On Saturday the 28th June 2025, we got up early and drove down to Southampton for our first ever Cruise on P&O Iona to the Norwegian Fjords.
We arrived at about 1115 hours and we drove straight to the Ocean Terminal and dropped the car off at CPS parking next to the terminal, then it was just a walk across the road and we dropped the cases off to be loaded onto the ship.
This allowed us time to look about Southampton before out boarding time.
We walked on into Southampton and we were walking up the High Street, when we we passed Holyrood Church.
Holyrood Church was one of the original five churches serving the old walled town of Southampton, England. Built in 1320, the church was destroyed by enemy bombing during the blitz in November 1940. In 1957 the shell of the church was dedicated as a memorial to the sailors of the Merchant Navy. It is a Grade II* listed building.
The first documentary evidence of the existence of Holyrood was in 1160 when Henry II granted the Chapels of St. Michael, Holyrood, St. Lawrence and All Saints' to the monks of St. Denys. The name of the church, "Holy Rood", indicates its Saxon origins; if the church had been founded after the Norman Conquest, it would have been named "St. Cross".
The original church was situated in the centre of the High Street, then known as "English Street", but in 1320, the church was pulled down and rebuilt on its present site on the eastern side of the road.
During the Middle Ages, the church was situated at the centre of the town and was the parish church for the south-eastern quarter. As such, it became a focal point for life in the town and was used as a place of worship by crusaders en route to the Holy Land, soldiers heading for Agincourt in 1415 and Philip II of Spain in 1554 on his way to marry Queen Mary at Winchester Cathedral.
Over the next 90 years, local residents would flock to hear the services and sermons, and it became the place in which to see the New Year in, with the church also becoming known as the "Church of the Sailors".
During the night of 30 November 1940, the centre of Southampton became the target for German bombers, when 800 high explosive bombs and 9,000 incendiaries were dropped on the town centre. In this attack, and that a week earlier, 214 people were killed and nearly 500 properties were totally destroyed. By the morning, Holyrood was a smoking ruin and St. Mary's church was gutted, although nearby St. Michael's survived unscathed. Southampton lost seven churches during the blitz, as well as the nearby Audit House, the Ordnance Survey offices and many shops, factories and homes. During the blitz, the beautiful 14th/early 15th century brass lectern was rescued from the ruins and is now fully restored in St. Michael's.
In 1957, the ruins of the church were restored and dedicated as a memorial to Merchant Navy seafarers and the ruins of the church were scheduled as an ancient monument.
By 2004, because of the exposure of internal features to the elements and problems with the structure, the church was in danger of collapsing. As a result, a grant of £670,000 was received from the Heritage Lottery Fund to repair the tower and the chancel, with a new lighting scheme being installed to make the former church a feature of Southampton's night skyline. The Merchant Navy Association contributed a further £5,000 to the repair fund "to enable (merchant seamen) to remember their colleagues and careers in an appropriate high quality setting".
We left Holyrood Church and walked through The Bargate pictured above further up on High Street.
The Bargate is a Grade I listed medieval gatehouse in the city centre of Southampton, England. Constructed in Norman times as part of the Southampton town walls, it was the main gateway to the city. The building is a scheduled monument, which has served as a temporary exhibition and event space for Southampton Solent University since 2012.
The Bargate was built c. 1180, constructed of stone and flint. Alterations were made to the building around 1290, when large drum towers were added to the north side, with arrow slit windows.
A two-storey extension was made to the south side towards the end of the 13th century, with four windows lighting the upstairs room. Work was also carried out to the interior of the upper room during the 13th century, when the stone fireplaces were installed. The embattled north front was added to the building around 1400. A survey of the town's guns in 1468 reported that the Bargate held two breach loader guns and a brass muzzle loader. It is not clear when the Bargate started being used as a prison but the first records of it date from 1439. In 1458 the prison was used to detain the Genoese population of the town as part of the response to a Genoese attack on an English trading expedition.
