A HISTORIC water mill being lovingly restored as an antiques and retail outlet and museum is due to open to the public later this month.

Historians were horrified when owners Hampshire County Council put Chesapeake Mill in Wickham on the market last year. But a 125-year lease on the Bridge Street property, which is made out of timber from an 18th century American ship, was snapped up by import export company Taylor Haimes.

They promised to secure the future of the Grade II listed building.

Careful renovation work costing hundreds of thousands of pounds began in the summer after eight months of negotiations with county council experts.

Dr Robert Prescott, director of the Scottish Institute of Maritime Studies, and a team of marine archaeologists studied beams and reconstructed what missing parts of USS Chesapeake would have looked like from ghost markings around joints.

Members of the Hampshire Mills Group began work on the building's mill machinery in October.

Now directors Anthony Taylor and Glen Haimes are gearing up for the launch of the 6,000 sq ft centre for retail, home furnishings, antiques, gifts and a museum at an open weekend on November 20 and 21.

Manager Susan O'Malley said: "The Chesapeake Mill hopes to put some of the leisurely enjoyment of yesteryear back into the shopping experience. The mill will still have a museum as part of the retail experience so those shoppers with a keen interest in the past will still have the opportunity to discover the mill's unique history."

FACTFILE:

The USS Chesapeake was one of America's earliest frigates, built in the late 1700s.

She was captured by HMS Shannon in the confrontation off Boston in 1813 and brought back to Portsmouth.

Miller John Prior bought timber for the mill from a shipyard as the ship was being broken down in 1820.

Trading ceased at the mill in the early 1990s and it was bought by Hampshire County Council from the Tappenden family in 1998.

They sold it on late last year with conditions which included preserving the character of the mill and allowing public access.