The name Wallington probably means 'settlement of the Welsh' (or Britons) – Weala-tun / Walintone (Old English) and not 'walled town' as might be inferred.

The village is now an affluent residential suburb of Fareham, but was once a separate entity with a brewery and tannery as its main industries.

The bricks known as "Fareham reds" were made locally – the most famous use of which is the Royal Albert Hall.

In the 1860s the Royal Commission on the Defences of the United Kingdom recommended that a line of forts be built along Portsdown Hill.

It began in the late 1970s initially in response to the threat of demolition to the bridge over River Wallington as it was seen as the cause of flooding.