PORTSDOWN HUNDRED 



PORTSMOUTH 



another alarm of attack ; the council met there to 

 consider its defence, artillery from the Tower of 

 London was sent thither, the whole navy gathered 

 for its defence, and four of the inhabitants were 

 appointed to watch nightly with the soldiers. 3 " In 

 the following year plans were made for the partial inclo- 

 sure of the town with ramparts of turf and a ditch, 

 and for the protection of the wharves with mounds 

 of earth, 153 but in 1559 Portsmouth was reported to 

 be ' nothing strong' and a man could gallop his horse 

 up the ditch,"' and this in spite of many plans for its 

 defence in the preceding years.* 55 In June, 1557, a 

 terrible fire broke out and destroyed the royal store- 

 house known as the Broomehouse. 356 During the 

 latter part of Queen Elizabeth's reign the work of 

 fortification went on apace under the direction of Sir 

 Henry RadclifFe, then governor of the town. A 

 commission was issued to assemble and train the 

 townsmen and islanders, 35 ' and an estimate made for 

 the building of a ' new great bridge ' and gates to the 

 town, 358 the work being done by labourers levied 

 from the country round. 359 In 1587 the inhabitants 

 were ordered to cut down all hedges within forty or 

 fifty yards of the town walls. 360 At this date it was 

 considered that a thousand men could hold the town 

 until the navy could come to their aid, 361 but in 1590 

 able men to the number of 2,000 were appointed in 

 fourteen neighbouring hundreds to be ready to repair 

 thither in case of assault. 36 * Again in 1 596 special 

 preparations were made to resist a threatened attack 

 from Spain. 361 In 1624 the ramparts were severely 

 damaged in a great storm. 364 A few years later the 

 town was filled with the men levied for the duke of 

 Buckingham's expedition,* 65 yet the fort itself was 

 in ruins. 366 In 1634 it was proposed to remove the 

 old town wall, 367 and three years later the townsmen 

 were commanded to cover all houses near the king's 

 buildings with tiles instead of thatch as a precaution 

 against fire. 368 The chain which had been laid 

 across the harbour in 1621, was by this time de- 

 stroyed. 369 It has since been replaced, for it can still 

 be seen at low tide. 



