Start: Hayling Ferry, Ferry Road, Southsea, Portsmouth PO4 9LY.

Location 1: Mulberry Harbour Phoenix Caisson Viewing Point. 

Location 2: D-Day Memorial, and South Parade Pier Embarkation Site.  

Location 3: The D-Day Story Museum, and D-Day Landing Craft LCT 

Location 4: The Royal Navy Memorial, Southsea Common.

Optional Locations of D-Day Interest:

Location 5: Quay House.

Location 6: The Camber Embarkation Site.

Hint: The D-Day Story Is the principle UK Museum for D-Day preparations, D Day landings and Landing Craft. Ensure that you allow enough time and adjust your visit accordingly. 

Location 1: Mulberry Harbour Phoenix Caisson Viewing Point

Parking: Various Places on Ferry Road, Southsea, Portsmouth PO4 9LY

Toilets: None. Closest Toilets near to Icon marked Eastney Beach on Map.

Refreshments: Temporary Refreshments Van close to R.N.L.I. Station.

Walk towards the Langstone Harbour end of the Spit to view the Phoenix Caisson.

Remains of Phoenix Caisson in Langston Harbour (c) BDDH Collection

From this location you can see the abandoned Mulberry Harbour Phoenix Caisson. Also across the water to the east is the Mulberry Phoenix Caisson Construction Site on Hayling Island. Please note that there are very strong currents at the entrance to Langstone Harbour. 

If this is the first section of your tour you can take the Ferry to Hayling Island and the Mulberry Phoenix construction site opposite. The Ferry trip also provides an excellent view of the abandoned Caisson.

Travel to Location 2 past Fort Cumberland which was The Inter-Services Training and Development Centre, and was established here in 1938 to conduct experiments in Combined Operations techniques for landing troops on enemy shores.

Note: This spit is the location of several Anti-tank blocks many still in their original position on the right of Ferry Road as you head to Location 2.

Location 2: D-Day Memorial and Embarkation Point

Parking: Free for 3 hours St Helens Parade adjacent to Canoe Lake

Toilets: South east corner of Canoe Lake.

Refreshments: Café in Canoe Lake, on the seafront and Pier at high season.

Walk to the Memorial which is located between St Helens Parade and Eastney Esplanade adjacent to Bus Terminus 

Sadly not a lot is known about this memorial and it is easy to walk past. From the south, and busiest part of the esplanade it just looks like a concrete block with ‘D Day’ marked on the side.

However, the main inscriptions on the reverse side explain when the memorial was unveiled and the significance of the block itself.

From 1939 Britain was under a very real threat from invasion. Beaches and vulnerable parts of the coast were covered with concrete defences and huge cobwebs of barbed wire and scaffolding. The antitank block (Cube) defences placed on the beaches and along the roads inland provided a significant barrier that would at the very least slow down an enemy’s progress until reinforcements arrived.

These relatively simple cubes could be cast in situ or close to where needed and thousands, perhaps millions were placed on and around the coast. The use of the block is a symbol of the shift from a defensive position, with D Day marking the move of Britain to an offensive role with the words:

1940
FRANCE AND THE LOW
COUNTRIES HAVING BEEN
OVERRUN WE LABOURED
ALONE TO OBSTRUCT
OUR COASTS WITH SUCH
BLOCKS AS THIS AGAINST
INVASION BY THE
ENEMIES OF FREEDOM

1944
YET FROM THIS VERY
BEACH IN THE COMPANY
OF POWERFUL ALLIED
MANY THOUSANDS OF
OUR MEN EMBARKED ON
THE GREAT ADVENTURE OF
LIBERATING EUROPE AND
ACHIEVED THEIR OBJECTIVE.

The memorial is close to Southsea Pier an embarkation site for the Normandy Landings (Next Location) and was unveiled on 6 June 1948 by Field Marshal, The Rt Hon, The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein K.G., G.C.B., D.S.O. in the company of Frank Miles JP, the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, Town Clerk Mr V. Blanchard L.L.M., and A.J. Sharpe F.R.I.B.A. City Architect.

In 1974 a condition report notes that it was in poor condition after being hit by a car and several lawn mowers.

