Percy Vickery

A third selection of photographs of the Hampshire town of Fleet from the archives of local author Percy Vickery. Chapters include work, people, street scenes, sport and pastimes and wartime and provide a comprehensive history of the town and its surroundings in fascinating and rarely-seen images. The author's informative captions compliment the photographs making this a valuable record of Fleet's history for all who know and love the town.

Fleet and Crookham have their origins within the Hundred of Crondall as the tithing of Crokeham. The tithing included Fleet, known, as it still is, for its pond. They had the poorest soil, mainly open heathland. Because of this, the population was always sparse and even the construction of the Basingstoke Canal in the 18th century had little impact. It was not until the Enclosure Act of 1834 and the building of the London and South Western Railway that the population began to grow. The development of the Royal Military Camp at Aldershot was a third factor.