Havant was a Roman settlement, where two ancient trackways crossed and a score of springs produced plentiful pure water. It has almost certainly been continuously inhabited ever since. Recorded as a sizeable manor in Domesday Book, it was a market town by 1200, with prosperous tanning and parchment-making industries, soon followed by cloth manufacture, all using the excellent water. The modern town is still industrial, with famous high-e\tech firms providing work for a population that has grown spectacularly since the last war.
Though the have been many earlier books on Havant, including some dedicated to its pictorial history, the authors have discovered several sources of previously unpublished vintage photographs which include a plethora of hitherto unknown pictorial evidence: this not only relates to events, places and buildings of particular interest, but also, of equal importance, to the people of Havant and how they created, over many centuries, the present environment of the place. This book is a significant contribution to the social history of the town and a tribute to the lives and work of the ordinary folk who made it.
The authors' very readable narrative is illuminated by a splendid selection of carefully captioned old pictures which convey a vivid visual impression of Havant and its people in the past. Their book will be warmly welcomed by many local residents, and everyone with an interest in the past in this corner of Hampshire.