Cross the road to the south of the Memorial and the next location: Eastney Esplanade and South Parade Pier. 

South Parade Pier

Construction of the pier started in 1878 and was officially opened on 26 July 1879. The pier's pavilion was destroyed by fire on 19 July 1904. The pier was then sold to the Portsmouth corporation and officially reopened 12 August 1908. It is reported that some parts of the pier were dismantled to prevent access, by an invasion force.

The Pier is one of at least four Embarkation sites in Portsmouth. Both before and after D-Day, large numbers of troops embarked onto landing craft at South Parade Pier as part of Operation Neptune, the naval arm of the Overlord offensive. Temporary piers were built from scaffolding alongside the pier close to where the above left image was taken. This was used to increase the number of troops that could be loaded simultaneously.

The image on the right shows troops waiting to board an Infantry Landing Craft (LCI) at the temporary pier. Others were boarded at the landing stage at the end of the pier which is still accessible.     

The Royal Beach Hotel, situated just behind the pier, was the wartime home of Portsmouth Corporation, after the Guildhall had been damaged by enemy bombing in 1941.

The next location is 1/2 Mile to the west along Clarence Parade

Location 3: The D-Day Story Museum, and D-Day Landing Craft LCT 7074

Parking: Pay & Display D-Day Story Car Park or On Street Pay & Display

Toilets: In D-Day Story Car Park or the Museum Building.

Refreshments: In D-Day Story Museum. (You do not have to have paid entry to use Café)

The D-Day Story is the Premier D-Day History Museum in Britain and as the name suggests, covers every aspect of the planning, and all operations associated with the Normandy Landings. There is a charge to enter the D-Day Story. For further details and to book advance tickets at discount prices visit the website www.theddaystory.com  

It is impossible to provide any advice on how long the visit could take, but a guide time is two-three hours. We and the Museum advise that you start the visit by viewing the Landing Craft, Tank as it provides context for the rest of the collection and more importantly closes at 3.30pm, before the main museum. This exhibit is technically part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy. However, a ticket to the Historic Dockyard does NOT cover Landing Craft LCT7074 

The D-Day Story

Open 10:00 to 17:00 (17:30 from April to September) daily, except 24, 25, and 26 December.

Last admission is 15:30 to LCT 7074 and 16:00 to the museum.

Landing Craft LCT7074 

This Landing craft is the last surviving preserved Tank Landing Craft. Its formal designation is Landing Craft Tank Mk III (LCT) and was built by R&W Hawthorn, Leslie & Co Ltd on the Tyne, launched on 4 April 1944 and saw active service as part of the Normandy Landings. On 9 May Sub-Lieutenant John Baggott took command sailing to the river Orwell in Suffolk. On 2 June they loaded tanks at Felixstowe and on 5 June started their journey around the south coast to Selsey before making their way south as part of Force L, the follow-up force supporting the British and Canadian landings at Sword Beach arriving on the night of 6/7 June. LCT7074 made its landing at 09.30 on 7 June at their pre-arranged location of Jig Green in Gold Sector close to the village of Asnelles-sur-Mer, where it was stranded after disembarking the tanks due to a broken, left winch ramp cable. 

After it was fixed they were assigned to take 200 prisoners back to Britain. However, after it was realised LCT 7074 had no guards the prisoners were taken off and the craft made its way to Southampton on 8 June, limping into port on 9 June having become separated from its convoy due to an engine problem. On 12 June it made a return trip, returning to Normandy again on 15 June, following which there was a serious engine fire. After repairs one of LCT7074's crew member's diary simply states 'July 1944 to February 1945. Constant trips across the Channel from Southampton or Dover to all parts of France with reinforcements and supplies' 

 From LCT7074 make your way west via Southsea Common to the Naval  Memorial

Location 4: The Royal Navy Memorial, Southsea Common

Parking: On-Street Pay & Display or Pay & Display Car parks to North and West of Southsea Common

Toilets: Clarence Pier to west of Southsea Common.

Refreshments: Café D-Day Story or Clarence Pier.

Note: The Esplanade to the south of the common is closed from October 2024 for at least two years. Access to the Memorial is now only from the Common side. There is a step free access route from the D-Day Story and Clarence Pier ends via a tarmac path. 

