Farnham, Dorset

Toponymy

The name Farnham derives from the Old English fearn (fern) and ham (homestead) and means an enclosure or homestead where ferns grow. In the Domesday Book of 1086 Farnham was recorded as Ferneham or Fernham.

History

The early settlement history of Farnham isn't clear. Iron Age and Romano-British field systems were created in the surrounding area generally, though traces haven't survived at Farnham. The present-day Farnham village has emerged from five separate settlements associated with clearings in hazel coppice;

For much of its history Farnham has been closely connected with Tollard Royal, the adjacent village and parish in the neighbouring county of Wiltshire. Tollard Farnham (or Farnham Tollard), a tithing to the north of Farnham village, was previously owned by the de Tollard family of Tollard Royal, and until 1885, when it was joined with Farnham, its dead were taken along a track named Burials Drove to be buried at Tollard Royal.

Augustus Pitt Rivers lived nearby on the Rushmore Estate. Following his donation of some 20,000 antiquities to the University of Oxford in 1884, forming the nucleus of the Pitt Rivers Museum, he continued to collect archaeological and ethnological specimens for his personal collection, which was held in the former Orphan Gypsy School at Crossways, about 1/2 mi from Farnham village centre. The village's inn became the Museum Hotel to cater for visitors,

Geography

Farnham parish is situated at the head of the valley of the small Gussage Brook, on the dip slope of the hills of Cranborne Chase. It covers 1420 acre at an approximate altitude of 75 to 150 metres (250 to 500 feet) and geologically comprises chalk, overlain by clay-with-flints in places.

Demography

In the 2011 census Farnham civil parish had 105 dwellings, 92 households and a population of 183.

The population of the parish in the censuses between 1921 and 2001 is shown in the table below:

References

References

1. "Area: Farnham (Parish), Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics". [[Office for National Statistics]].
2. (2011). "A Dictionary of British Place Names". Oxford University Press.
3. "Farnham". Dorset OPC Project.
4. "Dorset A–G". domesdaybook.co.uk.
5. (November 2013). "'Farnham', An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 4: North (1972), pp. 17-19". University of London & History of Parliament Trust.
6. (March 2008). "Farnham". Dorset Life Magazine.
7. "Place: Farnham". domesdaymap.co.uk.
8. [http://history.prm.ox.ac.uk/collector_pittrivers.html Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers biography at the Pitt Rivers Museum History, 1884–1945]
9. Measured directly, Farnham village is {{convert. 7. mi. km. 7+1/2. mi. km. 0. 10. mi. km. 14+1/2. mi. km. 0. 0-7028-0327-8
10. Ordnance Survey 1;50,000 Landranger Series, Sheet 184 (Salisbury and The Plain), 1979
11. "Area: Farnham (Parish), Dwellings, Household Spaces and Accommodation Type, 2011 (KS401EW)". [[Office for National Statistics]].
12. (27 May 2014). "Parishes (A-L), 1921-2001- Census Years". [[Dorset County Council]].