page_title: List of places of worship in Portsmouth
hierarchical_section_title: List of places of worship in Portsmouth
caption_attribution_description: English: The choir of Portsmouth Cathedral looking towards the north east in Hampshire, England.
context_page_description: The English port city of Portsmouth has a wide variety of places of worship representing many Christian denominations and other faith groups. As of 2020, there were 100 in the city: 75 churches, chapels, halls and meeting rooms for various Christian groups, three mosques, a synagogue and a gurdwara were in use, and a further 20 buildings no longer serve a religious function but survive in alternative uses. Portsmouth is in the southeast of the traditional and ceremonial county of Hampshire, although it is now administered as a separate unitary authority; it spreads across the whole of Portsea Island and on to the mainland to the north, and is the most densely populated city in the United Kingdom. The city area is wholly urban, but most of its growth occurred between the 18th and 20th centuries, and very few churches were founded before this. Portsmouth is the seat of two dioceses and therefore has two cathedrals: the mother church of Anglican Diocese of Portsmouth is the Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, founded in the 12th century as a parish church, while the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth is based at the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, founded in 1880.
context_section_description: The English port city of Portsmouth has a wide variety of places of worship representing many Christian denominations and other faith groups.  As of 2020, there were 100 in the city: 75 churches, chapels, halls and meeting rooms for various Christian groups, three mosques, a synagogue and a gurdwara were in use, and a further 20 buildings no longer serve a religious function but survive in alternative uses.  Portsmouth is in the southeast of the traditional and ceremonial county of Hampshire, although it is now administered as a separate unitary authority; it spreads across the whole of Portsea Island and on to the mainland to the north, and is the most densely populated city in the United Kingdom.  The city area is wholly urban, but most of its growth occurred between the 18th and 20th centuries, and very few churches were founded before this.  Portsmouth is the seat of two dioceses and therefore has two cathedrals: the mother church of Anglican Diocese of Portsmouth is the Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, founded in the 12th century as a parish church, while the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth is based at the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, founded in 1880.
  The 2011 United Kingdom census reported that just over half of residents are Christian. The largest number of churches in the city belong to the Church of England—the country's Established Church—but many other denominations have worshipped continuously in Portsmouth for centuries.  Roman Catholics established their first chapel in the 1790s and now have six churches in the city as well as the cathedral.  Among Nonconformist groups, the first Baptist church opened before 1700; Methodism emerged in the 18th century, its Wesleyan branch being particularly strong locally; a Unitarian church was founded more than 300 years ago; and all the United Reformed congregations in the city can trace their roots back to a chapel of 1754.  Other denominations and groups represented in the city include Christian Scientists, Jehovah's Witnesses, various Pentecostal groups and Plymouth Brethren. 
  Historic England has awarded listed status to 21 current and three former places of worship in Portsmouth. A building is defined as "listed" when it is placed on a statutory register of buildings of "special architectural or historic interest" in accordance with the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, a Government department, is responsible for this; Historic England, a non-departmental public body, acts as an agency of the department to administer the process and advise the department on relevant issues. There are three grades of listing status. Grade I, the highest, is defined as being of "exceptional interest"; Grade II* is used for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest"; and Grade II, the lowest, is used for buildings of "special interest".  Portsmouth City Council also grants locally listed status to buildings of local architectural or historic interest which are not on the statutory register; ten current and three former places of worship have this status.
caption: Portsmouth Cathedral (quire pictured) was built in the 1180s as a memorial to St Thomas of Canterbury and became a parish church in the 14th century.
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