Portsmouth
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Portsmouth (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell) is a port city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in England not located primarily on the mainland. The city is located Template:Convert south-east of Southampton, Template:Convert west of Brighton and Hove and Template:Convert south-west of London. With a population last recorded at 208,100, it is the most densely-populated city in the United Kingdom.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite web</ref> Portsmouth forms part of the South Hampshire urban area with Gosport, Fareham, Havant, Eastleigh and Southampton.
Portsmouth's history can be traced to Roman times and has been a significant Royal Navy dockyard and base for centuries. Portsmouth was founded Template:Circa by Anglo-Norman merchant Jean de Gisors in the south-west area of Portsea Island, a location now known as Old Portsmouth.<ref name="portsmouth-guide_co_uk">Template:Cite web</ref> Around this time, de Gisors ordered the construction of a chapel dedicated to St Thomas Becket.<ref name="portsmouth-guide_co_uk" /> This became a parish church by the 14th century. Portsmouth was established as a town with a royal charter on 2 May 1194.<ref name=history3/>Template:Sfn The city is home to the first drydock ever built. It was constructed by Henry VII in 1496.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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, Template:HMS (the world's oldest naval ship still in commission), and Template:HMS, the Royal Navy's first ironclad warship.
The former Template:HMS shore establishment has been redeveloped into a large retail outlet destination known as Gunwharf Quays which opened in 2001.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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 Template:Convert.
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 enrolls 23,000 students.
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.
History
[edit]Early history
[edit]The Romans built Portus Adurni (now called Portchester Castle), a fort, at nearby Portchester in the late third century.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a warrior named Port and his two sons killed a noble Briton in Portsmouth in 501.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Winston Churchill, in A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, wrote that Port was a pirate who founded Portsmouth in 501.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
England's southern coast was vulnerable to Danish Viking invasions during the eighth and ninth centuries, and was conquered by Danish pirates in 787.Template:Sfn In 838, during the reign of Æthelwulf, King of Wessex, a Danish fleet landed between Portsmouth and Southampton and plundered the region.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn The Danes returned in 1001 and pillaged Portsmouth and the surrounding area, threatening the English with extinction.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn They were massacred by the English survivors the following year; rebuilding began, although the town experienced further attacks until 1066.Template:Sfn
Norman to Tudor
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Although Portsmouth was not mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book, Bocheland (Buckland), Copenore (Copnor), and Frodentone (Fratton) were.<ref name=history3>Template:Cite web</ref> According to some sources, it was founded in 1180 by the Anglo-Norman merchant Jean de Gisors.<ref name="history2"/>
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.Template:Sfn When Richard returned from captivity in Austria in May 1194, he summoned an army and a fleet of 100 ships to the port.Template:Sfn 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.<ref name=history3/>Template:Sfn The 1194 royal charter's 800th anniversary was celebrated in 1994 with ceremonies at the city museum.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
King John reaffirmed RichardTemplate:NbspI's rights and privileges, and established a permanent naval base. The first docks were begun by William of Wrotham in 1212,<ref name=history3/>Template:Sfn and John summoned his earls, barons, and military advisers to plan an invasion of Normandy.Template:Sfn In 1229, declaring war against France, [[Henry III of England|HenryTemplate:NbspIII]] assembled a force described by historian Lake Allen as "one of the finest armies that had ever been raised in England".Template:Sfn The invasion stalled, and returned from France in October 1231.Template:Sfn HenryTemplate:NbspIII summoned troops to invade Guienne in 1242, and [[Edward I of England|EdwardTemplate:NbspI]] sent supplies for his army in France in 1295.Template:Sfn Commercial interests had grown by the following century, and its exports included wool, corn, grain, and livestock.Template:Sfn
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.Template:Sfn 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 of England|EdwardTemplate:NbspIII]] instructed all maritime towns to build vessels and raise troops to rendezvous at Portsmouth.Template:Sfn 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.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Page needed After the raid, EdwardTemplate:NbspIII exempted the town from national taxes to aid its reconstruction.<ref name="porthis">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.Template:Sfn
Henry V gathered his forces in Portsmouth for an invasion of France in 1415, it was while staying at Portchester Castle that the Southampton plot was uncovered. This campaign would culminate with victory at the battle of Agincourt.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also 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 that year.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn Henry VII rebuilt the fortifications with stone, assisted Robert Brygandine and Sir Reginald Bray in the construction of the world's first dry dock,Template:Sfn and raised the Square Tower in 1494.Template:Sfn He made Portsmouth a Royal Dockyard, England's only dockyard considered "national".Template:Sfn 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).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Henry VIII built Southsea Castle, financed by the Dissolution of the Monasteries, in 1539 in anticipation of a French invasion.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also invested heavily in the town's dockyard, expanding it to Template:Convert.Template:Sfn Around this time, a Tudor defensive boom stretched from the Round Tower to Fort Blockhouse in Gosport to protect Portsmouth Harbour.<ref name="boom">Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.Template:Sfn 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.<ref name="history2"/>
