English Heritage

Tucked away near Southampton’s busy city centre is the Medieval Merchant’s House, one of the oldest surviving merchant’s houses in England.

It was begun in about 1290 by John Fortin, a merchant who traded with Bordeaux. Like most medieval merchant’s houses, it was a combination of home, workplace and shop.

During the 1980s it was restored to its mid-14th-century appearance. It’s now been dressed with vivid replica furnishings and fittings. It stands on what was once among medieval Southampton’s most important streets, near the wall which defended the town against seaborne attacks.