SOUTHAMPTON without its Bargate would not be Southampton, so completely has the historic bastion dominated the city since the 12th century.

Nevertheless, on a number of occasions during the last century, serious consideration was given to demolishing the Bargate as it was said it obstructed the flow of traffic.

Thankfully all such thoughts have been banished with the building now the iconic symbol of the city, albeit with its once flanking walls cut away in concession to modern day life.

But now those walls could return as part of the City Centre Masterplan which aims to transform the city over the next 25 years.

First planners hope to reinstate the Bargate. And then there are ambitions to recreate the wall so that people can walk one and a half miles along it towards the waterfront for the first time in centuries.

If this goes ahead 21st century residents of the city can more fully appreciate the site of the original Southampton.

At one time the Bargate was the northern centre-point of the ancient walls which at one time encircled the old town.

The Normans built a castle in Southampton but made no attempts to improve the wider defences until the early 13th century.

By then Southampton's growing prosperity as a trading centre and conflict with France encouraged the construction of a number of gatehouses and stone walls to the north and east sides of the settlement.

In 1338 Southampton was raided by French forces; the town’s defences proved inadequate, particularly along the quays on the west and south of the city.

Edward III ordered immediate improvements to Southampton's town walls but it was not until the 1360s that substantial work began.

Over the coming decades the town was entirely enclosed by a mile and a quarter long stone wall, with 29 towers and eight gates.

With the advent of gunpowder weapons in the 1360s and 1370s, Southampton was one of the first towns in England to install the new technology to existing fortifications and to build new towers specifically to house cannon.

Today the high-laden wagons which for centuries rumbled through the Bargate arch and over the drawbridge spanning its double moat are long gone.

The Georgian coaches, Londonbound from the Dolphin and Star hotels in the High Street, have vanished, too.

Trams which rattled under the dark central arc have likewise vanished into history.

Southampton’s famous lions, which were put in place in 1743 to replace far older wooden ones, look down on a changing scene, as does George III since he mounted his niche on the southern side in 1809.

The archway passage has resounded throughout the centuries to the tramp of army after army outwardbound to overseas conflicts and postings.

Above the arch was the Guildhall, and up to the Georgian period was the place where most of Southampton civic history was enacted.

Innumerable mayor-makings were held at the Guildhall including one occasion in 1460 when a mob entered “with daggers drawn and with menacing cries’ and forcibly thrust their candidate into the mayoral chair.

In 1618, William Wells, the Town Sergeant, was arraigned for refusing to open the Bargate for late homecomers to the town unless his palm was as well-oiled as the locks of the gate.

The Justices of the Peace continued to hold their courts at the Bargate until 1934, and formerly consigned the prisoners to the cells below, while adjoining the building was a police station, which continued until it was removed in 1937.

The Bargate has played many and varied roles in the city’s history. To those who broke the law, a place of fear and punishment; to the many monarchs who with their cavalcades proceeded through its archway it represented Southampton’s power and strength; to many travellers at the end of a long journey it has meant the security and happiness of returning home.

The development of Above Bar and the northern suburbs of Southampton, from 1750 onwards, led to many plans to remove or alter the Bargate.

Following its purchase of the Southampton Tramways Company in 1899, the corporation established a special committee to deal with the question of obstruction and to enquire into the cost of building roads around the building.

A number of suggestions resulted, ranging from a design to widen the main archway to a proposal to sell it to the Americans.

In 1914 the local authority again recommended demolishing the Bargate but plans were dropped, and it was agreed traffic should be controlled by a system of lights.

Over the years that followed neighbouring buildings were acquired by the council and in 1928 blueprints were produced to develop what was to be called the Bargate Circus.

It was originally proposed that the exposed lengths of the walls joining the Bargate should have been preserved with archways cut through for traffic, but in the event the affected lengths were demolished. The eastern road was built in 1932 and the western route six years later.

During the Second World War, when enemy air raids destroyed so much of Southampton, local men and women serving their country far and wide would write home, asking: “Are you all safe?’’, often followed by “Does the Bargate still stand?’’.

The Bargate did indeed still stand, and continues to do so into the 21st century.