It is in these western walls of the town that we shall get our best
idea of what mediaeval Southampton was, and if we add to our impression
by an examination of the two remaining gates, one upon the north and
the other at the south-east angle, we may perhaps understand how
formidable it must have appeared standing up out of the sea armed at
all points.
Mediaeval Southampton had eight gates, of these, as I have said, but
four remain, the most notable of which is undoubtedly the Bargate, upon
the north. This is a fine work of various periods in two stages, the
lower consisting of a vaulted passage-way of fine proportions, a work
of the fourteenth century and the upper of a great hall, the Guildhall
now used as a court room. The original gate, of course, was Norman, and
this seems to have endured until about 1330 two towers were built on
either side, without the gate, and a new south front added. In the
first years of the fifteenth century a new north front was contrived,
and this remains more or less as we see it. Of old the gate was reached
by a drawbridge across a wide moat.
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