Southampton
Southampton is a
city and major
port situated on the south coast of
England. It is the closest city to the
New Forest, situated approximately halfway between
Portsmouth and
Bournemouth. Southampton lies at the northern-most point of
Southampton Water where it is joined by the
River Test and
River Itchen, with the
River Hamble joining to the south of the urban area. The city represents the core of the
Greater Southampton region. A resident of Southampton is called a
Sotonian.
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The medieval city wall |
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Southampton High Street in 1839. |
Although
Stone Age settlements are known to have existed in the area, the first permanent settlement was established by the
Romans. Known as Clausentum, it was an important trading port for the large Roman towns of
Winchester and
Salisbury.
The
Anglo-Saxons moved the centre of the town across the
River Itchen to its present location, and it remained an important port. At the time, it was centred around what is now the St Mary's area, and the settlement was known as
Hamwic. This name was later to evolve into
Hamtun, and later still to
Hampton.
The Viking King
Canute the Great is supposed to have defeated the Anglo-Saxon King
Ethelred the Unready here in
1014 and his fabled attempt to "command" the tide to halt may have taken place in Southampton. However, its prosperity was assured following the
Norman Conquest in
1066, when it became the major port of transit between Winchester (then the capital of
England) and
Normandy.
By the
13th Century, Southampton had become a leading port, and was particularly involved in the
wool trade. The
Wool House was built in
1417 as a warehouse for the medieval wool trade with
Flanders and
Italy. This building is today used as the Maritime Museum, and can be found near Town Quay. It includes an exhibition concerning the RMS
Titanic.
Bowls was first played regularly on the Southampton Old Bowling Green adjacent to God's House Hospital in 1299. It is the world's oldest surviving
bowling green.
The town was sacked in
1338 by the French, including the pirate
Grimaldi, who used the plunder to help found the
principality of
Monaco. After this attack, the city walls were built, some of which remain as ruins today. The city 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 below the Bargate within the old walls is where 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",
Richard, Earl of Cambridge,
Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham and Sir
Thomas Grey of Heton, were tried and found guilty of high treason, before being summarily executed outside the Bargate.
During the
Middle Ages,
shipbuilding became an increasingly important industry, which was to remain for centuries to come. The city became a
county corporate in
1447.
King Edward VI Grammar School was founded in the city near God's House Tower as a school for poor clergyman in
1553 by
William Capon.
Isaac Watts, one of its locally born alumni, wrote the words of the hymn
O God Our Help In Ages Past, the melody of which forms the four-hourly peal of the Civic Centre clock chimes. King Edward's survives as a selective independent co-educational secondary school. The Watts memorial in the city's West Park - also known as the Watts Park - was unveiled in
1861.
The port was the original point of departure for the
Pilgrim Fathers aboard the
Mayflower in
1623. A memorial can be found on Town Quay. Since that time it has been the last port of call for literally millions of emigrants who left the Old World to start a new life in the
USA,
Australia,
Canada,
New Zealand,
South Africa and other parts of the world.
The painter
John Everett Millais was born in the city. Southampton Solent University's art gallery is named Millais Gallery [
1] in his honour.
In common with most of the luxury liners of the time, the
RMS Titanic sailed from here, and it is still an important ocean liner port frequented by luxury ships such as the
RMS QE2, the
MV Oriana, and most recently the
Queen Mary 2. A memorial to the engineers of the
Titanic may be found in Andrews Park, on Above Bar Street. There is a memorial to the musicians who played on the
Titanic just opposite the main memorial. Also, the Maritime museum in Wool Hall includes an exhibition related to the vessel.
The city is home to Sir
Edwin Lutyens' first permanent
cenotaph, a memorial to the city's dead of
World War I. When it was unveiled on
6 November 1920, it was 1800 names, later raised to 2008. It can be found in West (Watts) Park, opposite the
Titanic memorial.
The Second World War hit Southampton particularly hard, partly because of its strategic importance as the major industrial area on the South Coast and partly because of the city's links to the
Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft, which was invented and manufactured in Southampton. Pockets of Georgian architecture remain, but much of the city was levelled. The accuracy of the locally-based Ordnance Survey's maps did not go unrecognised by the
Luftwaffe: the German bomber pilots used them to bomb Southampton. One notable building to survive the bombings was Southampton's oldest, St. Michaels Church. Thought to have been commenced in 1070 [
2], the building has been added to many times over the centuries but its central tower dates from Norman times. The spire was an important navigation aid for the German pilots and consequently they were ordered to avoid it [
3].
The Spitfire was developed and initially manufactured in the suburb of Woolston. Its designer,
Reginald Mitchell, grew up in
Stoke-on-Trent, then had a house in Russell Place in the suburb of Highfield near the university (now identified by a memorial plaque). The plane was a direct descendant of experimental aircraft built by
Supermarine that competed in the
Schneider Trophy in the 1930s. Supermarine was taken over by
Vickers in 1928. Mitchell's short life is documented in the film
The First of the Few. On Sept 24th 1940, the Woolston factory was bombed, killing 100 workers, though not damaging the factory. Two days later, the factory was heavily damaged by bombing, and thirty more workers died, which interrupted production of the Spitfire for many weeks at a critical time of the UK's survival.
