Southampton Castle

Although the castle disappeared many centuries ago, there are some important elements of the royal castle complex still in existence. Most of these are being repaired as part of the Heritage Assets Repair Programme.

In 2023, the focus was on the massive Castle Bailey Wall North – the curved wall next to Castle Way and the Albion Place Car Park. The entire wall has been repointed and turf laid on the top to create a ‘soft capping’. This technique has also been used on the Weigh House in French Street to protect the tops of the walls and stop them decaying in future.

Find out more details about soft capping.

February 2025 update

Two important elements of the royal castle complex were repaired in 2024 – the Castle Hall and the Castle Vault along the Western Esplanade.

Castle Hall is the largest of the Castle’s buildings that still survives. It was excavated and conserved in the 1980s. The archaeologists discovered that its timber first-floor was replaced by a stone vault in the early 1200s and subsequently had part of the vault rebuilt. So that this building can still tell its complicated story, oak beams that had been positioned in some of the recesses in the east wall were replaced, and the stonework repointed.

The lime mortar is mixed to match the medieval mortar as closely as possible.