History of Portsmouth

PORTSMOUTH IN THE MIDDLE AGES

The city of Portsmouth originated in 1180 when a merchant called Jean De Gisors founded a little town in South-West corner of Portsea Island. Jean De Gisors was a merchant who owned a fleet of ships. He was also a landowner who owned land on Portsea Island. In the South-West of the island was a small inlet from the sea called the Camber. It was a sheltered place for ships to land and De Gisors decided it was an ideal place to start a town.
De Gisors divided up the land into plots for building houses and he started a market. Craftsmen and merchants came to live in the new settlement. In 1185 a parish church was built (later it became Portsmouth Cathedral).
In 1194 the king gave Portsmouth a charter.
By the early 13th century Portsmouth was seen as one of the most important ports in Britain. The population of Portsmouth was about 1,200 people. The main exports were wool and grain. The main imports were wine, wood for dyeing, wax for candles and iron.
In 1212 a building called the Domus Dei (house of God) was built. It was a form of hospital where monks looked after sick and poor people. By the 14th century Portsmouth had a mayor elected by the merchants.
In 1369 a military governor was appointed who was responsible for the defence of the town. However Portsmouth was burned down 4 times during the 14th century during a period of almost continuous warfare between England and France. The French burned Portsmouth in 1338, 1369, 1377 and 1380, (during this time the majority of the buildings were of wood with thatched roofs).
Portsmouth was not fortified until after the last attack in 1380. A ditch was dug around the town and the earth was used to make a rampart. A wooden stockade was erected on top. About 1418 a tower was erected at the entrance of Portsmouth Harbour called the Round Tower. Cannons on it could fire at any enemy ship attempting to enter the harbour. Later, in 1522 a giant chain was stretched across the mouth of the harbour with a winch by the Round Tower. It could be lowered to let in friendly ships but raised to prevent enemy ones entering the harbour.
In 1494 Henry VII strengthened the towns fortifications by building the square tower. But only the round tower and the square tower were of stone. The rest of the fortifications were of wood. Henry also changed the destiny of Portsmouth when he built a dockyard in 1495. The dockyard was a place where royal warships could be built or repaired. From then on Portsmouth became a naval port. The dockyard was built a short distance north of the town. At first it consisted of a single dry dock; the world’s earliest known dry dock

PORTSMOUTH IN THE 16th CENTURY
In 1513 Henry VIII built 4 breweries in Portsmouth to supply his navy. In 1527 he enlarged the dockyard. When he closed the monasteries in 1539 he also closed the Domus Dei. It was turned into an armoury and later into a house for the military governor.
Henry also built a castle, east of the town, overlooking the sea. Southsea castle, as it is called, was ready in 1544. However Portsmouth still had only wooden walls. They were replaced by stone walls in stages between 1568 and 1588.
In the late 16th century Portsmouth declined in importance. In the late 16th century and early 17th century ships were repaired at Portsmouth but none were actually built.
Portsmouth also suffered an outbreak of plague in 1563. About 300 people died, which was a significant number in a town of perhaps 2,000 people.
Nevertheless Portsmouth continued to grow and might have reached a population of 2,500 by 1600.

PORTSMOUTH IN THE 17th CENTURY
Under Charles I (1625-49) Portsmouth began to regain some of its former importance.
Then in 1642 came civil war between king and parliament. Most of the people in Portsmouth, including the mayor supported parliament. But the military governor of the town, Colonel Goring supported the king and he commanded the soldiers in the town.
The navy sided with parliament and Portsmouth was blockaded by sea. Parliament sent men to besiege Portsmouth by land. Southsea castle was taken after only token resistance. The guns of Southsea castle were then used to fire at the town of Portsmouth. On the other side of Portsmouth the town of Gosport joined the parliamentary side. Here too, guns were set up and were fired at Portsmouth.
Goring and his few supporters were granted safe exit from Portsmouth.
Following the end of the civil war in 1646 Portsmouth prospered. In 1650 a ship called the Portsmouth was launched in the Dockyard. It was the first ship to be built in the town for over 100 years. Its population had probably grown to over 3,000.
In the late 17th century the dockyard (and the town) continued to grow. In 1663 a new wharf was built for the exclusive use of the navy and the dockyard. In 1665 a mast pond was dug (masts were soaked in it for years to season them). As the dockyard lay north of the town surrounded by fields it was easy for it to expand.
Then in 1667-85 the fortifications around Portsmouth were rebuilt. New walls were built with many bastions (triangular towers). Two moats were dug outside the walls separated by a strip of land. Afterwards Portsmouth was one of the most heavily fortified towns in Europe.

PORTSMOUTH IN THE 18th CENTURY
At the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century the dockyard continued to expand. New docks and warehouses were built. A church dedicated to St Anne was built in 1704. Rows of houses were built in the dockyard for senior officers who needed to be close to their work. A naval academy for training naval officers was opened in the dockyard in 1733.
Meanwhile the town of Portsmouth had reached bursting point by the end of the 17th century. So people began to build houses north of the town on the area known as the Common, near the dockyard. The first houses were built there about 1690. But the governor of the dockyard was alarmed by this new development. In 1704 royal permission was given for people to build houses near the dockyard. So a new suburb called Portsmouth Common grew. In 1792 it changed its name to Portsea.
This new suburb soon outgrew the original town, which became known as Old Portsmouth. In 1801 Portsea had a population of about 24,000 while Old Portsmouth had less than 8,000. Nevertheless it was not until the 1770's that the town walls were extended to include the new suburb.
In 1764 a body of men called the Improvement Commissioners was set up in Portsea. They had power to pave and clean the streets. They also appointed a man called a scavenger who collected rubbish, with a cart, once a week. In 1768 a similar body was set up in Old Portsmouth. In 1776 they were given power to light the streets with oil lamps and from 1783 they appointed night watchmen to patrol the streets.
Portsmouth Grammar School opened in Penny Street in 1750. Despite its founder's intention it later became a fee paying school.

