Category: Uncategorized
-
Risdon Beazley and the Search for the Wreck of the Titanic
At 12.08 AM on Sunday 1st September 1985 the surveying crew in the graveyard shift aboard the research vessel Knorr were studying the flickering monochrome monitor screens, and began to get excited. They began spotting, amidst the sand and fish, distinctly man-made metal objects. “Wreckage!” came the cry from the increasingly excited researchers. Soon afterwards…
-
Did Richard I Spend Christmas in Southampton?
Richard the Lionheart. His name is synonymous with gallantry, chivalry and the Third Crusade. What an epithet for a medieval king! It’s much better than some of the other nicknames given for kings (for example, Aethelred the Unready ‘poorly-advised’ or William Rufus ‘red’ spring to mind). And yet, he had a peculiar relationship with England…
-
94 High Street Vault and the Second World War: Unravelling the Mysteries
The onslaught of the Second World War on Southampton had a momentous impact on the town. During the war there were 57 occurrences of air raids, over 30,000 bombs were dropped on the town, and 631 people are known to have paid the ultimate price. The worst nights of bombings, sometimes known as the ‘Southampton…
-
Swashbuckling Southampton
In the late 2000s historic renovators at Tudor House made an astounding discovery. While peeling back plaster in an upstairs room they found a wall that was littered with post-medieval graffiti that has been dated to between 1570 and 1620. There are dozens of images, including faces, animals and no less than 27 ships. One…
-
The Jetty: A Tudor House Myth
Today, as I was leaving Tudor House, my attention was caught by a tour guide (I think they were a tour guide – they looked to have some sort of badge and had perfected the ‘tour guide point’, which takes many years to master, something I’m still yet to achieve). Below is the gist of…
-
A Roman Wreck that Visited Southampton?
I have just returned from a holiday in Guernsey, where lots of my wife’s relatives still live today. There are plenty of links between the Channel Islands and Southampton, including major trading links throughout the centuries, and the ill-fated SS Stella, which struck rocks near Guernsey in 1899, with great loss of life – the…
-
Southampton as a Trooping Port
Southampton has a long and storied history as a port of embarkation for troops heading to theatres of conflict across the world. As part of Armed Forces Week I have been reflecting on the ways in which Southampton has served as a port of embarkation over the past two millennia. I thought that it might…
-
The Secret of Tudor House Cannon?
I recently had the privilege of being invited to speak about Southampton and D-Day at the Southampton Archaeology Society’s annual study day – the other speakers were brilliant and it was was an eclectic mix of topics, from the wreck of the Klein Hollandia, to Mesolithic landscapes in the Solent, to Henry V’s navy. One…
-
The Hoglands Park Raid
On the edge of one of Southampton’s green spaces, Hoglands Park, is a small plaque recording an event that took place over 80 years ago. An air-raid shelter located in the park took a direct hit. Over the decades, this tale has become one of the most well-known in Southampton’s wartime story, but parts of…
-
HMHS St George
One of my ancestors, Albert Dartnell, served during in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Great War. By a strange strange twist of fate, he spent a considerable amount of time in Southampton. Incredibly his war diaries survive, offering a glimpse into life as a medical orderly in the brutal war. Albert saw varied…
Andy V Skinner 