Southampton

For other uses, see Southampton (disambiguation).

City of Southampton
Geography
Status:	Unitary, City (1964)
Region:	South East England
Ceremonial County:	Hampshire
Area: - Total	Ranked 301st 49.84 km²
Admin. HQ:	Southampton
Grid Ref.:	SU 42 11
ONS code:	00MS
Post Office and Telephone
Postcode span:	SO14-SO19
Post Town:	SOUTHAMPTON
Dialling Code:	023
Demographics
Population: - Total (2022) - Density	Ranked / km²
Ethnicity:	92.4% White 3.8% S. Asian 1.0% Afro-Carib. 1.3% Chinese or other 1.5% mixed
Politics
Southampton City Council http://www.southampton.gov.uk/
Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
Executive:
MPs:	John Denham, Sandra Gidley, Alan Whitehead

Southampton is a city, unitary authority and major port situated on the south coast of England. It is the closest city to the New Forest, situated approximately halfway between Portsmouth and Bournemouth. Southampton lies at the northern-most point of Southampton Water where it is joined by the River Test and River Itchen, with the River Hamble joining to the south of the urban area. The city represents the core of the Greater Southampton region. The city's name is sometimes abbreviated in writing to "Soton", and a resident of Southampton is called a Sotonian.

History

Main article: History of Southampton

Civic Centre, Southampton

The Cenotaph

The memorial to the engineers of the RMS Titanic.

Although Stone Age settlements are known to have existed in the area, the first permanent settlement was established by the Romans. Known as Clausentum, it was an important trading port for the large Roman towns of Winchester and Salisbury. The Anglo-Saxons moved the centre of the town across the Itchen to its present location, and it remained an important port. At the time, it was centred around what is now the St Mary's area, and the settlement was known as Hamwic, which evolved into Hamtun and then Hampton. The Viking King Canute the Great is supposed to have defeated the Anglo-Saxon King Ethelred the Unready here in 1014 and been crowned here, and his fabled attempt to "command" the tide to halt may have taken place in Southampton.

Southampton's prosperity was assured following the Norman Conquest in 1066, when it became the major port of transit between Winchester (then the capital of England) and Normandy. By the 13th Century, Southampton had become a leading port, and was particularly involved in the wool trade. The Wool House was built in 1417 as a warehouse for the medieval wool trade with Flanders and Italy, the building surviving today as the Maritime Museum. During the Middle Ages, shipbuilding became an increasingly important industry, which was to remain for centuries to come.

The town was sacked in 1338 by the French, including the pirate Grimaldi, who used the plunder to help found the principality of Monaco. After this attack, the city walls were built, some of which remain as ruins today. Lacking proper finance for the construction of a full defensive wall, the townsfolk reached a compromise solution, which involved joining the existing exterior walls of existing merchant houses together to form part of the defensive structure. The city walls include God's House Tower, built in 1417, the first purpose-built artillery fortification in England. Today, it is open as the Museum of Archaeology.

The 12th century Red Lion pub on the High Street, within the old walls, is where in 1415, immediately prior to King Henry V of England's departure from Southampton to the Battle of Agincourt, the ringleaders of the "Southampton Plot", Richard, Earl of Cambridge, Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham and Sir Thomas Grey of Heton, were tried and found guilty of high treason, before being summarily executed outside the Bargate.

The port was the original point of departure for the Pilgrim Fathers aboard the Mayflower in 1623. A memorial can be found on Town Quay. Since that time it has been the last port of call for millions of emigrants who left the Old World to start a new life in the USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and other parts of the world. In common with most of the luxury liners of the time, the RMS Titanic sailed from here, and it is still an important ocean liner port frequented by luxury ships such as the RMS QE2, the MV Oriana, and most recently the Queen Mary 2. The town contains several memorials and museum exhibitions related to the Titanic, most of crew having come from Southampton; 549 Sotonians died in the sinking.

The city is home to Sir Edwin Lutyens' first permanent cenotaph, a memorial to the city's dead of World War I. When it was unveiled on 6 November 1920, it was 1800 names, later raised to 2008. The Second World War hit Southampton particularly hard because of its strategic importance as the major industrial area on the South Coast. In particular, the Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft was invented and manufactured in Southampton, a result of 1930s experimentation in the city. Bombing in two days in September 1940 killed 130 workers at the Woolston aircraft factory. There were many aircraft companies based around Hamble, to the east of the city, from the 1930s to 1950s, including Folland Aviation, now part of British Aerospace, which built the Hawk and Harrier. BOAC had a flying boat base in the docks serving British colonial possessions in Africa and Asia in the 1930s and 1940s. It closed in 1950 when land based aircraft became dominant. Nearby, Calshot Spit was a base for the military flying boat services.

