Hook
  The village of Hook, often believed to be a modern village is in the district of Hart in the north east of the county and it is a large village that lies astride the A30 north of Junction 5 of the M3 motorway and about six miles from Basingstoke.

On the East side is the picturesque valley of the River Whitewater and in the south can be found Hook Common and Bartley Heath, the latter being an area of wetlands which is designated a Site of Scientific Interest

Hook did not become a parish in its own right till 1932 and up till then it was nothing but a hamlet that overlapped the parishes of Nately Scures, Newnham and Odiham.

But the years have seen the village grown from a tiny hamlet with a handful of cottages in the 18th century to a thriving community in the 21st. The White Hart hotel attracted a large amount of trade as it was the staging post of rhe London to Exeter and Gosport to Reading turnpikes and near by was a place that repaired coaches. This area was the stamping ground of Thomas Boulter who was a notorious Highwayman here.

It is said that he waylaid at least three post chaises in Hook and robbed the passengers and fled but despite a large group of men chasing him he was never apprehended.

 

A Plough has been put on the grass outside the car park

A school was constructed in 1843 which brought education to both Hook and Newnham and in 1896 it was enlarged for the second time, the railway arrived after a lot of pressure and the way of the village changed considerably and trade got so good that a goods depot was opened in 1902. Apart from benefitting Gowers Iron Foundry who were then able to move bigger machines around a coal yard and a sawmill were set up.

The old tin church was demolished in 1938 and a new church was built. Hook House , Oaklands and OId Raven House which were the homes of the upper classes still can be seen but Crossways where a well known raincoat was made by a Thomas Burberry was demolished.

Private housing estates began to appear in the 1960s and this led to a growth of population that seemed to rapidly grow, in the late twentieth century the village changed to a commuter area with people working in the nearby towns and as it was not far from London they began to work there as well, but it did keep up with its rapidly expanding growth by building a much larger school and a community hall as well as other much needed amenities for its inhabitants.
HOOK -ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST