Southampton is a city in Hampshire, England. The area has been settled since the Stone Age. Its history has been affected by its geographical location, on a major estuary on the English Channel coast with an unusual double high-tide, and by its proximity to Winchester and London; the ancient and modern capitals of England. Having been an important regional centre for centuries, Southampton was awarded city status by Queen Elizabeth II in 1964 .

Southampton became an important port in medieval times, experiencing several hundred years of fluctuating fortunes until it was expanded by the Victorians.

As a centre of commerce, an industrial town and an important military embarkation point, Southampton was a strategic target for the Luftwaffe and was severely damaged in World War II.^[1][2]

Post-war re-development and the need to accommodate 20th century innovations such as the motor car has significantly altered the character of Southampton.

Numerous gravel pits have been dug in the Southampton area, many of which have yielded Stone Age tools.^[3] Evidence of a Stone Age settlement has been found at Priory Avenue, St Denys.^[3]

Bronze Age objects have been found on Southampton Common,^[3] particularly by grave-diggers working in the cemetery and during the construction of the reservoir.^[3] Further Bronze Age finds have been made near Cobden Bridge.^[3]

Iron Age earthworks have been found at Lordswood and Aldermoor^[3] and evidence of Iron Age buildings has been found in the City Centre.^[3]

Antonine Itinerary VII^[4] documents the Roman settlement of Clausentum in Roman Britain as being 20 miles (32 km) west of Noviomagus Reginorum (Chichester)^[4] and 10 miles (16 km) from Venta Belgarum (Winchester).^[4]

In about 1770,^[5] John Speed^[5] claimed that Clausentum was in the area that is now known as Bitterne Manor.^[5][6] In 1792,^[5] the Rev. Richard Warner^[5] investigated those claims and found a ditch, a bank and some Roman coins.^[5][7] Since then, this site has been investigated further and is generally accepted as the site of Clausentum,^[5] but there is no universal agreement.^[5] Reference to modern maps show Bitterne Manor to be 25 miles (40 km) from Chichester. Wickham is at the junction of two Roman Roads and is a better fit to the distances documented in Antonine Itinerary VII.^[4] The case for Clausentum being situated at Bitterne Manor is based on archaeological evidence^[2] and the geography of the site (nestled inside a sharp bend in the River Itchen) which clearly allowed it to be turned into a good defensive position.^[2]

But the fact that there was a Roman settlement at what is now Bitterne Manor is not disputed.^[2] Archaeological finds at what is believed to be Clausentum show the site to be an important trading port with some significant buildings.^[2] Traces of a Roman Road on a line running from Bitterne Manor to Wickham have also been found.^[2] Elsewhere possible evidence of roman era farming was found on the site of what is now St Mary's Stadium.^[8]

The Romans abandoned the settlement circa 410, when the Roman occupation of Britain ended.

The Anglo-Saxons moved the centre of the town across the River Itchen to what is now the St Mary's area. The settlement was known as Hamwic^[9] and or Hamtun, the two names co-existed and described the same area but were used in different contexts.^[10] By the middle of the 11th century, the area is described as South Hamtun by Anglo Saxon Chroniclers.^[10] References to St Mary's Church also appear in 11th century documents.^[10] Hamwic is referred to as a market^[10] in the account of the life of St Willibald, written by an Anglo-Saxon nun named Hygeburg in the late 8th century.^[10] The town developed under royal patronage where traders could be protected and taxed.^[11]

Excavations have revealed a section of the street plan of Hamwic^[12] and uncovered one of the best collections of Saxon artefacts in Europe.^[3] These collectively show that Hamwic was a planned town,^[12] that it became an important port and traded with the continent^[13] and was a Royal administration centre.^[10] The 110-acre site possibly sheltered a population of 2,000 or 3,000 people during c. AD 700–850.^[11] Other evidence in the excavations found 68 houses and workshops, 21 wells and 500 pits. Hamwic was the site of a mint for several Anglo Saxon Kings (AD 786–858) until it was moved to Winchester later in the 9th Century.^[14] Series H silver pennies were issued in Hamwic in the 8th century AD.^[15][16] They have mostly been found within or close to Hamwic.^[16]

Hamwic is also believed to have been a point of departure for slaves (being sent to the market at Rouen)^[10] and pilgrims, like Willibald to important European cities like Rome.^[10]

Viking raids on Southampton disrupted trade with the continent and contributed to the re-organization of Wessex.^[14] Important industries that were previously well established in Hamwic were withdrawn further inland to the new fortifications at Winchester,^[14] contributing to the decline of Hamwic.

