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Portsmouth

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Portsmouth
City of Portsmouth
(clockwise from top): The city viewed from Portsdown Hill, HMS Victory, Portsmouth Guildhall, Portsmouth Cathedral, the Spinnaker Tower alongside Portsmouth Harbour, Gunwharf Quays, Portchester Castle and Old Portsmouth
Flag of Portsmouth
Official seal of Portsmouth
Nickname: 
Pompey
Motto: 
Heaven's Light Our Guide
Shown within Hampshire
Shown within Hampshire
Portsmouth is located in the United Kingdom
Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Location within the United Kingdom
Portsmouth is located in England
Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Location within England
Portsmouth is located in Europe
Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Location in Europe
Coordinates: 50°48′21″N 01°05′14″W / 50.80583°N 1.08722°W / 50.80583; -1.08722Coordinates: 50°48′21″N 01°05′14″W / 50.80583°N 1.08722°W / 50.80583; -1.08722
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Country England
RegionSouth East England
Ceremonial county Hampshire
Government
 • TypeUnitary authority, city
 • Governing bodyPortsmouth City Council
 • LeadershipLeader & Cabinet
 • ExecutiveLiberal Democrat
 • MPsStephen Morgan (Labour, South)
Penny Mordaunt (Conservative, North)
Area
 • City and unitary authority40.25 km2 (15.54 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)
 • City and unitary authority208,100[1]
 • Urban
855,679
 • Metro
1,547,000 (2,021 estimate)[2]
 • Ethnicity
(United Kingdom Census 2011 estimate)[3]
84% White British
4.3% White Other
6.1% Asian
1.8% Black
2.7% Mixed
1.1% Other
Time zoneUTC+0 (GMT)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (Wednesday 8:30 am)
Postal code
Area code023
Vehicle registration area codesHK, HL, HM, HN, HP, HR, HS, HT, HU, HV, HX, HY
PoliceHampshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
FireHampshire
WebsitePortsmouth City Council

Portsmouth (/ˈpɔːrtsməθ/ (listen) PORTS-məth) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.

Portsmouth is the most densely populated city in the United Kingdom, with a population last recorded at 208,100.[4] Portsmouth is located 70 miles (110 km) south-west of London and 19 miles (31 km) south-east of Southampton. Portsmouth is mostly located on Portsea Island; the only English city not on the mainland of Great Britain. Portsea Island has the third highest population in the British Isles after the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. Portsmouth also forms part of the regional South Hampshire conurbation, which includes the city of Southampton and the boroughs of Eastleigh, Fareham, Gosport, Havant and Waterlooville.

Portsmouth's history can be traced to Roman times and has been a significant Royal Navy dockyard and base for centuries. Portsmouth was founded circa 1180 by Anglo-Norman merchant Jean de Gisors.[5] Around this time, de Gisors ordered the construction of a chapel dedicated to St Thomas Becket.[6] This became a parish church by the 14th century. Portsmouth was established as a town with a royal charter on 2 May 1194.[7][8]

Portsmouth was England's first line of defence during an attempted French invasion in 1545 at the Battle of the Solent, famously notable for the sinking of the carrack Mary Rose and witnessed by King Henry VIII of England from Southsea Castle. Portsmouth has the world's oldest dry dock, "The Great Stone Dock"; originally built in 1698, rebuilt in 1769 and presently known as "No.5 Dock".[9] The world's first mass production line was established at the naval base's Block Mills which produced pulley blocks for the Royal Navy fleet. By the early-19th century, Portsmouth was the most heavily fortified city in the world, and was considered "the world's greatest naval port" at the height of the British Empire throughout Pax Britannica. By 1859, a ring of defensive land and sea forts, known as the Palmerston Forts had been built around Portsmouth in anticipation of an invasion from continental Europe.

In the 20th century, Portsmouth achieved city status on 21 April 1926.[10] During the Second World War, the city was a pivotal embarkation point for the D-Day landings and was bombed extensively in the Portsmouth Blitz, which resulted in the deaths of 930 people. In 1982, a large Royal Navy task force departed from Portsmouth for the Falklands War. Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia was formerly based in Portsmouth and oversaw the transfer of Hong Kong in 1997, after which Britannia was retired from royal service, decommissioned and relocated to Leith as a museum ship.

HMNB Portsmouth is an operational Royal Navy base and is home to two-thirds of the UK's surface fleet. The base has long been nicknamed Pompey, a nickname it shares with the wider city of Portsmouth and Portsmouth Football Club. The naval base also contains the National Museum of the Royal Navy and Portsmouth Historic Dockyard; which has a collection of historic warships, including the Mary Rose, Lord Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory (the world's oldest naval ship still in commission), and HMS Warrior, the Royal Navy's first ironclad warship.

The former HMS Vernon shore establishment has been redeveloped into a large retail outlet destination known as Gunwharf Quays which opened in 2001. Portsmouth is among the few British cities with two cathedrals: the Anglican Cathedral of St Thomas and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John the Evangelist. The waterfront and Portsmouth Harbour are dominated by the Spinnaker Tower, one of the United Kingdom's tallest structures at 560 feet (170 m).

Southsea is Portsmouth's seaside resort, which was named after Southsea Castle. Southsea has two piers; Clarence Pier amusement park and South Parade Pier. The world's only regular hovercraft service operates from Southsea Hoverport to Ryde on the Isle of Wight. Southsea Common is a large open-air public recreation space which serves as a venue for a wide variety of annual events.

The city has several mainline railway stations that connect to London Victoria and London Waterloo amongst other lines in southern England. Portsmouth International Port is a commercial cruise ship and ferry port for international destinations. The port is the second busiest in the United Kingdom after Dover, handling around three million passengers a year. The city formerly had its own airport, Portsmouth Airport, until its closure in 1973. The University of Portsmouth enrols 23,000 students and is ranked among the world's best modern universities.

Portsmouth is the birthplace of notable people such as author Charles Dickens, engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, former Prime Minister James Callaghan, actor Peter Sellers and author-journalist Christopher Hitchens.

Discover more about Portsmouth related topics

City status in the United Kingdom

City status in the United Kingdom

City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the monarch of the United Kingdom to a select group of communities. As of 22 November 2022, there are 76 cities in the United Kingdom—55 in England, seven in Wales, eight in Scotland, and six in Northern Ireland. Although it carries no special rights, the status of city can be a marker of prestige and confer local pride.

British Isles

British Isles

The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, and over six thousand smaller islands. They have a total area of 315,159 km2 (121,684 sq mi) and a combined population of almost 72 million, and include two sovereign states, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Channel Islands, off the north coast of France, are normally taken to be part of the British Isles, even though they do not form part of the archipelago.

Eastleigh

Eastleigh

Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census.

Battle of the Solent

Battle of the Solent

The naval Battle of the Solent took place on 18 and 19 July 1545 during the Italian Wars between the fleets of Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England, in the Solent, between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The engagement was inconclusive, and is most notable for the sinking of the English carrack, Mary Rose.

Carrack

Carrack

A carrack is a three- or four-masted ocean-going sailing ship that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in Portugal. Evolved from the single-masted cog, the carrack was first used for European trade from the Mediterranean to the Baltic and quickly found use with the newly found wealth of the trade between Europe and Africa and then the trans-Atlantic trade with the Americas. In their most advanced forms, they were used by the Portuguese for trade between Europe and Asia starting in the late 15th century, before eventually being superseded in the 17th century by the galleon, introduced in the 16th century.

Dry dock

Dry dock

A dry dock is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, and repair of ships, boats, and other watercraft.

British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23 per cent of the world population at the time, and by 1920, it covered 35.5 million km2 (13.7 million sq mi), 24 per cent of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its constitutional, legal, linguistic, and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was described as "the empire on which the sun never sets", as the Sun was always shining on at least one of its territories.

Falklands War

Falklands War

The Falklands War was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The conflict began on 2 April, when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands, followed by the invasion of South Georgia the next day. On 5 April, the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with an Argentine surrender on 14 June, returning the islands to British control. In total, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel, and three Falkland Islanders were killed during the hostilities.

Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Portsmouth

Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Portsmouth

The Cathedral Church of St John the Evangelist is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Portsmouth, England. It is the mother church of the Portsmouth diocese and seat of the Bishop of Portsmouth, currently the Right Reverend Philip Egan. It was dedicated on 10 August 1882.

Clarence Pier

Clarence Pier

Clarence Pier is an amusement pier in Portsmouth, Hampshire. It is located next to Southsea Hoverport. Unlike most seaside piers in the UK, the pier does not extend very far out to sea and instead goes along the coast.

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today.

Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Eric Hitchens was a British American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, Hitchens worked as a journalist with the New Statesman magazine in London in the 1970s after completing his education at Oxford. In the early 1980s, he emigrated to the United States and wrote for The Nation and Vanity Fair.

History

Early history

The Romans built Portus Adurni, a fort, at nearby Portchester in the late third century.[11] The city's Old English Anglo-Saxon name, "Portesmuða", is derived from port (a haven) and muða (the mouth of a large river or estuary).[12] In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a warrior named Port and his two sons killed a noble Briton in Portsmouth in 501.[13] Winston Churchill, in A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, wrote that Port was a pirate who founded Portsmouth in 501.[14][15]

England's southern coast was vulnerable to Danish Viking invasions during the eighth and ninth centuries, and was conquered by Danish pirates in 787.[16] In 838, during the reign of Æthelwulf, King of Wessex, a Danish fleet landed between Portsmouth and Southampton and plundered the region.[17] Æthelwulf sent Wulfherd and the governor of Dorsetshire to confront the Danes at Portsmouth, where most of their ships were docked. Although the Danes were driven off, Wulfherd was killed.[17] The Danes returned in 1001 and pillaged Portsmouth and the surrounding area, threatening the English with extinction.[18][19] They were massacred by the English survivors the following year; rebuilding began, although the town experienced further attacks until 1066.[20]

Norman to Tudor

The Round Tower was built in 1418 to defend the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour.
The Round Tower was built in 1418 to defend the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour.

Although Portsmouth was not mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book, Bocheland (Buckland), Copenore (Copnor), and Frodentone (Fratton) were.[7] According to some sources, it was founded in 1180 by the Anglo-Norman merchant Jean de Gisors.[21]

King Henry II died in 1189; his son, Richard I (who had spent most of his life in France), arrived in Portsmouth en route to his coronation in London.[22] When Richard returned from captivity in Austria in May 1194, he summoned an army and a fleet of 100 ships to the port.[23] Richard gave Portsmouth market-town status with a royal charter on 2 May, authorising an annual fifteen-day free-market fair, weekly markets and a local court to deal with minor matters, and exempted its inhabitants from an £18 annual tax.[7][8] The 1194 royal charter's 800th anniversary was celebrated in 1994 with ceremonies at the city museum.

King John reaffirmed Richard I's rights and privileges, and established a permanent naval base. The first docks were begun by William of Wrotham in 1212,[7][23] and John summoned his earls, barons, and military advisers to plan an invasion of Normandy.[24] In 1229, declaring war against France, Henry III assembled a force described by historian Lake Allen as "one of the finest armies that had ever been raised in England".[25] The invasion stalled, and returned from France in October 1231.[26] Henry III summoned troops to invade Guienne in 1242, and Edward I sent supplies for his army in France in 1295.[27] Commercial interests had grown by the following century, and its exports included wool, corn, grain, and livestock.[28]

Edward II ordered all ports on the south coast to assemble their largest vessels at Portsmouth to carry soldiers and horses to the Duchy of Aquitaine in 1324 to strengthen defences.[29] A French fleet commanded by David II of Scotland attacked in the English Channel, ransacked the Isle of Wight and threatened the town. Edward III instructed all maritime towns to build vessels and raise troops to rendezvous at Portsmouth.[29] Two years later, a French fleet led by Nicholas Béhuchet raided Portsmouth and destroyed most of the town; only the stone-built church and hospital survived.[30][31] After the raid, Edward III exempted the town from national taxes to aid its reconstruction.[32] In 1377, shortly after Edward died, the French landed in Portsmouth. Although the town was plundered and burnt, its inhabitants drove the French off to raid towns in the West Country.[33]

Portsmouth c. 1540
Portsmouth c. 1540

Henry V built Portsmouth's first permanent fortifications. In 1416, a number of French ships blockaded the town (which housed ships which were set to invade Normandy); Henry gathered a fleet at Southampton, and invaded the Norman coast in August of that year.[34] Recognising the town's growing importance, he ordered a wooden Round Tower to be built at the mouth of the harbour; it was completed in 1426.[35] Henry VII rebuilt the fortifications with stone, assisted Robert Brygandine and Sir Reginald Bray in the construction of the world's first dry dock,[36] and raised the Square Tower in 1494.[35] He made Portsmouth a Royal Dockyard, England's only dockyard considered "national".[37] Although King Alfred may have used Portsmouth to build ships as early as the ninth century, the first warship recorded as constructed in the town was the Sweepstake (built in 1497).[38]

Henry VIII built Southsea Castle, financed by the Dissolution of the Monasteries, in 1539 in anticipation of a French invasion.[39][40] He also invested heavily in the town's dockyard, expanding it to 8 acres (3.2 ha).[41] Around this time, a Tudor defensive boom stretched from the Round Tower to Fort Blockhouse in Gosport to protect Portsmouth Harbour.[42]

From Southsea Castle, Henry witnessed his flagship =Mary Rose sink in action against the French fleet in the 1545 Battle of the Solent with the loss of about 500 lives.[43] Some historians believe that the Mary Rose turned too quickly and submerged her open gun ports; according to others, it sank due to poor design.[44] Portsmouth's fortifications were improved by successive monarchs. The town experienced an outbreak of plague in 1563, which killed about 300 of its 2,000 inhabitants.[21]

Stuart to Georgian

In 1623, Charles I (then Prince of Wales) returned to Portsmouth from France and Spain.[45] His unpopular military adviser, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, was stabbed to death in an Old Portsmouth pub by war veteran John Felton five years later.[7][46] Felton never attempted to escape, and was caught walking the streets when soldiers confronted him; he said, "I know that he is dead, for I had the force of forty men when I struck the blow".[47] Felton was hanged, and his body chained to a gibbet on Southsea Common as a warning to others.[21][47] The murder took place in the Greyhound public house on High Street, which is now Buckingham House and has a commemorative plaque.[48]

Most residents (including the mayor) supported the parliamentarians during the English Civil War, although military governor Colonel Goring supported the royalists.[21] The town, a base of the parliamentarian navy, was blockaded from the sea. Parliamentarian troops were sent to besiege it, and the guns of Southsea Castle were fired at the town's royalist garrison. Parliamentarians in Gosport joined the assault, damaging St Thomas's Church.[21][49] On 5 September 1642, the remaining royalists in the garrison at the Square Tower were forced to surrender after Goring threatened to blow it up; he and his garrison were allowed safe passage.[49][50]

Under the Commonwealth of England, Robert Blake used the harbour as his base during the First Anglo-Dutch War in 1652 and the Anglo-Spanish War. He died within sight of the town, returning from Cádiz.[50] After the end of the Civil War, Portsmouth was among the first towns to declare Charles II king and began to prosper.[51] The first ship built in over 100 years, HMS Portsmouth, was launched in 1650; twelve ships were built between 1650 and 1660. After the Restoration, Charles II married Catherine of Braganza at the Royal Garrison Church.[52][53] During the late 17th century, Portsmouth continued to grow; a new wharf was constructed in 1663 for military use, and a mast pond was dug in 1665. In 1684, a list of ships docked in Portsmouth was evidence of its increasing national importance.[54] Between 1667 and 1685, the town's fortifications were rebuilt; new walls were constructed with bastions and two moats were dug, making Portsmouth one of the world's most heavily fortified places.[21]

In 1759, General James Wolfe sailed to capture Quebec; the expedition, although successful, cost him his life. His body was brought back to Portsmouth in November, and received high naval and military honours.[55] Two years later, on 30 May 1775, Captain James Cook arrived on HMS Endeavour after circumnavigating the globe.[7][56] The 11-ship First Fleet left on 13 May 1787 to establish the first European colony in Australia, the beginning of prisoner transportation;[57][58] Captain William Bligh of HMS Bounty also sailed from the harbour that year.[7][59] After the 28 April 1789 mutiny on the Bounty, HMS Pandora was dispatched from Portsmouth to bring the mutineers back for trial. The court-martial opened on 12 September 1792 aboard HMS Duke in Portsmouth Harbour; of the ten remaining men, three were sentenced to death.[60][61] In 1789, a chapel was erected in Prince George's Street and was dedicated to St John by the Bishop of Winchester. Around this time, a bill was passed in the House of Commons on the creation of a canal to link Portsmouth to Chichester; however, the project was abandoned.[62]

The city's nickname, Pompey, is thought to have derived from the log entry of Portsmouth Point (contracted "Po'm.P." – Po'rtsmouth P.oint) as ships entered the harbour; navigational charts use the contraction.[63] According to one historian, the name may have been brought back from a group of Portsmouth-based sailors who visited Pompey's Pillar in Alexandria, Egypt, around 1781.[64] Another theory is that it is named after the harbour's guardship, Pompee, a 74-gun French ship of the line captured in 1793.[65]

Portsmouth's coat of arms is attested in the early 19th century as "azure a crescent or, surmounted by an estoile of eight points of the last."[66] Its design is apparently based on 18th-century mayoral seals.[67] A connection of the coat of arms with the Great Seal of Richard I (which had a separate star and crescent) dates to the 20th century.[68]

Industrial Revolution to Edwardian

HMS Warrior (launched in 1860) has been restored to its original Victorian condition.
HMS Warrior (launched in 1860) has been restored to its original Victorian condition.

