The Guide To Southhampton

The Guide To Southhampton

14Th Century

So it must have been awesome for the townfolk of Santa Fe, New Mexico to realize that they had their own natural hot spring within walking distance of downtown. In the Middle Ages this would have been the equivalent of taking a dip in the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas. Just about anyone in town with a little bit of spare time made regular trips to take advantage of this free source of relaxation and rejuvenation.

People would bring food and special treats to eat after they were finished soaking! Those were the good old days, before people realized there was money to be made from making other people happy with nature, This Is Hampshire (thisishampshire.co.uk). A census in 1334 stated that Bristol was the second largest town in Somerset, sitting behind Taunton, which had a population of 3,500–5,000. As Bristol became more important politically, it also grew in size and significance. It was awarded a weekly market on Wednesdays sometime before 1300.

A similar grant was made for an annual fair to be held at the feast of St Nicholas (6–8 November). At this time Bristol began to grow beyond its medieval city walls with the expansion of Corn Street and Wine Street towards Broadmead. Water supply systems became more and more complex and common after the 14th century. Consider Venice: The whole city was serviced by a single aqueduct, yet taxes on water were higher than those for wine—though water prices fell temporarily from 1439 to 1454.

16Th And 17Th Centuries

The priory was founded by the Augustinian order in 1256 though a fair amount is still unknown about it. The archeological findings just do not seem to match with the writings of the time. The general consensus is that it was probably built on the site of an ancient hermitage although no substantial evidence exists or materials have been found to back up this claim as yet. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Sunbury was in the parish of Walton on Thames which was in the hundred of Benson.

Sunbury came to have its own church, St James Church, when it broke away from Walton in 1844. The church was designed by G. F. Bodley and built between 1845 and 1848, a decade after it had become a separate parish; it has been Grade II. Despite this, there was still a small community of Catholic celibates at the site by the start of the 19th century and a mission chapel was built in 1830.

However, as late as 1846 only three Catholics were recorded in the quarter of Bethnal Green which included St Leonard's. By 1852, however, the parish was being served from Whitechapel. The Dutch architect Johannes van Loghem converted the ruined priory into his family home and laid out a formal garden. In 1774, the house was bought by William Morrison, an English merchant who served as the consul general of the North Netherlands at Antwerp and later became a successful banker in London.

19Th Century

During the Second World War, it was a prime target for German air raids. The docks, and much of the town, were largely destroyed during one of the heaviest raids on 27 March 1941, killing 293 people and injuring a further 494. A roughly semi-circular area of Southampton immediately north of the docks was completely destroyed. Firebombing on this scale destroyed not just homes but warehouses containing raw materials and finished goods; these could not be replaced quickly and were irreplaceable.

In total, the dockyard area was devastated and could not be rebuilt because it was too near to the town centre and railway network to make reconstruction practical. Here an aerial bomb had exploded at ground level shattering windows in a wide radius. The National Arms Factory was opened in Chard in 1839 and the Navy's steam factory at Warsash was established in 1842, although it eventually closed in 1851. The railway came to Southampton in 1840, when the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) branch to Winchester opened.

The line had been surveyed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel but the construction was carried out under William Jacob using floating docks dug across the Itchen. Trains ran from a station just east of Commercial Road and steam engines would continue to be used for goods trains until 1911. In 1856 the L&SWR opened its own dock in Southampton. During the 19th century, railways became an increasingly important mode of transport for passengers and freight.

In 1838 the London and Southampton Railway was completed, now officially called the West Coast Main Line, which linked London to the port of Southampton within 35 minutes. Today, Southampton Central railway station is one of eleven stations managed by Network Rail as part of the Integrated Transport System in South-East England. The railway station building was constructed between 1840–43. By the beginning of the 19th century, Southampton had largely outgrown its mediaeval walls and the star-shaped fortifications that had seen the town through the English Civil War.

The town walls were finally breached in 1842 to make way for more commercial development. Royal Clarence Barracks in Millbrook was completed in 1845. This would be home for several military units and also include housing for veteran seamen and a prison. The friary was dissolved in 1538 but its ruins remained until they were swept away in the 1940s. The layout of the friary was a quadrangle with buildings around a cloister and was bounded on the north by the River Severn.

