Our Town

Photograph by kind permission of Neil Marshall

Gosport is located in the south of England, on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, with extensive views over Portsmouth, north to Portchester and beyond, to the chalk hills of the south downs and south, across the Solent, to the Isle of Wight. The above is an aerial photograph showing the town of Gosport in the foreground, looking towards Portsmouth. Just off centre at the top can be seen the Spinnaker or Millennium Tower, the best view of which is from the Gosport side of the harbour.

The origin of the name, Gosport, is still to this day rather vague. Legend tells of the landing in mid 12th century of Henry de Blois, the Bishop of Winchester, caught in a fierce storm when returning from Normandy and brought ashore by local fishermen. He decreed that the place be called God's Port, these words are shown on the original Gosport emblem 'God's Port Our Haven'. Another derivation, Goss Port, is based on the gorse or goss that prevailed on the shores of creeks in the area.

Early in the Civil War, in 1642, Gosport found itself at war with Portsmouth. Lord Goring held Portsmouth for the King and the Parliamentarians held Gosport. Cannon were positioned on Gosport Hard which severely damaged St Thomas's Church Tower in Portsmouth which was used as a watch tower. Following further bombardments Lord Goring surrendered the town to Colonel Hurney in the name of Parliament. The Cavaliers had their revenge by later 'firing' the town, many houses were destroyed.

Charles II, in 1665, instructed his Engineer-in-Chief, Sir Bernard de Gomme, to design defences that would protect the dockyard from an attack from the land. Ramparts and a protecting moat were constructed which restricted the size of Gosport for many years. Very little of the ramparts remain today.

Architect Theodore Jacobson designed a Hospital for the Sick and Wounded Seamen, for construction on 95 acres of farmland outside the Gosport ramparts at Haslar, building commenced in 1746. Originally designed as a square with open space in the centre, the fourth side was never built, probably due to the spiralling costs. The original estimate was £38,000 an enormous sum in the 18th century, when completed in 1760 the final cost was £100,000. The first patients to arrive at the Hospital was in 1753 the year that George II gave his Royal Charter to Haslar. Click on image for a larger view. The first administrator was Dr George Cuthbert he was succeeded in 1758 by Dr James Lind who was referred to as the Father of Nautical Medicine, and is chiefly known for his subscription of lime and lemon juice to cure the curse of scurvy.

In the late 18th/early 19th century, a Market Hall stood in the centre of Middle Street (High Street) opposite the India Arms Hotel. This was a wooden structure built on columns with a small octagonal tower, contained within the building were two small rooms in which the lord of the Manor held his courts. In a niche at one end was a gilded statue of William III in Roman costume. This structure remained until 1812, when a new Market House was built on the north eastern corner of the High Street which, itself severely damaged during an air raid in 1940, was demolished in the 1960's during redevelopment of the area.

Originally a small fishing village, Gosport grew by the mid 19th century into a major military and naval town. Forton Barracks was completed in 1807 and was the home of the Royal Marine Light Infantry from 1848 until 1923. From 1927 until 1965 it was the home of H.M.S. St Vincent Boys' Training Establishment. The Royal Navy moved out in 1968 and the site was used as a Sixth Form School, later to become St Vincent College. Gosport Barracks (New Barracks and later St George Barracks) was completed in 1859 and housed several Army Regiments until 1941 when the barracks became the responsibility of the Admiralty and renamed H.M.S. Victory IV and then St George. In 1947 the Army were back in the form of the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment and the buildings were renamed St George Barracks. The last Regiment, which took up residence in 1971, was 20 Maritime Regiment, Royal Corps of Transport who in turn moved out and the buildings became surplus to requirements in 1991. St George Barracks has been sold to developers and has now been redeveloped as a housing complex.

The railway came to Gosport in 1841 linking it to Fareham. Image 1 shows the Gosport Station in 1936. The line was extended in 1845 through the ramparts (image 2), at the request of Prince Albert, to the Royal Victoria Station (image 3) in Clarence Yard enabling Queen Victoria to board the Royal Yacht for her journeys to Osborne House. The railway and station were very busy in the middle part of the 19th century, particularly with the carriage of coal and freight. However the opening of a direct service from London to Portsmouth in 1847 began to have a heavy impact on Gosport. By 1900 passenger numbers were in decline due to competition from tramways, but with the coming of WWI rail traffic improved with supplies to and from Royal Clarence Yard and large numbers of troop movements including the transportation of wounded soldiers to Haslar Hospital in Gosport.

