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This legend tells us of the history of what is possibly the second oldest canal in the country, built in 1611 by Henry the 3rd Earl of Southampton, who dammed the Meon estuary, to provide better grazing land for his cattle, and thereby preventing the fishing and coastal trading boats from reaching their traditional port of Tichfield.
The local anger caused by this made him build this sea lock and canal to Tichfield. It only traded for about 100 years, the continuous scouring effects of the tides in the Solent meant that the entrance to the canal was for ever silting -up, the lock was a staunch lock which meant that the boats had to wait until the tide and the canal were at the same level to permit passage. It would be an easy task to restore this canal today, and build a very profitable marina at Tichfield, which in its self is an attractive village. Wish I had the money.

This three arched bridge spanning the canal is built on the top of the sea lock, it carries the road from Lee-on-the-Solent to Tichfield, not a very busy road. The walk from here to Tichfield is easy with many attactions at the end of it.

The area is known as Tichfield Haven, from the days when it was tidal, you can see from this photo how minor the obstructions would be to full restoration.

The canal wharfe was originally against the wall of this church yard, at the time of its construction this  was a wonderful engineering achievement, the legend inside the church tells of the curses put on the Earls family for closing of the estuary of the River Meon. This is what prompted him to build the canal.

Some very nice pubs will greet one if you decide to walk the Meon Valley and its canal to Tichfield, the one on the left is the Bugle Inn and as you can see the one on the right is the Mill, there are many others, with very fine signs, all worth a mention  but not on this site.

These are unusual craft for canals, they are about half a mile along the coast from where the original canal would have entered the Solent, this is the hover Craft Base at Lee-on-the-Solent, worth a visit for someting different.