Swimming Club

Portsmouth Swimming Club was established in 1875 and in its heyday had over 1,500 members who swam from bathing stages, segregated for men and women, by Clarence Pier.

Portsmouth Brickworks

Portsea Island is covered in brickearth and the majority of local houses were built from this clay, being usually dug, clamped and fired on or near the construction site. By the interwar years a large operation, Portsmouth Brickworks, had been established on the present site of the Burrfields Road industrial estate.

Peculiar Constitutions

The inhabitants of Portsmouth ‘… are badly supplied with water, having none but what partakes of a saline quality; and even this is so scarce that were it not for showers of rain, which is most industriously catched by everyone, people could not possibly subsist. As it is, if their constitutions were not of a very peculiar make, they would long before now have attempted a remedy for so great an evil; …’ Taken from The Borough being a faithfull tho’ humerous account of one of the strongest garrisons and seaport towns in GB published in 1748.

A Civil War Governor

‘… on account of his private vices of drunkenness, cruelty and rapacity, and of his political timidity and treachery, scarcely anyone was more unworthy to be trusted with any important matters for counsel or execution’. Edward Hyde, later the Earl of Clarendon, describing Col George Goring, Governor of Portsmouth during the Civil War.

The King’s Rooms

There is now no trace of an extraordinary building that stood on the site now occupied by Clarence Pier. Built largely in 1824/5, and named after a visit by the Duke of Clarence who later became William IV, this building had aspirations to have an aura of a London Club. It included an assembly room complete with chandeliers, reading and card rooms and a long colonnade that overlooked the sea. Its enterprising owner, Mr Hollingsworth, installed solid marble warm vapour baths, one for each sex, which were equipped with steam pumps capable of raising 40 gallons of water per minute from the sea. Balls were held here which ‘attracted the greatest assemblages of rank and fashion ever known in the neighbourhood’. It was at the King's Rooms in 1845 that a Capt Seaton quarrelled with Lieut Hawley leading to the reputedly last duel to be fought in this country.

Domus Dei

The first hospital in Portsmouth, Domus Dei or the Hospital of St Nicholas, was founded in 1212 by Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester (who also founded St Thomas' Hospital in London). It continued to give sanctuary to both pilgrims and the poor until 1540 when it was closed by Henry VIII's reformation of the monasteries. It covered much of Governor's Green with the Garrison Church now being the only visible reminder. A forthcoming Time Team programme is based on this interesting piece of Portsmouth's history.

Two Police Forces

Since modern policing began, there have always been two forces in Portsmouth. The formation of the Dockyard police began in the 1770s; a standing force was formed in 1834 and in 1860 the Admiralty asked the Metropolitan Police to take over guarding the Yard. This force mainly existed to deter unwanted people from entering and attempt to stop the widespread, endemic pilfering. This was always separate from the City of Portsmouth police force who patrolled the streets of the town.

The Lady with the Lamp

In 1856, 2500 soldiers, sailors and Marines who had fought in the Crimean War were given a sumptuous banquet in a specially erected and beautifully decorated pavilion on Governor's Green in Portsmouth. The highlight was masses of red, white and blue flowers sent by Florence Nightingale.

No selling of the silver

For 1838 the following is recorded in the City of Portsmouth Corporation records: ‘The Town Council made a wise decision for which future generations will bless them. They decided, unlike many other of the new Corporations, not to sell the Civic Plate which had been presented during the three preceding centuries, and so the City Corporation today possesses a very fine collection of historic plate.’ This far sighted decision, at a time of great hardship in Portsmouth, enabled the wonderful collection of civic plate to be placed in the safe keeping of the current for the future generation of Portsmouth residents. The Municipal Reform Act of 1835, which replaced the old system of civic government by new corporations with greater powers and responsibilities, had a profound effect on the way local life was governed.