Contents
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Two Eight Whisky Tango
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Portchester Helps Royal Appeal
Most visitors to St. Mary's Church in the grounds of Portchester Castle used to walk past a fallen headstone near the entrance to the church without a second glance; little knowing that buried there is a man who fought alongside Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar!
Sadly, Thomas Goble's tomb collapsed and was filled with earth to make it safe. In 2004 the headstone, which was almost unreadable, was lying flat upon the grave. Early in 2005, Richard Andrew's, a churchwarden and member of the Portchester Civic Society, mentioned at a Society meeting that St.Mary's church was having problems funding the restoration of the grave. As this was the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar the Society decided to take on the restoration as a project and raise the money to restore the grave.
Thomas Goble was only 25 when he joined HMS Victory off
Surviving the battle, Goble was made a clerk and was Secretary to Captain Hardy. The following year he was appointed as a Purser. After Trafalgar he was awarded Prize Money of £44 4s 6d and a Parliamentary Award of £108 12s 0d, quite a sum in those days! He was discharged from the Victory in 1806, but continued to serve in the Royal Navy until 1825. In the late 1840's the Naval General Service Medal was issued and Thomas Goble was awarded this medal with the Trafalgar Bar. Thomas Goble is alleged to have had quite a fiery disposition and was twice court martialled during his naval career, the second time resulted in him being thrown out of the Navy.
The 120 page A4 style book is extensively illustrated and records over 90 years of service to the community. All proceeds from 'Two Eight Whiskey Tango' will go towards a statue at the Fire and Rescue Service HQ in
The Cormorant Inn, Portchester
Contributed by Sue Bell
Hampshire Photographic Project
Hampshire Archive Trust, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, have produced a publicly accessible, virtual photographic archive of 10,000 images of aspects of life in Hampshire over the last 100 years or so. Portchester Civic Society contributed over 200 images to the project from its extensive collection. Details can be found on the Hampshire Records Office website.
Contributed by Paul Woodman
HMS Portchester Castle
Allocated to the Western Approaches Command from Christmas Day 1943 until the end of the war, she served initially with Escort Group B1, then B7 from February 1944, B4 from late April 1944 and finally with the 30th Escort Group from 8th September 1944 until the end of the year, based throughout at Londonderry. Engaged in escorting Atlantic convoys until September 1944 she took no part in a successful anti-submarine action until the day after she joined the 30th Escort Group. On September 9th, 1944, HMS Portchester Castle, along with the frigate HMS Helmsdale, depth charged and sank U484 off the north west of Ireland. Some reports state that the U743 was destroyed in this action but the wreck of U743 was found in 2001 and is now thought to have been lost due to collision with an unknown vessel. The following month, on 11 November, she is also credited with taking part in the sinking of U1200 off Cape Clear, south of Ireland.
HMS Portchester Castle underwent a lengthy refit from 1st January until 1st May 1945 but saw no further action. In mid-June she was allocated to the West African Command as an Air Sea Rescue vessel and served from early July until 1st October 1945, when she left for Gibraltar to take up similar duties, leaving Gibraltar in the New Year 1946. She proceeded to Harwich where she was laid up in reserve.
In 1945 the Portchester Castle was in Freetown, Sierra Leone when she was called upon to assist in the sinking of the liner Edinburgh Castle, built in 1910, which had been used in the port as an accommodation ship for naval personnel and survivors of sunken vessels. As towing back to England would not be cost effective, the Edinburgh Castle was towed 60 miles out to sea and sunk by gunfire and depth charges from the armed trawler Cape Warwick and the corvettes Portchester Castle and Lancaster Castle.
In April 1951 she was prepared for service and after commisioning on 15th May was allocated to the 2nd Training Squadron, based at Portland, for anti-submarine warfare and general seamanship training. It was whilst at Portland that the ship was chosen to portray the fictional frigate HMS Saltash Castle in the film "The Cruel Sea". The pennant number, changed to F362 in 1948, was still retained during the film. The film starred Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden, Denholm Elliot and Virginia McKenna in a documentary style account of life on board a British warship during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II. I recently corresponded with a lady whose father joined the Royal Navy in 1951 as a National Serviceman and served on the Portchester Castle during the filming. The filming was done at Portland and in the Channel and at one time several members of the ship's company were sent over the side, covered in grease, to play shipwrecked survivors. He doesn't believe they received any royalties! HMS Portchester Castle continued serving with the 2nd Training Squadron until June 1956 when she was relieved by the Type 14 frigate HMS Keppel.
In 1956 the ship was laid up in reserve at Devonport. She was destined for scrap in 1958 but on the 15th May, while in tow of the tug Brigadier, she broke adrift but was later brought into Milford Haven. On the 17th May 1958 she arrived at Troon for scrapping. The ship's bell today hangs in Cobham Hall, the Scout Hut in White Hart Lane.
