PORTSDOWN HUNDRED 



ALVERSTOKE 



and in 1779 was conveyed by James Stares to Sir 

 John Carter. His heirs sold both farms to Mr. Henry 

 Stares in 1868. He conveyed them to Mr. Wood- 

 man Hill, from whom they were purchased in 1904 

 by Mr. Montague Foster of Stubbington House. 49 



GOSPORT (Goseport xiii cent.) M covers the district 

 between Forton Lake and Haslar Lake, i.e. the land 

 for which the villeins of St. Swithun paid twopence 

 more the acre than they paid for the rest of the 

 manor.* 1 It is not mentioned in the Domesday 

 Book, nor is there any trace of it in the records re- 

 lat'ng to Alverstoke before the thirteenth century. In 

 1284 it was 'the manor of Alverstoke with Gosport,' 

 which the monks transferred to the bishop of Win- 

 chester," and doubtless before that time Gosport had 

 only existed as a member of Alverstoke, being perhaps 

 the more important on account of its situation at the 

 mouth of Portsmouth Harbour. In the following 

 century Gosport rather than Alverstoke was the centre 

 of the shipping on the west side of the harbour, for in 

 1302 Portsmouth and Gosport together were ordered 

 to provide a vessel for the Scotch expedition. 13 The 

 bishop held separate courts for Alverstoke and Gos- 

 port in the thirteenth century, but the profits of both 

 were accounted for by the same two men." During 

 the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the bishop or his 

 officers held the two yearly tourns at Gosport and at 

 Alverstoke on the same day," but in 1507 and the 

 following i 50 years the tourns for both places seem to 

 have been held together, although there were different 

 jurors for each." It is a significant fact that in the 

 court-rolls of Alverstoke and Gosport previous to 1461, 

 the date when the bishop's tenants obtained an ex- 

 emplification of the entry relating to Alverstoke in 

 Domesday Book, no record occurs of the election of 

 separate officers for Gosport, although a bailiff and a 

 beadle were chosen at the tourns at Alverstoke in 1459 

 and 1 46 1, 57 but that in April, 1462, John Bonser- 

 gaunte was chosen to the office of bailiff of Gosport, 

 and did homage to the bishop in the same court for 

 two burgages and eight acres of arable land which he 

 had acquired in the borough of Gosport.** This is 

 the earliest record yet obtained of Gosport as a borough, 

 though under the thirteenth-century charter granted 

 to the men of Alverstoke it enjoyed exceptional 

 privileges. In 1463 the bailiff of Gosport accounted 

 for 6 2/. 8 \d. as rent of assize, besides the profits of 

 various vacant sites and the perquisites of the two 

 yearly tourns. 69 In 1648 these rents of assizes or 

 borough rents were of the yearly value of 6 \s. 8f</. M 

 No charter of incorporation has been found, nor does 

 the bishop appear to have granted any special privileges 

 to Gosport. Early in the sixteenth century Leland 

 described it as a little village of fishermen approached 



(from Titchfield) by much heathy and fern ground." 

 It was then beginning to rise in importance owing to 

 its proximity to Portsmouth. A block-house and 

 bulwark were raised about the year 1 540 for the 

 defence of the harbour, 63 and later in the same century 

 the increased value of the ferry or passage between 

 Portsmouth and Gosport is shown by disputes which 

 arose as to its ownership. It appears to have been 

 held and maintained by the tenants and inhabitants of 

 the borough and town of Gosport. 63 In 1597, how- 

 ever, an attempt was made to prevent its being so 

 casually maintained. It was found to be insufficiently 

 provided with boats, and was taken into the queen's 

 hands and leased to Stephen Riddlesden and John 

 Jeffries." The inhabitants struggled to retain what 

 appears to have been their only common property of 

 any importance, and in 1602 the lessees were com- 

 manded to surrender the ferry to them, and arrange- 

 ments were made for the provision of twenty boats 

 with a skilful man in each, and the nomination of two 

 supervisors of the passage at each law-day. 64 Never- 

 theless James I granted the ferry to Edmund Duffield 

 and John Babington in l6l4, M but they evidently 

 failed to make good their right to it, for the two 

 supervisors continued to be chosen in the borough 

 courts during the seventeenth century." 



