Neptune's Needle

Town and district (1991 pop. 194,400), Hampshire, S England, at the head of Southampton Water, 70 mi/113 km SW of London; 50º54'N 01º24'W. Britain’s 2nd-largest port. The London-Southampton RR, finished in 1840, and the double tide of the harbor made Southampton an important shipbuilding, trade, and tourist port. It was then England’s main ocean liner port. In 1951 a major oil tanker terminal and refinery were built on the W shore, and North Sea oil became a primary economic focus in 1978. Mfg. includes motor vehicles and aircraft; cables, electrical machinery, and petrochemicals. Site of the Roman Clausentum and of the Saxon Hamtune or Suth-Hamtun. Remains of the anc. town walls and reworked Norman structures may be seen. The Crusaders under Richard I, Henry V on his expedition to France (1415), and the Pilgrims all embarked from here. Until the discovery (16th cent.) of a new trade route to India, Southampton had a lucrative trade in goods from the East with Venice. In the 18th cent. it was a fashionable spa. Trade with the U.S., the construction of modern docks and the RR to London (1840), and the coming of the steamboat all worked to convert the spa back into a commercial port. The city suffered considerable damage in World War II, as a result of which there are new dock facilities and shopping dists. Among its schools are the Univ. of Southampton and a teacher-training col. The dist. includes Bassett, Bitterne, Shirley, West End.

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Peter Richards