Portsmouth Info

Medieval Portsmouth

Portsmouth was founded about 1180 by a merchant named Jean De Gisors. He built a little town on the site on Old Portsmouth. De Gisors owned the land on the site and he saw it had an inlet called the Camber that would be a useful place for ships to land and load and unload their cargoes. So he decided to start his own town there.

He began a market at Portsmouth and divided the land into plots where craftsmen and merchants could build houses. In 1185 a church was built at Portsmouth (it is now the cathedral).

The little town thrived. In 1194 Richard II gave Portsmouth a charter (a document which granted the inhabitants certain rights) and it soon became an important and busy little port. To us it would seem very small with perhaps only 1,200 or 1,300 inhabitants but towns were very small in those days. Ships brought wine, woad, iron and wax to Portsmouth and they carried away grain and wool.

At first Portsmouth was run by a man called a reeve. However by the 14th century Portsmouth had a mayor and from 1369 it also had a military governor responsible for defending the town. Despite him the French burned Portsmouth 4 times during the 14th century, which was easy as most of the buildings were of wood with thatched roofs. However the French last came in 1380 after which the little town was rebuilt and thrived.

In the Middle Ages the church ran the only 'hospitals'. In Portsmouth a 'hospital' called the Domus Dei was built in 1212. In it monks looked after the sick as best they could. They also provided hospitality for poor travellers. Portsmouth also had a leper hostel outside the town.

Furthermore after the last French attack in 1380 Portsmouth was at last fortified. They dug a ditch around the town and made an earth rampart with a wooden stockade on top. (Stone walls did not come till much later). Then about 1418 a tower (the Round Tower) was built to protect the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour. The Sqaure Tower was built in 1494.

However all did not go smoothly in Portsmouth. In 1450 the Bishop of Chichester was murdered there. At that time sailors were stationed in Portsmouth and they had not been paid for a long time. In the Middle Ages senior clergymen often took prominent roles in government. The Bishop of Chichester was close to the king and he was very unpopular as he was blamed for defeats in the war against France. The king, unwisely sent him to deal with the sailors. Worse the Bishop had some money but not enough to pay the sailors all they were owed. When they found out he was at mass in the church attatched to the Domus Dei they dragged him out. They then stabbed him.

The Pope then placed Portsmouth under an interdict, which meant that sacraments could not be held in the town. The interdict was not lifted until 1508.

Yet in 1495 Henry VII founded the dockyard at Portsmouth. The dockyard changed Portsmouth forever. It developed into a major naval port.

Tudor and Stuart Portsmouth

In the 16th century Henry VIII continued to improve his naval base at Portsmouth. In 1513 he built 4 breweries in the town to to supply his sailors. In 1544 he built Southsea Castle.

However Henry also closed the monasteries. The Domus Dei first became an armory and later the military governor's house.

During Elizabeth's reign the wooden walls around Portsmouth were replaced with stone. However under her Portsmouth went into decline as she opened other dockyards on the Thames nearer to London. Furthermore in 1563 plague struck Portsmouth. Out of a population of perhaps 2,000 some 300 died. Even so Portsmouth grew larger and may have had a population of about 2,500 by the end of the 16th century.

In the early 17th century Portsmouth was still in the doldrums but under Charles I (1625-1649) the town became more important and busier. That was despite the fact that the Duke of Buckingham one of the king's ministers was stabbed to death in Portsmouth in 1628. An unbalanced sailor called John Fenton did the deed. Afterwards he was hanged and his body was hanged on what is now Southsea Common as a warning to all other would-be assassins.

When civil war between king and parliament began in 1642 most of the citizens of Portsmouth supported parliament. However Colonel Goring the military governor supported the king. As a result parliamentary soldiers quickly captured Southsea castle and besieged the town. The navy supported parliament and it blockaded Portsmouth while guns stationed in Gosport bombarded the town. Goring was forced to surrender and Portsmouth remained in parliamentary hands for the rest of the war.

When peace came in 1646 Portsmouth continued to be a busy and flourishing town. In 1650 the first ship was built at Portsmouth dockyard for 100 years. Several more were built in the following decade and the town grew rapidly. By the 1660s Portsmouth probably had a population of about 3,500.