Marc Isambard Brunel established the world's first mass-production line at Portsmouth Block Mills, making pulley blocks for rigging on the navy's ships.[69] The first machines were installed in January 1803, and the final set (for large blocks) in March 1805. In 1808, the mills produced 130,000 blocks.[70] By the turn of the 19th century, Portsmouth was the largest industrial site in the world; it had a workforce of 8,000, and an annual budget of £570,000.[71]

In 1805, Admiral Nelson left Portsmouth to command the fleet which defeated France and Spain at the Battle of Trafalgar.[7] The Royal Navy's reliance on Portsmouth led to its becoming the most fortified city in the world.[72] The Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron, tasked with halting the slave trade, began operating out of Portsmouth in 1808.[73] A network of forts, known as the Palmerston Forts, was built around the town as part of a programme led by Prime Minister Lord Palmerston to defend British military bases from an inland attack following an Anglo-French war scare in 1859. The forts were nicknamed "Palmerston's Follies" because their armaments were pointed inland and not out to sea.[74]

In April 1811, the Portsea Island Company constructed the first piped-water supply[75] to upper- and middle-class houses.[21] It supplied water to about 4,500 of Portsmouth's 14,000 houses, generating an income of £5,000 a year.[75] HMS Victory's active career ended in 1812, when she was moored in Portsmouth Harbour and used as a depot ship. The town of Gosport contributed £75 a year to the ship's maintenance.[76] In 1818, John Pounds began teaching working-class children in the country's first ragged school.[77][78] The Portsea Improvement Commissioners installed gas street lighting throughout Portsmouth in 1820,[7] followed by Old Portsmouth three years later.[21]

During the 19th century, Portsmouth expanded across Portsea Island. Buckland was merged into the town by the 1860s, and Fratton and Stamshaw were incorporated by the next decade. Between 1865 and 1870, the council built sewers after more than 800 people died in a cholera epidemic; according to a by-law, any house within 100 feet (30 m) of a sewer had to be connected to it.[7] By 1871 the population had risen to 100,000,[21] and the national census listed Portsmouth's population as 113,569.[7] A working-class suburb was constructed in the 1870s, when about 1,820 houses were built, and it became Somerstown.[7] Despite public-health improvements, 514 people died in an 1872 smallpox epidemic.[7] On 21 December of that year, the Challenger expedition embarked on a 68,890-nautical-mile (127,580 km) circumnavigation of the globe for scientific research.[79][80]

When the British Empire was at its height of power, covering a quarter of Earth's total land area and 458 million people at the turn of the 20th century, Portsmouth was considered "the world's greatest naval port".[81] In 1900, Portsmouth Dockyard employed 8,000 people – a figure which increased to 23,000 during the First World War.[21][82] The whole of Portsea Island came united under the control of Portsmouth borough council in 1904.[83]

1913 terrorist attack

A fire started by suffragettes at the semaphore tower, Portsmouth dockyard, in December 1913 killed 2 men
A fire started by suffragettes at the semaphore tower, Portsmouth dockyard, in December 1913 killed 2 men

A major terrorist incident occurred in the city in 1913, which led to the deaths of two men. During the suffragette bombing and arson campaign of 1912–1914, militant suffragettes of the Women's Social and Political Union carried out a series of politically motivated bombing and arson attacks nationwide as part of their campaign for women's suffrage.[84] In one of the more serious suffragette attacks, a fire was purposely started at Portsmouth dockyard on 20 December 1913, in which two sailors were killed after it spread through the industrial area.[85][86][87] The fire spread rapidly as there were many old wooden buildings in the area, including the historic semaphore tower which dated back to the eighteenth century, which was completely destroyed.[86] The damage to the dockyard area cost the city £200,000 in damages, equivalent to £23,600,000 today.[86] In the midst of the firestorm, a battleship, HMS Queen Mary, had to be towed to safety to avoid the flames.[86] The two victims were a pensioner and a signalman.[86]

The attack was notable enough to be reported on in the press in the United States, with the New York Times reporting on the disaster two days after with the headline "Big Portsmouth Fire Loss".[85] The report also disclosed that at a previous police raid on a suffragette headquarters, "papers were discovered disclosing a plan to fire the yard".[85]

First and Second World Wars

George VI inspecting the crew of the HNoMS Draug in Portsmouth during the Second World War
George VI inspecting the crew of the HNoMS Draug in Portsmouth during the Second World War

On 1 October 1916, Portsmouth was bombed by a Zeppelin airship.[88] Although the Oberste Heeresleitung (German Supreme Army Command) said that the town was "lavishly bombarded with good results", there were no reports of bombs dropped in the area.[89] According to another source, the bombs were mistakenly dropped into the harbour rather than the dockyard.[88] About 1,200 ships were refitted in the dockyard during the war, making it one of the empire's most strategic ports at the time.[82]

Portsmouth's boundaries were extended onto the mainland of Great Britain between 1920 and 1932 by incorporating Paulsgrove, Wymering, Cosham, Drayton and Farlington into Portsmouth.[83] Portsmouth was granted city status in 1926 after a long campaign by the borough council.[83] The application was made on the grounds that it was the "first naval port of the kingdom".[90] In 1929, the city council added the motto "Heaven's Light Our Guide" to the medieval coat of arms. Except for the celestial objects in the arms, the motto was that of the Star of India and referred to the troopships bound for British India which left from the port.[91] The crest and supporters are based on those of the royal arms, but altered to show the city's maritime connections: the lions and unicorn have fish tails, and a naval crown and a representation of the Tudor defensive boom which stretched across Portsmouth Harbour are around the unicorn.[42][91]

During the Second World War, the city (particularly the port) was bombed extensively by the Luftwaffe in the Portsmouth Blitz.[7] Portsmouth experienced 67 air raids between July 1940 and May 1944, which destroyed 6,625 houses and severely damaged 6,549.[21] The air raids caused 930 deaths and wounded almost 3,000 people,[92][93] many in the dockyard and military establishments.[94] On the night of the city's heaviest raid (10 January 1941), the Luftwaffe dropped 140 tonnes of high-explosive bombs which killed 171 people and left 3,000 homeless.[95] Many of the city's houses were damaged, and areas of Landport and Old Portsmouth destroyed; the future site of Gunwharf Quays was razed to the ground.[96] The Guildhall was hit by an incendiary bomb which burnt out the interior and destroyed its inner walls,[97] although the civic plate was retrieved unharmed from the vault under the front steps.[92] After the raid, Portsmouth mayor Denis Daley wrote for the Evening News:

We are bruised but we are not daunted, and we are still as determined as ever to stand side by side with other cities who have felt the blast of the enemy, and we shall, with them, persevere with an unflagging spirit towards a conclusive and decisive victory.

— Sir Denis Daley, January 1941[98]

Portsmouth Harbour was a vital military embarkation point for the 6 June 1944 D-Day landings. Southwick House, just north of the city, was the headquarters of Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower.[99][100] A V-1 flying bomb hit Newcomen Road on 15 July 1944, killing 15 people.[21]

1945 to present

Much of the city's housing stock was damaged during the war. The wreckage was cleared in an attempt to improve housing quality after the war; before permanent accommodations could be built, Portsmouth City Council built prefabs for those who had lost their homes. More than 700 prefab houses were constructed between 1945 and 1947, some over bomb sites.[21] The first permanent houses were built away from the city centre, in new developments such as Paulsgrove and Leigh Park;[101][102] construction of council estates in Paulsgrove was completed in 1953. The first Leigh Park housing estates were completed in 1949, although construction in the area continued until 1974.[21] Builders still occasionally find unexploded bombs, such as on the site of the destroyed Hippodrome Theatre in 1984.[103] Despite efforts by the city council to build new housing, a 1955 survey indicated that 7,000 houses in Portsmouth were unfit for human habitation. A controversial decision was made to replace a section of the central city, including Landport, Somerstown and Buckland, with council housing during the 1960s and early 1970s. The success of the project and the quality of its housing are debatable.[21]

Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia in Portsmouth Harbour during the 50th anniversary of the D-Day Landings in 1994. The masts of HMS Victory can be seen in the background.
Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia in Portsmouth Harbour during the 50th anniversary of the D-Day Landings in 1994. The masts of HMS Victory can be seen in the background.

Portsmouth was affected by the decline of the British Empire in the second half of the 20th century. Shipbuilding jobs fell from 46 percent of the workforce in 1951 to 14 per cent in 1966, drastically reducing manpower in the dockyard. The city council attempted to create new work; an industrial estate was built in Fratton in 1948, and others were built at Paulsgrove and Farlington during the 1950s and 1960s.[21] Although traditional industries such as brewing and corset manufacturing disappeared during this time, electrical engineering became a major employer. Despite the cutbacks in traditional sectors, Portsmouth remained attractive to industry. Zurich Insurance Group moved their UK headquarters to the city in 1968, and IBM relocated their European headquarters in 1979.[21] Portsmouth's population had dropped from about 200,000 to 177,142 by the end of the 1960s.[104] Defence Secretary John Nott decided in the early 1980s that of the four home dockyards, Portsmouth and Chatham would be closed. The city council won a concession, however, and the dockyard was downgraded instead to a naval base.[105]

On 2 April 1982, Argentine forces invaded two British territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The British government's response was to dispatch a naval task force, and the aircraft carriers HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible sailed from Portsmouth for the South Atlantic on 5 April. The successful outcome of the war reaffirmed Portsmouth's significance as a naval port and its importance to the defence of British interests.[106] In January 1997, Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia embarked from the city on her final voyage to oversee the handover of Hong Kong; for many, this marked the end of the empire.[107][108] She was decommissioned on 11 December of that year at Portsmouth Naval Base in the presence of Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh, and twelve senior members of the royal family.[109][110]

Redevelopment of the naval shore establishment HMS Vernon began in 2001 as a complex of retail outlets, clubs, pubs, and a shopping centre known as Gunwharf Quays.[21] Construction of the 552-foot-tall (168 m) Spinnaker Tower, sponsored by the National Lottery, began at Gunwharf Quays in 2003.[111] The Tricorn Centre, called "the ugliest building in the UK" by the BBC, was demolished in late 2004 after years of debate over the expense of demolition and whether it was worth preserving as an example of 1960s brutalist architecture.[112][113] Designed by Owen Luder as part of a project to "revitalise" Portsmouth in the 1960s, it consisted of a shopping centre, market, nightclubs, and a multistorey car park.[114] Portsmouth celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar in 2005, with Queen Elizabeth II present at a fleet review and a mock battle.[21] The naval base is home to two-thirds of Britain's surface fleet.[115]

Discover more about History related topics

History of Portsmouth

History of Portsmouth

Portsmouth is an island port city situated on Portsea Island in the county of Hampshire, England. Its history has been influenced by its association with the sea, and its proximity to London, and mainland Europe.

Castra

Castra

In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the Latin word castrum, plural castra, was a military-related term.

Old English

Old English

Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century, and the first Old English literary works date from the mid-7th century. After the Norman conquest of 1066, English was replaced, for a time, by Anglo-Norman as the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English era, since during this period the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into a phase known now as Middle English in England and Early Scots in Scotland.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great. Multiple copies were made of that one original and then distributed to monasteries across England, where they were independently updated. In one case, the Chronicle was still being actively updated in 1154.

A History of the English-Speaking Peoples

A History of the English-Speaking Peoples

A History of the English-Speaking Peoples is a four-volume history of Britain and its former colonies and possessions throughout the world, written by Winston Churchill, covering the period from Caesar's invasions of Britain to the end of the Second Boer War (1902). It was started in 1937 and finally published 1956–1958, delayed several times by war and his work on other texts. The volumes have been abridged into a single-volume, concise edition.

Dorset

Dorset

Dorset is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of 2,653 square kilometres (1,024 sq mi), Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, and Hampshire to the east. The county town is Dorchester, in the south. After the reorganisation of local government in 1974, the county border was extended eastward to incorporate the Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch. Around half of the population lives in the South East Dorset conurbation, while the rest of the county is largely rural with a low population density.

Battle of Stamford Bridge

Battle of Stamford Bridge

The Battle of Stamford Bridge took place at the village of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, in England, on 25 September 1066, between an English army under King Harold Godwinson and an invading Norwegian force led by King Harald Hardrada and the English king's brother Tostig Godwinson. After a bloody battle, both Hardrada and Tostig, along with most of the Norwegians, were killed. Although Harold Godwinson repelled the Norwegian invaders, his army was defeated by the Normans at Hastings less than three weeks later. The battle has traditionally been presented as symbolising the end of the Viking Age, although major Scandinavian campaigns in Britain and Ireland occurred in the following decades, such as those of King Sweyn Estrithson of Denmark in 1069–1070 and King Magnus Barefoot of Norway in 1098 and 1102–1103.

Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by the Latin name Liber de Wintonia, meaning "Book of Winchester", where it was originally kept in the royal treasury. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in 1085 the king sent his agents to survey every shire in England, to list his holdings and dues owed to him.

Buckland, Portsmouth

Buckland, Portsmouth

Buckland is a residential area in the city of Portsmouth in the English county of Hampshire.

Copnor

Copnor

Copnor is an area of Portsmouth, England, located on the eastern side of Portsea Island. The population of Copnor Ward at the 2011 Census was 13,608. As Copenore, it was one of the three villages listed as being on Portsea Island in the Domesday book.

Fratton

Fratton

Fratton is a residential and formerly industrial area of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England. Victorian style terraced houses are dominant in the area, typical of most residential areas of Portsmouth. Fratton has many discount shops and "greasy spoon" cafes, as well as the Bridge Centre shopping centre containing an Asda.

Jean de Gisors

Jean de Gisors

Jean de Gisors (1133–1220) was a Norman lord of the fortress of Gisors in Normandy, where meetings were traditionally convened between English and French kings. It was here, in 1188, a squabble occurred that involved the cutting of an elm.

Geography

Aerial view of Portsmouth and Portsmouth Harbour
Aerial view of Portsmouth and Portsmouth Harbour
England population density and low elevation coastal zones. Portsmouth is particularly vulnerable to sea level rise.
England population density and low elevation coastal zones. Portsmouth is particularly vulnerable to sea level rise.

Portsmouth is 73.5 miles (118.3 km) by road from central London, 49.5 miles (79.7 km) west of Brighton, and 22.3 miles (35.9 km) east of Southampton.[116] It is located primarily on Portsea Island and is the United Kingdom's only island city, although the city has expanded to the mainland.[117] Gosport is a borough to the west.[116] Portsea Island is separated from the mainland by Portsbridge Creek,[118] which is crossed by three road bridges (the M275 motorway, the A3 road, and the A2030 road), a railway bridge, and two footbridges.[119] Portsea Island, part of the Hampshire Basin,[120] is low-lying; most of the island is less than 3 metres (9.8 ft) above sea level.[121][122] The island's highest natural elevation is the Kingston Cross road junction, at 21 feet (6.4 m) above ordinary spring tide.[123]

Old Portsmouth, the original town, is in the south-west part of the island and includes Portsmouth Point (nicknamed Spice Island).[124] The main channel entering Portsmouth Harbour, west of the island,[118] passes between Old Portsmouth and Gosport.[116] Portsmouth Harbour has a series of lakes, including Fountain Lake (near the commercial port), Portchester Lake (south central), Paulsgrove Lake (north), Brick Kiln Lake and Tipner (east), and Bombketch and Spider Lakes (west). Further northwest, around Portchester, are Wicor, Cams, and Great Cams Lakes.[116] The large tidal inlet of Langstone Harbour is east of the island. The Farlington Marshes, in the north off the coast of Farlington, is a 125 hectares (310 acres) grazing marsh and saline lagoon. One of the oldest local reserves in the county, built from reclaimed land in 1771, it provides a habitat for migratory wildfowl and waders.[125]

Portsea Island and Hayling Island
Portsea Island and Hayling Island

South of Portsmouth are Spithead, the Solent, and the Isle of Wight. Its southern coast was fortified by the Round Tower, the Square Tower, Southsea Castle, Lumps Fort and Fort Cumberland.[126] Four sea forts were built in the Solent by Lord Palmerston: Spitbank Fort, St Helens Fort, Horse Sand Fort and No Man's Land Fort.

The resort of Southsea is on the central southern shoreline of Portsea Island,[127] and Eastney is east.[128] Eastney Lake covered nearly 170 acres (69 hectares) in 1626.[129] North of Eastney is the residential Milton and an area of reclaimed land known as Milton Common (formerly Milton Lake),[116] a "flat scrubby land with a series of freshwater lakes".[130] Further north on the east coast is Baffins, with the Great Salterns recreation ground and golf course around Portsmouth College.[116]

The Hilsea Lines are a series of defunct fortifications on the island's north coast, bordering Portsbridge Creek and the mainland.[131][132] Portsdown Hill dominates the skyline in the north, and contains several large Palmerston Forts[a] such as Fort Fareham, Fort Wallington, Fort Nelson, Fort Southwick, Fort Widley, and Fort Purbrook.[126][133] Portsdown Hill is a large band of chalk; the rest of Portsea Island is composed of layers of London Clay and sand (part of the Bagshot Formation), formed principally during the Eocene.[134]

Northern areas of the city include Stamshaw, Hilsea and Copnor, Cosham, Drayton, Farlington, Paulsgrove and Port Solent.[135] Other districts include North End and Fratton.[136][137] The west of the city contains council estates, such as Buckland, Landport, and Portsea, which replaced Victorian terraces destroyed by Second World War bombing.[21] After the war, the 2,000-acre (810 ha) Leigh Park estate was built to address the chronic housing shortage during post-war reconstruction.[101] Although the estate has been under the jurisdiction of Havant Borough Council since the early 2000s, Portsmouth City Council remains its landlord (the borough's largest landowner).[102]

The city's main station, Portsmouth and Southsea railway station,[138] is in the city centre near the Guildhall and the civic offices.[92][139] South of the Guildhall is Guildhall Walk, with a number of pubs and clubs.[140] The city's other railway station, Portsmouth Harbour railway station, is located on a pier at the harbour's edge, near Old Portsmouth.[141] Edinburgh Road contains the city's Roman Catholic cathedral and Victoria Park, a 15-acre (6.1 ha) park which opened in 1878.[142]

South-facing panorama of Portsmouth from Portsdown Hill. Langstone Harbour and Hayling Island are on the left, and Portsmouth Harbour is on the right.
South-facing panorama of Portsmouth from Portsdown Hill. Langstone Harbour and Hayling Island are on the left, and Portsmouth Harbour is on the right.