Contributed by Paul Woodman
Portchester Perspectives 1
We hope this will be the first of many thumb - nail sketches of Portchester's past, a past that goes back to early Stone Age times. Evidence of human occupation has been found at Red Barn on the slopes of the old chalk cliffs which once marked the sea boundary of the north of Portsmouth harbour.
The village grew up in historic times round a spur of land where the Romans built a fort to defend the local area from maritime invaders in the third century A.D. The fort encompassed some nine acres ( nearly four hectares ) with a wall and towers that still exist. Inside are a medieval church, St. Mary's, and a moated castle. The church is the local parish church and English Heritage are responsible for the castle. Both have had a fascinating history and welcome visitors.
By 1914 there were about 1,000 people living in Portchester. Since then the population has grown to some 20,000 in the 2001 census, mostly working in Portsmouth, 7 miles ( 12 km. ) to the east, in Fareham, the town of our urban district council, or in Southampton, 10 miles ( 17 km. ) to the west.
Contributed by
Bryan Jerrard
Portchester Perspectives 2
Portchester's history is dominated by the castle, which is essentially and originally a Roman fortress. The walls, some 180 metres long from north to south and slightly more from east to west, are among the best preserved in northern Europe and are some 5.5 metres high to the wall-walk. Built of coursed rubble and mainly flint with elements of red tile and stone, they were once some 3 metres thick at ground level.
To the right of the Land Gate in the west wall one may see in a long stretch how different gangs of builders were allocated their different sections of work. The gateways were built in the centre of each wall, the main gates being to the east and west and lesser gates, posterns, to the north and south. Twenty round bastions at regular intervals were built and some 15 have survived until today. A Norman castle was constructed in the western corner.
The original Roman fortress was built at the end of the 200s AD and was part of a chain of coastal defences from The Wash, round Kent and Sussex to Southampton and to Cardiff. Most were placed under the command of an officer called the Count of the Saxon Shore whose job was to protect ships in harbour on both sides of the English Channel and the empire from incursions by Saxon invaders.
Those defending the fortress were not high status Roman soldiers and archaeological evidence points to their withdrawal by about 369, a generation before the general withdrawal of Romans from Britain in about 410 AD.
Contributed by Bryan Jerrard
Portchester Perspectives 3
A series of invasions by Saxons from north Germany, of Angles from southern Denmark, Jutes from Jutland, Franks from northern France and Frisians from the Low Countries threatened and then overwhelmed the Roman occupation of the south east in general and the Portchester area in particular. A wonderful exhibition, "The Invaders" was on at Westbury Museum in Fareham until early May, 2004, based on some evidence from Hampshire. This exhibition clearly showed that the work of archaeologists has been fundamental in much of our understanding of the Anglo-Saxons. They have also left their imprint in other ways; they gave us the name of our country, Angleland; very many of our place names, "ham" meaning village; the names of days of the week after their gods, "Odin" and "Frigg" for examples; our earliest written laws; and contributed to our language, "wedde" meaning an oath (thus wedding). Evidence of a Saxon boat came to light in the north of Langstone Harbour in 2002/3. Then, timbers of oak, dated at about 500 AD, were carefully noted and rescued. The timbers were some 80cms wide at bow or stern, suggesting a boat of indeterminate length, from 1.5m to 6m. One day these remains will be exhibited in the Portsmouth Museum. Saxon remains have been found in the Portchester Castle area. Their discovery and recording by Professor Barry Cunliffe in the 1960s and 1970s and published in Vol. 11 of his report provide us with some remarkable evidence. At p. 236 experts suggest from bone evidence that the mean age of death of men was 36.75 years and 27.14 for women, and three children probably died at the age of seven. Among 9 males, their heights were about 5.9 feet and for six women the height was about 5.5 feet. (The exhibition in Fareham also shows the skeleton of a young man). Evidence of pottery, both simple and decorated, has survived and bones from their rubbish pits (see Vol. 111, p.215) show that their diet consisted of sheep and pigs (rather than cattle and deer) and chickens, teal and ravens. Our next Perspective will show the beginnings of written evidence in Anglo-Saxon and Viking times.
