The Canal that became a Railway. The Portsea Canal, Portsmouth, Hampshire

The early 1800s. Britain is at war (again) with France and the need for shipping at sea to avoid the attention of the French is desired. The Portsea Canal crossing Portsea Island was the western extremity of an attempt to build and connect a series of inland waterways from Portsmouth to London. Very short lived, this canal took the guise of another form of transport. Join me in another explore to find what remains of this long disappeared waterway.

[@tonywise198]

This area has changed enormously since 1958 when I moved into the area as a 12 year old. Great video and info. Thank you.

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thanks for watching Tony. Alas most places have changed unrecognisably. Inevitable I suppose.

[@pompeyjim]

Great video mate. It's amazing how many people here are unaware there was a canal. Same goes for the old Fratton to Southsea railway. When you were on the alley way in Milton which was the northern towpath, there's actually another one in places which I always assumed would be the southern bank. There's a pub called the Artillery Arms situated on it but I'm not sure if it was there at the same time. Interestingly there was a pub up until a decade or so ago called The Old Canal. This one was a little bit off of Iron Bridge Lane to the south. It's always baffled me why the Old Canal pub and the Artillery Arms weren't the other way round considering the locations.

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thanks Jim. You're right, so few traces of the past left but the clues are always there if you look for them.

[@grahambarrett5569]

What an absolutely brilliant video. I have always been fascinated by the history of the canal. Thanks for this great video.

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thanks Graham, glad you enjoyed it.

[@ambient675]

Excellent video, very interesting.

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thank you so much for watching

[@anthonymoore6009]

Great historical research and very professional in its delivery. All the hard work that goes into these films puts you in the elite league for good watchable history.

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thank you. Part 2 to do soon between Portsea and Hayling!!! you up for it?

[@anthonymoore6009]

Naturally

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

@@anthonymoore6009 get a boat ready then.

[@anthonymoore6009]

I believe you mock me 🤪

[@stevebeckwith5523]

What a fantastic video. Great in-depth explanation and exploration of the old canal route. The brickwork was in superb nick considering the battering it takes from the sea and weather. Lucky that the tide was out so you could see it all in its finery. Keep up the great work Pastfinder.

[@newfishbourneops]

Excellent video and very informative. Your presenting style is just right. First one of yours I have watched, but I have bookmarked some more to watch later.

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thank you for watching. Appreciated. Hope you enjoy my other films.

[@nigelparker5886]

Great entertainment to be had here from your thorough research and keen investigative interest! Job well done and as a Pompey boy I need to go back and see what I never have before! I used to windsurf across from the ferry area to virtually this spot and never took any notice! Shame on me! 😢! Thanks for your excellent work! Cheers

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thanks Nigel, appreciate your comments.

[@sueweston502]

As a young child when my late father used to tell us the train was running along the route of the canal as we approached Portsmouth I put it down to the eccentricities of the older generation (he'd have been about 40!). Thank you so much for such a clear & entertaining explanation of the Po rtsea canal at Portsmouth. Now as an oldie myself I'm very interested in canal history & a member of my local canal society at Chichester. I really hope you can cover some more of the route in future videos!

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thanks for your kind comments & thanks for watching

[@nigelparker5886]

Hello Sue? Like your comment content, which includes the LDB store which I remember well as a Pompey lad!(76 now)! The Landport word,… did that infer a mini Canal Port in-land itself I’m wondering? Cheers

[@JohnJones-cp4wh]

If you stand on Langston bridge looking towards Chichester you can see the cut of the canals path, it goes across the top of Hayling Island, it`s marked by posts either side, the original cut and flow of the wate you will notice as it follows the mainland coast line. At low tide you can see where it cuts through the Roman walkway from Langston to Hayling Island.

[@ianjenkinson3585]

The beginning of your film you had a large shop, Debenhams, alongside the large stone blocks in Arundel Street. Prior to becoming a branch of Debenhams it was called "Landport Drapery Bazaar". The reason that Arundel Street carries that name is because it was the way to Arundel via the canal. For the same reason that the road going north that leaves Portsmouth is called London Road. There is often more clues in the names than is immediately appreciated

[@timeast6412]

The Grand Imperial Ship Canal. I was born and lived near Ashtead Station (Surrey),but only recently found that a plan existed in 1825 to build a canal to connect London via Surrey going through Ashtead then via Sussex to Arundel and Portsmouth.This maybe could have used an improved version of the Wey and Arun. It never happened but maybe ties into the Portsea canal?

[@grahambarrett5569]

Now subscribed 👍

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Great stuff, appreciated

[@NarrowboatBoy]

Nice video. Reminded me of a walk I did in the 80s when I lived in Southsea. I was inspired by Anthony Triggs book Portsmouth History in Hiding. This book has some excellent pictures of the canal. After Milton Park and past what was then my college was a stretch of towpath that ran alongside a caravan park. I see that is all housing now. I also paddled by kayak from Milton lock, which still had some remains of the lock gates, to Chichester Harbour and the canal in water there. I vaguely remember there being boats in that part of the canal then. Happy days!

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thanks Jon, very much changed from your memories. For the purposes of exploration It's often a good thing, It makes the research and searching more interesting.

[@JamesonEst1780]

A very interesting video Bob! As always, your informative and interesting style captivates and educates your audience! Well done and thank you for taking the time to make them!

