Roman Fort to Royal Palace – Portchester Castle & Village Tour

Roman Fort to Royal Palace – Portchester Castle & Village Tour

Portchester Castle is set within the walls of  one of the best-preserved Roman forts in Europe,   Built on low-lying land that protrudes into  Portsmouth Harbour. It may not be a place you’re   familiar with, so join us for a blustery walk  around this historic fortress and the charming  

Castle Street where we find quaint thatched and  Georgian houses in the village of Portchester. We’ve travelled to Portsmouth many  times either to cross over to the   Isle of Wight on the Wightlink ferry or to  visit the Gunnwhalf Quay shopping outlets,  

But until a recent visit to find and explore the  birthplace of Charles Dickens, which you can see   in a separate video we had no idea the castle  was here! Hidden in plain sight so to speak,   it’s easily seen from the main road that heads  into Portsmouth, somehow we’d missed it.   

We drove to the castle utilizing the pay and display car  park just outside the stone curtain walls of the   fort. Jumping out of the car you can appreciate  just how high they are at 6.1 metres, 20 feet,   they would have provided formidable protection.  Base limestone slabs, flint and brick make up  

The lower portions of the walls. They were  repaired and raised in medieval times but are   still largely the original Roman walls. It’s not  clear when they first built this fort but Roman   coins excavated on the site date from the late 3rd  Century giving an indication of the timeline. It  

Was then known as “Portus Adurni”. What is clear  is that the Romans needed to protect the harbour   from seaborn invaders and this was the perfect  site to set up defenses. In fact, they would do   this right along the southern coast of Britain.  One incredible example of Roman engineering  

Stands at Dover Castle where the 2,000-year-old  Pharos can still be seen today. A Roman lighthouse   with a fiery beacon, lighting the way, helping  their vessels navigate the waters and guiding   the galleys to shore. You can watch our tour on  the incredible Dover castle already available on   our channel to find out more.

D-shaped towers  were positioned around the fort so sentries   could see in all directions. At one time 20 in  total. The evolution of the fort has seen some   of them disappear now. By the fifth century, the  Roman Empire was no more and the fort fell into  

The hands of the Saxons who had invaded England.  They named it “Portus Ceaster” and that name later   morphed into Portchester. The Saxons settled a  village within the fort walls and excavations   have provided a wealth of artefacts from the  Roman and Saxon periods.   In the 9th century, 

King Alfred the Great was creating a large  defensive network along the coast. These were   known as “burghs”, they were designed to defend  the Kingdom of Wessex from Viking attacks and   Portchester was one of several locations chosen.  There are now two main entrances into the fort and  

This is the Landgate. Most of this entrance was  remodelled from the Roman gate in the 1390s with   a vaulted passageway and accommodation above.  It’s worth noting you don’t need a ticket to   walk around the grounds of the fort, the ticket  is only required to explore inside the castle.

The biggest changes to the fort came after the  Norman Conquest in 1066. Needing new defences   from foreign attack and closer to home from  those who wanted the Saxons back, King Henry I commissioned the first part of the tower in the  northwest corner creating an inner Bailey built in  

The form of the Norman keep we see here in around  1130 AD. It rose in height in the first 20 years,   adding additional floors but didn’t reach its  towering 30 metre full height till the 1320s. Henry also built St Mary’s  Church in the outer bailey,  

Built of Isle of Wight stone by Norman  masons in the late 1120s it was given   by Henry I to Augustinian monks led by a  prior and so it became St Mary’s Priory.   There were a number of buildings surrounding  the church but there’s no trace of those now.

In the mid-12th century, the monks moved on  to Southwick but today it’s still the local   Parish church. We would have loved to have taken  you inside but there was a christening going on. To enter the castle we approach the  gatehouse and moat. In the Middle Ages,  

The moat would have encircled the castle  both inside and outside the fort. Fed by   the sea it would have been a much deeper  and wider defence than we see today. Let’s look inside and find out how King  Richard II left his mark on Portchester Castle.

English Heritage looks after  the entire Fort and Castle,   all but the Parish church.  For those with membership,   you can head inside for free otherwise a ticket  can be purchased see open times and prices here. We are now in the heart of this small Castle,  the inner Bailey and whilst it might not appear  

To be one of the more important castles of the  realm royalty visited often and Henry II used   it as a place from which he embarked on travel  to his other territories in France.

