Southampton town walls
Encyclopedia
Southampton's town walls are a sequence of defensive structures built around the town in southern England
. Although earlier Roman
and Anglo-Saxon
settlements around Southampton had been fortified with walls or ditches, the later walls originate with the move of the town to the current site in the 10th century. This new town was defended by banks, ditches and the natural curve of the river and coastline. The Normans built a castle
in Southampton but made no attempts to improve the wider defences of the town until the early 13th century, when Southampton's growing prosperity as a trading centre and conflict with France
encouraged the construction of a number of gatehouse
s and stone walls to the north and east sides of the settlement.
In 1338 Southampton was raided by French forces; the town's defences proved inadequate, particularly along the quays on the west and south of the city. Edward III
ordered some immediate improvements to Southampton's town walls but it was not until the 1360s that substantial work began. Over the coming decades the town was entirely enclosed by a 2 km (1.25 mile) long stone wall, with 29 towers and eight gates. With the advent of gunpowder
weapons in the 1360s and 1370s, Southampton was one of the first towns in England to install the new technology to existing fortifications and to build new towers specifically to house cannon
.
Southampton's town walls remained an important defensive feature during the 15th century, the gatehouses sometimes being used as important civic facilities, including acting as the town's guildhall
and housing the town's gaol. From the end of the 17th century their importance steadily declined and the walls were slowly demolished or adapted for other uses throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. This process continued into the early 20th century until, in the post-war years, the walls were recognised as an important historical feature of Southampton. Conservation projects have since occurred and the walls are now promoted as a tourist attraction
.
in AD 43 the fortress settlement of Clausentum was established. It was an important trading port and a defensive outpost for the town of Winchester
, located on the site of Bitterne Manor
, today a suburb of modern Southampton. Clausentum was defended on its eastern, landwards side by a flint
stone wall and two ditches. After the fall of the Roman Empire, in the 7th and 8th centuries the Anglo-Saxon
s built a planned settlement called Hamwic, close to the current location of Southampton, approximately on the location of the later St Mary's church. At least some parts of this burh
town had a ditch dug around it, 3 m (10 feet) wide and 1.5 m (5 feet) deep, and potentially it may have been defended by a bank of earth as well. In the 10th century, Viking
raids prompted the settlement of Southampton to move to its current location.
in 1066, the town of Southampton occupied a rectangular area overlooking the mouth of the River Test
, an important medieval waterway. It was protected by water on most sides and by protective ditches and banks to the north and east. Southampton at this time was a relatively large town, but not as significant as in the later medieval period. The Normans built a castle
within the town on the site of a probable large English hall, and considerable damage was caused to the surrounding local buildings as space was opened up for the new fortification.
During the years of the Anarchy
, in which the Empress Matilda
and Stephen
fought for control of England, Southampton was held by William le Gros
, the bishop of Winchester
and a supporter of Stephen. When Henry II
came to the throne in 1153, he took back Southampton and carried out improvements to the castle, as part of his attempt to improve the general standard of security in the south. By the second half of the 12th century, Southampton was increasingly important for coastal defence and as a base for operations on the continent. Following the threat of French invasion in the 1170s, Henry II invested modest additional resources in the castle, but no efforts were undertaken to improve the town's ditches and banks.
By the 12th century, Southampton was an important trading port with trade routes to Normandy
, the Levant
and Gascony
. Both the town and castle played an important role in this trade, in part forming a warehouse for the king's imports, this process being managed by a Crown Bailiff. The former castle hall was turned into a subterranean vault in the 13th century, probably for storing wine. Stone houses, often combining accommodation and storage facilities, began to be built in Southampton by the wealthiest merchants, particularly in the prosperous western and southern parts of the town, but these properties could not be easily defended against attack.
The English Channel
was contested militarily between England and France during the 13th century, and Southampton was both an important base for naval operations and a tempting target for raiders. At the start of the 13th century additional work was therefore conducted to improve the town's defences; the king granted £100 in 1202 and again in 1203 to help develop the earth banks around the town. By 1217 East Gate had been built, probably of stone. In 1260 a murage
grant was given to Southampton by Edward I
, allowing the town to tax selected imports in order to build and maintain new stone walls; these initial murage grants ran from 1260 to 1275 and were then renewed between 1282 and 1285 and from 1286 to 1291. By the end of this work, many of the earth banks in the north and east of the town had been converted to stone. There appears to have been little interest in defending the west and south quays, however, probably because doing so would have hampered Southampton's merchants when they moved their trading goods in and out of the town.
was constructed near the western docks. Later investigations by the Crown would suggest that some of the monies raised in these murage grants had been misspent, however, contributing to the poor standard of town defences, which included large gaps in the walled circuit.
