The Historic Heart of Southampton

EXCLUSIVE HISTORIC HOUSES MEMBERS TOUR

Enjoy an exclusive and surprising tour of Southampton’s historic city centre.

Enjoy a guided tour of Grade I Tudor House with its fascinating history that pre-dates the Tudors, having its origin as a Norman domestic dwelling. There will be further time to explore the Museum and Garden. Arthur Mee wrote of Southampton “Whether you think of its past, its present or its future, it is one of the wonders of the world. Its building up into a great port has been the work of centuries”. 

Tudor House © Peter Trimming, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41462730

After lunch, enjoy a guided city tour of Southampton’s historic heart, which is a “Palimpsest”, something that is re-used but still has all the layers of what it had been. We will learn about medieval Southampton, a centre for commerce where merchants would draw up, hitch their boats and try to strike a price for their goods. These merchants owned beautiful houses built on the export of wool, the Wool House being a fine example of a reinvented building as it is now a Microbrewery. We will hear about the city’s connections with King Alfred, King Canute and Richard the Lionheart and his Crusaders.

Tickets £50 including tea and cake on arrival at the Tudor House and a two-course lunch with tea or coffee at Carluccios, Southampton. Lunch options to be made available to attendees in February.