A history of Hampshire, including the Isle of Wight

POPULAR COUNTT HISTORIES.

HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE,

INCLUDING

THE ISLE OF WIGHT.

BY

T. W. SHORE, F.G.S., ETC.

LONDON :
ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.

1892.

-17

3 1982

16

PREFACE.

THE history of every county has been affected to some
extent by its natural features, and this is especially the
case in respect to that county whose history is sketched
in this volume. The County of Southampton or Hamp-
shire has been much favoured by nature, and its natural
advantages must have commended it to its early
inhabitants, whose connection with it are traced in these
pages.

The surface of the county consists largely of well- wooded
plains or valleys, and dry chalk hills which stretch across
it in a broad belt, having on the north and south of them
two other broad areas of clays, and sandy loams. Hamp-
shire is, and always has been, a woodland county, and its
forests have been much concerned with its history. Its
natural features have had a great influence on the growth
of its forests, for oak grows on the clay lands in all parts
of the county, while beech flourishes on the loamy soils
lying upon the slopes of the chalk hills, and upon similar
soils in the north and the south, and those areas which
contain more sand than clay can be distinguished by a
growth of pines and firs. Much of the land on the chalk

vi Preface.

hills was formerly old downland, a great part of which was
the common pasture-land of the ancient manors until the
time of the inclosures, since which time most of it has been
broken up and cultivated in large fields, under the modern
system of sheep farming.

A considerable part of the land in the south of the
county rests on a substratum of gravel which keeps the
soil dry, and has in modern times assisted in attracting a
large residential population.

Its landlocked harbours, its double tides in South-
ampton Water, an estuary which stretches into the interior
of the land, and leads into the long valleys of the Test and
the Itchen, and the many eligible sites for occupation,
must have invited settlements at as early a period as
any part of Britain.

The materials for the History of Hampshire are more
abundant than those of most English counties, as will be
seen in the following pages. No county offers a richer
field for the study of prehistoric or medieval archaeology.
A peculiarity in its history is the great part it has played
in national history, and especially during the Saxon and
Norman periods.

Its history has not been adequately written. An
attempt was made more than twenty years ago to produce
a reliable history of this county, and the late Mr. B. B.
Woodward collected valuable material for it and began the
work ; but he resigned the undertaking. The publishers
of the proposed history asked the late Rev. T. C Wilks,
to continue Mr. Woodward's work. He did so, and was
assisted, in respect to the part relating to the Isle of Wight,
by the late Mr. C. Lockhart. Their work was issued in
three quarto volumes in 1870 in an incomplete form, for

Preface. vii

many places in the county of great historical interest are
not even mentioned. In the preface he wrote, Mr. Wilks
acknowledged its many imperfections. Probably the
magnitude of such an undertaking and the cost of its
publication has deterred other students from attempting
to write a comprehensive history of this county. The
materials for its history have greatly increased since the
date of the above-mentioned publication, and every year
is adding to the bulk of this information. Owing to the
increase of historical knowledge, the time for attempting
to write the history of such a county as Hampshire, in one
comprehensive work, may have passed away.

Some valuable contributions to Hampshire history have
been published within the last few years, such as the
' History of the Parish of St. Mary Bourne,' by Dr. Joseph
Stevens ; and the ' History of Basingstoke,' by the Rev.
Dr. Millard and Mr. F. J. Baigent.

Two county societies are now engaged in collecting and
publishing historical and antiquarian information relating
to Hampshire — viz., the Hampshire Field Club, which is
concerned with Archaeology as well as Natural History,
and whose annual papers and proceedings are awakening
a great interest in the county antiquities ; and the Hamp-
shire Record Society, which is engaged in printing its
hitherto unpublished MS. treasures. It is intended by the
Record Society to publish the episcopal registers preserved
at Winchester, the chartularies and other MS. remains of
the abbeys, priories, and other religious houses, some of
the MSS. of the ancient municipal corporations, of the
old Hampshire Courts, and other valuable historical
matter.

It is hoped that the large and valuable historical MS.

Vlll

Preface.

collections relating to Hampshire, and especially to its
ecclesiastical affairs, made by Mr. F. J. Baigent, of
Winchester, may be published under that gentleman's
direction. Their publication would be of service to all
historical students, and would be welcomed by all who are
interested in the history of this county.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. PREHISTORIC HAMPSHIRE ..... I

II. THE FIRST CELTIC CONQUEST . . . . l6

III. THE CONQUEST AND SETTLEMENT OF THE BELG^E . 27

IV. THE COMING OF THE ROMANS . . . -37
V. THE WEST SAXON CONQUEST . . . -49

VI. EARLY WESSEX . . . . . 6 1

VII. EARLY KINGS OF WESSEX . . . -7°

VIII. LATER KINGS OF WESSEX . . . -79

IX. THE DANISH CONQUEST AND ITS RESULTS . . 89

X. THE EARLY NORMAN PERIOD . . . -99

XI. LATER NORMAN AND ANGEVIN RULE . . .Ill

XII. MONASTIC LIFE . . . . . .123

XIII. OTHER PHASES OF MEDIEVAL RELIGIOUS LIFE . . 137

XIV. MANORS AND HUNDREDS . . . . -147

XV. REMAINS AND LEGENDS OF THE MIDDLE AGES . 163

XVI. THE ISLE OF WIGHT . . . . .176

XVII. WINCHESTER . . . . . . 2OO

XVIII. WINCHESTER IN DECAY . . . . . 2l6

XIX. SOUTHAMPTON . . . . .227

XX. PORTSMOUTH ...... 242

XXI. LATER MEDIEVAL AND GENERAL HISTORY . . 253

XXII. CONCLUSION . . . . . .265

HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE.

CHAPTER I.
PREHISTORIC HAMPSHIRE.

THE earliest inhabitants we can trace in this part of
England are those who made rude stone implements by
chipping flints into the form of hatchets, spear-heads, and
other weapons, and are known as the Palaeolithic people, or
men of the Early Stone Age. They have also been named
the River Drift men, from the circumstance that these relics
are found in beds of gravel, which have been formed by the
drifting power of rivers and floods that have washed the
gravel down from higher parts of the country. The beds
which contain these implements in Hampshire are found
capping the sea-cliffs at Barton, Hordle, Stubbington, Hill
Head, Lee-on-Solent, along the shores of Southampton
Water, and in similar situations, in some instances as high
as 100 feet above sea-level, so that the water which
deposited the beds of gravel must have flowed at a greater
elevation, a circumstance which points to a further exten-
sion of the land seawards than occurs at present, the rivers
probably flowing down a gentle slope to their outlets,
or junction with a larger river further out, where the
English Channel now is. Other beds of implement-bearing
gravel are found inland, in terraces along the courses of the
streams, or those of former rivers. Near Southampton

I

History of Hampshire.

some of these terraces are 100 feet above the present
level of the rivers, and examples of the stone implements
which have been found in them are to be seen in many of
the principal geological museums in England. The gravel-
beds on Southampton Common, and at Highfield, about a
mile to the eastward, have yielded many fine examples of
implements, of various shapes. Similar worked flints have
been found in gravel-beds higher up the Itchen, near
Winchester and Alresford. They have also been discovered
in the terraces along the course of the Test near Romsey,
Stockbridge, and St. Mary Bourn. They have been found
along the course of the Avon, near Christchurch and
Fordingbridge. They have been also met with along the
course of the Loddon, and in other parts of the county.

Palaeolithic man has left us nothing in Hampshire except
his stone implements and weapons. No caves, such as he
may have used in Devonshire, have been found in this
county, for the chalk and most of the other strata in
Hampshire are so soft that caverns could not have been
formed in them by natural means as in harder limestones,
and, if formed artificially, would not under ordinary circum-
stances have lasted long.

The remains of some of the animals which lived in this
part of the country contemporaneously with Palaeolithic
man have, however, been found. The teeth of the early
elephants {Elephas antiquus and E. primigenius}, a horn of a
reindeer, and another of an ibex, have been obtained from
the gravel near Southampton, or found below the peat in
the new dock excavation there. Elephant remains have
also been found near Winchester, Romsey, and Fresh-
water.

The Palaeolithic period is so remote from our own, that
England at that time must have been very different from
what it is now. It was probably connected with the Con-
tinent, or had not long been separated from it, otherwise
the animals whose remains are found could not have
migrated so far.

Prehistoric Hampshire.

The valleys through which the Hampshire streams now
flow were then only in process of formation. These streams
have since that time deepened their channels, and rain and
local floods have smoothed down the valley slopes. The
rivers in the Palaeolithic period all flowed at higher eleva-
tions than they do at present, and the whole surface of the
country was higher than it is now. Considerable modifica-
tions of the surface and the extent of the land have occurred
since the time when the River Drift man, who probably
lived by hunting, roamed over that part of England which,
after many thousands of years of gradual change, we now
call Hampshire. No traces of language or customs which
can with any certainty be ascribed to so ancient a people
as the Palaeolithic race have yet come to our knowledge.

The bones of the people of the Neolithic or Newer
Stone Age are the earliest human remains which are found
in Hampshire or the adjacent counties. There are still
remaining in this county nearly 400 barrows, or tumuli,
which were reared at various times by its prehistoric
inhabitants over the remains of their chieftains and other
distinguished dead. Most of these barrows are round in
shape, and vary somewhat in the details of their construc-
tion, while others are what archaeologists call long barrows,
and which were formerly known among the country people
as giants' graves. The long barrows which remain are few
in comparison with the round ones ; not more than about
twenty or thirty of these exist in this county. They con-
sist usually of a great mound of earth of an elongated
shape, and higher at one end than the other. The examina-
tion of barrows of this kind has shown that the people who
made them buried their dead in a contracted position, the
legs being drawn up towards the head. This is perhaps
the most ancient mode of disposing of the dead which is
known, and examples of this method of inhumation have
been met with in many parts of the world. In those parts
of England where stone could be obtained in large slabs,
the builders of the long barrows made roughly constructed

i — 2

History of Hampshire.

chambers, with a roof and entrance formed by large stones
laid horizontally on the edges of others set vertically, and
afterwards heaped up the earth on this structure, thus
forming a chambered long barrow. Such chambered long
barrows often contain stone implements, and they were the
mausoleums where the Neolithic people buried their dis-
tinguished dead in a common sepulchre, groups of skele-
tons having been found in them. In Hampshire, where
suitable blocks of stone do not occur, the long barrows
were constructed without such chambers, as far as known,
but it is probable they were also used as common sepulchres
for distinguished persons among the Neolithic people, and
that openings were made into them when required for the
remains of such individuals to be deposited in cists, roughly
made with flints, or cut out of the chalk or other strata
beneath the barrow. Perhaps it was for such a reason as
this that these barrows were made so large. Hampshire
has its folklore concerning the giants that lived in the
land in very olden time, and it is natural that these long
mounds should have been regarded as their burial-places.
Such a tradition must itself be very ancient, probably as
old as the time of the Saxons.

The burial-places of a people so ancient as those of the
Newer Stone Age must have been considered by the Anglo-
Saxons and early English people to have belonged to a far
older world than their own. These great grave- mounds
were inexplicable to them, except as evidences of the
Heroic Age in Hampshire, when men did all kinds of mar-
vellous feats in war and in peace, such as were beyond the
ordinary powers of the men of their own time. Hamp-
shire must have had its giants, for here in these great
mounds they were buried. Such was the folklore which
connected the burial of the renowned Bevois of Hampton
with a large barrow that existed until the beginning of the
present century on Bevois Mount, Southampton, where
his name survives unto the present day. The renown of
Bevois was shared by another giant, Ascupart, his former

Prehistoric Hampshire.

antagonist, but afterwards his faithful companion-in-arms.
When the barrow on Bevois Mount was opened, some
human bones of a man of unusual stature are said to have
been found. Similar legends of the age of the giants pro-
bably gave rise later on to that of the Danish giant,
Colbrand, who was slain at Winchester by Guy of Warwick,
and to the legend of Onion, the giant of Silchester, whose
name, in the mediaeval folklore of the county, was given to
Roman coins found among the ruins of that city, these
having been known to the country people in Camden's
time as Onion's pennies. The name and some of the
achievements of another giant, called Dun Drovy, still hang
about the neighbourhood of Woodcot. Another giant is
traditionally remembered in the Isle of Wight, and certain
large barrows on Breamore Down and at Charford are still
spoken of as graves of giants.

Some of the round barrows have a circular ditch or bank
round them, and are called ring-barrows. Others are
shaped somewhat like an inverted bowl, and are called
bowl-barrows. Others are higher and somewhat like a bell,
and are called bell-barrows. Other burial-places are marked
only by a ring of earth and a ditch, surrounding in some
instances a slight elevation of the ground, and these have
been described as disc-barrows.

These round tumuli belong to an age subsequent to that
of the long barrows, and the sepulchral remains which are
found in them differ from those of the long barrows, in
showing in the great majority of cases evidences of cremation.

The barrows of Wiltshire, including many on the Hamp-
shire border, were systematically explored by the late Sir
Richard Colt Hoare in the early years of the present
century, and later on by Dr. Thurnam, but no similar
systematic investigations of the barrows of Hampshire
have been made. Many have, however, been opened in the
Isle of Wight, in the New Forest, and other parts of the
county. There is every reason to believe, from the evidence
of these sepulchral mounds, that the custom of cremating

6 History of Hampshire.

the dead was almost universally adopted during the age to
which the round barrows belong, and there can be no doubt
that time was during the Bronze Age, when the use of stone
implements and weapons had for the most part been super-
>eded by others made of bronze.

In some cases two interments have been discovered in
round barrows, and where this has been the case the
primary use of the mound was to mark the burial-place of
some distinguished individual, who probably lived before
the custom of cremation had been commonly adopted ; for
such remains are found in cists cut out of the chalk or other
beds beneath the surface, in some instances as deep as nine
feet, and the bones in these cases are found in a contracted
position, showing that the early mode of burial had not yet
been discontinued. The secondary interment in such a
round barrow, when it is found, is of quite a different kind,
for the remains of this second burial usually consist of
fragments of burnt bones and ashes in an urn, placed on a
floor of flints, the urn being commonly found in an inverted
position, and the mouth of it covered with a thick layer of
clay. These buried urns have been usually found in such
cases above the level of the ground, showing that the round
barrow was opened at the top and the cremated remains
placed in it. This practice, which does not appear to have
been very common, saved the trouble of making a new
tumulus, the sepulchral monument being used of an earlier
time, the traditions of which, and of the chieftain it com-
memorated, had perhaps long been forgotten.

A considerable number of instances occur in Hampshire
in which the people of the Bronze period chose the neigh-
bourhood of the burial sites of the people of the Stone
period for their own interments, the round barrows being
found close to or not far from the earlier long barrows.
Such instances may be seen on Crawley Down, on Beaulieu
Heath, and elsewhere. A sanctity thus appears to have
been attributed to these burial-places of the Neolithic people
by the people of the Bronze period who followed them.

Prehistoric Hampshire.

Nothing is more characteristic of differences in race than
differences in the shape and dimensions of the skull, and
fortunately a sufficient number of round barrows in the
South of England have been found to contain skeletons
for these to be examined, and their skulls to be com-
pared with those found in long barrows. Many examples
of these have been examined and compared by Thurnam
and others, and it has been found that the skulls of the
people of the round barrows are broad and round, the
breadth being more than four-fifths of the length ; that is,
having an index of breadth above 80, in some instances
nearly 90, while the skulls of the people of the long
barrows are long and narrow, the breadth being less than
three-fourths of the length, or having an index of breadth
less than about 74. One of the best examples of a broad
skull from a prehistoric interment in Hampshire which
has come under my observation, was found with the
skeleton in a contracted position, in a cist nine feet deep
in the chalk at Wherwell, when a railway was being made
there some years ago. This skull has an index of 87,
and its discovery, with others of a similar kind in other
parts of the county, shows that burial by contracted in-
humation was practised by the early Celts of Hampshire
as well as by their predecessors. From the remarkable
differences in the dimensions of the skull, the people of
the Stone Age are said to have had dolico-cephalic, or
long-headed, skulls, and the people of the Bronze Age to
have had brachy-cephalic, or broad-headed, skulls.

This conclusion is of the utmost value to the archaeo-
logical student who desires to unravel the threads of
information concerning the prehistoric condition of the
people of Hampshire. The skulls and burial customs of
these prehistoric people point to the existence of two races,
who apparently succeeded each other in the possession of
the valleys and downlands of this county, after invasion
and war, and probably after a period during which the
survivors of the people of the Stone Age became blended

8 History of Hampshire.

with, and more or less absorbed into, the people of the
Bronze Age, and the earlier customs and modes of burial
were gradually changed, cremation following the custom of
contracted inhumation.

The dawn of history in this part of Europe cannot be
placed earlier than about the fourth century B.C., when the
Greek mercantile colony settled at Marseilles sent out the
exploring expedition under Pytheas, who visited the coasts
of Britain for trade purposes, and more especially for
accurate information concerning the sources of and trade in
tin. The European nations at that time had long been
passing through their Bronze Age, and we may reasonably
conclude that a knowledge of the manufacture and uses of
bronze reached the southern parts of England later than
the date of its use among the civilized nations of the
Mediterranean shores. Tin was a necessity in bronze
manufacture to mix with copper and give it the requisite
degree of hardness for hatchets, knives, spears, swords, and
articles of domestic use, and the tin trade was consequently
one of great importance. Tin was found in Devonshire and
Cornwall, and a trade in it developed many centuries before
the Christian era. The rise of this trade may perhaps be
assigned to the time when a knowledge of the manufacture
of bronze first came into Britain. That period probably
marks an era of conquest, the date of the conquest of this
and the adjoining counties by some branch of the great
Celtic race.

Although Hampshire has never produced tin, the trade
in that metal is the earliest example of commerce con-
nected with its ports which we can trace, which apparently
arose before the fourth century B.C., and survived, probably
without any very considerable break, until the time of the
Venetian traders, who shipped tin at Southampton as late
as the fifteenth century.

The articles which have been found in the long barrows
in the South of England are stone weapons of the later
Stone Age and implements of various kinds, sometimes

Prehistoric Hampshire.

found broken, and also broken pottery of a very rough
kind.

Stone implements have also been found occasionally in
round barrows, but not so commonly as articles of bronze
manufacture. The round barrows have yielded a variety
of pottery, in addition to the funeral urns, such as drinking-
cups and food vessels.

Although no thorough examination of the barrows of
Hampshire has been made, such as those made in Wilt-
shire, yet many barrows have been opened by different
explorers in various parts of the county. The late
Mr. J. R. Wise, author of « The New Forest : its History
and Scenery/ opened a considerable number on the New
Forest heaths, where they are common, and the results of
his investigations are detailed in that volume. Many
barrows have been opened in the Isle of Wight, and some
of their contents are preserved in the Newport Museum.
Some round barrows were opened in 1882 on Cranbury
Common, near Chandler's Ford Railway Station, and the
remains of several of the urns found there are now pre-
served in the museum of the Hartley Institution. Barrows
have been opened and examined at Arreton Down, Nun-
well, Brook Down, Freshwater, Shalcombe Down, Chessel
Down, Vittlefield, Bowcombe Down, Brixton Cliff, and
Ashey Down, in the Isle of Wight. The articles found in
these tumuli were all of the usual general character, the con-
tents pointing to the Bronze Age as the probable date of
most of the interments in the round tumuli.

On Chessel Down and at Nunwell, in the Isle of Wight,
the barrows which were opened were heaped up over cists
cut out of the chalk, into which the dead bodies were placed
in sitting postures, such characters denoting early inter-
ments.

In and near the New Forest funeral urns and implements
of stone or bronze have been obtained from barrows at
Minstead, Burley, Buttsash, Shirley Holms, Bratley Plain,
Fritham Plain, Hilly Accombs, and Sopley. Some of these

io History of Hampshire.

barrows were opened without finding any urns, only the
remains of cremated matter and charcoal. Many of these
New Forest tumuli are made of heaps of gravel, the loose
nature of which would be more permeable to water than
the clay and earth on the chalk downs, and consequently
their contents would perhaps not be so well preserved. In
many parts of the county the remains of interments have
been met with without cinerary urns being found — a cir-
cumstance which perhaps points to an early date for such
interments, the use of the urn being a refinement in the
way of preserving the ashes.

Barrows of both shapes have also been opened on
Wonston Down ; round tumuli in Hackwood Park, at
Broughton, Winchester, Upham, Hoe, near Bishop's
Waltham, Weavers Down, Old Winchester Hill, Chalton
Down, and elsewhere.

Some of the most remarkable groups of tumuli in Hamp-
shire at the present day occur on Petersfield Heath, where
within a short distance nearly twenty are to be seen. A
large number exist on Beaulieu Heath, between Beaulieu
and the Southampton Water, where as many as twenty-
four are found within a distance of about eight miles. On
the New Forest heaths, between Beaulieu on the east and
Brockenhurst and Lymington on the west, about twenty-
four more still remain. Most of these are round barrows.

Hampshire contains some remarkable groups of barrows,
seven in number, known locally in each case as ' The Seven
Barrows' — such as, the Seven Barrows south of Burghclere,
the Seven Barrows west of Stockbridge, and the Seven
Barrows of South Tidworth. Before the inclosure of the
common lands of Basingstoke, a group of seven barrows
also existed on the common south-west of that town.

The inclosure of the Hampshire commons must have led
to the obliteration and gradual destruction of many of the
burial-places of the prehistoric inhabitants of the county.
This is much to be regretted, for these prehistoric burial
sites, once obliterated, have gone for ever. Some of them

Prehistoric Hampshire. n

have existed for thousands of years, for the date of the
introduction of bronze weapons and tools into Britain, such
as have been found in these tumuli, cannot be placed at
later than about 1400 or 1200 B.C.*

At the present time the plough is annually passing over
both long barrows and round barrows in this county, and
in the course of time, unless something is done to arrest
this destruction, these monuments of the distinguished dead
of prehistoric times will be entirely lost, as certainly as it is
known that many others have already been obliterated.
This destruction of British barrows did not go on in Hamp-
shire in earlier periods of its history. In the Anglo-
Saxon pagan time they appear to have met with all the
respect which races of ancient people have so commonly
been known to show to the burial-places of their predeces-
sors of another race. In the early Christian centuries in
this county they were also respected, for in charters relating
to boundaries of land in Hampshire from the eighth to the
eleventh century the old barrows are sometimes mentioned
as places of ' heathen burial.' These great mounds of earth
are far more permanent monuments of the dead than any
other forms of sepulchral monuments which have succeeded
them. Priories, hospitals, chantries, and other institutions
of beneficial use to the people, established in Hampshire to
commemorate their founders' piety, or their great and
noble deeds in war or peace, many centuries after the
barrows were raised to mark the burial-places of the unre-
corded names of British chieftains, have long since passed
away, or been so transformed and reorganized that their
original purposes are only recognised by antiquaries ; but
some hundreds of these monuments of prehistoric times in
this county still remain, although we cannot now read their
long-forgotten stories.

The British barrows of Hampshire were apparently
selected in some instances, on account of their indestructi-

* Dr. J. Evans : ' Ancient Bronze Implements,' p. 473.

12 History of Hampshire.

bility, during the early centuries of its history, to be its
landmarks — in some places of the shire, as at Baughurst
Barrow in the north of the county, Knap Barrow on Rock-
bourn Down in the south-west, and the barrow on Long
Hill, South Tidworth, in the north-west ; in other places of
the hundred, as at Popham Beacon ; and in other places of
the original manors, as in the cases of the barrow at the
corner of the parishes of Hursley, Farley Chamberlain, and
Sparsholt, the Millbarrows at the boundary between
Cheriton and Corhampton, and the tumulus near Leckford
Hut, close to the eastern boundary of the parish of
Leckford.

It is to be regretted that the explorations of such Hamp-
shire tumuli as have been opened were not conducted on
some general scientific system, such as was the case in
Wiltshire ; but sufficiently accurate observations have been
made in Hampshire to show that the contents of the
tumuli in this county point to the same general conclusion
as prevails elsewhere — namely, that the long barrows are
the sepulchres of the Neolithic people, a race with long and
comparatively narrow skulls, and that the round barrows
are the sepulchres of their successors, a race with broad and
comparatively round skulls.

These distinctions of ancient races of men are found to
prevail on the Continent, as well as in Britain. So many
conquests have passed over Western Europe, and so many
ancient races have been replaced by their conquerors in
various parts of it, that there is but one small race in
Europe at the present day whose cranial characteristics cor-
respond with those who lived in Britain, and probably also
occupied the whole of Western Gaul, during the Neolithic
period, and this is the Basque race of Southern France and
parts of Northern Spain. These people are a small race of
men of dark hair, having long, narrow skulls, corresponding
to the skulls of the ancient Neolithic people. From these
circumstances, and from peculiarities in their language, it is
believed that the Basques are descended from the same

Prehistoric Hampshire. 13

ancient stock as the Neolithic race, who have consequently
been named the ancient Iberians.

The more we study the prehistoric antiquities of Hamp-
shire, the more convincing becomes the chain of reasoning
which points to a very great antiquity for the date of the
settlement in this part of England of the long-skulled
people of the later Stone Age. When Britain last arose
from the sea, or emerged from that Glacial Drift period
which perhaps followed its previous occupation by Palaeo-
lithic man, the surface of the land in Hampshire must have
resembled its general outline at present. Its hills must
have been a little higher, its valleys not quite so deep, and
its coast-line a little further out in the English Channel.
Since that time rain, rivers, and floods, which have been
modifying its surface, have left their furrows on its face, and
the marks of old age upon its landscape. These gradual
changes have been going on during thousands of years —
how many we cannot say — since the men of the later Stone
Age first took up their quarters here.

How many centuries of human life and settlement are un-
recorded in this county before the time of the Greek traders
we cannot say, any more than we can say how many
centuries passed over the native races of America before the
time of Columbus. The settlements in Hampshire all appear
to have come from across the Channel. The Iberians were
followed by a great Celtic immigration, which pushed the
long-skulled race further inland, or assimilated the remnants
of that race in their own, as the great Celtic invasion of
Gaul did the same there. The mouth of the Loire in the
time of Pytheas was the boundary of the Iberian or Aqui-
tanian population, and the limit southwards of the Celtic
advance. These Aquitanian people were ultimately driven
into the regions of the Pyrenees, on both sides of which we
find their descendants, the Basques, at the present day.

The ancient custom of burying the dead in a sitting
posture in cists, or in dolmens made of flat stones placed
on others, set vertically, can be traced from England,

14 History of Hampshire.

through France and Spain, to North Africa, in parts of
which countries many hundreds of such sepulchres still
remain. Some of the races of North Africa at the present
time, such as the people living near the Gulf of Cabes, have
also similar cranial characters to those of the ancient people
buried in long barrows and dolmens in England, so that it
is probable that the people who constructed these burial-
places were descended from the same primitive stock as the
ancient Iberic or Neolithic race.

The Hampshire barrows and tumuli have afforded some
evidence that the prehistoric people who made them
believed in a future existence. The belief in a spirit world
is perhaps the oldest of all beliefs, and exists among races
in all stages of civilization in various parts of the world at
the present day.

The barrows and tumuli of this and the adjacent counties
have in numerous instances been found to contain frag-
ments of broken pottery and other articles. A widely-
spread idea appears to have prevailed in prehistoric time
in Britain, similar to that which prevails among many semi-
civilized tribes at the present day — that when man goes to
the spirit world it will be useful to him for his family or
clan to send with him what may be termed the spirit of the
articles which he found useful in his life here ; and that if
his drinking-cups, food vessels, and weapons are buried
with him, the spirit or essence of these articles will go
with him to the unseen world. This belief may be the ex-
planation of the custom of burying such articles with the
dead, and of breaking them to set the spirit of them free.
Broken pottery and broken weapons have been found in
Hampshire, either in the barrows or in such situations as
make it probable they have been brought to the surface
through the destruction of such barrows by modern agri-
cultural operations.

At a later time, if not during the Neolithic period itself,
the remains of the dead were often deposited on the water-
sheds or near to water sources, and in some of these burial

Prehistoric Hampshire. 15

sites broken pottery has been found. Such customs were
probably widely spread throughout the ancient world, and
may be similar to those which are referred to in Ecclesias-
ticus : ' Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden
bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain,
or the wheel be broken at the cistern, then shall the dust
return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return
unto God who gave it.'

CHAPTER II.

THE FIRST CELTIC CONQUEST.

THE settlement of the Celts in Hampshire, whatever the
precise date of that event may have been, was marked by
the introduction of the knowledge and use of bronze into
this part of England. The conquest of the old Iberic
people was probably not effected all at once. Succes-
sive settlements were probably made by the invaders on
the coast, as the increase of the Celtic population on the
opposite side of the Channel made it necessary for some
of that race to seek for new homes across the sea. The
invaders probably arrived in Hampshire by crossing the
Channel at its narrowest part and sailing westward along
the coasts of Kent and Sussex, which was also probably
the route by which the long-headed Neolithic people had
arrived ages before. This was certainly the route also
along which subsequent invasions took place.

With the arrival of the Celts we are able to unravel the
threads of prehistoric inquiry better than in the preceding
ages. We have still remaining in Hampshire some few
place-names chiefly relating to water sources, which must
in all probability be ascribed to the language of the Iberic
people, but we have a large number of such place-names
which are undoubtedly of Celtic origin. We have local
customs still remaining, or which have only ceased to exist
within the last few centuries, which may have had their
origin among the Iberians, but which certainly must be as

The First Celtic Conquest.

old as the time of the Celts. We have camps and other
defensive earthworks still remaining in Hampshire, some of
which were probably constructed by its ancient Iberic
inhabitants, seeing that flint implements and abundance of
flint flakes have been found within them, and which pro-
bably were the strongholds of the land before the Celtic
invasion, but which were certainly adopted subsequently by
the Celts as their own castles of refuge. Among the folk-
lore and legends of Hampshire there are some traditions
which may have had their origin in the time of the
Iberians, but which cannot be of less antiquity than the
time of their Celtic conquerors. The traces of ancient
Celtic mythology which may be recognised in Hampshire
and the neighbouring counties at the present day may, in
part at least, have been derived by the Celts from their
predecessors in this part of England. Even race charac-
teristics after thousands of years may occasionally show
themselves in individuals, and the people of Hamp-
shire, who are mainly of West Saxon descent, must have
derived a considerable admixture from the Celtic race,
which centuries before was probably considerably blended
with the more ancient Iberic people. The survival of some
few place-names and customs, and the variations in cranial
and other race characteristics which may still be recog-
nised, all point to the probability of this fusion of races.

The Iberic people were probably nomadic in their habits,
wandering over the downlands with their herds of cattle
and flocks of goats, while the Celts were a typical branch
of the great Aryan race, who tilled the land, and conse-
quently were more stationary. With the introduction of
bronze hatchets the Celtic inhabitants of Hampshire would
be able to begin the systematic clearings in its primeval
forests, an undertaking probably beyond the power of the
Iberians, who had nothing but stone axes, very liable to
fracture in such a work. Such clearings as the Neolithic
people were obliged to make they probably effected by
burning the trees.

2

1 8 History of Hampshire.

The bronze tools and weapons which have been found in
Hampshire comprise examples both of the earlier and later
ages of bronze manufacture in this country. Daggers,
plain wedge-shaped axes, and other articles which mark
the early part of the Bronze Age, and swords, spears,
palstraves, and socketed celts which mark the later part of
the period, have been found.

Such bronze articles have been discovered together in
hoards on Arreton Down, in the Isle of Wight, at Black-
moor, near Selborne, at Hinton, near Christchurch, and in
Woolmer Forest. Implements and weapons of various
kinds have also been found on Ashey Down, in the Isle of
Wight, at Bere Hill, near Andover, Liss, near Petersfield
(where bracelets were discovered with bronze weapons), in
parts of the New Forest (where hatchet-heads have been
met with), on Rockbourn Down, at Ropley, Bishopstoke,
Southampton, St. Denys, Tachbury, near Eling, and other
places.

The number of bronze tools, weapons, and domestic
articles used by the Celts in Hampshire during the Bronze
Age cannot be estimated by the number which have been
found and recorded since the beginning of the present
century, or since the time when such antiquities began to
be preserved. Previously, no doubt, ancient articles of
bronze found from time to time during many centuries
commonly went into the melting-pot. After the general
disuse of bronze for tools and weapons, it was used for
many centuries for various artistic and useful purposes, and
there must consequently have been a considerable demand
for this metallic alloy in the arts and in various trades
during the Middle Ages. Whenever ancient bronze articles
of long-forgotten shapes and uses were found, such articles
would probably be regarded as of a certain value, like old
copper articles at the present day.

The introduction of the use of bronze into Britain having
been in all probability the result of the Celtic conquest, we
may conclude that, as this conquest proceeded from the

The First Celtic Conquest. 19

south towards the north of the island, bronze was used in
Hampshire at as early a date as in any part of Britain. Dr.
John Evans has assigned the date for the beginning of the
Bronze Age in Britain at about 1200 or 1400 B.C. He has
arrived at this conclusion from historical references to the
use of bronze by the people of Gaul and other parts of
Europe, by the ancient nations settled on the shores of
the Mediterranean Sea, and many other considerations
in relation to ancient trade routes, and the shapes and
decorations on various articles of bronze found in Britain
compared with similar articles found in other countries.

At certain seasons of the year, at least, some of the
Neolithic people appear to have frequented the coast and
the shores of Southampton Water for fishing purposes, for
their polished stone weapons have been found in these
situations. The migrations of these people were deter-
mined by food supplies, and it is certain that the early
settlements of the Celts in Hampshire were influenced by
similar considerations. The valleys through which the
chief streams flow, their dry upper continuations, and the
lower slopes of the hills which form the watersheds, show
signs at the present day that they were the parts of the
county which were first occupied by a settled agricultural
race.

The proofs of such early occupation consist of the earth-
works, which were constructed to serve as castles of refuge
for the tribes or clans around them, and in the fact that it
is in these valleys and on the lower slopes of the hills that
such articles of bronze as have been found apart from the
burial sites have been picked up.

There are in Hampshire at the present day the remains
of more than forty prehistoric defensive earthworks.

It is not possible, within the limits of a volume such as
this, to describe these old Celtic fortifications in detail.
They are of various kinds and shapes, and, where they
inclose areas and form the so-called camps, they are of
widely different dimensions. Most of them are hill-

2 — 2

2O History of Hampshire.

fortresses, either situated on the tops of considerable hills,
or on rising ground conveniently near to the districts
which they were intended to protect. There are also
marsh and peninsular fortresses, and in the New Forest
one, if not more, examples of insular mound refuges, as a
defence for one or more small communities, exist in
bogs. In one case, a mound, known as Black Bar, at
Lynwood, is situated in what was formerly a small lake,
and which might easily be reconverted into a lake at the
present day.

The surroundings of the ancient Celtic earthworks in
Hampshire at the present day help us to arrive at a right
conclusion as to the purposes they were intended to serve.
The forests which existed near them have for the most part
passed away, but the variations in hill and dale which we
see now are the same, and the geological conditions con-
nected with the dry chalk hills, or with the chalk streams
and the alluvial meadow-land through which they flow, are
the same as in prehistoric time. As we stand within the
area of any one of these entrenched inclosures, and con-
sider the probable purposes it was intended to serve, the
natural features of the country in which it was placed, and
the geological circumstances connected with these sur-
roundings, will be found to be very important considera-
tions. These camps could scarcely have been permanently
inhabited sites, for very few traces of dwellings or articles
of common domestic use, such as have been found abun-
dantly elsewhere, have been found within them. They
could not have been constructed by passing bodies of
armed men, for the labour involved would have been far too
great for a passing shelter.

There is but one other object, so far as I can see, for
which they could have been constructed, that is, as strong-
holds of defence, or places of refuge in case of sudden
attack, for the people who lived near them. If this was
the purpose of their construction, then these entrenched
areas must have had a distinct reference to the number of

The First Celtic Conquest. 21

people required for their defence, and also to the number of
people and the head of cattle they were intended to shelter.
We can scarcely think that any old Celtic community
would construct a defensive earthwork, such as one of these
Hampshire camps, larger than their requirements for
shelter, or larger than their power of defence. Otherwise
such a large camp would be a source of weakness to
the people attacked, instead of a tower of strength. From
such considerations we may perhaps draw some fairly
correct inferences as to the relative number of people in
parts of Hampshire in the time of the Celts. Early writers
tell us that Britain was a populous country, and the
evidence which remains in this southern county points to
the conclusion that during the time of the Celts a large
population must have lived in the valleys and such other
cleared parts of the forest-lands of Hampshire as contain
these defensive earthworks within reach of their villages
and homesteads.

The largest Hampshire camps are placed where large
open areas must have existed, and the smallest of them are
in situations from which we can see even at the present day
they could have had no great clearings near them, and
documentary evidence concerning the extent of the ancient
forests confirms this. The smallest of the earthworks which
remain are but forest forts, while the largest are on some of
the highest positions of the chalk hills, with extensive areas
of downland, and generally also of meadow-land, near
them. Water-supply for the hill-fortresses must have
been an important consideration. I have only met with a
few instances of wells, or their remains, within the British
camps of Hampshire, such as occur at Ashley, at Wood-
garston, and Bury Hill, near Andover. In other cases, the
earthworks on the hills, especially on the highest hills,
were probably supplied with water, as flocks of sheep are
commonly watered on these hills at the present day, by the
construction and use of dew-ponds. This primitive method
of collecting water on the chalk hills of Southern England

22 History of Hampshire.

is probably a survival of a practice which has been handed
down from age to age from the time of the Celts. A pond
is made and puddled, or made water-tight with clay care-
fully placed round its sides. It is then found that, if the
situation of the pond is carefully chosen, sufficient water
will accumulate in it, from the rain and evening mists
which hang over the hills, for the requirements of flocks of
sheep. Many of the dew-ponds on the Hampshire hills
are never dry.

The largest of the old British earthworks of Hampshire
is Walbury, at the north-western corner of the county, half
of it being in this county and half in Berkshire. It over-
looks the extensive valley of the Kennet, and is constructed
on the high ridge of chalk down between this valley on the
north and the dry valley of Combe and Netherton on the
south. It has a natural scarp as a defence on three sides.
Its dimensions are 550 yards from north to south, and 783
yards between the two gates, or openings from east to west.
Its area has been cultivated as arable land, but has lately
been left in the condition of waste, or rough downland. It
is covered with an immense quantity of flints, such as would
form an inexhaustible source of material for sling-stones
and flint weapons. Stone implements of various kinds,
such as neatly-trimmed spear-heads, cores, flakes, and
arrow-tips, have been found within its area, and other im-
plements of the later Stone Age have been found in parts
of the country within easy reach of it, both in the Kennet
Valley and on the chalk downs and valleys on the south,
thus leaving no doubt that the district was occupied during
the later Stone Age. This does not necessarily prove that
the earthwork itself was made during that period, for flint-
flakes and the cores from which they were struck have been
found on many of the hill sites of Hampshire, where no
traces of old British earthworks have been discovered ; but
it shows that the Neolithic people frequented this site,
chipped some of their flint tools and weapons here, and
made use of the site perhaps for defensive purposes, on

The First Celtic Conquest. 23

account of its commanding position. Whether these
earlier people threw up any earthen defences here or not, it
is certain that the Celts used it, for it is constructed with an
inner bank and an outer ditch, and the line of defence
follows the natural line of the hill in the way which is so
characteristic of Celtic fortifications. It contains within its
area, or just outside its ditch, several dew-ponds at the
present day, and it would have formed a refuge in case of
attack for many hundreds of men and women and their
cattle.

General Pitt Rivers, in his investigation of Cissbury
Camp, in Sussex, has computed the probable number of
men such a camp would require for its defence. He has
taken the lowest computation according to modern warfare
— viz., two men for every yard of parapet, and one-third
more as a reserve. Under such a calculation, as Walbury
has about 2,100 yards of parapet, it would require a force
of 5,600 men to garrison it; and if we allow that the women
would have helped in its defence, it still is reasonable to
suppose that several thousands of men would have been
assembled here for defensive purposes, when their homes
within reach of this great fortress were threatened. Such
considerations concerning the people within reach of this
camp of refuge show that there must have been a large
Celtic population in parts of Hampshire and the neighbour-
ing counties. When we compare the sizes of similar earth-
works in different parts of the county, and survey the
extent of open country within reach of each, we are able to
draw some approximately correct conclusions concerning
the relative density of the population of Hampshire in the
Celtic period. A good example of this kind will be
obtained by comparing the extent of the fortress on St.
Catherine's Hill, near Winchester, with that of Walbury.
The earthwork on this hill is a large camp, but not so large
as Walbury. It has more than a thousand yards of parapet,
and, according to General Pitt Rivers' calculation, based on
considerations of modern warfare, it would require 3,300

24 History of Hampshire.

men for its full defence. If we allow a smaller number
than this, and consider that some of the women would help
in various ways in its defence, we can scarcely place the
force of men necessary to hold it against an enemy at less
than 2,000.

I think that a Celtic tribe able to find 2,000 or
3,000 men for the defence of St. Catherine's Hill could
have found subsistence for themselves and their families in
the Itchen Valley north and south of this fortress, and
within reach of its defences in case of need. I think the
Celtic tribe which lived around Walbury was greater
than that which lived in the Itchen Valley, round St.
Catherine's Hill, from considerations connected with the
size of the camp, and also from considerations of food-
supply ; for the contracted valley of the Itchen, near St.
Catherine's Hill, could scarcely have supported so large a
population as the more extensive Kennet Valley and the
open country round Walbury.

Perhaps the best example of a British camp in Hamp-
shire, conveniently situated as the stronghold for its district,
is that of Old Winchester Hill, in the valley of the Meon.
This is the only earthwork in the district, and the upper
part of the valley which it overlooks has a winding course
from East Meon to Droxford. The stream first flows
north, then west, south-west, and south, and the earthwork
known as Old Winchester is conveniently placed on the
highest and strongest position in the district — 650 feet
above the sea — and, owing to the winding of the valley,
about equidistant from different parts of it on the east,
north, west, and south-west. This was one of the parts of
Hampshire subsequently occupied by the Jutes after the
conquest of the country by their allies the West Saxons.
Old Winchester, in the upper part of this valley, was clearly
the stronghold of the British tribe that preceded the Jutes.
Its ramparts are about 1,000 yards in length, and no doubt,
like the ramparts of the other Celtic fortresses, were
stockaded for the purpose of strengthening the defences.

The First Celtic Conquest. 25

If we apply the same lowest modern computation to this
ancient fortification, we shall find it would require a force
of 2,666 men for its defence. From a careful survey of this
part of Hampshire, I have no doubt that this valley could
have supported a tribe sufficiently numerous to muster
2,000 men for the defence of this fortress.

In some instances in Hampshire the Celts formed their
castles of refuge by fortifying peninsular sites, such as that
at Hengistbury and at Bransbury. This latter, at the
junction of the Micheldever stream with the Test, is a for-
tification of much interest, inclosing a considerable area by
a single entrenchment, consisting of a deep outer ditch and
an inner bank thrown up from marsh to marsh ; and as we
may consider that the marshes of the Test and its tributary
stream were probably impassable in the early Celtic period,
there must have been a population sufficiently numerous at
least to have been able to defend these ramparts.

In some parts of this county we have unmistakable traces
of communal arable fields close to the old British earth-
works, probably also close to the sites of old British
villages, and remote from the nearest existing villages. In
one instance at least the hill fortress for the defence of the
district appears to have been preserved for defensive pur-
poses from the Celtic period to the early Anglo-Saxon time
— viz., that of Burghclere, anciently Boroughclere, a place
which derived its name from one or both of the old British
camps, on high hills on either side of the narrow valley
which forms the only natural pass for many miles from the
Berkshire country into the north of Hampshire, and which
was a place where toll was taken as late as the date of the
Domesday Survey. The existence of the Burghclere earth-
works, the only large camps between Silchester and
Walbury, proves, I think, that the clearing in this part of
the great northern forest of Hampshire round these earth-
works, whether wholly natural or partly artificial, is as old
as the time of the Celts, and that a population which we
may estimate by the size of the earthworks lived within

26 History of Hampshire.

reach of them. On several sides of these camps the remains
of many small communal fields may still be traced on the
hill slopes, and in one of the valleys much black earth,
resting on chalk, and probably derived from habitations
here, may be seen close to the outlines of the ancient com-
munal fields. Close here also, on the south, are the well-
known Seven Barrows of North Hampshire. One of the
most ancient roads in the county also leads from these camps
direct to Walbury Camp, in the north-west of the county.

There are many traces of the Celts to be found in Hamp-
shire in addition to the remains of their earthworks. There
are traces of their religion and customs, of their villages, of
their communal life, of their trade and industries, of the
form of their small houses or huts, of their agricultural
operations, of the roads and fords they used, of their lan-
guage, and of the coins they struck during the centuries
immediately preceding the Roman occupation. The life of
the Celts in Hampshire during the many centuries they
remained in occupation of the land was probably marked
by frequent wars among themselves, during which the clans
invaded the territories of other clans, according to a system
of warfare very much like that which prevails at present
among some of the tribal people of Africa. These wars
were often raids by one clan on another, brought about
probably by an increase in their numbers and their food
requirements. When food necessities were pressing among
the people of any clan, a cattle-raiding expedition into the
territory of a neighbouring clan, in such a country as
Hampshire, on the other side of the forest-land, which
divided the tribal settlements in one valley from those of
another, would probably be the means adopted for averting
famine ; and during such raids other commodities, as well
as cattle, were no doubt carried off. The Celtic earthworks
of Hampshire appear in part to have been designed to
protect the people living round them from such raids, for
these camps were evidently places of refuge for the cattle
as well as for their owners.

CHAPTER III.

THE CONQUEST AND SETTLEMENT OF THE BELG^E.

THE first Celtic conquest was followed some centuries
later — how many we cannot say — by a second invasion
from the Continent of a race of people also descended in
part from the primitive Celtic stock, and known as the
Belgae. They were a Celtic-speaking people, descended
either from a fusion of the Gauls with Iberians, or from
a fusion of race between the Gauls of what is now Belgium
with northern tribes of dolico-cephalic or long-headed
people. The Belgae are believed to have been a tall and
rather long-skulled race, a character which would be suffi-
cient to distinguish them from the earlier Celtic tribes of
Britain, who were marked by broad skulls. This second
invasion and conquest of the country, which extends from
Kent to Somerset, by the Belgse, is one which is recorded in
history.

They appear to have been impelled forwards to their
conquests in Britain by a pressure of population among
themselves, or advancing hordes of enemies behind them
on the Continent. The name of the race survives in the
modern name of Belgium, and an ethnological frontier sur-
vives to the present day in their original Continental home,
where marked racial differences can be detected between
the Flemish people and their neighbours the Walloons.

In considering the condition of Hampshire in Celtic
times, it is necessary to keep in mind this second Celtic im-

28 History of Hampshire.

migration ; otherwise we shall fail to understand why we
find among the surviving Celtic place-names of the
county two distinct varieties of Celtic words. I have
already mentioned that we find in the round tumuli
examples of two kinds of sepulture, and in some instances
both examples in the same tumulus, the oldest at the
bottom — viz., that of burial of the body in a contracted
position — and above this the later form of cremation of the
body, and the interment of the ashes in the mound, either
in a rudely-made cist or in an urn.

At some time, therefore, during the Celtic period in
Hampshire, a change in the burial custom of the race, from
contracted inhumation to cremation, occurred. This widely-
spread custom of cremating the dead is shown in the Celtic
sepulchres of Hampshire at the present day, not only by
the occurrence of burnt human remains in the barrows, but
by similar traces of cremation in small circular pits, which
are constantly being brought to light in this county by
agricultural operations, and by excavations for building
sites, for chalk-pits, railway-cuttings, and other purposes.

The Belgic invasion occurred several centuries before
the Christian era. It happened early enough for the
whole Celtic people of Hampshire and the adjoining
counties to have become blended into one of the most
powerful of the tribes of Britain before the time of the
Romans. This Belgic invasion may also have been the
means by which a knowledge of the art of the metallurgy
of iron was introduced into the southern parts of England,
after which the use of bronze for weapons and implements
of warfare and peace became gradually superseded. It is
interesting to trace the conquests of the Belgae from an
iron-producing country in Belgium and North- Western
Gaul into Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire, all of which pro-
duced iron ore in sufficient quantity in Caesar's time and
long afterwards to supply the native forges, the sites of
which can still be identified. Caesar tells us that * iron is
produced in the maritime parts of Britain, but the quantity

The Conquest and Settlement of the Belgce. 29

of it is small ' — a statement which the geology of Hamp-
shire and its border counties at the present day fully con-
firms. It must, indeed, have been more abundant in the
time of the Celts than at present, for in Hampshire it com-
monly occurs as nodular masses of clay ironstone in the
Tertiary beds; and in that period there must have been an
accumulation of lumps of such ironstone lying on the sur-
face of the ground, and especially on the shores of the
Solent, washed out of the Tertiary beds by the denuding
forces of nature. It is less than a century since the last of
the old iron forges on the shores of the Solent ceased its
operation, and even now lumps of ironstone rich in the
metal are gathered from the waste of the cliffs, and occa-
sionally sent for smelting purposes to South Wales.

If the manufacture of iron was not introduced into
Hampshire on the arrival of the Belgae, it is certain that it
followed soon afterwards. A race from the iron-producing
part of Gaul would not long remain dependent on foreign
importation for supplies of iron while the native ore lay
at their feet.

We do not find in Hampshire, or in any other parts of
England, the remains of the early weapons and implements
of iron, as we find those of stone or bronze, for iron rapidly
oxidizes and passes into the condition of peroxide, in which
state it does not differ from the abundance of peroxide of
iron with which the clays, loams, and sandstones of this
county are stained.

The name Belgae, which has come down to us from
remote antiquity, is perhaps one which had some reference
to their funeral customs. The Belgae appear to have
reverenced fire as part of their religion, as many tribes do
at the present day, and as many more are recorded to have
done in ancient time. The worshippers of Baal will at once
occur to the reader as an example. Baal- worship was the
sun and fire worship of Eastern countries, and the name
Belgae was perhaps understood by the Anglo-Saxons in
the same sense. 'Bsel' in Anglo-Saxon is a funeral-pile}

30 History of Hampshire.

' baelstede ' a funeral-pile place, and ' baelwudu ' the wood of
a funeral-pile. We find the remains of the funeral-piles of
the Belgae in all parts of Hampshire, and we find in the very
ancient custom, which has only within a century or two
become extinct in this county, of lighting fires at midsum-
mer, and in other customs of the Middle Ages which can be
clearly traced, indications that the ancient inhabitants of
Hampshire paid reverence to the sun.

Tacitus says that ' the Belgae reared no great laboured
monuments to their dead. They burnt the bodies of their
chiefs with fire, and they sacrificed horses.' Horses' teeth
have been obtained from places of interment at Nursling,
Otterbourn, and elsewhere, and they have been found
among the remains of cremation in the round barrows in
other parts of the county. Tacitus, in mentioning monu-
ments, must have meant sculptured stones or other me-
morials, and probably did not regard the tumulus so
commonly reared over the burial site as a monument in
this sense. In any case the tumuli were reared, and some
.hundreds of them after the lapse of thousands of years still
remain to mark the burial sites of the chiefs of the Belgae
or of their Celtic predecessors.

Caesar tells us that the Belgae worshipped the sun, moon
and fire, and Tacitus says that they also worshipped
Hertha, or their mother-earth, by which he must, I think >
have meant to include springs and fountains issuing from
the earth and giving fertility to the land. The traces we
find of the religion of the Belgae in Hampshire confirm
the statements of these ancient historians. Close to the
ancient border of Hampshire, which at one time appears to
have included Amesbury, is Stonehenge, the most remark-
able structure connected with the worship of the sun in
Britain. Whether it was built by the Belgae or the Celts
of the earlier immigration is of little consequence to our
present consideration. It was certainly reverenced by the
Belgae. The barrows which lie so thickly around it have
afforded unmistakable evidence of the later Celtic, i.e.y the

Tke Conquest and Settlement of the Belgce. 3 1

Belgic interments, and we know that certain outlying
stones at Stonehenge point to the positions of the sun at
sunrise and sunset, not only at the summer and winter
solstices, but if tangential lines be drawn to such stones
from the outer circle, instead of from the central dolmen,
the directions of the sunrise at the beginning of May and
November may also be indicated. These four seasons
were the sacred times of the Celtic year. The Yule-time
of antiquity has survived in the Christian mid-winter
festival. The midsummer fires, which have ceased to be
lighted in Hampshire, are still customary in Ireland. Mid-
summer games existed in this county as late as last
century. The May festivities have lasted down to modern
time, and the survival of one maypole in Hampshire at the
present day shows that the ancient May games were long
continued. All Hallows' Night also is still spoken of by
the peasantry in parts of Hampshire with all that reverence
and respect which comes from ancient traditional usage,
and which tends to show that there was probably a con-
tinuous commemoration of ancestors at the beginning of
November from the Celtic pagan time until the Christian
form of this commemorative festival of the dead had
become established.

Stonehenge must, therefore, be regarded as an elaborate
symbol of the religious sentiments of the Celtic race in
Britain, and especially of the Belgae of the later Celtic
period, who perhaps inherited their religious customs not
only from the forefathers of their race, but partly from the
older Iberic stock both on the Continent and in Britain.
As these people expressed their deep religious conviction
by such an elaborate symbolic structure as that of Stone-
henge, we can feel no surprise if we should discover in
some other remains of the race other symbolic traces of
their religion. These traces, I think, we may find in
Hampshire in regard to some of the places they selected
for burial sites.

Many of the barrows are on the watersheds. A good

32 The History of Hampshire.

example is that at Crawley Clump, where you may stand
near the tumuli there, and, looking north and south, see
that the site is on high ground, close to the dividing line of
the water-drainage between two branches of the Test.

In his lectures on ' The Origin and Growth of Religion/
Rhys tells us that 'the Celts of the British Isles had
sacred mounds, which were known as the gods' mounds,
the god being designated the chief of the mound/ and I
think there can be no doubt that some of the mounds
which remain in Hampshire were of this character.

The evidence pointing to a fusion of part of the Celtic
population of Hampshire with their Saxon conquerors is
so strong that we are justified in alluding to it in con-
nection with the Celtic survivals concerning the early
mounds. A number of ancient churches in Hampshire are
built upon artificial mounds. One of these at Corhampton
has a Saxon church on the mound. The mound at Burton,
which was flattened, had a church upon it dedicated to
St. Martin, a Gaulish saint, and was known at St. Martin's
Hill. Higher up the Avon a mound may be seen, on
which the church of Sopley stands. Another example
is that of Cheriton, which has an artificial mound occupying
the greater part of the present churchyard. Very near the
site of this mound we find some of the most remarkable of
the permanent springs of this branch of the Itchen, which
circumstance is an additional argument in favour of its
Celtic origin. The Saxons appear to have utilized sacred
Celtic mounds for Christian purposes. It is, of course,
possible that these mounds were first adapted to Christian
uses by the early British Christians. These sacred mound-
sites of the Celts certainly appear to have had a continuous
reverence paid to them down to the time of the conversion
of the Saxons, and we know that the early Christian mis-
sionaries in England were instructed to adopt the sacred
pagan places as sites for Christian temples, and to substi-
tute Christian festivals for those of pagan origin.

The Celts who occupied Hampshire have left behind

The Conquest and Settlement of the Belga. 33

them some remains of their language. To this day many
of the water-names in the county — the names of springs,
rivers, ponds and lakes — have been derived from the
names which the prehistoric races gave them. These
words may be said to speak to us in the language of
two, if not more, of the races or tribes of Hampshire
previous to the Roman occupation. The last settlers from
the Continent before the conquest by the Romans, i.e., the
Belgae, have, as might be expected, left a larger number of
place-names behind them than the earlier Celts who were
their predecessors, and who are believed to have spoken a
language somewhat like the Gaelic. The earlier Celts
have consequently been called Goidels, or Gaels, while the
Belgae are considered by Rhys and others to have been
Brythons in speech, the linguistic ancestors of the Cymri,
or Welsh. Welsh may be considered to be a language
which is a detritus from the ancient Celtic tongues spoken
in Hampshire and other parts of our country. We must
not expect, therefore, to find ancient place-names in
Hampshire which are precisely the same as existing
Cymric place-names in Wales. The same considerations
apply to those names which more resemble the Gaelic
languages of Scotland and Ireland at the present day than
the language of Wales. As successive races of men occu-
pied Hampshire, and after a certain number of centuries
were succeeded by other races, a blending of their languages
must have taken place, as well as a blending of the races
themselves. As we may well believe that some of the
blood of the old Iberic race was blended with the blood of
the Goidelic or earlier Celtic race, and this with that of the
Belgae, so we may expect that part of the language of the
earlier races became blended with and incorporated into
that of the latter. Philologists tell us that traces of the
old Iberic speech can be detected in the Gaelic language,
and as the Gaels, or Goidels, were their immediate suc-
cessors in Hampshire and the adjoining counties, this is
what we should naturally expect. This fusion of language,

3

34 History of Hampshire.

as regards the place-names of Hampshire, was not confined
only to the prehistoric races of the county, but the same
transmission of words and blending of place-names took
place between the Romano-British or post Romano-Celtic
people, and their West Saxon conquerors.

The old Gaelic or Irish word lin, a lake or marsh, occurs
in the place-names Linwood, Lyndhurst (anciently Lin-
hest), Dublin, Lin Brook, Linford, Lyne's Copse, Linstead,
and in the name London, of which Hampshire has about
twelve small places so called. Of other Gaelic words —

Cor, round hill, occurs in Corhampton,

Lann, a house, in Lainston ; larrock, a house site, in
Laverstoke (anciently Lavroch-stoke),

Derry, a wood, in Deny Copse,

Knock, a hill, in Knock Wood, Kitnox, and Noclei (the
Domesday name of Nutley),

Lochan, a lake, in Lockerley, Lockerwood, Locks Lake,
Locks wood, and Lockhams,

An, or can, a spring, in Andover, Andwell, Ampfield
(anciently Anfield), Anmore, Anbury, Terstan (the ancient
name of the Test), and Icenan (the ancient name of the
Itchen),

Eannagh, a marsh, in the ancient Domesday name of
Anna,

Bun, the bottom or end, in Beckton Bunny and Chewton
Bunny, in Christchurch Bay,

Liss, a fort, in Liss, and probably Lusborough, and

Rine, a watercourse, in Rinewede, the Domesday name
of Ringwood, corresponding to Rinawade, an ancient ferry
in Ireland.

The Cymric word pen, a hill or head, occurs in Penton,
Pennington, Peniton, Penley, Pens, and Pen wood.

Gwy, or wy, water, occurs in Wyeford, the ancient name
Pharwy, or Pharwyse, Wymering, and the rivers Wey, of
which Hampshire has two. Of other Cymric words —

Ac and ach, a spring or water-source name, occurs in
Ashe, Ashley, Ashlet, Ashbridge, Ashford, Ashdell, Ash-

The Conquest and Settlement of the Belga. 35

field, Ashley Head, Ashholt, Ashford Hill, Andlers' Ash,
Shootash, Ashes Bridge, all at the sources of springs, or
water places.

Ox, ex, ax, other syllabic water-names, occur in Oxney,
Oxenbourn, Oxlease, Oxey Marsh, Exbury, and Axford.

Wysg, another water-name, occurs in Isington, Ismans,
Isnage, and perhaps in Tisted, anciently Isted or Ystede,

Ouse, in Owlesbury (locally Usselbury), Hurstbourn
(locally pronounced Husbourn and Husselborne in the
fourteenth century), and

Ar zndyar, in Harbridge, Yarmouth, and the Yar rivers,
of which two exist in the Isle of Wight.

Cwm, a hollow between hills, occurs in the Hampshire
place-names Combe (in the Isle of Wight), Combe (in the
north-west of the county), Chilcombe, Compton, the
Combes, Combe Copse, Compton (near King's Somborne),
Combe Farm (Alresford), Combe Bottom (Ashley), Combe
(East Meon), Cockscombs 'Hill, Combe Wood, Stan-
combe, Nettlecombe, Kitcombe, and Testcombe.

Rkyd, a ford, occurs in the names Rudley at Soberton
and Rudley at Southwick, and

Rhuime, a marsh, in Romsey, Rumbridge, and Rumseys
Hursley, marked on the manorial map of 1588 preserved
at Hursley.

Man, a district, occurs in Mansbridge, Manhode (east of
Hayling Island, submerged since the Middle Ages), and
perhaps also in Manydown.

The Celtic word ache has probably become sounded as
etch under Teutonic use, as in Germany, or itch as in the
Hampshire names of Itchen, Itchingswell, Itchell, Tich-
borne, Titchfield, Itchall, and Ytene (pronounced Ychene),
the ancient name for the district of the New Forest.

Cuid, a wood, appears in Quidhampton.