Stuart to Georgian
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In 1623, Charles I (then Prince of Wales) returned to Portsmouth from France and Spain.Template:Sfn 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.<ref name="history3"/>Template:Sfn 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".Template:Sfn Felton was hanged, and his body chained to a gibbet on Southsea Common as a warning to others.<ref name="history2"/>Template:Sfn The murder took place in the Greyhound public house on High Street, which is now Buckingham House and has a commemorative plaque.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Most residents (including the mayor) supported the parliamentarians during the English Civil War, although military governor Colonel Goring supported the royalists.<ref name="history2"/> 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.<ref name="history2"/><ref name="siege">Template:Cite web</ref> 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 out of the city.<ref name="siege"/><ref name="siege1"/>
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.<ref name="siege1">Template:Cite web</ref> After the end of the Civil War, Portsmouth was among the first towns to declare [[Charles II of England|CharlesTemplate:NbspII]] king and began to prosper.Template:Sfn The first ship built in over 100 years, Template:Ship, was launched in 1650; twelve ships were built between 1650 and 1660. After the Restoration, CharlesTemplate:NbspII married Catherine of Braganza at the Royal Garrison Church on 14 May 1662.<ref name="garr"/>Template:Sfn Catherine was reputed to have introduced the cultural practice of tea drinking to England at this event.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.Template:Sfn 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.<ref name="history2"/>
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.Template:Sfn Two years later, on 30 May 1775, Captain James Cook arrived on Template:HMS after circumnavigating the globe.<ref name="history3"/>Template:Sfn The 11-ship First Fleet left on 13 May 1787 to establish the first European colony in Australia, the beginning of prisoner transportation;<ref name="Gutenberg FF">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn Captain William Bligh of Template:HMS also sailed from the harbour that year.<ref name="history3"/>Template:Sfn After the 28 April 1789 mutiny on the Bounty, Template:HMS was dispatched from Portsmouth to bring the mutineers back for trial. The court-martial opened on 12 September 1792 aboard Template:HMS in Portsmouth Harbour; of the ten remaining men, three were sentenced to death.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.Template:Sfn Another theory is that it is named after the harbour's guardship, Template:HMS, a 74-gun French ship of the line captured in 1793.Template:Sfn
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."Template:SfnTemplate:Page needed Its design is apparently based on 18th-century mayoral seals.Template:Sfn 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.<ref>Valentine Dyall, Unsolved Mysteries: A Collection of Weird Problems from the Past, 1954, p. 14). </ref>
Industrial Revolution to Edwardian
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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.<ref name="royal">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="block">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1805, Admiral Nelson left Portsmouth to command the fleet which defeated France and Spain at the Battle of Trafalgar.<ref name="history3"/> The Royal Navy's reliance on Portsmouth led to its becoming the most fortified city in the world.Template:Sfn The Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron, tasked with halting the slave trade, began operating out of Portsmouth in 1808.<ref name="BBC slave trade">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.Template:Sfn
In April 1811, the Portsea Island Company constructed the first piped-water supply<ref name="water">Template:Cite web</ref> to upper- and middle-class houses.<ref name="history2"/> It supplied water to about 4,500 of Portsmouth's 14,000 houses, generating an income of £5,000 a year.<ref name="water"/> HMS VictoryTemplate:'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.Template:Sfn In 1818, John Pounds began teaching working-class children in the country's first ragged school.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn The Portsea Improvement Commissioners installed gas street lighting throughout Portsmouth in 1820,<ref name="history3"/> followed by Old Portsmouth three years later.<ref name="history2"/>
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 Template:Convert of a sewer had to be connected to it.<ref name="history3"/> By 1871 the population had risen to 100,000,<ref name="history2"/> and the national census listed Portsmouth's population as 113,569.<ref name="history3"/> A working-class suburb was constructed in the 1870s, when about 1,820 houses were built, and it became Somerstown.<ref name="history3"/> Despite public-health improvements, 514 people died in an 1872 smallpox epidemic.<ref name="history3"/> On 21 December of that year, the Challenger expedition embarked on a Template:Convert circumnavigation of the globe for scientific research.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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".Template:Sfn In 1900, Portsmouth Dockyard employed 8,000 peopleTemplate:Nbsp– a figure which increased to 23,000 during the First World War.<ref name="history2"/>Template:Sfn The whole of Portsea Island came united under the control of Portsmouth borough council in 1904.<ref name="portsenc"/>
In 1906, Template:HMS was launched from Portsmouth Dockyard. The ship revolutionised naval warfare and began an arms race with Germany. The ship's entry into service in 1906 represented such an advance in naval technology that her name came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships.
