Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for PETERSFIELD

PETERSFIELD, a town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a division, in Hants. The town stands on the E verge of the county, near the river Rother, and adjacent to the Guild ford and Portsmouth railway, at thejunction of the lines to Bishops-Waltham and to Petworth, 18 miles E by S of Winchester; claims to have been chartered by Elizabeth; is governed nominally by amayor, but really by the county magistrates; sent a member to parliament once in the time of Edward I., and once in that of Edward VI., sent two from the time of Elizabeth till 1832, and now sends one; was a place of some note during the stage-coach days, when nearly 30coaches passed through it daily; serves now as a goodcentre to tourists for exploring the surrounding country; is a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and a polling-place; and has a head post-office, ‡ a railway station withtelegraph, two banking offices, two good inns, a town hall, a corn exchange, a police station, an equestrian statue of William III. in the market-place, a plain old parochial church with a Norman tower, a church of Sheet built in 1867, two dissenting chapels, a literary institute, an endowed school or college with £568 a year, national and British schools, several unendowed alms-houses, a work-house with accommodation for 100 persons, and charities £15. A fortnightly market is held on Wednesday; and fairs, on 10 July, 6 Oct., and 11 Dec. The old boroughcomprises only 234 acres in P. parish; but the new or parliamentary borough comprises the entire parishes of Petersfield, Buriton, Froxfield, and Liss, and parts of the parishes of Steep and East Meon. Amount of property and income tax charged in 1863, £2,045. Electors in 1833, 234; in 1863, 322. Pop. of the old borough in 1861, 1, 466. Houses, 270. Pop. of the p. borough in 1851, 5, 550; in 1861, 5, 655. Houses, 1, 135.

The parish consists of the old borough and Sheet tything. Acres, 1, 783. Real property, £7, 183; of which £80 are in gas-works. Pop., 1, 950. Houses, 377. The manor belongs to Sir W. . G. Joliffe, Bart. The living is a p. curacy, annexed to the rectory of Buriton, in the diocese of Winchester.—The sub-district contains the parishes of Petersfield, Buriton, Liss, Greatham, Empshott, and Hawkley, and part of Steep. Acres, 19, 561. Pop., 5, 172. Houses, 1,024. The districtcomprehends also the sub-district of East Meon, containing the parishes of East Meon, Froxfield, Privett, Colemore, and Priors-Dean. Acres of the district, 40, 112. Poor-rates in 1863, £4, 773. Pop. in 1851, 7, 814; in 1861, 7, 853. Houses, 1, 584. Marriages in 1863, 55; births, 242, of which 13 were illegitimate; deaths, 132, of which 46 were at ages under 5 years, and 4 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 480; births, 21, 516; deaths, 1, 519. The places of worship, in 1851, were 12 of the Church of England, with 3, 556 sittings; 2 of Independents, with 545 s.; 3 of Wesleyans, with 226 s.; 2 of Primitive Methodists, with 156 s.; and 2 undefined, with 120 s. The schools were 18 public day-schools, with 1,047 scholars; 14 private day-schools, with 245 s.; 13 Sunday schools, with 940 s.; and 1 evening-school for adults, with 60 s. The division comprisesthe hundreds of East Meon and Finchdean. Acres, 54, 319. Pop. in 1851, 10, 942; in 1861, 11, 474. Houses, 2, 314.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a division"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Petersfield Ch/AP/CP       Petersfield SubD       Petersfield RegD/PLU       Hampshire AncC
Place: Petersfield

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