Dur, water, occurs in Durley, Esteddurle and Weste-
durle (the ancient names of East and West Tytherley),
Dur Wood, and Burdens.

Dufr, a word of similar significance, occurs under the

3—2

36 History of Hampshire.

form of dover, or dever, as in Andover, Candover, Michel-
dever, the Dover (St. Helen's), and the Dover (Ryde).

Both the Celtic words dur and dover may, however, have
been incorporated into the ancient Celtic language spoken
in this county from an earlier source. The word ur> or our,
appears to be a Basque word for water, as in the name of
the river Adour, in the Basque country of Southern France,
and the names Andover, Candover, and Micheldever occur
in ancient documents as Andeure, Candeure, and Michel-
deure. These place-names, therefore, and others in dur,
may have been derived by the Celts from the old Iberic
tongue. Other names derived apparently from the same
source occur in Overton (anciently Ouerton), the river
Cure, Ower, the river Stour, Westover, and Woodcot
Dower.

The Celtic word ock occurs in Ocknell Pond, Hockless
Hole (Burghclere), and Ockhangre (now Oakhanger).

The Celtic pwl> a pool, occurs in Poleshole, Pollack, Pol-
hampton, Paultons, Paulsgrove, Polsden, Poland, Red Poles'
Pond, and Poulner.

CHAPTER IV.

THE COMING OF THE ROMANS.

THE invasions of Julius Caesar did not affect Hampshire.
Whether the Belgae marched to the assistance of their
neighbours along the valley of the Thames and in Kent, in
withstanding the Roman advance under Caesar, is uncertain ;
but it is known that he did not come into this county.
The Roman invasion of this county took place about the
year A.D. 43, under Aulus Plautius, whom the Emperor
Claudius had sent from Gaul to subdue the island, and
who subjugated a great part of Southern Britain. The
landing-place of the Roman General is uncertain, but
it has been assigned by some to the neighbourhood of
Southampton — among others, by Dr. Hiibner,* who has
given much attention to the subject. It appears certain
that Aulus Plautius did not land on the same part of the
coast as Caesar had landed a century earlier. The topo-
graphy of the campaign indicates that the Roman army
made its way to some higher part of the Thames rather
than the lower tidal estuary, and, after a series of engage-
ments, moved down the Thames Valley and drove the
British army over the tidal part of the river. As the great
forest of Anderida, almost an impenetrable area for an
army, stretched from the open chalk downs of Kent to the
open chalk downs of Hampshire, it appears probable that

* See Article by Hiibner, 'Das Romische Heer in Britannien,
Hermes xvi., p. 527 ; and * Celtic Britain,' by J. Rhys, p. 76.

38 History of Hampshire.

the estuary of Southampton Water was chosen by the
Roman General for his landing-place, and that this invasion
of the country took place on the same lines of advance
along the coast as those which marked the conquest of
the Celts and the Belgae centuries before. With Aulus
Plautius came Vespasian as the General's lieutenant.
Vespasian, in this war, is said to have reduced the two
most powerful tribes in Britain, to have taken more than
twenty towns, and also to have subdued the Isle of
Wight ;* which last circumstance makes it certain that
part, at least, of the Roman fleet came along the coast.
The Roman historian does not mention the names of the
two most powerful peoples of Britain subdued by Vespasian,
but, as his campaign included the Isle of Wight, there can
be no reasonable doubt that the Belgae, whose ancestors
had conquered the older Celtic inhabitants of Southern
Britain some centuries earlier, must have been one of these.
Titus served in this campaign with his father Vespasian,
and on one occasion is stated to have rescued him when he
was hemmed in on all sides by the British forces.

. If we may conclude that the landing of the main body of
the Roman army took place in the sheltered parts of
Southampton Water, its march must have been northwards
up the Itchen Valley, through that great natural vent or
opening in the chalk hills which the Romans themselves
named either at this time, or subsequently, Venta Belgarum,
the site of the city of Winchester. Beyond Winchester,
their route northwards to the Thames would be across a
fairly open country, over the chalk downs for about
twenty-two miles, until the edge of the great northern
forest was struck about two miles north of Basingstoke. It
is probable also that their way would be past the site of the
city they subsequently built at Silchester, for the remains
of the extensive British earthworks, which may still be
seen at Silchester, prove that it must have been a great
Celtic stronghold before it became a Roman city.
* Suetonius, ' Vespasian/ chap. iv.

The Coming of the Romans. 39

Hampshire, in common with the neighbouring counties,
appears to have been brought into the condition of a
Roman province, and by the year A.D. 50 this change was
probably completed. The early Roman coins which have
been found show that it was occupied at a time when such
early coins were current. The absence of records of the
establishment of the Roman authority in this part of
England probably denotes the quiet way in which this
change of government was accomplished.

A certain British prince, known as King Cogidubnos,
appears to have made himself useful to the Romans as an
ally in the southern counties, and Tacitus* informs us that
he remained faithful to the Roman Emperors. He was
permitted to rule as a subordinate prince, and probably
Hampshire, or some part of it, was included within his
government, for about a century ago an inscribed stone in
his honour was found at Chichester, on which he is
described as ' Tiberus Claudius Cogidubnos, King and
Lieutenant of the Emperor in Britain/

After the establishment of the Roman government, the
higher culture of the empire began to influence the ruder
civilization of the British people of Hampshire. These
people, at the time when they passed under the Roman
rule, were much more advanced in the arts of life than
their early Celtic predecessors. Considering their isolation
from the rest of Europe, their civilization was very con-
siderable. They met the Roman invasion with organized
troops, a fair proportion of which consisted of cavalry, the
horses being of a small size, resembling the New Forest
breed at the present day, which is not improbably
descended from this same aboriginal stock. The remains
of the small horses of this period are found in the Hamp-
shire peat-bogs. It is recorded that the British tribes had
a large number of war-chariots with scythes as offensive
weapons protruding from their sides, that these chariots
were driven furiously, and that the drivers possessed extrc.-

* 'Agricola,' 14.

40 History of Hampshire.

ordinary skill in managing them. The British weapons
were daggers, long iron swords, short spears, bows, darts,
slings, and other missile weapons. In battle they used
large shields, some of them as high as a man, and wore
cuirasses made of plaited leather or chain mail, or parallel
plates of bronze. They also wore helmets, on some of
which were carved figures of birds and faces of animals,
these representations perhaps denoting the distinguishing
marks of their clans.

The chiefs and other high personages appear to have
worn collars and torques of gold, such as have been found
in this county. About fifty years ago a gold torque was
ploughed up at Ropley, probably from the destruction
of some British burial site. This fine ornament weighs
5 oz. 17 dwt. ii gr., and was exhibited by Mr. Lilly-
white, on whose land it was found, at the meeting of the
Archaeological Institute at Winchester in 1845.* A few
years ago it was still preserved at Ropley. A similar gold
torque was found at Romsey.

Some of the British people, at the time of the coming of
the Romans, used woad for dyeing the skin ; and, if we
may judge by the figures on the medals of Claudius, the
men and women wore a somewhat similar dress. The
women's heads were uncovered, and their hair tied in a
knot on the neck, but the male figures are represented as
wearing what appears to be a soft head covering.^

At the time of the Roman conquest the inhabitants of
Hampshire must have been numerous, and distributed
through the valleys of the county as I have shown else-
where, J governed under a system of clans, the chiefs
frequently at war with each other, and consequently they
fell an easy prey to the Romans. It is probable that many

* See description in the { Proc. Arch. Inst.,' Winchester, 1845.

f Elton, ' Origins of English History,' 1 10.

j Paper on 'The Distribution and Density of the Old British Popu-
lation of Hampshire': * Journal of the Anthropological Institute,'
vol. xviii.

The Coming of the Romans. 4 1

of the existing Hampshire villages were sites of British
settlements at the time of the Conquest, or soon afterwards,
for Roman coins have been found in or quite close to a
considerable number of them. Much of the arable land
near such villages was probably cultivated for corn-growing
before the coming of the Romans. The British system of
agriculture was of a primitive kind, but in some parts of
the country, at least, barns existed for storing and threshing
corn, for Pytheas says that the corn was collected in sheaves
and threshed in large buildings. In other parts of the
country the older method of cutting off the ears of corn
from the stalks, such as was the custom in the Bronze Age,
appears to have survived. This was done with a short
reaping-hook, in shape like those shown in the collection of
bronze antiquities in the British Museum. In some parts
of the country the corn, after it was threshed, was stored in
underground granaries, such as that discovered at Nursling,
near Southampton, on a Romano -British site, where a
considerable quantity of wheat, black with age, was found
in such a store.

The corn which was grown was wheat, barley, and oats.
The farms were laid out in fields without fences, a plan
which survived for many centuries, until the time of the
enclosure of the common arable lands. Before the Roman
occupation the British people had learnt to make a per-
manent separation of arable land from pastures, and to apply
manures. The plough was of the wheeled kind,* which
superseded the older overtreading plough held down by the
driver's foot. The system of marling or chalking land was
practised in much the same way as it is still practised in
Hampshire. The ancient chalk-pits of this county, some
of which are of enormous size, such as that at Odiham,
bear witness to the extreme antiquity of the agricultural
operation of marling land, which Pliny tells us was
practised in Britain. Some of these chalk-pits in Hamp,
shire are so large in comparison to the annual quantity of

* Elton, 'Origins of English History,' 116.

42 History of Hampshire.

chalk ever likely to have been taken from them, that they
probably mark the sites where the Belgae first began to dig
for marling purposes.

On the slopes of one of these old chalk-pits, now over-
grown, at Sherborn, near Basingstoke, Roman coins have
been found. The cattle were of two kinds : (i) the Celtic
shorthorn, Bos longifrons, the bones of which have been
found with other remains on Romano-British sites in
various parts of Hampshire ; and (2) a larger kind of ox,
probably descended from the Bos primigenius, whose
remains have been found in the peat of the recent dock
excavation at Southampton. The Celtic sheep appears to
have been a horned variety, such as is common at present
in the North of England. Wild boars were common, and
from them was probably derived the old breed of hogs
which was at a very early period identified with this
county, and from which its jocular name of * Hoglandia '
was derived. The forest-land of Hampshire, which is
so considerable at the present day, was of much greater
extent in Romano-British, and even in mediaeval time,
and these forests have always afforded pannage for a
large number of hogs. Traces of the ancient breed still
remain in the swine of the New Forest. The red deer,
Cervus elephas^ also roamed through the woods and fed in
the open glades. Their horns have been found in almost
every peat-bed in the county, and, until the general removal
of the deer from the New Forest about fifty years ago,
herds of them were preserved there. The Romans intro-
duced the fallow deer and the pheasant, and it was under
their influence that the hornless sheep first appeared on the
Hampshire downs.

No county in England is better adapted than Hampshire
for the acclimatization of trees of warmer latitudes, and it
is probable that the chestnut, sycamore, box, laurel, walnut,
pear, medlar, quince, damson, peach, cherry, mulberry, and
fig, all of which flourish in this county, and which were
introduced by the Romans, were at that time first planted

The Coming of the Romans. 43

in Hampshire. They also brought in the vine, and although
we have no vineyards, at present, there is unmistakable
evidence that they formerly existed. In the Middle Ages
there were vineyards at Winchester, Hurstbourn Priors,
Beaulieu and East Meon.

The Romans found the British people dwelling in small
round huts of a mean kind, formed at best of wattle and
dob, and under their influence a great advance must have
been made in the building arts. They brought in a know-
ledge of the art of brickmaking, for the manufacture of
which both the North and South of Hampshire contain an
abundant supply of clay. In Roman times the clay-beds
in the south of the county appear to have been worked for
making bricks, tiles and pottery at Rowland's Castle, Fare-
ham, in the New Forest, and elsewhere.

Wherever a Roman building or inhabited site has been
explored in this county, bricks, and in many cases flanged
tiles, have been found. Some parts of Hampshire, such as
the neighbourhood of Rowland's Castle, Fareham, and
Bishop's Waltham, which are noted brickmaking places at
the present time, appear, from the discoveries which have
been made, to have been utilized for the same purposes by
the Romans. At Fairthorn, near Botley, heaps of de'bris of
Roman bricks and tiles still remain under the surface soil,
and London clay is found on the surface at no great dis-
tance. This firm clay and the passage-bed between it and
the Lower Bagshot beds, were probably both used by the
Romans in this neighbourhood. The flanged tiles, which
were made for building purposes, exhibit a flaky structure,
as if a firm clay was selected for their manufacture. The
Roman bricks found in the north as well as in the south of
the county, at Silchester, Crondal, Fairthorn, Rowland's
Castle, and many other places, all show that the British
people of Hampshire under Roman tuition became very
skilful in the art of brickmaking.

The Romans also taught the early people of Hampshire
the use of the potter's wheel. The Celtic tribes in this

44 History of Hampshire.

county made pottery before the Roman conquest, but it was
of a rougher kind than that which was subsequently manu-
factured, and shows no trace of having been made by the
aid of the wheel. The Celtic pottery is gritty in texture
and thicker, and so is easily distinguished from that of
Romano-British date, which is of a closer texture, more
delicately made, more artistic, and well burnt. Extensive
Romano-British potteries have been discovered at Crock
Hill, Panshard Hill, Sloden, Anderwood enclosure, and
other parts of the New Forest, specimens of which are ex-
hibited in the British Museum and in the Hartley Museum,
Southampton. This New Forest ancient pottery is a ware
much resembling the Staffordshire stoneware.* In some
of these places the remains of the ancient kilns have been
found, and in 1889 a potter's kiln of the same date was dis-
covered in Hall Court Wood, near Shidfield.

A specimen of pottery discovered at Shidfield is ex-
hibited in the Hartley Museum. Romano-British potteries
of an extensive kind have also been found at Rowland's
Castle, and others at Brixton and Barnes, in the Isle of
Wight.

The Romans also appear to have introduced the art of
glass-making into Hampshire, for the late Rev. E. Kell
discovered several Roman glass-works near Broughton, on
a site which was close to the Roman road from Winchester
to Old Sarum, and near the place where an old British road
from the north to the south of the county crosses it. This
site was in the ancient forest of Buckholt, in a favourable
situation for procuring sand and flint for the manufacture,
and plenty of charcoal for the kilns.

The art of charcoal-burning has survived in Hampshire
from the time of the Romans, or earlier, until the present
day, there being a few charcoal-burners, who will probably
be the last of their kind, still following their craft in the
New Forest. This old industry must have been in a
flourishing state when the New Forest potteries and other
* Birch, ' Ancient Pottery,' p. 550.

The Coming of the Romans. 45

industries, such as the glass manufacture, in which charcoal
was useful, were in operation in Romano-British time.

Another ancient industry, that of basket-making, which
was a native British art, supplied an article of export trade
during the period of the Roman occupation. It is still fol-
lowed in parts of Hampshire near to the osier-beds, at
places along the courses of the rivers, in much the same
way as it must have been carried on in the Romano- British
period, when articles of this manufacture were sent to Rome,
and, according to Martial,* were adopted for use there.
The skill of the Celtic people of Britain in making baskets
was probably of ancient date, for the earliest accounts we
have of their boats tell us of coracles, or boats made of a
wicker framework, and covered with skins.

The most enduring remains which the Romans have left
in Hampshire are the ruins of their cities and their villas,
and the remains of their great roads. The chief Roman
cities were Silchester, Winchester, and Porchester. These
were all strongly-fortified stations, the walls of which still
remain at Silchester and Porchester, and probably also in
part at Winchester. In addition, there was a station at or
near the present site of Southampton, known as Clausentum,
which appears to have been the port of Venta Belgarum
(Winchester), of the country beyond it as far as Calleva
Attrebatum (Silchester), and of Sorbiodunum (Old Sarum),
and of the country beyond it. Ships coming up to Clau-
sentum would be as near to the great city of Silchester as
they would be by sailing up the lower part of the Thames.
Clausentum has commonly been described as a place
situated on an island in the Itchen. On the tongue of land
on which Bittern Manor House now stands, and which was
formerly an island, there was undoubtedly a fortified Roman
station ; but the island was small, and for convenience of
landing, whether for trading or military purposes, other
parts of the Itchen or the Test, which wash the peninsular
site on which Southampton is built, would have been more
* Martial, ' Apophoreta.'

46 History of Hampshire.

advantageous for goods or troops proceeding inland to
other stations. For the shipping of any export commodities,
such as corn, it is obvious that a site on the mainland would
have been much more convenient than an insular station.
Roman remains, such as coins and pottery, have been found
in various parts of the mainland between the Itchen and
the Test, on which Southampton is built.

On the west side of the Itchen also, on the higher ground
of Portswood, opposite to the site of Bittern Manor House,
many Romano-British remains, such as coins, pottery, and
sculptured stones, have been discovered. Roman pottery
has been dredged up in the Southampton Water, opposite
to the present town, or found in the mud during the dock
excavations. The name Clausentum appears to denote an
inclosed port, such as Southampton now is, and such as the
Roman port was. The earliest name of Southampton
which we can trace is Hantune, which perhaps refers to its
situation, from the Celtic word ' an,' water, of which we
have many other examples in the county.

In the early Venetian map* of 1436, published in the State
Papers, Venetian series, Southampton is marked under the
name of Antona, and it is probable that the Venetians de-.
rived their maps and charts from earlier sources than any
in this country.

From these considerations I think we may identify the
Roman Clausentum with the port of Southampton, and
not merely with the fortified island in the Itchen, which
was no doubt its military station.

Silchester, the largest of the Roman cities of Hampshire,
was reared on the site of an immense British fortification,
some of the earthworks of which still exist. As it was
built in the region of the Attrebates, it was called Calleva
Attrebatum. The name Calleva possibly meant a town in
a wood.f An allied Welsh word is * cell-i/ a wood or copse,

* ' Chart of the British Channel,' by Andreas Bianco, 1436, from
the original in St. Mark's Library, Venice,
f Rhys, ' Celtic Britain,' p. 279.

The Coming of the Romans. 47

and the simpler form 'cell/ a grove. The name of the place
in Domesday Book is Cilcestre, probably pronounced by
the Norman-French scribe Celcestre, a name also implying
a Chester, or fortification in a wood. Its name spelt Cil-
chestre occurs in official records as late as the fourteenth
century.*

Silchester is the most remarkable of all the Roman
remains in Hampshire. Its wall, built largely of nodules
of flint washed out of the chalk by ages of denudation, is
still almost complete round the area of the city. The wall
is 2,670 yards in length, rather more than a mile and a half,
and the area it encloses is about 100 acres. Some remains
of several of the gateways of the city still exist, and within
the area many objects of Roman manufacture — brooches,
pins, glass, pottery, buckles, tools of various sorts, and
domestic articles of all kinds — have been picked up for
centuries. A large number of coins have been found here,
and latterly a collection was made by the second Duke of
Wellington, which, together with a Roman eagle, a fine tes-
sellated pavement, and other interesting remains connected
with the stately buildings of this city, are preserved at
Stratfieldsaye. The excavations which have been con-
ducted on its site by the late Rev. J. G. Joyce, F.S.A., and
lately by the Society of Antiquaries, have laid bare the site
of the city forum, some of its baths, a temple, the remains
of fine pavements, of mansions or villas, a number of other
floors made of tesserae, carved stone capitals of buildings
which must have been imposing, and a large number of
other objects connected with Roman city life in Hampshire.
That city life included the diversions of the amphitheatre,
the remains of which still exist outside the north-eastern
part of the wall.

Although its massive walls have become partly decayed

by time and by demands made on them for building

and other purposes, they remain for the most part entire,

and impress the visitor with their grandeur even at

* Inq. p. m., 34 Edw. I.

48 History of Hampshire.

the present day. The site of the city has long been tra-
versed by the plough, and has probably been cultivated as
arable land since the Middle Ages, by which time we may
suppose that the vast de"bris of its ruined buildings, for
centuries used as a quarry for building material, had been
cleared away.

The remains of elaborately-constructed Roman villas
and other buildings have been found at Winchester,
Twyford, Porchester, Thruxton, Abbot's Anne, Bittern,
Bramdean, Crondall, Itchen Abbas, Carisbrook, Brading
and other places.

Stones with Roman inscriptions have been found at
Winchester, Bittern and Silchester.

Other Roman remains, such as the foundations of
buildings, interments, domestic utensils, ornaments and
coins, have been discovered in so many places in this
county, that the details of these discoveries and of other
traces of the Roman occupation would be a very long
story — far too long for this volume.

CHAPTER V.

THE WEST SAXON CONQUEST.

WITH the coming of the Saxons the recorded history of
Hampshire begins, like that of the rest of England. We
have no longer to grope our way in the dark, gathering up
scraps of ancient history here and there, and laboriously
piecing together circumstantial evidence to learn what we
can of the Iberians, the Celts, the Belgse, and the half-
Romanised Britons ; but we have the light of the English
Chronicle to guide us, and although this was not begun
until about the year 855, it is of great value, as it embodies
the floating historical lore and information which existed
concerning Britain, and what happened for several centuries
before its date. Some of this must be regarded as erroneous,
but the chronicle may be accepted as embodying the
historical knowledge of the ninth century, which had been
handed down from the time of the earliest Saxon settle-
ments. If we make allowance for the creeping in of legend
and fable here and there, such as those of Port and
Whitgar among the verities of early Saxon history recorded
in this chronicle, receiving what will stand the test of modern
criticism, and rejecting those statements which are at vari-
ance with overpowering evidence, we yet shall have in
this early record much that is of great value, and it will
always be one of the most interesting literary associations
of this county that the early part of this chronicle — one
of the earliest examples of English literature — was written

4

50 History of Hampshire.

in the city of Winchester. In addition to the chronicle,
there is much that can be learnt about the early wars and
customs of the Saxons from the traditions preserved in
their old poems and Sagas, which constitute the literature
of their heroic age.

The earliest Saxon attacks on the British people of this
part of England began in the year 495, when Cerdic and
Cynric landed at the mouth of the Itchen. This appears
to have been a raid for plunder, and the invaders came
along the coast of Sussex, which had been already occu-
pied by the South Saxons under ^Ella. All the invaders
of Hampshire, Celts, Belgae, Romans, Saxons, and Danes,
appear to have come along this route. In 501 Cerdic and
Cynric attacked Porchester, but do not appear to have
captured it. In 508 a more determined attack on the
Hampshire coast was made by a combined force of
Gewissas, known subsequently as West Saxons, aided by
the Jutes of Kent, and the South Saxons, and the English
chronicle tells us that a battle ensued in which five thousand
Britons and their leader fell. No permanent occupation of
the country, however, was made until the year 514, when
Southampton Water and the country adjacent to it passed
from the British to the Saxon rule. Porchester and
Clausentum must have fallen at this time, and probably
the first Saxon settlement was made on the tongue of
land between the Test and the Itchen, which they named
' Hampton,' or their home town, although it was known
also as Hanton, or Hantona, perhaps a modified form of
its older name of Clausentum, for many centuries later.
We cannot say with certainty what was the later sequence
of events between this time and the final overthrow of the
British power at the great battle of Charford. Whether
Winchester was taken before that battle or subsequently
is not quite clear. Cerdic and Cynric are said to have
landed in the year 519 at Cerdices-ora with another force,
which must have come from over the sea, and they were
probably joined by their countrymen already settled here.

The West Saxon Conquest. 51

Cerdices-ora, or Cerdic's shore, has been identified by some
historians with the shore near Calshot, formerly ^called
Calchesore ; by others with the mouth of the Hamble, on
the eastern side of Southampton Water. What may be
considered as certain is that in this year the final defeat of
the Britons of Hampshire took place. The reinforced
Saxons drove the Britons to the west through the woods
which now form the northern part of the New Forest. I
see nothing improbable in the tradition which assigns this
landing of an army of Saxons on the western side of
Southampton Water. Such a force would be supported by
a force already established on the northern part of the
estuary, and it should be remembered that a good Romano-
British road existed, along which the invaders could readily
pass from Lepe, near Calshot, to the north-west of Eling,
where it joined another Roman road from Clausentum
which crossed the Test at Nursling. A study of the
topography of this campaign will make it clear that,
wherever the Saxons landed at this time, the place where
they were mustered for this final attack on the Britons
must have been at or near the junction of these Roman
roads west of Nursling. The Romano-British way from
Lepe can still be followed across the lonely waste
of Beaulieu Heath, where it exists in part as a raised
causeway. As the Britons retreated westward, the Saxons
pressed on them, until the final struggle took place at the
ford of the Avon since known as Cerdic's ford, or Char-
ford, where the Britons were defeated with great slaughter,
and where the site of this decisive battle was traditionally
known as late as 1759 by the name of Bloody Marshes.*

' On that day,' says one of our old historians,-f- ' a great
blow fell on the dwellers in Albion, and greater yet had it
been but for the sun going down ; and the name of Cerdic
was exalted, and the fame of his wars and of the wars of
his son Cynric was noised throughout the land.'

* See Map of Hampshire, by Isaac Taylor, 1759.
f Henr. Huntingd., II., 17.

4—2

52 History of Hampshire.

After this victory all the southern and middle parts of
Hampshire were occupied by the Saxons, who did not
pursue the remnants of the British forces beyond the
Avon, but apparently returned to the neighbourhood of
Southampton and Winchester to consolidate their power.
If Winchester had not fallen into their hands before the
battle of Charford, it must have fallen to them imme-
diately afterwards. Then began the kingdom of Wessex,
under Cerdic and Cynric, its first kings.

In the following year, 520, the Saxons crossed the Avon
and advanced into Wilts and Dorset. A few miles beyond
the river they must have met with a line of British hill-
fortresses, the formidable earthworks of which still exist at
Clerbury, Whichbury, and Dudsbury. These and others
in their course into Dorsetshire they probably took, until
they reached Mount Badon, now called Badbury. Here
the Britons made a successful stand, and the Saxon army
met with a crushing defeat. They retreated across the
Avon into the country they had made their own, and no
further western conquests were attempted. The present
south-western border of Hampshire may be taken to
represent roughly the dividing-line between the Saxons
and Britons for many years after this time.

During the war which resulted in the Teutonic settlement
of Hampshire, the Saxons were assisted by Jutish allies,
and these, after its subjugation, were provided for by the
northern shore of the Solent between Southampton Water
and Portsmouth Harbour being assigned to them, and also
the long valley of the river Meon, which extends from the
mouth of the river, two miles below Titchfield, northwards
into the county as far as East Meon. They also appear to
have occupied the eastern part of the shore of South-
ampton Water as far as the present parish of Hound,
and also a part of the New Forest around Canterton.
These districts, however, were not large enough for
the Jutes, and consequently in the year 530 Cerdic
and Cynric subdued the Isle of Wight in the interests

The West Saxon Conquest. 53

of their allies, and that island then became a Jutish
province.

During the thirty years which followed the defeat of the
West Saxons at Badbury, this conquest of the Isle of
Wight was the only enlargement of their kingdom ; and
although the island was occupied by Jutes, like the valley
of the Meon, these Jutish settlements were not dependencies
of the kingdom of Kent, but Jutish provinces in the king-
dom of Wessex. During these years the small West
Saxon kingdom did not even include all Hampshire. The
Britons still held their own in the northern forest, which
stretched from Crondall and Odiham across the country to
the north of Andover. Their chief stronghold was the
great city in the forest, Calleva Attrebatum, or Silchester,
and they appear to have held all the country through
which the Roman road from Silchester to Sorbiodunum, or
Old Sarum, passed. Old Sarum was still British, so that
the expansion of the Saxon kingdom westward or north-
ward was for a time arrested. Cerdic died in 534, and
Cynric his son became the second king of Hampshire. It
is interesting to look back on this small West Saxon
kingdom during these thirty years. Its internal organi-
zation must have been developed during this period, and
the home kingdom firmly established. Then must have
begun also that blending of the original West Saxon race
with the remnants of the old British people, and it is
significant that this period was just long enough for a new
generation of warriors to rise, desirous to emulate the
victories of their fathers.

The history of Hampshire during the early years of
the West Saxon settlement is not merely that of the
growth of an English county, but the history of an infantile
kingdom.

Then were laid in Hampshire the political foundations
of that state which, after many struggles, subsequently
became the dominant State of the Saxon heptarchy, and
which ultimately developed into the kingdom of England.

54 History of Hampshire.

In 552 Cynric marched along the Roman way from
Winchester, and captured Old Sarum. This added the
whole of southern Wiltshire to his kingdom, and a settle-
ment of colonists from Hampshire appears at once to have
occupied it. In 556 he marched along the north-western
Roman road from Winchester over the hills of the county
into Wiltshire at Conholt Hill, and onwards to Marl-
borough, the Roman Cunetio, which he took after a great
battle at Barbury Hill. This capture of Maryborough led
to the annexation of the northern part of Wiltshire, and
also the greater part of Berkshire. The downland of Berk-
shire was separated from Hampshire in those days by the
forest along the valley of the Kennet, some miles across ;
but when Cynric had captured Marlborough, he had only
to follow the fine old British road eastward, called the
Ridgeway, which still exists, and runs along the northern
crest of the Berkshire downs for many miles, and the
whole upland country of Berkshire would be open to him.
This territory he added to his kingdom, and, advancing
southwards, probably captured and destroyed the Romano-
British town of Speen. Certainly, a new town, fortified in
the Saxon manner, began to grow close by, under the
name of Newbury. This place must have been of great
importance at this early period before the capture of
Silchester, for the only natural pass through the chalk
ridge of north Hampshire and the forest beyond is that
between the Burghclere Hills, which the road from Whit-
church to Newbury now follows. The West Saxons were
thus firmly established north of the great forest belt of the
Kennet valley. Old Sarum was theirs, and the greater
part of Wiltshire, but their kingdom did not yet comprise
the whole of Hampshire, for the north-eastern forest, in the
midst of which Silchester was situated, was still British.
The Saxons could, however, attack it from the north, as
well as from the south, and about 566 or 568 it was taken,
probably by Ceawlin, who succeeded his father Cynric
in 560.

The West Saxon Conquest. 55

Silchester was probably burnt ; it certainly became a
waste. Among the charred wreckage of one of its houses
the figure of an eagle, now preserved at Strathfieldsaye,
was found, such as was used as a legionary standard, and
perhaps used for the last time in that final struggle. Even
if some part of the city and some of its inhabitants were
spared, and were not reduced to slavery, after the departure
of the old civilization and the commerce to which they had
been accustomed, the ruins of Silchester could not have
afforded them a subsistence. What the Saxons spared of
the city must have been left for the weather to finish, and
the ruins gradually crumbled away, except the massive
walls, which have lasted to the present time.

The expansion of the West Saxon kingdom went on
under Ceawlin, Cutha, and Cuthwulf, sons of Cynric, until
it extended as far as Bedford in one direction and
Gloucester in another. During this time Hampshire
remained their home province, on which they fell back
when checked in their progress of conquest. In this
province there must have been a seat of government, and
I see no reason to doubt that that seat of government was
Winchester, even in this early Saxon time. The Saxons,
on their settlement in Hampshire, formed their numerous
country tuns, or townships ; and although their government
was in the main local, and their custom of life essentially
rural, they must have had some place from which the
central government of their State could be administered.
They would need a seat of government of some sort as
much in the sixth century as in the ninth, and I think
Winchester never ceased to be the governing centre, but
that, when the Saxons captured it from the Britons, they
adapted it to their own requirements. That they destroyed
the chief public buildings of the city is probable, but there
is no evidence to show, as some historians state, that
Winchester was completely destroyed and made a waste
Chester by the Saxons. There is strong circumstantial
evidence pointing to the opposite conclusion. Its situation

5 6 History of Hampshire.

is a natural centre for a province, and its advantages in
this respect must have been as apparent to the Saxons as
to their predecessors the Belgae. The Saxons required
roads for the communications of their kingdom, and their
further conquests, and we know that they used the great
Roman highways which radiated from Winchester like
spokes from the centre of a wheel. If they burnt and
destroyed Winchester, they must at once have set to work
and constructed new dwellings of their own on its ruins,
and it is not likely they would thus destroy a city in order
to rebuild it. They probably destroyed such buildings as
were repugnant to their own customs and ideas, and
utilized the others. They certainly made great use of the
Roman roads, and they could not have done this without
constantly crossing and recrossing the site of the Roman
Venta-Belgarum. The remains of the pavements and
streets of Venta Belgarum are found eight feet below the
J^vel of the modern city, but this does not prove any
sudden destruction of the Roman town, for the streets and
general level of every old town have risen in the same way
by the accumulations of centuries, and the debris arising
from the repair of roads and the necessary repair and
rebuilding of houses.

The early Saxons in Hampshire disliked the life of cities,
and lived for the most part, as their forefathers had lived,
in hamlets scattered along the banks of the rivers or in the
glades formed by the forest clearings. The British towns
and fortified places were for the most part abandoned by
them.

The island-fortress, commonly identified with Clausen-
turn, does not appear to have been occupied in any way
after the coming of the Saxons until many centuries later,
when the Bishops of Winchester built a country-house on
its ruins. The Roman Porchester probably shared a similar
fate, so far as its occupation in Saxon times was concerned.
It became simply a waste Chester ; and it was not until the
time of the Normans that its Roman walls, which were left

The West Saxon Conquest. 57

standing like those of Silchester, on account of the difficulty
of demolishing them, were utilized as part of the defences
of a Norman castle.

After the country had become settled according to their
semi-barbarous Teutonic customs, these new occupiers of
Hampshire gradually advanced in civilization. They could
not always live apart in isolated hamlets and village com-
munities ; for national interests of various kinds would
make it necessary for them to assemble in their moots, to
deliberate on the affairs of their state, or to resolve on
further conquests. Consequently Winchester must, at a
very early period after the Saxon settlement, have become
the chief tun in the Hampshire kingdom. Its alternative
name of Winton appears to have been given to it by the
early Saxon settlers, who formed their tuns in all parts of
the county. Such places as Hamtun, Winton, Aulton,
Broughton, Houghton, Kimpton, Thruxton, Overton, and
others, were probably among the earliest of the primitive
West Saxon townships.

Similarly such places as Odiham, Fareham, Stoneham,
Ellingham, Greatham, Waltham, and Upham, probably
mark the sites of some of the earliest Saxon hams or
homesteads.

Some of the earliest settlements by the fords are de-
noted by such place-names as Alresford, Forde, Droxford,
Leckford, Reodford, Twyford, and Warnford.

Similarly some of the most important of the early
settlements by the ings, or places where extensive meadow-
land prevailed, suitable for grazing cattle, are marked by
such place-names as Allington, Avington, Basing, Bulling-
ton, Eling, Wonsington, and Wymering.

The early settlements where the land was closed in round
the homesteads, and therefore known as worths, are marked
by such names as Worthy, Emsworth, Beauworth, Bent-
worth, Chilworth, Tidworth, and Tunworth.

The early settlements whose names were compounded
from wick — a dwelling-place or habitation — can be dis-

58 History of Hampshire.

tinguished by such names of places as Southwick, Wick-
ham, Wyke, and Rotherwick.

The early settlements by the bourns are denoted by
such names as Tichborne, Hurstbourn, Somborne, Holy-
bourn, Selborne, and Sherborne.

The settlements by the springs are marked by those
place-names terminating in or compounded with the Saxon
word well — a spring — as Andwell, Maplederwell, and
Itchingswell.

The settlements in the open forest-glades, where cattle
could lie and which the Saxons called leghs or leys, are
marked by such place-names as Botley, Bramley, Crawley,
Tytherley, Eversley, Grateley, Headley, and Baddesley.

Other forest settlements are distinguished by places
whose names contain the words hurst, holt, or wood, as
Lyndhurst, Brokenhurst, Holdenhurst, Buckholt, Linken-
holt, Sparsholt, Woodcot, Wootton, and Woodmancot.

The settlements formed by the clearings of the forest-
land are denoted by the word clere, as Burghclere, Kings-
clere, Highclere, Clerwoodcote ; and also by the numerous
place-names terminating in the word field (Anglo-Saxon,
feld), where timber was cut down, such as Anfield, Winch-
field, Froxfield, Sherfield, Stratfield, and Titchfield.

The settlements by streams and marshes, where it was
necessary to make some artificial passage-way in order to
cross either stream or marsh, are marked by the words
compounded of stoke or stock, as Alverstoke, Basingstoke,
Itchen Stoke, Oldstoke, Bishopstoke, Stockbridge, Long-
stock, and Laverstoke.

One of the results of the Saxon conquest of Hampshire
was a general re-naming of the British villes and other
dwelling-places. Although the conquerors may have dis-
liked the life of towns, and so did not hesitate to destroy
those which it did not suit their purposes to hold, yet they
must have found in Hampshire many British homesteads
ready made for them, which they utilized for their own
settlements. Such old hamlets and villages appear, for the

The West Saxon Conquest. 59

most part, to have been named anew by the Saxons in such
a way as to make their names intelligible to themselves.
Some of these old village sites are those on which Roman
coins and other indications of Romano-British occupation
have been found ; so that in such instances there can be no
doubt as to their previous occupation.

Only a few village or town names in Hampshire are
entirely Celtic names. Such names as Candover, Andover,
Appledercombe, and Meon, may have been the names of
the places they now denote in Romano-British time. Such
names would certainly have been more intelligible to the
Celtic population of Hampshire than to the Saxon; and
the survival of such Celtic names, and many others such as
Maplederwell and Itchingswell — which subsequently were
made intelligible to the Saxons of Hampshire by a syllable
of their own language being added to the old Celtic root-
word — probably points to the survival of part of the con-
quered race at or near to these places.

In addition to such village place-names ending in tun,
ham, ing, worth, ley, etc., as those mentioned, that mark
the early West Saxon settlements in Hampshire which
afterwards grew into villages, there are scattered over the
county many examples of isolated farms, homesteads, and
hamlets which have similarly significant names, many of
which must have had an origin quite as early, but which
never grew into villages. These are, perhaps, better ex-
amples of what most of the original Saxon settlements
were like than the larger hamlets or villages which many of
them subsequently became. These quiet homesteads in
the valleys, lying in the midst of hedgerow, orchard, and
meadow, or these lonely farm-houses on the hills, often
sheltered from the wind by a ring of trees, and commonly
only inhabited now by a bailiff or labourer, must be on
the sites of many of the primitive West Saxon settlements ;
and the deeply-worn old lanes and hollow ways which lead
to some of these early homesteads and farms of Hampshire
must be the same lanes and roads which the Saxons used,

60 History of Hampshire.

and some of them may be as old as the RomanO'British
period.

One class of early Saxon settlements in Hampshire has
a special interest, namely, those which were known by
names terminating in bury or don. These were on or quite
close to many of the old Celtic fortresses, and although
the earthworks themselves have in many instances become
obliterated, yet these distinctive place-names remain, de-
noting that a bury or fortification existed at such a place.
Many of the existing Celtic fortifications are still called by
names ending in bury, such as Walbury and Tidbury ; and
there is no reason to suppose that such names were given
for reasons different from those which caused similar names
to be given to such villages and places as Owlesbury, Hoi-
bury, Exbury, Tachbury, Timsbury, Cranbury, Bransbury,
Hiltonbury, Rooksbury, Stanbury, Egbury, Woodbury,
Colbury, Aytesbury, Westbury, and Bucksbury. At some
of these places Celtic earthworks still exist, and remains of
Romano-British date have been found at others.

In a few instances similar early Saxon settlements appear
to have been made near old Celtic earthworks at Hamble-
don, Dunwood, Dummer (Dunmer anciently), and Bulling-
don ; and these names have retained the Celtic termination
dun.

CHAPTER VI.

EARLY WE SS E X.

THE earliest Saxon organization for local government,
defence, and the administration of law which can be traced
in Hampshire, is that of the Tithing (A. S. teothing), a union
of ten freemen for mutual security. These tithings were
village communities, under which the ten men not merely
bound themselves together for security, but for co-operative
agriculture. The institution of tithings is therefore closely
concerned with the institution of common pasture-lands,
and a common or co-operative system of farming.

It is probable, from the prevalence of a similar system
of early agricultural communities among the people of
Wales, that some such system prevailed among the Celts
and the Romano-British people of this county — a question
which I have discussed elsewhere.* It is certain that
co-operative agriculture was the main bond of union be-
tween the men of the tithings. A headman of the tithing
was elected annually and known as the tithingman. Not-
withstanding the changes which have occurred during more
than fourteen centuries, the tithingman is still annually
elected in numerous tithings and parishes of Hampshire.
In many instances in this county, in which the organization
of the tithing became merged into the later organization of
the parish, the ancient tithingman has not ceased to be

* Paper on ' Early Boroughs in Hampshire.' — Archceological
Review, vol. iv., No. 4.

62 History of Hampshire.

elected. In many other instances in Hampshire, in which
large manors or parishes were subsequently formed by the
union of a number of tithings, the earlier divisions of the
tithings still prevail. This is the case at Fordingbridge,
which has seven tithings ; at Hambledon, which has four ;
at Christchurch, which has seven ; at Buriton, which has
four ; at East Meon, which has eight ; at Amport, which
has two ; at Bramshott, which has three ; at Selborne,
which has two ; at Warblington, which has two, and for-
merly had three ; and at Ringwood, which has ten. Ring-
wood affords a good example of ten tithings being united
to form a hundred. There are grounds for believing that
some organization resembling the later Saxon organization
of the hundred, and perhaps more resembling the cantrefs
or cantreds of Wales and Ireland, prevailed among the
Celtic people of Hampshire before the coming of the
Saxons ; but the tithing, as it has come down to us, much
changed in the course of centuries, is a venerable institu-
tion of our early Saxon forefathers.

The traces which remain in this county of the primitive
boundary-marks of the West Saxon settlements are among
the most interesting of its early antiquities. These boun-
daries were in many instances denoted by marks cut on
trees ; in other cases they were well-known stones — pro-
bably greywether sandstones ; in other cases, well-known
springs ; in others, the Roman roads or the Celtic tumuli ;
and in numerous other instances the limits of the settle-
ments were denoted by the deans or dens, which marked
the limits of the forests.

The marked boundary-trees have long since perished ;
but some of their positions can be traced by such names
as Cutted Thorn or Cut-thorn, which marked the northern
boundary of the land belonging to the tun or town of
Hampton — a boundary which still exists. A similar name,
Cuttes hern (or horn), occurs on a map dated 1588, of the
manor of Merdon ; and the name Cuthedge survives at
Longparish. Marke oak and Mark ash are old names

Early Wessex. 63

connected with the New Forest, and probably older than
its afforestation ; and Mark ash row occurs between Cad-
land and Fawley. The thorn which was cut by the Saxons
was probably the holly-tree — still called a thorn in remote
parts of the county. Boundary trees have in some cases
apparently been replanted as the older ones have become
decayed ; and examples of such occur in the cases of the
Bound oak of Dibden, Cadnam oak, and the Bound oak
north of Silchester, and the hundred oak of Heckfield.

Primitive marks of some kind are denoted by such names
as Four marks, where the parishes of Chawton, Ropley,
Farringdon and Medstead meet ; by Lee marks, Alver-
stoke, Marks lane, east of Stubbington, Markwell wood,
north of Finchdean, Worting mark, Mark Lane, Mot-
tiston, West mark, Petersfield, and Markfield, Bishops
Sutton.

The limits of the forest-land in Hampshire at the settle-
ment of the Saxons can be traced by the numerous names,
dean and den, which they gave to various localities. These
names occur all over the county. Such as Borden, Hather-
den, Redenham, Biddesden, Vernham's Dean, and Soresden,
near Andover, and which relate to the early limits of the
forest of Chute. Chidden, Gledden, Denmead, Horndean,
Finchdean, and Hoyden, refer to the eastern limits of the
forest of East Bere ; while Longwood Dean, and Dean,
near Bishops Waltham, refer to its western limits. Bram-
dean, Ropley Dean, and Derdean, are names which relate
to the ancient forest of mid-Hampshire. Dean, Deangate,
Clyds-dean, Pidden, relate to the northern forest ; while
Nordens, Highden, and Dean, near Sparsholt, are old
boundary names relating to the forest of West Bere.

When the Saxons conquered what was afterwards
known as Hampshire, their recognition of kingship was of
a primitive kind. Such kings as Cerdic and his son
Cynric appear to have been elected chieftains, and to have
commended themselves to the West Saxons by special
qualities which made them eminently fitted for their

64 History of Hampshire.

position as leaders of men. Cerdic, like the kings of other
Anglo-Saxon states, claimed descent from Woden, or it
was claimed for him ; and as Woden was the central deity
in the Saxon mythology at the time of the conquest of
England, it is clear that the worship of ancestors was
part of the religion of the Saxons at the time of their
settlement in Hampshire.

The settlements of the West Saxons, known also as the
Gewissas, beyond the home settlement in Hampshire,
appear to have been, at first, those of independent bands
who migrated from Hampshire or came across the sea,
and who governed themselves mainly according to the
democratic ideas to which the race had been accustomed
on the Continent. Although they were willing to combine
for warlike purposes/ the West Saxons of Hampshire and
the extended settlements were for two centuries after the
death of Cynric under the alternating headship of kings
not strictly hereditary, but descended from more than one
of the grandsons of Cerdic. Cynric left three sons :
Ceawlin, Cutha, and Cuthwulf, who all became kings
conjointly or in turn. Subsequently Ceol, or Ceolric, a
son of Cutha, was accepted as King of the Gewissas, who
settled in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire after a great
defeat of Ceawlin ; and then began a struggle for the
hereditary kingship of the race between the descendants
of Cutha and those of his brother Ceawlin, which lasted
for about two hundred years with alternating success to
the rival houses. The Saxon history of Hampshire, the
home county of the West Saxon people, was necessarily
much concerned with these rivalries. Between the date of
the conquest under Cerdic and the consolidation of the
West Saxon power under Egbert, Wessex had twenty
kings, whose headquarters were in Hampshire, viz., Cerdic,
Cynric, Ceawlin, Cutha, Cuthwulf, Ceolric, Ceolwulf,
brother of Ceolric ; Cynegils, grandson of Cutha ; Cwich-
elm, brother of Cynegils, who shared the kingship with
him ; Cenwealh, Escwin, Centwine, son of Cynegils ;

Early Wessex. 65

Ceadwalla, of Ceawlin's line ; Ina, Ethelard, Cuthred, and
Sigebert, all of Ceawlin's line ; Cynewulf, of Cutha's
line ; Beorhtric, son of Cynewulf ; and then Egbert, of
Ceawlin's line. The authority of these successive po-
tentates, who all ruled more or less over Hampshire,
varied in degree. At several periods, such as during the
time of Ceawlin, Cutha, and Cuthwulf, and during the
time of Cynegils and Cwichelm, the kingship was held
jointly, but all these rulers were real men, not legendary
kings, concerning whose existence there can be any doubt.
Some of them were great warriors and able rulers, who did
much to consolidate the kingdom of Wessex, and whose
work and influence affected the history of Hampshire for
centuries.

The reign of Ceawlin ended in defeat and disaster. An
alliance between some of his discontented subjects and the
Welsh was formed against him, instigated, perhaps, by
Ethelbert, king of Kent, who had been defeated by him at
Wimbledon in 568, during a war between the Jutes of
Kent and the West Saxons. Ethelbert was very young at
that time, and had aspired too soon to that nominal leader-
ship of the Saxon states to which he succeeded on
Ceawlin's defeat. The coalition against the West Saxon
king was too strong for him, and in a great battle at a
place called Woddesbeorg, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
probably Wanborough, on the Marlborough Downs, over-
looking the Vale of White Horse, near Swindon, he was
defeated with great slaughter, and shortly afterwards was
exiled and died. This battle took place in 591. By the
end of the sixth century Wessex had been restored in
power and importance by Ceolwulf, a son of Cutha, and
nephew of Ceawlin, who raised the fame of his state by
his wars against the Angles and Welsh, and against the
Picts and Scots. He died in 611, and was succeeded by
Cynegils, in whose reign Christianity was first preached to
the West Saxons of Hampshire by Birinus. Cynegils was
baptized by him at Dorchester, on the Thames, a place

5

66 History of Hampshire.

closely connected with the early history of Wessex and its
ecclesiastical centre before the removal of the early bishop's
seat to Winchester. Cynegils had been king for twenty-
four years before he was converted to Christianity. This
was in 635, when Oswald, king of the Northumbrians, was
godfather at his baptism. This conversion was the be-
ginning of the change in the religion of the people of
Hampshire, a change which was probably a very gradual
one, seeing that Anglo-Saxon paganism can be clearly
traced in this county centuries later.

The chief divinities of the Anglo-Saxon pantheon were
Woden, Thunor, Frea, and Tiu. These leading divinities
were the same, under different names and with modi-
fications, as those recognised by the ancient civilized
nations of Southern Europe. Woden corresponded to
Mercury, Thor or Thunor to Jupiter, Frea to Venus or
Aphrodite, and Tiu to Mars. In addition, it is clear that
the Saxons, like the Celts, reverenced the sun and moon,
seeing that they gave the names of these luminaries to the
first two days of their week, Tiu, Woden, Thor, and Frea
having the succeeding days assigned to them. In addition
to the common worship of the sun and moon, in which the
Saxon mythology corresponded to the Celtic, they cer-
tainly had; in common, midsummer and midwinter festivals,
also that of May day, and that of November for the com-
memoration of their ancestors; for under other names
and in modified forms they have come down to our own
time, or can be traced in this county within the last
few centuries.

In addition to the central figures in their pantheon, the
Saxons had a large number of lesser gods and goddesses,
heroes and heroines, and much lore concerning them all.

In the folk-lore, legends, and customs of Hampshire we
find much that would be unintelligible to us, without such
explanations of their origin as a survival of the mytho-
logical lore of the Anglo-Saxons and Norsemen gives to
them. Within the recollection of people now living, old

Early Wessex. 67

folk in parts of this county have been heard to talk glibly
about herbs under the sun, and herbs under the moon, of
wizards and witches, charms and enchantments, elves and
fairies, divination and invultation, water and land spirits,
and similar lore, which must have filtered down through
the Middle Ages from their heathen forefathers. There
must, however, have been among some of the pagan Saxons
of Hampshire a much higher conception of their mythology
than the lower material ideas of it which prevailed among
the common people; for in one of the Sagas the Edda
asks : ' Who is the first and eldest of the gods ? He is
called the All-fader in our tongue. He is the living and
awful Being, the author of everything that exists. He lives
from all ages, and rules and directs all things great and
small. He made heaven and earth, the lift (sky), and all
belongs to him, and, what is most, He made man and gave
him a soul that shall never perish, though the body rot to
mould or burn to ashes. He, the Ancient, the Eternal,
possesses an infinite power and a boundless knowledge.
He cannot be confined within the enclosure of walls, or
represented by any likeness to the human figure, and can
only be worshipped in the awful silence of the boundless
forest and the consecrated grove."* This higher con-
ception of their religion must have been known to the
noblest of the West Saxon race, and perhaps helps us to
understand why the earliest converts to Christianity were
those of the royal race, and not the common people.

Cynegils, the first Christian king of Wessex, shared his
kingdom with his brother Cwichelm, and in this joint rule
we may see how imperfectly the later idea of kingship
prevailed in these early times. Soon after their accession
the Britons invaded the northern part of their kingdom,
and were defeated with great slaughter at Bampton, in
Oxfordshire. This was in 614, and from this time to 626
no great events occurred. In that year Cwichelm sent an

* Thorpe's ' Northern Mythology/ I., p. 229. Dasent's c Norsemen
in Iceland,' p. 187.

5—2

68 History of Hampshire.

envoy to Eadwin, king of Northumbria, who, during an
audience, made an attempt on the life of that king.
Eadwin revenged himself by invading Wessex, and the
Chronicle tells us that he killed five kings, probably
princes of the royal house, and slew a great number of the
people. As a consequence, Cynegils and Cwichelm sub-
mitted to the overlordship of Northumbria, and for eight
years, from 626 to 634, Hampshire was thus under the
influence of the Northumbrian rulers.

Then arose a remarkable king in Mercia, named Penda,
who subsequently exercised his lordship over this part of
England. Christianity was in the meantime spreading,
and the wars which occurred were perhaps partly the result
of the struggle of the new faith against the old. In 627
King Eadwin of Northumbria was baptized. In 628
Cynegils and Cwichelm fought against Penda, of Mercia,
defeated him at Cirencester, and afterwards made a treaty
with him.

Cynegils appears to have lived until the year 643, when
he was succeeded by his son Cenwealh. The Chronicle
tells us that he commanded the old church at Winchester
to be built in the name of St. Peter, and that he was
baptized in 646. Penda, the pagan king of Mercia,
appears to have been at this time the most powerful of the
Saxon monarchs, and he drove Cenwealh for a time out of
Wessex. He appears, however, to have regained his
kingdom by abjuring Christianity and marrying the
Mercian king's sister. From this time the Mercian king
was the overlord of Wessex. Penda died in 655, and his
son Peada died two years later. Then Wulfhere, another
son of Penda, and a Christian, became king of Mercia and
asserted his overlordship. He defeated Cenwealh in 661
in a decisive engagement, and dismembered his Hampshire
province. His authority was recognised by the South
Saxons of Sussex, and their king was baptized by his
persuasion in 661. As a reward for this submission,
Wulfhere took away all the Jutish settlements of Wessex,

Early Wessex* 69

viz., the Isle of Wight and the lands of the Meonwara, i.e.,
the hundreds of East Meon and Meonstoke in Hampshire,
from the dominion of Cenwealh, and added them to the
territory of the South Saxon king. The power of Cen-
wealh must have sunk very low for this dismemberment of
his home province to have taken place, for the Jutish
settlement on the mainland of Hampshire included not
only the entire valley of the Meon, but stretched along the
eastern shore of Southampton Water almost to the mouth
of the Itchen. The South Saxon king thus became for a
time possessed of a strip of territory adjoining the chief
port of Wessex.

CHAPTER VII.

EARLY KINGS OF WESSEX.

THE conversion of the West Saxons to Christianity marks
an epoch in their history. Cenwealh, who died in 672,
was one of the last of the pagan kings of Wessex.
Whether he quite abandoned all the old reverence for
Woden and Thor is doubtful, but he appears to have
re-adopted the Christian faith, and during his reign the
new religion spread among the people of Hampshire. In
648 the minster, which in 643 he had commanded to be
built at Winchester, was completed, and the Chronicle
tells us that it was hallowed in the name of St. Peter. In
650 Birinus, the missionary bishop of the West Saxons,
died, and Agilbert, a Frenchman, succeeded him. With
the establishment of Christianity at Winchester, the eccle-
siastical history of the county may be said to begin ; and
it is significant that after this time we can trace little of the
double kingship in the government of Wessex, such as
prevailed at an earlier period. Henceforward the joint
rule was that of king and bishop, and nowhere in England
was this early combination of rule in Church and State
better illustrated than in the relations between the suc-
cessive bishops and kings of Wessex. This relationship
took some time to grow, and disputes were frequent.
Cenwealh quarrelled with Bishop Agilbert, drove him as a
foreigner from the realm, and made Wini bishop.

After Cenwealh's death Sexburga, his queen, governed

Early Kings of We s sex. 71

the West Saxons for rather more than a year ; but in 674
Esc win, who was descended from Ceolwulf, the son of
Cynric, succeeded to the kingdom. He became strong
enough to challenge the authority of Wulfhere, king of
Mercia, and to regain his Jutish province in Hampshire.
A battle between them was fought at a place called
Beadanhead in the Chronicle, and Wulfhere died the same
year.

Wulfhere, king of Mercia, was the acknowledged over-
lord of the South Saxons, and has left his mark on the
history of Hampshire in connection with the conversion of
the Jutes of the Isle of Wight and the Meon country,
whom he temporarily detached from the rest of this
county. The Jutes appear to have clung pertinaciously to
their ancient heathenism. They and the South Saxons, to
whose kingdom they had been annexed, were the last
English people who remained wholly pagan, notwith-
standing the baptism of their king at the persuasion of
Wulfhere. The Mercian king was a great supporter of the
Church, and sent Wilfrid, who subsequently became Arch-
bishop of York, to preach the gospel to these South Saxon
and Jutish pagans. Wilfrid appears to have succeeded in
planting Christianity among the Jutes of the Meon valley
as well as in Sussex, and the traditions of his mission have
survived in this valley and in the Isle of Wight, where
Brading Church is traditionally said to have been founded
by him, on the spot on which he first preached in the
island. It seems, however, to be doubtful whether he
visited the island himself, for the Chronicle says that it was
Eappa, the mass priest, who, by the command of Wilfrid,
first brought baptism to the people of the Isle of Wight

In 676 Escwin, king of Wessex, died, and Centwine, son
of Cynegils, succeeded him. He enlarged the western
boundary of his kingdom in Somersetshire as far as the
Bristol Channel, by driving the Britons to the sea. In the
year of his accession, Hedda became Bishop of Winchester.
Centwine's reign was a short one, for in 685 a rival

72 History of Hampshire

claimant to the throne arose, Cead walla, whom Bede
describes as a daring young man, of the royal race of the
Gewissas, a descendant of Ceawlin, while Centwine was a
descendant of the rival house of Cutha. Ceadwalla, who
had been banished from his country, had a brother named
Mull, and these two princes overcame Centwine, Ceadwalla
becoming king. He recovered from Mercia the West
Saxon provinces of Gloucestershire and Worcestershire,
and united all the Gewissas under his rule. Mull, his
brother, lost his life during an invasion of Kent. Cead-
walla upset the Mercian lordship over Sussex, and
established his own authority instead. Then he turned
his attention to the reconquest of the Isle of Wight, which
had been separated from the West Saxon kingdom for
about twenty-five years, since the time of Wulfhere
in 661.

Notwithstanding the preaching of the priests sent by
Wilfrid, the Jutes of the island remained pagans, the last
of the worshippers of Woden and Thor among the English
people. Ceadwalla's conquest of the island was accom-
panied by much slaughter. Bede says ' that the islanders
were entirely given over to idolatry,' and it is certain that
many of them were slain. Their prince, or under-king,
was named Arwald, who had two brothers, royal youths, as
Bede describes them. The savage nature of Ceadwalla at
this time is illustrated by the touching story of these young
princes. The king appears to have made a vow to give a
fourth part of the land and the booty to the Lord, and this
vow appears to have meant destruction to the pagan
islanders. The two young princes escaped from the
island, and came into the country of the Jutes on the
mainland. Finally, they took refuge at Stoneham, where
they were captured and ordered to be executed. This
being known to a certain abbot and priest named Cynebert,
the head of a very early monastic house at Reodford, now
Redbridge, he came to the king, who was then lying in
those parts, probably at Hampton, to be cured of the

Early Kings of Wessex. 73

wounds he had received in the island, and interceded for
them. The abbot begged that, if the youths must be
killed, the king would allow him first to instruct them in
the mysteries of the faith. This Ceadwalla granted, and
the abbot having, as Bede says, ' taught them the word of
truth and cleansed their souls by baptism, the executioner
being at hand, they joyfully underwent the temporal death,
through which they did not doubt they were to pass to the
life of the soul which is everlasting.' The anniversary of
these young princes thus pitilessly slain, in or near South-
ampton, was for many centuries subsequently commemo-
rated by the Church on August 21, as the day of the
Fratres Regis Arwaldi.

Two years later Ceadwalla resigned his crown and went
on a pilgrimage to Rome. Bede says that he went there
to be baptized, and. if so, we may conclude that he was not
a Christian at the time of the slaughter of the Jutes of the
Isle of Wight. What appears to be certain is that he died
a pilgrim in Rome, shortly after his arrival there, and that
Pope Sergius caused an epitaph commemorative of his
pilgrimage to be written on his tomb.

He was succeeded as King of Wessex by one of his
kinsmen, also a descendant of Ceawlin, named Ina, one of
the most capable of the sovereigns who ever ruled over
Hampshire. He had a long reign from the year 688 to
726. Ina widened the boundaries of his kingdom by
subduing the Britons, or West Welsh, as far as Taunton.
He was also acknowledged as their overlord by the kings
of Sussex and Kent, and also by the city of London. It is
probable also that the West Saxon power was advanced as
far as Exeter in this reign, if not earlier, that the British
people of Dorsetshire passed under Ina's rule, and that a
new settlement of the Saxons was made there. This king
was not only a successful warrior, but also an able adminis-
trator. The earliest code of West Saxon laws which has
come down to us is that of Ina.* As his kingdom had
* Thorpe's ' Ancient Laws and Institutes,' I., p. 119, etc.

74 History of Hampshire.

become enlarged, he divided it into two bishop shires, by
founding the see of Sherborne, in Dorsetshire. Hedda,
the Bishop of Winchester, died in 703, and was succeeded
by Daniel, in whose early days at Winchester the new
bishopric of Sherborne was established, and Adhelm placed
over it.

