PORTSDOWN HUNDRED 



when it passed, by grant of Henry VIII in 1537, to 

 Thomas Wriothesley earl of Southampton, 1 " who, 

 however, in the following year reconveyed it to the 

 king, who thus held the whole manor." 3 



The manor remained in the possession of the crown 

 until 1632, when it was granted to Sir William 

 Uvedale," 4 son of Sir William Uvedale, who was 

 sheriff of Hampshire in 1594, and Mary daughter of 

 Sir Richard Norton." 5 On his death the manor of 

 Portchester was divided between his two daughters and 

 co-heirs Victoria, who married Sir Richard Corbett in 

 1663, and Elizabeth, first the wife of Sir William 

 Berkeley, and afterwards of Edward Howard earl of 

 Carlisle." 6 



One-half of the manor passed, on the death of 

 Elizabeth countess of Carlisle, to her son Charles earl 

 of Carlisle, by whom it was conveyed to Mr. Norton 

 of Portchester Castle, 1 " the ancestor of the Thistle- 

 thwaytes of Southwick, who still own the manor. 118 



The other half of the manor was purchased from 

 the Corbetts by Jonathan Rashleigh in 1724,"' and 

 from him it passed to his son Philip, who was holding 

 it in 1 77 1. 1>0 



In 1775 this half was evidently sold by the 

 trustees of the Rashleighs to Robert Thistlethwayte, 1 ' 1 

 and the two halves of the manor were united in the 

 hands of the Thistlethwaytes, whose descendant 

 Mr. Alexander Thistlethwayte, of Southwick Park, 

 is the present lord of the manor. 



At the time of the Domesday Survey there was a 

 mill in Portchester worth 30 pence,"' and at the 

 present day Wyker Mill still exists in the tithing of 

 Wyker. 



In 1086 there was a fishery in the manor for the 

 use of the hall, 123 and in 1198 Walter de Boarhunt 

 conveyed a salt-pit and 3 acres of land in Portchester 

 to Thomas de Hoo. 114 



In 1 294 an order was issued that a market should 

 be held in the king's manor of Portchester on Saturday 

 in every week, and that a fair lasting three days was 

 to be held there on the eve, day, and morrow of the 

 Assumption yearly, but these have long since been 

 discontinued. 



WYKER or W1CCOR in Portchester was probably 

 among the lands in Portchester granted to the abbey 

 of Titchfieldin 1230,"' though not mentioned by 

 name in the charter of Henry III. Described as the 

 manor of Wykes in Portchester, it was included among 

 the possessions of the abbey at the time of the 

 Dissolution, 126 and was afterwards granted to Thomas 

 earl of Southampton for life." 7 At his death in 1 550 

 it reverted to the crown. 128 It was granted in 1556 

 to John White of Southwick," 9 after which it followed 

 the descent of the manor of Southwick (q.v.). 



MOR^LLS in Portchester seems to have been 

 among the possessions of the priory of Southwick 

 until the time of the Dissolution, but it is not known 

 how that house obtained it. At the suppression of 

 Southwick Priory it was granted, in 1559, to John 

 White, when it was described as lately belonging to the 



PORTCHESTER 



priory of Southwick." From this date the descent 

 follows that of the manor of Southwick (q.v.) 



The church of OUR LADY, PORT- 

 CHURCH CHESTER, was given by Henry I in 

 1133 to his new house of Austin Canons, 

 as their priory church, and from its scale and arrange- 

 ments the present building must have been built for 

 the royal foundation. The site for some reason or 

 other was soon found to be inconvenient, and be- 

 tween 1145 and 1153 the priory was removed to 

 Southwick. 131 So that the date of the building can 

 be set within narrow limits ; and as there is nothing 

 to suggest a pause in the work, it is probable that the 

 whole church was completed about the time of 

 Henry's grant. 



It is cruciform, faced with wrought stone through- 

 out, with presbytery 19 ft. long by 21 ft. wide, 

 central tower 21 ft. 6 in. by i8ft. 3 in. (28ft. by 

 25 ft. external measurement), north transept 23 ft. 

 2 in. by 1 8 ft. 3 in., with eastern chapel, and nave 

 84ft. 9 in. by 23 ft. (23 ft. 6 in. at the west). The 

 south transept is destroyed, but probably had an 

 eastern chapel like that of the north transept. On 

 the south side lay the cloister and its surrounding 

 buildings, but nothing of these is now to be seen 

 above ground except the traces of abutment against 

 the church, and some arches of a twelfth-century arcade 

 on the upper floor, at the south end of the eastern 

 range, where it joined the Roman wall of the fortress. 

 They evidently formed part of the reredorter, and 

 shoots through the wall are to be seen below them. 

 The Roman wall was cut away to some depth for 

 their insertion, and it has been argued from this that 

 the monastic buildings must have been left standing 

 after the removal of the priory, as otherwise the 

 weakening of the wall thus caused would have been 

 made good during the time that the walls were used 

 as the outer defences of the mediaeval castle. 



The church itself seems to have suffered but little 

 from its abandonment by the canons. The doorways 

 to the cloisters are walled up, as is a large doorway 

 on the north of the nave, and the south transept, as 

 before noted, is pulled down. For the rest, the 

 structure can never have been badly neglected, but 

 the presbytery has lost its vault and has been in part 

 rebuilt in Elizabethan days, and it is recorded in a 

 petition of 1705 to Queen Anne that the church, 

 having been used for the keeping of prisoners of war 

 in Charles IPs time, ' was by their means set on fire 

 and for the greatest part ruined.' This, however, 

 can only apply to the roofs and fittings. The church 

 was repaired in 1888. 



The chancel more accurately the presbytery was 

 vaulted in one square bay, the eastern vaulting shafts 

 remaining intact. The east wall was probably entirely 

 rebuilt, and the north wall refaced externally in the 

 end of the sixteenth century, the three-light east 

 window being of this date. On the north and south 

 walls are plain round-headed arcades which have lost 

 their springers and shafts, and to the west of them are 



112 Pat. 29 Hen. VIII, pt. i, m . ,,_ 2 . 



118 Feet of F. Hants, Trin. -10 Hen 

 VIII. 



u Pat. 8 Chas. I, pt. 5, m. 24. 



Jls Berry, Hants Pedigrtcs, 75. 



116 Ibid. "7 Add. MS. 19056, fol. 2. 



8 The Thistlethwayte pedigree appears 

 in the account of the parish of Southwick 

 (q.v.). 



n'Recov. R. Trin. 12 Geo. Ill, rot. 

 339- 



" Ibid. m Ibid. 



ua r.C.H. Han,,, i, 492. 



Ibid. 



134 Feet of F. Hants, Hil. 10 Ric. I. 



la5 Chart. R. 1 5 Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. 2. 



8 Dugdale, Man. vi, 935. 

 "7 Pat. 29 Hen. VIII, pt. I, m. 31-2. 



1S8 W. & L. Inq. p.m. 4 Edw. VI 

 (Ser. 2), vol. 5, No. 103. 



129 Pat. 3 & 4 Phil, and Mary, pt. 9, 

 m. 10. 



180 Ibid. 2 Eliz. pt. 5, m. 23. 



181 This is proved by two bulls of 

 Eugenius III (1145-53); one addressed 

 to the prior and convent of Portchester, 

 the other to the same at Southwick. 



