Contact Us Totton & Eling Totton & Eling Town Council Civic Centre Totton SO40 3AP Hampshire United Kingdom T: 023 8086 3138 F: 023 8066 6876 E: [email protected] W: www.totton-and-eling-tc.gov.uk OFFICIAL TOWN GUIDE Totton & Eling Official Guide Totton & Eling Town Council © Published and edited by Totton & Eling Town Council Contents Introduction Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Totton & Eling History of Our Town ...................................................................................................... 2 Totton & Eling is a town of nearly 30,000 population situated in the New Forest Brief History Overview ................................................................................................. 3 District in the County of Hampshire. In the last 40 years its population has however Local Stories ............................................................................................................... 4–5 doubled in size but the town still retains its friendly village atmosphere. It once used to The Eling Experience & Eling Tide Mill ......................................................... 6–7 be known as the largest village in England. Local Environment.................................................................................................. 8–9 Location A–Z of Local Services ..................................................................................... 10–24 One of the town’s most appealing features is its location immediately Your Town Council ......................................................................................... 25–30 adjoining the New Forest, not that far from many beaches, and near a major city. It is also centrally situated about an hour and a half from Other Things To Do & See ............................................................................ 31–32 London and about two and a half hours to Exeter in the west and Birmingham in the Midlands. Southampton airport is also only nine Gazateer ............................................................................................................... 33–36 miles away. Local Community One of the advantages of the growth in the town is the fact that it has given the Council the opportunity to develop a considerable Front cover: Eling Harbour number of local community and recreational Back cover: Civic Centre facilities. In fact, Totton & Eling probably has All photographs and drawings by Derek Biggs more local community facilities, size for size, of any town in the country. © Published and edited by Totton & Eling Council, 2015. 1 History of Our Town A Brief Historical Overview… 1500 BC A Bronze Age settlement to the north of the town was established with a bridge over the Test and a landing jetty. Past to Present Here it was likely that many goods were imported from other parts of the south coast and even from the continent. It may be difficult to imagine the modern town of Totton & Eling back in the Bronze Age days but in the Heritage Centre is a Bronze Age dagger over 3,000 850 AD King Athelwulf gave land for a burial ground and church at years old, found just north of the town. Eling. Athelwulf was son of Egbert whose subjugation of England from 825 became the foundation of the future Kingdom of England. “…a long history as a small port and 1086 AD At the time of the Doomsday survey the parish of Eling has considerable involvement in milling.” a population of about 300 and recorded a church, 2 mills, a fishery and a salt house. The town is on a point on the River Test where it was 1100 AD In August 1100 William II, known as William Rufus, died just possible to build a river crossing (that may well hunting in the New Forest only a few miles from Totton. be why it is in the place it is today). Eling has a long There is still mystery as to whether it was an accident or history as a small port and considerable involvement murder and it is believed that the arrow that killed him in milling. There has been a tide mill on the site for was made by Cobb the fletcher in his forge near Eling Quay. over a 1,000 years and the area is historically well 1130 AD Henry I sailed from Eling Quay on one of his expeditions to known for shipbuilding, including vessels built for the Normandy. English Navy. 1300s AD The Manor of Eling was purchased by William of Wykeham Notable Events who then endowered it to the Winchester College. William was elected as Bishop of Winchester in 1366. We have gathered some of the more notable events over the last 3,000 years on the next page but it has been more recently, in the last 40 years that Totton 1808 AD– The Warwick family at Eling built six ships for the & Eling has turned from a village into a town. 1814 AD Royal Navy. The following overview is a very short abbreviation of our town’s extensive Late The original Eling Fair was held on the 5th and 6th of July history, however for a fuller picture of our past you may like to visit the 1800s AD each year for horse and cattle sales, however it became so Heritage Centre at Eling where the whole story of our town can be viewed. rowdy that it was abolished in 1905 due to the fights and brawls, and at least one drowning. 