A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



Gascon/." 7 King John gathered a fleet of unprece- 

 dented size there in 1205 Under Edward III men- 

 at-arms took ship there for Brittany, 298 and in 1416 

 the French blockaded the English fleet then lying 

 at anchor in the harbour. 199 



King John caused some kind of protection to be made 

 for his ships there during the winter months, for in 1212 

 he commanded the sheriff of Hampshire to cause the 

 royal basin or dock (exclusa) at Portsmouth to be in- 

 closed with a strong wall for the safe-keeping of his 

 ships during the following winter. 300 It appears that 

 the ' basin ' here referred to was a pond belonging to 

 the abbey of Fontevrault, probably attached to the 

 mills granted to the abbey by Richard I, in which 

 case it was situated near the present Gun Wharf. 

 Sixteen years after the building of the walls, at the 

 petition of the abbess, Henry III commanded the 

 constable of Rochester to provide wood to fill up the 

 basin and to make another causeway there, notwith- 

 standing that King John had caused walls to be built 

 close by for the protection of his vessels from storms. 301 

 There was still a royal ship at Portsmouth in 1232 

 under the custody of Vincent de Hastings, 301 to whom 

 a grant of the ' water of Portsmouth ' by King John 

 had been confirmed in March, I2i6-l7. 303 Probably, 

 therefore, the king's ships continued to have their 

 winter quarters at Portsmouth, though no definite 

 mention of a dock is found before 1495, when 

 Henry VII ordered the construction of a dry 

 dock there. 30 * It is said to have been situated near 

 the King's Stairs, i.e. in Portsmouth itself. Through- 

 out the reign of Henry VIII large sums were expended 

 on this dockyard and the storehouses attached, and in 

 1523 a new dock was rebuilt for the Henri Grdcc tl 

 Dieu. mi Towards the end of the reign special efforts 

 were made to maintain the importance of the harbour. 

 Sir Anthony Knyvet, governor of the town in 1544, 

 set forth its convenience, since the greatest ships could 

 get in and out at all tides, and it was only one night's 

 sailing from Newhaven, Dieppe, Harfleur, and the 

 Seine. 306 In 1545 a new chain was stretched across 

 the harbour, and the whole fleet concentrated to 

 defend the town ; so: but after the succession of 

 Edward VI Portsmouth fell into comparative insignifi- 

 cance as a naval station, owing to its distance from 

 London. 30 * The old dry dock had been filled in 

 before 1627, when Buckingham was earnest in his 

 endeavours to build a new double dock in its place. 309 

 Unfortunately his death deferred its construction, 

 and, though ships were stationed in the harbour and 

 estimates made for a new dock, the latter was not com- 

 menced till 1656." The yard was partly fortified in 

 l667. 311 Subsequently the docks were extended 

 northwards, many acres being reclaimed from the 

 harbour for this purpose, and their importance in- 



creased during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries 

 with that of the Channel Fleet. Portsmouth from this 

 time has been intimately connected with naval history, 

 notably with the execution of Admiral Byng in 1757, 

 the loss of the Royal George in 1782, and the mutiny 

 at Spithead in 1797. The Naval College was 

 established within the dockyard in 1733, and in 1798 

 a new dock was built to receive ten sail of the line. 3 " 

 With the introduction of steam vessels more accom- 

 modation was needed, and for this purpose a new 

 steam-basin was opened in l848. 313 Between that 

 date and 1876 the area of the yard was more than 

 doubled, a large extension including fitting-out, rig- 

 ging, and repairing basins being opened in i876. 3 ' 4 

 Small additions have been more recently made. The 

 yard now occupies the greater part of the peninsula to 

 the north of Portsmouth, and gives employment to 

 many thousands of men, since it is used for the build- 

 ing and repairing of all kinds of vessels, from the 

 torpedo-destroyer to the largest of our men-of-war. 



The position of Portsmouth, favourable as it is for 

 a trading port and naval station, lays the town open to 

 foreign invasion. It was here that Robert of Nor- 

 mandy is said to have landed in noi, when he 

 sought to wrest the kingdom from his brother 

 Henry, 315 though it is probable that the chroniclers 

 refer to the whole harbour as Portsmouth, and that 

 the actual landing was effected at Portchester. 318 The 

 fortification of such a town was, therefore, of the 

 utmost importance, yet little effort was made to pro- 

 tect it before the fourteenth century. There is, 

 indeed, record of the serjeanty due from William of 

 Cosham in the thirteenth century of providing one man 

 in the ' castle of Portsmouth ' in time of war, 317 but the 

 name seems to be either an error of the scribe for Port- 

 chester, or to have been given to that castle owing to 

 its position at the head of Portsmouth Harbour. When 

 the town was first founded a house was built there for 

 the king, and ditches were made about its court, 318 but 

 there is no evidence of a royal castle there previous to 

 the fifteenth century. The first assault on the town 

 came, however, not from the Continent, but from the 

 barons of the Cinque Ports. In 1216 they had served 

 as allies with the men of Portsmouth in aiding the 

 Dauphin against King John, 319 but in the succeeding 

 reign both the men of Portsmouth and Southampton 

 suffered grievously from the violence of the barons, 

 who seized cargoes on their way to Portsmouth and 

 transferred them to their own ships, and refused to 

 allow the bailiffs to enter their vessels to buy wine. 320 

 In 1265 the barons of the Cinque Ports, joining in the 

 political struggles of that date, and doubtless inspired 

 with no good feeling against a prosperous port in their 

 immediate neighbourhood, landed in force at Ports- 

 mouth, slew some of the men who had gathered 



W On the Patent and Close Rolls of 

 Hen. Ill, Edw. I, Edw. II, and Edw. Ill, 

 are numerous commands to the men of 

 various ports to send vessels to Ports- 

 mouth. 



298 Cal. Close, 1343-6, p. 570. 



> M Capgrave, Hist, of the Henriei (Rolls 

 Ser.), i, 119. 



800 Rot. Lit. Claus. 1,117. 



801 Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. 32. 

 808 Ibid. 1231-4, p. 28. 



808 Rot. Lit. Claus. i, 302*. 



8M For a full description of this dock 

 see M. Oppenheim, Accts. and Invent, of 

 Hen. VII, 143-60. 



8 6 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, iii (2), 2935 . 



8 Ibid, xx (2), 719. 



8 7 Acts ofP.C. (New Sen), i, 253. 



808 See M. Oppenheim, Administration of 

 the Royal Navy, i, 297 et seq. 



809 Cal.S.P. Dom. 1627-8, p. 210. 



810 Ibid. 1634-5, p. 449 ; Hist. MSS. 

 Com. Rep. xii, App. i, 3885 Administra- 

 tion of the Royal Navy, i, 299. 



8 " Cal. S.P. Dom. 1666-7, P- S9- 



Bla Gent. Mag. Ixviii, 620. 



818 Ibid. (New Ser.), xxx, 32. 



8 Ibid, xxx, 82. 



816 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 



1 86 



365 ; Capgrave, Hist, of the Henries 

 (Roll. Ser.), i, 54. 



818 Cf. Freeman, Reign of William Rufus, 

 ed. 1882, ii, 405. 



W Testa de Ne-uill (Rec. Com.), 417 ; 

 Red Book of the Exch. (Rolls Ser.), 459. 



818 See above. 



819 Rot. Lit. Pat. i, 196. 



"> Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xi, App. iii, 

 40. Consequently the bailiffs and men 

 were for five years released from payment 

 of ferm on account of the damages and 

 losses sustained by them for the king 

 during the late disturbances (Cal. Close, 

 *-9> P- 2 7)- 



