Southampton

Sister cities

• Kalisz
• Le Havre
• Kaliningrad
• Trieste
• Hampton

History

Archaeological finds suggest that the area has been inhabited since the Stone Age. Following the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43 and the conquering of the local Britons in AD 70 the fortress settlement of Clausentum was established. It was an important trading port and defensive outpost of Winchester, at the site of modern Bitterne Manor. Clausentum was defended by a wall and two ditches and is thought to have contained a bath house. Clausentum was not abandoned until around 410. Archaeological excavations of this site have uncovered one of the best collections of Saxon artefacts in Europe. and by the 10th century a fortified settlement, which became medieval Southampton, had been established. Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, Southampton became the major port of transit between the then capital of England, Winchester, and Normandy. Southampton Castle was built in the 12th century By the 13th century Southampton had become a leading port, particularly involved in the import of French wine The Franciscan friary in Southampton was founded circa 1233. The friars constructed a water supply system in 1290, which carried water from Conduit Head (remnants of which survive near Hill Lane, Shirley) some to the site of the friary inside the town walls. Further remains can be observed at Conduit House on Commercial Road. The friars granted use of the water to the town in 1310. For their petition to the King somewhere after 1321 and before 1327 earned some of the people of Southampton a prison sentence at Portchester Castle, possibly for insinuating the king's advisor Hugh le Despenser the Younger acted in conspiracy with the Cinque Port men to damage Southampton, a flourishing port in the fourteenth century. When King Edward III came to the throne, this…

Geography

The geography of Southampton is influenced by the sea and rivers. The city lies at the northern tip of the Southampton Water, a deep water estuary, which is a ria formed at the end of the last Ice Age and which opens into The Solent. At the head of Southampton Water the rivers Test and Itchen converge. The Test — which has a salt marsh that makes it ideal for salmon fishing — runs along the western edge of the city, while the Itchen splits Southampton in two—east and west. The city centre is located between the two rivers. Town Quay is the original public quay, and dates from the 13th century. Today's Eastern Docks were created in the 1830s by land reclamation of the mud flats between the Itchen and Test estuaries. The Western Docks date from the 1930s when the Southern Railway Company commissioned a major land reclamation and dredging programme. Most of the material used for reclamation came from dredging of Southampton Water, to ensure that the port can continue to handle large ships. Southampton Water has the benefit of a double high tide, with two high tide peaks, making the movement of large ships easier. This is not caused as popularly supposed by the presence of the Isle of Wight, but is a function of the shape and depth of the English Channel. In this area the general water flow is distorted by more local conditions reaching across to France. The city lies in the Hampshire Basin, which sits atop chalk beds. is at Mansbridge, where the A27 road crosses the Itchen. The original bridge is closed to road traffic, but is still standing and open to pedestrians and cyclists. The river is bridged again at Swaythling, where Woodmill Bridge separates the tidal and non tidal sections of the river. Further south is Cobden Bridge which is notable as it was opened as a…

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  3,457
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  3,442
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,258
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  3,196
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  3,042
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,710
• Ring-billed Gull

  Larus delawarensis Ord, 1815 · Aves
  2,624
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2,475

Most recent

• M 4.2 — 2005-10-20
  12 km NE of Meaford, Canada