Fareham Creek

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.