A HISTORIC Hampshire mill has reopened after undergoing a £1m transformation into shops and a museum.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds has been ploughed into renovating Chesapeake Mill in Wickham, a Grade II listed building that was put on the market by Hampshire County Council last year.

Historians were concerned that the future of the mill, which was built in 1820 from the timbers of captured 18th century American warship USS Chesapeake, was under threat.

Import/export company Taylor Haimes snapped up the Bridge Street property on a 125-year lease and pledged to restore the mill and retain part of its use as a museum. It fought off competition from the Chesapeake Action Group, which believed the mill should have been used solely for a museum.

The group has since buried the hatchet with the developers. The mill has been closed for ten years. Hampshire County Council sold it because it could not afford to refurbish the building.

Renovation work included reconstructing what missing parts of the ship USS Chesapeake would have been like originally from ghost markings around joints.

Director of the Scottish Institute of Maritime Studies, Dr Robert Prescott, and a team of marine archaeologists carried out the work. Over the weekend, hundreds of guests were invited to look around the museum.

Manager Susan O'Mally said she was thrilled the new business was finally up and running.

She said: "We invited about 400 people to the launch such as antiques dealers and people from HCC and the Maritime Society, which has got involved. We are hoping that we will draw people to the mill."

The Chesapeake was captured by HMS Shannon after an engagement off Boston (Mass) during the American war of 1812. You can read the amazing story of Chespeake's capture if you click on: http://www.maritime-scotland.com/shannon.html