1913 terrorist attack
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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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="Portsmouth">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Webb">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Bearman">Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name="Webb"/> The damage to the dockyard area cost the city £200,000 in damages, equivalent to £23,600,000 today.<ref name="Webb"/> In the midst of the firestorm, a battleship, Template:HMS, had to be towed to safety to avoid the flames.<ref name="Webb"/> The two victims were a pensioner and a signalman.<ref name="Webb"/>
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".<ref name="Portsmouth"/> The report also disclosed that at a previous police raid on a suffragette headquarters, "papers were discovered disclosing a plan to fire the yard".<ref name="Portsmouth"/>
First and Second World Wars
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On 1 October 1916, Portsmouth was bombed by a Zeppelin airship.<ref name="nazi1">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to another source, the bombs were mistakenly dropped into the harbour rather than the dockyard.<ref name="nazi1"/> 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.Template:Sfn
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.<ref name="portsenc">Template:Cite web</ref> Portsmouth was granted city status in 1926 after a long campaign by the borough council.<ref name="portsenc"/> The application was made on the grounds that it was the "first naval port of the kingdom".<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> 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.<ref name="blu">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="boom"/><ref name="blu"/>
During the Second World War, the city (particularly the port) was bombed extensively by the Luftwaffe in the Portsmouth Blitz.<ref name="history3"/> Portsmouth experienced 67 air raids between July 1940 and May 1944, which destroyed 6,625 houses and severely damaged 6,549.<ref name="history2"/> The air raids caused 930 deaths and wounded almost 3,000 people,<ref name="guild"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> many in the dockyard and military establishments.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn The Guildhall was hit by an incendiary bomb which burnt out the interior and destroyed its inner walls,Template:Sfn although the civic plate was retrieved unharmed from the vault under the front steps.<ref name="guild">Template:Cite web</ref> After the raid, Portsmouth mayor Denis Daley wrote for the Evening News:
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.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A V-1 flying bomb hit Newcomen Road on 15 July 1944, killing 15 people.<ref name="history2"/>
Template:Anchor1945 to present
[edit]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.<ref name="history2"/> The first permanent houses were built away from the city centre, in new developments such as Paulsgrove and Leigh Park;Template:Sfn<ref name="Leigh Park history">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="history2"/> Builders still occasionally find unexploded bombs, such as on the site of the destroyed Hippodrome Theatre in 1984.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="history2"/>
Portsmouth was affected by the decline of the British Empire in the second half of the 20th century. Shipbuilding jobs fell from 46 per cent 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.<ref name="history2"/> 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.<ref name="history2"/> Portsmouth's population had dropped from about 200,000 to 177,142 by the end of the 1960s.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn
In 1956, the Soviet cruiser Ordzhonikidze docked in Portsmouth harbour on a diplomatic mission that had taken head of state Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin to Britain. Naval intelligence was interested in the design of the ship and MI6 recruited diver Lionel Crabb to collect intelligence on the ship particularly its propulsion. After diving into the harbour Crabb was never seen again. This led to a diplomatic incident with the Soviet Union and scandal in British domestic politics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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 Template:HMS and Template:HMS 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.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Redevelopment of the naval shore establishment Template:HMS began in 2001 as a complex of retail outlets, clubs, pubs, and a shopping centre known as Gunwharf Quays.<ref name=history2>Template:Cite web</ref> Construction of the Template:Convert Spinnaker Tower, sponsored by the National Lottery, began at Gunwharf Quays in 2003.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Page needed 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.Template:Sfn 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.<ref name=history2/> The naval base is home to two-thirds of Britain's surface fleet.<ref name="RN1">Template:Cite web</ref> The city also hosted international commemorations for 50th, 75th and 80th anniversaries of the D-Day landings, these were attended by international leaders and remaining veterans.
Geography
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Portsmouth is Template:Convert by road from central London, Template:Convert west of Brighton, and Template:Convert east of Southampton.<ref name="GM">Template:Google maps</ref> It is located primarily on Portsea Island and is the United Kingdom's only island city, although the city has expanded to the mainland.Template:Sfn Gosport is a town and borough to the west.<ref name="GM"/> Portsea Island is separated from the mainland by Portsbridge Creek,Template:SfnTemplate:Page needed which is crossed by three road bridges (the M275 motorway, the A3 road, and the A2030 road), a railway bridge, and two footbridges.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Portsea Island, part of the Hampshire Basin,<ref>Melville, R.V. & Freshney E.C. (4th Ed 1982), The Hampshire Basin and adjoining areas, British Regional Geology series, Institute of Geological Sciences, London: HMSO</ref> is low-lying; most of the island is less than Template:Convert above sea level.<ref name="rising">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The island's highest natural elevation is the Kingston Cross road junction, at Template:Convert above ordinary spring tide.<ref name="highpoint">Template:Cite web</ref>
Old Portsmouth, the original town, is in the south-west part of the island and includes Portsmouth Point (nicknamed Spice Island).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The main channel entering Portsmouth Harbour, west of the island,Template:SfnTemplate:Page needed passes between Old Portsmouth and Gosport.<ref name="GM"/> 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.<ref name="GM"/> 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 Template:Convert 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.Template:SfnTemplate:Page needed 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,<ref name="pissea">Template:Cite web</ref> and Eastney is east.<ref name="eastney">Template:Cite web</ref> Eastney Lake covered nearly Template:Convert in 1626.Template:Sfn North of Eastney is the residential Milton and an area of reclaimed land known as Milton Common (formerly Milton Lake),<ref name="GM"/> a "flat scrubby land with a series of freshwater lakes".Template:Sfn Further north on the east coast is Baffins, with the Great Salterns recreation ground and golf course around Portsmouth College.<ref name="GM"/>
The Hilsea Lines are a series of defunct fortifications on the island's north coast, bordering Portsbridge Creek and the mainland.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Page needed Portsdown Hill dominates the skyline in the north, and contains several large Palmerston FortsTemplate:Efn such as Fort Fareham, Fort Wallington, Fort Nelson, Fort Southwick, Fort Widley, and Fort Purbrook.Template:SfnTemplate:Page neededTemplate:Sfn 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Northern areas of the city include Stamshaw, Hilsea and Copnor, Cosham, Drayton, Farlington, Paulsgrove and Port Solent.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Other districts include North End and Fratton.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The west of the city contains council estates, such as Buckland, Landport, and Portsea, which replaced Victorian terraces destroyed by Second World War bombing.<ref name="history2"/> After the war, the Template:Convert Leigh Park estate was built to address the chronic housing shortage during post-war reconstruction.Template:Sfn 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).<ref name="Leigh Park history"/>
