The restored lions
Two 18th-century painted lead lions, back since 2021 in what are believed to be their original colours.
Halfway along Southampton's main shopping street, between the clothes shops and the coffee chains, stands a stone gateway roughly 850 years old that seems not to have noticed the walled town it guarded has gone. This is the Bargate, the great north gate of medieval Southampton: built around 1180, given its drum towers around 1290 and its battlemented north face around 1400. Historic England lists it at Grade I and calls it one of the finest town gateways in England; it is a scheduled monument too, owned by the city council. It was never just a passage. The upper floor served as the town's guildhall until the 1770s, it held prisoners from the 15th century, a courtroom was built inside in 1852 and sat until 1933, and from 2006 to 2012 the room upstairs was an art gallery. Today the interior is normally shut, opening only for occasional events such as Heritage Open Days in September. What you get is the outside, and the outside is the point: on the south face a statue of George III dressed as a Roman, an alarm bell of 1605, a sundial of 1705 and two painted lead lions that have flanked the arch since the mid-18th century. The lions were taken down for repair in November 2020 and came back in March 2021 in what are believed to be their original colours, noticeably brighter than the versions most locals remember. Manage expectations: this is a landmark you photograph and walk beneath in a quarter of an hour, not a site you tour. What earns it a stop is that it is the natural starting point of the Old Town walls walk, one of the best-preserved medieval wall circuits in England, running west and south towards the old quays, with stone steps on some stretches, so a pushchair means detouring at street level. The guides of See Southampton start their roughly ninety-minute walks beside the lions on Saturdays and Sundays, taking in some of the medieval vaults along the way, for about 12.50 pounds paid on the day or booked ahead. Getting there is easy: about a fifteen-minute walk from Southampton Central station, or a few minutes from the Westquay shopping centre car parks, which also give you family-friendly food and toilets. In summer the square is thick with shoppers and events, and in December the Christmas market and festive lights wrap around it, so an empty shot of the facade needs an early morning.
Two 18th-century painted lead lions, back since 2021 in what are believed to be their original colours.
George III in Roman dress, a bell of 1605 and a sundial of 1705 on a single facade.
The Old Town walls circuit sets off from here, west and south towards the old quays.
Top of High Street at Above Bar Street, Southampton city centre
Not as a destination in itself; the interior is shut and seeing it takes minutes. But it sits in the middle of the shopping street, so you will pass it on the way to Westquay anyway. If you have ninety minutes, make it the start of the walls walk, which is what turns a photo stop into an outing.
Normally not. The upper hall opens only for occasional events, chiefly Heritage Open Days in September, and often with little notice. If you want to get inside medieval Southampton, the surest route is the See Southampton walk that leaves from beside the lions at weekends and goes into some of the medieval vaults, or the nearby Tudor House museum in the Old Town.