Portsmouth

In all the years we lived in London we never made it to Portsmouth, the historical home base of the British Royal Navy. As a result, we decided to set things right with a weekend stop there after completing a business meeting in Kent. I booked us into a Holiday Inn Express located on the edge of the redeveloped Gunwharf Quays. This was our base for two nights before we began making our way back to London for a week of trade show meetings. 

We spent most of Sunday exploring the Portsmouth Historic Dockyards. This included a visit to the Mary Rose Museum, a guided tour of Lord Nelson’s HMS Victory, and a self-guided tour of the Warrior, the UK's first ironclad, steam-powered warship. Without realizing it, we’d scheduled our tour of the dockyards in chronological order. As a result, it was fascinating to see how naval military technology advanced from Henry VIII’s Tudor era, through to the Victorian era. I was surprised to see cast-iron cannons were still a feature of warships as late as 1863.

Much like at Battle, on board the Victory, we had an opportunity to stand at the exact spot marked by a bronze plaque where Nelson was mortally wounded during the Battle of Trafalgar. Equally memorable was the experience below deck. We learned that the sailors lived on the gun deck among the cannons.  At night they slung hammocks over the cannon barrels, while during the day they dined and played board games at tables and benches that hung from the ceiling in between each cannon carriage. Let's just say it was a far cry from the comfortable cruise ship cabin we'd enjoyed earlier this month.

The Mary Rose was a real treat. At the time of its construction in 1511, it was the most advanced warship of its time. It quickly became the flagship of Henry VIII's rapidly expanding navy. It was substantially rebuilt in 1536, transforming an impressive ship of 500 tons into one of 700 tons. On 19 July 1545, during the Battle of Solent, near the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour, the Mary Rose suddenly heeled (leaned) heavily to her starboard (right) side. Water rushed in through the ship's open gunports and it quickly sank.

The boat sat covered in silt until it was rediscovered by fishermen in 1836. After a brief, largely unsuccessful salvage mission, the boat's location was soon forgotten until it was located again in 1965. Finally, in the spring of 1982, the remaining third of the boat's hull was raised intact from the seabed. 

Thirty years of preservation work followed before the vessel you see today was finally unveiled for public viewing. The museum does a superb job of displaying the hull and the thousands of artifacts recovered from the seabed. This includes massive cast-iron cannons and the personal effects of several seamen including ship's cook and carpenter.

Constructing a warship of the size of the Mary Rose was a major undertaking, requiring vast quantities of high-quality material. For a state-of-the-art warship, these materials were primarily oak. According to Wikipedia, the total amount of timber needed for the construction can only be roughly calculated as only about one-third of the ship still exists. One estimate calculates that about 600 mostly large oaks were used, representing about 16 hectares (40 acres) of woodland.

This technology stood in stark contrast to the Royal Navy’s latest additions, its two recently commissioned Elizabethan aircraft carriers. We were lucky enough to see both the Prince of Wales and Queen Elizabeth in port. While neither vessel was open to the public, it was surprising how close we could view them through a nearby dockland fence.

We then finished our afternoon with a quick trip up the Spinnaker Tower to take in a dramatic view of Portsmouth Harbour and the surrounding coast. This included a superb, unimpeded view of the Navy’s aircraft carriers. During our visit, we got to see the regular Hovercraft service speeding across the Solent towards Southsea, as well as take in the many defensive structures erected over the centuries around the harbour.

Unfortunately, due to poor weather, the Historic Dockyard's transfer boat to Gosport wasn't operating.  As a result, we never got to visit the Royal Navy's highly-rated submarine museum. I'd also hoped to visit the Hovercraft Museum near Gosport.  However, this was closed for its mid-winter break. I guess this means we've got a great excuse to return to Portsmouth at some future point.

The following morning, after checking out, we took a quick detour to the Southsea Hoverport to watch the Isle of Wight Hovercraft glide up the beach, then spent an hour or so exploring the nearby World War Two D-Day Museum. The museum includes access to Landing Craft LCT 7074, a lovingly restored landing craft that took part in the D-Day invasion. The atmosphere on board was hard to describe. For a brief moment, thanks to the craft’s high side walls and their sound muffling effect, I swear we could viscerally feel the energy and tension of this historic day.

Next to the museum is the Legacy Gallery. This is home to the Overlord Embroidery commissioned in 1968 to remember those who took part in D-Day and the Battle of Normandy. The Overlord Embroidery tells the story of this extraordinary battle in 34 extraordinary hand-stitched panels that collectively extend a total length of 83 metres. Some of these panels were truly breathtaking in their design.

A business meeting we’d scheduled in Dunsfold was canceled shortly before we flew out. As a result, we found ourselves with additional free time on Monday. Garry and I decided to spend an evening visiting my cousin Hilary and Michael, her new husband. We were both stunned by the comprehensive “Grand Design” style renovation they’ve recently completed. The old Fernhurst property was barely recognizable. The following morning, we took them for breakfast at Cowdray Farm Shop & Café in Midhurst.

