Fareham began life as a Saxon village and was originally
called 'Ferne Ham', which translated as village by the ferns.
The original settlement was situated on a small hill near to
where the church of St Peter and St Paul now stands. It is
believed this location was picked due to it's close proximity
to a creek where ships could load and unload there cargo, and
the fact that a hill is fairly easy to defend.
Fareham
Creek was exploited by trade for many centuriesand was a busy
little port, with timber being a major export from the town
and wine a major import. In addition to this Fareham also has
a long history of boat building due to the shelter the creek
provides. In 1630 it was said that Fareham Creek was: 'an
absolutely good and safe place to moor ships and in all
respects as convenient and safe a harbor as Chatham.'
It was around this time that Fareham had a thriving Tanning
industry due to being close to both Oak trees and fresh water
- both a requirement for the tanning of leather. Being close
to Portsmouth it also provided a suitable location for navy
officers to house themselves away from the dirt and bustle of
Portsmouth, but still within reasonable travelling distance.
During the 18th century the creek proved indispensable
for Fareham's emerging industries of brick building (Fareham
Red's were used to construct the Royal Albert Hall) and
wrought iron products which flourished in two local
foundries, first in Funtley and then in Fareham town itself.
Fareham Creek was once again used for regular shipments of
coal used by the wrought iron industry until the Fareham
Foundry closed in the 1990's.
'Fareham Creek' was taken
at the narrowest part, close to the village of Wallington
(behind the railways viaduct in the picture). Three exposures
were used in the creation of this print, which were merged
together in Photomatix. This original intention wasn't to do
another HDR piece, but when trying to expose for the brickwork
of the viaduct, the clouds would be washed out or the bricks
would be almost black when exposing for the clouds.
As
I am not very good at painting myself, I decided to apply a
painterly feel to the final image, and I am quite happy as
this helped show off the Fareham Red bricks used in the
viaduct and maintain a little moodiness in the clouds. |
