History
In 1807 Forton Barracks was built on top of Fortune Hospital, and between 1848-1923 it was the home of the Portsmouth Division of the Royal Marines Light Infantry. In 1927 the Barracks were recommissioned as HMS St. Vincent, as a Royal Naval training Establishment for boy seamen and juniors. In the second World War, with the evacuation of the boys away from Gosport, the establishment was used, in part, to train officers of the Fleet Air Arm. At the end of the war the establishment reverted to training boys and juniors until 1968 and the site was decommissioned from the Royal Navy in 1969.
St Vincent Secondary School opened in 1975 on the site, with most of the historic buildings of it's former Naval existence having been demolished. In 1987 Gosport Sixth Form College opened as part of the re-organisation of secondary education in the town. Initially the college shared the site with St Vincent Secondary School, but when the school's final Year 11 left in 1990, the present title was adopted.
There is a small museum on the site that has a number of artifacts and pictures of the site's time as a Naval Establishment, although this has only limited opening hours, and only at the weekend.
Read more about this topic: St Vincent College
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