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	To view larger pictures click on image

Credits: Photo 1-Lens of Sutton Collection. Photo 2-Nick Catford. Photos 4&7- John Alsop Collection.

Information - Disused Railway Stations in the UK at www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations

In 1865 an intermediate station was opened and named Brockhurst Station, subsequently renamed Fort Brockhurst Station (image 4), to accommodate the troops occupying the forts. Two branch lines were added the first to Stokes Bay (image 6) in 1863. This line took passengers directly on to the pier where they could board a steamer to the Isle of Wight. A further curve was added to the main line in 1865 giving direct access from Fareham; at the same time an intermediate station was opened, named Stoke Road, renamed Gosport Road in 1866 and subsequently in 1893 Gosport & Alverstoke (image 5), situated where the current telephone exchange is. Passenger traffic was only brisk during the summer and in 1902 the ferry to the Isle of Wight was suspended during winter months. The steamer service to the Isle of Wight was suspended at the start if WWI and never reinstated and in 1915 both Gosport Road Station and Stokes Bay were closed for the duration of the war and the line was never reopened. The second branch line was opened in 1894 to Lee-on-the-Solent (image 7) with two Halts, Gomer and Elmore. The line never made a profit and was finally closed in 1935. The main line remained operational for passenger travel in 1953, freight remained until 1969 when the line was completely closed, leaving the town with its population of 76,000 plus, one of the largest in the UK without railway connections to the outside world. The station is very handsome and has its original iron gates ornamented with the Hampshire rose. Outside the main gate is a post box of 1840,s design which is still in use, unlike the station! Hampshire County Council, which owns the station site has proposals for the re-use of the buildings but these are still at the design stage. Some sensitivity is required as the buildings are listed at Grade II* by English heritage.

In the late 18th century Gosport was the chosen location for the building of the Priddy's Hard Powder Magazine, opened in 1777. It had been moved from the Square Tower in Old Portsmouth to what was considered a safe environment on the shores of Forton Creek, then thinly populated and mostly scrub and marsh land. Explosions were not uncommon at the Square Tower site and among Portsmouth residents, who petitioned George III for its removal. The name Priddy's Hard was a romantic touch, since one of the principal landowners of this part of Gosport was Miss Jane Pridhay, who gave her name to the establishment.

Priddy's Hard and its usage was extended and developed throughout the 19th & 20th centuries as part of the Royal Naval Armaments Depot and all types of ammunition was tested and manufactured here. Since 1777, its ammunition output has been employed in many world-wide conflicts. Possibly its most spectacular achievement was the production of millions of armaments for the Normandy invasion forces of 1944. At this period, upwards of 3,000 women were employed here on dirty and often dangerous work. Priddy's Hard closed down in the early 1990's and reopened as a Museum of Naval Fire Power in 2000 with the appropriate name of Explosion!

The Navy's leading victualling establishment Royal Clarence Yard was opened in 1828. It was here that meat, cheese, butter, dried fish, portable soup (the equivalent of today's stock!), rum, chocolate and tobacco were produced and packed, first in wooden hooped barrels and later in the early 19th century in tins for the nations sailors. Clothing and footwear were also packed and distributed to the ships. Millions of the famous ships biscuits were baked here every day as was fresh bread. As with Priddy's Hard, Royal Clarence Yard's greatest challenge was the provision of vast quantities of food for the thousands of troops waiting at Spithead in the late Spring of 1944 for the D-Day go-ahead. Staff from Royal Clarence Yard went out every day during this tense period in their Storage Boats topping up the waiting ships with fresh food and water. In the post war period Royal Clarence Yard took on another role as the Navy's Food Laboratories where the freeze drying of food was perfected. From these tests' we have to-days coffee granules in instant coffee preparations and dried fruit and vegetables such as sun dried tomatoes in our supermarkets.

Royal Clarence Yard ceased to exist in 1991 as the Ministry of Defence sold the site to developers. Work to-day proceeds to redevelop the many magnificent buildings as a housing, leisure and commercial complex. The most spectacular buildings on the waterside are the great granary, bakery and slaughterhouse, all of which are Grade II listed by English Heritage.

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