Emsworth

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• South Street mobile trail – click here
• The Square mobile trail – click here
• 90 minute walking tour – click here

Follow the mobile QR code trails and Google maps to discover the history and heritage of Emsworth and its historical buildings, church, mills and lovely local pubs and restaurants.

Emsworth is in Saxon Wessex. Founded in 1215 the village was granted the right to hold a market and annual fair in 1239. The name Emsworth was probably once Emel’s worth, a ‘worth’ being an enclosure like a farm or hamlet, surrounded by a palisade.

Did you know?

A palisade is a stakewall or a paling, a defensive wall made of wooden stakes or tree trunks. The wood paling around a village helped keep out invaders, so if someone is ‘beyond the pale’ it means they are outside the palisade and therefore beyond village protection!

Emsworth was small and relatively poor during the Middle Ages and Tudor times, but it did have a busy little port where large quantities of wine (the drink of the upper class) were imported from Europe. Emsworth also had a small ship building industry on the West Brook stream, until it was dammed up to make the Mill Pond. King Street is named after John King who started a ship building partnership there in 1770.

Town life revolves around The Square, with numerous independent shops and 11 pubs, all within easy reach for a quick snack or refreshing pint!

Mobile heritage signs

Use your smartphone QR code app to scan local heritage trail signs on posts, in windows, on buildings, on pub menus and many other places. These QR signs transport you into the past through web content, stories, fun facts, pictures, video, audio, interesting history and even a scandal or two!

Did you know?

If you’ve scanned a Covid NHS square barcode you have the QR code app installed on your smartphone!