Fortifications of Portsmouth
The fortifications of Portsmouth are extensive due to its strategic position on the English Channel and role as home to the Royal Navy.
While the first defences focused on Portsmouth harbour, in step with the fortifications of Gosport, later defensive structures protected the whole of Portsea Island and an increasing distance inland.
The first recorded fortifications on Portsea Island appear to have been a wall constructed in 1212 around a primitive shipyard sited just to the north of what later became Camber Dock.
[4] The first structure built to defend Portsmouth proper was a wooden version of the Round Tower constructed between 1418 and 1426.
[5] Southsea Castle at the southern tip of Portsea Island was built by his son and successor Henry VIII.
[8] To the north of the city, it is believed that a small fortification was constructed to defend the bridge across Portsbridge Creek.
[5] Gabions were constructed along the edge of the Camber dock area and a palisade made to separate Portsmouth Point from the town.
[12] The ramparts were updated and the gabions along the edge of the Camber and the palisade that cut off Portsmouth point were replaced by stone wall.
[12] The Mount defending the town gate was reconstructed, developing into what could be considered a true bastion in the process.
[14] The second half of Elizabeth I's reign saw yet more work on the bastions and the first bridge at the Landport gate which was constructed in about 3 years starting 1586.
[15] At the time of the Civil War, the fortifications mounted around 100 guns and when properly manned were considered by some to be able to withstand a siege of 40,000 men.
[16][17] In one of the first actions of the civil war Parliament managed to capture the city from the royalist forces during the Siege of Portsmouth.
In 1665, Charles II ordered Bernard de Gomme to begin the reconstruction of Portsmouth's fortifications, a process which was to take many years.
[22] In 1679 Sir Bernard de Gomme built barracks within the town to accommodate two Companies of Foot (120 men) to man the defences.
[24] Later in the 17th century in 1688 the fort protecting the crossing across Portsbridge creek was rebuilt under the direction of the Chief Royal Engineer Sir Martin Beckman.
[9] In the 18th century, Portsea started to grow up around the dockyard and in the 1770s a series of ramparts and moats were constructed to protect this new settlement.
[30][31] Improvements in artillery technology had rendered the various landward facing fortifications obsolete over the turn of the century and by the end of the first decade they largely disarmed.
[32] Of the defences constructed Portsea Island, Southsea Castle, Fort Cumberland, The Round tower, The Square tower, Lumps Fort, Parts of the Hilsea lines, the Spur Redoubt and parts of the walls of old Portsmouth along the seafront all survive.
