There are many people to thank for this. Going back to 1228 Nicholas de Sirlie, at a meeting in Southampton Castle, renounced all rights to pasture lands east of Hill Lane in favour of the Burgesses of Southampton and thus the magnificent Common came into being and its initial boundaries defined. Until the middle of the 19th century, citizens enjoyed grazing rights on common land on the marsh outside the eastern walls and on the Lammas fields to the north of the Bargate. Concerned by the changes brought by the docks and the railway and the loss of the rural feel of the town, the Borough Council used the 1844 Marsh Act to drain the marsh and sell the land to builders.
Lady Susan is the title of one of Jane Austen’s early pieces, written about 1794. The sophisticated anti-heroine Lady Susan Vernon boasts of her skills in flirting, adultery, and general scheming. It’s thought Jane may have based the character on the notorious Lady Elizabeth. She must have at least known her reputation and maybe her works as she was a published author. Lady Elizabeth Berkeley was born in December 1750 and in 1767 she married William, 6th Baron Craven, becoming known as Lady Betty Craven. Both Elizabeth and her husband indulged in affairs, notably Elizabeth’s scandalous liaison with the French ambassador, the Count of Guines, in 1773.
WHILE Her Majesty and Prince Philip prepare to spend Christmas day with their bubble in Windsor, we look back at when a king spent the big day in Southampton Castle. Most people are familiar with Richard the Lionheart or Richard I through the story of Robin Hood when his return to England, from the Crusades, was expected to restore peace and order after the scheming of his brother John during his absence. Richard was the son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine and spent most of his life enforcing his father’s rule in his French lands. Following his father’s death he was crowned King in September 1189.