X-Nico

8 unusual facts about Solent


Isaac Tomlinson

In the summer of 1906, Tomlinson moved down The Solent to join Portsmouth but managed only five first-team games before trying his luck in Scotland with Heart of Midlothian.

M27 motorway

Running approximately parallel both to the coast of the Solent and to the A27, the M27 starts as an eastwards continuation of the A31 from Bournemouth and Poole, meets the A36 from Salisbury, crosses the Wessex Main Line railway, and then meets the M271 to central Southampton.

Mary Wesley

Following the death of her father in 1961, her mother said: "I'm not going to let that lingering death happen to me. When the time comes I'm going to crawl to the Solent and swim out."

Riceyman Steps

Arnold Bennett was a keen amateur sailor and it was while on sailing trips on the Solent he discovered a chaotic second-hand bookshop in Southampton.

Royal Thames Yacht Club

Yachting originally took place on the Thames but the Solent became increasingly important in the 1850s as the steam train made access to the South Coast easy.

Sopwith Admiralty Type 137

Both aircraft operated in the Solent area from August 1914 until they were withdrawn from use in January 1916.

Stokes Bay

The Solent opposite Stokes Bay is often used by extremely large warships (e.g. US supercarriers) to anchor, as Portsmouth Harbour is not deep enough to berth them.

Titchfield

Several miles to the south of the village, at the mouth of the River Meon and on the shores of the Solent, is Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve, where there is a small harbour that dries out at low tide.


Appley, Isle of Wight

The names of the roads on the estate relate mostly either to proximity of the sea (Marina, Solent) or refer to Cumbrian lakes (Grasmere, Derwent).

Hampshire Basin

The central part drains into the Solent (directly or via via Southampton Water), through the Lymington River, Test, Itchen, Meon, Hamble, Western Yar, Medina and Eastern Yar.

Junior Offshore Group

In the UK racing is normally from the JOG startline off Cowes and races are Cross Channel (Cherbourg, St Vaast, Fecamp, St Peter Port etc. or inshore (Solent, Weymouth, Poole etc.).

Marguerite Wilson

Marguerite Wilson was a stewardess for British Overseas Airways Corporation (B.O.A.C) in 1948, working Short Flying boats from the Marine Airway terminal, Solent, Southampton, Hampshire.

RAF Search and Rescue Force

While this contract is being renegotiated, a "Gap" contract was tendered for the existing Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) bases and in February 2012 it was announced that Bristow Helicopters would take over the running of Stornoway and Sumburgh using Sikorsky S-92s and that Portland and Lee on Solent would be retained by CHC Helicopter using AgustaWestland AW139s.

Royal Corinthian Yacht Club

Tiny Mitchell, Commodore of the Royal Corinthian in Burnham wanted to sail his 6 metre in the Solent and he bought the building from Rosa's estate, and set up the Southern branch.

Solent TV

Until the Sky launch, the channel's content was streamed live in Windows Media format, as well as a collection of video on demand files such as the channel's news programme 'Solent Tonight'.

STS Mir

STS Mir from Russia is pictured at anchor with its sister ship Dar Mlodziezy from Poland and the training ship Mercedes from the Netherlands in the Solent Portsmouth during the Trafalgar 200 International Fleet Review.

Whiteley

Whiteley also contains the sizeable Solent Business Park which consists of a number of large companies, including Zurich Financial Services, the new headquarters for NATS (formerly National Air Traffic Services) and the offices and studios of ITV Meridian.


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