Archaeological excavations shows evidence of 10th century settlements and a defended enclosure in what was later to become the Medieval walled town.^[17]

The Viking King Canute the Great defeated the Anglo-Saxon King Ethelred the Unready in 1014 and was crowned in Southampton.^[17] His fabled attempt to "command" the tide to halt may have taken place in Southampton.^[18]

Southampton's prosperity was assured following the Norman Conquest in 1066, when it became the major port of transit between Winchester (the capital of England until the early 12th Century) and Normandy.

The Domesday Book indicates that Southampton already had distinct French and English quarters at the time of the Norman Conquest^[17] and that the King owned a number of properties upon which rent was payable.^[17]

Archaeological evidence has dated the foundation of St Michael's Church at 1070^[19] and the church was dedicated to St Michael, patron saint of Normandy.

An Augustinian priory was founded at St Denys, on 364 acres (1.47 km²) of land granted by Henry I, the last of the Norman Kings, in 1127.^[20] St Denys Priory continued as a religious house until its suppression in 1536.

Henry II, the first King of the House of Plantagenet, was a regular visitor to Southampton and established Southampton Castle.^[21] The Castle was principally used to store the King's wine.^[22] Surviving remains of 12th Century merchants houses such as King Johns House and Canutes Palace are evidence of the wealth that existed in the town at this time.^[20] Archaeological excavations have revealed evidence of other houses of similar stature.^[20]

By the 13th century, Southampton had become a leading port and was particularly involved in the trade of French wine and English wool.^[22] The Wool House was built in 1417 as a warehouse for the medieval wool trade with Flanders and Italy.

By 1173, the St Mary Magdalen leper Hospital was established to the north of the town.^[20] St Julians Hospital, otherwise known as God's House Hospital, was founded around 1196 by Gervase 'le Riche'.^[20] The Franciscan friary was later built alongside God's House hospital.^[20] Bowls was first played regularly on the green adjacent to God's House Hospital in 1299. The green still exists. It is the world's oldest surviving bowling green.^[23]

The town was sacked in 1338 by the French. Charles Grimaldi, purchaser of Monaco for the Grimaldi family was involved in the raid^[24] and is said to have used the plunder to help found the principality of Monaco but no firm evidence exists to substantiate the claim.^[25] After this attack the city's walls, parts of which date from 1175,^[26] were extensively improved and reinforced.^[27] Lacking proper finance for the construction of a full defensive wall, the solution involved joining the existing exterior walls of existing merchant houses together to form part of the defensive structure. The city walls include God's House Tower, built in 1417, the first purpose-built artillery fortification in England.^[28] The walls were finally completed in the 15th century.^[29] A large part of the town's walls remain today.^[29] Over the years God's House Tower has been used as home to the city's gunner, the Town Gaol and as storage for the Southampton Harbour Board.^[27] Until September 2011, it housed the Museum of Archaeology.^[30]

The Black Death reached England in 1348^[31] via the merchant vessels that regularly visited Southampton at that time.

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 and was to remain so for centuries to come. The city became a county corporate in 1447.

