A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



was left in March, 1750, by Sir William Jolliffe, 

 M.P. for Petersfield, a great admirer of that monarch 

 as the ' avenger of liberty.' The statue stood first in 

 the courtyard of Petersfield House, which was for 

 over sixty years the seat of the Jolliffe family in Peters- 

 field,* and it was not until its demolition in 1793 that 

 it was removed to its present position. At one time 

 both the horse and the rider were gilded, and the 

 Golden Horse Inn, on the east side of the square, 

 owes its name to the fact. At the south-west angle 

 of the square is Castle House, architecturally the most 

 interesting domestic building in the town. It dates 

 from the early years of the seventeenth century, retain- 

 ing the mediaeval arrangement of a central block 

 representing the hall, with wings at right angles to it 

 at each end, but for the rest the old disposition of 

 rooms is abandoned. The entrance is in the middle 

 of the central block, and on either side are projecting 

 rooms filling the angles between it and the wings, 

 and representing the bay window and entrance porch 

 of the mediaeval hall. Here the hall has become a 

 mere central lobby, and the chief living-rooms are in 

 the north wing, on the ground and first floors. 

 Fortunately a great deal of the original panelling and 

 several fine chimney-pieces are preserved, though under 



in the occupation of Sir John Biggs. 3 In 1713 

 Dame Susanna Bilson of Mapledurham, widow, 

 and Leonard Bilson of Mapledurham sold it for 

 300 to Robert Love of Basing in the parish of 

 Froxfield. 4 In the deed of sale it is described as ' all 

 that capital messuage with another messuage adjoining, 

 lately in the tenure or occupation of John Corps and 

 Robert Brett, situated in the borough of Petersfield, 

 bounded by the Market-place and High Street on the 

 east, by Parsonage Lane on the north, and on the 

 south by the messuages and gardens of William 

 Heather, Richard Cowper, Thomas Westbrook, 

 William Layfield, John Woolgar, Nicholas Page, 

 senior, Nicholas Page, junior, and others.' Seven 

 years later Robert sold it to Edmund Miller of 

 Serjeants Inn, serjeant-at-law, together with the pews 

 or seats in the church of Petersfield, formerly used or 

 enjoyed by the inhabitants of the messuage. The price 

 he obtained was 620, a considerable advance on the 

 sum for which he had purchased it.' Baron Miller, 

 by his will dated 30 October, 1729, left all his 

 estates in Norfolk, Hampshire, Middlesex, and 

 London to his nephew Richard Hassell of Lincoln's 

 Inn in tail-male, with contingent remainder to his 

 nephew John Hassell. Eleven years later Richard 



THE MARKET PLACE, PETERSFIELD 



a coat of white paint. The house is of two stories 

 with an attic, with a kitchen yard and offices on the 

 north, and a long garden on the west. The front of 

 the house is much overgrown with ivy, and plastered, 

 and the replacement of the mullioned windows by 

 sashes detracts from the general effect ; but the hipped 

 roofs and recessed front, and the wrought-iron 

 entrance gateway to the little forecourt, are enough 

 to make it the chief architectural feature of the 

 square. On the jambs of the entrance doorway are 

 the initials E M and W M, which are doubtless those 

 of the first owner. The house was purchased about 

 the middle of the seventeenth century by the Bilson 

 family, and in a deed of 1678 is described as a 

 capital messuage and dwelling-house in Petersfield, 



and John sold the messuage described as being in the 

 tenure of Browne Langrish, doctor of physic, 8 to- 

 gether with a great deal of other property in Peters- 

 field, to John Jolliffe.' Castle House remained in the 

 possession of the Jolliffe family for over fifty years', 

 being finally let on a 999 years' lease 8 about the end 

 of the eighteenth century to Mr. Carter, lord of the 

 manor of Mapledurham. Eventually it became a 

 boys' school, and was used for this purpose until about 

 eight years ago. It next became the residence of the 

 Right Rev. the Hon. Arthur Temple Lyttelton,D.D., 

 bishop of Southampton, who died 19 February, 1903. 

 It is at the present time occupied by the Rev. E. M. 

 Tomlinson, M.A., formerly vicar of East Meon. 

 Sheep Street leads from the Square to the Spain, 



2 Mr. John Jolliffe built Petersfield 

 House in the Lawn where was previously 

 the residence of his father-in-law, Mr. 

 Robert Michell. It was a fine red-brick 

 mansion with stone facings of the style 

 of Queen Anne. It occupied the site of 

 the schools and the police-station between 

 St. Peter's Road and Hylton Road, and 

 traces of artificial canals can still be seen. 

 When the house was pulled down in 1793, 

 owing to parish disputes, the entrance- 



gates of Sussex iron were removed to 

 Merstham House, Redhill, where they are 

 at the present day. 



8 Deeds penes Lord Dartmouth. 



4 Ibid. Lord Hylton. 



5 Ibid. 



6 Browne Langrish was a celebrated 

 physician of the eighteenth century. He 

 was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, 

 1734. He delivered the Cromian Lec- 

 tures on Muscular Motion before the 



112 



Royal Society in 1747, and published 

 them 1748. He died at Basingstoke in 

 1759. His works include : A New Essay 

 on Muscular Motion,The Modern Theory and 

 Practice of Physic, Physical Experiments on 

 Brutes, and Plain Directions in regard to the 

 Small-pox. 



1 Deeds penes Lord Hylton. 



8 Lord Hylton still receives a quit- 

 rent for it. 