In 1627 a survey was made of Portsmouth Dock 

 with a view to deciding whether it would not be better 

 to make a new one on the Gosport side. 68 This plan, 

 however, was not carried out, though the town be- 

 came an important victualling station, and consider- 

 able store-houses, timber-yards, and rope-walks were 

 established there in connexion with Portsmouth.* 9 

 During the Civil War Gosport was held by the 

 Parliamentarians, who set up batteries there which 

 were of great use in the reduction of Portsmouth. 

 The borough had been taken over by the state with 

 Alverstoke Manor, and sold to George and Elizabeth 

 Withers, 7 ' under whom it appears that no courts were 

 held." After the restoration of the bishops' lands 

 only the two yearly tourns were resumed, so that the 

 tenants and inhabitants of Alverstoke and Gosport 

 were obliged to seek justice at Portsmouth. From 

 1462 onwards a bailiff had been chosen annually at 

 the Michaelmas tourn, together with a constable, and, 

 after 1537, a sergeant." As a rule two men were 

 chosen for each office, but only one was sworn." In 

 1691 the constable was removed from office by the 

 same court, on grounds of incapacity. 76 No election 

 of a bailiff is recorded on the court rolls after the 

 Restoration ; the office had apparently ceased to exist, 

 at least as an elective one. 77 Finally, in 1682, the 

 corporation of Portsmouth obtained the extension of 

 their borough limits in order to include Gosport. 78 



Feet of F. Hants, East. 7 Geo. HI. 

 Information kindly supplied by Mr. A. T. 

 Everitt. 



40 The name wa sometimes ipelt Gos- 

 per or Gosberg in the seventeenth century. 



Prof, of the Royal Arch, Soc. at Win- 

 chester (1845), p. 113. 



w Add. MS. 29436, foL 55. 



M Cat. Pat, 1301-7, p. 75. 



44 Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 1142, 

 No. 15. 



Eccl. Com. Ct. R. bdle. 80, Nos. 

 9 and 10, &c. 



Ibid. bdle. 82, No. 17 ; bdle. 88, 

 No. 3, &c. 



7 Ibid. bdle. 8 1, No. 9. 



M Ibid. 



"Ecci. Com. (Various), bdle. 83, 

 No. 159482. 



80 Close, 24 Chas. I, pt. 4, No. 33. 



n Leland, Itin. (ed. Thomai Hearne) 96. 



a L. and P. Hen. VIII, XT, 323. 



88 Exch. Dep. Mich. 42 & 43 Eliz. 22. 

 M Exch. Spec. Com. 40 Eliz. 2054. 

 85 Ibid. 44 Eliz. 2068. 



M Pat. 12 Jas. I, XT. 



" Eccl. Com. Ct. R. bdle. 165, 

 No. 3 ; bdle. 174, No. I ; bdle. 99, 

 No. i, &c. 



69 Cat. S.P. Dom. 1627-8, p. 812. 



89 Ibid. 1634-5, p. 352; 1651-2, 

 p. 479 ; 1658-9, p. 401. 



7 Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. r, App. vi, 149 ; 

 Ref. on Portland M <S. i, 61. 



2O5 



71 Close, 24 Chas. I, pt. 4, No. 33. 



"Add. 33278, fol. 54. 



" Eccl. Com. Ct. R. bdle. 100. 

 Nos. 2 to 4, &c. 



Wlbid. bdle. 81, No. 9; bdle. 83, 

 No. 9. 



7* Ibid. bdle. 88, No. 3, &c. 



? 8 Ibid. bdle. 174, No. 3. 



77 The ' bailiff' is mentioned on a court 

 roll of 1705 (bdle. 180, No. 3), and 

 Richard Burgis, bailiff, signed a roll of the 

 borough court in 1706 (bdle. 1 80, No. 5), 

 but it is quite possible that both these 

 references are to the bishop's bailiff of 

 Alverstoke. 



7" Pat. 34 Chas. II, pt. 5, 13. 



