Portsmouth was strategically important in the seventeenth century, but relatively little has been written on it. For their second-year Working with the Past project a group of UoP history students tried to discover more about three key Portsmouth figures from this time. In this first post in a series, Callum Ireland writes about the Dutch engineer who rebuilt the fortifications which shaped the Portsmouth seafront today.
Portsmouth, the maritime capital of England. We all know at least one fact about the deep and rich naval history of this island off the South coast, whether it’s the mighty Mary Rose and its short tenure under Henry VIII or the long and impressive career of the Lord Admiral Nelson, centuries upon centuries of Portsmouth’s history has become common knowledge to both historians and the general public alike. However, some sections of Portsmouth’s history have unfortunately been lost to time, overshadowed by the centuries surrounding them. Our project aimed to uncover the secret history of 17th century Portsmouth and how specific figures have shaped the Portsmouth we know today. One of these figures is engineer-in-chief Sir Bernard De Gomme who under the permission of King Charles II rebuilt and restructured the walls and batteries that defended Portsmouth from any outside force. I will look into De Gommes’ time spent in Portsmouth as well as exploring his many maps and diagrams in hope to shed light on a man whose name has almost been lost to time.
Miniature portrait of Bernard de Gomme from his book of plans of towns and forts in the Low Countries, to illustrate the campaigns of Frederic Henry, Prince of Orange, 1625-45, British Library, King’s Topographical Collection, Maps 4.TAB.48
The Fortifications: from the Point Battery to Southsea Castle
So how much work did De Gomme actually do in Portsmouth? Well it may surprise you to know that his work can be seen almost everywhere throughout the city. Hailing from Zeeland, Netherlands, the Dutch engineer first visited England with the young Prince Rupert of the Rhine (who was then exiled in the Netherlands) in which he spent most of his time working closely with King Charles I, even gaining a knighthood, one of the highest honours a ruler can give, for his work with the royalists during the English civil wars. However, after the royalist defeat and the toppling of the British monarchy, De Gomme was forced to flee back to the Netherlands. In 1649 he received a commission from the new king Charles II, then in exile, returning to England with him at the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. He was soon appointed to engineer-in-chief and sent out in 1662 to spend 17 days in Portsmouth to gain insight into its current defences.
Portsmouth’s defences were outdated to say the least. Walls lining Portsmouth’s beaches were worn and decayed. The fortifications of the dockyard were made out of simple brick. Overall the defences had not been updated since the Elizabethan era, nearly 100 years beforehand. It was these concerns that De Gomme brought to the table when discussing possible renovations to the dockyard with Charles II, drawing up maps of new walls, batteries and forts across the coast of the Solent. It was in 1665 with the King’s approval that the renovations of Portsmouth officially began.
The renovations of Portsmouth’s defences came in waves. The first wave took place from 1665-1668, the second wave from 1669-1678, and the final wave from 1679 to his death in 1685. The first wave saw a focus on developing the walls around Portsea Island, with stone walls and batteries being developed around Gosport and Spice Island. Surprisingly, for the first wave De Gomme was surprisingly absent, instead hiring workers to construct the walls in the guidelines of his maps. It wasn’t until the second wave in 1669 that De Gomme began to get his hands dirty, as new maps were drawn out calling for renovations to the defences of Southsea Castle, the Landport Gate and Landport Ravelin, including a new moat for both the castle and the ravelin.
Sir Bernard de Gomme, map of Portsmouth, 1668, British Library, ‘Extracts from Records in the possession of the Municipal Corporation of the Borough of Portsmouth … Robert East’, p. 93.
By 1679 Charles II called for the renovations to be done but De Gomme was far from finished. As determined as ever, De Gomme continued to install more fortifications and batteries across Portsmouth even after Charles’ death, with renovations continuing under James II. Sir Bernard De Gomme eventually died in 1685 aged 65, his work finally ending. The fortifications of Portsmouth lasted 20 years and cost up to £150,000 (many millions in today’s money) outliving the king that had initially called for them.
England at war: why were the defences so important?
For such an intense period of renovations to Portsmouth, one must wonder why Charles II and Sir Bernard De Gomme had planned so extensively to have these fortifications developed? As it turns out the mid-17th century, the period of reconstruction, England was in the midst of a continuous war that saw on and off conflict from 1652 to 1784 with the Dutch (keen eyed readers will have noticed that De Gomme was ironically Dutch himself).
Pieter Cornelisz van Soest, Dutch Attack on the Medway, June 1667, Royal Museums Greenwich BHC0295
Despite numerous victories within the first Anglo-Dutch war from 1652-1654, the second Anglo-Dutch war, the result of continuous commercial disputes between the two nations, saw numerous defeats from the British at the hands of the Dutch, and so protecting the navy at this time was vital. Portsmouth had been England’s royal naval base since its establishment under Henry VIII in 1459, seeing the construction of warships and the recruitment and training of soldiers. This made Portsmouth significantly important for Britain during the Anglo-Dutch wars and its defences a strong priority. As Charles II said himself, the plans were “to ‘strengthen our town of Portsmouth to secure it from an foreign contrivance or invasion”.
Portsmouth today: is De Gomme still relevant?
The point battery, one of the installations of De Gomme’s first set of developments, taken by Callum c.2025
Coming to the end of this blog, having learnt about the story of Sir Bernard DeGomme’s time in Portsmouth, the burning question is how is this relevant to Portsmouth and England as a whole today? Bernard De Gomme can be argued as a forefather of defence and fortifications in England, and his work has almost completely changed the layout of Portsmouth’s seafront. Many of De Gomme’s fortifications can still be visited and explored to this very day, owing to the success of De Gomme’s work in standing strong against any and all threats. Its surprising then to see how little De Gomme is celebrated for his work in Portsmouth, and I hope this blog has finally shed some light on the man lost to time.
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