Ina successfully withstood an invasion of the Mercians
and defeated Ceolred, their king, in a battle at Wan-
borough. Then, after a reign of more than thirty years,
a rebellion broke out against him, led by some of the
ethelings, or princes of the royal blood, descended, like
him, from Cerdic, the founder of the royal race, but
sprung from the line of Cutha. One of the rebels, Cyne-
wulf, was slain, and another, Ealdberht, was driven into
exile ; but the conspiracy went on, until at last it drove
Ina, in despair of being able to find peace in his old years,
to resign his crown. Notwithstanding his conquests, his
able administration, and his wise laws, the glory of his
reign was forgotten by the younger generation of the royal
line, who conspired against him. A legend says that on
one occasion, after he had feasted royally with the princes
in one of his country houses, as he rode away from it on
the next day, his queen urged him to turn back thither,
which at her request he did ; and although he had left it
only a few hours, he saw that insult had been cast on him
when he found the royal house stripped of its hangings
and vessels, and foul with the refuse and dung of the
cattle, which had been turned into it. On the bed where
he and his queen had rested the night before, a sow with
her farrow of pigs then reposed, and the queen turned to
him and said : ' See, my lord, how the fashion of this
world passeth away.'* Ina gave up his crown, retired to
Rome, and died there. This was in 728, when Ethelard
succeeded him as king, and, after suppressing a revolt
against his authority by one of his kinsmen of the royal
line named Oswald, a circumstance which appears to have
* Malm. Gest. Reg. (Hardy), I., 49, quoted by Green.

Early Kings of Wessex. 75

been in this century of common occurrence, he maintained
his position for fourteen years.

He was succeeded by his kinsman Cuthred, who was
king for sixteen years, and during his reign defeated an
invasion of the Mercians and warred against the Welsh.
He died in 754, and was succeeded by his kinsman, Sige-
bert, who reigned for only one year. The elective nature
of the kingship of the West Saxons is apparent from the
frequent succession of kinsmen to the throne during this
and the preceding century, instead of the reigning king's
son, which only appears to have occurred when he
happened to be the fittest man to rule. After Sigebert
had ruled the State for a year, the Witan, or national
assembly, deprived him of the greater part of his kingdom
on account of his unjust doings, and made his kinsman
Cynewulf king of all the West Saxon territory, except the
home province of Hampshire. This the Witan decreed
should be left to Sigebert.

Whether the people of Hampshire concurred in this
arrangement, owing to the greater popularity of the king
in this county, or from some other reason, is not very
clear, but it is certain that the partition did not please
Cynewulf, who drove Sigebert out of Winchester into the
forest of the Andredsweald, the great forest which
stretched in an almost unbroken line from Kent* into the
middle of Hampshire. Sigebert found a refuge in this
woodland, and lived there until he was stabbed by a
swineherd at Privets-flood. This act, the Chronicle tells
us, avenged the ealdorman Cumbra, who had probably
been killed by Sigebert. The place must have been
somewhere in or near the present parish of Privet, a
village on the chalk downs about 580 feet above the level
of the sea. From the place where Privet Church now
stands, the ground falls to the east and also to the south.
The chalk here is covered with clay containing large flints,
and the surface water after heavy rains finds its way down
the slopes into the dry upper valley of the Itchen, which

76 History of Hampshire.

stretches away eastward from Bramdean. This dry upper
valley has a thick bed of gravel in the bottom, and the
flood-water from the slopes around Privet is easily
absorbed by the porous gravel, and passed underground
down the valley slope to feed the Itchen springs near
Cheriton. There can, therefore, be no difficulty in identi-
fying the part of this old forest-land where the swineherd
slew the fugitive king, as the lower part of Privet parish,
where Privet-flood, or the flow of surface-water down the
slopes, is collected in a flood and rapidly absorbed by the
gravel.

Cynewulf reigned for thirty-one years and fought many
battles against the Welsh, with a result generally favour-
able to the expansion of Wessex. Then he appears to have
had a difficulty with some of the ethelings, as Ina had in
his later years, and he purposed to expel one of them
named Cyneheard, a brother of the former King Sigebert.
The incident which led to the death of Cynewulf is one
chiefly of Hampshire interest, and occurred near Win-
chester. It is one of those events that well illustrate the
proverb which, in one form or another, is found in many
languages, and is expressed in French by * cherchez la
femme.' Cynewulf found the lady he went to visit at
Merdon, a place about four miles from Winchester, where
the remains of a Celtic earthwork, with perhaps later
intrenchments around it, still exists, and also the remains
of buildings, and flint concrete work, some of it probably
as old as the time of the Romans. The Chronicle tells us
that Cyneheard the Etheling hearing that the king had
gone to visit this woman, beset him there and sur-
rounded the place on every side, before the men who were
with the king discovered him. When the king perceived
that he had enemies near, he went to the door and manfully
defended himself, until he saw the etheling, and then
he rushed out upon him and sorely wounded him, after
which the men all continued righting against the king
until he was slain. Cynewulf's thanes, having heard the

Early Kings of Wessex. 77

noise of the woman's cries, came to his assistance too late,
but they refused the proffered bribes of the etheling, and
all died fighting. The next day the other royal thanes
came, and avenged his death by slaying the etheling and
his party. The details given in the Chronicle of this
tragic end of Cynewulf, of the fighting on the second day
at the gates of the tun, and of the breaking through into
the enclosure, leave, I think, no doubt that the scene of
this tragedy was at Merdon, afterwards known as Merdon
Castle, in the parish of Hursley, one of the castles which
Henry de Blois, Bishop of Winchester, subsequently built.

This tragic death of Cynewulf, in which eighty-four
men, royal thanes and others of position, perished with
him, occurred in 786. He was buried at Winchester.
Beorhtric, his son, succeeded to the crown, but his right
appears to have been at once disputed by Egbert. Beorh-
tric, however, defeated him, and his rival went for refuge to
the court of Offa, King of Mercia. Offa was at this time
the most powerful of the English sovereigns, and had
advanced his authority in Cynewulf s time by defeating
him at Bensington, in Oxfordshire. Beorhtric for political
purposes proposed an alliance with him, which was accepted,
and he married Offa's daughter Eadburga, an event which
had indirectly a very important subsequent influence on
the history of Hampshire and of England, for Egbert was
driven from Offa's court, and became an exile at the court
of Charlemagne in France. In France and at the court of
Charlemagne, he gained great experience in the arts of
war and in the arts of politics, so that when he returned on
the death of Beorhtric in 802, he had little difficulty in
setting aside the claims of the princes of the line of Cutha,
and in his own person finally recovered the West Saxon
crown for the line of Ceawlin.

During this exile of Egbert Hampshire appears to have
been much more under the direct rule of Offa than has
hitherto been recognised. Offa described himself in char-
ters as king of Mercia and of the nations round it. His

78 History of Hampshire.

coins have been found at Southampton, on the site of the
Castle and in other parts of the town, and so these coins
must have circulated in Hampshire. Charlemagne, who
gave asylum to Egbert, espoused his quarrel by closing
his ports against Offa's ships, and that king retaliated by
closing his ports against the ships of Charlemagne. In
this shutting out of trade and commerce Southampton and
the other ports of Hampshire must have been much con-
cerned. Beorhtric appears to have been merely Offa's
vassal.

The accession of Egbert to the throne of Wessex marks
the close of one period in the early history of Hampshire
and the beginning of another, during which the position of
the county, and especially the importance of Winchester,
was greatly advanced. During the reigns of the twenty
kings who preceded him, Hampshire was their home
province, and the seat of their government as far as any
part of the kingdom could be a seat of government.
In the constant journeys and wars of these sovereigns,
Winchester was, however, their home, as far back as the
earliest records extend, and I have already stated my
reasons for thinking that it must have become a centre of
government soon after the West Saxon conquest.

At the court of Charlemagne, Egbert had learnt those
imperial ideas, which he subsequently carried into effect
in England, by establishing his authority over the whole
country and making Winchester his capital city.

CHAPTER VIII.
LATER KINGS OF WESSEX.

EGBERT died in 837, at Winchester, where a chest is
still pointed out in which his bones are said to be preserved.
His successor was his son Ethel wulf, who was at heart an
ecclesiastic, and had been admitted to minor orders in the
minster at Winchester, but he became a very capable king
and maintained the power which his father had won. He
had the advantage of the advice and assistance of Swithun,
the great Bishop of Winchester, one of the most sagacious
men of this century. Ethel wulf defeated the Northmen at
Ockley in Surrey, and for a few years this victory ensured
peace. Subsequently, about the year 854, he made his
great gift to the church of a tenth part of his lands. The
deed was written at Winchester, and laid with much
solemnity on the high altar of the minster, in the presence
of Bishop Swithun and the West Saxon Witan. The
original charter is in the British Museum, and it is to
this charter that the origin of tithes has been usually
ascribed, but Ethelwulf's great gift was in reality a gift of a
tenth part of the land itself, and not a tenth of its produce.
Soon after making this donation he made a journey to
Rome in great state and was absent a year. Two years
after his return, he died at Stanbridge near Romsey, where
a Hampshire tradition still tells of his country house there.
He was buried at Winchester.

Then, in quick succession, Ethelbald, Ethelbert, and

8o History of Hampshire.

Ethelred, his three elder sons, followed each other as kings
of Wessex. In 866, the date of Ethelred's 'accession, the
Chronicle tells us that ' a great heathen army came, and
took up their quarters among the East Angles, and there
they were horsed and the East Angles made peace with
them.' This establishment of the Northmen in the east
after a few years brought serious consequences to Hamp-
shire, for later on they made peace with the Mercians, and
so much strengthened their position that when in 871 they
invaded Wessex, they gained some advantages, and
although defeated by Ethelred and his brother Alfred at
the great battle of Ashdown, near Lambourn, in Berkshire,
they were still strong enough to defeat the West Saxons at
Basing, in Hampshire, fourteen days later. This battle of
Basing was a fight in which there was great slaughter on
both-sides. ' Many good men were slain,' the Chronicle tells
us, and it appears to have disheartened the Saxons, for the
Danes had possession of the place of carnage. Traditions
of the battle still survive in the neighbourhood of Basing.

Soon after this struggle Ethelred died, and his brother
Alfred succeeded to the kingdom. Nine smaller battles
were fought during this year in Wessex between Alfred and
the invaders. It should be remembered that the Northmen
had already established treaties with the East Angles and
Mercians. They had, in fact, been able to break up the
Kingdom of England, which Egbert had consolidated.
This, after their victories, and owing to the old anti-
pathies between the states, was probably not very difficult,
so that, when the Danish host was directed against Wessex,
aided perhaps by some of their English allies, the war
became not altogether different from that long series of
wars, during the seventh and eighth centuries, between the
several Saxon kingdoms.

For nearly eight years the struggle went on between the
concentrated power of the Northmen and that of the king-
dom of Wessex (which comprised all the country south of
the Thames), led byJAlfred, who encouraged his subjects in

Later Kings of Wessex. 81

efeat as well as in victory. Owing to his cheerfulness
nder reverses, he ultimately led his army on to a signal
ictory. At the peace of Wedmore, made in 878, between
iim and Guthorm the Danish King, it was agreed to divide
England between them, the Danes retaining that which
ly east and north of a line from London to Chester, along
he Lea to its source and on to Bedford, and thence up
he Ouse to the line of the great Roman road. Alfred
hus retained Wessex, the subsidiary kingdoms south of
he Thames, and also a great part of Mercia.

Then he turned his attention to the internal administra-
ion of his dominions, and under him Winchester rose to
greater importance than it had hitherto attained.

The reigns of Alfred and his immediate successors, who
vere also strong rulers, have left their enduring marks on
he history of this county. In his time the building of
hips to oppose the Danish ships began. These were
>robably built in some port on the Hampshire coast near
o Winchester. The Chronicle tells us that the king
>rdered these ships to be built to oppose the esks, or
Danish vessels ; that they were very large for their time,
)eing ' full nigh twice as long as the others '; that ' some
lad sixty oars, and some had more '; that they were both
iwifter and steadier, and also higher, than those of the
Danes ; and ' that they were shapen neither like the
Frisian nor the Danish, but so as it seemed to him they
vould be most efficient.' From this we learn that the
dng designed his new ships himself, and from this we
nay conclude that his shipbuilding operations must have
}een carried on conveniently near for him to be able to
;ee them during their construction. One of his naval
/ards was probably on the Itchen at Southampton, where
n succeeding centuries so many royal war-ships were
Duilt.

Thus on the Hampshire coast, from which so many
"amous ships have since been launched, began the building
Df the first navy of England. The construction of war-

6

82 History of Hampshire.

ships, when required from time to time, has been an
industry which has never since left this county. South-
ampton had for centuries a royal ship-yard and arsenal, in
and from which vessels of war were built and fitted out ;
and as its importance as a naval station declined, that of
Portsmouth increased, until at the present time, a thousand
years after King Alfred designed his ships * so as it seemed
to him they would be most efficient,' the newest designs
and experiments in the construction of modern war-ships
are still carried out on the Hampshire coast, and the
greatest naval arsenal in the kingdom is located there.

In 897 the efficiency of Alfred's ships was put to the
test during a battle with the Danes in the Solent, in which,
after considerable losses on both sides, the invaders were
defeated, and many of them captured and taken to the
king at Winchester. Alfred commanded them to be hung,
apparently as pirates who had ravaged the coast without
the authority of the King of East Anglia, whose subjects
they appear to have been, and who was at peace with
Wessex.

Alfred was buried in Winchester, the city which he loved
so well. His remains, at first interred in the Old Minster,
were subsequently removed to the New Minster, and after-
wards to Hyde Abbey. There for many centuries his tomb
was greatly honoured, until the time of the Reformation,
when the abbey was granted to Thomas Wriothesley, subse-
quently Earl of Southampton. He pulled the buildings
down, but the tombs were not disturbed. Finally, in the
eighteenth century the dust of England's greatest king
was scattered, when the magistrates of the county in ]
1787-88 built a bridewell on the abbey site, and took no j
care to preserve the remains of the illustrious dead buried
there.

Alfred's will is of special Hampshire interest, for in it
we read of his disposal of certain lands in this county
nearly a thousand years ago. To his eldest son, afterwards
King Edward, he left his land at Hurstbourn, subsequently

Later Kings of Wessex. 83

nown as Hurstbourn Tarrant, Sutton, probably that
nown later on as Bishop's Sutton, and Alton. To his
ounger son he left Meon, Twyford, and Southwick. To
is eldest daughter Ethelfleda, the Lady of the Mercians, he
;ft Wellow ; to Ethelgiva, Abbess of Shaftesbury, his
liddle daughter, he left Clere and Candover ; and to his
ephew Ethelm he bequeathed Crondall.

On his death, in 901, his eldest son, Edward, was elected
y the Witan, on which a revolt occurred in Hampshire,
;d by Ethelwold, the son of Alfred's brother, the former
Ling Ethelred, who from disappointment or some other
ause seized the towns of Wimborne, near the borders
f the county, and Twineham, now known as Christ-
hurch. The new king at once proceeded with his forces
gainst his cousin, and encamped at Badbury, near Wim-
orne. Ethelwold barricaded himself in Wimborne, and
eclared that he would there live or there die. Not-
withstanding this, when he saw that the affair was going
gainst him, he stole away in the night and hurried off to
forthumbria, where the Danes of that part of England,
rom political motives, chose him to be their king. East
^nglia was at this time a Danish kingdom, as well as
Jorthumbria, and the allegiance their kings acknowledged
o the West Saxon sovereign at Winchester was not a very
ubstantial one. In the course of a few years, Ethelwold
nduced the East Angles and their king, Eohric, to invade
/[ercia, and in 905, their combined forces advanced as far
outhwards as Cricklade. The West Saxon army under
Ldward, however, drove them back and followed them into
Last Anglia, where a decisive battle was fought, in which
>oth Ethelwold and Eohric were slain.

Then Edward strengthened his position by the construc-
ion of burhs, or Saxon castles, as defences against future
ncursions. These burhs were fortified artificial earthworks
md mounds, thrown up at various places by the army with
he king, while he remained at the several places it was
:onsidered necessary to fortify. Some of the Hampshire

6—2

84 History of Hampshire.

burhs, such as those at Christchurch and Southampton,
were perhaps built before this time, for Christchurch was
probably a fortified place when Ethelwold seized it a few
years before, and the burh on which the Norman castle at
Southampton was subsequently built was probably in
existence before the time of King Egbert, seeing that
coins of King OfTa of Mercia, who drove him out of
Wessex, have been found on its site.

Early in the tenth century, an event of much ecclesias-
tical interest to Hampshire occurred. In 903 the New
Minster at Winchester was consecrated, the great benefac-
tion of King Edward in accordance with his father's
wishes, and the bones of St. Judocus arrived there. The
Old Minster had possessed since 861 the bones of St.
Swithin, a wonder-working saint, and especially a Hamp-
shire saint. It was consequently felt that some similar
saintly relics were necessary to properly hallow the New
Minster, and the bones of St. Judocus were opportunely
brought thither by a number of refugees from Ponthieu in
Picardy, flying from the ravages of the heathen Norsemen.
Being desirous of preserving the relics of their own saint,
St. Judocus, commonly known as St. Josse, from desecra-
tion, these homeless refugees, flying for their lives to the
protection of King Edward, brought the bones of their saint
with them. They were received with all honour in the
New Minster, and a shrine, which attracted crowds of !
pilgrims, was built for them.

Edward re-established the direct authority of the king
of Wessex over the whole of England. Among his minor
annexations of special Hampshire interest was the final in-
corporation of the Jutes of the Isle of Wight into the
kingdom of Wessex. They had been conquered before by
Ceadwalla, but their submission had only been of a tem-
porary kind. During the reign of Alfred the royal race of
the Jutes of the island became extinct in the person of
Albert or Ethelbert, their last king, after which the people
of Wight placed themselves under the authority of King

Later Kings of Wessex. 85

idward, and from this period no distinct mention of the
utes of the island appears again in history.

As a consequence of the re-establishment of the power of
Vessex over the whole of England, Winchester increased in
mportanceas the governing centre of the English kingdom.
7here was consequently an increasing traffic to and from
he city by the Itchen, amidst the chalk hills of Hampshire ;
nd this county, as the metropolitan county, occupied a
ire-eminent position among the English shires. This con-
inued during the succeeding reign of ^Ethelstan, who
onsolidated his father's conquests by further victories in
he north. He did much in the enactment of new laws for
he better government of his kingdom. The payment of
ithes was rigidly enjoined. He re-enacted with modifica-
lons his father's ordinances concerning bargains within the
own gate, and legal proof in purchases. The market
•rivileges of some of the oldest towns in Hampshire are so
ncient that no charters can be found or traced by which
hey were established. Such markets as those of Basing-
toke and Andover existed from ancient prescriptive right,
iased on immemorial custom, and this probably arose as
arly as the time of ^Ethelstan's laws concerning bargains
within the town gate and before witnesses. In consequence
f the legal institutions, the earliest guilds arose. These
fere fraternities for mutual assistance among traders or
workers.

Some of these early guilds survived in Hampshire for
nany centuries, and traces of their names have in a few
nstances come down to the present day. Thus of the
;uild at Kingsclere we have a trace in the name of one of
he tithings called Guildable, which appears to have com-
>rised the land of the guild. During the reigns of Edmund,
Ldred, and Eadwig, who succeeded ^Ethelstan, Hampshire
njoyed an era of peace. The wars of Edward and ^Ethel-
tan had broken the power of the Danes, and the coast was
or the time freed from their ravages. This was the time
»f the early manhood of Dunstan, the most remarkable

86 History of Hampshire.

Englishman of the tenth century. He was born of a noble
West Saxon family, and after his early education introduced
to the court of ^Ethelstan at Winchester, towards the end of
his reign. His great talent soon attracted attention and
aroused jealousy. After leaving the court, he came under
the influence of Bishop Alphege, at Winchester, and under
his guidance became a monk. King Edmund made him
Abbot of Glastonbury, where, first of all the English abbots,
he introduced the Benedictine rule, which was soon after-
wards adopted at Winchester. He was banished from the
kingdom during the reign of Eadwig, but returned to
become the chief adviser of King Edgar.

Peace and prosperity prevailed in Hampshire during the
reign of this king, sometimes called the Peaceable. In
common with the rest of the kingdom, this time was
marked by a reformation of the religious houses, under the
vigorous administration of Dunstan, who became Archbishop
of Canterbury. King Edgar spent much of his time in
Hampshire, where he found leisure for hunting, and where
he has left traditions of his debaucheries which have sur-
vived unto the present day. The rule of life among the
West Saxon Kings was in the main a low one. ^Ethelstan
the king was the son of King Edward when a prince or
Etheling, by a shepherd's daughter. The troubles of
Ed wig's reign arose from his frivolity and unhappy mar-
riage, and the loose life of Edgar left an inheritance of
sorrow for his descendants, for the Danish troubles which
came on Hampshire and the rest of England in the reign
of Ethelred his son cannot be said to have been entirely
unconnected with his father's domestic life.

After the lapse of centuries the ballad singers of the
Middle Ages amused the bystanders at fairs, in Hampshire
and other parts of the country, with stories of King Edgar's
love intrigues at Andover. He married three times, and
his eldest son Edward was the son of his first wife. His
last marriage was with Elfrida, the daughter of the Ealdor-
man of Devonshire, and the romantic tale of his courtship

Later Kings of We s sex. 87

and alliance with her, and of its consequences, is one
which is especially connected with this county. Edgar had
heard of Elfrida's beauty, and he sent Ethelwold the Earl
or Ealdorman of Hampshire to visit the Earl of Devon-
shire, and woo the lady for him. It is well known how
Elfrida won the heart of the earl, who, concealing his
mission from the king, married her himself, and reported
to Edgar that she was a very ordinary person. The king,
however, announced his intention of visiting Ethelwold,
who thereupon begged his wife to attire herself unbecom-
ingly. Vain hope ! for Elfrida, on finding she had been
deprived of a crown, spared no pains to fascinate the king,
and in this she succeeded. Shortly afterwards, while the
king and the earl were hunting together in the forest of
Harewood, on the south of Andover, Edgar slew Ethelwold,
by piercing him through the back, and his widow became
the wife of the murderer.

There is at the present day in Harewood Forest a place
called Dead Man's Plack, where a monument marks the
site of the tragedy, and where many a Hampshire rambler
reads the inscription which states how on this spot, ' About
the year of our Lord 965 Edgar, surnamed the Peaceable, in
the ardour of youth, love, and indignation, slew with his
own hand Earl Ethelwold, in resentment of the earl's
having basely betrayed his royal confidence, and per-
fidiously married his intended bride, the beauteous Elfrida,
daughter of Ordgar, Earl of Devonshire, afterwards wife of
King Edgar, and by him mother of King Ethelred II.,
ivhich Queen Elfrida, after Edgar's death, murdered his
eldest son, King Edward the Martyr, and founded the
Nunnery of Wherwell.'

In curious contrast with King Edgar's other proceedings
at Andover, is that of the Witanagem6t he held there
about 962. The plague had broken out in his realm, and in
order to avert it, he and his Witan enjoined greater piety,
and a more careful payment of tithes and church shot.*
* ' Cartularium Saxonicum,' iii. 388.

88 History of Hampshire.

Edgar had his good qualities, and among these was his
zeal for good government. In his code of secular laws,
the holding of burgh motes and shire motes three times a
year is commanded, and some of the old burgh motes in
this county probably had an origin quite as old as this
king's reign.

In his laws a common pasture is mentioned as an adjunct
to every township, and in this we find what is perhaps the
earliest mention of such common lands, which every old
manor in this county possessed until the period of their
inclosure and partition.

Commerce must have greatly increased in England under
his rule, for he found it necessary to establish a uniform
monetary standard, and the general observance of the
Winchester weights and measures.

In Edgar's time London grew and prospered ; but it
did not yet supplant Winchester, the ancestral home of the
West Saxon kings. He died in 975, and then, after the
brief reign of his elder son Edward, came the tragedy of
Corfe Castle and the remorse of Elfrida. The tale of her
remorse lingers still among the legends of Wherwell, where
on the banks of the upper part of the river Test she founded
a nunnery, and spent the remaining part of her life in
penance, close by the forest of Harewood, where her first
husband was slain by her second.

CHAPTER IX.

THE DANISH CONQUEST, AND ITS RESULTS.

DURING the time of Ethelred, the son of Edgar and Elfrida,
who began his reign in 978, the prosperity of Hampshire
ceased and its miseries increased. The Chronicle tells us
that Southampton was attacked by the Danes in 980, and
the greater number of its inhabitants slain or carried off as
slaves. Then followed constant fighting against these
invaders, until the tax known as the Danegeld was imposed
to buy them off. In 994 a large force of Danes and North-
men, under Swein of Denmark and Olaf of Norway, took
possession of the Hampshire coast and wintered at
Southampton. Ethelred opened negotiations with Olaf,
who, having first received hostages for his safety, visited the
king, and was conducted to him at Andover by Alphege*
the venerable Bishop of Winchester. Ethelred gave the
Norwegian king an honourable reception, and loaded
him with presents. As a result of this visit he became
converted to Christianity. In the meantime the army at
Southampton was victualled from the realm of the West
Saxons, and the Norse and Danish kings were paid
sixteen thousand pounds in money. Olaf on his return
home promised he would not again molest the kingdom, a
promise he faithfully kept. This, however, did not bind
Swein, the King of Denmark, who continued the war. In
998 the Danes took up their quarters in the Isle of Wight
and obtained their supplies from the counties of South-

90 History of Hampshire.

ampton and Sussex. In 1001 they again ravaged this
county, and Ethelred and his Witan then purchased peace
a second time, and a sum of twenty-four thousand pounds
was paid to the invaders, some of whom were also allowed
to settle in various parts of the country.

Then, in retaliation for a real or a supposed plot against
the life of the weak Ethelred, came the order for the
massacre of the Danes settled in England on St. Brice's
Day, November I3th, 1002 ; and then followed the venge-
ance of Swein, whose sister, the heroic Christian lady
Gunhild, was a victim under this order. In the spring of
1003, the Danish king devastated Devonshire and Wilt-
shire, and by the treachery of the West Saxon leader
Elfric, was allowed to regain the sea. In 1006 he came
with a great fleet to this part of England again, ravaging,
burning, and destroying wherever he went. The early
Saxon monasteries of Hampshire, such as those at Nursling
and Redbridge, were probably destroyed at this time.
The unhappy people of Hampshire suffered by the great
exactions of Ethelred, as well as from the ravages of the
Danes. Swein again wintered in the Isle of Wight, and
levied supplies from all Hampshire. At mid-winter his
troops marched £ through the county into Berkshire, past
the terror-stricken city of Winchester, ' lighting their war
beacons as they went.' They destroyed a band sent out
against them, and returned laden with booty. The miser-
able Ethelred, who had fled out of Wessex, again, with the
consent of his Witan, purchased peace, at the price of
thirty-six thousand pounds and rations for the Danish
army until payment was made.

Hampshire had suffered no desolation like this since the
days of Cerdic and Cynric, and this misery lasted for
several years longer, until, after again purchasing peace in
1012, the unhappy Ethelred in the winter of 1013 became
a fugitive at Southampton, whence he passed over to the
Isle of Wight, and escaped to Normandy. In 1214 Swein
died, and Ethelred was recalled ; but before the end of the

The Danish Conquest, and its Results. 91

next year, 1215, Cnut, the son of Swein, made himself
master of Wessex. In 1216 Ethelred died in London, and
the citizens, with such leading men as still were with the
king, chose Edmund his son for their king. Cnut at this
time was at Southampton, where an assembly of the
Witan of Wessex was held, by which he was chosen to be
their king. Then Edmund came with his army into
Hampshire, and a battle was fought between the forces
of the two kings near Andover without a decisive result.
Battle followed battle in different parts of Wessex, and
the brave Edmund had to fight against the treachery of
the ealdorman Edric, who led the men of Hampshire, and
betrayed him while professing to be his friend.

Whether Edmund and Cnut fought a single-handed
combat, as some Chronicles mention, may be uncertain ;
but it is certain that they agreed to divide England
between them, as Alfred and Guthorm had agreed more
than a hundred years before, that very shortly afterwards
Edmund was murdered, and that both Edric and his son
were accused of this crime.

On the death of Edmund, Cnut summoned a Witan at
London, and he was there again elected king. He reserved
Wessex for his own immediate government, and under his
rule, when in England, Winchester became the chief seat
of administration for his whole empire, which comprised
Denmark, as well as England, and subsequently Norway.

For nearly twenty years Hampshire enjoyed the bless-
ings of peace under a strong government, during which
there can be no doubt that both Winchester and South-
ampton revived and greatly increased in prosperity. Cnut
passed a considerable part of his time in these towns, and it
was on the beach at Southampton, while surrounded by
many of his chief men, that that scene is traditionally said
to have occurred in which he reproved the flattery of some
of his courtiers. Traditions of his residence still survive at
Southampton, where the remains of an ancient building
may be seen, of the Norman style of architecture, in Porter's

92 History of Hampshire.

Lane, formerly facing the sea on the south, called Cnut's
Palace. This was described nearly a century ago by Sir
Henry Englefield, when it was much more perfect* Cnut
re-enacted the laws of Edgar concerning the Danes dwelling
in England, and was assiduous, also, in his care that justice
should be done to his English subjects. His laws relating
to the royal forests and chases are the earliest code of
Forest Law we possess, although it is probable that these
laws were commonly applied to the forests before his time-
The south-west part of Hampshire, which subsequently
became known as the New Forest, was not at that time
afforested, and consequently not subject to these laws ; but
this county, in Cnut's time, had its more ancient forests.
The old heathenism, which had found many a lurking-place
in the popular belief of the Anglo-Saxons, and which had
probably increased by the settlement of the Danes, was
strictly prohibited.

Cnut's foreign possessions, and his international relations
with other European countries, must have greatly benefited
the maritime trade of Southampton.

He died in 1035, and his remains were interred in the
Old Minster at Winchester— the burial-place of the West
Saxon kings, above the high altar of which it is said he
hung up his crown during the later years of his life.

Hardacnut, his son by Emma of Normandy, the widow
of Ethelred, whom he intended to succeed him, was in
Denmark at the time of his father's death, and his half-
brother Harold, an elder son, was elected king by the chief
men of the whole country lying to the north of the Thames.
Harold immediately sent an armed force to Winchester to
seize on the treasures left by his father in the possession of
Queen Emma. Some agreement was, however, subse-
quently arrived at by the Witan held at Oxford, and Emma
was allowed to reside at Winchester, as regent of Wessex,
during the absence of her own son. As Hardacnut, from
some cause or other, still tarried in Denmark, Queen
* See ' Archaeologia,' vol. xiv. and plate.

The Danish Conquest, and its Results. 93

Emma turned her sympathy towards her elder sons — the
children of King Ethelred — then residing at the court of the
Duke of Normandy, whom she urged to come over and
regain their lost inheritance. Then occurred a Norman
invasion of Hampshire under the Etheling, Edward, after-
wards Edward the Confessor. He embarked at Barfleur
with a well-appointed body of troops in forty ships, and
landed at Southampton, whence he hastened to meet his
mother at Winchester. He met with a cold reception from
the people, and consequently returned to Southampton ;
but his troops began to plunder as if they had been in an
enemy's country, which roused the people of Southern
Hampshire against them, so that he abandoned his hope of
gaining his father's kingdom, and returned to Normandy.

When Harold suddenly died, in 1040, Hardacnut suc-
ceeded him, and the Danish empire was re-established
under him for two years. He appears to have been fond
of feasting, and during one of these rejoicings at Win-
chester, we are told that four royal banquets were daily
spread in the great hall, that all might sit and feast. He
also died suddenly, in the midst of another feast at
Lambeth. His body was laid by that of his father, in the
Old Minster at Winchester ; and the Chronicle tells us
that his mother gave to the New Minster, for the good
of his soul, the head of St. Valentine the Martyr.

Then came the restoration of the Anglo-Saxon royal line
under Edward, known as the Confessor. Although the
Danish rule lasted only twenty-six years, it left some per-
manent influence on Hampshire history, traces of which
have survived unto the present day. Either in the time of
Cnut, or earlier, some of the Danes were allowed to settle in
various parts of the county, and land appears to have been
allotted to them on the ancient crown demesnes. We find
traces of these settlements in the hamlets still called
' thorps.' A good example occurs at Basingstoke, which
was a royal manor, where we find a suburb called Easthorpe.
On the royal manor of Kingsclere we find Edmundsthorp,

94 History of Hampshire.

which may have first become a settlement before the death
of King Edmund. On the royal manor of Hurstbourn
Tarrant we find a hamlet called Ibthorpe, where the
inhabitants possess the unusual privilege of being lords of
their own manor. Near Winchester is Milnthorpe, near
Christchurch is Throop, near Crondall is Swanthorpe —
perhaps originally Sweinthorpe — and in what was part of
the ancient forest of Odiham is Southrope.

In the Domesday Survey some free tenants, known as
Radchenistri, are recorded at Christchurch and Ringwood.
This name is derived from the Norse,* and its occurrence
points to a settlement of Northmen at these places.

Among other place-names in Hampshire which probably
are of Danish origin, is Swanwick, on the river Hamble —
perhaps originally Sweinwyk. Its situation is just such as
the Danes chose for mooring their ships while they plun-
dered th^ country ; and beneath the tidal mud at Swan-
wick there still lies the keel of an ancient Danish galley,
parts of which were removed a few years ago, and speci-
mens of which, illustrating the Danish method of caulking
and riveting the timber in ships, are shown in the museum
of the Hartley Institution. Near Bramshaw is Piperswait,
a name probably derived from 'thwait' (Norse), a forest-
clearing. On the east side of the Itchen, opposite to
Southampton, is Woolston, mentioned in Domesday Book
under the name of Olvestune, perhaps originally Olafston.
It is not unlikely that this was the place where King Olaf s
army wintered while at Southampton in 994. A creek there
is still known as Jurd's Lake, and the family name of Jurd
— derived probably from the Norse 'jord/ 'earth,' perhaps
denoting the worshippers of Hertha, or mother earthf
— still survives there.

We find other Danish traces along the Hampshire coast,
in the surviving place-names of the Danish word 'or/ 'ore/
a strand: such as Cracknore, Needsore, Rownore, and
Stansore.

* Gomme, ' Folk Moots,' p. 299, quoting Sir H. Ellis,
f Ferguson, ' Teutonic Name System.'

The Danish Conquest, and its Results. 95

During the first ten years of the reign of Edward the
Confessor, his mother, Queen Emma, lived on, and remained
an important personage in Hampshire history. She resided
at Winchester, where she maintained a court of her own.
She, the wife and mother of so many kings, was one of the
most remarkable women ever connected with this county,
and her influence, which had been greater during the reign
of Cnut than during the time of her first husband Ethelred,
waned, but did not cease during the reigns of Cnut's sons.
Edward, the son of Ethelred, who succeeded in 1042, was
her eldest son, but there was not much love between them,
for she had long centred her affections on her children by
Cnut. She had amassed a great treasure, which Harold,
her stepson, had first seized, but apparently restored, and
the queen, with her hoard near her, lived at Winchester.

Edward was crowned king in that city at Easter, 1043,
with great pomp, by the Archbishops of Canterbury and
York, in the presence of a brilliant assemblage, which
included embassies from France and Germany. Some
months later, before the year was over, he cast longing eyes
on his mother's hoard. The plot against it was hatched at
Gloucester, where the king was advised suddenly to ride
over to Winchester with the three great earls, Leofric,
Godwin, and Siward, and their followers, and seize this
treasure. No doubt Edward was short of cash at the
beginning of his reign, and money was wanted. The
Chronicle tells us that they came unawares on the lady, and
' bereaved her of the countless treasure which she possessed,
because before that she had been very hard with the king,
her son, inasmuch as she had done less for him than he
desired before he was king, and also since, and they suffered
her after that to remain at Winchester.' The story of Emma,
her marriages, her Saxon and Danish sons, her hoard,
her Court at Winchester, and her domestic life, lingered
long among the folk stories of Hampshire, until in the
fourteenth century it appears to have become amplified, by
those details which tell us of that suspicion on her honour

g6 History of Hampshire.

and that of Bishop Alwyn, to purge herself of which she
undertook the ordeal of the red hot ploughshares. As no
chronicler earlier than three centuries after the queen's time
mentions this story, it must be regarded only as one of the
romantic legends of this county.

The most powerful man in England during the early
years of Edward the Confessor's reign was Godwin, a warm
friend of Queen Emma, who had risen from a comparatively
low position to be earl of the West Saxons. Hampshire was
under his immediate administration, and in and close to
this county we can identify some of his estates, such as
Chalton, near Petersfield, and Bosham, on the Sussex
border.

Edward did not live much in Hampshire. His mother
was there, and he kept away from her. Godwin, whose
daughter he married, ruled the county as part of his
earldom, and the king consequently only went there
occasionally. He does not appear to have had any great
affection for Winchester, the ancestral home of his
race, which had once received him so coldly, and had
rejected his early claims. During this reign we may note
the beginning of two changes, which had much effect on
the subsequent history of Hampshire — viz., the growth of
Norman influence in England, and the gradual removal of
the seat of government from Winchester to Westminster.
The intercourse with Normandy was the commencement
of that growth in the trade and commerce of the port of
Southampton, which became so marked in subsequent
reigns ; and the fondness of Edward for Westminster
deprived Winchester for a time of its position as the
governing centre, a position which it did not entirely
regain under the Norman kings. Edward observed as
regularly as he could the custom of wearing his crown,
and holding his court at three places in the kingdom — at
Gloucester at Christmas, at Winchester at Easter, and at
Westminster at Whitsuntide, which was continued by the
Norman kings. His piety led him to become the founder

The Danish Conquest and its Results. 97

)f a great abbey, like his ancestor Alfred. This was built,
icwever, not on the banks of the Itchen, but on the
Fhames at Westminster.

Queen Emma was despoiled of her treasure in the first
7ear of Edward's reign. Whether she then lost all her
estates is uncertain ; but we know that after the loss of
icr wealth she lived on for nine years at Winchester, and
vas known as the Old Lady, the name ' lady ' being at that
:ime the highest title of dignity. Her manors in Hamp-
;hire, which passed into the possession of the Church,
probably by her own gift, were Bransbury, Bergefield,
Fyfield, Houghton, Michelmersh, and Hayling, and the
ransfer of these estates was in subsequent centuries
Delieved to have been made as a thank-offering for her
vindication by the ordeal of the ploughshares.

During her later years at Winchester, from 1047 to
[052, she appears to have found a friend in Stigand,
subsequently Archbishop of Canterbury, who became
Bishop of Winchester in 1047. The circumstances of her
ife at this time were very peculiar. Emma the Old Lady,
jrand-aunt of William, the young Duke of Normandy,
md mother of King Edward, who was an Englishman only
Dy name and birth, but a Norman by long residence, lived
n the old city of the West Saxons, more or less estranged
Tom her son the king. He was at the same time gradually
surrounding himself with Norman courtiers, and Norman
Dishops whom he placed over English sees, while his
mother found comfort in her last years in the friendship
Df Stigand, the representative of the English party among
the bishops of his time. Struggling against the growth of
the Norman influence was Godwin, the West Saxon earl,
ind his son Harold. The king had married Eadgyth, the
daughter of Godwin, a marriage concerning which much
gossip subsequently arose.* It was an alliance dictated no
doubt by political considerations on the part of the king, as
well as on the part of the earl ; but it failed in its purpose,

* Freeman, ' Norman Conquest,' vol. ii., p. 46, and Appendix B.

7

98 History of Hampshire.

for nine years after Edward's accession the Norman in-
fluence became too strong for even the great earl to with-
stand, and Godwin and his sons were banished.

The weak character of Edward, in some respects so like
that of his father Ethelred, is shown by what followed ; for
in accordance with the desire of the Normans by whom he
was surrounded, who dreaded lest the presence of the queen
would be detrimental to their schemes, after her father and
brothers had been exiled, he consented to send even the
Lady Eadgyth away. He allowed his wife to be deprived
of all her goods, but saved her only from personal disgrace,
and she was sent with a suitable retinue to the Abbey of
Wherwell, that royal nunnery on the Test which Elfrida,
the grandmother of her husband, Edward, had founded in
penance for her sins. She was there given into the safe
keeping of the abbess, a sister of the king, and the young
wife of the elderly Edward appears there to have received
such consolation as her elderly sister-in-law could give her.
In her retirement, in the beautiful valley of the upper Test,
she had time to reflect on the vanity of human greatness,
and if she took any interest in natural objects, she could
not have failed to have observed many things at Wherwell
which we may see there at the present day. Hampshire
had at that time two queens in retirement, the Old Lady at
Winchester, and the Young Lady at Wherwell.

Then occurred the visit which William, the young Duke
of Normandy, paid to his relative King Edward in England,
and then followed the awakening of the nation. The re-
action against the Norman bishops and courtiers set in,
during which Godwin and Harold returned, and a general
exodus of the Norman knights and priests took place. The
Lady Eadgyth was brought from Wherwell with much
pomp and restored ; but Godwin soon afterwards died at
Winchester, during the rejoicings at the Easter festival in
1053. Then Harold became Earl of the West Saxons, and
the ruling man in England. His estates in Hampshire
comprised the large manor and forest of Odiham, and the
manors of Quarley and Nether Wallop.

CHAPTER X.

THE EARLY NORMAN PERIOD.

ON the death of King Edward, Harold, who had long been
the virtual ruler of England, was chosen king. His brother
Tostig, who had already given him trouble elsewhere, then
came with as large a fleet of ships as he could procure to the
Isle of Wight, where he had extensive estates. There he
made his headquarters in the summer of 1066, during
which time he obtained his supplies from the island and
perhaps from his manors of Ringwood and Holdenhurst.
Subsequently, in alliance with the King of Norway, he
attacked Yorkshire, and then followed their defeat by
Harold, in a campaign which detained him in the North
while he should have been in the South making more
effective preparations against the coming of the Norman
duke. The leading people in Hampshire at this time were
divided in opinion. The folk in the Isle of Wight do not
appear to have been unfriendly to Tostig while he was
there. Consequently they had no great love for Harold.
In any case, they do not appear to have sent help to
the king against the Normans, a neutrality by which they
subsequently benefited.

It is interesting to note the opposite views taken by the
monks of the Old and New Minsters at Winchester during
this crisis in the history of the country. The New Minster
was governed by the Abbot Elfwig, an uncle of Harold.
He and his monks not only supported the cause of his

7—2

ioo History of Hampshire.

nephew, but themselves took up arms and joined the king
in the field. The Old Minster, on the contrary, remained
neutral, and gave the king no assistance. This old monas-
tery of St. Swithun had long been accustomed to Norman
ideas. Queen Emma had for a long time before her death
been closely connected with it, and had made it great pre-
sents. There had long been a rivalry between the two
great abbeys, and after the Conquest the one suffered no
loss, but rather increased in importance, while the other was
despoiled by the Conqueror of twenty thousand acres of
land. Abbot Elfwig and his monks died fighting against
the Normans on the field of Hastings.

When it was reported to William that the bodies of the
abbot and monks of the New Minster had been found
among the dead, he is recorded to have said that 'the
abbot was worth a barony, and each monk a manor/ an
intimation of the confiscation which he afterwards carried
out.

The manors of Hampshire which were held by Harold
before he became king, and the royal demesnes which
passed into his possession on the death of King Edward,
were no doubt required to furnish men for the English
army at Hastings, and there can be little doubt that men
from Odiham, Quarley, and Wallop were there, and also
that a more numerous contingent of Hampshire men were
there from the royal demesnes of Andover, Basingstoke,
Kingsclere, Broughton, Alton, Meonstoke, Hurstbourn
Eling, Sombourn, Selbourn, and many other places.
Stigand, who was Bishop of Winchester as well as Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, was a great supporter of Harold, and
his thanes probably rallied round the English standard.

We know that Hampshire suffered less from the Norman
Conquest than almost any other county, and from this we
may perhaps conclude that Harold had comparatively little
support from the thanes of this county, in addition to such
a personal following as he could command. After his
coronation as king, all the royal demesnes of course passed

The Early Norman Period. 101

into the Conqueror's possession as part of his personal
revenue. These royal possessions, in addition to the manors
above mentioned, included the city of Winchester, the town
and port of Southampton, the revenues arising from the
hundreds of the county, except those held by the abbeys,
and the ancient forests of Hampshire. We have no know-
ledge to what extent, if any, Winchester and Southampton
assisted Harold, but it is probable that these towns already
contained a Norman element among their people, and that
they watched the course of events. There is but one manor
in Hampshire concerning which the Domesday record
tells us that its former tenants were killed in the battle
of Hastings, and that is the manor of Tytherley.

Soon after his victory William sent to Winchester to
demand tribute of the city, whereupon the leading men
consulted the Lady Eadgyth, who since the death of King
Edward had occupied the same position in the city as was
formerly filled by the Lady Emma. She concurred with
them in sending tribute to William in token of their sub-
mission, and the Conqueror's messengers ' carried back the
gifts of the lady and those of the chief men also.'*

Before long William himself came to the ancient capital,
and made it his head-quarters. The old city, which had
to some extent been neglected by King Edward, began to
rise again in importance, for it was conveniently near to
Normandy, and there was necessarily much traffic between
it and William's great duchy. The king was often at
Winchester, and in 1070 held a great council there, when,
according to the ancient custom, he wore his crown, and
was confirmed in his kingship with much pomp in the Old
Minster by three papal legates, who recrowned him on
behalf of the Pope.

During the first half of the Conqueror's reign some
remarkable personages lived at Winchester. First, there
was the widowed queen, who was allowed to reside in the
royal city in suitable state until her death in the winter of

* * Guy of Amiens ' : poem.

IO2 History of Hampshire.

1075, when the king caused her body to be taken to
Westminster with great pomp, and laid in the abbey there
by that of her lord, King Edward. Next, there was
Stigand, who between 1066 and 1072 was for the most
part a hostage in Normandy or a fugitive; but in the latter
year he fell again into William's hands at Ely, and was
brought a prisoner to Winchester and kept under guard
there until his death in the same year. Among the con-
fiscations of Church land which William made in Hamp-
shire was one, that of East Meon, which belonged to
Stigand as Bishop of Winchester, by which the king
appears to have intended to mark his displeasure at the
course the bishop took against him. This property was
an extensive domain, comprising the hundred as well as
the manor, and it was not again restored to the Church
until the time of King John.

Another state prisoner at Winchester for several years
was Earl Waltheof, who, we are told, ' was one of the
most ancient and wealthy of the princes of England, in
stature and form as fair as a second Absalom.' His earl-
dom under King Edward had comprised the counties of
Northampton and Huntingdon. He was a very popular
Englishman, but, somewhat weak-minded. During an
invasion of Yorkshire in 1069 by the Danes, he joined
them and the men of Northumbria in expelling the
Normans from the city of York, for which hostility he
was subsequently pardoned.

In the year 1075 he took part in another conspiracy,
and, as a result, had to flee the kingdom. He asked
forgiveness of William, and offered a ransom. The
Chronicle tells us 'the king let him off lightly until he
came to England, when he had him seized ' and conveyed
a prisoner to Winchester. There he became, as William
thought, dangerous to his government, for the people
considered him to be the last representative of the old
English rulers, and so the king resolved on his execution.
For fear lest a popular tumult should arise, however, even

The Early Norman Period. 103

in Winchester, this execution was carried out suddenly
early on a May morning in 1080, when the earl was led
out of the city over St. Swithun's Bridge on to St. Giles's
Hill, and there beheaded before the citizens were awake.

Another remarkable man who came on the scene at
Winchester during the early years of William's reign was
his kinsman Walkelin, who was appointed bishop. He
was the first builder of the cathedral which exists at the
present day, and the massive transepts and the timber in
the roof of the nave remain in much the same condition as
he left them.

Like his kinsman Edward the Confessor, William was
very fond of hunting. Eastward of Winchester was Bere
Forest, and westward of it was West Bere, Parnholt, and
Buckholt ; but these ancient royal forests were not exactly
to his mind. It is probable that they did not contain
enough open glades, and that the trees were too thick to
make these woodlands well adapted for the pleasures of
the chase.

In any case, he resolved that a greater Hampshire forest
than any one already under forest-law should be formed,
and between the years 1070 and 1081 the afforestation of
the south-western part of the county, the district which
bore the ancient name of Ytene, was carried out, and
thenceforward became known as the New Forest.

A few years later the king ordered his great survey to
be made, and commissioners were sent throughout the
kingdom to inquire what land there was in each shire,
what lands and cattle the king himself owned therein,
what was due yearly to him for it, what lands his bishops,
abbots, and earls held, and what his other tenants held of
lands or stock, and their annual value.

The returns which were made by the several sets of
commissioners were sent to Winchester, where the original
rolls were copied out into the great Domesday Book.
These returns were completed in the summer of 1086,
perhaps in the spring of that year, when the king wore his

IO4 History of Hampshire.

crown and held his court at Easter at Winchester. The copy-
ing of the original rolls into a book was perhaps ordered
at this time. In any case, the Domesday Book was made,
and in August, 1086, William rode along the Roman road
over Teg Down, past Farley and Ashley, and so on across
the Test near Horsebridge, arid through Buckholt Forest
to Salisbury Plain, where he met all the landholders of
substance in the kingdom, who all submitted to him,
became his men, and swore him oaths of allegiance. At
the western border of the county, close to the Roman road,
is a place known as Norman Court, recorded in Domes-
day Book under the name of Chinges-camp, where a
Hampshire tradition says that William encamped on this
memorable occasion.

The account which the Domesday Survey gives of this
county enables us to realize its condition in the eleventh
century far better than would otherwise be possible. The
survey is fairly complete as regards Hampshire and the
Isle of Wight, the most notable omission being Winchester.
There is no mention of Portsmouth, Newport, or Petersfield,
because these places are of later origin. The most im-
portant landowners were the king, who held about seventy
manors ; the Bishop of Winchester, who held twenty-four
manors; St. Swithun's Priory, Winchester, also known as the
Old Minster, which held thirty manors ; St. Peter's Abbey,
the New Minster, called also Hyde Abbey, which held
eighteen manors ; St. Mary's Abbey, Winchester, which
held six manors ; Romsey Abbey, which held five manors ;
Wherwell Abbey, which held six manors ; Christchurch
Priory, which held three manors ; Roger, Earl of Mont-
gomery, who held twelve manors ; Hugh de Port, the chief
Hampshire baron, who held fifty manors ; Robert, the son
of Girold, who held ten manors ; Ralph de Mortimer, who
held thirteen manors ; William Malduith, who held seven
manors ; Bernard Pancevolt, who held five manors ; Gilbert
de Bretville, who held five manors ; and Waleran, the
huntsman, who held six manors.

The Early Norman Period. 105

The other abbeys which held one or more Hampshire
manors at the time of the survey were St. Peter's, Gloucester,
St. Peter's, Westminster, the abbeys of Chertsey, Glaston-
bury, also Grestain and Jumieges, in Normandy.

Among other ecclesiastical landholders was the Arch-
bishop of York, who held Mottisfont, with certain revenues
arising from its church and six subordinate chapels, the
Bishop of Exeter, who held the manor of Farringdon, and
Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, the half-brother of the Conqueror.
His other half-brother, Robert, Count of Mortain, held a
manor in Sombourn Hundred, while Count Alan of
Brittany, who led the Bretons and Poitevins in the battle of
Hastings, held Crofton and Funtley. Count Hugo of
Avranches, first Earl Palatine of Chester, held Bighton, and
Count Eustace held the important manor of Sutton, after-
wards known as Bishop's Sutton.

The Hampshire survey tells us of the manors in the
county which were held by huntsmen. The most important
of these appears to have been Waleran, in addition to whom
manors or lands were also held by Ulviet and his son Cola,
by Croc and his son Rainald, by Terbert, Edwin, and
Uluric, who were all huntsmen, and these tenures show how
great was the care bestowed on the royal sport of hunting
in this county, so many chief huntsmen being men of
substance in it. The royal sport of falconry also was not
unrewarded, for Osborn the falconer held the manor of
Goreley, apparently as part of his office, and Godwin,
another falconer, held half a hide of land at Steventon.

A considerable number of officials in the royal household
were provided with manors or lands in Hampshire, such as
Herbert and Hunfrid the chamberlains, Henry the treasurer,
Nigel the physician, and Durand the barber. The physician
held the manor of Brockeseve, and also had four houses at
Southampton, and the barber, or barber surgeon, held a
hide of land in the hundred of Titchfield, tenures which
show that these professions were regarded as honourable
occupations as early as the time of the Domesday Survey.

io6 The History of Hampshire.

A large number of thanes held lands directly of the
king, both in Hampshire and in the Isle of Wight. In the
island, the king's thanes were very numerous, a circumstance
which shows that the confiscation of land could not have
been great there. The names of most of the thanes are
Saxon names, both in the island and on the mainland, from
which we may perhaps conclude that the manors and lands
they and their predecessors had held of King Edward they
continued to hold of King William, and apparently by
similar obligations, for thane service was a much lighter
tenure than feudal service, the thane being only liable for
service in the field in the case of war, for the repair of local
fortifications, and the repair of bridges, these three obli-
gations being the only services attached to the land held by
allodial tenure in Saxon time.

The number of servile tenants enumerated was not quite
9,000. In addition, about 1,620 slaves or serfs are recorded.
These latter were bondmen, and the proportion of these
slaves was nearly a fifth of the whole servile population.
The villeins were agriculturists who were attached to the
manors, and who, in consideration for the land which they
held and farmed in common, had to perform a certain
amount of work with their teams of oxen for their lords.
The borderers were cottagers who, for a share in the produce
of the land held in common with the villeins, had to give a
certain amount of manual labour to the lord.

The manors had a large area of common land, which
these servile tenants farmed for their own subsistence, and
which in subsequent centuries became gradually changed
into copyhold land, the villeins or small farmers paying a
quit rent, instead of doing so much ploughing and other
work on their lord's land. This change had already begun
in the Isle of Wight at the time of the survey, for at
Cheverton mention is made of villeins paying a rent, and at
Bowcomb mention is also made of borderers paying a rent
for their cottages. As time rolled on some of the villeins'
land became held by a higher class of tenants who were

The Early Norman Period. 107

not villeins, but paid a rent to the lord of the manor at his
court, their names and the amount due from each being
recorded on the court-roll. Such tenants also became
known as copyholders, and the Domesday Survey of
Hampshire shows us that this change had already begun
in this county, for at Whitchurch and Fareham certain
tenants are mentioned as holding villeins' land. The whole
of the land at Millbrook and at Alverstoke was held by
villeins, who paid a rent to the bishop.*

The number of churches mentioned as existing in Hamp-
shire at the date of the survey is 124, and in the Isle of
Wight 9, making together 133 for this county. Several
others, which are not mentioned under the names of the
manors in which they are at present situated, such as those
of Tichborne and Hambledon, must have been in existence
at that time, for they contain unmistakable remains of
Saxon architecture. No less than 331 mills are recorded in
Domesday Book as then existing in Hampshire and the
Isle of Wight, and the information concerning some of
them is peculiar, for at Bedhampton, Boarhunt, Winkton,
and Stratfieldsaye, there were mills for the use of the
manor court, so that the villeins, by local custom, were not
obliged to grind their corn at their lord's mill.

Fisheries are recorded at twenty-four places, and at Mid-
dleton, Holdenhurst, Porchester, and Periton, the tenants
who formed part of the court had a right to catch fish.

The manufacture of salt was largely carried on on the
coast of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight at the time of
the survey, for twenty-seven salterns are mentioned as
then existing.

An interesting entry occurs of a ' ferraria,' or iron works,
at Stratfield. at which iron appears to have been extracted
from the native ironstone which occurs in the Tertiary
beds, and which was subsequently worked in the south of
of the county.

* See paper by the author on * Traces of Old Agricultural Com-
munities in Hampshire,' in the Antiquary, February, 1888.

io8 History of Hampshire.

Markets are mentioned as existing at Basingstoke and
Titchfield, and Neatham, and toll-places are recorded at
Clere, Bowcombe, and Titchfield.

The clergy held land as part of their benefices in
sixteen places in Hampshire, and at Wallop we are told
that the Church had half the tithes of the manor, the
whole of the church shot, forty-six pence for the villeins'
tithes, and half of the lands.

An early record, in this county, of the enclosures known
as parks, occurs in the Domesday Book, where parks are
mentioned at Soberton and Watchingwell.

During the reign of William Rufus several prominent
events of national importance occurred in Hampshire. It
was to Winchester that Rufus hurried from the chamber in
the priory of St. Gervase, where his father was dying. He
landed at Southampton, and went on to the ancient West
Saxon capital, where the first act of his reign was to
thrust again into prison there the two Saxon earls,
Morkere and Wulfnoth, whom his father had set free
a few days before, after a captivity in Normandy. He
went on to Westminster, and, after being crowned there,
returned to Winchester to take possession of the treasure
his father had amassed in that city, which the chronicler
tells us consisted of ' gold and silver, vessels of plate, palls,
gems, and many other valuables that are hard to be
numbered.' ' He did as his father, before he died, com-
manded him, and distributed treasures amongst all the
monasteries in England for the sake of his father's soul.'

In 1088 he held a Witana-gemot at Winchester at Easter,
according to ancient custom. Soon after this, Randolf
Flambart, his chief minister and his willing tool in the
heavy exactions he levied, appeared on the political stage.
Flambart was connected with this county. At the time of
the great survey he appears to have held lands at Bile and
Beceslei, in the New Forest, and his estates had been
diminished by part of his land being afforested by the
Conqueror. Flambart was a priest, and became Dean or

The Early Norman Period. 109

Prior of Christchurch or Twynham, and subsequently
Bishop of Durham. Rufus rigorously established the
feudal system which his father had introduced in a milder
way, and many a Hampshire thane who had hitherto been
free from its exactions must have felt the burden of its
services in this reign, burdens from which the land was not
again entirely freed until feudal tenure was swept away in
the seventeenth century. During the time of Rufus the forest
law was made more severe, and any man who slew a hart
had to pay for this crime with his life. In Hampshire,
where so much ancient forest-land still existed, and where
almost the whole of the south-west of the county had been
newly afforested, this more rigorous code of forest law
must have been especially oppressive.

Under Flambart's administration many of the Church
lands were altered in their tenure and reduced to fiefs, with
feudal obligations, and of this we find examples in Hamp-
shire centuries later.

The most notable assembly which was held in this
county during the reign of William Rufus was the great
council which met at Winchester on October 14, 1097, on
the thirty-first anniversary of the battle of Hastings.

The long dispute between Archbishop Anselm and the
king culminated at this council, where he and Rufus met
for the last time. For several days the discussions and
conferences between the king and his nobles, on one side,
and Anselm and the bishops on the other, went on, until
that final interview between the archbishop and the king,
at the end of which, although they could not agree, the
archbishop desired, if the king would receive it, to give him
his blessing before he left, and we read that the king bowed
his head and Anselm made the sign of the cross over it.

The short reign of Rufus began in Hampshire with an
act of tyranny against the Saxon earls who had been
released from their' bonds by the dying Conqueror, an act
in which he heeded not his father's dying wish, and his
reign also came to an end in this county by the fatal arrow

1 10 History of Hampshire.

at Malwood, in the New Forest. Then followed the
abandonment of his corpse in the forest, and its con-
veyance to Winchester by Purkis the charcoal-burner,
after all the nobles and knights had hastened after Prince
Henry to pay their court to the rising sun, while Walter
Tyrell was riding for his own life in an opposite direction.*
Prince Henry rode straight to Winchester, and demanded
the keys of the treasury, but night came on before he got
them. The news travelled fast. Rufus was slain on
August 2, noo, and by the next morning a crowd of
Hampshire people, of various ranks and orders, came
trooping into the city, drawn thither by a feeling of
wonder and a desire to know what was coming next.
First they saw coming over Compton Down the two-
wheeled forest-cart, not much unlike the rough New
Forest carts of to-day, on which lay the stiffened corpse of
the late king. They saw the rude funeral cortege pass on,
until it came to the Old Minster, where no bell was rung,
no Mass was said, and no offerings for his soul were made,
but the body was silently buried under the central tower
of the great church. Then all those who were assembled
at Winchester, and were eligible to attend the Witan
which was immediately held, chose Prince Henry to
be king,

* The local traditions connected with the death of Rufus are
supported by stronger circumstantial evidence than those historians
are aware of who have not studied them on the spot and who ignore
them. Avon Tyrell, where Walter Tyrell is said to have crossed the
river Avon, was a manor held by the Tyrell family in the fourteenth
century.

CHAPTER XL

LATER NORMAN AND ANGEVIN RULE.

ONE of the earliest acts of Henry I., connected directly
with this county, after his coronation at Westminster, was
his courtship of Maud, the daughter of Malcolm, King of
Scotland, a princess descended from the royal Saxon line-
He resolved to strengthen his position by an alliance with
her. She was living at Romsey under the care of her aunt
Christina, the abbess of the nunnery there, and afterwards
became known as good Queen Maud, a founder and bene-
factor of abbeys and churches, a builder of bridges, and
author of other beneficial works.

