Medieval Farming Hamlet

c. 1000-1500

Through the medieval period, the area now occupied by Waterlooville was agricultural land within the manors of Purbrook and Waterloo. Small farms and cottages were scattered along the lanes, and the population was tiny. The community looked to the parish churches at Purbrook, Wymering and Fareham for spiritual life, and to the local manor courts for justice. The land was worked in strips under the open field system, with common grazing on the rough ground and heath. The forest of Bere, a royal hunting ground, lay to the north and west, and the area sat on the edge of this wooded landscape. There was no village centre, no church and no market, just scattered farmsteads in a rural landscape.