385 
SOUTHAMPTON. 
SOUTH RIVER, a river of Canada, which runs into the 
St. Lawrence. Lat. 46. 56. N. long. 70. 26. W. 
SOUTH RIVER, a river of Antigua, which runs into the 
sea, a little to the north of Young Point. 
SOUTH SEA, a name formerly given to the Pacific 
^SOUTH-TOWN, or Little Yarmouth, a hamlet of 
England, in Suffolk; 1J mile south of Great Yarmouth. 
SOUTHACRE, a parish of England, in Norfolk; 3| 
miles north-by-west of Swaffham. 
SOUTHAKER LEDGE, a reef of rocks, near the south 
coast of Labrador. Lat. 50. 5. N. long. 60. W. 
SOUTHALL, a hamlet of England, in Middlesex; 9J 
miles from London. 
SOUTHAM, a market town of England, in the county of 
Warwick. In Domesday Survey, the name is written Su- 
cham, and is said to contain four hides, with two mills, 
and a wood of one mile in length, and half a mile in breadth, 
all which belonged to the king. Henry III. granted it a 
weekly market and an annual fair. Little business, how¬ 
ever, is done in the town, which is chiefly supported by the 
thoroughfare on the roads from Coventry to Banbury, and 
from Warwick to London. The town is indifferently built. 
The church is a handsome building, with a spire rising from 
a square tower at the west end. In 1811, the parish con¬ 
tained 165 houses, and 1007 inhabitants. Market on Mon¬ 
day ; 82 miles north-west of London. 
SOUTHAM, a hamlet of England, in Gloucestershire; 
2| miles north-east of Cheltenham. 
SOUTHAMPTON, a considerable town of England, in 
the county of Hants or Southampton, is a county of itself, 
and is' styled the Town and County of the Town of South¬ 
ampton. It is situated on the large estuary called South¬ 
ampton Water, on a tongue of land which is bounded by 
that water on the south and west, and by the river Itchin on 
the east. The ground in this peninsula rises towards the 
centre, forming a very moderately elevated ridge, on which 
the town is built. The streets have hence a gentle slope; 
and as the soil is at the same time of a gravelly nature, they 
are thus kept dry and clean. The situation is on the whole 
very healthy and agreeable; it is noted for the beauty of the 
surrounding scenery; and the town itself presents a pic¬ 
turesque appearance from different points of view. .The 
approach from the London road is peculiarly fine, from the 
noble view of Southampton bay, the Isle of Wight, and the 
scenery of the New Forest. The town is well paved and 
lighted, and regularly patrolled by watchmen, and conduits 
of water are disposed at proper distances. The High-street 
runs from the quay northwards : it is upwards of half a mile 
in length, and is particularly handsome and spacious, some¬ 
what resembling the High-street of Oxford. The entrance 
to this street from the land side is by the Bar-gate, a vener¬ 
able piece of antiquity, the approach to which is striking, 
being continued through an extensive and well built suburb. 
Within the last fifty years the town has more than doubled 
its buildings and its population; the latter probably 
amounting to between 10,000 and 12,000. Of the public 
buildings, there are five parish churches—8t. Michael’s All 
Saints, Holy Rood, St. Lawrence, and St. Mary. There 
was formerly another church, that of St. John ; but in the 
reign of Charles II. the parishes of St. John and St. Lawrence 
were united, and the church of the former was taken down; 
a burying ground now occupies the spot on which it stood. 
St Michael’s church is the most ancient in the town; it 
forms the eastern side of the square of the same name. It 
consists of a nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a low tower 
rising from the centre, and terminating in a fine slender 
octagonal spire, which forms a very conspicuous object, and 
was erected as a mark or guide to ships entering the port. 
