A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



appears to have been no town there, but merely a few 

 sea-faring people, while the town of Southampton had 

 control of the harbour." It was doubtless the strate- 

 gical advantages of the island that induced Richard I 

 to build a town there." He let out the land to various 

 men to build thereon, and granted a charter to the in- 

 habitants in I i94-' s It is dated 2 May, from Ports- 

 mouth, where he had been staying since the preceding 

 24 April, just before leaving England for the last time. 

 The king himself had houses built there, for in 

 H97- 8 ^ i8/. 3</. was spent on the improvement 

 of his houses and hall (curia) at Portsmouth, and in 

 the same year 4J. was accounted for as the rent of 

 building sites." From these accounts, and from the 

 sums spent in the following year on tables and benches 

 for the king's house, it would appear that the latter at 

 least was new." In 1 298 it was in such bad repair that 

 it threatened to collapse, and an inquisition being taken 

 as to its value, the hall, with certain other houses, was 

 assessed at 40, the chapel at 20, and the site at 

 2/. w The position of this building may be marked by 

 the name Kingshall Green, which was given to the site 

 of the former Clarence Barracks in Penny Street." 



It was only fitting that the early history of a town 

 founded by Richard Cceur-de-Lion should be filled 

 with war and preparations of war. During the 

 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the town was used 

 as a rendezvous for expeditions to Normandy, 30 

 Poitou," and more especially to Gascony," while 

 ships from most of the maritime towns of England 

 were sent thither to transport men and horses, pro- 

 Tisions, and arms gathered from all the country, 33 and 

 in 1254 the Great Council of the realm itself met 

 there." Besides the trade thus brought into the 

 town, it carried on considerable traffic with the wes- 

 tern and northern countries of Europe. Large quan- 

 tities of wheat were exported to France and Spain, 3 * 

 in addition to that conveyed from Portsmouth for the 

 provision of troops during the French wars. The 

 wool-trade also was so considerable that Portsmouth 

 was among the fifty-seven towns summoned to send 

 wool-merchants to consult with the king at York in 

 '3 Z 7-8, S6 and the townsmen joined in a petition that 

 the wool-staple for South England should be at 

 Southampton and not at Winchester, as had been 

 appointed. 37 In 1449 three pockets of wool and 

 eighty-nine sheepskins called ' Moreyns ' were arrested 

 on board a boat of Harfleur at Portsmouth. 38 The 

 chief import was wine, most of which was brought from 

 Bayonne and Bordeaux. 39 Woad also was imported 



from Normandy in considerable quantities," and wax 

 and iron from France." Nevertheless the vessels 

 belonging to the port were neither many nor large, 

 for when summoned in 1336 to send to the king's 

 aid all their vessels capable of carrying over forty dolia 

 of wine, they could only provide two, one of which 

 was out of repair." 



Judging by the number ot conveyances of houses 

 in the town, even early in the thirteenth century, 

 it would seem that it was of fair size. Some of 

 the buildings had an upper room or solar." The 

 majority were probably made of wood, for in 1338 

 only the Domus Dei and the parish church escaped 

 the fire when the French burnt the town. The in- 

 habitants were all but ruined by the four hostile 

 assaults which they suffered during the fourteenth 

 century, and until the building of the docks by Henry 

 VII the prosperity of the town was at a low ebb, 

 though the wool and wine trades were still carried on." 

 The building of the docks brought new life to the 

 town ; brew-houses were built and leased to private 

 individuals on condition that the king should have the 

 use of them in time of war," and in 1525 there were 

 also five royal brew-houses, the ' Rose,' the ' Lion,' the 

 ' Dragon,' the ' White Hart,' and the ' Anchor,' " and 

 foreign trade increased. Leather was brought from 

 Spain, 47 and Portsmouth vessels traded largely with 

 Holland," and the import of woad was still continued." 

