Southsea history: 5 things you didn't know
A sport invented by a diving club, a beach riot, a hovercraft ferry and a future Sherlock Holmes author with very little money.
Southsea began as a Victorian resort called Croxton Town and took its name from Southsea Castle, built by Henry VIII in 1544. It is also where underwater hockey was reportedly invented in 1954 and where the Battle of Southsea took place in August 1874.
Southsea began as a Victorian resort called Croxton Town, named for its landowner, and took the name of Southsea Castle, which Henry VIII built in 1544. That is the short answer, and Wikipedia's Southsea article and its Southsea Castle entry back it up. The longer answer includes a sport, a riot and a famous detective.
A sport invented by a diving club
Underwater hockey, known in Britain as Octopush, was invented in 1954 by Alan Blake, a founder member of Southsea Sub-Aqua Club, according to Wikipedia and Great Britain Underwater Hockey. It was first played in the Guildhall Baths in Portsmouth and was announced in the club magazine Neptune in November 1954. There is a doubt: the world governing body, CMAS, says the sport originated with the Royal Navy in the same period. So "invented by a Southsea diving club" is the British account. Treat it as the version told by the club and its national association rather than the only one.
The Battle of Southsea
In August 1874, the Clarence Pier Company cut off public beach access between the pier and the Hot Walls. Crowds gathered on Southsea Common, and the disturbance lasted four days. The Riot Act was read. Wikipedia's Battle of Southsea article tells the tale, and the Portsmouth News covered the 150th anniversary re-enactment.
The hovercraft to Ryde
Hovertravel runs hovercraft from Southsea to Ryde on the Isle of Wight. It started in 1965, and the crossing takes under ten minutes, according to Wikipedia and the Hovertravel site. You will sometimes see it described as the world's only service of its kind, but that claim is contested, so we haven't made it.
A future Holmes author with very little money
Arthur Conan Doyle arrived in Portsmouth in June 1882 with little more than £10, according to the plaque at his former home. Wikipedia says less than £10, so the amount is a matter of wording. He practised at 1 Bush Villas, Southsea, from 1882 to 1890, and the plaque text says the first two Sherlock Holmes novels were written there. The plaque says Portsmouth, while the practice was in Southsea. It is a good example of how much of Southsea's story is attached to the years when the town was still new, and of how a single address on Elm Grove, now marked by a plaque, ended up carrying so much of the town's fame.
Why the name sticks
The seaside, the castle and the common are all here, and each has an unexpected story if you ask. Southsea started out in the Victorian era as a resort, and the Battle of Southsea shows that people were already prepared to fight to keep the beach open.
Southsea is a short drive from Waterlooville, and once you know these stories the seafront looks a bit different.
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