Climate

Portsmouth has a mild oceanic climate, with more sunshine than most of the British Isles.[143] Frosts are light and short-lived and snow quite rare in winter, with temperatures rarely dropping below freezing.[121] The average maximum temperature in January is 10 °C (50 °F), and the average minimum is 5 °C (41 °F). The lowest recorded temperature is −8 °C (18 °F).[144] In summer, temperatures sometimes reach 30 °C (86 °F). The average maximum temperature in July is 22 °C (72 °F), and the average minimum is 15 °C (59 °F). The highest recorded temperature is 35 °C (95 °F).[144] The city gets about 645 millimetres (25.4 in) of rain annually, with a minimum of 1 mm (0.04 in) of rain reported 103 days per year.[145]

Climate data for Solent MRSC weather station, Lee-on-Solent, elevation: 9 metres (30 feet) (1991–2020)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 8.56
(47.41)
8.74
(47.73)
11.01
(51.82)
13.94
(57.09)
17.07
(62.73)
19.59
(67.26)
21.62
(70.92)
21.6
(70.9)
19.38
(66.88)
15.73
(60.31)
11.88
(53.38)
9.17
(48.51)
14.89
(58.80)
Average low °C (°F) 3.77
(38.79)
3.77
(38.79)
4.75
(40.55)
6.57
(43.83)
9.54
(49.17)
12.42
(54.36)
14.49
(58.08)
14.6
(58.3)
12.43
(54.37)
9.84
(49.71)
6.56
(43.81)
4.25
(39.65)
8.58
(47.44)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 73.86
(2.91)
52.32
(2.06)
45.44
(1.79)
41.45
(1.63)
41.06
(1.62)
48.25
(1.90)
48.30
(1.90)
55.74
(2.19)
53.27
(2.10)
83.40
(3.28)
90.78
(3.57)
89.61
(3.53)
723.48
(28.48)
Average precipitation days 11.6 9.6 8.3 8.3 7.1 6.9 7.0 7.3 8.7 10.5 11.2 12.2 108.6
Source: Met Office[146]
Climate data for Southsea, Portsmouth 1976–2005
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 9.6
(49.3)
8.8
(47.8)
10.6
(51.1)
13.4
(56.1)
16.8
(62.2)
19.4
(66.9)
21.8
(71.2)
21.8
(71.2)
19.3
(66.7)
15.8
(60.4)
12.0
(53.6)
10.0
(50.0)
14.9
(58.9)
Average low °C (°F) 5.1
(41.2)
4.3
(39.7)
5.4
(41.7)
6.4
(43.5)
9.6
(49.3)
12.3
(54.1)
15.0
(59.0)
15.0
(59.0)
12.8
(55.0)
10.9
(51.6)
7.5
(45.5)
5.9
(42.6)
9.2
(48.5)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 65
(2.6)
50
(2.0)
52
(2.0)
42
(1.7)
28
(1.1)
40
(1.6)
32
(1.3)
43
(1.7)
62
(2.4)
81
(3.2)
72
(2.8)
80
(3.1)
647
(25.5)
Average rainy days 11.2 9.5 8.3 7.6 6.5 7.4 5.4 6.6 8.5 10.9 10.3 11.2 103.4
Mean monthly sunshine hours 67.9 89.6 132.7 200.5 240.8 247.6 261.8 240.7 172.9 121.8 82.3 60.5 1,919.1
Percent possible sunshine 26 31 36 49 51 51 54 54 46 38 31 25 41
Source 1: [145]
Source 2: BADC[147]
Average sea temperature[148]
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
9.6 °C (49.3 °F) 9.1 °C (48.4 °F) 8.7 °C (47.7 °F) 9.8 °C (49.6 °F) 11.4 °C (52.5 °F) 13.4 °C (56.1 °F) 15.2 °C (59.4 °F) 16.7 °C (62.1 °F) 17.2 °C (63.0 °F) 16.2 °C (61.2 °F) 14.3 °C (57.7 °F) 11.8 °C (53.2 °F) 12.1 °C (53.8 °F)

Discover more about Geography related topics

Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located 47 mi (76 km) south of London.

Gosport

Gosport

Gosport is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2021 Census, its population was 81,952. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite the city of Portsmouth, to which it is linked by the Gosport Ferry. Gosport lies south-east of Fareham, to which it is linked by a Bus Rapid Transit route and the A32. Until the last quarter of the 20th century, Gosport was a major naval town associated with the defence and supply infrastructure of His Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) Portsmouth. As such over the years extensive fortifications were created.

M275 motorway

M275 motorway

The M275 is a 2-mile (3.2 km) long, dual three-lane motorway in Hampshire, southern England. It is the principal road route for entering and leaving Portsmouth. It continues as the A3 into Portsmouth, and meets the M27 at its northern terminus. From the motorway, there are scenic views over Portsmouth harbour, and the Sails of the South between the two carriageways.

A3 road

A3 road

The A3, known as the Portsmouth Road or London Road in sections, is a major road connecting the City of London and Portsmouth passing close to Kingston upon Thames, Guildford, Haslemere and Petersfield. For much of its 67-mile (108 km) length, it is classified as a trunk road and therefore managed by National Highways. Almost all of the road has been built to dual carriageway standards or wider. Apart from bypass sections in London, the road travels in a southwest direction and, after Liss, south-southwest.

A2030 road

A2030 road

The A2030 is a road in Hampshire. The road starts off at junction 5 of the A3(M), near the village of Bedhampton. The road then runs west along the base of Portsdown Hill, following the old route of the A27 into Portsmouth until it reaches the Drayton area. This section of road is called Havant Road.

Hampshire Basin

Hampshire Basin

The Hampshire Basin is a geological basin of Palaeogene age in southern England, underlying parts of Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Dorset, and Sussex. Like the London Basin to the northeast, it is filled with sands and clays of Paleocene and younger ages and it is surrounded by a broken rim of chalk hills of Cretaceous age.

Height above sea level

Height above sea level

Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric heights.

Langstone Harbour

Langstone Harbour

Langstone Harbour is a 2,085.4-hectare (5,153-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Hampshire. It is an inlet of the English Channel in Hampshire, sandwiched between Portsea Island to the south and west, Hayling Island to the south and east, and Langstone to the north. It is part of Chichester and Langstone Harbours Ramsar site, Special Protection Area and Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. Parts of it are in Solent Maritime and Solent and Isle of Wight Lagoons Special Areas of Conservation. Three areas are Local Nature Reserves, Farlington Marshes West Hayling and The Kench, Hayling Island. Two areas are nature reserves managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, Farlington Marshes and Southmoor Nature Reserve

Farlington Marshes

Farlington Marshes

Farlington Marshes is a 119.7-hectare (296-acre) Local Nature Reserve in Portsmouth in Hampshire. It is owned by Portsmouth City Council and managed by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. It is part of Langstone Harbour, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. It is also part of Solent Maritime Special Area of Conservation and of Chichester and Langstone Harbours Ramsar site and Special Protection Area.

Farlington, Hampshire

Farlington, Hampshire

Farlington is a primarily residential district of the city of Portsmouth in the county of Hampshire, England. It is located in the extreme north east of the city on the mainland and is not on Portsea Island unlike most of the other areas of Portsmouth. Farlington was incorporated into the city in 1932 and now forms a continuous development with Cosham and Drayton. To the north of Farlington is the suburb of Widley and to the east is the town of Havant. To the west is the suburb of Drayton, and to the south is Langstone Harbour.

Grazing marsh

Grazing marsh

Grazing marsh is a British Isles term for flat, marshy grassland in polders. It consists of large grass fields separated by fresh or brackish ditches, and is often important for its wildlife.

Local nature reserve

Local nature reserve

Local nature reserve (LNR) is a statutory designation for certain nature reserves in Great Britain. The Wild Life Conservation Special Committee established the and proposed a national suite of protected areas comprising national nature reserves, conservation areas, national parks, geological monuments, local nature reserves and local educational nature reserves.

Demographics

Population pyramid of Portsmouth (unitary authority) in 2020
Population pyramid of Portsmouth (unitary authority) in 2020

Portsmouth is the only city in the United Kingdom whose population density exceeds that of London.[149][150][151][152] In the 2021 census, the city had 208,100 residents.[4] The city used to be even more densely populated, with the 1951 census showing a population of 233,545.[153][154] In a reversal of that decrease, its population has been gradually increasing since the 1990s.[155] With about 860,000 residents, South Hampshire is the fifth-largest urban area in England and the largest in South-East England outside London; it is the centre of one of the United Kingdom's most-populous metropolitan areas.[156]

The city is predominantly white (91.8% of the population).[157] However, Portsmouth's long association with the Royal Navy ensures some diversity.[158] Some large, well-established non-white communities have their roots in the Royal Navy, particularly the Chinese community from British Hong Kong.[158][159] Portsmouth's long industrial history with the Royal Navy has drawn many people from across the British Isles (particularly Irish Catholics) to its factories and docks.[160][b] According to the 2011 census, Portsmouth's population was 84% White British, 3.8% other White, 1.3& Chinese, 1.4% Indian, 0.5% mixed race, 1.8% Bangladeshi, 0.5% other, 1.4% Black African, 0.5% white Irish, 1.3% other Asian, 0.3% Pakistani, 0.3% Black Caribbean and 0.1% other Black.[163][164]

Population growth in Portsmouth since 1310[165]
Year 1310 1560 1801 1851 1901 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011 2021
Population 740 (est) 1000 (est) 32,160 72,096 188,133 233,545 215,077 197,431 175,382 177,142 186,700 205,400 208,100

Ethnicity

Ethnic Group Year
1991[166] 2001[167] 2011[168] 2021[169]
Number % Number % Number % Number %
White: Total 170,210 97.3% 176,882 94.7% 181,182 88.4% 177,277 85.3%
White: British 171,510 91.9% 172,313 84% 161,664 77.7%
White: Irish 1,339 1,071 1,066 0.5%
White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller 85 118 0.1%
White: Roma 324 0.2%
White: Other 4,033 7,713 14,105 6.8%
Asian or Asian British: Total 2,879 1.6% 6,162 3.3% 12,474 6.1% 14,370 6.9%
Asian or Asian British: Indian 702 1,320 2,911 3,104 1.5%
Asian or Asian British: Pakistani 68 215 539 6,03 0.3%
Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi 1046 2,522 3,649 4,742 2.3%
Asian or Asian British: Chinese 725 0.4% 1,607 2,611 2,116 1.0%
Asian or Asian British: Other Asian 338 498 2,764 3,805 1.8%
Black or Black British: Total 778 0.4% 942 0.5% 3,777 1.8% 7,070 3.5%
Black or Black British: Caribbean 175 219 540 5,369 2.6%
Black or Black British: African 246 601 2,958 950 0.5%
Black or Black British: Other Black 357 122 279 751 0.4%
Mixed or British Mixed: Total 1,859 1% 5,467 2.7% 5,487 2.6%
Mixed: White and Black Caribbean 414 1,103 1,176 0.6%
Mixed: White and Black African 235 935 1,244 0.6%
Mixed: White and Asian 560 2,381 1,540 0.7%
Mixed: Other Mixed 650 1,048 1,527 0.7%
Other: Total 830 0.5% 856 0.5% 2,156 1.1% 3,797 1.8%
Other: Arab 1,078 1,007 0.5%
Other: Any other ethnic group 830 856 1,078 2,790 1.3%
Total 174,697 100% 186,701 100% 205,056 100% 208,001 100%

Discover more about Demographics related topics

London

London

London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as Londinium and retains its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which since 1965 has largely comprised Greater London, which is governed by 33 local authorities and the Greater London Authority.

2021 United Kingdom census

2021 United Kingdom census

The 2021 United Kingdom census is the 23rd official census of the United Kingdom. Beginning in 1801, they have been recorded every 10 years. The decadal 2021 censuses of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland took place on 21 March 2021, and the census of Scotland took place 365 days later on 20 March 2022. The censuses were administered by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in England and Wales, by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) in Northern Ireland, and by the National Records of Scotland in Scotland. These were the first British censuses for which most of the data was gathered online. Two of them went ahead despite the COVID-19 pandemic, in part because the information obtained would assist government and public understanding of the pandemic's impact. The census-taking in Scotland was postponed, and took place in 2022 because of the pandemic.

List of urban areas in the United Kingdom

List of urban areas in the United Kingdom

This is a list of the most populous urban areas in the United Kingdom based on the 2011 census, as defined by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

ESPON metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom

ESPON metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom

A metropolitan area is generally defined as consisting of an urban area, conurbation or agglomeration, together with the surrounding area to which it is closely economically and socially integrated through commuting.

Chinese people

Chinese people

The Chinese people or simply Chinese, are people or ethnic groups identified with China, usually through ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, or other affiliation.

British Hong Kong

British Hong Kong

Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the British occupation of Hong Kong Island in 1841, during the First Opium War between the British and the Qing dynasty. The Qing had wanted to enforce its prohibition of opium importation within the dynasty that was being exported mostly from British India, as it was causing widespread addiction among its populace.

British Chinese

British Chinese

British Chinese are people of Chinese – particularly Han Chinese – ancestry who reside in the United Kingdom, constituting the second-largest group of Overseas Chinese in Western Europe after France.

British Indians

British Indians

British Indians are citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) whose ancestral roots are from India. This includes people born in the UK who are of Indian origin as well as Indians who have migrated to the UK. Today, Indians comprise about 1.4 million people in the UK, making them the single largest visible ethnic minority population in the country. They make up the largest subgroup of British Asians and are one of the largest Indian communities in the Indian diaspora, mainly due to the Indian–British relations. The British Indian community is the sixth largest in the Indian diaspora, behind the Indian communities in the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Nepal. The majority of British Indians are of Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali and Malayali descent, with smaller Tamil, Telugu, Konkani, and Marathi communities.

Mixed (United Kingdom ethnicity category)

Mixed (United Kingdom ethnicity category)

Mixed is an ethnic group category that was first introduced by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics for the 2001 Census. Colloquially it refers to British citizens or residents whose parents are of two or more different races or ethnic backgrounds. The Mixed or Multiple ethnic group in England and Wales numbered 1.7 million in the 2021 census, 2.9% of the population.

2001 United Kingdom census

2001 United Kingdom census

A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194.

Black British people

Black British people

Black British people are a multi-ethnic group of British citizens of either African or Afro-Caribbean descent. The term Black British developed in the 1950s, referring to the Black British West Indian people from the former Caribbean British colonies in the West Indies now referred to as the Windrush Generation and people from Africa, who are residents of the United Kingdom and are British.

British Pakistanis

British Pakistanis

British Pakistanis are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes people born in the UK who are of Pakistani descent, Pakistani-born people who have migrated to the UK and those of Pakistani origin from overseas who migrated to the UK.

Government and politics

The neo-classical Portsmouth Guildhall and surrounding civic offices are the centre of government.
The neo-classical Portsmouth Guildhall and surrounding civic offices are the centre of government.
The 14 electoral wards of Portsmouth
The 14 electoral wards of Portsmouth

The city is administered by Portsmouth City Council, a unitary authority which is responsible for local affairs. Portsmouth was granted its first market town charter in 1194.[170] In 1904, its boundaries were extended to all of Portsea Island and were later expanded onto the mainland of Great Britain between 1920 and 1932 by incorporating Paulsgrove, Wymering, Cosham, Drayton and Farlington into Portsmouth.[171] Portsmouth was granted city status on 21 April 1926.[171]

On 1 April 1974, it formed the second tier of local government (below Hampshire County Council);[172] Portsmouth and Southampton became administratively independent of Hampshire with the creation of the unitary authority on 1 April 1997.[173]

The city is divided into two parliamentary constituencies, Portsmouth South and Portsmouth North, represented in the House of Commons by Stephen Morgan of the Labour Party and Penny Mordaunt of the Conservative Party respectively.[174] The two Parliamentary constituencies each contain 7 electoral wards, giving an overall total of 14 electoral wards. Portsmouth's inner city centre is located in the Portsmouth South constituency.

Portsmouth City Council has 14 electoral wards, each ward returns three councillors, making 42 in total.[175] Each councillor serves a four-year term.[176] After the May 2018 local elections, the Liberal Democrats formed a minority administration, they have run the city since then. The leader of the council is the Liberal Democrat, Gerald Vernon-Jackson. The lord mayor usually has a one-year term.[177]

The council is based in the civic offices, which house the tax support, housing-benefits, resident-services, and municipal-functions departments.[178] They are in Guildhall Square, with the Portsmouth Guildhall and Portsmouth Central Library. The Guildhall, a symbol of Portsmouth, is a cultural venue. It was designed by Leeds-based architect William Hill, who began it in the neo-classical style in 1873 at a cost of £140,000.[98][179] It was opened to the public in 1890.[180]

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Portsmouth Guildhall

Portsmouth Guildhall

Portsmouth Guildhall is a multi-use building in the centre of Portsmouth, UK, located on a pedestrian square close to the Portsmouth and Southsea railway station. Constructed in 1890, the building was known as Portsmouth Town Hall until 1926. It was heavily damaged by bombing during the Second World War and largely rebuilt during the 1950s by the English architect Ernest Berry Webber. It now operates as a concert, wedding and conference venue. It is a Grade II listed building.

Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council is the local authority of the city of Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services including Council Tax billing, libraries, social services, processing planning applications, waste collection and disposal, and it is a local education authority.

Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km2 (80,823 sq mi), it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is dominated by a maritime climate with narrow temperature differences between seasons. The 60% smaller island of Ireland is to the west—these islands, along with over 1,000 smaller surrounding islands and named substantial rocks, form the British Isles archipelago.

Cosham

Cosham

Cosham is a northern suburb of Portsmouth lying within the city boundary but off Portsea Island. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 along with Drayton and Wymering (mainland) and Bocheland (Buckland), Frodington (Fratton) and Copenore (Copnor) on the island.

Drayton, Hampshire

Drayton, Hampshire

Drayton is a residential area of the city of Portsmouth in the English county of Hampshire. Together with Farlington, its parent area, it makes up one of the electoral wards of the city.