Naval Memorial with WW2 extension ©BDDH Collection

Portsmouth Royal Naval Memorial commemorates Portsmouth-based sailors of the First and Second World Wars who have no known grave other than the sea. These include sailors and Royal Marines who were killed on D-Day and during the Normandy campaign. 

History and Context

Following the First World War, an appropriate way needed to be found of commemorating those members of the Royal Navy who had no known grave, the majority of deaths having occurred at sea where no permanent memorial could be provided.

An Admiralty committee recommended that the three manning ports in Great Britain - Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth - should each have an identical memorial of unmistakable naval form, an obelisk, which would also serve as a leading mark for shipping. The memorials were designed by Sir Robert Lorimer, who had already carried out a considerable amount of work for the Commission, with sculpture by Henry Poole. The Portsmouth Naval Memorial was unveiled by the Duke of York (the future George VI) on 15 October 1924.

After the Second World War it was decided that the naval memorials should be extended to provide space for commemorating the naval dead without graves of that war, but since the three sites were dissimilar, a different architectural treatment was required for each. The architect for the Second World War extension at Portsmouth was Sir Edward Maufe (who also designed the Air Forces memorial at Runnymede) and the additional sculpture was by Charles Wheeler, William McMillan, and Esmond Burton. The Extension that includes a grass area, planting and two-barrel vaulted pavilions either side of the enclosure at the rear providing access to and from the Obelisk memorial. The Extension was unveiled by the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother on the 29th April 1953.

The Portsmouth Naval Memorial commemorates around 10,000 sailors of World War one and almost 15,000 of World War two.

The Centenary of the original obelisk world War One Memorial was marked In October 2024, with a commemoration service.

The Memorial is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Optional Locations of D-Day Interest:

Both are very close to each other and can be explored on foot

Location 5: Quay House.

Parking:  Section of Free Parking on Broad Street (Check Signs) plus on-Street  ad Car Park Pay & Display close by 

Toilets:  Hotwalls Old Portsmouth Wall.

Refreshments:  Various locations. The Canteen, Baffled Coffee Bar, The Spinnaker Café  and several Public Houses.

 Quay House © BDDH Collection

Quay House, at 62-70 Broad Street, Old Portsmouth, was the Embarkation Area HQ for the Portsmouth sector. It had the role of co-ordinating the loading of troops onto the ships at the four main Portsmouth embarkation sites.

The former offices were built in 1938-39 for Fraser and White coal merchants

The staff at Quay House were tasked with moving troops from their transit camps to the ships in the sequence that they were to be deployed.

Location 6: The Camber and other Portsmouth Embarkation Site.

Parking:  Section of Free Parking on Broad Street (Check Signs) plus on-Street  ad Car Park Pay & Display close by 

Toilets:  Hotwalls Old Portsmouth Wall.

Refreshments:  Various locations. The Canteen, Baffled Coffee Bar, The Spinnaker Café  and several Public Houses.

The Camber is the site of Portsmouth’s oldest commercial docks. Commercial ships have been landing goods at the town that grew up around the Camber since the owner of a fleet of merchant ships, Jean de Gisors, decided in around 1180, that the sheltered harbour at The Camber was the ideal place to start a town from which he could trade with Normandy.

This was one of several locations that were used to load and berth vessels connected with D-Day. There were two further Embarkation/Berthing areas (Now not accessible to the public), the Railway station (Infantry, LCI) and Portsmouth Commercial Docks.  It is likely that these locations were only used only for men and supplies. Machinery, Tanks and Vehicles were loaded at Gosport and Stokes Bay, as we will discover in Tour 3.

From the area in front of the Spice Island Pub at the end of Broad Street, the Railway station berth is now used for the Isle of Wight and Gosport Passenger Ferries. The area to the south of the Gosport side of the Ferry was another Embarkation point for Landing Craft, Tank LCT, but all traces have now gone. 

This is the end of Tour 2 of the Solent: D-Day in a Nutshell Tour. 

Tour 3 Begins at: Southwick Village Hall  Google Maps Ref: 50.873444, -1.110358