In 1338 there was a successful French attack on Southampton: the town's defences, particularly in the west, proved quite inadequate and the French succeeded in burning numerous buildings down, particularly along the western quays, and damaging the castle. Edward III
responded to the raid by taking immediate steps to shore up Southampton's defences and ordering the town to be fully enclosed by stone walls. In 1339 the sheriff conscripted workmen and specialists to improve the defences, and money to pay for the building materials was raised by commuting the prison sentence of a senior official in Southampton to a fine. Murage grants were reinstated in 1345, but the economy of Southampton had been temporarily devastated by the raids and indeed never fully recovered. The king's instructions to fully enclose the town with walls could not be carried out. Nonetheless, by the 1350s, Southampton had mounted mangonel
and springald
siege engines on the existing walls.
In 1360 the king conducted an inquiry into Southampton's defences and in 1363 he established a wider commission to examine how best to improve them. The commission came to a number of conclusions: the town walls should be better maintained and kept clear of housing and other obstructions; the number of gateways in the walls should be reduced; and a water-filled ditch should be built to further reinforce the walls on the west. The enquiry also concluded that the outer doors and ground floor windows of properties facing the sea should be filled in to form a more defensible line.
The resulting work on Southampton's defences resulted in considerable improvements: by the late 14th century, the town was completely encircled by 2 km (1.25 miles) of stone walls. Some existing buildings, including a dovecote
, were reinforced and pressed into service as part of the defences. South Gate was built to protect the southern quays, with a wide archway, complete with parapet
s and machicolation
s. The building work proved very expensive, however, and despite the mayor and bailiffs enforcing contributions and assistance from the citizens, Parliament had to be asked several times in the 1370s to assist by remitting arrears of taxes owed by Southampton. Stone from the Isle of Wight.
In 1370 the French made a successful attack on Portsmouth
, commencing a new sequence of raids along the English coast. In due course first Edward, then Richard
, responded by improving the defences in the south of England. Part of this involved improving the condition of Southampton Castle, where, owing in part to the theft of building materials, including stone and lead, by the citizens of the town, the defences were in a poor condition. Henry Yevele, who oversaw the improvements to the castle, probably also constructed the Arcades in 1380: this involved taking the 1360 proposal to block up the properties along the western quay to form a solid wall, and three towers and gunports. Sir John Sondes and John Polymond were appointed by the king in 1386 to further improve the town walls, working with Sir John Arundel, the castle governor - Polymond and Arundel Towers were probably named after these men around this time.
One of the major changes from the 1370s onwards was the adaptation of the town walls to mount gunpowder weapons. At this time cannon were still unreliable, only capable of reaching relatively short ranges and required the construction of specialist gunports. Cannons fired stone cannon balls, which did relatively little damage to stronger stone walls, and so were primarily used in defence of fortifications rather than as an offensive weapon by besiegers. The first gunports in Britain were installed in the 1360s on the Isle of Wight
, but Southampton was not far behind. Around 1378 to 1379 the ongoing French threat led to gunports for handgun
s being built into the western Arcade wall, and by 1382 the town bought its own hangun. God's House tower was built to defend the southern quays around 1417 and the sluices that controlled the level of the town's moat
s, and equipped with numerous gunports rooftop firing points, and by 1439 Cathcold tower had also been constructed, again designed to accommodate gunpowder weapons.
Another change in the 1370s was the formalisation of the process of guarding and maintaining the walls. During the invasion scare of 1377, Edward instructed the mayor to review these processes; it appears that the four wards of the town were surveyed, and each property was assigned a piece of the wall to maintain, varying according to the size of the property. For these purposes, the walls were measured out in units called loupes, or embrasure
s. The four wards were also responsible for the security and policing of the town.
on the south coast. Indeed, the guns on Southampton's walls were fired at French raiding ships the same year. The walls continued to be maintained for the rest of the century, with £40 being allocated annually between 1478 to 1485 for this purpose. By contrast, the castle fell into a rapid decline and its inner bailey became used first as a rubbish tip, then for small scale agriculture.
