PORTSDOWN HUNDRED 



PORTSMOUTH 



William died without issue male in 163 1, 46 ' and John 

 and Henry Bold were in possession of his lands in 

 1638.'" Subsequently it passed into the possession 

 of Anne Mason who in 1669 bequeathed it to her 

 son Robert Mason with contingent remainder to her 

 kinsman William Bold. 461 Robert Mason was in 

 possession of the manors of Portsea and Copnor with 

 free warren and view of frankpledge in Portsea in 

 I704, 464 and in 1725 Hannah Mason, single woman, 

 probably his daughter, obtained a settlement of the 

 estate, 464 which passed by her marriage to Isaac 

 Moody, whose son John Moody bequeathed it to a 

 kinsman, Samuel Leeke, in whose family it still 

 remains. 466 



Court baron only was attached to the manor of 

 Portsea. 46 ' The lord had common of pasture over a 

 large part of the island, in the liberty of Portsmouth 

 and in the Forest of Bere. 468 His rights of common 

 pasture also extended to Fratton, and an apportionment 

 of the common appurtenant to the two lordships was 

 effected in 1 6oo. 469 Right of wreck was also attached 

 to the manor. In 1383 three hundred tuns of wine 

 came ashore upon the land of the lords of Portsea 

 and Fratton. It was immediately seized by the two 

 lords, but certain citizens of London and merchants to 

 whom it belonged prayed that it might be released to 

 them because two of the men from the wreck had 

 been saved alive. The wine was. therefore restored to 

 its owners on payment of a fine. 470 



L4NDPORT is still more modern than Portsea. 

 It is a suburb of Portsmouth and consists of numerout 

 small streets of two-storied houses and cottages 

 leading east and west out of the main thoroughfare, 

 the Commercial Road, which may well be called the 

 most busy street of the town. Near its base, where 

 it curves slightly, is the centre of the borough. On 

 one side stands the town-hall, a magnificent building 

 opened in 1890 ; it contains a spacious assembly hall, 

 council chamber, and court rooms, and has ample 

 accommodation for the numerous officials of the 

 borough in addition to the police station and public 

 library. Behind it an imposing erection is being 

 built as a technical institute, while opposite the hall 

 stands a itatue of the late Queen Victoria. The 

 tramways pass before the main entrance of the town- 

 hall, this being the centre of a complete system of 

 tram service by which any part of the borough may 

 be reached. Tramways were first laid down in 

 1870,"' and rapidly extended to Landport, Southsea, 

 and Portsea. In 1883 the various companies were 

 amalgamated. 4 " 



Leaving the town-hall on his left the traveller 

 passes up Commercial Road by the most important 

 shops in the town, on his right is the joint station 

 of the London and South Western and London 

 Brighton and South Coast Railways, built before 1859. 

 Still further up the road, where the shops give place 

 to villas interspersed with timber-yards and inns, is the 

 house where Dickens was born. It has recently been 



bought by the corporation and converted into a 

 Dickens Museum. On the same side of the road is 

 the Portsea Island cemetery which overlooks the 

 harbour. This district took its name from the 

 Landport Gate in the middle of the last century. It 

 was previously called the Halfway House, from an 

 inn known as the Halfway House to Kingston. 

 Within the last century this inn and a few scattered 

 houses were the only buildings along what was then 

 a country road, and where streets of cottages are 

 now crowded together a footpath led across the fields 

 to Kingston Church. 4 ' 3 Twyford Avenue, a con- 

 tinuation of the Commercial Road, brings the 

 traveller to STAMSHAIV (Stampeshaw, xiii cent.; 

 Stanneshowe, xv cent.). This district has always been 

 included within the liberty of Portsmouth. 4 ' 4 Late 

 in the thirteenth century it was in the possession 

 of Nicholas Malmains, who held it of the king by 

 the service of rendering a sparrow-hawk yearly and 

 paying 35*. 4</. to the bailiffs of Portsmouth to- 

 wards the ferm of the town. He died before 1292, 

 leaving a son of the same name aged seventeen. The 

 latter was seised of a house and lands in Stamshaw at 

 his death in May, 1 349, 4 " when his possessions were 

 divided among the heirs of his three daughters. 4 " 



Henry Kesewyke held a toft and lands called 

 Stamshaw, in the parish of Portsea, ' within the bridge 

 called Portesbrygge ' at his death in 1420,"' and his 

 son Henry conveyed the ' manor ' of Stamshaw in 

 February, 1437-8, to William Chamberlayn, 4 ' 8 who 

 had, however, parted with it before his death. 4 " It 

 is said to have been sold by a certain Constantine 

 Derrell to Henry White, whose son Robert conveyed 

 it to Richard Playfote in I548. 480 In 1553 Richard 

 Playfote died, leaving a daughter and heir Grace, 481 who 

 was probably the same Grace, wife of John Wateryng, 

 who joined with her husband in a sale of the manor 

 of Stamshaw to Henry Bickley in 16 $<)."* The 

 later descent is unknown. 



A branch road from Stamshaw leads to STUS- 

 BINGTON, which was for many years in the 

 possession of the priory of 

 Southwick. It is situated to 

 the right of the road from 

 London to Portsmouth, the 

 centre of the prior's posses- 

 sions being doubtless marked 

 by Stubbington Lodge and 

 Stubbington Farm, the resi- 

 dences respectively of Mrs. 

 E. H. and Mr. A. L. Kent. 

 The land around is laid out in 

 building plots, while near at 

 hand bricks are burnt for 

 the new houses. The priory 

 of Southwick had lands in or 

 the beginning of the 



Soumwicr PRIOBT. 

 Argent a chief uilt viltk 

 PWO roses argent therein. 



at 



near Portsmouth 

 thirteenth century, for in 



1 20 1 the prior and convent granted to the abbeys 

 of Savigny and Aunay a certain place which they 



wl Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. 2), yol. 463, 

 No. in. 



4M Rccov. R. Trin. 14 Chas. I, 15. 



468 MS. Notes of the late Daniel 

 Howard, town clerk of Portsmouth. 



4H Recov. R. East. 3 Anne, m. 153. 



484 Ibid. East. 1 1 Geo. I, m. 222. 



4M Information kindly supplied by 

 Mr. A. T. Everitt. 



46 7 Extract! from the Porttmouth Rec. 665. 



w Ibid. 666. 



4M Exch. Spec. Com. 42 Eliz. No. 

 2059. 



Harl. MS. 6602, fol. 204. 



4 7l Stat, 33 & 34 Vic. cap. 170. 



4 " Ibid. 46 & 47 Vic. cap. 112, and 

 cap. 187. 



*T* The Ni-w Porttmouth Guide (1865). 



4 ' 4 Chan. Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. I, 15. 



' Ibid. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, No. 160. 



'93 



Fine R. 24 Edw. Ill, m. 44. 

 4 " Mem. R. (Exch. L.T.R.) Trin. 

 9 Hen. V, ' Recorda,' m. 6d. 

 * Close, 1 6 Hen. VI, m. 14^. 

 4 ?' Chan. Inq. p.m. 23 Hen. VI, 



43- 



480 Feet of F. Hants, East. 2 Edw. VI. 



481 Information kindly supplied by Mr. 

 A. T. Eyeritt. 



48 Feet of F. Hants, Trin. 2 Eliz. 



25 