20Th Century

The 20th century saw a great deal of development in Southampton, which included the opening of a purpose-built art gallery, the Royal South Hants Hospital on it’s current site in west Southampton in 1903. In 1910 the landmark King George V Dock was opened by King George V and the Queen Mary. The dock’s construction was prompted by the rapid expansion of international trade at the time. and this led to Southampton becoming the largest man-made harbour in the world at 5.

5 mi (8 km), with 85% of all cargo using it eventually passing through Southampton. It was completed just before they came to power, but the Liberal government of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. The city's depth of maritime-related activity led to it being one of the birthplaces of the RMS Titanic, the world's largest ship in terms of displacement and weight. Her construction began in the famous shipyard of Harland and Wolff in Belfast, where she was built alongside her sister ships and.

She was completed in 1912 and embarked from Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York City on 10 April 1912. This ill-fated voyage saw her run into a massive iceberg and sink with a huge loss of life. Today, the wreck lies about 400 kilometres (250 mi; 220 nmi) south-southeast off the south-eastern tip of Newfoundland (near 48�N, 49�. With an increase in the number of cruise ships visiting Southampton, the port has seen a considerable growth in the number of passengers using its facilities, with over two million passengers a year now using Southampton Airport and an average of around 85 cruise ships a month (around one every other day).

One such example of cruise ship passenger activity in Southampton is the recent visit by passengers from the Carnival Corporation's fleet for a 'sail away'party for Carnival Cruise Line's departing cruises and another for people departing cruises. Despite its contributions to the war cause, Southampton suffered little physical destruction during either of the conflicts; the only large-scale air raid on the city took place on 30 November 1940, when a lone Luftwaffe bomber scattered its ordnance over Southampton docks and the neighbouring suburb of West End; most notable of the bombs was a high explosive anti-personnel bomb that fell through the roof of 2, Loudoun Square, killing a woman named Mrs Lily Whiting, said to have been Britain's oldest cat lover at age 91.

As well as the Titanic and Britannic, other ships built in the town include the former P&O liner SS Arcadia, the Royal yacht HMY Britannia, and Colin Archer-designed RMS Mauretania. Since 1997, there has been a regular ferry service running from Southampton to Le Havre in France. It is operated by LD Lines, who also operate a freight service running half-weekly between Southampton and Bilbao in Spain. A river wall prevented the water from flooding the friary.

Air

The closest international airport to Greater Southampton is the South Midlands Airport, a passenger airport near Coventry. It handled over 5 million passengers in 2013, and offers flights from Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. London Heathrow Airport is around 1 and a half hours from the city by car, or via National Rail services from Wokingham station; however aircraft fly directly to Heathrow from many regional airports such as Bournemouth Airport, Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Gatwick.

There are currently a total of three railway stations in Southampton: Southampton Central, connecting Southampton to London via Winchester, Basingstoke and Woking;   Southampton Airport Parkway also serving the airport, ; and the newly opened station at Westleigh. Air traffic in the 12 months ending 31 March 2016 was 6. 8 mppa, increasing from 4. 4 mppa for the same period in 2013. Direct long-haul services operate to destinations including North America, the Middle East, Barbados and Bermuda.

Areas And Suburbs

There are many areas of Southampton, which fall into several administrative divisions, namely council wards, constituencies, ecclesiastical parishes, and other unofficial areas. The town centre is mainly focused around the High Street and Above Bar Street areas. A scheme has been proposed to redevelop the Civic Centre area of the city centre, which would lead to a number of high rise buildings being built in the Borough. The majority of Shirley is located within Eastleigh district even though it is only 2 miles (3.

2 km) south-east from the Southampton City limits. Area and suburbs. Southampton is divided into council wards, constituencies, ecclesiastical parishes, and suburbs. It has a number of parks and green spaces, the largest being the 148-hectare Southampton Common, parts of which are used to host the annual summer festivals, circuses and fun fairs. The town centre comprises a number of diverse areas, from the large shopping precinct around Westquay to the historic Bargate. Southampton is split between two Parliamentary constituencies, although the city itself forms one continuous built-up area.

The eastern part of Southampton lies in Southampton Itchen and the western part lies in Southampton Test. The city is part of the South East England European Parliament constituency. However for Parliamentary elections, it is in the South East England constituency of the European Parliament. The main shopping area is West Quay shopping centre, a large indoor and formerly outdoor mall. There are also smaller local malls, including Above Bar Street, Castle Square, Guildhall Walk, High Street, Above Bar Arcade and Town Centre.

