A short distance through the gate and across the meadow is the harbourside village of Langstone, including its distinctive water mill and black windmill.
The black windmill is a prominent feature of the landscape, its tarred outer skin resilient to the full force of the coastal weather. This was essential when the Mill was surrounded by solid ice in Langstone Harbour in the 1895 ‘Great Freeze’.
The mill was built in the early 1800s and sits across a creek that provided water to power the mill via a millwheel. The building also had a mill store, built on brick piers and an attached windmill, built in the 1730s.
Did You Know?
The mill had two ten-foot water wheels, one set higher than the other. This made use of the stream feed and the sea, kept behind tide gates.
Barges could be brought up to the mill up Langstone Creek to transport the flour and goods the mill produced all along the south coast.
The old mill, now a private residence, was a working mill until WW2. In 1939, it was converted to residential accommodation, with the tower retarred black and a new cap constructed.
Did You Know?
The acclaimed watercolour artist Flora Twort (1893-1985) was the first resident of the windmill when it was converted in 1939, and where she lived and painted.
Also on the foreshore is The Royal Oak which has been a licensed pub since at least 1754.
- Find out more about the 1895 England ‘Great Freeze’ – click here
- Find out more about The Royal Oak Langstone – click here
The picture postcode village of ‘Long Stone’, now Langstone, sits on the water’s edge. The village is at the narrowest crossing point between the mainland and Hayling Island, near the Royal Oak pub and the old mill.
Before construction of the wooden Langstone toll bridge in 1824, access to Hayling Island was only possible by boat or by use of the Wadeway.
Did You Know?
A wadeway is a place where people could wade across the sea at low tide. Obviously, everyone tended to get extremely muddy when crossing it!
This three-quarter mile long footpath offered a route between Langstone and Hayling for pedestrians and horse riders, during the three hours either side of low tide.
Even today the remains of the wadeway remain visible, with oak stumps marking part of the route.
Did You Know?
A piece of timber found at the Hayling end of the Wadeway was proved by carbon dating to be 3,000 years old. This tells us that this route has been in use since before the Romans arrived in Britain in AD47!
One of the Wadeway timbers, which bares the mark of a bronze age axe userd tp make it, can now be seen at the Havant Museum.
The Wadeway was cut in two by the construction of the Chichester to Portsmouth canal in 1820. To the west, several stone plinths remain where the ‘Hayling Billy’ train line once travelled alongside the old toll bridge.
- Read about the Wadeway and Langstone bridges – click here
- Visit the Havant Museum at The Spring Arts Centre – click here