It was established in the 1880s by Sir Robert Perks as a resort for the gentry, at the point of the local lifeboat station[broken anchor].

The nature of the Phoenix breakwaters meant they were constructed and sunk until needed (so as to be invisible to air attack); by design they would have had the water evacuated by Royal Engineers and then been towed to France where they would have become part of the harbour.

A local boy called Thomas Simmons (the name of an old school friend of Wells) who witnessed Mr Bedford's arrival later enters and takes off in the sphere and is never seen again.

The minutes of the newly formed club committee note that Henry Tubbs as a committed Methodist did not allow alcohol in Netherstone.

A similar pattern on a grander scale was seen in Finchley, north London, where Henry Tubbs built Nether Court in 1883.