9 reasons to visit Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

HMS Victory

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Julian Humphrys pays a timely visit to Portsmouth where Britain’s rich naval history takes centre stage

It struck me as I walked through Portsmouth’s Victory Gate into the historic dockyard that 2009 was a particularly appropriate time to visit. For this year marks the 150th anniversary of the laying down of the keel of HMS Warrior, the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the construction of HMS Victory at Chatham and, probably, the 500th anniversary of the start of work on Henry VIII’s doomed warship, Mary Rose.

These historic ships are the dockyard’s best-known attractions but there’s a lot more to see in this fascinating place. Grey warships are anchored nearby, naval personnel and dockworkers mingle with visitors, gilded statues and brightly painted ship’s figureheads seem to muse on past glories, while elegant storehouses now house museums, shops and cafes.

Portsmouth harbour had been a haven for shipping and a base for naval operations for over a thousand years when Richard I ordered the construction of a dock here in 1194. Three hundred years later the world’s first dry dock was constructed at Portsmouth, cementing its importance as a centre for shipbuilding and repair.

The 17th and 18th centuries saw the Royal Navy expand until, by the Napoleonic Wars, it was Britain’s largest single employer with over 500 ships, 150,000 officers and men and an army of administrators and dockyard workers. Many were based at Portsmouth, which developed into one of the world’s most extensive industrial complexes employing the latest technology of the Industrial Revolution.

As ships grew larger and steam replaced sail, the dockyard was enlarged and new basins, storehouses and factories were added. Major extensions were completed in 1848 and again in 1876. 1906 saw the launch at Portsmouth of HMS Dreadnought, at the time the world’s most powerful warship, and more battleships were to follow in the ensuing years.

Heavy bombing in the Second World War meant that it was unsafe to dry-dock large ships at Portsmouth but thousands of smaller craft were repaired and fitted out here, and the dockyard played a major part in the preparations for D-Day. We now have a much slimmed-down navy but Portsmouth is still home to almost two-thirds of its surface ships and it’s well worth combining a visit to the dockyard with a harbour tour to view those that are in port.

Portsmouth Daytripper map Download map as a PDF

 

1. Victory Gate

This is the former main gate of the dockyard and still the visitor entrance today. It was built in 1711 to thwart “ill disposed people inclining to purloin”. In 1777 the arsonist ‘Jack the Painter’ was hanged here from a 60-foot mast.

 

2. HMS Warrior

Launched in 1860, Warrior was the world’s first iron-hulled armoured warship, outclassing every other ship in the world. However, rapidly advancing technology meant that she soon became obsolete. She spent 50 years as a floating oil jetty at Milford Haven before being rescued in 1979. Since then she has been completely restored and every detail of her interior painstakingly recreated, from engines to mess tables.

 

3. Mary Rose Museum

This museum displays personal, domestic and military artefacts recovered from Henry VIII’s flagship Mary Rose, which sank in the Solent while in action against the French in 1545. The ship’s hull was raised in 1982 and will be redisplayed in a new museum due to open in 2012.

 

4. Action Stations

Housed in Boathouse No 6, an early example of a brick building erected around an internal metal frame, Action Stations offers an interactive introduction to the navy of today. The pond in front of it was dug in the 17th century and was originally used to store masts. It now houses a collection of historic small boats.

 

5. Dockyard’s Apprentice

This features displays showing dockyard life and work in 1911, at the time when the new Dreadnought battleships were being constructed and fitted out.

 

6. Trafalgar Sail

The 320-square-metre fore topsail of HMS Victory is the only surviving example in the world of an early 19th-century sail. Pockmarked with 90 shot holes, it’s the biggest single artefact to survive from the battle of Trafalgar.

 

7. Royal Naval Museum

The story of the Royal Navy is housed in two of three great storehouses constructed in the second half of the 18th century. The third is now a tearoom and nautical antique centre. Many of the storehouses’s floors and interiors are built from reused ships’ timbers.

 

8. Victory Gallery and Trafalgar Experience

The gallery houses displays on Victory and the people who served in her, plus marine artist WL Wyllie’s panoramic painting of Trafalgar. The Trafalgar Experience uses life-size models and audio-visual presentations to recreate the battle, including action on one of the gun decks.

 

9. HMS Victory

Victory is the world’s oldest commissioned warship and still the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command. Completed in 1765, the 104-gun vessel had already seen over a quarter of a century’s active service when she was used as Nelson’s flagship at Trafalgar in October 1805. An estimated 6,000 trees were used to build her, 90 per cent of them oaks.

 

 

Information

Portsmouth Tourist Information Centre,

The Hard, Portsmouth PO1 3QA,

Tel 02392 826722 www.visitportsmouth.co.uk

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard,

Tel 02392 839766 www.historicdockyard.co.uk

Except on special event days, admission to the dockyard itself is free. Tickets are available for single attractions but an all-inclusive ticket allows entry to HMS Victory, a harbour tour and unlimited entry for a year to HMS Warrior, the Royal Naval Museum and Action Stations.