Southampton, South East England
The old town area of Southampton, at first glance, appears at odds with itself. Its buildings and architecture date from the early Norman period, right up to the present, they are not sectioned into separate areas, but appear at random. While this juxtaposition is somewhat odd, we cannot ignore the fact that what does remain at Southampton is really quite special. Many of its remaining medieval structures may not be in the best condition, or be the best examples, but many of them are also unique, individual, and above all situated in close proximity to each other, allowing the visitor to get an overall idea of the layout of medieval Southampton. There are also a few outstanding buildings which are some of the best examples of their type, these being the Merchants House, the Bargate, and the Castle Vault. Southampton may not be what a visitor quite expects, and yet it is full of pleasant surprises. It seems to be a town with a complete lack of tourist shops, and yet there are a surprising number of medieval structures still standing, which make Southampton a real medieval hidden gem. This is all the more surprising when we remember that Southampton was very heavily bombed during the blitz in 1940.
As is the case with many medieval towns in England, the history of Southampton begins with the Romans. From the mid-1st Century, the Romans called Southampton Clausentum, and used it primarily as a staging post for troops and supplies. It was well defended and bordered by the river Itchen, with two defensive ditches on its land side. The Saxons expanded the area and a trading settlement grew here, which became a busy port, they called the town Hamwih.
The first Viking attack that we know of at Southampton, came in 837, when the Anglo-Saxon chronicle tells us that a high-ranking official named: “Ealdorman Wulfheard charged with command of the army in place of the king fought at Southampton against the crews of thirty-three ships and made a great slaughter there and had the victory.” In 981 the outcome was different. The Chronicle records that Southampton was sacked by a Viking force and most of its citizens were killed or taken captive. By 994 the Vikings had united under Olaf, and the Danes under Sweyn, the combined force attacked Southampton and continued attacking all the coastal towns of Wessex. King Ethelred the Unready was paying a ‘tribute’ to Sweyn to go away, on the condition that they would stop the destruction. While the large payment was collected, the whole of the Viking army waited in Southampton. After the payment was made, the army departed having promised not to return, but Sweyn did return to Wessex demanding money numerous times.
Sweyn’s son was Cnut, who defeated the Anglo-Saxon King Ethelred the Unready in 1014. The 12th Century writer, John of Worcester, tells us that the Viking Cnut had received the submission of the English nobles when he met the Witan at Southampton, before the autumn of 1016. Cnut had promised in return to be a good lord, and it is likely to have been at Southampton that he was crowned King.
Cnut is also associated with Southampton through legend. Another 12th Century writer, Henry of Huntington, tells us that it was at Southampton that Cnut ordered his throne to be taken to the seashore when the tide was coming in, whereupon he sat on the throne and commanded the waves to stop advancing, stating:
‘You are subject to me, as the land on which I am sitting is mine, and no one has resisted by overlordship with impunity. I command you therefore, not to rise on my land, nor to presume to wet the clothing or limbs of your master.’
When this didn’t work he stood, and stated:
“let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but he whom heaven, earth and sea obey by eternal laws.”
It is written, not for us to think that Cnut expected to really stop the tide, but as a lesson to his courtiers. We really cannot tell if the story is true, however Henry of Huntington is a fairly reliable source.
Near the docks today, on the north side of Porters Lane, are the ruins of a Norman house which is known as Cnut’s palace. It was simply misidentified as there is no suggestion that it had any connection to Cnut, until 1805 when it was first named as such. The name however seems to have stuck. The house dates from 1170-1200, and was originally a two-story vaulted house. By the 15th Century, the building was part of the king’s customs house. Today it is towered over by a large Victorian warehouse, built in 1866, and now converted into luxury apartments.
At the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, the capital of England was Winchester, and Southampton is the nearest port town to Winchester. This certainly would have helped the towns growth, but we can see in the street names that the town was not unified after the arrival of the Normans, but instead divided. Southampton had a French quarter even before the conquest, as it is mentioned in the Domesday Book that there were sixty-five men of French origin, and thirty-one of English descent in the town. The residents of Southampton lived in separated areas, the French lived on French Street, and the English lived on English Street, which has now been renamed the High Street.
In the centre of the French quarter of Southampton we can still see the church of St. Michael, who was the patron saint of Normandy. It is the oldest building in Southampton, having been founded in 1070. The church was rebuilt in the 12th Century, and in the 13th Century two chapels were added either side of the altar, with the north and south aisles being added in the 14th and 15th Centuries. It has undergone many changes since then, and the church was enlarged again in the 19th Century. The original spire of the church was added in the 15th Century, but this was reconstructed in 1732, and in 1878 it was extended to make it a better landmark for shipping, and 3 meters (9 feet) were added, to bring the total height to 51 meters (165 feet). Southampton once had five medieval churches within the walls, but St. Michaels is the only one still in use. The church also contains its original 11th Century font, made of black Tournai marble, of which there are only seven in England. At the time of its building, St. Michaels may have been the only stone building in Southampton.