2 3 to demolish the original building and replace it with a new one placed further back Local Stories from the highway, although it appears that this work was not actually carried out until 1921. Regrettably the Red Lion was burnt to the ground in 2012 and nothing of the old pub now exists. History is all about situations to which people can relate; here we share several interesting local stories from the past… An Eling Grave A Report from 22nd April, 1557 The graveyard at Eling Church has a poignant tombstone of William Mansbridge. It says: John Lawe, the elder of Wygley in Elinge, and John Law the younger, deceased, late of Wade in Eling, yeoman, have been indicted for that they on 23rd July, 2 “Stop reader pray and read my fate, May (the second year of the reign of Mary) about 1am burglariously entered the mansion of William Poore at Elynge and carried away various items of value, What caused my life to terminate, including a dagger (value 2s), a woman’s cloak of woollen cloth of ‘puke’ colour For thieves by night when in my bed, (value 40s) and 8L in coins in a purse of the goods and chattels of William Poore. Broak up my house and shot me dead.” The Red Lion Public House The position of the Red Lion was well- The Ship Called ‘Pomone’ chosen to attract business, since it lay at the western end of the causeway leading to In April 1813 a brig built in Eling called the Pomone and built by ‘A Mr the bridge at Redbridge, at a point where Warwick a merchant of Eling’ was off Dungeness and taken by French several major roads converged. The privateers. Privateers were in most ways pirates but were supposedly building stood on land belonging to the sanctioned by the country’s governments to take ships from countries Compton family of Minstead, the occupier with whom they were at war or with whom they had disputes. in 1655, Edward Newman, paid an annual They took the ship and her cargo of bale goods, indogo and trinkets rental of £1 14s. 11d in money, plus two capons. Its description as ‘The Inne at which were bound from London to Malta and the Black Sea. Totton’ suggests that it was then the only establishment of its kind in the village. Hanger Farm Death The Inn played a leading part in traditional village life, the stocks for the In 1901 on the 26th March, William George Phillips was loading a cart punishment of minor offenders formerly stood outside and until 1816 an at Hanger Farm barn when the horse bolted and he was run over by annual dinner for the poor of the parish was held here. For most of the 19th the cart. He left a wife and nine children and due to the tragedy the century it was kept by one family – firstly John Dyett, and later his son Charles local people set up a fund to care for his wife and children. Henry Dyett until the latter’s death in 1912. In 1915 the proprietors (Scrase It was unfortunate that one of the committee ran off with the funds and Company of Southampton) obtained permission raised and left the whole family in poverty. 4 5 Heritage Centre The Eling Experience In addition to the historic mill, visitors can at the Heritage Centre learn the history of Totton and Eling, dating from pre-historic time to the present. In the area you Visit one of the local treasures of Totton and Eling by taking a trip back in time can also enjoy the serenity of Eling Church, take a riverside stroll and tuck into tea at the Eling Experience. It is a piece of living history that people of all ages will and cake at the Eling Creek Tea Rooms. remember. The Heritage Centre is sure to capture the For more than 900 years – and possibly even in Roman times – a mill has stood imagination as displays include a 3,000 year on the site of today’s picturesque Eling Tide Mill, set on the water’s edge at old Bronze Age dagger found in Testwood Eling. Lakes and an air-raid shelter where you can safely experience the bombing of the Eling Tar Works in the Second World War. You can also see a depiction of Thomas Mydlington signing One of the few surviving tide mills the lease of Eling Mill in the 15th century. of its kind in Britain… A stroll to Eling Hill leads to the pretty church, which dates back to Saxon times, restored in the 1860s and features an altar painting of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper. Eling Tide Mill There is plenty to interest visitors on one of the suggested walks including spotting the local birds and wildlife as you take a two-mile stroll from Eling Quay, Plan your trip to coincide with one of the past the Mill, Eling Great Marsh, Goatee Beach, Eling Church, Bartley Reach and regular milling sessions and you will back to the tea rooms for a well-deserved ‘cuppa’.