This is probably the last painting that I made of Langstone Mill, a couple of years ago, and which sold easily, being a popular subject. I am going to do it again, but differently. I have been painting what I call “panoramics”, which are completely horizontal subjects in  frames about 60 centimetres long but only 21 high, and they have been successful so far

I have done this twice now, and both sold relatively easily. One was of the beached fishing boats at Beer in Devon, and the other was of Bosham Harbour, again an old favourite. They can both be viewed on my website davidharmerwatercolour.co.uk.

Langstone is a little way down the coast from Bosham, and again a place beloved of sailors and painters alike. Another salt water creek, a misty and lonely shoreline even today, the place exudes atmosphere, especially when the weather is on the turn. I am hoping to do a totally different sky to anything I’ve done before. So far I have just started some drawing work but nothing to show as yet

It does have some history. It was a medieval commercial port for the neighbouring town of Havant, trading in exports of leather goods, especially parchment from Havant whilst engaged in coastal traffic generally. It was the link with nearby Hayling Island, either by causeway which was built by the Romans from chalk and flint, we are told, or by boat bringing in supplies to the priory on Hayling at the time.

Barges went out from Langstone to the sandbanks, where they grounded themselves and loaded shingle until the tide turned and they headed back to port. This was sold up and down the country for road mending, and carried on until the early c20.  Skeletons of some of these old hulks can still be seen sticking out of the mud, and again add to the atmosphere

There are two pubs, and the older of the two, now called The Royal Oak, commemorates the escape of Charles Stuart after the Battle of Worcester. He and his comrade in arms, Henry Lord Moffat hid in an oak tree to avoid capture. After making their perilous way south to the coast, they reached Lyme Regis in Dorset where they tried to get a ship to France. Without any luck, they made their way eastwards port by port, and eventually came to Langstone. No luck there either, although they did eat oysters at the pub,and as everyone knows, they met someone in Shoreham further east, who ran a coal barge and he took them to France.

Yet another romantic story attached to Langstone to add to the atmosphere. Let’s hope I can catch some of this in the painting