The Kench is a small naturally protected inter-tidal inlet close to the entrance to Langstone Harbour. Much of the Kench is now a local nature reserve run by Hampshire Council who purchased it after a series of attempts to develop it as a marina had failed in the planning process. The whole of this inlet can be seen from Ferry Road and there is also a path up the east side taking you to the shore of Langstone Harbour.
Just north of the mouth of the Kench is a large shingle bank running north – the only remnant of an early attempt to construct a railway line doomed to failure by the wind and waves in the harbour.
During the national housing shortage of the 1950s several surplus military boats were purchased and converted into living accommodation in the form of house boats located in this naturally protected harbour. In fact a handful of house boats still sit on their cradles here today.