During the earlier years of his reign Henry resided much
at Winchester, where his son was born. It was on this
occasion, while he was absent in Sussex, that his brother
Robert, who had landed at Porchester, moved with his
army towards Winchester ; but on hearing that the queen
was lying there in childbed, he from motives of chivalry
turned eastward, and directed his march towards London.
Henry, hearing of his landing, also moved towards Win-
chester through Midhurst, and the two armies almost met,
being separated only by the wood around the upper Meon
valley. The king, hearing that his brother was on the
other side of the wood, arranged an amicable meeting,
which took place at Westbury,* near West Meon, and a
treaty between them was made there.

* See Notes and Queries, January 3, 1880 ; and the Athenceum,
December 19, 1885.

ii2 History of Hampshire.

Henry held his Easter court at Winchester, according to
the ancient custom, in the years noo, noi, 1102, 1103,
1104, and 1108. Subsequently his French wars kept him
much in Normandy, but in 1 1 16 he spent the Easter season
at the royal manor of Odiham. He again held his court at
Winchester in 1123, and two years later that city was the
scene of a strange assembly at Christmas. The king's
incessant wars had caused the taxation to be great, and
the minters debased the coinage. The complaints of this
were loud and long, until in 1125 the whole of the moneyers
in the kingdom were summoned to Winchester, and all
whose metal was found bad lost their right hands, all of
which we are told * was done within the twelve days, and
with much justice, because they had ruined this land, with
the great quantity of bad metal which they all bought.'

A very remarkable man made his first appearance in
Hampshire in a prominent position in the latter years of
the reign of Henry I. This was Henry de Blois, the king's
nephew, and the brother of Stephen, afterwards king. His
uncle made him Bishop of Winchester in 1129. When
King Henry died six years later, and the bishop's brother
Stephen had been elected king in London, the troubles of
this, as well as of other counties, began anew. Stephen
hastened from London to Winchester, and, as so many other
new kings had done before him, he hurried to the treasury in
the palace, for, as the Chronicle says, ' mickle had Henry,
king, gathered of gold and silver.' With some trouble he
won over the keepers of the hoard, Roger of Salisbury,
and William Pont de PArche, and so got the keys of the
treasure house. Stephen perhaps reckoned on the adhesion
of his brother Henry, but in the troubles which followed he
proved himself to be a variable adherent. Hampshire, like
the rest of England, was divided in the struggle which
ensued. The Empress Maud, daughter of Henry I., soon
appeared on the scene, and Henry de Blois at first sup-
ported her party against his brother. Then, the Chronicle
says, ' every rich man built his castle, and they filled the

Later Norman and Angevin Rule. 113

ind full of castles, and when the castles were finished they
lied them with devils and evil men.' Neither king nor
mpress was lord of those who followed them ; all fought
3r their own hand.

The bishop was one of these castle-builders. He
trengthened the ancient royal palace of Wolvesey with a
reat tower and additional walls, and it grew into a great
Drtress, at the eastern part of Winchester, where the
emains of his work may still be seen. He also built or
trengthened the castle of Merdon on the site of the old
British fortress near Hursley, and having got himself
ppointed the Pope's legate, he summoned a council at
Vinchester, and went so far as to cite the king before it, to
nswer for his action against the bishops. The bishop
iroduced a papal brief, in virtue of which, as legate, he
•resided over the assembly, and after some delay the arch-
u'shop was obliged to allow him this precedence.

Then followed the civil war between Stephen and the
mpress, supported by her half-brother, Robert, Earl of
j'ioucester, who also held some estates in the eastern part
if Hampshire. Stephen was taken prisoner at Lincoln,
.nd sent under guard to the earl's castle at Bristol. Then
he empress arrived in Winchester. She, with Earl Robert,
^as escorted by the bishop to the Old Minster or Cathedral,
ind, after a solemn service there, went to the castle on the
ising ground to the west of the city. London, however,
ided with Stephen, and the empress, having visited that
ity, failed to win the citizens over, as she treated them too
laughtily. Bishop Henry de Blois also did not meet with
.11 the consideration he expected, and consequently he
:hanged sides, and endeavoured to hold Winchester for
Stephen. Then Hampshire became the chief scene of the
:ivil war which ensued, during which Andover was burnt,
ind much fighting went on in the county and in the streets
>f Winchester, between the king's party, led by the bishop
rom his castle at Wolvesey, and the party of the empress,
ed by Earl Robert, who held the royal castle at the

8

1 4 History of Hampshire.

opposite side of the city. A great part of the city was
burnt, and ultimately Robert and the empress had to
retreat. He delayed the pursuers at the passage of the Test,
while Maud was thereby enabled to escape towards Bristol,
but he waited too long for his own safety, and was taken
prisoner somewhere near Stockbridge.

Then subsequently followed the exchange of the king as
a prisoner for Earl Robert, and ultimately peace came,
under the agreement by which Stephen remained in pos-
session of the kingdom ; but the empress's son, Henry, was
declared his successor.

Henry had not long to wait, for Stephen died in 1154,
and England had again a strong king. The accession of
Henry Plantagenet destroyed the power, and for a time, the
influence of Bishop Henry de Blois. He enjoyed an
immense revenue, but in the new order of things he found
his power gone, and having secretly sent his treasure across
the Channel, he left his see in 1155, and did not return until
1 1 59, after which he lived until 1171 in peace at Winchester.
After his flight, Henry II. demolished his castles of Wolve-
sey and Merdon. Wolvesey was subsequently patched up
as an episcopal residence, but its ruined walls have for
more than seven centuries told the tale of Henry's ven-
geance, and the scanty remains of masonry among the huge
grassy mounds of Merdon are all that is left to tell the story
of that episcopal fortress.

The reign of Henry II., commonly called Henry Fitz-
Empress, like that of his grandfather, began in Hampshire.
He landed at Southampton a few weeks after King
Stephen's death, and went on directly to Winchester, like
his predecessors, but, unlike them, owing to the troubles of
Stephen's time, he found no great treasure there. He
held a great council at that city in September of the next
year, 1155, at which some important business was trans-
acted ; and among the charters he granted at this time
was that of the Knights Hospitaller, which he gave ' for

Later Norman and Angevin Rule. 115

the health of himself, of his mother the empress, of his
queen, and of their children/ He was at Winchester many
times during his reign, but usually for short periods. He
travelled much through his wide dominions, and the ports
of Southampton and Portsmouth were the places from
which he usually embarked and disembarked in his
voyages across the Channel. The accounts of the receiver
of the royal dues, called the Fermor of Southampton,
contain many entries relating to the cost of providing
ships for the conveyance of the king and his retinue to or
from Normandy, and it is probable that it was at this time
that the royal waterside house at Southampton, a part of
which still remains, was used as a convenient lodging-
place for a night or two at a time, in connection with these
voyages. He landed or embarked at Southampton eight
times, and at Portsmouth ten times, in the course of his
reign. When he landed at Southampton in 1163, he was
met there by Archbishop Becket and Prince Henry, the
king's son, who was then his pupil. Eleven years later, on
his arrival at Southampton on July 8, 11/4, he was on his
way to Canterbury to do penance at the tomb of the same
Archbishop Becket. He travelled on this occasion through
Winchester to London without delay, and then proceeded
to Canterbury by that pilgrim's road along which, in later
centuries, so many other pilgrims travelled. It was on this
occasion of his arrival in July, 1174, that he brought the
queen a prisoner to England.

One of his most remarkable embarkations was that
from Portsmouth a month later, on August 8, 1174, when
he took with him to Normandy as a prisoner William the
Lion, King of Scotland. The capture of this king at
Alnwick a short time previously, during his invasion of
Northumberland, is not unconnected with Hampshire
history. Two years before this event, the chief Hampshire
baron, Adam de Port, the lord of Basing and of many
manors in this county, was outlawed for an attempt on the
life of the king. The cause of this attempt, so far as I am

8—2

1 1 6 History of Hampshire.

aware, is unknown ; perhaps it arose through the murder
of the archbishop. Adam de Port took refuge in Scotland,
and was honourably received by the Scottish king. He
joined him in his invasion of the North of England. A
force of English knights and men-at-arms, hearing of this
invasion, hastily assembled, and hurried northwards into
Northumberland in misty weather. In the meantime, the
Scottish king, meeting with no resistance, sent his army to
plunder the country, while he sat down before Alnwick
Castle with only sixty knights. As the English force
advanced through the mist, they saw the friendly castle of
Alnwick rise before them, and were much surprised to find
the Scottish king besieging the place with only sixt)'
followers. These were surrounded, and after a fight the
king and his small band were all captured, except two
persons, one of whom was Adam de Port, the outlawed
Hampshire baron, who cut his way out through the
English force and again escaped to Scotland. Subse-
quently he was pardoned and his estates restored.

Henry II. held his Easter court at Winchester, according
to the ancient custom of the West Saxon kings, in 1176,
and in August of that year he also held a great council
there. He was in Hampshire for many weeks in the
summer of 1177, a boisterous season, during which he was
detained in England partly by the rough weather and
partly by an illness which obliged him to go to Winchester
and lie up for about a month. Shortly before his embarka-
tion for Normandy in 1182, he held a council at Bishop's
Waltham, and on this occasion he made his will.

After landing at Southampton in 1 186, he paid a visit to
the Bishop of Winchester at Harwell, about seven miles
northwards of Southampton, where Henry de Blois had
founded a collegiate chantry for priests. Here the bishop
entertained the king, and here may be seen at the present
day some remains of the episcopal establishment, the sites
of the disused fish-ponds, the foundations and some walls of
the buildings, and the ruins of the chapel, now a cowshed.

Later Norman and Angevin Rule. 1 1 7

The death of Henry II. occurred in Normandy, and the
first official act of his son Richard, as King of England,
was to order the liberation of his mother, Queen Eleanor,
who had been a state prisoner in England for about
sixteen years. He appointed her regent in his absence,
and until his arrival she maintained a court of her own.
At her invitation, the earls, prelates, and barons assembled
at Winchester in August, 1189, to receive their new
sovereign, and at this meeting the date of the king's
coronation was fixed to take place at Westminster on
September 3. That event was a brilliant assembly, and at
the feast which followed the citizens of London served in
the royal cellars, and the citizens of Winchester in the
royal kitchen. Richard soon left for his continental
dominions, and did not return until after his wars in
Palestine and his captivity in Germany. The shipmasters
of Southampton had an opportunity of showing their skill
as navigators in the Palestine expedition, as many of
their ships and galleys were employed in conveying troops
and provisions. After the expedition was over, and
Richard's long captivity at an end, it was in the galley of
a Southampton shipmaster, named Alan Trenchemere,
that he embarked at Antwerp in February, 1194, on his
return to England. Then, after he had reduced the
castles in the midland counties, which were held against
him in the interest of his brother John, he moved south-
wards towards Winchester, it having been decided that he
should be crowned a second time there. He entered
Hampshire in the middle of April, and lodged at Free-
mantle, on the royal manor of Kingsclere. The next day
he moved on to Winchester Castle, and the day following
left the castle and took up his quarters in St. Swithun's
Priory. On April 17, in the midst of a distinguished
assembly and a vast multitude of people, chiefly Hamp-
shire folk, he was crowned in the cathedral by the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury. All the chief men in the kingdom
were present on this occasion, as well as William, King of

1 1 8 History of Hampshire.

Scotland. The Archbishop of York, however, the king's
half-brother, the son of Fair Rosamond, although he was
in Winchester, did not attend the coronation, because the
king had commanded him not to insist on his claim to
have his cross carried before him, an official act to which
in the southern province the Archbishop of Canterbury
would not consent. At this coronation feast the citizens
of London appeared, made a payment of 200 marks to the
king, and claimed to serve in the royal cellars. The
citizens of Winchester withstood this claim, but their
objection was overruled, they, as before at Westminster,
being allowed to serve in the kitchen. This civic dispute
concerning ancient privileges, the honour of which Win-
chester formerly had all to itself, shows how London had
grown in importance, while Winchester had already begun
relatively to decline.

A few days later King Richard left Winchester and
moved towards Portsmouth, where an army was already
assembling to cross over to Normandy. He probably
journeyed along the old Roman road over the downs to
the south of the city, and he certainly stopped at Bishop's
Waltham. There he held his last council on English soil,
and on this occasion Geoffry, Archbishop of York, caused
his cross to be carried before him as he went to the
assembly, which much offended the Archbishop of Can-
terbury ; so that, by advice of the king, the subject was
referred to the Pope for his decision. The ruins of the
great episcopal palace at Waltham has many memories,
and this archiepiscopal dispute during the meeting of the
last English council of King Richard is one of them. The
king went on to Portsmouth, and, while his ships were
loading, turned aside to Rowland's Castle to have a day's
hunting in the forest of Stanstead, but a quarrel arose
between those ill-assorted comrades in arms, the Bra-
banters and the Welsh, and they had a hostile meeting on
their own account, at which some were slain on both sides.
Richard could not afford to lose his troops in this way, so

Later Norman and Angevin Rule. 119

he hastily returned and quelled the disturbance. After
waiting some ten days on account of the boisterous
weather, he finally set sail with about 100 large ships, and
England saw him no more.

A noted man in Hampshire at this time was William
Briwere, who was a trusty councillor of Richard, as he, or
his father of the same name, had been of Henry I. and
Henry II.

William Briwere was one of the commissioners sent by
Richard in 1193 to make peace with the King of France.
His chief place in Hampshire was King's Somborne, where
he resided when in the county. This royal manor he held
of the king, and in the church there is a worn monumental
effigy, which is traditionally said to be that of this trusty
servant of the early Plantagenet kings.

It was during the reign of Richard that English people
took part in a crusade led by their own king. Part of the
fleet for this expedition assembled in Southampton Water,
and the sheriff of the county was ordered to supply 800
hogs, presumably in sides of bacon, and also 10,000 horse-
shoes with double sets of nails, for the cavalry with which
the king gained such renown in Palestine.

The port of Southampton being much concerned with
the traffic to and from the continental dominions of the
Norman and Angevin kings, was concerned also in the
crusading expeditions. In 1147, a contingent of ships
sailed from this port, and joined others from London and
Bristol, to assist Alphonso, King of Portugal, against the
Moors, and it was in that year that Lisbon was taken from
them. In the reign of Henry II., voyages were also made
to Palestine. Hampshire still retains some traces of this
crusading age. The first reputed Mayor of Southampton
entered on the list preserved in the municipal records is Bene-
dict Ace, Aeon, or Azon — a name probably derived from
some trading connection he had with Acre, the chief port of
Palestine. In some Hampshire churches, such as Winch-

1 20 History of Hampshire.

field and Nateley Scures, there are examples of Norman
arches so modified in form as almost to resemble arches of
the Saracenic style, which it is reasonable to suppose was
caused by the influence of Saracenic art. The first charter
to the town of Portsmouth was granted by Richard I. in
1193, and the arms of that borough, whether as old as
this time or not, contain a crescent moon, an emblem sug-
gestive of the eastern wars of that king. In the name of
the river Medina, which flows from Newport, the chief town
in the Isle of Wight, we may perhaps trace an imported
Saracenic name ; for Medina is derived from the Arabic*
denoting a chief city, and it appears from the charter of
Isabella de Fortibus, the Lady of the island in the thir-
teenth century, to have been also the name of the town,
which is there mentioned as the * novo burgho de Medina.'

In some of the Hampshire churches we meet with other
traces of the crusades in the effigies and other monumental
remains of knights who took part in them, or of those
knights who were members of the military religious orders
— the Templars and the Hospitallers.

John, Count of Mortain, and Earl of Gloucester in right
of his first wife Hawissa, daughter and heiress of William,
Earl of Gloucester, and grand-daughter of Earl Robert, was
connected with this county through the important manor of
Mapledurham, which formed part of the honour of Glou-
cester. The origin of Petersfield, and its rise into the
position of a market town, must be ascribed to charters
granted by the Earl of Gloucester and his daughter, and to
another charter granted by the Count of Mortain, afterwards
King John, which is still preserved in the town chest at
that place.

John, both before and after he became king, appears to
have been very fond of hunting, and, considering how
much he travelled from place to place, he spent a consider-
able part of his time in the Hampshire forests. Traditions
of his hunting expeditions survive at Southampton, at

Later Norman and Angevin Rule. 121

Freemantle near Kingsclere, at Odiham, and at Worldham
near Alton.

His favourite hunting seat was Freemantle, which he
visited, while he was king, on thirty-seven separate occa-
sions. He was at Odiham on twenty -four occasions
during his reign. In his progresses through Hampshire
he appears to have secured a few days' sport whenever he
could. He travelled rather frequently from Winchester to
Clarendon, near Salisbury, and on these journeys he usually
turned aside and stopped for a day or more at Ashley.
There appears to have been a hunting-box of some sort on
that manor, which was later on held of the crown, with
the custody of the forest of Bere. John came to Win-
chester on fifty-one separate occasions while he was king,
and he appears to have remained there as long as his
business elsewhere would allow him. His son Henry, who
succeeded him, was born there in 1207.

On May ipth, 1215, John's Itinerary shows that he paid
a visit to the site of the old Roman city of Silchester. We
should be glad if we could learn in what condition, at that
time, he found the ruins of that interesting place. He was
then on his way to Odiham. The barons were pressing
him, and he was no doubt considering what he should do.
His inspection of the ruins of Silchester may have caused
him to reflect on the decay of human greatness. He left
Odiham on June Qth, and the Great Charter was signed at
Runnemede, on the I5th of the same month.

During the first years of his reign he spent much of his
time abroad, fighting for his Norman dukedom. He
embarked and disembarked at Portsmouth on several
occasions during these years, and when the fortune of war
had gone against him, it was at Portsmouth he arrived, in
December, 1203, having lost Normandy.

He was, however, still lord of Gascony ; Bordeaux, and
most of the country from the Loire to the Pyrenees still
owned him, and he was represented in these provinces by
his seneschal. When he resolved, in the summer of 1206,

122

History of Hampshire.

to try again to recover his lost dukedom, he assembled a fleet
in the Solent and embarked at Yarmouth in the Isle of
Wight. This expedition sailed direct to the friendly port
of La Rochelle, and was the first of the English expedi-
tions to France, after the loss of Normandy. A similar
expedition left the Solent for the same destination, in the
winter of 1214. The loss of Normandy increased the com-
mercial traffic between Southampton and Bordeaux, for,
after Rouen was lost, Bordeaux continued to be the centre
of English influence in France for more than 200 years.

We have now traced consecutively the course of events
in the history of this county down to the time of the Great
Charter. Many kings and other high personages have
passed before us across the Hampshire stage. They have
had their entrances and their exits in succession, all too
quickly. Enough has, however, been said about them to
show that Hampshire, during these earlier centuries of
English history, was the scene of many events of national
importance.

The history of this county must now be viewed from
other aspects. The doings of kings, earls, bishops, and
barons, and the assembly of armies and councils, do not
make the history of the people, and we must now view
the history of Hampshire from its more local aspects. The
chief events of national interest, after the date of the Great
Charter, which form part of the history of this county, will
be alluded to in the following chapters — some of them
under the localities in which they occurred.

CHAPTER XII.

MONASTIC LIFE.

THE earliest religious house in Hampshire of which any
record has come down to us is that one which, as early as
the beginning of the tenth century, became known as the
Old Minster at Winchester. A tradition which was current
in the Saxon period states that an earlier abbey founded
in Romano-British time, the brethren of which were known
as the Monks of St. Mark, existed in Winchester, pre-
sumably on the site of the Old Minster. Whether this
was so or not, it is certain that Roman buildings of some
sort stood on this site, for many Roman remains have
been found close to the present cathedral, and a mass
of very hard flint concrete similar to Roman work, and
different from anything else in the basement, still exists
in the crypt of the cathedral. The tradition says that this
monastery was destroyed early in the sixth century.

The Old Minster of later Saxon time arose from the
munificent bequest of King Cynegils in 646, who gave to
it the whole of the land round the city, at that time all
known as parts of Chilcombe, and including the present
parishes of Chilcombe, Winnal, Morestead, Compton,
Wyke, Littleton, and Sparsholt. At the time of the
Domesday Survey this great manor had nine churches in
various parts of it. The Old Minster was under the Bene-
dictine rule for about 200 years. In 868 the Benedictine
monks were replaced by secular canons, and these were

[24 History of Hampshire.

expelled by Bishop Athelwold, and the Benedictines re-
instated in 963.*

The next monasteries established in this county were
those of Redbridge, which was founded about 680, and
Nursling, which was in existence before 710. These disap-
peared entirely in later Saxon time, and were in all proba-
bility destroyed by the Danes. Out of the monastery of
Nursling came the missionary Winfrid, or St. Boniface, the
great missionary of Germany, whose name is far better
known in that country than in Devonshire, where he was
born, or in Hampshire, where he received his education
and training.

The New Minster at Winchester was founded by Edward
the Elder in 901, and his gift of land to it rivalled the
earlier gift of Cynegils to the older foundation. This land
included the great manor of Micheldever, which comprised
a hundred hides, and was about as large as that of Chil-
combe, given to the Old Minster 250 years earlier. The
New Minster was also a community of secular canons until
963. These canons were generally men of noble families,
often of royal blood, who were desirous of devoting them-
selves to a religious life. In the course of time that life
became a very loose one, for the canons married wives, and
some had more than one. They commonly lived in the
country away from the abbey, and performed their religious
services, as far as they were performed, by deputies.
These abuses of a system of conventual life, which was no
doubt at first free from reproach, went on until the time of
Dunstan, the great monastic reformer, when Bishop Athel-
wold, with his support, drove the canons out, and estab-
lished the monks of the regular Benedictine order in their
places. A group of abbeys, founded by the son and widow
of King Alfred, arose in Hampshire ; for, in addition to the
New Minster, Edward the Elder founded the abbey of
Romsey, and the Lady Eanswith, the queen of Alfred,
founded St. Mary's Abbey for nuns at Winchester. It is
* 'Fasti Monastic! &\\ Saxonici,' by W. de Gray Birch, pp. i-n.

Monastic Life. 125

ancertain whether the abbey at Romsey was originally
established for monks or nuns, but it became a female
:ommunity living according to the Benedictine rule in 967.

Wherwell, another royal foundation, arose in this
:ounty in the tenth century, and was established by the
Lady Elfrida, queen of King Ethelred, about 986, in
:ontrition for her sins. Another monastery, known as that
3f Sapalanda,* is ascertained by charters to have existed
before the time of the Norman Conquest, but its locality is
unknown, and as no traces of it are left, it was probably
destroyed, like the houses at Redbridge and Nursling,
during the later ravages of the Danes and Norsemen.

Subsequently Edward the Confessor founded at Twyn-
tiam, near the mouth of the Avon, the priory for secular
:anons which was afterwards closely connected with the
history of the south-west corner of the county, and became
known as Christchurch.

One other religious house, that of St. Brinstan's Hospital
it Winchester,-)- completes the number of Saxon founda-
tions in Hampshire. This was in existence before 935,
ind was the earliest hospital in the county ; but its life was
short, at any rate under this name, for it does not occur in
the records of the city in later centuries.

A marked change occurred in the monastic history of
Hampshire during the Norman and Angevin period. The
Norman kings and nobles cared little for the West Saxon
religious houses. Their sympathies were with the great
abbeys of their native land, and many of their religious
benefactors in this county were subsidiary priories, estab-
lished, indeed, in Hampshire, and supported by the produce
of Hampshire lands, but vested in the abbeys of Nor-
mandy, to which the surplus revenues of these priories
went after the cost of their primary purposes had been
defrayed. From the piety of these kings and nobles there
thus arose in this county twelve houses, or cells, which
were all attached to foreign abbeys, and which, after the
* * Fasti Monastic! ^Evi Saxonici.' f Ibid.

126

History of Hampshire.

English kings had lost Normandy, became known as the
alien priories.

One of the best examples of these is that of Sherborne,
near Basingstoke, which was founded by Henry de Port, a
baron of the Exchequer, in the time of Henry I. He
was the son of Hugh de Port, a follower of the Conqueror,
who held so many Hampshire manors at the time
of the Great Survey. The purpose for which Sher-
borne Priory was founded was similar to that for which
other priories of the same kind were established. Hugh
de Port held this manor of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, the
half-brother of the Conqueror, the prelate to whom we are
indebted for the Bayeux tapestry, which depicts the scenes
of the Norman conquest. Henry de Port states in his
charter that he gives the lands at tithes at Sherborne to
God and to St. Vigor of Cerisy (a great abbey in the
diocese of Bayeux), ' for the soul of my lord King Henry,
for the soul of William the king's son, for the souls of my
father and mother, also for the souls of myself, and my
wife and children, and of all the people of Shirebourn.'
Here the De Port family made their mausoleum, and here
the community prayed for the souls of the founder and his
successors, who were also its benefactors, and at Sherborne
a part of their noble church still remains.

It was for similar purposes that William FitzOsborne
founded the priory of Hayling, and attached it to the
abbey of Jumieges, and that the priory of Andover
was founded by the Conqueror himself, and attached to the
abbey of St. Sauveur le Vicomte. The priory of Strat-
fieldsaye was established by Nicholas de Stuteville, and
attached to the abbey of Vallemont. Similarly Hamble
Priory was attached to the abbey of Tyrone, Selborne to
St. Vigor of Cerisy, Andswell to Tyrone, Applederwell to
St. Mary de Montisberg, Carisbrooke to Lira, Ellingham to
St. Saveur le Vicomte, and St. Cross in the Isle of Wight
to Tyrone. St. Helens was also attached to some Norman
abbey.

Monastic Life. 127

The other religious houses which were established in
Hampshire during the Norman and Angevin period were
independent communities. Of these, the priory of St.
Deny's, founded in 1124, and the priory founded within
the enclosure of Porchester Castle in 1133, and subse-
quently removed to Southwick, were established by
Henry I. That unhappy monarch, during his later years,
had to mourn the death of his son, Prince William, who
was lost at sea in 1120, and his wife, the good Queen
Maud, who died in 1118, and the establishment of these
priories had for their object the spiritual benefit of himself
and his relatives. His charter, founding the priory of St.
Deny's, shows that the sorrow-stricken king designed the
Augustine canons of that house to offer perpetual prayers
for these, for he says that he makes his gift to the priory
for the salvation of his soul, for the redemption of the
soul of his father, and of his mother, also of Matilda
the queen his wife, and of William their son. In his
charter establishing the Augustine priory at Porchester,
he remembers also his brother Rufus, for he says that
it is founded for the souls of his father, of William his
brother, of his mother, and of his ancestors and his suc-
cessors.

At that time the Lord of the Isle of Wight was Baldwin
de Redvers, Earl of Devon, whose great fief on the main-
land extended as far eastward as the river Avon in
Hampshire. He founded, in 1132, the abbey of Quarr,
the chief monastic house in the island, and one of the
earliest Cistercian houses in England. The charter by
which he established it appears from internal evidence to
have been executed in Normandy. He gave the manor of
Arreton, in the Isle of Wight, and other possessions, to
Godfrey, the Abbot of Savigny, in Normandy, for the
building of this abbey at Quarr, and its first inmates were
monks from Savigny. Earl Baldwin also founded the
priory of Braemore, on the Avon, near Fordingbridge, at
the eastern border of his earldom, and there his descen-

128 History of Hampshire.

dant, the famous Isabella de Fortibus, was subsequently
buried.

The priory of Hartley Wintney, a small Cistercian
nunnery in the North of Hampshire, also appears to have
been established before the end of the twelfth century.

In the beginning of the reign of King John, another
Augustine priory arose at Mottisfont, through the benevo-
lence of William Briwere, the chief Hampshire baron at
that time.* He was made sheriff of the county in 1207,
and lived at King's Somborne, a few miles away. He had
a brother, who was probably a hermit of some sort, for he
got the name of Peter de Rivallis, and was popularly
called ' the holy man in the wall/ Apparently he lived in
a mural cell somewhere in the neighbourhood, and was
held in great reverence as a worker of miracles. However
this may have been, he had saved a large sum of money, and
this he gave to enrich the priory at Mottisfont his brother
had founded.

The great Cistercian abbey of Beaulieu, founded in the
New Forest by King John, also began its existence about
this time. Its abbot was one of the commissioners to
whom the king entrusted the duty of conveying the queen
and his children, Richard and Joan, to him in France in
1214, and to whom also he entrusted the care of his son
John. King John visited Beaulieu on four occasions
between 1206 and 1213.

Another abbey, that of Titchfield, the canons of which
were of the Praemonstratensian order, was founded in 1231
by Henry III., who dedicated his gift to God, and the
church of St. Mary of Titchfield, for the salvation of his
soul, for the souls of his ancestors, and for the souls of his
heirs and successors.

For a similar purpose, eight years later, Henry III.
founded the Cistercian abbey of Netley, at the place then
* Maddox, ' Hist. Exchequer.'

Monastic Life. 129

:alled Edwardstowe. The first monks of Netley came
"rom Beaulieu. This was the last monastery established in
Hampshire, and its remains are at the present time the
-nost interesting ruins in the county.

There were also the Dominican, Franciscan, and Car-
nelite Friars, the hermits, the recluses, the Knights
Femplar, and the Knights Hospitaller. There were like-
vise the hospitals for the relief of the poor, infirm, and
;ick, and for the reception of distressed travellers, and other
lospitals for lepers. These were all managed by commu-
lities of brethren and sisters living under some religious
•ule, generally that of St. Augustine.

The coming of the friars, and the religious reformation
*vhich resulted from their itinerant preaching, led to the
establishment in Hampshire of three friaries in Win-
fester and one in Southampton. In Winchester a
:onvent for Dominican, or Black, Friars was established in
[230 ; for the Carmelite, or White, Friars in 1278 ; and for
;he Franciscan, or Grey, Friars also in the time of
Henry III. The Franciscan friary at Southampton also
:ame into existence about the same time. The friars were
social and sanitary reformers as well as preachers, and at
Southampton they left proof that they were no theorists,
but practical men. The sanitary condition of the towns
in the thirteenth century was deplorable. Dirt and filth
reigned supreme in the streets, there was no effective
drainage of houses, and no good water supply. At
Southampton the Franciscan friars, aided by the Warden
3f St. Julian's Hospital, brought a supply of pure water
;nto the town from a spring more than a mile away. They
supplied this water to the town conduits, and for more than
five centuries the people of Southampton were benefited
t>y their enterprise and industry.

Some of the great Norman abbeys had important
estates in Hampshire. The Conqueror's favourite abbey
of Bee held the manors of Anne de Bee now called
Monxton, Combe, and Quarley, in the north-west of the

9

130

History of Hampshire.

county, through the alien priory of Okeburn. The abbey
of Jumieges held a great part of Hayling Island, that of
Greistain held the manor of Penton, and that of Lira held
six churches in the Isle of Wight and one in Southampton.
. With the reign of Henry III., the foundation of abbeys
and priories in this county came to an end, for the Statutes
of Mortmain, passed soon afterwards, made it illegal to
bequeath land for the establishment of any more. The
religious houses exerted a great influence on the medieval
life of Hampshire, and have left permanent marks of that
influence. Some of the names of parishes, manors, and
farms at the present day, have been derived from the
former connection of these lands with the abbeys and
priories. Abbots Ann, Abbots Worthy, and Abbotston
belonged to the Abbot of Hyde, Hurstbourn Priors, to the
Prior of St. Swithun, Prior's Dean to the Prior of South-
wick, Itchen Abbas to the Abbess of St. Mary's, Win-
chester, and Monk Sherborne to the Benedictine priory at
that place. Many local customs which have survived on
the old monastic manors arose through their connection
with these religious houses. The greatest of these houses
in Hampshire were the priory of St. Swithun and the
abbey of Hyde, at Winchester, the Old and New Minsters,
which owed their wealth to the munificence of the West
Saxon kings.

The Benedictines have left their permanent marks in the
great churches which have come down to us, the cathedral
at Winchester, and the abbey church at Romsey. The
church of the Augustine priory, at Christchurch, has also
happily been spared. No Cistercian church has been pre-
served in Hampshire. The sites of the noble churches at
Quarr, Beaulieu, and Netley are now overgrown with grass,
but the outline and foundations of that at Beaulieu and the
remains of the abbey church at Netley tell the story of
their former magnificence. The permanent mark which
the Cistercians have left is of another kind. We may read
the story of their industry on the surface of the lands which

Monastic Life. 131

hey brought into cultivation on their great estate at Beau-
ieu, where the remains of the great barn — one of the largest
n England — in which the produce of some of these lands
vas stored, may still be seen at St. Leonard's Grange.
Fhey also greatly increased the cultivated area on the
estates which belonged to Quarr and Netley, and succeed-
ng generations of men have reaped the benefit of that
abour.

The Benedictine and Cistercian monks and nuns, and the
\ugustine canons, whose houses were situated in Hamp-
shire, do not represent the whole of the monasteries and
•eligious orders which were connected with this county.
Fhere were also the foreign abbeys which held possessions
n it, and abbeys and priories in other parts of England
,vhich also owned Hampshire manors or lands. For
example ; Westminster Abbey held the manor of Eversley,
:hat of Chertsey held the manors of Winchfield and Elve-
;ham, and St. Peter's, at Gloucester, held Linkenholt ;
VHlton Abbey, in Dorsetshire, held the manor of Watch-
ngwell, Newark Priory held land at Ropley, Waverley
^.bbey held a grange at Boviatt, the prioress of Amesbury
icld Nether Wallop, and the Abbess of Tarent, in Dorset,
icld the manor of Hurstbourn Tarrant, given to her house
Dy Henry III.

The influence of the monastic system on the history of
this county was very great. That influence was both eccle-
siastical and secular, and may be seen even at the present
time in such places as Romsey and Christchurch, which
became market towns under this influence, and at Beaulieu
ind Wherwell, which grew into large villages, possessed of
exceptional privileges in regard to markets, fairs, local
government, and the administration of justice, under the
fostering care of the abbeys. These abbeys possessed
:harters giving their tenants certain liberties, which the
neighbouring places did not possess. Although the monks
and nuns have departed from Beaulieu and Wherwell for

9—2

132

History of Hampshire.

more than three and a half centuries, the fairs at these
places, which were granted to the abbeys by royal charters,
still survive. The privileges which the religious houses
possessed in regard to fisheries, common pasturage, and
forest rights, passed at the dissolution to those who became
their legal successors, and thus many an old custom on the
monastic estates has survived until the present time.

The larger abbeys and priories all possessed the right
of holding their own courts-leet, independently of the
hundred -courts held under the jurisdiction of the sheriff,
at which their tenants would otherwise have been obliged
to render suit, and an abbey or priory which had this right
on its home estate generally had the same powers on its
outlying manors. Such houses also usually had the privi-
lege of capturing offenders who had committed any crime
on their estates, and of bringing them to justice.

They had also the power of free gallows, on which the
convicted felons were hanged ; and as there were so many
abbeys and priories in the county, the gallows were numer-
ous. They had also the privilege of the assize of bread and
ale, so that instead of being subject to the inquisitorial
functions of the hundred-courts, the courts-leet of the
abbey manors could appoint their own officials, such as
the ale-taster, to see that the bread was of good weight, and
the ale ' fit for man's body.'

This local system of government and administration of
justice on the estates of the great abbeys and priories inde-
pendently of the hundred - courts, occasionally caused
disputes to arise. Thus, in 1280, a complaint was made
against the Prior of Merton, who held land in Hampshire,
that his villeins at Heggefield did not render their due
suit at the Holeshete hundred-court. In answer to this he
produced a charter of Richard I., confirmed by Henry III.,
which proved their immunity.

Many Hampshire villages, such as Micheldever, were the
centres of rural life on the monastic manors, and although
they were not near the abbeys to which they belonged,

Monastic Life. 133

they were the places where the courts were held. Such
great estates were, as in the case of Micheldever, separate
hundreds ; but the hundred was under the jurisdiction of the
abbot, and not of the sheriff of the county. Similarly, the
Abbess of Wherwell, through her stev/ard, had jurisdiction
over the manors which formed the hundred of Wherwell.

The customary services which the tenants on the abbey
Dr priory manors had to perform were different in different
places — in some cases more burdensome than in others.
When the religious houses acquired their estates, they
acquired the right to such local customary services as had
been usual on the manors. Thus in the case of St. Deny's
Priory, the men of Portswood performed for the priory the
same customary work they had previously performed for
the king, and this appears to have been somewhat heavy.
From June 24 to August i, they cleaned half an acre
of ground daily ; in the month of August they reaped half
an acre daily, and each one had a sheaf ; they stored the
harvest in the barns. After harvest they collected clay
for repairing the houses till Michaelmas ; afterwards they
gathered apples and made cider. At Martinmas they paid
their Church dues and custom for the rights of pannage ;
then they trenched the land and made up the fences. In the
spring and early summer they cut the meadows, carried the
hay, sheared the sheep, measured out the folds, and repaired
the king's weir. These numerous services were distributed
among the tenants, and in return these tenants, both villeins
and borderers, had their homesteads and cottages, their
common fields and pastures, which they cultivated for their
own use.

A class of religious fraternities which differed consider-
ably from the regular conventual establishments was that
of the colleges of priests, of which there were some in this
county. These small colleges of secular priests were not
uncommon in the Middle Ages. At Winchester there was
the College of the Holy Trinity, founded in 1318, for a
warden and several priests, near St. Mary's Abbey, the

134

History of Hampshire.

Fraternity of St. Peter, consisting of a prior and brethren
attached to the church of St. Maurice, the College of St.
Elizabeth of Hungary, consisting of a provost, six chaplains,
six clerks, and six choristers, and the College of St. Mary
Kalendar, an educational fraternity learned in the calendar,
with a very fine church on the north of the High Street.

At Marwell there was a college for four priests, and at
Barton, in the Isle of Wight, a similar college or oratory,
presided over by an arch-presbyter. The site of the Barton
oratory, with the land around it, is now included in the
royal estate of Osborne.

At Lymerston, in the Isle of Wight, there was a com-
munity of chaplains living under the rule of St. Augustine,
and at St. Mary's, Southampton, there was a chanter, or
warden, and chaplains associated together as a small
religious community.

There were also the fraternity known as the Guild of the
Holy Ghost at Basingstoke, which was an educational
community, and its ancient possessions and functions were
subsequently passed on to the Grammar School in that
town. The ruin which remains of its buildings near the
railway-station is familiar to travellers on the South-
western Railway.

In the early part of the sixteenth century there was also
a Brotherhood at Alresford, which is mentioned in 1527 in
the will of John Lomer of Lomer.

The hermits and recluses, who lived solitary lives, must
also be included among the religious orders. The popular
ideas concerning the hermits is very different from the true
one. A hermitage was practically a monastery, with one
inmate. In his cell the hermit lived his solitary life, but it
was not a useless one. He was inducted into his hermitage
by a religious service, and afterwards he lived and died
there. He must in some cases have had a servant or lay
brother, who ministered to his wants and otherwise assisted
him. The hermit had some means of support. A good
example of a Hampshire hermitage is that one which

Monastic Life. 135

existed at a spot now known as Chapel, in the parish of
St. Mary, Southampton. When it was first established is
unknown, but it is certain that Henry VII. recognised the
usefulness of the hermit who lived there in his time, named
William Gefferey, by granting to him, conjointly with
the mayor, aldermen, sheriff, bailiffs, and burgesses of
Southampton, the privilege of holding an annual fair and
market on the feast of the Holy Trinity and three following
days. This fair was held around the hermitage, and the
profits arising therefrom belonged partly to the hermit and
partly to the town. Some remains of this hermitage,
which was situated close to the Itchen, lately existed at
Chapel Wharf. From other cases, in which it is known
that hermits located at ferries discharged the useful func-
tions of providing a light, and often a boat, for travellers,
it is reasonable to suppose that William Gefferey, the
hermit of the chapel of the Holy Trinity, opposite to the
old ferry at Itchen, performed similar functions there.

Another noted hermitage was that which existed on St.
Catherine's Hill, at Chale, in the Isle of Wight. There is
a record of the admission of Walter de Langstrell to this
hermitage in October, 1312, and an engraving of the tower
in which this hermit performed the useful function of a
lighthouse-keeper has come down to us. There were no
Elder Brethren of Trinity House in those days to place
lights round the coast.

The hermits on St. Catherine's Hill were the only light-
house-keepers in the Isle of Wight in the Middle Ages as
far as is known, and it is impossible not to admire the self-
sacrifice which led them to devote their lives to this useful
work. Everyone must respect the devotion of the hermit,
who kept his light burning on this hill in all weathers, and
while he attended to his beacon-fire or lamps on tempes-
tuous nights, mingled his nocturnal prayers for the safety
of mariners with the howling of the storm.

Another hermitage at Stratfieldsaye was endowed with
certain lands near it in Hampshire and Berkshire in the

136

History of Hampshire.

reign of Edward III.,* and the purpose of such an esta-
blishment in this place was, apparently, that the hermit
should direct travellers on their way through that part of
the forest of Eversley.

There are traces of other Hampshire hermitages in the
old forests of the county, at Hambledon and at Colemore.
Near Havant there was a hermitage, whose occupant
apparently performed the duty of guiding travellers across
the dangerous wadeway which led into Hayling Island ;
and near Emsworth, on the Sussex border, there was
another where the hermit showed the way, or ford, which
led the traveller safely into Thorney Island.

* Inq. p. m. 17 Edw. III.

CHAPTER XIII.

OTHER PHASES OF MEDIEVAL RELIGIOUS LIFE.

THE military religious orders were well represented in
Hampshire. The Templars, or Knights Templar, who were
first introduced into England in the reign of Stephen, and
whose headquarters in this country were at the Temple,
close to the city of London, had a preceptory in Hamp-
shire at South Baddesley. They had also a preceptory, or
an estate, at Selborne. The order likewise held the manor
of Cerne, near Arreton, in the Isle of Wight, an estate now
known as Temple lands at Sherfield on Loddon, and
another at Warblington.

The Templars wore a white mantle, or cloak, with a red
cross on the left breast, and were commonly known as the
Red Cross Knights.

In the reign of Henry II. an annual payment of 133. 4d.
was assigned to the Knights of the Temple out of the fee
farm rent of Southampton. A stone coffin-lid, with the
insignia of the Knights Templar, may be seen at the
present time in the church at Selborne, a relic of their
former connection with that place.

The other great military religious order, the Knights
Hospitaller, had commanderies at Godsfield, near Aires-
ford, and at North Baddesley. They held also the manor
of Woodcot, in the north of the county, and that of
Enham, near Andover. This order was also known as
that of St. John of Jerusalem, and the members wore a
black cloak, with a white cross upon the left breast.

138 History of Hampshire.

The surplus revenues of the estates of both these orders
were sent to Palestine, for their primary objects as
crusaders and protectors of pilgrims.

The Hospitallers were an important body in Hampshire,
and maintained their peculiar privilege in it when neces-
sary. Thus, in the ninth year of Edward I., their tenant,
John de Evineley, was summoned to show cause why he
did not make suit at the hundred-court at Andover, and
he pleaded ' that he held of the Prior and Brethren of St.
John of Jerusalem, and that by charter, 37 Henry III., the
prior and his men were freed from scot and geld, sheriffs'
aids, and all services at the Hundred Court.'* This
exemption was probably claimed for the manor of Knights
Enham. The Hospitallers were first established in England
in the reign of Henry I., and their chief seat was at St.
John's, Clerkenwell. When Bishop Henry de Blois esta-
blished the hospital of St. Cross, he placed it under the
care of the Knights of St. John, and their connection with
that great hospital continued for about a century. A sur-
vival of the connection of the hospital of St. Cross with
the Hospitallers still exists in the dress of the brethren,
who wear a black cloak with the cross of the order upon
the left breast.

At Godsfield the ancient chapel of the Knights of St.
John still exists in a fair state of preservation. In the
early part of the twelfth century the land at Godsfield and
the hospital of St. Cross were the only possessions which
the order held in Hampshire, but when the Knights
Templar were suppressed in the reign of Edward II. their
possessions in this county were for the most part given to
the Hospitallers. In this way the Knights of St. John
became possessed of the manor of South Baddesley, the
Templars' estate at Selborne, and the annual payment,
which had been greatly increased, from the fee farms of the
towns of Southampton and Portsmouth. On account of
the burning of these towns by the French in 1338, the

* Plac. de quo warranto, 9 Edw. I.

Other Phases of Medieval Religious Life. 139

Hospitallers could not get more than £14 los. in rents in
that year, instead of £20 33. 4d. they had been accustomed
to receive.

In I339, the ' Prior of the Hospital/ or chief of the order
in England, was called upon to assist in the defence of
Southampton, and to supply esquires and archers to the
Earl of Warwick, to whom the custody of that town was
then committed. The Hospitallers, as well as the Templars,
had the privilege, by ancient grant, of having one man in
every borough in the realm, who was quit of common assizes
and tallages, i.e., of taxes, within his borough, and who was
known as the man of the Hospitallers, or man of the
Templars. This privilege must have increased their in-
fluence in the Hampshire towns. Monumental remains of
the Hospitallers, denoted by the well-known Maltese cross,
exist at Selborne, North Baddesley, St. Mary Bourne,
Michelmersh, and elsewhere.

The Hospitallers were bound by the rules of their order
to relieve casual destitution, and so they dispensed to
pilgrims certain hospitality in the places where their estates
were situated, as well as in Palestine. In 1185, the Grand
Master of the order visited England, and a great council
was held at Winchester, at which Henry II. and nearly all
the bishops and abbots were present, to receive him with
due honour. These knights have left some traces of their
former connection with this county as land-holders, in such
place-names as Knight's Copse, near South Baddesley,
Knightswood, North Baddesley, and Knightsbridge Copse,
Selborne.

In order to understand the position which the Knights
Hospitaller occupied in the religious life of the country
during the Middle Ages, from the twelfth to the sixteenth
centuries, we must recognise the important part which the
custom of pilgrimage played during that period. Pilgrims
to the Holy Land were protected, as far as they could
protect them, by the Hospitallers, whose special business
was to guard the way to the Holy City ; but the expense

140 History of Hampshire.

and fatigue of such a journey prevented all but the rich and
the strong from undertaking it. For the mass of the people
who desired to go on pilgrimage there were other sacred
places and shrines which could be visited. Among these
Rome occupied the first place, and pilgrimages to it began
as early as Anglo-Saxon time. Some of the kings of
Wessex took the pilgrim's staff and went on this journey.
Ceadwalla and Ina both died in Rome, where there was a
Saxon school or hospital, said to have been founded by the
latter king for the reception and relief of needy pilgrims,
and for the instruction of young Anglo-Saxons in the faith.
A tax of a penny on each house was levied by Ina for the
support of this establishment in Rome. This was originally
known as Rome-scot, and was the beginning of those pay-
ments which in later ages were called Peter's pence. The
Saxon kings also established hospitals in many places for
the entertainment of pilgrims on their way to Rome. King
Cnut, during his famous pilgrimage to Rome, obtained
from the Pope the exemption of the English school there
from all taxes, and he likewise induced the Emperor and
King Rudolf to abolish the barriers and tolls on English
pilgrims proceeding to that city.

In later centuries there were other places abroad to which
English pilgrims flocked, one of which was the shrine of
St. James at Compostella. In the fifteenth century pilgrims
for Compostella commonly embarked at Southampton.

There were also many shrines in England which attracted
hosts of pilgrims. Hampshire people, no doubt sometimes
journeyed to Canterbury, Walsingham, and other noted
shrines, but it is certain they more often visited, in company
with people from other shires, the sacred places in tjieir own
county. Nothing in the history of Hampshire is more
certain than the existence of these shrines, which attracted
crowds of pilgrims. At Winchester there was first that of
St. Swithun, a Hampshire saint, whose fame attracted people
from all parts of England. They often brought with them
sick folk to be healed by the saint. The enlarged part of

Other Phases of Medieval Religious Life. 141

the cathedral, between the choir and the Lady Chapel,
where the shrine of St. Swithun stood, was often quite filled
with them. They entered at the Norman door, now
stopped up, but which may still be seen in the outer wall of
the north transept. There was in Winchester a pilgrims'
guild or fraternity, which had charge of a house where the
brethren and sisters received the wanderers. The famous
shrine at Canterbury was modern in comparison with that
of St. Swithun. Like so many other things in Winchester,
a great antiquity hung about it. To it had come many
generations of pilgrims long before Becket was born. The
traditions of the sacred shrines of their forefathers survived
long after the newer shrine of St. Thomas a Becket arose,
but many Winchester pilgrims no doubt travelled over the
downs eastward to Canterbury along the route known as
the Pilgrims' Way.

Winchester had also in the New Minster, and afterwards
in the abbey of Hyde, another shrine, that of St. Judocus
or St. Josse, whose bones had arrived there early in the
tenth century under the circumstances previously mentioned.
If a prophet is of no honour in his own country, a saint is,
for while St. Swithun's fame as a healing saint increased as
centuries rolled by, that of St. Josse, who was of foreign
origin, appears to have declined, the healing power of
St. Swithun's bones being popularly considered to be far
more potent than those of the rival saint.

Pilgrims were also attracted in large numbers to the
Chapel of our Lady of Grace at Southampton, which Leland
tells us, was ' sometime haunted with pilgrims.' Its ruins
still remain near St. Mary's Church. In Southampton
there was a pilgrims' quarter near the western shore, a
place there having been known formerly as Pilgrims' Pit.
The reason for the establishment of this chapel in South-
ampton is obscure, but it is quite certain that the pilgrims
came, for we have documentary evidence that they were
sometimes lodged in two small chapels on the marsh which
belonged to St. Deny's Priory.

142 History of Hampshire.

Another place of pilgrimage in Hampshire was South-
wick, where there was also a shrine of note. Leland tells
us that the fame of Southwick ' stood by a priory of black
chanons there, and a pilgrimage to Our Lady.' The seal
of the priory, which still exists, has on the obverse the
words, ' Sit pro Suthwika mediatrix Virgo pudico et pax
angelica, sit nobis semper arnica.'

There can be little doubt that pilgrims were also attracted
to Christchurch, where the holy beam was pointed out, and
the legend told of the strange and wonderful workman,
who, during the building of that church, made the beam fit
after it had been found too short, and who laboured
assidously without pay or reward. A church which was
built by the aid of a Divine Carpenter, and consequently
named Christchurch, could not fail to attract worshippers
from distant places.

Many of these pilgrims were so poor that they often
passed the night, while on their journeys, by a fire in the
woods, and some few place-names in Hampshire, such as
Pilgrims' Copse, near Micheldever railway station, and
Pilgrims' Place, East Tisted, still remind us of their wander-
ings, and of the part which pilgrimages played in the
religious life of our forefathers.

Part of the outcome of the religious revival in England
which followed the Norman settlement was the establish-
ment of hospitals for the relief of the sick, infirm and poor.
The greatest in Hampshire was that of St. Cross. It was
founded by Bishop Henry de Blois, in the twelfth century,
and enlarged by Cardinal Beaufort, whose statue, in one of
the niches over the gateway, may still be seen there. St.
Cross is the best example of a medieval hospital which has
come down to us. Its noble church, domestic buildings,
hall, and gateway, retain all their ancient features. It was
spoiled of much of its wealth in ancient days, by some of
those whose duty it was to preserve it, and it has been
similarly spoiled in modern time ; but great foundations
such as this survive those who rob them, and after the

Other Phases of Medieval Religious Life. 143

expiration of certain long leases of its lands, improperly
granted, the hospital of St. Cross will again be a wealthy
bundation. While Winchester was at the height of its
prosperity during the Norman period, the want of a hospital
>uch as this for the relief of the poor and sick among the
jreat number of people whose business brought them to
:he royal city must have been much felt. Bishop de Blois'
bundation was designed to meet this want. A hundred
Door men were daily fed there, and no traveller who knocked
it its door was sent empty away. A remnant of this
indent hospitality still survives at St. Cross, where bread
md beer are dispensed each day to all who apply for it at
he gate.

St. Cross is one of the most precious relics of antiquity
vhich Hampshire possesses. It has memories of kings,
jishops, and crusaders, of many distinguished men in
:hurch and state who have guided its fortunes, of countless
Dilgrims of high and low degree, and of the poor of more
han twenty generations who have claimed hospitality there
md had their claim allowed.

The relief of the sick, infirm, and poor was also provided
or at Winchester, by its two great abbeys. Just outside
:he close of St. Swithun's was an almonry, known as the
Sisters Hospital, or Sustern Spytal, established for a com-
nunity of sisters and a chaplain. Another hospital was
ittached to the abbey of Hyde, and in the time of
Edward II. the number of sick, infirm, and poor who
•esorted to it was so great that, with the consent of the
Bishop, the king allowed the abbey to appropriate the great
:ithes of the church of Micheldever for their relief.

As St^ Cross was intended to be the great hospital for
Winchester, so that of St. Julian was intended to serve a
ike purpose at Southampton. It was founded by Gervase,
i wealthy merchant, and became known as Maison de
Dieu or Domus Dei, and was popularly called God's House.
St. Julian Hospitator was the patron saint of travellers,
Doatmen, ferrymen, and wandering minstrels, and there can

144 History of Hampshire.

be little doubt that his name being given to this hospital is
significant, as showing the purpose of its establishment. It
was built close to the beach, and consisted of a church, a
gate-house tower, and domestic buildings on both sides. As
long as the English connection with Normandy lasted it
must have been of great use to poor travellers from over
the sea. Afterwards, as long as Gascony still remained a
possession of the English crown, it was probably much fre-
quented. Phillipa, the queen of Edward III., induced her
husband to give it to her newly-established Queen's Hall
in Oxford. Since that time the Provost of Queen's College
has been warden of the hospital, and the revenue the
college has derived from its estates has apparently increased
as the original character of foundation became changed.

The other ancient hospitals of Hampshire were those of
St. John the Baptist, at Basingstoke, founded by Walter de
Merton in 1261, and one similarly dedicated at Andover,
said to have been established by the Conqueror. There
was also St. John the Baptist's Hospital at Winchester,
founded in 1289 by a citizen named John Devenisshe, and
St. Nicholas's Hospital at Portsmouth, founded by Bishop
Peter de Roche, early in the thirteenth century, and placed
under the care of a prior and brethren. Both of these were
also known by the name of Maison de Dieu. There was
in addition, a St. John's Hospital at Fordingbridge, which
was connected with that of St. Cross.

Besides these general hospitals, there were others which
were specially established for lepers, and three of these
were dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen. The most impor-
tant appears to have been the Lepers' Hospital on Magdalen
Hill, at Winchester, a part of St. Giles's Hill, which had a
very handsome chapel, one of the finest of its kind in the
county. This survived until the eighteenth century,* when
it was demolished and its materials sold. The hospital for
lepers at Southampton stood in the Magdalen Field, now
called the West Marlands. There was also a leper hospital

* See engravings and description : * Vetusta Monumenta,' iii., 3-6.

Other Phases of Medieval Religious Life. 145

t Christchurch, and another at Newport, to which Isabella
e Fortibus, the Lady of the Isle of Wight, gave an annual
snt from the town of Newport. In her charter to that
)wn it is mentioned as the Hospital for the Lepers of St.
Liigustine. All these foundations were religious houses,
[ie brethren of which probably lived according to the
oigustine rule. As the hospital at Andover was also dedi-
ited to St. Mary Magdalen, as well as St. John the Baptist,
is probable that it also included a lepers' house.

The legends of Hampshire which have arisen through its
lonastic life are many and curious. There is the renowned
igend of St. Swithun and the forty days' rain, which has
Dread all over England. It arose at Winchester, where
i 971, on the completion of the new cathedral built by
ishop Athelwold, the bones of the saint were transferred
om the churchyard to the shrine inside ; when, as an old
ironicler tells us, the saint ' protested weeping.' Nothing

recorded which tells us of rain falling for forty days. This
ras probably of later discovery, and shows how the legend
rew from the accident of a wet day when the translation
f the saint's bones took place.

The legend of King Alfred's ghost haunting the Old
linster, so that the canons of the church were so much
•ightened that they had no peace, is another Winchester
;gend. They begged his son, King Edward, to remove
is body to the New Minster, which was done, and after-
rards the canons and their successors had peace until they
rere driven out by Bishop Athelwold.

Some curious old legendary tales hang about Wherwell.
'here is the story of Queen Elfrida's remorse, how she was
Drmented by evil spirits, and imagined there was a
lonstrous fiend ever on the watch to drag her down to
Drment, especially in the night, when she felt his grasp,
'he establishment of this abbey shows that the remorse
ut of which the legend grew was real enough. A super-
tition prevails at Wherwell against eating ducks' eggs, and

10

146 History of Hampshire.

has arisen through the ancient story of a duck which laid
an egg in a vault beneath the abbey. On this egg a toad
sat, and as a result a cockatrice was hatched, which dwelt
in the vault, attained a great size, and killed everything
that went there. At last the happy thought occurred of
letting a strong mirror down into the vault, a man holding
it. This was a new experience to the cockatrice, for he
saw his own image, and fought the image furiously, until
he was nearly dead, on which the man went down into the
vault and despatched him. As a consequence of all this,
ducks' eggs are not usually eaten. In 1858, old people
were living in the village who remembered seeing a door in
a house there with a cockatrice painted in gilt on it to com-
memorate this legend. At Wherwell, also, a story says
that corpse lights may be seen in the churchyard, over the
wall of which, in the abbey grounds, was the burial-place
of the nuns.

A survival of an old custom which prevailed there is
that of the Easter cakes, which are still made in the
village, and bear a mark resembling that of some old seal
or stamp of the abbey.

At Quarr there is a legend of Queen Eleanor, the wife of
Henry II., whom her husband kept a prisoner for so many
years. Part of this time she undoubtedly spent in Hamp-
shire, for the sheriffs accounts contain entries of payments
made on her account, and therefore she may have spent
part of her captivity at Quarr. South of the site of th(
abbey is a wood known as Eleanor's Grove, which th<
Ordnance Survey officials, who are not folk-lorists, have
named Alender's Grove on the six-inch map. Here, th<
tradition says, Queen Eleanor, while living in the abbey ,
used to take her walks, which may have been so ; but th<
legend also says that after her death she was buried there
in a golden coffin, which successive generations of peasants
have thought it would be a good thing to find, but which
some magical spell has hitherto prevented from being
discovered.

CHAPTER XIV.

MANORS AND HUNDREDS.

FHE conditions of rural life in Hampshire during the
Vliddle Ages, and the circumstances connected with it,
brm one of the most interesting subjects concerning the
listory of the county.

Old English rural institutions had their origin in Anglo-
Saxon time. It was then that manors were first formed.
The organization of country life during the earlier centuries
D£ our history was not parochial, but manorial. There
must, however, have been a time in Hampshire, as well as
n other parts of England, when agricultural communities
existed without lords of manors. The township and the
:ithing were the units of country organization and govern-
ment in early Anglo-Saxon time. We read of elected
tithingmen and reeves of townships before we hear of
lords of manors. We also hear of the election of a lord by
an agricultural community close to the Hampshire border,
for in his will King Alfred commanded that the community
of Damerham should have their privileges restored, possibly
landed ones, and be allowed to choose for their lord
whom they would. At Pamber the tenants assembled in
their annual court appear for many centuries to have
elected their own lord of the manor, and he had, in virtue
of his office, a right to all the stray cattle and the privilege
of hunting in the forest as far as Windsor.

Long before the time of the Norman Conquest the

10— 2

148

History of Hampshire.

manorial system was in full operation, and those manor
courts which succeeded the township moots were accus-
tomed to meet, as they have met since, year after year, on
many Hampshire manors from that time until our own
day. On many old Hampshire manors no courts are now
held, and when all the copyhold land has become enfran-
chised, the manors will only be recognised by the ancient
special privileges which belonged exclusively to their lords,
and which their successors have maintained.

The manors varied greatly in size. Some of them, such
as Andover, Basingstoke, Odiham, Micheldever, and East
Meon, were of great extent ; others were small, and in
some instances so small as to be represented in modern
times by only one farm.

The history of the smaller towns and large villages of
Hampshire is the history of the growth of the population
on these manors. The royal manors of Andover, Basing-
stoke, Odiham, Broughton, Ringwood, and Elmg, were
some of the most extensive, and the episcopal or monastic
manors of Alresford, Micheldever, Fareham, Havant, and
East Meon were also of great extent. Some of these
large manors acquired the right of holding markets and
fairs at an early period, and so they gradually became the
centres to which people went to sell their corn and live
stock, and to buy such other commodities as were on sale.
These commodities were commonly brought to the fain
and markets by the chapmen, or travelling merchants.
Until about the thirteenth century permanent shops wei
few in number in the present market towns, and in th(
villages they did not exist.

It was not until the beginning of the present centui
that such a large village as West Meon had any shops. *

The privilege of opening shops in any place was
market privilege, and if no authority existed for th<
market no shops could be opened. In the time ol

* Thorold Rogers, ' Six Centuries of Work and Wages/ vol. i.
p. 147.

