Portsea, Hilsea, Eastney, Horsea.
The old name for Whale Island was Whaley Island. The old name for Stamshaw was Stampsey.
The -ea ending denotes an island in Old English - the most famous example being Athelney or the Isle of the Princes, where Alfred the Great planned his comeback tour after the Viking invasion in 878.
I think these -ea placename endings help us picture the area a thousand years ago: before the Victorians drained Pompey, it wasn’t so much an island as it was a salt marsh with some patches of high ground. Men died regularly at Hilsea Barracks from malaria right into the 19th Century.
Useful links
Collections
- bonham carter family papers
- hampshire records office collection search
- heritage gateway search
- insurance records of john burrell junr., farmer, 1792
- portsmouth history centre library catalogue search
- portsmouth museums catalogue search
- records of hampshire quarter sessions
- royal museums greenwich image search
- hathitrust book search
Directories
- parishmouse’s collection of hampshire directories
- university of leicester’s collection of historical directories
Local History
- historyinportsmouth
- memorials & monuments in portsmouth
- pomeroy of portsmouth
- portsmouth encyclopedia
Local Organisations
Maps
- lidar resources
- national library of scotland maps
- oldhampshiremapped
- rare six inch maps of portsdown, 1914
- historic digimap
- ukdataservice - census and gis
Newspapers
Articles
- council housing in portsmouth (part i to 1945) (part ii from 1945)
- 🔥 a southsea mansion