Portsmouth (/ˈpɔːrtsməθ/ (listen)) is a port city in Hampshire, England, with a total population of 205,400 residents.^[7][8] The city of Portsmouth is nicknamed Pompey and is mainly built on Portsea Island, a flat, low-lying island measuring 24 square kilometres (9 sq mi) in area, just off the south-east coast of Hampshire. Portsmouth is the only island city in the United Kingdom,^[9] and is the only city whose population density exceeds that of London.^{[7][10][11][12]}

Portsmouth is located 70 miles (110 km) south-west of London and 19 miles (31 km) south-east of Southampton. With the surrounding towns of Gosport, Fareham, Havant and Waterlooville, Portsmouth forms the eastern half of the South Hampshire metropolitan area, which includes Southampton and Eastleigh in the western half.

Portsmouth's history can be traced back to Roman times. A significant naval port for centuries, Portsmouth has the world's oldest dry dock. In the sixteenth century, Portsmouth was England's first line of defence during the French invasion of 1545. By the early nineteenth century, the world's first mass production line was set up in Portsmouth Dockyard's Block Mills, making it the most industrialised site in the world and birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Portsmouth was also the most heavily fortified town in the world, and was considered "the world's greatest naval port" at the height of the British Empire throughout Pax Britannica. Defences known as the Palmerston Forts were built around Portsmouth in 1859 in anticipation of another invasion from continental Europe.

In 1926, Portsmouth was officially elevated in status from a town to a city. The motto "Heaven's Light Our Guide", a reference to the city's eight-pointed star and crescent moon emblem, was registered to the City of Portsmouth in 1929.^[13] During the Second World War, the city of Portsmouth was bombed extensively in the Portsmouth Blitz, which resulted in the deaths of 930 people. In 1944, Portsmouth was the pivotal embarkation point for the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944. In 1982, a large proportion of the task force dispatched to liberate the Falkland Islands deployed from the city's naval base. Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia left the city to oversee the transfer of Hong Kong in 1997, which marked for many the end of the empire. In 1997, Portsmouth became a Unitary Authority, with Portsmouth City Council gaining powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined, responsibilities previously held by Hampshire County Council.

Portsmouth is one of the world's best known ports. HMNB Portsmouth is considered to be the home of the Royal Navy and is home to two-thirds of the UK's surface fleet. The city is home to some famous ships, including HMS Warrior, the Tudor carrack Mary Rose and Horatio Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory (the world's oldest naval ship still in commission). The former HMS Vernon naval shore establishment has been redeveloped as a retail park known as Gunwharf Quays. Portsmouth is among the few British cities with two cathedrals: the Anglican Cathedral of St Thomas and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John the Evangelist. The waterfront and Portsmouth Harbour are dominated by the Spinnaker Tower, one of the United Kingdom's tallest structures at 560 feet (170 m). Nearby Southsea is a seaside resort with an amusement park on Clarence Pier^[14] and a medieval castle.^[15]

Portsmouth F.C., the city's professional football club, play their home games at Fratton Park in the Milton area of the city, near Fratton railway station. Portsmouth has several mainline railway stations that connect to Brighton, Cardiff, London Victoria and London Waterloo amongst other lines in southern England. Portsmouth International Port is a commercial cruise ship and ferry port for international destinations. The port is the second busiest in the United Kingdom after Dover, handling around three million passengers a year. The city formerly had its own airport, Portsmouth Airport, until its closure in 1973. The University of Portsmouth enrols 23,000 students and is ranked among the world's best modern universities. Portsmouth is also the birthplace of author Charles Dickens, engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and former Prime Minister James Callaghan.

The Romans built Portus Adurni, a fort, at nearby Portchester in the late third century.^[16] The city's Old English name "Portesmuða" is derived from port, meaning a haven, and muða, the mouth of a large river or estuary.^[17] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has a warrior called Port and his two sons killing a noble Briton in Portsmouth in 501.^[18] Winston Churchill, in his A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, says that Port was a pirate and he founded Portsmouth in 501.^[19][20]

The south coast was vulnerable to Danish Viking invasions during the 8th and 9th centuries. In 787, it was assaulted and conquered by Danish pirates,^[21] and then during the reign of Æthelwulf, King of Wessex in 838, a Danish fleet landed between Portsmouth and Southampton and the surrounding area was plundered.^[22] In response, Æthelwulf sent Wulfherd and the governor of Dorsetshire to confront the Danes at Portsmouth, where most of their ships were docked. They were successful although Wulfherd was killed.^[22] In 1001, the Danes returned and pillaged Portsmouth and surrounding locations, threatening the English with extinction.^[23][24] The Danes were massacred by the survivors the following year and rebuilding began, although the town suffered further attacks until 1066.^[25]

Portsmouth was not mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086, but Bocheland (Buckland), Copenore (Copnor), and Frodentone (Fratton) were.^[26] Some sources maintain it was founded in 1180 by the Anglo-Norman merchant Jean de Gisors.^[27]

When King Henry II died in 1189, his son Richard I, who had spent most of his life in France, arrived in Portsmouth before he was crowned in London.^[28] When Richard returned from captivity in Austria in May 1194, he summoned a fleet of 100 ships and an army to the port.^[29] He granted the town a royal charter on 2 May, giving permission for an annual fifteen-day free market fair, weekly markets, and a local court to deal with minor matters, and exempted its inhabitants from paying an annual tax of £18.^[26][30] Richard granted the town the arms of Isaac Komnenos of Cyprus, whom he had defeated during the Third Crusade in 1191, reflecting a significant involvement of local soldiers, sailors, and vessels in the holy war.^[31] The 800 anniversary was celebrated in 1994 as the city's founding.^[32]

King John reaffirmed the rights and privileges awarded by Richard I and established the permanent naval base. The first docks were built by William of Wrotham beginning in 1212.^[26][29] John summoned his earls, barons, and military advisers to the town to plan an invasion of Normandy.^[33] In 1229, after a declaration of war against France, Henry III assembled a force described as "one of the finest armies that had ever been raised in England" by historian Lake Allen.^[34] The invasion stalled and returned from France in October 1231.^[35] In 1242 Henry III summoned troops to invade Guienne, and in 1295 Edward I sent supplies for his army in France.^[36] By the following century, commercial interests had grown and its exports included wool, corn, grain, and livestock.^[37]

Edward II ordered all ports on the south coast to assemble their largest vessels at Portsmouth to carry soldiers and horses to the Duchy of Aquitaine in 1324 to strengthen defences.^[38] In 1336 a French fleet under the command of David II of Scotland attacked the English Channel, ransacked the Isle of Wight and threatened the town. Concerned, Edward III instructed all maritime towns to build vessels and raise troops to rendezvous at Portsmouth.^[38] Two years later, a French fleet led by Nicholas Béhuchet raided Portsmouth, destroying much of the town. Only the stone-built church and hospital survived.^[39][40] After the raid, Edward III exempted the town from national taxes to aid reconstruction.^[41] Upon Edward III's death in 1377, his grandson Richard II was crowned, and the French landed in Portsmouth in the same year. The town was plundered and burnt, but its inhabitants fought back and defeated them, which led the French to retreat and raid towns in the West Country instead.^[42]

Henry V built the first permanent fortifications of Portsmouth. In 1416, a number of French ships blockaded Portsmouth, which housed ships that were set to invade Normandy. Instead, Henry gathered a fleet at Southampton and invaded the Norman coast in August of that year.^[43] Recognising the town's growing importance, he ordered a wooden Round Tower to be built at the mouth of the harbour, which was completed in 1426.^[44] Henry VII rebuilt the fortifications with stone, assisted Robert Brygandine and Sir Reginald Bray in the construction of the world's first dry dock,^[45] and raised the Square Tower in 1494.^[44] During his reign, Henry VII made Portsmouth a Royal Dock, and was England's only dockyard to be considered "national" at the time.^[46] Although King Alfred may have used Portsmouth to build ships as early as the 9th century, the first warship recorded as constructed in the town was the Sweepstake, built in the dry dock in 1497.^[47]