Manors and Hundreds. 149

Henry III. the men of Basingstoke made a complaint
against the Abbess of Wherwell, that her tenants did not
frequent the market of Basingstoke, and this because a
market had been started at Wherwell. Later on, the
abbess established her right to do this, for in 51 Henry III.
the king granted her a charter for a market, and the little
village shops we now see at Wherwell were then first
placed on a legal basis.

During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the privi-
lege of holding a market or an annual fair in villages and
towns was much sought after, and about this time charters
were granted by the kings to the lords of the manors of
many places in Hampshire to hold fairs, and in some
instances both fairs and markets.

The fairs which are still held, or were at the beginning of
this century, at Southwick, Emsworth, Barton Stacey,
Kingsclere, Romsey, Wickham, Selborne, Overton, Whit-
church, Petersfield, Hambledon, Lymington, Botley, Christ-
church, were all granted to these places by Henry III.
Those markets which were held at Neatham, near Alton,
at Titchfield, and at Basingstoke, are the earliest recorded
markets in Hampshire, and were in existence at the time
of the Domesday Survey. Edward II. granted the privi-
lege of holding a fair at Alton to Edmund of Wood-
stock, who then held the manor. The same king
also granted William de Montagu, Earl of Salisbury, the
privilege of holding a fair at Ringwood. When the lord of
any manor was an influential man in the service of the
crown, he generally managed to secure some privileges for
his manors. A fair, which has long since passed into
oblivion, was granted under these circumstances to William
Briwere, to be held on his manor of King's Somborne at a
place called Strete, the very name of which is now for-
gotten. This place was situated on the Roman road near
the ford over the Test, and this fair was an attempt to
establish an annual mart at a convenient place where local
roads crossed the old Roman way.

1 50 History of Hampshire.

The local fairs must have been a great convenience to
the country people of Hampshire, and also where held
a source of profit. The desire to possess these privileges
is an evidence of the desire for trading facilities, as well as
for increased opportunities of disposing of local produce.
The village fair must have been a great event. To it came
the travelling merchants to sell their wares with their
caravans, and the wandering traders whom we see
frequenting fairs at the present day are the surviving and
decayed representatives of these medieval merchants. To
the fairs also came the mountebanks, the ballad-singers,
and the wandering minstrels, to afford amusement to the
dull routine of life. Some of the larger fairs also attracted
occasionally the wandering companies who acted the
miracle plays, or representations of religious mysteries.

During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries fairs were
not uncommonly held in churchyards, a custom which led
to such serious abuses that it was prohibited by an order
drawn up at Winchester in 1285 in these words : ' And the
king commandeth and forbiddeth that from henceforth
neither fairs nor markets be kept in churchyards.'*

The fairs at Wherwell and Leckford were granted to
the abbeys of Wherwell and St. Mary's Winton by Kin^
John. The same king also granted to the Bishop of
Winchester a market to be held at Alresford. The fail-
formerly held at Dogmersfield was granted by Edward I.
to the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who then held that
manor. Edward I. also granted charters for fairs to be
held at Thruxton, Boarhunt, and Brading.

Edward III. granted both a market and a fair to the
treasurer of the church of York to be held at Mottisfont
that interesting manor which belonged to the archbishop
of the northern province. The fairs and market privileges
at Milton and Hamble were also granted by the same
king.

Henry VI. granted or confirmed the right of the Abbot
* Stubb's ' Select Charters/

Manors and Hundreds. 151

>f Titchfield to hold a fair at Titchfield, and of the Bishop
>f Winchester for a market and fair at Havant.

Beaulieu Fair was granted or confirmed by Edward IV.,
,nd the site of the market there is still called Cheapside.

As late as the time of Henry VII. an attempt was made
>y the Abbess of Amesbury to establish a fair on Dane-
jury Hill, this being in her manor of Nether Wallop. She
>btained from the king a patent authorizing a three days'
air there on July 25, 26, and 27, a very convenient time
if the year for an annual encampment on the hill ; but
.pparently it did not succeed.

When country people went to the fairs in Hampshire,
hey appear to have usually indulged in a few luxuries,
teer was no doubt to be had there, and they probably
Irank enough of it ; but there was also a demand for
;ingerbread, and perhaps this is an evidence that their
/ives and daughters went to the fairs in ancient days, as
hey are accustomed to do at the present time. Such
ingerbread as was to be had at these old fairs, and which
5 still made specially for them in some places, could not
>e had every day.

Fairs and markets were not uncommonly held during
he Middle Ages on Sundays, and, notwithstanding the
>rder of Henry III., some of them continued to be held
n churchyards, the tolls no doubt being given to the
hurch. By statute 27 Hen. VI., c. 5, it was consequently
nacted that no fair or market be kept on Sunday or in
hurchyards, and after that time the custom appears to have
»een discontinued.

As late as the time of Elizabeth such a considerable
>lace as Bishop's Waltham had no market, for in that
eign an inquiry was held to ascertain what harm, if any,
/ould be caused by the establishment of market privileges
here.*

Until about the middle of the fourteenth century, the
>ld system of co-operative farming between all the tenants
* Inq. a. q. d. ; Cal. Inq. p. m. 44 Eliz

152 History of Hampshire.

on manors commonly prevailed, and the land continued
to be ploughed, sowed, and reaped in the main according
to the system which had come down from Saxon time.

The lord held the demesne land, which was usually that
around his house, or the manor farm, and the under-tenants
farmed the rest in common. The ploughing was usually
done by teams of oxen, which were made up of animals
kept by different owners.

The work the tenants had to perform for the lord was
regulated by the custom of the manor. This varied con-
siderably, and consisted not merely in ploughing, sowing
and harvesting, but in conveying the manure from the lord's
homestead, often in fencing his park, and repairing these
fences, and many other services.

Long after the common arable land had been apportioned
among the copyhold farmers who were the successors of
the villeins, many old customs survived. These small
copyholds usually consisted of a carucate or yardland of
about 30 acres, and many small homesteads with farms of
about this area still exist, or did until quite recently, in this
county. They are the yardlands which on the break up
of the earlier system of agriculture were allotted to the
original copyholders. Much of this land continued to be
subject to common grazing right after harvest, the tenants
of the manor all having the right of turning their live stock
after ' sickle and scythe ' on to each other's land, a custom
which was only finally extinguished when the enclosure of
the common lands took place.

The early system of agriculture has left its traces in
Hampshire. On some of the hill sides we may still see the
lines of the old terrace lands which were formerly culti-
vated in strips. At Shawford, Easton, Lower Woodcot,
Vernham's Dean, Faccombe, Linkenholt, St. Mary Bourne,
and other places, the lines of these old plough-lands remain,
and many field names elsewhere, such as South Linch,
Hursley, the Linches at Overton, Linch Hill near Alton,
Linch Row, Bishop's Sutton, Linchetts, King's Somborne

Manors and Hundreds. 153

and Linch Hill, Whitchurch, mark the sites where the old
linches or headlands of the common ploughed fields ran.

In some places, such as Chilcomb, Worthy Down,
Linkenholt, and Woodcot Down, we may see the old
rectangular acre plots separated by wide banks, which were
also cultivated in common by the tenants of the manor.

Some early references exist to this early system of
agriculture in Hampshire, the most remarkable of which
is that in Domesday Book relating to the manor of Wallop
held by the king. It is there stated that one hide of land
belonged to the church, also half the tithes of the manor,
46d. for the villeins' tithes and half the lands, i.e., half the
acres cultivated in common, which constituted the villeins'
lands as distinct from that of the lord.

The services on the manors which the tenants had to
perform for the lords, whether these tenants were villeins
who had small farm homesteads and owned a pair or more
of oxen, or were labourers who lived in huts or small
cottages, were gradually commuted for quit rents, and in
this way copyholders arose. Many an old Hampshire
cottage, with its thatched roof and garden plot, still pays a
small annual quit-rent to the lord of the manor ia lieu
of the ancient services which far back in the Middle Ages
the occupant of that cottage site had to give to the lord.
The cottager had, however, certain privileges. After
harvest his cow or pigs were free to roam over the stubble
land. He and his family had manorial rights, and I cannot
doubt that that of gleaning the fields after the harvest
wains was one of these rights which had become established
by immemorial custom, but which only survives now by
the favour of the modern farmer.

The inferior tenants all worked for their lords in return
for their common land, and the lords held their manors of
the king or of some other great landlord by a variety of
tenures. Some of these were of a very interesting kind.

In Hampshire there was less land held by feudal tenure
than was the case in many other counties. Consequently

154 History of Hampshire.

there were many estates held by other services, such as
sergeantries of various kinds. There were grand ser-
geantries and petit sergeantries. One of these grand
sergeantries was that of aiding in the defence of the castles
situated in this county, or near its borders. Thus the
manors of Cosham, Wanstead, Boarhunt, and Pury were
held by the service of guarding Porchester Castle. The
manors of West Tytherley, Rownor, Avon Tyrell, and
Stapley were held by service in the defence of Winchester
Castle. The manors of Milton, East and West Ashley,
and Bayllokefee were held by the service of defending
Christchurch Castle. Rotherwick, in the north of the
county, was held by service in the defence of Windsor
Castle, and Polling Manor was held by a like service at
Odihatn Castle.

The manor of Woodcote was held for many centuries by
the service of keeping Winchester Gaol.

Some of the land at Eling was held in the thirteenth
century by the heirs of Cobbe, the smith of the crown, by
the annual payment of fifty arrows. At North Stoneham,
a tenant named Roger de Mill held a hide of land of the
abbey of Hyde by the service of paying the abbot one
pound of cummin annually in quit of all demands. At
Totton, Roger de Bestesthorn held his land by the service
of providing a litter for the king's bed, and hay for his
palfrey, when he should sleep at Ives, a place near Fording-
bridge. A large manor in Eling was held by the ser-
vice of carrying the writs sent to the Isle of Wight,
and the hundreds of Christchurch, Ringwood and Fording-
bridge.

At Warnford, land worth loos, was held by the service
of providing a sparrow-hawk * to be paid to our lord the
king yearly, on the feast of St. Michael, at the Exchequer.'

The crown manors of Basingstoke, Kingsclere, and
Hurstbourn Tarrant were linked together in an ancient
obligation of providing annually, between them, an enter-
tainment for the king for one day. This appears to have

Manors and Hundreds. 155

been a Saxon customary payment, and is mentioned in
Domesday Book. The manors of Barton Stacey and
Eling were held by similar tenures in the time of Edward
the Confessor, the obligation being, in each case, that of
providing entertainment for the king for half a day. A
money payment, or provisions to a fixed amount, was prob-
ably made on account of these obligations. The manor of
Bury, in the parish of Eling, was anciently held by the
service of presenting a brace of white greyhounds, in silver
couples, when the king came to the New Forest.

The manor of Sherfieid on Loddon was held, in the time
of Edward I., by the curious service of rinding a sergeant,
whose duties it was to look after the laundresses, or female
camp-followers of the king's army. Apparently it was
:hought that this duty was not sufficiently onerous, for in
:he time of Edward II. the holder of this manor had also
:o perform other duties, viz., those of dismembering con-
demned malefactors, and that of measuring the gallons and
Dushels in the king's household. The manor of Liddesulde
»vas held by the sergeantry of keeping the king's larder.
Fhe manor of Fede was held, in the time of King John, by
:he service of weighing the king's money at the Exchequer.
East Worldham was held by the sergeantry of bearing a
narshal's wand before the king. A manor known as
3omelessend was held, in the thirteenth century, by the
ervice of hunting the wolf with the king's dogs. East-
eigh and Hythe were both held by the sergeantry of being
:hamberlain to the King's Exchequer.

The manors often reverted to the crown, and were then
ometimes granted to other tenants in chief on different
»bligations, as appears to have been the case at Sherfieid
>n Loddon. Some Hampshire manors were held by an
.ncient warlike obligation of finding, free of cost for forty
lays, a man at arms of some kind for service in the king's
rmy — if retained beyond this time he would have to be
>aid by the king. Thus, West Tytherley was held by the
ergeantry of finding one esquire for forty days with a coat

156 History of Hampshire.

of mail, an iron helmet and a lance. Woolston was held by
the service of finding an archer, armed and furnished, to
serve the king for forty days in England, and part of the
land at Bentley was held by a similar service. Steventon
was held of the king by the service of finding a man-at-
arms and his horse, for forty days' service in Wales.

On the Hampshire manors which were held by knight's
service there must have been a greater military training
constantly going on, than on those whose lords had to pro-
vide only for chamberlain service, duties at the Exchequer,
or duties in the king's household. The lords who held by
knight-service were liable to be called on by writ to send
their service into the field at any time. Thus, after the
Norman Conquest, the abbey of Hyde, held the great
manor of Micheldever, not on the easy terms by which
King Edward the Elder had granted it, but by the feudal
tenure of three knights' fees. This feudal obligation was
laid on the manor by the Conqueror, after hearing of the
mailed monks of this abbey, who fought against him and
died at Hastings. The abbot had consequently to have
his knights and men-at-arms ready, and in the reign of
Edward II. alone, he received at different times no less
than eleven writs ordering him to send his service to
Carlisle, Newcastle, York, Tweedmouth, or Berwick-on-
Tweed, for war against the Scots ; or to Coventry, for war
against the Earl of Lancaster ; or to Portsmouth, for
service in Gascony.* Alton was also held by the service of
three knights, and as often as wars occurred, there must
have been the usual preparation for despatching these
warriors from that town.

Most of the manors which formed part of the barony of
Basing were held of the lords of Basing by knight-service.
These lords were the De Ports, and their successors, the St.
Johns. The manors are too numerous to mention in detail,
but some of the most important were Basing, Sherborne,

* Palgrave, ' Parl. Writs,' vol. ii., div. iii.

Manors and Hundreds. 157

Portsea, Botley, Church Oakley, West Tisled, Corhampton,
Warnford, Bramley, Upton, Wickham, and Ellisfield.*

The manor courts were not merely meetings of the
manorial tenants for the benefit of their lords, but the legal
issemblies by which disputes between the tenants were
settled, and where any other disputes were also settled by
ascertaining the custom of the manor. The lord could not,
in his dealings with the tenants, go beyond the local
:ustoms, which had come down from time immemorial, and
what these customs really were was declared by the voice
of the court, of which all the manorial tenants were suitors.
They were also the jury which gave the decisions, and in
a manor court any number of suitors present could form
the jury. In this way the weak must often have been pro-
tected against the strong.

Many places in Hampshire had the right of holding a
court-leet in addition to the manor court. This privilege
was highly valued by the lords of manors. It relieved
them from certain obligations in connection with the
hundred-courts held by the sheriff of the county or his
deputy. A manor which had a court-leet could make its
own arrangements for the assize of bread and ale, appoint
its own ale-taster, and the lord of such a manor usually had
also the right of free gallows. So many gibbets existed in
various parts of Hampshire at one time, that malefactors
could not travel many miles without coming across one or
more of these reminders of the majesty of the law, from which
the whitened bones of some criminal were perhaps hanging.

During the troubled reign of Henry III., certain
encroachments on the royal prerogative occurred in the
matter of holding courts and other privileges. The ancient
Saxon institution of the view of frankpledge had been
held twice a year in each hundred from time immemorial,
but where a manor possessed a court-leet, this view of
frankpledge was held by the lord on his own estate. The
tenants of those manors which had not this franchise had

* Inq. p. m. 21 Edw. III.

158 History of Hampshire.

to make suit at the hundred-court. Early in the reign of
Edward I., a full inquiry into these ancient rights was held
in Hampshire, and many lords who claimed the right of
free gallows, assize of bread and ale, or exemption of their
villeins from making suit at the hundred-courts, had to
show on what authority these claims rested. The crown
was represented in this inquisition by a very able man,
probably one of the early sergeants-at-law, named William
de Geselyngham.* Alan Plunkenet, the lord of Eling
Manor, had even his right to hold that manor questioned.
Master John of Leckford had to show by what warrant he
claimed exemption for his villeins from making suit at the
hundred-court of Somborne. Similarly the Abbot of
Netley had to show his warrant excusing his tenants from
making suit at the hundred-court of Mansbridge. The
Abbot of Titchfield had to show by what charter he
claimed the right of free gallows at Walesworth, and Hugh
de Vere by what warrant he claimed the power of hanging
criminals at Thornhill. The Abbot of Hyde, who had
exercised the privileges of free gallows and assize of bread
and ale at Alton, had to prove his claim to the same. In
some cases the respondents made a good fight for their
privileges, but found William de Geselyngham too clever
for them. Thus, William de Valence, Earl of Pembroke,
and a relative of the king, was required to show why his
villeins at Hook and Strete did not make suit at the
hundred-courts of Titchfield and Redbridge. He pleaded
exemption in virtue of the grant of the manors of Newton
and Hawkley, these manors of Hook and Strete being
' membrum,' or subordinate manors. William de Gese-
lyngham thereupon showed that on October 22, in the
thirty-sixth year of Henry III, the tenants did make suit,
and demanded inquiry, and the record informs us that after
that William de Valence did not appear, and judgment
went against him by default.

At the time of the Great Survey, in 1086, Hampshire
* Placito quo warranto.

Manors and Hundreds. 159

was divided into forty-three hundreds, and the Isle of
Wight into three. By the middle of the fourteenth
century these had become somewhat rearranged and
reduced in number, for in 1334 the number of hundreds on
the mainland was thirty-seven, in addition to the liberties,
and in the Isle of Wight two.

The hundreds were in some instances held by important
persons or corporate bodies like the manors, and such
lords of hundreds held the hundred-courts, these being
removed from the sheriff's jurisdiction. To be lord of a
hundred was a territorial distinction greater than that of
being lord of a manor. In the ninth year of Edward II.
the king held the hundreds of Holeshute and Chutely,
Bermellesputte, Selborne, the New Forest, Redbridge,
Mansbridge, Bosberg, Portsdown, Bountesberg, Meon-
stoke, Titchfield, Pacchestrowe, and Thorngate. The
bishop held the hundreds of Sutton, East Meon, Over-
ton, Waltham, and Fareham. Queen Margaret held those
of Andover, Odiham, Alton, Ringwcod, and Christchurch,
and the liberty of Porchester. The Prior of St. Swithun
held the hundreds of Crondall, Fawley, Evingar, and
Buttlesgate. The Abbot of Hyde held the hundred of
Micheldever. The Earl of Arundel held that of Finch-
dean, the Earl of Gloucester held the liberty or burgh of
Petersfield, the Earl of Chester held the hundreds of East
and West Medina in the Isle of Wight, Henry of Lancaster
held that of King's Somborne, Hugh le Despenser held the
hundred of Barton, and the Lady Mary, sister of the king,
held the liberty of Freshwater.

In addition, there was at that time one other hundred,
that of Forde, now Fordingbridge, which was held by
William Tracy, and it is interesting to note that his heirs
or assigns have continued to hold the title of lord of the
hundred of Fordingbridge from that time to the present
day. The hundreds, like the borough towns, were amerced
for murders and other serious crimes, and as the fines were
Levied on all the tenants living within them, it was to every

160 History of Hampshire.

man's interest to prevent crime and to catch criminals.
Thus, in the fifth year of King Stephen the hundred of
Fawley was amerced in twenty marks for a murder, and
the sheriff of the county levied it and paid it into the
exchequer. About the same time the hundred of Clere
was also amerced for a murder.* By the statute of
Winchester in 1285, the people of each hundred were
obliged to make hue and cry after felons, and if any person,
seeing a felon, did not raise the hue and cry, and if others
did not join in it, they were liable. It was not sufficient to
allow the criminal to depart to another hundred. The hue
and cry had to be raised, a chase made, and continued from
hundred to hundred until the culprit was caught. Many an
exciting chase, with many a cry of * Stop thief !' or perhaps
of * Murder !' must have taken place across the county in
those days. It was no doubt inconvenient to people when
they heard the hue and cry to have to leave their work and
join in the chase, but this old plan for catching criminals
was probably as effective as our modern one of leaving this
duty to the rural police.

Some curious examples of the survival of the primitive
method of trial by wager of battle occur in the medieval
history of Hampshire. In 1246, a dispute concerning some
property at Wey Hill was settled by wager of battle.
About the same time, also, another case occurred. Two
thievesf stole some clothes in the market at Winchester, and
could not agree on their shares. William Blowberne, one
of them, thereupon turned informer, and charged Hamon le
Stare with theft. Le Stare claimed wager of battle, which
ended in a victory for Blowberne, whereupon the unfortunate
le Stare, probably already half dead, was immediately
hanged on the gallows. The last approvers' or informers'
duel on record occurred in this county in 1456, between one
Fisher, who was falsely charged by a thief named Whitthorn,
imprisoned at Winchester. Having some knowledge of the
ancient law, he may have invented the charge in order to
* Maddox, < Hist. Exchequer.' .f Ibid.

Manors and Hundreds. 161

;et out of gaol. In the duel which took place, however,
?isher defeated the informer, after which he was at once
tanged.

Constables of hundreds were first appointed by the
Statute of Winchester in 1285, and of these officials a few
till survive in Hampshire. In other instances they have
:eased to be chosen within the last few years. Thus, until
878, a high constable of Fordingbridge Hundred was
innually chosen at the hundred court. One of the former
luties of this official was to set the watch each night on the
>ridge at Fordingbridge during the fence month in the New
7orest, and to charge the watchman to do his duty accord-
ng to ancient custom. Constables for the hundreds have
>een chosen within recent years at Wherwell, Kingsclere,
Barton Stacey, and East Meon.

These were the high officials of the hundred, and as time
vent on constables of the tithings and parishes were also
elected, and these were usually the tithingmen. These
officials had charge of the village stocks, which apparently
existed at first only where criminal jurisdiction existed
ander a bailiff and court leet, but later on stocks became
more numerous. In 1376 the Commons prayed the king
:hat stocks might be established in every village. In
:his county they still exist at Odiham and Brading.

The ancient system of local administration both of the
lundreds and of the manors is now in a state of extreme
decay, and must shortly entirely pass away. Some of the
:ourts have been kept alive only by an annual feast. The
igricultural depression has extinguished one or more to
which the suitors have come for the last time. They were
sworn on the jury, addressed by the steward, considered
what they had to do, and found nothing. They thereupon
made their presentment, and waited for the well-known
sounds of the dining arrangements. Since the last court
meeting a change had, however, occurred, and one who
;ared nothing about ancient courts had come, and with him
harder agricultural times. The suitors waited and waited,

II

162

History of Hampshire.

and when at last they realized the sad truth that no dinner
was to be had, they resolved before they separated that
never again should that court be held, and they have kept
their resolution. Thus ingloriously has perished one, if not
more, of the ancient courts of Hampshire, which had met
annually for perhaps a thousand years, and which, under
the ancient conditions of rural life, had no doubt often
safeguarded the rights of the inferior tenants.

CHAPTER XV.

REMAINS AND LEGENDS OF THE MIDDLE AGES.

AFTER the loss of Normandy, and the confiscation of the
tand which had been held by Normans, a number of
Hampshire manors changed their owners. Subsequently,
ivhen French-speaking lords who resided abroad ceased,
ind an increase in the number of lords of manors residing
3n their estates occurred, country life in Hampshire began
:o assume that condition which it presented during the
:ime of the later Plantagenet kings. A few churches in the
:ounty contain monuments of their patrons and lords,
dating as far back as the twelfth or early part of the
:hirteenth centuries. The churches on the manors which
Delonged to the monastic houses have, of course, no early
monuments. Such manors had no resident lords, and in
these we usually find no memorials, other than ecclesias-
tical, earlier than the sixteenth century.

A few parishes which are still designated by personal
lames attached to the old Saxon place names, such as
Strathfieldsaye, Sutton Scotney, Weston Patrick, Stoke
Charity, Shipton Bellinger, Sherfield English, Penton
Mewsey, Sherborne St. John, Newton Valence, Hartley
Maudit, Hartley Wespall, have derived their second names
from their ancient Norman or early English lords, and a
few manors which are not separate parishes, such as
Compton Monceaux, Hinton Daubeney, Barton Peverel,
Avon Tyrell, and Binstead St. Clare, have also derived

II — 2

164

History of Hampshire.

their ancient personal names from their owners. The old
manorial names have in some instances been superseded by
others of more recent date. Thus, Sherborne Coudray is
now known as The Vyne.

Some of the chief families connected with Hampshire
places in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were those
of Monceaux at Compton Monceaux, de la Charite,
Wyndesore, and Hampton at Stoke Charity, Waleraund, at
West Tytherley, Broughton, and Eling, Escotney at Sutton
Scotney, de Pontearche at Newton, Coudray at Sherborne,
de Sacy at Barton Stacey, Gurdon at Selborne and Tisted,
Peverel at Barton Peverel, Maudit at Hartley Maudit, de
Cadurcis at Weston Patrick and King's Somborne, de
Venuz at East Worldham, de Roches at Steventon, de
Brayboef at Cranborne and West Stratton, de Neville at
Vernham, Sturmy at Polling, Liss Sturmy, and Elvetham,
Meoles at Moyles Court, Elingham, and Upper Wallop,
Punchardon at Faccombe, Mortimer at Martyr Worthy,
Plukenet at Tangley and Eling, le Brune at Fording-
bridge, Daubeney at Hinton Daubeney, le Despenser at
Ashley, Bisset at Rockbourne, Grimstede at Brockenhurst,
Paynell at Oakhanger, de Bardolf at Greatham, de
Warblington at Sherfield on Loddon and Warblington, de
Albiniaco at Hinton and Hale, de Buckesgate at West
Tytherley and North Ashley, St. Clare at Binstead St.
Clare, Stures at Wickham, de Borhunt at Boarhunt, d<
Welles at Welles near Romsey, le Straung at Chalton, an<
de Weston at Middleton.

The rise of middle class landholders in Hampshire durinj
the latter part of the thirteenth and during the fourteenl
centuries, is seen in such instances as those of Pet<
Mathewson, who held land at Warblington, Middleton, an<
East Meon in the time of Henry III., of John Johnson,
who held Sopley manor early in the reign of Edward I.
and of Richard Johnson, who held Lasham manor. The
Johnson family appears to have prospered in Hampshii
Matthew Johnson held lands or manors at Hunton an<

Remains and Legends of the Middle Ages. 165

Warblington, and Herbert Johnson at Wolferton. Richard
Richardson held land and rents at Amport, and Wallop,
and others whose names show that they were known in
this age when surnames greatly increased simply as the sons
of their fathers, which name thus became their surname,
held land elsewhere. The rise of copyhold farms, and the
manner in which a number of these farms in some instances
became held by one man who was probably not himself of
the villein class, is shown by the estate of Richard de
Porteseye, who in the time of Edward II. held a messuage
and a carucate of land at Portsea and Copnore, also
a messuage and a carucate of land at Stanbridge, a
messuage and a carucate at North Houghton, a messuage
and a carucate at Wanstead, etc. A considerable estate
of copyhold land was thus held by Richard, who of course
had to make suit of court on the proper manors, and pay
the quit rents and other customary dues.

Many large estates in Hampshire were held under the
obligation of making suit at the king's hundred courts.
Thus the holder of Stapeley manor had to appear at
Odiham hundred court, the lord of West Worldham
manor at Alton hundred court, the lord of Sherfield on
Loddon at Odiham, and the lord of the manor of Enham
had to make suit at Chute. Similarly several lords of
manors near Basingstoke had to make suit at the hundred
court in that town, and of course in all these instances the
usual fees had to be paid.

The rise of a family of the merchant class is well seen in
the case of that of Devenissche of Winchester.

In the time of Edward I. John le Devenissche came to
the front at Winchester, when with other citizens he
obstructed the bishop's officers in taking the profits of St.
Giles' fair. He was a wealthy citizen and founded the
hospital of St. John the Baptist in Winton. Early in the
reign of Edward I. we find that one of the same name,
probably his son, held houses and land in trust for the
master and brethren of the hospital, and later in the century,

1 66 History of Hampshire.

we find Nicholas Devenisshe of Winton among the landed
gentry of the county, and holding the manors of Westbury,
Emsworth, Greatham, and Sutton Scotney.

Almost every place in Hampshire has some medieval
associations more or less peculiar to itself, which connect
it with the history of the county, or with some of those who
have played a distinguished part in it. Of such associa-
tions a few examples may be given.

Andover was a place of note as early as the time of the
West Saxon kings, who had a residence there. Near that
town were held the early councils of Grately and Enham,
and one was held in the town itself by Edgar. It was the
place also where the Conqueror established a priory, and
whose burgesses grew into importance and acquired
valuable privileges. There for many centuries was held
the hundred court, at which the tithing men of the district
around had to do suit. Its merchants had a guild, and it
was the trading centre for the north-west of the county.
Its market and fairs were held from time immemorial, like
those of Basingstoke, and were part of its privileges as a
royal manor. It has its legends, one of which is that of
the great thunderstorm on Christmas Eve, 1171, when a
priest was struck dead while saying mass, and his fellows
escaped unhurt, but saw the strange sight of a beast in
shape like a pig running about round their feet.

The villages near Andover have their real and legendary
history. West of the town was fought the great battle
between Edmund and Cnut, and in the folk-lore of the
district Cnut's barrow lying about midway between the
great camps of Danebury and Quarley, four miles distant
from each other, marks the line of a subterranean way
between these great fortresses. Quarley was a royal
manor held by Harold, subsequently by the Conqueror,
and later on by the Norman abbey of Bee. In the time of
Henry VI. it belonged to John, Duke of Bedford, but in
1442 it was given to the Hospital of St. Katherine by the

Remains and Legends of the Middle Ages. 167

Fewer of London, to which it has belonged until the
^resent year.

The neighbouring parish of Thruxton was held at the
:ime of the Great Survey by Gozelin de Cormelies, and the
ibbey of Cormelies held the church. This still contains a
lecayed wooden effigy of a mailed knight of about the
welfth century, one of the earliest in the county, and a
rery fine monument of early fifteenth century date of Sir
[ohn Lisle, who held the manor about that time.

The next parish — Amport — has derived its name from
:he de Port family, and was the Anne de Port mentioned,
n Domesday Book. Abbots Anne, another manor in the
>ame valley, was held by the abbey of Hyde, and a curious
nedieval custom has survived there until the present day.
When any unmarried girl of the parish dies, other girls
iressed in white carry a garland or virgin crown before her
;o the burial, and these emblems, now commonly made of
coloured paper, are afterwards hung up in the church,
vhich contains many of them. The next parish — Up-
"latford — has its early associations with Adelina the
ninstrel, the fair singer of the eleventh century, who capti-
vated Roger, Earl of Arundel and Shrewsbury, for he gave
ler a virgate of land on this manor. Across the downs to
;he south-west is Over Wallop, which was held in Saxon
:ime of Earl Godwin by the Countess Godiva, wife of
Leofric, Earl of Mercia. She was the lady of the Coventry
egend, who saved the people of that city from her
lusband's vengeance by her nude performance on horse-
back. The next parish down this valley is Nether Wallop,
vhich belonged to the abbey of Amesbury, a sister house to
Wherwell, founded by Queen Elfrida, and which, like it, had
nany royal and noble inmates. On the other side of Andover
s Enham, part of which was held by the knights of St.
[ohn, and Penton, now called Wey Hill, held by the abbey
)f Greistain, and later on by the family of Chaucer the poet,
vhose grand-daughter gave it to the hospital at Ewelme.
\ little further off is Hurstbourn Tarrant, owned by the

1 68 History of Hampshire.

Abbess of Tarrant, who had privileges in the forest of
Chute around it. In the extreme north-west of Hamp-
shire is Combe, which belonged to the abbey of Bee, and
where medieval criminals could be hanged on a higher
gallows than elsewhere in Hampshire — that on Inkpen
Beacon, 970 feet high, on the county border. South-east
from Hurstbourn Tarrant is St. Mary Bourne, connected
with the d'Andeli family, one of whom was a Crusader, and
is believed to be represented by a cross-legged effigy still
remaining in the church. Southward is Hurstbourn Priors,
which belonged to St. Swithun's priory.

Lower down the valley of the Test are the manors which
formed part of the possessions of the abbey of Wherwell.
Across the river is Chilbolton, which belonged to the
priory of St. Swithun at a very early period, having been
granted by ^Ethelstan in commemoration of an important
Hampshire event, according to one of its early legends.
A Danish giant named Colbrand troubled the city of
Winchester, but was challenged by the renowned knight,
Guy of Warwick. They fought in a meadow outside the
walls, on which the citizens stood eagerly watching the
combat. Guy prevailed ; Chilbolton was given to the
priory, and the meadow is called Danemead unto this day.
A few miles eastward of Chilbolton is the large village of
Sutton Scotney, now part of the parish of Wonston, but
which had a church of its own, and was quite distinct from
it at the time of the Domesday Survey. It has obtained
its present name of Scotney from the family of de Scoteney,
which held the manor in the thirteenth century. It is
singular that the name of this family, stained with a foul
crime six hundred years ago, should have clung to this
manor. About the forty-second year of Henry III.
Richard de Clare Earl of Gloucester, who was connected
with Hampshire as the Lord of Petersfield and Maple-
durham, and his relative, had poison given to them, from
which the earl barely escaped with his life, his hair, nails,
and skin coming off, and his relative died. This poison was

Remains and Legends of the Middle Ages. 169

administered to him by Walter de Scoteney, who was one
of his knights. Dugdale* calls him the chief counsellor of
the earl. It was believed that he did this for a great sum
of money given him by William de Valence, whose name
has also come down to us at Newton Valence. Shortly
afterwards, de Scoteney was put on his trial, and being
found guilty, he was drawn through the city of Winchester
and there hanged. A few miles further east is Stoke
Charity, a manor which William the Conqueror took away
from the abbey of Hyde and gave to one of his Norman
followers. Early in the thirteenth century it was held by
William de Feritate as part of his Norman barony, and
later in that century by Henry de la Charite*, the only
lord of that name, whose name has since clung to it.

The place of greatest importance in the north of Hamp-
shire during the middle ages was Basingstoke. At the
time of the Great Survey its inhabitants already possessed
some important privileges, among which was its market.
It was the meeting-place for the hundred, and had a moot
place, or hall, in a part of the town known in medieval
time as Mote Street, but now as Wote Street. It became
in time the governing centre for six hundreds, and lords
of neighbouring manors had to make suit at its courts.
Originally a royal manor administered by the king's
bailiff, it acquired in the course of time municipal institu-
tions, and became practically a self-governing community,
possessed of more than ordinary authority over the
surrounding hundreds. Its church appears to have been
given by the Conqueror to the Norman abbey on ' St.
Michael's mount in peril of the sea,' the rocky isle near
Avranches, which possessed here a hide of land and the
tithes of the manor.

Close by is Basing, where the de Ports and the St.
Johns had their castle within the earthwork of an old

* Dugdale, Baronage, I., 212 and 676; and Rudder, 'Hist. Glou-
cester,' p. 64.

170 History of Hampshire.

British fortress. Here, from the time of the Conquest
until the decay of the feudal system, was the centre of their
great barony, which comprised manors in all parts of the
county.

Another important local centre of northern Hampshire
in the middle ages was Odiham, a place which has played
a part in the history of England, as well as in that of this
county. Here the Dauphin of France in his invasion of
England in 1216 met with a check. He had taken
Guildford, Farnham, and Winchester, and then turned his
attention to Odiham Castle, the garrison of which refused
to surrender. For a week the siege went on, the defence
was vigorously maintained, and some successful sorties
were made, after which the defenders came to terms, and
were allowed to march out with their arms and horses.
This was done before the astonished French army, who
counted the defending force and found that it consisted of
three knights, three esquires, and seven men at arms,
thirteen in all, and they had lost none during the siege.
During the next reign Odiham was the favourite residence
of Princess Eleanor, who subsequently married de Montfort
Earl of Leicester. She kept a large hunting establishment
of men and dogs at Odiham, and in the civil war during
this reign, in which her husband was the leader of the
popular party, the castle was held for him until after the
battle of Evesham. The castle and manor formed part of
the dower which Edward I. settled on his second wife,
Margaret of France ; and later on it was also part of the
dower of Queen Margaret of Anjou. In the time of
Edward III., Odiham Castle was selected as the place of
confinement for David Bruce, King of Scotland, who had
been taken prisoner at Neville's Cross.

Hampshire was notorious, during the time of Henry III.'s
misrule, for its bands of freebooters. Highway robberies
were frequent, and the abundance of forests and woods
through which many of the roads passed made it compara-
tively easy for the outlaws to escape. The parliament

Remains and Legends of the Middle Ages. 1 7 1

which was held in Winchester in 1285 enacted that the
highways should be widened, so that there might be no
bushes, woods, or dykes within two hundred feet of each
side of the road, and those proprietors who omitted to cut
down underwoods abutting on such highroads were to be
held responsible for all felonies which might be committed
by persons lurking in their coverts.

The most notorious outlaw of Hampshire in the latter
part of the reign of Henry III. was Adam de Gurdon.
His family had been settled in the neighbourhood*[of Alton
since the ^time of Richard I., and he appears to have come
into notoriety during the troubles of Henry's reign. For a
time he had it all his own way in the eastern* forests of
Hampshire. The story, or legend, concerning him states
that Prince Edward heard of his prowess, and resolved on
an adventure against him. The prince met with him in a
dell, east of Long Sutton, near Alton, and challenged him.
One version of the story is that, after a hard fight, de
Gurdon was unhorsed, and that the prince then spared his
life. Another is that they fought, and were so equally
matched that, during a pause in the fight, the Prince offered
de Gurdon his life and advancement, if he would give
up his arms. What is certain is that, after this encoun-
ter, he became a faithful follower of Prince Edward.
We are still reminded of the high hand with which de
Gurdon directed matters in this part of Hampshire more
than six hundred years ago by a tablet on the cottage,
which was formerly a mill, at Hawkley, which tells us that
this is * Hockeley mill, ancient mill of the Bishops of Win-
chester, taken from them by Sir Adam Gurdon, given back
under King Edward, 1280 A.D.'

The fertile imaginings of the Middle Ages have left in
Hampshire a store of legends and folk-lore scattered over
the county. Ghosts were formerly abundant, and some of
them still remain. The ghost of Rufus is of course seen
between Stony Cross and Cadnam, at which latter place

\J2 History of Hampshire.

was a rival tree to that at Glastonbury, an oak which
developed its leaves on old Christmas Day. On the eve of
that day, also, the cattle in various parts of this county
knelt down at midnight. This latter story may be a sur-
vival of the medieval Office of the Shepherds, which was
held in some churches on Christmas-Eve, and in which the
sheep brought into the church by the shepherds were
taught to kneel before the altar. Stories of monastic
ghosts were formerly common. At Selborne :

* Still oft at eve belated shepherd swains
See the cowled spectre skim the folded plains.'*

Netley Abbey had several ghosts, one of whom was an
abbot of that house telling his beads as he walked.
At Rockbourne there is a superstition of the occasional
appearance of a medieval figure on the interior wall of
the church, caused perhaps by some ancient fresco show-
ing its dim outline in damp weather beneath the modern
whitewash.

This county has several legends of medieval crawling
performances, one of which is that connected with the
Bishop's Purlieu, in the New Forest. This purlieu is a
great bog, in the forest but not of it, and formerly belonged
to the bishops of Winchester, acquired, so the tale says, by
one of the ancient prelates being given as much of this
forest area as he could crawl round. There is also the
well-known legend of the Crawls at Tichborne, which was
the origin of the celebrated Tichborne Dole. At Romsey
there are legends of Merwenna, the mythical founder of that
abbey, and a disciple of St. Patrick. Medieval stories of
the devil are common. He evidently frequented the old
Roman roads, which have in various parts of the county
got the name of the Devil's highway and the Devil's
dancing-ground. He leaped as well as danced, for a row
of Celtic mounds, near Privet, are known as the Devil's
Jumps. In the medieval imagination he was also fond of

* Gilbert White.

Remains and Legends of the Middle Ages. 173

liquor, for more than one great combe near the border of
the county is known as the Devil's Punch-bowl.

Hampshire people still nail old horseshoes to doors in
order to bring good luck ; and in some remote localities
the bees are, or were within recent years, informed of any
death which might occur in their owner's family. The
fatal incident of the young lady who hid in a large oaken
chest from which she could not escape, while the mistletoe
hung on the castle wall, is said to have occurred at Harwell,
near which place I have been shown the oaken coffer in
which her bones are said to have been found. Since the
beginning of the present century patients are believed to
have been cured of a disease, in which physicians failed, by
being drawn through an ash tree — a feat which was accom-
plished by splitting a young tree, opening the split, and
drawing the patient through it. Silchester, of course, has
its medieval legends, one of which relates to the famous
march thither of King Gurmond and his 160,000 Africans,
who landed at Southampton with this considerable army
after he had subdued Ireland.

Stories of buried treasure are not uncommon. At Frox-
field part of it is reported to have been found by means of
a lucky dream, and the remainder awaits discovery, while
at Ellisfield, somewhere near the old camp, there is a golden
throne buried. Some of the medieval bells occasionally
ring out their ghostly sounds. Those at Stenbury, near
Preston Candover, a place which has long ceased to exist,
are reported to have been heard within one generation ;
and a submarine peal from sunken bells in Chichester
Harbour is still, at times, heard responding to the peal
from Bosham church on the Sussex border. Some of
the bells of the ancient church of South Hayling, which
is said to have been destroyed by the sea early in the
fourteenth century, also occasionally send back to the land
their ancient sounds. At Rowland's Castle we have still
remaining the name of the hero Roland, who slew the
Saracen giant Angoulaffre, the name having probably come

174 History of Hampshire.

across the Channel when our kings were more French than
English.

The modern representatives of the ancient mummers still
perform their version of the Christmas play of the age of
the crusades, in which the King of Egypt's daughter is
concerned, and the Italian physician educated in the cele-
brated medieval schools of medicine of North Italy makes
his miraculous cure.

King Arthur and his knights were of course connected
with such a famous county as Hampshire, and in proof of
this we can point to his round table, which hangs on the
wall of the County Hall, where it was probably first placed
by Henry III., who ordered a ' rota fortuna/ or wheel of
fortune, to be made for this building.

A few very old witch stories have survived, one of which
is that of Kit Nox, who, tradition says, used to take her
aerial journeys near Botley, where a place called Kitnox
is said to have been named after her.

Fairy stories have, of course, survived, and these appear
to have lingered longest in the New Forest, where the
fairies were known by the name of pyxies. The river
Avon, which forms the western boundary of the forest, is a
stream of clear chalk water. According to the folk-lore of
Hampshire, this was the river into which the fair Gwendo-
line fell while walking with her not very distinguished
lover, and from the bank of which, as she sank beneath the
water, she gathered a tiny blue flower and threw it to him,
saying, ' Forget me not/

We can read something of the medieval history of this
county in many an old wall containing blocks of Binstead
limestone worked by medieval masons. The Binstead
quarries were the chief source of stone for building pur-
poses in Hampshire from the Saxon period until the
fifteenth century, and where we now find it we may feel
sure that an ancient building of some kind existed not far
away. I have met with this stone as far north as Burgh-
clere. There is not a stone in the fields of Hampshire that

Remains and Legends of the Middle Ages. 175

has not something of scientific interest beneath it, and there
is not an old stone in any wall, whether a local stone or a
foreign stone imported as ballast from other lands in
ancient ships, which has not an antiquarian interest, and
which does not assist us in reading the ancient history of
the county.

Among the rarer buildings of the Middle Ages, which
have lasted until the present time, are several ancient
court houses, such as that of the hundred-court at East
Meon, and some disused manorial chapels, such as those at
Pittleworth and Upper Eldon. The Cross House, or wait-
ing-place for people, at Southampton, opposite the old
ferry at Itchen, is a rare example of its kind. Subterranean
passages abound in the imagination of the people — and
there are the remains of a real one of the early English
period at Winchester. There are traces of several anchorages
or recluses' dwellings attached to churches, and the em-
bankment for Alresford pond, made by Bishop Lucy, is an
engineering work of the twelfth century.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE ISLE OF WIGHT.

THE history of the Isle of Wight is necessarily closely con-
nected with that of the county of which it forms a part,
and reference has already been made in these pages to
some of the chief points in its early history. There can be
little doubt that it was occupied successively by the same
prehistoric races as those which followed each other on the
mainland. Characteristic remains of the people of the
Neolithic and Bronze ages have been found, and the
weapons, tumuli, and other indications of these prehistoric
races resemble those discovered in other parts of Hamp-
shire.

It was conquered by the Romans under Vespasian, and
the remains of their villas and other buildings discovered
of late years at Carisbrook, Brading, and elsewhere, show
that it must have been occupied and governed by them.
On the withdrawal of the Romans it was, for about a
hundred years, like the mainland, under some system of
government, which resembled that to which the people had
been accustomed during the Roman occupation. After-
wards came the conquest and settlement of the Jutes, the
allies, of the original West Saxon settlers in Hampshire.
Then followed the Saxon Jutish wars, which continued
until the island was finally incorporated into the West Saxon
kingdom. The political connection of the Isle of Wight
with Hampshire dates from this time. During the ravages

The Isle of Wight. 177

of the Danes and Northmen, the island was often invaded
and occupied. It should, however, be remembered that
the islanders were of Jutish descent, and that they were
among the last of the inhabitants of the British islands to
adopt the Christian faith. Traditions of Woden and Thor
must have lingered among them long after their nominal
adhesion to Christianity, so that when the Danes appeared,
some of whom were allied to them by racial descent, they
perhaps found the people of the island nearer them in
speech and religious sentiment than the West Saxons on
the mainland.

After the Norman conquest, the lordship of the island
was given to William FitzOsborne, who was made Earl
of Hereford, Seneschal and Marshal of Normandy and
England, and was favoured by the Conqueror beyond all
the other Norman barons. He is said to have introduced
into Wight that modified form of the feudal system which
subsequently prevailed there. Some of the principal
manors appear to have been given to certain knights, the
three chief of these at the time of the Domesday Survey
being William the son of Azor, William the son of Stun
and Gozelin the son of Azor.

William FitzOsborne was the founder of the Benedictine
abbey of St. Mary at Lira, in the diocese of Evreux in
Normandy, and he gave to this abbey six churches in the
island, certain lands, and the tithes of the demesne land of
the island lordship. At the time of the great survey, the
revenue of the abbey arising from the Isle of Wight was
stated to be £20.

The entry in Domesday Book relating to the manor of
Alvington, shows that the Norman castle of Carisbrook
was built between the date of the Conquest and the time of
the survey.

William FitzOsborne's connection with the island was
short, for he was killed in Normandy in 1070. There is an
entry in Domesday Book under the manor of Wilmingham,
which shows that his son Roger de Breteuil, who succeeded

12

1 78 History of Hampshire.

to his English earldom, was also lord of the island. In
1075 Roger entered into a conspiracy against the Con-
queror, as a result of which the remainder of his life was
passed in prison. He died in 1086, apparently just before
the survey, for on his death his estates in the Isle of Wight
and elsewhere were resumed by the crown, and in the
Domesday record we find that all the demesne lands of the
lord of the island were at that time held by the king. As
far as known, the Conqueror visited the Isle of Wight once
only, and that was on a memorable occasion in 1085.
Odo, his half-brother, Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent,
who in his capacity of Regent had oppressed the people
and robbed the Church, was preparing an armed expedition
of Norman and English knights, with which he hoped to
cross the Alps and obtain his election to the papacy. On
hearing of these plans, the Conqueror sailed from Nor-
mandy and landed in the island, where Odo then was. At
a hastily summoned council he accused his brother of his
misdeeds, and arrested him with his own hands.

The lordship of the island appears to have been retained
by the crown until about the year noi, when Henry I.
rewarded one of his Norman barons, Richard de Redvers,
who had assisted him in his contest with his brother
Robert, by conferring upon him the earldom of Devon and
the lordship of the Isle of Wight. He had married
Adeliza, daughter of William FitzOsborne, so that his
succession to the lordship of the island was probably a
promotion he desired. He died in 1107, and was suc-
ceeded by his son, Baldwin de Redvers.

In the meantime an important grant in the Isle of
Wight had been made by the Conqueror, and confirmed
by William Rufus and Henry I., to Walkelin, Bishop of Win-
chester, in connection with the great church of St. Swithui
he was building at Winchester. This was the gift of half
hide of land at Quarr, and liberty to dig stone there foi
his building operations. This work went on during these
three successive reigns until the Norman Cathedral w«

The Isle of Wight. 179

finished, and we may see at the present time in its fine
Norman transepts some of the stone which was then
quarried. We may also see in some of the old overgrown
stone pits in Binstead wood the site of these ancient
quarries.

This was an age in which great men displayed a zeal in
the foundation of religious houses and the erection of
churches. Baldwin de Redvers himself founded an abbey
not far from the site of these celebrated quarries. From
these stone pits it had become known as Quarrera or
Quarr, and here a great Cistercian monastery arose, one of
the earliest of its kind in these islands. Baldwin placed
there a colony of Cistercian monks, whom he brought
over from Savigny in Normandy.

The stone quarries had certainly been worked for a long
time before. That the Romans had a building of some
kind close to the site of Quarr Abbey is very probable, for
Roman tiles may be seen built into the stonework of the
buttery hatch, and other existing remains of the abbey
walls, as if these materials were lying about near at hand
when the abbey was built.

Baldwin de Redvers was a supporter of the empress
Maud, during the wars of Stephen's reign. He was driven
from the island into Normandy, and his possessions con-
fiscated. These were restored to him when peace was
made in 1153; but he only lived two years longer. He
and his wife and one of his sons were buried in Quarr
Abbey, where a number of mural tombs have lately been
discovered during the excavations conducted by Mr. Percy
G. Stone.

Baldwin was succeeded by his son, Richard de Redvers
the second, who further enriched the abbey his father had
founded, and granted to the town of Newport its earliest
charter. As he died in 1162 that charter must have been
given early in the reign of Henry II. He was succeeded
by his young son, Baldwin de Redvers the second, who
died within a year of his father, and was buried in the

12 — 2

180 History of Hampshire.

priory of Christchurch. He was succeeded by his brother,
Richard de Redvers the third, who died without issue in
1184. A series of early deaths thus occurred among these
early lords of Wight.

The next to inherit the family honours was William de
Redvers, uncle of the two last lords ; but who was more
commonly known as William de Vernon, from a town in
the Cotentin, where he was born. He was one of the
ablest lords of the island, and held it for thirty-two years.
He was loyal to Richard I., and at his second coronation,
in Winchester, in 1 194, rilled a place of honour. When
John succeeded to the Crown, de Vernon, fearing that his
estates would be confiscated, transferred the lordship of
the island and the manor of Christchurch to Hubert de
Burgh, the Grand Justiciary of England, who had married
his daughter Joan. Hubert de Burgh died without issue
in 1206, and his father-in-law then obtained the restitution
of his estates by paying the crown 500 marks, and placing
his grandson as a hostage in the king's hands. William
de Vernon was one of the barons who forced King John to
sign the Great Charter. He resided much in the island,
was liberal to the abbey of Quarr, where he is said to have
raised a stately family monumental tomb at a great cost,
and where he was himself buried. He died in 1216, and
was succeeded by his grandson, Baldwin de Redvers the
fourth, his son, Baldwin the third, having died shortly
before him.

Baldwin de Redvers the fourth was but a child at the
time of his father's death, and he was placed by King John
as a ward under Fulk de Breaute, a disreputable baron
whom the king constrained the child's mother, Margaret,
to marry. In 1224, Fulk de Breaute was deprived of the
wardship and estates and banished the country, and the
young Earl Baldwin was made the ward of Richard Earl
of Cornwall, brother of Henry III., who was subsequently
elected king of the Romans. This royal guardian took
a great interest in his ward, and by his influence arranged

The Isle of Wight. 181

a marriage for him, in 1227, with Amicia de Clare, daughter
of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester. When Henry III.
held his court at Winchester at Christmas, 1240, Baldwin
de Redvers, who is described as having been a youth of
noble disposition, and skilful in all martial exercises, was
knighted, and formally invested with the lordship of the
Isle of Wight. Five years later he died, leaving a son,
Baldwin, born in 1235, and two daughters, Margaret, who
became a nun, and Isabella. During his minority, Baldwin
de Redvers the fifth was made a ward of Henry de
Wengham. He married Avicia, a cousin of Queen Eleanor,
and had a son, John, who died in childhood. Baldwin died
in 1262, it is said of poison administered to him at the
table of Peter de Savoy, Earl of Richmond, and was buried
in the priory at Breamore.

The lordship of the island appears to have been held by
his mother, Amicia de Clare, until her death in 1283, when
the honours and estates of the de Redvers family were all
inherited by Isabella, who had married William de Fortibus,
Earl of Albemarle, and was thus Countess of Albemarle,
Countess of Devon, and Lady of the Isle of Wight. At
the age of twenty-three, she had been left a widow, and
twenty-three years later, on the death of her mother, she
succeeded to the domain of the island. She ruled her
island lordship for ten years, residing chiefly at Carisbrook,
where she maintained a court in almost royal splendour.

She was very liberal to the abbey of Quarr, confirmed
the donations of her ancestors, and gave it several other
manors. Subsequently, in some dispute with the abbey,
she claimed certain lands it enjoyed, and the monks
appealed to the king, who commissioned the sheriff of
Hampshire to protect their interests. She was an impe-
rious lady, who ruled with a high hand, and she has left
traditions of her rule which have survived in the island
unto the present day.

As she was on her death-bed, she executed a deed by
which, for the sum of 6,000 marks, she transferred all her

1 82 History of Hampshire.

powers, privileges, and lands in the Isle of Wight to
Edward I. All her children except one daughter died
before her, and this one, Aveline de Fortibus, who married
twice, left no issue. Her second husband was Edmund
Plantagenet (surnamed Crouchback), Earl of Lancaster,
second son of Henry III.

Thus, while the earldom of Devon passed to the family
of Courtenay, descended from William de Vernon, the
lordship of the Isle of Wight reverted to the crown in
virtue of the deed executed by Isabella de Fortibus. Hugh
de Courtenay, Earl of Devon, who succeeded the Countess
Isabella, declared the deed to be a forgery, and a parlia-
mentary inquiry on his petition took place* in the next
reign, when the validity of the deed was confirmed.

The island had been governed by its own lords as a
peculiar fief for 200 years, and the change which ensued
on the transfer of the lordship to the crown was an
important one for the inhabitants. In one respect it was
to their advantage, for various bishops, abbots, priors, and
others whose estates were situated in the southern counties
were required to assist in its defence, and to equip men for
that service. On the other hand, the change led to
disputes between the chief tenants of the island and the
crown in regard to the nature of the tenure by which they
held their manors and lands. The islanders maintained
that they held, not as feudal tenants, liable to all the
burdens incident to such tenure, but simply of Carisbrook
Castle, being liable to serve for forty days at Jtheir own
cost in its defence, and that they were liable for no other
service, except that of conducting their lords into the isle
when they came thither, and out of it when they departed.

The desire of Edward I. that the crown should resume
the lordship of the Isle of Wight must have arisen from a
consideration for the safety of the kingdom. The circum-
stances were very different at the close of the thirteenth
century from what they were at the end of the eleventh.
* Rot. Par!., 9 Edw. II.

The Isle of Wight. 183

When the lordship was conferred by the Conqueror on
William FitzOsborne, or by Henry I. on Richard de
Redvers, the island was liable to no menace from Nor-
mandy. That duchy had been lost to the English crown.
A French expedition, under Louis the Dauphin, had at the
beginning of the thirteenth century brought war into
Hampshire. If the island should in any future war be
seized by any expedition in force, and held by the enemy,
its proximity to the English coast would imperil the safety
of the kingdom. Edward I. appears, therefore, from such
considerations to have made its acquisition part of his far-
seeing policy. The additional men subsequently supplied
to the king for its greater security included five from the
Bishop of Salisbury, seven from the Abbot of Glastonbury,
six from the community of Wilts, three from the Abbot of
Malmsbury, three from the Abbot of Abingdon, two from
the Abbot of Stanley, two from the Abbot of Cirencester,
one each from the Abbots of Gloucester, Walton, Romele,
and the Prior of Hurle, one each from the Abbesses
of Godestow and Wherwell, two from Mary, the king's
daughter, a nun at Amesbury, from the revenue of her
estates, one each from the Bishops of Worcester and Bath
and Wells, and thirty-five others, one each from that
number of lords of various manors and hundreds, and other
persons, making a total of seventy-three men-at-arms.*

The number of men which the lords of manors and other
tenants of lands in the island were, in virtue of their
holdings under the honour of Carisbrook, required to supply
for its defence was fifty-four men-at-arms and one hundred
and forty-one archers. In addition to these, there would be
available for the defence of the castle and of the island,
such military force as the lord of the island himself might
provide, and in cases of emergency all the able-bodied
men would be marshalled by their lords in its defence.

In the eighteenth year of Edward II., an inquisition was
taken at Shide Bridge concerning the obligations for

* Inquis., 16 Edw. III.

1 84 History of Hampshire.

defence in time of war, to which the lords, abbots, priors,
rectors, knights, and other free tenants who held land
worth twenty pounds per annum, were liable by ancient
custom. From this inquisition we learn that a regular
organized plan of watches by night and day existed at
certain signalling stations, each provided with a beacon-
fire, to be lighted on the approach of the enemy. There
were thirteen beacon stations in the hundred of East
Medine, and sixteen in that of West Medine.

In the early part of the fourteenth century the chief
tenants in the island were the families of de Insula or Lisle
of Gatcombe, Westover, Westcourt, etc., de Glamorgan of
Motteston, Wolverton, and Brook, Russell of Yaverland,
de Evercy of East Standen, de Gorges of Knighton, de
Albemarle, Trenchard of Chessel and Shalfleet, de Compton
of Compton and Atherfield, de St. Martin of Alvington, de
Heyne of Stenbury, de Langford of Chale, de Kingston of
Kingston, d'Oglandre of Nunwell, de Chekenhull of Whip-
pingham, de Afton of Afton, de Chillingwode, de la Hyde,
Urry, le Taillour, Aurifaber, and Tolouse.

The occurrence of such names as le Taillour and Auri-
faber among the free tenants is an evidence of the rise of
the middle classes, which was going on in the island as
elsewhere. The occurrence of the name of Tolouse
appears to denote the settlement of a native of Gascony, a
subject of the English kings in southern France, who was
perhaps rewarded for some service with land in the Isle of.
Wight.

The most singular of all the smaller landholders in the
island from the time of the Domesday Survey until that of
Edward III. was the Vavasor. The Domesday entry
relating to the manor of Aviston states that a Vavasor was
then living there, and that he had two cows. He appears
to have been a foreign-born freeman, who had some land
given him in the island, and who was of the same status as
a minor thane, but, being a foreigner, was described by the

The Isle of Wight. 185

foreign title.* In 1279, Roger Vavasor, a tenant who was
probably his descendant, held the fourth part of a knight's
fee in Weston, and in the time of Edward III. 'The
Vavasor ' was required to provide two archers for the
defensive force of the island.

After obtaining the lordship of Wight, Edward I. kept
it in his own hands during the remainder of his life, and
appointed wardens for its administration and government
Edward II., in the first year of his reign, made a grant of
it to his favourite, Piers Gaveston, but on the remonstrance
of the barons he resumed the lordship himself, and con-
ferred it on his eldest son, then a child, Prince Edward,
styled Earl of Chester — and afterwards Edward III. It
was governed by wardens from 1308, when this grant was
made, until 1386, when Richard II. granted the lordship to
William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, for his life. He
married Joan, previously known as the Fair Maid of Kent,
but the marriage was annulled, she having been married to
Sir Thomas Holland, who was still living. She afterwards
became Countess of Kent, and her romantic courtship by
the Black Prince, after the death of Sir Thomas Holland,
is a matter of history. As she was the mother of
Richard II., this grant of the lordship of the island to the
Earl of Salisbury may have had some connection with her
matrimonial affairs.

After the death of the Earl of Salisbury, without issue,
Richard II. conferred the lordship of the island, in tail male,
on his cousin Edward, Earl of Rutland, son of Edmund
de Langley, fifth son of Edward III. The king created him
Duke of Albemarle, warden of the New Forest, and pro-
moted him to other dignities. He subsequently became Duke
of York. On the accession of Henry IV. he was degraded
from the dukedom of Albemarle, but subsequently regained
the royal favour, and was made the king's lieutenant for the
government of Aquitaine. He married Philippa, a daughter
of Lord de Mohun, and was killed at the battle of Agincourt.

* See Du Cange.

1 86 History of Hampshire.

Henry V. then granted the lordship of the island, with
other possessions, to his widow Philippa, Duchess of York,
for her life, and these she held as her dower. At the time
of this grant the king appears to have made a grant of the
reversion of the lordship after the decease of the Duchess,
so that when she died, in 1439, Humphrey, Duke of Glou-
cester, became lord of Wight in virtue of this reversion.
He was its lord until his death in 1446. Shortly before
that event, Henry VI. conferred the titular dignity of King
of the Isle of Wight, but apparently without any real
authority over it, on Henry Beauchamp, Duke of Warwick,
son of the Earl of Warwick, late Regent of France. At
this ceremonial King Henry assisted in person, and himself
placed the crown on the duke's head, but the King of
Wight died soon after this empty honour had been con-
ferred upon him.