Contributed by Bryan Jerrard
Portchester Perspectives 4
Evidence of a Saxon settlement in Portchester may be clearly seen in the wide archaeological surveys by Cunliffe's team in the 1960s and 1970s within the castle grounds, southwest of the present churchyard wall. Post hole evidence suggests that some dwellings, 12ft. x 14ft., were occupied by an extended family; while larger structures, 18ft. x 26ft. or 14ft. x 36ft. with evidence of buttressing, were Saxon hall buildings creating an enclosed courtyard. Post holes were from some 8in. to 21in. diameter and sunk up to 30in. deep. Evidence of ploughing, cess pits, wells and 'Portchester' pottery were found — the pottery style being wheel-turned and reddish brown after firing. Coins suggest C9th and C10th occupation. Anglo-Saxon England was divided into several kingdoms and our area was dominated by King Ine of Wessex. He codified laws in c.690 staring Ic, Ine, mid Godes gife Wesseaxna kyning (I, Ine, by Gods grace King of the West Saxons) and shows that he called all his leaders together to publish the laws. Portchester appears for the first time in written history in 904. This was when King Edward the Elder of the west Saxons gave land to the Bishop of Winchester, who held Portchester in exchange for its use as a military base. In the burghal Hidage of 920, Portchester appears in a listing of 30 burhs (towns, settlements, old Roman forts and even promontories) no further than 20 miles apart, a day's march, in Wessex. They formed a network to withstand the mobile Viking armies. The Hidage represented a hide of 120 acres and each defensive place was accorded one man per hide for its defence. Portchester was accorded 500 hides so that, altogether, some 27,000 men were available to defend these 30 places. Wareham was specially founded at this time with a rectangular perimeter, Southampton's economic growth was encouraged and Winchester grew within its Roman walls. These burhs successfully kept out Viking raids in Wessex in the late C9th and had been brilliantly planned by Alfred the Great.
Contributed by Bryan Jerrard
Ghosts at Portchester Castle
Now and again someone asks the question, is there now, or has there ever been, a ghost at Portchester Castle? There are one or two stories of ghostly happenings within the Castle walls having been seen or written about. Probably the earliest account is that repeated in Cooke's "Portchester Castle". It concerns an incident said to have taken place during the occupation of the Castle by prisoners of war during the Napoleonic period, and the encounter of one of the sentries in the graveyard behind the Church. He is reputed to have seen 'a tall shadowy figure, clad in a snow white garment'. The guard fired at the apparition but apparently missed. The Officer of the Guard rushed up with a file of Militiamen. The officer advanced to tackle the figure but was hurled backwards. The ghostly figure fled and when the sentry at the gate opened the wicket gate to admit reinforcements he was thrown to the ground violently by the 'flitting spirit'. The mysterious being was chased by the Regimental Drum Major and on capture was discovered to be the Regimental Goat Mascot. It seems the goat had been standing on its hind legs, browsing on the clumps of Valerian growing on the walls. My second story happened not quite so long ago. It was recounted to me by an old resident who had connections with one of the participants of the escapade, and is about the 'White Lady' said to haunt the Castle. No doubt many old residents will remember the story, but not what actually gave rise to the legend. In the early years of this century a group of Portchester youngsters were in the habit of going to the Castle in the early evenings to occupy their time. One of them was prone to playing practical jokes on his companions. One evening he managed to creep into the Castle without being seen and he took with him a large white sheet. When the lads entered the Castle he suddenly appeared in the gloom dressed in the sheet. It scared the others out of their wits. They fled but soon discovered one of the party was missing and knowing his aptitude for playing jokes, realised who the "Ghost" was. The episode was recounted so often that the yarn became a sort of legend in the district. Some years ago the local press published a story of a prominent novelist who, with his wife had seen a mysterious ghostly figure appear in one of the window embrasures. However no other visitor seems to have encountered such a phenomenon. During the last war, a defence balloon unit was stationed in the Castle grounds and as far as is known nothing more ghostly than a hooting owl was seen during its sojourn there.
Contributed by Arthur Watson
HMS Devonshire, A Portchester Link
On July 26th, 1929, the cruiser HMS Devonshire was engaged in gunnery practice off the Greek coast when a gun misfire initiated a fault in the drill procedure, causing the loss of life of 18 members of the crew. An 8" gun in a twin turret failed to fire after being made ready with shell and cordite and firing circuits completed. The failure was due to the cordite, in a thin sack, failing to ignite. The gun's crew failed to appreciate the fault and, in the heat of noise and urgency, opened the breach. The inrush of air into the gun enabled the cordite, that was "cooking" (a naval term for such happening), to explode and cause a massive loss of life. As was normal in those days, the after turret was manned by a crew of Royal Marines who were fully qualified, as with the Royal Naval gun crews, so the majority of casualties therefore were Royal Marines. A young naval officer, Midshipman Cobham, and others were soon on the scene and proceeded to render as much aid and succour as possible. For this gallantry, he and an Able Seaman were awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal, replaced in 1940 by the George Medal. After a distinguished naval service the then Commander Cobham lived in Castle Street, Portchester and spent much of his long retirement dedicated to the Scouting movement. In recent years the scout hall in White Hart Lane was renamed Cobham Hall, a tribute from the Portchester community to a fine public servant. As for the gun designers, a quickly produced safety mechanism was designed, known as a Hangfire latch, a pendulum type of device that required the gun to fire and fully recoil before the breech could be opened. It was possible to operate the latch and thus avoid the safety feature but it had to be a quite deliberate act with some dexterity employed. Later gun design, when quick firing as opposed to breech load guns appeared, ensured guns had to fully recoil to eject a cartridge case and the earlier safety problem was resolved.