The city's main station, Portsmouth and Southsea railway station,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is in the city centre near the Guildhall and the Civic Offices.<ref name="guild"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> South of the Guildhall is Guildhall Walk, with a number of pubs and clubs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The city's other railway station, Portsmouth Harbour railway station, is located on a pier at the harbour's edge, near Old Portsmouth.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Edinburgh Road contains the city's Roman Catholic cathedral and Victoria Park, a Template:Convert park which opened in 1878.<ref name="vic">Template:Cite web</ref>
Climate
[edit]Portsmouth has a mild oceanic climate, with more sunshine than most of the British Isles.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Frosts are light and short-lived and snow is quite rare in winter, with temperatures rarely dropping below freezing.<ref name="rising"/> The average maximum temperature in January is Template:Convert, and the average minimum is Template:Convert. The lowest recorded temperature is Template:Convert.<ref name=metextreme>Template:Cite web</ref> In summer, temperatures sometimes reach Template:Convert. The average maximum temperature in July is Template:Convert, and the average minimum is Template:Convert. The highest recorded temperature is Template:Convert.<ref name=metextreme/> The city gets about Template:Convert of rain annually, with a minimum of Template:Convert of rain reported 103 days per year.<ref name="weather">Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:AnchorDemographics
[edit]
Portsmouth is the second-most densely populated city in the United Kingdom, after London.<ref name="PortsmouthCouncil">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="OffNatStat">Template:Cite web</ref> In the 2021 census, the city had 208,100 residents.<ref name="auto"/> The city used to be even more densely populated, with the 1951 census showing a population of 233,545.Template:SfnTemplate:Page needed<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In a reversal of that decrease, its population has been gradually increasing since the 1990s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The city is predominantly white (85.3% of the population). However, Portsmouth's long association with the Royal Navy ensures some diversity.<ref name="hant">Template:Cite web</ref> Some large, well-established non-white communities have their roots in the Royal Navy, particularly the Chinese community from British Hong Kong.<ref name="hant"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn According to the 2021 census, Portsmouth's population was 78% White British, 6.8% other White, 2.3% Bangladeshi, 2.6% mixed race, 1.5% Indian, 1.0% Chinese, 1.8% other, 0.5% Black African, 0.5% white Irish, 1.8% other Asian, 0.3% Pakistani, 2.6% Black Caribbean and 0.4% other Black.<ref name=":0" />
| 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
[edit]| Ethnic Group | Year | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 estimations<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> | 1991<ref name=":412">Data is taken from United Kingdom Casweb Data services of the United Kingdom 1991 Census on Ethnic Data for England, Scotland and Wales Template:Webarchive (Table 6)</ref> | 2001<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 2011<ref name=":36">Template:Cite web</ref> | 2021<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> | ||||||
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| White: Total | 165,149 | 97.5% | 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 | 603 | 0.3% | |||
| Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi | – | – | 1,046 | 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% | |||
| Non-White: Total | 4,203 | 2.5% | 4,487 | 2.7% | 9,819 | 5.3% | 23,874 | 11.6% | 30,724 | 14.3% |
| Total | 169,352 | 100% | 174,697 | 100% | 186,701 | 100% | 205,056 | 100% | 208,001 | 100% |
Politics
[edit]
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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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="portsmouth1">Template:Cite web</ref> Portsmouth was granted city status on 21 April 1926.<ref name="portsmouth1"/>
On 1 April 1974, it formed the second tier of local government (below Hampshire County Council);<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Portsmouth and Southampton became administratively independent of Hampshire with the creation of the unitary authority on 1 April 1997.Template:Sfn
The city is divided into two parliamentary constituencies, Portsmouth South and Portsmouth North, represented in the House of Commons by Stephen Morgan and Amanda Martin, both of the Labour Party.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="ward">Template:Cite web</ref> Each councillor serves a four-year term.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The council is based in the Civic Offices, which house the tax support, housing-benefits, resident-services, and municipal-functions departments.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was opened to the public in 1890.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Minister for Portsmouth
[edit]Between January 2014 and July 2016, Portsmouth uniquely had a dedicated government minister, the Minister for Portsmouth, a position created in response to the loss of 900 jobs from BAE Systems within HMNB Portsmouth. The minister was charged with bringing economic growth to the city.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Economy
[edit]
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> BAE's Portsmouth shipyard received construction work on the two new Template:Sclasss.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="tel">Template:Cite news</ref> A £100 million contract was signed to develop needed facilities for the vessels.<ref name="tel"/> However defence shipbuilding was ended in the city in favour of Glasgow during the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum. The Government was accused of making the decision to keep the more antiquated Glasgow shipyard over Portsmouth for political reasons as part of the pro union campaign. Ministers at the time did state shipbuilding would return to the city if Scotland left the UK. A minister for Portsmouth was established to help deal with the economic fallout of the decision.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A ferry port handles passengers and cargo,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="fish">Template:Cite web</ref>
The city is host to IBM's UK headquarters and Portsmouth was also the UK headquarters of Zurich Financial Services until 2007.<ref name="history2"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> City shopping is centred on Commercial Road and the 1980s Cascades Shopping Centre.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The shopping centre has 185,000 to 230,000 visitors weekly.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Redevelopment has created new shopping areas, including the Gunwharf Quays (the repurposed Template:HMS shore establishment,<ref name="guns">Template:Cite web</ref> with stores, restaurants and a cinema) and the Historic Dockyard, which caters to tourists and holds an annual Victorian Christmas market.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="gun">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Development of Gunwharf Quays continued until 2007, when the Template:Convert No.Template:Nbsp1 Gunwharf Quays residential tower was completed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Number One Portsmouth, a proposed 25-storey Template:Convert tower opposite Portsmouth & Southsea station, was announced at the end of October 2008.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In August 2009, internal demolition of the existing building had begun.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 Template:Convert tower will be Portsmouth's second-tallest structure, after the Spinnaker Tower.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name="SAA">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The scheme was criticised for its size and location, and some officials said that it would interfere with harbour operations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The project was rejected by the city council due to the 2008 financial crisis.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Portsmouth's two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, Template:HMS and Template:HMS, were ordered by defence secretary Des Browne on 25 July 2007.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="end">Template:Cite web</ref> The announcement was criticised by local politicians as a political decision to aid the referendum's "No" campaign.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Culture
