Winkton was listed in the Domesday Book under the name Weringetone.[3] It was described as follows by John Wise in his The New Forest - Its History and its Scenery, published in 1867:
Leaving Sopley, we come to Winkton, the Weringetone of Domesday, where stood two mills, which were rented, as we have seen was often the case, by a payment of eels.
The views here are full of quiet beauty; the river winding along between its green walls of rushes, set with white and purple comfrey and yellow loosestrife, flowing into the darkness of the trees, and then again coming out by meadows, across which rises the Priory Church of Christchurch, standing out clear and sharp against the dark mass of Hengistbury Head.[4]