Nonetheless, a report on the quality of the walls around 1460 noted that on the north and east sides of Southampton, the walls were still too thin to block a cannon
shot or for a man to stand on them; a wood and earth wall-walk had been built behind the walls, but this was proving very expensive to maintain. This contemporary assessment of the weakness of the eastern walls has been confirmed by modern archaeological excavation - in places it was only 0.76 m (2.49 feet) thick, compared to a typical thickness in other English town walls of around 1 m (3.28 feet).
A survey in 1454, undertaken against the background of another French invasion scare, shows that the 1377 system for maintaining the walls was still in operation. A town gunner had also been appointed by the 15th century, earning the highest salary of any local official and was responsible for maintaining the guns and manufacturing gunpowder. As late as the mid-16th century, additional improved rectangular gunports, similar to those on the Device Forts
along the Channel, were added to the West Gate by the quays.
Several of the gatehouses played an important part in the administration of the town in the 15th century. South Gate formed the main administrative centre for the port during the period, housing the Clerk of the King's Ships and collecting customs revenue. It was expanded in the 1430s and 1440s, but was in poor condition again by the 1480s, resulting in fresh construction work around the site. Bargate was partially used as a prison from the 15th century, in a similar fashion to many other towns. The first floor of the building had been used as the town's guildhall
from at least 1441 onwards, and the treasury was kept in one of the towers. Elaborate feasts were served there on special occasions.
The town walls became less important for defence in the 17th century, although in 1633, a footpath was built around the inside of the wall to help the watch and other law officers better pursue vagrants and criminals. The walls fared better than Southampton Castle, which was sold off to property speculators in 1618, but they played no part in the English Civil War
. Some of the masonry from the castle was reused to strengthen the town walls in 1650 during the Third English Civil War
.
In the 18th century onwards the town walls were often adapted for new uses or simply demolished. As early as 1641, the chapel above East Gate had been leased out to private tenants. Byy 1707, part of God's House tower being used as a prison; from 1786 it became the official town gaol. As the century progressed, East Gate was demolished in 1774, South Gate was mostly demolished in 1803 and Biddles Gate shortly afterwards, along with large sections of adjacent wall.
As the 19th century progressed, the destruction and remodelling of the town walls continued. The upper stories of Polymond Tower were demolished in the 1820s, to be rebuilt by 1846 as a shorter, two-storey tower. The remains of the South Gate were turned into a hotel. God's House tower continued to be used as a gaol, but was criticised by inspectors. A 1823 report described it as an "old and very awkward" facility, containing around a dozen prisoners in damp conditions, and where it was hard to separate the male and female prisoners in an appropriate fashion. In 1855 its role as a gaol was concluded, and the building fell into disuse.
In other areas, civic improvements were attempted. In 1853 the "Forty Steps" built down the side of the west walls to make access to the town easier. Parts of the Arcades were blocked up to prevent homeless people from sleeping under the arches and disturbing the neighbourhood. The Bargate ceased to be used as the guildhall in 1888 and was heavily restored by the town in what was felt to be a more consistent medieval style.
The urban growth of Southampton, as in many English walled towns and cities, put considerable pressure on the older fortifications. In 1899 to 1890, for example, parts of the wall west of Biddles Gate, including a square tower, were demolished to create the Western Esplanade road. By the second half of the century, the Bargate and the surrounding walls were creating serious traffic congestion; various options were considered to relieve thism including demolition, but it was not until the 1930s that the decision was made to retain the gatehouse, but to destroy the walls on either side.
Some parts of the Southampton walls were used to mount searchlight
s and machineguns on during the Second World War; the walls escaped damage, unlike many other areas of the medieval city. In the post-war period the historic importance of the town walls was recognised and considerable conservation work was been conducted on the walls, including reversing the Victorian alterations to the Arcades. The town walls became seen as important part of Southampton's tourist industry; health and safety concerns, however, prohibit tourists walking along most of the circuit. God's House tower reopened in 1961 opened as Southampton's Museum of Archaeology. Today the walls are protected as grade I listed buildings and as a scheduled monument.
