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PORTSMOUTH’S PLACE IN HISTORY
PORTSMOUTH’S PLACE IN HISTORY
Simon Michell explains.
By 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
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.
Richard I of England.
Wikimedia Commons
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 and technologically superior military base. In 1495, Henry VII paid a little more than £190 for the world’s first ever dry dock to be built on the site, irreversibly changing the way ships would be built, rebuilt, and repaired. This was just the first of many innovations that Portsmouth would introduce. The ill-fated flagship the Mary Rose, for example, was built at Portsmouth, and was the first ship to have gun ports put in the side of the hull. Contrary to popular belief, she served in Henry VIII’s navy for more than 30 years, seeing action in three wars against the French and the Scots before sinking in 1545 at the Battle of the Solent.
Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory, was retired to Portsmouth harbour in 1812 and moved to the dry dock in 1922.
Royal Naval Photo by LPHOT Will Hang, Crown Company
Portsmouth and the Parliamentarians
Portsmouth remained a preeminent English naval port, but gradually declined in relative importance as a shipbuilding centre with the emergence of new docks in London. The navy, on the other hand, began to assume ever greater significance. During
The Round Tower, Portsmouth Harbor.
Royal Navy Photo
Oliver Cromwell’s stewardship of the commonwealth it doubled in size. Having dismissed the entire navy administration, which he considered inept and corrupt, Cromwell appointed the gifted and reliable Col William Willoughby as the port’s first Admiralty Commissioner in 1649. Whilst the navy was being strengthened to take on Dutch dominance of the seas, the port was extended and further fortified. Under Cromwell, it served as a base for the first Anglo-Dutch War in 1652 and the Anglo-Spanish War of 1654. This enlargement and fortification work was taken further by the founder of the Royal Navy, Charles II, following the restoration of the monarchy, and by 1685 Portsmouth had become the most fortified naval port in the world. By 1722, Portsmouth became the largest dockyard in the newly established United Kingdom.
HMS Dreadnought underway, circa 1906-07.
U.S. Naval Historical Center
Industrial Heyday
The converging advent of the Industrial Revolution, the rapid growth of the British empire, and the threat of invasion by Napoleon brought one of the busiest ever eras to the port. Not only was there a steady stream of ships launched from the yards, but naval accessories, including barrels and beer, were also churned out in huge volumes. In fact, Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s father, Marc, masterminded the world’s first all-metal steam-powered mass production line for the millions of wooden blocks used in ships’ rigging. Once in service, the Block Mills furnished the Royal Navy with more than 130,000 blocks a year. Manufacturing at the dockyard expanded to meet the growing demands of the navy, becoming the most industrialised site in the world in 1850, with 8,000 workers on the payroll.
The Modern Era
A new threat to the dockyard emerged in the 20th century – that of aerial bombardment. During the night of Sept. 16, 1916, Zeppelin L31, commanded by Heinrich Mathy, dropped four bombs on the port, narrowly missing HMS Victory. Although there was little damage to the port or any ships the raid served notice on a far greater threat to follow. The Blitz attacks on Portsmouth during
World War II were far more devastating. Here the Tudors were to play one last part in the defence of the port: The Round tower built by Henry VII in the 15th century was repurposed to become an air raid observation post.
Following World War II, Portsmouth was repaired and played a key role during the Cold War. It has enjoyed mixed fortunes, with shipbuilding ceasing in 2013. However, the famous dockyard is now ready to take her place in the next phase of her proud history as home port to the two Queen Elizabethclass aircraft carriers. Once again, the infrastructure has been reconfigured, with a brand-new jetty, power supply, a freshly dredged channel, and mammoth navigation lights to guide the two carriers through the narrow entrance to the harbour and preserve Portsmouth’s reputation for at least another 50 years as a world-class naval port.
Oliver Cromwell’s stewardship of the commonwealth it doubled in size. Having dismissed the entire navy administration, which he considered inept and corrupt, Cromwell appointed the gifted and reliable Col William Willoughby as the port’s first Admiralty Commissioner in 1649. Whilst the navy was being strengthened to take on Dutch dominance of the seas, the port was extended and further fortified. Under Cromwell, it served as a base for the first Anglo-Dutch War in 1652 and the Anglo-Spanish War of 1654. This enlargement and fortification work was taken further by the founder of the Royal Navy, Charles II, following the restoration of the monarchy, and by 1685 Portsmouth
