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Hythe Marina Village is situated on the south coast of England, on the western shore and near the head of Southampton Water. It is a modern marina village complex fronting the small town of Hythe.

Hythe Marina Village is situated on the south coast of England, on the western shore and near the head of Southampton Water. It is a modern marina village complex fronting the small town of Hythe.

Located near the head of Southampton Water and behind a lock the marina offers complete protection. It can be safely accessed night or day, at any state of the tide and in all reasonable conditions.
Please note

As the marina accommodates visitors in slots freed up by absent resident berth-holders it is advisable to make contact in advance of any intended stay.




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Keyfacts for Hythe Marina Village
Facilities
Water hosepipe available alongsideWaste disposal bins availableDiesel fuel available alongsidePetrol available alongsideGas availableShop with basic provisions availableMini-supermarket or supermarket availableExtensive shopping available in the areaSlipway availableLaundry facilities availableShore power available alongsideShore based toilet facilitiesShowers available in the vicinity or by arrangementHot food available in the localityPublic house or wine bar in the areaCashpoint or bank available in the areaPost Office in the areaInternet café in the areaInternet via a wireless access point availableDoctor or hospital in the areaPharmacy in the areaChandlery available in the areaBus service available in the areaTrain or tram service available in the areaTourist Information office availableShore based family recreation in the area


Nature
Marina or pontoon berthing facilitiesNavigation lights to support a night approachSet near a village or with a village in the immediate vicinity

Considerations
Restriction: access via a channel with a lock or enclosed by a lockNote: could be two hours or more from the main waterwaysNote: harbour fees may be charged

Protected sectors

Current wind over the protected quadrants
Minimum depth
2.5 metres (8.2 feet).

Approaches
5 stars: Safe access; all reasonable conditions.
Shelter
5 stars: Complete protection; all-round shelter in all reasonable conditions.



Last modified
July 23rd 2020

Summary* Restrictions apply

A completely protected location with safe access.

Facilities
Water hosepipe available alongsideWaste disposal bins availableDiesel fuel available alongsidePetrol available alongsideGas availableShop with basic provisions availableMini-supermarket or supermarket availableExtensive shopping available in the areaSlipway availableLaundry facilities availableShore power available alongsideShore based toilet facilitiesShowers available in the vicinity or by arrangementHot food available in the localityPublic house or wine bar in the areaCashpoint or bank available in the areaPost Office in the areaInternet café in the areaInternet via a wireless access point availableDoctor or hospital in the areaPharmacy in the areaChandlery available in the areaBus service available in the areaTrain or tram service available in the areaTourist Information office availableShore based family recreation in the area


Nature
Marina or pontoon berthing facilitiesNavigation lights to support a night approachSet near a village or with a village in the immediate vicinity

Considerations
Restriction: access via a channel with a lock or enclosed by a lockNote: could be two hours or more from the main waterwaysNote: harbour fees may be charged



Position and approaches
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Haven position

50° 52.538' N, 001° 23.973' W

This is situated at the entrance to Hythe Marina's lock.

What is the initial fix?

The following Hythe Marina initail fix will set up a final approach:
50° 52.685' N, 001° 23.790' W
This is situated on Southampton Water's 2 metre contour 200 metres northeast of the entrance to the dredged channel that leads to Hythe Marina's lock basin.


What are the key points of the approach?

The entry and the run-up thorough The Solent and Southampton Water are covered in
The Solent and Isle of Wight Route location coastal description.


Not what you need?
Click the 'Next' and 'Previous' buttons to progress through neighbouring havens in a coastal 'clockwise' or 'anti-clockwise' sequence. Below are the ten nearest havens to Hythe Marina Village for your convenience.
Ten nearest havens by straight line charted distance and bearing:
  1. Town Quay - 1.1 nautical miles N
  2. Ocean Village Marina - 1.2 nautical miles NNE
  3. Shamrock Quay - 2.1 nautical miles NNE
  4. Marchwood Yacht Club - 2.3 nautical miles NW
  5. Saxon Wharf Marina - 2.4 nautical miles NNE
  6. Kemps Quay - 2.4 nautical miles NNE
  7. Netley - 2.5 nautical miles ESE
  8. Mercury Yacht Harbour - 3.4 nautical miles E
  9. Port Hamble Marina - 3.5 nautical miles ESE
  10. Universal Marina - 3.5 nautical miles E
These havens are ordered by straight line charted distance and bearing, and can be reordered by compass direction or coastal sequence:
  1. Town Quay - 1.1 miles N
  2. Ocean Village Marina - 1.2 miles NNE
  3. Shamrock Quay - 2.1 miles NNE
  4. Marchwood Yacht Club - 2.3 miles NW
  5. Saxon Wharf Marina - 2.4 miles NNE
  6. Kemps Quay - 2.4 miles NNE
  7. Netley - 2.5 miles ESE
  8. Mercury Yacht Harbour - 3.4 miles E
  9. Port Hamble Marina - 3.5 miles ESE
  10. Universal Marina - 3.5 miles E
To find locations with the specific attributes you need try:

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Chart
Please use our integrated Navionics chart to appraise the haven and its approaches. Navionics charts feature in premier plotters from B&G, Raymarine, Magellan and are also available on tablets. Open the chart in a larger viewing area by clicking the expand to 'new tab' or the 'full screen' option.

