Guide of Portsmouth

Portsmouth, situated very close to the south coast of England, is separated by the narrow Portsea Creek – making it the UK’s only island city! Considered the home of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth houses two-thirds of its fleet.

A brief history of Portsmouth

In the thirst century, the Romans built a port nearby at Portchester. In 1180 a merchant called Jean De Gisors founded a little town in South-West corner of Portsea Island, and the city was born. In 1188 a Parish church was built along with houses, buildings and a market. However, by the 14th century, England was in a period of almost continuous warfare with France and the city of Portsmouth was burned down four times! They decided to build a fort around the city after the last attack in 1380. In 1527 Henry VIII enlarged Portsmouth dockyard and built Southsea castle overlooking the sea, but in 1563 the town suffered the plague, and a large proportion of the population died. The city recovered, and by 1600 the community stood at about 2,500. Following the end of the civil war in 1646 Portsmouth prospered. There were many improvements made to housing, the water supply, and transport and the city continued to grow. During the Second World War, Portsmouth was an obvious target for German bombing because it was a significant naval base; and bombing and air raids sadly killed around 930 people. After the war, there was a pressing need for housing and prefabricated housing was built by the city council, which was followed by permanent social housing. In the early 20th century the leading employer in Portsmouth was the dockyard and industry was strong. In 1951 46% of the manufacturing jobs in the city were in shipbuilding, but by 1966 this had fallen to only 14%. The dockyard drastically reduced the workforce and employment in the electronic engineering, tourism and service sectors replaced traditional industry. Today the population stands at just over 200,000 and in 2005 an iconic building, The Spinnaker Tower opened.

Things to do in Portsmouth

The first thing to do is go up the Spinnaker Tower, a 170-meter observation tower in Portsmouth, England, UK. It is the centrepiece of the redevelopment of Portsmouth Harbor and gives you great views over the city and surrounding coastline. The Mary Rose Museum is also at the harbour and allows visitors the chance to climb aboard a restored 16th-century Tudor navy warship! For some more history, why not try The D-Day Story, a recently built museum that tells the story of Operation Overlord during the Normandy D-Day landings. If there is bad weather then you can take children to the Blue Reef Aquarium, it has local sea life as well as sharks and rays, tropical species in an ocean display, plus an underwater viewing tunnel. The Portsmouth Museum, previously part of the Clarence and Victoria Barracks complex, is also worth a visit, the building dates from the 1890s.

Beaches around Portsmouth

There are various beaches around the city, and the most popular choice is probably Southsea Beach, it’s a lively and long pebble beach with Clarence Pier that features an amusement park full of rides and attractions. There is also West Wittering Beach, which boasts a beautiful stretch of white sand and dunes with little rock pools for kids to explore. This beach is popular with windsurfers and kite surfers and holds a Blue Flag. Finally, Hayling Island has several beaches, Beachlands, West Beach and Eastoke Corner have been awarded blue flags as well as Seaside Award Flags so that visitors can have a clean and safe day on the beach.