1: The Project Begins
 
The 1860 (Old Portsmouth) Project arose out of the discussions held by a group of local historians at the Garrison Church in 2007. Old Portsmouth has a rich and colourful heritage and yet, thanks to the attentions of the Luftwaffe and unsympathetic planners, there is relatively little of it to see on the ground. We wanted something more than just old photographs and drawings.
 
One way to visualise the past would be to build a model of Old Portsmouth and the ideal way of doing that would be to use digital 3D technology. An important factor in choosing this route was that layers could be incorporated within the model to represent the major phases of architectural development. Another advantage is that whenever new evidence is presented, the model could be changed with relative ease - and this would apply for evermore.
 
The first issue to be addressed was the starting point - the initial target date for the model. It didn't take long to decide upon 1860. This ensured that the Grammar School, which was completed in 1857, and the fortifications which were not demolished until 1870 could both be included.
 
This section of History in Portsmouth will follow developments as the model progresses, reporting on the research involved and giving examples from the model as they are generated. Part 1 of the project concerns the east side of the High Street beginning at the Grammar School/Cambridge Barracks then working southwards. The report pages can be accessed as below.
 
Thanks go to Cynthia Sherwood, Peter Rogers, Patricia Lovell, Sue Pike, Catherine Smith, John Stedman and the staff of the City Museum and Record Office for their help and advice during the development of this project and to Alan East and Ken Devine for their help with the computer stuff.