Place:Warsash, Hampshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Warsash is a village in southern Hampshire, England, situated at the mouth of the River Hamble, west of the area known as Locks Heath. Warsash is in the Borough of Fareham. The village lies in the Hook-with-Warsash parish, with the village of Hook.

Before the 19th century what is now known as Warsash was a number of separate hamlets; Warsash itself; Hook to the south at the mouth of the River Hamble; Newtown between Hook and Warsash and Chilling on Southampton Water. Hook was of earlier importance, as a 'dockyard' during the Hundred Years' War. At the end of this war Hook's importance declined, and for the next 300 years Hook, Chilling and Warsash continued as hamlets making livings from fishing and smuggling.

In 1807 the shipbuilder George Parsons, who had lost the lease of his former shipyard up-river at Bursledon, began construction of a shipyard at Warsash at a site where the present Shore Road was later built; all the buildings at the former Bursledon site, including a graving shed and a mould-loft, were dismantled and re-erected at Warsash.

In the 19th century Warsash started to expand in size and importance when shipbuilding moved across the river from Hamble-le-Rice. Along the coast Newtown was also expanding, the salterns had expanded into a chemical works and an iron smelting industry had started. By the mid-19th century the two communities had been linked by road, with housing along these roads filling the open space to create one community.

By the end of 19th century the lack of threat from the French had sent the shipbuilding industry into decline. The iron and chemical works were also declining. The main sources of income for the area were the burgeoning strawberry growing industry and traditional fishing and agriculture. Alongside these industries grew businesses providing refreshments and services to visitors to the area, especially those of the new leisure sailing pursuits. At the crossroads in the centre of the village there is an unusual clock tower built around 1900, an example of the prosperity the leisure industry brought.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 3, chapter on Titchfield.
• GENUKI has a list of archive holders in Hampshire including the Hampshire Record Office, various museums in Portsmouth and Southhampton, the Isle of Wight Record Office and Archives.
• The Hampshire Online Parish Clerk project has a large collection of transcriptions from Parish Registers across Hampshire.
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 together with tables listing the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered, along with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. Do respect the copyright on this material.
• The three-storey City Museum in Winchester covers the Iron Age and Roman periods, the Middle Ages, and the Victorian period.
• Volumes in The Victoria County History Series are available for Hampshire through British History Online. There are three volumes and the county is covered by parishes within the old divisions of "hundreds".

A collection of maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrating the English county of Hampshire over the period 1832-1932 (the last two are expandible):

• The Hundreds of Hampshire, a map from HMSO Boundary Commissioners, dated 1832
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts as of 1900, a map from the Ordnance Survey
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts after the alterations of 1932, a map from the Ordnance Survey

• A group of maps of the post-1974 municipal districts or boroughs of Hampshire on Wikipedia Commons