Around half the length of the 2 km (1.25 mile) long medieval town walls still survives in the 21st century, mainly on the north and west sides of Southampton, together with 13 of the 29 defensive towers and six out of the eight gates. The towers are a combination of circular and square designs, with many showing an "open-gorged" design, similar to those built in North Wales, that could be isolated from the rest of the walls by removing small wooden bridges. In general the town walls at Southampton were poorly built in a somewhat chaotic fashion over several years. By contrast, the surviving gatehouses are sophisticated and well designed, probably as a result of their civic importance. Historians Oliver Creighton and Robert Higham describe the surviving walls as "extremely well preserved" and containing "unique survivals in a British context".
In the south-east corner of the walls is God's House tower. This is architecturally important as it was one of the first urban buildings to be built to hold gunpowder artillery - in this respect, it closely resembles Cow Tower
in Norwich
. The tower was built alongside God's House Gate and is remains three storeys high. The gunports designed for handcannon can be seen on the outside, and the roof was designed to hold larger cannon. Adjacent to the tower is God's House Gate, a two-storey building also equipped with a gun-port.
Little remains of the eastern walls, but in the north-east corner several towers still remain largely intact, including Polymond tower, a powerful drum tower largely reconstructed during the Victorian period. Further west is the Bargate; this was originally a simple archway but was expanded with drum towers and arrow slits in the early 14th century, and then expanded again in the early 15th century with battlements and parapets, before being heavily restored in the 19th century. The Bargate is remains an elaborate building, taking military symbolism and combining it with rich civic heraldry
and decoration above the gateway.
At the north-west corner of the walls stands Arundel tower, another large drum tower that originally overlooked a small cliff. South of this is Catchcold tower. Catchcold tower was designed to defended with guns and has three gunports; the need to support cannon leaves it much heavier in appearance than the other circular towers on the walls. The remains of machine gun mountings fitted to the tower in 1941 can still be seen. The Arcades form part of the surviving west walls and are a unique feature in England; their closest architectural equivalent are in Rouen
, France. The West Gate still stands three storeys high and was originally defended by two portcullis
es; the windows on the west side of the gate are the original medieval designs. Along the south side of the walls one of the twin towers protecting the South Gate still stands, largely intact.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Although earlier Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
and Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
settlements around Southampton had been fortified with walls or ditches, the later walls originate with the move of the town to the current site in the 10th century. This new town was defended by banks, ditches and the natural curve of the river and coastline. The Normans built a castle
Southampton Castle
Southampton Castle was located in the town of Southampton in Hampshire, England. Constructed after the Norman conquest of England, it was located in the north-west corner of the town overlooking the River Test, initially as a wooden motte and bailey design...
in Southampton but made no attempts to improve the wider defences of the town until the early 13th century, when Southampton's growing prosperity as a trading centre and conflict with France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
encouraged the construction of a number of gatehouse
Gatehouse
A gatehouse, in architectural terminology, is a building enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a castle, manor house, fort, town or similar buildings of importance.-History:...
s and stone walls to the north and east sides of the settlement.
In 1338 Southampton was raided by French forces; the town's defences proved inadequate, particularly along the quays on the west and south of the city. Edward III
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
ordered some immediate improvements to Southampton's town walls but it was not until the 1360s that substantial work began. Over the coming decades the town was entirely enclosed by a 2 km (1.25 mile) long stone wall, with 29 towers and eight gates. With the advent of gunpowder
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...
weapons in the 1360s and 1370s, Southampton was one of the first towns in England to install the new technology to existing fortifications and to build new towers specifically to house cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
.
Southampton's town walls remained an important defensive feature during the 15th century, the gatehouses sometimes being used as important civic facilities, including acting as the town's guildhall
Guildhall
A guildhall, or guild hall, is a building historically used by guilds for meetings and other purposes. It is also the official or colloquial name for many of these specific buildings, now often used as town halls or museums....
and housing the town's gaol. From the end of the 17th century their importance steadily declined and the walls were slowly demolished or adapted for other uses throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. This process continued into the early 20th century until, in the post-war years, the walls were recognised as an important historical feature of Southampton. Conservation projects have since occurred and the walls are now promoted as a tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
.
1st-10th centuries
Several earlier settlements were built near modern Southampton featuring protective town walls. Following the Roman conquest of BritainRoman conquest of Britain
The Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning effectively in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, whose general Aulus Plautius served as first governor of Britannia. Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and...
in AD 43 the fortress settlement of Clausentum was established. It was an important trading port and a defensive outpost for the town of Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
, located on the site of Bitterne Manor
Bitterne Manor
Bitterne Manor is a suburb of Southampton surrounding the manor house of the same name.- History :Bitterne Manor is the site of the original Roman settlement of Clausentum, the forerunner to today's City of Southampton....
