The Old Town and its walls: the back story

About The Old Town and its walls: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Brighton Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Southampton’s medieval town walls are among the best preserved in England: more than a mile long, with over a dozen towers and several gates. Inside them stand Tudor House, the Medieval Merchant’s House and some of the oldest pubs in the city.

Step through the Bargate from the shopping streets and the noise drops away. The Old Town is small enough to walk in an afternoon, but every corner has a date on it: a Norman house, a Tudor hall, an arcade of medieval stone where ships once tied up beneath the walls.

The Bargate

The Bargate, a twelfth-century gatehouse, was the main way into the medieval town and is still the symbol of the city. It stands on its own now, with the shops of Above Bar to the north and the old High Street running down to the water to the south.

Check opening times and trains on the official sites before you travel.

Along the Western Esplanade

The finest stretch of wall runs along Western Esplanade, where the sea once reached the foot of the stones. Here the wall becomes a long arcade of arches, built against older merchants’ houses. At its southern end the Mayflower Memorial recalls the Pilgrim Fathers, who sailed from here in 1620.

Merchants and Tudors

Tudor House on St Michael’s Square is the city’s most important historic building: timber-framed, built in the late fifteenth century, with the ruins of an older Norman house known as King John’s Palace in its garden. It has been a museum since 1912. A few streets away on French Street, the Medieval Merchant’s House was begun in about 1290 by John Fortin, a merchant trading with Bordeaux: home, workplace and shop in one. English Heritage opens it on a few days a week from April to October.

God’s House Tower

At the south-eastern corner of the walls, God’s House Tower was ordered by King Edward III after the French raid of 1338: an early fort built for cannon and gunpowder, looking out over the Solent. Later a town jail and then an archaeology museum, it is now an arts and heritage venue with exhibitions and a café.

Practical notes

The Old Town is a short walk from Southampton Central station and from Town Quay, where the Red Funnel ferries leave for the Isle of Wight. The Duke of Wellington on Bugle Street and the Red Lion on the High Street are among the city’s oldest pubs.

Our advice: walk the walls clockwise from the Bargate, visit Tudor House in the morning, and finish with a drink on Bugle Street.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with The Old Town and its walls: the back story before you go.