History of Portsmouth and Southsea

Southsea remained small until 1835. The area between Castle Road and Victoria Road South was built up between 1835 and 1860 as housing for middle-class families. A prominent architect during this period was Thomas Ellis Owen who built properties in Kent Road, Queen's Terrace, Sussex Terrace, Beach Road, Grove Road South, Clarendon Road, Osborne Road and Portland Terrace.

By the 1860s the suburb of Southsea had grown along Clarendon Road as far as Granada Road. In 1857 Southsea gained its own Improvement Commissioners responsible for paving, cleaning and lighting the streets.

After the 1870s, east of Victoria Road, there was new building in the Campbell Road / Outram Road area..

As building proceeded most was put up in the cramped manner typical of much of Portsmouth, a city where space is at a premium.

Southsea suffered badly from bombing in World War II. In particular the main shopping centre, Palmerston Road, was almost completely destroyed.

Recent history

On 6 June 1994 a drumhead service was held on Southsea Common in front of the War Memorial to commemorate the 50th anniversary of D-Day. The service was attended by all the heads of the states which had participated in the allied landings, notably US President Bill Clinton, HM Queen Elizabeth II and most notably, several members of the American Secret Service. The service was also witnessed by over 100,000 members of the public. Historically, a blessing before battle was offered during a drumhead service which is conducted in the field with the drums forming the altar and the colours serving as the altar cloth.

In 15 September 2000 parts of Southsea were flooded when the pumping station which pumps surface water out to sea was itself flooded