The drive back to London was uneventful. We also secured an early check-in at our Airbnb apartment. This meant we could return our rental car and drop off our bags before venturing into Olympia for our first working day on the floor of the British Toy Fair. Dinner that night was a business affair. We dined with the supplier who’d canceled our Dunsfold meeting the day before.

Rebuilt in 1420

Our first few days in London were a whirlwind of meetings and driving. We landed shortly after 6:00am following uneventful flights from Sydney. Qantas came through with a First Class points upgrade all the way. This meant that we kicked off our trip with a visit to the First Class lounge. This included an express facial in the Spa, followed by a leisurely champagne lunch. I stayed awake for the entire leg to Singapore reading and watching movies. I then slept for almost seven hours on the final leg to Heathrow.

Our first business meeting kicked off shortly after 8:30am at the Heathrow Hilton by Terminal Four. We then drove our rental car to Folkestone for the day’s second meeting. We finished up shortly before 4:00pm and drove directly to Rye, a distance of less than 32 miles. For our first night in the UK, I booked us into the Mermaid Inn, one of the town’s oldest hotels.

The inn sits in the heart of the old town on a steep and narrow cobblestone street. It was built, or rather rebuilt, in 1420. According to the room guide, the building’s cellars date from 1156 while the current building was rebuilt after The Mermaid and the town of Rye were burnt to the ground by French raiders on 22 June 1377.  I had to chuckle when I saw a "Rebuilt in 1420" sign over the hotel entrance. That's my new definition of old. "Founded in" and "Established in" signs are so last year.

Our room was on the first floor. It was accessed via two sets of stairs, one set up and a shorter set down. The room itself was framed by dramatic oak beams and similar Tudor-style walls. Although I swear there wasn’t a level surface or right angle anywhere in the room. At times it was rather disorienting and played havoc with our jet lag. For example, I woke in the middle of the night and, thanks to the gently sloping floor, nearly toppled over on my way to the bathroom.

Rye was a real treat. We walked through the old town for dinner at Webbes Fish Café shortly after checking in. Much to our delight, the town seemed to be celebrating Scallop season. This shellfish seemed to feature on every menu we encountered during our stay.

 

The following morning we retraced our steps with a walking tour of this ancient town’s “ye olde delights”. This included a return visit to the Landgate, the only remaining arched section of a defensive wall that once surrounded the town.  We also climbed 84 steps up the Bell Tower of St Mary the Virgin church, which sits on the town's highest point. Sections of this building were first erected by the Normans in 1180. The views of River Rother and out to the Camber Sands coast were spectacular. 

Surprisingly, Rye was once a bustling harbour town. There’s even a nearby village called Rye Harbour that’s surrounded by paddocks and drainage lakes. Apparently, the name of Rye is derived from a Saxon word for island. Medieval maps show that Rye was originally located on a large coastal cove called the Rye Camber, which provided a safe anchorage and harbour. Over the centuries the bay has silted up leaving only a deep tidal river channel that was clearly visible from the church tower.

Also visible from the tower was Ypres Tower, one of the town's oldest buildings. It was built in 1249 as "Baddings Tower", to defend the town from the French, and was later named after its owner, John de Ypres. We'd originally followed tourist signs directing us to "the tower" and mistook St Mary's Bell Tower as the intended destination.

From Rye, we drove four miles to check out the famous Camber Sands. This is reputably one of the south coast’s most scenic beaches. However, the day we visited it was cloudy and blowing a gale. As a result, a quick walk on the beach left us mildly sandblasted. Garry couldn’t get over how many people were out and about on such an unpleasant day. 

The rest of our Saturday was spent driving from Rye to Portsmouth via Battle.  We stopped for several hours in Battle to explore its ruins and learn more about the revolutionary Norman invasion in 1066. The township is built on the edge of the battleground where the Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066. Its highest ground is home to the ruins of Battle Abbey. On this spot, William the Conqueror built an impressive stone church to atone for his bloody conquest. 

The Abbey stood for hundreds of years until it was demolished during Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries in 1538. Today all the remains, are the abbey's foundations, monastery ruins, administrative church buildings, a defensive stone wall, and a dramatic arched gatehouse leading into the complex. The gatehouse includes an excellent museum. Unfortunately, during our visit, recent storm damage had closed access to a series of hillside fields that make up the actual battleground. However, we were able to survey the area from a path that ran along the crest of the hill.

Aside from the gatehouse, perhaps the most impressive structure still standing is the Dorter. This huge room was the dormitory where the monks slept. It dates to the 13th century and was originally a single open space without any heating. Monks slept communally and their single beds were arranged in rows along the stone side walls. The roof collapsed in the 18th Century leaving behind the dramatic open-air ruin you see today,

William built the high altar of the church on the spot where King Harold was reputedly felled by a Norman arrow (in the eye according to some legends). While the abbey itself has gone the spot is still marked by a marble flagstone. There's something to be said for standing on the spot where history was made 957 years ago. I've always remembered the date 1066 and the Battle of Hastings. As an Antipodean, this was an esoteric event in a land far, far away that had little or no reference to anything tangible in my world.