A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



Upon this the freeholders and inhabitants of the manor 

 of Alverstoke and the borough of Gosport petitioned 

 George Morley, then bishop of Winchester, to resume 

 his three-weekly courts, complaining that the mayor 

 and corporation of Portsmouth had encroached upon 

 their privileges by arresting tenants and inhabitants 

 of the borough under warrants from Portsmouth, by 

 forcing several of the inhabitants to serve as jurors 

 there, by sending their officers to survey the weights 

 and measures at Gosport, by taking away the profits 

 of the ferry, by forewarning the freeholders from 

 allowing cattle to graze on the common or from fishing 

 in Oyster Pool Lake, by collecting anchorage in the 

 harbour (an ancient right of the bishop), and by com- 

 manding the overseers of the poor to serve a second 

 time. 79 One of the bishop's tenants, Albinas Knap- 

 ton, was fined for protesting against these acts and 

 saying that ' although the mayor of Portsmouth be 

 mayor of the borough of Gosport, yet he was not 

 mayor of the whole parish of Alverstoke.' 80 Gosport 

 was again separated from Portsmouth in 1688, when 

 the charter of Charles II to the latter was annulled,* 1 

 but the election of a bailiff in the borough court was 

 not revived, though for a time the constable, coal- 

 meter, ale- taster, and supervisors of the ferry continued 

 to be appointed at the Michaelmas tourn. 8 * The two 

 yearly tourns were held as late as 1 749, although the 

 business done in them gradually decreased, their work 

 consisting chiefly in the cleansing of the town and the 

 prevention of encroachments. 83 All traces of burgage 

 tenure had by this time disappeared, and before 1749 

 the courts were known as the courts baron of the 

 manor of Gosport, whereas in 1 706 they had been 

 termed the borough courts of Gosport. 8 * 



In the seventeenth century important ironworks 

 were established in the town, and employed chiefly in 

 connexion with the Portsmouth Docks. 84 Ship- 

 building also increased, 86 and the town afforded accom- 

 modation for many of the workmen in Portsmouth 

 Docks. These suffered severely in the outbreak 

 of plague which raged in Gosport early in l666, 87 

 when numbers of the townspeople left their homes 

 there. 88 For the benefit of the increasing popu- 

 lation the bishop of Winchester obtained a grant 

 of two yearly fairs to be held at Gosport on the feasts 

 of St. George and St. Michael, and three weekly 

 markets on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. This 

 grant to the bishop is dated I7I7. 89 The fairs had 

 much deteriorated in the nineteenth century, when 

 toys were the only articles sold in any quantity. The 

 dates were also changed to 4 May and 10 October. 90 

 They were finally abolished under an order in 

 council in 1900. The old market-house stood in the 

 High Street, but in 1812 the present market-hall was 

 built near the beach, and the markets were held out- 

 side. No market has been held during the last fifty 

 years. 91 



In 1763 a board of trustees for paving Gosport was 

 appointed, 9 * and in 1814 a more effectual Act was 



passed for the watching, lighting, and paving of the 

 town. 93 Both Acts were partially repealed in 1874, 

 when Gosport was included in the urban sanitary 

 district of Alverstoke, 94 which adopted the Public 

 Health Act of 1875 in iSS/, 95 and since 1894 has 

 been formed into the Gosport and Alverstoke Urban 

 District Council. 



During the wars of the eighteenth century the 

 population increased rapidly, but the prosperity of the 

 town diminished after the restoration of peace, 96 until 

 the transfer of the victualling establishment to the 

 Royal Clarence Yards again revived it. 



The church of OUR LADY, 

 CHURCHES JLfERSTOKE, has been gradually 

 rebuilt, and it is now entirely modern, 

 with a chancel erected in 1865, a nave of five 

 bays built in 1885, and a west tower. The 

 old church, of which a plan is preserved in the 

 library of the Society of Antiquaries, was of the 

 same general plan, with north and south chapels 

 added to the nave in the early part of the 

 nineteenth century. The present church contains 

 a number of monuments from the former build- 

 ing, and stands well in a large churchyard, but is of 

 no antiquarian interest. In the west tower are two 

 bells from the old church, dated 1699 and 1766, and 

 the church possesses a silver paten of 1702, and cup 

 of 1783, the rest of the plate being quite modern a 

 silver chalice of 1901, a silver-gilt chalice of 1875, 

 and paten of 1880, and a silver paten of 1838, 

 besides a glass flagon with plated mounts. 



The registers begin in 1559, the first book running 

 to 1686, and the second to 1737 for baptisms, 1714 

 for burials, and 1710 for marriages. The third 

 volume continues the baptisms and burials to 1801, 

 and the marriages to 1763, and the fourth takes the 

 baptisms and burials to 1812. The marriages from 

 1763 to 1812 are contained in no less than seven 

 books, beginning in the years 1763, 1765, 1777, 

 1784, 1791, 1799, and 1809. 



No church is mentioned in the Domesday Survey. 

 In 1 1 22 William Giffard, then bishop of Winchester, 

 disputed with the prior of St. Swithun the possession 

 of nine churches attached to the manors held by the 

 monks. 9 ' Among these was Alverstoke church, which 

 the bishop restored to the monks in 1 124." Thence- 

 forward the history of the rectory was coincident 

 with that of the manor until the latter was trans- 

 ferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners while the 

 bishop retained the rectory and advowson. Apparently 

 they were not appropriated to the prior or the 

 bishop. 99 A pension from the church was assigned 

 to the hospital of St. Cross at Winchester, and is still 

 paid. 100 The bishop had within the parish a peculiar 

 court, the records of which commence in 1612, and 

 are deposited at Winchester. 



There are now two chapels-of-ease attached to 

 St. Mary, Alverstoke one, under the invocation of 

 St. Mark at Anglesey, was built in 1844 101 ; the other, 



7 Add 



8 Ibid. 



81 Land. 

 1688. 



Eccl. 

 &c. 



88 Ibid. 



" Ibid. 



8 s Cat. 



1666-7, P 



86 Ibid. 



MS. 33278, fol. 55. 



Gaa. (No. 2391), 15-18 Oct. 



Com. Ct. R. bdle. 180, No. 5, 

 bdle. 1 80, Nos. 3 and 4, &c. 



S.P. Dom. 1665-6, p. 356 ; 

 159. 



1660-70, p. 70. 



87 Ibid. 1665-6, pp. 268, 285. 



88 Ibid. 369. 



89 Pat. 3 Geo. I, pt. 3, No. i. 



90 Pigot's Directory, 1823-4, p. 324. 



91 Information kindly supplied by Mr. 

 A. T. Everitt. 



92 Stat. 3 Geo. Ill, cap. 56. 

 98 Ibid. 54 Geo. Ill, cap. 20. 



94 Ibid. 37 & 38 Vic. cap. 89. 



95 Ibid. 50 & 51 Vic. cap. 99. 



96 Pop. Returns (1851), p. 51. 



206 



7 Arm. Man. (Rolls Ser.); Ann. de ffin- 

 tonia, 46, 47. 



9 " Add. MS. 29436, fol. 1 6. 



99 The entries in the Episcopal Register 

 all refer to the ' rectory ' or the rector, 

 although in the Taxatio of 1291 the follow- 

 ing entry occurs: 'Ecclesia de Alwardestok 

 cum Vicaria 36 135. 4^.' 



100 Harl. MS. 1616, fol. 6b. 



101 Sumner, Conspectus of the Dioc. of 

 FPinton, 1864. 