In the reign of Henry II it was decided to strengthen the town, and a new stone gate was built to replace the old wooden one. It would be through this new gate that anyone visiting Southampton by land would have passed. This new toll gate, or Bar-Gate, and its stone arch is still used as a passageway today, although the town wall once adjoining it has long since disappeared. The Bargate dates from around 1175, and is still just as much a focal point of the town today, as it was 800 years ago.
In the 13th Century, round towers were added to the Bargate, with arrow slits to defend the approaches. At one point a bridge was located outside of the gate with double ditches on each side of it. At the end of the 13th Century fireplaces were added, and by the beginning of the 14th Century alterations were being made to the south side of the Bargate, and a double story extension was added with windows to light the room. Today, in the centre of these windows, is a statue of George III in Roman dress. This replaced a wooden statue of Queen Anne.
It was at the gate that visitors would also pay a tax on any goods they were bringing into the city to sell, this was a petty custom toll on carried goods. Those bringing in a cart were also charged a ‘cartage’, as well as a ‘pontage’, which as a toll for the use of the bridge. In 1435, the then tax collector William Rede, collected £20 worth of taxes. In 1605 the city’s curfew bell was added to the Bargate, it would be rung at the end of each day just before the gate was closed.
Lion statues have stood outside the Bargate since 1500, they were gilded for the visit of Queen Elizabeth. In 1743 the original lead lions were replaced with wooden ones, which were painted in a lifelike manner, which was the fashion of the time. The lions were painted black in Queen Victoria’s reign, but have recently undergone a full restoration and appear once again as they did in 1743.
The town walls once encircled the whole of the old town of Southampton, a distance of 1.5 miles of continuous walls. In addition, there were 7 gates and 29 towers. The walls themselves were typically 2 meters (6 feet) thick and 6 meters (20 feet high). There is no natural stone in the local area, so every piece would have needed to be transported. Most of the stone used in the towns defences was transported from the Isle of Wight. There were some incentives for ship captains traveling back and forth to the Isle to also carry stone, as any ship arriving at the port paid a duty which was then reduced according to the amount of stone they brought with them.
In Southampton, the responsibility for the maintenance and defence of the town fell to its prominent citizens and guilds. Although you can walk around both sides of the walls today, this was not always the case, as the southern walls near the dock area would have had water come right up to their base. The view of the aptly named Catchcold Tower is a good example of this, everything in the lower level of this image would have been tidal, with water right up to the walls.
Henry II’s ascension to the English Throne proved to be good for Southampton. The vast estates he controlled on the continent meant not just travel for the royal household, but for all the merchants from those lands who now found it easier to trade with England, and Southampton was a natural port. It was Henry II who ordered the first stone castle to be built at Southampton. He reworked the site of the old motte and bailey castle, and this work was also continued by his heirs, King Richard I and King John. It was under the rule of these three Kings that Southampton’s status grew as they promoted the town, and the Kings themselves used its port often. The enrichment of the town led to the construction of more stone-built buildings from the last quarter of 12th Century.
Very little remains today of the medieval castle, however the castle vault has survived. This vault is 17 meters (55 feet) long and 6 meters (20 feet) wide. It was built as part of Henry II’s rebuilding of the castle site around 1180, and was used to store the King’s supplies brought in by sea. The vault would also have been used to store the King’s wine before it was sent off to his various palaces. A second vault at the castle, known as the Castle Hall Vault, no longer has a roof and was located under the old hall. Only its exterior walls and part of the stone vaulting remain. It is believed that this was the location of a previous hall at the castle, either at this level or above. Both of these vaults were accessed from what was the Kings own private quay. The castle itself was directly above the vaults, and ships which would have once come right up to their entrances, were easily unloaded. The vaults would have been ideal for storing wine as they are able to maintain a constant temperature of 12 degrees centigrade (52 Fahrenheit) all year-round.
*I regret that I am unable to show the castle vault here, as both attempts, I made to access it have failed. At the time of writing, it is closed for renovation works.
Legend tells us that it was through the doorway into Southampton Castle, from the King’s Quay, that King Richard first stepped back onto English land when he returned from his imprisonment in Austria. King Richard only spent one Christmas in England during his reign, and that was at Southampton Castle in 1194.
As the town grew, many of the new houses being built contained a below ground room, or vault, for the storage of goods. These larger, well built stone houses, would have been the homes of the town’s merchants who were involved in the transport of goods. This meant that they would also have to store those goods somewhere, which is why Southampton has 64 remaining medieval vaults, or undercrofts, in the town. Many of these can be viewed by private tours only, and information can be provided by the Southampton Tourist Office. Some of these vaults are still in private ownership, but quite a few are owned by the council. The architecturally wealthiest of them, is the vault known as the Undercroft, at the corner of Simnel Street and Bugle Street.
This medieval groin vault has features you would not expect to see in a storage area. Its history is somewhat of a mystery, although it does appear highly decorative, and perhaps it may even have been ecclesiastical originally, with its fireplace being added in perhaps the 15th Century. The vault itself dates from the 14th Century, and is of a higher quality than any of the others. If this room was intended solely for storage, then a lot of extra work went into the carved details. The floor is thought to be 15th Century and is of brick. All that remains of the original building today is its vault, with everything above having been rebuilt in the early 20th Century.