In 1539, Henry VIII built Southsea Castle, financed by the Dissolution of the Monasteries, in anticipation of a French invasion.^[48][49] He also invested large sums of money into the town's dockyard, and expanded its boundaries to 8 acres (3.2 ha).^[50] Around this time a Tudor defensive boom stretched from the Round Tower to Fort Blockhouse in Gosport, as a protection to Portsmouth Harbour.^[51]

In 1545, from Southsea Castle, he witnessed his flagship Mary Rose sink with the loss of about 500 lives, whilst going into action against the French fleet in the Battle of the Solent.^[52] Some historians believe that the Mary Rose turned too quickly and submerged her open gun ports, whereas others argue that it sank due to its poor design.^[53] Over the years, Portsmouth's fortifications were rebuilt and improved by successive monarchs. In 1563, Portsmouth suffered from an outbreak of a plague, resulting in about 300 deaths out of the town's population of 2000.^[27]

In 1623, Charles I (then Prince of Wales) returned to Portsmouth from his travels in France and Spain.^[54] Five years later, Charles' unpopular military adviser, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, was stabbed to death in an Old Portsmouth pub by war veteran John Felton.^[26][55] Felton never attempted to escape and was caught walking through the streets when soldiers confronted him, to which he responded: "I know that he is dead, for I had the force of forty men when I struck the blow".^[56] Felton was then hanged, and his body was chained to a gibbet on Southsea Common as a warning to others.^[27][56] The murder took place in the Greyhound public house on High Street, which is now private and called Buckingham House; it bears a commemorative plaque.^[57]

Most residents, including the mayor, supported the parliamentarians during the English Civil War, although its military governor, Colonel Goring, supported the royalists.^[27] The town became a major base for the parliamentarian navy and was blockaded from the sea. Parliamentarian troops were sent to raid it by land in the Siege of Portsmouth; the guns of Southsea Castle were fired at the royalist garrison in the town. Across the harbour, parliamentarians in Gosport joined in the assault, with their guns damaging St Thomas's Church.^[27][58] On 5 September 1642, the remaining royalists in the garrison at the Square Tower were forced to surrender after Goring threatened to blow it up with gunpowder. In return, he and his garrison were allowed safe passage.^[58][59]

Under the Commonwealth of England, Robert Blake used the harbour as his base during the First Anglo-Dutch War in 1652 and the Anglo Spanish War of 1654. He died within sight of the town returning from Cádiz.^[59] After the end of the Civil War in 1646, Portsmouth was among the first towns to declare Charles II as king and subsequently began to prosper.^[60] In 1650, the first ship to be built for more than 100 years, HMS Portsmouth, was launched. Between 1650 and 1660, twelve ships were built. After the restoration of Monarchy, Charles II married Catherine of Braganza in the Royal Garrison Church.^[61][62] During the latter half of the 17th century the town continued to grow; a new wharf was constructed in 1663 for military use, and in 1665 a mast pond was dug out. In 1684 a list of ships docked in Portsmouth gave evidence of its increasing national importance; the town was the only place of naval rendezvous in England at the time.^[63] Between 1667 and 1685 the town's fortifications were rebuilt; new walls were constructed with bastions and two moats were dug, making Portsmouth one of the most heavily fortified places in the world.^[27]

In 1759, General James Wolfe sailed from the harbour to Canada on an expedition to capture Quebec which, though successful, cost him his life. His body was brought back to Portsmouth in November that year and received the highest naval and military honours.^[64] Two years later, on 30 May 1775, Captain James Cook arrived on board HMS Endeavour after circumnavigating the world.^[26][65] On 13 May 1787, eleven ships left to establish the first European colony in Australia, marking the beginning of prisoner transportation,^[66][67] and in the same year, Captain William Bligh of HMS Bounty set sail from the harbour.^[26][68] After the mutiny on the Bounty on 28 April 1789, HMS Pandora was dispatched from Portsmouth to bring back the mutineers for trial. The court martial opened on 12 September 1792 on board HMS Duke in Portsmouth Harbour – of the remaining ten men, three were sentenced to death.^[69][70] In 1789, a chapel was erected in Prince George's Street and was dedicated to St John by the Bishop of Winchester. Around this time, a bill was passed in the House of Commons regarding the creation of a canal to link Portsmouth to Chichester, but the project was abandoned.^[71]

The city's nickname Pompey is thought to have derived from the log entry of Portsmouth Point, contracted to "Po'm.P." (Po'rtsmouth **P.**oint) as ships entered the harbour. Navigational charts use the contraction.^[72] However, a historian argues that the name Pompey may have been brought back from a group of Portsmouth-based sailors who visited Pompey's Pillar in Alexandria, Egypt, in around 1781.^[73] Another theory is that it is named after the harbour's guardship, Pompee, a 74-gun French ship of the line captured in 1793.^[74]

The borough's coat of arms is attested in the early 19th century, as Azure a crescent or, surmounted by an estoile of eight points of the last^[75] This design is apparently based on seals of the mayoralty used in the 18th century.^[76]

Marc Isambard Brunel established the world's first mass production line at Portsmouth Block Mills making pulley blocks for rigging on the navy's ships.^[77] The first machines were installed in January 1803 and the final set for large blocks in March 1805. In 1808, the mills produced 130,000 blocks.^[78] By the turn of the 19th century, the town had the largest industrial site in the world with a workforce of 8000 and an annual budget of £570,000.^[79]

In 1805, Admiral Nelson left Portsmouth to command the fleet that defeated the Franco-Spanish at the Battle of Trafalgar.^[26] Before departing, Nelson told the crew of HMS Victory and workers in the dockyard that "England expects every man will do his duty".^[80] The Royal Navy's reliance on Portsmouth led to it becoming the most fortified city in the world.^[81] A network of Palmerston Forts were built around the town as part of a programme led by Prime Minister Lord Palmerston to defend British military bases from an inland attack. The forts were nicknamed "Palmerston's Follies" due to the fact that their armaments were pointed inland and not out to sea.^[82] From 1808 the Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron, tasked with stopping the slave trade, operated out of Portsmouth.^[83]

In April 1811 the Portsea Island Company constructed the first piped water supply^[84] to upper and middle-class houses.^[27] It supplied water to approximately 4500 of the 14,000 houses, generating an income £5000 a year.^[84] HMS Victory's active career ended in 1812, when she was moored in Portsmouth Harbour and used as a depot ship. The town of Gosport contributed £75 a year towards the ship's maintenance.^[80] In 1818, John Pounds began teaching working class children in the country's first ragged school.^[85][86] In 1820, the Portsea Improvement Commissioners installed gas street lighting throughout the town,^[26] followed by Old Portsmouth three years later.^[27]

During the 19th century, Portsmouth grew and expanded across Portsea Island. By the 1860s Buckland had been merged into the expanding town, and by the next decade Fratton and Stamshaw had also been incorporated. Between 1865 and 1870 the council built sewers after more than 800 people died in a cholera epidemic. A bylaw stated that any house within 100 feet (30 m) of a sewer had to be connected to it.^[26] By 1871 the population had risen to 100,000,^[27] although the national census at that time gave the population as 113,569.^[26] A working-class suburb was constructed in the 1870s when around 1,820 houses were built on land owned by a Mr Somers. The suburb became Somerstown.^[26] Despite public health improvements, 514 people died in a smallpox epidemic in 1872.^[26] That year, on 21 December, the Challenger expedition was launched from Portsmouth, embarking on a 68,890-nautical-mile (127,580 km) circumnavigation of the globe for scientific research.^[87][88]

