Solent - Human History

Human History

Remains of human habitation have been found from the prehistoric, Roman and Saxon eras, showing that humans retreated towards progressively higher ground over these periods. Offshore from Bouldnor, Isle of Wight, divers have found at 11 metres depth the submerged remains of a wooden building that was built there on land around 6000 BC when the sea level was lower and the land was higher.

There is an early Norman period report that much land on the south of Hayling Island was lost to sea flood. South of Hayling Island in the Solent is a deposit of stones, which scuba divers found to be the remains of a stone building, probably a church. There is an old report that this church was formerly in the middle of Hayling Island. If similar amounts of land have been lost on other parts of the Solent shore, the Solent was likely much narrower in Roman times, and it is possible to believe Diodorus Siculus's report that in his time men could wade to the Isle of Wight at low tide. Similarly, it is known that Selsey was once a port town, with Selsey Abbey and a cathedra recorded until 1075, when the see of the Diocese of Sussex was moved inland to Chichester.

During the late Middle Ages, Henry VIII of England built an extensive set of coastal defences at each end of the Solent, part of his Device Forts, effectively controlling access to east and west. In 1982, Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose, was lifted off the seabed of the Solent by a salvage project, 437 years after it sank. More forts were built on land and at sea in the 19th century. These were generally known as Palmerston Forts.

In 1685 King James II narrowly escaped shipwreck while sailing in the Solent. Musician Henry Purcell wrote "They that go down to the sea in ships" to be sung by extraordinary voice of John Gostling to commemorate it.

The Solent was one of two sites for the sailing events at the 1908 Summer Olympics. The Solent became the departure area of the ill-fated ocean liner, Titanic, in April 1912.

A bank in the centre of the Solent, Bramble Bank, is exposed at low water at spring tide. This, combined with the unique tidal patterns in the area, makes navigation challenging. There is an annual cricket match on Bramble Bank during the lowest tide of the year, but games are often cut short by rising tide.