How High the Moon is a jazz standard song dating from 1940. The enduring popularity, since it started in 1955, of the Guinness World Records books shows that people are always fascinated to learn what is the fastest, longest, heaviest, oldest, tallest in any given field.
So, what then is the highest point in Southampton?
The answer may surprise you. Brampton Tower is a fourteen-storey block of flats situated on Bassett Avenue just south of St Michael and All Angels’ Church. Built in 1962, the development was described by David Lloyd (Buildings of England: Hampshire and IOW) as “an elegant piece, and quite a landmark from distant viewpoints”.
The top of Brampton Tower is the highest point above sea level within the City of Southampton boundary. The northern boundary is nearby at the end of Bassett Avenue just before the Chilworth Roundabout. The tower itself is far from the tallest building at only 39.9 metres high. However, it is built on ground 82 metres above sea level so the top of it is 121.9 metres (400 ft) high making it Southampton’s highest point.
There are taller structures at Fawley Refinery but that is outside the city boundary and at sea level. The city’s tallest structures are the 130 metres (430 ft) container port cranes.
Witts Hill in Midanbury, is a high point at 50.4 metres above sea level but only has residential housing.
Within the city, the highest building until recently was the 82 metre (262 ft) Moresby Tower, part of the Admirals Quay development in Ocean Village, but it is at sea level. The current tallest building is the twenty-seven storey Centenary Quay in Woolston at 89 metres (292 feet), also at sea level. For comparison, the tallest building in the UK is the ninety-five storey Shard in London. It is almost 310 metres (1,016 ft).
The height of St. Michael’s Church spire is an impressive 50.2 metres (165 feet). The tallest church spire in the UK is Salisbury Cathedral is over double that at 123 metres (404 ft). There are stories that in WW2 German pilots were told not to drop bombs on St. Michaels as it could be used as an aid to navigation, but I do not know of any evidence to prove this.
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