At the turn of the 20th century, Portsmouth was considered "the world's greatest naval port" when the British Empire was at its height of power, covering a quarter of Earth's total land area and 458 million people.^[89] In 1900, Portsmouth Dockyard employed 8000 men – a figure which more than doubled to 23,000 people during the First World War.^[27][90] On 1 October 1916, Portsmouth was bombed by a Zeppelin airship.^[91] Although the Oberste Heeresleitung (German Supreme Army Command) stated that the town was "lavishly bombarded with good results", there were no reports of any bombs being dropped in the area.^[92] Another source asserted that the bombs were mistakenly dropped into the harbour rather than the dockyard.^[91] Throughout the war, around 1200 ships were refitted in the dockyard, making it one of the most strategic ports in the empire at the time.^[90]

Portsmouth was granted city status in 1926, following a long campaign by the borough council. The application was made on the grounds that it was the "first naval port of the kingdom".^[93] In 1929, the city council added the motto "Heaven's Light Our Guide" to the medieval coat of arms. Except for the celestial objects in the arms, the motto was that of the Star of India, referring to the troopships bound for British India that left from the port.^[94] The crest and supporters are based on those of the royal arms, but altered to show the city's maritime connections: the lions and unicorn have been given fish tails, and a naval crown placed around the unicorn.^[94] Around the unicorn is wrapped a representation of the Tudor defensive boom which stretched across Portsmouth Harbour.^[51]

During the Second World War, the city, particularly the port, was bombed extensively by the Luftwaffe in the Portsmouth Blitz.^[26] Between July 1940 and May 1944, the city was hit by 67 air raids which destroyed 6625 houses and severely damaged 6549 of them.^[27] The air raids caused 930 deaths and wounded almost 3000 people,^[95][96] many of them in the dockyard and military establishments.^[97] On the night of the city's heaviest raid on 10 January 1941, the Luftwaffe dropped 140 tonnes of high explosive bombs, killing 171 people and leaving 3000 homeless.^[98] Many of the city's houses were damaged and areas of Landport and Old Portsmouth destroyed, with the future site of Gunwharf Quays being razed to the ground.^[99] On the same night, the Guildhall was hit by an incendiary bomb which burnt out the interior and destroyed its inner walls,^[100] although the civic plate was retrieved unharmed from the vault under the front steps.^[95] Following the heaviest raid on the city, Portsmouth's mayor, Sir Denis Daley, wrote in the Evening News:

Portsmouth Harbour was a vital military embarkation point for the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944. Southwick House, just to the north of the city, was the headquarters of the Supreme Allied Commander, US General Dwight D. Eisenhower.^[102][103] On 15 July 1944 a V-1 flying bomb hit Newcomen Road, killing 15 people.^[27]

Much of the city's housing stock was damaged during the war. The wreckage was cleared in an attempt to improve the quality of dwellings after the war, though before permanent accommodation could be built, Portsmouth City Council built prefabs for those who had lost their homes. Between 1945 and 1947, more than 700 prefab houses were constructed – some were erected over bomb sites.^[27] The first permanent houses were built away from the city centre to new developments such as Paulsgrove and Leigh Park,^[104][105] with construction of council estates in Paulsgrove being completed in 1953. In Leigh Park, the first housing estates were completed in 1949, though building work in the area continued until 1974.^[27] Developers still occasionally find unexploded bombs in the area, such as on the site of the destroyed Hippodrome theatre in 1984.^[106] Despite improvements made by the city council to build new accommodation, a survey made in 1955 concluded that 7000 houses in Portsmouth were unfit for human habitation. Following a controversial decision, a whole section of central Portsmouth, including Landport, Somerstown and Buckland, was demolished and replaced by council housing during the 1960s and early 1970s. The success of the project and the quality of the 70s homes are debatable.^[27]

Portsmouth was affected by the British Empire's decline in the latter half of the 20th century. Shipbuilding jobs fell from 46% of workforce in 1951 to 14% in 1966, drastically reducing the manpower in the dockyard. The city council attempted to create new work; an industrial estate was built in Fratton in 1948, and others were built at Paulsgrove and Farlington in the 1950s and 1960s, respectively.^[27] Traditional industries such as brewing and corset making disappeared during this time, though electrical engineering became a major employer. Despite the cutbacks made to traditional sectors, Portsmouth still remained an attractive place for industry. In 1968, Zurich Insurance Group moved their UK headquarters to the city, with IBM relocating their European headquarters in 1979.^[27] The population of the city had dropped from approximately 200,000 to 177,142 by the end of the 1960s.^[107] In the early 1980s, then Defence Secretary John Nott concluded that of the four home dockyards, both Portsmouth and Chatham would be closed. However, Portsmouth City Council won a concession, and rather than face closure, the dockyard was downgraded to a naval base.^[108]

On 2 April 1982, Argentine forces invaded two British territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The British government's response was to dispatch a naval task force, and on 5 April, the aircraft carriers HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible sailed from Portsmouth for the South Atlantic. The successful outcome of the war had reaffirmed Portsmouth's significance as a naval port and importance to the defence of British interests.^[109] In January 1997, Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia embarked from the city on her final voyage to oversee the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, which marked for many the end of the empire.^[110][111] She was later decommissioned on 11 December that year at Portsmouth Naval Base in the presence of the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, and twelve senior members of the Royal Family.^[112][113]

In 2001, redevelopment of the naval shore establishment HMS Vernon began as a complex of retail outlets, clubs, pubs, and a large shopping centre known as Gunwharf Quays.^[27] In 2003, construction of the 552 feet (168 m) tall Spinnaker Tower began at Gunwharf Quays with sponsorship from the National Lottery.^[114] In late 2004, the Tricorn Centre, dubbed "the ugliest building in the UK" by the BBC, was demolished after years of debate over the expense of demolition, and controversy as to whether it was worth preserving as an example of 1960s brutalist architecture.^[115][116] It was designed by Owen Luder as part of a project to "revitalise" Portsmouth in the 1960s, consisting of a shopping centre, market, nightclubs, and a multi-storey car park.^[117] In 2005 the city celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, with Queen Elizabeth II being present at a formal fleet review and a staged mock battle.^[27] The naval base continues to be home to two-thirds of the surface fleet.^[118]

By road, Portsmouth lies 73.5 miles (118.3 km) from Central London, 49.5 miles (79.7 km) west of Brighton, and 22.3 miles (35.9 km) east of Southampton.^[119] Portsmouth is situated primarily on Portsea Island and is the United Kingdom's only island city, although parts of it have expanded onto the mainland.^[120] Gosport forms a borough in its own right immediately to the west.^[119] The island is separated from the mainland by Portsbridge Creek^[121] which is crossed by three road bridges (the M275 motorway, the A3 road, and the A2030 road), a railway bridge, and two footbridges.^[122] Portsea Island, which forms part of the Hampshire Basin,^[123] is low-lying: the majority of its surface area on the island is less than 3 metres (9.8 ft) above sea level.^[124][125] The highest natural elevation on Portsea Island is the road junction Kingston Cross, at 21 feet (6.4 m).^[124]

Old Portsmouth forms the oldest part of the city in the south-west part of Portsea Island, and includes Portsmouth Point, historically nicknamed as Spice Island.^[126] The main channel entering Portsmouth Harbour, which lies to the west of Portsea Island,^[121] passes between Old Portsmouth and Gosport.^[119] Within Portsmouth Harbour are a series of lakes, including Fountain Lake near the harbour, Portchester Lake in the central south, Brick Kiln Lake and Tipner to the east, and Bombketch and Spider Lakes to the west. In the channel further to the northwest, around Portchester, are Wicor, Cams, and Great Cams Lakes.^[119] The large tidal inlet of Langstone Harbour lies to the east of Portsea Island. In the northern part, off the coast of Farlington, is the Farlington Marshes, a 125-hectare (308-acre) grazing marsh and saline lagoon. One of the oldest local reserves in the county, built from reclaimed land in 1771, it provides an important habitat for migratory wildfowl and waders.^[127]

To the south of Portsmouth are the waters of Spithead, the wider Solent, and the Isle of Wight. The southern coast of the city was historically fortified by the Round Tower, the Square Tower, Southsea Castle, Lumps Fort and Fort Cumberland.^[128] Four sea forts were built in the Solent to protect Portsmouth by Lord Palmerston, these are named Spitbank Fort, St Helens Fort, Horse Sand Fort and No Mans Land Fort.