In 1449 Richard, Duke of York, father of Edward IV.,
appears to have been lord of the island, as in that year he
appointed a steward and lieutenant to act for him, named
John Newport.

In 1453 Edmund, Duke of Somerset, who had supplanted
the Duke of York as regent in France, obtained from the
king a grant of the island to himself and to his heirs male,
in satisfaction for certain sums of money due to him from
the king's exchequer. He was slain in the first battle of
St. Albans, and was succeeded by his son Henry, Duke of
Somerset, who, having changed sides from the Lancastrians
to the Yorkists, and back again to the Lancastrians, was
taken prisoner at Hexham, and beheaded by the Yorkists.

The next Lord of the Isle of Wight was Anthony de
Woodville, afterwards Lord Scales, and subsequently Earl
Rivers, brother-in-law of Edward IV. He held it from 1464
until 1483, when, as he stood in the way of Richard, Duke of
Gloucester, afterwards Richard III., he was seized and,
without trial, beheaded in Pontefract Castle.

Two years later Henry VII., in the first year of his reign,
made Sir Edward Woodville, brother of Earl Rivers, Captain

The Isle of Wight. 187

of the Island. This was the first occasion on which the
title of Captain of the Isle of Wight was used, and this title
has survived until the present day, the present Captain of
the island being Prince Henry of Battenberg.

Sir Edward Woodville's grant, in 1485, as Captain,
appears to have included great power. His rule did not
last long, for in 1488 he organized a disastrous expedition
into Brittany, to assist the Duke of Brittany against the
King of France. He first asked permission of Henry VII.
to lead this expedition, and received a denial. This, he
imagined, was only given to save appearances, and he con-
sidered the king would be pleased rather than otherwise by
such assistance to the Duke. He depicted the glory which
would result from such an expedition to the islanders, and
succeeded in inducing forty gentlemen and four hundred
of the ablest men of Wight to join in his adventure. The
expedition embarked at St. Helen's in four ships and
joined the Duke of Brittany's force, but at the battle of
St. Aubin's the Duke was defeated, and Sir Edward Wood-
ville and all the islanders slain, except one youth, who
managed to escape, and brought home the news of the
disaster. Whether Sir Edward was lord of the island as
well as captain, as he appears to have been, is uncertain —
but it is certain that after this terrible loss no subsequent
lord was appointed.

The ancient system of local government which prevailed
in the Isle of Wight was similar to that which existed on
the mainland. Originally the manors had their courts,
where all matters concerning the land held in common
were settled. On some of the smaller manors these courts
must have become discontinued earlier than on the larger
ones, on some of which they have existed down to the
present day. There was also the hundred-court, at which
the representatives of the tithings or parishes had to attend
and pay their fees. There were only two hundreds in the
island, known as East Medine and West Medine, the river
Medina being the boundary between them. No division

1 88 History of Hampshire.

of the island into hundreds is recorded in Domesday Book,
so that this division was probably a later arrangement.
The hundreds are mentioned in the Nomina Villarum,
9 Edward II., the lord of both hundreds at that time being
Prince Edward, Earl of Chester, afterwards Edward III.

The ancient place of assembly of the whole body of the
freemen of the island appears to have been at Shide Bridge,
south of Newport. Hundred-courts in Saxon time not
unfrequently met at fords and bridges, the hundreds of
Redbridge, Mansbridge, and Fordingbridge, on the main-
land of Hampshire, being examples of hundreds which
derived their names from such meeting places. It was at
Shide Bridge that two important inquisitions were held in
the thirteenth year of Edward II., relating to the ancient
custom for the defence of the island.

The highest court in the island was that known as the
Knighten Court, or Curia Militum, which was probably
established by the first lord, William FitzOsborne. It was
a judicial tribunal in which the judges were those who held
a knight's fee, or part of a knight's fee, of the castle of
Carisbrook. The courts of the island were probably varied
at different periods of its history. The earliest of all must
have been the open air moots, such as that recorded as
having been held in the time of Edward II., probably,
according to ancient custom, at Shide Bridge. In the Isle
of Wight, as elsewhere, the hundred-courts appear in the
course of time to have become discontinued, so that in the
seventeenth century the knighten-court, which met every
three weeks at Newport, discharged functions of a similar
kind. It had jurisdiction over the whole island at that time,
except the borough of Newport, in such matters as debt
and trespass under the value of forty shillings, and in its
operations it appears to have resembled a trithing-court, or
court having jurisdiction over several hundreds : such as
that which existed, in the latter part of the Middle Ages, at
Basingstoke, but in the case of this Curia Militum the
judges were of knightly rank.

The Isle of Wight. 189

The towns of Newport, Yarmouth, Newtown, and
Brading enjoyed exceptional privileges. The earliest
charter of Newport, the capital of the island, was granted
by Richard de Redvers in the reign of Henry II., and this
was enlarged by a charter of the Countess Isabella in the
time of Edward I., in which document it is named the New
Borough of Medina. This charter was confirmed by sub-
sequent kings, as was usual with corporate towns, until
the time of Charles II. James I. substituted a mayor for
the ancient bailiff. At Brading the king's bailiff has
survived until our own time, and only became extinct in
the autumn of 1890. The old court-leet of Brading, over
which he presided, had gradually become shorn of its
ancient functions by legislative changes, so that for many
years its sole use was the administration of certain corporate
property belonging to the place. Under the old town-
hall the ancient stocks and whipping-post may still
be seen, and in the open space of the street close by a
large iron ring, to which in olden time the bulls were
fastened for the purpose of being baited. The stocks have
long been disused, the ring is now only an antiquity, and
the bailiff of Brading has gone for ever.

The ecclesiastical life of the island was complicated by
the connection of some of its churches and religious houses
with Norman monasteries. William FitzOsborne founded
the Abbey of Lira, in Normandy, and he gave to that
abbey the priory of Carisbrook, which he also founded, and
the tithes of six churches, as mentioned in Domesday Book.
The charter of William de Vernon, confirming this grant,
tells us that these churches were Arreton, Whippingham,
Newchurch, Godshill, Niton, and Freshwater. Subse-
quently the tithes of other churches in the island, and of
all the demesne land of the lord, were granted to the same
abbey, so that this Norman monastery must have drawn a
very considerable revenue from Wight, and the churches of
the island must have been proportionally impoverished.

190 History of Hampshire.

Disputes arose between the Abbey of Lira and the Bishop
of Winchester concerning the presentation of vicars to these
benefices, and the general question was referred to Pope
Alexander IV., who expressed an opinion against the
appropriation of parochial churches by religious houses, by
which ' the worship of God was lost, hospitality was inter-
mitted, episcopal rights were detained, the doors of charity
were shut against the poor, and the encouragement of
studious scholars was abated,' etc.

In 1307, and again in 1340, the monks who looked after
the interests of Lira Abbey, in the island, took forcible
possession of the church of Godshill, and the Bishop of
Winchester petitioned the king on both occasions to order
them to be removed.

For more than two hundred years during the reigns of
the Norman and early Plantagenet kings the island was
free from invasion. Subsequently it was much troubled by
the French, so much so that it was necessary for its
inhabitants to be all trained in the art of war. Land was
held in other parts of Hampshire by many kinds of tenure.
In the island it was held by tenure of one kind only, that
of home defence, and this appears to have been of very
ancient origin. All the land was held by the obligation to
assist in the defence of Carisbrook Castle. The origin of
this fortress must be ascribed to a very remote antiquity,
probably the pre-Roman period. A British earthwork
probably existed here, and this appears to have been
adapted by the Norman lords of the island for the inclosure
of the castle, which was built during the Norman period.
The earthworks of many British fortresses were utilized by
the Normans in this manner.

As long as any organized community existed in the
island, some system of defence must have prevailed, and the
ancient British castle of refuge, represented by the earliest
fortification at Carisbrook, was probably a similar defensive
work to those which I have mentioned on the mainland.

The Isle of Wight. 191

To such earthworks the people of the country round would
flee in case of attack. In the Isle of Wight such a castle of
refuge, in the defence of which all the inhabitants would be
interested, must have been a necessity in British time,
and it may be that the obligation to defend the castle,
which we find prevailed throughout the island in medieval
time, was a survival of a far more ancient custom.*

The abbey of Montesberg, in Normandy, had a prior
and two monks at Applederwell in 1340. They had
probably been sent there from the parent house, which
received the revenues of the priory after the expenses of the
small establishment had been paid. At that time England
was at war with France. The French had recently attacked
Southampton in force, had looted the town, and had set
it on fire. The organization which prevailed in the
island for watch and ward, at that time, was extensive.
Armed men were stationed, by night and day, at twenty-
nine places round the coast, and in other parts of Wight,
each place being provided with materials ready laid for
beacon-fires to be lighted on the approach of the enemy,
which would flash the intelligence through the island, and
call the people to arms. The militia was organized in
eleven companies under the command of the most able
men, including the bailiffs of Newport, who commanded
the trained band of that town. In view of these elaborate
preparations for defence, it was thought to be unsafe to
allow foreign monks of Applederwell, a priory situated
near the sea, to remain there, and consequently the king
issued an order to the Bishop of Winchester, to provide for
the prior and his monks residing on the mainland at Hyde
Abbey or at Salisbury, during the war with France. In the
same year a French force landed at Bembridge, but was
driven back by the militia, under Sir Theobald Russell of
Yaverland, who was mortally wounded in the hour of victory.

* See paper by the author on 'Early Boroughs in Hampshire/
Archceological Review, vol. iv., No. 4.

1 92 History of Hampshire.

During this century the French made several other
attacks on the island. In 1377 they destroyed Franche-
ville, afterwards rebuilt and known as Newtown, burnt
Yarmouth, and captured Newport. This encouraged them
to attack the castle of Carisbrook, which was defended by
all the available force of the island under Sir Hugh Tyrril,
who repulsed their assault with great slaughter. It is said
that Newport had been so devastated during this invasion
that it remained unoccupied for two years. A few years
later we read that another invasion was expected, and the
Earl of Salisbury, who was in 1386 appointed lord of the
island, was intrusted specially with its defence.

During the lordship of Edmund, Duke of York, the
French made another descent on Wight, in 1404.
Waleram, Count of St. Pol, assembled at Abbeville a force
of 1600 fighting men, among whom were many of noble
birth, for an invasion of Wight. He embarked his troops
at Harfleur, and sailed straight across to the island. He
landed without opposition, and the inhabitants retired.
The count appeared confident of success, and made several
new knights among his followers. Meanwhile, we are told,
an astute priest of the country came to treat for the ransom
and safety of the island, and named such a sum as a pos-
sible price, that the count and his knights were induced to
continue the parley. During this conference the forces of
the island had been assembled, and when these prepara-
tions were completed the negotiations were broken off, and
the count then realizing that he had been outwitted, em-
barked his men with all convenient speed, and returned to
France.

In the latter part of the year 1418 another body of French
landed, and plundered the inhabitants of their cattle, but as
they were driving them towards their ships the islanders
suddenly attacked them, forced them to leave their spoil,
and killed many of them before they could embark. The
next year another party came * with a great navie, and sent
certain of their men to demand tribute in the name of King

The Isle of Wight. 193

lichard and Queen Isabell.' The islanders replied that
he king was dead, and that the queen, sometime his wife,
ad been sent home to her parents without any condition
f tribute, ' but if the Frenchmen's minde were to fight,
hey willed them to come up, and no man should let
binder) them for the space of five hours, to refresh them-
elves, but when that time was expired they should have
attayle given to them.' The invaders declined this
hivalrous invitation and returned to their own country.
No other invasion of Wight occurred until 1545, when
great armament, consisting of 150 large ships, 25 galleys,
nd 50 other vessels and transports appeared off St. Helen's,
nd took up their position in a line stretching from Brading
larbour almost as far as Ryde. The main object of the
renchwas an attack on Portsmouth, and as their fleet far
utnumbered the English ships which lay in and near
ortsmouth Harbour, the French commander landed
>veral parties of his troops on Wight, and set fire to
;veral places, hoping thereby to draw the English ships
ut. The islanders gave a good account of themselves, and
y retiring before the invaders led them into difficulties,
nd many of them were slain when caught in small detach-
lents. The French, however, caused considerable destruc-
on in the island. It was during this invasion that
/olverton, on the south of Brading Harbour, was burnt,
id has ever since remained an overgrown, ruined site.

This invasion caused the king to strengthen its defences,
id about this time the forts at Cowes, Sandown, Sharp-
xle in Freshwater, and Yarmouth, were built under the
rection of Sir Richard Worsley, then captain of the island
id constable of Carisbrook castle. He also induced the
landers to adopt more modern warlike appliances. During
.e invasion of 1 545 they harassed the French from their
nbuscades in the woods with the ancient weapons to
hich they were accustomed, bows and arrows. Sir
ichard Worsley persuaded them to provide a train of

13

1 94 History of Hampshire.

artillery at their own expense, every parish purchasing its
own gun. This artillery, with the additional forts, gave
them greater security. Cowes seems to have derived its
name from the guns placed in the forts there, the noise of
the discharge of which was supposed to resemble the
lowing of a cow.

' The two great cows, that in loud thunder roar,
This on the eastern, that the western shore.'*

The remains of the fort at West Cowes, which now forms
part of the Royal Southern Yacht Club house, was the
more important. All traces of the eastern fort, such as it
was, have long since disappeared.

The invasion of 1545 was the last appearance of an
enemy in Wight. Its proximity to Portsmouth and the
increase of its own defensive power subsequently kept it
free from attack. In 1625 its military muster was 2,020
men, of whom only 196 were armed with * bare pickes.'
The militia was mustered twice a year for training in the
time of Queen Elizabeth, and this custom appears to have
been long continued. All the able-bodied men were
enrolled in this militia, so that the enemy, knowing of this
preparation for war, kept away from the Isle of Wight.
During the wars of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies the islanders were continually expecting invaders
who never came, and in the folk-tales and island songs of
this period they appear to have taken some credit to them-
selves for this immunity from attack. In 1781 the militia
only numbered one company of sixty men, but eighteen of
the cannon made in the sixteenth century still remained,
some being kept in the churches.

The gun which was made for the parish of Brading is
still preserved, and bears the inscription ' John and Robert
Owine, Brethren, made this pese, 1549, Brerdynd.'

The folk-lore of the Isle of Wight comprises many
legends. An island story which somewhat resembles that

* Gibson's « Translation of Leland's Latin Verse.'

The Isle of Wight. 195

of the pied piper of Hamelin who decoyed the rats and
children away is sometimes told.

There are stories about haunted houses at Wootton,
which the ghost of a former rector in gown and cassock
sometimes revisits, and at Knighton, where the former
manor-house was haunted by one of its previous owners.
A very curious tradition hangs about Carisbrook as to the
way the old island family of Oglander obtained their
estates. It is to the effect that a former possessor of Caris-
brook was walking on the ramparts of that fortress, when
a knight appeared in the fields outside, and challenged him
to fight. The combat of course took place, but the story
is somewhat doubtful as to the result, except that the
strange knight fought so well that he was rewarded with
certain lands, and being the first to introduce pigs into the
island, he was called Oglander. The native folk-lorist will
also sometimes point out to a stranger the forest of Park-
hurst, and tell a hazy story about some lady, who, a good
many years ago, ' was done out of that wood,' which, as
Parkhurst was a forest of the lordship, can, I think, only
refer, through the mist of ages, to the supposed wrong
done to Isabella de Fortibus by Edward I.

The defence of the island appears always to have been
considered a sacred duty by the people of Wight. We
cannot, therefore, feel surprised at the terrible fate of the
mythical Sir Mordred, the father of Sir Bevois of Hampton,
who is said to have been boiled to death beneath the keep
of Carisbrook Castle for a conspiracy to betray it.

On the side of the high down between Ventnor and
Bonchurch is St. Boniface's Well or the WTishing-well,
which was in olden times visited by young people for the
purpose of having their wishes fulfilled. This well or spring
is said to have been first discovered by a certain bishop,
who was riding along the precipitous slope of the down,
when his horse began to slip, and the soft ground round
the spring alone saved him. The bishop thereupon vowed
to St. Boniface that if he reached the bottom of the down

13—2

196 History of Hampshire.

in safety he would dedicate an acre of land to him. The
Bishop's Acre, which is part of the glebe of Bonchurch,
is still pointed out in evidence of his safe descent. In the
Middle Ages this Holy Well of St. Boniface, the site of
which was visible from the sea, was an object of reverence
to sailors, who sometimes lowered the topsails of their
ships on passing near it.

In the folk-lore of Wight, Lot's wife finds a place. The
rocks known as the Needles have no needle-shaped mass
rising above the other rocks now, but a very remarkable
rock of this shape, about 120 feet high, existed there until
1764, when it fell with a great noise heard for many miles.
This rock was known for ages as Lot's wife.

A curious example of the survival of astrological lore
exists at Newport. The church there contains a fine carved
wooden pulpit, dated 1636, and having on the panels the
names of the seven liberal sciences as they were then
understood : Grammatica, Dialectica, Rhetorica, Musica,
Arithmetica, Geometrica, and Astrologia.

One of the most persistent of the legends of the Isle of
Wight is that concerning the connection of the island with
the mainland, as late as the time when the Greek traders
from Marseilles frequented it, in order to buy tin, which,
the tradition says, was brought across from the mainland in
carts at low water.

During the latter part of the sixteenth century the
captains or wardens of the island were Sir Richard
Worsley, Sir Edward Horsey, a gallant sea-captain, and
Sir George Carey, who appears to have been styled
governor as well as captain. During his captaincy Caris-
brook Castle was repaired and considerably enlarged,
under the direction of Gainibelli, an eminent Italian
engineer. The Spanish king was at that time fitting out
the great Armada. The queen gave £4,000, the gentry of
the island £400, towards the cost of this work, and all the
able-bodied men in the island gave their labour. The

The Isle of Wight. 197

Dther forts were strengthened, and an additional small fort,
:alled Carey's Sconce, built near Yarmouth.

In 1603 the Earl of Southampton was appointed captain
and governor of the island. He was the friend and patron
Df Shakespeare, and resided much in Wight, and at his
seat on the opposite side of the Solent at Titchfield.
During his captaincy King James and Prince Charles, who
were his guests at Beaulieu, crossed over to the island and
paid a visit to Carisbrook. The earl died in 1625, and
the Isle of Wight was governed successively by Lord
Con way, Lord Weston, the Earl of Portland, and the
Earl of Pembroke, until the time of the Civil War. The
people of Wight sided with the Parliament so strongly
that they would not allow the Countess of Portland to
remain in Carisbrook Castle, where she had taken refuge
after her husband's removal from office. The Earl of
Pembroke, who was favourable to the Parliamentary party,
held the captaincy for several years, and was succeeded in
1647 by Colonel Hammond. Two months after his ap-
pointment, Charles I., who was residing at Hampton
Court, suddenly left that place, hoping to find a place of
greater security in Hampshire or the Isle of Wight. The
result of this sudden journey was to find himself after a
short time a prisoner in Carisbrook Castle. Hammond
was thanked and rewarded for his action in this matter by
the Parliament, which also made a liberal provision for the
king's expenses. Then began the captivity of the king in
the island, which lasted from the autumn of 1647 until that
of 1648. He was strictly guarded at Carisbrook, but
allowed such freedom within the castle as was consistent
with his safe custody. There he appears to have employed
his time in religious studies and some literary pursuits.
The verses known as ' Suspiria Regalia ' and * Majesty in
Misery ' were written by him at this time. Two attempts
at escape were made by the king, aided by some friends
outside the castle, but these failed.

In August, 1648, the Conference of Newport took place,

198 History of Hampshire.

between fifteen commissioners appointed by the Parliament
and the king, in the hope of securing a settlement for the
troubles of the kingdom. The restrictions on the king's
personal liberty were largely removed. He was allowed
to assemble some of his adherents around him, and to live
in Newport. The conferences took place in the town-
hall, where he sat on a raised dai's under a canopy,
attended by his lords and other advisers, and the Parlia-
mentary commissioners sat at a table apart. The negotia-
tions were prolonged for three months, when a treaty was
signed by the unhappy monarch, under which the preroga-
tives of the crown were practically conveyed to the Parlia-
ment. After this the commissioners returned to London,
and orders were soon issued for the king to be removed
and conveyed a prisoner to Hurst Castle.

Colonel Hammond was succeeded in the island govern-
ment by Colonel William Sydenham, a brother of the
celebrated physician of that name, and a zealous par-
liamentarian.

In 1650 Carisbrook Castle became the prison of two of
the unhappy king's children, the Princess Elizabeth and
the Duke of Gloucester, who were conveyed thither for
safe custody in August of that year. The princess died
there from the effects of a sudden chill a few weeks after
her arrival, and was buried in the church at Newport.
When the church was rebuilt in 1856, Queen Victoria
erected a fine monument, with a reclining figure of the
princess and a suitable inscription, over her grave.

On the restoration of Charles II., Lord Culpeper was
made governor of the island, and he was succeeded in 1667
by Admiral Sir Robert Holmes, who held the office for
many years. He resided at Yarmouth, where in 1671 he
entertained Charles II. and his court. He died in 1692,
and was buried in Yarmouth Church, where a very fine
monument to his memory was erected by his son in a
chapel attached to the church.

The succeeding captains and governors during the next

The Isle of Wight. 199

century were Lord Cutts ; Charles, Duke of Bolton, who
resigned in 1710 ; Lieutenant-General Webb ; William,
Earl of Cadogan ; Charles, Duke of Bolton, who resigned
in 1733 ; John, Duke of Montagu ; the Earl of Ports-
mouth ; Thomas, Lord Holmes, a grandson of Sir Robert ;
Hans Stanley, Esq. ; Henry, Duke of Bolton ; Sir Richard
Worsley, and the Right Honourable Thomas Orde. By
the middle of the eighteenth century the office appears to
have become a sinecure, such as it still remains.

The first parliamentary representatives from the Isle of
Wight were those sent by Yarmouth and Newport com-
bined as one borough, in 1295. The island received some
parliamentary writs subsequently, but apparently made no
returns until the time of Queen Elizabeth.

The representation of the three boroughs of Newport,
Yarmouth and Newtown began in 1584, and was con-
tinued until the first Reform Act, when the two latter
were disfranchised. By the last Reform Act also the
representation of Newport has been merged in the
general representation of the island. In 1640 Lord
Falkland sat for Newport, and in 1678 John Churchill,
afterwards the first Duke of Maryborough, sat for New-
town.

CHAPTER XVII.

WINCHESTER.

As long as the English race lasts, Winchester will be classic
ground. English-speaking people from distant parts of
the world come year by year in increasing numbers to see
the mother country, to visit Oxford and Cambridge, to
view Shakespeare's house, and to gaze on the greatness of
London, and many of the more intellectual of these also
find their way to the Hampshire city to see the home of so
many early kings, and the cradle of those early institutions
of the Anglo-Saxon race, which are their inheritance as
well as ours.

Winchester was founded in a prehistoric age. The com-
pressed layer of peat which underlies a great part of its
area near the river and the branch streams marks the site
of the original settlement. Bronze implements have been
found in this peat layer. The original site appears to have
been selected on account of its water defences. Nature had
marked it out as a place for human occupation in a primi-
tive age. It is in the most remarkable opening in the
downland of Hampshire, where the forces of nature have
cut through the chalk almost to its base, and where ridges
of river gravel made one or more natural fords.

Marks of extreme antiquity lie around it. Human bones,
marking the site of a burial by contracted inhumation, were
found in a chalk cist on the slope of St. Giles' Hill when
the railway was made there. St. Catherine's earthwork

Winchester* 201

cannot be of later origin than the Bronze period, and the
round barrows on the downland east of St. Giles' Hill
probably mark the site where some of the chieftains in the
Bronze Age were cremated. On the opposite side of the
city is Seven Sleepers' Hill, a name derived from that
venerable legend which clings also to other cities of
extreme antiquity in several parts of Europe and Asia.

Winchester was built, like many other towns of Roman
date, in the form of a parallelogram, and was surrounded
by a wall made of flint and concrete. Part of this wall
remains in the eastern part of the city, where the town wall
is formed by the wall of Wolvesey Palace. In this structure
there are some bricks and other material of Roman origin
worked in with the layers of flint, as if the old material was
used up when the wall was built. The existing remains of
the wall which surrounded the close is a good example of
a concreted flint wall, and shows that when the city was
surrounded by such a structure its defensive power must
have been great. The river flowed just outside the wall on
the east, and a branch stream washed the northern wall
along the greater part of its course. A ditch, which could
for the greater part be filled with water, formed an outer
defence along the north-west, west, and south. The castle
was built at the south-western part of the fortified area, the
highest ground being selected for its site. The city had
six gates, in addition, probably, to one which led directly
into the castle area, by a drawbridge over the western
moat. The west gate at the upper end of the High Street,
and the King's Gate on the south, which led into the close,
are all that now remain of these.

For the maintenance of the walls a heavy outlay must
have been necessary from time to time. King John gave
the citizens the two mills in Coitebury for the repair of
their walls, and other repairs were necessary about the end
of the reign of Henry III.* Early in the reign of

* Muragium pro civitate Winton. Cal. Rot. Pat., 56 Hen. III.

2O2 History of Hampshire.

Henry IV. also the king remitted a portion of the fee
ferme of the city for the repair of the walls, and Henry VI.
also did the same.

Some very early guilds existed at Winchester, the oldest,
and at one time the most influential, of which was probably
that known as the knights' guild, originally established in
Saxon time, and comprising young men, sons of nobles and
thanes. In Domesday Book we read of many thanes who,
continued to hold their lands in Hampshire. It was the
sons of such as these who came to Winchester and joined
the knights' guild, and later on, no doubt, it comprised
youths of Norman descent. In the West Saxon capital
these knightly youths would see something of the world
and learn important duties. They had their halls, one in
the east of the city and one near the west gate. This guild
appears to have been quite a Saxon institution, and to
have become obsolete long before the decay of the trade
guilds. The ancient West Saxon capital was so important
in Saxon time that Wintonia and London are the only
cities in England marked on the Anglo-Saxon map of the
world discovered among the muniments of Hereford
Cathedral.

During the Saxon period Winchester was under a
system of government similar to that which prevailed in
other important towns at that time. There was a head
townsman who was known by the title of praepositus. He
was assisted by others known as burgesses, the praepositus
being also mentioned as the port-reeve or wic-reeve. In
the first survey recorded in the Liber Winton we are told
that, in the time of King Edward the Confessor, the
praepositus, or provost, was named Aldelwold, and that he
was succeeded by others who bore the names of Warine,
Geford, and Richard. At the time of the second survey
the praepositus was named Herbert. The Saxon organiza-
tion for the government of the town of Winchester was
only an enlarged modification of that which prevailed in
many smaller places in Hampshire.

Winchester. 203

Winchester was part of the ancient demesne of the West
Saxon Kings, all the land in the town having originally
belonged to the king. At the time of the surveys recorded
in the Liber Winton, some of the tenements were held as
freeholds ; but others paid various rents, or the holders
were liable for certain customary services. These pay-
ments and services were, a small ground rent known as
' langabulum,' ' brigbote,' an ancient tax for maintaining
bridges, the land tax, or ' Danegeld,' a tax on tenements
known as ' fripene ' or frith penny, a tax on goods sold
known as ' venta,' a liability to supply a certain amount of
food for the king's prison, known as ' pascere,' the service
of watch and ward, probably in rotation, known as ' wata,'
and a fixed service with plough and cart called ' avere/

The earliest charter of the city is that of Henry II.,
which conceded the liberties and customs it had under
Henry I., and restored those which might have been lost in
Stephen's reign. During the Saxon period the privileges
of places such as Winchester were based on ancient custom,
so that in time they were acknowledged as prescriptive
rights. Subsequently, when towns began to receive char-
ters, they found it desirable to get them renewed by each
succeeding king on his accession. This was done at
Winchester for many centuries down to the time of
James II.

After the Norman Conquest, when bailiffs appear to
have been first appointed under that name, in the towns
which belonged to the king, the praepositus was still
mentioned, and at Winchester as late as the date of the
charter granted by Henry III. The senior bailiff during
this time, and until the full recognition of a mayor, may
have been also the praepositus of the city.

The history of Winchester is so much identified with the
history of the county, that it is not possible to write a
general sketch of the latter without including much of the
former. In the previous chapters I have already narrated

2O4 History of Hampshire.

much of the early history of this city which it is not
necessary to recapitulate. To understand its history
aright, it is necessary to bear in mind the dual character
of the government which prevailed in it. There were for
all practical purposes two Winchesters, existing side by
side, and one indeed partly containing the other. There
was the municipal Winchester, the city properly so called,
and there was the ecclesiastical Winchester, which was
quite distinct from it in civil as well as in ecclesiastical
government. This was the Bishop's Soke, sometimes
described in old records as 'The Bishop's Soke in the
suburbs of Winchester.'* Such a separation of the
ecclesiastical from the municipal part of the town was
not peculiar to this city. In London a similar example
occurred, where the Bishop's Soke included the ward of
Cornhill. In the Soke the bishop had his own court and
his own civil officers. All the tenements that existed
beyond the Eastgate were in the bishop's jurisdiction, and
formed that part of it known as the East Soke. The
Soke also included the Cathedral precincts, the College,
the Hospital of St. Cross, part of the parishes of St. Faith,
St. Thomas, and Chilcombe, the ville of Milland, part of
the parish of St. Bartholomew, and the small manor of
Godbiete in the middle of the city itself. There is a
reference to the Soke in Domesday Book, under the entry
relating to Basingstoke, which place had four suburbani,
*>., Soke men, in Winchester; but as the name Soke is
derived from the Anglo Saxon socy a liberty, its origin
must be ascribed to Saxon time.

Before the time when the chief city official became
known by the name of mayor, the government of the city
rested with a praepositus or provost, and the bailiffs were
of much importance for centuries after the first appoint-
ment of a mayor. In the time of Edward I., the bailiffs
were chosen by the community and twenty-three chief
citizens. The chief citizens were required to choose four of
* Maddock, < Hist. Excheq.,' 496.

Winchester. 205

their own number, and from these four the community
elected one bailiff, and the chief citizens the other.*

The burghmotes, which were held regularly during the
Middle Ages, were certainly as old as the time of King
Edgar, by whose laws these courts were ordered to be held
three times a year.f At a later periocl they met twice a
year only, and were held in Winchester at Hocktide and
Michaelmas, and at the latter meeting the officers for the
ensuing year were chosen. The earliest record of these
courts is in the Black Book, which Winchester has lost,
and which is now preserved in the British Museum. This
burghmote court was probably at one time held in the
open air. Certainly a Rusting or open air court, after the
Danish custom, existed in Winchester,;); perhaps in the
time of Cnut.

In the Soke the bishop had his court, over which his
deputy, the bailiff of the Soke, presided, and the jurisdic-
tion of this was as independent of that of the city as if it
had been many miles away. He had three tithingmen
and a constable to assist him, and he had his own prison
at Wolvesey, and stocks for malefactors standing a little
east of the bridge over the Itchen. In the manor of
Godbiete, north of the High Street, a manor court was
held by the steward of the priory, in the same way as he
held courts on other manors belonging to St. Swithun's.
The court of the Soke, which became known as the Cheney
Court, was, however, a superior court to this, and had a
criminal jurisdiction.

When Queen Elizabeth granted her charter to Win-
chester, the bishop's rights as lord of the Soke were safe-
guarded, and so the two Winchesters existed side by side,
the mayor of the city and the bailiff of the Soke being in
later centuries the chief magnates of their respective juris-
dictions, until the year 1835, when, under the changes then

* ' Abbre viatic Placitorum Edw. I.,1 p. 187.

f Merewether, * Boroughs,' i. 38.

J Gomme, ' Primitive Folk Motes,' 252.

2o6 History of Hampshire.

introduced, the Soke for all practical purposes disap-
peared.

The character of the population of Winchester was
considerably changed during the Norman period. In the
earlier years of the Conqueror's reign it must have had a
large majority of English, as shown by the secrecy and
details of Waltheofs execution. We find that a change
had occurred between that time and the date of the com-
pilations made in the Liber Winton. In the first of these
inquisitions, made in 1115, out of 238 owners of 288 tene-
ments, 86 only, or 36*1 per cent, bear Saxon names, and
about 5'i per cent, of the others are recorded whose fathers
had Saxon names; 126 owners, or 52*9 per cent, bore
Norman or French names, the latter class holding 60 per
cent of the tenements, and the former 35 per cent. Win-
chester at that time had a majority of Norman-French
inhabitants. In the second inquisition, made in 1148, and
also recorded in the Liber Winton, the house owners
bearing Norman or French names outnumbered those
bearing English names by two to one. Winchester by
that time had become a Norman-French city.

Although Winchester is not included in the Domesday
Survey, we learn something about it at that time from the
entries relating to other places in Hampshire, the manors
of which had houses in this city. Thus a manor at Preston
Candover, which was held by a fraternity described as ' The
Clerici,' had a house in Winchester. Dummer and Norton
manors, which were held by one of the king's thanes named
Odo of Winchester, had respectively three and five houses
in the city.

The Archbishop of York, who held the manor of Mottis-
font, had a house belonging to the manor in Winchester,
which was probably of much use to him on the occasion of
any national assembly there to which he was summoned.
The manor of Woodcote, which was held by the tenure of
keeping the gaol in the city, had also a house there.
Eversley Manor, which belonged to Westminster Abbey,

Winchester. 207

had another. A house in Winchester was also attached to
the manor of Stratfield. The bishop's manors of West
Meon and Meonstoke each had eight messuages in the
city. The manor of Minstead had a house there. The
royal manors of Clatford, Paccombe, and Wallop had two
or more houses each in the city, and the Abbess of Wher-
well had thirty-one messuages there, which were free from
all customary dues except the king's geld, and the abbess's
own house was also free from that. Fourteen burgesses of
Winchester paid twenty-five shillings rent to the abbey of
Romsey, and at Clere the abbey of Hyde held the church and
four and a quarter hides of land, which were given to it by
King William for land in Winchester, on which he built his
town house. This was the palace the Conqueror erected
near St. Lawrence's Church, and west of the New Minster,
adjoining which, and within the inclosure of this royal
residence, were the offices for the state officials and the
church of St. Lawrence itself. A curious survival of the
connection of this church with the Conqueror's palace has
come down to our own time. Before the enthronement of
each new bishop, he goes to St. Lawrence's Church and
tolls a bell there, a custom which is believed to have had
its origin in Norman time, when the bishop went to the
palace to which this church was attached, to perform some
act of homage to the king.

The ancient mills which existed within the city were
important. At the time of the Domesday Survey the
Abbess of Wherwell had in Winchester the best mill in all
Hampshire, its annual value being assessed at that time at
forty-eight shillings. Later on we read of the great fullers'
mill in Coitebury, that part a little north of Eastgate, and
in the time of King John, Coitebury had two mills. Another
mill also existed at Durngate, and another, known as Sea-
grim's Mill, outside the wall in the Soke, on the site of
Wharf Mill.

The cloth manufacture required plenty of water facilities,
and these existed in abundance in the north-eastern part
of the city, where the cloth-workers were located.

208 History of Hampshire.

During the Saxon, Norman, and early English periods
Winchester was the chief trading centre of this part of
England. Among its inhabitants in the time of Edward
the Confessor were those who followed the trades of gold-
smith, swordsmith, shoemaker, hosier, and the dealers in
hay, soap, and herrings. In the time of Henry I. others
are mentioned who followed the occupations of tailor,
baker, cook, butcher, tanner, linen-draper, embosser, net-
maker, old clothes dealer, and barber (probably barber-
surgeon). In the time of Stephen the second inquisition
shows that in addition to these there were others who
followed the occupations of mercer, clothseller, weaver,
fuller, dyer, shield maker, furbisher, currier, saddler, mason,
carpenter, painter, miller, brewer, innkeeper, writer, parch-
ment-maker, physician, and dealers in grease and wax.
Several of these trades gave names to the ancient streets in
which the crafts were carried on. There was Flescmangere
Street, or that of the butchers, Alwarene Street, where the
mercers were located, Snithelinga Street, or that of the
tailors, Scowertene Street, or the shoemakers' quarter,
Tanner Street, where the tanners lived, and Scyldwortene
Street, where the shieldmakers pursued their craft. The
present High Street was known as Cyp, or Cheap Street,
where the shops of the merchants, or dealers, were
situated.

Some of these crafts had fraternities of their own, such
as the weavers and fullers, who were concerned with the cloth
trade, which was very considerable, some of the cloth being
exported from Southampton. The subordinate brother-
hoods, craftsmen and traders of other occupations who
had no special guild of their own, were all united in
one trading association, known as the Guild Merchant.
The members of this guild enjoyed important trading
privileges in other places as well as in their own town, and
if disputes arose in their business transactions, or they
suffered wrong in any other town, the members of the
Winchester Guild Merchant had an organization of con-

Winchester. 209

siderable power to see that right was done them. None of
its members, except the moneyers and royal servants, could
be impleaded out of their own city. The Guild Merchant
of Winchester was one of the earliest of these trading
fraternities which existed in England, and in the charters
which other towns gradually obtained, its constitution is
often mentioned, the burgesses of such towns being com-
monly granted all the liberties and free customs ' which the
citizens of Winchester have.' The traders, or merchants
properly so called, had a distinct organization from the
artificers and craftsmen, such as the weavers and fullers,
and their guild is mentioned as the Cypmanna-gild, or
Chapmen's guild.

These chapmen must have been an important class, who
made Winchester their headquarters. They had there their
place of assembly, known as the Chapmen's Hall, for the
farm of which they paid twenty marks* in the time of
King John. These merchants were the commercial travel-
lers of the Middle Ages, who took their goods with them,
and they supplied an important want in the country places
where no shops existed.

The trade of Winchester appears to have been connected
with the navigation of the Itchen from a very early time.
It is but ten miles from the city to the tidal water at Wood
Mill. Flat-bottomed boats could without much difficulty
pass along the natural stream to and from the sea, and
there can be little doubt that the stone used in building
the cathedral, much of which is Bembridge limestone,
probably from Binstead in the Isle of Wight, was conveyed
to Winchester by water. ' The old Itchen upward to the
orchard on the new river ' at Stoneham is mentioned in
a charter of Edward the Confessor in 1045. The water
transit was greatly assisted by the canal cut by Bishop
Lucy, in recognition of which King John granted him a
charter authorizing the levying of certain tolls on vessels
passing through the Soke. When the trade of the city
* Maddox, Hist. Exch., 234.

2io History of Hampshire.

declined the canal was neglected, and became useless until
the time of Charles II., when an Act of Parliament was
passed, empowering a company of undertakers to improve
it. A new Act was obtained in 1767, and for nearly a
century afterwards the traffic on it was kept up, but it is
now in a ruinous state.

The ordinary commercial life in Winchester during the
Middle Ages was annually interrupted by St. Giles's fair,
which was the great annual mart for this part of England.
This fair was established by charter granted by William
Rufus to Bishop Walkelin. It originally lasted three days,
and was held on St. Giles's Hill, where rows of booths and
huts arranged in streets, such as may now be seen at Wey
Hill, were erected. The profits went to the bishop, and were
used by him in completing the cathedral church and other
parts of the convent of St. Swithun. While the fair lasted
trade was suspended in Winchester, and in the country
seven leagues round. The fair became very much frequented
by merchants from many parts of England, and also from
over the sea. In addition to the revenue arising from the
tolls, the bishop obtained for St. Swithun's, of which he
was the titular head, another source of revenue, for on the
occasion of the fair the convent engaged in trade, and
dealt largely in foreign wines, furs, spices, and other
commodities. The concourse at this annual mart was so
great that three days were found to be not time enough for
it, and so it was increased by successive kings to eight,
fourteen, and ultimately to sixteen days.* The people of
Winchester, whose ordinary business was suspended during
this time, may have recouped themselves in other ways, but
the Southampton traders, who were also compelled to
suspend their ordinary business, could not do this, and
they found the fair very oppressive. The monks derived a
great profit from this commercial gathering on the hill.
During the fair the bishop not only became the commercial
lord of Winchester, but the civil lord also, for the power
* Cal. Rot. Pat., 2 Edw. II. ; and Charter of Edw. III.

Winchester. 211

of the city authorities ceased. His officers took possession
of all the gates, set their own watch, and dismissed those
belonging to the city. The mayor and bailiffs were sus-
pended from their offices ; all civil jurisdiction ceased, and
offenders were tried in the bishop's pavilion court on the
hill, and by his justiciars. The fair-time must have been a
proud time for the bailiff of the Soke, for his ordinary
jurisdiction would usually at this time be much enlarged.
The bishop's officers walked round the city, and compelled
the mayor and bailiffs of Winchester to accompany them,
in order to proclaim the fair at certain spots. It is quite
clear that all who attempted to forestall the trade on the
hill by intercepting and buying goods cheaply on their way
to the fair must have been severely dealt with, and the
suspension of the civil authority and the business of the
city and neighbourhood was, of course, for the purpose of
causing a roaring trade to be done on the hill.

The country people of Hampshire must have regarded
St. Giles's fair as a very great institution, for it afforded
them an excellent opportunity of buying in the cheapest
market the stores they required for the winter. They
must also have found some pleasure there, as probably
Langland did, who, writing about 1365, makes Piers
Plowman say :

* At Wy and at Winchester I went to the fair.'

The ecclesiastical history of Winchester is largely repre-
sented by the cathedral itself. Beneath its floor lies the
dust of many of the kings and queens who were its early
benefactors. The bones of some of these are preserved in
the chests on the screen of its choir. Here also rest the
remains of most of its Saxon bishops, some of whom were
canonized : St. Birinus, St. Hedda, St. Swithun, St. Frith-
stan, St. Brinstan, St. Alphege, St. Athelwold, St. Brithwold,
and others. The present building probably contains no
architectural remains of the church built by St. Athelwold,
but there is every reason to believe that some of the stones

14—2

2 1 2 History of Hampshire.

of the existing cathedral formed part of the Saxon minster
church. The mass of the stone is that of the Bembridge
formation, a fresh-water limestone which occurs only in the
Isle of Wight, and was quarried by the Romans. The
Norman bishop, Walkelin, has left his monument in the
great transepts, and in the timber roof above the stone-
groined nave. Bishop Lucy has left his monument in the
Lady Chapel, which was built further eastward in order to
accommodate the crowd of pilgrims who came to the shrine
of St. Swithun, between it and the choir. Bishop Edington
has left his monument in the transformation of the Norman
nave into the Early Perpendicular style, which was begun
in his time and completed in that of his successor, Bishop
William of Wykeham, the greatest architect of his age,
who perhaps himself designed the alteration in his prede-
cessor's time. The chantry-chapels of Wykeham, Beaufort,
Waynfleet, Langton, and Fox, still remind us of the distin-
guished parts which these prelates played in the history
of their country, as well as in the ecclesiastical history
of Winchester.

A great part of the history of Hampshire is centred
round Winchester. Similarly, as the bishopric and priory
of St. Swithun's were so important, they overshadowed in
later centuries the commercial importance of the town, and
the later history of the city is consequently centred round
the cathedral rather than round its municipal institutions.
The castle, while it continued to be a royal residence, was of
course of greater importance than the bishop's residence at
Wolvesey ; but, after the thirteenth century, the castle was
less frequented, while Wolvesey Palace continued to be a
residence of the bishop in the city. The ecclesiastical im-
portance of Winchester has endured until the present day,
while its political importance has for centuries ceased.

Life at Winchester during the Middle Ages must
presented many aspects. In addition to its permanent
residents, the city always had a fluctuating population,
During the times when the king, or his family, were ii

Winchester. 2 1 3

residence, there must necessarily have been much coming
and going of messengers, visits of noble personages, high
officers of state and their retinues. During the Norman
period these often came from France, as well as from
distant parts of England.

While the Exchequer and the Records continued to be
kept at Winchester, there must have been a staff of officials
connected with them, and visits of sheriffs, bailiffs, and
stewards of the royal estates would be of frequent occurrence.
Whenever great councils, synods, and other assemblies met
there, the old city would receive a larger number of tem-
porary residents ; and when parliaments began to be held,
on the occasions when they met at Winchester, the influx
of temporary residents must have been larger still. The
old capital must have also attracted many adventurers and
needy persons, who hoped to repair their fortunes by some
lucky chance in a city which possessed so many oppor-
tunities. To it doubtless came military adventurers and
landless knights, desirous of employment in the field, as
well as political attendants on the wheel of fortune, seeking
for civil offices or employment of some kind under the
state.

In addition to all these, there were the crowds of pilgrims
whom I have already mentioned, many of whom brought
their sick friends to be healed at the shrine of St. Swithun.
If they could not get material relief at the shrine of the
Old Minster, they could try the shrine of St. Josse, in the
abbey of Hyde, and at least they could carry away with
them spiritual comfort. The visits of pilgrims to Win-
chester went on during the whole of the Middle Ages, and
did not wholly cease until 1539, when the shrine of St.
Swithun was destroyed.

Winchester must have also had a constant stream of
persons seeking sanctuary. As early as the tenth century
we read of female slaves fleeing there to take refuge at the
tomb of St. Swithun. In the eleventh century Queen
Emma, the wife of Cnut, granted to St. Swithun's the manor

2 1 4 History of Hampshire.

and liberty of Godbiete, in the middle of the city, as a
1 Privilegium Deo datum/ in which stood the church of
St. Peter in Macellis, which was a sanctuary, where accused
persons, whether innocent or guilty, were free from the
writ of the king or the civic authorities, and this sanctuary
presented a curious and anomalous picture of the seamy
side of life, down to the middle of the sixteenth century.

There were also wandering minstrels, mountebanks, and
other travellers whose occupation must have led them
rather frequently to the old capital. It was perhaps in
the fertile imagination of one of these minstrels that two
famous Hampshire legends had their origin, or, at least,
took their present shape. While Bishop Adam de Orlton
was visiting the Prior of St. Swithun's, in 1333, he was en-
tertained in the great hall of the priory, by a celebrated
minstrel, who sang to him the legendary songs of Guy,
Earl of Warwick, overthrowing and killing Colbrand the
Danish giant, under the walls of the city, and of Queen
Emma walking unhurt over the red-hot ploughshares in the
Old Minster.

Of ecclesiastical personages, Winchester must have seen
a great variety. Here, on many occasions, came papal
legates, archbishops, and other prelates to State functions,
with great retinues. Its resident population included
Benedictine monks at St. Swithun's and Hyde, Benedictine
nuns at St. Mary's, Dominican, Franciscan, and Carmelite
friars, calendars, parsons or secular priests of parishes, and
chantry priests of various kinds, including those who sang
masses for the souls of former well known citizens, and
those of the Fraternity of the Holy Trinity, who sang
masses in the chapel of the Carnary, or charnel house, over
the bones of the unknown dead collected from all parts of
the city. The Cistercians from Beaulieu, Netley, Quarr,
Waverley, and other abbeys, must have had business occa-
sionally which called one or more of their Order to the
city. The Praemonstratensians also, the White Canons of
Titchfield, and the Augustines or Black Canons of South-

Winchester. 215

wick and St. Denys, must sometimes have found it neces-
sary for some of their order to visit the episcopal city.
Here, also, were to be sometimes seen the Knights of the
Temple, who rode over from Selborne or South Baddesley,
and the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, who came from
Godsfield and Woodcott, or at one time from St. Cross.

There must have been, in Winchester, many occasional
residents of the villein and borderer class, who came,
perhaps, from other counties, on business for some lord of
a manor, and who sought for opportunities of remaining
for the year and a day, which would give them borough
rights and free them from manorial services for ever.
Among the crowds of country people who came to sell
their produce must have been others who came to sell the
village medley cloths and other country manufactures,
smiths from Odiham and elsewhere with their iron goods,
salt-makers from the salterns along the coast, and charcoal
burners from the New Forest. Purkis, the charcoal-burner
who found the dead body of Rufus, knew where to take
the corpse of the king. Doubtless he had often found a
market for his charcoal among the minters, metal-
workers and others in the city of Winchester.

In the streets would be seen other forest people, those
who had the care of the dogs or the hawks — the huntsmen
and the falconers. Just outside the west gate was the
king's ' domus hafoc,' or hawk's house, where the falconers
kept their birds.

Winchester had, during the Middle Ages, a considerable
colony of Jews, who must have carried on profitable trades
and occupations and have been well-conducted citizens, for
they were protected by the king when persecuted elsewhere.
A city which was visited by so many strangers must have
required money-lenders and people who would buy jewel-
lery and other valuables of those whose funds ran short, and
some of the Jews were perhaps men of this description.
Winchester was, during several centuries, one of the few
places in England where the Jews met with fair treatment.

CHAPTER XVIII.

WINCHESTER IN DECAY.

THE prosperity of the city began to decline in the time of
Henry III., who was born there, and was, unfortunately
for the place, much connected with it. He was often at
the castle, and took quite a native interest in its municipal
and religious life. It was the centre of his misrule.
During his long reign, trouble followed trouble for the
monks and for the citizens. His exactions on the city
were oppressive, and his coercion of the convent of St.
Swithun was such as it had never before experienced. His
father, King John, had lost Normandy ; but Henry was
still Lord of Poitou and Aquitaine. The Normans had
ceased to trouble England, and the English estates of the
Norman nobles had been confiscated ; but this opened the
way to a host of adventurers from southern France, who
crowded round the king and were the cause of much
trouble with his English subjects. During his minority,
Peter des Roche, Bishop of Winchester, was the chief man
in the kingdom. He surrounded himself with his relatives
and other foreigners from Gascony and Provence. Some
of these have left their names in Hampshire. Roche
Court, near Fareham, still reminds us of the influence of
the bishop in the affairs of this county. Henry married
Eleanor of Poitou, and this increased the foreign influence,
the troubles of England in general, and of Winchester in
particular. Henry made several attempts to force the

Winchester in Decay. 217

monks of St. Swithun to elect a foreign bishop, and on
the second vacancy during his reign, in 1250, he succeeded
in forcing on them his young half-brother Aymer de
Valence, the fourth son of his mother, Queen Isabella, by
tier second husband. The Valence family played a
prominent part in this reign, and their name at Newton
Valence still reminds us of their influence in Hampshire
iffairs. During this reign, which was so disastrous for
Winchester, a building arose in the city which is one of
the chief architectural treasures of Hampshire, the County
Hall. It was originally built as the Castle Hall, and its
instruction is probably connected with a change in one of
;he Hampshire forests, for the king issued a writ to Peter
ies Roche, ordering him to cut down and sell all the
anderwood in the forest of Bere, and to apply the proceeds
:o the making of the great hall in the castle of Winchester ;
ind about this time, the forest began to be curtailed in
extent. On the raised da'fs at the west of the hall the
king loved to feast, with a great crowd of nobles and
:ourtiers. Here he held Parliaments of the magnates of
:he realm in 1261, 1265, and 1268. While the building of
the hall and other work at the castle was in progress, the
' custos operationum/ or director of the work, was named
Master Gerard, who had a messuage in the city.*

It was during the oppressive reign of Henry III. that
the glory of Winchester as the ancient governing centre of
:he kingdom began to wane. Kings came and Parliaments
net there after his reign ; but it was not the same
wealthy city it had been during the Saxon and Norman
periods. With the loss of Normandy, the trade and
:ommercial importance of Winchester declined. The cost
Df making a brave show on the occasion of royal and
lational gatherings was too great for the impoverished
:itizens. The treasury had gone to London, and with it
:heir prosperity. During the reign of Henry of Winchester,
:he citizens sided with the king in the civil war which
* Inq. p. m. 56 Hen. III.

2 1 8 History of Hampshire.

raged. In doing so, they probably judged this to be the
safest side for them. On the other hand, the convent of
St. Swithun, which had been so much oppressed by the
king and his foreign friends, took the other side, so that
when Simon de Montfort the younger appeared before
the town, the citizens were arrayed on one , side and the
monks on the other, and when the citizens refused him
admittance, the monks assisted him and his men to get in
through the King's Gate, which they held, and so he forced
his way through the close into Winchester. He gave the
city up to plunder and slew all the Jews he could find,
these being friends of the king and a prosperous body in
the city, where the name of their quarter, Jewry Street,
survives unto the present day.

The civil and ecclesiastical troubles of Winchester lasted
until the close of Henry's life. In the fifty-sixth year of his
reign,* the town was seized into the king's hand for not
accounting at the exchequer, but the impoverished citizens,
who were compelled to pray for relief from the payment of
the ' fee farme ' rent due to the king, still clung tenaciously
to their ancient privileges, hoping for a return of more
prosperous days. They disputed with the citizens of
London the right of serving the king in the royal cellar as
cupbearers, when he wore his crown after the ancient
fashion at Westminster, and a few years later they care-
fully safeguarded the honour of the ancient city by success-
fully claiming against the city of York the right fore-
quarter of the body of the brother of the Welsh prince
who was executed and quartered at Shrewsbury, which
they brought to Winchester, and, no doubt with much
satisfaction at their victory, set up over one of the gates.

After this time Winchester never recovered its former
importance. It was in succeeding reigns visited by kings,
who on some occasions summoned Parliaments to meet
there ; but its day as a capital city was past. In 1285 a
notable Parliament, which passed the * Statutes of Win-
* Maddox, ' Hist, Excheq.,' 701.

Winchester in Decay. 219

:hester,' relating to the administration of justice and the
^reservation of the public peace, met within its walls,
^orty-five years later Edward III. summoned a Parlia-
nent to meet there, and letters and writs to this assembly
vere issued to the two archbishops, to nineteen bishops,
wenty-seven abbots, two conventual priors, the Prior
if St. John of Jerusalem, eleven earls, fifty barons, nine
ouncillors, the sheriffs of the counties to send knights,
nd the Warden of the Cinque Ports. Later on in the
ame reign, Edward III. held a council there in 1371, to
yhich the sheriffs of thirty-seven counties were required to
end the specified knights, citizens, and burgesses who
irere at the last Parliament. In 1393 Richard II.
ummoned a Parliament to meet at Winchester, the writs
eing sent to the prelates, the dukes, and earls, to forty
arons, and to all the sheriffs. In the same year the
onvocation of the clergy in the province of Canterbury
ssembled at the Church of St. Swithun, the two assemblies
icing in session at the same time. The Parliament was
eld in the present County Hall, while the convocation
f the clergy met at the cathedral, probably in the
hapter-house.

During the greater part of the fourteenth and fifteenth
enturies Winchester had for its bishops a series of able
icn, who were statesmen of the highest rank as well as
cclesiastics. It was the wealthiest see in the kingdom, and
:s occupant during these centuries was often the Chancellor
r Treasurer of England. John de Stratford, who had
een treasurer under Edward II., was consecrated bishop by
ic Pope in opposition to the king's wishes, whereupon the
ing seized the estates and revenues of the bishopric, and
>r more than a year this contest between the king and the
ishop went on. The bishop at first sided with the queen and
[ortimer, against Edward and the elder Despenser, whose
tie of Earl of Winchester shows his connection with this
*y. After the queen's party had executed the earl, his head
as sent to Winchester, to be set up over one of the gates

22O History of Hampshire.

as a warning to the citizens whose sympathies were with
the king.

Mortimer, the queen's paramour, acquired great power
during the latter part of the unhappy reign of Edward II.
The leader of the barons, Edward, Earl of Kent, was seized
and attainted at an assembly held in Winchester Castle, at
which he was condemned to death. The bishop had to
flee for his life, and did not recover his position until the
overthrow of Mortimer by the young king, Edward III.

Some years later, his successor, Bishop Edington, rose to
high office in the state, and became treasurer of the
kingdom. His successor in the bishopric, William of
Wykeham, who took his name from his native place of
Wykeham or Wickham, in this county, was one of the
greatest men Hampshire has produced. He was Treasurer,
and subsequently Chancellor, of England. He is re-
membered also as the founder of the earliest of the
English public schools. His great school known as St.
Mary's College, which he established near the close, was
in existence nearly a hundred years before Henry VI.
founded Eton College. Wykeham was a great reformer
of ecclesiastical discipline at St. Swithun's, of abuses at St.
Cross, and of irregularities throughout his diocese.
Although he had no sympathy with the reform movement
under Wycliffe, he withstood the undue claims of the
Papacy.

Edward III. made Winchester one of his ten staple
towns for wool and leather, and did what he could to
revive its prosperity; but in vain. Richard II. was
favourably disposed towards it, and was a great friend of
Wykeham. Henry IV. honoured the city, by selecting it
for the celebration of his marriage, which took place in the
cathedral. It was in Winchester also that Henry V. enter-
tained the ambassadors from France in 1415, just before he
started on his French expedition, to carry war into their
country. At that time Beaufort, a son of John of Gaunt,
whose high position, wealth, and experience made him a

Winchester in Decay. 221

jreat power in the state, was Bishop of Winchester. After
lim came Bishop Wayneflete, who lived in the troublous
ime of the Wars of the Roses, but managed to steer his
;ourse clear of both the contending parties. Henry VI.
exhibited a great interest in the progress of Wykeham's
iducational foundations. His reign was an age favourable
:o the progress of educational ideas, and Wykeham's colleges
it Winchester and Oxford became the models from which
he king founded Eton College and King's College,
Cambridge. Bishop Wayneflete, emulating the educa-
ional zeal of Wykeham and of the king, founded
Magdalen College, Oxford, which became endowed with
he estates of Selborne Priory, and other ecclesiastical
ands in this county.

In the meantime, the prosperity of the city continued to
lecline. The kings had ceased to live there, and the
incient channels by which trade and wealth had formerly
lowed into it were now changed. Owing to the outbreak
>f the plague in London in 1449, Parliament was summoned
>nce more to meet in the great hall at Winchester. The
;ession lasted a month, and during this time the decayed
>ld capital must have experienced a brief return of its
brmer stately importance ; but the king and his Parlia-
nent soon left, and poverty again settled in the place.
Fwo years later, on account of its ruined condition, the
:itizens sent a petition to the king for help, in which they
tated that, owing to the great charges in connection with
ts walls and defences, the poor city was become ' right
lesolate, insomuch as many notable parsons ben with-
Irawen out of the saide citee.' They stated that the
lumber of households had greatly decreased, that some of
:he streets had fallen down for want of inhabitants, and
ilso gave a list of the ruined churches. The king granted
he petition by restoring the annual payment of forty
narks. The political and commercial importance of
Winchester was, however, doomed. Kings could give
emporary relief to its distressed inhabitants, but they

222 History of Hampshire.

could not bring back those ancient political and commercial
conditions under which Winchester had prospered. There
was no stream now of wealthy subjects of English monarchs
coming from their great French fiefs, for the reception of
whom Winchester had been so convenient. Normandy
had long been severed from the English crown, and
Gascony, the last great English province in France, had
lately been lost. The king and his court, with all the
state officials, had left the West Saxon capital as a
permanent place of residence for ever. The map of
Europe and the conditions of English political and
commercial life had become greatly altered. Henceforth
there could be no progress for Winchester but a down-
ward progress until the bottom should be touched, after
which great decline — a decadence unparalleled among the
cities of England, during which, however, she continued to
be the county centre — Winchester should again revive,
under altered circumstances, and take her place among
English county towns as one of the pleasantest of them
for residence, having historical memories and traditions
in which she far surpasses them all.

The gradual decadence of the city, which thus began in
the thirteenth century, and went on for more than three
hundred years, was occasionally broken by royal visits and
important state events that took place within its walls.

We look upon Winchester now as the ancient capital
with an interest which is historical only ; but during the
centuries of its decline, although that decline could not be
arrested, its historical associations had a stronger hold on
the popular mind, so that more than one of our kings,
whose title to the crown was not undisputed, turned
towards the place, as the home of so many of his ancient
predecessors, with a kind of instinct, and sought to invest
himself and his house with any advantages from associa-
tion with it in the popular mind which such a connection
could give. It was no doubt from a motive such as this

Winchester in Decay. 223

that Henry VII. journeyed to Winchester with his queen,
Elizabeth of York, and took up his residence there,
in order that their eldest child should be born in
England's old capital. In addition to its long list of real
sovereigns, Winchester has its more ancient legendary
kings, the earliest of whom is the renowned King Arthur,
whose table still hangs in the great hall, as it did in the
time of Henry VII. The table itself cannot be older than
the time of Henry III. ; but the legend goes back into the
mist of ages. Henry VII. probably attached more import-
ance to this legend than it obtains now. He was of Welsh
descent, and King Arthur was a Celtic chieftain. He
may have thought that his son, born in the old West Saxon
capital, where so many kings had been born, would gain
something thereby in the eyes of his subjects, and would
not only be the representative of both the rival houses of
York and Lancaster, but, as a future king of Welsh
descent, would finally heal the ancient race feud between
the Saxon and the Celt. In any case he caused him to
be named Arthur, and a splendid state ceremonial at his
christening and confirmation in the cathedral followed his
birth. The cathedral was richly decorated for the ceremony,
which was attended by the high officers of state. Under
the same roof lay the remains of Henry's great relative,
Cardinal Beaufort, beneath the richly adorned effigy and
chapel which still remain there. Pipes of wine were set
up in the churchyard, that all might drink, and great
rejoicings followed. The people of Winchester must have
sighed for a return of the good old days when it was all
over, and the king and his court had left.

