Southampton

Registered Charity 1057642

© Southampton U3A

About Southampton

 

Southampton is the largest city and major port on the south coast of England. It has a population close to a quarter of a million, and lies at the northern-most point of Southampton Water. Its natural deep-water harbour and unique double tide allow unrestricted access for the world’s largest vessels.

 

The port was the original point of departure for the Pilgrim Fathers aboard the Mayflower in 1620. Since that time Southampton has been the last port of call for millions of emigrants who left the Old World to start life in the New. The Titanic sailed from here, and the city contains several memorials and museum exhibitions related to the Titanic; most of crew having come from the city. Southampton remains an important ocean liner port frequented by luxury ships such as the QE2, Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria, Arcadia, Oceana and many others.

 

The well-known Methodist hymn writer, Isaac Watts, was was born in Southampton in 1674. His famous hymn ‘O God our hope in ages past, our hope for years to come’ is played several times a day by the bells of the clock tower of the Civic Centre. Sir John Everett Millais, the British painter and illustrator, and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, was born here in 1829, continuing to live in Southampton for several years later.

 

Southampton became a popular spa town in the nineteenth century, and pockets of Georgian architecture survive. More recently, Southampton was home to the well-known and loved Supermarine Spitfire. This fighter aircraft, designed by R.J.Mitchell, played an important part in the Battle of Britain, and is famous the world over. The British Overseas Airways Company had a flying boat base here in the docks, serving water-based outposts in Africa and Asia in the 1930s and 1940s, closing only when land based aircraft became dominant. Military flying boat services also had a base at Calshot Spit,at the southern end of Southampton Water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Early History

 

Although Stone Age settlements are known to have existed, the Romans established the first permanent settlement here, known as Clausentum. It was an important trading port for the large Roman towns of Winchester and Salisbury. The Anglo-Saxons, in their turn, moved the main town across the river Itchen to its present location, it remaining an important port. Centred around what is now the St Mary's area, the settlement was known as Hamwic, which later became Hamtun and then Hampton. The Viking King Canute (Cnut, or Knut as he is sometimes known) is said to have defeated the Anglo-Saxon King Ethelred the Unready here in 1014, and was then crowned king. His fabled attempt to ‘command the tide to stop’ may well have taken place in Southampton.

 

Southampton's prosperity blossomed following the Norman Conquest in 1066, and it became the major port of transit between Winchester (then the capital of England) and France. By the 13th Century, Southampton had become a leading port, being particularly involved in the wool trade. The Wool House was built in 1417 as a warehouse for this medieval wool trade, the building surviving today as the Maritime Museum. During the Middle Ages, shipbuilding became an increasingly important industry, which remained until recent years.

 

The French made attacks here many times, and eventually sacked the town in 1338. After that attack, the city walls were built; parts of which remain today. The walls include God's House Tower, built in 1417, the first purpose-built artillery fortification in England. Today, it is open as the Museum of Archaeology.

 

The 12th century Red Lion pub on the High Street, is rightly famous. It was here in 1415, immediately prior to King Henry V of England's departure from Southampton to the Battle of Agincourt, the ringleaders of the ‘Southampton Plot’ were tried and found guilty of high treason. They were Richard Earl of Cambridge, Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham, and Sir Thomas Grey of Heton.  All were later executed at the Bargate.

 

Much of the city was levelled by bombing during WW II. One notable building to survive is Southampton's oldest church, St. Michael’s. Believed to have been started in 1070, the building has been added to many times over the centuries, and the central tower dates from Norman times. Other notable buildings surviving the centuries, are the 15th century Tudor Merchant’s House, now a museum, in Bugle street, and the Mediaeval Merchant’s house dating from 1290 nearby.