Climate

Though it is south of England's largest city, London, the differences between daily highs and lows in Southampton are greater than in most other places in the UK. Summers tend to be warm with frequent hot spells and overall temperatures of 25C (77F) or more are recorded on an average of five days each year. Sunny intervals also mean that the number of hours with full sunshine can average around 3200 per year. The highest recorded temperature since 1930 is 35.

6C (96F), attained on 17th June 1976 during a heatwave. Southampton is one of the sunniest places in the UK, with around 1,530 hours of sunshine a year. It has an average annual rainfall of 806. 4 mm (31. 7 in), equating to nearly twice the national average of 626. 1 mm (24. 6 in). The average maximum temperature in July and August for Southampton is 21 °C (70 °F) although temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) are not uncommon and last occurred in 2018 as part of a brief heat wave.

An old port, the area has low exposure to extreme winter and summer temperatures. The nearest official weather station is in Burnt Oak, 2. 1 miles (3. 4 km) north west of the city centre. However, the city can also be considered a suburb of London, due to its low-lying topography and urban heat island effect from its proximity to South East England's largest urban centre on low ground at river-level. Although Southampton experiences high levels of precipitation, it is less prone to extreme weather than many other parts of the UK.

Early Southampton

The Romans built a settlement known as Clausentum, which developed into the town of Southampton. It was the major port from which the Roman armies left for campaigns such as Boudicca's rebellion (60 or 61) and the conquest of Wales (78). Following the deterioration of relations between Rome and Britannia after the Battle of Mons Graupius, secure settlements (oppida) were established at Winchester and Chichester. AD455, Saxons invaded and took over the town, and it became the centre of the Kingdom of Wessex.

Clausentum was superseded by the new Saxon settlement of Hamwic, which subsequently becoming a county in its own right. The population may have grown to as much as 5,000 people. Hamwic appears to have been abandoned in the late 5th century although the cause is unclear. The Saxons invaded southern England in AD410, and it is likely that Clausentum was abandoned in favour of the less easily defended site at Hamwic, now the St Mary's area of Southampton.

Economy

The Southampton economy is primarily a service-based sector of the economy, with few large employers. The city's main economic sectors include: ICT (information and communications technology), financial services (particularly insurance, banking and asset management) and tourism. The largest employment sectors are healthcare, social care & welfare, education, retail trade, hotels & restaurants and transportation & storage. The total workforce in Southampton is estimated to be about 200,000. The city is the principal port on the South Coast and at the centre of an urban area with a population of about 1 million.

Unemployment, based on the last three years'averages, is lower than the national average (4. 3%) at 3. 9%. Southampton has the lowest of the four unemployment rates in Hampshire and the English region of South East. It is also much lower than that of UK in general, at 3% for February to April 2017. The unemployment rate for the City was calculated at 5. 4% in November 2016, lower than the national rate of 4.

Education

Southampton Solent University was formerly known as Southampton Institute and the polytechnic before that, with origins in the Hartley Institution, which was founded in 1862. The Hartley began to offer degree programmes in 1903 as a college of the university of London. The institution received permission from the Privy Council to change its name to Southampton Solent University on 1 April 1992. Students numbers dropped from 15,000 in 2013 to around 10,000 in 2016.

In 2017, due to ongoing financial problems at the university, a merger between it and the University of Southampton was announced by the vice-chancellor of the University of Southampton. There are further plans to increase the student population, particularly in the field of business, by investing £300M into a Business Quarter which is not populated at present. The proposed development will be on New Forest Avenue and the intention is to make the area more attractive to businesses so as to encourage more companies to set up in and around Southampton.

Ferry

The third service is the Woolston to Eastleigh Ferry, which provides a passenger and bicycle service across Southampton Water between Woolston and Town Quay. This service, known as the Woolston Floating Bridge, is operated by Veolia Transport (formerly Wightlink). 8%. Hamwic (Hamtun) developed into one of the most important towns in England during the Middle Ages. Prevailing winds are from the south-west bringing mild temperatures and little rainfall in summer. Winters are much wetter and colder than summer, with frequent heavy rainfall and occasional snow fall.