Pockets of Georgian architecture survived the war, but much of the city was levelled. The accuracy of the locally-based Ordnance Survey's maps did not go unrecognised by the Luftwaffe: the German bomber pilots used them to bomb Southampton. One notable building to survive the bombings was Southampton's oldest, St. Michaels Church. Thought to have been commenced in 1070, the building has been added to many times over the centuries but its central tower dates from Norman times. The spire was an important navigation aid for the German pilots and consequently they were ordered to avoid bombing it.

Southampton became a county corporate in 1447. It was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. The town became a county borough under the Local Government Act 1888, being expanded by the addition of several parishes in 1894, 1920, 1925 and 1967. Southampton was awarded city status in 1964 by Letters Patent. The boundaries have been largely unchanged since then, despite the loss of county borough status in 1974, and subsequent regaining of unitary authority status in 1996.

Politics and administration

Formerly a County Borough within the county of Hampshire (to which it gave its name, the County of Southampton or Southamptonshire - this was officially changed to Hampshire in 1959 though the county had been commonly known as Hampshire or Hantscire for centuries), it became a non-metropolitan district in 1974. However, the city became independent administratively from that county as it was made into a unitary authority in a local government re-organisation on 1 April 1997. The district remains part of the Hampshire ceremonial county.

Southampton City Council consists of 48 councillors elected by thirds. After the 2007 local council elections on May 3, 2007 the Council is split with 18 seats each to the Labour and the Conservative Party, each having gained two, and 12 to the Liberal Democrats. The Conservatives are currently in control,, after a Liberal Democrat resigned from her group to become an independent and voted for the Conservative leader Alec Samuels.

There are three members of parliament for the city: Rt Hon John Denham (Labour) for Southampton Itchen (constituency for the east of the city), Dr Alan Whitehead (Labour) for Southampton Test (the west of the city), and Sandra Gidley (Liberal Democrat) for Romsey (which includes a portion of the north of the city).

Southampton's police service is provided by Hampshire Constabulary, its fire service by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service and the ambulance service by the South Central Ambulance Service. Police stations within the city boundaries can be found in Portswood, Bitterne, and Shirley, as well as at the Civic Centre in the city centre. Fire stations are located in St Mary's, Sholing and Redbridge.

Economy and industry

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Southampton at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Year	Regional Gross Value Added[1]	Agriculture[2]	Industry[3]	Services[4]
1995	2,656	-	674	1,982
2000	3,190	-	672	2,518
2003	3,944	-	781	3,163
2004	4,233	-	795	3,438

1. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
2. includes hunting and forestry
3. includes energy and construction
4. includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Various views of Southampton docks from a departing cruise ship.

Southampton has always been strongly connected with maritime history and developments, and the docks have long been a major employer in the city. In particular, it is a primary port for cruise ships, its heyday being the first half of the 20th century, and in particular the inter-war years, when it handled almost half the passenger traffic of the UK. Today it remains home to many luxury liners, as well as being the largest freight port on the Channel coast, with several container terminals. Unlike many other ports, such as Liverpool, London, and Bristol, where industry and docks have largely moved out of the city centres leaving room for redevelopment, Southampton retains much of its inner-city industry. Part of the docks have been redeveloped, however as the Ocean Village development, a local marina and entertainment complex.

Other major employers in the city include Ordnance Survey, the UK's national mapping agency, whose headquarters are in the city. The Lloyd's Register Group has announced plans to move its London marine operations to a specially developed site at the University of Southampton.The area of Swaythling is home to Ford's Southampton Assembly Plant, where the majority of their Transit models are manufactured.

Southampton's largest retail centre is the West Quay Shopping Centre. Opened in Early 2000 and hosting major High Street Brands it is one of the largest in the country. The centre is scheduled to undergo phase 3 of its development in 2008, with plans to build more shops, housing, offices, the HQ for Carnival Cruises and leisure facilities. A decision as to what leisure facilities is still to be decided, however Southampton was granted a large Legalised Gambling status and so can now add to its collection of casinos in the city. Swedish low-cost home products retailer IKEA, is planing to open a store in the city centre sometime in 2008^[1]. Overall, Southampton is ranked 7th for shopping in the UK

Like many cities in the UK, Southampton's strong economy is promoting redevelopment, and major projects are proposed, including the city's first skyscrapers on the waterfront. The three towers proposed will each stand 23 stories high and will be surrounded by smaller apartment blocks, office blocks and shops which will help to solve the Southcoasts shortage of housing. Finally a large Hotel is to be built on the waterfront to try to reclaim the BT Global Challenge from rivals Portsmouth.

