Life in Portsea, Hampshire
 

It is difficult when visiting Portsmouth today, with the newly developed Gunwharf Quays area housing an upmarket living and shopping area, to imagine the port a  hundred and fifty years ago.

In the back streets of Victorian Portsmouth, Portsea and Landport, landowners built cheap housing for their workers in a labyrinth of narrow passages and courtyards.  Kings Bench Alley (still in existence today) was 586ft long, and at most four feet wide.  With windows in the front wall only, the houses had little light or ventilation; living standards were further diminished by the constant dampness, vermin, lack of clean running water and the shared privy.

The houses were about 9ft 3in wide and 12 ft deep.  Allowing for the hallway, stairs and chimney breast, the downstairs room had a living area of about 6ft 3in wide and 9ft deep.  A single bedroom was on the upper floor.     It is hardly surprising that a fifth of children born in the area died before their first birthday.

With a pub on every corner and evidence of several brothels in existence, the area was notorious for drunken and disorderly behaviour, increased by the numbers of soldiers and sailors constantly arriving.