History

Bitterne Manor is an early-17th century manor house in Bitterne, Southampton. Excavations have shown that there has been a building on the site since before 1180 when it was destroyed by Henry II. It was rebuilt in the 13th century. The present manor house dates from 1614 and is Grade I listed. The construction of the A3s westward bypass in the 1960s threatened the survival of the house but English Heritage stepped in and purchased it for eventual transfer to the National Trust.

The earliest recorded use of the name "Winchester" is in the first century work by Pliny the Elder called Natural History. In it he refers to an inland town six miles (10 km) from Portus Dubris called "Clausentum". The site is now occupied by the medieval town of Winchester, which was founded in AD907. When King Alfred (849–899) refounded the abbey in AD890, he probably selected a new site on the northern bank of the River Itchen centred on and around the Anglo-Saxon burial ground therefore incorporating the village of Clausentum.

The king was buried within the abbey grounds in about 899. A Roman road, the Fosse Way, connected Clausentum to Old Sarum (what is now Salisbury in Wiltshire), and thence to Londinium (London) a journey of about 16 miles. The town did not grow substantially until the early 7th century AD, when Anglo-Saxons settled there. The friary was dissolved in 1538 but its ruins remained until they were swept away in the 1940s.

Music

The Oasis concert was the largest-ever indoor gig in the world, when it took place on 6 October 2008, with a capacity of 25,000. Several other bands have been rumoured to perform at the venue – Madonna, Neil Diamond, and The Stone Roses. David Cameron provided a list of his favourite contemporary bands to The Guardian and included The Enemy and The Kooks. Bands from Southampton have also enjoyed some commercial success. Muse originated in the city and Kate Bush spent her formative years there.

Other well-known acts include indie rockers Maxïmo Park, electro duo LCD Soundsystem, Leftfield and punk band Stump to name but a few. The University of Southampton Music Society is a student organisation, which promotes musical talent amongst its members and organises a number of gigs and events throughout the year for them, as well as for members of the public. It also aims to create an awareness of musical talent among the students and provides a forum for unsigned bands to perform.

Notable People

There are about 250,000 residents in Southampton, with two-thirds living under the Town boundary, a core of urban areas and suburbs surrounded by more rural land. The original urban area which gave its name to the city was the settlement of Hamwic, an osking-vill on the opposite side of the Itchen from the future location of Southampton, that grew into a trading centre and one of England’s most important ports. The present-day city is built on this site, although there has been a settlement at Southampton since well before A.

Road

Southampton is connected by sea primarily through Southampton Port, which handles commercial traffic and cruises, and is the largest cruise port in the United Kingdom. Commercial ferries to European ports such as Le Havre, Bilbao and Santander operate from Southampton. A large number of cruise ships operate from the International Passenger Terminal, operated by Carnival UK & Ireland. There are also regular services to Northern Europe and North America using larger vessels making Southampton a popular embarkation point for cruise holidays.

The city has two railway stations. Southampton Central railway station, the larger and more central of the two, is located in the city centre, close to the docks, and about half a mile from the city's main shopping area and civic complex around Guildhall Square. Southampton Airport Parkway railway station is located slightly to the east of the airport on the way to Eastleigh. Other major routes through the city include the A3025 which carries traffic to the northern Hampshire towns of Basingstoke and Alton.

The A35 trunk road runs eastwards from the city along the River Itchen to Winchester. The A326 road links Southampton docks with the M271 motorway, linking places along the south coast with the Midlands. D. 1000. While the Guildhall has its own opera, ballet and theatre performances, the Mayflower Theatre, which was built as a cinema in 1928 and has a capacity of 1,860 to 2,400, hosts major touring music acts as well as music events that have featured artists such as The Subways, Jimmy Carr, Lily Allen and Stooshe.

Tram

The Highpoint I-5 corridor project in the 1990s included plans to study a Portland streetcar system. At that time, proponents argued that streetcars would provide transportation to neighborhoods not well served by bus service, with minimal road impacts.  In 2001 Friends of Portland Outer Neighborhoods (FOPON) and other community groups wrote the first $50 million transit plan for the city of Portland. The FOPON transit plan's priority was for the streetcar project and San Francisco trolley coach project.

In 2003, TriMet proposed to spend $12. 6 million on 2004–2009 study costs to explore five alternative systems, including a less-ambitious $65 million 14–18 mile route in West Portland only. [. There was an extensive tram system from 1879 until 1949. This was the first time the tram had been used in Melbourne and there were some initial problems. Competition between companies led to duplication of lines when they reached the suburbs. The number of passengers carried per mile diminished as lines became more congested, particularly in the central city area.

