A TIMELINE OF THE HISTORY OF PORTSMOUTH
By Tim Lambert
1180 Jean de Gisors founds a town at Portsmouth
1185 A parish church is built
1194 The king grants Portsmouth a charter (a document giving the townspeople certain rights)
1212 The Domus Dei (House of God) is built
1338 The French burn Portsmouth
1369 The French burn Portsmouth again
1377 The French attack Portsmouth again
1380 The French burn Portsmouth for the last time. Afterwards a wooden wall is built around the town.
c. 1418 The Round Tower is built
The Round Tower
1450 The Bishop of Chichester is murdered in Portsmouth
1494 The Square Tower is built
1495 Henry VII founds Portsmouth Dockyard
1522 A great chain of iron is built across Portsmouth Harbour
1527 Henry VIII extends the Dockyard
1539 Henry closes the Domus Dei
1544 Southsea Castle is built
1563 Portsmouth has a population of maybe 2,000 but 300 are killed by an outbreak of plague
1625 Plague strikes Portsmouth again
1628 The Duke of Buckingham is assassinated by John Fenton in Portsmouth
1642 Parliamentary soldiers capture Southsea Castle then Portsmouth
1663 A new wharf, the Gun Wharf is built for the navy and Dockyard
1667-1685 The fortifications around Portsmouth are rebuilt
1670 The population of Portsmouth is about 3,500
1704 St Anne's Church is built in the Dockyard. Dockyard workers are given permission to build houses on the Common by the Dockyard and a new suburb (Portsea) grows.
1733 A man leaves money in his will to found Portsmouth Grammar School
1764 A body of men is formed in Portsea with power to pave and clean the streets
1768 A similar body is formed in Old Portsmouth
1806 Isambard Kingdom Brunel is born in Portsmouth
A memorial to Isambard Kingdom Brunel in Portsmouth
1812 Charles Dickens is born in Portsmouth
1809 A new suburb begins at Southsea
1820 Gas street lights are installed in Portsea. Old Portsmouth follows in 1823.
1836 The first modern police force is formed in Portsmouth
1840 Horse drawn buses start to run in Portsmouth
1847 The railway reaches Portsmouth
1849 The first modern hospital in Portsmouth opens
1857 The streets of Southsea are paved, lit and cleaned for the first time
1861 Clarence Pier is built
1865 Horse drawn tams begin running in Portsmouth
1865-1870 Portsmouth council builds sewers
1879 St James Hospital opens
1883 The first public library in Portsmouth opens
1885 A Telephone Exchange opens
1898 St Marys Hospital opens
1901-1903 Trams are converted to electricity
1911 The first council houses in Portsmouth are built in Curzon Howe Road
Curzon Howe Road
1919 The first motor buses begin running
1920 The boundaries of portsmouth are extended to include Cosham
1922 The corporation purchases Southsea Common
1928 The Cumberland House opens as a museum and art gallery
1932 The boundaries of Portsmouth are extended to include Drayton and Farlington
1934-36 Highbury estate is built
1936 The last tram runs in Portsmouth
World War II 930 people are killed by bombs
1946 The council begins building a new estate at Paulsgrove
1955 A survey shows 7,000 houses in Portsmouth are unfit for human habitation. In the 1960s and early 1970s large areas of the city are rebuilt
1982 The Mary Rose is raised
1984 The D Day Museum opens
1987 HMS Warrior comes to Portsmouth
1989 The Cascades Shopping Centre opens in Portsmouth
2001 A new shopping centre opens at Gunwharf
2005 The Spinnaker Tower opens
The Spinnaker Tower
The Histories of areas of Portsmouth