The Royal Pier Southampton

Southampton Hampshire History

The Royal Pier at Southampton gave access to the ships that the travel hungry Victorians expected. Its wooden structure however meant it was far from an ideal or practical piece of engineering.

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Preparing Southampton for D-Day

Southampton, D-Day

The city of Southampton and its docks were critical to the success or failure of Operation Overlord and D- Day. The city that had been devastated by air raids, somehow managed to become the greatest naval and military port the world had ever seen.

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Bugle Street Southampton

Bugle St Old Southampton

Bugle Street Southampton has some wonderful old merchants houses It is not just the Tudor House or the Medieval Merchants House that are worth looking at in the area around St Michael’s Square in Old Southampton. Cast your eyes around many old merchants houses to get a full flavour of the area when  it fizzed…

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The Tudor House Southampton

Tudor House Southampton Hampshire

 The Tudor House Southampton The Tudor House is one of the oldest and most spendid, buildings in Southampton built in approximately 1495 when King Henry VII was on the thrown and was commissioning the world’s first dry dock in nearby Portsmouth. The site originally belonged to John Whytegod, a wealthy merchant and property owner, who,…

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The Southampton Plot

Red Lion The SouthamptonPlot

The Southampton Plot was a conspiracy against King Henry V, concocted elsewhere in England but whose final blows were to be dealt in the city of Southampton The Southampton Plot was an intrigue that occurred in Southampton in July 1415. Southampton in 1415 was for a city preparing for war. The Hundred Years War had…

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Blue Anchor Lane

Blue Anchor Lane Southampton

Blue Anchor Lane in Southampton is a gloriously evocative reminder of the richness of Southampton’s Medieval past

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The Dolphin Hotel Southampton

Dolphin Hotel Southampton Hampshire

The Dolphin Hotel Southampton is one of England’s oldest and most historic hotels. The core of the Dolphin Hotel Southampton, dates back to the mid C13th when Southampton was a thriving merchant city, full of tradesmen and visitors putting into port. The Dolphin Hotel at this point was probably a merchant’s house, its cellars full…

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Who was on the Mayflower in 1620?

Who was on the Mayflower as it set sail from Southampton Hampshire in 1620 and why did it have to return to Plymouth? The sailing of the Mayflower from Southampton is one of Hampshire’s most iconic historical moments.

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Southampton Castle

Southampton Castle on John Speeds map

When Winchester was the royal capital of England, Southampton, close by on the southern coast of England, was its chief port and trading centre. It was an obvious magnet for Danish and French raiding party’s and its defense became an issue. The castle was constructed first out of timber and then stone and its great city walls threw up a considerable obstacle to attack

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King Alfred’s Navy

King Alfred left many enduring marks on the county of Hampshire and England. One of his legacies is that of a navy. He designed ships to out do the Danish ships that threatened the southern coast of England.

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