This was the sort of boat used in the wine trade with the continent, very small by modern standards. It is 'tied up' beside the medieval walls of Southampton. Within the walls, there are storage warehouses from the twelfth century. Despite the road, trees and multistory offices today, which lend an air of permanence to the land, this was sea eight hundred years ago. Aquitaine maintained the wine trade all through the many wars between England and France. Bordeaux is famous for fine wine. English wine was drunk in the middle ages, though cooling of the climate in the thirteenth century made it very difficult.
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