Purbrook is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

and local government sub-division located in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, England. Purbrook is on the

outskirts Outskirts or The Outskirts may refer to: * Rural–urban fringe The rural–urban fringe, also known as the outskirts, rurban, peri-urban or the urban hinterland, can be described as the "landscape interface between town and country", or als ...

Waterlooville Waterlooville is a market town in the Borough of Havant in Hampshire, England, approximately north northeast of Portsmouth. It is the largest town in the borough. The town has a population of about 64,350 and is surrounded by Purbrook, Blendwort ...

just north of the

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

city Boundary. Purbrook village is part of Purbrook Ward which also includes

Widley Widley is an area of the Greater Portsmouth conurbation in the South East of England near Waterlooville and Purbrook. It is on the dip slope of the South Downs just north of the ridge called Portsdown Hill. Widley is served by the A3(T), tru ...

and Crookhorn and has a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 9,281(2001), taking up 7.7% of Havant borough's

History

and

Cowplain Cowplain is a village north of Waterlooville, Hampshire, England. With a population of 9,353 at the 2011 census, it makes up above 7% of Havant borough's population. It grew along the old London to Portsmouth road (the A3) on which the village ...

did not exist before the year 1815. Before then the area was part of the

Forest of Bere The Forest of Bere is a mixed-use partially forested area in Hampshire immediately north of Fareham, Portsmouth and Roman Road, Havant and including a small part of the South Downs National Park.Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

. Now the

Forest of Bere The Forest of Bere is a mixed-use partially forested area in Hampshire immediately north of Fareham, Portsmouth and Roman Road, Havant and including a small part of the South Downs National Park.South Downs National Park. On the southern fringe of the forest was the little village of Purbrook. Its name is a corruption of Pucanbroc, which means the brook of the water-sprite. Early in the 19th century a windmill was built in Purbrook. Purbrook Church (St Johns) was built in 1858. In 1869 Purbrook Industrial School opened in Stakes Road. Purbrook Park House was built in 1770. It was rebuilt in 1837. In the 1920s the house became a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

and later a

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

. It is now known as Purbrook Park School. The school is a

Language College Language Colleges were introduced in 1995 as part of the specialist schools programme (SSP) in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, modern foreign languages. Schools that successf ...

Community

There are several schools in Purbrook: *Purbrook Park School *Purbrook Junior School *Purbrook Infant School *Morelands Primary School There is also a popular recreation ground known as Purbrook Heath. There is a children's

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

area,

tennis courts A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...

, several

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

pitches, a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

cage and a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

court all located in 'The Heath'. There is also The Rowans Hospice located opposite the tennis courts. There is a long road that runs right through it, which is called Purbrook Heath Road. It runs straight through and then bisects off to Southwick and Portsdown Hill.

Fort Purbrook Portsdown Hill is a long chalk ridge in Hampshire, England. The highest point of the hill lies within Fort Southwick at 131m above sea level. The ridge offers good views to the south over Portsmouth, the Solent, Hayling Island and Gosport, with ...

is also another main attraction just located off Portsdown Hill. It is home to an activity centre, and is occasionally open for

craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale prod ...

fairs. Some of the activities are

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

, indoor

rock climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

and

rifle shooting Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such as ...

. Fort Purbrook was used as the location for the 1st 'The Late Bay' Winter Camp. After a very successful weekend the organisation have agreed to hold an annual meeting here. There is also 1 newsagent, a Onestop, 1 fish and chip shop and 1 pub, The Woodman.

Papers

The only local

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

Purbrook has is '' The News''.

Notable people from Purbrook

Mary Eleanor Bowes Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne (24 February 1749 – 28 April 1800) was a notable member of the British aristocracy during the Georgian period (18th century). Referred to by some as "The Unhappy Countess", she was a ...

* April Cantelo - soprano, opera and oratorio singer *

Roy Heather Roy Heather (20 May 1935 – 3 September 2014) was an English television actor best remembered for playing cafe owner Sid in the sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses''. Heather was born in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. After leaving school, he w ...

- Actor Only Fools and Horses * Charmian May - actress, The Good Life, Bridget Jones’s Diary * Mason Mount - Professional Football Player

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Hampshire