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Southsea sits on the southern tip of Portsea Island, looking directly out across the Solent toward the Isle of Wight. Originally developed in the 19th century as a fashionable Victorian seaside resort, it evolved around the defences of Southsea Castle, which was built by Henry VIII to guard the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour. Today, the area is defined by its extensive common - a large expanse of open grassland that buffers the residential streets from the pebble shoreline and the promenade. The housing is largely a mix of substantial Victorian and Edwardian terraces, many of which are tall, three-storey builds with distinctive bay windows. Life here tends to revolve around Albert Road and Palmerston Road; these streets are the local hubs, filled with independent bookshops, hardware stores, and a long-standing variety of pubs and eateries. It is a geographically compact place, almost entirely flat, which makes it an easy area to navigate on foot or by bike, though it still retains the slightly salt-crusted, lived-in feel of a working coastal town rather than a manicured museum piece.