After the death of Thomas Becket, King Henry II was ordered by the Pope to make a pilgrimage to Canterbury, and it was at Southampton that the King landed on his way to Canterbury. He was one of the first to travel from the continent to Becket’s shrine in Canterbury, but many others followed. In 1196, the wealthy Southampton merchant, Gervase le Riche, decided have a hospice and chapel built so that those traveling to Canterbury could rest after their channel crossing, and before setting out again on their journey. The hospice was called the Maison Dieu (God’s House), and that name still persists in the nearby God’s House Tower today.
Today, St. Julian’s chapel and alms houses are all that remains of the 12th Century hospice. The chapel was named after Julian the Hospitaller, who was the patron saint of pilgrims and travellers. In 1343, the chapel came under Royal patronage and was given by King Edward III to his Queen Philippa. She in turn endowed it to the newly founded Queens College in Oxford, and the college still administers the area to this day. Queen Elizabeth I granted Protestant refugees from France and the Low Countries the use of the church, and it has since become known as the ’French church’.
Sometime around the year 1224, a group of Friars came to Southampton. These Franciscan Friars were also known as Greyfriars, because of the colour of their robes. They settled in the poorest part of Southampton, away from the docks, and not far from the hospice. Their friary was completed around 1233, and comprised of a small settlement. Part of their dovecote remains in the town wall, as this round tower was built in the late 13th Century by the friars. There are still honeycomb holes on the interior, which were once used for nesting doves. When the town wall was built, part of this was demolished and the rest was integrated into the wall, creating a half round tower.
Friaries differed from monasteries in that friars lived around people. They wanted to be near to, and help, the citizens of Southampton. One way in which they did this, was that in the early 14th Century, the friars built a new conduit, and pipework was installed to bring water over one mile to the friary. At the same time, they also had it piped for public use, and water was brought in at All Saints Church, Holy Rood Church, and God’s House Hospital. In 1410, the town took on the maintenance of the public water system, making it the earliest urban water supply in England. The new town wall had proved inconvenient to the friars as it ran between their lands, leaving some of them outside of the wall, and so a gate was built in 1373 which would make it easier for the friars to access these lands.
The ancient lane which runs from the market square outside of St. Michael’s church, down to the waterfront via the old Postern Gate, which was one of Southampton’s original gates, has had a few names over the years. In the 14th Century, it was known as Wytegod’s Lane, after John Wytegod who lived off of it. In the later Middle Ages it become known as Lord’s Lane, but by the 18th Century it was renamed Blue Anchor Lane, after the Blue Anchor Inn, which was located in the lane at the time.
From Blue Anchor Lane you can also see the exterior of the Norman first floor hall house, known as King John’s Palace, although it has nothing to do with King John, having been wrongly named in the Victorian period. This house once belonged to a wealthy merchant, and was located on the western quayside of the town, so ships could load and unload their cargo directly to and from the house. The house was built in the late 12th Century.
It was King Henry III who reinstated the special wine tax that had been claimed by his grandfather Henry II. This was called the ‘King’s Prise' or ‘ancient prise’, which was a tax set on the wine being imported through Southampton. For every ten tuns of wine being brought in, the King received one. This meant that the King received 10% of all the wine being brought in, and he should never run out. The large casks of wine were called tuns, and held 250 gallons of wine (around 1,000 litres). Much of this wine was likely stored in the Castle vault. It may have also been King Henry II who used this tax, sources vary. By the 14th Century, this tax become monetary.
The vault known as 94 High Street, was once a typical Southampton styled merchants house, with a vault built below. It was built by Nicholas de Moundenard, between 1325 and 1357. Although nothing of the house survives above ground level, the vault appears almost untouched by time.
In the early 14th Century, the Norman house mistakenly known as King Johns house, was the home of John Wytegod, who was a wealthy merchant, whose esteem grew further when he became the Mayor of Southampton. The house is now only a ruin, although a substantial one, as its fortunes changed after 1338.
At the start of the 13th Century, the towns defences were enhanced on the northern and eastern sides of the town. The western side was protected in part by the castle, but part of the shoreline was left unprotected to facilitate open access for transport. This restricted the area of land inside the town which could be built upon, so when we get to the 14th Century, we find that all the major buildings were restricted to this relatively small area within the town’s walls.
The Weigh House was built in the mid-13th Century, with 15th Century alterations. It was built to house the royal Tron or weigh-beam, scales and weights. In the Middle Ages it was called the Paysage House, from Old French ‘peser’, meaning to weigh. This was where merchandise, often wool, was brought in to be weighed so that the precise amount of customs duty could be established.
The Weigh House was restored in the 1930’s but was burnt out during WWII, losing its oak roof. This medieval building has recently undergone an extensive restoration program, which was completed in 2022. Interestingly, they decided that the best way to preserve the top of the walls was to use soft-caping. This is simply turf layed on top of the walls to prevent them from further decay.