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Southampton

Southampton- the 7th burh to be cited in the Burghal Hidage

Kingdom Type of Burh No. of Hides O.S. Grid Ref
Wessex Burghal Town 150 SU42201169

 

O.S. Map 1:50,000 – licence: Anquet Maps
(click on the images to enlarge)

Aerial Photograph – licence: Memory Map

Burhs in order of citation

1 Eorpeburnan 2 Hastings 3 Lewes 4 Burpham 5 Chichester 6 Portchester 7 Southampton 8 Winchester 9 Wilton 10 Chisbury 11 Shaftesbury 12 Christchurch 13 Wareham 14 Bridport 15 Exeter 16 Halwell 17 Lydford
18 Pilton 19 Watchet 20 Axbridge 21 Lyng 22 Langport 23 Bath 24 Malmesbury 25 Cricklade 26 Oxford 27 Wallingford 28 Buckingham 29 Sashes 30 Eashing 31 Southwark 32 Worcester 33 Warwick

Roman activity at Clausentum was succeeded by the Middle Saxon Emporium of Hamwic see here… This open riverine site on the Itchen was vulnerable to Viking attack, so the Late Saxon burh was relocated to a more protected site on the River Test.

The location of the burh became the site of the medieval town of Southampton which extended northwards.

Southampton – Roman Clausentum; Middle Saxon Hamwic; and Late Saxon and Medieval Southampton
image: Cambridge Org

Holdsworth, P. (1984) “Saxon Southampton” p.338
in “Anglo-Saxon Towns in Southern England”, Haslam, J. (ed)

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