Eling Tide Mill, situated on an artificial

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet T ...

in Eling in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, England, is one of only two remaining operating tide mills in the United Kingdom. The other is

Woodbridge Tide Mill Woodbridge Tide Mill in Woodbridge, Suffolk, Woodbridge, Suffolk, England is a rare example of a tide mill whose water wheel still turns and is capable of grinding a wholemeal flour. The mill is a Grade I listed building. It is a three-store ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. Whilst a mill is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

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. 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 In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Operation

Eling Tide Mill static unrestored mill machinery

The tide mill has a pair of independent waterwheels designed to drive two sets of millstones each. 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.

History

For much of the mill's life it was owned by

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

. 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. The causeway was prone to collapse, for example it washed away in 1887. 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. Four-wheeled vehicles were charged 6d (2.5p) and two-wheeled vehicles 4d. These rates remained unchanged until 1970. More recently, the toll has been administered by Totton and Eling Town council, and is charged at one pound per car per day. 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. It then underwent restoration before reopening in 1980 and is now run as the "Eling Tide Mill Experience."

References

External links

*Former website
The Rarest Tide Mill by David Plunkett
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100123032905/http://www.millsresearch.org.uk/proc1/plunk.html , date=23 January 2010 , Proceedings of the First Mill Research Conference, 1983 Watermills in Hampshire Tourist attractions in Hampshire Museums in Hampshire Mill museums in England Toll bridges in England Winchester College Tide mills Grade II* listed buildings in Hampshire