[edit]Portsmouth has several theatres. The New Theatre Royal in Guildhall Walk, near the city centre, specialises in professional drama.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The restored Kings Theatre in Southsea features amateur musicals and national tours.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Groundlings Theatre, built in 1784, is housed at the Old Beneficial School in Portsea.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> New Prince's Theatre and Southsea's Kings Theatre were designed by Victorian architect Frank Matcham.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The city has three musical venues: the Guildhall,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Wedgewood Rooms (which includes Edge of the Wedge, a smaller venue),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Portsmouth Pyramids Centre.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Portsmouth Guildhall is one of the largest venues in South East England, with a seating capacity of 2,500.<ref name="guild"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A concert series is presented at the Guildhall by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.Template:Sfn 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The overture has been recorded many times,<ref>Selection of recordings of Portsmouth Point at Discogs accessed 25 April 2025.</ref> and often played at the BBC Proms.<ref>All Performances of William Walton: Overture ‘Portsmouth Point’ at BBC Proms (1927-2024) at the Proms archive, accessed 25 April 2025.</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Portsmouth hosts yearly remembrances of the D-Day landings, attended by veterans from Allied and Commonwealth nations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="Mohan-Hickson">Template:Cite web</ref>
The annual Portsmouth International Kite Festival, organised by the city council and the Kite Society of Great Britain, celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Victorious Festival, the biggest metropolitan music festival in the UK takes place on Southsea Seafront in Portsmouth. It has been an annual event at this location since 2014. It's a large family-friendly music festival and has featured headliners including Stereophonics, Noel Gallager's High Flying Birds, The Prodigy, and other prominent household names.<ref name="charity">Music festival unveils creation of Victorious Foundation to support most vulnerable children in Portsmouth, The News, 2 April 2016</ref>
Portsmouth is frequently used as a filming location for television and film productions, especially the Historic Dockyard. Productions include Tommy, Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Mansfield Park and the Hollywood adaptation of Les Miserables.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2005, Portsmouth featured in the first series of ITV's Britain's Toughest Towns.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As this documentary also indicated, Portsmouth has issues with gangs and anti-social behaviour.<ref name="News May 2021">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="News June 2021...">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="News June 2021">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="HL June 2020">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="News Sept 2020">Template:Cite news</ref>
Portsmouth is home to Paul Stone, the street artist known as My Dog Sighs.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2021, for his INSIDE exhibition, he transformed a derelict ballroom into a immersive world inhabited by creatures that he called 'Quiet Little Voices'.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2023 he celebrated 20 years as a street artist by hiding £30,000 of art across the city in a Free Art giveaway.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He has been awarded an honorary doctorate by University of Portsmouth.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Literature
[edit]
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Portsmouth is most often the port from which Captain Jack Aubrey's ships sail in Patrick O'Brian's seafaring historical Aubrey-Maturin series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Portsmouth is the main setting of Jonathan Meades's 1993 novel Pompey.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Since the novel was published, Meades has presented a TV programme documenting Victorian architecture in Portsmouth Dockyard.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name=Flood>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Crime novels set in Portsmouth and the surrounding area include Graham Hurley's D.I.Template:NbspFaraday/D.C.Template:NbspWinter novels<ref name="graham">Template:Cite web</ref> and C. J. Sansom's Tudor crime novel, Heartstone; the latter refers to the warship Mary Rose and describes Tudor life in the town.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Portsmouth Fairy Tales for Grown Ups, a collection of short stories, was published in 2014.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The collection, set around Portsmouth, includes stories by crime novelists William Sutton and Diana Bretherick.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Education
[edit]
The University of Portsmouth was founded in 1992 as a new university from Portsmouth Polytechnic; in 2016, it had 20,000 students.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university was ranked among the world's top 100 modern universities in April 2015.<ref name="Gurney">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="uopnews">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2013, it had about 23,000 students and over 2,500 staff members.Template:Sfn Several local colleges also award Higher National Diplomas, including Highbury College (specialising in vocational education),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Portsmouth College (which offers academic courses).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Admiral Lord Nelson School and Miltoncross Academy were built in the late 1990s to meet the needs of a growing school-age population.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
After the cancellation of the national building programme for schools, redevelopment halted.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Two schools in the city were judged "inadequate", and 29 of its 63 schools were considered "no longer good enough" by Ofsted in 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Before it was taken over by Ark Schools and became Ark Charter Academy, StTemplate:NbspLuke'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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The academy's intake policy is for a standard comprehensive school, drawing from the community rather than by religion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Portsmouth Grammar School, the city's oldest independent school, was founded in 1732.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Verify source Other independent schools include Portsmouth High School,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Mayville High School (founded in 1897).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Landmarks
[edit]
