Landport

Toponymy

The area derives its name from Landport Gate. The Landport Gate held its name as early as 1727, however the settlement, while formed earlier and at least partially known as "Halfway-Houses", took the designation of Landport (Town) from 1831.

History

Halfway Houses took its name from the Halfway House, an inn on the road to London from Old Portsmouth. By 1716 a number of other buildings had appeared, including Ridge's Brewhouse, a sizeable complex which stood on the corner where the main road was met by the road from the Common. By 1792, barracks for the Royal Military Artificers had replaced the brewhouse (their successors, the Royal Sappers and Miners, remained there until 1834, when it was decided to put all garrison engineering works out to contract; whereupon the Portsmouth contingent was disbanded and the barracks sold).

Landport as a residential settlement began in the late eighteenth century as an overspill from the confines of the Old Portsmouth defensive fortifications and commenced with a series of homes on the road from Landport Gate to the village of Kingston. Overspill developed outwards from this road, which was to become known as Commercial Road, itself forming part of what was later to be designated the A3 road to London.

Governance

The district is administered by the unitary authority Portsmouth City Council. It lies predominately within Charles Dickens Ward which also encompasses Portsea district and a portion of Fratton. The Parliament constituency is Portsmouth South.

Geography

The district contains the main shopping area for Portsmouth. Before World War II the district was also a residential area, mainly catering for employees of the naval dockyard and their families. The district was heavily damaged by bombing during the war. After the war the decision was made that most of the remaining houses were substandard and the area was largely cleared. Some of the cleared area was used for the controversial Tricorn Centre.

Mile End

Mile End began as a small 18th century settlement built on the London to Portsmouth A3 road, a mile to the north of the main Landport Gate entrance to the original walled town of Portsmouth (now Old Portsmouth). Mile End was consumed within the rapid urban development of the Landport and Buckland areas during the 19th and 20th centuries. Much like neighbouring Rudmore, Mile End's proximity to Portsmouth's naval dockyard during World War II caused extensive damage and redevelopment of the Mile End area post-war.

However, remnants of Mile End still survive to the present day along the western edge of Portsea Island. Mile End Road is the official name of a section of the A3 road to the north of Commercial Road which extends northwards through Mile End (alongside the M275 motorway) towards the Rudmore Roundabout intersection with Kingston Crescent in North End. To the west of Mile End Road is the Mile End Industrial Estate.

Novelist Charles Dickens was born at 1 Mile End Terrace, Mile End on 7 February 1812, which has since been renamed as 393 Old Commercial Road, Landport.

George Lewin Oliver

Mile End House School, was a boys preparatory school located in Mile End Terrace, the same street novelist Charles Dickens was born in. Mile End House School was also known informally as 'Oliver's Academy', as the school's founder and head teacher was a Mr George Lewin Oliver.{{cite web|website=portsmouthdockyard.org.uk

Landmarks

The English novelist Charles Dickens was born on 7 February 1812 at 1 Mile End Terrace, Mile End, Landport, where his parents lived after moving from Portsmouth in 1809. His former home has since been renamed 393 Old Commercial Road and is now the Charles Dickens' Birthplace Museum in Landport, Portsmouth.

The Landport area is home to St Agatha's church which was originally constructed under the then mission incumbent Robert William Radclyffe Dolling. It is also home to St Faith built between 1956 and 1957 to a design by Thomas Ford.

Education

Some parts of the campus of Portsmouth University including lecture rooms and halls of residence are spread across the south-west part of the district. The Portsmouth campus of Highbury college also lies within the district. The secondary schools in the district are St Edmund's Catholic School and Ark Charter Academy, north and south of the railway respectively.

References

Notes

Footnotes

Sources

• {{cite book|last=Patterson|first=A. Temple|date=1976|title=Portsmouth — a history

References

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