King John's Palace, Southampton

The original house was built either in the 1180s^[3] or around 1170^[2] on the quayside, with direct access to the town's West Quay. In the early 14th century the house was owned by Mayor John Wytegod, who was a wealthy merchant. The street alongside the house, now named Blue Anchor Lane, was called Wytegod's Lane after the mayor. In 1338 the largely defenceless town fell victim to a French raid as part of the English Channel naval campaign, 1338–1339; following this, Edward III ordered that Southampton's sea defences be strengthened. As a result, the house became part of the town's defensive wall and the door and windows which faced the quay were blocked or converted into gun slits.^[3]

The building became a coach house and stables in the early 18th century and housed a coal merchant's business in the early 19th. At the beginning of the 20th century the building housed a private museum belonging to a Mr Spranger. The roof was removed in the early 20th century, leaving the building a shell, which is how it remains.^[3] The building is known as King John's Palace today, as historians originally believed King John resided in the building in the early 13th century; however, this belief is now understood to be incorrect.^[3]

The house consisted of two storeys, with the living quarters on the first floor including large windows and a fireplace. Casks of wine imported from France were stored on the ground floor level; the windows here were deliberately small to prevent thieves from accessing the store rooms.^[3] It is constructed of stone.^[2]

The original 12th-century windows can be seen on the north and west faces of the building; they are round-headed and sit in round-arched frames, with two windows on each side. The three archways which led to the quays – one original round-headed arch and two segmental-headed arches from the early 14th century – are visible in the house's west wall, but they are blocked. These arches contain two vertical defensive slits from the 14th-century defences, which may be Britain's earliest surviving gunports.^[2]

The first floor fireplace was located on the north side of the house. Surviving remains of the fireplace include both jambs with their scalloped capitals and inset shafts. A chimney constructed around 1200 was removed from another property in the city, 79A High Street, and is now located against the east wall of King John's Palace. The chimney has a square base but a long round shaft.^[2]