Our History

This page was created on the 15.04.2008

The history of The Portchester Society.

As early as 1973, it came to the notice of local residents that there was a proposal for a large housing development on the land which now is known at Castle Shore Park.  Soon afterwards an application was lodged by Warings, in association with Vosper Thorneycroft and a Dutch company, to infill 11.2 acres, later reduced to 5.5 acres, of Portchester Lake, between Vosper Thorneycroft and the Castle Shore Park, and to develop this for industrial use.  Portchester Sailing Club were opposed to this development as they believed that it would contribute to the further silting of Portchester Lake. Sufficient residents of Portchester responded to this threat by forming the Portchester Lake Action Group (PLAG) under the chairmanship of Mrs. Jean Barr-Taylor.

The PLAG was disbanded when it became apparent that the infilling scheme would not proceed.

Growing public concern about the undesirable consequences of an increasing number of development proposals, gave rise to a public meeting held on 15^th. November 1978 to gauge what level of support there would be for an organisation dedicated to “conserve and protect the heritage of the village and its surrounding waters and enhance the quality of life in Portchester”. 

The inaugural meeting of The Portchester Society was held at the home of Rev. Jackson, on 29^th. November 1978.  It was the decision of that meeting, chaired by Mrs. Isobel Snocken J.P., that the organisation should be known as The Portchester Society, and Mrs. Snocken was duly elected as the society’s first chairman.

In 1980 the Portchester Society published a booklet, ‘A Portchester Walk’.

Members of the Society took a leading role in 1992 in a fund-raising group whose purpose was to renovate the lych-gate at St. Mary’s Church and save it from falling into decay.

In 1999 the Society, with assistance from the ‘Awards for All’ millennium grant, decided to place twelve blue plaques on buildings of historical interest around the village.  This project was followed by the production of a booklet describing the project and the plaques together with their locations.

The work of The Portchester Society continued successfully until in the autumn of 1999 when the Trustees of Portchester Parish Hall, announced that they were considering a plan to demolish the hall, sell the site to a developer and to build a new hall in Castle Street, near to the Shopping Precinct.  An alternative plan to renovate the existing Parish Hall was considered, by the Trustees, to be too expensive.  The Trustees held a public meeting at the Parish Hall on 10^th. November 1999 and invited Portchester residents to express their views.

A campaign to retain and repair the Parish Hall and to oppose its demolition was mounted and in a petition of local residents over 1900 signatures in favour of its retention was presented to Fareham Borough Council.  However the Council supported the application by The Trustees to demolish the Parish Hall and gave outline planning consent for a new Parish Hall on a garden site.

The Portchester Society supported the retention of the Parish Hall, but a significant proportion of the Society’s management committee voted with the Parish Hall Trustees in opposition to the majority view of the membership.  With this volte-face all the committee members, with one exception, resigned and ultimately formed another society in Portchester calling themselves the Portchester Civic Society, in December 2000.

Since that unfortunate schism, the original Portchester Society has continued its work and has been active in the community fulfilling its remit, to work for the betterment of life in the village.

In 2003, three members of the Portchester Society produced an illustrated book entitled “Portchester” containing many historic photographs illustrating life in the village during the early years of the twentieth century and earlier.  This has sold well and has been reprinted several times.

Following the Society’s founding principles members successfully campaigned against the development of a Greenfield site in Cranleigh Road, Portchester, in 2006 and lodged objections at the Public Enquiry which was held in that year.  In the same year, in association with other organisations, they planted the Trafalgar Oaks to the west of Nelson’s Monument on the hill above Portchester and in the village, including all the schools, in commemoration of the 200^th. anniversary of the death of Admiral Lord Nelson.