Portsmouth is primarily known for its long-term association with the Royal Navy, the naval dockyard at one time the world’s largest employer of a civilian workforce. Yet there is much more to Portsmouth than being home to Britain’s Senior Service. In Portsmouth: A Potted History, the city’s Roman and Saxon origins on Portsea Island are traced, alongside its rapid growth from the twelfth century onwards as a merchant township specialising in overseas trade. This book describes how its naval and military connections have significantly influenced the way the future city was to develop and also examines how Portsmouth and its people adapted to its long-term conversion into a military-industrial stronghold designed for the defence of the nation. The severe damage the city suffered in the Second World War and the growth of the modern-day metropolitan Portsmouth is also examined, showing how the services and other industries that make today’s diverse city were built.

Illustrated throughout, this accessible historical portrait of the transformation that Portsmouth has undergone through the ages will be of great interest to residents, visitors and all those with links to the city.