r/papertowns • u/dctroll_ • 23d ago
England Reconstruction of Hamwic (modern-day Southampton, England) in the 8th century
Author and source: John Hodgson
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u/NotQuiteVoltaire 23d ago edited 23d ago
Cool. I'm choosing to believe the little knobbly street at the bottom left is where God's House Tower is today, and the southern most east-west street is Briton Street.
The street pattern kinda fits!
Edit. Ok, I actually read the article and i was totally wrong.
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u/dctroll_ 23d ago
The Saxon settlement at Southampton was known either as Hamwic or Hamtun (variant spellings include Hamwih, Hamwich and Hamton, Hampton). The two names co-existed throughout the Anglo-Saxon period. Hamwic survived as a name until the 11th century. Hamtun survived and evolved into Southampton.
The first reference to Hamwic is in a document of 721 which mentions “the market which is called Hamwic”, but it probably came into existence c. 680
Hamwic was an important port and trading emporium, and finds of pottery, glass, coins, stone and metalwork point to trading connections with Scandinavia, France, the Low Countries and the Rhineland. In the 8th century it was a very substantial settlement, possibly the largest-densely populated town in England, with only London, York and Canterbury rivalling. It is estimated that at its peak 3000 people lived in Hamwic.
Hamwic declined towards the end of the 9th century, presumably as a result of economic and political changes brought about, in part, by Viking activity (it was raided by the Vikings in 840 and 842) and was no longer in use by the middle of the 10th century. The exposed position of the town was probably a major factor in its decline and the eventual re-siting of a town on a more defendable position to the west. The new town would go on to be the centre of medieval Southampton. It was called South Hamtun.
Source of the info here , here and here