(1) The fabulous flying boats of the Solent Sky museum (c|net)

(2) Wonderful prose from Southampton Sketches by Elsie M. Sandell:

“How deep was the delight in former days to be able to sail on the Test, dropping slowly downstream with the evening tide, seeing the full beauty of the old western walls suffused in the mellow glow of sunset, with the dusky purple shadows of the arcading and the towers.”

(3) My scan of Bargate from The Story of Old Southampton by Elise M. Sandell. Illustrated by Victor W.B. Hiscock.

“The Bargate was the central point of the Walls which were commenced in early Norman times and were gradually extended until they encircled the town, being about a mile and a quarter in circumference. There is a wide view of the town from the top of the Bargate and, in olden times, there was May-day singing up there, a custom which was continued until fairly recently. One of the Town Bells, used as an alarm bell, swings aloft. It is called the “New Bell” and was put up in 1605, replacing an earlier one. It is inscribed “In God is my hope. R.B. 1605.”