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By the beginning of the twentieth century, the mud and seawater that had ruled over the north western extremities of Portsea Island had largely been banished, thanks to millions of tons of clay dredged from the harbour and a considerable quantity of chalk, quarried from Portsdown Hill, during the construction of the Palmerston Forts.
Houses had appeared in Stamshaw, North End and parts of Tipner and, further west, the northern areas of Copnor were also being developed - thousands of houses and tens of thousands of people, all adding to the swelling population of the island, all looking for something a bit beyond just work and existing.
After much debate, it was decided that an area of land alongside the tideline north of Whale Island and just south of Horsea Island would be put aside as a public recreation facility, with lawns, flower beds, seats and pathways - a haven for people from all walks of life, where they could take their leisure and forget about the pressures of modern life ... |
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The opening of Alexandra Park was celebrated with a garden party given by Alderman Jenkins (no relation, as far as I know!) who had been instrumental in obtaining for the public, '...a resort which will, in a few years time, be a most charming spot for those who desire to spend a restful hour amid agreeable surroundings.'
The official ceremony was attended by many local people including the Mayor and Mayoress and took place in an enclosure on the north side of the bandstand.
The Mayor, Councillor C. Dye had much hope for the park saying that 'open spaces were a great feature in modern town life.'
The park was intended as a peaceful contrast to the sports facilities where 'the aged and those who did not care for sports could rest and enjoy themselves'.
Its fourteen acres were to prove to be a great boon to the inhabitants of Portsmouth.
Competitive cycle racing became a very popular sport in the city. One of the biggest meetings, the Kingsbury Cup Meeting, was held at Alexandra Park and attended by the best cyclists from Europe.
Alexandra Park today forms a continuous exercise/recreational area with the North End Recreation Ground, the Mountbatten Centre and cycle/athletics track, the tennis courts, the bowling green and Cannon's Gym, the then Tipner Lake (formerly Stamshaw) Esplanade, Hilsea Lido, the Bastion Gardens and Hilsea Lines moat.
It is part of the sea front in the north which was built up between 1889 and 1939 and is the largest leisure development in the City apart from Southsea seafront.
The area is still very popular with local people today providing a much-needed "green lung" for Portsea Island, although large chunks of it have been swallowed up, by the Mountbatten Centre, by gymnasiums and most recently by the swimming pool extension to the Mountbatten.
The photograph on the right shows the then “new” pavilion at Alexandra Park, which was officially opened by the Lord Mayor, Alderman A. E. Allaway on 19 July 1946.
There had been a pavilion for the cycle track for many years, but this consisted of just two changing rooms and a very small tea room.
By the 1930s, although cycle racing was a popular and regular event here, it had become inadequate and in the words of the Hampshire Telegraph, there was "... a hopeless lack of facilities for young sportsmen". (But okay for the women, presumably?)
This new pavilion was started in 1939 and completed shortly after the outbreak of World War Two in September 1939.
Designed in the Modernist International Style similar to Hilsea Lido, by the City Architect, Adrien Sharp, who had been appointed in 1936, the structure consisted of steel framing, reinforced concrete, brick walling and facings with artificial stone dressings. It was built by Messrs Patching & Co. and cost £12,850.
The metal windows and doors were very typical of many buildings of the 1930s era.
The pavilion was much larger than the original building - there were changing rooms and showers on two floors; a large tea room and kitchen; a first aid room and store and a separate referees' room.
The covered balcony provided standing room and seating for 600 people.
The pavilion/grandstand now adjoins the main Mountbatten Centre building, but from this aspect it looks very little different than it does in a photograph taken in 1947 and published in the Hampshire Telegraph at the time. |
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This photograph of Alexandra Park dates from 1934 and shows its lost rustic shelter - known to generations of local kids as the “Monkey House”.
This was built after the First World War, but is no longer around today, although it did survive into the early sixties (I remember it all too well - Ed).
The shelter last appeared on a map in 1970, probably disappearing when construction work started on the Mountbatten Centre in 1979 |
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The pavilion in the background with the clock tower is the one originally built for the cycle track in North End Recreation Ground.
The pavilion first appeared on a map dated 1898 and lasted until 1939 when it was demolished and a larger version built, which is still there today (see above).
