Portsmouth, Pembroke Park Hotel, 1 Bellevue Terrace , Southsea , Portsmouth , Hampshire , England , UK .

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOUTHSEA

from Wikipedia for more informaiton visit the site All links are external links to Wikipedia and will open in new window

Copyright (c) 2005. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

In 1544 Henry VIII built the fort which became known as Southsea Castle. Although it would not have been called that at the time it is recorded as ‘Southsea Castle' in a map of 1724.

In 1809 a new suburb began to grow. It became known as Southsea after the castle. The first houses were built for skilled workers in the 'mineral' streets (Silver Street, Nickel Street etc).

Around 1810 Hampshire Terrace, Landport Terrace, King’s Terrace, Jubilee Terrace and Bellevue Terrace were built adjacent to the town walls. Nowadays they form an almost continuous road between the City Center and the beach.

Southsea remained small until 1835. The area between Castle Road and Victoria Road South was built up between 1835 and 1860 as housing for middle class families. A prominent architect during this period was Thomas Ellis Owen who built properties in Kent Road, Queen’s Terrace, Sussex Terrace and Portland Terrace.

By the 1860's the suburb of Southsea had grown along Clarendon Road as far as Granada Road. In 1857 Southsea gained its own Improvement Commissioners responsible for paving, cleaning and lighting the streets.

After the 1870s, east of Victoria Road, there was new building in the Campbell Road / Outram Road area.

As building proceeded most was put up in the cramped manner typical of much of Portsmouth, a city where space is at a premium.

Much of Southsea was designed by the architect Thomas Ellis Owen. Although some of his buildings were destroyed in World War 2 and some have since been unsympathetically modernised, his work still shapes the architecture of modern Southsea. The majority of Owen's Southsea is now protected by a number of Conservation Areas or by being Listed Buildings.

The Southsea beachfront is stony and has two piers: South Parade Pier and Clarence Pier; both house amusement arcades and South Parade Pier also contains a ballroom and a bar area. Clarence pier is adjacent to a permanent funfair.

To commemorate the millennium a scenic walk was created which runs to Gunwharf Quays from Southsea seafront. There is a pavement route or you can just follow the blue street lamps!

There are a number of miniature golf courses, a skateboard park and public grass and clay tennis courts.

The D-Day museum (which holds the Overlord embroidery) is located on the seafront in Southsea, very close to Southsea castle.

Cumberland House is a natural history museum, butterfly house and aquarium.

The Blue Reef Aquarium is also sitated on the seafront.

Throughout the summer there are regular open air concerts and events at the bandstand and on Castle Field.

Southsea Common is host to a number of annual events each year including the Southsea Show, Para Spectacular, Military Vehicle Show and Kite Festival.

Just off the seafront is Southsea Model Village which is a 1/12th scale model village with forty miniature buildings, houses, forts, castles and a miniature railway. It was opened in 1956 on the site of a Victorian fort. Another part of the fort has been converted into Southsea Rose Garden.

Canoe Lake is the last remnant of an area of marsh and open water known as the Great Morass, drained in 1886, which much of Southsea now sits on. The lake is topped up from the sea by opening a sluice at high tide. Crabs and fish find their way in, and attract fisherkids equipped with a piece of bacon on a string. When undisturbed there are regularly Swan and Mallard, with less frequent visits from Tufted Duck, Mediterranean Gull, Cormorant and Little Grebe. In summer pedalos can be rented on the Lake and Portsmouth Model Boat Display Team meet there regularly at weekends renact dramatic sea battles.

Towards the eastern end of the seafront is the Royal Marines Museum.

Southsea Parish Council was created in 1999 following a successful submission to the UK Government under the Local Government and Rating Act 1997. The parish council later became the Southsea Town Council.

The existence of the town council has been controversial from the outset. The initial creation of the town council was opposed by Portsmouth city council. There has been a long standing campaign to disband the town council. In a poll of local residents in February 2005, 56% voted to abolish it. Southsea Town Council continues to operate although its future is uncertain.

The town council has limited powers and a small budget funded by the local precpit. It campaigns on local issues, seeking to influence the unitary authority Portsmouth City Council, it makes awards of funds to local causes and funds infrastructure improvements in the local area. It has an office in Southsea.

Portsea is a small island on the south coast of England. Most of the city of Portsmouth is located on the island. It is very flat and low lying.

To the east lies Langstone Harbour, and to the west is Portsmouth Harbour. To the south it faces into the Solent. A small channel separates the island from the mainland, Great Britain.

There are ferries to Gosport, Hayling Island and the Isle of Wight.

There are seven bridges. A small bridge joins it to Whale Island.