Freemantle

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This article is about the Southampton suburb. For the Australian city, see Fremantle, Western Australia

Map showing Freemantle within Southampton

Map showing Southampton within England

Freemantle is suburb in Southampton, UK. Some sources denote it as part of Millbrook [1], though some disagree.

A French name, 'cold cloak', latinized in the third form quoted. It is probably a transferred name, as there are several instances in north France of the form 'Fromentel'. But it may have arisen as a joke or partial mistranslation. There is a common place name type 'Caldecote' (eg in Buckinghamshire) 'cold cottages'. There could have been an instance here which was mistakenly assumed to contain Middle English 'cote'='coat', itself of French origin. On the other hand the Norman sense of humour has not achieved wide recognition. [2]

It was originally a large house and estate within the parish of Millbrook and before that was a farm house and land within that same parish. In 1851 it was deemed a seperate parish. The Freemantle House and Estate was sold by its last owner, Sir George Henry Hewett in 1852, and was bought by Sampson Payne, a local property developer. He disposed of the land in smaller parcels ranging in value from £20 to £100 to various property developers and building societies. Within a short time, he had also intersected the park by nearly twenty roads.

Freemantle as we know it today began to be built up in the 1850s and is still mostly small Victorian semi detached and terraced houses. The school was built in 1857 and the Church was completed in 1865. Both school and church are still very much open today.

[edit] Freemantle Common

Rather confusingly perhaps, there is also a Freemantle Common in Southampton, although this is a considerable distance from Freemantle itself, in the suburb of Bitterne.

Districts and suburbs of the City of Southampton