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Southsea
Southsea maps
Historic maps of Southsea and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Southsea maps
Southsea area books
Displaying 1 of 22 books about Southsea and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Southsea
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Southsea.
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Only The British
This is about the place on the pebbled Southsea Beach where our family always established their bit of 'turf'. There was a whole ritual to it ...setting up the blanket so it wouldn't get blown out to sea..the baskets of delicious ham sandwiches and the bottles of home made ginger ale ! My step parents always had The Times or a Penguin book at hand whilst my step grandfather, Pop, smoked his pipe and Mum, knitted.
On this beach I once dug up a fully loaded revolver. Showing it to my step grandfather he grabbed it out of my hand and tossed it angrily out to sea for some other kid to find and shoot himself with no doubt ! Who knows...it might have been a murder weapon ? More likely WW2.
Our family was maniacal about swimming here in freezing, blustery April weather when no one else with a grain of sense was on the beach..but there we sat blown all to hell ... and into the... Read more
Hampshire memories
Ferry Slipway
This slipway was built in 1960. Prior to that time ferries left from Portsmouth Point.
Swimming at Sallyport
The outfall from the power station made the water warm here so that we swam all year round - not for those who didn't know the currents. The visitors were amazed at our apparent hardiness, or perhaps foolhardiness.
Art Exhibition, Old Portsmouth.
My grandparents Bert & Dorrie Hedger started this amature exhibition in about 1965, and carried on until my grandfather died in 1982. I recognise several of the paintings as being by my mum Rita Grant, as I was taken down there every weekend from the age of three.
THE MUDLARKS
We used to go down to Sallyport from 1954 -1958 ..there were a lot of local 'urchins' called the 'Mudlarks' who would stand in the knee deep, sloppy black mud below the pier to the ferry when the tide was out and people would throw them pennies which they had to find in the mud.They'd end up covered from head to foot. A lot of them had great characters and had developed great 'carny' skills to get people to toss them money.
My step aunt, Linda Goldsmith knew most of these kids 'cos she taught them at the nearby elementary school.
THE BEST PLACE IN THE WORLD
This was to me, as a young lad, one of the best places in the whole world!
There was nothing more appealing to me than being at this great vantage point for the Portsmouth Dockyard. I could have stayed there all day watching our British Navy aircraft carriers, battleships, submarines and cruisers contrasted to the masts of our most famous ship of all time, the HMS Victory, watching the ferries plying back and forth to Gosport, feeling the spray from the often rough seas pounding the seawall and blasting up into the air.
Being on the Point was like being on the prow of a ship. I want so badly to go back there and hope someday I can.
My step grandfather, Goldsmith, was a senior man in the dockyard during WW2.
He would have been thrilled to see Pompey win the 2008 FA Cup!!!
"Kiss Me, Hardy"
I've only been onboard the Victory once. It was enough to profoundly strike my imagination. I stood where Nelson fell ! It brings tears to my eyes to think of it now as I write. She is an incredible vessel. You can almost hear the cries and commands shouted out during naval battle.
And what a genius Nelson was. To break conventional naval tactics and completely fool the Spanish Armada by a frontal attack compared to a sail-by was unbelievable.
As a youngster I read all the naval stories I could and, having a great imagination was transported back to the days of sail. Being on the deck of the Victory I feel is a priviledge not to be undersestimated for anyone of British descent.
Wasn't 'Master and Commander' and awesome movie to recreate the days of sail ?? I can't watch it enough and still read books about the early days of exploration under sail.