On the north side of the chancel is a handsome monument 
to the memory of the lord chancellor Wriothesley; and in 
the opposite aisle, on the south, is a curious antique font. In 
this church the mayor is always sworn into office. All 
Saints’ church is an elegant modern building, in the Grecian 
style: it was erected from the designs of Mr. Revely, a 
VoL. XXIII. No. 1577. 
pupil of Athenian Stuart, and is a fine specimen of what 
might have been expected from the talents of a very 
promising artist, had his life been prolonged. The remains 
of captain Carteret the circumnavigator, and of Bryan 
Edwards, the historian of the West Indies, are deposited 
here. Holy Rood church is a large building, with a tower 
at the south-west angle, and a colonnade in front, commonly 
called the Proclamation, where the hustings is erected, and 
the poll taken at elections. Within the church is a fine 
organ and several handsome monuments, one of which, by 
Rysbrack, to the memory of Miss Stanley, has an inscription 
from the pen of Thomson. St. Mary’s and St. Lawrence 
churches contain nothing remarkable. The dissenters of the 
Independent denomination have lately erected a neat and 
spacious place of worship. There is also a remarkably neat 
new chapel of the Baptist denomination, with a very pretty 
Gothic front. The other public buildings are the assembly- 
rooms, situated near the west quay, and a commodious 
theatre. Near the town, on the north, is a military asylum 
for the orphans of soldiers, on the same plan as the well 
known institution at Chelsea. It contains about 380 boys, 
aud is under admirable regulations. A free grammar school 
was established in Southampton by Edward VI. in an old 
building in Winkle-street. It was thence removed many 
years afterwards to an ancient mansion, known by the name 
of West Hall, which has lately been taken down, and a new 
house has been erected for the master, out of the old 
materials. Here are also Sunday schools," and schools on 
the plans of Bell and Lancaster; and near the entrance of 
the town, on the right, is a neat range of alms-houses for 
18 poor widows, who are allowed two shillings each weekly, 
from a bequest by Robert Horner, Esq. There are various 
buildings of considerable antiquity in different parts of the 
town. The Bar-gate already mentioned, is a curious ancient 
fortified gate house. It consists of a central arched passage, 
about eighteen yards in length, and four wide; on both 
sides of which are two lateral passages, or postern door¬ 
ways. It was mostly built in the reign of Edward III. On 
the north front are two gigantic figures, one on each side of 
the gateway, said to have been intended to represent, the one 
Ascupart, a giant; and the other Sir Bevois of Southampton, 
who slew him in combat. Over the arches of the gate is 
the town-hall. Near the quay is part of the front of a spa¬ 
cious mansion, supposed to have been a palace, occasionally 
inhabited by the Saxon and Danish kings. The Domus 
Dei is an hospital, founded, according to Leland, in the 
reign of Henry III. by two merchants, brothers. It was 
given by Edward III. to Queen’s College, Oxford, to which 
it still belongs. The establishment consists at present of a 
warden, four aged men, and as many women. A house of 
Grey Friars was founded here in 1240, but no remains of it 
are now standing. Part of its site is occupied by Gloucester- 
square, and another part by a very large building originally 
erected for refining sugar, but now used as a warehouse. 
Southampton castle was situated on the west side of the town. 
Its area was nearly semicircular, in the southern part of 
which stood the keep, on a high artificial mount. The keep 
was circular. This spot commands a delightful view of the 
town and of the adjacent county. The site of the keep 
was purchased by the late Marquis of Lansdowne, who 
erected a very irregular and costly building, which, after his 
death, was sold as building materials, and is now demo¬ 
lished. Southampton is, by its situation, well adapted for 
commerce, and it carries on a considerable trade in wine, 
corn, timber, &c. Hemp, iron, and tallow, are imported 
from Russia, and tar and pitch from Sweden. English 
iron is brought coastways from Wales, aud coals, lead, and 
glass are brought by colliers from Newcastle. From Portu¬ 
gal the. importations are chiefly wine and fruit. To Jersey 
and Guernsey are exported about 6000 tons annually of 
unwrought wool, great part of which is returned in the 
shape of coarse knit hose. During the last war large quan¬ 
tities of Spanish wool were landed here. The manufactures of 
Southampton are not of much importance. A silk throwing 
manufactory employs a few of the poor. Ship-building is 
5 F carried 