Richard II would do the same but took it a step further  by building a small palace here in the 1390s   which had accommodation for his hunting trips  in the nearby area. You can see the remains of   some impressive apartment chambers, the Great Hall  and catering rooms like the kitchen and buttery.

This two-storey space contained  storage and service areas on the   ground floor whilst the majority of the  upper floor was taken with the Great Hall. Access to the kitchens was to the west and holes  for the beams to hold the upper floor can still  

Be seen. King Henry VIII and Ann Boylen were  known to have been guests in this Great Hall. On the other side of the inner  bailey was the constable’s house,   the person responsible for looking after the  castle. Sir Robert Ashton was constable from  

1376 to 81 and he added this tower now known  as “Ashton Tower” as an extension of his home. The castle also acted as a prison at various times  in its history and prisoners of many different   nationalities and backgrounds were brought  here to Portchester in the course of Wars.

As we enter the keep we see a theatre that  was created by the French prisoners during   the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars of  1793 to 1815. The theatre has not survived   in the ground floor but has been recreated so  that we can get an idea of what it looks like.  

Housing an audience of up to 300, tightly  packed in, plays were performed to keep up   morale. Even locals of Portsmouth were allowed  to come and see the shows for a period of time. Climbing the spiral staircase we reach the first  floor which in the 12th century was used as  

Accommodation with a central wall creating  two chambers on each of the four floors. A well in the corner providing water.  An alternative stepped entrance into   the keep likely added much later allows  us to look out over the inner bailey. Access to each floor was by  the spiral staircase but a  

More modern set of stairs have been  added inside for today’s visitors. On the second floor, we find faint remains  of wall paintings. In the 19th century,   the castle became a tourist attraction  with pleasure gardens and events.

The paintings depict this period and this floor was  believed to have been used for another theatre. Exhibits and information boards  around the tower explain more   events in the castle’s history some  of which we’ve already spoken of. We would have liked to have seen the  views from the very top of the tower  

But the winds that day meant it was  sadly closed for views of the Solent   and harbour. We had to be content with  views through windows on the third floor. Before we leave the castle and  head for the pretty Castle Street,   let’s walk to the Watergate. Like  the Landgate this replaced the Roman  

Entrance but earlier in around the 1320s,  protecting the fort with a portcullis,   this would have been the entrance used by  visitors arriving and departing on vessels. You can walk around the outer walls of  the fort and notice how close to the   shoreline the fort is. Its low-lying  land is susceptible to flooding.

The village of Portchester grew up  in and around the fort and castle.   Taking a stroll along Castle Street  we can see some wonderful buildings   that have retained their charm  and beauty from a number of eras. The Cormorant is the only remaining  public house of the six that once  

Occupied the streets of Portchester. A  nice place to grab a pint and some lunch. The Village extends much further than just this  pretty street with more modern and recent homes   and businesses, so we’ll finish our tour of  the castle and the area here. We hope you’ve  

Enjoyed our tour around this important and  hidden part of Portsmouth. Do join us again   for more videos across the UK and abroad.  Thanks for watching the MemorySeekers.

Portchester Castle on the southern coast of Hampshire, England has served a military purpose for as long as Portchester village has. With the best preserved Roman Fort walls in Europe and a Norman Castle and Priory built inside, Portchester Castle has been a Roman fortress, a Norman stronghold and even a prisoner of war camp during the Napoleonic Wars.
Join us as we peel back the years on Portchester Castle, learn about its early Roman creation, why it was built and how it became an important Royal Palace in the late 1300s. Did you know it had a theatre inside the keep? Find out how that came about.
We’ll also explore the village of Portchester and take a look at some of the wonderful thatched and Georgian buildings that still survive in this charming part of Portsmouth.

For more Castles of England take a look at this playlist.

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00:00 Introduction
00:35 Castle in Portsmouth
01:20 The Making of a Roman Fort
02:43 Saxon’s at Portchester
03:22 Landgate Entrance
03:44 The Making of a Norman Castle
04:21 St Mary’s Church
05:12 Inside Portchester Castle
06:34 A Royal Palace
09:28 Portchester as a Prison
10:25 The Tower
12:33 Watergate Entrance
13:26 Castle St Portchester Tour

#englishheritage #romanfort #englishcastle