Paulsgrove

Paulsgrove is an area of northern Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. Paulsgrove existed as a small hamlet on the old Portsmouth to Southampton road for many years. During the early twentieth century Paulsgrove Racecourse was built north of the village on the slopes of Portsdown Hill and a halt built to cater for raceday traffic ["Lost railways of Hampshire" Oppitz,L: Newbury, Countryside Books, 2001 ISBN 1853066893] . The area was incorporated into the city of Portsmouth in 1920.

Towards the end of World War II it became clear that to the City Council that a massive programme of house building was needed to replace those homes destroyed by bombing. As part of this programme, land in Paulsgrove was purchased and building began in 1945. The initial housing was prefabricated but later houses were built more conventionally.

In August 2000, Paulsgrove made the national and international news as mobs attacked residences of suspected and actual paedophiles. These disturbances came shortly after the News of the World put pressure on the government to give parents the right to know if their children are living close to a convicted sex offender, in response to the Murder of Sarah Payne in nearby West Sussex in July 2000. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/865289.stm] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bh/1474291.stm]

Roads

Southampton Road was built in 1958, replacing Medina Road as the main route between Portsmouth and Fareham.

A strip of open land was left throughout the estate during its construction in the 1950s to make way for the subsequent M27 motorway.

Churches

*St Michael and All Angels, the parish church of Paulsgrove was established as a mission centre in 1947, whilst work commenced on building a new parish church. St. Michael and All Angels was formerly constituted as an ecclesiastical parish of the Church of England in the Diocese of Portsmouth when the new parish church was consecrated in July 1957. The parish stands in the anglo-catholic tradition of the Church of England. There have been seven Vicars of the parish since 1957 [The current incumbent is Father Gary Waddington.] .
*The Baptist church was built in 1954. Prior to its building, a Sunday School was run at (then) Paulsgrove Secondary Modern School and there was a regular attendance of about 500 children on a Sunday afternoon. When the Baptist Church opened it was decided to intergate it into the church. Some, if not all of the Sunday School leaders became founder members of the church.
*St Paul's church was built in 1970. It is a Roman Catholic church which is situated next to St. Paul's Primary School. The school and church are connected through the Roman Catholic religion, with the schools choir often performing at the church. In the late '90s the school collected awards and trophies for both its sporting achivements as well as several awards for its musical achievements through its choir.

chools

Paulsgrove Primary School opened in the early 1950s. Paulsgrove Secondary Modern School opened in 1952 - it became King Richard School in 1975. In 2007 the school officially became an arts college. This means it is now a performing arts specialist. King Richard has also won and been runners up in the Rock Challenge. In 2006 six students from King Richards won Rock Challanges' stage crew of the year. The school's current headmaster is Brian Maclaren - his wife is head of the english department and a drama teacher.

port

Paulsgrove F.C. was formed in 1987, and currently play in Wessex League Division Two. In October 2007 the club gained a bye in the Hampshire Cup under somewhat unusual circumstances: drawn at home to play Kingston Arrows (a side composed entirely of long-stay prisoners [ See "Manslaughter United: a year with a prison football team" Hulme, C: London, Yellow Jersey 2000 ISBN 022405175X] ), their opponents were unable to fulfil the fixture [Southern Daily Echo Saturday 13th October 2007]

Etymology

Paulsgrove is believed to be named for St. Paul who, according to apocryphal legend, landed at the site at the start of his visit to Britain when it was part of the Roman empire. However a more likely explanation is revealed by certain old maps which show the area as PALS GRAVE, and is probably a reference to the last resting place of a (perhaps Saxon) local chief.

External links

* [http://www.portsdown-tunnels.org.uk/paulsgrove/estate/paulsgrove_p1.html Photographs of the construction of the estate]

References

* [http://www.paulsgrove.org.uk/ Paulsgrove Baptist Church]
* [http://www.paulsgrove.net/ Paulsgrove.net community portal]