Sections of Wall Running South Along Esplanade from South-West Corner of Simnel Street to University Air Squadron Headquarters at South End of Bugle Street. Includes the Arcades, The West Gate, Blue Anchor Postern and Biddles Gate Town Walls is a Grade I listed building in the Southampton local planning authority area, England. First listed on 8 October 1981. A Medieval City wall. 4 related planning applications.

Sections of Wall Running South Along Esplanade from South-West Corner of Simnel Street to University Air Squadron Headquarters at South End of Bugle Street. Includes the Arcades, The West Gate, Blue Anchor Postern and Biddles Gate Town Walls

WRENN ID
calm-turret-holly
Grade
I
Local Planning Authority
Southampton
Constituency
Southampton Itchen MP: Darren Paffey (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
8 October 1981
Type
City wall
Period
Medieval
Address
Sections of Wall Running South Along Esplanade from South-West Corner of Simnel Street to University Air Squadron Headquarters at South End of Bugle Street. Includes the Arcades, The West Gate, Blue Anchor Postern and Biddles Gate Town Walls, Western Esplanade, City of Southampton, SO14 2AZ
OS grid reference
SU 418 112
Coordinates
50.89924, -1.4069
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: EPC · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Sections of wall run south along the Esplanade from the south-west corner of Simnel Street to the University Air Squadron Headquarters at the south end of Bugle Street. This includes The Arcades, The West Gate, Blue Anchor Postern, and Biddles Gate.

The medieval city wall, built of stone rubble, stands about 20 feet high. It incorporates the Arcade, which features an arcaded screen wall built against existing Norman merchants' houses, creating a series of deep arched recesses that form a rampart wall at the top with a total of 19 arches. The West Gate, dating from the mid-14th century, has simple chamfered outer arches and a pointed tunnel-vault, along with two grooves for portcullises. The upper two storeys include 16th-century gunports and are topped with embattled parapets. Notably, through this gate, the army of Henry V marched to the ships for Agincourt in 1415, and the Pilgrim Fathers embarked from West Quay on "the Mayflower" on August 15th, 1620. The site is scheduled as an ancient monument.

Local climate

Sections of Wall Running South Along Esplanade from South-West Corner of Simnel Street to University Air Squadron Headquarters at South End of Bugle Street. Includes the Arcades, The West Gate, Blue Anchor Postern and Biddles Gate Town Walls receives an average of 830 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 53% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 78% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 18 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 82% of listed buildings. Of these, 7 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

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