Fareham, c.1965

Photo ref: F103037

More about this scene

As the population of Fareham increased during the 1820s and 1830s, there was a need for more schools, another church, a new workhouse, and a library and lecture hall. Holy Trinity Church in West Street was built to accommodate the growing numbers of ordinary working people. Light and uplifting, the church was designed to minister to the spiritual needs of the poor. The architect Thomas Ellis Owen with his father Jacob designed the church. Two years later he designed the workhouse in Wickham Road, which ministered to the material needs of the poor. In the same year he designed Portland Hall, which catered for the educational and intellectual needs of the people. The church had a light interior and a spire which pointed to heaven (the spire was demolished in 1992 when it was deemed unsafe). The lecture hall, built in Greek revival style with Ionic columns, emphasised the spirit of classicism and learning. The workhouse, with ¾-inch iron bars on the windows, imprisoned the paupers while keeping them from starvation. Each of these buildings served the spiritual, intellectual and material needs of local people. All three buildings were designed by the same man, and were built within a couple of years of each other; all three buildings are still standing.