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A Short History of Southampton
The City of Southampton is located on England’s southern coast, 80 miles South West of London. Today it is a bustling multi-cultural city with a population of over 200,000. The City has a vibrant and diverse economy with strong manufacturing, service and retail sectors. However Southampton is best known for its sea ports and is home to many of today’s biggest and most luxurious cruise ships as well as an important cargo port. These same ports have played a significant part in Southampton’s history and continue to do so to this day. The Romans founded the town around AD43 after the invasion of Britain. The settlement was built on the river Itchen in the modern-day suburb of Bittern and was known as Clausentum. It was an important port serving the large Roman towns of Salisbury and Winchester. During Roman times the town was fortified with stone walls being built in the 4th century. When the Romans left Britain in 407AD the town was abandoned. A new settlement was founded with the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons. In around 700AD the Saxon King, Ing, built a town on the Itchen opposite the old Roman settlement. The Saxon town was known as Hamwic or Hamtun and is thought to have had a relatively large population of about 5,000. The name Hamwic eventually evolved into Hampton giving us the modern name of South-Hampton. The church of St Marys now stands at the site of this town. The town suffered from Danish raids in the 9th and 10th centuries and in 1014 the Viking king, Canute the Great is thought to have defeated the Saxon king Ethelred here. These raids as well as the silting of the river Itchen lead to the decline of the Saxon city over this period.
While the Saxon city declined a new Medieval settlement began to grow and was also know as Hamtun. This new town became the home to a large number of Normans after the Norman conquest of Britian. The modern day French Street is a testament to these inhabitants. The Normans built a stone castle in the 12th century and Southampton became an important transit port between the Capital city of Winchester and Normandy. The port exported wool to Normandy and imported fine wine from France and Spain. In 1417 merchants built a warehouse to store wool for export. Known as the Wool House the building is still standing and now houses a museum. The medieval city also had a shipbuilding industry based around the modern area of West Quay. The town was attacked in 1338 by the French and this prompted the building of stone fortifications. Many merchants had houses overlooking the sea front and these houses were incorporated into the city wall. The wall and its towers were eventually completed in the 15th century. Large parts of the wall, including Bar Gate and God’s House Tower still stands today. As well as a cargo port, Southampton developed into an important port of transit for passengers. It was the port of departure for the Pilgrim Fathers on their journey to the New World onboard the ship Mayflower. Many people sailed from Southampton on their journey to settle in the colonies. The city became known as the Gateway to the Empire. At the same time luxury cruise liners made Southampton their home port. One of the most famous cruise ships – the Titanic – set sail from here on her ill fated first journey. At the time of the second world war Southampton had developed a fairly large aircraft industry. These factories became a target for German bombers resulting in the city suffering heavy bomb damage during the war. Most of the City was levelled during these raids with hundreds of people being killed. Almost 4,000 homes were destroyed and many of the towns children were moved away for their safety. After the war a program of house construction was begun. This was stepped-up in the 1960’s resulting in a big growth in population. Southampton was made a city in 1964. Recently the City has developed in a popular shopping centre thanks to the construction of a large modern mall and retail park in West Quay. This trend looks set to continue with the approval of the construction of a large Ikea store in the same area. The ports are still a major part of the City’s economy and is home to an impressive number of the worlds largest and most luxurious cruise ships. In December 2007 the Queen Victoria, a new 90,000 ton luxury cruise liner, made Southampton her home port along side the worlds largest cruise ship, the Queen Mary 2. Southampton has managed to maintain its historic heritage while at the same time developing into a modern vibrant city.
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