# Pounds Shipbreakers Portsmouth



## Caveman (Nov 8, 2010)

I first heard about this place in the 'After the Battle' magazines back in the '80s. My Step-father had also visited the place so as to buy a couple of anchors for his mooring in Portchester creek by the castle. His tales of tanks stacked three high in places made me wonder what was there.

http://www.afterthebattle.com/osCommerce/product_info.php?products_id=153
http://www.afterthebattle.com/osCommerce/product_info.php?products_id=141

So when I had a bit of time to kill while working in Portsmouth I went searching with the camera & asked permission to go walk-about, to which it was freely given. I wish that I had taken many more photos back in those days as, having read about it on this forum site the place is no longer there. So here is what I have...







This Churchill is an armoured recovery vehicle fitted fitted with a false gun barrel. Pounds used it to tow other equipment around the yard.






A small armoured car under the M275. I think that it is a Ferret. There was another one in better condition in the shed.






A large breech loader gun of a similar type as can be seen at Fort Newhaven. Might be a 6 inch.






Several ships wait to be broken up. The sub is the one that is shown on the front cover of the ATB magazine.






What looks like a Bren gun carrier. There were quite a few of these around the place.






This is either a Sexton or a Priest. The Sherman chassis was also used as a platform for a big bored mortar.






Another Sherman chassised AFV, either a Sexton or a Priest (25 pounder equipped).






A pile of shells and a cannon, probably from Napolionic hulk ships moored in the estuary.






Yet another stack of shells and propellant canisters.






Two Warsaw Pact T34/85s. These still had there full complement of accessories on board, with the pickaxe heads and hacksaw blades still covered in greaseproof paper on them. There was even a drivers protective headgear still sitting on the seat as was the commander's intercom. 






The armoured car of the same type as shown earlier, but in almost perfect condition and complete with turret machine gun.

Hope that this fills in a few blank spaces in the history of Pounds in Portsmouth.


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## Incognito (Nov 8, 2010)

thats superb, I wonder where they all ended up


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## ceejam (Nov 8, 2010)

Lovely stuff, that is brilliant, thanks for sharing


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## smiffy (Nov 8, 2010)

Thats some great photos....I was in and out of there a lot in the mid 80s early 90s doing a bit of business with the Pounds family but (duh!) never even thought to take a camera..that shed the T34s are in was amazing ...I likened it to the warehouse seen at the end of 'Raiders of the Lost Arc'.....there was an incredible amount of gear stacked in there.....when I first mooched it there was about a dozen ex WD US Army Harley motorcycles in there and also a beautiful Humber Staff car dating from about the 1950s...plus loads of kit like outboard motors,uniforms, jeeps & jeep trailers and as you said quite a few of those little tracked Bren carriers of various makes and models ..There were still an awful lot of tanks and armoured vehicles in the yard in those days too ...lots of Churchills and a few Shermans seemed to be a lot of those Sextons and Priests and also quite a lot of armoured cars of various makes...When After the Battle did their feature on Peter Grays M10 there was another M10 a bit further back in the undergrowth...this one was bought by a fella just down the road from me and was completely rebuilt over the next few years before being sold to a Canadian Museum and transported back across the Atlantic.............great stuff...Many thanks for sharing your photos they really took me back..


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## night crawler (Nov 8, 2010)

A brilliant report just a shame the place is around no longer.


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## Foxylady (Nov 9, 2010)

Great to see some of the stuff that was there. I seem to recall that there were a couple of larc lx's there at one time. So many amazing things.


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## recrudesce (Nov 9, 2010)

the LARC's are still there.


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## hydealfred (Nov 9, 2010)

Nice report - good to see some different subject matter


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## sqwasher (Nov 10, 2010)

Great to see how it used to look 'back in the day'! Nice one!


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## Mole Man (Nov 10, 2010)

I to can remember see this place in the 80’s and 90’s with all the ships on the shore around the place and other bit on the land, and when it was sold off as lots for scrap, a good few years ago.

A good report and pictures there.


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## hydealfred (Nov 10, 2010)

Anyone know the name of the submarine that was here - I did know but can't remember  Used to always see it when driving down the motorway. I believe it may have been from WW2 although cant be sure.


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## smiffy (Nov 11, 2010)

hydealfred said:


> Anyone know the name of the submarine that was here - I did know but can't remember  Used to always see it when driving down the motorway. I believe it may have been from WW2 although cant be sure.



don't know the name but as I recall from the After The Battle issue it was a First World War sub....maybe wrong mind..


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## Trinpaul (Nov 18, 2010)

Thank you so much for these pictures, talk about a flashback  it brings back a lot of memories. I remember that old submarine and I think there may have been some more WW2 navy assets there. Great post mate!


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## Caveman (Nov 19, 2010)

hydealfred said:


> Anyone know the name of the submarine that was here - I did know but can't remember  Used to always see it when driving down the motorway. I believe it may have been from WW2 although cant be sure.



Quote from the ATB magazine says that the sub was the S29 built at Quincy on the River Fore & launched in November 1922. It was on lend-lease to the Royal Navy in 1940 & numbered P556. The batteries exploded at Weymouth and was towed to Gosports HMS Dolphin submarine training school sometime in 1941-42 and finally sent to the scrap yard after the war.


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