Portsea (St. Mary)
The town, which is situated partly on the waste ground formerly called Portsmouth common, and partly on a spot of land named West Dock Field, has rapidly increased within the last century, and now contains many regularly-formed streets, several terraces, and some handsome ranges of houses belonging to families connected with Portsmouth. The extensive suburbs are chiefly inhabited by artisans employed in the dockyard. In 1843, an act was passed for better paving, lighting, cleansing, and otherwise improving the town. The Hampshire subscription library, here, is well supported, and contains a valuable collection in the various departments of literature. In the suburb of Southsea is an excellent bathing establishment, which has contributed greatly to the attractions of Portsea as a watering-place: on the beach is an elegant building consisting of a suite of subscription, promenade, and reading rooms, called the "King's Rooms," the establishment having been distinguished by the patronage of His late Majesty; and a walk leads from them along the shore, affording one of the most delightful promenades in England. In that part of the parish called the Guildable is a considerable number of market-gardens, from which the towns of Portsea and Portsmouth are principally supplied with vegetables. The Portsea and Arundel canal, opened in 1823, joins Langston harbour. The market-days are Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
The fortifications, which were begun in 1770, are very complete, and unrivalled for strength and beauty. The two principal gates, which form elegant entrances to the town, are noble specimens of architecture; they are called respectively Lion and Unicorn gates, and have on their frontispiece these two portions of the British arms finely sculptured. The "lines" extend from north to south, presenting to the east several strong bastions and outworks, crowned with batteries of heavy ordnance; and the trenches, which are broad and deep, can be filled with water up to the bridges, which connect it with Portsmouth, on the south. The Royal Dockyard occupies an area of 110 acres, and comprises, on the grandest scale, and on the most scientific principles, the arrangements for supplying the necessary equipments, and extensive depôts of naval and military stores. The entrance into the yard, which forms a town of itself, is through a lofty gateway; and among the buildings within the walls, the residence formerly of the commissioner is conspicuous for its stateliness; in the centre of the edifice is a noble portico, and on each side are various offices. By a late arrangement, this building has been appointed the residence of the port-admiral; and the duties of the commissioners are performed by an admiral superintendent, for whom a suitable house has been fitted up in the yard. The great basin comprehends an area of 33,000 square yards, communicating with four dry-docks; there is also a double dock for frigates. Ships of the line may at any time enter from the harbour into the dockyard, where twelve menof-war can be fitted up at the same time. The foundation stone of a new steam-basin was laid by Admiral Parker in January 1845, and the work was completed in the year 1848; it is thought to be the largest steam-basin in the empire, the dam being 3000 feet in length. The covered building-docks are very capacious.
The rope-house is of vast extent, being 1094 yards long, and four stories high: on the lower story, the floor of which is laid with iron and tin, is the machinery for making cables; the three upper stories are appropriated to the manufacture of twine and cordage. The anchor forge is an immense building, in which anchors weighing more than ninety cwt. are made; and near it are the copper-foundry, and the admirable machinery for making blocks, invented by Sir I. Brunel, who for many years superintended its operation. This machinery is impelled by a steam-engine of extraordinary power; and the various processes, from the sawing of the wood to the completion of the block, are conducted with a degree of precision and celerity difficult to describe. The rigging and mast houses are upon the largest scale: indeed each department in this extensive and ably-conducted establishment exhibits a combination of skill, efficiency, and grandeur, in every respect characteristic of the arsenal of a great maritime state. The Dock chapel, appropriated to the officers of the dockyard, the crews of the ships in ordinary, and the various classes of artisans, is a neat structure, with a cupola containing the bell which originally belonged to the Royal George, sunk off Spithead.