Southampton's Tudor House otherwise known as Huttofts or Lady Ann Guidotti's House was built in 1495 for Sir John Dawtry.^[32] It has formerly been a family home, an artist's studio and housed businesses including a dye-house and a bookbinder. It is now a museum.^[33]

Southampton's economic fortunes fluctuated during the Tudor period.^[2] From 1492 to 1531, all exports of tin and lead were required to pass through Southampton.^[34] Trade with the Channel Islands increased.^[34] In 1554 Southampton was granted a monopoly on the export of wool to the Mediterranean and on the import of sweet wine.^[34] At other times during this period, the port was in decline, mainly because trade was shifting to London.^[34] Southampton was also a convenient port for the buccaneers that plundered Spanish ships in the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean.^[34]

The development of Hurst, Calshot, Cowes and Netley castles along Southampton Water and the Solent, by Henry VIII in about 1540, meant that Southampton was no longer so dependent upon its fortifications.^[35]

In 1553, the Free Grammar School off the Mayor Baliffs and Burgesses of the Towne and County of Southampton was granted letters patent by Edward VI, establishing the new school and thus fulfilling the legacy of William Capon who left money for that purpose in his will.^[36] The schools survives as King Edward VI School, Southampton.

The port was the original point of departure for the Pilgrim Fathers aboard the Mayflower in 1620.^[26] A memorial can be found on Town Quay. Since that time it has been the last port of call for millions of emigrants who left the Old World to start a new life in the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Barbados^[37] and other parts of the world.

In 1642, during the English Civil War, a Parliamentary garrison moved into Southampton,^[38] initially to defend against seaborne attack from Royalist ships.^[38] A Royalist army advanced as far as Redbridge in March 1644 but were prevented from taking the town^[38] by Colonel Richard Norton. The Battle of Cheriton, also in March 1644, subsequently removed the threat to Southampton.^[38]

In June 1664,^[39] the Black Death returned to Southampton. This new plague seriously disrupted life and led the corporation to report that it was unable to continue governing the town.^[39] By the time the epidemic ended in November 1666, 1700 people had died.^[39]

Isaac Watts the younger, born in Southampton in 1674,^[39] wrote the words of the hymn "O God Our Help in Ages Past". His early education was at the Free Grammar School.^[39] He was a member of the Above Bar Independent Community.^[39] This non-conformist community was persecuted^[39] following the Act of Uniformity of 1662. Isaac Watts' father, also named Isaac, suffered periods of imprisonment in the Bargate.^[39]

In 1689 the right to vote in parliamentary elections, which had previously been limited to freemen, was extended to include those paying Scot and lot in Southampton.^[40]

For centuries, the only crossings of the river Itchen in this area were at Mansbridge, some distance upstream from Southampton, and at Itchen Ferry village.^[48] The Northam Bridge Company was formed in 1796.^[48] They built a toll bridge at Northam which was opened in September 1799^[48] and new roads connecting the bridge to Southampton and Botley, Hampshire. The town was further connected to Portsmouth via another toll bridge built at Bursledon^[48] and another road which linked Bursledon bridge to the new Northam to Botley road at Bitterne.^[48]

The Floating Bridge also connected Southampton to Woolston and Portsmouth on the east bank of the River Itchen in 1836.^[49]

Southampton was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and contained the parishes of All Saints, Holy Rood, St John, St Lawrence, St Mary, St Michael, and part of South Stoneham.

The painter John Everett Millais was born in the city in 1829. Southampton Solent University's art gallery is named Millais Gallery in his honour.^[50]

There was competition between the two toll companies at Northam and Itchen,^[49][51] resulting in another new road^[51] on the east of the Itchen, connecting Woolston to Botley via Sholing and Hedge End.^[51]

The town experienced major expansion during the Victorian era.^[49] The Southampton Docks company was formed in 1835.^[52] In October 1838, the foundation stone of the docks was laid.^[52] The first dock opened on 29 August 1842.^[52] The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company operated its services from Southampton, officially designating the port as the packet station in May 1843.^[53] The structural and economic development of the docks continued for the next few decades.^[2]

