Bitterne Manor

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Map showing Bitterne Manor within Southampton

Map showing Southampton within England

Bitterne Manor is a suburb of Southampton surrounding the manor house of the same name.

[edit] History

Bitterne Manor is the site of the original Roman settlement of Clausentum, the forerunner to today's City of Southampton.

The manor house has existed from Norman times and possibly earlier, and was built from the stones of Clausentum. The house was used by the Bishop of Winchester, who travelled from manor to manor with his court throughout each year. The manor house also operated as a farm, and was surrounded by parkland. Bitterne Park today, though, is a built-up area.

With its easy access to the River Itchen and the navigation to Winchester, Bitterne Manor was used by the bishops as a distribution centre for wine and salt, which was panned in the river.

The scarcity of farm labourers resulting from the Black Death of 1348 led to higher running costs in manors across the country, and it became more profitable to let the house to tenants and sublet the farmland to tenant farmers. Bitterne Manor was tenant-occupied from the late 15th Century to the early 19th Century.

The Bishop of Winchester sold the lease to the manor to a Mr. Simpson in 1802. The new owner did not wish to use the manor as a farm, and so in 1804-05 the farmhouse was demolished and a new manor house constructed. The defensive ditch that the Romans had constructed was filled in. The Northam Bridge was also built around this time, opening initially as a toll bridge. This allowed the growing Southampton to expand, leading to the urbanisation of the Bitterne Manor area.

Today, the manor house and its grounds are privately owned and split into fourteen apartments. Some of the surrounding grounds, consisting of grassland, woodland and a natural foreshore to the River Itchen, are maintained by the Council as a public open space.

[edit] Geography

The area is bounded on the North, West and South by the River Itchen, and on the East by the railway line linking Southampton to Portsmouth. The Northam Bridge crosses the river to the neighbouring suburb of Northam, whilst beyond the railway line is the suburb of Bitterne. The A3024 dual carriageway runs through the area, one of the primary commuter routes in and out of Southampton from the East.

Apart from the grounds of the manor house, the area immediately around the dual carriageway is mostly taken up by residential housing and the Bitterne Manor Primary School. On the fringes of the suburb, where it meets the river, a number of industrial units can be found. There are also some small nature reserves lining the river banks.

Districts and suburbs of the City of Southampton