Local Information
A turn of the century postcard of Pier Street.
Both buildings are still standing.
The town of
Lee-on-the-Solent
is on the south coast of
Hampshire,
almost directly across the Solent from Cowes, on the
Isle of Wight.
Since 1928, Lee has been part of the
Borough of Gosport.
Before Lee-on-the-Solent came into being, the area was called Ly, Le Breton, or
Lee Brittain. Indeed, the oldest building in Lee-on-the-Solent is called Le Breton Farm, and dates
from the fourteenth century. Although it is now a private home, further along the ancient track leading
north from the coast (now Pier Street and Manor Way) is another ancient farm house, now a pub called
The Bun Penny, named after a well known coin of 1860-1894 depicting the head of
Queen Victoria.
Lee-on-the-Solent, as a town, was really the vision of one man,
Charles Edmund Newton Robinson, who persuaded his father (Sir John Charles Robinson,
director of the Victoria & Albert Museum) to create a limited company to buy up largely
unused land for the development of a resort, in 1884. The Marine Parade was constructed
first, followed by the construction (1885-1888) of a 750ft long Pier, with regular steamer
service to Southsea. The (still standing) terrace of shops and balconied apartments on the
east side of Pier Street was part of that development. In 1894, a railway connection was
built, the terminus of which still stands, now used as an amusement arcade. (Rail service
was discontinued in the 1930s.)
In 1905 the
Lee-on-the-Solent Golf Club was formed
at a meeting at the Victoria Hotel (now the Bun Penny), the
Lee-on-the-Solent Sailing Club in 1908, and the
Lee-on-the-Solent Tennis Club followed in 1911.
1918 saw the opening of RAF Lee-on-the-Solent, which was later greatly expanded to become,
in 1938, HMS Daedalus. It became HMS Ariel 1959-1965 and later, again, HMS Daedalus. It is now
closed, and the future use of the site is uncertain.
The 1930s were a decade of great change for Lee-on-the-Solent, as evidenced by the
Art Deco block of flats and shops still standing on the Marine Parade and the row of Art Deco
houses on Milvil Road, one of which has been charmingly restored as a
stylish B&B. 1935 saw the construction
of the Lee Tower complex, a local and regional landmark with a cinema, a ballroom, a restaurant,
lounge, and saloon bar - all topped by a striking white tower and clock, with a 120 ft high observation
deck, described by Nikolas Pevsner's architectural guide to Hampshire as "a good piece of second-rate
inter-war modernism of the slightly jazzy sort, constructed of concrete when concrete seemed very up-to-date".
He descibed the white tower as looking "rather like an elongated cigarette lighter". The tower
complex was comandeered by the military during WWII. An attempt to revive its sagging fortunes was
made in 1964, when the interior was reconfigured (the cinema was turned into a bowling alley). In 1971,
the decision was made to demolish the complex. The Pier, too, had a long period of decline. In 1932 a fire
destroyed the popular pavilion at the far end of the pier, which was never rebuilt. In 1939, like so
many other British piers, it was "breached" by the military in the interest of coastal defense. At war's
end, alas, the damage was never repaired and the remaining pier structure was demolished in 1958.
Recent developments in Lee-on-the-Solent have seen the withering of the remaining tourist
infrastructure (the last of the large hotels has now closed, although there are still many fine
Guest Houses and B&Bs),
the construction of many retirement flats
and, more recently, the development of hundreds of new family homes in the
Cherque Farm area of east
Lee. Although its days as a "resort" may be past, Lee-on-the-Solent continues to attract hundreds of
visitors drawn by the pleasant High Street,
seaside
location, and leisure opportunities.
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(023) 9255 6592