IT IS an iconic historic symbol of Southampton.

Yet just over a hundred years ago it was proposed that the 12th century Bargate, the city’s most famous building, be demolished, sold to the Americans or moved to where the Civic Centre now stands.

It is now impossible to imagine Southampton without the Bargate and such a proposal would not be taken seriously today by city planners.

For centuries the Bargate was flanked by the town walls and gradually by shops and other buildings. However, with the coming of the tram and the car the Bargate became a bottle-neck for traffic.

In 1899 it was proposed to demolish the Bargate and the possibility of demolition was raised again 1912, 1914 and 1923.

In January 1912 two councillors proposed that Parliament consider the removal of the Bargate and its re-erection on a suitable site, and the widening of the street in a line with Above Bar and High Street.

The radical proposal came close to adoption with the council voting by 25-20 against with two abstentions.

Proposed new locations for the monument included Magdalene Fields where the civic centre now stands.

In March 1914, a Southampton member of the National Trust wrote that the the Bargate was of national importance and any attempt to “remove, destroy, or mutilate the structure will call forth the greatest resistance and indignation”.

Also that year a letter from Southampton Record Society was read to the council which opposed any “destruction or removal of the ancient gates or walls forming the defences of the Borough”

In April 1914 the town clerk read a letter from H M Office of Works, stating that attention had been drawn to the suggested demolition of the Bargate, and that the proposal had been brought to the notice of the Ancient Monuments Board for England, created 1913, and that they had expressed the opinion that the Bargate is a monument the preservation of which is of national importance.

Then in July plans were made for an eastern tram and traffic bypass of the Bargate and an L-shaped glass-covered arcade that would have linked the Bargate shops with East Street. 

This would have resembled a Victorian arcade and would have been a smart addition to the town.

Presumably the scheme never went ahead because of the outbreak of the First World War.

From 1923 the city had a specially designed tram, with a domed roof and smaller wheels, to negotiate the monument which also had its own policeman to direct traffic through it.

Between 1932 and 1938 the buildings flanking the Bargate were demolished. The original plan was to create “circus” with the Bargate at its centre.

However only one half, the eastern, was completed. These 1930s buildings will be demolished as part of the new re-development, although some of the art deco facades will be retained.

The Bargate has been Grade-1 listed since 1953 by which time roads ran around it on all sides.

In 1989 the £30m Bargate shopping centre was built. However the centre never really caught on and was soon superseded by the Marlands and then Westquay. It closed in 2013.

Now the eastern side of the Bargate, including the former 1980s shopping precinct, is set to be transformed following this month’s decision by Southampton City Council’s planning committee. 

Work on the new “Bargate Quarter”, to include an avenue surrounded by substantial public space enabling the appreciation of the historic Town Walls, is set to start later this year.