The seaside resort of Southsea is situated to the south of Portsea Island,^[129] and to the east lies the area known as Eastney.^[130] Eastney Lake covered nearly 170 acres (69 hectares) in 1626.^[131] To the north of Eastney is the residential district of Milton and an area of reclaimed land now known as Milton Common (formerly Milton Lake),^[119] described as a "flat scrubby land with a series of freshwater lakes".^[132] Further north on the east coast is the residential district of Baffins, featuring Great Salterns recreation ground and golf course, which forms an area around Portsmouth College.^[119]

The Hilsea Lines are a series of defunct fortifications on the north coast of the island which border Portsbridge Creek and the mainland.^[133][134] Portsdown Hill dominates the skyline in the northern part of the city, and contains several large Palmerston Forts,^[1] such as Fort Fareham, Fort Wallington, Fort Nelson, Fort Southwick, Fort Widley, and Fort Purbrook. ^[128][135] Portsdown Hill is formed by a large band of chalk, while the rest of Portsea Island is composed of layers of London Clay and sand (part of the Bagshot Formation), formed principally during the late and early Eocene Epoch.^[136]

Northern areas of the city include Stamshaw, Hilsea and Copnor, Cosham, Drayton, Farlington, and Port Solent.^[137] Other districts in Portsmouth include North End and Fratton.^[138][139] The west of the city is mainly council estates such as Buckland, Landport, and Portsea. These were built to replace Victorian terraces destroyed by bombing in the Second World War.^[27] After the war the 2,000 acres (810 ha) estate of Leigh Park was built to solve the chronic housing shortage during the post-war reconstruction.^[104] Since the early 2000s the estate has been entirely under the jurisdiction of Havant Borough Council, but Portsmouth City Council remains the landlord of these properties, making it the biggest landowner in Havant Borough.^[105]

The city's main station, Portsmouth and Southsea railway station,^[140] is located in the city centre, close to the Guildhall and the Civic Offices.^[95][141] Just to the south of the Guildhall is Guildhall Walk, a nightlife area with many pubs and clubs.^[142] Edinburgh Road contains the city's Roman Catholic cathedral and Victoria Park, a 15 acres (6.1 ha) park which opened in 1878.^[143]

Being located on the south coast of England, Portsmouth has a mild oceanic climate, receiving more sunshine than most of the British Isles. During winter, frosts are light and short-lived and snow quite rare, with temperatures rarely dropping below freezing, as the city is surrounded by water and densely populated, and Portsdown Hill protects the city from cold northerly winds.^[124] The average maximum temperature in January is 10 °C (50 °F) with the average minimum being 5 °C (41 °F). The lowest temperature recorded is −8 °C (18 °F).^[144] In summer a temperature of 30 °C (86 °F) can occasionally be attained, particularly in more sheltered spots. The average maximum temperature in July is 22 °C (72 °F), with the average minimum being 15 °C (59 °F). The highest temperature recorded is 35 °C (95 °F).^[144] As it is located on the coast in South East England, the city receives more sunshine per annum than most of the UK.^[145] The city gets around 645 millimetres (25.4 in) of rain a year, with a minimum of 1 mm (0.04 in) of rain reported on 103 days a year.^[146]

Portsmouth, as the most densely populated city in the United Kingdom, is the only city whose population density exceeds that of London.^{[7][10][11][12]} As of the 2011 census, the city had 205,400 residents.^[7][8] This equates to 5,100 people living in every square kilometre (0.4 sq. mi.), which is eleven times more than the regional average of 440 people per square kilometre and more than London, which has 4,900 people per square kilometre. The city used to be even more densely populated, with the 1951 census showing a population of 233,545.^[150][151] In a reversal of that decrease, the population of the city has been gradually increasing since the 1990s.^[152] With about 860,000 residents, the South Hampshire built-up area is the fifth-largest urban area in England and the largest in South East England, forming the centre of one of the United Kingdom's most populous metropolitan areas.^[153]

The city is predominantly white in terms of ethnicity, with 91.8% of the population belonging to this ethnic group.^[154] Portsmouth's long association with the Royal Navy means that it represents one of the most diverse cities in terms of the peoples of the British Isles.^[155] Similarly, some of the largest and most well-established non-white communities have their roots with the Royal Navy, most notably the large Chinese community, principally from British Hong Kong.^[155][156] Portsmouth's long industrial history in support of the Royal Navy has seen many people from across the British Isles move to Portsmouth to work in the factories and docks, the largest of these groups being Irish Catholics.^[157][2] According to 2011 census, the ethnic breakdown of Portsmouth's population is as follows: 84.0% White British, 3.8% Other White, 1.3% Chinese, 1.4% Indian, 0.5% Mixed-Race, 1.8% Bangladeshi, 0.5% Other ethnic group, 1.4% Black African, 0.5% White Irish, 1.3% Other Asian, 0.3% Pakistani, 0.3% Black Caribbean and 0.1% Other Black.^[4][160]

The city is administered by Portsmouth City Council, a unitary authority which is responsible for local affairs. Portsmouth was granted its first charter in 1194.^[162] In the early 20th century, the boundaries were extended to include the whole of Portsea Island; they were further extended in 1920 and 1932, taking in areas of the mainland and adjacent villages which included Drayton and Farlington.^[27][163] From 1 April 1974 it formed the second tier of local government below Hampshire County Council;^[164] however, Portsmouth, along with Southampton, became administratively independent of Hampshire with the creation of the unitary authority on 1 April 1997.^[165] The city is divided into two parliamentary constituencies, Portsmouth South and Portsmouth North, represented in the House of Commons by, respectively, Stephen Morgan, of the Labour Party, and Penny Mordaunt, of the Conservative Party.^[166]

The city council is made up of 42 councillors. After the May 2018 local elections, the Liberal Democrats formed a minority administration with 16 councillors, supported by Labour with 5 councillors. The Conservatives have 19, including the Lord Mayor, Lee Mason.^[167] There are also two independent councillors. Councillors are returned from 14 wards, with each ward having three councillors^[167] and a four-year term.^[168] The leader of the council is the Liberal Democrat, Gerald Vernon-Jackson. The position of Lord Mayor of Portsmouth is usually held for a one-year period.^[169]

The council is based in the Civic Offices, which house departments such as tax support, housing benefits, resident services, and municipal functions.^[170] They are situated in Guildhall Square, along with Portsmouth Guildhall and Portsmouth Central Library. The Guildhall is a symbol of Portsmouth, serving principally as a cultural venue. It was designed by Leeds-based architect William Hill, who first started constructing it in the neo-classical style in 1873 at the cost of £140,000.^[101][171] The Guildhall was opened to the public in 1890.^[172]

A tenth of the city's workforce is employed at Portsmouth Naval Dockyard, which is directly linked to the city's biggest industry, defence, with the headquarters of BAE Systems Surface Ships located in the city.^[173] BAE's Portsmouth shipyard has been awarded a share of the construction work on the two new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers,^[174][175] with both aircraft carriers set to enter Portsmouth Harbour upon completion.^[176] A £100 million contract was signed to develop the facilities at Portsmouth that will be necessary to support the vessels.^[176] There is also a major ferry port that handles both passengers and cargo,^[177] and the city has a dedicated fishing fleet consisting of 20 to 30 boats that operate out of the camber docks in Camber Quay, Old Portsmouth. They land fresh fish and shellfish daily, most of which is sold at the quayside fish market.^[178]