Farlington, Hampshire

Farlington, Hampshire

Farlington is a primarily residential district of the city of Portsmouth in the county of Hampshire, England. It is located in the extreme north east of the city on the mainland and is not on Portsea Island unlike most of the other areas of Portsmouth. Farlington was incorporated into the city in 1932 and now forms a continuous development with Cosham and Drayton. To the north of Farlington is the suburb of Widley and to the east is the town of Havant. To the west is the suburb of Drayton, and to the south is Langstone Harbour.

City status in the United Kingdom

City status in the United Kingdom

City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the monarch of the United Kingdom to a select group of communities. As of 22 November 2022, there are 76 cities in the United Kingdom—55 in England, seven in Wales, eight in Scotland, and six in Northern Ireland. Although it carries no special rights, the status of city can be a marker of prestige and confer local pride.

Hampshire County Council

Hampshire County Council

Hampshire County Council (HCC) is an English council that governs eleven of the thirteen districts geographically located within the ceremonial county of Hampshire. As one of twenty-four county councils in England, it acts as the upper tier of local government to approximately 1.4 million people.

Labour Party (UK)

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The Labour Party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. In all general elections since 1922, Labour has been either the governing party or the Official Opposition. There have been six Labour prime ministers and thirteen Labour ministries. Since the 2010 general election, it has been the second-largest UK political party by the number of votes cast, behind the Conservative Party and ahead of the Liberal Democrats. The party holds the annual Labour Party Conference, at which party policy is formulated.

Penny Mordaunt

Penny Mordaunt

Penelope Mary Mordaunt is a British politician who has been Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council since September 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Portsmouth North since May 2010. She served as a junior minister under Boris Johnson, having previously served in Theresa May's Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development from 2017 to 2019, and as Secretary of State for Defence from May to July 2019. She ran twice for the Conservative party leadership in July–September, and October 2022, losing to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak respectively.

Conservative Party (UK)

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and also known colloquially as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party. It is the current governing party, having won the 2019 general election. It has been the primary governing party in the United Kingdom since 2010. The party is on the centre-right of the political spectrum, and encompasses various ideological factions including one-nation conservatives, Thatcherites, and traditionalist conservatives. The party currently has 355 Members of Parliament, 260 members of the House of Lords, 9 members of the London Assembly, 31 members of the Scottish Parliament, 16 members of the Welsh Parliament, 4 directly elected mayors, 30 police and crime commissioners, and around 6,619 local councillors. It holds the annual Conservative Party Conference.

2018 United Kingdom local elections

2018 United Kingdom local elections

Council elections in England were held on Thursday 3 May 2018. Elections were held in all 32 London boroughs, 34 metropolitan boroughs, 67 district and borough councils and 17 unitary authorities. There were also direct elections for the mayoralties of Hackney, Lewisham, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Watford.

Economy

Portsmouth International Port is a major employer.
Portsmouth International Port is a major employer.

Ten per cent of Portsmouth's workforce is employed at Portsmouth Naval Dockyard, which is linked to the city's biggest industry, defence; the headquarters of BAE Systems Surface Ships is in the city.[181] BAE's Portsmouth shipyard received construction work on the two new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.[182][183][184] A £100 million contract was signed to develop needed facilities for the vessels.[184] A ferry port handles passengers and cargo,[185] and a fishing fleet of 20 to 30 boats operates out of Camber Quay, Old Portsmouth; most of the catch is sold at the quayside fish market.[186]

The city is host to IBM's UK headquarters and Portsmouth was also the UK headquarters of Zurich Financial Services until 2007.[21][187] City shopping is centred on Commercial Road and the 1980s Cascades Shopping Centre.[188][189] The shopping centre has 185,000 to 230,000 visitors weekly.[190] Redevelopment has created new shopping areas, including the Gunwharf Quays (the repurposed HMS Vernon shore establishment,[191][192] with stores, restaurants and a cinema) and the Historic Dockyard, which caters to tourists and holds an annual Victorian Christmas market.[193][194] Ocean Retail Park, on the north-eastern side of Portsea Island, was built in September 1985 on the site of a former metal-box factory.[195]

Gunwharf Quays shopping centre
Gunwharf Quays shopping centre

Development of Gunwharf Quays continued until 2007, when the 330-foot-tall (101 m) No. 1 Gunwharf Quays residential tower was completed.[196][197] The development of the former Brickwoods Brewery site included the construction of the 22-storey Admiralty Quarter Tower, the tallest in a complex of primarily low-rise residential buildings.[198] Number One Portsmouth, a proposed 25-storey 330 feet (101 m) tower opposite Portsmouth & Southsea station, was announced at the end of October 2008.[199] In August 2009, internal demolition of the existing building had begun.[200] A high-rise student dormitory, nicknamed "The Blade", has begun construction on the site of the swimming baths at the edge of Victoria Park. The 300-foot (91 m) tower will be Portsmouth's second-tallest structure, after the Spinnaker Tower.[201]

In April 2007, Portsmouth F.C. announced plans to move from Fratton Park to a new stadium on reclaimed land next to the Historic Dockyard. The £600 million mixed-use development, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, would include shops, offices and 1,500 harbourside apartments.[202][203] The scheme was criticised for its size and location, and some officials said that it would interfere with harbour operations.[204][205] The project was rejected by the city council due to the 2008 financial crisis.[206]

Portsmouth is the home port of the two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.
Portsmouth is the home port of the two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.

Portsmouth's two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, were ordered by defence secretary Des Browne on 25 July 2007.[207] They were built in the Firth of Forth at Rosyth Dockyard and BAE Systems Surface Ships in Glasgow, Babcock International at Rosyth, and at HMNB Portsmouth.[208][209] The government announced before the 2014 Scottish independence referendum that military shipbuilding would end in Portsmouth, with all UK surface-warship construction focused on the two older BAE facilities in Glasgow.[210] The announcement was criticised as a political decision to aid the referendum's "No" campaign.[211]

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Portsmouth International Port

Portsmouth International Port

Also known as Portsmouth Port or Portsmouth Continental Ferry Port, Portsmouth International Port is a cruise, ferry and cargo terminal located in the city of Portsmouth on the south coast of England.

HMNB Portsmouth

HMNB Portsmouth

His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy. Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is located on the eastern shore of Portsmouth Harbour, north of the Solent and the Isle of Wight. Until the early 1970s, it was officially known as Portsmouth Royal Dockyard ; thereafter the term 'Naval Base' gained currency, acknowledging a greater focus on personnel and support elements alongside the traditional emphasis on building, repairing and maintaining ships. In 1984 Portsmouth's Royal Dockyard function was downgraded and it was formally renamed the 'Fleet Maintenance and Repair Organisation' (FMRO). The FMRO was privatized in 1998, and for a time, shipbuilding, in the form of block construction, returned. Around 2000, the designation HMS Nelson was extended to cover the entire base.

Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier

Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier

The Queen Elizabeth class is a class of two aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy which are the central components of the UK Carrier Strike Group. The lead ship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, was named on 4 July 2014, in honour of Elizabeth I. She was commissioned on 7 December 2017. The second, HMS Prince of Wales, was launched on 21 December 2017, and was commissioned on 10 December 2019.

Old Portsmouth

Old Portsmouth

Old Portsmouth is a district of the city of Portsmouth. It is the area covered by the original medieval town of Portsmouth as planned by Jean de Gisors. It is situated in the south west corner of Portsea Island.

IBM

IBM

The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American multinational technology corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York and present in over 175 countries. It specializes in computer hardware, middleware, and software, and provides hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology. IBM is the largest industrial research organization in the world, with 19 research facilities across a dozen countries, and has held the record for most annual U.S. patents generated by a business for 29 consecutive years from 1993 to 2021.

Gunwharf Quays

Gunwharf Quays

Gunwharf Quays is a shopping centre located in the Portsea area of the city of Portsmouth in England. It was constructed in the early 21st century on the site of what had once been HM Gunwharf, Portsmouth. This was one of several such facilities which were established around Britain and the Empire by the Board of Ordnance, where cannons, ammunition and other armaments were stored, repaired and serviced ready for use on land or at sea. Later known as HMS Vernon, the military site closed in 1995, and opened to the public as Gunwharf Quays on 28 February 2001 after six years of reconstruction. The landmark Spinnaker Tower, which stands close to the site on pilings in Portsmouth Harbour, was opened on 18 October 2005.

HMS Vernon (shore establishment)

HMS Vernon (shore establishment)

HMS Vernon was a shore establishment or "stone frigate" of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth. Vernon was established on 26 April 1876 as the Royal Navy's Torpedo Branch also known as the Torpedo School, named after the ship HMS Vernon which served as part of its floating base. After the First World War, HMS Vernon moved ashore, taking over the Gunwharf site, where it continued to operate until 1 April 1996, when the various elements comprising the establishment were split up and moved to different commands.

Christmas market

Christmas market

A Christmas market, also known as Christkindlmarkt, Christkindlesmarkt, Christkindlimarkt, and Weihnachtsmarkt, is a street market associated with the celebration of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent. These markets originated in Germany, but are now held in many countries. Some in the U.S. have adapted the name to the quasi-German Christkindlmarket, naively substituting market for German Markt.

Herzog & de Meuron

Herzog & de Meuron

Herzog & de Meuron Basel Ltd., is a Swiss based architecture firm with its head office in Basel, Switzerland, founded by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. Both attending the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. They are perhaps best known for their conversion of the giant Bankside Power Station in London to the new home of Tate Modern. Herzog and de Meuron have been professors at ETH Zürich from 1999 until 2018, co-founding ETH Studio Basel in 1999 with architects Roger Diener and Marcel Meili in the department of architecture. Both have been visiting professors at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, with Jacques Herzog also a visiting tutor at Cornell University College of Architecture, Art and Planning.

HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08)

HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08)

HMS Queen Elizabeth is the lead ship of the Queen Elizabeth class of aircraft carriers and the Fleet Flagship of the Royal Navy. Capable of carrying 60 aircraft including fixed wing, rotary wing and autonomous vehicles, she is named in honour of the first HMS Queen Elizabeth, a World War I era super-dreadnought, which in turn was named after Queen Elizabeth I. The carrier Queen Elizabeth carries her namesake ship's honours, as well as her Tudor rose-adorned crest and motto.

HMS Prince of Wales (R09)

HMS Prince of Wales (R09)

HMS Prince of Wales (R09) is the second Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. Unlike most large aircraft carriers, Prince of Wales is not fitted with catapults and arrestor wires, and is instead designed to operate STOVL aircraft; the ship is currently planned to carry up to 48 F-35B Lightning II stealth multirole fighters and Merlin helicopters for airborne early warning and anti-submarine warfare, although in surge conditions the class is capable of supporting 70+ F-35B. The design emphasises flexibility, with accommodation for 250 Royal Marines and the ability to support them with attack helicopters and troop transports up to and larger than Chinook size.

Des Browne

Des Browne

Desmond Henry Browne, Baron Browne of Ladyton, is a Scottish politician who served in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as Secretary of State for Defence 2006 to 2008 and Secretary of State for Scotland from 2007 to 2008. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Kilmarnock and Loudoun from 1997 to 2010.

Culture

Portsmouth has several theatres. The New Theatre Royal in Guildhall Walk, near the city centre, specialises in professional drama.[212] The restored Kings Theatre in Southsea features amateur musicals and national tours.[213] The Groundlings Theatre, built in 1784, is housed at the Old Beneficial School in Portsea.[214] New Prince's Theatre and Southsea's Kings Theatre were designed by Victorian architect Frank Matcham.[215]

The city has three musical venues: the Guildhall,[216] the Wedgewood Rooms (which includes Edge of the Wedge, a smaller venue),[217] and Portsmouth Pyramids Centre.[218] Portsmouth Guildhall is one of the largest venues in South East England, with a seating capacity of 2,500.[92][219][220] A concert series is presented at the Guildhall by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.[221] The Portsmouth Sinfonia approached classical music from a different angle during the 1970s, recruiting players with no musical training or who played an instrument new to them.[222][223] The Portsmouth Summer Show is held at King George's Fields. The 2016 show held during the last weekend of April, featured cover bands such as the Silver Beatles, the Bog Rolling Stones, and Fleetingwood Mac.[224]

A number of musical works are set in the city. H.M.S. Pinafore is a comic opera in two acts set in Portsmouth Harbour, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W.S. Gilbert.[225] Portsmouth Point is a 1925 overture for orchestra by English composer William Walton, inspired by Thomas Rowlandson's etching of Portsmouth Point in Old Portsmouth.[226][227] The overture was played during a 2007 BBC Proms concert.[228] John Cranko's 1951 ballet Pineapple Poll, which features music from Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta The Bumboat Woman's Story, is also set in Portsmouth.[229][230]

Portsmouth hosts yearly remembrances of the D-Day landings, attended by veterans from Allied and Commonwealth nations.[231][232] The city played a major role in the 50th D-Day anniversary in 1994; visitors included US President Bill Clinton, Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, King Harald V of Norway, French President François Mitterrand, New Zealand Prime Minister Jim Bolger, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister John Major, the Queen, and the Duke of Edinburgh.[233][234] The 75th Anniversary of D-Day was similarly commemorated in the city. Prime Minister Theresa May led the event, and was joined by leaders of the US, Canada, Australia, France and Germany.[235]

The annual Portsmouth International Kite Festival, organised by the city council and the Kite Society of Great Britain, celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2016.[236]

Portsmouth is frequently used as a filming location for television and film productions. The Historic Dockyard has featured in several productions including the Hollywood adaptation of Les Miserables.[237]

In 2005, Portsmouth featured in the first series of ITV's Britain's Toughest Towns.[238] As this documentary also indicated, Portsmouth has issues with gangs and anti-social behaviour.[239][240][241][242][243]

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New Theatre Royal

New Theatre Royal

The New Theatre Royal is a Victorian Grade II* listed theatre in the heart of Portsmouth, England, with a capacity of 667. The theatre building was constructed in 1854 as Landport Hall. It was converted to a theatre two years later. It was rebuilt in 1884 by Charles J. Phipps and again in 1900 by Frank Matcham.

Frank Matcham

Frank Matcham

Francis Matcham was an English architect who specialised in the design of theatres and music halls. He worked extensively in London, predominantly under Moss Empires, for whom he designed the Hippodrome in 1900, Hackney Empire (1901), Coliseum (1903) and Palladium (1910). His last major commission before retirement was the Victoria Palace (1911) for the variety magnate Alfred Butt. During his 40-year career, Matcham was responsible for the design and construction of over 90 theatres and the redesign and refurbishment of a further 80 throughout the United Kingdom.

Portsmouth Pyramids Centre

Portsmouth Pyramids Centre

The Portsmouth Pyramids Centre is an indoor leisure complex in Southsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England.

Portsmouth Guildhall

Portsmouth Guildhall

Portsmouth Guildhall is a multi-use building in the centre of Portsmouth, UK, located on a pedestrian square close to the Portsmouth and Southsea railway station. Constructed in 1890, the building was known as Portsmouth Town Hall until 1926. It was heavily damaged by bombing during the Second World War and largely rebuilt during the 1950s by the English architect Ernest Berry Webber. It now operates as a concert, wedding and conference venue. It is a Grade II listed building.

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an English orchestra, founded in 1893 and originally based in Bournemouth. With a remit to serve the South and South West of England, the BSO is administratively based in the adjacent town of Poole, since 1979.

Outsider music

Outsider music

Outsider music is music created by self-taught or naïve musicians. The term is usually applied to musicians who have little or no traditional musical experience, who exhibit childlike qualities in their music, or who have intellectual disabilities or mental illnesses. The term was popularized in the 1990s by journalist and WFMU DJ Irwin Chusid.

King George's Fields

King George's Fields

A King George's Field is a public open space in the United Kingdom dedicated to the memory of King George V (1865–1936).

Cover band

Cover band

A cover band is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the format marketable for smaller venues, such as pubs, clubs or parks. The bands also perform at private events, for example, weddings and birthday parties, and may be known as a wedding band, party band, function band or band-for-hire. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is often called a top 40 band. Some bands, however, start as cover bands, then grow to perform original material. For example, the Rolling Stones released three albums consisting primarily of covers and then recorded one with their own original material.

H.M.S. Pinafore

H.M.S. Pinafore

H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical theatre piece up to that time. H.M.S. Pinafore was Gilbert and Sullivan's fourth operatic collaboration and their first international sensation.

Arthur Sullivan

Arthur Sullivan

Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan was an English composer. He is best known for 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. His works include 24 operas, 11 major orchestral works, ten choral works and oratorios, two ballets, incidental music to several plays, and numerous church pieces, songs, and piano and chamber pieces. His hymns and songs include "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "The Lost Chord".

Portsmouth Point (Walton)

Portsmouth Point (Walton)

Portsmouth Point is an overture for orchestra by the English composer William Walton, composed in 1925. The work was inspired by Rowlandson's print depicting Portsmouth Point. Walton recalled that the main musical had come into his mind whilst riding on a route 22 bus in London. Walton dedicated the score to the poet Siegfried Sassoon, who had recommended that Oxford University Press publish the score. The score was first published in piano-duet form in 1925. The full orchestral score was published in 1928.

Overture

Overture

Overture in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overtures which were independent, self-existing instrumental, programmatic works that foreshadowed genres such as the symphonic poem. These were "at first undoubtedly intended to be played at the head of a programme".

Literature

This statue to Charles Dickens in Portsmouth is one of only three statues to the historic writer in the world. Dickens wrote in his will that he did not want such statues built in his honour.[citation needed]
This statue to Charles Dickens in Portsmouth is one of only three statues to the historic writer in the world. Dickens wrote in his will that he did not want such statues built in his honour.