Many of Portsmouth's former defences are now museums or event venues. Several Victorian-era forts on Portsdown Hill are tourist attractions;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Fort Nelson, at its summit, is home to the Royal Armouries museum.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The museum received a £14 million grant from the National Lottery Fund, and was scheduled to relocate to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The birthplace of Charles Dickens, at Mile End Terrace,<ref name="dickens">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn is the Charles Dickens' Birthplace Museum; the four-storey red brick building became a GradeTemplate:NbspI listed building in 1953.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Other tourist attractions include the Blue Reef Aquarium (with an "underwater safari" of British aquatic life)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Cumberland House Natural History Museum, housing a variety of local wildlife.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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 Template:Convert Overlord Embroidery.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn Portsmouth is home to several well-known ships; Horatio Nelson's flagship Template:HMS, 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,Template:Sfn and 22Template:Nbspmillion people have visited the ship.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The remains of Henry VIII's flagship, Mary Rose, was rediscovered on the seabed in 1971.Template:Sfn She was raised and brought to a purpose-built structure in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in 1982.<ref name="rose">Template:Cite web</ref> Britain's first iron-hulled warship, Template:HMS, was restored and moved to Portsmouth in June 1987 after serving as an oil fuel pier at Pembroke Dock in Pembrokeshire for fifty years.Template:SfnTemplate:Page needed<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn The National Museum of the Royal Navy, in the dockyard, is sponsored by a charity that promotes research into the Royal Dockyard's history and archaeology.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The dockyard hosts the Victorian Festival of Christmas, featuring Father Christmas in a traditional green robe, each November.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Portsmouth's long association with the armed forces is demonstrated by a large number of war memorials, including several at the Royal Marines Museum<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and a large collection of memorials related to the Royal Navy in Victoria Park.<ref name="vic"/> The Portsmouth Naval Memorial, in Southsea Common, commemorates the 24,591 British sailors who died during both World Wars and have no known grave.Template:Sfn Designed by Sir Robert Lorimer, it was unveiled by George VI on 15 October 1924.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The west face of the memorial reads:
The city has three cemeteries: Kingston, Milton Road, and Highland Road. Kingston Cemetery, opened in 1856, is in east Fratton. At Template:Convert, it is Portsmouth's largest cemetery and has about 400 burials a year.<ref name="cemeteries"/> In February 2014, a ceremony celebrating the 180th anniversary of Portsmouth's Polish community was held at the cemetery.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The approximately Template:Convert Milton Road Cemetery, founded on 8 April 1912, has about 200 burials per year. There is a crematorium in Portchester.<ref name="cemeteries">Template:Cite web</ref>
Gunwharf Quays
[edit]
The naval shore establishment Template:HMS 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".Template:Sfn 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).Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn
HMS Vernon was closed on 1 April 1996<ref name="vernon">Template:Cite web</ref> and was redeveloped by Portsmouth City Council as Gunwharf Quays,<ref name="guns"/> a mixed residential and retail site with outlet stores, restaurants, pubs, cafés and a cinema.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Construction of the Spinnaker Tower began in 2001, and was completed in the summer of 2005. The project exceeded its budget and cost £36Template:Nbspmillion, of which Portsmouth City Council contributed £11 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn The Template:Convert tower is visible at a distance of Template:Convert in clear weather, and its viewing platforms overlook the Solent (towards the Isle of Wight), the harbour and Southsea Castle.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn The tower weighs over Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfnand has the largest glass floor in Europe.
Southsea
[edit]
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 HenryTemplate:NbspVIII to help defend the Solent and Portsmouth Harbour.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The area was developed in 1809 as Croxton Town; by the 1860s, the suburb of Southsea had expanded to provide working-class housing.<ref name="pissea"/> Southsea developed as a seaside and bathing resort.<ref name="pissea"/> 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.Template:Sfn
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".Template:Sfn South Parade Pier was built in 1878, and is among the United Kingdom's 55 remaining private piers.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn 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).Template:Sfn<ref name="pissea"/> Plans were announced in 2015 for a Solent Eye at Clarence Pier: a £750,000, 24-gondola Ferris wheel similar to the London Eye.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Southsea is dominated by Southsea Common, a Template:Convert 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,Template:Sfn and parallels the shore from Clarence Pier to Southsea Castle.Template:Sfn A popular recreation area, it hosts a number of annual events which include carnivals, Christmas markets, and Victorian festivals.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Southsea is often mistaken as a town separate from Portsmouth, mainly due to the confusing Portsmouth & Southsea railway station name.Template:Citation needed 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.
Religion
[edit]
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.<ref name="cathhh"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Portsmouth's first chapel, dedicated to Thomas Becket, was built by Jean deTemplate:NbspGisors in the second half of the 12th century.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="chapel2">Template:Cite web</ref> It was rebuilt and developed into a parish church and an Anglican cathedral.<ref name="chapel2"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Damaged during the 1642 Siege of Portsmouth, its tower and nave were rebuilt after the Restoration.Template:Sfn Significant changes were made when the Diocese of Portsmouth was founded in 1927.Template:Sfn 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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 CharlesTemplate:NbspII and Catherine of Braganza was celebrated in the church, and large receptions were held there after the defeat of Napoleon at the 1813 Battle of Leipzig. In 1941, a firebomb fell on its roof and destroyed the nave.<ref name="garr">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.Template:Sfn
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.<ref name="catholic">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="catholic"/> The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth was founded in 1882 by Pope Leo XIII.Template:Efn Smaller places of worship in the city include StTemplate:NbspJude's Church in Southsea,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> [[St Mary's Church, Portsea|StTemplate:NbspMary's Church]] in Portsea,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> [[St Ann's Church, HMNB Portsmouth|StTemplate:NbspAnn's Chapel]] in the naval base<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Portsmouth and Southsea Synagogue, one of Britain's oldest.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.
Sport
[edit]
Portsmouth F.C. play their home games at Fratton Park. They have won two Football League titles (1949 and 1950),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="rsssf">Template:Cite web</ref> and won the FA Cup in 1939 and 2008.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The club returned to the Premier League in 2003.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> They were relegated to the Championship in 2010 and, experiencing serious financial difficulties in February 2012,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> were relegated again to League One. The club was relegated the following year to League Two, the fourth tier of English football.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> PortsmouthTemplate:NbspF.C. was purchased in April 2013 by the Pompey Supporters Trust, becoming the largest fan-owned club in English Football history.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In May 2017, as League Two champions, they were promoted to League One for the 2017–18 season. They won promotion back to the Championship as Champions of League One in May 2024.
