Gosport History

Early Gosport

The town of Gosport was created in the early 13th century. The name Gosport is believed to come from Goose port, probably because wild geese were found there. (In those days goose was often spelt gose but later the 'e' was dropped).

Gosport began as a small market town and a busy little port. To us it would seem tiny with only a few hundred people but towns were very small in those days. Many of the people who lived in Gosport lived by fishing. In the 15th century a tower was built where Fort Blockhouse now stands to defend the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour.

About 1545 a castle called Hasleford Castle was built on the site of Fort Gilkicker. The castle only lasted till 1560 but today Haseleford Drive is named after it.

In the 16th century Gosport was known as a fishing village although there was also a ship building and sail making industry in the town. Nevertheless Gosport remained a small place until the 17th century.

In 1642 civil war broke out. Gosport sided with parliament while Portsmouth was in the hands of royalists. So parliamentary soldiers set up guns at Gosport on the site of the bus station and they bombarded Portsmouth until it surrendered. However in 1645 the royalist army sacked Gosport but the town soon recovered.

Meanwhile in the late 17th century and the 18th century Portsmouth boomed. As it grew Portsmouth created a market for the goods made in Gosport and so the smaller town also boomed.

At one point, in 1627 it was actually suggested that the dockyard should be moved from Portsmouth to Gosport. Although that did not happen storehouses for the dockyard were built at Portsmouth. So were ropewalks and timber yards. In the early 18th century the navy also built a brewery and storehouses at Gosport. Furthermore iron foundries were built in Gosport to supply the dockyard.

As a sign of its growing importance in 1677 Charles Ii decided to fortify Gosport. A ditch was dug and an earth rampart was built. Then about 1680 a fort was built on Burrow Island. Another fort was built on the site of the Falklands Gardens.

Although it was increasing in size until 1694 Gosport was part of the parish of Alverstoke. However in that year the Church of Holy Trinity was consecrated.

Georgian Gosport

In the 18th century Gosport only had 3 main streets, Middle Street (now the High Street), North Street and South Street, with minor streets across them. The Market House stood in Middle Street on stilts. The council met in that building and the market met underneath.

Georgian Gosport was a busy little town. From 1717 it had 3 markets each week. It also had 2 annual fairs, which were held in May and October. (Both were closed in 1900).

Forton Hospital (originally Fortune Hospital) opened in 1713 but it was later used to house prisoners of war. In 1735a workhouse was built in South Street to house the very poor. A new workhouse was built in Alverstoke in 1801. (It gave Workhouse Lane its name). In 1746 Haslar Hospital opened for sick or injured sailors. The first theatre opened in Gosport in 1796.

In 1763 a body of men called Improvement Commissioners was formed to pave the streets and remove obstructions and dangers such as overhanging inn signs.

In 1750 the government purchased land from Jane Priddy. They built a fort and later a gunpowder magazine there. Later still gunpowder and cannonballs were made there.

In the 1770s Gosport was a town of 5,000 people. However in 1777 a writer was not impressed. He said that 'Gosport can claim little that is attractive'. He said 'the town is not pleasant'. He went on to say it 'has the narrowness and slander of a small country town without its rural simplicity and with a full share of the vice of Portsmouth'.

18th century Gosport also suffered from press gangs. The navy had the legal right to arrest men and force them to join the navy and they often did so.

Victorian Gosport

In 1801 Gosport was a bustling little town with a population of over 7,000. By 1851 the population had risen to over 16,000. However most of the people were crowded together within the town walls although in the early 19th century new houses were built at Newtown. In the mid-19th century Forton grew and in the 1860s Camden Town grew up. In the later 19th century Alverstoke became built up and was swallowed up by the growing town.

Like all towns in the early 19th century Gosport was dirty and unsanitary. In 1848 cholera struck the town and 638 people died. People used cesspits, which were emptied very infrequently. The old moat around Gosport was filled with rubbish, which stunk. In 1887 there was an outbreak of smallpox in Gosport and in 1898 typhoid.

Gosport gained a piped water supply in 1858 but sewers were not dug until the early years of the 20th century. Meanwhile Gosport gained gas streetlights in 1834. In 1891 Gosport gained a public library. Also in 1891 Gosport Park was laid out. Also at the end of the 19th century Walpole Park was laid out. It was named after Thomas Walpole the rector of St Marys Church in Alverstoke.

From 1841 Gosport was connected to Fareham by railway. In 1842 a pier was built at Stokes Bay for Queen Victoria to use when she travelled to the Isle of Wight. Then in 1870 horse drawn trams began running in the streets of Gosport. In the 1900s they were electrified.

Meanwhile in 19th century Gosport brewing and baking flourished. In 1828 the navy bought a brewery, which became Royal Clarence Victualling Yard.

In 1855 Gosport was described as well built and handsome. There were several breweries and shipyards in the town, which relied on supplying the army and navy for its living.

Modern Gosport

During the 20th century amenities in Gosport continued to improve. From 1907 Gosport had an electricity supply and in 1910 Gosport gained its first cinema. By the 1930s Gosport had 4 cinemas. In the early 1920s gardens were built by the esplanade. (In 1984 they were renamed the Falklands Gardens). War Memorial Hospital opened in 1924. In 1924 an open-air swimming pool opened in Gosport. Privett Park Sports Ground was laid out in 1937.

Meanwhile the last trams ran in Gosport in 1929. Buses replaced them.

Gosport continued to grow. By 1910 the population of Gosport was 32,000 and by 1939 it had reached 50,000. In 1922 Gosport was made a borough. Meanwhile from the early 1920s some council houses were built in Gosport.

During the Second World War about 500 houses in Gosport were destroyed by German bombing and 11,000 were damaged. After the war the council built many new council houses. In the early 1960s flats were built south of South Street.

In the late 1960s a naval estate was built at Rowner. Then in the late 1970s and early 1980s a council estate was built at Holbrook.

Meanwhile in 1959 Gosport was twinned with the French town of Royan. In 1966 a new town hall was built. A precinct of South Street was built in 1966. A new bus station was built in 1972. Meanwhile HMS Dolphin Submarine Museum opened in 1962 and Gosport Museum opened in 1973.

Several new schools were built. Bridgemary secondary school opened in 1955 and Brune Park followed in 1965. Gosport Sixth Form College opened in 1987.

In the 20th century industry in Gosport changed. After 1945 new factories were built and they made electronic goods, plastic products and pharmaceuticals. However at the end of the 20th century manufacturing industry declined and gave way to service industries. Gosport library became Gosport Discovery Centre in 2005.

Today Gosport is a flourishing town with a population of 76,000.