There were many aircraft companies based around
Hamble, to the east of the city, from the 1930s to 1950s, including
Folland Aviation, started by
Henry P Folland, the former chief designer of
Gloster Aircraft. Folland was taken over by
Hawker Siddeley in 1960, and later as
British Aerospace, the factory built the
Hawk and
Harrier. The history of the area's contribution to aviation is celebrated at the Southampton Hall of Aviation, near Itchen Bridge, and opposite the erstwhile site of the Woolston Supermarine factory.
BOAC had a
flying boat base in the docks serving
British colonial possessions in
Africa and
Asia in the
1930s and
1940s. It closed in
1950 when land based aircraft became dominant. Nearby,
Calshot Spit was a base for the military
flying boat services.
Southampton was awarded
city status in
1964 following a
royal charter.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Southampton with Darwen at current basic prices
published (pp.240-253) by
Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Agriculture | Industry | Services |
|---|
| 1995 | 2,656 | - | 674 | 1,982 |
| 2000 | 3,190 | - | 672 | 2,518 |
| 2003 | 3,944 | - | 781 | 3,163 |
includes hunting and forestry
includes energy and construction
includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
 |
Bargate, Southampton |
In common with many British towns and cities, such as
Coventry and
Plymouth, Southampton was heavily bombed during the
Second World War. Many historic buildings were lost as a result, but the old city walls remain, as does the Bargate, formerly the main gateway to the city at the northern end of the walls (Southampton has England's second-longest stretch of surviving Medieval wall, the longest being in
York). The Bargate is often used as a symbol of the city, and is a prominent part of the city council's corporate identity. There are numerous large parks in the city centre. Most of Southampton's municipal services, including the
library and the well-endowed
art gallery are to be found in the
Civic Centre.
The city is home to the
University of Southampton,
Southampton Solent University and
West Quay shopping centre, which was the biggest city-centre shopping mall in
Europe when it was opened. It is also the headquarters of
Ordnance Survey, the UK's national mapping agency. The
Lloyd's Register Group has announced plans to move its London marine operations to a specially developed site at the University of Southampton.[
4] The local
newspaper for the city is the
Southern Daily Echo, a
Newsquest publication.
Southampton has always been strongly connected with
maritime history and developments. In particular, it is a primary port for
cruise ships, its heyday being the first half of the
20th century, and in particular the inter-war years, when it handled almost half the passenger traffic of the
UK. Today it remains home to many luxury liners, as well as being a very important
container port.
The outstanding
harbour means it is the principal port on the south coast, and one of the largest in the UK.
Sailing is a popular sport here. Much of this is centred around the
Ocean Village development, a local
marina which includes one of the South Coast's major independent cinema complexes,
Harbour Lights. From 1977 to 2001 the famous Whitbread Around the World Yacht Race (now known as the
Volvo Ocean Race) started in Southampton
The area of
Swaythling is home to
Ford's Southampton Assembly Plant, where the majority of their
Transit models are manufactured.
Southampton is named the 'Green City' as it is graced with many green spaces and parks. Standing in any area of Southampton, if you turn 360 degrees you will see atleast one form of greenery. The largest green space is
Southampton Common, parts of which are used to host the annual summer festivals, circuses and funfairs. The Common covers a larger area than Hyde Park in London and includes a Wildlife Centre on the former site of Southampton Zoo, a swimming pool and several lakes and ponds. The city also boasts the Southampton Sports Centre which is the focal point for the public's sporting and outdoor activities and includes an Alpine Centre, Theme Park and Athletics Centre used by professional athletes.
Southampton Football Club (a.k.a. the "Saints") is also based here, at
St Mary's Stadium which was built in the early 2000's on the site of the old gasworks. It has a capacity of 32,000 and cost £32 Million to build. In 1976, "The Saints" won the FA Cup Final beating
Manchester United 1-0. It was a Southampton team member,
Charles William Miller, who founded
Brazil's first football club.
Hampshire's county
Cricket ground is the
Rose Bowl, Southampton, in nearby
West End. Both the SFC stadium and the Rose Bowl have recently played host to concerts from Bon Jovi to Billy Joel.
Southampton has a vibrant nightlife and thriving cafe culture. Music is an important aspect of the city and there are several stadiums and outlets for this. The city is home to R'n'B soulstar Craig David, Coldplay drummer Will Champion, and was the birthplace of the late comedian
Benny Hill.
Formerly a
County Borough within the
county of
Hampshire (to which it gave its name, the
County of Southampton or
Southamptonshire - this was officially changed to
Hampshire in 1959 though the county had been commonly known as Hampshire or Hantshire for centuries), it became a
non-metropolitan district in
1974. However, the city became independent administratively from that county as it was made into a
unitary authority in a local government re-organisation on
1 April 1997. The district remains part of the Hampshire
ceremonial county.
