The city of Southampton, lying on the south coast in Hampshire, has seen massive changes over the years. Its favoured location on the natural harbour of Southampton Water enabled it to develop as a major port, and it saw particularly rapid growth in Victorian times with the development of the docks and related shipbuilding industries. Significant areas of the city were destroyed in the Second World War and many people lost their lives as it became a target for aerial bombing raids. Post-wa...

Southampton is now part of a huge metropolitan area running along the south coast in Hampshire. The city has seen massive changes over the years and although its history goes back many centuries, it saw particularly rapid growth in Victorian times with the development of the docks and related shipbuilding industries. Significant areas of the city were destroyed in the Second World War. The subsequent rebuilding of Southampton, followed by more recent regeneration, has changed much of the c...

Southampton has been a major port on England’s south coast since the medieval era and sections of the ancient city walls remain today. In the nineteenth century the town expanded further following the formation of the Southampton Docks Company, the building of a railway connection with London, and the growth of shipbuilding and other related industries. Devastated by aerial bombardment in the Second World War, much of Southampton had to be rebuilt in the decades afterwards. Development con...