The photograph is taken from, "The Open Spaces of Portsmouth and Southsea in 1934: Portsmouth Civic Survey Club - Playing Fields, No. 18" by Leslie E. Keating, 12 June 1934, Portsmouth Central Library. |
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| The old park keeper's lodge |
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| A cycle race meeting (we found this with a caption suggesting the picture was taken between the wars, byt the presence of the grandstand suggests it was most definitely post World War II ... |
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| I took this photo in the park's centenary year, 2007 and nothing seems to have changed since we came here for school sports days in the sixties ... |
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| The view from the seaward side of the park at low tide - lots of mud and the "Sails" on the M275 motorway, which was opened in the seventies ... |
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| Behind the stadium is an area with football pitches (most of which waterlog very badly during the winter months) - in the sixties, the embankment was the site of a semi-circular row of war time air raid shelters ... |
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| Today the promenade along the shore to Hilsea is still a popular walk, especially in the summer months. |
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1888
Portsmouth Corporation purchased land from the Board of Trade and Winchester College to form the nucleus of the Recreation Ground.
1892
The Recreation Ground was completed and officially opened by the Mayor, Alderman Scott Foster on 6 June 1892.
1898
By 1898, the site had a lodge at its entrance and a central avenue which led north past a drinking fountain to a pavilion with a clock tower and ended at the cycle track.
1904
Work started on Alexandra Park and the grounds were reorganised.
1907
Alexandra Park was officially opened by the Mayor, Councillor C. Dye on 27 June 1907. It consisted of about fourteen acres with a bandstand in the centre.
1910
A map of 1910 shows the park laid out on its present site. There are informal tree-lined paths from the corners meeting in a circular area in the centre with a bandstand.
On the northern boundary, a tree-lined perimeter path and wall separate it from the cycling track.
Tennis courts have been added.
1937
A map of 1937 shows a rustic shelter has been added to Alexandra Park in the form of a round open structure with a conical thatched roof .
There is a children's playground parallel to Northern Parade and the Recreation Ground has now been extended.
The total sports facilities consist of nineteen cricket pitches, or eleven football pitches, three hockey pitches, twenty one tennis courts, two bowling greens; one putting green and an athletics track and ground.
The cycle track is three-quarters of a mile to the lap and there are sand pits for the long jump and high jump.
1939
The pavilion is demolished and a new one constructed designed by the City Architect, Adrien Sharp.
This was completed just in time as World War Two broke out in September 1939 and all building work was halted.
1939 - 1945
Alexandra Park played an important role in the Second World War.
Part of the brand new pavilion was immediately requisitioned by the military authorities and one section of it was used by the Council as an emergency mortuary, dealing with the most grim effects of the Blitz.
An Anti-Aircraft Battery was stationed in the park and up to 1945, the centre cricket pitch was used as its kitchen garden.
1946
After the war the park was refurbished, but by this time, the bandstand had disappeared and was not replaced.
The cycle track was renewed and at long last, the "new" pavilion was officially opened by the Lord Mayor, Alderman A. E. Allaway on 19 July 1946.
At some point after the war, the children's playground was moved to a site north of the park at a bend in the shore line and houses were built on its former site.
1955
Alexandra Park and the Recreation Ground retained their post-War lay-out for over thirty years.
In 1955, an improvement programme was carried out as the concrete and steel in the anti-aircraft gun pits were still causing subsidence.
In addition, a perimeter fence was constructed around the park to enable it to be closed at night and to reduce vandalism.
The total sporting facilities now were eight football pitches and cricket pitches, fourteen grass tennis courts, eight hard courts, two hockey pitches, the running track, the cycle track, two bowling greens, a rugby pitch and the centre cricket pitch.
1979 - 1983
In 1979, construction work started on the Mountbatten Centre.
The rustic shelter was lost and never replaced. The children's playground moved to its third and present day site near the main entrance to the park.
The new Mountbatten Centre was completed in 1982 and officially opened by the Duke of York on 24 June 1983 - improvements and expansions to it have been ongoing since..
Compiled by Jane Smith from information in the Evening News and the Hampshire Telegraph and with many thanks to Charlotte Frost. |
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The original children’s “swing park” was introduced at Alexandra Park shortly before the second world war and was as popular for decades as its more modern and far more colourful successor is today.
By the late fifties it featured a “spiderweb” roundabout, an “umbrella” roundabout, a slide, a metal climbing frame, a see-saw and swings for children and toddlers and was situated on the south eastern corner of the front area of the park, looking out across the water to the old Pounds Scrapyard. |
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