1642 - Royalist Portsmouth
Colonel Goring (Governor of Portsmouth) declares for the King. Lord Clarendon in speaking in Parliament Declared: “From the Governor of a place that had the reputation of being the only place of strength in England - and situated by the sea, put them into many apprehensions”
Civil War. C in C the Earl of Warwick suborned his Channel Fleet from the service of Charles I and captured Portsmouth Dockyard. Prince Rupert, for the King, managed to take away 30 royal ships. Parliament set the Dockyard to work to build new ships. Parliamentary forces captured Southsea Castle, bombarded Portsmouth from Gosport and forced the town to surrender. Governor Goring sailed for Holland with his supporters and threw the key of the Square Tower magazine into the harbour. The key was recovered and preserved in Portsmouth Museum until it was bombed in 1941.
Fort Charles built on Gosport shore and Fort James on Rat Island