City Walls

Beauty of city centre redevelopment in Southampton is that it has opened up much of the city’s medieval history and made it readily accessible. Oh yes, and brought a focal point for shopping, entertainment and eating out all in one fell swoop.

Fact is that Southampton has some of the most complete town walls from medieval times in the country, dating from around 1290, at the earliest. They’ve been there since the town as it then was, was fortified in historic times. Yet until the latest stage of redevelopment they were not on everyone’s tourist trail.

Now you cannot miss them, Just a few steps from the city’s iconic Bargate monument and you can now follow the trail with ease, and relax in the new leisure areas which have much of the old city wall as its backdrop and a positive enhancement to the city centre.

The walls – including eight gates and 29 towers – stretched for one and a quarter miles around the town. These days roughly half of the walls, 13 of the original towers, including Arundel Tower and six gates are still standing.

Originally they formed the town’s defences, largely built after an invasion by the French in 1338. Today. The remaining walls are a reminder of the city’s historic yet illustrious past.