The local government of Santa Monica began exploring the possibility of bringing back a tram system in 2003, conducted a feasibility study for such a system in 2005, and began planning a new tram line to run from the western section of Downtown Los Angeles to its beachfront area. The project was cancelled in 2010. There was a tram system from 1879 to 1949. There are more recent proposals to reintroduce them. Proposals to reintroduce light rail services have surfaced in 2016 and 2017.

Transport

The mainline railway station provides links to London and the rest of the country. The Wessex Main Line links Southampton to London Waterloo station in just under one hour, a journey known as the "Pines Express". Longer distance trains link Southampton Central to destinations including Birmingham, Newcastle upon Tyne, Exeter and Cardiff. The electrified City Line provides frequent services to Basingstoke, Brockenhurst, Hythe and Portsmouth Harbour stations, as well as urban services run by South Western Railway to Winchester, Bournemouth and Poole town centres.

Other routes via Southampton Central include CrossCountry services to Cardiff and the North-East (Corby), Great Western Railways to Bristol, Taunton and Weymouth as well as both Greater. The city has good railway links with Portsmouth and London via Southampton railway station. It is also linked to Bournemouth, Birmingham, Reading, Oxford, Bristol and the South West. National Express operate most of the long-distance bus services in the city including routes X1, X34, 71/72/73/74 to London and the 757 service to Manchester.

The 701 catamaran runs all year and operates across the River Test between Woolston Pier and Hythe Quay. There are proposals to construct a bridge over the mouth of the river which would spare long detours having to go around Southampton Water. By road the city is served by the A303, A33 and M3 motorways. The A303 connects Southampton to Bristol and forms one part of the main trunk route from London to Exeter, Cornwall and Penzance.

The section from the M3 junction at Bournemouth to the A350 roundabout at Winchester was Britain's first ever privately built toll road. When the M27 was built in the 1970s, it was decided not to build a north-south link on the lines of the A31 and instead run it west of the city to join up with this section of road. Other roads in the city and surrounding area include the A325 to Winchester, the A3057 to Fareham and Bristol, the A326 to Romsey, Salisbury and Exeter and the A33 West link road which serves as a by-pass for local traffic avoiding the two tunnels that run underneath Southampton Water.

The Hampshire Constabulary controls most of these roads but there are also several automatic speed cameras installed near major junctions. There are regular bus services running both into Southampton from Winchester and from Southampton to Winchester. The city is connected to London by the railway services of South West Trains. There are also railway stations at Hythe and Elson, a little further from the centre but still within the built-up area of the city. These railway stations are served less often by trains running on that line.

Twinned Towns

Southampton was twinned with Le Havre in France in 1973 over the new tunnel link between France and the United Kingdom under the English Channel that opened in 1994. This is a really neat one as I remember it being difficult for youth to quickly travel from France to England at this time. Twinning Southampton with another port city was smart way to spread the Southampton name around as well as encourage travel between Southampton and other port cities like Le Havre.

Formal twinning arrangements have been in place since the 1900s when it was created as a borough. On 1 April 1988, by a reform of administration law, the borough was incorporated into the larger non-metropolitan district of City of Southampton. This was ratified by a further Act of Parliament made in 1991 which brought into effect the local government changes made in England and Wales from that year. Altough a town is honoured to be twinned with another, it can also bring much work but also fun and international contacts.

In particular for a town like Southampton which is only 12 miles away from the capital city of London such links may not automatically be expected, although links to Hampton in Virginia had been made by local Lord Mayor Ken Thornber when an official visit there in 1986. Twinning agreements exist also with:  Cork, Ireland; Honiara, Solomon Islands; Fukuoka, Japan; Haifa, Israel; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Obihiro, Japan; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Qingdao, China. Twinning has been an important factor in the creation of a wider sense of civic self-awareness between Southampton and its French and German neighbours.

The city is twinned with. Trains are the most popular form of public transport, but the city also has good bus connections to much of the surrounding area. There is a ferry service between Southampton and Le Havre in France, operated by Brittany Ferries over several days each week. The passenger ferry link to Guernsey was terminated in 2006. A monorail system was proposed in 1988. 6%.

Author face

Eward Swiss

Author at This Is Hampshire

Recent post