A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



basements. Such basements, stone vaulted, remain in 

 a good many places, as at Nos. 91 and MI, High 

 Street. On the latter is an ancient timber building, 

 now faced with cement in imitation of stonework, 

 and other timber buildings, now brick-fronted, are 

 the Nag's Head and Red Lion Inns in High Street. 

 Next to Holy Rood Church is another timber house, 

 faced with tiles which are made in imitation of brick- 

 work, and there are several other examples of this, 

 both in white and red tiles, in various parts of the 

 town. 



A great deal of good wood and iron work of later 

 date exists, as at Nos. I, 17, 90, ill, and 150, High 

 Street, at Bugle House in Bugle Street, and else- 

 where. A chimney-piece at 17, High Street is dated 

 1605, and bears the initials of James I. The many 

 eighteenth-century projecting bay windows are a 

 prominent feature, those of the Dolphin Inn in High 

 Street being conspicuous examples, and a good deal of 

 pretty red brickwork of this time has so far escaped 

 destruction in favour of something more showy. 



The modern buildings of Southampton are neither 

 better nor worse than the general run ; the Hartley 

 Institute is the best of them, and has a front to the 

 High Street of some distinction. 



The ancient boundaries of Southampton are said to 

 date from the reign of King John, 6 and though they can- 

 not with certainty be traced further back, yet it is not 

 to be supposed that the borough was without an ample 

 extent of land from the very first. In documents of 

 956 and 1045 we read of a haye or inclosure, which 

 could hardly have been other than the western 

 boundary of the town's land. 7 Again, in 1180 

 (26 Hen. II), William Briwer 8 was made forester of 

 the forest of Bere with power to arrest transgressors 

 there between the ' bars ' of Hampton and the gates 

 of Winchester ; and these ' bars ' almost certainly 

 formed the northern boundary of the town's liberties, 

 considerably to the north of, and not to be con- 

 founded with, the present Bargate, the core of which 

 then existed. Moreover it is distinctly stated that 

 land granted to the canons of St. Denys within the 

 area in question, as early as 1174 (see below), formed 

 a portion of that for which the town paid its annual 

 fee-farm, 9 so that, in spite of the town tradition, it is 

 fair to conclude that these liberties of the borough 

 existed before any grant of King John, if such there 



were, and that whatever he may have done in this 

 respect could only have been in confirmation. 



In 1254 the bound and limit between the forest of 

 Bere and the King's Majesty's town of Southampton 

 was declared to be ' from Acard's (now Four-post) 

 bridge as the way lies northward by the crosses to 

 Cut- thorn, 10 and from Cut-thorn to Burle stone, and 

 from Burle stone to the water course of Furse-welle 

 as it goes down to the River Itchen.' " Within these 

 bounds the canons of St. Denys held a certain wood 

 called Portswood by a grant from King Richard in 

 free, full, and perpetual alms. For this wood and the 

 land called Kingsland the aforesaid king remitted loos. 

 of his farm of the town of Southampton." In 1488 

 almost identical but more elaborate boundaries were 

 given. 13 



'The perambulacion of the franchise of the toune of 

 Suthampton graunted by King John and confermed 

 by mayny other noble kings his successours.' 



' Item, first fro Barred-gate unto Acorn [otherwise 

 Acard's] brig and crosse, west-north-west : and fro 

 the Acorn brig and crosse unto the Hode crosse, 

 north, thorough the village called Hill : and fro the 

 Hode crosse to the Cutted-thorne crosse, suth suth 

 est : and fro the Cutted-thorne crosse to the Berell 

 stone crosse, est, at Burger's strete ende : and so along 

 Burger's strete and thorough Kinghern [otherwise 

 Langherne] yate unto Haven stone in Hilton up- 

 ponne the water side, est : and fro Haven stone along 

 as the water lyeth unto Hegstone [later Millstone] at 

 Blackworth, suth : and fro Hegstone as the water 

 lyeth to Ichenworth [i.e. by the existing Cross house] 

 suth : and fro Ichenworth as the water lyeth to the 

 Mesynedue [Maison Dieu] yate of Suthampton, 

 west.' " 



It is difficult to reconcile what were till lately the 

 municipal and Parliamentary limits of the borough 

 county with those given in the documents above. 

