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
Fortifications of Portsmouth demolished. Of the four gates in the walls of Old Portsmouth only Landport Gate survives in its original position. King James's gate, Lion Gate and Unicorn Gate have been re-erected slightly further away. Anti tank defence blocks on Fraser Beach are now a grade 2 listed structure. A pair of links from one of the harbour boom chains are on display at Southsea castle. One of the Pickett-Hamilton forts constructed to protect the airport has been placed on display outside the D-Day Museum in Southsea. Fortifications of Portsmouth The fortifications of Portsmouth are extensive due to its strategic position on