A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



level than the ground outside, and the chamber 

 is covered with a barrel vault, which formerly had 

 ashlar M ribs at intervals springing from twelfth-cen- 

 tury corbels, of which a few yet remain. 



A doorway to the north of the loop opened west- 

 ward, but it had been carefully walled up with ashlar 

 and no trace of it was to be seen till recently, when an 

 archway with door admitting to the vault was inserted. 

 Adjoining the water gate at the south, the wall exists 

 in two stages, divided by a plain string, for about 

 32 ft. as far as the sixth and last buttress : and from 

 the indication of a couple of round-headed windows 

 above, and two narrow apertures below, it is evident 

 that chambers existed behind. Outside this part of 

 the wall was the castle quay of which frequent men- 

 tion is made in the close rolls of John and Henry III ; 

 and the buildings may have served partly for stores 

 and cellarage of the king's prisage wines, and may well 

 have been those for the protection of which the quay 

 was so frequently ordered to be kept in repair. From 

 this point the castle wall turns nearly due east. Por- 

 tions of this wall, of late twelfth-century date, have 

 been recently disclosed by the removal of build- 

 ings. At about 1 10 ft. from the south-west angle, 

 the wall crossed Castle Lane (south). Here was the 

 south gate of the bailey, demolished about 1770. Be- 

 yond this the wall continued some 40 ft. till it struck the 

 lofty mound of the keep round which it continued for 

 about 400 ft., the mound's diameter being 200 ft. ; 

 it then ran north-east for about 60 ft., then north- 

 west for another 85 ft., crossing at this point Castle 

 Lane (north), where was the principal gate of the 

 castle, destroyed also in the last century, though a 

 fragment may still be seen on the north of the lane, 

 at the judge's entrance to the county court. Beyond 

 this the wall made a curve to the north-west till it 

 struck the curtain as before described. A considerable 

 length of the substructures of this bailey wall remains. 

 The wall stood at a good elevation with a deep ditch 

 at its foot, but towards the end of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury the surface was very materially lowered, and the 

 wall's foundations exposed to view. These, now 

 denuded of earth, stand up as an arcade of fourteen or 

 more perfect arches, some of them slightly pointed, 

 on square piers, at a height of about I z ft. above the 

 present level : the span of the arches averaging 9 ft., 

 and the piers about 7 ft. square. Some of the ashlars 

 of the battlemented wall above this foundation may 

 still be detected." The area thus inclosed was sur- 

 rounded by a ditch, and the changes of line in the 

 town walls north and south of the bailey are no doubt 

 an evidence of the positions of its north and south 

 ends. 



Of the buildings within the castle precincts there is 

 but too scanty information. As soon as the Normans 

 became possessors of the soil, their first step was 

 probably to throw up the castle mound with material 

 from the deep and wide double ditch drawn along 

 two sides of the town very probably an enlargement 

 of a former ditch placing on this mound a circular 

 stockaded fort. 65 This must have been succeeded by 

 a fort or keep of stone ; for it is quite improbable 



that, while during the Norman period there is ample 

 evidence of their stone work in the town walls and 

 other buildings, wood should have been perpetuated 

 here. This reconstruction may have occurred before 

 we have any accounts. 



The first mention of the castle is found in the 

 articles of agreement "in 1153 between King Stephen 

 and Prince Henry, settling the succession on the 

 latter, when it was arranged that the bishop of Win- 

 chester" should give security for delivering the fort 

 or castle (munitio) of Southampton, and the castle 

 (castrum) of Winchester, to Prince Henry in the 

 event of the king's death : like pledges being required 

 of the keepers of the other royal fortresses. 



The early Pipe Rolls from 1 156 constantly refer to 

 the castle, its repairs, its bridges, the bailey bridge, the 

 chapel, the houses, the king's houses, king's chamber 

 and cellar, the storage for his prisage wines, the gaol, 

 the castle quay : and among these notices we get a 

 few hints at construction, but they do not help us 

 much. 



In 1156 repairs at the castle cost 7. In 1157 

 works on the castle bridge 4 1 T,S. ^d ; on the chapel 

 and bailey bridge 3 121. \d. ; a parapet ('bretesce') 

 for the bridge lot.; further for bridge and chapel 

 i us. $d. In 1161 Richard son of Turstin, 

 sheriff of the shire, was charged with the payment of 

 Milo of Hamton (j 6s. 8</.) in fortifying (inmuni- 

 tione caste IK). In 1162 the ' vicecomitissa ' of Rouen M 

 paid I4/. ifd. and Richard, the shire official, spent ^i 6 

 on repairs at the castle. In 1172-3 works were 

 going on there, and on the castle well, by writ of 

 Richard de Lucy, justiciar, and under view of John the 

 controller, Fortin, and Walter of Gloucester (j is.). 

 In 1 173 and 1 174 the castle was receiving and trans- 

 mitting warlike apparatus and royal treasure, and it 

 was garrisoned by five knights. In 1183 work on the 

 gaol cost 24. In 1192-3, when William Briwer 

 was governor, the sum of ,40 1 5*. was spent on the 

 castle, in the next year 68 3;., and in the following 

 year .24 6s. It is stated that in 1286 the castle was 

 in ruins, and dues were assigned for its restoration. 59 

 But there seems to be no detailed account till the re- 

 building of the keep in 1378 and 1379 under Sir 

 Richard Arundel the governor. This keep of the 

 fourteenth century was a shell of masonry encircled 

 by an embattled wall surmounting the escarpment. 

 The patent of I 378 directed Henry Marmesfeld, John 

 Pypering and Richard Baillyf ^ to cause the erection 

 as quickly as possible of a certain tower on the ' old- 

 castell-hill ' 61 with two gates, a mantelet and barbican 

 of stone, that is, an encircling wall about it with an 

 outwork before the gate. The patent of the next year 

 required the tower to have four turrets, three gates 

 and three portcullises, a bridge also was to be con- 

 structed. Timber was to be procured from the New 

 Forest, and material provided at the king's cost, 

 necessary masons and workmen being taken from the 

 neighbouring counties, and kept at work as long as 

 needful at the king's wages. 62 In November 1378 

 John Polmont (or Polymond) and William Bacon, 63 

 two well-known burgesses who both for some years 



69 The ribs were destroyed about 1775. 



M Three of these arches may be seen at 

 the end of Maddison Street : the rest are 

 hidden amongst buildings and inclosures. 



54 Cf.J. H. Round, 'The Castles of the 

 Conquest," Arch. Iviii (i), 313. 



46 Rymer, FocJtra, i, 13, 14. 



5 7 Henry de Blois, 1129-71. 



48 See below. 



> Pat. 14. Edw. I, m. 18. 



60 Possibly Richard May, bailiff of the 

 town. 



61 That is on the old mound which had 

 always been fortified. 



49 8 



6a Pat. I Ric. II, pt. 6, m. 7 (Apr. 

 1378); 2 Ric. II, pt. 2, m. 42 (Jan. 



378). 



63 Described as of Bristol, but who sub* 

 sequently seems to have lived in St. Mi- 

 chael's parish, Southampton. 



