History of Southampton

Southampton - granted city status by Royal Charter in 1964 is a lively city of contrasts, combining the historic and the modern, with so much for everyone. Come and explore for yourself, stroll in lovely city centre parks restored to their Victorian splendour, enjoy the city's superb shopping centres and stores, watch the shipping on Southampton Water, take a boat trip, explore the city's rich culture and long history, try the wide range of leisure and sports facilities, relax in a restaurant, club or bar, walk the Titanic Trail to find memorials to, and memories of, the tragic story of the ship lost on its maiden voyage.

Southampton was settled in 1640 by English colonists from Massachusetts. In the mid-19th century, the scenery and beaches was a drawing card for summer visitors. The arrival of the railroad in 1870 brought thousands of people who bought land and built homes. The Shinnecock Indians have a reservation next to the town.

Tourist Attractions in Southampton

Morton National Wildlife Refuge
The diverse habitats in the Long Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex are home to wildlife of all types. These include bay, brackish pond, impoundment, kettle holes, tidal flats, salt marsh, freshwater marsh, upland shrub, grasslands, maritime oak forest, red cedar stands, and pioneer hardwoods.

Olde Halsey House
Built in 1648, this house has been restored and contains furnishings from the 17th and 18th century. A Colonial herb garden is located behind the house.

Parrish Art Museum and Arboretum
Parrish Art Museum features 19th and 20th century American art including work by William Merritt Chase and Fairfield Porter. An arboretum and statuary are also found on the grounds.

Southampton Historical Museum
The Southampton Historical Museum is housed in the Albert Rogers Mansion, built in 1843 by a whaling captain. The main museum complex includes a collection of small shops and other buildings such as a one room schoolhouse, paint and wallpaper store, and a blacksmith shop.

How to reach Southampton

By rail :
South West Trains run regular (at least one an hour) services to Southampton from London Waterloo via Winchester and Basingstoke as well as from Portsmouth and further east along the south coast. Many of these trains continue beyond Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth via the New Forest.

Southern Railway run services via a longer and slower route from London Victoria, but have the advantage of serving London Gatwick airport on the way. CrossCountry run longer distance services from the north of England via Birmingham and Reading. First Great Western runs services from Cardiff, Bristol and Bath via Salisbury.

Megatrain is a new budget ticket option available up to four times a day on South West Trains' services between London and Southampton. If booked some time in advance, tickets can be as cheap as £1 one way, but they are more restricted than the regular tickets, and can only be purchased online via the Megatrain website or by phone. Train times can be found on National Rail or by calling 08457 48 49 50 from anywhere in the UK.

By Road :

There is also a Park and Ride for ticket holders to Southampton Football Club matches. This is easily found and well signposted from Junction 8 of the M 27. For more information on either of the Park and Ride schemes see National Park and Ride Directory

By bus
Megabus run a twice daily bus service from London Victoria Coach Station to Southampton from £3-£5 for the cost of a single ticket

National Express also run a regular coach service direct to Southampton from London Victoria Coach Station. Ticket prices are less than £20 for a scheduled return.

By boat
Southampton is a busy port city, and as such has numerous sea links to countries across the world, however the port is mainly used for freight (particularly containers) and cruises. There are no international ferry services, however regular vehicle and passenger ferries operate to Cowes on the nearby Isle Of Wight and the village of Hythe across the water.

By Air :
Southampton is serviced by Southampton International Airport, located a short distance outside the city in Eastleigh. It is a relatively small airport, and only flies to the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

The alternative is to use one of the London airports and travel on to Southampton by rail, car or bus. The most convenient are:

Best Buying Southampton

Southampton sells itself as the shopping capital of the South Coast and the West Quay shopping centre does nothing to dispel you of that opinion. John Lewis and Marks And Spencer are the major draws, but there are 97 other shops happy to separate you from your hard-earned.

The Bargate shopping centre appeals to a younger clientele than West Quay, providing fashion retailers, computer game stores, Pijin BMX shop and an excellent milkshake shop.

The Mall (formerly Marlands) is an even more generic shopping centre, if such a thing were possible, although the rent is lower than West Quay and hence the retailers are a little less salubrious.

For more generic shopping, Above Bar Street is the main pedestrial thoroughfare joining the shopping centres to each other therefore has even more retailers, large and small, just don't expect to be surprised that the same stores as are on most British high streets have made this their home.

The more discerning shopper can head towards East Street which is the home of 'Speciality Shopping' (it even says so on the street sign) but even this has very little to surpise a shopper on the hunt for a more interesting shopping experience.

Just don't confuse it with East Street Shopping Centre which is apparently the first shopping centre in Southampton, although it has been left behind by the developments on Above Bar Street and is now tucked away too far from the madding crowd and is looking more than a little tired (and also fast becoming the haunt of teenage groups from the nearby estate).

Above Bar Street is also the home of the German Market which runs in December, and the area around the Bargate has the Farmer's Market on the second Saturday of each month.

Southampton's planners have indicated that they don't want to encourage out-of-town shopping, but that hasn't stopped Eastleigh developing Hedge End Retail Park with its collection of typical out-of-town shops at junction 7 of the M27.

---