In the next reign the city was honoured by a week's
visit of Henry VIII., in company with the Emperor
Charles V., who was entertained there in a manner suitable
to his rank. The two monarchs visited the college and
other objects of interest, and we are told that Charles was
shown King Arthur's table.

In the time of Queen Mary, Winchester was selected by

224 History of Hampshire.

the queen to be the scene of her marriage with the
emperor's son, Philip, Prince of Spain, which took place in
the cathedral in 1554. The great church had, however,
been much changed since the time when the emperor
visited it. Its gorgeous shrine had been destroyed, the
priory had been dissolved, the costly ornaments of the
church, which had been accumulated from the gifts of
kings and bishops during many centuries, had disappeared,
and, although decorated for the occasion, it must have
appeared, to those who had known it twenty years
before, a bare and desolated place, shorn of its former
grandeur.

The decadence of Winchester must have been completed
by the Reformation. After it had ceased to be a royal
residence, its episcopal state still remained, and its wealthy
monastic houses still enjoyed the revenues of their great
estates. A considerable part of this income would neces-
sarily be spent in the place, but when the monastic houses
were suppressed, and the bishopric shorn of a great part of
its revenue, Winchester must have reached its lowest point.
Its citizens, who had inherited only traditions of its past
glories, must then have despaired of better days ; but
perhaps some of them, like John Claptone the alchemist,
who lived there about this time, hoped to find the philo-
sopher's stone or some other potent remedy for their
distress. Claptone made elixirs, one of which, according
to his own account of it, might have renewed the prosperity
of the place if it could have been successfully worked. He
says : ' Augment the fire even to the second degree to a
citrination of the matter ; then fortify the fire to the fourth
degree, till the matter be fused like wax in the colour of a
jacinth ; and it is high matter, and a royal medicine, which
readily cureth all the infirmities of a diseased body, and
converts every metal into pure gold.'

Queen Elizabeth took little interest in Winchester, and
did not visit it until 1570, when she was welcomed with
many loyal addresses. She visited the college, and was

Winchester in Decay. 225

greeted there with many Latin verses composed for
the occasion, and a few in Greek, which shows that
the study of the latter language had made some pro-
gress.

James I., soon after his accession, made some use of the
old capital of his new kingdom. He came there with
his court in the autumn of 1603, and it was the scene of
the state trials which then took place, in which Lord
Brooke, Cobham, Grey of Wilton, and Sir Walter Raleigh,
were implicated. The Winchester people hailed their new
king with delight, and pelted Raleigh with tobacco-pipes.
One of the most remarkable travesties of justice followed,
and before it was over, the want of fair treatment of
Raleigh was so manifest that the citizens changed their
opinions, and Raleigh became a hero in their eyes.
During this time that unfortunate lady, Arabella Stuart,
was kept about the court at the castle in a kind of
captivity. King James's court was not a lively one, and
its temporary connection with the place had no effect on its
decay. Taylor, the water poet, described it in the seven-
teenth century as a 'city which had almost as many
parishes as souls.'

In the civil war of this century Winchester was held
for the king, and finally taken by Oliver Cromwell
in the autumn of 1645, after which the castle was mined
and blown up.

Charles II. took a fancy to the old place, and began to
build a magnificent palace on the site of the ruined castle.
He was in Hampshire on many occasions, and there are
traditions of him and Nell Gwynne still told in Winchester
and at Avington, a few miles away, where she often
resided. The great palace was never completed. James II.
had other matters to attend to, and it was not until the
time of Queen Anne that any thought was given to it.
The idea of completing it for the Prince of Denmark, the
queen's husband, was then considered, and finally aban-
doned. That part of the palace which Charles II. built,

15

226 History of Hampshire.

with suitable additions, has for many years been used as a
barrack.

All hope of the restoration of Winchester to its ancient
dignity as a place of royal residence died out after the
seventeenth century. It has since that time revived, and
has now become a prosperous county town with a popula-
tion of about twenty thousand.

CHAPTER XIX.

SOUTHAMPTON.

THE reasons for thinking that the present site of South-
ampton was inhabited in Romano-British time, and perhaps
earlier, have already been mentioned. Its situation is such
as would naturally invite a settlement. It was certainly
one of the first settlements of the West Saxons. The
earliest Saxon coins which have been found are sceattas
and pennies of the eighth century, which were discovered
with others of later date, and many articles of early Saxon
manufacture, in the refuse-pits, or kitchen middens, brought
to light about fifty years ago in St. Mary's field. This has
since been covered with buildings, but the site of one or
more of these pits is marked by the situation of an inn,
known as the Edinburgh Hotel. The site of these pits is
about half a mile outside the ancient enclosed area formed
by the medieval walls. Coins of Offa, King of Mercia and
overlord of Wessex, in the latter part of the eighth
century, were also found many years ago on the site of the
castle keep, when its artificial mound was levelled. This
site is within the medieval fortified enclosure, so that there
can be little doubt that the Saxons occupied the medieval
site as well as other parts of the borough area.

History dawns on Southampton in the ninth century,
an early reference to the town being that in 837,
when the Danes were repulsed. In 840 Ethelwulf
dated a charter from the ' royal town called Hamtun.'

15—2

228 - History of Hampshire.

From this brief record we learn that Southampton was a
royal town of ancient demesne more than two hundred
years before the date of the Domesday Survey. Various
entries relating to the place occur in Saxon documents.
We may estimate the importance of this town to the West
Saxons from the circumstance that it gave its name to the
county. Hamtunscire is mentioned towards the end of the
ninth century, and ' Suthamtune/ a name probably given
to it to distinguish it from Northampton, first occurs about
962. The West Saxon conquest of Hampshire took place
from the sea. The invaders penetrated into the county
from Southampton Water. On its shores they founded
their home town, or Hamtun, which they made their base,
and although history is silent concerning the details of the
conquest, the naming of the county after the name of this
town is significant.

The ancient alternative name ' Hantun ' may have been
derived in part from the Celtic period, ' an ' being a Celtic
water word of frequent occurrence among the place-names
of the county, and the situation of Hantun at the junction
of the Test and the Itchen would justify such a name. On
the other hand, the name Hantun may, of course, have
had its origin merely in a variety of spelling, but, however
derived, it still survives in part in the short name of the
county, * Hants.' Hampshire and Hants are but common
customary names, the legal name being the ' County of
Southampton.'

Southampton still possesses a considerable area of land
which in former centuries formed its common fields and
pasture. The pasture known as the Common still remains,
and forms an attractive appendage to the town, its modern
area, including the cemetery, being about 365 acres, well
diversified with wood. The hay, or boundary hedge of
Hampton, is mentioned as early as 1045 in the boundaries
of land at Millbrook granted by King Edward. From this
reference to the boundary of the borough liberty, and from
circumstances connected with the holding of the court-le(

Southampton. 229

in the open-air at Cuthorne, where the ancient mound, or
burh, still remains, we may conclude that the area of the
town liberty was as considerable in the time of the Saxons
as it is now.

Nature has made an excellent port in the Southampton
Water, and the town has always been a commercial
channel. The glimpses we get of its condition, and its history
before the Norman Conquest, show that it was governed like
other Saxon towns, and that its inhabitants were engaged
in both commercial and agricultural pursuits. It had con-
siderable traffic with Normandy before the time of the Con-
quest, and after that event its trade greatly increased.

Southampton must have been much used as a port in
early Saxon time before the chroniclers began to record
events in detail. Egbert is said to have landed here on
his return to Winchester after his exile at the court of
Charlemagne. There must have been considerable inter-
course across the Channel in those days, for coins of
Charlemagne have been found in this town. In 837 it was
attacked by the Danes with a considerable fleet, but they
were driven off after a severe fight. In the charters which
Ethelwulf and his successors dated from Southampton, it
is in one or more instances described as the ' celebrated
place called Heamtun,' from which it is evident that it was
a place of note early in the ninth century. The Danes,
from the frequency of their visits, evidently considered it a
desirable place. In 860 they landed near Hampton, and
did much damage in the county before they were repulsed.
Southampton was probably the seat of King Alfred's ship-
building operations, which were certainly carried on con-
veniently near to Winchester for the king to personally
visit and direct the work. Towards the end of the tenth
century the Danes and Northmen attacked it in force on
several occasions, and in 994 Olaf of Norway and Swein
of Denmark wintered there. Olaf was bought off at
Andover by the unhappy King Ethelred, but Swein con-
tinued to harass the town for many years. The inhabi-

230 History of Hampshire,

tants at last apparently welcomed the Danes, and gave
their support to Cnut. It was at Southampton that Cnut
was chosen king, while his rival Edmund was in London.
With the troubles of Edward the Confessor's time this
town had but little connection, but it was a port by
which communications were kept up between the English
and Norman courts. Both Earl Godwin and his son
Harold, before he became king, were connected with
the neighbourhood, and held several large manors in the
southern part of the county.

At the time of the Survey its population was partly
French. We are told that sixty-five French-born inhabi-
tants and thirty-one English-born inhabitants were lodged
or settled in Southampton after King William came into
England. The Domesday record also states that the king had
seventy-six men in demesne, who paid £7 in land gable.
These were the old demesne tenants of the borough, and
quite distinct from the new settlers after the Conquest.
The old demesne tenants paid the same land-tax they or
their predecessors paid in the time of Edward the Con-
fessor, and in addition to their commercial pursuits, such as
they were, constituted the agricultural community which
cultivated the land in St. Mary's field, Highfield, and
other parts of the borough liberty. Of these seventy-six
agricultural tenants, we are told that twenty-seven paid 8d.
each, two paid I2d. each, and fifty paid 6d. each. The
new settlers brought into the town by King William paid
£4 os. 6d. for all customs. These were perhaps wholly
engaged in that increased trade which followed the
Norman Conquest, and we may in all probability see some
of the results of the activity of these new settlers in the
remains of the Norman vaults, in the doorways, and other
remains of substantial Norman houses, and in the Norman
work of the church of St. Michael, situated within the
French part of the town. Two streets in this part of
Southampton — French Street and Bugle Street — still bear
names whose origin dates from this period.

Southampton. 231

The Norman Conquest brought great changes to South-
ampton. Its fortifications, which in the time of the Saxons
probably consisted only of an earthen rampart and one or
more ditches, were greatly improved. A stone wall was built
almost round it, the parts which were not inclosed by the
new wall being only those sites which were occupied by the
king's houses at the West Quay, and the south side in-
cluding the site of St. Julian's Hospital, the buildings which
existed on these spots being perhaps considered sufficiently
strong for effective defence. A Norman castle was built,
the great mound which the Saxons had thrown up as their
burh being utilized as the site of the castle keep. As this
mound was composed of a loose material, and was situated
near the slightly elevated sandy cliff, close to the western
shore, it was necessary for the safety of the castle buildings
raised on the mound and the edge of the cliff to strengthen
the sea wall, which was done by constructing a very strong
arched vault or vaults near the water-gate of the castle.
Part of this strong vaulted structure, which was utilized
as a storehouse for the castle, still remains. The original
Bar Gate was then built, and this apparently was a Norman
gateway with a tower or gatehouse above, in which the
machinery of the portcullis was worked. The central arch
and part of the two flanking turrets of this Norman gate-
house still remain, incorporated with the additions of a
later date.

Soon after the Conquest a church was built in the French
quarter of the town, and appropriately dedicated to St.
Michael, the patron saint of Normandy. The four massive
tower arches of this Norman church, which has been much
altered at later periods, still remain, a monument of the
rugged masonry of the early Norman period.

Many stone vaults for the storage of wine were built in
Southampton in the time of the Normans, some of which
are still in existence. It is quite clear from the architec-
tural remains of this period which have come down to us
that much money was expended on the fortifications and

232 History of Hampshire.

on the buildings which were then erected. The stone used
was chiefly the Bembridge limestone, and the conveyance
of this from the Isle of Wight must have given employ-
ment to many ships.

Municipal changes also came in with the Conquest.
The Saxon praepositus, or portreeve, was superseded by
the king's bailiffs, officials of Norman origin, whose
authority was for centuries very great. Their ancient
functions have disappeared, owing to the changes which
have occurred during the last few centuries, but they are
still annually elected.

During the rule of the Norman and Angevin kings,
certain ecclesiastical changes also occurred in Southampton
which had a great influence on its religious life. The
priory of St. Denys was founded by Henry I. within the
borough liberty, and endowed with land and other pro-
perty. He gave to this priory the four churches of
Holy Rood, St. Lawrence, All Saints, and St. Michael,
described in the charter as chapels, the mother church
being that of St. Mary, outside the town walls. The
Augustine canons of St. Denys were subsequently much
concerned with ecclesiastical matters in Southampton. At
St. Denys they conducted a school, where young men,
among others, were educated for the priesthood. In sub-
sequent centuries the canons also officiated at the chapels
of the Trinity and St. Andrew, outside the walls of the
town.

The greater trade and commerce which came in with the
Normans also brought with it an increased number of
lepers, and so, in 1173, the hospital of St. Mary Magdalen
for these infirm people was founded in the West Marlands,
about half a mile outside the town walls. The Franciscan
friars also settled in Southampton, and their convent was
founded about 1237.

Another institution of a conventual nature was founded
in the twelfth century, the hospital of St. Julian, or the
Maison de Dieu, commonly called God's House. This

Southampton. 233

hospital was an important institution in Southampton. In
the latter part of the thirteenth century one of its priors, or
wardens, Henry de Bluntesdon, conferred a great benefit
on the town by conveying water into it from the friars'
conduit, or spring-head, at Hill, about a mile outside the
town walls. This spring had been given to the friars by
Nicholas de Barbeflet, lord of the manor of Shirley, and by
the liberality of the warden of God's House Hospital, it
was conducted into the borough in a leaden pipe, and
placed at the service of the inhabitants at several town
conduits. The hospital was fairly wealthy, and, unfortu-
nately for Southampton, the wardenship was given by
Edward III. to the provost and scholars of Queen's Hall,
now Queen's College, Oxford, under whose management
its original purposes were forgotten and changed in sub-
sequent centuries.

The oldest institution in Southampton is its court-leet,
which it certainly possessed long before the Norman
Conquest, and which was the earliest guarantee of its liber-
ties. It exempted the town from the jurisdiction of the
hundred-court, held by the Sheriff of Hampshire, and was
the basis on which the subsequent privileges of the borough
grew. The old court-leet is still held on Hock Tuesday,
and is a venerable relic come down from Saxon time.
During the Saxon period the reeve, or praepositus, was
probably chosen at this court. Although he was subse-
quently superseded by the bailiffs, he is mentioned long
after the Conquest in the chartulary of the priory of St.
Denys, founded by Henry L, in which it is stated that the
tenants of the priory had to perform the same customary
services which they had performed for the king, and
among these was that of carrying rushes to the house of
the reeve, or bailiff, of Hampton, on the vigils of the chief
Church festivals.

Early in the reign of Henry I. Southampton received
what was, as far as is known, its first charter. Towns such
as this, which enjoyed privileges under the Saxon kings,

234 History of Hampshire.

generally possessed these liberties by custom and pre-
scriptive right. In later times the inhabitants sought to
confirm these customs and liberties by royal charters.
The liberties of the borough of Southampton were con-
firmed by successive kings until the time of Charles I.
The charter of Henry I. is referred to in that granted by
Henry II., who confirmed to the burgesses the possession
of all ' the liberties and customs by land and by sea which
they held in the time of King Henry, my grandfather.'
Richard I. granted the burgesses the important privilege
of not being impleaded out of their own borough. The
earliest town charter which has been preserved to the
present time is that of King John.

During the time of the Norman and Angevin kings
Southampton was a very prosperous town. As it was the
most convenient port for traffic between Winchester and Nor-
mandy, the Norman kings had houses in the borough. The
remains of one of these, situated close to the ancient quay,
known as West Quay, constitute one of the best examples in
the kingdom of domestic architecture of the Norman period.

It was no doubt a convenience to those who had occa-
sionally to pass to or from Normandy, or to send their
servants, to have houses in Southampton, and at the time
of the Domesday Survey we find that forty-eight houses
were held in this town free of tax by various barons,
officials of the royal household, and others, including one
each held by the Norman abbeys of Lira and Cormelies.
These abbeys subsequently had a grant of tithes in
Southampton given to them by Henry II., amounting to
£18. A certain small payment was also ordered by that
king to be made out of the revenue of the town to the
Knights Templars.

Some of the principal historical events which happened
at Southampton before the fourteenth century have
already been mentioned in the earlier chapters of this
volume. In 1338 the most disastrous event in the annals
of the town occurred. War had broken out with France,

Southampton. 235

and Edward III. was invading that country. The French
retaliated by suddenly attacking Southampton in force on
October 4 in that year, landing early on a Sunday morning
at West Quay. The inhabitants were entirely unprepared
for an attack, and for the most part fled. The enemy
plundered and burnt the houses at their pleasure. It was
at this time that the king's houses at West Quay were
destroyed, except those fine Norman walls, doorways, and
windows which have lasted until the present day. The
destruction of property on this occasion was so great that
for years afterwards the inhabitants were unable to pay
their rents due to the king, the Knights Hospitaller, the
abbey of Lira, the Queen Dowager Isabella, and others.
After this great disaster the fortifications were strengthened,
and a trained defensive force for the town was organized.
In 1346 Edward III. and the Black Prince embarked at
Southampton with the greater part of the army, with which
he then invaded France. The fleet sailed on July 14,
and the battle of Crecy was fought on August 26. Three
years later, in common with the rest of the county, South-
ampton suffered greatly from the first visitation of the
pestilence known as the Black Death, which is said to
have entered England at this port. In the first year of
Richard II.'s reign, the French fleet again appeared in
Southampton Water. They had devastated part of the
Isle of Wight, but the town was now in a condition to
withstand an attack, and with the aid of the English ships
under the Earl of Salisbury, the enemy was driven off.

In 1378 John of Gaunt, with his expedition for the
invasion of Brittany, sailed from Southampton, and after
an unsuccessful attack on St. Malo returned to this port.

In 1415 a notable expedition was mustered here.
Henry V., having resolved to invade France, assembled his
army in and around this port. He came to the town
while the preparations were going on, and it was here that
the conspiracy took place against him just before the
expedition sailed. The king's cousin, Richard, Earl of

236 History of Hampshire.

Cambridge, Lord Scrope, and Sir Thomas Grey were
convicted by a jury of conspiring against the king. Sir
Thomas Grey was beheaded the same day, and an
assembly of peers, presided over by the Duke of Clarence,
confirmed the judgment against the earl and Lord Scrope,
who had appealed to their own order. They were con-
demned : the earl was permitted to walk to the place of
execution outside the North Gate, but Lord Scrope was
drawn thither on a hurdle. The earl, who was buried
within the chapel of God's House Hospital, was the
fifteenth ancestor of our present queen in the Yorkist line.
During the work of restoring the chapel about thirty years
ago, a skeleton was found in the chancel, with the skull
lying near the bones of the legs. These remains were
reinterred, and are believed to have been those of the
unfortunate earl.

The fleet of Henry V. sailed for France on August n,
1415, and the battle of Agincourt was fought in October.

In the following year a fleet of French and Genoese
ships appeared in the Solent, and a naval battle was
fought not far from Southampton, in which the English
had the advantage. There was much activity in this port
in the embarkation of troops during the subsequent years
of Henry V., and this went on during the early part of the
next reign. In 1445 Margaret of Anjou arrived at
Southampton, and was lodged in God's House Hospital
previously to her marriage with Henry VI., which ceremony
took place at Titchfield, a few miles distant.

When the events of the Wars of the Roses had made
Edward IV. king, he enlarged the foundation of God's
House Hospital, by providing an endowment for three
priests there, to pray for the souls of his father, Richard,
Duke of York, and also his grandfather, Richard, Earl of
Cambridge, buried in that hospital, a circumstance which
shows the interest he took in the place, and that he had
not forgotten the incidents of his grandfather's time which
had occurred in Southampton.

Southampton . 237

Wine and wool formed the chief articles of trade in
Southampton during the Middle Ages. Many of the
ancient stone vaults, in which the king's prisage and other
wines were stored, have been destroyed during the street
improvements of the last fifty years. The ' prisage of wine/
afterwards known as ' butlerage ' was an ancient duty under
which the king claimed out of every shipload of wines of
more than twenty tuns, two tuns of wine at his own fixed
price. In Southampton, where the importation of wine
was great, this was a source of considerable revenue to the
crown, until early in the fourteenth century, when it was
commuted by agreement with foreign merchants for the
payment of two shillings per tun. Subsequently, in the
reign of Henry VII., an Act of Parliament relieved the
burgesses from the payment of this duty.

The wool trade, which was also very considerable in
Southampton, grew into importance during the thirteenth
century, when regulations were made for just weight. The
old Woolhouse in which the wool was weighed still remains,
and the custody of the weighing beam, or tron, was for
a long time vested in the family of the Earl of Warwick,
who held a house in the town by the service of weighing
goods in Southampton.

The great foreign traders to Southampton from the
early part of the thirteenth until the middle of the sixteenth
century were the Venetians. Their ships were commonly
known as the Flanders galleys, from trading also to
Flanders. These trading expeditions were organized by
the Venetian senate, the galleys being under the command
of an admiral or chief captain, whose flagship was often
anchored in Southampton Water, while the other vessels
of the fleet proceeded to other parts of the English coast,
and to Flanders. They brought spices, Indian cotton,
silks, and other commodities, and took away wool, leather,
Winchester and other cloths, and tin.

The trade of the town was carried on during the Middle
Ages under the regulations of the Guild Merchant. These

238 History of Hampshire.

regulations or ordinances are of early date. A copy
written in a book made by W. Overey, town clerk in 1473, is
preserved among the muniments, and in this it is stated
that the ' auncient fathers made the said booke of olde
tyme in French tonge, and this is now translated out of
Frenche into Englishe.' The ordinances of the Guild
Merchant,* show that some of its rules were derived as
much from Saxon borough customs as from the later
usages of the Normans, and the regulations appear to have
been compiled from both sources. The two discreets of
the market referred to in these ordinances are still annually
appointed by the town council. Another ancient officer,
the Alderman of Portswood, who was the representative of
law and order for the tithing of Portswood, is also still
annually elected.

The jurisdiction which the town gradually acquired over
the port was one of its chief privileges. The port of
Southampton originally extended from Langstone on the
east to Hurst on the west, and thus included the whole of
the north of the Solent in addition to Southampton Water.
King John granted the town to the burgesses at a fixed
payment, together with the port of Portsmouth, then much
smaller than Southampton, and in a trial in 1324 with the
burgesses of Lymington, concerning petty customs, it was set
forth that all places from Hurst to Langstone were within the
port of Southampton. Henry VI. granted to the borough,
in 1451, admiralty jurisdiction within the port, in right of
which grant the burgesses held an admiralty court, claimed
all wrecks, regulated fishing, had a prison for the punish-
ment of offenders on the water, and erected an admiralty
gallows close to the shore for the execution of criminals, in
addition to the town gallows, more than two miles away, at
the northern boundary of the borough liberty. It was in
virtue of this old admiralty jurisdiction that the Mayor of

* See ' History of Southampton,' by the Rev. J. Silvester Davies,
pp. 132-151-

Southampton. 239

Southampton, as admiral of the port, had an oar carried
before him, and the silver oar which still exists among the
town regalia is the emblem of this ancient dignity.

From the Conquest until the middle of the fifteenth century,
when the French provinces were finally lost to the English
crown, Southampton was a busy port. Many Normans
and other subjects of the Norman kings made it their home.
Norman-French became the language of its chief inhabi-
tants, and the government of the town was practically in
the hands of burgesses of foreign birth and their descen-
dants. Its older Saxon institutions became merged into a
municipal system of government which was largely of
French origin. In the time of Henry II. and his sons,
Angevins, Poitevins, and Gascon merchants became closely
connected with the port. The chief shipmasters at this
period bore such names as Vitullus, Wasceline, Fitz-Gelde-
win, De Baion, De la Wicha, De Braiose, Trenchemere,
Vitalis, Fitz-Alan, Mansel, Berenger de Hampton, and
Humphrey Hai.* These were the men who were largely
concerned in the commercial traffic across the Channel, and
whose ships were very frequently hired for the royal ser-
vice. Later on, as the Norman traffic died out, there came
an increased number of merchant ships from Bordeaux and
other ports of Gascony, and the Venetians, who among
their other commercial transactions bought wool produced
on the estates of many of the Cistercian and other monas-
teries, including Beaulieu, Netley, Quarr, and Titchfield in
this county. In the fifteenth century alum was brought to
this port by the Genoese, and other Italian merchants rode
about the country buying up at first hand wools, woollen
cloths, and tin. The relative prosperity of the port in the
middle of the fifteenth century may be estimated by a loan of
£1,000 which was ordered to be levied in 1454, of which
London was assessed at £300, Bristol £150, Hampton
£ 100, and Norwich and Yarmouth together £100. This

* See * The Court, Household and Itinerary of King Henry II.,'
Index.

240 History of Hampshire.

pro rata levy probably included Lymington and other
places within the ancient port.

The customs arising from the port of Southampton were
on many occasions assigned by the crown as security for
various loans, such as in the time of Henry V. to the Chan-
cellor Beaufort, and in that of Henry VI. to the feoffees of the
duchy of Lancaster. By a charter granted in 1447 the town
was made into a county, under the name of the ' County
of the town of Southampton,' and the burgesses were per-
mitted to choose a sheriff, a privilege they still exercise.
From about this time the bailiffs began to decline in im-
portance, as the town gradually became more independent
of the royal control, and as the mayor and sheriff became
invested with increased authority.

In the Middle Ages the burgesses grew corn on their
common arable lands at Highfield, St. Mary's field, and
elsewhere, and ground it into flour with other corn,
brought into the town, at the tidal mills on the Itchen
and at the outlet of the moat. Two of the old trade
quarters of the town are still designated by the names of
Sirnnel Street, which was probably a place where bakers
pursued their craft ; and Pepper Alley, where groceries or
spices were sold. Brewing was an occupation which was
largely carried on in and just outside the town, and much
of this beer was probably supplied to ships. The brewers
were accustomed to dig clay in the salt marsh to make
bungs for their beer barrels. The fish market was held in
St. Michael's Square, and the market for poultry, eggs, and
other country produce near the market-cross in the High
Street. Southampton had four ancient fairs, of which
only one now survives in a modified form, viz., that on
Trinity Monday, granted or confirmed by Henry VII. to
the burgesses and to the hermit of Holy Trinity Chapel.
Its streets in the Middle Ages were frequented by motley
groups of foreign merchants, sailors, and travellers — Nor-
mans, Poitevins, Gascons, Flemings, mariners from the
Low Countries and from the Hanse towns, Venetians and

Southampton. 241

sailors from their dependencies, such as the Sclavonians,
who had a guild of their own in this town and a burial-
place at North Stoneham, a few miles away. Here came
crowds of pilgrims on their way to foreign shrines, such as
that at Compostella, or to the English shrines at Winchester
and Canterbury, and as long as the connection lasted,
monks and other ecclesiastics to and from foreign abbey s
and their dependent English priories.

During the sixteenth century the maritime trade of
Southampton declined, and during the seventeenth it had
few ships and very little commerce. The Venetian galleys
left the port for the last time in 1532, and although other
ships from Venice came after that date, their voyages were
private undertakings, and not commercial expeditions
organized by the Venetian state. The opening of the
newer trade route to India was one of the causes of the
decline of the Venetian trade with this town, and the
opening of another route to India, via the Suez Canal, has
in our own time also taken away part of the traffic of
this port with Eastern countries.

During the eighteenth century, Southampton became a
fashionable seaside resort. Assembly rooms were built
after the model of those at Bath, and their present dilapi-
dated state and decayed gilded decorations remind us of
that time.

The latest commercial development of the town began
about fifty years ago, since which time it has rapidly grown,
and populous suburbs have sprung up around it. Including
its suburbs it has now a population of about one hundred
thousand.

16

CHAPTER XX.

PORTSMOUTH.

THE earliest record relating to the island of Portsea, on
which Portsmouth is situated, is a grant by King Ethelred,
the son of King Edgar, of Frederington, now known as
Fratton, with four hides of land, to the New Minster at
Winchester.

Portsea Island is not mentioned by name in Domesday
Book, but the manors of Copnor, Fratton, and Buckland
included within it are named, and also the manor of Apple-
stede, which is believed to have included lands in and ad-
joining the harbour. From this survey we learn that
Copnor and Buckland formed part of the great lordship of
Earl Godwin in the time of Edward the Confessor, and were
held of him by Saxon thanes named Tovi and Alward.
Fratton was held by a thane named Chetel, of King
Edward, and Applestede was held also directly from the
king by a thane named Coding. The tenures of Applestede,
Buckland, and Fratton were allodial, the holders being
only liable for the repair of local defences, the repair of
bridges, and for military service in case of invasion.
Copnor was held of Earl Godwin by a thane of a lower
grade, who could not remove from the land. At the time
of the Norman Survey, Hugh de Port was the superior lord
of Applestede and Buckland ; Robert, the son of Gerold.
was the superior lord of Copnor ; and William de Warren

Portsmouth. 243

was the superior lord of Fratton ; and these manors were
held respectively of them by tenants named Tezelin,
Heldred, who had both Buckland and Copnor, and
Oismelin. These estates were entirely agricultural, except
that of Copnor, which had also a saltern.

The harbour of Portsmouth was used by the Romans,
who built the fortress of Porchester on its northern shore.
Many traces of Roman occupation have been found near
Porchester. Nothing positively is known of the early history
of this Roman station, but there are traditions, derived
from the Chronicles, and repeated from age to age, of
a battle being fought near Portsmouth, the leader of the
invaders being named Port, who is supposed to have given
his name to the place. This tradition must be taken for
what it is worth. All that is certain about the Port or
de Port family, at Portsea or Portsmouth, is that at the
time of the Domesday Survey Hugh de Port, the greatest
Hampshire baron, who held many manors in the county,
held Applestede and Buckland.

In uoi we read of Portsmouth as the place where Duke
Robert of Normandy landed with his troops. Subsequently
the advantages of the harbour as a port in passing to or
from Normandy became recognised. Henry I. was at
Portsmouth at Whitsuntide, 1123. The Empress Maud
and Robert Earl of Gloucester landed there in 1139. It
was much used by Henry II., who landed or embarked at
Portsmouth on ten occasions. King Richard and King
John both made use of the port, the latter king passing
through it on ten occasions during his reign.

The old church of Portsmouth is dedicated to St.
Thomas a Becket, and was founded as a chapel in the
parish of Portsea soon after the murder of the archbishop
and his subsequent canonization, on a site in Sud mede
or South mead given by Richard de Gisors.

In a grant made by King John in 1201 of two mills at
Portsmouth to the abbey of Fontevrault, we see what was
perhaps only part of the gift made at that time by the king

1 6 — 2

244 History of Hampshire.

to this abbey, where his brother, Richard, was buried.
In the time of John the history of Portsmouth as a
shipbuilding place appears to have commenced, and there
are numerous subsequent references to its trade and
shipping.

Portsmouth was used by Henry III. as the place for the
assembly of his expeditions to Gascony. In 1229 a great
army of English, Irish, Scotch, and Welsh was mustered
there. Again in 1242 and in 1253 Henry III. was at
Portsmouth with troops destined for his great province in
southern France. In 1272 the town was seized into the
king's hand for not accounting at the Exchequer.*

In 1260, an endowment was provided for the church of
St. Thomas a Becket, originally founded as a chapel, which
after this time was placed in a more independent ecclesi-
astical position.

The increase of traffic between Portsmouth and the ports
of Gascony in the thirteenth century was apparently the cause
of the establishment of the hospital of St. Nicholas, or
God's House. This was founded by Bishop Peter de
Roche, and was subsequently endowed with lands and
messuages in the town. The hospital played an important
part in its early history and enjoyed special privileges. In
1229 provision was made that the privileges of this hospital
should not encroach on the rights of the town, to which, by
way of fealty, the hospital was bound to pay five shillings
quarterly. During the wars of Edward III., Portsmouth
was on several occasions concerned in the despatch of troops
across the Channel to northern France. Expeditions sailed
from the harbour for these wars in 1346, 1369, and 1386.
In 1377 the French retaliated by capturing the town and
burning it, and it is probable that many of its early muni-
ments were lost or destroyed at that time. During the
troubles of Henry VI/s reign, de Moleyns, Bishop of
Chichester, who held office under the king, was murdered

* Maddox, ' Hist. Exchequer,' p. 701.

Portsmouth. 245

by an infuriated mob at Portsmouth in 1450. In 1475
there was a great encampment of troops on Southsea
Common, Edward IV. himself being present. That king
and his successors, Richard III. and Henry VIL, did much
for the fortifications of the town, which were enlarged and
strengthened during these reigns. The dockyard may be
considered to date from 1509. Southsea Castle was built
by Henry VIII., and when Leland visited Portsmouth during
this reign, he found the town defended by ' a mud waulle
from the Est Tour armed with tymbre, whereon be great
pieces of iron and brasen ordinaunce, a wall of mud like the
other going Est, a gate of tymbre at the north end of the
town, and by it a hille of erthe dichid, whereon be guns to
defend entry to town by land.' About that time the
entrance to the harbour was defended by a great chain
made of large iron links stretched across it from tower to
tower on either side. This is shown in a plan of the town
made in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and now preserved
among the Cottonian MS. in the British Museum.

A naval battle which lasted two days was fought off
Portsmouth in July, 1545, between the French fleet, com-
manded by d'Annabaut, and the English, commanded by
Lord Lisle, whose flagship was the Great Harry. The
French were finally driven off, or abandoned their attack,
but during the operations the large English ship named
the Mary Rose went down with 600 men, many of whom
were lost. Henry VIII. was at Portsmouth at this time.
After this engagement a large fresco, commemorative of
the event, was painted by Holbein on a wall at Cowdray
House in Sussex. A very large engraving of this painting
was made by Basire in 1778 for the Society of Antiquaries,
and as Cowdray House was shortly afterwards burnt, the
engraving now alone remains to commemorate this famous
engagement. Illustrations of the Great Harry, the Mary
Rose, and other ships which took part in this engagement,
are preserved in the Pepsian Library at Cambridge.

One of the greatest fleets which assembled at Ports-

246 History of Hampshire.

mouth in the sixteenth century was that in the time of
Edward VI., when fifty- three ships of 6,655 tonnage,
manned by 5,136 seamen, 1,885 soldiers, and 759 gunners,
were mustered there. During the time when Sir Henry
Radcliffe was Captain of Portsmouth, in the reign of Eliza-
beth, the fortifications were much improved.

Many notable old ships of the English navy have been
launched at Portsmouth, and many others have ended
their career in its harbour. When Leland visited the
place, the old ribs of Henry V.'s famous ship, the
Grace Dieu, which was built at Southampton 120 years
before, lay rotting on the mud. Her timbers were appa-
rently pointed out to the old antiquary, with sentiments
akin to those with which the Victory is shown at the
present day.

In August, 1627, a fleet of ninety ships was assembled
at Portsmouth, intended for the relief of Rochelle. This
fleet was commanded by the Duke of Buckingham, who
was assassinated on the morning of August 22 by Lieu-
tenant Felton. The king was at Southwick, a few miles
away, and was attending morning prayers in the chapel at
that place, when Sir John Hippesley entered the chapel
and whispered to him the news of Buckingham's death.

During the early part of the political troubles of
Charles I.'s time Portsmouth supported the Royalists. On
August 2, 1642, Colonel Goring, who was in command,
openly declared for the king, and the town was shortly
afterwards besieged by the Parliamentary forces. The
siege lasted from August 12 to September 7, the town
garrison consisting of 300 soldiers, 100 townsmen, 100 men
of Portsea, 50 officers and their servants, and 50 horses.
After about a month's siege the garrison was obliged to
surrender the town, and after its surrender it was held
during the remainder of the war for the Parliament.
During the Commonwealth an important naval event
occurred. Off Portsmouth, in 1652, Admiral Blake
oaptured eleven Dutch men-of-war and thirty merchant

Portsmouth. 247

ships. The town stood a short siege in December, 1659,
when it supported the Parliament against the army in
the political struggle which preceded the restoration of
Charles II. That king was fond of Portsmouth, and
visited it several times. In 1661 he was at Portsmouth
with his mother, Queen Henrietta, and in 1662 he was
married there to Catherine of Braganza, the Portuguese
princess who brought Bombay to the crown as part of her
dower. Portsmouth and its neighbourhood was selected
by Charles II. for the territorial titles he conferred on his
mistress, Louise de Querouaille, the Madam Carwell of
Hampshire folk-lore. He created her Baroness of Peters-
field, Countess of Fareham, and Duchess of Portsmouth,
and she gave to the corporation the fine pair of flagons of
silver gilt which is still preserved among the town plate.

The earliest charter granted to the borough, as far as
known, was that of Richard I., although a charter of
Henry I. is mentioned in a record of the Visitation of Hamp-
shire in the books of Heralds' College ;* but this is not
mentioned in the inspeximus of any one of the numerous
charters of confirmation afterwards granted to the borough.
King Richard, in his charter, discharged the burgesses
from tolls, gave them a market and an annual fair,
exempted them from suit at the hundred-court, and gave
them other privileges. A charter granted by King John
confirmed most of these liberties. Henry III. granted the
town four charters, in the last of which, dated 1256, he
allowed the establishment of a merchant guild. Subse-
quent charters of confirmation were granted by Edward I.,
Edward II., Edward III, Richard II., Henry IV., and
Henry VI. Edward IV. confirmed the charter of Richard II.,
ignoring those of the Lancastrian kings. Richard III.
granted a charter in the second year of his reign. Henry VII.
confirmed the charter of Edward IV., and this was confirmed
by his son Henry VIII., by Edward VI., and Elizabeth.

* • Extracts from the Portsmouth Records,' by R. J. Murrell and R.
East, p. 382.

248 History of Hampshire.

In the forty-second year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth
an extended charter was granted to Portsmouth incorporat-
ing the mayor and burgesses, and giving the town the same
legal recognition of ancient privileges by a new charter, as
Southampton, Winchester, and other towns received about
the same time. The corporation was first legally styled
1 the Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Portsmouth '
in this charter. The office of Mayor of Portsmouth ap-
pears to have become first recognised as such in the time
of Edward IV., the more ancient bailiffs having been pre-
viously the governing officials. An important reservation
of the rights of the military governor of Portsmouth and
his successors was made in this charter.

Charles I. granted another charter to the town in the
third year of his reign, and this was the last legal docu-
ment of the kind Portsmouth received. In the next reign
Charles II. granted the borough another charter towards
the end of his reign, varying its privileges and adding Gos-
port to it, for no doubt a money consideration, and on the
surrender of the charter of his father, Charles I. Then
occurred a curious episode in the history of Portsmouth.
The new charter was received and was acted upon for some
few years. In the meantime someone, perhaps in the
interests of the town, obtained possession of the old charter
and kept it until after the Revolution of 1688, when it was
found that the charter of Charles II. had not been enrolled,
nor that of Charles I. cancelled. This being then discovered
accidentally or otherwise, the town reverted to the franchises
it possessed under the charter of Charles I., much to its own
satisfaction, and Gosport has since ceased to be incorporated
with it.

Portsmouth continued to be governed under its ancient
charters until 1836. The old town - hall and market-
house stood in the middle of the High Street. This was
demolished as soon as the new corporation came into ex-
istence, when a new guildhall was built, and this latter
building has lately been superseded by a very handsome

Portsmouth. 249

modern town -hall, which has cost upwards of a hundred
thousand pounds, and is the finest building of its kind in
the southern counties.

The records of the Portsmouth court-leet, which have
been preserved, date from 1562, and they contain many
entries of presentments by the jury for offences of various
kinds against the laws and customs of the borough in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. From the large influx
of temporary residents, sailors and soldiers, which had begun
in the sixteenth century, Portsmouth must have presented
difficulties to the constituted authorities in the matter of local
government from which boroughs which had no such part
to play in national affairs were free. Municipal life in Ports-
mouth was also somewhat complicated by reason of its posi-
tion as a fortified town, held by a military force, under the
command of a governor or captain. The municipal and mili-
tary authorities not unfrequently came into conflict. This
occurred as early as the sixteenth century, and in the charter
of the forty-second year of Elizabeth, the rights of the mili-
tary commandant and his successors were expressly safe-
guarded. In the matter of local government Portsmouth
had thus a price to pay on account of its greatness as a
national arsenal and naval station, but its inhabitants must
have been recompensed for any troubles of this kind which
they experienced by the prosperity which the town enjoyed.
While fleets and ships were being fitted out in the harbour,
soldiers and sailors coming and going, the inhabitants
generally prospering, and some of them becoming rich, the
ancient court-leet fulfilled its functions in the local govern-
ment of the place, and looked after those of the community
' who lett their chymnes be affyer/ who left their cattle in
the fields and commons after sunset ; those brewers ' who
did not sell their beer at the price the dark of the market
set down/ and others who did ' their washing at the town
pumps.' The court was also concerned with ' forestallers
and regrattors ' of the market, with the maintenance of the
pillory and the stocks, the keeping up of the fences round

250 History of Hampshire.

the common lands, and such-like matters. It fined those
who broke open the pound and took impounded cattle out,
and the jury made presentments against those who did not
go to church. Some were presented to the court for not
attending divine service at all, some for only going now
and then, and some for only putting in an appearance
occasionally at the time when the sermon came on. Some
of the female part of the community were also included in
these presentments.*

When Jack was afloat in the harbour, he must have been
a more manageable inhabitant than when ashore. The
presentment of the court jury made in 1704, 'that the
anointing of ratts and putting fire to them is of dangerous
consequence, especially in this Towne, where there are
Magazeens of Powder, and tends to the setting the dwelling
houses of the inhabitants on fire,' is a singular one, and
looks as if intended to repress the sailors' freaks while
on shore. The presentment, however, says nothing about
cruelty to the rats.

The great beer question was always an important one in
this town. Beer was brewed for the ships of the navy in
four large brewhouses erected by Henry VII., and these
were distinct from the town breweries. The great number
of alehouses, victualling houses, punch-houses, and other
tippling places in ( the Back streets and By places of the
town and its liberties/ was seriously considered by the
court - leet in 1702. The presentment then made says
that the daily increase of such houses ' tends to the im-
poverishment of some, gives too great a liberty of intem-
perance to others of the inhabitants, and is a common
nuisance, and of ill consequence.' In 1716 there were in
Portsmouth 129 public-houses, 20 brandy shops, and six
coffee-houses.

One of the most important of the early institutions of
Portsmouth was its annual fair or free mart, which lasted
fifteen days. This was established by the charter of

* ' Extracts from the Portsmouth Records,' by Murrell and East.

Portsmouth. 251

Richard I., and appointed to be held at the time of the
feast of St. Peter ad Vincula, i.e., August i. It was free
to all people, natives and foreigners, without tolls, duties
or imposts of any kind. The date at which it was held
was varied in subsequent centuries, and it was continued
until 1846. From being a trading institution of an excep-
tional kind granted by King Richard as a special favour to
the town with a view of adding to its prosperity, this fair,
as time went on, became its greatest nuisance, until, within
the recollection of people now living, it had degenerated
into a scene of demoralization and turmoil such as could
no longer be tolerated, and it was abolished by Act of
Parliament, to the entire satisfaction of the great majority
of the inhabitants.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when
old customs and old conditions of life were gradually
giving place to those of modern date, those ancient instru-
ments of punishment, the pillory, the cucking-stool, and
the stocks, which had been of frequent service in Ports-
mouth, fell into disuse there, as they did elsewhere. The
preservation of the peace and the maintenance of order
were always difficult matters in this town, owing to its
large and varying population. The disorderly houses,
which are described as having been sinks of debauchery
and corruption, gave the borough authorities much trouble
as early as the beginning of the eighteenth century. The
town records tell us that it was from them that riots,
disorders, violence against his majesty's subject, and con-
tempt of justice, proceeded. From a circumstance which
occurred in 1733, we may perhaps surmise that some of
his majesty's tars had, while on shore or while subject to
the civil authority, conducted themselves badly, and been
put into the stocks, for in that year the stocks were
surreptitiously taken down, as the records tell us, ' by some
offenders in their nightly rowells' and thrown into the
churchyard, ' in order to be buried among the monuments
of the dead.'

252 History of Hampshire.

The later history of Portsmouth, like the earlier history
of Winchester, has been national in its interest. The
narrative of the expeditions and chief events of Portsmouth
history during the last two centuries would, for the most
part, be a narrative of national affairs. The whole British
Empire now feels an interest in this famous town. Its
growth has been commensurate with the growth of the
navy and of the empire. It is now a place of upwards of
159,000 people, having the populous suburb of Gosport
close to it. The reconstruction of the navy by the substi-
tution of steam for sailing ships, and the later reconstruc-
tion by the substitution of the latest type of battle ships
for those ironclads of earlier date, have necessitated a
great extension of the dockyard, and have contributed to
the growth of Portsmouth. It is a great military station
as well as the chief naval port. Its connection with India,
as the home port from which the trooping ships sail, is
considerable, and of advantage to it. Public money is
freely spent in Portsmouth, and part of this comes from
the Indian Exchequer.

In the time of the Saxon kings, when Winchester was
the governing centre of the kingdom, Portsmouth was
practically unknown. It was of such small account in
Norman and early English time, that the corporation of
Southampton claimed and exercised maritime jurisdiction
in its waters. From this obscurity, it has risen to a position
of supreme importance to the nation. Its fortified lines
extend for many miles around it, and are perhaps the most
extensive of any within the United Kingdom. About the
time when Winchester began to decline, Portsmouth began
to grow. The national interest in Winchester is an ancient
one. The national interest in Portsmouth is of another
kind, and is modern.

CHAPTER XXI.

LATER MEDIEVAL AND GENERAL HISTORY.

HAMPSHIRE was first represented in Parliament in 1295,
when four knights of the shire attended at Westminster.
Two burgesses were also sent to this Parliament for the
first time by Winchester, Southampton, Portsmouth,
Andover, Alresford, Overton, Alton, Basingstoke, and
Yarmouth and Newport combined as one borough. In the
Parliament of 1297 only two knights of the shire were
summoned, and burgesses from Winchester, Southampton,
and Portsmouth. In the early Parliaments which met
between 1297 and 1306-7, Alresford, Basingstoke, Odiham,
Overton, Alton, continued to receive writs. Odiham made
no return to the Parliamentary writ in 1300. The Isle of
Wight sent no representatives to this and several succeed-
ing Parliaments, although writs appear to have been issued.
Petersfield was first summoned to send burgesses to the
Parliament which met at Carlisle on January 20, 1306-7,
and to this assembly Fareham also sent representatives.
Christchurch received a writ, but made no return.

After 1307, until 1552, the usual writs for the attendance
of representatives appear to have been received only by
Winchester, Southampton, and Portsmouth, in addition to
the writ for knights of the shire.

In 1552-3 the representation of Petersfield was renewed,
after an interval of more than 240 years. In 1562-3
Stockbridge was made a Parliamentary borough. In 1572

254 History of Hampshire.

Christchurch also received a writ. In 1584 Lymington
and Newtovvn received writs for the first time, and the
representation of Newport and Yarmouth was renewed.
In 1586 Andover was again summoned to send represen-
tatives, and Whitchurch received a writ for the first time.
After this date until the first Reform Act, the county and
twelve boroughs in Hampshire continued to send members
to Parliament. After 1832, Whitchurch, Stockbridge,
Yarmouth, and Newtown lost their Parliamentary privi-
leges.

As long as the English kings retained any provinces in
France, the Hampshire ports were necessarily much con-
nected with the despatch of troops to Rochelle, Bordeaux,
and other ports of Gascony. Many musters of troops for
service in France took place in Hampshire during the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and at these times there
was a constant passage of knights, with their men-at-arms,
archers, and followers, along the main roads of the county
converging towards Southampton and Portsmouth. The
Channel Islands, that remnant of the Norman duchy which
the English kings managed to retain after the loss of their
territory in northern France, have since that time been
more closely connected with Hampshire than with any
other English county, and are, for ecclesiastical purposes,
still part of the diocese of Winchester.

In 1445 an event of considerable national interest took
place at Titchfield, viz., the marriage of Henry VI. to
Margaret of Anjou. No events of very great importance
occurred in this county during the wars of the Roses, but
it contained adherents of both sides, and some minor
skirmishes took place in Hampshire. One of these was
that near Southampton in which Lord Scales defeated the
Duke of Clarence and the Earl of Warwick, took the ship
La Trinite, and some prisoners. Edward IV. then came
to Southampton, and caused a court to be held on the
prisoners, who were hanged and impaled. In April, 1471,
the Countess of Warwick, wife of the king-maker, landed

Later Medieval and General History. 255

at Southampton, but soon afterwards, on the day after the
battle of Barnet, in which her husband was slain, she
hastened to Beaulieu Abbey, and there took sanctuary.
To this same privileged refuge Perkin Warbeck fled in
1497, after his failure in the West and the desertion of his
troops. He was closely pursued, and the abbey was sur-
rounded. Believing the promises made to him on behalf
of the king, he left the sanctuary, and was conducted a
prisoner to the Tower.

Hampshire played such an important part in the early
history of England that the record of events connected
with it after the fourteenth century is of much less general
interest than those of earlier date. A tradition survives in
the south-west of the county concerning Milford and the
landing of Henry Tudor, afterwards Henry VII. He was
known to be in France, and it was rumoured that he would
land at Milford ; but this turned out to be, not the Milford
in Hampshire, where the tradition says Richard III.
expected him, but Milford in South Wales, a much more
likely place for his arrival, among his own countrymen.

The Tudor sovereigns all passed through the county on
various occasions, and spent some time in various parts of
it. In his youth Henry VIII. was fond of hunting, and a
place in Woolmer Forest now called Lode Farm was a
favourite hunting-box of this prince. From the frequent
visits he paid to it, we are told he got the name of Harry
at Lode. The young king Edward VI. journeyed leisurely
through Hampshire shortly before his death, in the hope of
restoring his health ; and in the next reign Southampton
Water was the scene of the arrival in state of a great fleet
of Spanish ships, which escorted Philip, Prince of Spain, to
this country, on the occasion of his marriage to Queen
Mary. His landing took place on the beach outside the
Water Gate of Southampton, where he was met by the
mayor, who humbly gave up the keys of the town to him
as an act of homage. The prince and a gorgeous proces-
sion of English nobles and Spanish grandees proceeded

256 History of Hampshire.

through the Water Gate to Holy Rood Church, where high
mass was sung in thanksgiving for his safe arrival, after
which we are told the Spaniards regaled themselves with
the beer for which the town was noted, and some of them
became drunk.

During the progresses of Queen Elizabeth the county
received its full share of attention. She journeyed through
it on various occasions. The base of one of the ruined
pillars of the great church of Netley Abbey still bears the
name of the virgin queen, cut into it on the occasion of one
of her visits to the Earl of Hertford, who then resided
there. The inscription begins : ' Elizabetha Rex Angliae,'
the queen being styled ' Rex/ not ' Regina.'

The finest entertainment this queen received in Hamp-
shire was, however, provided for her by the same earl at
another of his seats in this county. This was at Elvetham,
near Odiham, where, in 1591, he received his sovereign
with much pomp, and organized for her entertainment a
series of princely sports such as she delighted in, after the
manner of those for which Kenilworth became famous,
At Elvetham the earl caused new buildings to be specially
erected for the use of her majesty and her attendants.
Bowers were constructed, and a poet clad in green appeared,
who, of course, was able to versify in the Latin tongue. He
addressed the queen in a Latin oration, which much pleased
her. Water pageants were got up on the lake in Elvetham
Park. Nymphs appeared, and Neptune put in an appear-
ance, and even condescended to conduct a pinnace on the
water, which contained three virgins who, as they passed
by the queen, delighted her by playing Scottish jigs. All
this is amusing to read, and it happened in Hampshire
three centuries ago, but it belongs to the history of the
court rather than to the history of the county.

During the Civil War of the seventeenth century Hamp-
shire was the scene of several important events. At the
beginning of hostilities it was soon apparent that the feeling
of the county was much divided. A majority of the

Later Medieval and General History. 257

inhabitants of the towns and some of the gentry of the
county sided with the Parliament. On the other side was
a considerable party of Royalists, the most notable of whom
was the Marquis of Winchester. The great struggle which
ensued caused divisions even in the county families, such
as in those of the Paulets and the Tichbornes, some of
whom took up arms on opposite sides.

In December, 1642, Winchester was captured by the
Parliamentary force under Sir William Waller, and then
it was that such irreparable injury was done to the cathedral
muniments, many of which were scattered and lost. The
cathedral itself was much injured in the interior ; many of
its monumental chapels which had escaped destruction a
hundred years before were then defaced. The Parlia-
mentary soldiers profaned the sacred edifice, broke down
the organ, opened the tombs, smashed the windows, and
rode through the streets of the city, bearing with them
such trophies as surplices, hoods, and other ecclesiastical
vestments, organ -pipes, pieces of carved work, and copies
of the Book of Common Prayer. During the summer of
1643 Winchester again suffered. It was attacked on
several occasions, and was occupied about this time by
both the contending parties more than once. At the out-
break of hostilities Winchester, like other old defensive
positions, was not prepared to stand a siege, so that it was
taken and retaken during this year. By the end of this
year it was securely held by the Royalists, under Lord
Hopton, who had under his command about 3,000 foot and
1,500 horse. The military importance of the city, and the
part it played during the next two years, were due to its
ancient fortifications. Although its castle was somewhat
dilapidated, it was a strong defensive place, and the old
city wall still remained. Winchester Castle was soon put
into a position to stand a siege ; it was provisioned, and
its defences repaired.

During this war, the towns of Southampton and Ports-
mouth were held for the Parliament, while from the end of

17

258 History of Hampshire.

1643 to the end of 1645 Winchester was held for the king.
In the North of Hampshire, Basing House was also held by
the Marquis of Winchester for the Royalist cause. This
house possessed many of the features of a castle. It took
the place of the medieval castle which had been burnt in
the time of Queen Elizabeth, and, like its predecessor, was
built within the lines of an ancient British fortification.
Basing House was close to the main road from London to
the West, while Winchester was on the main thoroughfare
between the south-western counties and the south-eastern.
During the Civil War Hampshire was linked with Surrey,
Kent, and Sussex by the Parliament for military purposes.
The chief Parliamentary general in this part of England,
during the greater part of the war, was Sir William Waller.
Opposed to him at the end of 1643 was Lord Hopton,
whose headquarters were at Winchester. Southampton
was held by Colonel Norton, while Waller's headquarters
were at Farnham Castle. The last battle fought on Hamp-
shire soil took place in March, 1644, on tne downland
between Cheriton and Bramdean, between the forces under
the commands of Sir William Waller and Lord Hopton.
This has been since known as the battle of Cheriton, and
its importance has scarcely been sufficiently recognised.
Several thousands of men were engaged on both sides ; the
fighting lasted from ten in the morning until darkness
came on at night, and the slaughter was great. Waller
gained a decisive victory, and Hopton, aided by the dark-
ness, retreated towards Basing, which the greater part of
the remnant of his force reached, while the remaining part
retired to Winchester. Both Winchester and Basing House
continued to be held for the king for more than a year and
a half longer.

Basing stood several sieges, and skirmishes went on
round Winchester and Southampton. After the fall of
Bristol, Cromwell marched into Hampshire. The Parlia-
ment held Portsmouth, Southampton, and Christchurch,
while Winchester and Basing held out for the king. Crom-

Later Medieval and General History. 259

well appeared before Winchester with a strong force early
in October, 1645, an<^ summoned the city to surrender.
After some parleying and artillery practice in battering the
castle wall, the place was surrendered. The final siege of
Basing then took place. The' force with which Cromwell
surrounded it a few days after the fall of Winchester was
too strong for successful resistance, and Basing was taken.
It has been calculated that during its sieges more than
2,000 lives were lost by skirmishes and various attacks
upon it.

Many stories of the period of the Civil War, more or less
real, survive in the county. Hursley, near Winchester, was
the seat of Richard Cromwell, who acquired it through his
wife, Dorothy Major. Traditions of the greatness of the
Cromwell family, and of Richard during his brief period of
office as lord protector, survive there, and traditions of his
fall survive in the name of the public-house bearing the
name of Tumbledown Dick at Farnborough, which, with
others of a similar kind, was probably adopted as a tavern
sign at the time of the restoration of the monarchy. At
West Tisted, a hollow oak-tree is shown near the old
manor-house in which Sir Benjamin Tichborne concealed
himself after Cheriton fight, and which is still known as
Sir Benjamin's oak. Cheriton and its neighbourhood
abound in chalk springs, which are usually very active in
the month of March. The tradition that one of the lanes
there leading from the battle-field ran with blood may
have had some foundation from the fact of the blood from
some of the slain being mingled with the spring water. At
East Wellow the ghost of Colonel Norton, the regicide, is
still said occasionally to walk from the site of the old
manor-house, formerly a seat of his family, into the parish
church.

The effects of the Civil War in Hampshire were con-
siderable. The royal castle at Winchester was demolished,
and the bishop's fortified palace at Waltham was reduced
to the state of ruin in which it now remains. Old Basing

I/—2

260 History of Hampshire.

House, which had stood out so long in the royal cause, was
burnt and destroyed. The Royalist families in this county
became impoverished by the heavy fines laid upon them
in order to save their estates.

The Marquis of Winchester and his family became
greatly reduced after the fall of Basing, and the Earl of
Southampton, the last of the four earls, who died in 1667,
sank into a position of less importance in the county than
his father and grandfather had occupied.

The imprisonment of Charles I. at Carisbrook Castle,
and the negotiations which took place at Newport a short
time before the trial of the king, are well-known events of
our national history.

After the battle of Worcester and the suppression of the
rising under Prince Charles, the estates of a considerable
number of Hampshire Royalists were confiscated by the
Act of 1651, which ordered the lands and estates forfeited
for treason to be sold, and by the Acts of 1652, which
ordered forfeited estates to be sold for the use of the navy,
or for other purposes. The families which lost their lands
in this way were those of Fowel of Abbots Ann, Cham-
berlain of Lyndhurst and Nash, Budding of Clinton,
Gosling of Morestead, Hide of Woodhouse, Laney of
Petersfield, Linkhorn of Bowyet, Mallet of Portsmouth,
Phillipson of Throp, Pinchin of Shalden, Sir Charles and
Sir John Somerset, Sir Richard Tichborne, and Wells of
Eastleigh. The manors of Blendworth, Catherington,
Chalton, and Clanfield were also sold under these Acts of
Parliament.

In 1651 Charles II. passed through Hampshire in
disguise, during his adventurous wanderings before he
reached Shoreham and escaped to France. Being unsuc-
cessful in finding a ship in Dorsetshire, he arrived at Hale,
in the south-west of this county, in the company of one
Robin Philips, and was lodged for one night in the house
of Mrs. Hyde, a widow lady living there. She arranged

Later Medieval and General History. 261

for Charles and his companion to ride off openly the next
morning, and to return secretly in the evening, when she
contrived that the servants were all absent. They spent
the day roaming over Salisbury Plain, viewing Stonehenge
and counting the stones there, and in the evening, when
they returned, Charles was conducted to the secret
chamber, such as many houses at that time contained.
There he remained four or five days, and Philips rode off to
Salisbury. Subsequently Philips brought word that
Colonel Gunther had provided a vessel at Shoreham, and
he and the prince left Hale at two o'clock the next
morning. About fifteen miles from Hale they met Gunther,
with whom the prince rode on to Hambledon. They lodged
that night at the house of the colonel's brother-in-law, who
came home to supper, having, after the fashion of the time,
been spending the day as a good-fellow-well-met with his
neighbours at an ale-house. He did not like the look of
the disguised prince, and declared he was like some
' round-headed rogue's son' ; but the colonel reassured
his relative, and said that Mr. Jackson (the name by which
Charles went) was not such an one. Later on in the evening,
when the host let fall an oath, Mr. Jackson took occasion
modestly to reprove him. The next day they reached
Shoreham, and Charles escaped across the Channel to
Fecamp.*

The marriage of Charles II. to Catherine of Braganza
took place at Portsmouth on May 22, 1662.

He was much in Hampshire in subsequent years, with
various members of his dissolute court, and he selected
Portsmouth, Petersfield, and Southampton for the names
of titles which he conferred on his mistresses and one of his
illegitimate children.

A later event of this king's reign, in which Lord William

Russell was implicated, has more than a local interest.

