Entrance to Langstone Harbour, Hampshire, England

Langstone Harbour is a biological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

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

. It is an inlet of the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

in Hampshire, sandwiched between

Portsea Island Portsea Island is a flat and low-lying natural island in area, just off the southern coast of Hampshire in England. Portsea Island contains the majority of the city of Portsmouth. Portsea Island has the third-largest population of all th ...

to the south and west,

Hayling Island Hayling Island is an island off the south coast of England, in the borough of Havant in the county of Hampshire, east of Portsmouth. History An Iron Age shrine in the north of Hayling Island was later developed into a Roman temple in the 1st c ...

to the south and east, and Langstone to the north. It is part of Chichester and Langstone Harbours

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

Special Protection Area A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and cert ...

and

Nature Conservation Review ''A Nature Conservation Review'' is a two-volume work by Derek Ratcliffe, published by Cambridge University Press in 1977. It set out to identify the most important places for nature conservation in Great Britain. It is often known by the initial ...

site, Grade I. Parts of it are in Solent Maritime and Solent and Isle of Wight Lagoons

Special Areas of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

. Three areas are Local Nature Reserves,

Farlington Marshes Farlington Marshes is a Local Nature Reserve in Portsmouth in Hampshire. It is owned by Portsmouth City Council and managed by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. It is part of Langstone Harbour, which is a Site of Special Scientific I ...

West Hayling and The Kench, Hayling Island. Two areas are nature reserves managed by the

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is a Wildlife Trust with 27,000 members across the counties of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, England. The trust describes itself as the leading local wildlife conservation charity in Hampshire and th ...

, Farlington Marshes and

Southmoor Nature Reserve Southmoor Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in Havant in Hampshire. It is managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. It is part of Langstone Harbour, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Nature Conservation ...

West of Portsmouth is

Portsmouth Harbour Portsmouth Harbour is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Portsmouth and Gosport in Hampshire. It is a Ramsar site and a Special Protection Area. It is a large natural harbour in Hampshire, England. Geographically it i ...

and the three linked harbours are important recreational and conservation areas as well as supporting commercial fishing and shipping. It is administered by the Langstone Harbour Board. The eastern boundary with Chichester Harbour is defined by a historic causeway known as the wade way, which was originally the only crossing between

and the mainland. It is now impassable, having been cut in two by a deep channel for the

Portsmouth and Arundel Canal The Portsmouth and Arundel Canal was a canal in the south of England that ran between Portsmouth and Ford in the Arundel district, it was built in 1823 but was never a financial success and was abandoned in 1855; the company was wound up in 1888 ...

in the 1820s (for further information see Langstone).

Islands

Langstone Harbour contains a number of islands; Baker's Island (),

North Binness Island North Binness Island is an island in Langstone Harbour It is long and up to wide but only rises to above Ordnance Datum The island was originally (along with a large part of Farlington Marshes) part of Binner's Island. The island has been uni ...

(),

South Binness Island South Binness Island is an island in Langstone Harbour. It is long and up to wide but only rises to above Ordnance Datum. Archaeological finds include Bronze Age pottery and an unfinished Plano-convex knife. In 1978 the island along with the ...

() and

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

(). These are subject to erosion and during the 1990s a seven-year archaeology project took place before their history was lost to the seas. There are two smaller islands: Round Nap Island which is connected to South Binness Island by a tidal causeway and Oyster Island.

History

Langstone Harbour was originally a river valley of one of the tributaries flowing into the then

River Solent The River Solent is a now-extinct river which during the Paleocene would have flowed around the area which is now the coastlines of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. History The River Solent was one of three major rivers in central and southern E ...

. With the end of the last ice age sea levels rose until sometime between 4000 and 3500BC the harbour took on the form it would have until the 18th century. For much of its history the harbour has been an area of salt production. 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 ...

records three

saltern A saltern is an area or installation for making salt. Salterns include modern salt-making works (saltworks), as well as hypersaline waters that usually contain high concentrations of halophilic microorganisms, primarily haloarchaea but also oth ...

s around the harbour and by the early 17th century a saltern at

Copnor Copnor is an area of Portsmouth, England, located on the eastern side of Portsea Island. The population of Copnor Ward at the 2011 Census was 13,608. As Copenore, it was one of the three villages listed as being on Portsea Island in the Domesda ...

was well established. Here a large shallow area of the harbour meant that even without further improvement salt could be extracted from the area after each tide. The Copnor saltern ceased production in 1800 but salt production continued elsewhere in the harbour until 1933. Langstone salt water lagoon

In 1771

were reclaimed from the north of the harbour.

