Portsmouth Museum

The old museum was situated in the High Street occupying the site of the Old Town Hall. Many ancient local treasures were located inside. With breathtaking lack of foresight no efforts appear to have been made protect the contents on the outbreak of war leading to the entire contents, catalogues and the building to be lost in the bombing of the blitz. In retrospect this has been a devastating loss to the city and its heritage. The majority of the city’s archives however were located in a basement of the Guildhall. By a miracle, and certainly not from good planning or collection care, they survived both the bombing and resultant fire despite the Guildhall being completely burnt out. Both the City's archives and museums services are under threat from the recent budget proposals which, if implemented, will severely reduce the professional capacity of the staff and must impact on collection care