
Located in an enclosed drying pocket, miles from the sea, Eling Creek offers complete protection. Approaches are straight forward with a sufficient rise of the tide and daylight.
Keyfacts for Eling
Facilities
Nature
Considerations
Protected sectors
Approaches
Shelter
Last modified
July 17th 2018 Summary* Restrictions apply
A completely protected location with straightforward access.Facilities
Nature
Considerations
Position and approaches
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Haven position
This is the head of the Eling Sailing Club visitor pontoon
What is the initial fix?
The following Eling initial fix will set up a final approach:

What are the key points of the approach?
The entry and the run-up thorough The Solent, Southampton Water and River Test are covered in
The Solent and Isle of Wight
coastal description.
The Solent and Isle of Wight
- Careful planning is required to ensure that sufficient water is available to enter the creek.
- Enter the River Test by passing Dock Head to starboard.
- Proceed 3½ miles upriver beyond the cruise liner docks maintaining a careful watch for ferry and ship movements.
- Continue to the ‘Eling’ east cardinal buoy then pick up the Eling Channel that leads into the basin.
- Keep close to the northwest face of the quays in the basin and continue up to the visitor pontoons.
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 Eling for your convenience.
Ten nearest havens by straight line charted distance and bearing:
- Marchwood Yacht Club - 1.6 nautical miles ESE
- Town Quay - 3.1 nautical miles ESE
- Ocean Village Marina - 3.6 nautical miles ESE
- Hythe Marina Village - 3.8 nautical miles SE
- Shamrock Quay - 3.8 nautical miles E
- Saxon Wharf Marina - 4 nautical miles E
- Kemps Quay - 4 nautical miles E
- Netley - 6.2 nautical miles ESE
- Universal Marina - 6.9 nautical miles ESE
- Elephant Boatyard - 7 nautical miles ESE
These havens are ordered by straight line charted distance and bearing, and can be reordered by compass direction or coastal sequence:
- Marchwood Yacht Club - 1.6 miles ESE
- Town Quay - 3.1 miles ESE
- Ocean Village Marina - 3.6 miles ESE
- Hythe Marina Village - 3.8 miles SE
- Shamrock Quay - 3.8 miles E
- Saxon Wharf Marina - 4 miles E
- Kemps Quay - 4 miles E
- Netley - 6.2 miles ESE
- Universal Marina - 6.9 miles ESE
- Elephant Boatyard - 7 miles ESE
Chart
How to get in?

Totton and Eling is a town and civil parish on the eastern edge of the New Forest and on the River Test, close to the city of Southampton but outside of the city boundary. The two villages are separated by Eling Creek that is accessed from the western side of the River Test close to its head. Eling Sailing Club is situated at the head of Eling Creek and its clubhouse is the village’s landmark tide mill. Eling Creek dries and is only suitable for moderate draft vessels that can come in at high water for a short stay or those that can take to the mud overnight.
Eling Sailing Club welcomes visiting boats to their pontoon. A vessel of about 10 metres (32 ft.) and 1.2 metres (4 ft.) draft is about the upper end of what the club can accommodate. A tide of 3.5 metres or more will provide sufficient depth for a vessel carrying 1.2 metres to reach the visitor pontoons. The club charges a flat fee of £5 per overnight stay. It is advisable, though not necessary, to make contact in advance to make certain a berth is available. Enquires can be made to the clubhouse via email E: info@elingsc.org.uk.
Continue north-westward past Marchwood Yacht Club pontoon for just under a mile to the ‘Eling’ east cardinal buoy. The approaches to the ‘Eling’ east cardinal buoy have a minimum maintained depth of 12.6 metres of water but it shallows immediately afterwards. The Eling Channel, which leads to the creek, dries 250 metres southeast of its entrance.


The Eling Channel entrance is clearly marked by red and green beacons with topmarks. The area to the southwest of the approach path to Eling Channel has a number of small-craft moorings, in 0.3 metres of water or less, that belong to Eling Sailing Club. Within the Eling Channel entrance the channel is marked by ample and substantial starboard marks that should be passed no more than 2 metres to starboard. Overhead power cables will be seen crossing the channel 500 metres from its entrance and 200 metres before the basin opens. With a safe vertical clearance of 26 metres they should present no issue to a leisure vessel bound for the club pontoon. After passing beneath the power lines the basin will open to port.

The basin will be seen to be open at its north-eastern end then increasing with local moorings close to its head where the Tide Mill will be plainly seen in its western corner. A bank extends from the south-eastern shoreline making it essential that the approach is very close to the northwest side of the basin. Pass no more than 3 metres out from the face of Eling Wharf, then a distance of 2 metres off the slipway, that opens to starboard after the quay, and the ends of the bow-to-stern moored vessels along the quay. The final approaches to the Tide Mill three posts, with a tidal gauge upon the outer, should be passed to port.


