Fawley 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 ...

and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

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

, England. It is situated in the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, fea ...

on the western shore of the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay t ...

, approximately 7 miles (11 kilometres) south of

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. Fawley is also the site of

Fawley Refinery Fawley Refinery is an oil refinery located at Fawley, Hampshire, England. The refinery is owned by Esso Petroleum Company Limited, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation, which acquired the site in 1925. Situated on Southampton Water, it was ...

, operated by

ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 3 ...

, which is the largest facility of its kind in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. The decommissioned

Fawley Power Station Fawley Power Station was an oil-fired power station located on the western side of Southampton Water, between the villages of Fawley and Calshot in Hampshire, England. Its chimney was a prominent (and navigationally useful) landmark, but it ...

is also located less than a mile to the south east of the village.

The village of Fawley

A settlement has existed at Fawley for many centuries, and the village itself was recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

. Other areas in the parish can boast remains from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with ...

and Roman occupation. A church at Fawley apparently existed in 971. The present church ( All Saints) was built between 1170 and 1340. This church still exists and is the parish church of much of the surrounding area. The arrival of the Esso oil refinery in 1921 transformed a sparsely populated agricultural area into an industrial centre with a population of around 14,500. Modern Fawley is smaller and less populous than its more recently founded neighbours, Holbury and

Blackfield Blackfield is a collaborative music project by the English musician and founder of Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson, and Israeli rock singer Aviv Geffen. Together, six albums have been released under the moniker. The first two records, ''Black ...

, but remains the administrative centre of the parish. Other villages within the parish of Fawley include Hardley (a suburb of Holbury), Langley (a suburb of Blackfield), Ashlett, and Calshot. Calshot possesses shingle beaches and attracts significant numbers of tourists and local visitors during the summer months. Near Calshot is Luttrell's Tower, an 18th-century Gothic folly.Hampshire Treasures, Volume 5 (New Forest), Page 125

History

The origin of the name "Fawley" is uncertain. It might mean "fallow(-coloured) wood/clearing" or "clearing with land broken in for arable".
/ref> In

of 1086 Fawley is listed among those lands which were held by the

Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' (except ...

for the support of the monks of

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 ...

.Domesday Map - Fawley
/ref> In 1284 the monks gave up all their rights in Fawley to the bishop.Victoria County History, (1912), ''A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 5'', Fawley
/ref> There seems to have been a close connexion between Fawley Manor and the manor of

Bitterne Bitterne is an eastern suburb and ward of Southampton, England. Bitterne derives its name not from the similarly named bird, the bittern, but probably from the bend in the River Itchen; the Old English words ''byht'' and ''ærn'' together mean ...

, which also belonged to the bishops of Winchester. In 1546 John Skullard was tenant at Fawley Manor, which remained in the hands of that family until 1681. In 1705 the manor was conveyed to Edward Peachey, and a family settlement concerning Fawley Manor was made by William and Erlysman Peachy in 1765. In 1801 the manor was conveyed to Robert Drummond of Cadlands. Fawley thus became annexed to the neighbouring manor of Cadlands. The manor of Cadlands was in the 13th century attached to the lordship of the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Is ...

until the end of the century when the overlordship was sold to the

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

. The manor was held from 1241 onwards by Titchfield Abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Sometime after 1560 the manor was combined with the estates of Holbury and Langley, and it subsequently fell into two moieties. One moiety was in the possession of the Stanley family from 1693 onwards, the other moiety passed to Lady Mary Talbot, and thence after 1772 into Drummond family. The Cadland estate, which stretched down the coast of Southampton Water for nearly eight miles, was the residence of the Drummond family, who owned most of the land in the parish. Cadland house was built in 1773, but was greatly enlarged in 1836; it burnt down in 1916 but was rebuilt in 1935.Fawley - southernlife.org.uk
It was subsequently demolished with the growth of Fawley oil refinery which is built over much of the old Cadlands estate. Three other estates in the parish are those of Ower, Stanswood, and Stone, all of which are recorded in the

of 1086, and still exist as farms in the south of the parish. With a size of 37 households, Stanswood was in fact the largest settlement in the area in 1086.Domesday Map - Stanswood
/ref>

Notable people

* Edward Unwin (1864–1950), recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previousl ...

* Revd William Gibson (1804–1862), parish priest, father of: :: Arthur Sumner Gibson (1844–1927), England rugby union international, born in Fawley ::

Edgar Charles Sumner Gibson Edgar Charles Sumner Gibson (23 January 1848, Fawley, Hampshire, England - 8 March 1924, Fareham) was the 31st Bishop of Gloucester. He was born into a clerical family. His father was a clergyman and his son Theodore Sumner Gibson was a long serv ...

(1848–1924), Bishop of Gloucester, born in Fawley :: John Sumner Gibson (1833–1892), English clergyman and cricketer

Sport and leisure

Fawley has a

Non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is s ...

club Fawley A.F.C., which plays at the Waterside Sports & Social Club. The formerly known Waterside Sports and Social Club (casually known as the Esso club) suffered financial difficulties, however

and Holbury Community Sports Association (HCSA) plan to refurbish the site and keep the changing rooms, tennis courts, and other facilities still running. Fawley also has a

Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

team, Fawley RFC, who play out of Newlands Park close to Fawley, having left their former home ground at the Esso club as of 2016. They currently play in Hampshire Division 1 having gained promotion at the end of 2018 - 2019 season.

Fawley oil refinery and chemical works

A refinery at Fawley was first established in 1921 by the ''Atlantic Gulf and West Indies Company''. It was acquired by

Esso Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (the phonetic ...

in 1925, and it was rebuilt and extended in 1951. It is the largest oil refinery in the United Kingdom with a capacity of 330,000

barrels A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...

a day.Fawley refinery
ExxonMobil

References

External links

Fawley Parish Council

Community website for Fawley

Fawley Churches

''Welcome to Fawley'' - an introduction to Fawley's oil refinery from Exxon Mobil
{{authority control Fawley Ports and harbours of Hampshire Populated coastal places in Hampshire