Within the walls is the Royal Naval College, founded in 1720, for seventy students: of these, thirty, the sons of commissioned officers, are charged in proportion to their rank, for board, clothing, and education; and the remainder, sons of noblemen, military, or civil officers, pay £120 per annum. The institution is under the superintendence of the first lord of the admiralty, who is governor, a lieutenant-governor, a post-captain, a professor, two lieutenants, a mathematical assistant, two other assistants, and French, drawing, and fencing masters. The buildings are extensive, and contain many noble apartments; over them is an observatory, containing a beautiful model of H. M. S. the Victory, of 100 guns, which was wrecked off the French coast on her first voyage. A new observatory, however, was lately built over the central arch of the western storehouses, commanding a view of the whole coast from the Needles to the county of Sussex, A school of naval architecture was projected in 1809, by Mr. Robinson, in the house of commons, and in 1816 incorporated with the Naval College. The Gun-wharf, without the dockyard, includes an area of fourteen acres, and comprises a spacious building of brick, ornamented with stone, occupying three sides of a quadrangle, with an arched entrance in the centre of the fourth side, surmounted by a lofty tower and cupola. It contains a vast number of guns and gun-carriages, and an immense quantity of ordnance stores. On the right of the entrance are, the armoury, with 25,000 stand of small arms, arranged in the most exact order; a laboratory; and an extensive ordnance department: on the opposite side are the offices of the Royal Engineers, with stores adjoining, and a large depôt of ammunition.
The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £12; net income, £696; patrons and impropriators, the Warden and Fellows of Winchester College: the great tithes have been commuted for £1230, the vicarial for £270, and the glebe comprises 14 acres. The parochial church, erected in the reign of Edward III., having been rebuilt, was consecrated in the spring of 1844; it is surrounded by one of the largest burial-grounds in the kingdom, comprising eight acres. St. George's chapel, a commodious brick structure, was built in 1753: the living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £45; patron, the Vicar of Portsea. St. John's district church, a commodious edifice, of which the internal decorations are extremely rich, was consecrated in 1789, and contains 1500 sittings: the living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £141; patrons, the Proprietors of pews. The church, dedicated to St. Paul, in the suburb of Southsea, was erected in 1822, at a cost of £15,229, part of which was contributed by subscription, and the rest by the Parliamentary Commissioners; it is a handsome structure in the later English style, with four turrets at the angles. The living is a district parochial curacy; net income, £310; patron, the Vicar. The district church dedicated to All Saints, in the suburb of Mile-end (including the Half-Way Houses, Newton, and several spacious streets, forming a district now called Landport), was erected in the year 1827, by grant from the commissioners, at an expense of £12,064. It is an elegant edifice in the later English style, with a splendid west front, surmounted by a campanile turret; the interior is neatly arranged, and over the altar is a window of painted glass, beautifully designed and executed by Edwards, of Winchester, presented by the Rev. C. B. Henville, late vicar. The living is a curacy; net income, £300; patron, the Vicar. Trinity church, the first stone of which was laid in June, 1839, was completed at an expense of £3299, by grant of the commissioners; it is a neat structure in the later English style, with a campanile turret, and contains 1208 sittings, of which 719 are free. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Vicar, with a net income of £150. A district church, of which the first stone was laid in July, 1840, has also been completed at Milton, by the commissioners; it is in the Norman style, with a campanile turret, and contains 323 sittings. The living is likewise in the Vicar's gift; income, £100. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents (the principal of which, in King-street, is one of the largest and handsomest meeting-houses in the kingdom), Wesleyans, and Roman Catholics; and a synagogue. A cemetery was lately formed by a joint-stock company. St. Paul's school, a commodious building near the church of that name, was established by shareholders; a complete course of classical, mathematical, and general instruction, is afforded. The town contains several schools for the poor, a dispensary, an infirmary for diseases of the eye and ear, and a penitentiary. Thomas Fitzherbert, Esq., in 1821 left £10,000 in the four per cents., in trust for the maintenance of five aged men, ten aged widows, and five single women; and there are various other bequests for distribution among the indigent. An hospital is in course of erection for Portsea, Portsmouth, and Gosport, near All Saints' church: the first stone was laid by Prince Albert, in Sept. 1847. The poor-law union comprises Portsea and Portsmouth. There was a monastery at Gatcombe, subordinate to the abbey of Southwick; and the remains of the chapel, and a wainscoted room, richly carved, and supposed to have been the prior's room, were extant a few years since. While rebuilding part of Gatcombe House, several coins, supposed to be Roman, were discovered.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.