Lord William Russell's devoted wife was Rachel, a

daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Wriothesley, fourth

* Boscobel Tracts.

262 History of Hampshire.

Earl of Southampton. She had been brought up at
Titchfield, where the ruin of the family mansion of the
Earls of Southampton, on the site of the earlier abbey, still
remains. There also, attached to the church, is the chapel
containing the fine monuments to the founder of the family
and his wife, Thomas Wriothesley, lord chancellor under
Henry VIII., and his son the second earl, which Henry the
third earl, the friend and patron of Shakespeare, reared at
a very great cost. Some of Lady Rachel Russell's well-
known letters were written from Stratton Park in Hamp-
shire, where her memory still survives in the name of an
avenue of trees known as Lady Russell's Walk.

In 1685 the troops raised by James II. moved through
Hampshire towards Somersetshire to suppress the rising
under Monmouth, and after the battle of Sedgemoor the
duke was captured as a fugitive on the south-western border
of Hampshire, near Ringwood. This border-land is a
country of heaths and woodlands, and it was on the edge
of one of these woods that the unfortunate duke was taken,
disguised as a shepherd, in July, 1685. He was conveyed
to Ringwood, where, a local tradition says, he was lodged
in the White Hart Inn, an ancient hostelry, whose sign
still survives, and which preserves this and other traditions.
At Ringwood the captive duke was kept a close prisoner
for two days, and from this place he wrote his abject letter
to the king, in which he begged piteously for pardon, and
sought to extenuate his offence to no purpose, for he was
hurried on through Romsey and Winchester to London,
and thence to the scaffold.

The neighbourhood of Ringwood was the scene of
another event of national interest connected with Mon-
mouth's rebellion a few weeks later. Fugitives from the
duke's army were hiding, and were being hunted down.
On the evening of July 28, 1685, two of these, named
Hickes and Nelthorpe, arrived at Moyles Court, three
miles from Ringwood, and sought hospitality for the night.

Later Medieval and General History. 263

The lady of the house was Dame Alice Lisle, the widow of
Colonel Lisle, who had taken a prominent part on the side
of the Parliament in the troubles of the time of Charles I.
The reception of these fugitives, and their capture the
same night by Colonel Penruddock and his troop of
soldiers, is a matter of history. Then followed the arrest
of the lady of the house and her removal to Winchester.
Subsequently followed the 'bloody assize/ under the
infamous Judge Jefferies, and the so-called trial of the
venerable lady. She was convicted, and condemned to be
burned. The only indulgence shown her by the king was
one in accordance with her own petition, that she might be
beheaded, which sentence was carried out at Winchester on
September 2, 1685. The tomb of this notable woman
may be seen close to the south door of Ellingham Church,
inside which the family pew as it was in her time still
remains. At Moyles Court, also, the memory of these
events is well preserved. The house has been carefully
restored by its present proprietor, and a collection of
portraits of the chief personages connected with the rebel-
lion and this judicial murder has been formed there.

Three years later Hampshire was the scene of other
events in which James II. was the chief actor. His son-in-
law, William, Prince of Orange, had landed at Torbay on
November 5, 1688. The king moved his troops to the
south-west to meet him. Then followed delays, irresolute
action, and desertions from the royal cause at Salisbury.
James retired from Salisbury in December towards
London, and halted for the first night at Andover, where
he invited his other son-in-law, Prince George of Denmark,
and the Duke of Ormond to supper. We shall never know
the subjects which were discussed at that supper, but we
know what followed. As soon as it was over the prince
and the duke mounted their horses, and rode off through
the winter night to join the Prince of Orange.

A change occurred in Hampshire agriculture about the
time of James II., which had a far greater effect on its

264 History of Hampshire.

economic history than all the visits and patronage of the
Stuart kings. This was the introduction of the turnip,
which led to improvements in the system of sheep-farming,
so extensively carried out on the downlands of the county.
No considerable changes from the early methods of agri-
culture had been made in Hampshire until about the end of
the seventeenth century. At that time waggons were made
without beds or boards,* like the Anglo-Saxon wains, and
were left exposed to the weather, cart-sheds not being
commonly provided. Oxen were harnessed to ploughs
with hempen traces, and continued to be much used for
field work until the end of the eighteenth century.

The turnip, by providing a winter crop, finally brought
about improvements in the rotation of crops, and led to
the gradual disuse of the system of annually allowing a
third of the land to lie fallow. By supplying winter food,
it also led gradually to the disuse of the custom of killing
live stock at the beginning of winter, and the consequent
large consumption of salted meat. At the beginning of
the eighteenth century farmers in Hampshire were accus-
tomed to lay in a stock of salt in the summer, because at
that time it was cheap, owing to the salterns on the coast
making more than they had storage room for.f

* Lisle, 'Observations on Husbandry,' p. 33. f /££/., 413.

CHAPTER XXII.
CONCLUSION.

THE connection of Hampshire with the navy has been
long and close. In most of the naval battles of England
since the Middle Ages, ships built of Hampshire oak have
been engaged. In the fifteenth century many noted ships,
such as the Trinit^ Grace Dieu, and the Holy Goste, were
built on the Itchen. The clays of various kinds which
abound in Hampshire form a congenial soil for the growth
of oak. The natural growth of the New Forest provided
timber for the navy for centuries, until the time of
William III. ; but in 1698 it was found necessary, in order
to keep up the supply, to enclose 6,000 acres of that forest
as a nursery for young oaks, which was done by Act of
Parliament, and some of the trees then planted now form
part of the ornamental woods in that forest. The forest of
Woolmer and Alice Holt also supplied much wood for the
navy. In 1608 there were growing in that forest 13,031
trees fit for shipbuilding, and in 1783 it contained 38,919
oak-trees. In 1777 a fall of 300 loads of timber for the
navy was ordered in that forest; in 1784 a fall of 1,000
loads was ordered ; and in 1788 a further fall of 500 loads.
During parts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
owing to great peculations which went on by rangers
and others, the country did not get half the value of the
timber in the Hampshire forests. Mrs. Ruperta Howe,
who certainly had no special knowledge of forestry, was

266 History of Hampshire.

appointed Ranger of Woolmer and Alice Holt in 1699,
and held the office for forty-five years, during which time
the country got little and the ranger got much of the
profit from the timber on these crown lands.

The Hampshire forests have played an important part in
its history. The pleasures of the chase have attracted to
the county many kings and notable personages. There
have been few of our monarchs who have not taken part in
hunting and other sports in this county. Long after most
of the forests in other counties had been inclosed, the royal
forests of Hampshire, though diminished in extent, still
remained, and in some instances their ancient courts of
Attachment and Swainmote met. In the national records
during the middle ages, we obtain glimpses here and there
of the gradual inclosure of some of the old forest land of
this county. As early as Henry III.'s reign, the cultiva-
tion of newly assarted wood land in the forests of Pamber,
Freemantle, and Chute had begun. The great northern
forest disappeared gradually, and this was followed by the
disappearance of Buckholt and West Bere, and the diminu-
tion in area of the other crown woods and forest land, so
that in the seventeenth century, the New Forest, Woolmer,
Alice Holt, Bere, and Parkhurst, in the Isle of Wight, were
all that remained. Royal grants of land which had been
within the area of some forest, and the permission to make
parks, were the origin of many private estates in the
county, and of some of the villages of later origin. For
example, permission was granted by Henry III. to Patric
de Cadurcis to inclose and make a fence round parts of the
forest of Odiham at Weston, called Heydon and Hasel-
mangrave,* which appears to have been the origin of the
manor of Weston Patrick. The inclosure of forest land
went on for centuries, in the interests of the crown and
those to whom the land was granted. Gilbert White,
writing towards the end of the eighteenth century, tells us
that the forests near Selborne were then of much less
* Cal. Rot. Chart., 42 Hen. III.

Conclusion. 267

extent than they were at the time of the perambulation
made in 1635.

As we wander through Hampshire at the present time,
we observe inclosed fields and pastures in all directions, not
only in those parts of the county which in the early Middle
Ages were forest land, but in those where forests did not
exist. The modern aspect of the county is quite different
from its ancient aspect. In olden time areas of uninclosed
fields and pastures extending for miles were attached to the
larger manors and parishes. These extensive areas were
commonly joined by other similar areas belonging to other
manors, so that hedgerows and other fences only existed
round the lord's homestead or manor house. Then in the
thirteenth century arose the desire of the lords for making
inclosed areas, called parks. By the Statutes of Merton
and Westminster, 2Oth Henry III. and I3th Edward L,
the lord of a manor was allowed to inclose a portion
of the common pasture, in so far as the pasture rights
of the commoners were not damaged thereby. Under
this legal sanction the transformation of the surface of
Hampshire began, and this did not cease, until in the
present century some of the latest inclosures of the re-
maining commons have been made under comparatively
recent Acts of Parliament.

In 1785 the common lands of Andover, comprising
2,954 acres, were inclosed. 15,000 acres of Christchurch
parish were formerly common land, and the Act for their
inclosure and appropriation was obtained in 1803. One
of the earliest of the modern inclosures was that of the
common land of Ropley, made about the beginning of the
eighteenth century. The long parallel fields at the east of
this parish denote the situation of these lands, while the old
tenements, lanes, and gardens at the west of the parish
show where the ancient village existed. In 1787 1,981
acres in Over Wallop, and in 1797 2,236 acres in Nether
Wallop, were inclosed. The common lands of Headbourn
Worthy, comprising 1,472 acres, were inclosed in 1791,

268 History of Hampshire.

302 acres at Upton Grey in 1796, 650 acres at Kilmiston
in 1805, 923 acres at Bentworth in 1799, 2,700 acres at
Broughton in 1790, 1,790 acres at King's Somborne in
1784, 1,566 acres at Leckford in 1780, 778 acres at
Hurstbourn Priors in 1787, 764 acres at Froxfield in 1805,
760 acres at Longparish in 1804, 1,036 acres at Michel-
mersh in 1797, 1,382 acres at Shipton Bellinger in 1793,
1,335 acres at Upper Clatford in 1786, 1,683 acres at
Whitchurch in 1798, 447 acres at Dibden in 1797, 1,432
acres at Rockbourn in 1802, 484 acres at Maplederwell in
1797, 923 acres at Easton in 1800, and 436 acres at
Grateley in 1778.

For more than a thousand years the appearance of the
old settled parts of the county had remained practically
unaltered, except in the formation here and there of parks
during the Middle Ages ; but after the eighteenth century
the Hampshire landscapes began to present those charac-
teristics of inclosed meadows and fields, hedgerows and
private woodlands, with which we are now so familiar.

One effect of the inclosure of the common lands has been
the rise of many new hamlets and villages in those places
where the commoners received their apportionments in
land, and built themselves cottages. In this way it has
happened that the ancient dwelling site, commonly near
the parish church, has in numerous instances become
almost deserted, and newer clusters of dwellings have
arisen at some distance on the old common lands. In other
instances the commoners appear to have sold their several
apportionments to the lord of the manor for a money pay-
ment, and in these cases no newer hamlets have sprung
up at a distance from the ancient villages, which still
remain the habitable sites of these parishes.

During the early part of the eighteenth century this
county became notorious for its deer-stealers, and subse-
quently its smugglers. A gang of lawless men known as
the ' Waltham Blacks' committed great depredations
among the deer in the Bishop's Chase at Waltham. After

Conclusion. 269

they had practically exterminated that herd, they extended
their operations eastward to the forests of Bere and
Woolmer, until 1723, when the Black Act was passed, so
named from including more felonies than any other previous
statute.

During the eighteenth century the occupation of smug-
gling possessed attractions for many Hampshire people.
After the lapse of many years, during which smuggling has
practically been extinct, the tales and traditions of the
smugglers of last century still survive in the south of the
county and far into its interior. Emsworth, Hayling
Island, Rowland's Castle, Yarmouth, Lymington, Hordle,
Christchurch, and the New Forest, all have traditions of
smuggling adventures, hairbreadth escapes, and the capture
of contraband goods landed during the last century, with
tales of caves, secret cellars beneath cottages, and stores
for spirits, tobacco, and other smuggled goods as far north
as Ropley.

Squatting on the commonable crown lands was also
followed during the eighteenth and preceding centuries.
Where a cluster of huts and wattle and dob cottages existed
on the fringe of a forest, it was difficult for bailiffs and
wardens to detect the addition of one or two to the number,
and in this way the fringes of the Hampshire forests became
gradually occupied by an increased number of small tene-
ments. The forest officials were not themselves over-
scrupulous about the crown rights, and thus, under a loose
system of administration, and what was locally known as
keyhold tenure, the huts, in some places, grew in number.
Under the keyhold custom, if a man could erect his hut
during one night, and get his fire lighted before morning,
he had a right to his hearth and habitation.

It was during the latter part of the eighteenth century
that a quiet country clergyman was living in Hampshire,
who combined with his ministerial functions such a love
for the study of Nature, as exemplified in the natural
history of his native parish of Selborne, that the name of

270 History of Hampshire.

Gilbert White has become a household word among
English-speaking people in different parts of the world.

Hampshire had at that time its leading men in county
affairs, men of some importance in their day ; but the
names of these have been forgotten, while that of the quiet
student of Selborne appears likely to live for centuries in
the affections of English people. The ' Natural History of
Selborne ' has gone through many editions, and is read in
England, America, and the colonies at the present time,
with as much interest as it was read during the lifetime of
its author. Gilbert White was for many years curate of
Farringdon, a neighbouring parish to Selborne, where he
lived.

His writings have caused Selborne to become one of the
minor places of modern English pilgrimage, and his house,
although now considerably altered, attracts many visitors.
The pulpit from which he preached to the rural congrega-
tion at Farringdon may still be seen in the church
there.

The old manufactures of cloth and silk survived in this
county until the present century. About a hundred years
ago a brisk trade was carried on at Alton in barragons,
serges, bombazines, and other woven fabrics, which found
a market at Philadelphia. At the same time shalloons
were made at Andover, and worsted yarn was spun in
many Hampshire villages. The silk manufacture, which
has not yet quite died out, was at the same time carried on
profitably at Overton, Whitchurch, Andover, Alton, and
Odiham.

During the latter part of the eighteenth century the
agricultural population of the county was in a distressed
condition. Labour was abundant, work was scarce in
winter, and wages low. The poor rates were consequently
high, and a system prevailed in some parishes of paying
certain low wages out of the rates, for the work of men

Conclusion. 271

who could not obtain ordinary employment on the farms
at the usual rate of pay. This system led to various
abuses, demoralizing alike to the labourers and to the
farmers who obtained part of their labour under the
ordinary rate. These circumstances were urged as a
reason for the inclosure of the common lands, which, by
increasing the area under cultivation, afforded increased
employment for the people. At that time, the only country
schools were those known as charity schools, and these
humble institutions were few and far between. The bulk
of the agricultural population of Hampshire remained
practically untaught until the State came to their assist-
ance. Consequently, when labour-saving appliances, such
as the thrashing-machine, were first introduced, the
labourers, who found employment in winter in thrashing
corn with the flail, as their forefathers had done from
Saxon time downwards, were too ignorant to see anything
in such an innovation except ruin for themselves and their
families, and riots occurred in some places, in which the
machines were smashed and other acts of lawlessness were
committed.

The ancient royal hunting establishment in the New
Forest was nominally maintained for centuries after kings
and courtiers had ceased to hunt there, and some of the
old hunting appointments, such as that of bow-bearer, were
regarded as honourable distinctions long after they had
become sinecures. The New Forest stag-hounds were of
a peculiar breed which had long been identified with the
forest, and dogs of this kind were last kept about thirty
years ago by the late Mr. Tom Neville, a noted Hampshire
sportsman who lived at Martyr Worthy. One of the most
famous of English hunting men made Hampshire his home
in the earlier part of the present century — Mr. Thomas
Assheton Smith, who lived at South Tidworth. The
achievements of him and his hounds in the field have for
many years formed part of the folk-tales of north-western
Hampshire.

272 History of Hampshire.

The game of cricket was played in this county at an
early date. Near the picturesque village of Hambledon,
the ground of one of the earliest cricket clubs in England
existed. It is a local tradition there that cricket had its
origin at Hambledon, Near the site of this old cricket
ground an inn still bearing the sign of the Bat and Ball
remains, and proud stories are told in the neighbourhood
of the matches, more than a century ago, in which the
Hambledon club could easily beat All England.

An annual event of considerable interest in some parts
of this county is the rising of the May-fly. The Hamp-
shire streams have from time immemorial been noted for
trout, and are of great value as angling preserves. Isaac
Walton often fished in these streams. He died at Win-
chester in 1683, and was buried in the cathedral. The
fishing season is an important time for many people in
the districts adjoining the upper parts of the Hampshire
rivers, where the appearance of the May-fly is an important
local event.

Along the coast, sea-fishing provides a subsistence for a
large number of families. During the yachting season
many of the younger fishermen abandon their boats to take
service on board the numerous yachts which are fitted out
at Southampton, Cowes, Gosport, Lymington, and other
places. Aquatic pursuits occupy the attention of a large
number of people in the southern part of Hampshire during
the summer months. The yacht races round the British
coasts are followed with great interest, and the numerous
regattas and yachting events which take place in the
Solent and Southampton Water are regarded as important
annual occurrences.

The course of national events and the growth of London,
which led in the Middle Ages to the removal of the seat of
government from this county, the decay of its trade, and
the extinction of its home industries by the competition of
the midland and northern counties, which all contributed
to diminish its prosperity, have, however, brought some

Conclusion. 2 73

compensation to Hampshire. As the national wealth in-
creased, the residential advantages of its coasts, its forest
and woodland scenery, its dry gravel subsoil, and its chalk
downs, have attracted an increasing number of settlers from
other parts of the kingdom. The mild climate of the
Undercliff has led to the growth of Ventnor. Shanklin and
Sandown, also on the south coast of the island, are now
considerable towns, while Ryde, on the northern coast, has
had a rapid growth, and has become the most populous
place in the Isle of Wight. Ryde and Cowes have attrac-
tions of their own as yachting places, which bring them an
annual summer supply of temporary residents. Southsea,
the fashionable part of Portsmouth, has grown with the
growth of the great naval station, and also from attractions
of its own. In the south-west of Hampshire a great town
is rapidly rising into importance. Half a century ago the
Bourne was but the name of the beautiful little stream which
now flows down the wooded vale into the sea, through the
ornamental public grounds of Bournemouth. The town
which has risen on both sides of this Bourne is already miles
in extent in both directions. Its stately buildings, wooded
drives, and its beach, which is scarcely surpassed by that
of any other place, attract to it a never-ending stream of
visitors, of which those in the winter are as important to its
prosperity as those in the summer. The modern necessity
for an improved military training of the army has been the
cause of the growth of a considerable town in the east of
the county, where Aldershot has risen from the condition
of an insignificant village, and has become the chief train-
ing place for the army.

The population of the county, including the Isle of
Wight, has increased from 593,000 in 1881 to 690,000 in
1891.

In this volume I have endeavoured to place briefly before
the reader the outlines of the history of Hampshire, with a
sketch of the conditions and institutions under which its
people have lived in past ages, rather than attempt to

18

274 History of Hampshire.

chronicle in detail all the historical events which have
happened within it. Its local history is that of an agri-
cultural county which is also a maritime county. The
considerable home industries of which it was the seat during
the middle ages have for the most part left it, and the
question is sometimes asked, ' Have these industries gone
for ever?' Having regard to the progress of modern
science, he would be a bold man who would, without
hesitation, reply in the affirmative. Hampshire possesses
in its steadily flowing chalk streams, which never vary
much in volume, and in its tides, enormous sources of
power which are only utilized at present in driving a few
river and tidal mills.

Coal has been discovered at Dover, and its occurrence
there points at least to the probable former existence of
the Coal Measures along a line between the Somersetshire
coal-field and that of Belgium. The practical geological
question, whether any part of these Coal Measures still
remains, covered by formations of later date, is one of much
importance to the people of this county. The lowest
geological beds which exist on the surface of any part of
the mainland of Hampshire are the Gault and the Lower
Greensand. What there may be even five hundred feet
below these beds no one can safely say, still less can it be
predicted what beds may exist at a depth of two thousand
feet. Some people in this county have been greatly
interested in the experimental investigations which have
been made further eastward. A good case for trial borings
has already been made out. If such trial borings, which
must sooner or later be made, should lead to the discovery
of coal, Hampshire will again become a manufacturing
county, and its commerce will be greatly expanded.

INDEX.

ABBEY lands and manors, 104,

105

Abbot's Ann, 48, 130
Ac and ach, water-names, 34
Adam de Gurdon, 171
Adelina the minstrel, 167
^Ethelstan, King, 85, 168
Agricultural communities, 61, 147,

1 51-3*230

Alan, Count of Brittany, 105
Albert, King of Wight, 84
Alderman of Portswood, 238
Aldershot, 273
Ale-taster, 132, 157
Alfred, King, 80, 91, 97
Alfred, his ship-building, 81, 229
Alfred, his will, 82, 147
Alfred, legend of, 145
Alice Holt forest, 265, 266
Alien priories, 126, 241
Allington, 57
Allodial tenures, 106, 242
Alphege, Bishop, 86, 89, 211
Alresford, 57, 148, 150, 175,253,

270
Alton, 57, 83, 100, 149, 156, 159,

165, 253, 270
Alverstoke, 58, 63, 107
Alwyn, Bishop, 96
Amesbury, 30
Amesbury, prioress or abbess of,

131, 151

Amport, 165, 167
Ancestors, commemoration of,

31,66

Anderida Forest, or Andreds-

weald, 37, 75
Andover, 34, 36, 85, 100, 149, 159,

166, 229, 253, 263, 267, 270
Andover, battle near, 91
Andover burnt, 113
Andover hospital, 145
Andover hundred-court, 138
Andover Priory, 126
Andover, Witanagemot at, 87
Andwell, 58
Angling, 272
Anne, Queen, 225
Anselm, Archbishop, 109
An, water-names, 34
Antona, 46

Aquitanians, or Iberians, 13
Applederwell Priory, 126, 191
Arreton, 9, 137
Arthur, King, his round table,

174, 233

Arthur, King, legend of, 223
Arthur, Prince, 223
Arundel, Roger, Earl of, 167
Arwaldi fratres Regis, 73
Arwald, King of Wight, 72
Ascupart, 4
Ashley, 21, 34, 104, 121
Assize of bread and ale, i32r

157, 158

Astrological lore, 196
Athelwold, Bishop, 124, 145, 211
Attrebates, the, 46
Augustine priories, 127, 128, 214
Aulus Plautius, 37

IS— 2

276

History of Hampshire.

Avington, 57, 225
Avon River, 2, 32, 51, 174
Avon Tyrell, no, 154, 163
Aymer de Valence, Bishop, 216

Baddesley, 58, 137, 215

Bailiffs, 135, 189, 203, 211, 240

Baldwin de Redvers, 127, 178-181

Barrows, 3, 5, 10-12, 14

Barrows, exploration of, 9

Barton Stacey, 149, 155, 161, 164

Basing, 57, 115,169

Basing, battle of, 80

Basing, lords of, 115, 1 56

Basing, siege of, 258, 259

Basingstoke, 10, 38, 58, 100, 154,
165, 169,253

Basingstoke market, 85, 108, 149

Basket-making, 45

Basques, 12

Basques, water-word, 36

Beacon stations in the Isle of
Wight, 184, 191

Beaufort, Cardinal, 212, 240

Beaulieu, 10, 43

Beaulieu Abbey, 128, 130, 131,
214,255

Beauworth, 57

Bee Abbey manors, 129

Belgae, the conquest and settle-
ment, 27-36, 49

Bells, legends of, 173

Bembridge limestone, 209, 232

Benedictine abbeys and priories,

I25.

Benedictines, 86, 124, 130, 131
Bentley, 156
Bentworth, 57, 268
Beorhtric, King, 77
Bere Forest, 63, 103, 121, 217, 266,

269

Bevois of Hampton, 4, 195
Binstead quarries, 174, 179, 209
Birinus, missionary bishop, 65,

70, 211

Bishop's Sutton, 83, 105, 152
Bishopstoke, 58
Bishop's Waltham, 43, 118, 151,

259, 268

Bittern, 45, 46, 48
Black canons, 142, 214
Black friars, 129
Black Prince, 185, 235
Blake, Admiral, 246

Blendworth, 260

Boarhunt, 107, 154, 164

Bolton, Dukes of, 199

Bonchurch, 195

Boniface, St., 124, 195

Bordeaux trade with Southamp-
ton, 122

Borderers, 106, 133, 215

Botley, 58, 157, 174

Boundary marks, early, 12, 62,
63, 228

Bournemouth, 273

Bourn, place-names, 58

Bowcombe, 9, 108

Brachy-cephalic skulls, 7

Brading, 48, 150, 161, 191, 193,
194

Bramdean, 48, 258, 259

Bramley, 58, 157

Bramshottj 62

Bransbury, 25, 97

Bransbury earthworth, 25

Breamore, 5

Breamore Priory, 127

Brickmaking, Romano-British, 43

British agriculture, 41

British earthworks, 38

British hill fortresses, 46, 52

Briwere, William, 119, 128, 149

Brockenhurst, 58

Broken pottery, 9, 14, 15

Bronze Age, 6, 8, 16, 176, 195, 200,
201

Bronze implements, 18, 194

Broughton, 10, 44, 57, 100, 268

Buckholt Forest, 44, 58, 103, 104,
266

Buckingham, Duke of, 246

Buckland, 242, 243

Bullington, 57

Burghclere, 25, 54, 58, 174

Burial cists, 6, 7

Burial customs, 28

Burial in a contracted position, 3,
7, 9, 200

Buriton, 62

Bury, place-names, 60

Cadogan, Earl of, 199
Caesar, Julius, 30, 37
Calendars, 134, 214
Calleva Attrebatum, 45, 53
Calshot, 51
Candover, 36, 83

Index.

277

Captains of the Isle of Wight, 187
Carey, St. George, 196
Carisbrook, 48
Carisbrook Castle, 177, 182, 190,

195, 196, 260
Carisbrook Priory, 189
Carmelite Friars, 129, 214
Carnary at Winchester, 214
Castles, 83, 113, 114, 169, 198, 231
Castles, defence of, 1 54
Castles of refuge, 17
Castles of Winchester, 113, 225,

259
Cathedral at Winchester, 113,

225, 259
Catherine of Braganza, Queen,

247, 261

Catherington, 260
Cattle in Romano-British time, 42
Cead walla, King, 71
Ceawlin, King, 55
Celts, distribution of, 21, 25
Celtic immigration, 13
Celtic conquest, 16-26
Celtic mythology, 14, 32
Celtic place-names, 34, 35, 59, 60,

228

Celtic population, 21
Celtic pottery, 44
Cenwealh, King, 68
Centwine, King, 71
Ceolric, King, 64
Ceolwulf, King, 65
Cerdices-ora, 50
Cerdic, King, 50
Chale, 135

Chalk-pits for marling land, 41
Chalk-pits, antiquity of, 41, 42
Chalton, 96, 260
Chamberlains, 105
Chamberlain's service, 155, 156
Chantries, n, 126, 134, 212
Chapman's Guild, 209
Chapmen, 148

Charcoal-burners, 44, no, 215
Charford, 5
Charford, battle of, 5 1
Charlemagne, Emperor, 78, 229
Charles I., 197, 246, 248
Charles I. at Carisbrook, 197, 260
Charles II., 198, 225, 247, 248
Charters, 11, 203, 233, 234, 247
Chaucer family, 167
Chawton, 63

Cheriton, 32, 76

Cheriton, battle of, 258, 259

Chertsey Abbey lands, 131

Chilbolton, 168

Chilcombe, 123, 153

Chil worth, 57

Christchurch, 62, 83, 125, 142,

145, 149, 154, 159, 254, 267
Christchurch Priory, 125, 130
Christianity, adoption of, 67, 68,

70, 71, 73, 89
Chronicle, the English, 49, 50,65,

68, 71, 80, 8 1

Churches in the eleventh cen-
tury, 107
Churches in the Isle of Wight,

189

Churches on mounds, 32
Church Oakley, 157
Chute Forest, 63, 168, 266
Cinerary urns, 10
Cistercian abbeys, 127, 128, 239
Cistercian monks, 214
Civil war in Hampshire, 256-260
Clanfield, 260
Clans, 40

Clans, wars of, 26, 40
Claptone, John, the alchemist,

224

Clarence, Duke of, 254
Clatford, 207
Claudius, Emperor, 37
Clausentum, 45, 46, 50, 56
Clere, 83, 108, 160, 207
Clere, place-names, 58
Cloth manufacture, 207
Cnut, King, 91, 92, 213, 224, 230
Cnut, his empire, 91
Cnut, traditions of, 91
Cogidubnos, King, 39
Colemore, 136
Colbrand, the giant, legend of,

168, 214

Colleges of priests, 133, 134
Combe, 22, 129, 168
Combe, place-names, 35
Common lands, 88, 228, 240
Common rights, 152, 153
Commons, enclosure of, 10, 152,

267, 268

Communal life, 25, 26, 61
Compton, 35, no, 123
Confiscation of estates, 163, 260
Conholt Hill, 54

278

History of Hampshire.

Constables of hundreds, 161

Constables of tithings, 161

Con way, Lord, 197

Copnor, 242

Copyholders, origin of, 107, 152-

153, 165

Corhampton, 34, 157
Cormelies Abbey, 167, 228
Corn stored under ground, 41
Coronations at Winchester, 95,

101, 117

County Hall, 174, 211, 213
County of the Town of Southamp-
ton, 240
Cosham, 154
Court at Winchester, 95, 116, 181,

217,225
Courts -leet, 132, 157, 161, 199,

233, 249

Cowes, 193, 194, 272
Cranial dimensions, 7
Crawley, 6, 32, 58
Cremation, remains of, 28, 30, 201
Cricket at Hambledon, 272
Cromwell, Oliver, 225, 258, 259
Cromwell, Richard, 259
Crondall, 43, 48, 53, 83
Crusades, the, 117, 119
Crusading age, traces of, 119, 120
Culpeper, Lord, 198
Curia Militum of the Isle of

Wight, 1 88
Customary services, 133, 197,

203

Cutha, King, 55
Cuthred, King, 75
Cuthwulf, King, 55
Cutts, Lord, 199
Cwichelm, King, 67
Cymric, place and water-names,

34,35

Cynegils, King, 64, 65

Cynegils, his gift to the Old Mins-
ter, 123

Cyneheard the Etheling, 76

Cynewulf, King, 76, 77

Cynric, King, 50

Cynric, his conquests, 54

Danes bought off, 89, 90
Danish Conquest and its results,

89-98
Danish invasions, 85-91, 177,221,

229

Danish place-names, 94

Danish settlements, 92, 93, 94

Danish ships, 81, 94

Dead Man's Plack, 87

Dean or Den, boundary names,

63

De Blois, Bishop Henry, 112-114

De Bluntesdon, Henry, 233

De Clare, Richard, Earl of Glou-
cester, 168

D'Evineley, John, 138

Defence of the Isle of Wight, 183,
184, 193

De Geselyngham, William, 158

De Gisors, Richard, 243

De Langstrell, Walter, the hermit,

135

De Moleyns, Bishop, 244, 245
Demesne land, 100, 152
De Montfort, Simon, 170, 218
Denmark, Prince of, 225, 263
De Orlton, Adam, Bishop, 214
De Port, Adam, 115, 116
De Port, Barons, 104, 126, 156,

169, 236

De Port, Henry, 126
De Port, Hugh, 104, 126, 242
De Porteseye, Richard, 165
De Querouaille, Louise, 247
De Redvers, Baldwin, 179
De Redvers family, lords of

Wight, 179-181
De Redvers, Richard, 178
De Roche, Peter, Bishop, 216,

244

De Scoteney, Walter, 169
Despenser, Earl of Winchester,

219

De Stratford, John, Bishop, 219
De Valence, William, 158
De Valence family, 217
Devenissche family, 165, 166
De Vernon, William, 180
Dew Ponds, 21, 22
Dibden, 63, 268
Dogmersfield, 150
Dolico-cephalic skulls, 7
Dolmens, 13, 14
Domesday Book, 47, 103, 104,

155,198,202,230,242
Domesday Survey, 104-108, 159,

206, 207, 228, 236, 237
Dominican Friars, 129, 214
Domus Hafoc, 215

Index.

279

Droxford, 24, 57
Dunstan, Abbot, 85, 86
Durand the barber, 105

Eadgyth, Queen, 97, 98, 101, 102

Eadwig, King, 85

Ealdorman, 75, 87, 91

Eanswith, Queen, 124

Early agriculture, traces of, 152,

153

Earthworks and camps, 19
Easter court at Winchester, 108,

112

Eastleigh, 155
East Meon, 24, 43, 52, 62, 69, 102,

148, 159, 161, 164, 175
Easton, 152, 268
Edgar, King, 86
Edgar, laws of, 88
Edgar, his love intrigues, 86
Edgar, marriage with Elfrida, 87
Edgar, murder of Earl Ethel-
wold, 87

Edington, Bishop, 212
Edmund, King, 85
Edred, King, 85
Edric, Earl, 90, 91
Edmund, King, son of Ethelred

II., 91

Edward the Elder, King, 83
Edward the Elder, his gift to the

New Minster, 123, 156
Edward the Martyr, King, 87
Edward the Confessor, 93-98, 228,

230
Edward I., King, 150, 155, 158,

171, 182, 183

Edward II., King, 156, 185, 219
Edward III., King, 150, 170, 185,

219, 220, 233, 235, 238, 244

Edward IV., King, 151, 236, 245,

254

Edward VI., King, 246, 255
Edwig, King, 86
Egbert, King, 77, 78, 229
Eleanor, Princess, at Odiham, 170
Eleanor, Queen, 117, 146
Elephas antiquus, 2
Elephas primigenius, 2
Elfrida, Queen, 87, 88, 98, 125,

167

Elfwig, Abbot, 99, 100
Elizabeth, Queen, 224, 248, 256
Elizabeth, Princess, 198

Eling, 51, 57, ico, 154, 155, 158

Ellingham, 57, 164, 263

Elvetham, 131, 256

Emma, Queen, 92, 95, 97, 213, 214

Emma, Queen, her court at Win-
chester, 95

Emsworth, 57, 136, 166, 269

Enham, 166, 167

Escwin, King, 71

Estates confiscated, 163, 260

Ethelbald, King, 79

Ethelbert, King, 79

Ethelred I., King, 79, 80

Ethelred II., King, 89, 242

Ethelred II., his purchase of
peace, 89-91

Ethelwold, Earl, 87

Ethelwold the Etheling and his
revolt, 83

Ethelwulf, King, 79, 227

Eversley, 58, 131

Eversley Forest, 136

Exchequer and the Records at
Winchester, 215

Exeter, Bishop, and his manor,
105

Fairs, 149-151, 165, 210, 211, 240,

247,251

Fairs in churchyards, 150, 151
Fairies, 174
Falconers, 105, 215
Falkland, Lord, 199
Fareham, 43, 57, 107, 148, 159,

253

Farnborough, 259
Farringdon, 63, 105, 270
Fawley, 63, 160
Ferraria, or ironworks, 107
Feudal system and tenure, 109,

153, 182

Finchdean, 63, 159
Fisheries, 18, 107, 132, 272
FitzOsborne, William, 177, 188
Flambart, Randolf, 108, 109
Folk-lore, 4, 5, 17, 95, 166, 171-

174, 194-196, 271
Ford, place-names, 57
Fordingbridge, 62, 144, 159, 161
Forests, 17, 21, 25, 63, 170, 265,

266, 269

Forests, boundary names, 63
Forest clearings, 25, 58
Forest courts, 266

280

History of Hampshire.

Forest land, 42, 109

Forest laws, 92, 109

Forest names, 58, 63

Forest settlements, 58

Fox, Bishop, 212

Franciscan friars, 129, 214, 226,

232
Franciscan friars and water supply

to Southampton, 129
Fraternities, 134, 202, 208, 209
Fratton, 242

Free gallows, 132, 158, 238
Freemantle, 117, 121
Freemantle Forest, 266
French invasions, 170, 190, 192,

235, 244, 245
Freshwater, 9, 159, 193
Friars, 129

Froxfield, 58, 173, 268
Fullers' mill, 207
Funeral sites, cremation, 30, 201
Fusion of races, 17, 27, 32
Fyfield, 97

Gaelic place-names, 34
Gascony, expeditions to, 122, 156,

244

Gefferey, William, the hermit, 135
Gerard, Master, 217
Gewissas, 50
Giants' graves, 4
Giants, legends of, 4, 5, 1 68, 214
Glastonbury Abbey land, 105
Gleaning, a manorial right, 153
Gloucester, Duke of, 198
Gloucester, Earls of, 113, 114,

168, 237

Godbiete manor and liberty, 214
Godwin, Earl, 96-98, 224, 242
Godiva, Countess, 167
God's House, 232, 236, 244
Godsfield, 137, 138, 215
Goring, Colonel, 246
Gosport, 248, 252, 272
Grateley, 58, 268
Grateley, Council of, 166
Greatham, 57
Greek traders, 8, 13, 196
Griestain Abbey lands, 105, 130
Grey friars, 129
Grey, Sir Thomas, 236
Guild merchant, 208, 209, 237, 238
Guild of the Holy Ghost, 134
Guilds, early, 85, 196, 202, 231

Gunther, Colonel, 261
Gurmond, King, legend of, 173
Guthorm, the Danish king, 81, 91
Guy, Earl of Warwick, 168, 214
Gwyn, Nell, 225

Hale, 260, 261

Ham, place-names, 57

Hambledon, 62, 107, 136, 261,272

Hamble, 126

Hamble River, 51

Hammond, Colonel, 197

Hampton, 50, 57, 62, 227, 228, 229

Hardacnut, King, 92, 93

Harewood Forest, 87, 88

Harold, Earl, 98

Harold I., King, 92

Harold II., King, 99

Hartley Institution Museum, 9,

44,94

Hartley Wintney Priory, 118
Havant, 136, 148-150
Hawkley, 158, 171
Hayling,35,97, 126, 130, 136, 173,

269

Headbourn Worthy, 267
Headley, 58
Heathenism, survival of, 67, 72,

92, 177

Heggefield or Heckfield, 63, 132
Henry I., in, 112, 127, 232, 233,

243

Henry II., 114, 117, 234, 239, 243

Henry III., 128, 129, 149, 170, 174,
244

Henry III. at Winchester, 216-218

Henry IV., 185, 202

Henry IV., his marriage at Win-
chester, 220

Henry V., 186, 214, 235, 236

Henry VI., 186, 230, 232, 236, 238

Henry VII., 187

Henry VII. at Winchester, 223,
240, 245, 250, 255

Henry VIII., 223,245,255

Hermits, 128, 129, 134-136, 240

Hermitages, 134-136

Heroic age in Hampshire, 4, 50

Hertford, Earl of, 256

Highclere, 58

Hippesley, Sir John, 246

Hoglandia, 42

Hogs, ancient breed of, 42

Holdenhurst, 58, 99, 107

Index.

281

Holmes, Lord, 199

Holmes, Sir Robert, 198

Holybourn, 58

Holy Wells, 195, 196

Hopton, Lord, 258

Hordle, i, 269

Horsey, Sir Edward, 196

Hospitaller Knights, 129, 137-139,

209
Hospitals, 125, 142-145, 165, 226,

227, 236, 244
Hospital of St. Cross, 142, 143,

215

Houghton, 57, 97, 165
Howe, Mrs. Ruperta, 265, 266
Hue and cry, 100
Hundreds, 62, 157-161, 188
Hundred-courts, 132, 165, 188
Huntsmen, 105, 215, 271
Hurstbourn, 35, 58, 100, 130, 268
Hurst Castle, 198, 238
Hursley, 35, 77, 113, 152,259
Hurstbourn Tarrant, 83, 94, 131,

'54
yde

Hyde Abbey, 82, 104, 130, 169,

207, 213, 214
Hyde, Mrs., 260, 261
Hythe, 155

Iberians or Iberic race, 13, 14, 17,

49

Iberians, language of, 12, 33, 36
Ibthorpe people, lords of their

manor, 94

Implements, prehistoric, i
Ina, King, 73, 74
Ina, his laws, 73
Ina, death in Rome, 74, 140
Informer's duel, 160, 161
Ing, place-names, 57
Iron forges, 28, 29
Isabella de Fortibus, 120, 128, 145,

181, 182, 195
Isabella, Queen, 219, 235
Isle of Wight, 9, 52, 106, 176-

193, 235, 253, 273
Isle of Wight artillery, 193, 194
Isle of Wight local government,

187, 188
Isle of Wight militia, 183, 190,

193, 194, 229
Itchen Abbas, 48
Itchen River, 2, 32, 34, 45, 46, 50,

85, 201, 228, 240

Itchen navigation, 209, 210
Itchen Valley, 24
Itchingswell, 58, 59

James I., 225

James I., his court at Winchester,

225

ames II., 219, 262, 263
ews at Winchester, 215, 218
ohn, King, 120, 122, 209, 238, 243
ohn, at Freemantle, 121
ohn, at Winchester, 121
ohn, at Portsmouth, 121, 122,

237

ohn of Gaunt, 235
ohnson family, 164, 165
umieges Abbey, 105, 130
utes, 14, 24, 52, 176
utes of Isle of Wight, 53, 72, 84
utes, settlements of, 53, 68, 69

Kennet Valley, 22, 24, 54

Kent, Edward, Earl of, 221

Keyhold customary tenure, 269

Kilmiston, 268

Kimpton, 57

Kingsclere, 58, 100, 117, 121, 149,

154, 161
Kings of the Isle of Wight, 72, 73,

84, 1 86

Kings of Wessex, 70-88
Kingship, primitive, 63
Kingship, primitive, struggle for,

64,65
King's Somborne, 100, 119, 149,

159, 164

Knight-service, 156
Knights Hospitaller and Templar,

129, 137-139, 215, 234, 235
Knights of the shire, 253
Knighton, 195

Langton, Bishop, 212
Langstone, 238
Laverstoke, 34, 58
Leckford, 57, 150, 158, 268
Legends, 4, 5, 17, 49, 66, 74, 96,

145, 166, 171-174, 195, 214, 259
Leland the antiquary, 141, 142,

245, 246
Lepe, 51

Lepers' hospitals, 144, 145, 232
Ley, place-names, 58
Liber Winton, 197, 202, 206

282

History of Hampshire.

Linkenholt, 58, 131, 152

Lira Abbey, 130, 177, 189, 228

Lisle, Alice, 263

Lisle, Lord, 245

Loddon River, 2, 137

Long barrows, 3, 6

Longparish, 268

Longstock, 58

Lords of the Isle of Wight, 177-

186

Lucy, Bishop, 175, 212
Lyndhurst, 34, 58
Lymington, 238, 240, 254, 269,

272

Maisons de Dieu, 143, 144, 232
Manorial rights, 152, 153
Manors, 147-162, 187
Manor-courts, 157, 187, 199
Mansbridge, 35, 158, 188
Manufactures, old, 201, 209, 270,

274

Maplederwell, 58, 59, 268
Mapledurham, 120
Margaret of Anjou, Queen, 236
Mark boundary names, 63
Markets, 85, 148-151, 240
Markets, early, 108
Markets by prescriptive rights, 85
Marlborough, Duke of, 199
Mary, Queen, 255
Mary married at Winchester,

223, 224

Maud, Empress, 112, 243
Maud, Queen, in
Mayfly, the, 272
May games and Maypole, 31
Medina River, 120, 187
Meon, 53, 83
Meon River and Valley, 24, 52,

53,69, in
Meonwara, the, 69
Meonstoke, 69, 100, 159, 207
Merdon Castle, 77, 113, 114
Merton, Prior of, 132
Micheldever, 36, 124, 132. 156,

159

Michelmersh, 97, 139, 268
Middle class land-holders, rise of,

164

Middleton, 107, 164
Midsummer fires, 31
Millbrook, 107, 228
Milford, 255

Mills, ancient, 107, 201, 207, 240,

243

Milton, 150, 154
Milton Abbey land, 131
Minstead, 9, 207
Minstrels, 143, 167, 214
Minters, 112, 215
Monasteries destroyed by the

Danes, 90, 124, 125
Monastic life, 123-136
Monastic system, influence of, 131
Monmouth, Duke of, 262
Montagu, Duke of, 199
Montesberg Abbey, 189
Mortain, Counts of, 105, 120
Mottisfont, 105, 200
Mottisfont Priory, 128
Mounds, Celtic, 20, 32
Moyles Court, 263
Mummers, survival of, 174
Mythology, Celtic, 14, 32
Mythology, Saxon and Norse, 66,

67, 177

Names of some medieval land-
owners, 163, 164, 184
Needles, the, 196
Neolithic period, 3, 4, 176
Neolithic race, 6, 12-14
Netley Abbey, 128, 130, 131, 214,

256
Nether Wallop, 98, 131, 151, 167,

267

Neville, Tom, 271
Newark Priory land, 131
New Forest, 5, 9, 10, 20, 42, 44,

52, 92, 172, 209, 265, 269, 271
New Forest, ancient potteries, 44
New Forest, making of, 103
New Forest staghounds, 271
New Minster, 82, 84, 99, 100, 104,

124, 130, 207, 242
New Minster, abbot and monks

slain, 101, 156
Newport, Isle of Wight, 104, 120,

145, 179, 190, 196, 198, 199,

253> 254

Newport, Isle of Wight, Confer-
ence of, 197, 198, 260

Newport, Isle of Wight, Museum,

9

Newton Valence, 158, 163, 169
Newtown, 190, 199, 254
Nigel the physician, 105

Index.

283

Norman and Angevin rule, m-

123

Norman settlement, 102-106
Norse settlements, 94
Norton, Colonel, 258, 259
November Celtic festival, 31, 66
Nursling, 41, 51,90, 124

Oak for the navy, 265

Odiham, 41, 53, 57, 100, 121, 148,

154, 161, 215, 253, 270
Odiham Forest, 98, 266
Odiham, siege of castle, 170
Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, 105, 126,

178

Odo of Winchester, 206
Offa, King of Mercia, 77, 78, 84,

227

Oglander family, 184, 195
Olaf, King of Norway, 89, 229
Old Minster, 92, 99, 100, 104, no,

113, 123, 130, 213, 214
Old Stone Age, I, 2
Old terrace lands, 152
Old Winchester hill, 10, 24
Ormond, Duke of, 263
Osborne, 134
Overey, W., 238
Overton, 36, 57, 152, 253, 270
Over Wallop, 167, 267

Palaeolithic race, I, 3
Pamber, 147
Pamber Forest, 266
Parkhurst Forest, 195, 2-66
Parks, 1 08, 152, 267
Parliamentary representation, 253,

254
Parliaments at Winchester, 217,

221

Parnholt, 103
Pembroke, Earl of, 197
Peninsular fortified sites, 25
Penruddock, Colonel, 263
Personal place-names, 163, 164
Peter de Rivallis, the hermit, 128
Petersfield, 104, 149, 159, 168,253
Philip, Prince of Spain, 224, 255
Philips, Robin, 260, 261
Pilgrimage, 73, 139-142
Pilgrims, 115, 141, 142. 213, 241
Place-names, Cymric, 34, 35
Place-names, Danish, 94
Place-names, Gaelic, 34

Place-names, Saxon, 57-60
Plague, the, 87, 221, 235
Population in 1891, 226, 241, 252,

273
Porchester, 45, 48, 49, 50, 56, 107,

in, 127, 154, 159
Portland, Earl of, 197
Portsmouth, 82, 104, 115, 120,

121, 144, 193, 242-252, 253, 273
Portsmouth dockyard, 245, 252
Portsmouth fair, or free mart,

250, 251

Portsmouth harbour, 193, 243
Portsmouth, Earl of, 199
Portsea, 155, 157, 242, 243, 246
Pottery, broken, 9, 14, 15
Pottery, Romano-British, 44
Praemonstratensian Order, 128,

214

Praspositus, 202, 233
Prehistoric Hampshire, 1-15
Preston Candover, 173
Privet, 75, 172
Purkis, the charcoal-burner, no,

215
Pytheas, 8, 41

euarley, 98, 100, 129, 166
uarr, 130, 131, 178
Quarr Abbey, 127, 179, 214
Quarr, legend of, 146

Races, fusion of, 17, 27, 28, 33, 53
Radchenistri, 94
Radcliffe, Sir Henry, 246
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 225
Redbridge, 124, 158, 188
Redbridge Monastery, 72, 90, 124
Reeves, 147, 232, 233
Reodford, 57
Richard I., 117, 118, 180, 243,

247, 251

Richard II., 185, 219, 235
Richard III., 245, 255
Richard, Earl of Cambridge, 235,

236
Rmgwood, 62, 94, 99, 148, 149,

159, 262
Robert, Duke of Normandy, in,

243
Robert, Earl of Gloucester, 113,

1 14, 243

Rockbourn, 18, 268
Roger, Earl of Montgomery, 105

284

History of Hampshire.

Roman bricks and pottery, 43,

44,201

Roman glass works, 44
Roman inscriptions, 48
Roman remains, 47, 48, 123, 243
Roman roads, 45, 56
Roman villas, 48, 176
Romano-British village sites, 58,

59

Romans, the coming of, 37-48
Romsey, 35, 40, 124, 149, 207, 262
Romsey Abbey, 104, in, 207
Ropley, 40, 63, 131, 267, 269
Rotherwick, 58, 154
Round barrows, 3, 5, 10
Rowland's Castle, 43, 173, 269
Rownor, 94, 1 54
Royal banquets at Winchester,

93, 217
Royal Southern Yacht Club

house, 194

Russell, Lady Rachel, 261, 262
Russell, Lord William, 261
Ryde, 193, 273

Sacred Celtic seasons, 31

Sacred mounds, 32

St. Aubins, battle of, 187

St. Augustine, rule of, 129, 134, 145

St. Boniface, 124, 195

St. Brinstan's Hospital, 125

St. Catherine's Hill earthwork,

23, 24
St. Deny's Priory, 127, 133, 215,

232, 233

St. Giles' fair, 210, 211
St. Giles5 Hill, 200, 210, 211
St. Helen's, 126, 187, 193
St. John family, barons, 169
St. Judocus, or St. Josse, 84, 141,

213
St. Julian's Hospital, 143, 144, 231,

232, 236

St. Leonard's Grange, 131
St. Mary's Abbey, 104, 124, 130,

214

St. Mary Bourne, 139, 152, 168
St. Peter's Abbey, Gloucester,

land of, 131

St. Swithun, 78, 79, 145, -211, 213
St. Swithun, priory of, 104, 117,

130, 210, 214,218, 220
Saints, Saxon, buried at Win-
chester, 211

Salisbury, Earl of, 185, 235

Salterns, 107, 215, 243, 264

Sanctuary, 213, 255

Sandown, 273

Sapalanda Monastery, 125

Saracenic art, 120

Saxon architecture, remains of,

107

Saxon castles, or burhs, 83
Saxon settlements, 57
Saxon typical place-names, 57-60
Scales, Lord, 254
Sclavonian sailors, 241
Scrope, Lord, 236
Secular canons, 123, 124
Selborne, 58, 62, 100, 126, 149,

159, 172, 266, 269, 270
Selborne Priory, 221
Selborne, Templars at, 137
Sergeantries, 154, 155
Seven Barrows, 10, 26
Seven Sleepers' Hill, 201
Sexburga, Queen, 70
Shanklin, 273
Shawford, 152
Sheep-farming, 264
Sherborne, 58
Sherborne Priory, 126
Sherfield on Loddon, 58, 137, 155,

164, 165

Sheriffs, 133, 157, 160, 233, 240
Shide Bridge, 188
Shipbuilding, 81, 229, 246, 265
Shipton Bellinger, 163, 268
Shops a market privilege, 148
Shrines, 84, 140, 142, 212, 213,

224, 241

Sigebert, King, 75
Silchester, 38, 43, 45, 53-55, 121,

i?3

Silchester, explorations at, 47
Slaves recorded in Domesday

Book, 1 06
Smiths, 154, 215
Smith, Thomas Assheton, 271
Smugglers, 269
Soke, the, at Winchester, 204

206, 2ii

Solent, the, 82, 122, 236, 272
Sombourn, 58, 100, 105
Sopley, 32
Southampton, 2, 45, 46, 52, 92,

115, 117, 119, 175,236,253,272,

etc.

Index.

Southampton, Admiralty jurisdic-
tion, 238, 252

Southampton, commerce of, 78,
96, 237, 241

Southampton, Norman - French
inhabitants, 230, 238

Southampton port, limits of, 238,
240, 252

Southampton shipmasters, 117,

239
Southampton, Earls of, 197, 260,

262
Southampton Water, i, u, 38, 46,

50, 52, 228, 235, 237, 272
Southsea, 245, 273
Southwick, 58
Southwick Priory, 127, 142, 214,

246

Sparsholt, 58, 63, 123
Stanley, Hans, 199
Stephen, King, 112, 114, 160
Steventon, 105, 156, 164
Stigand, Archbishop, 97, 100
Stockbridge, 58, 114, 253, 254
Stocks, the, 161, 205, 251
Stoke charity, 163, 169
Stoke, place-names, 58
Stoneham, 57, 209, 241
Stonehenge, 30, 31
Stratfield, 58, 107, 207
Stuart, Arabella, 225
Suit of court, 158, 165
Sun worship, 30, 66
Sutton Scotney, 163, 166, 169
Swein, King of Denmark, 89, !

229
Sydenham, Colonel William, 198 .j

Tacitus, 30

Tarent Abbey land, 154, 157
Templar Knights, 129, 215
Tenures of land, 154-157, 182,

242, 269
Test River, 2, 25, 34, 46, 98, 168,

228

Thanes, 77, 100, 106, 242
Thorp settlements, 93, 94
Thruxton, 48, 57, 150, 167
Tichborne, 35, 58, 107, 172
Tidworth, 10, 57, 271
Tin trade, 8, 196, 237
Tisted, 35, 164, 259
Titchfield, 35, 52, 108, 149, 159, j

197, 236, 262

Titchfield Abbey, 128, 214
Tithes, 79, 85, 87, 153, 177, 189
Tithings, 61, 62, 85-147, 187, 238
Titus, Emperor, 38
Torques, golden, 40
Tostig, Earl, 99
Townships, 147, 148
Traditions, local, 79, no, 195, 196,

222, 243, 255, 259, 262, 269
Treasure, buried, legends of, 173
Treasury at Winchester, 108, no,

112, 217

Tumuli, 3, 10, 14, 28
Tumuli, excavation of, 12
Tun, place-names, 57
Tunworth, 57
Twyford, 48, 57, 83
Twynham, 83, 125
Tytherley, 35, 58, 101, 154, 155,

164

Upham, 10, 57
Upper Clatford, 167, 268
Upper or Over Wallop, 164, 167
Upton Grey, 268

Venetians, 8, 46, 237, 239, 240,

241

Venta Belgarum, 38, 56
Ventnor, 195, 273
Vespasian, Emperor, 38, 176
View of frankpledge, 157
Villages, growth of, 59, 132, 148,

268
Villages on Romano-British sites,

58,60

Villeins, 132, 152, 158, 215
Villeins' land, 107, 153
Vineyards, 43

Wade way, 136

Wager of battle, trial by, 160, 161
Walbury camp or earthwork, 23
Waleran the huntsman, 105
Walkelin, Bishop, 103, 210, 212
Waller, Sir William, 257, 258
Wallop, 100, 108, 131, 151, 167,

207

Waltham, 57

Waltham blacks, 268, 269
Waltheof, Earl, 102, 206
Walton, Isaac, 272
Warbeck, Perkin, 255
Warblington, 62, 137, 164

286

History of Hampshire.

Warnford, 57, 154
Warwick, Countess of, 254
Warwick, Earl of, 139, 254
Watchingwell, 108, 131
Water and spring place-names,

16, 33, 34> 35, 5^
Waverley Abbey, 131, 214
Waynfleet, Bishop, 212, 221
Wearing the crown at Winches-
ter, 96, 101, 108
Webb, Lieut.- General, 199
Wedmore, peace of, 81
Wellow, 83, 259
West Meon, in, 148, 207
Wessex, early, 61-69
Wessex, early kings of, 70-78
Wessex, later kings of, 79-88
Westbury, 166
Westbury, treaty of, 1 1 1
Westminster Abbey land, 131
West Saxon laws, 73, 85, 88
Weston, Lord, 197
West Saxon conquest, 49-60
Wey Hill, 160, 167, 210
Wherwell, 87, 98, 125, 131, 149, 161
Wherwell, Abbess of, 98, 133, 149,

207

Wherwell, legends of, 88, 145
White canons, 214
White friars, 129
Whitchurch, 107, 153, 254, 268,

270

White, Gilbert, 266, 269, 270
Wick, place-names, 57, 58
Wickham, 58, 164
Wight, Isle of, 5, 53, 84, 90, 176-

199
Wight, Isle of, chief landholders

in fourteenth century, 184
Wight, Isle of, invasions, 190-194
Wight, kings of, 72, 84, 186
Wight, lords of, 182, 185, 186
Wight, Parliamentary representa-
tion of, 109

Wight, tenures of land in, 182
Wilfrid, Archbishop, 71
William Rufus, 108-110, 127, 171,

210, 215
William the Conqueror, 100-107,

166, 169, 178, 207

William III., 263, 264
Winchester, 2, 43, 45, 48, 52, 55,
56, 78, 81, 85, 91, 96, 123, 160,
168, 175, 200-215,253,257-
259, 262, 263, etc.
Winchester, Bishop of, his manors,

104
Winchester, gaol custody of, 154,

206

Winchester in decay, 216-226
Winchester life in the Middle

Ages, 212-215

Winchester, Norman-French in-
habitants, 206
Winchester, statutes of, 150, 160,

171

Winchester, trades at, 208
Winchester, weights and mea-
sures, 88
Winchester, Marquis of, 258, 259,

260

Winchfield, 58, 131
Winfrid, or St. Boniface, 124
Witan of Wessex, 75, 79, 83, 87,

90,91

Woodcot, 5, 36, 58, 137, 152, 218
Woodmancot, 58
Wolverton, 193
Wolvesey Castle and Palace, 113,

114, 201, 212

Wonsington or Wonston, 57
Woolmer Forest, 255, 265, 266,

269

Woolston, 94, 156
Wootton, 58, 195
Worldham, 121, 155
Worsley, Sir Richard, 193, 199
Worth, place-names, 57
Worthy, 57, 153, 164, 271
Wriothesley, Thomas, Earl of

Southampton, 82, 262
Wulfhere, King of Mercia, 71
Wykeham, Bishop, 212, 220
Wymering, 57

Yachting, 272

Yarmouth, 35, 122, 196, 197, 198,

I99» 253, 254, 269
Ytene, 35, 103
Yule time, 31

Elliot Stock, Paternoster Row, London.

POPULAR COUNTY HISTORIES.

" We may look forward to many entertaining hours spent in reading this series of County
Histories."— Land and Water,

Demy 8vo., cloth, price 75. 6d. ; Roxburgh, IDS. 6d. net ; large-paper copies, ais. net each volume.

A History of Nottinghamshire.

By CORNELIUS BROWN, Author of the " Annals of Newark-on-Trent," etc.

A History of Cumberland.

By RICHARD S. FERGUSON, M.A., LL.M., F.S.A.

" If Mr. Stock can find a Mr. Ferguson to write the history of each of the other counties of
England and Wales, the success cf his series of ' Popular County Histories ' may be considered as
assured."— The Speaker.

A History of Warwickshire.

By SAM TIMMINS, F.S.A.

" It must not be supposed that because the book is ' popular ' it is nothing but a compilation.
Mr. Timmins has made many useful discoveries in the history of his county, which are here set
forth. But the book appeals quite as much to the general reader as to the Warwickshire man." —
St. James's Gazette.

A History of Berkshire.

By Lieut. -Colonel COOPER KING.

" Colonel King has done his work well, and his sketch of the ' History of Berkshire ' is both
useful and entertaining." — Morning Post.

A History of Derbyshire.

Times.

By JOHN PENDLETON, Author of " Old and New Chesterfield."
An entertaining and very instructive guide to all that is most interesting in the county.

The History of Devonshire.

By R. N. WORTH, F.G.S., Author of " The West Country Garland," etc.
" Ought to be greatly popular with the residents, and will have general interest for all who
have the talent for locality."— Contemporary Review.

A History of Norfolk.

By WALTER RYE, Author of the " Norfolk Antiquarian Miscellany," etc.

"At once the most learned and entertaining county guide that has ever been compiled. It is
difficult to describe Mr. Rye's delightful book." — Athenceum.

*** Those who desire to secure COMPLETE SETS of the County
Histories can do so, by subscribing for the entire series, but taking and
paying for the volumes as they are issued.

LONDON : ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.G.

DA Shore, Thomas William, 1 840-

670 - 1905.

•H2 A history of Hampshire,

S5 including the Isle of Wight

IMS