Fratton is a

residential A residential area is a land used in which houses, housing predominates, as opposed to industrial district, industrial and Commercial Area, commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include ...

and formerly industrial area of

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. 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 typically specializing in Short order cooking, short order fare. The term is also used in the UK–along with the informal term "caff" for café–to refer to a small privately-owned eatery that tradi ...

" cafes, as well as The Bridge Shopping Centre containing an

Asda Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded ...

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". There is a commemorative plaque by the petrol station near Fratton Asda, marking where a bomb shelter was hit by a bomb on 10 January 1941, killing 80 people. 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

. 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 of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

, Fratton is represented as part of the

Portsmouth South Portsmouth South is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 United Kingdom general election, 2017 by Stephen Mor ...

constituency. Since 2017, Stephen Morgan of the Labour Party has been the member of parliament for Portsmouth South. In local government, Fratton is a

Portsmouth City Council Portsmouth City Council is the local authority of the city of Portsmouth, in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. Portsmouth has had a council since medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1997 the council ha ...

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 an act of birth control during sexual intercourse, whereby the penis is withdrawn from a vagina prior to ejaculation so that the ejaculate (semen) may be d ...

of contraception, "getting off at Fratton", due to Fratton railway station being the last stop before Portsmouth's busiest and largest station - Portsmouth & Southsea railway station. However, Royal Naval personnel most commonly use Portsmouth Harbour railway station, which is the end of the line and a short walk from the entrance to the Royal Naval Dockyard. * Despite its well known name, Portsmouth F.C.'s

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a association football, football ground in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, and is the home of Portsmouth F.C., Portsmouth Football Club. Fratton Park's location on Portsea Island is unique in English professional football, as it ...

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 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

{{Reflist Areas of Portsmouth