When we enjoyed horse racing in Southampton

The first organised race meeting on Southampton Common took place on Tuesday July 31, 1804, on a one and three-quarter mile course.

The following year a meeting stretched from Wednesday July 31 to Friday August 2, 1805, featuring the Southampton Cup; the Ladies Plate and the Maiden Stakes sponsored by the Marquis of Lansdowne.

From 1822 it became an annual two-day meet.

Viscount Palmerston, who lived at Broadlands in Romsey and later became Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister, celebrated a double at the course in August 1824. His horses won the Southampton Stakes and the Town Plate.

Palmerston was MP for South Hampshire and a burgess of Southampton. His statue is in Palmerston Park.

A large grandstand gave views across the entire course which was in the shape of a long, narrow parallelogram.

Races were run clockwise starting and finishing at the open area at the top of the Common.

In subsequent years sprints were run on the 5-furlong straight course. Bare-knuckle prizefighting was also staged in front of the stand.

The course can be seen on the Town Map of 1845-46.

The intention was to attract wealthier and upper-class visitors to Southampton which was then in the latter part of its popularity as a spa town.

About 1740, a spring was discovered just to the north-west of the Bargate near modern-day Portland Terrace.

In 1750 Frederick, Prince of Wales came to the town and bathed from the western shore. Where Prince Frederick led, other nobles and gentry followed.

The fortunes of Southampton as a spa had begun to decline after 1812 as the Prince Regent and his fashionable friends were now going to Brighton and other resorts.

By the late 1830’s, it became increasingly difficult to raise enough subscriptions and attract those of high social status.

Racecourse debts grew, and in 1848 the committee had to sell off the posts, stands, and rails.

However, this proved temporary as racing was becoming more popular throughout the country with better rail links, a growing population and newspaper coverage.

Horse racing on the Common started again in 1859 with support from the Mayor Fred Perkins and Thomas Chamberlayne, a country gentleman living near the town. The races were attended by the gentry arriving in their fine carriages.

Southampton's working classes were conveyed from the Six Dials in St Mary's for 3 pence per head.

However, by the mid 1860s there was an increase in disorder, rowdyism, drunkenness and crime at the race meetings. Measures were taken to outlaw gambling booths in a bid to deter pickpockets.

Thomas Makepeace, faced a severe fine for possessing a gallon of brandy on which import duty had not been paid. He could not pay and was sent to the House of Correction for four days. He was joined by Edward Chapman and John Bowerman who were to endure a month with hard labour, for playing the Victorian equivalent of 'Find The Lady' with thimbles and peas.

Respectable people stopped attending and in 1874 it was reported there was an absence of gentlemen’s carriages.

Eventually, the Rector of St Mary's Church, Basil Wilberforce, grandson of William Wilberforce the famous anti-slavery campaigner, began a successful campaign against the races. They ended on the Common with a final meeting on Tuesday June 28, 1881.

However, that was not the end of racing in the area.

The Chamberlaynes of Cranbury Park owned Titlark Farm just west of Bournemouth Road, near the Castle Lane turn.

In 1882, it was announced that a two-day meeting would be held the following year.

Extra trains were laid on and race specials came from London, Weymouth and Portsmouth.

Local people used the horse-drawn omnibus from Above Bar, Southampton for a fare of 2 shillings and 6 pence.

Martin Brisland is a tour guide with SeeSouthampton.co.uk .