PORTSDOWN HUNDRED 



practice of sinking hogsheads and casks in the harbour 

 till an opportunity should arise for landing them. 56 



From the sixteenth century till the middle of 

 the nineteenth Portsmouth was essentially a garrison 

 town, and, more especially during the sixteenth and 

 seventeenth centuries, the inhabitants found the con- 

 sequent restrictions somewhat irksome. 47 During the 

 seventeenth century, also, the quartering of soldiers upon 

 the already overcrowded inhabitants became a serious 

 grievance. 58 In 1665 Commissioner Thomas Middle- 

 ton complained that nine people were packed in a room 

 1 6 ft. by 12 ft., while in the house of the mayor him- 

 self there were twenty-six in family." The number 

 of poor in the town also became so alarming to the 

 garrison that the Council of State sent an urgent com- 

 mand to the mayor in 1651 to provide for their 

 employment and relief. 60 Poverty had doubtless been 

 increased by the siege of 1 642, and for many years 

 vain attempts had been made to secure the more 

 effectual paving and cleansing of the town. 6 ' The 

 inhabitants suffered severely from small-pox and the 

 plague during the seventeenth century, the latter being 

 rife in the town both in 1625 6> and I665, 63 and even 

 when the plague had left the town there were more 

 deaths from fever and ague than there had been in 

 its time. 64 The overcrowding was relieved during 

 the next century by the growth of Portsea, while the 

 paving and watching of the town were improved 

 under a series of Acts of Parliament, the first of which 

 was passed in I763-4. 65 The commissioners for the 

 paving and cleansing of the town first met in 1768, 

 and under them its general condition was rapidly im- 

 proved. 68 Their work is now ably carried on by the 

 Urban Sanitary Authorities. 



The discovery of New England had opened a fresh 

 field of commerce to the merchants of Portsmouth. 

 They were especially anxious to obtain the monopoly 

 of the tobacco trade, and petitioned in 1625 that all 

 tobacco should be unladen in their port, and that 

 all ships bound for New England should be obliged to 

 set forth thence, but without apparent result. 67 A 

 proposal made in 1632 for a joint-stock company to 

 monopolize all trade in the port and ten miles out to 

 sea also seems to have come to nothing. 69 Neverthe- 

 less, by the end of the seventeenth century the 

 customs paid there had increased from 800 to 

 6,000," the chief import still being French wine.' 



Early in the last century the import of coal had 

 increased," while cattle were brought from the west 

 of England and cows from Ireland. The coasting 

 trade is now alone considerable, and it has been 

 gradually diminished by the ever-increasing facilities 

 for transport overland. The watermen were loud in 

 their protestations against stage-coaches, and proposed 

 in 1673 that, as the latter had of late strangely in- 

 creased to the great prejudice of watermen and seamen, 

 the coach-owners should be obliged to contribute 



PORTSMOUTH 



towards the building of hospitals in several ports." 

 Both the coasting and foreign trade are limited by the 

 restrictions imposed upon Portsmouth as a naval har- 

 bour, and the use of the greater part of the neigh- 

 bouring coast-line for Government purposes. The 

 Portsmouth and Arundel Canal was intended to 

 facilitate the coasting-trade by allowing barges to 

 enter from the Langstone Harbour and unlade near 

 the site of the present town station. It was opened 

 on 28 May, 1823," but was never a success owing to 

 the slowness of transport. The London & South 

 Western Railway, a branch of which was laid down to 

 Portsmouth under an Act of 1839," and the Ports- 

 mouth Railway from Godalming to Havant, extended 

 to Portsmouth in 1853," superseded the canal, which 

 was ultimately filled in, since it had been found that 

 the salt water percolated to the fresh springs in the 

 town. Its former course is marked by such names as 

 Arundel Street. 76 



During the American and Napoleonic wars the 

 town increased rapidly in size and importance, and 

 with the establishment of peace its prosperity did not 

 fail. 77 In 1544 there were not more than a hundred 

 able-bodied persons besides the garrison in the town, 78 

 while three centuries later the population of Portsmouth 

 was over nine thousand, and that of Portsea was nearly 

 forty-four thousand. 



Previous to 1194 all customs from the port of 

 Portsmouth had evidently been assessed with those of 

 Southampton. Immediately after Richard I had given 

 the town its charter, j was deducted from the ferm 

 of Southampton for the portage and customs of 

 Portsmouth, and for these William of Ste. Mere- 

 figlise, afterwards bishop of London, was to account 

 separately. 79 In 1196 8 was similarly deducted, 80 

 but no separate account for Portsmouth is to be 

 found on the Pipe Roll of the following year. In 

 1198, however, the receipts of the sheriff included 

 10 6t, dd. for the year's pontage and small custom- 

 ary dues apart from the ferm (census) of Portsmouth 

 and Kingston, which amounted to 14 zs. "jd? 1 It 

 appears, therefore, that it was only the pontage and 

 petty customs of Portsmouth that had been separated 

 from those of Southampton. The port itself remained 

 a member of the latter, and the greater customs were 

 still collected and accounted for with those of Southamp- 

 ton, an arrangement which gave rise to several disputes 

 between the two towns. Portsmouth did not become 

 a separate port until late in the eighteenth century. 



The petty customs together with the pontage were 

 all the rent paid by the men of Portsmouth for their 

 town before 1197, and even in the following reign 

 the bailiffs declared that the dues arising from custom 

 and pontage were all that they owed to the king by way 

 of ferm, 6 * yet in 1198 the sheriff had accounted for 

 14 odd as the 'census' or ferm of Portsmouth and 

 Kingston," while the receipts from the town amounted 



68 Cat. S.P. Dom.(Treas. Papers),l 702-7, 

 p. 4.90. 



W Add. MS. 33283, fol. 85 ; Hist. AfSS. 

 Com. Ref. vii, 420. 



58 Ibid, xi, App. v, 242. 



* Cat. S.P. Dom. 1664-5, p. 512. 



Ibid. 1651, p. 298. 



61 Ibid. 1652-3, p. 236; Acts of P.O. 

 (New Ser.), xv, 279. 



Cal. S.P. Dom. 1625-6, p. 112. 



81 Ibid. 1664-5, passim. 



84 Ibid. 1666-7, pp. 573, &c. 



K 4 Geo. Ill, cap. 92; 8 Geo. Ill, cap. 

 62 ; 16 Geo. Ill, cap. 59. 



88 East, Extracti from the Portsmouth 

 Records, 281. 



87 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1625-6, p. 94. 



68 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, App. i, 474. 



69 Cal. ofTreas. Papers, 1696-7, p. 554. 



70 See Cal. S.P. Dom. 1629-31, p. 48. 



71 Par!. Acct s. and Papers, 1835, xxiv, 

 819. 



7a Cal. S.P. Dom. 1672-3, p. 625. 

 78 Pigot, Hants Directory, 1823-4. 



1* Stat. 2 & 3 Viet. cap. 28. 



76 Ibid. 1 6 & 17 Viet. cap. 99 ; 22 

 & 23 Viet. cap. 31. 



78 Information kindly supplied by Mr. 

 W. H. Saunderi. 



T> Pop. Return, 1851 ; Parl. Acctt. and 

 Papers, 1835, xxiv, 799. 



78 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xx (2), 719. 



7 Pipe R. 6 Ric. I. 



80 Ibid. 7 Ric. I. 81 Ibid. 9 Ric. I. 



88 Cur. Reg. R. 36, m. 2 d. 



88 Pipe R. 9 Ric. I. 



