Forton Creek
Encyclopedia
Gosport
Gosport is a town, district and borough situated on the south coast of England, within the county of Hampshire. It has approximately 80,000 permanent residents with a further 5,000-10,000 during the summer months...
, Hampshire. It is within the grounds of St Vincent College
St Vincent College
St Vincent College is a small co-educational sixth form college located in Gosport, Hampshire, England. The majority of students come from the surrounding towns including Gosport, Fareham, Stubbington and Winchester. The nearby Gosport Ferry link with Portsmouth also allows students from that city...
.The locality is the subject of a painting by Martin Snape
Martin Snape
Martin Snape was an English painter who worked in a variety of media . He concentrated mainly on topographical subjects including landscapes from the Meon Valley, and shore and maritime scenes around Portsmouth Harbour and his home town of Gosport...
which hangs in the town hall.
Forton Lake was the subject of a detailed archeological survey in 1997, and more recently the focus of the Forton Lake Archaeology Project, run by the Nautical Archaeology Society
Nautical Archaeology Society
The Nautical Archaeology Society is a charity registered in England and Wales and in Scotland and is a company limited by guarantee.The charitable aims and object of the company are to further research in Nautical Archaeology and publish the results of such research and to advance education and...
and Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology
Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology
The Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology is a charitable trust that researches and excavates maritime archaeology and heritage in Great Britain...
, from 2006 to 2008. The Project was a success, involving many local residents in actively finding out about their local heritage. The area will be the subject of another, separate archaeology project in June to August 2009, with the intention of continuing recording and survey work at Forton Lake and providing members of the local community with another chance to "get stuck in" and explore the heritage on their doorstep.
Forton Lake is known to have been in use since the early Saxon times, and its use has been continuous. Many of the wrecks located in the lake were used by the Royal Navy as barges or for transporting ammunitions and other goods from one place to another.
The east end of Forton Lake, as it becomes Portsmouth Harbour, is home to a footbridge built in 2000 as part of the Millennium Project.