Southampton is unique in being the only city in the UK with a geothermal power station. The station provides hot water to a city centre district heating scheme. In a recent survey of carbon emissions in major UK cities conducted by British Gas, Southampton was ranked as being one of the lowest carbon emitting cities in the United Kingdom.

Bargate, Southampton

The dockyards on the River Test

File:Southampton docks.jpg

Containers being loaded at the docks

The Ocean Village marina

File:Weston southampton.jpg

Council tower blocks in Weston

Culture

Southampton is home to Southampton Football Club, nicknamed "The Saints", who play in the Football League Championship at St Mary's Stadium. The two local Sunday Leagues in the Southampton area are the City of Southampton Sunday Football League and the Southampton and District Sunday Football League. The City Of Southampton League is the oldest competition having been founded in 1949. Hampshire County Cricket Club play in the city, at the Rose Bowl in West End. The city is famous for yachting and water sports. From 1977 to 2001 the famous Whitbread Around the World Yacht Race (now known as the Volvo Ocean Race) was based in Southampton

Southampton has a vibrant nightlife, with over 18 nightclubs, and a thriving café culture. Music is an important aspect of the city and there are several stadiums and outlets for this. The city is home to R'n'B soulstar Craig David, Coldplay drummer Will Champion, and was the birthplace of comedian Benny Hill.

The city is home to several art galleries, including the council run gallery at the Civic Centre.

Local media includes the Southern Daily Echo newspaper.

Demographics

There is a large Polish population in Southampton, with estimates as high as 20,000, or 1 in every 10 of the city's total population. Southampton also has large Asian and Irish communities. At the 2001 Census, 92.4 per cent of the city's population were white (including 1 per cent white Irish), 3.8 per cent were South Asian, 1.0 per cent black or black British, 1.3 per cent Chinese or other ethnic groups, and 1.5 per cent were of mixed race.

Education and academia

The city has a strong higher education sector. The University of Southampton and Southampton Solent University together have a student population of over 41,500. The University of Southampton is one of the top 10 research-led universities in the UK. It also provides a wide range of services for the business community. The university has a global reputation for leading-edge research into oceanography, cancer sciences, sound and vibration research, optoelectronics and textile conservation. It is also home to the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, the focus of Natural Environment Research Council-funded marine research. Southampton Solent University has its strengths in the excellent training, consultancy, research and other services undertaken for business and industry.

Transport

As befits Southampton's role as a major port, the city has good transport links with the rest of the country. The M27 motorway, linking places along the south coast of England, runs just to the north of the city. The M3 motorway links the city to London and also, by linking to the A34 road at Winchester with the Midlands and North. The M271 motorway links the M27 with the Western Docks and city centre.

Southampton is also well served by the rail network, used by both freight services to and from the docks, and passenger services as part of the national rail system. The main station in the city is Southampton Central. Routes run eastwards to Portsmouth and Brighton, north-east to Winchester and London, north to Reading, Birmingham and beyond, north-west to Salisbury, Bristol and Cardiff and west to Bournemouth, Poole and Weymouth. Southampton Coach Station was refurbished recently, and the range and frequency of services offered by the National Express Group increased to make use of the new facilities.

Southampton Airport is a regional airport located in the town of Eastleigh, just north of Southampton. It is connected to the city by a frequent rail and bus service, and hosts flights to UK and near European destinations.

Whilst Southampton is no longer the base for any cross-channel ferries, it is the terminus for three internal ferry services, all of which operate from terminals at Town Quay. Two of these, a car ferry service and a fast catamaran passenger ferry service, provide links to East Cowes and Cowes respectivlyon the Isle of Wight and are operated by Red Funnel. The third ferry is the Hythe Ferry, providing a passenger service to the town of Hythe on the other side of Southampton Water.

Local transport is largely road based, with significant peak hour congestion in the city. The main bus operators are First, Solent Blue Line, who also operate the BlueStar service. and Uni-link, although other operators also run services into the city, including Stagecoach and Wilts and Dorset. There is a circular route that surrounds the city centre called City Clipper. There is also free buses City-link and City Loop. City-link runs from town quay to Southampton Central Station and run by Uni-link. There is also a door to door minibus service (Southampton Dial a Ride) for residents who cannot access public transport, this is funded by the City Council and operated by SCA Support Services. However, local train services do operate in the central, Southern and Eastern sections of the city, serving Swaythling, St. Denys, Millbrook, Redbridge, Bitterne, Sholing and Woolston.

