Barton-on-Sea had 54,210 residents. Mudeford is one of its main tourist and leisure urban centres.[5]
The ward had a population density of 24 persons per hectare in 2011.
Mudeford includes two woodland areas, Mudeford Woods and Peregrine Woods, a recreation ground on the north side of Stanpit (used to play cricket, probably as far back as the 1860s)
The village has eponymous Infants and Junior Schools.
Mudeford Quay
The present-day Mudeford Quay was constructed in the late 1940s. Before this, the Haven (as it was then known) was surrounded by sloping beaches. The Run was much wider than it is now and the area was subject to such erosion that Christchurch Council bought the whole area in 1945. Five years later it had been raised and reinforced with steel piles and concrete.[8][9]
Today the Quay, consisting of the Haven Inn public house, a number of former fishermen's cottages and a large car park, is still used by local fishing boats and is a base for water sports. A Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) inshore lifeboat station is on the Quay.
The ferry was operated by rowing boats until the 1960s with payment being at the discretion of the passenger.
Mudeford Quay is at the entrance to the Harbour known as "The Run". George III is recorded as having visited Mudeford in 1801 and used a bathing machine.[11]
Avon Beach
About 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) of sand, in the east all below gradually rising gentle cliffs, has much accessibility by paths and car parks and several small businesses, including art and souvenir shops, ice cream shops and restaurants, with views over The Needles and the west of the Isle of Wight on the near horizon. The soft beach type is one of three short stretches of sand east of Bournemouth Bay on England's south coast, the others being West Wittering in West Sussex and Camber Sands in East Sussex. It is possible to walk 9 miles (14 km) along the beach; after the sandy east-facing stretch it turns increasingly to mixtures of shingle and pebbles for the remainder, as far as beyond the cusp of Hurst Castle.
Church
The village church is All Saints Church. Originally a
Chapel of Ease it was built from 1869-71 to a design by John Loughborough Pearson.[12] It had three stained glass windows added in 1918,1931 and 1961.[12] The Church suffered a fire in July 2022 that largely destroyed the building. The congregation aims to have rebuilt the Church by 2026.[13]
Haven House
The oldest of the buildings on Mudeford Quay are now known as Dutch Cottages. They were formerly (collectively) called Haven House built, together with an adjoining quay, in about 1687 in connection with other harbour works under powers of the Salisbury Avon Navigation Act. They stand partially on ground formed by the artificial infilling of the old harbour mouth.[14] As early as January 1699 one of these buildings was serving as an alehouse,[15] and in 1757 it also provided accommodation for fifteen Hessian troops and their sergeant.[16] This was the original Haven House Inn, run by Thomas Humby for at least eighteen years following the death of its landlady, Hannah Sillar, in 1802. Humby also ran the King’s Arms in Christchurch for about the same period of time.[17][18] The present Haven House Inn public house nearby is thought to have been built around 1830,[19] and certainly before 1832 when a Mr Dixon became its landlord and it appeared in a topographical etching.[20]
The district was notorious for
Coastguard service in 1822 the whole of the Haven House was leased by the Government from the manor of Somerford to house a Chief Officer, Boatmen, and their families.[23][24] In 1784 the Inn played a central role in the Battle of Mudeford, a violent conflict between a gang of smugglers and naval Revenue officers.[25] This period saw the growth of Mudeford as a fashionable seaside resort for the well-to-do and Humby refurbished and enlarged the Haven House as a sea-bathing lodging-house.[26]
In 1861 the Admiralty ordered the construction of a new purpose-built Coastguard Station, which was erected on the north side of Christchurch Harbour at