Mengham Rythe

This marshland area, fronting Mengham Creek has been the site of several interesting ventures throughout the years. Oyster farming and salt panning were both prevalent here, but possibly the most unusual was a venture to extract gold from seawater. Readers may not be surprised to hear of the failure of this particular venture, but may be more surprised to hear that with over 9 billion tons of gold believed to be in our oceans experiments like this have regained a recent popularity.

Mengham Rythe is probably best known though as the site of one of the Island's sailing clubs. Mengeham Rythe Sailing Club was formed in 1950, as a "Club for all of moderate means" on the original site of Hayling Island Sailing Club at Mengham Rythe. Although the club was originally a sailing and fishing club, the fishing side of the club was dropped after ten years or so as sailing gained in popularity. The club is still popular today and is now housed in a brand new club house, opened in 2003 to replace its 1973 predecessor.

Historic photos of Mengham Rythe

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