page_title: Portsea Island
section_title: Portsea
hierarchical_section_title: Portsea Island / Localities (A-Z) / Portsea
caption_attribution_description: English: The Common-Hard Portsmouth. The Victory Flag Ship A lithographic proof before the line around the edge and artist's name have been added.
context_page_description: Portsea Island is a flat, low-lying island measuring 24.542 square kilometres in area, just off the southern coast of England. The island is located within the traditional and ceremonial county of Hampshire and contains the vast majority of the city of Portsmouth.
  Portsea Island has the third-largest population of all the islands in the British Isles after the mainlands of Great Britain and Ireland; it also has the highest population density.
  To the east of Portsea Island lies Hayling Island, separated by Langstone Harbour. To the west is the peninsular mainland town of Gosport, separated by Portsmouth Harbour. To the south, it faces into the Spithead area of the wider Solent. A narrow tidal channel along the northern edge of Portsea Island, known as Portsbridge Creek, separates Portsea Island from the mainland.
  Three main road bridges connect the island to the mainland road network. There is also a minor pedestrian and bicycle bridge at Hilsea Lines. In Portsmouth Harbour, a road bridge connects Portsea Island to Whale Island, a restricted Royal Navy shorebase establishment.
context_section_description: Portsea is a parish of the city of Portsmouth, occupying much of the south-west area around the naval base and gives Portsea island its name. In its past, Portsea was a separate settlement to the north of the town of Portsmouth (now Old Portsmouth) before being integrated into the larger city of Portsmouth in 1926.
  Engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born in Britain Street in 1806; and the professor William Garnett was born in Portsea on 30 December 1850.
  The area was originally known as the "Common" and lay between the town of Portsmouth and the nearby dockyard. The Common started to be developed at the end of the 17th century as a response to overcrowding within the walls of the old town. This development worried the governor of the dockyard, as he feared that the new buildings would provide cover for any forces attempting to attack. In 1703, he threatened to demolish any buildings within range of the cannons mounted on the dockyard walls. However, after a petition to Queen Anne, royal consent for the development was granted in 1704. In 1792 the name of the area was changed from the Common to Portsea, and by then it had a mixed dockside population.
  William Tucker, baptised there in 1784, was convicted of shoplifting from a Portsea tailor, William Wilday, in 1798 and transported to New South Wales on the "death ship" Hillsborough which took convicts and typhus with it from Portsmouth to the colony. Tucker escaped and made it all the way back to Britain in 1803, only to be taken to Portsmouth for re-embarkation to Australia. He was later a sealer, established the retail trade in preserved Maori heads and settled in Otago, New Zealand where he became that country's first art dealer before falling victim to his hosts in 1817 and being eaten. The novelist Sarah Doudney was born in Portsea on 15 January 1841.
  Hertha Ayrton, British engineer, mathematician, physicist and inventor, was born there in 1854.
  By the start of the 20th century, Portsmouth council had started to clear much of the slum housing in Portsea. The city's first council houses were built in the district in 1911. The 1920s and 1930s saw extensive redevelopment of the area, with many of the older slums being replaced by new council houses.
  The area's proximity to the dockyard resulted in its taking massive bomb damage during World War II. After the war the area was redeveloped as all council housing, in a mixture of houses, maisonettes and tower blocks.
caption: The Common-Hard, Portsmouth, 1834. The Victory in harbour
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