Portsmouth Historic Dockyard has held a Victorian Christmas Festival since 1999 and it’s hard to think of a more perfect setting for something like this. The buildings and presence of historic ships such as HMS Warrior and HMS Victory fit in perfectly with the theme for the festival and if it takes place with decent weather then the sight of those vessels, masts, brick buildings, and all the people dressing up as Victorian policemen, ladies of the night, street urchins, chimney sweeps, soldiers, musicians, and just plain pedestrians is almost magical in its ability to transport you back to a time long before you were born.
We visited the Victorian Christmas Festival at Portsmouth Dockyard in 2007 and got lucky with some clear but not too cold weather. It made for good photography conditions to explore the historic area of the city and it meant that many of the performers didn’t need to wrap up too tightly to hide their period costumes. The Christmas theme was brought into the event with some artificial snow in one spot.
Being in the dockyard gave us the chance to get on board and below the decks of HMS Victory and we took it, as we always do when we visit.
There was plenty of entertainment from music and dances to suffragette protests and shows, along with attractions that felt in keeping with the Victorian festival theme such as fortune tellers, a helter skelter ride, and all the stalls had appropriate signage and people in outfits. There was enough to keep us engaged for several hours and by that I mean that, yes, you could buy alcohol. Portsmouth’s dockyard is within a hundred-or-so metres of Gunwharf too so as a venue it made a perfect location for a day out; the Victorian Christmas festival is well worth visiting if you get the chance.