PORTSMOUTH IN THE 19th CENTURY
In 1811 Portsmouth gained its first piped water supply, but you had to pay to be connected and only the rich and middle class could afford it. In 1820 the Portsea Improvement Commissioners installed gas street lighting. Old Portsmouth followed in 1823.
In the 18th century the town was limited to the South West corner of Portsea Island. During the 19th century it spread across the whole island.
By 1871 the population of Portsmouth had grown to 100,000.
In 1809 a new suburb began to grow. It became known as Southsea after the castle. The first houses were built for skilled workers in the 'mineral' streets (Silver Street, Nickel Street etc).
Slightly later middle class houses were built in Kings Terrace and Hampshire Terrace. But the new suburb remained small until 1835. Then it surged eastwards. By the 1860's the suburb of Southsea had grown along Clarendon Road as far as Granada Road. In 1857 Southsea gained its own Improvement Commissioners responsible for paving, cleaning and lighting the streets.
Meanwhile another suburb was growing, this one working class. About 1820 some houses were built west of Green Road on land belonging to a Mr Somers. The new suburb was named Somers Town. By the late 1880's growth had spread to Fawcett Road and Lawrence Road. Meanwhile further south in the 1860's and 1870's growth spread along Albert Road. The roads around Festing Road were built in the 1880's.
By 1900 the population of Portsmouth was 190,000 almost the same as it is today.
There were also improvements in transport. In 1840 the first horse drawn buses began running in Portsmouth. They were followed, in 1865 by horse drawn trams. In 1847 the railway reached Portsmouth.
In 1818-22 a canal was built across Portsea Island. The Portsmouth to Arundel canal began just outside the town where Arundel Street is today (hence its name). It ran along the site of the railway between Portsmouth and Fratton. It then ran along the site of Goldsmith Avenue to Milton then ran south of Locksway Road to locks on the south eastern shore of Portsea Island. The barges were towed by steam tugs across the sea into Chichester harbour where the canal began again. The canal closed in 1838.
The fortifications around Portsmouth were rebuilt. The old walls around the town were now obsolete. They were demolished in the 1860's. The millpond between Old Portsmouth and Portsea was filled in the year 1876. In 1862-68 a chain of forts was built along Portsdown Hill which overlooks the town. Since the 18th century there had been an earth rampart across the north of Portsea Island manned by marines. This was rebuilt in the 1860's.
PORTSMOUTH IN THE 20th CENTURY
The city continued to grow. In 1920 the boundaries of the city were extended to include the village of Cosham north of Portsea Island and in 1932 to include Drayton and Farlington to the north east. This area was growing rapidly and soon all these villages became suburbs of the growing city.
The first council houses were built in 1911 in Portsea in Curzon Howe Road. In the 1930's many more council houses were built at Wymering. They were needed as slum clearance was taking place in Portsea. By 1939 the population of Portsmouth reached 260,000.
In transport the old horse drawn trams were replaced by electric ones in 1901-03. But the electric trams were replaced closed in 1935-36. The first motor buses in Portsmouth began running in 1919. Other facilities continued to improve. Queen Alexandra hospital opened on the slopes of Portsdown hill in 1908.
In 1922 the council purchased Southsea Common, a stretch of land by the sea, and laid it out with gardens, bowling greens and tennis courts.
During World War II 930 people were killed by bombing. Also 6,625 houses were destroyed (nearly 10% of the total) and a further 6,549 were severely damaged.
After the war the most pressing need was for new housing. At first the council erected prefabs (houses made in sections in factories that could be fitted together is a few days). Some were erected on bomb sites. Others were erected on Portsdown hill above Cosham. More than 700 prefab houses were built in 1945-47.
In February 1946 the council began to build more permanent houses, most of them off Portsea Island.
Apart from wartime bombing another reason for building new houses was slum clearance. In 1955 a survey showed that 7,000 houses in Portsmouth were unfit for human habitation.
In the early 1960's and early 1970's a whole section of central Portsmouth was rebuilt including Somers Town. As well as demolishing slums the council gave people grants to improve their homes.
In the 1980's shopping malls were built, the Bridge Centre in Fratton and the Cascades Centre in Commercial Road.
In the early 20th century the main employer was the dockyard. It employed 8,000 men in 1900. During the First World War the number rose to 23,000 but it fell to 9,000 when the war ended. From the 1930's the threat of another war led to an expansion of the dockyard workforce. Meanwhile other industries like brewing and corset making prospered. A new employer was the Airspeed factory, which made parts for aircraft. It opened in the North East of Portsea Island.
After World War II the city council tried to diversify industry in Portsmouth. The pattern of employment in Portsmouth changed rapidly. In 1951 46% of the manufacturing jobs in the city were in shipbuilding. By 1966 this had fallen to only 14%. The dockyard workforce was drastically reduced.
Tourism also became a major industry. Mary Rose the Tudor warship was raised from the seabed in 1982 and became a museum. The D Day museum opened in 1984 and in 1987 HMS Warrior, Britains first iron warship, was moved to Portsmouth.
PORTSMOUTH IN THE 21st CENTURY
In 2001 a new shopping centre opened at Gunwharf. Also in 2001 Millennium Promenade opened. The Pompey Centre was built in 2003. Portsmouth's newest tourist attraction, the Spinnaker Tower, opened in 2005.
Today the population of Portsmouth is 186,000.