Souvenir Saturday: Caithness and Eling Echoes

Eling Tide Mill would have been a landmark familiar to members of the Caithness family in the 19^th century.

Situated on the edge of Southampton Water beside the New Forest, it is one of the few tidal mills in the world still producing stone ground flour daily, a tradition dating back 900 years.

Caithness descendant Peter Hay visited Eling and environs and took the photographs below. Abandoned in the 1940s the mill was restored and re-opened in 1980 as a working mill and a museum commemorating this aspect of Britain’s industrial heritage.

The millstone in the foreground would have been in use
 in the Caithness family's era.

Another local feature is the only surviving medieval toll in Hampshire (started c1418) on the causeway which runs directly past Eling Tide Mill. The mill and toll were owned by Winchester College until 1975 when ownership passed to the local Council.

The charge to pass through the toll increased from sixpence in 1967 to 30 pence in 1988 to over £1 more recently.   

The Village Bells: a sign over the bar states 'circa 1800'

http://www.pteratunes.org.uk/OU/Tidal/Eling2.html

http://www.elingexperience.co.uk/Elingmill_1.html

Acknowledgement:

Peter Hay