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What's the story here?

The small harbour of Hill Head overlooks the Solent from its north-eastern side, approximately midway between Lee Point and the entrance to the Hamble River. It is an attractive residential area with a small harbour situated at the mouth of the River Meon. The drying harbour is the tidal part of the river, with sluice gates further upstream controlling the water level. The harbour has been used for many years by small fishing craft and is now leased to Hill Head Sailing Club, who serve as the harbour administrators.




Hill Head harbour dries to 2.1 metres on the eastern side of the harbour, and the harbour's west side dries to between 3.2 and 3.9 metres. The bottom is hard shale, which provides a stable surface for bilge keelers or centreboard boats to dry out on. It is small and fully occupied by club leisure craft that are restricted to a maximum LOA of 7.6 metres (25 ft.). Hill Head Sailing Club openly welcomes visitors, but the harbour has little room for anything more than their own members' vessels.




Due to space limitations, it is essential to contact the club in advance to check if a mud berth is available +44 1329 664843, admin@hillheadsc.org.uk. The largest boat the harbour can accommodate is a bilge keeler or a centre board, with a maximum draft of 1.5 metres and an LOA of 9 metres (29.5 ft).




The area outside the harbour dries out to at least 500 metres or more from the entrance, with the 2-metre contour a further 100 metres out. This pushes any vessel taking the benefit of onshore winds well offshore, making the vessel subject to a fetch in fresh conditions.

How to get in?

Guidance, tide timers, and waypoints to Southampton Waters are provided in the Western Approaches to The Solent and the run-up to Southampton or the Eastern Approaches to The Solent and the run-up to Southampton .




The initial fix is the position of the seasonal racing buoy that is located ½ a mile northward of the 'Hill Head' port marker to the north of the North Channel. From here, a course of 52° T steers towards the clubhouse that overlooks the eastern side of the entrance to the harbour.




A white house at the back of the harbour and the boxy clubhouse east of the entrance may seem indistinct at first. Still, upon closer approaches, the buildings become clearly visible with the latter positioned behind sheet-piled walls. The seabed dries out to form flats that stretch up to 500 metres from the entrance. Generally, the shore gently shelves all the way in.




Exercise caution to prevent a crosscurrent from pushing a vessel northwestward onto the curved gravel spit, Rainbow Bar. This is a hard shell and shingle spit located immediately west of Hill Head Harbour. It extends a quarter of a mile westward from the mainland point and covers at high water, re-emerging approximately four hours after high tide. It remains exposed for four to five hours thereafter during spring tides. The feature is marked by a yellow perch with an X topmark, and it dries out beyond that mark.




Those intending to remain afloat should anchor in sand with good holding about ⅓ of a mile outside the harbour. Tidal streams are slight in this area. Land by tender on the shore or in the harbour area.




Alternatively, dry out inside the harbour by prior arrangement with the club. The bottom is hard, compact shale, making the boat accessible when the tide is away.

Why visit here?

Hill Head is a relatively recent name, reflecting its location, although it was sometimes referred to as 'Hell Head' on early maps. The exact reason for this variation is not entirely clear. Still, it could have been a phonetic mistake, a descriptive term for a challenging or exposed area, or possibly related to an Old English word for a 'hole' or 'hollow,' referring to where the River Meon flows into the Solent.




Until 1900, Hill Head consisted of only a few cottages and fishermen's sheds and was known as Titchfield Haven. During the medieval period, its importance mainly stemmed from its location at the mouth of the River Meon, which allowed seagoing vessels to access the significant trading centre of Titchfield. Evidence suggests a Roman settlement near Titchfield, and the village only began to take root from the 6th century, when the Saxons started to settle there. The name "Titchfield" derives from the Old English "Ticcan Feld" (possibly meaning "field of a man named Ticca"). By the 10th century, it was a small farming community, and after the Norman Conquest (1066), the area fell under the control of William the Conqueror's allies. They established the Premonstratensian Abbey, Titchfield Abbey, in 1222, making it a major religious and economic centre. The abbey controlled local lands, mills, and fisheries, significantly influencing Titchfield's development. It was granted a market charter in 1269, which further enhanced its role as a trading hub. Subsequently, it served as an important port and market town during medieval times. Ships entered the river at Hill Head and sailed upstream to Titchfield until at least the early 17th century, when silting began to obstruct the passage.


After Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, Titchfield Abbey was sold to Thomas Wriothesley, who converted it into Place House, a grand Tudor mansion. Wriothesley was influential, and his guests at Place House included King Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and Charles I. He proposed the construction of the Titchfield Canal, then known as the 'New River', to enable Titchfield to maintain its status as a port. A sea wall was constructed across the 600-metre-wide river mouth at Hill Head, and the area behind it became known as 'Titchfield Haven'. The harbour had two exits: a sluice-controlled flow into the small Hill Head Harbour to the east, and another allowing access to the canal via a sea lock. From there, a narrow two-mile watercourse with lock gates at Hill Head was built to carry barges along the west side of the Meon Valley, just a few feet above mean sea level, to Titchfield Mill. The canal opened in 1611 and was the second canal built in Britain.




It was initially successful, but like a river, the canal suffered from silting. As sea trade shifted to the nearby burgeoning ports of Southampton and Portsmouth, the canal was abandoned by the end of the eighteenth century. Records from that time indicate that navigation was impossible in the canal, and it was used only as an irrigation ditch. Although the Earl of Southampton campaigned for the canal's construction on the grounds of maintaining Titchfield's trade and local industries, it is believed he had hidden motives. The building of the Titchfield Haven dyke, or dam, flooded the surrounding estuary lands with freshwater, which belonged to the Earl, and the sluices in the dam could control the water levels. This resulted in the quick accumulation of sediment, creating a large area of fertile land that could be irrigated or flooded as needed. It also made the river non-tidal and blocked sailing ships from reaching its mouth, cutting off Titchfield's seaborne trade. From 1611, seagoing vessels had to transfer goods into the canal's small barges for the last two miles. This was far less convenient than landing the cargo in the town, and over time, it would have caused ships to seek other ports.




The residents of Titchfield firmly believed that the canal wasn't built for navigation, but rather to allow the Earl of Southampton to irrigate his nearby meadows with fresh water. They were upset about losing their historic right to free passage to the Solent. Titchfield Parish Register records on June 23rd, 1611, the 'shutting out of Titchfield haven by one Richard Talbottes industrie under God's permissione.' Richard Talbottes was the engineer responsible for the dam, hired by the Earl of Southampton, who ordered the river's closure. Even today, the Titchfield Carnival, the largest and oldest in the region, dating back to 1880, reflects the town's disapproval of the Earl. Every year, they burn an effigy of the Earl as the festival's main event. Fortunately, history also remembers the Earl as a patron of William Shakespeare. Two of Shakespeare's narrative poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece, were dedicated to him, and he is generally believed to be the Fair Youth in Shakespeare's Sonnets.




Now, the wetlands on the floor of the Meon Valley, created by the dam, form part of the Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve. The two-mile Titchfield Canal watercourse remains between the village of Titchfield and the Hill Head adjacent to the modern nature reserve. The reserve is located immediately behind the harbour, the 369-acre reserve of reed beds, saltings, and marshes is primarily managed as a haven for birds. It is also home to foxes, deer, dragonflies, and butterflies, which can be observed up close in one of the many 'hides'. Some rare wetland plant species, such as slender bird's-foot-trefoil, frogbit, and marsh mallow—plants that are very rare in lowland Britain—thrive in this natural reserve.




Today, Hill Head is a charming residential area. Salterns Beach is one of the south coast's top venues for water sports such as sailboarding and kitesurfing, and is home to Seafarers Sailing Club. The village serves as a starting point for some lovely coastal walks—eastwards to Lee-on-the-Solent and west to Meon Shore and the River Hamble estuary.




From a boating perspective, the Hill Head Sailing Club warmly welcomes visiting sailors. If you can take to the bottom and are fortunate enough for the club to find some space to accommodate your vessel, it is a great place to dry out. From a fin keel perspective, although the area offers an exposed anchorage, it remains the best place along this stretch of coast to anchor and land, especially if you're looking for some food or to have a drink ashore.

What facilities are available?

Hill Head Sailing Club, built by members, has excellent facilities including changing rooms with showers and toilets, as well as facilities for people with disabilities. It features an attractive lounge and bar with sweeping views over The Solent. Members operate the bar seven days a week, and light lunches are served in the ‘galley’ each weekend.

Hill Head Beach has public toilets and is served by a regular bus service.

With thanks to:

Tony Firth, Port Solent Yacht Club.