PORTSDOWN HUNDRED 



PORTSMOUTH 



The town of Portsmouth (Portesmue xii-xiii cent. ; 

 Portesmuth xiv cent.) proper is a wedge-shaped 

 district, separated from the larger inhabited parts of 

 the island by the Civil Service Recreation Grounds 

 and Southsea Common. The High Street, or main 

 thoroughfare, runs north-east and south-west, and con- 

 tains several buildings of interest. At the north end of the 

 street stand the red-brick gabled buildings of the Ports- 

 mouth Grammar School. Opposite are the Cambridge 

 Barracks, named after the late Duke of Cambridge, and 

 occupying the site of the old theatre once under the 

 management of Charles Kemble. Further down the 

 street is the house formerly known as the " Spotted 

 Dog," where the murder of the duke of Buckingham 

 took place in 1628. Facing it, but lower down, 

 is the church of St. Thomas, the old parish 

 church of Portsmouth, while opposite, at the corner of 

 Pembroke Road, is the old Guildhall, now used as the 

 Borough Museum. This building took the place of 

 a former hall, built in 1738," which stood across the 

 High Street. In a house in the High Street, George 

 Meredith was born in 1828. 



Across the south end of the High Street stands a 

 strong stone fort, which forms the corner of the Point 

 Barracks, and overlooks the old Victoria Pier, from 

 which can be obtained a fine view of the narrow 

 entrance to Portsmouth Harbour, and of the distant 

 hills of the Isle of Wight. The King's Stairs lead 

 down to a shingle beach, whence in former times a 

 strong chain could be drawn across to the Gosport 

 side as an additional defence to the harbour mouth. 

 Nothing of this is visible from the High Street, the 

 view thence being bounded by the grey stone wall of 

 the fort, in which is set a niche containing a bust of 

 Charles I as Prince of Wales, with an inscription 

 recording his safe arrival at Portsmouth in October, 

 1623, after his travels in France and Spain. Soon after 

 the bust had been set up, the Governor, Viscount 

 Wimbledon, recommended that the signs of the inns 

 in the High Street should be set in to the houses 'as they 

 are in all civil towns,' since they not only obscured but 

 outfaced the figure, and ordered that all officers and 

 soldiers should doff their hats in passing it. 10 A series 

 of narrow streets running at right angles to High 

 Street contains some of the oldest houses in the town, 

 for the most part two-storied buildings interspersed 

 with warehouses, and it is noticeable that in this district 

 the population has decreased of late years, while in 

 other parts of the island it has more than doubled 

 itself. At the back of these narrow streets, which 

 form the old town of Portsmouth, are the Colewort 

 Barracks, which take their name from the Colewort 

 Garden, which was still in use as a burying ground in 

 1 8 1 7." It is said to have belonged to the chapel of 

 St. Mary, which existed in this part of the town in 

 the time of Queen Elizabeth," and from which, 

 doubtless, St. Mary Street took its name. The present 

 church of St. Mary, which stands at the back of the 

 barracks, was not built till i839. 13 



At the back of the Point Barracks, and parallel 



with the coast line, Broad Street leads from the High 

 Street to the Point, a small peninsula washed by the 

 waters of the harbour and the Inner and Outer Camber. 

 In the latter are the docks which accommodate the few 

 trading vessels, chiefly coasting ships, that visit the 

 town. Between the Point and Gosport plies a steam 

 ferry capable of transporting thirty carriages as well as 

 passengers. This ' floating bridge,' which was estab- 

 lished under an Act of 1838," and the ferry are the 

 chief means of communication with Gosport. The 

 ferry had been maintained by the inhabitants of 

 Gosport, and in 1600 it had fallen into decay as 

 the sailors had been pressed in great numbers. Con- 

 sequently a decree was issued forbidding the lease 

 of the ferry to private individuals, and commanding 

 the maintenance of twenty boats and a skilful man in 

 each." Subsequently it was leased to certain decayed 

 seamen, 16 but after their lease had lapsed no grant of 

 the ferry was made for nearly a century, during which 

 time the men-of-war and merchantmen took advantage 

 of the opportunity of smuggling when carrying people 

 across the harbour." 



Near the Camber is a dry dock for trading vessels, 

 and still farther north is the Gun Wharf, the arsenal 

 where is stored ordnance both for the fleet and for the 

 garrison of the town. It consists of the old and the 

 new Gun Wharf, separated by a small basin where 

 barges enter to carry the naval guns from the wharf to 

 the battleships in the dockyard, or to unlade stores of 

 rifles and bayonets, which are kept in the Armoury. 

 The latter is ingeniously decorated with obsolete 

 weapons and armour of all descriptions and from all 

 countries. The main entrance of the wharf is near 

 the United Service Recreation Grounds, which form a 

 fine open space between Portsea and Portsmouth, and 

 are entered through one of the old town-gates, the 

 Landport Gate, which formerly stood at the entrance 

 of Warblington Street. 



It is evident that Portsmouth did not exist as a town 

 before the twelfth century, though the favourable 

 position of its present site, more especially as a land- 

 ing place, was recognized some time before any 

 settlement was made there. The story runs that in 

 501 Port landed with his two sons Bieda and 

 Maegla, 'at a certain place which is called Portes 

 Mutha,' and there slew a very noble young Briton. 13 

 It is evident that the chroniclers in reciting this 

 story were merely trying to account for the name 

 of the place," another form of which is preserved in 

 the Chronicle of Abingdon Monastery To that abbey 

 King Edgar granted the catch of fish from one vessel 

 at ' Portmonna hyth,' besides a certain rent from 

 Southampton, in 962. No mention of Portsmouth 

 occurs in Domesday Book, but with the Norman 

 Conquest and the consequent closer relations between 

 England and the continent such a harbour could not 

 fail to become of importance." Henry II took 

 advantage of the harbour, and many times crossed 

 thence to his continental possessions, and in 1189 

 Richard I landed at Portsmouth." At that date there 



9 Extracts front the Portsmouth Records, 

 230. 10 Cal. S.P. Dam. 1635, p. 443. 



11 Lake Alien, Hist, of Portsmouth 

 (1817), p. 145. 



12 It is marked on a map of that date, 

 and is said to have been demolished in the 

 seventeenth century, the material being 

 used to repair the church of St. Thomas. 



13 Sunnier, Conspectus of the Diocese of 

 Winchester (1854), p. 20. 



14 I & 2 Viet. cap. II, and 3 & 4 

 Viet. cap. 54. 



15 Exch. Dep. Mich. 42-3 Eliz. No. 

 22 ; Exch. Spec. Com. 44 Eliz. No. 2168. 



16 Pat. 12 Jas. I, pt. 15. 



V Cal. S.P. Dam. Treas. Papers, 1702-7, 

 p. 490. 



18 Angl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 24. 



19 Cf. Richard of Cirencester (Rolls Ser.), 

 i, 26. 



173 



*> Rolls Ser. i, 321. 



21 Robert of Normandy is said to have 

 chosen it as a landing-place when he 

 crossed to England to claim the crown in 

 Iioi (Angl.-Sax. Cbron. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 

 205), and Henry himself embarked there 

 for Normandy in 1114 (ibid. 213). 



M Matt. Paris, Hist. Anglorum (Rolls 

 Ser.), ii, 5. 



