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South Parade Pier

Buildings and structures in PortsmouthBurned buildings and structures in the United KingdomPier firesPiers in HampshireUse British English from August 2014
South Parade Pier, Southsea
South Parade Pier, Southsea

The South Parade Pier is a pier in Portsmouth, England. It is one of two piers in the city, the other being Clarence Pier. The pier once had a long hall down its centre which housed a seating area and a small restaurant. The outside of the hall is a promenade which runs the length of the pier. Once fallen into disrepair, as of 2017, the pier has been developed into an amusement arcade and food outlet. The South Parade Pier, in Southsea, part of the English city of Portsmouth, is a pleasure pier offering typical seaside attractions including souvenir shops, ice creams, indoor amusements and a small children's funfair. It also contains a fishing deck and two function rooms which are often used for live music.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article South Parade Pier (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

South Parade Pier
South Parade, Portsmouth Southsea

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N 50.7783 ° E -1.0761 °
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South Parade Pier

South Parade
PO4 0BW Portsmouth, Southsea
England, United Kingdom
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South Parade Pier, Southsea
South Parade Pier, Southsea
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Southsea
Southsea

Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth, Portsea Island in England. Southsea is located 1.8 miles (2.8 km) to the south of Portsmouth's inner city-centre. Southsea began as a fashionable 19th-century Victorian seaside resort named Croxton Town, after a Mr Croxton who owned the land. As the resort grew, it adopted the name of nearby Southsea Castle, a seafront fort constructed in 1544 to help defend the Solent and approaches to Portsmouth Harbour.In 1879, South Parade Pier was opened by Princess Edward of Saxe-Weimar in Southsea. The pier began operating a passenger steamer service across the Solent to the Isle of Wight. This service gave rise to the idea of linking Southsea and its pier to Portsmouth's railway line, and for tourists to bypass the busy town of Portsmouth and its crowded harbour. East Southsea railway station, along with the Southsea Railway and Fratton railway station were jointly opened on 1 July 1885 by Lady Ada Mary Willis (née Neeld), wife of General Sir George Willis, the Lieutenant Governor of Portsmouth.Southsea subsequently grew into a dense residential suburb and large, distinct commercial and entertainment area, separate from the town of Portsmouth up until Southsea and the whole of Portsea Island were incorporated into the town borough of Portsmouth in 1904.Due to declining use and World War I, the Southsea Railway line and its East Southsea station were closed on 6 August 1914. To maintain Southsea's tourism, the Southsea station name was moved and merged with Portsmouth's main town centre railway station in 1925, officially becoming known as Portsmouth & Southsea railway station. A year later in 1926, Portsmouth was granted official city status, while its main railway station retained its "Portsmouth & Southsea" name, which has led many non-locals and visitors to wrongly assume that Southsea is still a separate town near to Portsmouth.The areas of Southsea surrounding Albert Road, Palmerston Road, and Osborne Road contain many bars, restaurants and independent shops. Palmerston Road is the main High Street of Southsea and contains various shops and restaurants, as well as the local library, and Southsea Community Cinema and Arts Centre. Albert Road is a distinct street containing shopping and cultural venues, which include The Wedgewood Rooms, and the Kings Theatre, a regional theatre built in 1907.Southsea retains its own post town status (PO4 and PO5), even though the actual town of Southsea was merged into Portsmouth in 1904.

Southsea Castle
Southsea Castle

Southsea Castle, historically also known as Chaderton Castle, South Castle and Portsea Castle, is an artillery fort originally constructed by Henry VIII on Portsea Island, Hampshire, in 1544. It formed part of the King's Device programme to protect against invasion from France and the Holy Roman Empire, and defended the Solent and the eastern approach to Portsmouth. The castle had a square central keep, two rectangular gun platforms to the east and west, and two angled bastions to the front and rear, and was an early English example of the trace italienne-style of fortification popular on the Continent. The Cowdray engraving of the Battle of the Solent in 1545 depicted Henry VIII visiting the castle. Despite several serious fires, it remained in service and saw brief action at the start of the English Civil War in 1642 when it was stormed by Parliamentary forces. The castle was expanded in the 1680s by Sir Bernard de Gomme and, after a period of neglect in the 18th century, was redesigned again in 1814 during the Napoleonic Wars. After a brief period of use as a military prison in the 1840s, the fortification was expanded in the 1850s and 1860s with additional gun batteries on the east and west sides. The defences were upgraded throughout the century due to the fears of a French invasion and formed part of the plan for defending Portsmouth during the First World War. In the interwar years some of the fortifications were stood down, but the castle saw service again in the Second World War, when it was involved in Operation Grasp, the seizure of French naval vessels in Portsmouth harbour. In 1960, Southsea Castle, by now obsolete, was sold to Portsmouth City Council. It was restored to its pre-1850 appearance and opened as a tourist attraction, receiving over 90,000 visitors from 2011–12.