PORTSDOWN HUNDRED 



PORTSMOUTH 



which the burgesses had been wont to hold for fifteen 

 days from the first day of August. It seems probable 

 that, as the fair was subsequently held on 29 June 

 and the fortnight following, it was under this charter 

 that the date of the fair was altered from its original 

 date to the only feast of St. Peter observed in the 

 English calendar. With the change of style in 1752, 

 the first day of the fair was again altered to 1 1 July. 

 It was a trading fair of some importance, held in the 

 open street, and was resorted to not only by the 

 people of the neighbourhood, but by traders from 

 Normandy and Holland. The chief articles sold 

 were cutlery and earthenware from the Midlands, 

 cloth from the west of England, baskets from Nor- 

 mandy, and Dutch metal and delftware. The fair 

 opened with the display of an open hand or glove, 

 which was placed at the end of a pole and exhibited 

 from the window of the old gaol in the High Street, 

 and latterly from the old town-hall. The glove is 

 now kept in the borough museum : it replaced an 

 older one which had been stolen and sold in America. 155 

 Towards the end of the eighteenth century the fair 

 began to deteriorate, becoming a mere gathering of 

 shows and gingerbread stalls, and a great inconvenience 

 and nuisance to the inhabitants. Several attempts were 

 made to put an end to it, but they were ineffectual, 

 until in 1846 a clause inserted in a Local Improve- 

 ment Act finally abolished it after an existence of 

 more than six centuries.* 54 



The markets also instituted by the charter of 1194 

 are held on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, 

 though the original grant only mentions Thursday as 

 market-day. The charter gave to the burgesses all 

 the liberties enjoyed by the citizens of Winchester and 

 Oxford at their markets. During the seventeenth 

 century ' standings ' were let out in the market- 

 house, 1 " which was presumably under the gildhall, 

 which stood across the High Street. Later, the 

 ground floor of the old town-hall, at the corner of 

 Pembroke Road, was known as the market, but 

 was let to a yearly tenant as a shop.* 46 It is now held 

 in the Commercial Road, the main thoroughfare 

 northwards from the present town-hall. Vegetables, 

 fruit, and dairy produce are sold wholesale and retail. 

 The market begins in the early hours of the morning, 

 when cars are driven in from all the country round, 

 and even from over the Sussex borders. The carts 

 themselves are drawn up in the road and used as stalls, 

 or the fruit and vegetables are exposed for sale in 

 baskets placed along the curb, while the salesman 

 stands in the gutter. The corporation still takes zd. 

 toll for each standing. 



On 4 July, 1256, Henry III granted to the 'good 

 men ' of Portsmouth that they and their heirs might 

 have a gild merchant in the town, with all the liberties 

 thereto belonging. A clause in the charter was 

 evidently intended to free the community from 

 liability for the debts of its individual members,' 57 and 

 the grant ends with a confirmation of exemption from 

 cheminage and the other privileges enjoyed by the 

 men of the town during the reigns of Richard I and 

 John. It is curious to note that, though the bur- 

 gesses obtained several confirmations of their other 



charters, it was not till 1384 that this grant of a gild- 

 merchant wasexemplified.' 57 ' Owing to the unfortunate 

 loss of the earlier town records, the relations between 

 the gild and the corporation remain unknown ; 

 nevertheless, it may be inferred that they were closely 

 allied, from the fact that it was the mayor and bur- 

 gesses who regulated the trade in the sixteenth and 

 following centuries, and that the borough courts were 

 held in the Gildhall." 8 



The earliest known common seal of the town is 

 in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries, and is 

 said to date from the thirteenth century. It shows a 

 single-masted vessel on the waves, with furled main- 

 sail. Above the vessel are a crescent and star. 



The common seal at present in use bears on the 

 obverse a similar vessel, with an anchor at the bow 

 and an indented flag at the mast-head. Before the 

 mast are two figures rowing ; two others in a tower 

 at the stem are blowing long trumpets. The legend 

 is ' Sigillum Commune de Portemutha.' On the 

 reverse are three canopied niches. In the centre niche 

 are the Virgin and Child ; in the right-hand niche 

 St. Nicholas with hand raised in benediction ; and in 

 the left-hand niche St. Thomas of Canterbury, hold- 

 ing his archiepiscopal cross. The legend is ' Portum 

 Virgo Juva Nicholae Fove Roge" 9 Thoma.' 



The seal of the mayoralty is circular, and bears the 

 crescent and star of the borough arms, and the legend 

 ' S. Prepositi de Portesmuth.' 



A seal affixed to warrants authorizing flogging 

 during the eighteenth century bears the Tudor rose 

 surmounted by a crown, and the legend ' Prepositus 

 Portesmouth.' 



The corporation insignia include : 



(1) A small silver mace with cup-shaped head, on 

 one side of which is the Tudor rose and on the other 

 the fleur-de-lis crowned ; no hall-mark. 



(2) A silver parcel-gilt mace with semi-globular 

 head engraved with the star, a five-bladed shaft, and 

 the arms of Charles II on a boss on the head, so fixed 

 that it may be reversed to show the arms of the Com- 

 monwealth ; no hall-mark. 



(3) A silver-gilt mace ' converted ' at the Restora- 

 tion. The head is surmounted by a crown, of which 

 the arches are of unusual character. The maker's 

 mark is W. H. 



(4) The mayor's chain of office, purchased in 

 1859, is of gold. Attached is a pendant bearing the 

 borough arms. 



Among the fine collection of corporation plate 

 are : 



(1) A silver-gilt cup with the hall-mark of 1525-6 

 and the inscription ' Si Deus Nobiscum quis contra 

 nos.' On the inside of the foot the initials F. B. 



(2) Three silver spoons of Elizabethan pattern marked 

 with the hall-mark of 1558-9 and bearing the letters 

 F. B. pounced on the stems ; and three silver spoons 

 marked respectively with the hall-marks of 1588, 

 1 60 1, and 1618, the earliest having the initials I. S. A. 

 engraved on the knob. 



(3) A standing silver-gilt cup with cover. On 

 the edge of the bowl the legends ' Multa cadunt 

 inter calicem supremum labra ' (sic) and 'Vivite ad 



268 Information kindly given by Mr. 

 W. H. Saunders. 



541 Extract! from tkt Poramouth Rtc. 



33- 



" Ibid. 37. 



2 * Rcporu on Markets, 1889, iii, 370. 



aw '. . . non areitentur pro aliquo dicti hominet crcditoribui eorundem de- 

 debito de quo ndeiussores aut principales bitorum in iusticia defuerint et de hoc 



debitores non extiterunt nisi forte ipsi 

 debitorei de eorum fuit communia et 

 potrstatern habentes unde de debitis suit 

 in toto vel in parte tatisfacere possint et 



rationabiliter constari possit.' 

 *" Pat. 8 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 22. 

 as8 Extractsfrom the Portsmouth Rtc. 230. 

 149 For ' rege." 