Why visit here?
Eling received its name from an early form of Anglo Saxon meaning the place of or settlement of Eli’s people. It was recorded in 1086 Domesday as Edlinges with a population of circa 300, a church, two mills, a fishery, and a saltern.
The church’s Victorian exterior, dating back to an 1879-80 restoration, hides the earlier structures of Saxon with later Norman additions. The original Saxon church would have been wooden and was later replaced with a Saxon stone building. A very simple and beautiful stone arch with a tiny Saxon window, along with typical Norman north and south doors, remain to be seen to this day. The church lays claim to being the tenth oldest church in England.

The mill however is by far Eling’s most remarkable historic feature. A tide mill has operated in Eling since they were first recorded in Doomsday more than nine centuries years ago. However that is not to say that these were Eling’s first mills and it is thought that the Romans had a mill here as early as the 3rd century. So the tradition of milling in Eling could almost span two millennia. The mills here would have been rebuilt time and time again down through the centuries but all in common would use the same processes and principals. Eling’s current mill was rebuilt in the 1770s after a storm and its related flooding damaged the previous structure. The milling machinery dates back to 1892 when the old wooden undershot wheels and main gearing were replaced by cast iron wheels, axles and gears. In its heyday, running both waterwheels and all four sets of stones at full speed across both tide cycles, it could mill up to 4 tonnes of flour a day.

This was much more grain than could be supplied from local farms and it was Eling quays that supplied the balance. Barges from the eastern side of England delivered grain up though Southampton Water, the River Test into Eling Creek, and right up to the mill. The quays were closely connected with ship and boat building. Between 1808 and 1814 the Warwick family built six ships for the Royal Navy at Eling. The industry centred on the abundance of New Forrest timber. It was also the site of much illegal dealing in the timber, unlawfully obtained from the New Forest, and a renowned smugglers’ haven.


Today vessels that take to the bottom alongside Eling Sailing Club’s pontoon to dry, do so in the wake of thousands of grain barges that would have taken grain here through the centuries. The club house, adjacent to the historic mill, makes its visitors very welcome. Their real ale at very affordable prices make it a most pleasant location to soak up all the history overlooking the yachts in the basin. The adjacent Heritage Centre on Eling Quay tells the mills story as well as the story of the wider area with Bronze Age daggers, a display of shipbuilding and more stories from the Titanic. The Heritage Centre also includes a tearoom providing refreshments.

There are plenty of walks that take in local birds and wildlife. A two mile stroll from the quay, passes the mill, Eling Great Marsh, Goatee Beach, Eling Church, Bartley Reach and back. There’s also a seven mile walk around Totton and Eling along the River Test to Nursling and back via Testwood Lakes, or serious walkers can sample parts of the 44 mile Test Way.
What facilities are available?
Cards for water and electric power are available in the Club House during bar hours, for use on the pontoon. Visitors are permitted to use the club's facilities bar and toilets. There is a CoOp located about 10 minutes’ walk away and a larger ASDA about 15 minutes away. Limited repair facilities are available. There is a maintenance berth with masts up to 10 metres and subject to 0.5 of a ton. Prices on application.The clubs friendly bar (£2 a pint as of 2016) in the historic building should not be missed. Club Bar Opening Hours: Tuesday 8pm - 11pm, Thursday 6pm - 11pm, Friday 8pm - 11pm, Saturdays 1pm - 4pm. The Anchor Inn also serves food and there are several other opportunities in the town for restaurants and take-aways which caters to a population of nearly 30,000.
Totton and Eling is served by the railway at Totton railway station, on the South Western Main Line to Southampton, London Waterloo, Bournemouth and Poole, and is run by South West Trains. Bus services in the town Numbers 6, 8, 10, 11 and 12 all run from Totton (by the Precinct) to Southampton City Centre via Millbrook, Freemantle and Southampton Central Station. Bluestar, formerly Solent Blue Line, runs services to Southampton, Cadnam, Hythe, Dibden and around the town. Wilts & Dorset also operate cross county routes to Salisbury and First Hampshire & Dorset to Southampton via Southampton General Hospital.
Any security concerns?
The exit to the road is a gate lock which needs a re-entry code that is available from any member or the toll keeper if they are on duty. The quay is a somewhat open area where normal security measures should be adhered to.With thanks to:
Richard Brown RYA Chairman, Southern Region. Photography Mike Pendrich and Micheal Harpur.
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