By 1663 the dockyard and the navy needed their own wharf so one was built. It became known as the gunwharf. Meanwhile a mast pond was dug in the dockyard for seasoning masts by soaking them in water. The dockyard was kept busy and it continued to expand.

In 1667-1685 a man named De Gomme built new fortifications around Portsmouth. New walls were built. They were strengthened by triangular towers called bastions and there were two moats around Portsmouth.

Georgian Portsmouth

In the 18th century Portsmouth and its dockyard expanded rapidly. In 1704 the dockyard gained a church dedicated to St Anne. In 1733 a naval academy opned in the dockyard.

Until the end of the 17th century the town of Portsmouth was limited to the area we call Old Portsmouth. However it was overcrowded and people began to build houses on the area called Portsmouth Common by the dockyard. The governor of the dockyard was not pleased. He was worried that houses on the common would provide cover for enemy soldiers approaching the dockyard. In 1703 he threatened to turn his guns on any new houses that were built. However Prince George the husband of Queen Anne was visiting Portsmouth and the dockyard workers appealed to him. In 1704 they were given permission to build houses on the land around the dockyard.

The new suburb of Portsmouth Common (called Portsea from 1792) grew larger than the original town! By the end of the 18th century Old Portsmouth had a population of about 8,000 while Portsea had 24,000 people. In the 1770s walls were built around the suburb.

There were some improvements in Portsmouth in the 18th century. In 1733 a man left land in his will which was to be rented out. The rent money was to be used to provide a free shcool. So Portsmouth Grammar School was founded. It opened in Penny Street in 1750.

In the 18th century some towns appointed men called Improvement Commissioners to pave and clean streets. Improvement Commissioners were formed in Portsea in 1764 and in Old Portsmouth in 1768.

Victorian Portsmouth

During the 19th century Portsmouth grew at a tremendous rate. From a population of about 32,000 it rose to 100,000 in 1871 and 190,000 by the end of the century. As it grew the city spread across Portsea Island.

From the end of the 18th century a new suburb grew outside Portsea, called Landport. In 1809 a new suburb appeared at Southsea. The first streets were those named after mineral such as copper and stone street. Southsea gradually spread and it became a genteel suburb. By the 1860s it extended as far as Granada Road.

Meanwhile another suburb was built on land belonging to a Mr. Somers. It became known as Somerstown.

In the 1860s the old village of Buckland was engulfed by the growing city of Portsmouth. In the 1870s and 1880s more houses were built at Stamshaw. North End became built up after a horse drawn tram was built through the area from Portsmouth to Cosham. Meanwhile the village of Fratton was engulfed.

In the 1860s and 1870s houses were built along Albert Road and by the end of the century growth had spread to Eastney. At the end of the 19th century the area around Fawcett Road and Lawrence Road became built up.

Like all cities in the early 19th century Portsmouth was overcrowded and dirty. However during the century things improved. A private company began supplying Portsmouth with water in 1811. In 1858 the council bought the water company. Meanwhile in 1848-1849 Portsmouth suffered an epidemic of cholera which killed over 800 people. However later in the 19th century the council built sewers and in 1875 they passed a by-law which said that any house within 100 feet of an main sewer had to be connected to it.

In 1820 Portsea gained gas street lights. Old Portsmouth followed suit in 1823. Portsmouth converted to electric light at the end of the 19th century. In 1878 Portsmouth gained its first public park, Victoria Park. In 1883 the first public library was opned and in 1885 Portsmouth gained a telephone exchange.

Meanwhile in 1849 the first hospital in Portsmouth opened. (It has since been demolished). In 1879 the lunatic asylum, St James Hospital opened. St Marys Hospital opened in 1898.

In 1818-1822 a canal was built to run from Portsmouth across Portsea Island to Miltoan However the canal was not a success and it closed in 1838. However from 1840 horse drawn buses began running in the streets of Portsmouth. From 1865 horse drawn trams ran across the island and in 1847 Portsmouth was connected to Brighton by railway.