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How to get in?


Hythe Marina Village lies on the western shores and near the head of Southampton Water. It was the first marina village to be built in the UK and has 225 luxury residences each with its own permanent berth. Immediately south of the marina is the small town of Hythe from which a regular ferry service operates to Southampton from the town pier located close south of the marina.

Hythe Marina Village is entered through a lock, 21 metres long by 9 metres wide, that is available 24 hours a day. The 206 berth basin within has a control depth of 2.5 metres. Although it can accommodate yachts of up to 16 metres LOA its sweet-spot is that of an average sized boat. Southampton Water provides a maintained depth of not less than 12.6 metres chart datum up to the marina’s entrance channel. The lock is then approached by a well-marked short channel that has a maintained depth of 1.5 metres chart datum.




Hythe Marina Village holds no specific visitor berths and accommodates visiting yachts in the berths of resident holders that are away. It is therefore advisable to make berthing arrangements in advance by contacting the reception on VHF Channel 80 or P: +44 23 8020 7073. Berths may be reserved up to two days in advance.


Convergance Point The Solent and Isle of Wight Route location coastal description provides approach details. Vessels will find nothing in the way of local hazards by staying in reasonable soundings and following The Solent’s ample marks.

Yachts navigating the six-mile length of Southampton Water should keep a listening watch for Southampton VTS, on VHF Ch 12/16, especially around the docks, and give priority to commercial traffic. Whenever practicable it is preferable that leisure craft should use the largely navigable waters outside the buoyed commercial shipping channels. At night the helmsman should keep watch for several large unlit mooring buoys off Hythe and the opposite side of the fairway. There is a speed limit of 6 kn in the area north of a line joining Hythe Pier and Weston Shelf. Hi-speed, Ro-Ro ferries and large ships operate in this part of Southampton Waters.




The marina is located on the western shoreline and approached a ¼ of a mile above Hythe Pier and about ⅓ of a mile southward of Dock Head at the junction of the Rivers Itchen and Test. It is the first marina encountered upon entering Southampton Water and it makes itself known by the cluster of buildings, many with terracotta roofs, of Hythe Marina Village.
Please note

The marina must be contacted, on VHF Ch 80 or by mobile, for clearance to lock-in for a vacant berth or for the fuel bay before any approach is made.






The marina’s lock is entered via a 200 metre long straight channel that has a maintained depth of 1.5 metres LAT. The entrance to the channel is marked by an East Cardinal Beacon, exhibiting a light Q(3) 10s, that should be passed to starboard, with a corresponding port beacon, FI(2)R.5s. The short channel continues in on a bearing of 220°T marked by lit red and green piles to the lock with a convenient outer waiting pontoon stepped back from the fairway on the south side of the entrance to the lock.




Traffic lights on the signal poles above the lock control access.

  • • 3 [Fixed Red] ‘Wait’

  • • 3 [Flashing Red] ‘All traffic must stop!’

  • • 3 [Fixed Green] ‘Go ahead’

  • • 2 [Fixed Green over one White] ‘Free flow in the lock’

The lock has some free flow around high water, except on peak neaps, but permission for entry should nevertheless be obtained from the lock office before making any entry. Be mindful of tidal flows when passing through the lock at free flow.



Haven location Berth as directed by the lock master.






Why visit here?
Hythe, also known through time as Heda, Heya, Hethe, Hithe with the word Hyth in Old English, means ‘hard permanent landing-place’ or ‘haven’. Southampton Water has always been a very important waterway, deep and well sheltered it provides access to the heart of Hampshire, and the important Rivers Test, Itchen and Hamble all empty into it. A good landing place on its shore would always be important and so it was for Hythe.


Hythe has been a port since Saxon times when it was granted by Halfden, a Saxon thegn (nobleman), to Christ Church, Canterbury. In the Domesday Survey the borough is entered among the archbishop's lands as appurtenant to his manor of Saltwood, and the bailiff of the town was appointed by the archbishop. The settlement thrived through the centuries with its villagers having the opportunity to benefit from fishing and ferrying as well as agriculture. Its passenger ferry to Town Quay has operated since the Middle Ages and was first marked on the Christopher Saxton map of 1575 as ‘Hitheferye’ along with the later John Harrison map of 1788. Several boat building yards sprung up along its shore and when cargo vessels became too large to come alongside, the villagers acted as ‘lightermen’ for Hythe and Southampton. But the sea gradually retreated from Hythe and the harbour became choked up with sand. The village then suffered the fate of other places near it and lost its old importance.




