A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



towns and houses on fire. She declared that they 

 were all well armed and that the women carried fire 

 balls, that they intended to burn Winchester, and that 

 they had already set fire to several houses near Sher- 

 borne, and in addition gave the names and descriptions 

 of five of the company. 58 At this lapse of time, how- 

 ever, it is difficult to test the truth of this story. 



It seemed that the prosperity of the town, recovered 

 during the preceding century, was lost for ever ; but 

 within fifteen years, owing to the industry of the in- 

 habitants and the willing help which poured in from 

 the neighbouring gentry and a royal brief for assist- 

 ance, 59 there was but one person, an old and crippled 

 female, who received support from the parish, 60 and the 

 town had begun to prosper once more. However, 

 another fire, which also proved disastrous, owing possibly 

 to the number of thatched houses in the town, 61 broke 

 out in 1736. It began in a brewhouse and spread 

 quickly along the thatched roofs, enveloping the streets 

 before many of the inhabitants could save any of their 

 goods. 8 * But the same spirit of determination in the 

 inhabitants, helped by various relief funds, again rein- 

 stated and rebuilt the town on the lines of its modern 

 existence. In 1753 the new London road was made, 

 and the town became a great posting centre, and 

 so continued till the coming of the railway. 65 Defoe's 

 Tour (ed. 1778) speaks ofAlresford as having 'now 

 a very great market every Thursday, particularly about 

 Michaelmas, for sheep, corn, etc., and a small market- 

 house standing on wooden pillars.' The town is now 

 important as the centre of an extensive agricultural 

 district, much stock being brought in on market day, 

 and especially on the last Thursday in July and the 

 Thursday after 1 1 October, on which days the fairs 

 are now held, and its trade is still further increased by 

 its position on the main road from London to South- 

 ampton. The corporation continued until March, 

 1886, when by the operation of the Municipal Cor- 

 porations Act, 1883 (46 & 47 Vic. cap. 18), it was 

 dissolved. In 1890 its property was vested in the 

 town trustees, who administer the revenues of the 

 borough at the present day. 



The church of ST. JOHN THE 

 CHURCH BAPTIST was burnt in the fire which 

 destroyed so much of the town in 1689, 

 the tower and walls of the nave alone remaining. The 

 chancel was rebuilt of the same width as its predecessor, 

 but i o ft. shorter from east to west, the nave arcades 

 being replaced by wooden posts which were boarded 

 and painted. In 1897-8 the late seventeenth-century 

 building was replaced by modern Gothic work, the 

 chancel being entirely rebuilt and extended to its 

 former length, the wooden posts replaced by stone 

 arcades, and the whole church thoroughly renovated, 

 except the tower. 



The oldest remaining feature in the building, with 

 the exception of part of a twelfth-century font found 

 during the repairs, is a thirteenth-century lancet at the 

 west end of the south aisle, partly overlapped by the 

 west respond of the south arcade, which is set to the 



south of the line of the mediaeval arcade, as a weather- 

 ing on the east face of the tower shows. The 

 lower part of the tower is of fourteenth-century work, 

 but the earlier developments of the plan are naturally 

 difficult to trace. The nave evidently had a south 

 aisle in the thirteenth century, which must have been 

 narrower than the present, and parts of two large thir- 

 teenth-century bases, preserved with other pieces of 

 old stonework at the west end of the north aisle, belong 

 to an arcade of that date. The east window of the 

 north chapel has part of a late thirteenth-century 

 nook-shaft in its south jamb, witnessing to work done 

 at that time, but it is not in its original position. In 

 the fifteenth century both aisles were probably set out 

 to their existing width, and several pieces of fourteenth 

 and fifteenth century detail show that a good deal of 

 building went on in this period. The north and 

 south doorways of the nave and parts of the aisle win- 

 dows arc of the fifteenth century, the traces of pre- 

 viously existing work having been carefully followed 

 at the late repairs. The south doorway is now blocked, 

 and the north has lost a porch which formerly shel- 

 tered it. 



The upper part of the tower is of red brick, em- 

 battled and crowned by a large vane, the belfry win- 

 dows having oak frames with two trefoiled lights. In 

 the ground stage is a modern west doorway, and above 

 it an ogee-headed fourteenth-century trefoiled light. 

 There are similar windows on the north and south in 

 this stage, and the tower arch is of the same date, of 

 three chamfered orders with repaired jambs. Above 

 it, but below the weathering of the old roof, is a 

 square-headed opening, and there is another like it 

 above the old roof line, but blocked, ranging with 

 similar windows on the other faces of the tower. In 

 the north side of the ground story is a blocked eigh- 

 teenth-century doorway in red brick with a semi- 

 circular head. 



The font is modern, but parts of two of its prede- 

 cessors have been found : the twelfth-century fragment 

 already noted and part of the shaft of a fourteenth- 

 century font. 



The modern fittings of the church are very good, 

 and the five-light east window of the chancel is filled 

 with excellent modern glass, the subject being Christ in 



glory- 

 There are eight bells of 181 1, by Mears of White- 

 chapel. 



The plate consists of a cup of 1564, a standing 

 paten of 1695, a second paten of 1729, and a large 

 flagon, 14^ in. high, of 1728. 



The earliest register book runs from 1678 to 1734, 

 containing the burials in woollen, and there are 

 scattered entries, eleven of 1714 and one of 1722, 

 on the fly-leaf, four pages with baptisms and 

 burials 1724-5 and marriages 1724-32, and on a 

 loose leaf a few baptisms ranging between 1726 and 



1735- 



The second book contains baptisms and marriages 

 from 1736 to 1768, and burials copied from the first 



K Hist.MSS. Com.Rep. x, App. vi, 185. 



M A verbatim copy of the royal brief is 

 printed in Haul: N. and Q. viii, 47-9. 

 Owing to the fact that more than three 

 years elapsed before the inhabitants applied 

 for and obtained the brief, the collection 

 did not amount to to much as was expected. 

 The whole of the amount collected after 

 all expenses were paid did not exceed 121. 



in the in their several losses (Hants 

 N. and Q. vi, 133). 



60 Duthy, Sketches of Hants, 107. 



61 The reeds that grow so plentifully in 

 the old Alresford pond were formerly used 

 for thatching. 



a Duthy, Sketches of Hants, 107 ; Wood- 

 ward, Hist, of Hants, ii, 30. 



18 Woodward, Hist, of Hants, ii, 30. 



352 



Even before the making of the new road 

 the town was a posting centre, as may be 

 seen from the petition of Francis Barnard, 

 innkeeper of New Alresford, in 1661 for 

 renewal of his patent that his house might 

 be the post house from Southampton to 

 Winchester towards London, and he him- 

 self might be continued postmaster 

 (Col. S.P. Dom. 1661-2, p. 125). 



