A lifetime of Islands: Island 33

Monday, 14 March 2011

Island 33 - Portsea

A large part of the City of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island. The island is 4 miles from north to south, by 3.5 miles from east to west at its widest point.  It is linked to the mainland of Hampshire to the north by bridges carrying two main roads and a railway line. To the south is The Solent, to the east is Langstone Harbour and Portsmouth Harbour lies to the west. A Royal Naval Base and Dockyard occupy part of the western shore of the island and the suburb of Southsea is located at the southern end of the island.

Portsmouth was possibly founded in 1180 by a local merchant called Jean de Gisors. In 1194 King Richard I recognised the strategic location of Portsea Island and granted the town a charter, a fair and a market. The naval dockyard was built c1495 on the orders of Henry VII, although the town had been used as a naval base before this date. The dockyard was extended by Henry VIII in 1527 and in 1544 he built Southsea Castle on the south coast of the island.   The naval base grew in size and importance over the next four centuries.

The city of Portsmouth expanded across the island during the 19th Century, engulfing surrounding villages such as Buckland, Fratton and Stramshaw. In the 1870s the working class suburb of Somerstown was constructed on land previously owned by a Mr Somers.

The seaside resort of Southsea started to develop in the early 19th century. It was originally called Croxton Town after a local landowner called Thomas Croxton. It is now a suburb of Portsmouth. South Parade Pier opened in 1879 as a pleasure pier. It was closed in 2012 due to health and safety concerns and its future remains uncertain.

Southsea Common is a large public open space at the west end of Southsea. It wasn't developed for housing during the Victorian period, as the military needed a clear line of fire at any enemy ships. The common was purchased by Portsmouth City Council from the War Office in 1922 for use as a public park. A large number of mature elm trees are growing on the common, having escaped Dutch elm disease due to their isolation. Most of them are Huntingdon Elms, which were planted in the 1920s but there is also a Siberian Elm. Many trees were lost during the Great Storm of 1987 and these have been replaced by a Dutch cultivar called Lobel.

Portsmouth was bombed extensively during the Second World War. After the war bomb damaged housing was rebuilt and at the same time slum clearance was carried out. In 2011 the population of Portsmouth (including the parts to the north, which are on the mainland), was 205,100.

I visited Portsea Island for the first time in 1984 when I attended a Navy Day. We also visited the Henry VIII’s battleship Mary Rose, which was launched in 1511 and sank off Portsmouth in 1545.

Vice Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory (and the ship on which he died at the Battle of Trafalgar) and HMS Warrior, (the world’s first iron-hulled armoured warship powered by both steam and sail and launched in 1860) can also be seen and visited in Portsmouth Harbour.

The most recent landmark is the Spinnaker Tower at Gunwharf Quays. It is 170 metres high and has 3 viewing decks and a café. Planning for it started in 1995, construction started in 2001 but it wasn’t finished until 2005. It is the centrepiece for the redevelopment of Portsmouth Harbour.

Clarence Pier at the northern end of Southsea Common was opened in 1861 as a promenade pier and a landing place for steamers. It was badly damaged during the Second World War but reopened in its present form in 1961. It is currently an amusement park.