Lymington and Keyhaven Marshes

Keyhaven, Pennington, Oxey and Normandy Marshes, also known as the North Solent Marshes, are three areas of saltmarsh in Hampshire, England. The haven outpost of Milford-on-Sea, Keyhaven sits to the west, the village of Pennington to the north, and the town of Lymington to the northeast. The marshes lie behind Hurst Spit and fall within the Hurst Castle And Lymington River Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. The town faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the civil parish of Lymington and Pennington. The town has a large tourist industry, based on proximity to the New Forest and its harbour. It is a major yachting centre with three marinas. As of 2015, the parish of Lymington and Pennington had a population of 15,726.

Pennington is a ward (electoral and ecclesiastical) in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England, which is defined based on the boundaries of the earlier manor. Pennington Village is at the centre of the ward, with Upper Pennington to the north and Lower Pennington to the south. The population taken at the 2011 census was 6,060. It is in the southernmost part of the New Forest on the Solent coastline near to the town of Lymington, with which it shares the civil parish of Lymington and Pennington. Pennington sits on the river terrace plateau between Avon Water to the west and Yaldhurst stream to the east. The Solent forms Pennington's southern coastal border. The northern border is Sway Road. The hamlet of Bowling Green is in Upper Pennington on the border with Sway.

Hurst Castle and Lymington River Estuary is a 1,077.3-hectare (2,662-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Lymington in Hampshire. It is a Nature Conservation Review site and two areas are Geological Conservation Review sites. Three areas are local nature reserves, Boldre Foreshore, Sturt Pond and Lymington and Keyhaven Marshes; the latter site is managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. Part of it is North Solent National Nature Reserve. It is part of Solent and Southampton Water Ramsar site and Special Protection Area. Parts of it are in Solent Maritime and Solent and Isle of Wight Lagoons Special Areas of Conservation.

North Solent is a 1,186.7-hectare (2,932-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest along the north bank of the Solent between East End and Calshot in Hampshire. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. Part of it is in North Solent National Nature Reserve and two areas are Geological Conservation Review sites. It is part of Solent and Southampton Water Ramsar site and Special Protection Area, and of Solent Maritime Special Area of Conservation. Boldre Foreshore is a local nature reserve.This site has diverse habitats, including mudflats, saltmarshes, beaches, marshes, grassland and woods. It has rich insect populations and is of international importance for its wintering and migratory wildfowl and waders. Stone Point is important for studies of Quaternary stratigraphy, and it has many fossils dating to the Eemian interglacial, around 120,000 years ago.

Priestlands School is a Mixed-sex education secondary school located in Pennington, Hampshire in southern England. The school serves an area that includes the villages of Beaulieu, Brockenhurst, East Boldre, Hordle, Norleywood, Pilley, South Baddesley, Sway and the towns of Lymington and Milford-on-Sea.

Keyhaven is a hamlet on the south coast of England in the county of Hampshire. It is a fishing village, but the trade has been in decline for a period of years and its main draw now is tourism, especially sailing.

The Lymington River drains part of the New Forest in Hampshire in southern England. Numerous headwaters to the west of Lyndhurst give rise to the river, including Highland Water, Bratley Water and Fletchers Water. From Brockenhurst the river runs southwards to the Solent at Lymington. Highland Water rises north of the Ocknell Inclosure (SU243125) and flows for 10 km (6 mi) to Bolderford Bridge (SU291041) where it meets Ober Water. From there, it is known as the Lymington River and flows for a further 12 km (7 mi) to (SZ3493).

Hurst Point Lighthouse is located at Hurst Point in the English county of Hampshire, and guides vessels through the western approaches to the Solent.

The Church of St Thomas the Apostle in Lymington in Hampshire, is the main Anglican Church of England parish church for the town. There has been a church on the site for 800 years and the original foundations are believed to date to the reign of Henry III but was largely rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Lymington Town Football Club is a football club based in the coastal town of Lymington, Hampshire, England. Known as "The Linnets", they are currently members of the Wessex League Premier Division and play at the Sports Ground.

Hurst Castle is an artillery fort established by Henry VIII on the Hurst Spit in Hampshire, England, between 1541 and 1544. It formed part of the king's Device Forts coastal protection programme against invasion from France and the Holy Roman Empire, and defended the western entrance to the Solent waterway. The early castle had a central keep and three bastions, and in 1547 was equipped with 26 guns. It was expensive to operate due to its size, but it formed one of the most powerful forts along the coast. During the English Civil War of the 1640s, Hurst was held by Parliament and was used briefly to detain King Charles I before his execution in 1649. It continued in use during the 18th century but fell into disrepair, the spit being frequented by smugglers. Repairs were made during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars with France, and the castle was modernised to enable it to hold 24-pounder (10.8 kg) guns. Fresh fears of invasion followed in the 1850s, leading to heavier, 32-pounder (14.5 kg) armament being installed and new gun batteries being laid out on both sides of the castle. Technological developments rapidly made these defences obsolete, however, and a fresh phase of work between 1861 and 1874 created sixty-one gun positions in two long, granite-faced batteries alongside the older castle. These held very heavy weapons, including massive 12.5 inch, 38 ton (317 mm, 39,000 kg) rifled muzzle-loading guns. As the century progressed, these too became outdated and lighter, quick-firing guns were installed at the castle to replace them. The castle formed part of a network of defences around the entrance to the Solent during the First World War, and was re-armed again during the Second World War. The military decommissioned the fort in 1956 and it passed into the control of the Ministry of Works. In the 21st century, it is run jointly by English Heritage and the Friends of Hurst Castle as a tourist attraction, receiving around 40,000 visitors during 2015. Coastal erosion has become a growing problem despite government intervention in protecting the spit. Four lighthouses have been built at Hurst from the 18th century onwards, one of which, a high lighthouse first opened in 1867, remains in active service. In January 2021, local media reported that the castle was in urgent need of repairs due to coastal erosion, and the wall of the eastern wing partially collapsed on 26 February 2021 as the sea cut into and compromised its foundations. The World Monuments Fund included the castle on their 2022 World Monuments Watch list of most endangered sites.In September 2022, it was one of six English castles included in a fundraising campaign by English Heritage to mitigate risks of destruction due to worsening coastal erosion. They hope to gather enough funds to repair and strengthen the sea walls around the castle.