SOUTHAMPTON

History of the city of Southampton, Hampshire.

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c. 6000 BC: Ice Age ends. Floods cut off Britain from Europe, Wight from Britain, and make Southampton Water from Solent Valley.

650 - 150 B.C.: Celtic influx, particularly in the south.

55-54 BC: Ceasar invades Britain but doesn’t stay.

43: Claudius leads Roman invasion of Britain.

46: Belgae tribe (S. Hampshire, capital Venta Belgarum) beaten by Claudius

50: Romans found Clausentum (modern Bitterne). Possible Celtic settlement at Bevois Valley.

61-2: Boudicca’s Rebellion.

286-96: Carausius’ Rebellion. There is a mint (money factory) at Clausentum.

367: Clausentum capital of the Saxon Shore, Roman coastal defence system.

401-6: Roman forces withdrawn from Britain.

495: Cerdic, a Jutish prince, lands at Totton and founds Gewissan kingdom.

c. 500: Cerdic takes Clausentum, which is then abandoned.

501: Meonwaras establish Meon valley as eastern border of Gewissian province.

c.510: Probable founding of royal estate of Hamtun at St. Mary’s.

534: Death of Cerdic. His territories later becomes Hamtunscir. Hamtun has about 150 people.

635: Gewissian capital moved to Winchester (NB water travel much easier, and Hamtun is Winchester’s port). Christianity; St. Mary’s Church prob. built soon after.

661: Meonwaras and Wihtware (East Hampshire and Wight) fall under Mercian control after battle of Pontesbury. Hamtun's first ‘town’ wall built of wood.

685: Cadwalla regains lost Gewissan lands. Threat lifts. Country renamed Wessex.

690: King Ine builds a new trading port a mile away at Hamwick (wick = trading centre). Vast increase in trade with the Continent.

757: Deposed King Sigeberht murders Cumbra, alderman of S. Hampshire, in the town and is later killed at Privett by a pig-farmer, one of Cumbra’s men.

840: Viking fleet defeated N. of Southampton after raiding Winchester. There is a gradual defection from Hamtun to Hamwic, but the people take their name with them, the 'new' town becoming Hamtun.

875: Viking fleet passes Southampton on way to Wareham. Luckily doesn’t stop!

911-27: Great Reconquest captures (Northampton) in 918. Hamtun becomes Southamtun to avoid confusion.

980: Town raided by Vikings. Town gradually moves from St. Mary’s to modern site. c.990: Viking settlement at Ulfston (Woolston).

1016: Southern earls declare Canute king at Southamton.

1020: Canute gets his feet wet, probably in Southamton!

1066: Ditch and pallisade built to N, Ditch to S as Southamton becomes important Channel port to Normandy. St. Denys Priory built soon after. Population about 800.

1066-1100: Massacre of people of the Ytene (now New) Forest for royal hunting. London becomes de facto capital, Winchester starts to decline, affecting Southamton.

c. 1100: A leper colony is founded, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. The lands around it eventually become known as the Marlands.

1135-54: Southampton Castle held for Stephen, whilst Salisbury held for Matilda

1141: Rout of Winchester. Queen Matilda, Stephen’s wife, defeats Empress Matilda, mother of the future Henry II. Some refugees flee to Southamton.

1154: Treasury moved from Winchester to London (Henry II dislikes Winchester after his mother was defeated there). Southamton gets its charter, and is rebuilt in stone.

1199: King John frees Southamton from sheriff control - for £200 a year!

1200: God’s House built for Thomas a Becket pilgrims, in attempt to draw trade from Winchester.

1204: King John loses lands in France. Southampton, no longer ‘protected’ by Normandy, loses trade, and is fortified with ditches N and E against possible French attack.

1216: First Barons’ War. Southampton taken by William Marshall, supporting new king Henry III against invading French forces.

1264-5: Second Barons’ Wars. Ditches replaced by walls.

1338: Franco-Spanish fleet massacre hundreds in raid on town whilst people at mass. Start of Hundred Years War. Traders flee to safer ports. Walls belatedly extended on seaward side.

1346: Edward III grants lordship of town to wife Philippa, in return for help in wars.

1349: Half the town dies in the Black Death.

1360-1420: Complete renewal of defences and new castle built by Edward III in attempt to revive port.

1377: French seize Isle of Wight, but beaten back from town.

1415: Southampton Plot against Henry V in Dolphin Hotel (foreshadow of Wars of the Roses). Traitors trial at Red Lion Inn, then hung, drawn and quartered, heads on poles on Bargate).

1416: French attack driven off.

1445: Southampton receives 15-y-o Margaret of Anjou, future wife of Henry VI. Created a corporation, then a ‘county of a town’ two years later.

1453: Last English lands in France lost; more trade lost to town.

1531: In an attempt to revive the town, King Henry VIII grants it a monopoly on the export of lead. This works, although its provisions are later weakened.

1537: Henry VIII closes St. Denys Priory and Netley Abbey (Dissolution of the monasteries).

1550: King Edward VI Grammar School founded in Bugle Street.

1558-: Spanish persecution in the Spanish Netherlands (Benelux) - Protestants flee to England and start up businesses.

1560, 1569, 1575, 1599: Elizabeth I visits Southampton.

1563, 1581, 1587: Major outbreaks of plague in the town.

1588: Armada sails by Isle of Wight. Luckily decides not to stop!

1596: The population is recoded as 4,200, about the same as before the Norman Conquest.

1618: King James I sells the remains of Southampton Castle.

1620: Pilgrim Fathers leave for America in Mayflower.

1644: Parliamentarian Southampton is saved by the victory at the battle of Cheriton.

1665: Last of the plague.

1750: Frederick Prince of Wales, son and heir of King George II, goes bathing in the town. Unfortunately he dies in 1751, but his sons, including the eventual George III, carry on the practice.

1799: A wooden bridge is reported at Northam.

1820: Gas lighting introduced.

1821: The Eastside villages, Bitterne, Sholing and Woolston, are incorporated

1838-42: Docks built, steamboats to many parts of the British Empire.

1839: Southampton gets its first trains to Winchester. London is linked the following year.

1849, 1851: Hundreds die in cholera outbreaks. Southampton eventually gets clean water.

1907: The White Star Shipping Company chooses Southampton as its new base. But.....

1912: Liner trade to America rather upset by loss of Titanic

1940: Battle of Britain. Woolston a prime target due to Spitfire factory. Southampton heavily hit

1964: Southampton gets full city status

1977: Itchen Bridge opens, replacing old ‘floating bridges’. Locals are told this will pay for itself within 20 years, after which it will be free to cross. We're still waiting.....

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