Portsmouth Harbour is a biological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

between

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

and

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

. It is a

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

Special Protection Area. UK Defence Imagery Naval Bases image 12

It is a large natural harbour in Hampshire, England. Geographically it is a ria: formerly it was the valley of a stream flowing from Portsdown into the Solent. At its north end is Portchester Castle, of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

origin and the first fortress built to protect the harbour. Portsmouth harbour as seen from gosport

The mouth of the harbour provides access to the Solent. It is best known as the home of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

HMNB Portsmouth His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is lo ...

. Because of its strategic location on the south coast of England, protected by the natural defence of the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Is ...

, it has since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

been the home to England's (and later Britain's) navy. The narrow entrance, and the forts surrounding it gave it a considerable advantage of being virtually impregnable to attack from the sea. Before the fortifications were built the French burned Portsmouth in 1338. During the civil war parliamentary forces were able to carry out a successful cutting-out expedition within the harbour and capture the six-gunned ''Henrietta Marie''. In modern times, the harbour has become a major commercial ferry port, with regular services to

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Febr ...

, France, St Malo, France,

The Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jerse ...

and the Isle of Wight. There is a

passenger ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

. It is also a major area for leisure sailing. In 2006 the Gunwharf Quays development, including the Spinnaker Tower, was opened on the site of HMS ''Vernon'' (a former naval shore establishment).

Islands

Portsmouth Harbour contains a number of islands. Whale Island is the home of the training establishment . Horsea Island is now connected to the mainland due to land reclamation. It is also part of HMS ''Excellent''. Pewit Island is a small island located in the north western section of Portsmouth Harbour. Closer to the harbour entrance on the Gosport side is Burrow Island, also known as Rat Island.

Camber Dock

Camber Dock is the oldest developed part of the Portsmouth Harbour complex. Lying within the historic area of Old Portsmouth, it is part of

Portsmouth Point Portsmouth Point, or "Spice Island", is part of Old Portsmouth in Portsmouth, Hampshire, on the southern coast of England. The name Spice Island comes from the area's seedy reputation, as it was known as the "Spice of Life". Men were easily foun ...

that lies outside the original fortified boundaries of Portsmouth. After improvements in the King James's and Landport Gates and the areas military defences, civilian building of dockside storage and ancillary servicing facilities began from 1590. With major ships anchored at Spithead, from the 18th century the surrounding area became noted as a popular but lewd area for visiting sailors. With advent of bigger steam powered ships, the physical restrictions of Camber Dock meant that it was bypassed for the larger capacity of the newer developed Portsmouth Harbour. Resultantly, Camber Quay became the home of the local fishing fleet, which it still remains today, together with the adjacent dockside development of the commercial fish market. Today it also has a series of visiting berths for non-commercial craft. In 2015, the

Land Rover BAR INEOS Britannia is a British sailing team that is the challenger of record for the 37th America's Cup. The team was established in 2012 with the ambition of winning the America's Cup for Great Britain and to 'bring the cup home' to the Uni ...

yacht racing headquarters was completed.

Portsmouth ferry port

Launch

Portsmouth investigated three locations for a ferry port at the end of the 1960s and the current location was chosen. The choice was based on cost and the likely benefit of cross-channel ferries. The site was at the end of the newly constructed M275. Originally built with two berths the site opened in 1976 with the Earl William ( Sealink) running to the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

, the Viking Victory (Townsend Thoresen) running to Cherbourg and the Brittany Ferries running to Saint-Malo.

Expansion

All three operators increased their usage of the port during the mid-eighties, which led to expansion. An additional two berths were built, both twin tier. Berth 2 was filled and a new Berth 2 built, which was mainly used by the Earl Granville (Sealink) running to both the Channel Islands and Cherbourg, Berth 1 become more tight to use and the newly roll-on, roll-off Commodore Shipping used it for their Channel Island freight services. Berth 3 was left incomplete while Berth 4 was finished. This was generally considered the Brittany Ferries berth. When Berth 3 was finished Townsend Thoresen moved their passenger operation entirely from

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

to Portsmouth. Shortly afterwards, Townsend Thoresen bought P&O (Normandy Ferries) and relocated them to Portsmouth. The old Southampton Ferry port was then converted to a marina. The continued use of Portsmouth saw the creation of Berth 5 and the final stage of development. Portsmouth had seen additional ferry companies Channel Island Ferries, Hoverspeed and Truckline and new routes to

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

. With the advent of the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover ...

and the abolition of

Duty Free A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, wh ...

most of the companies disappeared. Sealink merged their Channel Island operations with the newly created Channel Island Ferries to create British Channel Island Ferries. They then later relocated operations to

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

before merging into Condor Ferries. Sealink operated to Cherbourg with the Earl Granville for several further years until the Earl Granville violently ran aground off Cherbourg. Hoverspeed ran the HOVERSPEED GB from Portsmouth to Cherbourg intermittently one summer – often the "new ferry of the future" was out of action and the now repaired but ageing Earl Granville would step into the breach – much to passenger annoyance.

