SEE Southampton

16/11/2024

London Coaches from Southampton.

Roger's Long Coach, every morning except Sunday at five o' clock , from the Vine and the Coach and Horses inns, through Basingstoke, to the Golden Cross, Charing Cross and Swan Inn, Lad Lane.

Collyer's Long Coach, every morning , except Sunday, at five o' clock, from the Star inn, through Farnham, to the Belle Savage, Ludgate Hill.

Roger's Mail Coach every evening, at half past eight, from the Coach and Horses inn, to the Bell and Crown, Holborn.

Roger's Night Post Coach, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday evenings at seven o' clock, from the Coach and Horses inn, through Farnham, to the Bell and Crown inn, Holborn, and to Hatchett's New White Horse Cellar, Piccadilly.

Fromont and Co's Night Post Coach, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings, at eight o'clock, from the Fountain inn, to Gerrard's Hall, Basing Lane.

The photograph shows Collyer's stage coach on which Jane Austen is said to have travelled from Southampton to Chawton.

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Girls from Northam School took part in the pageant to raise money for St Mary's Spire. This photograph shows them returning to school. Very smart they look too.

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Southern Railway advertisement for ferry travel from Southampton to Le Havre in France.

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This is part of possibly the oldest photograph in my personal collection and shows the Dolphin Hotel in the High Street in about 1860/70.

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I like this very early postcard of the Royal Pier which was posted in 1905. The paddle steamers and pier train station with train arriving/departing are very clearly shown.

At the beginning of the 19th Century the numbers of steam-packets using Southampton increased causing problems when passengers embarked or disembarked at low tide through the mud. With the Town Quay unable to handle the volume of shipping a pier was needed and at a meeting of the Corporation in 1828 a committee was formed to establish the best way to achieve this. The Harbour Commissioners responded to the committee and put a bill before Parliament in 1831 for the construction of a pier. The bill was passed and work was started on the new pier by local builder William Betts with the work completed in 1833. A stone pier had been considered but at a cost of twice the amount paid for the completed wooden pier.

On the 8th July 1833 a crowd of 20,000 gathered as the pier was officially opened by the Duchess of Kent accompanied by Princess Victoria. They arrived by barge and were met at the steps of the new pier by the Mayor and Corporation where they proceeded to a marquee for refreshments. It was here that the Town Clerk asked the Duchess to name the pier which she christened "The Royal Victoria Pier" and in 1901this was shortened to Royal Pier.

An early threat to the pier was that the planned London and Southampton Railway and docks would draw business towards the Marsh with a subsequent fall in the pier's income. Attempts were made to encourage a new Southampton and Dorsetshire Railway terminus near the pier but this did not succeed. In the end the threat of the pier's loss of income was resolved when the Dock Company agreed to guarantee any shortfall below the £1700 annual income needed by the Pier Commissioners to pay off their £8000 debt.

Another threat to the pier was of a very different nature when within five years of opening the timbers piles of the pier were infected by a marine worm called the gribble. The Harbour Commissioners' engineer John Doswell replaced the piles with new timbers into which closely placed large headed iron nails had been driven. It was intended that the corrosion of the iron heads would form an impenetrable barrier for the gribble.

The pier proved a great success with steamers travelling to the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands and to St Malo and Le Havre in France where train connections would take passengers to many other European destinations. A horse drawn tram was introduced in 1847 to convey passengers to the Terminus Station and in 1871 this was extended to the end of the pier and later converted into a light railway which operated up until WW1. Starting in 1891 the wooden pier was rebuilt using iron and a pavilion added. The new gatehouse built in 1888 was extended and a new pontoon increased the number of ships that could berth at one time. The current gatehouse used as a restaurant replaced the former gatehouse which was removed to provide rail and road access to the new docks in the early thirties.

The pier became a place of entertainment and pleasure enjoyed by the townsfolk and visitors. The pavilion was extended and became a well supported dance venue and in the early sixties was a very popular ballroom. The pier was closed in 1979 and sadly destroyed by fire eight years later in 1987.

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Fund raising complete the building of the spire of St Mary's could begin.

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Royal Pier 1910
The old wooden pier, built in the 1830s, was replaced with this cast iron pier in the 1890s. The facilities of the new pier included a pavilion, amusement hall, band stand and refreshment rooms. The new toll house at the entrance to the pier did not last long. It was demolished in the 1930s to make way for the new railway to the western docks. The current toll house was then built further to the west of the original.

Southampton City Council

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Southern Daily Echo Offices, Above Bar Street 1916
During World War I The Daily Echo placed this map of Europe on its frontage to show the position of allied troops.
Southampton City Council

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Northam Bridge 1888

Photographed by T.H. James. This is a view of the original wooden Northam Bridge taken just before its demolition in 1889. The photographer was Thomas Hibberd James, a book dealer and amateur photographer with premises in Bernard Street. The ships are unloading coal onto the wharf where it was loaded straight into railway wagons.
Southampton City Council

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Local Areas of Archaeological Potential
LAAP 15 Netley Common
This area is part of a Bronze Age barrow cemetery that extends beyond the city boundary.
Remains of bronze-age barrow on Netley Common
"This is the last remaining one of four and is thought to be 3,500 years old. Its original use is thought to have been as a burial mound"
Picture : Remains of bronze-age barrow on Netley Common.
Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved] © Copyright Peter Facey and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

The Roman road between Bitterne Manor and Chichester crosses the area. At the west end, the plaque can be found on Freemantle Common.

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Two American soldiers in WW1 doing some sightseeing in the High Street.

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A view of the Tudor House. The little shop on the corner of St Michaels Square is said to have been a Chandlers shop at one time. In the photograph it is clearly selling sweets and ci******es.

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At first sight this looks like a very quiet view of the Avenue until you take a closer look and realise that there is something happening on the right hand side as you look.

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The former War Horse known as Warrior and now a police horse is seen here guarding the Civic Centre. Can you identify what has been changed on the municipal building as seen here and what it looks like today.

The original lamp posts were removed and placed at the entrance to the Law Courts and were replaced by the wall mounted ones we see today. If you look closely at the lamp posts in the original you can see the Scales of Justice on top.

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Ordnance Corner, Southampton 1945

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A view of Southampton featuring the Castle, painted by Captain Durrant, 1802-1813.
Castle surely overstated.

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My favourite picture of the West Walls- no doubt posted before!