Moneyfields F.C. have played in the Wessex Football League Premier Division since 1998.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Baffins Milton Rovers in 2011.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Portsmouth began hosting first-class cricket at the United Services Recreation Ground in 1882,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="PRO">Template:Cite news</ref> Portsmouth is home to two hockey clubs: Portsmouth Hockey Club, based at the Admiral Lord Nelson School and United Services Portsmouth Hockey Club, based on Burnaby Road.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Great Salterns Golf Club, established in 1926,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> is an 18-hole parkland course with two holes played across a lake;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> there are coastal courses at Hayling and the Gosport and Stokes Bay Golf Club.<ref name="GM"/> Boxing was a popular sport between 1910 and 1960, and a monument commemorating the city's boxing heritage was built in 2017.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:AnchorTransport
[edit]Roads
[edit]In March 2008, Portsmouth City Council became the first local authority in the UK to implement city-wide 20 miles per hour speed limit zones.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Ferries
[edit]
Portsmouth Harbour has passenger-ferry links to Gosport and the Isle of Wight,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with car-ferry service to the Isle of Wight nearby.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hovertravel, Britain's longest-standing commercial hovercraft service, begun in the 1960s, runs from near Clarence Pier in Southsea to Ryde, Isle of Wight.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Portsmouth International Port has links to Caen, Cherbourg-Octeville, St Malo and Le Havre in France,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Santander and Bilbao in Spain,<ref name="bit">Template:Cite web</ref> and the Channel Islands.<ref name="chan">Template:Cite web</ref> Ferry services from the port are operated by Brittany Ferries and DFDS Seaways.<ref>https://portsmouth-port.co.uk/ferries/operators-and-sailings/</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> They were quickly corrected and the service was cleared for passengers on 23 May that year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Trasmediterránea discontinued its Bilbao service in March 2007, citing a need to deploy the Fortuny elsewhere.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> P&O Ferries ended their service to Bilbao on 27 September 2010 due to "unsustainable losses".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The second-busiest ferry port in the UK (after Dover), Portsmouth handles about three million passengers per year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Buses
[edit]Local bus services are provided by Stagecoach South and First Hampshire & Dorset to the city and its surrounding towns. Hovertravel and First Hampshire & Dorset operate a Hoverbus service from the city centre to Southsea Hovercraft Terminal and the Hard Interchange, near the seafront.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> National Express service from Portsmouth operates primarily from the Hard Interchange to Victoria Coach Station, Cornwall, Bradford, Birkenhead and Bristol.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Railways
[edit]Portsmouth has four railway stations on Portsea Island: Template:Rws, Template:Rws, Template:Rws<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Template:Rws,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with a fifth station at Template:Rws in the northern mainland suburb of Cosham, Portsmouth. Portsmouth previously had additional stations at Southsea, Farlington and Paulsgrove, but these were closed at various periods of the twentieth century.
The city of Portsmouth is on two direct South Western Railway routes to Template:Rws, via Template:Rws and via Template:Rws.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There is a South Western Railway stopping service to Template:Rws and Great Western Railway service to Template:Rws via Southampton, Template:Rws, Template:Rws and Bristol.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Southern has service to Template:Rws, Template:Rws, Croydon and Template:Rws.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Closed stations
[edit]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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Farlington Halt railway station was built to serve Portsmouth Park racecourse, opening as Farlington Race Course on 26 June 1891.<ref name="Butt">Template:Cite book</ref> The racecourse was closed during World War One, but the station was retained to serve the ammunition dump put in its place.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The station closed in 1917.<ref name="Butt"/> Re-opened in 1922 until 1927.<ref name="Butt"/> Under the Southern Railway, it re-opened as a general public halt in 1928 named Farlington Halt;<ref name="Butt"/> however, this was short-lived as the station closed due to insufficient customers on 4 July 1937.<ref name="Butt"/>
Paulsgrove Halt railway station<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was a railway station opened in 1928 to serve the adjacent Portsmouth Racecourse, a pony racing stronghold.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.
