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Origins
The
earliest surviving reference to Eling Tide Mill is in
the Domesday Book - a survey of all England - in 1086
AD. It is possible that its use may go back to Roman
times (c.200-400 AD), but any evidence of this will be
underneath the existing Mill and dam, hence it is
unlikely we will ever know.
Heyday
of the Mill
The
Mill was owned by the Lord of the Manor of Eling.
Originally this was the King of England, as Eling was a
royal manor. In the early 1200s the manor and Mill were
sold off by King John. They went through various hands
until 1382 AD, when the title, including the Mill, was
purchased by the Bishop of Winchester and gifted to a
school he was founding (along with other properties) to
be a source of income.
This
school is the famous Winchester College public
school. They owned the Mill from 1382 to 1975
AD, leasing it to various tenants on long
leases. Although a small operation by today's
standards, in the past it was an important local
business exporting flour all over the south of
England.
Some
of the grain for milling was from local farms, more used
to be brought several hundred miles round the coast in
barges from the Eastern side of England. When the
tide was in, the barges could be sailed up Southampton
Water, into Eling Creek, and right up to the Mill.
Maximum possible output, running both waterwheels and
all four sets of stones at full speed for both tides,
would have been about 4 tonnes of flour per day.
Maintenance
The
Mill has had to be rebuilt several times over it's
operation. The last time was in the 1770s when the
Mill and dam were completely restored after a bout of
series storms and floods. The current building is
therefore around 220 years old, although it has occupied
the same site as a tidal powered flour mill for around
920 years.
The
milling machinery was upgraded in 1892, when the old
wooden undershot wheels and main gearing were replaced
by cast iron Poncelet-type wheels, cast iron axles and
gears, to increase their efficiency. In the nature
of engineering evolution, the layout of the working
parts remains the same as before.
The
End of Commercial Production
The
market for all of the small, millstone-using mills
(whether tidal, wind or river powered) was undermined
about a hundred years ago by the introduction of large
steam-powered roller mills built near docks to mill
imported grain from Canada. This caused the small
mills in England to fail and close in the first half of
the century.
Eling
battled on making animal feed, as did many other
millstone-using flour mills. But, by 1936 all of
the tidal powered machinery had broken down and there
was insufficient profit left to fix them. For ten
years the last miller carried on with a small diesel
engine running the animal feed machinery. The mill
was finally abandoned in 1946 and left to rot until
1975.
Restoration
In
1975 the Mill was bought by New Forest District
Council. Work began shortly after to save it from
collapse, and to restore it as a site of some industrial
archaeological importance. Eling Tide Mill Trust
was then set up to oversee the final phase of the
restoration, and to administer the Mill as a working
mill/museum after the Mill reopened in 1980.
The
mill originally had two waterwheels, each driving two
sets of millstones. One wheel has been restored
and one set of millstones. The other side has been
left un-restored so that people can see the machinery
without modern safety screens around it.
The
Mill is open five days a week (Wednesday to Sunday) all
year for people to visit and see an old-style mill
rather than a productive flour business. However,
they do run the working machinery each day when the tide
is right during opening hours, and do produce and sell
flour to visitors and local customers. I
have seen the mill in operation, their video, etc,
and can recommend it as a day out for engineering
students, archaeologists, and all those interested in
how we did things in days gone by.
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