, today a suburb of modern Southampton. Clausentum was defended on its eastern, landwards side by a flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
stone wall and two ditches. After the fall of the Roman Empire, in the 7th and 8th centuries the Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
s built a planned settlement called Hamwic, close to the current location of Southampton, approximately on the location of the later St Mary's church. At least some parts of this burh
Burh
A Burh is an Old English name for a fortified town or other defended site, sometimes centred upon a hill fort though always intended as a place of permanent settlement, its origin was in military defence; "it represented only a stage, though a vitally important one, in the evolution of the...
town had a ditch dug around it, 3 m (10 feet) wide and 1.5 m (5 feet) deep, and potentially it may have been defended by a bank of earth as well. In the 10th century, Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
raids prompted the settlement of Southampton to move to its current location.
11th-13th centuries
By the time that the Normans conquered EnglandNorman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
in 1066, the town of Southampton occupied a rectangular area overlooking the mouth of the River Test
River Test
The River Test is a river in Hampshire, England. The river has a total length of 40 miles and it flows through downland from its source near Ashe, 10 km to the west of Basingstoke , to the sea at the head of Southampton Water...
, an important medieval waterway. It was protected by water on most sides and by protective ditches and banks to the north and east. Southampton at this time was a relatively large town, but not as significant as in the later medieval period. The Normans built a castle
Southampton Castle
Southampton Castle was located in the town of Southampton in Hampshire, England. Constructed after the Norman conquest of England, it was located in the north-west corner of the town overlooking the River Test, initially as a wooden motte and bailey design...
within the town on the site of a probable large English hall, and considerable damage was caused to the surrounding local buildings as space was opened up for the new fortification.
During the years of the Anarchy
The Anarchy
The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...
, in which the Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda , also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood...
and Stephen
Stephen, King of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
fought for control of England, Southampton was held by William le Gros
William le Gros, 1st Earl of Albemarle
William le Gros was the Count of Aumale , Earl of York, and Lord of Holderness. He was the eldest son of Stephen, Count of Aumale, and his spouse, Hawise, daughter of Ralph de Mortimer of Wigmore....
, the bishop of Winchester
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...
and a supporter of Stephen. When Henry II
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
came to the throne in 1153, he took back Southampton and carried out improvements to the castle, as part of his attempt to improve the general standard of security in the south. By the second half of the 12th century, Southampton was increasingly important for coastal defence and as a base for operations on the continent. Following the threat of French invasion in the 1170s, Henry II invested modest additional resources in the castle, but no efforts were undertaken to improve the town's ditches and banks.
By the 12th century, Southampton was an important trading port with trade routes to Normandy
Duchy of Normandy
The Duchy of Normandy stems from various Danish, Norwegian, Hiberno-Norse, Orkney Viking and Anglo-Danish invasions of France in the 9th century...
, the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
and Gascony
Gascony
Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...
. Both the town and castle played an important role in this trade, in part forming a warehouse for the king's imports, this process being managed by a Crown Bailiff. The former castle hall was turned into a subterranean vault in the 13th century, probably for storing wine. Stone houses, often combining accommodation and storage facilities, began to be built in Southampton by the wealthiest merchants, particularly in the prosperous western and southern parts of the town, but these properties could not be easily defended against attack.
The English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
was contested militarily between England and France during the 13th century, and Southampton was both an important base for naval operations and a tempting target for raiders. At the start of the 13th century additional work was therefore conducted to improve the town's defences; the king granted £100 in 1202 and again in 1203 to help develop the earth banks around the town. By 1217 East Gate had been built, probably of stone. In 1260 a murage
Murage
Murage was a medieval toll for the building or repair of town walls in England and Wales.This was granted by the king by letters patent for a limited term, but the walls were frequently not completed within the term, so that the grant was periodically renewed....
grant was given to Southampton by Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
, allowing the town to tax selected imports in order to build and maintain new stone walls; these initial murage grants ran from 1260 to 1275 and were then renewed between 1282 and 1285 and from 1286 to 1291. By the end of this work, many of the earth banks in the north and east of the town had been converted to stone. There appears to have been little interest in defending the west and south quays, however, probably because doing so would have hampered Southampton's merchants when they moved their trading goods in and out of the town.