Portsmouth is the hometown of Fanny Price, the main character of Jane Austen's novel Mansfield Park, and most of its closing chapters are set there.[244] Nicholas and Smike, the main protagonists of Charles Dickens' novel The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, make their way to Portsmouth and become involved with a theatrical troupe.[245] Portsmouth is most often the port from which Captain Jack Aubrey's ships sail in Patrick O'Brian's seafaring historical Aubrey-Maturin series.[246] Portsmouth is the main setting of Jonathan Meades's 1993 novel Pompey.[247] Since the novel was published, Meades has presented a TV programme documenting Victorian architecture in Portsmouth Dockyard.[248]

Victorian novelist and historian Sir Walter Besant documented his 1840s childhood in By Celia's Arbour: A Tale of Portsmouth Town, precisely describing the town before its defensive walls were removed.[249] Southsea (as Port Burdock) features in The History of Mr Polly by H. G. Wells, who describes it as "one of the three townships that are grouped around the Port Burdock naval dockyards".[250] The resort is also the setting of the graphic novel The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch by high fantasy author Neil Gaiman, who grew up in Portsmouth. A Southsea street was renamed The Ocean at the End of the Lane by the city council in honour of Gaiman's novel of the same name.[251][252]

Crime novels set in Portsmouth and the surrounding area include Graham Hurley's D.I. Faraday/D.C. Winter novels[253] and C. J. Sansom's Tudor crime novel, Heartstone; the latter refers to the warship Mary Rose and describes Tudor life in the town.[254] Portsmouth Fairy Tales for Grown Ups, a collection of short stories, was published in 2014.[255][256] The collection, set around Portsmouth, includes stories by crime novelists William Sutton and Diana Bretherick.[257][258]

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Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today.

Jane Austen

Jane Austen

Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her use of social commentary, realism and biting irony have earned her acclaim among critics and scholars.

Mansfield Park

Mansfield Park

Mansfield Park is the third published novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1814 by Thomas Egerton. A second edition was published in 1816 by John Murray, still within Austen's lifetime. The novel did not receive any public reviews until 1821.

Patrick O'Brian

Patrick O'Brian

Patrick O'Brian, CBE, born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of sea novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, and centred on the friendship of the English naval captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen Maturin. The 20-novel series, the first of which is Master and Commander, is known for its well-researched and highly detailed portrayal of early 19th-century life, as well as its authentic and evocative language. A partially finished 21st novel in the series was published posthumously containing facing pages of handwriting and typescript.

Jonathan Meades

Jonathan Meades

Jonathan Turner Meades is an English writer and film-maker, primarily on the subjects of place, culture, architecture and food. His work spans journalism, fiction, essays, memoir and over fifty highly idiosyncratic television films, and has been described as "brainy, scabrous, mischievous," "iconoclastic" and possessed of "a polymathic breadth of knowledge and truly caustic wit".

The History of Mr Polly

The History of Mr Polly

The History of Mr. Polly is a 1910 comic novel by H. G. Wells.

H. G. Wells

H. G. Wells

Herbert George Wells was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, history, popular science, satire, biography and autobiography. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and has been called the "father of science fiction."

Graphic novel

Graphic novel

A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term graphic novel is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics scholars and industry professionals. It is, at least in the United States, typically distinct from the term comic book, which is generally used for comics periodicals and trade paperbacks.

High fantasy

High fantasy

High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot. High fantasy is set in an alternative, fictional ("secondary") world, rather than the "real" or "primary" world. This secondary world is usually internally consistent, but its rules differ from those of the primary world. By contrast, low fantasy is characterized by being set on Earth, the primary or real world, or a rational and familiar fictional world with the inclusion of magical elements.

Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman

Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, nonfiction, audio theatre, and films. His works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, Anansi Boys, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. He has won numerous awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker awards, as well as the Newbery and Carnegie medals. He is the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for the same work, The Graveyard Book (2008). In 2013, The Ocean at the End of the Lane was voted Book of the Year in the British National Book Awards. It was later adapted into a critically acclaimed stage play at the Royal National Theatre in London, England that The Independent called "...theatre at its best".

Graham Hurley

Graham Hurley

Graham Hurley, born in 1946 at Clacton on Sea, is an English crime fiction writer.

C. J. Sansom

C. J. Sansom

Christopher John Sansom is a British writer of historical crime novels, best known for his Matthew Shardlake series. He was born in Edinburgh and attended George Watson's College in that city, but left the school with no qualifications. Sansom has written about the bullying he suffered there. Subsequently he was educated at the University of Birmingham, where he took a BA and then a PhD in history. After working in a variety of jobs, he decided to retrain as a solicitor. He practised in Sussex as a lawyer for the disadvantaged, before leaving the legal profession to become a full-time writer. He lives in Sussex.

Education

Park Building, University of Portsmouth
Park Building, University of Portsmouth

The University of Portsmouth was founded in 1992 as a new university from Portsmouth Polytechnic; in 2016, it had 20,000 students.[259] The university was ranked among the world's top 100 modern universities in April 2015.[260][261] In 2013, it had about 23,000 students and over 2,500 staff members.[262] Several local colleges also award Higher National Diplomas, including Highbury College (specialising in vocational education),[263] and Portsmouth College (which offers academic courses).[264] Admiral Lord Nelson School and Miltoncross Academy were built in the late 1990s to meet the needs of a growing school-age population.[265][266]

After the cancellation of the national building programme for schools, redevelopment halted.[267] Two schools in the city were judged "inadequate", and 29 of its 63 schools were considered "no longer good enough" by Ofsted in 2009.[268] Before it was taken over by Ark Schools and became Ark Charter Academy, St Luke's Church of England secondary school was one of England's worst schools in GCSE achievement. It was criticised by officials for its behavioural standards, with students reportedly throwing chairs at teachers.[269] Since it became an academy in 2009, the school has improved; 69 per cent of its students achieved five GCSEs with grades of A* to C, including English and mathematics.[270] The academy's intake policy is for a standard comprehensive school, drawing from the community rather than by religion.[271]

Portsmouth Grammar School, the city's oldest independent school was founded in 1732.[272][273] Other independent schools include Portsmouth High School,[274] and Mayville High School (founded in 1897),[275]

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List of schools in Portsmouth

List of schools in Portsmouth

This is a list of schools in Portsmouth, in the English county of Hampshire.

University of Portsmouth

University of Portsmouth

The University of Portsmouth is a public university in Portsmouth, England. It is one of only four universities in the South East of England rated as Gold in the Government's Teaching Excellence Framework. With approximately 28,280 undergraduate and postgraduate students, the university is the 25th largest in the United Kingdom by higher education student enrolments. Comprising five faculties, 24 schools and several other services, the university employs approximately 3,500 staff.

Higher National Diploma

Higher National Diploma

Higher National Diploma (HND), part of the Higher Nationals suite of qualifications, is an academic higher education qualification in the United Kingdom and various other countries. They were first introduced in England and Wales in 1920 alongside the Ordinary National Diploma and the Higher National Certificate. A qualification of the same title is also offered in Argentina, Brunei, India, Malta, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and some other countries with British ties.

Highbury College

Highbury College

Highbury College is a further education college in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. It offers vocational and academic education and training, including apprenticeships, A-levels and foundation degrees.

Admiral Lord Nelson School

Admiral Lord Nelson School

Admiral Lord Nelson School is a mixed co-educational secondary school in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The school, located on the eastern side of Portsmouth on Dundas Lane, opposite Ocean retail park and running parallel to the Eastern Road, is situated next to Langstone Harbour, and was constructed on a green field site.

Miltoncross Academy

Miltoncross Academy

Miltoncross Academy is a coeducational secondary school located in the Milton area of Portsmouth in the English county of Hampshire.

Ofsted

Ofsted

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted is responsible for inspecting a range of educational institutions, including state schools and some independent schools, in England. It also inspects childcare, adoption and fostering agencies and initial teacher training, and regulates a range of early years and children's social care services.

Ark (charity)

Ark (charity)

Absolute Return for Kids (ARK), is an international children's educational charity based in London, UK.

Ark Charter Academy

Ark Charter Academy

Ark Charter Academy is a co-educational Church of England secondary school and sixth form. The school is located in the Landport area of Portsmouth in the English county of Hampshire.

Portsmouth High School, Southsea

Portsmouth High School, Southsea

Portsmouth High School is a private day school for girls in Southsea, a district in the southern coastal city of Portsmouth, England. Founded by the Girls' Public Day School Trust in 1882, it is one of the Trust's smaller schools.

Mayville High School, Southsea

Mayville High School, Southsea

Mayville High School is an independent co-educational day school in Southsea, Portsmouth, England.

Landmarks

HMS Warrior (right) and the Spinnaker Tower are two of Portsmouth's main attractions.
HMS Warrior (right) and the Spinnaker Tower are two of Portsmouth's main attractions.

Many of Portsmouth's former defences are now museums or event venues. Several Victorian-era forts on Portsdown Hill are tourist attractions;[276] Fort Nelson, at its summit, is home to the Royal Armouries museum.[277] Tudor-era Southsea Castle has a small museum, and much of the seafront defences leading to the Round Tower are open to the public. The castle was withdrawn from active service in 1960, and was purchased by Portsmouth City Council.[278] The southern part of the Royal Marines' Eastney Barracks is now the Royal Marines Museum, and was opened to the public under the National Heritage Act 1983.[279] The museum received a £14 million grant from the National Lottery Fund, and was scheduled to relocate to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in 2019.[280] The birthplace of Charles Dickens, at Mile End Terrace,[281][282] is the Charles Dickens' Birthplace Museum; the four-storey red brick building became a Grade I listed building in 1953.[283] Other tourist attractions include the Blue Reef Aquarium (with an "underwater safari" of British aquatic life)[284] and the Cumberland House Natural History Museum, housing a variety of local wildlife.[285][286]

HMS Victory at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the world's oldest naval ship still in commission, is one of the city's most popular tourist attractions.
HMS Victory at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the world's oldest naval ship still in commission, is one of the city's most popular tourist attractions.

Most of the city's landmarks and tourist attractions are related to its naval history. They include the D-Day Story in Southsea, which contains the 83-metre-long (272 ft) Overlord Embroidery.[287][288] Portsmouth is home to several well-known ships; Horatio Nelson's flagship HMS Victory, the world's oldest naval ship still in commission, is in the dry dock of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. The Victory was placed in a permanent dry dock in 1922 when the Society for Nautical Research led a national appeal to restore her,[76] and 22 million people have visited the ship.[289] The remains of Henry VIII's flagship, Mary Rose, was rediscovered on the seabed in 1971.[44] She was raised and brought to a purpose-built structure in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in 1982.[290] Britain's first iron-hulled warship, HMS Warrior, was restored and moved to Portsmouth in June 1987 after serving as an oil fuel pier at Pembroke Dock in Pembrokeshire for fifty years.[291][292][293] The National Museum of the Royal Navy, in the dockyard, is sponsored by a charity which promotes research of the Royal Dockyard's history and archaeology.[294] The dockyard hosts the Victorian Festival of Christmas, featuring Father Christmas in a traditional green robe, each November.[295][296]

Portsmouth's long association with the armed forces is demonstrated by a large number of war memorials, including several at the Royal Marines Museum[297] and a large collection of memorials related to the Royal Navy in Victoria Park.[142] The Portsmouth Naval Memorial, in Southsea Common, commemorates the 24,591 British sailors who died during both World Wars and have no known grave.[298] Designed by Sir Robert Lorimer, it was unveiled by George VI on 15 October 1924.[299] In the city centre, the Guildhall Square Cenotaph contains the names of the fallen and is guarded by stone sculptures of machine gunners by Charles Sargeant Jagger.[300] The west face of the memorial reads:

This memorial was erected by the people of Portsmouth in proud and loving memory of those who in the glorious morning of their days for England's sake lost all but England's praise. May light perpetual shine upon them.[301]

The city has three cemeteries: Kingston, Milton Road, and Highland Road. Kingston Cemetery, opened in 1856, is in east Fratton. At 52 acres (21 ha), it is Portsmouth's largest cemetery and has about 400 burials a year.[302] In February 2014, a ceremony celebrating the 180th anniversary of Portsmouth's Polish community was held at the cemetery.[303] The approximately 25-acre (10 ha) Milton Road Cemetery, founded on 8 April 1912, has about 200 burials per year. There is a crematorium in Portchester.[302]

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HMS Warrior (1860)

HMS Warrior (1860)

HMS Warrior is a 40-gun steam-powered armoured frigate built for the Royal Navy in 1859–1861. She was the name ship of the Warrior-class ironclads. Warrior and her sister ship HMS Black Prince were the first armour-plated, iron-hulled warships, and were built in response to France's launching in 1859 of the first ocean-going ironclad warship, the wooden-hulled Gloire. Warrior conducted a publicity tour of Great Britain in 1863 and spent her active career with the Channel Squadron. Obsolescent following the 1873 commissioning of the mastless and more capable HMS Devastation, she was placed in reserve in 1875, and was "paid off" – decommissioned – in 1883.

Fort Nelson, Hampshire

Fort Nelson, Hampshire

Fort Nelson, in the civil parish of Boarhunt in the English county of Hampshire, is one of five defensive forts built on the summit of Portsdown Hill in the 1860s, overlooking the important naval base of Portsmouth. It is now part of the Royal Armouries, housing their collection of artillery, and a Grade I Listed Building.

Eastney Barracks

Eastney Barracks

Eastney Barracks was a military installation occupied by the Royal Marines and located at Eastney near Portsmouth.

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today.

Charles Dickens' Birthplace Museum

Charles Dickens' Birthplace Museum

Charles Dickens' Birthplace Museum is a writer's house museum in Landport, Portsmouth, England situated at the birthplace of the eminent English author Charles Dickens; and as such played a prominent part in the 2012 bicentennial celebrations. It is one of six museums run by Portsmouth Museums, part of Portsmouth City Council.

HMS Victory

HMS Victory

HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, she is the world's oldest naval ship still in commission. With 245 years' service as of 2023, ordered in 1758, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765 - she is best known for her role as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.

Overlord Embroidery

Overlord Embroidery

The Overlord Embroidery, echoing the Bayeux Tapestry created 900 years before to commemorate the reverse invasion of England from Normandy, is a narrative embroidery that depicts the story of the D-Day Landings of 6 June 1944 and the subsequent Battle of Normandy. The story is told across 34 hand stitched panels running in total to 83 metres in length. The embroidery was created between 1968 and 1974, and is now on permanent display at The D-Day Story, Southsea, Portsmouth.

Dry dock

Dry dock

A dry dock is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, and repair of ships, boats, and other watercraft.

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is an area of HM Naval Base Portsmouth which is open to the public; it contains several historic buildings and ships. It is managed by the National Museum of the Royal Navy as an umbrella organization representing five charities: the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth, the Mary Rose Trust, the Warrior Preservation Trust Ltd and the HMS Victory Preservation Company. Portsmouth Historic Dockyard Ltd was created to promote and manage the tourism element of the Royal Navy Dockyard, with the relevant trusts maintaining and interpreting their own attractions. It also promotes other nearby navy-related tourist attractions.

Pembroke Dock

Pembroke Dock

Pembroke Dock is a town and a community in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales, 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Pembroke on the banks of the River Cleddau. Originally Paterchurch, a small fishing village, Pembroke Dock town expanded rapidly following the construction of the Royal Navy Dockyard in 1814. The Cleddau Bridge links Pembroke Dock with Neyland.

Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire is a county in the south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The county is home to Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The Park occupies more than a third of the area of the county and includes the Preseli Hills in the north as well as the 190-mile (310 km) Pembrokeshire Coast Path.

National Museum of the Royal Navy

National Museum of the Royal Navy

The National Museum of the Royal Navy was created in early 2009 to act as a single non-departmental public body for the museums of the Royal Navy. With venues across the United Kingdom, the museums detail the history of the Royal Navy operating on and under the sea, on land and in the air.

Gunwharf Quays

The Spinnaker Tower, seen from the waterfront at Gunwharf Quays
The Spinnaker Tower, seen from the waterfront at Gunwharf Quays

The naval shore establishment HMS Vernon contained the Royal Navy's arsenal; weapons and ammunition which would be taken from ships at its 'Gun Wharf' as they entered the harbour, and resupplied when they headed back to sea. The 1919 Southsea and Portsmouth Official Guide described the establishment as "the finest collections of weapons outside the Tower of London, containing more than 25,000 rifles".[304] During the early nineteenth century, the 'Gunwharf' supplied the fleet with a "grand arsenal" of cannons, mortars, bombs, and ordnance. Although gunpowder was not provided due to safety concerns, it could be obtained at Priddy's Hard (near Gosport).[305] An armoury sold small arms to soldiers, and the stone frigate also had blacksmith and carpenter shops for armourers. It was run by three officers: a viz (storekeeper), a clerk, and a foreman. By 1817, Gunwharf reportedly employed 5,000 men and housed the world's largest naval arsenal.[306]

HMS Vernon was closed on 1 April 1996[307] and was redeveloped by Portsmouth City Council as Gunwharf Quays,[191] a mixed residential and retail site with outlet stores, restaurants, pubs, cafés and a cinema.[308] Construction of the Spinnaker Tower began in 2001, and was completed in the summer of 2005. The project exceeded its budget and cost £36 million, of which Portsmouth City Council contributed £11 million.[309][310][311] The 560-foot (170 m) tower is visible at a distance of 23 miles (37 km) in clear weather, and its viewing platforms overlook the Solent (towards the Isle of Wight), the harbour and Southsea Castle.[312][313] The tower weighs over 33,000 tonnes (32,000 long tons; 36,000 short tons).[314][313]and has the largest glass floor in Europe.

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Gunwharf Quays

Gunwharf Quays

Gunwharf Quays is a shopping centre located in the Portsea area of the city of Portsmouth in England. It was constructed in the early 21st century on the site of what had once been HM Gunwharf, Portsmouth. This was one of several such facilities which were established around Britain and the Empire by the Board of Ordnance, where cannons, ammunition and other armaments were stored, repaired and serviced ready for use on land or at sea. Later known as HMS Vernon, the military site closed in 1995, and opened to the public as Gunwharf Quays on 28 February 2001 after six years of reconstruction. The landmark Spinnaker Tower, which stands close to the site on pilings in Portsmouth Harbour, was opened on 18 October 2005.

HMS Vernon (shore establishment)

HMS Vernon (shore establishment)

HMS Vernon was a shore establishment or "stone frigate" of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth. Vernon was established on 26 April 1876 as the Royal Navy's Torpedo Branch also known as the Torpedo School, named after the ship HMS Vernon which served as part of its floating base. After the First World War, HMS Vernon moved ashore, taking over the Gunwharf site, where it continued to operate until 1 April 1996, when the various elements comprising the establishment were split up and moved to different commands.

