Historical calendar

A very subjective list of historical dates important to Hythe and the Waterside.

971: A church is first recorded at Fawley.

1086: Fawley listed in the Domesday book, as part of lands held by the Bishop of Winchester.

1170 - 1340: The present Fawley church constructed and extended.

1293: Hythe first mentioned in a Parliamentary Roll.

1539: Henry VIII ordered the construction of Calshot Castle, to defend Southampton from invaders.

1575: "Hithefery" marked on a map produced by Christopher Saxton.

1780: Luttrell's Tower built at the Eaglehurst estate at Calshot, for Temple Simon Luttrell.

1837 - December 23rd: The Hampshire Advertiser reports the death of John Richards of Hythe, noting that 'the father of the deceased founded the neat little village of Hythe: previous to his time there was no building there of greater pretensions than the huts of a few fishermen. The elder Mr Richards, when he established a shipbuilding yard at Heath (as it was then called) built houses for his workmen and the village soon sprang up.'

1874: The Church of Saint John the Baptist erected, replaced a previous church built in 1824.

1881 - January 1st: Hythe Pier was opened, having taken two years to construct, at a cost of £7,000.

1909: A narrow-gauge railway was installed on the northern side of Hythe pier.

1912: Guglielmo Marconi used Luttrell's Tower to conduct wireless experiments.

1913: Hythe joined the parish of Dibden, having previously been part of the civil parish of Fawley.

1913: The Royal Flying Corps established Calshot Naval Air Station (later RNAS Calshot and RAF Calshot).

1921: Oil refinery at Fawley first developed by the Atlantic Gulf & West Indies Petroleum Company (AGWI).

1922: The electrified railway, which is still in place, was installed, on the southern side of the pier.

1922 - November 25th: Hythe & Dibden Memorial Hospital was opened and dedicated, in memory of those from Dibden parish who gave their lives in the Great War. A second dedication was later added to commemorate the lives lost in World War 2.

1923: British Mexican Petroleum bought out the AGWI refinery.

1925: The Anglo-American Oil Co., the British affiliate of Esso, acquired the refinery.

1927 - September 30th: British Power Boat Company formed, by Hubert Scott-Paine, on the site of the old Hythe Shipyard.

1931 - 32: T. E. Lawrence lodged in Hythe (at Myrtle Cottage) and worked with Scott-Paine on the design and operation of RAF200, a 37-ft seaplane tender.

1948: Hythe & Dibden Cricket Club formed (by amalgamating the separate Hythe and Dibden Purlieu clubs).

1951 - September 14th: The extended Esso oil refinery at Fawley was officially opened, by the Prime Minister, Clement Attlee.

1961: Population of Tristan da Cunha evacuated due to volcanic eruption, and residents were housed at Calshot.

1965 - 1969: Fawley power station constructed.

1968: The US Army took over RAF Hythe.

1970: Calshot Lifeboat Station established.

1971: Fawley power station commissioned.

1999 - June 1st: Sir Christopher Cockerell, Hythe resident, and inventor of the hovercraft, died in Hythe.

2006: US Army vacated the RAF Hythe site, which was bought by the South East England Development Agency and turned into Hythe Marine Park.

2013 - March 31st: Fawley power station officially closed.