Meanwhile the marshes south of the new suburb of Southsea were drained and the old town walls were demolished. They were made obsolete by advances in gunnery and they were pulled down in the 1860s. However at the same time a line of forts was builton Portsdown Hill to protect Portsmouth. In the 18th century a rampart was built at Hilsea. In the 19th century it was rebuilt and became the Hilsea lines.

In Southsea convicts built Clarence Esplanade in 1848. Clarence Pier was built in 1861. They take their name from Lord FitzClarence one time military governor of Portsmouth.

In the 19th century there were, obviously many sailors in Portsmouth but there were also many soldiers. They provided a market for the bakers, brewers and tailors of the town.

Modern Portsmouth

In the early 20th century Portsmouth continued to grow and by 1939 its population had reached 260,000. The old villages of Milton and Copnor were absorbed and so was Hilsea. In 1920 the boundaries of Portsmouth were extened to include Cosham. In 1932 the boundaries were extended to include Drayton and Farlington.

Meanwhile in 1911 the first council houses in Portsmouth were built at Curzon Howe Road in Portsea. (The street was named after an admiral). Between the wars more council houses were built at Wymering, Hilsea and Eastney. Meanwhile dreadful slums were demolished in Portsea.

Amenities in Portsmouth continued to improve during the 20th century. In the early years of the century cinemas opened and by 1939 there were over 30 in Portsmouth. In 1922 the council purchased Southsea Common and in 1926 a golf course was opened at Great Salterns. Meanwhile in 1901-1903 the horse drawn trams were converted to electricity and from 1919 motor buses ran in the streets.

When the Second World War came Portsmouth was bombed heavily and 930 people died. More than 6,000 houses were destroyed and another 6,000 were seriously damaged.

After the war the city desperately needed new houses to replace those that had been bombed. They also needed houses to replace the many slums that were demolished. Immediately after the war pre-fab houses that could be very quickly built were erected but the council also built many permanent council houses. They built a new estate at Paulsgrove in the late 1940s and early 1950s. In 1944 they bought Leigh Park estate and from 1947 they built a new estate there. Building houses at Leigh Park went on through the 1950s and 1960s and into the early 1970s when the Warren was built.

Also in the 1970s the council built new estates north of Portsmouth at Wecock Farm and Crookhorn.

Meanwhile during the 1960s and early 1970s there was a wave of slum demolition in Portsmouth. Whole parts of the centre of the city were demolished. Sub-standard housing was cleared away in Landport, Buckland and Somerstown and new houses and flats were built to replace them.

There were of course many new private houses built in Portsmouth at that time. In the late 1970s private houses were built at Gatcombe Park in Hilsea and in the 1980s private houses were built at Anchorage Park. In the 1990s a new estate of flats and houses was built at Port Solent. A marina was also built there.

In the early years of the 20th century the traditional industries like corset making, baking and brewing flourished in Portsmouth but they declined rapidly in the later 20th century. Meanwhile at the beginning of the century the biggest employer in Portsmouth was the dockyard. It boomed during the First World War and again during the Second World War. However in the later 20th century it too declined.

Yet from the 1930s new industries came to Portsmouth. One of these was the Airspeed Factory. After the Second World War the council built new industrial estates in Portsmouth. On was built at Fratton in the late 1940s. In the 1950s others were built at Paulsgrove and Farlington. Then in the 1960s the council began building a new estate at Burrfields Road. The in the 1980s the council built new industrial estates at Hilsea and Cosham.

Meanwhile the old industries such as brewing and shipbuilding went into a long decline. The pattern of employment changed. Service industries such as shopping and tourism became more important. Henry VIII's warship MaryRose was lifted from the seabed in 1982 and became a major tourist attraction. The D Day Museum opened in 1984 and in 1987 by HMS Warrior, which was brought to Portsmouth.

At the beginning of the 21st century Portsmouth continued to develop as a tourist and shopping destination. A new shopping centre opened at Gunwharf opened in 2001. The Pompey Centre followed in 2003. In 2005 the Spinnaker Tower opened. Today Portsmouth is a flourishing city with a population of 186,000.