Fleet, Hampshire

This north-east corner of Hampshire had shallow and sandy, slightly acidic soil, much of it boggy or covered in gorse and bracken (see Bagshot Formation). It held little use for agriculture compared to the long-grazed chalk lands and belts of alluvial areas of the rest of the county. The Fleet area has yielded few archaeological finds.[8] Isaac Taylor's Map of Hampshire (1759) shows three small habitations in the area that was later to become Fleet.[7]

In 1792 the Basingstoke Canal opened. The canal passed through the town site, but apart from a few inns to serve the passing trade it had little effect on the locality. Apart from the Farnham to Reading road, the site remained largely undeveloped until the construction of the London and South Western Railway, which opened in 1840. In that year a church - Christ Church that was to become the heart of the new ecclesiastical parish of Ewshot and Crookham was built midway between the villages of Crookham and Ewshot. This parish included the area that was to become the town of Fleet. The railway company promoted Fleet Pond for a destination for day excursions and many people came down from London to skate on the Pond during the winter. This attracted a number of gentry, particularly retired army officers, who moved to the area bounded by Fleet Road, Elvetham Road and Reading Road North[9] and laid the foundations of what was to become known locally as "The Blue Triangle".

By 1860 Charles Lefroy, a local squire, commissioned All Saints' Church – in the Blue Triangle area in memory of his wife who had died in 1857. The architect was William Burges. The ecclesiastical parish of Ewshot and Crookam was split into two in 1862, with the northern section based on the All Saints' church becoming the new parish of Fleet. On 23 June 2015 the roof of All Saints' church was destroyed by fire in a suspected arson attack.

The development of Fleet accelerated when the land to the south east of the Blue Triangle was sold for development in 1882 which, unlike the Blue Triangle, was laid out in a grid pattern. Thus it is that there are few very old buildings; much of the modern town is formed around Victorian buildings.

Under the Local Government Act 1894 many of the duties that had previously been shouldered by the ecclesiastical parishes were transferred to new civil parish and Crookham, Fleet and Crondall each gained an elected parish council. In 1904 the civil parish of Crookham was split into two - Crookham Village and Church Crookham with Church Crookham and Fleet Rural Parish being merged to form the Fleet and Church Crookham Urban District.

As in many parts of Britain, there was a building boom between the First and Second World Wars. Fleet also contains structures built in the 1960s such as the line of shops on the left of the picture below.

Fleet has expanded in the past few decades with new residential areas being built at Ancells Farm, Zebon Copse (Church Crookham is included in the built-up area per the Government Statistical Service) and Elvetham Heath. Completed in 2008,[10] Elvetham Heath is one of the UK's largest new housing developments, which has added some 3,500 inhabitants to Fleet's population, bringing its total population up to around 35,000, a 20% increase in less than a decade.

Two earlier developments in Fleet involved a double opening on 10 May 1991, the Hart Shopping Centre, which was opened officially by the Duchess Of York and the Hart Leisure Centre on Hitches Lane (towards Church Crookham).

Fleet had been a dormitory town for commuters to London. It now has several business parks, mainly occupied by Information Technology companies.

The town has a large well-equipped gyms and sports clubs, including a well-followed football club.

Along with the rest of South East England, Fleet has a temperate climate which is generally drier and warmer than the rest of the country. The annual mean temperature is approximately 9 °C (48.2 °F) and shows a seasonal and a diurnal variation. January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between 0.5 °C (32.9 °F) and 2 °C (35.6 °F). July is the warmest month in the area with average daily maxima around 21 °C (69.8 °F).[12] Rainfall averages at 600 millimetres (23.6 in)

Fleet and Church Crookham (which is a suburban village of the town) is divided into the following wards:

• Fleet Central: which covers the town centre and oldest areas of the town.
• Fleet Courtmoor: east of the Basingstoke Canal.
• Fleet North: predominantly the Elvetham Heath estate.
• Fleet West: the western side of Fleet, including part of Church Crookham.
• Church Crookham East: the northern and eastern parts of Church Crookham, with some parts of eastern Fleet.
• Church Crookham West: the southern and western parts of Church Crookham

Fleet is served by Fleet railway station, on the London to Basingstoke line. The station in the 2010s underwent great improvements, funded mostly by Hampshire County Council, giving the station more car parking and disabled access.

Fleet has strong local bus service, Fleet Buzz operated by Stagecoach bus has routes circulating the town and providing access to surrounding towns such as Farnborough and Aldershot.

The Hart Leisure Centre is the primary local sports and leisure centre in the town. It contains a 25-metre swimming pool, a teaching pool, large gym, two sports halls and a number of studios. The leisure centre is also home to many high standard local sport and martial art clubs, who meet in the facilities, supported by the centre itself.