Portsmouth enrols 23,000 students and is ranked among the world's best modern universities. Portsmouth is also the birthplace of author Charles Dickens and engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The Romans built Portus Adurni, a fort, at nearby Portchester in the late third century. The city's Old English name "Portesmuða" is derived from "port", meaning a haven, and "muða", the mouth of a large river or estuary. The "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" has a warrior called Port and his two sons killing a noble Briton in Portsmouth in 501. Winston Churchill, in his "A History of the English-Speaking Peoples", says that Port was a pirate
Portsmouth Harbour the north western section of Portsmouth Harbour. Closer to the harbour entrance on the Gosport side is Burrow Island, also known as Rat Island. <br>Camber Dock is the oldest developed part of the Portsmouth Harbour complex. Lying within the historic area of Old Portsmouth, it is part of Portsmouth Point that lies outside the original fortified boundaries of Portsmouth. After improvements in the King James's and Landport Gates and the areas military defences, civilian building of dockside storage and ancillary servicing facilities began from 1590. With major ships anchored at Spithead, from the 18th century the surrounding area became noted