At some point in the 16th century, the court leet of Southampton started to meet in the Bargate, although it continued to switch between the Bargate and Cutthorn mound on Southampton Common until 1670. Also around the 16th century it is thought that wooden sculptures of lions were added in front of the Bargate. The surviving mayors accounts for 1594 include payments for the construction of new lions and the use of the word new suggests that lion sculptures existed before that point. The accounts also mention a pair of paintings featuring Bevis of Hampton and Ascapart on wooden panels. These appear to have been placed on the northern side of the building as they are mentioned as being present by a visitor in 1635.
A bell was added to the southwest corner of the building to 1579. The current bell is inscribed 1605 and was used as the city's curfew and alarm bell. In 1644 the panels featuring Bevis of Hampton and Ascapart were repainted.
The room above the gate itself was probably added shortly after 1400 and the town steward books mention a banquet held there in 1434. It was originally used as the city's guildhall, until the 1770s. It was at this point that the city began to grow to the north of the gate. Also during the 18th century, five panels containing painted shields and the sundial were added to the building and in the middle of the century the old wooden lions were replaced with new lead sculptures.
Additional archways were added in 1764 and 1774. In 1765, a passage was cut through the eastern side of the arch for pedestrians. A further passage through the western side was added later. The construction of these passages ended (for a time) the Bargate's use as a prison.
We walk on popping into Westquay Shopping centre for something to eat from subway before we walked on.
We walk on over to Castle Lane and to the Castle Gate.
Southampton's town walls are a sequence of defensive structures built around the town in southern England. Although earlier Roman and Anglo-Saxon settlements around Southampton had been fortified with walls or ditches, the later walls originate with the move of the town to the current site in the 10th century. This new town was defended by banks, ditches and the natural curve of the river and coastline. The Normans built a castle in Southampton but made no attempts to improve the wider defences of the town until the early 13th century, when Southampton's growing prosperity as a trading centre and conflict with France encouraged the construction of a number of gatehouses and stone walls to the north and east sides of the settlement.
In 1338 Southampton was raided by French forces; the town's defences proved inadequate, particularly along the quays on the west and south of the city. Edward III ordered some immediate improvements to Southampton's town walls but it was not until the 1360s that substantial work began. Over the coming decades the town was entirely enclosed by a 2 km (1.25-mile) long stone wall, with 29 towers and eight gates. With the advent of gunpowder weapons in the 1360s and 1370s, Southampton was one of the first towns in England to install the new technology to existing fortifications and to build new towers specifically to house cannon.
Southampton's town walls remained an important defensive feature during the 15th century, the gatehouses sometimes being used as important civic facilities, including acting as the town's guildhall and housing the town's gaol. From the end of the 17th century their importance steadily declined and the walls were slowly demolished or adapted for other uses throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. This process continued into the early 20th century until, in the post-war years, the walls were recognised as an important historical feature of Southampton. Conservation projects have since occurred and the walls are now promoted as a tourist attraction.
Walking on we pass the Tudor House on Bugle Street.
Tudor House and Garden is a historic building, museum, tourist attraction, and Grade I listed building in Southampton, England. Established as Southampton's first museum in 1912, the house was closed for nine years between 2002 and 2011 during an extensive renovation.
The earliest part of the site is a Norman domestic dwelling, built in the 1180s. Although the site is known as King John's Palace there is no evidence that King John of England ever visited the house. In the 14th century the merchant and mayor of Southampton, John Whytegod, lived in the property. After the French raid of Southampton in 1338 the walls were turned into what would become Southampton's defensive walls. Its windows and doors were filled in or replaced with gun slits. It is one of the finest examples of Norman domestic architecture in England.
The main body of the house was extended and developed by Sir John Dawtrey (d.1518), a major landowner, M.P. and Sheriff. He received large sums of money from Henry VIII to supply food for the navy and to help in the defences of the town. Money was also provided for the building, fitting out and provisioning of ships – including The Mary Rose. During the Tudor period, the house was a home for influential members of Southampton society including Sir Richard Lyster (1480–1554), a judge and Chief Justice of the King's Bench.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the house was used as a merchant house as a cloth maker and manufacturer. During the restoration, in 2007, conservators discovered that several walls were covered with graffiti that dated between 1570 and 1620. Images include ships, caricatures of people, and exotic animals. During that period Tudor House was owned by ship owners, and it is likely that the house was used as a place of lodging for sailors and privateers. The graffiti is now considered to be some of the best-preserved Tudor maritime graffiti in England.
