Woodmill Outdoor Activities Centre is technically an island, surrounded by water on all sides, this 17 acre urban escape is perched on the edge of Southampton with great transport access to the M27, the airport and the city centre, making it an ideal location to do business in the South.
Home to some fantastic activities, this wooded wilderness has a great selection of venues and spaces available to hire. Whether its hosting a meeting, delivering a training course or even having an outdoor wedding, Woodmill has proven itself a versatile, affordable and perfect green hideaway for a unique venue to meet their needs.
Woodmill is a mill of great antiquity located on the Itchen, west of the Wood Mill Lane crossing. There has been a mill here since medieval times and it is mentioned by name in early medieval documents. It was presumably originally of wooden construction, but has been many times rebuilt. The modern history of the mill starts in 1781 when the famous naval block maker, Walter Taylor, built a block mill alongside the two existing corn mills. All of these buildings were destroyed by fire c.1825, and it is thought that the present buildings were built soon after this. The flour mill ceased operations in the 1950s.
A manor known as South Stoneham, (as distinct from North Stoneham) was established, with an early charter dating from 990. On a charter for 1045, the land was granted by King Edward to the old Minster at Winchester.
The land was tenanted, and the revenues derived from it were for the benefit of the monastery, but it would have been under the control of the Bishop of Winchester. The Domesday Record notes two fisheries for the Manor of South Stoneham and whatever their precise location, it is likely that the fishing was good and plentiful.
In 1275, records pertaining to the River Itchen mention:
“a mill called the Wodemilne, worth five poundr a year and a salmon fishing of the annual value of ten marks.”
The lake supports a valuable range of aquatic life and marginal vegetation which is worthy of particular conservation measures. The Itchen River has Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) designation, protecting the site on the basis of its ecological value at national level.
The Itchen Navigation is a 10.4-mile (16.7 km) disused canal system in Hampshire, England, that provided an important trading route from Winchester to the sea at Southampton for about 150 years. The final lock on the Itchen Navigation was the sea lock at Woodmill. There are no visible remains of it, although its location can still be seen to the west of the main centre building.
Discover further details about the Itchen Navigation
In 1888 the estate was sold to Sir Samuel Montagu, created Lord Swaythling in 1907. 1908-9, extensive new gardens made to designs by the architect L.R. Guthrie.
In 1921, the house and grounds, north of the salmon pool and Monks Brook, were taken on by Southampton University, for use as a Hall of Residence. A hrther Hall, Connaught, was built on the site of the orchard and the park to the north of the house became a recreation ground. The grounds which lay south of Monks Brook and the salmon pool, remained in the Townhill Estate and were retained by Lord Swaythling even after that estate was sold in 1948. The Ordnance Survey maps show that the new formal gardens soon disappeared, and trees and scrub began to encroach. A watercolour of a lily pool near the ‘ summerhouse and the actual chestnut trees and some fallen willows, are all that remain of the complex design.
Today the site holds Nature Conservation (SINC) designation, giving protection from development on the basis that it’s locally important for its ecology.