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The Ship Anson The site of The Ship Anson in Portsmouth, home of the Royal Navy has been associated with pubs and ale houses since the 1600s. You've probably heard the expression 'to take the King's Shilling'. The Ship Anson pub is right next to where the expression originated. It seems one Louisa Walcott ran a pub called the London Tavern there. She dropped coins into her unwary customers' tankards. Traditionally, once they drank, they had taken the King's Shilling and were recruited into the Navy. According to some reports she recruited 26572 men into the Navy that way. The Luftwaffe put an end to the London Tavern in WWII. The beer garden of the older pub, the Ship Anson is where the London Tavern once stood. Though it too has a pub landlady, and though the Royal Navy is still very much in evidence here, you can down a pint without worries about recruitment. This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-RX100 |
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The Mudlarks Memorial The Memorial is located on the Hard, close to the Dockyard gates, overlooking the harbour. The Memorial inscription says "The statue commemorates the generations of Portsea children who enjoyed mudlarking here, entertaining travellers by retrieving coins they threw into the mud below the bridge to the harbour station and Gosport Ferry. Boys and girls would scramble to find the money tossed down, sometimes diving into the mud, performing handstands or dipping their heads in it. Many Portsea families lived in poverty so the small change was welcomed. Usually, what the children did not spend on sweets or pie and chips was given to mum to help out the family finances. Most parents disapproved of their children's activities, while the police regarded mudlarking as begging and tried to stop it. Mudlarking supplemented other ways of earning a few shillings, such as carrying passengers' bags or finding drivers parking spaces. The building of the new bus terminus in 1976/7 put an end to mudlarking." This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-RX100 |
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Portsmouth Harbour Station This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-RX100 |