14th century
By 1300, Southampton was a major port and a large provincial town, with a population of around 5,000. The raising of money through murage grants began again in 1321, possibly paying for the stone towers of the Bargate and some of the semi-circular wall towers. Work also appears to have begun on some stone walling to the south and west of the town, construction may have begun at the South Gate and a wooden barbicanBarbican
A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from...
was constructed near the western docks. Later investigations by the Crown would suggest that some of the monies raised in these murage grants had been misspent, however, contributing to the poor standard of town defences, which included large gaps in the walled circuit.
In 1338 there was a successful French attack on Southampton: the town's defences, particularly in the west, proved quite inadequate and the French succeeded in burning numerous buildings down, particularly along the western quays, and damaging the castle. Edward III
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
responded to the raid by taking immediate steps to shore up Southampton's defences and ordering the town to be fully enclosed by stone walls. In 1339 the sheriff conscripted workmen and specialists to improve the defences, and money to pay for the building materials was raised by commuting the prison sentence of a senior official in Southampton to a fine. Murage grants were reinstated in 1345, but the economy of Southampton had been temporarily devastated by the raids and indeed never fully recovered. The king's instructions to fully enclose the town with walls could not be carried out. Nonetheless, by the 1350s, Southampton had mounted mangonel
Mangonel
A mangonel was a type of catapult or siege engine used in the medieval period to throw projectiles at a castle's walls. The exact meaning of the term is debatable, and several possibilities have been suggested. Mangonel may also be indirectly referring to the 'mangon' a French hard stone found in...
and springald
Springald
A Springald is a late 12th century or early 13th century mechanical artillery device for throwing large bolts and less commonly stones or Greek fire, based around the design of a contemporary crossbow and a Greek ballista, but with inward swinging arms....
siege engines on the existing walls.
In 1360 the king conducted an inquiry into Southampton's defences and in 1363 he established a wider commission to examine how best to improve them. The commission came to a number of conclusions: the town walls should be better maintained and kept clear of housing and other obstructions; the number of gateways in the walls should be reduced; and a water-filled ditch should be built to further reinforce the walls on the west. The enquiry also concluded that the outer doors and ground floor windows of properties facing the sea should be filled in to form a more defensible line.
The resulting work on Southampton's defences resulted in considerable improvements: by the late 14th century, the town was completely encircled by 2 km (1.25 miles) of stone walls. Some existing buildings, including a dovecote
Dovecote
A dovecote or dovecot is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be square or circular free-standing structures or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pigeonholes for the birds to nest. Pigeons and doves were an important food source historically in...
, were reinforced and pressed into service as part of the defences. South Gate was built to protect the southern quays, with a wide archway, complete with parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
s and machicolation
Machicolation
A machicolation is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones, or other objects, could be dropped on attackers at the base of a defensive wall. The design was developed in the Middle Ages when the Norman crusaders returned. A machicolated battlement...
s. The building work proved very expensive, however, and despite the mayor and bailiffs enforcing contributions and assistance from the citizens, Parliament had to be asked several times in the 1370s to assist by remitting arrears of taxes owed by Southampton. Stone from the Isle of Wight.
In 1370 the French made a successful attack on Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
, commencing a new sequence of raids along the English coast. In due course first Edward, then Richard
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
, responded by improving the defences in the south of England. Part of this involved improving the condition of Southampton Castle, where, owing in part to the theft of building materials, including stone and lead, by the citizens of the town, the defences were in a poor condition. Henry Yevele, who oversaw the improvements to the castle, probably also constructed the Arcades in 1380: this involved taking the 1360 proposal to block up the properties along the western quay to form a solid wall, and three towers and gunports. Sir John Sondes and John Polymond were appointed by the king in 1386 to further improve the town walls, working with Sir John Arundel, the castle governor - Polymond and Arundel Towers were probably named after these men around this time.
One of the major changes from the 1370s onwards was the adaptation of the town walls to mount gunpowder weapons. At this time cannon were still unreliable, only capable of reaching relatively short ranges and required the construction of specialist gunports. Cannons fired stone cannon balls, which did relatively little damage to stronger stone walls, and so were primarily used in defence of fortifications rather than as an offensive weapon by besiegers. The first gunports in Britain were installed in the 1360s on the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
, but Southampton was not far behind. Around 1378 to 1379 the ongoing French threat led to gunports for handgun
Handgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....
s being built into the western Arcade wall, and by 1382 the town bought its own hangun. God's House tower was built to defend the southern quays around 1417 and the sluices that controlled the level of the town's moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
s, and equipped with numerous gunports rooftop firing points, and by 1439 Cathcold tower had also been constructed, again designed to accommodate gunpowder weapons.
