Portland, Verne And Fortuneswell c.1875

Photo ref: 8066

This picture does not show Castletown, or the convict prison. It does show Chiswell in the foreground, and Fortuneswell on the hillside. The Great Verne Citadel (not a prison then) is hidden on the hilltop, left. Thank you for the correction - we have now updated our database!

Regarding the name of Church Ope in this photograph: it's a common misapprehension that when Portlanders say "Ope" they're dropping their aitches - not so. Ope is a proper word mening 'opening to the sea' and occurs in Church Ope, Big Ope etc.

When old farmer used to have fields down bottom of Pound Piece he used to make hut out of hay bundles of hay. Now they have built houses on it, and when the farmer used to have cows in the field next to Park estate road now house are built there too. And I remember the picture palace down Easton Square and the pavilon in Easton Gardens where the bands used to play. The old picture palace is gone and houses are ...see more

I was born in 1950 and my first home was the flat beside the Regal cinema in Fortuneswell, Portland where my dad, Bob Mutch, was the projectionist. In 1953 we moved to Coronation Road on the Verne Common estate. I attended Brackenbury infant school, the Cliff School (juniors) and finally Portland County Secondary School leaving in 1967. Unfortunately none of these appear in the photos. My very first ...see more