 From these it would appear that the western boun- 

 dary was through the village of Hill, including a 

 considerable amount of property, with Banister's, all 

 of which was in fact ultimately excluded, as a glance 

 at the map will show. This boundary was long in 

 dispute. In 1528 (20 Henry VIII) an entry occurs 

 of a ' meeting of the Town's counsel and Mistress 

 Whitehede for the variance of our liberties in Hill 

 lane." 4 In 1600," 1611," 165 1, 18 and again in 



8 See below, perambulation of 1488 and 

 a similar document of the reign of 

 Hen. VIII, in which the liberties are said 

 to have been granted in John's first year 

 (1199). 'The copy of our perambulacon 

 graunted by King John, the ffyrst yere of 

 his reigne, of the circuyte of our fraun- 

 chese.' Boke of Remembrances, Corp. 

 MSS. last leaf. 



' Birch, Cart. Sax. iii, 99 ; Kemble, 

 Codex Difl. No. 781. 



8 Dugdale, Bar. \, 700. 



9 Anct. Town Accts. ; Madox, Hist, of 

 Exch. i, 409; 



10 Here till within the last two cen- 

 turies the town held its court leet by a 

 well known and traditional tree prob- 

 ably a holly recalling the memories of 

 early English jurisdiction. It was an 

 inclosure near the north boundary of 

 the common, and to the right of the 

 Winchester road, deriving its name from 

 some traditional ' cutted-thorn,' where the 

 most ancient criminal court was held ; 

 and not far from it to the west, and now 

 covered by a reservoir, stood the ancient 



gallows, last used in 1785 ; the natural 

 appendage of the borough jurisdiction from 

 time immemorial. 



11 'De ponte de Acardo sicut via extcndit 

 per cruces versus Aquilonem urque 

 Cuthorne, et a Cuttethorne usque ad Bur- 

 lestone usque ad aqueductum de Furse- 

 welle sicut descendit in Ychens; ' Oak Bk. 

 (Corp. MSS.), fol. 56. 



Ibid. 



18 Lib. Remembranc. BB. fol. it. 



" Corp. MSS. 



15 The details of the dinner, over which 

 the lady of the manor and the lawyers 

 discussed the point, are given ; lastly 

 comes the fee, ' Item, to master Winter- 

 shull for his labour hither V s - ' What 

 transpired does not appear ; but the dis- 

 pute dragged on and the court leet 

 continued presenting their grievances and 

 defining their claims, which they gener- 

 ally did in the terms of 1488. 



u In this year they find ' the vanes at 

 Hill bridge doe not stand as in times 

 past .... We challenge our liberties 

 on the east side of Hill street and the 



492 



inhabitants there ought to do their suit 

 and service at our Law day, as we sup- 

 pose, our perambulation considered and 

 regarded which leadeth us hereunto.' 



W Then they added a presentment, as 

 they had done before, of their need of a 

 'court of survey' for viewing their lands 

 and writings 'that they may not only 

 know but enjoy their rights.' 



18 Already ' Banisters ' was an impor- 

 tant part of the disputed area. As early 

 as 1474 a dispute is hinted at by an entry 

 of the sum of 8s. given to the town clerk 

 'to pay unto Whitehede for the matter 

 of Banestres court' ; in 1651 a suit was 

 commenced by Sir Edward Banister 

 against the town to try whether Banister's 

 farm was in the county of Hants or in 

 that of the town. The trial was ordered 

 by the Upper Bench of Westminster to 

 be at New Sarum. The town in main- 

 tenance of its ancient boundaries produced 

 before Lord Justice Rolle the perambula- 

 tions given above among other evidences 

 not specified ; but it is said that the town 

 lost its case. 