Decline

By 2000 Portsmouth only had ferries from Brittany Ferries, Condor and P&O. P&O replaced the ageing Super Vikings with a Ro-pax ship and a Sea-Cat on the Portsmouth-Cherbourg route, but by 2006 P&O had all but closed its operation from Portsmouth but retained the route to Bilbao and Portsmouth became a quiet port again. After P&O Ferries withdrawal from the Le Havre route in September 2005 a new company stepped in to replace them with LD Lines running one sailing a day to

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

with the Norman Spirit. The Spanish ferry company Acciona tried briefly in 2006 to compete on the northern Spain route to Bilbao using their ferry the Fortuny, but it lasted 3 months before closure.

Today

Today, Brittany Ferries operates a three times daily service to Caen, daily to St Malo, daily to Le Havre and offers a high-speed seasonal service to Cherbourg, which runs daily. On Friday, Saturday & Sunday it is increased to twice daily. Brittany Ferries also has up to six sailings a week to Spain with two departures to Bilbao and four to Santander. Condor Ferries have two sailings a day to the Channel Islands with a morning sailing to the Islands with the passenger and freight ferry Commodore Clipper and an evening sailing to the islands with the freight-only ferry Commodore Goodwill. The sole remaining P&O service to Bilbao ceased in September 2010 but has since been replaced by Brittany Ferries as of April 2011 with two sailings a week using their modern and fast ferry Cap Finistere which can make the trip from Portsmouth to Bilbao in 24 hours with a top cruising speed of 27 knots. On 10 May 2011 the New Terminal building at the newly renamed Portsmouth International Port' was opened by Vince Cable MP. As well as the regular ferry sailings there were 45 cruise ships that called at the port during 2018 with several of them being turnaround calls. Regular calls are undertaken by CMV Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Hapag Lloyd, Phoenix Reisen, Saga Cruises, Viking Ocean Cruises, Windstar Cruises. The harbour was dredged in 2016 in preparation of the arrival of and , the Navy's first supercarriers, with regular maintenance dredging taking place at various times of the year.

Site of Special Scientific Interest

Most of the harbour is composed of intertidal mudflats and cordgrass marshes, and they have abundant

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning " ...

fauna which provide food for birds. It is of national importance for dark-bellied Brent geese and for three species of waders,

grey plover The grey plover or black-bellied plover (''Pluvialis squatarola'') is a large plover breeding in Arctic regions. It is a long-distance migrant, with a nearly worldwide coastal distribution when not breeding. Taxonomy The grey plover was forma ...

black-tailed godwit The black-tailed godwit (''Limosa limosa'') is a large, long-legged, long-billed shorebird first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It is a member of the godwit genus, ''Limosa''. There are four subspecies, all with orange head, neck and ches ...

and

dunlin The dunlin (''Calidris alpina'') is a small wader, formerly sometimes separated with the other "stints" in the genus ''Erolia''. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from ''dun'', "dull brow ...

Proposed Tunnel

A tunnel crossing the mouth of the Harbour between Gosport and Portsmouth was proposed in 1941, which would have allowed pedestrian traffic while doubling as a subterranean air raid shelter for residents on both sides. This proposal came during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

, which saw Portsmouth and Gosport bombed heavily. The proposal, termed the "Kearney Tube" after the Australian engineer conducting the initial study, evolved into a proposal for rail link tunnel in 1942, but the project was never constructed. In 1999, a study was undertaken by the

Light Rail Transit Association The Light Rail Transit Association (LRTA), formerly the Light Railway Transport League (LRTL), is a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to advocate and encourage research into the retention and development of light rail and tramway/street ...

in regard to a proposed tunnel crossing to alleviate traffic congestion in the area, particularly Gosport. Of three construction methods examined, an immersed tube was deemed to be the most effective, as it would not necessitate closing the harbour for over a year, but rather a series of shorter closures of around 24 hours for the addition of each segment of the tunnel. The tunnel would be approximately 1 km in length, though only around 670m of this would be underwater. The tunnel would have been part of a light rail network connecting Fareham, Gosport and Portsmouth. The South Hampshire Rapid Transit Order 2001 provided authorisation for the project, with construction intended for 2002, but financial problems delayed this. The

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The ...

ultimately declined to fund the initiative in 2005.

References

External links

Current nautical charts of Portsmouth Harbour and approach channelLive streaming web cam overlooking Portsmouth Harbour
{{Authority control Gosport Portsmouth Transport in Portsmouth Geography of Hampshire Ramsar sites in England Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Hampshire Competent harbour authorities Tourist attractions in Portsmouth Ports and harbours of Hampshire Special Protection Areas in England