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Emsworth

Nestled on Hampshire's border with West Sussex, Emsworth is a delightful town with narrow streets, a harbourside, charming pubs, restaurants and a specialist shops.

An area of outstanding natural beauty, Emsworth is a popular port of call for yachtsmen, artists and naturalists as well as visitors from near and far.

There are several picturesque short walks around the town and it is also the starting point for coastal and country walks across Hampshire.

Emsworth was a thriving centre for oyster fishing and boat building. Boat building continues today, although on a much smaller scale. Tidal mill ponds to the east and west of the town centre play host to a variety of bird life. The mills, two on each pond, still remain although now converted to a variety of uses.

The history of Emsworth

The gradual growth of the town has resulted in many attractive streets, which are lined by a mixture of brick and rendered Georgian houses and these, combined with high-walled gardens, give Emsworth a genuine feel of the past.

Emsworth developed slowly from the 13th century when it was granted the right to hold a weekly market and annual fair. It became a port of considerable importance, exporting wool and importing wine, and by the 16th century most of the traffic of the 'Port of Chichester' passed through Emsworth. Even so it was never a very large place, and in the reign of Charles II it is thought that there were only around 50 houses in the town.

By the 17th and 18th centuries it had reached a peak of importance and advantage was taken of its rivers and tides to provide power for the mills which processed the grain from the farms of the area. In the 19th century boat building and the oyster trade became the prominent industries.

Remembrance

A Memorial Trail through the village from the Quay/Millpond via the Square, north of the pedestrian subway to a Garden of Remembrance on the south east corner of the Horndean Road Recreation Ground, has recently been developed. As well as the sculptures throughout the village, its supporting website (www.emsworthmemorialtrail.org.uk) provides details and lists the names of those people from Emsworth who have given their lives to the furtherance of peace in the world.