Portsmouth Hampshire, A Town Of Significance In Ship Building
Founded by Jean De Gisors in 1180, Portsmouth is a town with great ship building significance. This gentleman was a shipowner, landowner and merchant and as he owned some land on Portsea Island, he believed it would make the ideal site for a town. Finding a sheltered cove he marked off plots of land and even built houses, people soon settled there and it became a harbour and market town (1194 charter).
Early in the 13th Century Portsmouth had a population of around 1 200 and was considered to be a very important port. Merchants exported wool, grain, wine, woad, wax and iron, from this port.
Portsmouth evolved into a thriving community, was home to a hospital (Domus Dei), a leper hostel on the outskirts, and was burned down in ongoing skirmishes between the British and the French in 1338, 1369, 1377 and 1380.
After the last burning in 1380 the town was fortified and a tower was built to call the alarm and protect the port from attack. It housed cannons and in the 1500's a winch was added where a massive chain could be lowered to allow in friendly ships and pulled up to protect the town.
The first Portsmouth dockyard was built by Henry VII in 1495, and Henry the VIII expanded the dockyard, also built SouthSea Castle and four breweries to supply the sailors. This changed the history of the town! His warship Mary Rose was sunk off Portsmouth in the Solent and he watched this happen, the Mary Rose was recovered and raised from the seabed in 1982 - 400 years later.
As more harbours were built along the Thames, Portsmouth was used less for ship building. As most towns in the British Isles were affected by plague and civil war, so to was Portsmouth. Shipbuilding declined and the town became redundant. About 100 years later the dockyard came alive again and through the 17th and 18th century this industry grew and a naval academy was commissioned.
Today, Portsmouth is home to a population of 190 000 people, this has been up and down since 1900. Main industries have changed from brewing, ship building and corset making to electronics and tourism, and having the Mary Rose raised from the seabed helped.
This was done in 1982 after 400 years of being under the waters of the Solent and it is now a museum. In 1987 Britain's first iron warship, HMS Warrior, was moved to Portsmouth, so if you enjoy floating history, these are two sights which cannot be missed.
The contrast between Old Portsmouth and New Portsmouth is very interesting, and it is a city with a huge variety of award winning entertainment for holiday-makers. The sea-front, and aquarium, funfairs, hotels, restaurants and so much more!
