Eling Tide Mill | |
---|---|
Location | Eling |
Coordinates | 50°54′40″N1°28′56″W / 50.9110°N 1.4821°W |
OS grid reference | SU 36502 12520 |
Area | Hampshire |
Built | ca 1785 |
Owner | New Forest District Council |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
Official name | Tide Mill |
Designated | 29 March 1959 |
Reference no. | 1179062 |
Eling Tide Mill, situated on an artificial causeway in Eling in Hampshire, England, is one of only two remaining operating tide mills in the United Kingdom. The other is Woodbridge Tide Mill in Suffolk. Whilst a mill is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, there is no evidence that there is any connection to the present mill. The current mill was rebuilt roughly two hundred years ago after storm damage in the 1770s. [1] Eling Tide Mill is the focal point of The Eling Tide Mill Experience, created in 2009 as The Eling Experience when the tide mill, nearby Totton & Eling Heritage Centre, and the outdoor walks at Goatee Beach and Bartley Water came under the same management and marketing. The site adopted the current name in 2018 when it reopened after a 3-year refurbishment project largely funded by the Lottery Fund. It is a Grade II* listed building. [2]
The tide mill has a pair of independent waterwheels designed to drive two sets of millstones each. [3] One wheel and its associated millstones have been restored to operating condition and produces flour for sale. The other has been cosmetically restored as a static exhibit. The running wheel and its milling and other mechanisms are encased for safety of the miller and visitors, while the static wheel is immobile and kept that way to show visitors the detail that is obscured by the running mechanism's safety enclosures. The mill can be productive for between five and seven hours each day. [4]
For much of the mill's life it was owned by Winchester College. A lease survives from the year 1418, when the College leased the mill to Thomas Mydlington, requiring him to maintain the mill and the causeway. [5] The causeway was prone to collapse, for example it washed away in 1887. [6] This problem continued up until 1940 when modern engineering calculations revealed the cause to be the design of the sluices. This was then corrected.
The tenancy of the mill included the right to collect tolls from vehicles using the causeway. [5] Four-wheeled vehicles were charged 6d (2.5p) and two-wheeled vehicles 4d. These rates remained unchanged until 1970. [7] More recently, the toll has been administered by Totton and Eling Town council, and is charged at one pound per car per day. [8]
In 1967, the toll collector was Tom Mackrell who had been one of the last people to operate the mill when it closed in 1946. Tom was toll collector and mill foreman, working for his brother Raymond, master miller of Eling Tide Mill.
In 1975 the mill was sold to New Forest District Council by Winchester College for a nominal sum. [9] It then underwent restoration before reopening in 1980 and is now run as the "Eling Tide Mill Experience." [10] [9]
A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of many material goods, including flour, lumber, paper, textiles, and many metal products. These watermills may comprise gristmills, sawmills, paper mills, textile mills, hammermills, trip hammering mills, rolling mills, wire drawing mills.
Totton and Eling is a civil parish in Hampshire, England, with a population of about 28,100 people. It contains the town of Totton and is situated between the eastern edge of the New Forest and the River Test, close to the city of Southampton but outside the city boundary; the town is within the New Forest non-metropolitan district. Surrounding towns and villages include Ashurst, Marchwood, Cadnam and Ower.
Marchwood is a village and civil parish located in Hampshire, England. It lies between Totton and Hythe on the western shore of Southampton Water and directly east of the New Forest. The population of the village in the 2011 census was 6,141.
The River Eden is a tributary of the River Medway in south east England. It rises at the foot of the North Downs escarpment near Titsey in Surrey and runs initially southwards through Oxted before turning eastwards to enter Kent. After flowing through Edenbridge and passing Hever Castle, the Eden meets the Medway at Penshurst.
The Beaulieu River, formerly known as the River Exe, is a small river draining much of the central New Forest in Hampshire, southern England. The river has many small upper branches and its farthest source is 8 miles (13 km) from its 4 miles (6 km)-long tidal estuary. Unusually, the river, including its bed, is owned by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu.
The Lymington River drains part of the New Forest in Hampshire in southern England. Numerous headwaters to the west of Lyndhurst give rise to the river, including Highland Water, Bratley Water and Fletchers Water. From Brockenhurst the river runs southwards to the Solent at Lymington.
The Winchester City Mill is a restored water mill situated on the River Itchen in the centre of the ancient English city of Winchester. The mill is owned by the National Trust and is a Grade II* listed building.
Totton railway station serves the towns of Totton and Eling, Hampshire, England and is on the South West Main Line. It is 82 miles 43 chains (132.8 km) down the line from London Waterloo. It is managed by South Western Railway who also operate the only services to stop at the station.
A tide mill is a water mill driven by tidal rise and fall. A dam with a sluice is created across a suitable tidal inlet, or a section of river estuary is made into a reservoir. As the tide comes in, it enters the mill pond through a one-way gate, and this gate closes automatically when the tide begins to fall. When the tide is low enough, the stored water can be released to turn a water wheel.
Woodbridge Tide Mill in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England is a rare example of a tide mill whose water wheel still turns and is capable of grinding a wholemeal flour.
Bursledon Windmill is a Grade II* listed windmill in Bursledon, Hampshire, England which has been restored to working order.
The Fawley branch line, also known as the Waterside line, is a standard-gauge railway line to Fawley, in the English county of Hampshire. It is on the opposite side of Southampton Water from the city of Southampton itself, in an area known as Waterside. For 40 years a passenger service operated, but this was withdrawn except for the occasional enthusiasts' railtour. The line serves the freight needs of Marchwood Military Port, having also served the same function for Fawley Refinery until 2016.
The Itchen Navigation is a 10.4-mile (16.7 km) disused canal system in Hampshire, England, that provided an important trading route from Winchester to the sea at Southampton for about 150 years. Improvements to the River Itchen were authorised by Act of Parliament in 1665, but progress was slow, and the navigation was not declared complete until 1710. It was known as a navigation because it was essentially an improved river, with the main river channel being used for some sections, and cuts with locks used to bypass the difficult sections. Its waters are fed from the River Itchen. It provided an important method of moving goods, particularly agricultural produce and coal, between the two cities and the intervening villages.
Oldland Windmill is an 18th-century post mill situated near the village of Keymer, West Sussex, England. It is a Grade II Listed Building.
Netley Marsh is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, close to the town of Totton. It lies within the New Forest District, and the New Forest National Park. It is the supposed site of the battle between an invading Anglo Saxon army, under Cerdic and a British army under the probably fictitious king Natanleod in the year 508.
Buttrum's Mill or Trott's Mill is a Grade II* listed tower mill at Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, which has been restored to working order.
Garboldisham Mill is a Grade II* listed post mill at Garboldisham, Norfolk, that has been restored.
A gristmill grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated from its chaff in preparation for grinding.
Tot Voordeel en Genoegen is a windmill built in 1798 on the Molendijk 15 in Alphen, Netherlands. It is a large post mill, built above a roundhouse, used for grinding wheat flour. It is the only windmill in the Netherlands that drives three pairs of millstones. The mechanism is mostly wooden, since iron was expensive when it was built. The windmill, which is still functional, can be rotated on its post to face the wind for maximum effect.
Carew Tidal Mill, also called the French Mill, is a corn mill in Pembrokeshire, Wales, powered by tidal water. It was built around 1801 just west of Carew Castle, and replaced a much older mill in the same location. The mill pond fills through open flood gates as the tide comes in. The gates are closed at high tide, and the pond drains through sluices under the mill as the tide falls, driving two undershot water wheels. It is the only intact mill of this type in Wales. It was abandoned in 1937, was restored in 1972, and now houses a museum.