The Golden Barque
The original eighteenth-century weathervane, blown down in a 1950s storm and now displayed inside the cathedral.
This cathedral's tower was a lighthouse before it was a bell tower. For centuries the sailors of Portsmouth steered by it as they entered the harbour, and above its wooden cupola a small golden ship turned with the wind from the early eighteenth century until a storm knocked it down in the 1950s; the original is now displayed inside, near the south door. That bond with the sea, not the size of the building, is the point here, and the city's nickname for it, the Cathedral of the Sea, is earned. The building tells a three-part story you can read on foot: a chancel and transepts from the late twelfth century, when a Norman merchant named Jean de Gisors gave the land for a chapel in honour of Thomas Becket; a nave and tower rebuilt between 1683 and 1693 after the English Civil War wrecked them; and a modern west end finished only in 1991. It became a cathedral as late as 1927, when the Diocese of Portsmouth was created, which explains why it feels closer to a big town church than to Canterbury or York. Do not arrive expecting vaults that make your neck ache. What repays a pause inside is short but striking: the grave of an unknown sailor from the Mary Rose, Henry VIII's flagship, which sank in 1545, was raised in 1982 and had one of her crew buried here in 1984; a fragment of the ensign HMS Victory flew at Trafalgar in 1805; and a ceramic Virgin and Child from the Italian workshop of Andrea della Robbia. Entry is free, a £5 donation is suggested, and nothing needs booking. Treat it as a half-hour stop on an Old Portsmouth walk between Gunwharf Quays and the Round Tower on the harbour mouth, not a destination in itself. Level access through the north and south doors makes it easy with a pushchair, and there are ground-floor toilets. There is no cafe inside, but High Street has plenty. Portsmouth Harbour station is about a 15-minute walk; parking in Old Portsmouth is very scarce, so leave the car at Gunwharf Quays. It opens daily, usually 9am to 6.30pm on weekdays, closing around 4pm on Saturdays and opening from 8am on Sundays, with full closures for big services, so check the website before you go.
The original eighteenth-century weathervane, blown down in a 1950s storm and now displayed inside the cathedral.
An unknown crewman from Henry VIII's flagship, lost in 1545, was buried here in 1984 after the wreck was raised.
A twelfth-century chancel, a seventeenth-century nave and tower, and a west end completed in 1991.
High Street, Old Portsmouth, PO1 2HA
As a short stop yes, as a destination no. Fold it into the Old Portsmouth walk from Gunwharf Quays to the Round Tower; twenty minutes inside is enough, and if time is tight the Dockyard and HMS Victory matter far more.
Yes, level access through both doors and ground-floor toilets, but there is little to hold children for long; the Mary Rose sailor's grave and the golden ship are what might catch them, then carry on to the seafront and the Round Tower.