Medieval Merchant's House Southampton #1
by Terri Waters
Title
Medieval Merchant's House Southampton #1
Artist
Terri Waters
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
58 French Street, Southampton is a 13th century house, one of the few surviving medieval town houses in England.
The house was built in 1290 by John Fortin, a wine merchant involved in trade with France as a residence for Fortin and his family and a storehouse and shop.
The house was restored to what it might have looked like in the 14th century after damage from a German bomb in 1940 laid bare the medieval structure of the house. Later additions have been removed, restoring it to the way it would have looked in the mid-14th century, with replica furniture to reflect how the house residents lived and worked.
The design is typical of a medieval merchant's dwelling, with a narrow street frontage, an under-croft for storing wine at a relatively constant temperature, and a projecting first floor jutting out over the street, supported on wooden posts. The shop gives way to a large hall, originally heated by a central hearth, but now warmed by a 14th century chimney. At the back of the ground floor is a small private chamber with a decorated ceiling. The first floor has a pair of bed chambers, linked by a gallery. The east chamber, over the street, shows original builder's marks on the timbers. The west chamber is more Victorian in character, with its 19th century ceiling.
Archaeology has revealed that the south-west corner of the building collapsed in the middle of the 14th century, perhaps during the French rad of 1338, when many merchant's buildings in the French Street area of Southampton were destroyed.
The house survived the medieval period relatively intact, but was divided into 3 cottages in the 17th century. In 1780 the divisions were removed, and the house served as a lodging for actors. The late 19th century saw more changes, and house served briefly as a beer shop, then as a pub. By the outbreak of WWII it was a brothel. When bomb damage revealed the medieval house, the property was bought by the city council, and eventually was passed into the care of English Heritage.
Uploaded
October 20th, 2015
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