The city is host to the European headquarters of IBM and, until 2007, the UK headquarters of Zurich Financial Services.^[27][179] In the city centre, shopping is centred on Commercial Road and the 1980s Cascades Shopping Centre, with over 100 high street shops between them.^[180][181] Approximately 185,000 to 230,000 people use the Cascades Shopping Centre each week.^[182] Recent redevelopment has created new shopping areas, including the upmarket Gunwharf Quays—a redevelopment of the naval shore establishment HMS Vernon—^[183][184] containing fashion stores, restaurants, and a cinema, and the Historic Dockyard, which caters to the tourist sector and holds an annual Victorian Christmas market.^[185][186] Ocean Retail Park sits on the north-eastern side of Portsea Island and was built on land previously occupied by a Metal Box factory in September 1985.^[187]

Development at Gunwharf Quays continued until 2007 with the completion of the 330-foot (101 m) tall No. 1 Gunwharf Quays residential tower (nicknamed 'Lipstick Tower').^[188][189] The development of the former Brickwoods Brewery site included the construction of a 22-storey tower known as the Admiralty Quarter Tower, the tallest in a complex of mostly low-rise residential buildings.^[190] A new 25-storey tower named 'Number One Portsmouth', was made public at the end of October 2008, which has been proposed at a height of 330 feet (101 m), and will stand opposite Portsmouth & Southsea station.^[191] As of August 2009, internal demolition has started on the building that currently occupies the site.^[192] A new student accommodation tower, nicknamed 'The Blade', has started construction on the site of the old Victoria swimming baths, on the edge of Victoria Park. The tower will stand over 300 feet (91 m), and will become Portsmouth's second tallest structure after the Spinnaker Tower.^[193]

In April 2007, Portsmouth F.C. announced plans to move away from Fratton Park to a new stadium situated on a piece of reclaimed land beside the Historic Dockyard, nicknamed Portsmouth Dockland Stadium. The £600 million mixed-use development, designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron, would also include 1500 harbourside apartments as well as shops and offices.^[194][195] The scheme attracted criticism due to its large size and location, with some officials saying that it would interfere with harbour operations.^[196][197] The £600 million project for a new stadium was rejected by the city council due to the financial crisis of 2008.^[198]

Portsmouth will help build, and be the home port of, two new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers: HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, the largest ships ever built by the Royal Navy.^[199] The supercarriers were first ordered by then Defence Secretary Des Browne on 25 July 2007.^[200] Construction of both ships took place in the Firth of Forth at Rosyth Dockyard and BAE Systems Surface Ships in Glasgow, Babcock International at Rosyth, and at HMNB Portsmouth.^[201][202] It was announced by the government prior to the Scottish Independence Referendum that military shipbuilding would end in Portsmouth, with all UK surface warship shipbuilding to be focused instead at the two older BAE facilities in Glasgow.^[203] This was heavily criticised at the time as a political rather than economic decision to help the "No campaign" for Scotland to remain a part of the United Kingdom.^[204][205]

Portsmouth has several theatres: the New Theatre Royal in Guildhall Walk, near the city centre, which specialises in professional drama,^[206] and the newly restored Kings Theatre in Southsea, which features amateur musicals as well a number of national tours.^[207] Another theatre is the Groundlings Theatre, which was built in 1784 and is housed in The Old Beneficial School, Portsea.^[208] New Prince's Theatre and Southsea's Kings Theatre were both designed by Victorian architect and entrepreneur Frank Matcham.^[209]

The city also has three established music venues: the Guildhall,^[210] The Wedgewood Rooms (which includes a smaller venue, Edge of the Wedge),^[211] and Portsmouth Pyramids Centre.^[212] Portsmouth Guildhall, another theatrical venue, is one of the largest events venue in South East England, with a seating capacity of 2500.^{[95][213][214]} For many years a series of symphony concerts has been presented at the Guildhall by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.^[215] In the 1970s the Portsmouth Sinfonia approached classical music from a different angle: the Sinfonia often recruited players that had no musical training or, if they were musicians, ones that chose to play an instrument that was entirely new to them.^[216][217] The Portsmouth Summer Show is held at King George's Fields. The 2016 event was held in the last weekend of April, and featured cover bands such as the Silver Beatles, the Bog Rolling Stones, and Fleetingwood Mac.^[218]

Numerous musical works are set in the city. Portsmouth Point is an overture for orchestra by the English composer William Walton in 1925. The work was inspired by Thomas Rowlandson's etching depicting Portsmouth Point, otherwise known as "Spice Island" in Old Portsmouth.^[219][220] The overture was used for the BBC Proms Concert in 2007.^[221] H.M.S. Pinafore is a comic opera in two acts set in Portsmouth Harbour, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert.^[222] John Cranko's 1951 ballet Pineapple Poll, which features the operetta music of The Bumboat Woman's Story by Gilbert and Sullivan, is also set in Portsmouth.^[223][224]

Portsmouth hosts yearly remembrances of the D-Day landings, which veterans from Allied and Commonwealth nations attend.^[225][226] The city played a major part in the 50th D-Day anniversary in 1994; visitors included then-US President Bill Clinton, Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, King Harald V of Norway, French president François Mitterrand, New Zealand Prime Minister Jim Bolger, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister John Major, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.^[227][228] The Portsmouth International Kite Festival is organised annually by Portsmouth City Council and The Kite Society of Great Britain. It celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2016.^[229]

In literature, Portsmouth is the chief location for Jonathan Meades' 1993 novel Pompey, in which it is inhabited largely by incestuous and necrophiliac criminals.^[230] Since the release of his novel, Meades has presented a TV programme documenting Victorian architecture in Portsmouth Dockyard.^[231] In Jane Austen's novel Mansfield Park, Portsmouth is the hometown of the main character Fanny Price, and is the setting of most of the closing chapters of the novel.^[232] In Charles Dickens' novel The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, main protagonists Nicholas and Smike make their way to Portsmouth and get involved in a theatrical troupe.^[233] In Patrick O'Brian's nautical historical Aubrey-Maturin series, Portsmouth is most often the port from which Captain Jack Aubrey's ships sail.^[234]

Victorian novelist and historian Sir Walter Besant documented his childhood in the town in the 1840s in By Celia's Arbour: A Tale of Portsmouth Town. The book is notable for its precise descriptions of the town before the defensive walls were removed.^[235] Southsea features in The History of Mr Polly by H. G. Wells under the fictional name of Port Burdock, which he describes as "one of the three townships that are grouped around the Port Burdock naval dockyards".^[236] High fantasy author Neil Gaiman also sets his graphic novel The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch around Southsea, Gaiman having grown up in Portsmouth. A street along the seafront in Southsea was renamed "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" by the city council in honour of his novel of the same name.^[237][238]

Notable crime novels set in Portsmouth and the surrounding area include Graham Hurley's D.I. Faraday/D.C. Winter novels^[239] and C. J. Sansom's Tudor crime novel Heartstone, with the latter including references to the famous warship Mary Rose and descriptions of Tudor life in the town.^[240] A collection of fantastical short stories, Portsmouth Fairy Tales for Grown Ups, was published in 2014.^[241][242] It uses locations around Portsmouth for the stories, and includes writing by crime novelists William Sutton, Diana Bretherick, and others.^[243][244]

The University of Portsmouth was founded in 1992 as a new university from the existing Portsmouth Polytechnic; it has 20,000 students on campus as of 2016.^[245] The university was ranked among the top 100 modern universities in the world in April 2015.^[246][247] As of 2013, the university had approximately 23,000 students and more than 2500 staff.^[248] Several local colleges also have the power to award Higher National Diplomas, including Highbury College, which specialises in vocational education,^[249] and Portsmouth College, which offers various academic courses in the city.^[250] Both Admiral Lord Nelson School and Miltoncross Academy were built in the late 1990s to meet the demand of a growing school-age population.^[251][252]

