Portsmouth
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Portsmouth Harbor has a very long history of use as a major port.
At the north of The Harbor is Portchester Castle, the western most of
the Roman Saxon Shore forts built around the Second Century. The
Second Century Roman geographer Ptolemy is thought to have referred to
Portsmouth Harbor, as "Magnus Portus" - Great Port. In
1194 King Richard I ordered the the building of a dock. Eighteen
years later King John instructed that the Dockyard was to be enclosed by
"a good and strong wall". In 1495 King Henry VII built
the world's first dry dock for ship repairs. This technical
innovation continued with the building of stone wet and dry docks in the
1690s. Indeed, in 1808 the world's first complete steam powered
factory was built by Marc Brunel to manufacture blocks for ship's
rigging. This was the first example of the use of machine tools
for mass production. Many historical ships have also been built in
Portsmouth. return to main page return to Portsmouth picture page Map |
