PORTSEA. (Ponsestoteru.] I'OItTSEA ISLAND, Hampshire, the peninsula on which are situ ated the towns of Portsmouth and Portsea, and which gives mime to a Poor-Law Union. The island is described under PORTSMOUTH. Porters Island l'oor-Law Union contains the parishes of Portsmouth and Porteca, with an area of 7063 acres, and a population in 1851 of 72,096.
PORTS3IOUTII,Ilampshire, a municipal and parliamentary borough, sca-port and market-town, is situated on the west side of l'ortsea Island, in 50' 48' N. laL, 1° 6' W. long., distant 28 miles S.S.E. from Winchester, 70 miles S.S.W. from Loudon by road, and 94 miles by the South-Western railway. The population of the borough, which includes the parishes of Portsmouth and Portsea, was 72,096 in 1851. The borough is governed by 14 aldermen and 42 councillors, one of whom is mayor ; and returns two members to the Imperial Parliament. The livings are in the archdeaconry and diocese of Winchester.
Foreleg Island lies in an inlet of the British Channel, which extends about 4 miles inland, and stretches nearly 16 miles eastward from the town of Fareham in Ilampahirei to the village of Fishbourne, near Chichester in Sussex. On the west side of l'ortsea Island is Ports mouth harbour, and on the cast side Langston harbour, bounded by Hayliug Island, beyond which are Emsworth channel and Chichester harbour, separated by the small island of Thorney. Tho approach to Portsmouth harbour is defended by Monckton Fort on the west, and Southaca Castle, situated at the southern extremity of Portsea Island, on the east. Within these points, which are two miles apart, the entrance narrows to about 220 yards at Portsmouth point, where there are also strong defences on each side. The harbour then widens into • basin about a mile long, and from Ulf a mile to throe-quarters of a mile broad, beyond which it expands till it attains a breadth of about three miles on the northern shore of the iulet. It contains three small low islands, Whale, Pewit, and Horses islands; and about a mile and a half from the entrance the main channel divides into three branches, leading respectively to Fareham, Porchester, and the north end of Portsea Island. First-rate men of war can enter the harbour and lie at anchor inside at all times of the tide. From the approach to the harbour, on the west side, a sand-bank, called the Spit, extends three miles south-eastward. Beyond it, within a range of buoys, and
under shelter of the Isle of Wight, is the admirable roadstead of Spithead, where 1000 ships of the line may ride without incon venieuce. On the coast of the Isle of Wight, near its eastern extremity, is St. Helen's Bay, a place of rendezvous for the navy. These road steads, with Emsworth channel, and Laneeton and Portsmouth harbours, are within the jurisdiction of the port of Portsmouth, which extends from the town of Emsworth at the head of Emsworth channel on the east, to the opening of Southampton water on the west The town of Portsmouth is situated at the entrance of the harbour, on the south-west point of the island. It is inclosed by bastioned ramparts with batteries of heavy ordnance, and surrounded by a deep moat, with extensive outworks. The walls are entered by four haud some gates, with drawbridges. The ramparts, which are plautcd with rows of elms, form an agreeable promenade nearly a mile in length. Three or four streets of a better class extend from north-east to south west, crossing the others at right angles. On the north side of Ports mouth, and divided from it by the mill-dam creek, is its principal suburb Portsea. The town of Portsea and its dockyard, the grand naval arsenal of England, occupy a space called Portsmouth Common, on which at the commencemeut of last century there was only a siugle hoveL The town, which is now much more extensive than Ports mouth, is similarly fortified, and the defences of both towns unite, so as to inclose them within one complete fortress. Portsea contains some handsome terraces and crescents, and a well-built open space called St.-George's-square. Beth towns are lighted with gas, well paved, and supplied with water by pipes from the neighbourhood of Portsdown-hill. On the east side of l'ortsea is a suburb called Land port, consisting of a belt of houses, some of which are handsome; south from Landport is Somerstown, and between Sotnerstown and the sea is Southsea, a fashionable watering-place, which spreads eastward from Portsmouth, with some good villas and well-built terraces and squares. On this part of the beach a fine esplanade has been formed, and embellished with statues of Nelson and Wellington. The suburb of Kiugston lies towards the centre of the island, and that of Mile End at some distance north from Portsea.