The Uni-link bus service was commissioned by the University of Southampton to provide access to students who are studying at the university to all parts of the city. The buses run from early in the morning to midnight meeting demands of students who wish to get to the city during the day and leisure places in the evening.

Areas and suburbs

Southampton is subdivided into several council wards, suburbs, constituencies, ecclesiastical parishes, and other less formal areas.

Southampton is named the 'Green City' as it is graced with many green spaces and parks. Standing in any area of Southampton, if you turn 360 degrees you will see at least one form of greenery. The largest green space is Southampton Common, parts of which are used to host the annual summer festivals, circuses and fun fairs. The Common covers a larger area than Hyde Park in London and includes a Wildlife Centre on the former site of Southampton Zoo, a swimming pool and several lakes and ponds. The city also boasts the Southampton Sports Centre which is the focal point for the public's sporting and outdoor activities and includes an Alpine Centre, Theme Park and Athletics Centre used by professional athletes. As with most cities there are several council estates such as those in the Weston district.

City Centre

Bassett

Bassett Green

Bevois Valley

Bitterne

Bitterne Park

Bitterne Manor

Freemantle

Harefield

Highfield

Lordshill

Lordswood

Mansbridge

Maybush

Midanbury

Millbrook

Nicholstown

Northam

Ocean Village

Peartree Green

Polygon

Portswood

Redbridge

Regents Park

Shirley

St Denys

St Mary's

Sholing

Swaythling

Thornhill

Townhill Park

Woolston

Weston

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Suburbs of Southampton within the city boundary

Subdivisions of the city include:

• Bassett, Bassett Green, Bevois Valley, Bitterne, Bitterne Park, Bitterne Manor
• City Centre, Chartwell Green, Chilworth, Coxford
• Freemantle
• Harefield, Highfield
• Lordshill, Lordswood
• Mansbridge, Maybush, Midanbury, Millbrook
• Northam, Nursling, New Town
• Ocean Village, Old Town
• Polygon, Portswood
• Redbridge, Rownhams
• Shirley, Sholing, St. Denys, St. Mary's, Swaythling
• Thornhill, Townhill Park
• Weston, Woolston

Notable people

(See also: Category:People from Southampton)

Notable current and former residents of Southampton include:

• Will Champion (Coldplay drummer)
• Craig David (R&B singer)
• Benny Hill (comedian)
• John Jellicoe (admiral; commander of the British fleet at the Battle of Jutland)
• Scott Mills (Radio 1 DJ)
• Iwan Thomas (Athlete)
• Andy Collins (SKY, & International Radio Presenter)
• Wally Masur (former tennis player)
• Sir John Everett Millais (Artist)
• Chris Packham (naturalist)
• Juan Manuel de Rosas (dictator of Argentina; spent his last years in exile in Southampton)
• Matthew Le Tissier (footballer)
• Isaac Watts (writer of hymns, notably O God Our Help In Ages Past—the King Edward's VI school hymn and the Civic Centre clock peal)

Twinning

Southampton is twinned with:

• Le Havre, France (since 1973)
• Rems-Murr-Kreis, Germany (since 1991)

Southampton is also a sister city of:

• Hampton, Virginia
• Qingdao, China (since 1998)

Trivia

• Southampton was named "fittest city in the UK" in 2006 by Men's Fitness magazine. The results were based on the incidence of heart disease, the amount of junk food and alcohol consumed, and the level of gym membership.

External links

Official

• Southampton City Council and CityWeb
• Southampton & Fareham Chamber of Commerce & Industry
• Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust

News and travel

• Southampton news, sport & information
• Southampton traffic information and web cameras
• Southampton on Wikitravel

Culture

• Polish Community in Southampton Template:Pl icon
• southampton.info.pl - Portal for Polish Community in Southampton Template:Pl icon
• Pubs in Southampton - all of them
• Southampton Pubs, Inns, Taverns, Bars and Ale houses
• Gay Southampton Guide
• City of Southampton (Albion) Band

History

• Southampton and the Titanic
• Hall of Aviation

Maps

• Southampton at Google Maps

50.89696°N 1.40416°W / 50.89696; -1.40416