248 OLD PORTLAND. 



noticed, f The separation of fields by walls of small thin 

 local stones known as " slats," instead of by hedges, is a 

 true Portland feature. The inn at Southwell, replacing 

 an older ona with the same curious sign, is known 0s " The 

 Eight Kings," at first sight suggestive of the eight Henries 

 of England. But the Portland theory is that it refers to 

 the eight Saxon " kings " who rowed King Edgar's barge 

 on the Dee at Chester on the occasion of one of his annual 

 progresses through the land. The Curator of the Dorset 

 County Museum thinks that the sign may have a military 

 origin. The old 8th Regiment, now the Liverpool Regi- 

 ment, used to be called for short the 8th Kings. 



Looking at Upham's view it is hard to realise that the 

 total population of Portland at the last census was over 

 17,000 ; when he was painting his pictures, a little more 

 than a century earlier, the whole population of the Island 

 was about 1,600. 



XV. Pennsylvania Castle. 



The erection of this castellated mansion was suggested 

 to John Penn by George III. It is said that the King pointed 

 out the picturesque possibilities of the site and offered him 

 a grant of some of the land thereabouts, and that Penn 

 regarded the royal suggestion as a command. But there 

 was a political motive, too. These were the days of the 

 Napoleonic wars, and Penn's special mission at Pennsylvania 

 Castle was to watch the English Channel and receive infor- 

 mation from sea-captains and others who acted as secret- 

 service agents as to the movements of the French ships. 



The architect of the mansion was James Wyatt, and the 

 building was completed about the year 1800, when it was 



f One wonders if the ancient " Rams' Gate " in the Grove was 

 directly connected with this, if it would be too far a cry to connect it 

 with Pagan sacrifices in the chief Pagan centre of the Island. 