The strength of the town was tried during the civil 

 wars. It being the policy of the Parliamentarians to 

 secure for themselves the chief maritime towns, they 

 were necessarily anxious to make sure of Portsmouth, 

 and the more so that it was reported in May, 1641, 

 that the queen was besieged there, while the king 

 himself was said to be on his way thither with the 

 army. 370 Colonel George Goring, then governor of 

 Portsmouth, was suspected of complicity in a plot to 

 possess the Papists of the town, and was sent to 

 London to be examined before Parliament, where he 

 succeeded in justifying his conduct. The soldiers them- 

 selves not being trusted, trained bands from the county, 



which was for the most part inclined to favour the 

 Parliamentarians, were sent into the town. 371 The 

 townspeople were very ill-disposed towards the governor 

 owing to his royalist principles. There had also been 

 a growing feeling of dissension between the garrison 

 and the townsfolk for many years past. As early as 

 January, 15467, Edward Vaughan, then captain of 

 Portsmouth, had brought a complaint against the 

 mayor touching the gauge of beer, 3 ' 8 and in 1564 a 

 quarrel arose between the corporation and the 

 governor as to houses which the latter had built on 

 waste land. 37 ' Irritation increased under the govern- 

 ment of the earl of Sussex, captain of Portsmouth 

 from 1571 to 1593, who caused the townsmen to 

 cut down the hedges near the walls. They welcomed 

 his successor, ' thinking his coming amongst them 

 to be their year of jubilee, and having now some 

 hope to grow rich, which heretofore was impossible 

 by reason of the great dislike between them and the 

 dead earl.' 374 Again in 1609 the mayor and his 

 brethren petitioned the governor, the earl of Pem- 

 broke, for more liberty of ingress and egress, for equal 

 benefits of the law with the soldiers, for special pro- 

 visions for the relief of poor soldiers and their families, 

 and that members of the garrison should not be 

 allowed to trade in the town. 875 The governor 

 acceded to most of these requests, but the soldiers 

 again raised the question of the trading privilege in 

 1627 (vide infra), while in 1632 the mayor and 

 aldermen objected to the removal of the wall between 

 the Quay Gate and the Square Tower, 376 and further 

 difficulties arose with regard to the mayor's having 

 assessed the garrison as well as the town for ship- 

 money. The sergeant-major then in command com- 

 plained at this time that the townspeople had always 

 shown themselves ' like most splenetive men ' to the 

 garrison.* 77 In 1635 the townsmen recited the con- 

 cessions made by the earl of Pembroke, and stated 

 that they had been confirmed by the king in 1632, 

 but complained that they had since been broken, 

 their chief grievance being that the soldiers traded 

 within the town. 378 The dislike of the townsfolk to 

 Colonel Goring was increased by political considera- 

 tions. 3 " He stood by the Parliament until they had 

 paid him over 5,000 for fortifications and other 

 sums for arrears due to the garrison, 380 and these 

 having been received, declared for the king on 

 2 August, 1642,*" whereupon the gentry of Hamp- 

 shire surrounded the town to prevent aid reaching 

 him from the king, while Parliament appointed the 

 earl of Pembroke governor in his stead. 38 * Having 

 built a wooden fort to protect Portsbridge and com- 

 mandeered provisions from the whole island, Colonel 

 Goring administered an oath of loyalty to the king to 

 his soldiers, and ejected those who refused to take it.* 6 * 



85a Acts of P.O. (New Ser.), i, 215, 253, 

 322. 



858 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. on Salisbury 

 MSS. i, E. 49. 



854 Ibid. 159. 



855 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1547-80, pp. 2, 82, 



ICO-Z. 



856 Add. MS. 5752, fol. 6z. 



8 " Cal. S.P. Dom. 1566-7, p. 350. 

 868 Ibid. 1581-90, p. 186. 

 85 Add. MS. 5702, fol. 85. 



860 Acts of P.O. (New Ser.), xv, 279. 



861 Ibid, xvi, 174. 

 8 Ibid, xix, 255. 



S8 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1595-7, PP- 3J-4- 

 Mi Ibid. 1623-5, P- 35 2> 



865 Ibid. 1627-8, pp. 157, 162, 181, &c. 



8 Ibid. 95. 



8 ? Ibid. 1634-5, p. 449. 



868 Ibid. 1637, p. 226. 



86 L. and P. Hen. fill, iii (2), 2073 ; 

 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1640, p. 188. 



8 " Ibid. 1640-1, p. 585. 



8 < l Ibid. 1641-3, p. 179 ; Hitt. MSS. 

 Com. Rep. iv, App. 295. 



8 ? a Acts ofP.C. (New Ser.), i, 568. 



8 ? 8 Ibid, vii, 190, 207, and 234. The 

 matter was determined in favour of the 

 corporation, the governor paying them rent 

 for the houses built on their waste lands. 

 East, Extracts from the Portsmouth Rec. 

 432, &c. 



189 



8 ' 4 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. on Salisbury 

 MSS. iv, 440. 



8 ' 5 Add. MS. 33283, fol. 85. A copy 

 of the townspeople's petition and the earl's 

 answer lent to Sir F. Madden. 



" Cal. S.P. Dom. 1631-3, p. 366. 



" Ibid. 1634-5, p. 487; 1635-6, p. 12. 



W Ibid. 1635, p. 574. 



8 7 9 Ibid. 16413, p. 179. 



880 Hist. MSS. Com. Rtp. v, App. 34. 



881 Ibid. 161. 



888 B.M. Pamphlets, E. 112 (2), The 

 Kings Resolution Concerning Portsmouth. 



o^B-M. Pamphlets, E. 117 (10), A 

 Declaration of all the Passages at the taking 

 of Portsmouth. 