Stone frigate

Stone frigate

A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land.

Outlet store

Outlet store

An outlet store, factory outlet or factory store is a brick and mortar or online store where manufacturers sell their merchandise directly to the public. Products at outlet stores are usually sold at reduced prices compared to regular stores due to being overstock, closeout, factory seconds, or lower-quality versions manufactured specifically for outlets. Traditionally, a factory outlet was a store attached to a factory or warehouse, sometimes allowing customers to watch the production process, such as in the original L.L. Bean store. In modern usage, outlet stores are typically manufacturer-branded stores such as Gap or Bon Worth grouped together in outlet malls. The invention of the factory outlet store is often credited to Harold Alfond, founder of the Dexter Shoe Company.

Spinnaker Tower

Spinnaker Tower

The Spinnaker Tower is a 170-metre (560 ft) landmark observation tower in Portsmouth, England. It is the centrepiece of the redevelopment of Portsmouth Harbour, which was supported by a National Lottery grant. The tower's design was chosen by Portsmouth residents from a selection of three different designs in a 1998 public poll. It has three viewing platforms one on top of the other at heights of 100 m, 105 m and 110 m.

Southsea

Southsea Promenade, which includes the Clarence Pier amusement park
Southsea Promenade, which includes the Clarence Pier amusement park

Southsea is a seaside resort and residential area of Portsmouth located at the southern end of Portsea Island. Its name originates from Southsea Castle, a seafront castle built in 1544 by Henry VIII to help defend the Solent and Portsmouth Harbour.[315] The area was developed in 1809 as Croxton Town; by the 1860s, the suburb of Southsea had expanded to provide working-class housing.[127] Southsea developed as a seaside and bathing resort.[127] A pump room and baths were built near the present-day Clarence Pier, and a complex was developed which included vapour baths, showers, and card-playing and assembly rooms for holiday-goers.[316]

Clarence Pier, opened in 1861 by the Prince and Princess of Wales, was named after Portsmouth military governor Lord Frederick FitzClarence and was described as "one of the largest amusement parks on the south coast".[317] South Parade Pier was built in 1878, and is among the United Kingdom's 55 remaining private piers.[318][319] Originally a terminal for ferries travelling to the Isle of Wight, it was soon redeveloped as an entertainment centre. The pier was rebuilt after fires in 1904, 1967 and 1974 (during the filming of Tommy).[318][127] Plans were announced in 2015 for a Solent Eye at the pier: a £750,000, 24-gondola Ferris wheel similar to the London Eye.[320]

Southsea is dominated by Southsea Common, a 480-acre (190 ha) grassland created by draining the marshland next to the vapour baths in 1820. The common met the demands of the early-19th-century military for a clear firing range,[321] and parallels the shore from Clarence Pier to Southsea Castle.[321] A popular recreation area, it hosts a number of annual events which include carnivals, Christmas markets, and Victorian festivals.[322][323] The common has a large collection of mature elm trees, believed to be the oldest and largest surviving in Hampshire and which have escaped Dutch elm disease due to their isolation. Other plants include the Canary Island date palms (Phoenix canariensis), some of Britain's largest, which have recently produced viable seed.[324]

Southsea is often mistaken as a town separate from Portsmouth, mainly due to the confusing Portsmouth & Southsea railway station name. The resort of Southsea previously had its own dedicated light railway line; the Southsea Railway and its own terminus, East Southsea railway station. The Southsea Railway and station were closed in 1914, with the station's name merged into that of Portsmouth's main railway station name in 1925.

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Portsmouth Naval Memorial

Portsmouth Naval Memorial

The Portsmouth Naval Memorial, sometimes known as Southsea Naval Memorial, is a war memorial in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, on Southsea Common beside Clarence Esplanade, between Clarence Pier and Southsea Castle. The memorial commemorates approximately 25,000 British and Commonwealth sailors who were lost in the World Wars, around 10,000 sailors in the First World War, and 15,000 in the Second World War. The memorial features a central obelisk, with names of the dead on bronze plaques arranged around the memorial according to the year of death.

Seaside resort

Seaside resort

A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, such as in the German Seebad. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.

Clarence Pier

Clarence Pier

Clarence Pier is an amusement pier in Portsmouth, Hampshire. It is located next to Southsea Hoverport. Unlike most seaside piers in the UK, the pier does not extend very far out to sea and instead goes along the coast.

Lord Frederick FitzClarence

Lord Frederick FitzClarence

Lieutenant-General Lord Frederick FitzClarence, GCH was a British Army officer and the third illegitimate son of King William IV by his mistress Dorothea Jordan.

Ferris wheel

Ferris wheel

A Ferris wheel is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components attached to the rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, they are kept upright, usually by gravity. Some of the largest modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on the outside of the rim, with electric motors to independently rotate each car to keep it upright. These cars are often referred to as capsules or pods.

London Eye

London Eye

The London Eye, or the Millennium Wheel, is a cantilevered observation wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. It is Europe's tallest cantilevered observation wheel, and the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom with over three million visitors annually. It has made many appearances in popular culture.

Shooting range

Shooting range

A shooting range, firing range, gun range or shooting ground is a specialized facility, venue, or field designed specifically for firearm usage qualifications, training, practice, or competitions. Some shooting ranges are operated by military or law enforcement agencies, though the majority of ranges are privately owned by civilians and sporting clubs and cater mostly to recreational shooters. Each facility is typically overseen by one or more supervisory personnel, variously called a range master or range safety officer (RSO) in the United States, or a range conducting officer (RCO) in the United Kingdom. Supervisory personnel are responsible for ensuring that all weapon safety rules and relevant government regulations are followed at all times.

Elm

Elm

Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, presently ranging southward in the Middle East to Lebanon and Israel, and across the Equator in the Far East into Indonesia.

Dutch elm disease

Dutch elm disease

Dutch elm disease (DED) is caused by a member of the sac fungi (Ascomycota) affecting elm trees, and is spread by elm bark beetles. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease was accidentally introduced into America, Europe, and New Zealand. In these regions it has devastated native populations of elms that did not have resistance to the disease. The name "Dutch elm disease" refers to its identification in 1921 and later in the Netherlands by Dutch phytopathologists Bea Schwarz and Christine Buisman, who both worked with professor Johanna Westerdijk. The disease affects species in the genera Ulmus and Zelkova, therefore it is not specific to the Dutch elm hybrid.

Phoenix canariensis

Phoenix canariensis

Phoenix canariensis, the Canary Island date palm or pineapple palm, is a species of flowering plant in the palm family Arecaceae, native to the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco. It is a relative of Phoenix dactylifera, the true date palm. It is the natural symbol of the Canary Islands, together with the canary Serinus canaria. Mature P. canariensis are often used in ornamental landscaping and are collected and transplanted to their new planting location. A Canary Island date palm with 10 m (30 ft) of trunk is approximately 60 years of age.

Portsmouth & Southsea railway station

Portsmouth & Southsea railway station

Portsmouth & Southsea railway station is a Grade II listed building and the main railway station in the Landport area of the city of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England. It is close to the Commercial Road shopping area. British Transport Police maintain a presence at the station. There is a taxi rank at the front of the building and regular local buses within five minutes' walking distance.

East Southsea railway station

East Southsea railway station

East Southsea was the name of a 1904 terminus railway station of the 1.25 mile Southsea Railway, which linked the Southsea seaside resort with the Portsmouth Direct Line at Fratton railway station. It replaced a larger, grander earlier station building named Southsea railway station, which opened in 1885.

Religion

St John the Evangelist, the Roman Catholic cathedral built in 1882, is one of the city's two cathedrals.
St John the Evangelist, the Roman Catholic cathedral built in 1882, is one of the city's two cathedrals.

Portsmouth has two cathedrals: the Anglican Cathedral of St Thomas in Old Portsmouth and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John the Evangelist. The city is one of 34 British settlements with a Roman Catholic cathedral.[161][325] Portsmouth's first chapel, dedicated to Thomas Becket, was built by Jean de Gisors in the second half of the 12th century.[326][327] It was rebuilt and developed into a parish church and an Anglican cathedral.[327][328] Damaged during the 1642 Siege of Portsmouth, its tower and nave were rebuilt after the Restoration.[329] Significant changes were made when the Diocese of Portsmouth was founded in 1927.[330] It became a cathedral in 1932 and was enlarged, although construction was halted during the Second World War. The cathedral was re-consecrated before Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 1991.[331]

The Royal Garrison Church was founded in 1212 by Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester. After centuries of decay, it became an ammunition store in 1540. The 1662 marriage of Charles II and Catherine of Braganza was celebrated in the church, and large receptions were held there after the defeat of Napoleon at the 1814 Battle of Leipzig. In 1941, a firebomb fell on its roof and destroyed the nave.[52] Although the church's chancel was saved by servicemen shortly after the raid, replacing the roof was deemed impossible due to the large amounts of salt solution absorbed by the stonework.[332]

The Cathedral of St John the Evangelist was built in 1882 to accommodate Portsmouth's increasing Roman Catholic population, and replaced a chapel built in 1796 to the west. Before 1791, Roman Catholic chapels in towns with borough status were prohibited. The chapel opened after the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 was passed, and was replaced by the cathedral.[333] It was constructed in phases; the nave was completed in 1882; the crossing in 1886, and the chancel by 1893. During the blitz, the cathedral was badly damaged when Luftwaffe bombing destroyed Bishop's House next door; it was restored in 1970, 1982, and 2001.[333] The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth was founded in 1882 by Pope Leo XIII.[c] Smaller places of worship in the city include St Jude's Church in Southsea,[335] St Mary's Church in Portsea,[336] St Ann's Chapel in the naval base[337] and the Portsmouth and Southsea Synagogue, one of Britain's oldest.[338] Other places of worship include the Immanuel Baptist Church, Southsea; Trinity Methodist Church, Highland Road; Buckland United Reformed Church; The Oasis Centre Elim Penteostal Church; Jubilee Pentecostal Church, Somers Road; Kings Church Assemblies of God (St Peter's Somers Road); Family Church; Christ Central Church, John Pounds Centre; The Jami Mosque, Bradford Junction; The Sikh Gurudwara, Margate Road.

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List of places of worship in Portsmouth

List of places of worship in Portsmouth

The English port city of Portsmouth has a wide variety of places of worship representing many Christian denominations and other faith groups. There were 101 in the city: 76 churches, chapels, halls and meeting rooms for various Christian groups, three mosques, a synagogue and a gurdwara were in use, and a further 20 buildings no longer serve a religious function but survive in alternative uses. Portsmouth is in the southeast of the traditional and ceremonial county of Hampshire, although it is now administered as a separate unitary authority; it spreads across the whole of Portsea Island and on to the mainland to the north, and is the most densely populated city in the United Kingdom. The city area is wholly urban, but most of its growth occurred between the 18th and 20th centuries, and very few churches were founded before this. Portsmouth is the seat of two dioceses and therefore has two cathedrals: the mother church of Anglican Diocese of Portsmouth is the Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, founded in the 12th century as a parish church, while the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth is based at the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, founded in 1880.

Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Portsmouth

Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Portsmouth

The Cathedral Church of St John the Evangelist is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Portsmouth, England. It is the mother church of the Portsmouth diocese and seat of the Bishop of Portsmouth, currently the Right Reverend Philip Egan. It was dedicated on 10 August 1882.

Old Portsmouth

Old Portsmouth

Old Portsmouth is a district of the city of Portsmouth. It is the area covered by the original medieval town of Portsmouth as planned by Jean de Gisors. It is situated in the south west corner of Portsea Island.

Parish church

Parish church

A parish church in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, often allowing its premises to be used for non-religious community events. The church building reflects this status, and there is considerable variety in the size and style of parish churches. Many villages in Europe have churches that date back to the Middle Ages, but all periods of architecture are represented.

Nave

Nave

The nave is the central part of a church, stretching from the main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type building, the strict definition of the term "nave" is restricted to the central aisle. In a broader, more colloquial sense, the nave includes all areas available for the lay worshippers, including the side-aisles and transepts. Either way, the nave is distinct from the area reserved for the choir and clergy.

Domus Dei

Domus Dei

Domus Dei was an almshouse and hospice at Old Portsmouth, Hampshire, United Kingdom. It is now also known as the Royal Garrison Church and is an English Heritage property and a Grade II listed building.

Peter des Roches

Peter des Roches

Peter des Roches was bishop of Winchester in the reigns of King John of England and his son Henry III. He was not an Englishman, but rather a native of the Touraine, in north-central France.

Bishop of Winchester

Bishop of Winchester

The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (cathedra) is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ex officio the office of Prelate of the Most Noble Order of the Garter since its foundation in 1348, and Bishops of Winchester often held the positions of Lord Treasurer and Lord Chancellor ex officio. During the Middle Ages, it was one of the wealthiest English sees, and its bishops have included a number of politically prominent Englishmen, notably the 9th century Saint Swithun and medieval magnates including William of Wykeham and Henry of Blois.

Catherine of Braganza

Catherine of Braganza

Catherine of Braganza was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to King Charles II, which lasted from 21 May 1662 until his death on 6 February 1685. She was the daughter of John IV of Portugal, who became the first king from the House of Braganza in 1640 after overthrowing the 60–year rule of the Spanish Habsburgs over Portugal and restoring the Portuguese throne which had first been created in 1143. Catherine served as regent of Portugal during the absence of her brother Peter II in 1701 and during 1704–1705, after her return to her homeland as a widow.

Napoleon

Napoleon

Napoleon Bonaparte, later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. He was the de facto leader of the French Republic as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, then Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814 and again in 1815. Napoleon's political and cultural legacy endures to this day, as a highly celebrated and controversial leader. He initiated many liberal reforms that have persisted in society, and is considered one of the greatest military commanders in history. His campaigns are still studied at military academies worldwide. Between three and six million civilians and soldiers died in what became known as the Napoleonic Wars.

Battle of Leipzig

Battle of Leipzig

The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, was fought from 16 to 19 October 1813 at Leipzig, Saxony. The Coalition armies of Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia, led by Tsar Alexander I and Karl von Schwarzenberg, decisively defeated the Grande Armée of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops, as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine. The battle was the culmination of the German Campaign of 1813 and involved 560,000 soldiers, 2,200 artillery pieces, the expenditure of 400,000 rounds of artillery ammunition, and 133,000 casualties, making it the largest battle in Europe prior to World War I.

Borough status in the United Kingdom

Borough status in the United Kingdom

Borough status is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the council or inhabitants of the district. In Scotland, similarly chartered communities were known as royal burghs, although the status is no longer granted.

Sport

Fratton Park, home of Portsmouth F.C.
Fratton Park, home of Portsmouth F.C.

Portsmouth F.C. play their home games at Fratton Park. They have won two Football League titles (1949 and 1950),[339][340] and won the FA Cup in 1939 and 2008.[341][342] The club returned to the Premier League in 2003.[343] They were relegated to the Championship in 2010 and, experiencing serious financial difficulties in February 2012,[344] were relegated again to League One. The club was relegated the following year to League Two, the fourth tier of English football.[345] Portsmouth F.C. was purchased in April 2013 by the Pompey Supporters Trust, becoming the largest fan-owned club in English Football history.[346][347] In May 2017, as League Two champions, they were promoted to League One for the 2017–18 season.

Moneyfields F.C. have played in the Wessex Football League Premier Division since 1998.[348] United Services Portsmouth F.C. (formerly known as Portsmouth Royal Navy) and Baffins Milton Rovers F.C. compete in Wessex League Division One; United Services was founded in 1962,[349] and Baffins Milton Rovers in 2011.[350] The rugby teams United Services Portsmouth RFC and Royal Navy Rugby Union play their home matches at the United Services Recreation Ground. Royal Navy Rugby Union play in the annual Army Navy Match at Twickenham.[351]

Portsmouth began hosting first-class cricket at the United Services Recreation Ground in 1882,[352] and Hampshire County Cricket Club matches were played there from 1895 to 2000. In 2000, Hampshire moved their home matches to the new Rose Bowl cricket ground in West End.[353] Portsmouth is home to four hockey clubs: City of Portsmouth Hockey Club, based at the university's Langstone Campus;[354] Portsmouth & Southsea Hockey Club and Portsmouth Sharks Hockey Club, based at the Admiral Lord Nelson School;[355] and United Services Portsmouth Hockey Club, based on Burnaby Road.[356] Great Salterns Golf Club, established in 1926,[357] is an 18-hole parkland course with two holes played across a lake;[358] there are coastal courses at Hayling and the Gosport and Stokes Bay Golf Club.[116] Boxing was a popular sport between 1910 and 1960, and a monument commemorating the city's boxing heritage was built in 2017.[359]

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Portsmouth F.C.

Portsmouth F.C.

Portsmouth Football Club is a professional association football club based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, which compete in EFL League One. They are also known as Pompey, a local nickname used by both His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth and the city of Portsmouth. The club was founded on 5 April 1898 by Sir John Brickwood and began playing home matches at Fratton Park in 1899. Portsmouth are one of only five English football clubs to have been champions of all four tiers of the professional English football pyramid. Portsmouth's arch-rivals are Southampton, a rivalry based in part to geographic proximity and both cities' respective maritime histories.

Fratton Park

Fratton Park

Fratton Park is a football ground in Portsmouth, England and is the home of Portsmouth F.C.. Fratton Park's location on Portsea Island is unique in English professional football, as it is the only professional English football ground not found on the mainland of Great Britain. Fratton Park has been the only home football ground in Portsmouth FC's entire history.

FA Cup

FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competition in the world. It is organised by and named after The Football Association. Since 2015, it has been known as The Emirates FA Cup after its headline sponsor. A concurrent Women's FA Cup has been held since 1970.

Premier League

Premier League

The Premier League is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football League (EFL). Seasons typically run from August to May with each team playing 38 matches. Most games are played on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, with occasional weekday evening fixtures.

