913 – Gosport

When I stand at the waterfront that are the Falklands Gardens, it is strange to think that if I had been stood there three hundred and seventy odd years before, I would have in the middle of the civil war.

With the Parliamentarians building a platform from which to bombard Royalist Portsmouth, and other nefarious deeds, it would have been a violent time.

move forward In time to the 1850’s and further threats of violence and invasion sees the building of Palmerstons Follies. A series of forts stretching from Gilkicker Point, around past Gosport up onto the hills to the north of Portsmouth ending with For Purbrook, designed to protect against the threat of a French invasion that never materialised

The late 19th century saw a more civilised battle between to areas of the peninsula was it to be Alverstoke & Gosport or Gosport & Alverstoke? So heated became the discussion. That it provoked a House of Lords inquiry, resulting in (actually by agreement, rather than imposition) it becoming Gosport, although the outer areas retain their local names.

We move forward to the 1940’s and the whole area becomes suffused with military personnel and hardware as it plays a critical role in the build up to D-Day. Some streets in Gosport were especially widened to accommodate the hardware. Jericho Avenue is one of the best examples of this.

All around Gosport there are signs of the infrastructure that were constructed in preparation for that day, from the ramp at Priddy’s. Hard to allow the embarkation of vehicles and men around to stokes bay, where the Caissons for the Mulberry Harbour were built and the remains of the concrete “chocolate blocks” that gave a firm surface for heavy vehicles to cross the beach to their landing craft.

I stand at the edge of the Falklands Gardens, dedicated to the memory of a more recent conflict and ponder at the immensity of the history that surrounds me.