Fratton is a

residential A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

and formerly industrial area of

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Victorian style terraced houses are dominant in the area, typical of most residential areas of Portsmouth. Fratton has many discount shops and "

greasy spoon A greasy spoon is a small, cheap restaurant – either an American diner or coffee shop, or a British or Irish cafe – typically specializing in fried foods or home-cooked meals. The term ''greasy spoon'' has been used in the United States si ...

" cafes, as well as the Bridge Centre

shopping centre A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

containing an

Asda Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of York ...

History

The name Fratton was once Froddington, a Saxon name which originally meant "Frodda's Farm" or "Frodda's village". A pub on Fratton Road is still named "The Froddington Arms". Goldsmith's Farm and Fratton Common were part of the original small rural village originally called Froddington, the only visible evidence of this being the presence of a public house, "The Froddington Arms" on the western side of Fratton Road. Froddington was one of the three small settlements on Portsea Island mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

. Due to developments during the industrial age, more of the surrounding land was absorbed by Portsmouth in the 1870s and 1880s, principally by new housing developments.

Politics

In the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremac ...

, Fratton is represented as part of the

Portsmouth South Portsmouth South is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Stephen Morgan of the Labour Party. Morgan is the first Labour MP to represent the seat. Boundaries 1918–1950: The County Borough of ...

constituency. Since 2017, Stephen Morgan of the Labour Party has been the

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Portsmouth South. In local government, Fratton is a

Portsmouth City Council Portsmouth City Council is the local authority of the city of Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government s ...

ward. It was formed for the 2002 Portsmouth City Council election as the successor to the pre-2002 Fratton ward. indicates seat up for election.

Trivia

* Fratton has been adopted in navy and local slang as a euphemism for the

withdrawal method ''Coitus interruptus'', also known as withdrawal, pulling out or the pull-out method, is a method of birth control in which a man, during sexual intercourse, withdraws his penis from a woman's vagina prior to ejaculation and then directs his ...

of contraception, "getting off at Fratton", due to

Fratton railway station Fratton railway station is a railway station in the city of Portsmouth, on Portsea Island in the United Kingdom. It was opened in the Fratton area of Portsmouth on 1 July 1885 as an interchange station between the London, Brighton and South Coast ...

being the last stop before Portsmouth's busiest and largest station -

Portsmouth & Southsea railway station Portsmouth & Southsea railway station is a Listed building#Grade II*, Grade II listed building and the main railway station in the Landport area of the city of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England. It is close to the Commercial Road shopping area. B ...

. * Despite its well known name, Portsmouth F.C.'s

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a football ground in Portsmouth, England, which is the home of Portsmouth F.C. Fratton Park remains as the only home football ground in Portsmouth FC's entire history. The early Fratton Park was designed by local architect A ...

stadium is not built in the Fratton district of Portsmouth, it was actually built between 1898 and 1899 on farmland around the (then) village of

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

on the eastern side of Portsea Island. The Fratton Park stadium is still within the neighbouring Milton district of Portsmouth, shown by the Portsmouth FC postal code, "PO4 8RA" which has a "PO4" prefix Milton district postal code, not a Fratton (and Portsmouth city centre) "PO1" prefixed code. The streets and houses immediately around Fratton Park are officially designated as being within the "Milton Ward" district for local and national governmental elections. The boundary line between Fratton and Milton is marked along the Portsmouth Direct Line railway line. Fratton Park is located south of the railway line and is therefore within the Milton district. * Fratton Park's name was deliberately (and misleadingly) chosen in 1899 to persuade users of Fratton railway and tram station that Portsmouth FC's football ground was nearer to convenient transport links than it actually was. Fratton railway station is approximately one mile away from Fratton Park, about a ten-minute walk along Goldsmith Avenue.

References

Areas of Portsmouth {{Hampshire-geo-stub