Following the cancellation of the national building programme for schools, these redevelopments did not go ahead.^[253] In 2009, only two schools in the city were judged "inadequate", whereas 29 of the city's 63 schools were considered "no longer good enough" by Ofsted.^[254] Before being taken over by Ark Schools and becoming a Charter Academy, St Luke's Church of England secondary school was, in terms of GCSE achievement, one of the worst schools in the country. It was also criticised by officials for its behavioural standards – reports were made of students repeatedly throwing chairs at teachers.^[255] Since becoming an academy in 2009, the schools have significantly improved; 69% of students achieved five GCSEs at grades A* – C including English and mathematics.^[256] Charter Academy operates its intake policy as a standard comprehensive taking from its catchment area rather than selecting on religious background.^[257]

There is also a cohort of independent schools within the city – the oldest, founded in 1732 by the mayor of Portsmouth,^[258][259] is the Portsmouth Grammar School, which has been rated as one of the best private schools in the country.^[260][259] The Portsmouth High School, a member of the Girls Day School Trust, was ranked one of the top private schools for girls in the UK by A-level results in 2013.^[261] Other independent schools in the city include Mayville High School, founded in 1897,^[262] and St John's College, an independent Catholic boarding school.^[263][264]

Many of the city's former defences are now museums, or venues for hosting events. Several of the Victorian era forts on Portsdown Hill are now tourist attractions:^[265] Fort Nelson, which lies on the summit of Portsdown Hill, is home to the Royal Armouries museum.^[266] The Tudor era Southsea Castle has a small museum, and much of the seafront defences leading up to the Round Tower are open to the public. The castle was withdrawn from active service in 1960 and was subsequently purchased by Portsmouth City Council.^[267] The southern part of the Royal Marines' Eastney Barracks is now the Royal Marines Museum, and was opened to the public under the National Heritage Act 1983.^[268] The museum was awarded a £14 million grant from the National Lottery Fund, and is set to relocate to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in 2019.^[269] The birthplace of Charles Dickens at Mile End Terrace,^[270][271] is now the Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum. The four-storey red brick building became a Grade I listed building in 1953.^[272] Other tourist attractions include the Blue Reef Aquarium, which houses an "underwater safari" of aquatic life in Britain,^[273] and Cumberland House Natural History Museum, which features a variety of wildlife featured in the area.^[274][275]

Most of the city's landmarks and tourist attractions are related to its naval history. They include The D-Day Story in Southsea, which holds the 83 metres (272 ft)-long Overlord Embroidery.^[276][277] The city is home to some famous ships: in the dry dock of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard lies Horatio Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory, the world's oldest naval ship still in commission. HMS Victory was preserved for the nation and placed in permanent dry dock in 1922, when the Society for Nautical Research led a national appeal to restore her.^[80] 22 million people have visited her since.^[278] In 1971, the remains of Henry VIII's flagship, Mary Rose, was rediscovered on the seabed.^[53] She was raised and brought into a purpose-built structure in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in 1982.^[279] Britain's first iron-hulled warship, HMS Warrior, was restored and moved to Portsmouth in June 1987 after serving as an oil fuel pier at Pembroke Dock in Pembrokeshire for fifty years.^{[280][281][282]} The National Museum of the Royal Navy is also in the historic dockyard, and is sponsored by an independent charity which aims to promote research into the history and archaeology of the Royal Dockyard.^[283] Every November the Historic Dockyard hosts the Victorian Festival of Christmas, which features Father Christmas in a traditional green-coloured robe.^[284][285]

Portsmouth's long association with the armed forces means it has a large number of war memorials around the city, including several at the Royal Marines Museum,^[286] and a large collection of memorials related to the Royal Navy in Victoria Park.^[143] The Portsmouth Naval Memorial in Southsea Common commemorates 24,591 fallen soldiers who lost their lives in the First World War.^[287] The memorial was designed by Sir Robert Lorimer and was unveiled by George VI on 15 October 1924.^[288] In the city centre, the Guildhall Square Cenotaph displays the names of the fallen, and is guarded by stone sculptures of machine gunners carved by the sculptor Charles Jagger.^[289] On the west face, the description reads:

Portsmouth contains three cemeteries: Kingston, Milton Road, and Highland Road. Kingston Cemetery was opened in 1856 and lies on the eastern side of Fratton. At 52 acres (21 ha), it is the largest cemetery in the city and has about 400 burials a year.^[291] In February 2014, a ceremony was held at the cemetery to celebrate the 180th anniversary of Portsmouth's Polish community.^[292] Milton Road Cemetery, of some 25 acres (10 ha), was established on 8 April 1912 and has approximately 200 burials per year. There is also a crematorium at Portchester.^[291]

The naval shore establishment, HMS Vernon, contained the Royal Navy's arsenal – weapons and ammunition would be taken from ships as they entered the harbour and would be resupplied as they headed out to sea. The 1919 Southsea and Portsmouth Official Guide described the establishment as "the finest collections of weapons outside the Tower of London, containing more than 25,000 rifles".^[293] In the early nineteenth century, Gunwharf Quays supplied the fleet with a "grand arsenal" consisting of cannons, mortars, bombs, and various ordinance. Gunpowder was not provided due to safety concerns; however, it could be obtained at Pridday's Hard near Gosport.^[294] An armoury existed to sell small arms to soldiers, along with blacksmith and carpenter shops for armourers. The establishment was run by three officers; a viz (storekeeper), a clerk, and a foreman. By 1817, Gunwharf purportedly housed the largest naval arsenal in the world, employing 5000 men at the time.^[295]

HMS Vernon closed on 1 April 1996^[296] and was redeveloped by Portsmouth City Council as Gunwharf Quays,^[183] a mixed residential and retail destination with outlet stores, restaurants, pubs, and cafés.^[297] Construction of the Spinnaker Tower began in 2001 and was completed in summer 2005. The project ran overbudget and cost £36 million, of which Portsmouth City Council contributed £11 million.^{[298][299][300]} The 560 feet (170 m) tower is visible from 23 miles (37 km) on a clear day, and its viewing platforms provide views across the Solent towards the Isle of Wight, and north towards the harbour and Southsea Castle.^[301][302] The tower has the largest glass floor in Europe and weighs more than 33,000 tonnes (32,000 long tons; 36,000 short tons).^[303][302]

Southsea is a seaside resort and residential area that lies at the southern end of Portsea Island. The name Southsea originates from Southsea Castle, a castle on the seafront established in 1544 by Henry VIII to help defend the Solent and approaches to Portsmouth Harbour.^[304] The area was originally developed in 1809 as "Croxton Town", though by the 1860s the suburb of Southsea had expanded to provide houses for working-class people.^[129] During this time, Southsea grew as a seaside and bathing resort.^[129] A pump room and baths were erected near the present day Clarence Pier, and a large complex was developed including vapour baths, showers, and card playing and assembly rooms for holiday-goers.^[305]

Clarence Pier was officially opened in 1861 by the Prince and Princess of Wales, and was named after the once military governor of Portsmouth, Lord Frederick FitzClarence. At the time of its opening, the pier was labelled as "one of the largest amusement parks on the south coast".^[306] South Parade Pier was built in 1878 and is among the 55 remaining private piers in the United Kingdom.^[307][308] The pier was originally used as a terminal for ferries travelling to the Isle of Wight, but it was soon redeveloped as a centre of entertainment. It had to be rebuilt after the first fire in 1904, and rebuilt again after the second fire in 1967. The third fire struck during filming of Tommy in 1974, after which it was rebuilt once again.^[307][129] In 2015, plans were unveiled to build the "Solent Eye" at the pier, an amusement ride with 24 gondolas resembling the London Eye, at a cost of £750,000.^[309]

