Some of Portsmouth’s historic fortifications are being uncovered in two trenches on the site of the new University of Portsmouth Sports Facility in Ravelin Park. The walls that have been revealed would have protected the naval port during the 17th century, a major period of development for the port. A gun platform or embrasure has […]
Author Archive | Fiona McCall
Students tour seventeenth-century Portsmouth
In this blog, Dr Fiona McCall, senior lecturer in early modern history at the University of Portsmouth, reports on a field trip undertaken as part of her Special Subject Module ‘Britain Divided: The impact of the Civil War 1637-1662’. Fiona teaches units on the British Civil Wars, and Crime, Sin and Punishment in early modern […]
Portsmouth and the English Civil Wars
Dr Fiona McCall teaches a third year special subject on the British Civil Wars. Below she looks at events in Portsmouth which give it a good claim to be considered the place where the Civil War broke out. Hampshire saw considerable action during the First Civil War (1642-6), being sandwiched between the area of Parliamentary […]
The Excommunication of Portsmouth, 1450-1508
Dr Fiona McCall teaches on a first year module, Early Modern World, where we discuss the practice of the medieval Catholic church before the reformation, and a second year module, Crime, Sin and Punishment in Britain, 1500-1850, which looks at the extensive jurisdiction of the church courts in the early modern period, as well as […]
Laughter as a political weapon after the English Civil Wars.
Dr Fiona McCall is a lecturer in early modern history at Portsmouth, teaching units on the British Civil Wars, and Crime, Sin and Punishment in early modern Britain, amongst others. Her current research project investigates religion in the English parish during the period of Godly rule of the 1640s and 1650s. What do you do […]
Portsmouth Poetry: Remembering Passchendaele
Local cultural organisation ‘Portsmouth Poetry’ has been awarded a grant of £10,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund for a project “I Died In Hell” which will commemorate the centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele, 1917. The project will focus on telling the story of Portsmouth people who participated in one of the worst conflicts of […]