The Book of Gosport by Lesley Burton and Brian Musselwhite.

IT'S NICE to think that some 800 years ago Gosport was actually called God's Port.

Nice, but unlikely. For although the name has passed into legend and the town even uses it as part of its motto, it is unlikely the story of how Henry de Blois, brother to King Stephen named the site after he was saved from the sea by local fishermen is actually true.

More likely, as the map shown in The Book of Gosport by Lesley Burton and Brian Musselwhite reveals, the name of the town was originally Gooseport! It might even have been Gorseport, we learn.

But whatever source the town gained its name from, there can be little denying the part it has played in the history of Hampshire and indeed all of Britain.

The book relies heavily on old photographs to illustrate the town's story, including some snapped at the dawn of the photographic era.

Wooden battleships lined up along Gosport's quay, their masts towering over the dockside, remind us that a little over a century ago Britain was a nation that still protected itself with walls of oak.

Many of the images in the book reveal an age just before our memories: days out in the Thirties, streets without cars, school bands at the turn of the twentieth century. The dark days of the Second World War are illustrated by the Home Guard practicing their combat skills, smiling nurses are representative of the Fifties. And the book brings us right up to date, with the arrival of Sixties tower blocks and the mass building of the Seventies. In all a fascinating glimpse of years gone by.

The Book of Gosport by Lesley Burton and Brian Musselwhite is published by Halsgrove at £19.99