Fawley is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, 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, featu ...

on the western shore of the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and mainland Great Britain; the major historic ports of Southampton and Portsmouth lie inland of its shores. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit whi ...

, approximately south of

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. Fawley is also the site of Fawley Refinery, operated by

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

, 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The decommissioned Fawley Power Station 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

. Other areas in the parish can boast remains from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

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, 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'' the offic ...

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 N ...

.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, 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 (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

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, parti ...

. 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 decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

* 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 (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 ...

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 football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

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" (from the phon ...

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 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