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 Tr ...

in Eling in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

, England, is one of only two remaining operating

tide mill 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 ga ...

s in the United Kingdom. The other is Woodbridge Tide Mill in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...

. 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

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 or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

Operation

Eling Tide Mill static unrestored mill machinery

The

has a pair of independent

waterwheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or bucke ...

s designed to drive two sets of

millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a wikt:convex, convex stationary base known as the ''be ...

s 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 a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

. 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 Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National 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 {{cite web , url = http://www.elingtidemill.wanadoo.co.uk/ , archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20071217112221/http://www.elingtidemill.wanadoo.co.uk/ , archive-date = 2007-12-17 , title = Eling Tide Mill , access-date = 2009-04-14
The Rarest Tide Mill by David Plunkett
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