Porttowns

The app is produced by members of the University of Portsmouth’s Port Towns and Urban Cultures research group, in conjunction with Portsmouth History Centre.

Described as the ‘grand resort of the Sons of Neptune,’ sailortowns were places where sailors often lived, visited and were entertained. This Sailortown app gives you a unique perspective and indispensable guide to the once thriving sailortown district in Portsmouth from the 18th to early 20th centuries, whether a native Portsmouthian, or just passing though.

The app offers a sailortown walk that will take you through the heart of Portsmouth’s historic sailortown district. Using your GPS to locate a story or image near you, the walk reveals the hidden history of sailortown, as well as capturing the momentous occasions that Portsmouth once witnessed as a homeport of the British Royal Navy. Want to know more? Simply tap the more info button when a story or image appears.

You can also explore sailortown through fifty years of census records to find out where sailors lived, the pubs they once drank in and the lodging houses they frequented, all whilst switching between a historic map of Portsmouth and the modern-day Goggle Map.

Alongside this, you can discover sailors’ involvement with crime, leisure and welfare in the port and read accounts of the ghosts and local legends associated with Portsmouth’s sailortown area, including the infamous ‘Jack the Painter’ and ‘Spring-heeled Jack.’

Think you know Portsmouth? This Sailortown app will make you think again!

Find out more www.porttowns.port.ac.uk