Edna asked about Alfred Street in Portsea. Edna is always keen to help others on this list, so I think she deserves some help in return. Alfred ROAD is the road that passes on the north side of the RC Cathedral from the junction of Queen Street and Edinburgh Road to join Unicorn Road. However this is not Alfred Street. Alfred Street ran north from Charlotte Street to New Row at the end of Thomas Street. It ran behind St Agatha’s Church, parallel to Conway Street, which ran in front of St Agatha’s. This area was a real slum in the 19th century, full of pubs, prostitutes and poverty, and into it came a remarkable man, Father Dolling, whose mission was to rescue souls, particularly the young. Look him up in Wikipedia and then take the link to the book “Father Dolling - A Memoir by Joseph Clayton” . Wonderfully the whole book is on line! It will give you a wonderful insight into the area and Dolling’s fight with the established church. I’m sure you will enjoy it, as will anybody interested in Portsmouth history. It was Dolling who established St Agatha’s. The area was terribly devastated in the blitz but somehow St Agatha’s survived, serving as a Naval Store for many years. It even survived Portsmouth Corporation’s development of the area (unlike Alfred Street) , although they criminally knocked down the Lady Chapel to run the new road Market Way alongside it opposite the notorious concrete Tricorn. St Agatha’s was splendid, and the superb sgraffito work by Heywood Sumner is nationally famous (and probably on line). The area is being redeveloped again as the site for the new shopping centre The Northern Quarter. Michael Dummer (researching all Dummers)