Southampton City Council consists of 48 councillors elected by thirds. After the 2006 local council elections on
May 4,
2006 the Council is split evenly 16 seats each to the
Liberal Democrats,
Labour and the
Conservative Party. Currently the council is run by the Liberal Democrats with Labour support.
There are three
members of parliament for the city: Rt Hon
John Denham (
Labour) for
Southampton Itchen (constituency for the east of the city), Dr
Alan Whitehead (Labour) for
Southampton Test (the west of the city), and
Sandra Gidley (Liberal Democrat) for
Romsey (which includes a portion of the north of the city).
As befits Southampton's role as a major port, the city has good transport links with the rest of the country. The
M27 motorway, linking places along the south coast of England, runs just to the north of the city. The
M3 motorway links the city to
London and also, by linking to the
A34 road at
Winchester with the Midlands and North. The
M271 motorway links the
M27 with the Western Docks and city centre.
Southampton is also well served by the
rail network, used by both freight services to and from the docks, and passenger services as part of the
national rail system. The main station in the city is
Southampton Central. Routes run eastwards to
Portsmouth and
Brighton, north-east to
Winchester and
London, north to
Reading,
Birmingham and beyond, north-west to
Salisbury and
Bristol and west to
Bournemouth,
Poole and
Weymouth. Southampton Coach Station was refurbished recently, and the range and frequency of services offered by the
National Express Group increased to make use of the new facilities.
Southampton Airport is a regional airport located in the town of
Eastleigh, just north of Southampton. It is connected to the city by a frequent rail service, and hosts flights to UK and near European destinations.
Whilst Southampton is no longer the base for any cross-channel ferries, it is the terminus for three internal
ferry services, all of which operate from terminals at Town Quay. Two of these, a
car ferry service and a fast
catamaran passenger ferry service, provide links to
Cowes on the
Isle of Wight and are operated by
Red Funnel. The third ferry is the
Hythe Ferry, providing a passenger service to the town of
Hythe on the other side of
Southampton Water. Town Quay is linked to Southampton Central station by a free bus service.
Local transport is largely road based, with significant peak hour congestion in the city. The main
bus operators are
First,
Solent Blue Line (who also operate the
BlueStar service) and
Uni-link, although other operators also run services into the city, including
Stagecoach and
Wilts and Dorset. However, local train services do operate in the central, Southern and Eastern sections of the city, serving
Swaythling,
St. Denys,
Millbrook,
Redbridge,
Bitterne,
Sholing and
Woolston.
The Uni-link bus service was commissioned by the
University of Southampton to provide access to students who are studying at the university to all parts of the city. The buses run from early in the morning to midnight meeting demands of students who wish to get to the city during the day and lesiure places in the evening such as Leisure World and West-Quay. The University includes payment for the service in the first-year students' compulsory accommodation fees, a policy which proved controversial when first introduced.
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Map showing the districts and suburbs of Southampton. The city centre area is highlighted in red. |
Within Southampton there are several districts and suburbs, including:
*
Bassett,
Bassett Green,
Bevois Valley,
Bitterne,
Bitterne Park,
Bitterne Manor*
Chartwell Green,
Chilworth Coxford*
Freemantle*
Harefield,
Highfield*
Lordshill Lordswood*
Mansbridge,
Maybush,
Midanbury,
Millbrook*
Northam,
Nursling,
New Town*
Old Town*
Polygon,
Portswood*
Redbridge,
Rownhams*
Shirley,
Sholing,
St. Denys,
St. Mary's,
Swaythling*
Thornhill,
Townhill Park*
Weston,
Woolston(See also: :Category:Sotonians)Notable current and former residents of Southampton include:
*
Will Champion (
Coldplay drummer)
*
Craig David (
R&B singer)
*
Benny Hill (
comedian)
*
John Jellicoe (
admiral; commander of the British fleet at the
Battle of Jutland)
*
Matthew Le Tissier (
footballer)
*
Chris Packham (
naturalist)
*
Isaac Watts (writer of
hymns)
Southampton is
twinned with:
*
Le Havre,
France (since 1973)
*
Rems-Murr-Kreis,
Germany (since 1991)
Southampton is also a sister city of:
*
Hampton,
Virginia*
Qingdao,
China (since 1998)
* Southampton was named "fittest city in the UK" in 2006 by
Mens Fitness magazine. The results were based on the incidence of heart disease, the amount of junk food and alcohol consumed, and the level of gym membership.
Official
*
Southampton City Council and CityWebNews and travel
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Southampton news, sport & information*
Southampton traffic information and web camerasCulture
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Pubs in Southampton - All of them*
Southampton Pubs, Inns, Taverns, Bars and Ale houses *
Gay Southampton GuideHistory
*
Hall of Aviation.Maps
*
Southampton at
Google Maps
