PORTSMOUTH’S PLACE IN HISTORY Attacked, plundered and razed to the ground by the French, Germans, Romans, Saxons, and even the Vikings, Portsmouth has grown through adversity and necessity into one of the world’s greatest naval ports. Simon Michell explains.
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y the time the Norman Lord Jean de Gisors founded Portsmouth in 1180, Portsea island, on which it stands, had been regularly ransacked and occupied by a succession of brutal invaders – first Romans, next Saxons, then Danes. Although the Romans built Portchester Castle on the mainland to defend that coastline, the advantages of Portsea’s more strategic location eventually became apparent. None other than Alfred the Great stationed ships in the waters off Portsea and used the nearby Solent as a massing point for his squadrons in his crucial victory over the Danes in 897. Richard the Lionheart
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HMS Prince of Wales
Tudor transformation To guard against these continual attacks, bit by bit, additional fortifications were erected to protect the port. Most notably, the Round Tower at the entrance to the harbour was built by the Lancastrian King Henry V in 1417. However, it was the Tudors who were responsible for transforming the port and the dockyard at Portsmouth into a formidable
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It was the Plantagenets in the 12th and 13th centuries who really understood the military significance of Portsmouth as a naval hub and a key line of communications between England and France. Richard the Lionheart recognised the need for a defendable harbour to ensure safe passage to and from his other territories on the Continent. In gratitude for this service, he granted Portsmouth its earliest charter in 1194, enabling the town to hold a two-week fair, as well as a healthy tax exemption. His brother, the notorious King John, also understood its importance, and consequently granted Portsmouth permanent naval status. Under his reign, a dockyard was established in 1212. From then on, not only could ships moor up at Portsmouth, they could also be serviced and built there too. In order to defend the expanding base, King John decreed a protective wall to be built around the yard, beginning a process of extension and enhancement that would continue right up to the present day. Over the following century, Portsmouth enjoyed relative tranquillity. However, that was brought to an abrupt end with the protracted 14th century conflict between England and France. In the run-up to, and during, the 100 Years War, French forces attacked Portsmouth, burning it to the ground no fewer than seven times between 1327 and 1380.
