BOSMERE HUNDRED 



HAYLING ISLAND 



HAYLING ISLAND 



Heglingaig (x cent.) ; Heilinciga or Halingei 

 (xi cent.) ; Hailinges or Haringey 8 (xii cent.) ; Hey- 

 land or Heling (xiii cent.). 



Hayling Island is only separated from the main- 

 land by a narrow channel known as Sweare Deep. 

 Nevertheless it was inaccessible in heavy weather 

 before 1823, when an Act was passed for building a 

 bridge across Langstone Harbour from Havant up to 

 the Ferry House in North Hayling. 9 The single line 

 of railway to Langstone from Havant has since been 

 extended across the harbour and two stations built, 

 one in North Hayling and the other in South Hay- 

 ling. 10 The sea has encroached on the island very 

 considerably. In the fourteenth century more espe- 

 cially the inhabitants suffered through this and other 

 calamities. In 1324-5 the losses of Hayling Priory 

 through the ravages of the sea were at least 42, for 

 the priory buildings and the whole hamlet of East 

 Stoke had been submerged. 11 Shortly afterwards the 

 islanders were called upon to defend themselves 

 against the incursions of hostile galleys during the 

 French wars, and again in 1 340 a great part of the 

 island was entirely drowned by the sea. 11 In 1346 it 

 was said to be laid waste daily, 13 and subsequently 

 nearly half of the inhabitants died of the Black Death." 

 The sea again encroached to a large extent during 

 the seventeenth century. 15 A considerable part of the 

 east coast is now defended by sea-walls, built when 

 the manor was in the possession of the dukes of 

 Norfolk. 



The island is divided into two parishes of almost 

 equal extent, the northernmost being known as 

 North Hayling or Northwood. 16 Along the channel 

 which divides it from the mainland the country is 

 flat and for the most part barren, though some profits 

 are yielded by the oyster beds off Creek Point to 

 the west. The road along the coast leads eastwards 

 past large salterns and then curving to the south 

 passes through the hamlets of Northney, Eastney, 

 and Westney, with their low thatched houses and 

 well-stocked orchards. North Hayling church is in 

 Eastney, standing close to the road in a small church- 

 yard. The soil from this point onwards is more 

 fertile, stretches of arable land alternating with oak- 

 woods in which there is a dense undergrowth of brush- 

 wood and brambles. Tracts of waste-land are, how- 

 ever, frequent, though many commons were inclosed 

 during the last century, 17 and the island though low- 

 lying is bleak and much exposed, so that when a fire 

 broke out in North Hayling on 23 March, 1757, the 

 violence of the wind increased it to such an extent 

 that the unfortunate villagers were practically burnt 

 out in a few hours. 18 West of the village, in Towncil 

 Field, a Roman building has been discovered, and 

 excavations are still being continued there. The 



same road leads on past the hamlet of Northney to 

 South Hayling. To the west of Northney is the 

 hamlet of Stoke, which is divided into East and West 

 Stoke, and consists of a few farm-hou-es and cottages, 

 old and new, with a Congregational chapel. The 

 western coast is again more barren, the soil being very 

 light and producing but scanty crops of wheat, while 

 its marshy wastes can only be used for pasture, and 

 that not of the best. The sub-soil is for the most 

 part chalk, which is succeeded in the south by Wool- 

 wich and Reading Beds. The arable land, which 

 predominates, covers 734 acres ; there are 219 acres 

 of pasture and 15 acres of wood. 19 The whole area 

 of the parish is nearly 2,626 acres. 



The greater part of the parish is held by tenants 

 of Havant manor, the land being evidently identical 

 with four hides in Hayling held by the monks of 

 St. Swithun in IO86. 20 They annexed it to their 

 neighbouring liberty, the tourns of which the tithing- 

 man of Hayling has always since attended. 



South Hayling, or Southwood, includes the more 

 prosperous portion of the island. The soil is richer 

 than that of North Hayling, the subsoil being Lon- 

 don clay, and stretches of flat pasture-land and 

 flourishing wheatfields betoken its fertility. On the 

 east and west coasts, however, there are marshy wastes 

 such as Mill Pond, which, together with Mill Cottage, 

 probably marks the site of the old manorial mill men- 

 tioned in a thirteenth-century assessment of South 

 Hayling.* 1 The arable land extends over 1,165 acres, 

 the pasture covers 427 acres, and there are 43 acres 

 of wood." The total area of the parish is 4,803 

 acres. Near the Mill Pond is a thickly wooded in- 

 closure surrounded by a moat, and known as Tourner 

 Bury. In ' My Lord's Pond,' close by, oyster beds 

 have been laid down, which with other beds near the 

 island were the source of a dispute that arose in 1850 

 between the local fishermen and the lord of the 

 manor, who based his claim on the mention of two 

 fisheries in the Domesday Survey of Hayling. 28 



Mengham salterns are also relics of an ancient 

 industry dating from the Conquest, for in 1086 the 

 lord of Hayling had a saltpan in the island." Meng- 

 ham is a hamlet at the neck of the most eastern 

 peninsula, and is made up of one or two weather- 

 stained farm-houses, with thickly thatched outbuildings 

 and a Congregational chapel built in 1888. 



East Stoke Common, which forms a peninsula to the 

 south-east of the island, was inclosed in 1 867," and is 

 partially submerged at high tide ; it was the men of this 

 hamlet who suffered most from the encroachment of 

 the sea during the fourteenth century. About half- 

 way across the promontory a wall of cement was 

 built some years back, but it is now cracked and 

 broken. 



8 This form occurs in the documents 

 relating to East Stoke. 



9 4 Geo. IV, cap. ix. The first pile was 

 driven 30 Sept. 1822; Hants Telegraph, 

 13 Sept. 1824. The bridge was acquired 

 by the London, Brighton and South Coast 

 Railway Company in 1878. The tolls 

 arc still collected under the original Act. 



10 Under 23 & 24 Vic. cap. 166. 



11 See V.C.H. Hants, ii, 216. 



" Cat. dose, 1339-41, p. 392. 

 18 Cal. Pat. 1345-8, p. 131. 



14 Orig. R. 29 Edw. Ill, m. 8. 



15 Exch. Spec. Com. 5629 and 6848. 



16 Efis. Rtg. Winton. (Hants Rec. Soc.), 



i, 37- 



*7 Of these Eastney Common Fields and 

 Salterns Duckarl Hill were inclosed in 

 1840, Stoke Co.nmon Field in 1874 and 

 Verner Common in 1876. 



129 



Church Brief (B.M.), A. iv, I. 



19 Board of Agriculture Returns (1905). 



y.C.H. Hants, \, 46 8a. These four 

 hides were quite distinct from the land in 

 dispute between the monks of St. Swithun 

 and of Jumiegei. u Pope Nich, Tax. 214. 



M Board of Agriculture Returns (1905). 



88 Hants Advertiar, Sat. 9 Mar. 1850. 



M V.C.H. Hants, i, 473. 



15 Commons Incloiure Ref. 1904. 



'7 