The London and Southampton Railway was fully opened to Southampton Terminus in May 1840,^[52] although it had been operating as far as Winchester since June 1839,^[52] It was delayed by work on the chalk cutting between Winchester and Basingstoke.^[54] In 1847, Southampton was connected to Dorchester by the Southampton and Dorchester Railway.^[54] In 1866, a branch line extended the railway over the River Itchen at St Denys, passing through Bitterne and Woolston to Netley.^[55] This created further competition for the Floating Bridge company.^[49]

With good transport links, Southampton became the emigrant station for North America and Canada in January 1844.^[56] The Southampton Emigration and Shipping Company was formed in 1846^[56] Southampton subsequently became known as The Gateway to the Empire, with many emigrants passing through Southampton to start a new life in the United States and Canada, South Africa and Australia.^[56]

The town became a county borough under the Local Government Act 1888. In 1894, under the Local Government Act 1894, the part of South Stoneham, within the borough, became the parish of Portswood, in 1895 the parish of Shirley was added.

Cholera epidemics in 1848–49 and 1865 caused great concern.^[57] These outbreaks were centred on the slums of the old medieval town.^[57] Sewers were built in the 1840s^[58] and 1870s.^[57] In 1894, the Borough Medical Officer of Health published a report on poverty in the town.^[59] Population density in the slums at that time was recorded as 441.4 per acre (1,091/ha).^[59] The Simnel Street and West Quay Improvement plan subsequently cleared the area of slums, created new streets and a lodging house in St Michaels Square; it was called St Michaels House and opened in 1899.^[59]

Southampton was designated No. 1 Military Embarkation Port in August 1914.^[61] Much of Southampton Common was taken over by the military^[61] A total of 8,149,685^[61] troops and their equipment departed for mainland Europe through the port.^[61] A steady flow of refugees, prisoners of war and 1,177,125 wounded came back to England through Southampton.^[61]

In 1919, soldiers returning from World War I mutinied in the port.^[62][63]

In 1920, Bitterne Parish Council and Itchen Urban District Council, which collectively covered the districts of Bitterne, Bitterne Manor, Bitterne Park, Woolston, Peartree Green, Sholing and Weston, were incorporated into the borough of Southampton.^[64] Bassett and Swaythling were incorporated into Southampton at the same time.^[64]

The period between the two World Wars saw an increase in the volume of traffic, as the motor car and Southampton Corporation Tramways evolved. It became essential to develop new routes around the Bargate as the central arch was too much of an obstruction.^[65] By 1931, a tram passed through the Bargate every 30 seconds^[65] and over the course of 14 hours, 2000 cars^[65] and 6000 bicycles^[65] would use the same narrow passage between Above Bar and the High Street. The photographs (below) illustrate the problem. Several old buildings and part of the medieval walls were demolished on both sides of the Bargate.^[65] In 1932, the Bargate was bypassed on its eastern side.^[65] The Bargate became an island when it was bypassed on its western side in 1938.^[65]

The Clock Tower, further up Above Bar at the junction with New Road, was relocated to Bitterne Park Triangle in 1934^[1] to facilitate further road improvements.

• Above Bar, 1926
• High Street, circa 1930
• High Street, circa 1930, showing the Gaiety cinema

On 26 March 1929,^[65] Southampton Corporation purchased Northam Bridge from the Northam Bridge Company. On 16 May 1929,^[65] the tolls on that bridge were removed. At the same time, the tolls at Lances Hill,^[65] Hedge End^[65] and the bridge at Bursledon^[65] were also abolished. The only remaining toll in Southampton was at the Floating Bridge, which was eventually taken over by Southampton Corporation in 1934,^[65] remaining a toll-crossing until it closed in 1977.

The Second World War had a profound impact on the city due to the destruction of a lot of the city's buildings, leading to a massive regeneration program. These buildings were cheaply constructed in order to rebuild quickly, having a negative effect on the architectural quality in the city.^[80] Southampton was awarded city status in 1964 by Letters Patent.^[81] In 1967, Southampton took in part of the Nursling and Rownhams parishes. The boundaries have been largely unchanged since. Southampton lost its County Borough status under the Local Government Act 1972, becoming a non-metropolitan district.

