Eling Tide Mill
Local highlightA rare working tide mill near Totton that still grinds flour twice a day on the rise and fall of the sea
A tide mill runs on the sea instead of a stream: as the tide comes in it fills a pond behind the mill, a gate holds the water back, and when the tide drops the trapped water is let out through the wheel to turn the machinery. Eling’s mill sits on the causeway across the head of Southampton Water at Totton, and there has been a mill working these tides for centuries, and a mill is recorded at Eling as far back as Domesday. Restored and run as a working museum, it is one of only a couple of tide mills still grinding in the country, and the wholemeal flour it produces is sold on site. The wheel only turns for a while around each low tide, so the milling times shift from day to day. The Test Way footpath starts nearby, and the New Forest is just to the south.
