GOSPORT, a fortified seaport and market town of Hampshire, England, on the western side of Portsmouth harbour, near its mouth, directly opposite and about a mile from Portsmouth, with which it is connected by a floating bridge moved by a steam engine working on two fixed chains. The old fortifications built at the end of last century are now obsolete, and a line of new forts has been erected about two miles from the town, extending from the Solent to the upper part of Portsmouth harbour, with accommodation for two regiments of infantry and a brigade of artillery. Near the town is the royal St Clarence victualling yard, with brewery, cooperage, powder-magazines, biscuitbaking establishment, and storehouses for various kinds of provisions for the royal navy. Adjoining this yard there are large Government powder magazines and a laboratory for making fusees and rockets. Within the old fortifications a fine new barracks has been erected with accommodation for 1100 men, and another barracks with accommodation for 1600 men adjoining it. The principal other buildings are the town-hall and market-place, the church of Holy Trinity, erected in the time of William III., and the magnificent Haslar naval hospital, capable of containing 2000 patients. Gosport has an extensive establishment for the manufacture of anchors and chain cables, and it is also celebrated for its yacht-building and sail-making establishments. The coasting trade is considerable. The town is said to have received its name, Gosport or God’s Port, from Bishop Henry de Blois, who put in here for shelter during a severe storm in 1158. It was then only a small fishing village. According to another supposition its original name was Gorse Port, and it was so called from the gorse and furze with which the commons in ...