A large dominant clock tower stands at the centre of the village, this was built c1900,  built by Mr. G. A. Shenley and was constructed to house the water tanks to supply water to the Warsash House Estate, including various cottages that were occupied by employees, also as a yacht store and village clock, it was.an exmple of Warsash's Edwardian building and its prosperity, when people travelled for miles for crab and lobster or a strawberry tea.

Hook was of earlier importance as a 'dockyard' in the Hundred Years War and it later became the Hook Estate of the Hornby family The Hook being destroyed by fire in the early part of the 20th century. The village south of the A27 has now been more or less completely covered by housing devlopments and this has made Sarisbury, Park Gate, Warsash and Locks Heath a type of dormitory town.

The Prince of Wales, late to become King Edward VII visited Warsash House but this was demolished and a modern  housing estate replaced it just before the Second World War, but the water tower and model farmhouse remain, untiland electric clock was installed in 1945 it used to strike ships times.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE CLOCK TOWER

"In 1938 my husband purchased the property known as “clock tower and buildings” and we moved into a flat over the coach houses in Shore Road. This flat was entered by a spiral staircase and a long passage on the north side giving access to seven rooms all facing south. 

Over the next four years or so a great many changes took place. Clock Tower Garage was opened on the corner of Shore Road and Brook Lane, and the coach houses were converted into shops in Shore Road. The ground floor of the clock tower, which was an open archway, was bricked up on the east and west to form a living-room with kitchen and entrance hail to the north. Three flights of stairs were installed where originally there had only been ladders to each floor. The first floor was bathroom, toilet, a large linen cupboard and bedroom number one. The second floor, which originally housed the clock mechanism, was octagonal and became bedroom number two. We had to wind huge weights with the aid of a hand windlass from the ground floor to this height once a week to keep the clock working.

These works were installed by Gillett & Johnson of Croydon. They were dismantled and purchased by Luke Bros shipyard of Hamble and thence to Coventry. They were unique as the mechanism struck ship’s bell time. There was a large cast iron bell hung above the first floor window. We got so used to the sound of it we really missed it when it was removed. A small electric clock was installed on the back of the clock face. This floor was occupied by three water tanks which were eventually cut up and lowered for scrap, and windows were put in, in place of louvres. This was our sitting-room, which I do not think we used much but the view was superb. From this floor one climbed a ladder into the dome roof which was like an attic with no windows but air vents. Another ladder took one up to a weighted hatch on to the top of the tower. There was originally a weather vane of a gilded copper sailing ship but this had disappeared many years before we owned the property.

We had one of the first television sets in Warsash with an aerial on top of the tower. The picture was terrible compared to today’s reception but we thought it was wonderful."
(Taken from "Hampshire Within Living Memory" by the Hampshire Federation of Women's Institutes ISBN 1-85306-290-1)

IMAGES OF WARSASH

		The shopping centre beneath the clock tower
The Clock Tower		The Church and its interior
The Rising Sun a popular pub on the shore at Warsash		The old school which is now a nursery
The Harbourmasters Office		Boating on the Hamble is popular
Memorial to the D-Day Landings, the inscription reads COMBINED OPERATIONS British and allied naval commando units sailed from the Hamble River on the night of 5th June 1944 for the D-Day landings on the Normandy Beaches 40th Anniversary Commemoration This memorial was unveiled by Countess Mountbatten 5th June 1984
Cottages near the river		Anchorage Cottage
A more modern landmark at Park Gate is the Chinese Restaurant situated on the roundabout

The main occupation of the area was shipbuilding and fishing, and this included lobster and crabs as well as other shellfish and many people travelled by bus from Fareham and Gosport just for a day out and to try the Crab teas which were served at the Rising Sun which is still a popular watering hole for both fishermen and day trippers.

The College of Maritime Studies is where the old coastguard station used to stand and it has trained Merchant Seamen from the four corners of the worlkd and with its modern simulators and technology it is possible to steer the worlds largest oil tankers safely into port without leaving the building.

Warsash was one of the embarkation sites for the Royal Marines as they set off the beaches of Normandy D-day,1944, and a memorial has been erected opposite the Rising Sun.