Contributed by Reginald Ash
PORTCHESTER 1801
Extract from "The European Magazine and London Review" Jan. 1801
Transport Office, 11th.Sept. 1800
Sir,
We include, for your information, a copy of a letter which we have this day received from Mr. Holmwood, the agent for prisoners of war at Portchester and also a copy of the one therein referred to from several French prisoners confined at that place, stating that they are in a very miserable condition from the want of clothing. We cannot pass this opportunity without again recommending to your most serious attention the absolute necessity that there is of causing some clothing to be distributed among the French prisoners without delay.
Rupert George
Ambrose Serle
Joseph Hunt
M. Otto (No. 19)
Portchester Castle
10th Sept. 1800
Gentlemen,
I beg leave to enclose you a letter I have this day received from the prisoners at this depot, stating the deplorable state they are in from want of clothing;
I have the honour to be
(Signed) John Holmwood
Commissioners for the Transport Service etc. (Translation)
Portchester
10th Sept. 1800
Sir,
You have so often and so generously given us proofs of your feelings for our unfortunate situation, that we believe we may implore, through you, a relief the most most urgent; as it becomes indispensable. It cannot be necessary to lay before you a minute picture of the state of nakedness to which we are reduced; a state the more deplorable, as our debilitated bodies are the more susceptible of the severity of the season, and the want of repose. The many sufferings we endure from the total want of clothing and other necessaries of this kind, are already so well known to you, that there can be no difficulty in your interceding in our favour. We cannot doubt of your complying with our expectations in this respect, or at least, that you contribute every means in your power to alleviate the misfortunes of persons sinking under the weight of calamity; and. you will be these means, add to the respectful sentiments with which we are etc. signed by a considerable number of prisoners
Material provided by Mr. A. P. SHEER of Portchester
Contributed by Sue Bell
Standing proudly outside
Portchester Civic Society member Reginald Ash, himself an ex Royal Navy Weapon Engineer, has researched the history of the barrel with the assistance of Philip McGrath, Curator of Artillery at the Royal Armouries, Fort Nelson.
The gun at
Mr Ash has also provided the following article regarding 14-inch guns in use.
In 1941 during World War II, the battleship HMS King George V, armed with ten 14-inch guns, was involved in the conflict with the
K.G.V. was ready with her armament available after preliminary firing practice of her main guns had taken place. The P.F.P.s, as they were known, involved the fitting of a smaller gun in the barrel of the main gun and firing six pounder rounds, to prove accuracy of the main armament. The fitting of the sub calibre gun, as it was known, was a very exacting and skilled process as failure to ensure concentricity of the new item could result in damage to the parent gun from eccentric rounds.
The damage to the rifling of the parent gun became apparent on removal of the six pounder when attempts to pass the plug bore gauge through the main barrel were unsuccessful. Drastic measures were considered and the favourite was to haul a man through the barrel who was able to have sufficient skill and dexterity to use a hammer and cold chisel! The person in question had also to be slender and fit. An Ordnance Artificer, Wilfred Dunbavand, fitted the role and he entered the barrel at the breech end where damage had to be minimal. He laid on a lightweight metal tray with the plug bore gauge attached to the rear of the tray, while the front of the tray was to be pulled by a rope fed from the muzzle end. After extremely arduous physical effort and ingenuity he emerged from the muzzle, covered in scratches to his entire body, as the contour of the rifling was razor sharp.
Some ten years later, in 1951, I was to serve with Wilfred in the destroyer HMS Zodiac, when he, reluctantly, divulged a brief reason for his wearing the Oak Leaf decoration. I was unable to find a citation of the award in the 1941 London Gazettes but I have been assured that, in wartime, events in the field of conflict could merit Commander in Chief's having total authority for such action as awarding the Mention in Dispatches citation "in the field". Needless to say, the gun in question played its part in the sinking of the
We have recently received an email from Lorayne Emery with more details of this event; Lorayne wrote "Wilfred DunBavand was my father and the record of his being mentioned in Despatches in the London Gazette appeared in the Supplement to the London Gazette dated
Remember the old
Built to serve the city and surrounds including Portchester, creation of the
When Queen
A Mr John Read of Portchester gave ten guineas (£10.50), an impressive amount when well-known