Southsea is dominated by Southsea Common, a grassland covering an area of 480 acres (190 ha), which was first created by draining the marshland alongside the construction of the vapour baths in 1820. The common owes its existence to the demands of the military in the early 19th century for a clear range of fire.^[310] The present day Common lies parallel to the shore from Clarence Pier to Southsea Castle.^[310] Today, the Common is a popular recreation ground, and also a venue for a number of annual events, which includes carnivals, Christmas markets, and Victorian festivals.^[311][312] The common also has a large collection of mature elm trees, believed to be the oldest and largest surviving in Hampshire, which have escaped Dutch elm disease owing to their isolation. Other plants include the Canary Island date palms Phoenix canariensis, which are some of the largest in Britain and have produced viable seed in recent years.^[313]

Portsmouth has two cathedrals: the Anglican Cathedral of St Thomas in Old Portsmouth, and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John the Evangelist (the city is one of 34 British settlements with a Roman Catholic cathedral).^[158][314] The city's first chapel, dedicated to Thomas Becket, was built by Jean de Gisors in the second half of the 12th century.^[315][316] The chapel was rebuilt and developed into the parish church and then Anglican cathedral.^[316][317] It was damaged during the Siege of Portsmouth in 1642, but after the restoration of the monarchy the tower and nave were rebuilt.^[318] Significant changes were made when the Diocese of Portsmouth was established in 1927.^[319] It became a cathedral in 1932, and was enlarged, although construction was halted during the Second World War. The cathedral was re-consecrated in the presence of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 1991.^[320]

The Royal Garrison Church was founded in 1212 by Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester. After centuries of decay, it became an ammunition store in 1540. The marriage of Charles II to Catherine of Braganza took place in the church in 1662. After the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in 1814, large receptions were held inside the church. In 1941, a firebomb fell on the roof, destroying the nave.^[61] The church's chancel was saved by servicemen shortly after the raid; however, replacing the roof was determined to be impossible due to the large amounts of salt solution the stonework had absorbed over the years.^[321]

The Cathedral of St John the Evangelist was built in 1882 to accommodate Portsmouth's increasing Roman Catholic population, replacing a chapel built in 1796 to the west. Before 1791 Roman Catholic chapels in towns with borough status were prohibited. The chapel was opened after the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 was passed and then replaced by the cathedral.^[322] Its construction was completed in phases: in 1882 the nave was complete; in 1886 the crossing was finished, and the chancel was ready by 1893, eleven years after its opening. During the blitz, the cathedral was badly damaged when Luftwaffe bombing destroyed Bishop's House next door. It was restored in 1970, 1982, and 2001.^[322] The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth was founded in 1882 by Pope Leo XIII.^[3]

Smaller places of worship in the city include St Jude's Church in Southsea,^[324] St Mary's Church in Portsea,^[325] St Ann's Chapel in the naval base^[326] and the Portsmouth and Southsea Synagogue, which is among the oldest synagogues in Britain.^[327]

Portsmouth F.C. play their home games at Fratton Park. They have won two Football League titles (1949 and 1950)^[328][329] and won the FA Cup in 1939 and 2008.^[330][331] They returned to the Premier League in 2003.^[332] In 2010 they were relegated to the Championship, and amid serious financial difficulties in February 2012,^[333] they were further relegated to League One.^[334] In 2013 Portsmouth were relegated again, this time placing them in the League Two, the fourth tier of English Football.^[334] In April 2013, Portsmouth F.C. was purchased by the Pompey Supporters Trust, becoming the largest fan-owned football club in English Football history.^[335][336] In May 2017, Portsmouth F.C. were promoted as League Two Champions to League One for the 2017–18 season.

Moneyfields F.C. have been playing in the Wessex Football League Premier Division since 1998.^[337] United Services Portsmouth F.C. (formerly known as Portsmouth Royal Navy) and Baffins Milton Rovers F.C. both compete in Wessex League Division One, with United Services being formed in 1962,^[338] and Baffins Milton Rovers being founded in 2011.^[339] The rugby teams, United Services Portsmouth RFC and Royal Navy Rugby Union, both play their home matches at the United Services Recreation Ground in the city. Royal Navy Rugby Union play in the annual Army Navy Match at Twickenham.^[340]

Portsmouth hosted first-class cricket at the United Services Recreation Ground from 1882,^[341] while from 1895 to 2000 Hampshire County Cricket Club matches were played there. This arrangement came to an end in 2000 when Hampshire moved all their home matches to their newly built Rose Bowl cricket ground in West End.^[342] The city is also home to four hockey clubs: City of Portsmouth Hockey Club, who are based at the university's Langstone Campus;^[343] Portsmouth & Southsea Hockey Club, and Portsmouth Sharks Hockey Club, who are both based at the Admiral Lord Nelson School;^[344] and United Services Portsmouth Hockey Club, who are based on Burnaby Road.^[345] Great Salterns Golf Club, established in 1926,^[346] is an 18-hole parkland course with two holes playing across Saltern lake.^[347] There are also coastal courses at Hayling, near the entrance to Langstone Harbour in the east and at the Gosport and Stokes Bay Golf Club to the west of Portsmouth Harbour entrance in Gosport.^[119] Boxing was a popular pastime, particularly between 1910 and 1960, with a monument being erected in 2017 to commemorate the city's boxing heritage.^[348]

Portsmouth Harbour has passenger ferry links to Gosport and the Isle of Wight from the Portsmouth International Port,^[349] with a car ferry service to the Isle of Wight operated by Wightlink located nearby.^[350] Britain's longest-standing commercial hovercraft service, begun in the 1960s, still runs from near Clarence Pier to Ryde, Isle of Wight, operated by Hovertravel.^[351] Portsmouth Continental Ferry Port has links to Caen, Cherbourg-Octeville, St Malo, and Le Havre in France,^[352][353] Santander and Bilbao in Spain,^[354] and the Channel Islands.^[355] Ferry services from the port are operated by Brittany Ferries, Condor Ferries, and LD Lines.^{[354][356][357]}

On 18 May 2006, Trasmediterranea started a service to Bilbao in competition with P&O's then-existing service. This service was criticised when the ferry Fortuny was detained in Portsmouth by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency for numerous safety breaches.^[358] The faults were quickly corrected by Trasmediterránea, and the service was cleared to begin carrying passengers on 23 May 2006.^[359] In March 2007, Trasmediterránea withdrew the Bilbao service at short notice, citing the need to deploy the Fortuny elsewhere.^[360] P&O Ferries ceased their service to Bilbao on 27 September 2010, due to "unsustainable losses".^[361][362] The port is the second-busiest ferry port in the UK after Dover, handling around three million passengers a year.^[363][364]

Local bus services are provided by Stagecoach South East and First Hampshire & Dorset, serving the city of Portsmouth and its surrounding towns. Hovertravel and Stagecoach run a bus service called the Hoverbus from the city centre to Southsea Hovercraft Terminal and The Hard Interchange, near the seafront.^[365] In addition, Countryliner runs a Saturday service to Midhurst in West Sussex,^[366] and Xelabus operate a Sunday open-top seafront summer service around the city as of 2012.^[367] National Express services from Portsmouth run mainly from The Hard Interchange to London Victoria station, Cornwall, Bradford, Birkenhead and Bristol.^[368]

The city has four mainline railway stations, Hilsea, Fratton, Portsmouth & Southsea^[369] and Portsmouth Harbour.^[370] Portsmouth lies on two different direct South Western Railway routes to London Waterloo via Guildford and Basingstoke.^[371] There is also a South Western Railway stopping service to Southampton Central and a service by Great Western Railway to Cardiff Central via Southampton, Salisbury, Bath and Bristol.^[372] Southern additionally offers service to Brighton, Gatwick Airport, Croydon, and London Victoria.^[373]