A prosperous shipyard nevertheless remained on the south side of the village. It built small craft for the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Period and continued under various ownership’s and intensities until the Second World War. During the war the yard became home to the Royal Navy’s ‘little ships’, the Motor Torpedo Boats and the RAF Air/Sea Rescue Boats. The yard finally closed when the war ended bringing an end to over two hundred years of shipbuilding on the site. But the village had one final maritime encore when Sir Christopher Cockerel moved to ‘Grove’ in St. John’s Street, adjacent to the location of todays Hythe Marina Village. Sir Christopher Cockerel was the founder of ‘The Hovercraft Development Company’ and, although the original concept and prototype were designed and built in East Anglia, it was from here that the final designs were refined for the first cross-Channel hover-ferry that launched in 1966. Hythe nevertheless continue to thrive after the war and its prosperity was driven by the expansion of Fawley Refinery in the 1950s. The Fawley expansion led to a demand for more houses and Hythe and Dibden Purlieu were allowed to expand changing Hythe from a village into a small town.




Hythe’s most remarkable feature will always be the pier from which the ferry runs. Prior to its construction the ferry passengers had to walk out onto a gravel hard, in front of what is now the Drummond Arms, to board the ferry. This presented difficult footing that frequently resulted in the ferry passengers getting wet feet. This problem added to a Victorian penchant for building piers lead to the construction of what would be Hythe Pier in 1879. The 640 metres (2,100 feet) iron pier was opened with considerable ceremony on 1st January 1881. In 1909 tracks were laid for hand-propelled trolleys to assist passengers carry goods and luggage out the long walkway. In 1922 a 2-foot (576mm) narrow gauge electric railway opened to take passengers and their luggage the full length of the Pier.




This railway with its original engine and rolling stock is still operational today and an important part of the local transport system to Southampton. The nineteenth century pier remains one of the ten longest piers in the British Isles and its rail, which has run continuously since 1922, is the oldest pier railway in the world. The pier remains in active use today and it provides a highly convenient half-hourly service that takes just 15 minutes to cross to Southampton Town Quay.


Hythe Marina Village itself is also a UK first. Arising from the mudflats of Hythe in 1985 it was the first marina village to be built in the UK. Inspired by the French Mediterranean marina of Port Grimaud, it constitutes a collection of waterfront homes, each with its own pontoon mooring. Hythe Marina Village is thought by many to be the finest marina village on the UK’s south coast. With only 228 properties it is relatively small, by comparison to some of the later marina villages, and the purpose-built locked marina provides the development with a relaxed ‘lifestyle’ feel.




From a sailing perspective the protected marina on the doorstep to the Solent is an ideal location to refuel and provision a vessel. It has ferry access to the centre of Southampton and its onward connections. Likewise the New Forest, a newly formed National Trust area of outstanding natural beauty, is three miles west. The small market town itself has all the relevant amenities that anyone would need along its pleasantly cobbled high street.


What facilities are available?
The pontoons provide power and water. All domestic requirements such as showers, toilets, launderette facilities up to and including WiFi can be found throughout the marina area. Diesel, unleaded petrol and a toilet pump-out facility are available at the fuel bay, located immediately within the lock, port side. The marina also caters for gas cylinders, general waste disposal, and full recycling facilities. Arrangements can be made for the disposal of waste oil.

The marina has a fully serviced boatyard with a 40 tonne travel hoist located close north of the lock and hard standing area. There is a small chandlery onsite and a wide range of specialist services from rigging services to marine electronics, GRP repairs and cosmetic work and engineering. There are two restaurants within the village; La Vista Bar and Restaurant plus the Boathouse Hotel Bar and Restaurant overlooking the marina. A small Londis shop can be found in the Marina Village Centre where some other shops such as chemists etc can be found. The town of Hythe is five-minutes’ walk from the marina and has further excellent facilities including a Waitrose supermarket, post office, banks and an assortment of restaurants and bars which can be found along the High Street.

A half-hourly ferry service operates between Hythe Pier and Southampton where further onward train and bus connections are available P: +44 23 8084 0722. An hourly summer Beach Bus runs from the Saltwater Baths in Lymington, stopping at popular attractions such as Lepe Country Park, Exbury Gardens, the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, to terminate at the Hythe Ferry. Regular bus services operate between Hythe ferry pier and Southampton throughout the week along with shuttle services to Portsmouth, Eastleigh, Winchester, Hedge End and Hamble.


Any security concerns?
The marina is highly attentive to security. Gates are coded and a 24 hour security system is maintained with CCTV.


With thanks to:
Michael Harpur S/Y Whistler. Photography by Michael Harpur, Aerial Cinematography, Wayland Smith and Gillian Thomas.























































Tom Cunliffe describes how to navigate the lock at MDL Marina Hythe




Aerial view of Hythe Pier and Hythe Marina Village



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