EFL League One

EFL League One

The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes or simply League One in England, is the second-highest division of the English Football League and the third tier overall in the English football league system.

Moneyfields F.C.

Moneyfields F.C.

Moneyfields Football Club is a football club based in Portsmouth, England. Affiliated to the Hampshire FA, they were founded in 1987 as Portsmouth Civil Service, before adopting their current name in 1994. The club are currently members of the Wessex League Premier Division and play at Havant & Waterlooville's Westleigh Park.

United Services Portsmouth F.C.

United Services Portsmouth F.C.

United Services Portsmouth F.C. are a football club based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. They were established in 1962 as Portsmouth Royal Navy and were among the founding members of the Wessex League in 1986. In 2004, they changed their name to their present one. They are currently members of the Wessex League Premier Division. Mason Mount also featured for the side.

Baffins Milton Rovers F.C.

Baffins Milton Rovers F.C.

Baffins Milton Rovers Football Club is a football club based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. They are currently members of the Wessex League Premier Division and play at the Kendall Stadium.

Rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. Rugby is simply based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is played between two teams of 15 players each, using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. The field has H-shaped goalposts at both ends.

Royal Navy Rugby Union

Royal Navy Rugby Union

The Royal Navy Rugby Union (RNRU) was formed in 1907 to administer the playing of rugby union in the Royal Navy. It fields a representative side that competes in the Army Navy Match, although a side representing the Royal Navy predates the formation of the union by at least twenty-eight years. The RNRU also has had a number of international players within its representative squads in all forms of the game. In 2011 the RNRU produced its first women's international as well as providing the captain of England VIIs.

Army Navy Match

Army Navy Match

The Army Navy Match is the annual rugby union match played between the senior XV teams of the Royal Navy and British Army. It marks the culmination of the annual Inter-Services Competition. Although a match was played between the officers of the British Army and the officers of the Royal Navy at The Oval, London on 13 February 1878, it was not until 1907 that the Army Navy Match became an annual fixture. For the first fixture the match Secretary was Surg Lt George Levick RN. From 1909 it was jointly administered by the newly formed Royal Navy Rugby Union and the Army Rugby Union. Since then it has been played every season, with the exception of during the world wars and COVID-19 pandemic when the matches were suspended.

Twickenham

Twickenham

Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames 9.9 miles (15.9 km) southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the borough council's administrative headquarters are located in the area.

Transport

Ferries

Ferries and cargo and military vessels in Portsmouth Harbour
Ferries and cargo and military vessels in Portsmouth Harbour

Portsmouth Harbour has passenger-ferry links to Gosport and the Isle of Wight,[360] with car-ferry service to the Isle of Wight nearby.[361] Hovertravel, Britain's longest-standing commercial hovercraft service, begun in the 1960s, runs from near Clarence Pier in Southsea to Ryde, Isle of Wight.[362] Portsmouth International Port has links to Caen, Cherbourg-Octeville, St Malo and Le Havre in France,[363][364] Santander and Bilbao in Spain,[365] and the Channel Islands.[366] Ferry services from the port are operated by Brittany Ferries and Condor Ferries.[365][367][368]

On 18 May 2006, Trasmediterranea began service to Bilbao in competition with P&O's service. Its ferry, Fortuny, was detained in Portsmouth by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency for a number of safety violations.[369] They were quickly corrected and the service was cleared for passengers on 23 May of that year.[370] Trasmediterránea discontinued its Bilbao service in March 2007, citing a need to deploy the Fortuny elsewhere.[371] P&O Ferries ended their service to Bilbao on 27 September 2010 due to "unsustainable losses".[372][373] The second-busiest ferry port in the UK (after Dover), Portsmouth handles about three million passengers per year.[374][375]

Buses

Local bus services are provided by Stagecoach South and First Hampshire & Dorset to the city and its surrounding towns. Hovertravel and Stagecoach operate a Hoverbus service from the city centre to Southsea Hovercraft Terminal and the Hard Interchange, near the seafront.[376] National Express service from Portsmouth operates primarily from the Hard Interchange to Victoria Coach Station, Cornwall, Bradford, Birkenhead and Bristol.[377]

Railways

Railways in the Portsmouth area
Portchester
Havant
Bedhampton
Cosham
Farlington Halt
HMNB Portsmouth
Admiralty Line
Hilsea
Portsmouth & Southsea
Fratton
Portsmouth Harbour
Southsea Railway 1885–1914
Jessie Road Bridge Halt
Albert Road Bridge Halt
East Southsea

Portsmouth has four railway stations on Portsea Island: Hilsea, Fratton, Portsmouth & Southsea[378] and Portsmouth Harbour,[379] with a fifth station at Cosham in the northern mainland suburb of Cosham, Portsmouth. Portsmouth previously had additional stations at Southsea, Farlington and Paulsgrove, but these were closed during at various periods of the twentieth century.

The city of Portsmouth is on two direct South Western Railway routes to London Waterloo, via Guildford and via Basingstoke.[380] There is a South Western Railway stopping service to Southampton Central and Great Western Railway service to Cardiff Central via Southampton, Salisbury, Bath Spa and Bristol.[381] Southern has service to Brighton, Gatwick Airport, Croydon and London Victoria.[382]

Closed stations

Southsea once had its own branch line, the Southsea Railway, which opened in 1885 between Southsea railway station and Fratton; it was closed in 1914 due to competition from tram services.[383]

Farlington Halt railway station was built to serve Portsmouth Park racecourse, opening as Farlington Race Course on 26 June 1891.[384] The racecourse was closed during World War One, but the station was retained to serve the ammunition dump put in its place.[385] The station closed in 1917.[384] Re-opened in 1922 until 1927.[384] Under the Southern Railway, it re-opened as a general public halt in 1928 named Farlington Halt;[384] however, this was short-lived as the station closed due to insufficient customers on 4 July 1937.[384]

Paulsgrove Halt railway station[386] was a railway station opened in 1928 to serve the adjacent Portsmouth Racecourse, a pony racing stronghold.[387] The station was formerly located between Cosham and Portchester stations. Paulsgrove Halt was closed along with the racecourse when the land was acquired by the military in 1939, at the outbreak of World War II.

Air

Portsmouth Airport, with a grass runway, was in operation from 1932 to 1973. After it closed, housing (Anchorage Park) and industry were built on the site.[388][389] The nearest airport is Southampton Airport in the Borough of Eastleigh, 19.8 miles (31.9 km) away.[116] It has a South Western Railway rail connection, requiring a change at Southampton Central or Eastleigh.[390] Heathrow and Gatwick are 65 miles (105 km) and 75 miles (121 km) away, respectively. Gatwick is linked by Southern train service to London Victoria station and Heathrow is linked by coach to Woking, which is on both rail lines to London Waterloo and the London Underground.[391] Heathrow is linked to Portsmouth by National Express coaches.[392]

Former canal

A map of the planned route of Portsmouth and Arundel Canal across Portsea Island from 1815
A map of the planned route of Portsmouth and Arundel Canal across Portsea Island from 1815

The Portsmouth and Arundel Canal ran between the towns and was built in 1823 by the Portsmouth & Arundel Navigation Company. Never financially successful, and found to be contaminating Portsea Island fresh water wells,[393] it was abandoned in 1855 and the company was wound up in 1888.[394] The canal was part of a larger scheme for a secure inland canal route from London to Portsmouth, allowing boats to avoid the English Channel. It had three sections: a pair of ship canals (one on Portsea Island and one to Chichester) and a barge canal from Ford on the River Arun to Hunston, where it joined the canal's Chichester section.[395]

The route through Portsea Island began from a basin formerly located on Arundel Street and cut through Landport, Fratton and Milton, ending at the eastern end of Locksway Road in Milton (where a set of lock gates accessed Langstone and Chichester Harbours. After the island route was closed, the drained canal-bed sections through Landport and Fratton were reused for the Portsmouth Direct line, or filled-in to surface level to form a new main road route to Milton, named Goldsmith Avenue.

The brick-lined canal walls are clearly visible between the Fratton and Portsmouth & Southsea railway stations. The canal lock entrance at Locksway Road in Milton is east of the Thatched House pub.[396]

Future plans

A new public transport structure was once under discussion, including monorails and light rail. Although a light-rail link to Gosport was authorised in 2002 (with completion expected to be in 2005), the project was in jeopardy as the Department for Transport refused to fund it in November 2005.[397] In April 2011, The News reported a scheme to replace conventional rail lines to Southampton via Fareham, Bursledon and Sholing with light rail.[398][399]

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Gosport

Gosport

Gosport is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2021 Census, its population was 81,952. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite the city of Portsmouth, to which it is linked by the Gosport Ferry. Gosport lies south-east of Fareham, to which it is linked by a Bus Rapid Transit route and the A32. Until the last quarter of the 20th century, Gosport was a major naval town associated with the defence and supply infrastructure of His Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) Portsmouth. As such over the years extensive fortifications were created.

Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is an island in the English Channel, two to five miles off the coast of Hampshire, across the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island in England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of Wight has resorts that have been popular holiday destinations since Victorian times. It is known for its mild climate, coastal scenery, and verdant landscape of fields, downland, and chines. The island is historically part of Hampshire and is designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Hovertravel

Hovertravel

Hovertravel is a ferry company operating from Southsea, Portsmouth to Ryde, Isle of Wight, UK. It is the only passenger hovercraft company currently operating in Britain since Hoverspeed stopped using its craft in favour of catamarans and subsequently ceased all ferry operations in 2005.

Hovercraft

Hovercraft

A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces.

Caen

Caen

Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants, while its functional urban area has 470,000, making Caen the second largest urban area in Normandy and the 19th largest in France. It is also the third largest commune in all of Normandy after Le Havre and Rouen.

Cherbourg-Octeville

Cherbourg-Octeville

Cherbourg-Octeville is a former commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. It was formed when Cherbourg and Octeville merged on 28 February 2000. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, of which it became a delegated commune. Its population was 35,338 in 2019.

Le Havre

Le Havre

Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very close to the Prime Meridian. Le Havre is the most populous commune of Upper Normandy, although the total population of the greater Le Havre conurbation is smaller than that of Rouen. After Reims, it is also the second largest subprefecture in France. The name Le Havre means "the harbour" or "the port". Its inhabitants are known as Havrais or Havraises.

Bilbao

Bilbao

Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the province of Biscay and in the Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the tenth largest city in Spain, with a population of 346,843 as of 2019. The Bilbao metropolitan area has 1,037,847 inhabitants, making it the most populous metropolitan area in northern Spain; with a population of 875,552 comarca of Greater Bilbao is the fifth-largest urban area in Spain. Bilbao is also the main urban area in what is defined as the Greater Basque region.

Channel Islands

Channel Islands

The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, consisting of Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm and some smaller islands. They are considered the remnants of the Duchy of Normandy and, although they are not part of the United Kingdom, the UK is responsible for the defence and international relations of the islands. The Crown dependencies are not members of the Commonwealth of Nations, nor have they ever been in the European Union. They have a total population of about 171,916, and the bailiwicks' capitals, Saint Helier and Saint Peter Port, have populations of 33,500 and 18,207, respectively.

Brittany Ferries

Brittany Ferries

Brittany Ferries is the trading name of the French shipping company, BAI Bretagne Angleterre Irlande S.A. founded in 1973 by Alexis Gourvennec, that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries between France and the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain, and between Spain and Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Condor Ferries

Condor Ferries

Condor Ferries is an operator of passenger and freight ferry services between The United Kingdom, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Bailiwick of Jersey and France.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is an executive agency of the United Kingdom that responsible for implementing British and international maritime law and safety policy. It works to prevent the loss of lives at sea and to prevent marine pollution. It is a subsidiary executive agency of the UK Department for Transport and responsible through the Secretary of State for Transport to Parliament. It is also responsible for land based search and rescue helicopter operations since 2015. Its motto is "Safer Lives, Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas". The organisation is currently led by Damien Oliver.

Media

Portsmouth, Southampton and their adjacent towns are served primarily by programming from the Rowridge and Chillerton Down transmitters on the Isle of Wight,[400] although the transmitter at Midhurst can substitute for Rowridge. Portsmouth was one of the first cities in the UK to have a local TV station (MyTV), although the Isle of Wight began local television broadcasting in 1998.[401] In November 2014, That's Solent was introduced as part of a nationwide roll-out of local Freeview channels in south-central England.[402] The stations broadcast from Rowridge.[403]

According to RAJAR, popular radio stations include regional Wave 105 and Global Radio's Heart South and Capital South. Greatest Hits Radio South West broadcasts from Southampton to the city on 107.4 MHz,[404] and the non-profit community station, Express FM, broadcasts on 93.7.[405] Patients at Queen Alexandra Hospital (Portsmouth's primary hospital) receive local programming from Portsmouth Hospital Broadcasting, which began in 1951.[406] When the first local commercial radio stations were licensed during the 1970s by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), Radio Victory received the first licence and began broadcasting in 1975. In 1986, the IBA increased the Portsmouth licence to include Southampton and the Isle of Wight. The new licence went to Ocean Sound (later known as Ocean FM), with studios in Fareham; Ocean FM became Heart Hampshire. For the city's 800th birthday in 1994, Victory FM broadcast for three 28-day periods over 18 months.[407] It was purchased by TLRC, who relaunched the station in 2001 as the Quay;[408] Portsmouth Football Club became a stakeholder in 2007, selling it in 2009.[409]

Portsmouth's daily newspaper is The News, founded in 1873 and previously known as the Portsmouth Evening News. The Journal, a free weekly newspaper, is published by News publisher Johnston Press.[410][411]

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Chillerton Down transmitting station

Chillerton Down transmitting station

The Chillerton Down transmitting station is a broadcasting facility for FM and DAB radio at Chillerton Down, above the village of Chillerton on the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England. The transmitter was erected in 1958 and uses a 228.9-metre (751 ft) high guyed steel lattice mast of triangular cross section as an aerial.

Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is an island in the English Channel, two to five miles off the coast of Hampshire, across the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island in England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of Wight has resorts that have been popular holiday destinations since Victorian times. It is known for its mild climate, coastal scenery, and verdant landscape of fields, downland, and chines. The island is historically part of Hampshire and is designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Midhurst transmitting station

Midhurst transmitting station

The Midhurst transmitting station is a facility for both analogue and digital VHF/FM radio and UHF television transmission, 3.1 miles (5.0 km) northeast of Midhurst, West Sussex, England. The station broadcasts to much of the northern half of West Sussex, and to small parts of Surrey and Hampshire.

Freeview (UK)

Freeview (UK)

Freeview is the United Kingdom's sole digital terrestrial television platform. It is operated by Everyone TV and DTV Services Ltd, a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky. It was launched on 30 October 2002, taking over the licence from ITV Digital which collapsed that year. The service provides consumer access via an aerial to the seven DTT multiplexes covering the United Kingdom. As of July 2020, it has 85 TV channels, 26 digital radio channels, 10 HD channels, six text services, 11 streamed channels, and one interactive channel.

Heart South

Heart South

Heart South is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the south and south east of England from studios in Fareham, Hampshire.

Capital South

Capital South

Capital South is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Hampshire and Sussex from studios in Segensworth, Fareham.

Greatest Hits Radio South West

Greatest Hits Radio South West

Greatest Hits Radio South West is a regional radio station serving the South West of England, as part of Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network.

Queen Alexandra Hospital

Queen Alexandra Hospital

The Queen Alexandra Hospital is a large NHS hospital in Portsmouth, Hampshire. Located in Cosham, it is run by Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust and has a Ministry of Defence Hospital Unit attached.

Independent Broadcasting Authority

Independent Broadcasting Authority

The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television – and commercial and independent radio broadcasts. The IBA came into being when the Sound Broadcasting Act 1972 gave the Independent Television Authority responsibility for organising the new Independent Local Radio (ILR) stations. The Independent Television Commission formally replaced the IBA on 1 January 1991 in regulatory terms; however, the authority itself was not officially dissolved until 2003.

Fareham

Fareham

Fareham is a market town at the north-west tip of Portsmouth Harbour, between the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton in south east Hampshire, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Fareham. It was historically an important manufacturer of bricks, used to build the Royal Albert Hall, and grower of strawberries and other seasonal fruits. Current employers include Fareham Shopping Centre, small-scale manufacturers, HMS Collingwood and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.

Heart Hampshire

Heart Hampshire

Heart Hampshire was a British independent local radio station serving South Hampshire, West Sussex and Isle of Wight primarily for Portsmouth, Southampton, Winchester and Chichester. The station served an area of England with a high proportion of commuters to London and a higher-than-average disposable income from middle-class families and people over 45. Its target age range was 25–45.

Johnston Press

Johnston Press

Johnston Press plc was a multimedia company founded in Falkirk, Scotland, in 1767. Its flagship titles included UK-national newspaper the i, The Scotsman, the Yorkshire Post, the Falkirk Herald, and Belfast's The News Letter. The company was operating around 200 newspapers and associated websites around the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man when it went into administration and was the purchased by JPIMedia in 2018. The Falkirk Herald was the company's first acquisition in 1846. Johnston Press's assets were transferred to JPIMedia in 2018, who continued to publish its titles.

