Strong Island

Southsea Common Flood 1912

Monday, March 7th, 2011. Published in Vintage & Historical Portsmouth by

Despite Portsmouth being very low lying, much of it orginally reclaimed land from the sea, flooding hasn’t been a regular threat over the years unlike other locations around the UK. One year when the city was heavily flooded was way back in 1912, when the flood water covered Southsea Common. I haven’t been able to find many photos of the flood but I did find this postcard, showing the Common. If you have any photos or links about flooding please leave a comment!

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4 Comments to Southsea Common Flood 1912

  1. Amazing!

    Martin on March 7th, 2011

  2. someone recently relayed the story to me about why the wheelbarrow pub is named as such… the common was pretty much marshland back then and the naval officers relied on the services of ‘barrow men’, being the only folks who could successfully navigate the marsh in the misty dark to get the drunken officers back to their quarters. don’t know how true it is, but a great story nonetheless.

    neil android on March 8th, 2011

  3. @Neil:

    Check the archives on here, I gave the guys some scans of an old book about Portsmouth which gives more details about the historic origins of the common!

    Gareth C on March 8th, 2011

  4. Most of Eastney and Milton was swamp/marsh until they drained it, from what I remember reading. Must still be a danger of flooding that way actually, seeing as it has had all the new drainage built in the last year or two.

    Paul Gonella on March 8th, 2011

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Features

The 2nd Strong Island Ale – Dry Dock No. 1

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012. Published in Features, Food & Drink, Strong Island by

As you may know each year we run a home brew competition in February where the winning brew has the opportunity to be brewed by Irving & Co Brewing Co. and sold around the city in the summer. Last year’s brew, the Strong Island Hopper Ale, was hugely successful being one of Inving’s best selling ales and selling out so quickly it went through a second brew run. This year’s winning ale is Dry Dock No. 1, originally brewed by Lee Immins, went on sale in some of Portsmouth and Southsea’s pubs over the weekend.

We spoke to The Hole in The Wall in Southsea who said the new ale went down a storm with it being their best seller on Sunday and with almost two barrels empty by the end of the Bank Holiday weekend. Those guys at the Hole in The Wall and their regular ale drinkers know their stuff so for us this was amazing early news with the ale.

To officially launch Dry Dock No. 1 we are having a launch party with the lovely souls at The Belle Isle on Thursday evening. The ale will be on full flow, come down and try a pint or two. As well as being on sale all around the city the ale will also be available in Chichester’s Belle Isle too, so you can drink it away from home for the first time too.






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The Isle Of Wight Randonnee 2012 – Team Strong Island

Monday, May 7th, 2012. Published in Bikes & Cycling, Features by

Just over a year ago, a group of Strong Islanders were sat on the Isle of Wight ferry on our way to the yearly Randonnee cycling event; 60 miles around the island spread across 5 checkpoints. Whilst on the crossing we couldn’t help but admire various enthusiasts and their custom team jerseys. Fast forward a year and it is my great pleasure to unveil the Strong Island cycling jersey. Made as a one off for the event, the jersey is our way of representing this city and all the values that come with it. Thanks to the combined designing efforts of Chris Ballingall and Tristan Savage, we were able to produce this clean, retro looking jersey that 11 of Southsea’s finest could wear to conquer the island’s endless hills. Well done chaps.

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