Southwick is a village in

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. 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 ...

boundary measured from

Portsea Island Portsea Island is a flat and low-lying natural island in area, just off the southern coast of Hampshire in England. Portsea Island contains the majority of the city of Portsmouth. Portsea Island has the third-largest population of all th ...

. Homes and farms in the village are influenced by the style of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

apart from Church Lodge.

History

Southwick was initially the site of

Southwick Priory Southwick Priory or Our Lady at Southwick () was a priory of Augustinian canons founded in Portchester Castle on Portsmouth Harbour and later transferred north to Southwick, Hampshire, England. It ceased at the Dissolution of the Monasteries ...

, in the 12th century. On the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

the estate, including the village, was granted to John White.

Southwick House Southwick House is a Grade II listed 19th-century manor house of the Southwick Estate in Hampshire, England, about north of Portsmouth. It is home to the Defence School of Policing and Guarding, and related military police capabilities. Histor ...

, a new manor house was completed in 1813. This house was gutted by fire in 1838, and was renovated and rebuilt by 1841. The house and part of the estate was requisitioned by the government during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, when the house was Dwight Eisenhower's

SHAEF Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF; ) was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander in SHAEF ...

headquarters for Operation Overlord, or D-Day, the cross-channel invasion of Normandy. The house has been used by various branches of the armed forces, including as HMS Dryad, ever since. Southwick is rare in that the village is still entirely owned by the Southwick Estate (except for Church Lodge). The most obvious sign of this is that all the houses, except manor houses, have dark red-painted front doors - a condition laid down in the tenancy agreements. The only exceptions to this are the White House, the residence of the vicar and Church Lodge. Church Lodge is the only privately owned house in the old village and is shown in the fourth picture below. The church itself is a Grade I listed early medieval building, known as St James, but officially "St James without (i.e. outside) the priory gate". The

Defence School of Policing and Guarding The Defence School of Policing and Guarding is the training centre for the Service Police of the British Armed Forces. It consolidates training for the Royal Navy Police, Royal Military Police and Royal Air Force Police in one location, assuring ...

is situated at nearby Southwick Park. As of 16 October 2011 the

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Af ...

visited.

Gallery

Image:Southwick P1010137.JPG Image:Southwick P1010207.JPG Image:Southwick P1010213.JPG

References

External links

{{authority control Southwick