Another change in the 1370s was the formalisation of the process of guarding and maintaining the walls. During the invasion scare of 1377, Edward instructed the mayor to review these processes; it appears that the four wards of the town were surveyed, and each property was assigned a piece of the wall to maintain, varying according to the size of the property. For these purposes, the walls were measured out in units called loupes, or embrasure
Embrasure
In military architecture, an embrasure is the opening in a crenellation or battlement between the two raised solid portions or merlons, sometimes called a crenel or crenelle...
s. The four wards were also responsible for the security and policing of the town.
15th-16th centuries
The threat of French attack continued throughout the 15th century. Instead of relying on murage grants, more funds for the town walls were directly granted by the king in 1400, including an ongoing annual grant of £100. Concerns increased significantly after the invasion scare of 1457, when French troops successfully attacked the town of SandwichSandwich, Kent
Sandwich is a historic town and civil parish on the River Stour in the Non-metropolitan district of Dover, within the ceremonial county of Kent, south-east England. It has a population of 6,800....
on the south coast. Indeed, the guns on Southampton's walls were fired at French raiding ships the same year. The walls continued to be maintained for the rest of the century, with £40 being allocated annually between 1478 to 1485 for this purpose. By contrast, the castle fell into a rapid decline and its inner bailey became used first as a rubbish tip, then for small scale agriculture.
Nonetheless, a report on the quality of the walls around 1460 noted that on the north and east sides of Southampton, the walls were still too thin to block a cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
shot or for a man to stand on them; a wood and earth wall-walk had been built behind the walls, but this was proving very expensive to maintain. This contemporary assessment of the weakness of the eastern walls has been confirmed by modern archaeological excavation - in places it was only 0.76 m (2.49 feet) thick, compared to a typical thickness in other English town walls of around 1 m (3.28 feet).
A survey in 1454, undertaken against the background of another French invasion scare, shows that the 1377 system for maintaining the walls was still in operation. A town gunner had also been appointed by the 15th century, earning the highest salary of any local official and was responsible for maintaining the guns and manufacturing gunpowder. As late as the mid-16th century, additional improved rectangular gunports, similar to those on the Device Forts
Device Forts
The Device Forts, also known as Henrician Castles, are a series of artillery fortifications built to defend the southern coast of England by Henry VIII. After his divorce of Catherine of Aragon England was left politically isolated, and the peace of Nice between France and Spain in 1538 aroused...
along the Channel, were added to the West Gate by the quays.
Several of the gatehouses played an important part in the administration of the town in the 15th century. South Gate formed the main administrative centre for the port during the period, housing the Clerk of the King's Ships and collecting customs revenue. It was expanded in the 1430s and 1440s, but was in poor condition again by the 1480s, resulting in fresh construction work around the site. Bargate was partially used as a prison from the 15th century, in a similar fashion to many other towns. The first floor of the building had been used as the town's guildhall
Guildhall
A guildhall, or guild hall, is a building historically used by guilds for meetings and other purposes. It is also the official or colloquial name for many of these specific buildings, now often used as town halls or museums....
from at least 1441 onwards, and the treasury was kept in one of the towers. Elaborate feasts were served there on special occasions.
17th–20th centuries
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
. Some of the masonry from the castle was reused to strengthen the town walls in 1650 during the Third English Civil War
Third English Civil War
The Third English Civil War was the last of the English Civil Wars , a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists....
.
In the 18th century onwards the town walls were often adapted for new uses or simply demolished. As early as 1641, the chapel above East Gate had been leased out to private tenants. Byy 1707, part of God's House tower being used as a prison; from 1786 it became the official town gaol. As the century progressed, East Gate was demolished in 1774, South Gate was mostly demolished in 1803 and Biddles Gate shortly afterwards, along with large sections of adjacent wall.