Oyster farming Oyster farming is an aquaculture (or mariculture) practice in which oysters are bred and raised mainly for their pearls, shells and inner organ tissue, which is eaten. Oyster farming was practiced by the ancient Rome, ancient Romans as early as t ...

began in the harbour around 1820 with winkle and

clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two she ...

cultivation probably starting around much the same time. Production ceased in the 1950s. An attempt at oyster farming in the 1980s soon failed. In 1997 work began to turn the remains into an artificial lagoon. The lagoon which has a small island at the centre has, as planned, become a breeding ground for birds, particularly

little tern The little tern (''Sternula albifrons'') is a seabird of the family Laridae. It was formerly placed into the genus ''Sterna'', which now is restricted to the large white terns. The genus name is a diminutive of ''Sterna'', "tern". The specific '' ...

s. During the Second World War the harbour was used as Starfish decoy site to misdirect German bombers.

Wildlife

The harbour is home to an extensive range of marine and bird life. Fifty species of fish have been found in the harbour. The harbour's bird life is even richer, the harbour hosting a wide range of species some of which are represented by over 10,000 individuals. This is in a large part due to the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment throug ...

acquiring harbour's islands and a number of tidal areas in 1978 and turning them into bird sanctuaries. As a result of the number of birds the harbour as become a popular spot for

bird watchers Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

. Seals occasionally appear in the harbour in winter. American hard-shelled clams have been found in the harbour spreading from an initial release site on the lower

River Test The River Test is a chalk stream in Hampshire in the south of England. It rises at Ashe near Basingstoke and flows southwards for to Southampton Water. Settlements on the Test include the towns of Stockbridge and Romsey. Below the village o ...

. The harbour is also home to a population of

Sand smelt The sand smelt (''Atherina presbyter'') is a species of marine fish of the family Atherinidae, common in the northeastern Atlantic from the Danish straits, where it is rare, and Scotland to the Canary Islands and the western Mediterranean Sea. Sa ...

. On 31 July 2008 a 26-foot (8-metre), 7-tonne

northern bottlenose whale The northern bottlenose whale (''Hyperoodon ampullatus'') is a species of beaked whale in the ziphiid family, being one of two members of the genus ''Hyperoodon''. The northern bottlenose whale was hunted heavily by Norway and Britain in the 19t ...

was beached on a mudflat in Langstone Harbour. A rescue operation was carried out to try to save the whale off the south coast of England and managed to free the whale from mudflats using a special lifting pontoon but it remained in shallow water. A decision was made to give the whale a lethal injection as a blood test revealed that it was suffering from kidney failure. If the whale swam into deeper water it could take up to two days to die naturally from renal failure. The whale ended up about off course due to its illness.

Wrecks

Langstone Harbour Phoenix breakwater 2013

There are several boat wrecks in the harbour. One of these is a tug dating from 8 May 1941.Family History The tug named the ''Irishman'' was sunk by a

magnetic mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ve ...

and now rests partially submerged at low tide. A slightly older wreck dating from 1926 is a Bucket dredger named the ''Withern''. Of unrecorded age is the wreck of the ''Excelsior'', an 80-foot-long barge. The harbour also contains a wrecked landing craft that rests with its bows almost permanently above the surface. Close to the entrance of the harbour, there is a wrecked

Phoenix breakwater The Phoenix breakwaters were a set of reinforced concrete caissons built as part of the artificial Mulberry harbours that were assembled as part of the preparations for the Normandy landings during World War II. They were constructed by civil en ...

type C. It was originally constructed to form part of a World War 2 Mulberry Harbour. Various artefacts have been found from the

prison hulk A prison ship, often more accurately described as a prison hulk, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoners of war or civilian internees. While many natio ...

s that were kept in the harbour during the

Napoleonic wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

References

External links

RSPB reserve website
* {{Authority control Geography of Hampshire Transport in Portsmouth Ports and harbours of the English Channel Special Protection Areas in England Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserves in England Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Hampshire Nature Conservation Review sites Ramsar sites in England Special Areas of Conservation in England