Lankester's wine vault (Southampton)3D ModelNoAI
Lankester’s Vault is named after a prominent family of ironmongers who were particularly active in the 19th century. Their premises once stood by the vault, which is why it has that name.
The vault itself dates from the early 14th century and is constructed of Bembridge Stone from the Isle of Wight, on account of Southampton not having its own supply of stone.
Like most of Southampton’s vaults, it was built primarily to store wine in, the major import commodity in medieval Southampton. It has ornate ribs that cross over one another and carved Roman numerals on a good number of the stone blocks, probably to indicate where the stones should be fitted. It is also believed that some of the stones were reused from an older vault to build this one.
A doorway once led to a second vault to the south, but this was demolished after the Second World War when the building above was bombed. There are intriguing blocked-up windows on the eastern side of the vault.
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