During the 18th century, Tudor House was owned by the artist George Rogers, who made significant alterations to the house, including building a Georgian wing, complete with two large sash windows. By this time, the oak beam façade at the front of the property had been plastered and repainted.
The house's improvements in fortune coincided with those of Southampton, which had become fashionable as a spa town, due to the discovery of a chalybeate spring.
For a large proportion of the century the house was divided into lease-held properties. The house also had a number of business uses, including a dyeworks, bookbinders, bonnet-makers and architect's office. By the end of the 19th century the area around Tudor House had become one of the city's worst slum areas, with limited running water, disease-ridden properties, and malnourished tenants. Because of this the area, including Tudor House, was scheduled for demolition.
In 1886, when the house was threatened with demolition, local philanthropist William Spranger bought the house, recognising its significance as a site of historic importance. Spranger made significant changes to the house, including installing a 'minstrels' gallery in above the banqueting hall, and creating several doors where previously there had been none. For twelve years he led a campaign to turn the house into a museum. Eventually he was successful, and the house opened as a museum on 31 July 1912.
During the Second World War Tudor House and Garden remained open as a museum, and the wine cellar was used as an air raid shelter by the museum curator, Edward Judd, and his family during the Southampton Blitz in 1940. Tudor House remained undamaged, however a house two doors away was destroyed.
In the 1970s an early 19th-century cannon that had been found during the construction of the Itchen Bridge was placed in the house garden.
By the end of the century, the museum had become fairly dilapidated; a combination of poor renovation work, and time. According to a survey conducted in 1999, the house was 'opening like the petals of a flower', a reference to the way the house was bowing outwards.
In 1999, a survey of the building discovered major structural problems, and major redevelopment work was needed to preserve the building. Funds were sought from Southampton City Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund, English Heritage, and other donors.
The museum closed to the public in 2002, and remained closed for nine years. During this time walls were strengthened, new interpretation was added, and archaeological fieldwork was conducted. Additionally a new block was added, consisting of a cafe and toilet facilities. These were designed to remain in keeping with the original building.
In 2012, the centenary was marked by opening with an admission price of 6 pence, the same price as when the museum first opened.
We walk on passing along Vyse Lane and onto French Street where we reach The Medieval Merchants House.
The Medieval Merchant's House is a restored late-13th-century building in Southampton, Hampshire, England. Built in about 1290 by John Fortin, a prosperous merchant, the house survived many centuries of domestic and commercial use largely intact. German bomb damage in 1940 revealed the medieval interior of the house, and in the 1980s it was restored to resemble its initial appearance and placed in the care of English Heritage, to be run as a tourist attraction. The house is built to a medieval right-angle, narrow plan design, with an undercroft to store wine at a constant temperature, and a first-storey bedchamber that projects out into the street to add additional space. The building is architecturally significant because, as historian Glyn Coppack highlights, it is "the only building of its type to survive substantially as first built"; it is a Grade I listed building and scheduled monument.
We walk back to the High Street and with time to kill still we buy a drink and walk over to Hogsland Park to sit in the shade and relax.
Eventually it was time to make our way back to the Terminal to board Iona. We pass the quay and marina and make our way.
We go through Security and Check in, and before long we were walking up the gangway of Iona. After we visited our Muster Station we walked down to Deck 14 and to our inside cabin 14727. It was never going to be huge bit adequate and was quite comfy.
After we unpacked our bags, we tried to sort out connecting to the ships WiFi, no easy task. We went down tot reception for help. Huge queues sent to a man who would help, who then sent us back to reception. Anyway I was online and we headed up to deck 18 so Mel could have a smoke.
Still trying to get everyone online, was stressful. Having a full blown loud sail away party up there wasn't helping ha ha!
Eventually we were leaving Southampton and were sailing away on our way to Norway, time for a beer!
It was very busy as you would expect on day one, far too busy to try and get in the hot tubs or the infinity pool. We'll try this tomorrow on our Sea day.
We eat dinner at the Buffet tonight, can't fault the food there!
Now to bed before tomorrows day at Sea.
