Hilsea Lines

The Hilsea Lines are a line of 18th- and 19th-century fortifications built to protect the Northern approach to Portsea, an island of the coast of England which is part of the city of Portsmouth and its key naval base. They are now used as a greenspace and leisure area.

Natural defences

The island is separated from the mainland by a narrow stretch of water called Portsbridge Creek. The first means of crossing the creek was by stepping stones, followed by a single track built to allow the passage of pedestrians and horse-drawn carts to have access to Portsea Island.

Early defences

Early defences were focused on the Portsbridge that crossed the creek. A fortification is thought to have been built at the mainland end of the bridge during the reign of King Henry VIII. In 1642 the fort was captured by parliamentary forces as part of the English Civil War. It was rebuilt in 1688 and again in 1746. During the Civil War further defences were constructed by the royalists consisting of a wooden barricade mounted on the bridge backed by a small fort equipped with 4 cannon. The cannon were withdrawn on 10 August 1642 and with the barricade held by as few as eight men the parliamentarian forces were able to cross the creek two days latter. The Parliamentarians then constructed their own defences of at the site of the bridge consisting of two mounds on which a total of 6 cannon were mounted. The Parliamentarians appear to have constructed further defences near the bridge in 1643.

Hilsea

Coordinates: 50°50′N 1°04′W / 50.83°N 1.07°W / 50.83; -1.07

Hilsea is a district of the city of Portsmouth in the English county of Hampshire. Hilsea is home to one of Portsmouth's main sports and leisure facilities – the Mountbatten centre. Trafalgar School (forerly the City of Portsmouth Boys' School) is also in Hilsea. It is also the home of Portsmouth rugby football club

Located at the northern end of Portsea Island, for most of its history Hilsea was a small hamlet on the Portsmouth to London road. The boundaries of Portsmouth were not extended to encompass the hamlet until 1832. The last working farm in Portsmouth, Green Farm, was located in the area up to the 1990s. This area is now a residential estate and is marked by a pub and hotel known as the Green Farm.

Hilsea barracks were built in 1756. Over the decades they underwent various rebuildings and changes of use before being knocked down to allow for housing development in the 1960s.

In the years after 1926 Hilsea expanded with the building of the Hilsea Crescent Estate which was constructed on former allotments.