By Martin Brisland. Main image: The recent Welcome to Southampton logo that people say says nothing about the city or its heritage.
Arriving at Southampton, you will see signs saying “Welcome to Southampton”. There was some recent controversy when a new design replaced the long standing ones at a reported cost of £80,000. One person described it as a “pair of giant crochet hooks” around the city name.
As you travel around, some areas have signs to welcome you to the different parishes or wards, such as at Highfield.
In the past before the days of accurate maps, town and parish boundaries were marked by landscape features such as rivers, bridges, or a tree, often known as a Gospel Tree, and by large stones.
A description of the boundary would be recorded in parish documents and annually parish officials and parishioners, including children, would walk the boundary ensuring that the markers were in place.
It was important that children learned the markers and the boundary for the future which they did by beating the markers with willow sticks. The officials would also put the children’s heads against each stone to ensure they did not forget. This annual ritual was known as “Beating the Bounds” and, though no longer as physical, it is a tradition that continues to this day in Southampton.
A Court Leet document of 1652 describes the Southampton town boundary at that time, as commencing from Archard’s Bridge, roughly where Central Station is today. It then continued along the west side of the Common following the Rolles Brook and on to the Hode cross, marked by a stone which still stands in the top section of Hill Lane, albeit on the wrong side of the road.
From there, the boundary continued eastwards along Burgess Road or Street as it was then known, passing the Rosemary stone to the Cutted Thorn Cross, the former site of the Court Leet by Bassett cross roads. From there it passed the Burle or Borrell stone cross, located opposite the Burgess Road library and through Langhorne Gates at Swaythling to the Havenstone in Hylton by the side of the Itchen, downstream from Woodmill.
A boundary stone was positioned at Langhorne Gate in 1461, was there in 1961 but is no longer there.
From the Havenstone the boundary proceeded along the riverside to the Hegestone, which was near St. Mary’s football stadium and on to a stone at Crosshouse by the Itchen Bridge. It then continued through God’s House and the Water Gate encompassing the town by the Test back to the Ackorne Bridge.
In 1895 the town boundary was extended to include Freemantle, Shirley, and part of Millbrook. In July 1920 Woolston, Sholing, Bitterne Manor, Bitterne, Bitterne Park, Swaythling and Bassett were added.
Following a Council “Beating the Bounds” report prepared in September 1985 a set of Rebus Stones were created to mark the City’s new boundary. The stones were designed by the City Architect’s department and show a rebus (visual pun) on S(outh) H(am) Tun (picture of a barrel), with an arrow pointing North top left, and the year 1988 bottom right. The stones were recycled from the former Civic Centre Rose Garden. Only the fountain remains and is now situated on the opposite side of the Civic Centre in front of the City Art Gallery and Library entrance.
The first three rebus stones were installed in 1987/8 by Redbridge Bridge, at Cutthorn and the Crosshouse. A further nine stones have been installed, and it is a challenge to locate them. Further sites included: Fernyhurst Lake; Lord’s Wood; Sports Centre; Bassett; Itchen Valley; Townhill Park/Cutbush Lane; Netley Common; Tickleford Gully/Westwood and on Weston Shore.
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