 An effort was also made to encourage weaving in the 

 town, a petition being addressed to the queen in 158; 

 to allow clothiers residing within the liberties freedom 

 from custom for twenty years on condition that they 

 should each keep two corselets and able men to wear 

 them, and to fix the wool-staple for the adjoining 

 counties at Portsmouth. 10 Nevertheless, in 1579 the 

 townspeople were obliged to seek relief throughout 

 the realm for the losses which they had sustained by 

 sea and by fire." Camden described the town as 

 ' populous in time of war, but not so in time of peace.' 

 The presence of the fleet it Portsmouth during the 

 sixteenth century obliged the laying of posts to London, 

 first through Bagshot and later by way of Peters- 

 field and Guildford. 5 ' The port at this time was 

 infested with smugglers and pirates, even the mayor 

 being accused of dealing with them," while it was fre- 

 quently used by priests and recusants in escaping from 

 the country." In 1554 precautions were taken to pre- 

 vent merchants from bringing in goods duty-free under 

 pretence that they belonged to the king," and during 

 the seventeenth century merchant vessels made a 



** Since the ferm of Southampton wai 

 reduced when the men of Portsmouth 

 were allowed to hold their town in ferm 

 separately. Pipe R. 6 Ric. I. 



* Plac. Abbrev. (Rec. Com.), 85. 

 Juratores dicunt quod quando placuit 

 Domino Regi Ricardo edificare villam 

 de Portesmue ipse commisit placeas ejus- 

 dem ville pluribus hominibus et placeam 

 illam (the site in dispute) commisit 

 Gervasio de Suthantonia edificandam. 

 These 'place' were definite areas similar 

 to burgages : an arrangement of the same 

 kind existed at Newport, see P. G. Stone, 

 F.S.A. Arcblt. Antiq. of the Isle of Wight, 

 115. 



K Liber Cuttumarium (Rolls Ser.), ii, 

 6?5- M Pipe R. 9 Ric. I. 



'"Ibid. 10 Ric. I. 



M Misc. Inq. file 36, No. 13. 

 <" East, Extract! from the Portsmouth 

 Records, 753. 



80 Matt. Paris, Hist. Anglorum (Rolls 

 Ser.), ii, 90. 



81 Cbron. tf Grey Friar, (Rolls Ser.), ii, 

 145. 



a Rot. Lit. Claus. (Rec. Com.), ii, 28 

 passim. 



89 Ibid, i, I34 b. 



84 Annales Man. Tcivkesbury, \, 155. 



85 There exists at the Public Record 

 Office an interesting letter from Alphonso 

 King of Castile to the Commonalty of 

 Portsmouth concerning sureties left by 

 a merchant who carried wheat from 

 Portsmouth to Castile. Anct. Corresp. 

 xlii, 7. 



88 Cal. of Close, 1327-30, p. 237. 



87 Anct. Pet. file 160, No. 7979. 



88 Pipe R. 27 Hen. VI, 'Rutland et 

 res Suth.' 



89 Rot. Lit. Clans. (Rec. Com.), i, 579, 

 604 ; ii, 98 ; Part. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 

 413. 



'74 



Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 157. 

 41 Anct. Pet. Exch. 49-50. 



43 Anct. Corresp. xxxviii, 125. 

 < Anct. D. (P.R.O.), B. 2946. 



44 Pipe R. 27 Hen. VI. Rutland et 

 res Suth." 



L. and P. Hen. fill, iii, 3376 (i). 



48 Ibid, iv, 1020. The first four of these 

 stood on the site of the present Clarence 

 Barracks, while the ' Anchor ' was in St. 

 Thomas Street near the corner of St. 

 Mary Street. Cf. plan of the town, temp. 

 Eliz. 



*' Acts of P.O. (New Ser.), y, 60. 



48 Exch. Dep. Mich. 8 Jas. I, 30. 



Acts of P.O. (New Ser.), ix, 321. 



60 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1580-1625, p. 142. 



" Acts ofP.C. (New Ser.), xi, 307. 



M Ibid, vi, 248. 



48 Ibid, xi, 431. 



" Cal. ofS.P. Dom. 1591-4, p. 389. 



" Acts of P.O. (New Ser.), v, 54. 