Notable residents

Portsmouth has been home to a number of famed authors; Charles Dickens, whose works include A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and A Tale of Two Cities, was born there.[412] Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, practised medicine in the city and played in goal for the amateur Portsmouth Association Football Club.[413] Rudyard Kipling (poet and author of The Jungle Book)[414] and H. G. Wells, author of The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, lived in Portsmouth during the 1880s.[415] Novelist and historian Walter Besant, author of By Celia's Arbour, A Tale of Portsmouth Town, was born in Portsmouth.[416][417] Historian Frances Yates, known for her work on Renaissance esotericism, was born in the city. Francis Austen, brother of Jane Austen, briefly lived in the area after graduating from Portsmouth Naval Academy.[418] Contemporary literary figures include social critic, journalist and author Christopher Hitchens, who was born in Portsmouth.[419] Nevil Shute moved to the city in 1934 when he relocated his aircraft company, and his former home is in Southsea.[420] Fantasy author Neil Gaiman grew up in Purbrook and Southsea.[251][421]

Industrial Revolution engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born in Portsmouth.[422][423] His father, Marc Isambard Brunel, worked for the Royal Navy and developed the world's first production line to mass-produce pulley blocks for ship rigging.[69] James Callaghan, British prime minister from 1976 to 1979, was born and raised in Portsmouth.[424][425] Son of a Protestant Northern Irish petty officer in the Royal Navy, Callaghan was the only person to hold all four Great Offices of State: foreign secretary, home secretary, chancellor and prime minister.[426] John Pounds, the founder of ragged schools (which provided free education to working-class children), lived in Portsmouth and founded England's first ragged school there.[427]

Comedian and actor Peter Sellers was born in Southsea,[428] and Arnold Schwarzenegger briefly lived and trained in Portsmouth.[429] Other actors who were born or lived in the city include EastEnders actresses Emma Barton and Lorraine Stanley,[430] comedienne and singer Audrey Jeans,[431] and Bollywood actress Geeta Basra.[432] Cryptozoologist Jonathan Downes was born in Portsmouth, and lived there for a time.[433] Ant Middleton, former SBS, current television presenter and author was born in Portsmouth. Helen Duncan, the last person to be imprisoned under the 1735 Witchcraft Act, was arrested in Portsmouth.[434]

Notable sportspeople include Commonwealth Games gold medalist Michael East,[435] Olympic medallist in cycling Rob Hayles,[436] former British light-heavyweight boxing champion Tony Oakey,[437] Olympic medallist Alan Pascoe as well as professional footballer Mason Mount.[438] Single-handed yachtsman Alec Rose,[439] 2003 World Aquatics Championships gold medallist Katy Sexton,[440] and Olympic medallist Roger Black were also born in the city.[441] Jamshid bin Abdullah of Zanzibar, the last constitutional monarch of the island state, lives in exile in Portsmouth with his wife and six children.[442]

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List of people from Portsmouth

List of people from Portsmouth

Notable people from Portsmouth in Hampshire, England, include:Sir John Armitt, CBE, FREng, Chairman of the London 2012 Olympic Delivery Authority, grew up in Portsmouth and attended also Portsmouth Northern Grammar School. He graduated in civil engineering from the Portsmouth College of Technology in 1966. Hertha Ayrton, scientist and Suffragette who was described as one of Portsmouth's "least known and celebrated figures", was born in Portsea. Sir Francis Austen, brother of Jane Austen, briefly lived in the area after graduating from Portsmouth Naval Academy Actress Emma Barton Bollywood actress Geeta Basra, was born and raised in Portsmouth Sir Walter Besant, a novelist and historian was born in Portsmouth, writing one novel set exclusively in the town, By Celia's Arbour, A Tale of Portsmouth Town Roger Black, Olympic medallist, was also born in Portsmouth and attended the Portsmouth Grammar School, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, famed engineer of the Industrial Revolution, was born in Portsmouth Marc Isambard Brunel, worked for the Royal Navy and invented the world's first production line to mass manufacture pulley blocks for the rigging in Royal Navy vessels. James Callaghan, British prime minister from 1976 to 1979, was born and raised in Portsmouth. Frederick Chatterton (1812-1886), English harpist Mel Croucher founder of the UK videogames industry, born in Portsmouth 19 November 1948. Sir Barry Cunliffe CBE, one of Britain's leading archaeologists and Emeritus Professor of European Archaeology at Oxford University, grew up in Portsmouth and attended Portsmouth Northern Grammar School. Ben Falinski, singer in rock band Ivyrise was born and raised in Portsmouth. Ian Darke, football and boxing commentator currently working for BT Sport and previously one of Sky Sports' "Big Four" football commentators, was born in the city. Charles Dickens, known for such works as A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and A Tale of Two Cities, was born in Pompey Harry Digweed, footballer Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, practised as doctor in the city and played in goal for Portsmouth Association Football club, an amateur team not to be confused with the later professional Portsmouth Football Club Actress Nicola Duffett, best known for her role on Family Affairs Helen Duncan, last person to be imprisoned under the 1735 Witchcraft Act in the UK was arrested in Portsmouth. Michael East, Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning athlete Matt Edmondson, Radio 1 and Channel 4 presenter, Jill Ellis, two time FIFA World Cup winning coach of the United States Women’s National Soccer Team. Sir Roger Fry, CBE, Honorary Doctor of Letters and Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, is now President of the Council of British International Schools and Founding Chairman of the King's Group of British International Schools. He was born in Portsmouth and educated at the Northern Grammar School and later at the University of London. Gerald Flood, actor of stage and television, was born in Portsmouth. Gerald Flood Paul Flowers, disgraced chairman of the Co-operative Bank and Labour politician Douglas Morey Ford, lawyer and author. Fantasy author Neil Gaiman grew up in nearby Purbrook and the Portsmouth suburb of Southsea, and in 2013 had a Southsea road named after his novel The Ocean At The End Of The Lane. Joseph Garrett (YouTuber) Peter Gautrey, British diplomat Stephen Goldring, first-class cricketer and British Army officer Rob Hayles, cyclist and Olympic Games medal winner Musician and songwriter Simon Heartfield hardcore artist DJ Hixxy, William Brodleck Herms, American entomologist and university professor Journalist and author Christopher Hitchens, was born in the city Roger Hodgson of Supertramp, progressive rock band Gentle Giant, Amanda Holden, television presenter and actress Brian Howe, vocalist of Bad Company Graham Hurley, whose Joe Faraday crime novels are based in the city. Joe Jackson, musician and singer–songwriter grew up in the city Audrey Jeans, comedienne and singer. Mick Jones, founder of Foreigner, was born in Portsmouth Paul Jones, singer, actor, harmonica player, radio personality and television presenter. Dillie Keane, songwriter, entertainer, founder of the comedy trio Fascinating Aïda, was born in Southsea Jim Al-Khalili is a British theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster. He lives in Southsea in Portsmouth with his wife Julie. Rudyard Kipling, spent a miserable childhood boarding in Southsea, but prevailed to become a Nobel-winning poet and author of the Jungle Book Amanda Lamb TV Presenter and former model Palaeographer Sir Frederic Madden, born in the city in 1801. John Madden, Director of "Shakespeare in Love", "The best exotic Marigold hotel" series,"Mrs Brown" "The Debt" and others, born 1949, in Southsea George Meredith, grew up in Portsmouth High Street. Michelle Magorian is an English author of children's books. She is best known for her first novel, Goodnight Mister Tom. Alexander St. Lo Malet (1845–1922), first-class cricketer and British Army soldier Stephen Marcus, actor, born in Portsmouth Ant Middleton, presenter of SAS Who Dares Wins, former SBS, current television presenter and author was born in Portsmouth Aubrey Morris, actor Wolfe Morris, actor Mason Mount, footballer who plays for Premier League club Chelsea, was born in Portsmouth. Tony Oakey, former British light-heavyweight boxing champion Roland Orzabal, from Tears For Fears grew up in the area. Alison Owen, film director, were also both born in the city. Alan Pascoe, Olympic medallist, born in the city Marcus Patric, actor on Hollyoaks, was born in Portsmouth John Pounds, founder of the ragged school, which provided free education to working class children, lived in Portsmouth and set up the country's first ragged school in the city. Sir Alec Rose, single-handed yachtsman Peter Sellers, comedian, actor, and performer was born in Southsea, Katy Sexton, former world champion swimmer who won gold in the 200 metres (660 ft) backstroke at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona Arnold Schwarzenegger, lived and trained in Portsmouth for a short time. Nevil Shute, moved to Portsmouth in 1934 when he relocated his aircraft company to the city; his former home stands in the Eastney end of the island of Portsea Anthony Thackara (1917-2007), first-class cricketer and Royal Navy officer William Tucker, trader in human heads, and New Zealand's first art dealer was also born in Portsmouth. John Vernon (1922–1994), first-class cricketer and Royal Navy sailor H. G. Wells, author of The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, lived in Pompey during the 1880s Kim Woodburn, of How Clean is Your House?. Dame Frances Amelia Yates, DBE, British historian was born in Victoria Road in Southsea.

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today.

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. A Christmas Carol recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.

Great Expectations

Great Expectations

Great Expectations is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip. It is Dickens' second novel, after David Copperfield, to be fully narrated in the first person. The novel was first published as a serial in Dickens's weekly periodical All the Year Round, from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. In October 1861, Chapman and Hall published the novel in three volumes.

A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, and his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie whom he had never met. The story is set against the conditions that led up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. In the Introduction to the Encyclopedia of Adventure Fiction, critic Don D'Ammassa argues that it is an adventure novel because the protagonists are in constant danger of being imprisoned or killed.

Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.

H. G. Wells

H. G. Wells

Herbert George Wells was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, history, popular science, satire, biography and autobiography. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and has been called the "father of science fiction."

Frances Yates

Frances Yates

Dame Frances Amelia Yates was an English historian of the Renaissance, who wrote books on esoteric history.

Francis Austen

Francis Austen

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Francis William Austen, was a Royal Navy officer and an elder brother of the novelist Jane Austen. As commanding officer of the sloop HMS Peterel, he captured some 40 ships, was present at the capture of a French squadron, and led an operation when the French brig Ligurienne was captured and two others were driven ashore off Marseille during the French Revolutionary Wars.

Jane Austen

Jane Austen

Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her use of social commentary, realism and biting irony have earned her acclaim among critics and scholars.

Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Eric Hitchens was a British American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, Hitchens worked as a journalist with the New Statesman magazine in London in the 1970s after completing his education at Oxford. In the early 1980s, he emigrated to the United States and wrote for The Nation and Vanity Fair.

Nevil Shute

Nevil Shute

Nevil Shute Norway was an English novelist and aeronautical engineer who spent his later years in Australia. He used his full name in his engineering career and Nevil Shute as his pen name, in order to protect his engineering career from inferences by his employers (Vickers) or from fellow engineers that he was '"not a serious person" or from potentially adverse publicity in connection with his novels, which included On the Beach and A Town Like Alice.

International relations

Twin towns - sister cities[443][444]

Discover more about International relations related topics

France

France

France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. It also includes overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, giving it one of the largest discontiguous exclusive economic zones in the world. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea; overseas territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean. Its eighteen integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 km2 (248,573 sq mi) and had a total population of over 68 million as of January 2023. France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre; other major urban areas include Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Lille, Bordeaux, and Nice.

Caen

Caen

Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants, while its functional urban area has 470,000, making Caen the second largest urban area in Normandy and the 19th largest in France. It is also the third largest commune in all of Normandy after Le Havre and Rouen.

Germany

Germany

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second-most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between the Baltic and North seas to the north, and the Alps to the south; it covers an area of 357,022 square kilometres (137,847 sq mi), with a population of over 84 million within its 16 constituent states. Germany borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. The nation's capital and most populous city is Berlin and its main financial centre is Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr.

Duisburg

Duisburg

Duisburg is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the 15th-largest city in Germany.

Israel

Israel

Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in Western Asia. Situated in the Southern Levant, it is bordered by Lebanon to the north, by Syria to the northeast, by Jordan to the east, by the Red Sea to the south, by Egypt to the southwest, by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, and by the Palestinian territories — the West Bank along the east and the Gaza Strip along the southwest. Tel Aviv is the economic and technological center of the country, while its seat of government is in its proclaimed capital of Jerusalem, although Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem is unrecognized internationally.

Haifa

Haifa

Haifa is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of 282,832 in 2021. The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area in Israel. It is home to the Baháʼí Faith's Baháʼí World Centre, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a destination for Baháʼí pilgrimage.

Haifa District

Haifa District

Haifa District is an administrative district surrounding the city of Haifa, Israel. The district is one of the seven administrative districts of Israel, and its capital is Haifa. The district land area is 864 km2 (299.3 mi2).

Canada

Canada

Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's second-largest country by total area, with the world's longest coastline. It is characterized by a wide range of both meteorologic and geological regions. The country is sparsely inhabited, with most residing south of the 55th parallel in urban areas. Canada's capital is Ottawa and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. Halifax is one of Canada's fastest growing municipalities, and as of 2022, it is estimated that the CMA population of Halifax was 480,582, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The regional municipality consists of four former municipalities that were amalgamated in 1996: Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford, and Halifax County.

Lakewood, Colorado

Lakewood, Colorado

The City of Lakewood is the home rule municipality that is the most populous municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 155,984 at the 2020 U.S. Census, making Lakewood the fifth most populous city in Colorado and the 167th most populous city in the United States. Lying immediately west of Denver, Lakewood is a principal city of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and a major city of the Front Range Urban Corridor.

Jefferson County, Colorado

Jefferson County, Colorado

Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 582,910, making it the fourth-most populous county in Colorado. The county seat is Golden, and the most populous city is Lakewood.

Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is the eighth most extensive and 21st most populous U.S. state. The 2020 United States census enumerated the population of Colorado at 5,773,714, an increase of 14.80% since the 2010 census.

Freedom of the City

According to the Portsmouth City Council website, the following individuals and military units have received the Freedom of the City in Portsmouth.[445]

Individuals

Military units

Organisations and groups

Discover more about Freedom of the City related topics

Freedom of the City

Freedom of the City

The Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected citizens freedom from serfdom, the tradition still lives on in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand—although today the title of "freeman" confers no special privileges. The Freedom of the City can also be granted by municipal authorities to military units which have earned the city's trust; in this context, it is sometimes called the Freedom of Entry. This allows them the freedom to parade through the city, and is an affirmation of the bond between the regiment and the citizenry.

Edward Macnaghten, Baron Macnaghten

Edward Macnaghten, Baron Macnaghten

Edward Macnaghten, Baron Macnaghten, was an Anglo-Irish law lord, barrister, rower, and Conservative-Unionist politician.

Field marshal (United Kingdom)

Field marshal (United Kingdom)

Field Marshal (FM) has been the highest rank in the British Army since 1736. A five-star rank with NATO code OF-10, it is equivalent to an Admiral of the Fleet in the Royal Navy or a Marshal of the Royal Air Force in the Royal Air Force (RAF). A Field Marshal's insignia consists of two crossed batons surrounded by yellow leaves below St Edward's Crown. Like Marshals of the RAF and Admirals of the Fleet, Field Marshals traditionally remain officers for life, though on half-pay when not in an appointment. The rank has been used sporadically throughout its history and was vacant during parts of the 18th and 19th centuries. After the Second World War, it became standard practice to appoint the Chief of the Imperial General Staff to the rank on his last day in the post. Army officers occupying the post of Chief of the Defence Staff, the professional head of all the British Armed Forces, were usually promoted to the rank upon their appointment.

Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts

Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts

Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, was a British Victorian era general who became one of the most successful British military commanders of his time. Born in India to an Anglo-Irish family, Roberts joined the East India Company Army and served as a young officer in the Indian Rebellion during which he was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry. He was then transferred to the British Army and fought in the Expedition to Abyssinia and the Second Anglo-Afghan War, in which his exploits earned him widespread fame. Roberts would go on to serve as the Commander-in-Chief, India before leading British Forces for a year during the Second Boer War. He also became the last Commander-in-Chief of the Forces before the post was abolished in 1904.

John Baker (Portsmouth MP)

John Baker (Portsmouth MP)

Sir John Baker was a Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom.

Frederick Fitzwygram

Frederick Fitzwygram

Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Wellington John Fitzwygram, 4th Baronet DL JP was a British Army cavalry officer, expert on horses and Conservative politician.

David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party statesman and politician from Wales, he was known for leading the United Kingdom during the First World War, for social-reform policies, for his role in the Paris Peace Conference, and for negotiating the establishment of the Irish Free State. He was the last Liberal Party prime minister; the party fell into third-party status shortly after the end of his premiership.

Edward VIII

Edward VIII

Edward VIII, later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 1936 until his abdication in December of the same year.

J. E. B. Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone

J. E. B. Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone

John Edward Bernard Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone,, also known as Jack Seely, was a British Army general and politician. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1904 and a Liberal MP from 1904 to 1922 and from 1923 to 1924. He was Secretary of State for War for the two years prior to the First World War, before being forced to resign as a result of the Curragh Incident. He led one of the last great cavalry charges in history at the Battle of Moreuil Wood on his war horse Warrior in March 1918. Seely was a great friend of Winston Churchill and the only former cabinet minister to go to the front in 1914 and still be there four years later.

Admiral (Royal Navy)

Admiral (Royal Navy)

Admiral is a senior rank of the Royal Navy, which equates to the NATO rank code OF-9, outranked only by the rank of admiral of the fleet. Royal Navy officers holding the ranks of rear admiral, vice admiral and admiral of the fleet are sometimes considered generically to be admirals. The rank of admiral is currently the highest rank to which a serving officer in the Royal Navy can be promoted, admiral of the fleet being in abeyance except for honorary promotions of retired officers and members of the Royal Family.

Bernard Montgomery

Bernard Montgomery

Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein,, nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and the Second World War.

Alec Rose

Alec Rose

Sir Alec Rose was a nursery owner and fruit merchant in England who, after serving in the Royal Navy during World War II, developed a passion for amateur single-handed sailing. He took part in the second single-handed Atlantic race in 1964 and circumnavigated the globe single-handedly in 1967–68, for which he was knighted. His boat Lively Lady is still seaworthy and is used for sail training by a charity.

Source: "Portsmouth", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 27th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth.

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See also
Notes
  1. ^ These were part of a network of fortifications intended to guard military bases on the British coastline from an inland attack. They were built in the 19th century by order of Lord Palmerston.[74]
  2. ^ Portsmouth is one of 34 British towns and cities with a Catholic cathedral.[161][162]
  3. ^ Vatican policy in England at the time was to found sees in locations other than those used for Anglican cathedrals.[334]
References

Citations

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  76. ^ a b Hewitt 2013, p. 39.
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  84. ^ "Suffragettes, violence and militancy". British Library. 6 February 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
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  86. ^ a b c d e Webb, Simon (2021). The Suffragette Bombers: Britain's Forgotten Terrorists. Pen and Sword. pp. 133–135. ISBN 978-1-78340-064-5.
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  90. ^ "No. 33154". The London Gazette. 23 April 1926. pp. 2776–2777.
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Works cited

General references

External links