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THE WOOLPACK
The Woolpack was originally a private house and became an Inn in 1725. The name probably originated because the vicar, the Rev. James Willis, was a keen sheep farmer and took a major part in distributing his Merino sheep, of which he had over a thousand, throughout the district. These are a small short-woolled breed, prized for their fine wool.
Sopley was a centre of smuggling and the smugglers boats were heaved up from the R.Avon to the Woolpack, where pack horses were waiting to take the goods to the New Forest and hence to Winchester and London.
The Prime Minster, Winston Churchill and the American President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, both visited The Woolpack during the War.