Template:AnchorAir
[edit]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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The nearest airport is Southampton Airport in the Borough of Eastleigh, Template:Convert away.<ref name="GM"/> It has a South Western Railway rail connection, requiring a change at Southampton Central or Eastleigh.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Heathrow and Gatwick are Template:Convert and Template:Convert 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Heathrow is linked to Portsmouth by National Express coaches.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:AnchorFormer canal
[edit]
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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> it was abandoned in 1855 and the company was wound up in 1888.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:AnchorFuture plans
[edit]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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In April 2011, The News reported a scheme to replace conventional rail lines to Southampton via Fareham, Bursledon and Sholing with light rail.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Media
[edit]Portsmouth, Southampton and their adjacent towns are served primarily by programming from the Rowridge and Chillerton Down transmitters on the Isle of Wight,Template:SfnTemplate:Page needed 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In November 2014, That's Solent was introduced as part of a nationwide roll-out of local Freeview channels in south-central England.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The stations broadcast from Rowridge.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
BBC local radio station that broadcast to the city is BBC Radio Solent on 96.1 FM. According to RAJAR, popular radio stations include regional Greatest Hits Radio South and Global Radio's Heart South and Capital South. Easy Radio South Coast broadcasts from Southampton to the city on 107.4 MHz,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the non-profit community station, Express FM, broadcasts on 93.7.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Patients at Queen Alexandra Hospital (Portsmouth's primary hospital) receive local programming from Portsmouth Hospital Broadcasting, which began in 1951.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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, VictoryTemplate:NbspFM broadcast for three 28-day periods over 18 months.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was purchased by TLRC, who relaunched the station in 2001 as the Quay;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Portsmouth Football Club became a stakeholder in 2007, selling it in 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Notable residents
[edit]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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Rudyard Kipling (poet and author of The Jungle Book)<ref name="blue">Template:Cite web</ref> and H. G. Wells, author of The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, lived in Portsmouth during the 1880s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Novelist and historian Walter Besant, author of By Celia's Arbour, A Tale of Portsmouth Town, was born in Portsmouth.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Self-published inline</ref> Contemporary literary figures include social critic, journalist and author Christopher Hitchens, who was born in Portsmouth.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nevil Shute moved to the city in 1934 when he relocated his aircraft company, and his former home is in Southsea.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Fantasy author Neil Gaiman grew up in Purbrook and Southsea.<ref name=Flood/><ref name="Bowlby">Template:Cite web</ref>
Industrial Revolution engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born in Portsmouth.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="royal"/> James Callaghan, British prime minister from 1976 to 1979, was born and raised in Portsmouth.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Comedian and actor Peter Sellers was born in Southsea,<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref> and Arnold Schwarzenegger briefly lived and trained in Portsmouth.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Other actors who were born or lived in the city include EastEnders actresses Emma Barton and Lorraine Stanley,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> comedienne and singer Audrey Jeans,<ref>"Sid James died in Audrey's arms", The News, Portsmouth, 8 February 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2023</ref> and Bollywood actress Geeta Basra.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Cryptozoologist Jonathan Downes was born in Portsmouth, and lived there for a time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Self-published inline</ref>
Notable sportspeople include Commonwealth Games gold medalist Michael East,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Olympic medallist in cycling Rob Hayles,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> former British light-heavyweight boxing champion Tony Oakey,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Olympic medallist Alan Pascoe as well as professional footballer Mason Mount.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Single-handed yachtsman Alec Rose,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 2003 World Aquatics Championships gold medallist Katy Sexton,<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Self-published inline</ref> and Olympic medallist Roger Black were also born in the city.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jamshid bin Abdullah of Zanzibar, the last constitutional monarch of the island state, lives in exile in Portsmouth with his wife and six children.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
International relations
[edit]Twin towns - sister cities
[edit]Sources:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Caen, Normandy, France
- Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
- Haifa, Haifa District, Israel
- Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
- Lakewood, Jefferson County, Colorado, United States
- Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
- Portsmouth, Virginia, United States
- Portsmouth, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States
- Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Sylhet, Bangladesh
- Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China
Freedom of the City
[edit]According to the Portsmouth City Council website, the following individuals and military units have received the Freedom of the City in Portsmouth:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Individuals
[edit]- Baron Macnaghten (1895)
- Field Marshal Lord Roberts of Kandahar (1898)
- Sir John Baker (1901)
- Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Fitzwygram (1901)
- Sir William Pink (1905)
- Sir T. Scott Foster (1906)
- Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1921)
- F. G. Foster (1924)
- David Lloyd George (1924)
- Prince of Wales (1926)
- Major General J. E. B. Seely (1927)
- Sir William Joynson-Hicks (1927)
- Frank J. Privett (1928)
- Sir Harold R. Pink (1928)
- Admiral Sir William James (1942)
- Field Marshal Lord Montgomery of Alamein (1946)
- Sir Winston Churchill (1950)<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>
- Albert Johnson (1966)
- J. P. D. Lacey (1966)
- Sir Alec Rose (1968)<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>
- Admiral of the Fleet Lord Mountbatten of Burma (1976)
- Prince of Wales (1979)
- Lord Callaghan of Cardiff (1991)
- Princess of Wales (1992)
- Lord Judd of Portsea (1995)
- Lady Margaret Daley (1996)
- Josef Krings (1997)
- Ian G. Gibson (2002)
- Milan Mandarić (2003)
- Sir Alfred Blake (2003)
- Brian Kidd (2003), former Head of Parks and Gardens in Portsmouth<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Harry Redknapp (2008)
- Syd Rapson (2016)
- Alan Knight MBE (2025)
Military units
[edit]- Royal Hampshire Regiment (1950)
- Royal Marines (1959)
- Portsmouth Command of the Royal Navy (1965)
- Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (1992)
- Template:HMS, RNR (2003)
- Template:HMS, RN (2007)
Organisations and groups
[edit]- Essential Workers of Portsmouth: 16 March 2021 (service will be held in May 2021).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Royal Naval Association: 8 December 2021.
- Royal Marines Association (Portsmouth Branch): 8 December 2021.
- Association of Wrens and Women of the Royal Naval Services: 8 December 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Pompey in the Community: 29 March 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Life House: 15 December 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- The Southern Co-operative Limited: 10 July 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
[edit]- List of tallest buildings and structures in Portsmouth
- List of twin towns and sister cities in the United Kingdom
- Portsmouth power station
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]Citations
[edit]Works cited
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General references
[edit]External links
[edit]Template:SE England Template:UK cities Template:Hampshire Template:Unitary authorities of England
- Pages with broken file links
- Portsmouth
- 1180 establishments in England
- Local government districts of South East England
- Local government in Hampshire
- Populated coastal places in Hampshire
- Port cities and towns in South East England
- Ports and harbours of Hampshire
- Ports and harbours of the English Channel
- Towns in Hampshire
- Unitary authority districts of England
- Unparished areas in Hampshire
- Boroughs in England
- Former civil parishes in Hampshire
- Cities in South East England