Farlington is a district of Portsmouth. It is located in the north east of the city and is not actually on Portsea Island. Farlington was incorporated into the city in 1932 and now forms a continuous development with Cosham and Drayton. It is in the Drayton and Farlington ward of the city. Farlington was a small rural community for the majority of its existence. In 1891 a racecourse, called 'Portsmouth Park', was built in Farlington, between the Havant road and the shoreline. This new course was built with all of the modern facilities available at the time, including its own railway station, with the intention of turning it into premier tracks. However race meetings were suspended during World War One and the War Office turned the course into one of the country's biggest ammunition dumps. After hostilities ceased, the War Office held control of the site and it was not released until 1929 when it was bought by Portsmouth City Council. The council then sold on the land for private housing development, eventually leading to the end of Farlington as a distinct community. Farlington is also home of the Portsmouth Water Company's filtration beds. In 1812 Thomas Smith built a reservoir to hold spring water from Farlington Marshes. The marshes now constitute a renowned nature reserve which hosts a vast number of migratory, overwintering wildfowl, including Brent Geese, Wigeons, Teals, Avocets, Redshanks and Dunlins. The waterworks were built in 1908 and by 1924 there were five reservoirs and eight sand filters. Many of the local roads to the north of the Havant Road were named after senior company officers. Amongst these are Grant, Woodfield, Galt, Gillman and Evelegh. The parish of Farlington has two churches - the ancient parish church of St. Andrew and the Church of the Resurrection. St. Andrew's is situated at the eastern end of the district on the main Havant Road. Adjacent to the church on the west side once stood Farlington House which was demolished in the 1960s to make way for a new housing estate that extended Old Rectory Road. The Church of the Resurrection was built in 1930 and is geographically located in Drayton. Farlington was also home to Farlington Redoubt which was part of the "Palmerston's Folly" defence ring of forts around Portsmouth. They were built to protect the city from a possible French invasion. The defences were ordered by the then Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston. However, peace with France ensued before the defences were finished, hence the title "Palmerston's Folly". The redoubt was demolished in the early 1960s; however some of the other forts still remain, such as Forts Purbrook, Widley and Southwick.
Famous residents
Among the famous people connected to Farlington is Thomas Pounde, an EnglishJesuitlay brother. After some thirty years spent in Elizabethan prisons for his Catholic faith, he is said to have died in the same room of the family house where he was born. In the late 16th century, the house, known as Belmont, was notorious as a safe house for recusants. An early 20th-century historian thought "The present Belmont Castle, on Portsdown Hill, probably built on or near the site of the old house.” Recently, however, a different view of the location of the house has been offered. Farlington is also home to the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth 2017-2018 Ken Ellcome. Also born of the area, though somewhat less known, is Farley Pitt the Younger.
