Oyster Street

This ancient street in Portsmouth was named after the catch landed by the fishing boats that have always used the sheltered waters of the Camber. The name first appears in 1549 and is regularly being used from 1666. In 1801, it was noted that in Portsmouth ‘Bread and oysters are sold… particularly by the gallon’ and a tourist mentions that he ‘lunches from an oyster stall’. Excavations in the area have also uncovered the remnants of a substantial local taste for oysters.

The Hulks

The harbours around Portsmouth were home to many of the prison hulks, notorious for their terrible conditions, used to house thousands destined for transportation to Australia. There were several daring escape bids, most of which were thwarted by the thick harbour mud. Although these hulks held prisoners from all over the country, Portsmouth residents did not escape this cruel fate. Poor Samuel Winklayer was not only transported for stealing in January 1801, but he was also fined one shilling as well!