SOUTHWICK, a parish in the hundred of PORTSDOWN,
Portsdown division of the county of SOUTHAMPTON,
3 miles (N. E. by E.) from Fareham, containing
711 inhabitants. The living is a donative, in the
patronage of T. Thistlethwayte, Esq. The church is dedicated
to St. James. A priory of Black canons, founded
by Henry I., and originally established at Porchester, in
1133, was soon after removed hither, and flourished
till the dissolution, when its revenue was valued at
£314. 17. 10. per annum; it acquired some historical
celebrity from its having been the scene of the marriage
of Henry VI., with Margaret of Anjou; and there
are still some small remains of the monastic buildings in
Southwick Park. The manor-house is a large building
of some antiquity, having two wings terminating in
gables, and embattled. King Charles I. was on a visit
to the owner of this mansion at the time when the
Duke of Buckingham, whom he had accompanied thus
far from London, was assassinated by Felton, at Portsmouth;
George I. was also entertained here. The publicans
at Southwick enjoy the peculiar privilege, under
a charter of Queen Elizabeth, of having no soldiers billeted
upon them, nor quartered in their houses. A fair
for horses is held on April 5th; and here was formerly
a market, granted to the priory, in 1235, but it has long
been disused.