As the 19th century progressed, the destruction and remodelling of the town walls continued. The upper stories of Polymond Tower were demolished in the 1820s, to be rebuilt by 1846 as a shorter, two-storey tower. The remains of the South Gate were turned into a hotel. God's House tower continued to be used as a gaol, but was criticised by inspectors. A 1823 report described it as an "old and very awkward" facility, containing around a dozen prisoners in damp conditions, and where it was hard to separate the male and female prisoners in an appropriate fashion. In 1855 its role as a gaol was concluded, and the building fell into disuse.
In other areas, civic improvements were attempted. In 1853 the "Forty Steps" built down the side of the west walls to make access to the town easier. Parts of the Arcades were blocked up to prevent homeless people from sleeping under the arches and disturbing the neighbourhood. The Bargate ceased to be used as the guildhall in 1888 and was heavily restored by the town in what was felt to be a more consistent medieval style.
The urban growth of Southampton, as in many English walled towns and cities, put considerable pressure on the older fortifications. In 1899 to 1890, for example, parts of the wall west of Biddles Gate, including a square tower, were demolished to create the Western Esplanade road. By the second half of the century, the Bargate and the surrounding walls were creating serious traffic congestion; various options were considered to relieve thism including demolition, but it was not until the 1930s that the decision was made to retain the gatehouse, but to destroy the walls on either side.
Some parts of the Southampton walls were used to mount searchlight
Searchlight
A searchlight is an apparatus that combines a bright light source with some form of curved reflector or other optics to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direction, usually constructed so that it can be swiveled about.-Military use:The Royal Navy used...
s and machineguns on during the Second World War; the walls escaped damage, unlike many other areas of the medieval city. In the post-war period the historic importance of the town walls was recognised and considerable conservation work was been conducted on the walls, including reversing the Victorian alterations to the Arcades. The town walls became seen as important part of Southampton's tourist industry; health and safety concerns, however, prohibit tourists walking along most of the circuit. God's House tower reopened in 1961 opened as Southampton's Museum of Archaeology. Today the walls are protected as grade I listed buildings and as a scheduled monument.
Architecture
In the south-east corner of the walls is God's House tower. This is architecturally important as it was one of the first urban buildings to be built to hold gunpowder artillery - in this respect, it closely resembles Cow Tower
Cow Tower, Norwich
Cow Tower is an historic military tower that stands by the River Wensum in Norwich, Norfolk. It gets its name from the water meadow, once known as Cowholme, in which it stands. It is about 15.2m high, with an internal diameter of 7.3m...
in Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
. The tower was built alongside God's House Gate and is remains three storeys high. The gunports designed for handcannon can be seen on the outside, and the roof was designed to hold larger cannon. Adjacent to the tower is God's House Gate, a two-storey building also equipped with a gun-port.
Little remains of the eastern walls, but in the north-east corner several towers still remain largely intact, including Polymond tower, a powerful drum tower largely reconstructed during the Victorian period. Further west is the Bargate; this was originally a simple archway but was expanded with drum towers and arrow slits in the early 14th century, and then expanded again in the early 15th century with battlements and parapets, before being heavily restored in the 19th century. The Bargate is remains an elaborate building, taking military symbolism and combining it with rich civic heraldry
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
and decoration above the gateway.
At the north-west corner of the walls stands Arundel tower, another large drum tower that originally overlooked a small cliff. South of this is Catchcold tower. Catchcold tower was designed to defended with guns and has three gunports; the need to support cannon leaves it much heavier in appearance than the other circular towers on the walls. The remains of machine gun mountings fitted to the tower in 1941 can still be seen. The Arcades form part of the surviving west walls and are a unique feature in England; their closest architectural equivalent are in Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
, France. The West Gate still stands three storeys high and was originally defended by two portcullis
Portcullis
A portcullis is a latticed grille made of wood, metal, fibreglass or a combination of the three. Portcullises fortified the entrances to many medieval castles, acting as a last line of defence during time of attack or siege...
es; the windows on the west side of the gate are the original medieval designs. Along the south side of the walls one of the twin towers protecting the South Gate still stands, largely intact.
See also
- List of town walls in England and Wales
- Chester city wallsChester city walls.Chester city walls consist of a defensive structure built to protect the city of Chester in Cheshire, England. Their construction was started by the Romans when they established the fortress of Deva Victrix between 70 and 80 AD. It originated with a rampart of earth and turf surmounted by a...
- York city wallsYork city wallsThe English city of York has, since Roman times, been defended by walls of one form or another. To this day, substantial portions of the walls remain, and York has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England...