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thanks Mark, Glad you enjoy them as I enjoy making them.

[@Juan_Kossov]

When you were looking at Towpath Mead, you were on IronBridge Lane.

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Hi John. I realised that after I'd put the film out and had another look at the map.👍

[@lyndarlehane582]

Excellent presentation. Well done. Thankyou.

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thank you. Appreciated

[@steveharwood5824]

Absolutely fascinating Bob ! Thoroughly enjoyable viewing mate 👍🏻

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thanks Steve. Your kind comments are very welcome, thanks for watching.

[@FlyingForFunTrecanair]

Another excellent film!

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thanks. Your comments are very welcome.

[@joeweston3252]

interesting l was on a walk last year we passed the milton lock l had no idea it went right into the shopping area and on the now railway line great work bob thank you for making this one.

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thanks Joe, I always thought it went into Portsmouth harbour until I researched it.

[@bobsrailrelics]

Great video. That sea lock is amazing. Not easy to research canals as you say as often they don't appear on maps of the time. Thanks.

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thanks Bob, don't think there's too many sea locks still in existence in the uk.

[@timeast6412]

Very interesting video and even where nothing remains your commentary makes it seem real.

[@jefg8327]

great vid

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thanks Jef, glad you enjoyed it.

[@davidberlanny3308]

¡Brilliant! That truly is my old neck of the woods. I used to live in Trevis Road which ends on the old towpath, you would have walked right past this!! I would often walk the towpath (as it is now) in both directions I have a book in my collection which contains a number of photos including a 1930s photo of the Milton Locks with the remains of the lock gates in the closed position and a photo of the pump houses that you identified. Another clue to the canal can be found just off the towpath, that is the Old Canal Inn, now sadly closed as a pub. Last time I was home I went out to take some photos of the locks and it was high tide, a small launch was exiting the locks. Nearby the little bridge there are the remains of one of the lock gates. You will find some of the photos posted end of September, I must go and have a look at those granite blocks in Arundel Street next time I go back Well done perfectly presented and traced from start to end, thoroughly enjoyed this one Good luck from Spain!!

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thanks David for your kind comments. Looking at Portsea today it's so hard to imagine the history that was there before the houses. More from there to come. The Suthsea railway branch to name one.

[@davidberlanny3308]

@@PASTFINDERexploring Hi Bob, lots to see in Portsmouth and surrounding area. The branches into the dockyard, there were two, are really interesting as would be the whole dockyard system. The Southsea branch fits in well with the canal video that you have just done though. My first adventures were with my Dad exploring the forts on Portsdown Hill. At that time they were abandoned. They can be visited today. Railmaps shows me that there was a small spur leading off towards the hill probably for loading a light railway to take building materials to build the forts. I think evidence of the spur still exists. Worth looking at Portsdown tunnels. It's dedicated to the hill. Another often forgotten part of the island is the old airport. I can just about remember it when it was operational, I know my Dad had the chance to fly from it. Long gone now, but clues abound!! Have a great weekend.

[@paulmessis1094]

This is brilliant you've got to do the wey and arun, rother navigation and Petworth canal....brilliant research.

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Hi Paul, thanks for watching. Always up for new ideas for new films. I've thought about continuing towards the Chichester section and then the Wey & Arun. Lot of work involved but it'd be doable.

[@idiotusmaximus2643]

13:13 you are on a raod i believe called "Ironbridge lane" so perhaps the bridge you are thinking about was in fact an iron one 🤔

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Hi, thank you. Yes you are correct. Alas info arrives at my feet after the film has been made.

[@idiotusmaximus2643]

@PASTFINDERexploring lol.. it don't matter- you aren't expected to know everything about out collective pasts.. you are doing us a great service by using your extensive knowledge to show people a past that has almost succumbed to the sands of time ;)

[@bobt305]

Brilliant and although like many I knew where the canal was (now the railway) but I didn't know about the basin in Arundel Street. Once leaving the Milton Locks didn't the 'waterway' go across Langstone Harbour and under the 'Hayling Billy' wooden tressle bridge and across towards Chichester Harbour. I always understood that to the east of the Hayling Road bridge there used to be a causeway from the cottages to Hayling Island? Well done. Look forward to more. 👍

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

Thanks Bob, the route went around the North of Hayling and through Thorney islands.

[@PompeyChris71]

Somers Rd bridge is called Turners bridge . Originally the road was known as Green Lane.

[@grahamrowntree5573]

Also near the Somers Road bridge was a piece of grafitti on some substantial brickwork of the canal. It had been there for years and read "Vietcong out" so you can imagine when the "artist" applied it.

[@JohnJones-cp4wh]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJa2noaPeKlkr7M Has some views of what woodworks were there in 1937. I can remember them just after the war.

[@PASTFINDERexploring]

John, thank you so much for sending that film. Superb! Even back then the lock gates were in a poor state. I'm assuming the wooden stubbs that remain today are from those in the film.

[@JohnJones-cp4wh]

Here`s another I`ve just come across @ 7.11 with a bit more woodwork. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYvKlmeMpp6dldE

[@sk13ppy]

I was really looking forward to watching this. If you want hearing impaired people to enjoy your videos then please don't have music playing when you are narrating. Play music when you're not talking. I couldn't even watch this for 2 minutes, then I quit.

[@Juan_Kossov]

What music????? There is no music!!!!