Warblington

Ancient settlement with Saxon church, castle ruins, rural harbour-edge landscape, and a peaceful character distinct from Havant.

Warblington lies to the south-east of Havant town centre and is historically a separate and much older settlement. The parish church of St Thomas a Becket at Warblington has Saxon origins and stands in a churchyard that overlooks the harbour shore. Beside the church are the fragmentary ruins of Warblington Castle, a sixteenth-century fortified manor house associated with Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, who was executed by Henry VIII in 1541. Only a single tower and sections of wall survive. The area around the church and castle retains a distinctly rural quality, with open farmland running down to the shores of Langstone Harbour. South of the old village, the residential streets merge with the broader Havant and Emsworth built-up area. Warblington Cemetery, on the Havant Road, serves the wider district. The shore path from Warblington provides access to the harbour edge and connects to the longer coastal walks around Chichester Harbour AONB. The contrast between the ancient, rural churchyard and the twentieth-century housing nearby is one of the distinctive features of this area.