Between 1885 and 1914, the Southsea Railway operated a train service between Southsea and Fratton railway stations. The railway was closed in 1914 due to competition from rival tram and trolleybus services.^[374]

Portsmouth Airport, an airport with a grass runway, was in operation from 1932 to 1973. After its closure, housing (Anchorage Park), industrial sites, retail stores (Ocean Retail Park), and a school (Admiral Lord Nelson School) were built on the site.^[375][376] Today, the nearest airport is Southampton Airport, situated in the Borough of Eastleigh, which lies 19.8 miles (31.9 km) away.^[119] The airport has an indirect South Western Railway rail connection requiring a change at Southampton Central or Eastleigh.^[377] Heathrow and Gatwick are 65 miles (105 km) and 75 miles (121 km) away, respectively. Gatwick is directly linked by Southern train services to London Victoria station, while Heathrow is linked by coach to Woking, which is on both rail lines to London Waterloo, or by London Underground.^[378] Heathrow is directly linked to Portsmouth by National Express coaches.^[379]

The Portsmouth and Arundel Canal was a canal in the south of England that ran between Portsmouth and Arundel, it was built in 1823 by the Portsmouth & Arundel Navigation Company, but was never a financial success and was abandoned in 1855; the company was wound up in 1888.^[380] The canal was part of a larger scheme for the construction of a secure inland canal route from London to Portsmouth, which allowed craft to move between the two without having to venture into the English Channel and possibly encounter enemy ships or natural disaster. The canal was made up of three sections: a pair of ship canals, one on Portsea Island and one to Chichester, and a barge canal that ran from Ford on the River Arun to Hunston where it joined the Chichester section of the canal.^[381]

The canal route through Portsea Island began from a basin formerly located on the eponymously named Arundel Street and cut through Landport, Fratton and Milton, ending at the eastern end of Locksway Road in Milton, where a set of lock gates gave access to Langstone Harbour and onwards to Chichester Harbour. After the canal through Portsea Island was closed, the drained canal bed sections through Milton, Fratton and Landport were reused for the building of the Portsmouth Direct Line railway line.

The original brick-lined canal walls can still clearly be seen between Fratton railway station and Portsmouth & Southsea railway station today. The canal lock entrance at Locksway Road, Milton also survives – just to the east side of a large public house named the Thatched House.^[382]

There is an ongoing debate on the development of a new public transport structure, with monorails and light rail both being considered. A light rail link to Gosport was authorised in 2002 with completion expected in 2005, but it is unlikely that the project will be completed following the refusal of funding by the Department for Transport in November 2005.^[383] In April 2011, an article appeared in Portsmouth News suggesting a new scheme could be in the offing by running a light rapid transit system over the line to Southampton via Fareham, Bursledon, and Sholing, thus replacing the existing heavy rail services.^[384][385]

Portsmouth, along with Southampton and its adjacent towns, are served predominantly with transmissions from the Rowridge and Chillerton Down transmitters on the Isle of Wight,^[386] though the transmitter at Midhurst can provide a substitute for Rowridge. Portsmouth was one of the first cities in the UK to have a local TV station, MyTV; although the Isle of Wight had a local television service which began broadcasting in 1998.^[387] In November 2014, a new TV station, named That's Solent, was launched as part of a nationwide roll-out of local Freeview channels in south central England.^[388] The stations are broadcast from Rowridge.^[389]

The local commercial radio station is The Breeze on 107.4FM,^[390] while the city also has a non-profit community radio station Express FM on 93.7FM.^[391] Patients at Portsmouth's primary hospital, Queen Alexandra in Milton, also have access to local programming from charity station Portsmouth Hospital Broadcasting, which starting broadcasting in 1951.^[392] When the first local commercial radio stations were licensed in the 1970s by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), Radio Victory was the radio service for Portsmouth. In 1986, due to transmission area changes by the IBA, it was replaced by a new company and service called Ocean Sound, later renamed as Heart Hampshire. From the city's 800th birthday in 1994, Victory FM broadcast for three 28-day periods over an 18-month period.^[393] It was purchased from the founders by TLRC, who, due to poor RAJAR figures, relaunched the service in 2001 as Ocean FM,^[394] with Portsmouth Football Club purchasing a stake in the station during 2007 and selling it in 2009.^[395]

The city currently has one daily local newspaper known as The News. The paper was established in 1873 and was previously known as the Portsmouth Evening News. A free weekly newspaper is published by the same publisher, Johnston Press, called The Journal.^[396][397]

The city has been home to a number of famed authors. Most notably Charles Dickens – known for such works as Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and The Pickwick Papers – was born in Portsmouth.^[398] Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, practised as a doctor in the city and played in goal for Portsmouth Association Football Club, an amateur team not to be confused with the later professional Portsmouth Football Club.^[399] Rudyard Kipling, poet and author of the Jungle Book,^[400] and H. G. Wells, author of War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, lived in Portsmouth during the 1880s.^[401] Sir Walter Besant, a novelist and historian, was born in Portsmouth,^[402] writing one novel set exclusively in the town, By Celia's Arbour, A Tale of Portsmouth Town.^[403] Historian Frances Yates was born in Portsmouth and is known for her work on Renaissance esotericism. Sir Francis Austen, brother of Jane Austen, briefly lived in the area after graduating from Portsmouth Naval Academy.^[404] More contemporary Portsmouth literary figures include social critic, journalist, and author Christopher Hitchens, who was born in the city.^[405] Nevil Shute moved to Portsmouth in 1934 when he relocated his aircraft company to the city; his former home stands in Southsea.^[406] Fantasy author Neil Gaiman grew up in nearby Purbrook and the Portsmouth suburb of Southsea, and in 2013 had a Southsea road named after his novel The Ocean At The End Of The Lane.^[407] Olivia Manning's childhood was also spent in the city.^[408]

Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a famed engineer of the Industrial Revolution, was born in Portsmouth.^[409][410] His father Marc Isambard Brunel worked for the Royal Navy and invented the world's first production line to mass manufacture pulley blocks for the rigging in Royal Navy vessels.^[77] James Callaghan, who was British prime minister from 1976 to 1979, was born and raised in Portsmouth.^[411][412] He was the son of a Protestant Northern Irish petty officer in the Royal Navy and was also the only person to have held all four Great Offices of State, having previously served as foreign secretary, home secretary, and chancellor.^[413] John Pounds, the founder of the ragged school, which provided free education to working class children, lived in Portsmouth and set up the country's first ragged school in the city.^[414]

Peter Sellers, comedian, actor, and performer, was born in Southsea,^[415] and Arnold Schwarzenegger lived and trained in Portsmouth for a short time.^[416] Several other professional actors have also been born, or lived, in the city, including EastEnders actresses Emma Barton and Lorraine Stanley,^[417] and Bollywood actress Geeta Basra.^[418] Cryptozoologist Jonathan Downes was born and lived in Portsmouth for a time.^[419] Helen Duncan, the last person to be imprisoned under the 1735 Witchcraft Act in the UK, was arrested in Portsmouth.^[420]

Notable sportspeople from Portsmouth include Michael East, a Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning athlete,^[421] Rob Hayles, cyclist and Olympic Games medal winner,^[422] Tony Oakey, former British light-heavyweight boxing champion,^[423] and Alan Pascoe, an Olympic medallist.^[424] Sir Alec Rose, single-handed yachtsman,^[425] Katy Sexton, former world champion swimmer who won gold in the 200 metres (660 ft) backstroke at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona,^[426] and Roger Black, an Olympic medallist, were also born in Portsmouth.^[427]

Jamshid bin Abdullah of Zanzibar, the last constitutional monarch of that island state, lives in exile in Portsmouth with his wife and six children.^[428].