BOROUGH OF SOUTHAMPTON 



represented the borough in Parliament, were com- 

 missioned to carry out the works under the survey 

 and control of John de Thorpe, king's clerk." Bad 

 work was to be punished by imprisonment. The 

 keep must have been finished in 1380 ; as we find 

 that year a grant of the custody of the gate of the king's 

 new tower ;' 64 and there can be little doubt it was 

 brought into immediate use. 66 Next there is the 

 survey of the mantlet and ' pavement ' round the new 

 tower under William Bacon the elder,* 7 and control 

 of Thorpe. 68 



The remaining works were hurried on especially 

 under a lively apprehension of a French invasion. 69 

 The king's clerk, Thorpe, seems to have been generally 

 superintendent ; but in July 1386 occurs the appoint- 

 ment of Thomas Tredyngton, chaplain, to serve the 

 king in his new tower, both in celebrating divine ser- 

 vice for his good estate and keeping the armour, 

 artillery, victual and guns therein for its garrisoning 

 and defence, to do everything necessary for its safe 

 custody, and to control all the king's works within the 

 castle. His salary was to be 10 a year from the 

 town's custom of wool ; but being retained for this 

 service expressly as an expert in guns and the manage- 

 ment of artillery the appointment was not to be drawn 

 into a precedent to burden the king with finding a 

 chaplain therein who might not be so skilful in these 

 matters. 70 Later in this year (November) John Poly- 

 mond and William Bacon, burgesses, and William 

 Hughlotoneof the tellers of the Receipt, were directed 

 to take the muster of men-at-arms and archers at the 

 king's wages in the castle, reckon with them and 

 certify accordingly to the Exchequer. 71 At this time 

 the king's brother, Thomas earl of Kent, was keeper 

 of the castle and town, Sir John Sondes, kt., being his 

 deputy. 71 



The buildings as reconstructed at this time seem to 

 have remained substantially the same till the castle's 

 decline. 73 



A chapel, doubtless within the keep, had existed from 

 the first, the chaplains, as we have seen, drawing their 

 ' wages ' with the other officials. This arrangement 

 was succeeded or supplemented later by the chapel 

 of St. George, which stood apparently towards the 

 north-west of the bailey inclosure, since we find 

 it occasionally mentioned in the beat of the town 

 watch. 74 The chaplains were practically endowed, as 

 stated above, from the time of Richard II ; and being 

 appointed by patent they are mostly known but cannot 

 here be noticed. Their duties became those of chantry 

 priest to celebrate for the good estate of the king and 



the souls of his progenitors : but the commissioners 

 of the sixteenth century could not discover the origin 

 of this foundation and contented themselves with the 

 return of the salary as 10 in ready money from the 

 king's customs in the town." In 1553 the then in- 

 cumbent received a pension of 6. 



