The Solent and Southampton Water with its rivers and creeks were ideal for smuggling, with an easy run from France, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Wight, all centres for smuggling. This booklet looks at the history of smuggling in the area from the 17th Centuary, and the attempts of the authorities to counter it. The book also tells…

It is only really since the building of our church and school in 1872 that Hook-with Warsash has become a community. Until that time it had consisted of a number of small communities — in actual distance very close together but in reality stretches of water and vast areas of common kept them isolated from one another. The first signs…

The first recorded entry of the St Mary’s Hook with Warsash National School log book is dated 9 September 1872. In it the head, Mr Alfred Cooper, states “Opened school in the New School Room. Number present on the first day 56.” The school attracted a number of visitors in its early days, including the local Vicar who taught scripture,…

Abridged from “The Clock Tower at Warsash During the Period 1936-39”, Roy Knight, Warsash Local History Society Newsletter Number 1, October 1999. Please see this publication for the full article. The Warsash Clock Tower was built as a water tower to serve the Warsash House Estate. The tanks at the top held up to 6000 gallons, but by the mid-1930s these were…