It became a Unitary Authority in 1997, administratively independent of Hampshire County Council, following the Banham Review.

On 29 April 1952, the Hartley University College was granted a Royal Charter to give the University of Southampton full university status. The university's Southampton School of Medicine was opened in 1971.

Southampton is still an important passenger port, frequented by ships such as P&O's MV Oriana, and Cunard Line's RMS Queen Mary 2, MS Queen Victoria and MS Queen Elizabeth. It is the busiest cruise-ship terminal in the UK and also handles the majority of vehicle imports into the country.^[80]

In 2012, a century after the RMS Titanic disaster, the city council opened the SeaCity Museum.^[80]

In the 2010s several developments to the inner city of Southampton were completed. In 2016 the south section of West Quay, or West Quay South, originally known as West Quay Watermark, was opened to the public. Its public plaza has been used for several annual events, such as an ice skating rink during the winter season,^[82] and a public broadcast of the Wimbledon tennis championship.^[83] The response to the architecture of the building was positive as it received two awards from the Prix Versailles ceremony, winning "Best Shopping Centre Worldwide" and "best European Shopping Centre Design".^[84] Two new buildings, the John Hansard Gallery with City Eye and a secondary site for the University of Southampton's Nuffield Theatre, in addition to several flats, have been built in the "cultural quarter" adjacent to Guildhall Square in 2017.^[85] The buildings had been developing for over a decade due to different architects and investors being involved and then leaving the project.^[85][86] The first exhibition was from German artist Gerhard Richter.^[86] In 2019 the retail and accommodation-based "Bargate quarter" redevelopment, replacing the demolished Bargate shopping centre, and enabling public access to the previously hidden sections of the city walls, will be opened.^[87] Due to the investment in these areas of business and culture, and the development of several start-up businesses, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Demos ranked the city third "best city" in their Good Growth for Cities report.^[88][89]

In November 2017 the council selected an official flag for the city through a competition to design one and then a vote on the most popular design.^[90]

Several annual events occur within the city. Fun runs have become a popular occurrence within the city: The park run which began in 2004^[91] The Southampton Marathon which has run for many years and attracts 40,000 runners.^[92] and the MoRun, a charity run, beginning in 2018.^[93] The mass cycling event "Let's Ride", previously known as "Sky Ride", attracts thousands of cyclists for a 6 km (3.7 mi) route.^[94] Since 2008 the council has run the "Music in the City" event in which hundreds of musicians perform in venues and on constructed stages around the city centre.^[95] Common People, a 2 date festival run by the organisers of the Dorset-based Bestival, has run in the Southampton Common since 2015.^[96][97] Southampton's pride parade began in 2017, having up to 15,000 participants in 2018.^[98]

Several public demonstrations occurred within the city in "solidarity" with larger national demonstrations. As part of nationwide 2017 Women's March, taking place in line with the inauguration of Donald Trump as president of the United States a half-hour public reading was organised in the city.^[99][100] Similarly in June 2018 an anti-austerity rally occurred simultaneously with the major demonstration in London.^[101] There was also a protest against Donald Trump's state visit to the United Kingdom in July that same year.^[102][103]

Southampton is home to Southampton F.C. the professional football club formed in 1885 with its origins in the football team of the St Mary's Church Young Men's Association. Since moving from its former ground 'The Dell' in 2001, the club is now based at St Mary's Stadium close to its original home. It also has a training and development centre at Staplewood, near Marchwood, on the edge of the New Forest. Southampton FC spent very many years competing in the lower divisions of the Football League but since 1966 it has generally competed in the higher levels of professional football.

The club's principal prize was its FA Cup win over Manchester United in 1976. The club was one of the founding members of the Premiership in 1992–93. The club was out of the top flight of football from 2005 until 2012 during which time the company owning the club went into administration but its fortunes were revived following purchase by the Swiss billionaire, Markus Liebherr, and from 2012-13 until 2023 the club has competed in the Premier League.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to History of Southampton.

• Timeline of Southampton