Leland in 1546 tells us 'The Glorie of the castelle 

 is in the dungeon (keep) that is both larg, fair and 

 very stronge, both by worke and the site of it.' u 

 Queen Elizabeth dates from the castle in 1569. Speed, 

 writing at the end of the same century, describes it as 

 ' most beautiful, in forme circular, and wall within 

 wall, the foundation upon a hill so topped that it 

 cannot be ascended but by stairs. 77 



Hortensio Spinola in his report on the southern 

 ports in I 599 speaks of the castle as being strong with 

 sixty pieces of artillery and loo soldiers. 78 However, 

 in spite of these accounts, it appears that some dis- 

 mantling of the bailey had occurred as early as the 

 end of the fifteenth century. In 1550 the 'castle 

 green' had fallen into utter neglect ; in 1591 it had 

 been let to the butchers for some years by Captain 

 Parkinson, the governor, and the court leet pre- 

 sented that the sheep had spoiled the hill i.e. of the 

 keep ' most ruinously : and they begged no more 

 sheep or cattle might be allowed there ; moreover 

 the windows and gates of the castle tower lie open to 

 all the inhabitants, whereof they desire reformation.' ' a 

 The condition of the building became more and more 

 deplorable and in July, 1618, the ruined castle, its site 

 and ditches, passed by a grant of James I, for .2,078 

 to Sir James Ouchterlony and Richard Garnard, 80 

 citizen and clothworker of London, who in the next 

 month (10 August) consigned their interest to William 

 Osey, 81 of Basingstoke, who in his turn made it over 

 to George Gollop of Southampton, merchant, in July 

 1619. In 1636 George Gollop obtained the royal 

 grant ** of the castle and its ditches at the yearly rent 

 ofl3/. \d. In the next year we find him plaintiff 

 against several who had already converted the ditches 

 into gardens. 8 * The property remained in the Gollop 

 family for some few years. In 1650 Peter Gollop 

 was in possession, and 1 1 October that year he gave 

 permission to Major Peter Murford (of whom later), 

 commandant of the town, to take such stone from the 

 castle as he might think needful for the fortifications. 84 



In later times the site became encroached upon by 

 houses and gardens. In the last quarter of the eigh- 

 teenth century a windmill made out of the old tower 

 had given place to a summer house. In 1804 the 

 castle hill was purchased from Mr. Watson by Lord 



M Pat. 2 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 20. 



65 Pat. 4 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 28 (4 Aug.) 



88 The story was told however that a 

 rich Genoese merchant sought permission 

 to store his goods in the newly built castle, 

 and that he was killed through the jeal- 

 ousy of the London merchants. Walsing- 

 ham, Hist. Angl. i, 407 ; Stow, Cbron, 

 under 1379, 1380. 



*l Burgess and M.P. 



68 Pat. 7 Ric. II, pt. I, m. n (Nov. 

 .383). 



69 Pat. 6 Ric. II, pt. 3, m. 3 (June, 

 1283) ; 9 Ric. II, pt. 2, m. 15 (May 

 1386). 



7Ca/. Pat. 1385-9, p. 198. 



71 Ibid. 236. 



7 a lbid. 177. See also commission 

 of 26 Aug. (same year) to Sir John Sondes, 

 kt., and John Polymond, burgess, to in- 



quire into the defences of the town, and 

 to repair and fortify the walls and ditches 

 against the threatened invasion of the 

 French. 



7* A very fair idea of the keep is given 

 in the French plan of Southampton in 

 Add. MS. 11546, taken about 1630. It 

 does not, however, seem to be an original 

 authority, but rather an enlargement from 

 Speed. 



"" Lib. Remembranc. 14, 27. 



' 5 Chant. Cert. 51, No. i. But in 

 the appointment of John Pereson in 1461 

 the salary and duties (chantry) are said to 

 be in accordance with the original grant 

 by Richard II. Pat. I Edw. IV, pt. 3, 

 m. 9 (22 Nov.). 



" Leland, Itin. (ed. Hearne), iii, 107. 



It Speed, Theatre of Gt. Brit, (reprint 

 1650), 13. 



499 



? 8 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1598-1601, p. 179. 

 ' 9 Court Leet Bk. (Corp. MSS.) for 1 5 91 ; 

 see also 1566, 1569, 1574, &c. 



80 Or rather Gurnard, son of Bryan 

 Gurney or Gurnard. He was kt. bart. 

 and Lord Mayor of London in 1642, but 

 discharged from his office by Parliament 

 and committed to the Tower, where he 

 died in 1647. Pat. 16 Jas. I, pt. 13, m. 9, 

 No. 7. 



81 Close, 1 6 Jas. I, pt. 4, No. 37. 



82 Pa(. 1 1 Chas. I, pt. 8, m. 1 2. 



88 Exch. Dep. East. 1 3 Chas. I, No. 3. 

 About this time a traveller (1635) describes 

 the building as an 'old ruinated castle on a 

 high mounted hill, environed with a sound 

 strong wall ' (Duthy, Sketches of Hampshire, 

 i, 441, quoted from Lansd. MS. 213). 



84 From Journal of that year (Corp. 

 MSS.). 



