Poster promoting Portsmouth 100: Our Naval City Festival

Find out about the people, places and stories that have shaped the naval city of Portsmouth

Guy Collender

4 min

History School of Area Studies, Sociology, History, Politics, and Literature School of Architecture, Art and Design Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries Centre for Port Cities and Maritime Cultures History, politics, and international relations

Researchers from the University of Portsmouth's Centre for Port Cities and Maritime Cultures will share their expertise about women in the dockyard, the Royal Navy's global influence and more at a series of free talks at the Portsmouth 100: Our Naval City Festival on Saturday 3rd October. The programme take places in Storehouse 9 in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard from 10am-5pm. 

More than 10 academics from Portsmouth will join other experts to deliver presentations focusing on three themes: 

  • The women of the dockyard: The role of women over 500 years of naval history
  • Conserving the dockyard: Preserving 500 years of maritime history for future generations
  • The city and the dockyard: How Portsmouth develops because of the naval presence

The University of Portsmouth speakers from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries are: Dr George Ackers, Dr Melanie Bassett, Professor Brad Beaven, Dr Karl Bell, Dr Maria Cannon and undergraduate History students Serena Ablett, Evelyn Blackmore-Tagg and Mel Slama-Hardy, Dr Ann Coats, Dr Matthew Heaslip, Professor Anne Murphy, Paola Palma, and Dr Tarek Teba (see full programme below for the titles of their presentations). After each talk there will be an opportunity for questions.

Portsmouth 100: Our Naval City Festival is an opportunity to celebrate Portsmouth's centenary as a city. In addition to the talks, the public will also be able to enjoy a packed programme of live music and performances, historic vessels and vehicles, fascinating tours, family activities, food and drink, charity stands and market traders. Organisations involved include the Mary Rose Trust, Portsmouth Historic Quarter, Royal Navy and the University of Portsmouth. 

University of Portsmouth undergraduate students from the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries will provide professional filming support for the Festival. This is not a simulated university exercise but an opportunity to work on a significant live civic event for external partners and a public audience. Students will apply their production skills in a genuine professional context while contributing directly to the cultural life of the city.

The programme of presentations and parallel sessions is as follows: 

The Women of the Dockyard: The role of women over 500 years of naval history
Chaired by Professor Anne Murphy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education), University of Portsmouth
Storehouse 9, Left side

10:30-10:45

Professor Anne Murphy, 

University of Portsmouth

 Welcome and introductions
10:45-11:20 Dr Maria Cannon, University of Portsmouth, and undergraduate History students Serena Ablett, Evelyn Blackmore-Tagg and
Mel Slama-Hardy 		 Women and the Mary Rose
11:30-12:05  Melanie Holihead, FRHistS Their allotted place: Exploring the hidden community of naval seamen's women in nineteenth-century Portsmouth
12:05-13:05 Break  
13:05-13:15

Professor Anne Murphy, 

University of Portsmouth

 Afternoon welcome and introductions
13:15-13:50  Margarette Lincoln  Women in the Georgian era
14:00-14:35  Dr George Ackers and Dr Melanie Bassett, both University of Portsmouth A woman's work? Rethinking women's work in the Royal Dockyards
14:35-14:45  Professor Anne Murphy, University of Portsmouth Closing remarks

Conserving the dockyard: Preserving 500 years of maritime history for future generations
Chaired by Dr Tarek Teba, Associate Professor in Architectural Heritage, University of Portsmouth
Storehouse 9, Left side

15:00-15:15 Dr Tarek Teba, University of Portsmouth Welcome and introductions
15:15-15:50 Paola Palma, University of Portsmouth Heritage at risk: How environmental changes can threaten our identity (the mysterious case of the Mary Rose Woodborers)
16:00-16:35

Dr Eleanor Schofield, 

Mary Rose Trust

 Where the arts meet science: Keeping Mary Rose shipshape
16:35-16:45 Dr Tarek Teba,
University of Portsmouth		 Closing remarks

The city and the dockyard: How Portsmouth develops because of the naval presence
Chaired by Dr Karl Bell, Co-director, Centre for Port Cities and Maritime Cultures, University of Portsmouth
Storehouse 9, Right side
 

10:30-10:45 Dr Karl Bell,
University of Portsmouth		 Welcome and introductions
10:45-11:20 Dr Ian Friel The navy vanishes: England and war at sea, 1204-1514
11:30-12:05 Dr Matthew Heaslip, 
University of Portsmouth		 100 years of Portsmouth's global naval influence
12:05 Break  
13:05-13:15 Dr Karl Bell, 
University of Portsmouth		 Afternoon welcome and introductions
13:15-13:50 Dr Dominic Fontana The Cowdray engraving - An image of Portsmouth and the Solent: Picturing a naval and military landscape from Tudor England
14:00-14:35 Dr Alexzandra Hildred, 
Mary Rose Trust		 Henry VIII's army by sea: The nascent navy
14:45-15:20 Dr Ann Coats, 
University of Portsmouth		 Portsmouth: 100 years a city, 500 years a dockyard town
15:30-16:05  Professor Brad Beaven, University of Portsmouth, and Dr Louise Moon When sailors and soldiers fought in the street: The Queen Street riot and the people of Portsea, 1850
16:15-16:50 Dr Sean Cunningham and Hannah Leueen Matthews  Building Tudor Portsmouth
16:50-17:00 Dr Karl Bell, 
University of Portsmouth		 Closing remarks