Heritage: Plaques of Southampton 3

By Martin Brisland. Behind every plaque lies a story. In two previous articles I mentioned the various types of plaque found in our city. There are English Heritage blue ones, Southampton Council black ones to remember local people who had a connection to the Titanic, Black History Month have put...

Heritage: The Plaques of Southampton 2

By Martin Brisland. In a previous article in February, I described the blue and other types of plaque that can be found in Southampton. We have just celebrated International Women’s Day. The origins of the day can be traced back to Therea Malkiel, a 35-year-old labour organiser in New York...

Heritage: the highest point in Southampton

By Martin Brisland. 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....

Heritage: The Plaques of Southampton

By Martin Brisland. Blue plaques started in London in 1866 and the first one there was to poet Lord Byron. There some blue and are several other types of plaque found in our city. Southampton Council facilitated some black ones to remember local people who had a connection to...

Heritage: Fascinating facts about Christmas time

By Martin Brisland.  Richard I (1157-1199), often called Richard the Lionheart, may have spent his only Christmas in England in Southampton Castle in 1194. This was stated by many Southampton historians including the Victorian Rev. John Silvester Davies and Elsie M. Sandell in the 1950s. A local rich merchant...