A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



25 ft. ; the fourth (1879), entered from the Itchen, 

 width 56ft., length 450 ft., depth 25 ft. Since the 

 purchase of the docks by the London and South 

 Western Railway Company (1892) there have been 

 constructed the ' Prince of Wales ' graving dock, 

 opened August, 1895, width at entrance, 91 ft., 

 length 750 ft., depth to blocks, 32^ ft. ; and the 

 Trafalgar (graving), opened October, 1905, width 

 at entrance 90 ft., length 875 ft., depth 33$ ft. 

 Another open dock, contracted for in August, 1907, 

 will have a depth at low water of 35 ft., to be in- 

 creased to 40 ft., area 16 acres. The new quay 

 extensions in the Itchen and the Test the Prince 

 of Wales Quay 2,000 ft. long, and South Quay 430 ft., 

 have each a depth alongside of 28 ft. at low water, and 

 the Test Quay, i ,600 ft. long, a minimum depth of 3 2 ft. 

 No expense has been spared by the railway company to 

 bring the docks to the highest efficiency, and to secure 

 to the port the pre-eminence it now enjoys. The 

 docks, the capabilities of which were experienced in 

 the late South African War, have also the natural 

 advantage of their position within one of the finest 

 harbours of England, with a deep-water channel 

 5 miles long from Calshot Castle at its entrance to 

 Southampton. The double tide 36r also at this port is 

 of extreme value to shipping, the second high tide 

 occurring about two hours and a quarter after the 

 former, the fall between the two being only about 

 9 in., so that practically high water is stationary for 

 nearly four hours. 



In this connexion should be mentioned the splendid 

 work of the harbour board on the quays and channels, 

 and special notice should be made of the new pier, 

 said to be the finest in the south of England, with ten 

 landing stages, opened by the duke of Connaught, 

 2 June, 1892, in place of the older pier opened by the 

 late queen when Princess Victoria in 1833. Part of 

 this remains, but has been entirely reconstructed and 

 is devoted to mercantile traffic, while the new pier is 

 reserved for passenger business. 



The church of ST. MART, 

 CHURCHES SOUTHAMPTON. There is no 

 mention in Domesday of any church 

 within the borough of ' Hantune.' But it does not 

 follow that there was none. The church of St. John 

 certainly existed, and there is some reference to the 

 ecclesiastical position of the town under the account 

 of the manor of South Stoneham. That manor 

 belonged to the bishop and was appropriated for the 

 clothing of the monks of St. Swithun, Winchester ; 

 but the manorial church was held by Richer, the 

 clerk, with two other churches near Southampton 

 dependent on it as the mother church. Adjoining 

 the church was a hide of land, and Richer, further, 

 in right of his benefice owned all the tithes of the 

 town of Southampton and also of Kingsland.* 6 * 



Probably this manorial church was no other than 

 St. Mary's, Southampton.* 69 In favour of this view 

 is the fact that the precentors or rectors of St. 

 Mary's have possessed the rectory of South Stoneham 

 and presented to its vicarage as early as we have 

 any records on the matter." St. Mary's, Southampton, 

 has its valuable glebe about the church ; it possessed 

 all the tithes of the town, together with those of the 

 whole district probably here described. It should be 

 observed that the tithings of Eastleigh and Allington, 

 which are now comprised within the parish of South 

 Stoneham, are not included in that manor in the 

 Domesday record, but are described separately, 

 Allington moreover having a church. The bishop's 

 manor therefore assigned for the clothing of the 

 Winchester monks was probably Bitterne, which had 

 always belonged to the bishops till it passed to the 

 Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1869. The king's 

 land of which Richer had the tithes was no doubt 

 Portswood, which we know to have been royal 

 property, and which was afterwards granted to the 

 monks of St. Denys.*" The site of the ' two other 

 churches near Hantune ' which belonged to the 

 manorial church probably cannot be determined. 

 The present church of St. Mary, South Stoneham, 

 was not then in existence, and a church on its site 

 could hardly have been called near Southampton. 37 * 



Passing from the eleventh to the twelfth century 

 we find Henry II granting his ' chapels ' of St. 

 Michael, St. Cross (Holy Rood), St. Lawrence, and 

 All Saints within the borough to the monks of St. 

 Denys 373 ; but these chapels must have had relation 

 to a mother church which was, no doubt, this 

 manorial church without the walls. 



In the time of Bishop Godfrey de Lucy (1189- 

 1 204) the clergy of ' Hampton ' were in controversy 

 with the canons of St. Denys ; the settlement of 

 which dispute was, by order of the bishop, postponed 

 till the return from the school at Paris of Stephen of 

 Reims, the superior of these clergy, who at once 

 recognized the right of the canons, spoke of 'my 

 clergy of Hampton,' "* and was very probably the 

 priest of the mother church with whom these clergy 

 were living in a community. 



A few years later an inquiry instituted (1225) 

 by desire of Pope Honorius at the instance of Philip 

 de Lucy, 'rector or warden (custos) of the church 

 of Southampton,' who set forth that the town was 

 within the limits of his parish, resulted in establishing 

 the rights of St. Mary's against the prior and con- 

 vent of St. Denys over the churches or chapels within 

 the town, the chaplains being required to swear in 

 the rural chapter at St. Mary's Philip de Lucy 

 happening to be rural dean,*' 4 as his successors fre- 

 quently were to preserve the honour of the church 

 of St. Mary.* 78 The parishes of the town were at 



W A phenomenon noticed by Bede, 

 bk. iv, cap. 16. 



68 V. CM. Hants, i, 516. 



869 Moody, Domesday of Hampshire, 47. 



870 The earliest list (1282) of the 

 deanery of Southampton (Winton Epis. 

 Reg. Pontoise, fol. 157) includes under 

 St. Mary's 'all the chapels of Aldinton,' 

 the next entries being ' capella de Esteley,' 

 and ' capella B. Marie Suht,' which may 

 have been the chapel of our Lady of 

 Grace. In 1 308 the warden (custos) of St. 

 Mary's presents to the church of South 

 Stoneham (ibid. Woodlock, fol. 5*), and in 



1379 to the vicarage of the church or 

 chapel of St. Mary, South Stoneham (ibid. 

 Wykeham, i, fol. 104*). 



8 ?* See above. 



87a The present church of South Stone- 

 ham dates from about the end of the 

 twelfth century, the chancel containing 

 some good original work. This church 

 is probably to be identified in Bishop 

 Pontoisc's list with one of the ' chapels 

 of Aldinton ' dependent on the church of 

 St. Mary, Southampton. There is no 

 separate mention of it, nor does it occur 

 in the Taxation of 1291, nor in the official 



524 



list of the rural deanery till late, being 

 probably always included under St. Mary's, 

 Southampton. 



8 ? 8 Dugdale, Man. vi, 216, charter 

 given at large, 



8 " 4 Add. MS. 15314, fol. 43. 



*7 6 See further, Da vies, op. cit. 329-35. 



*7 6 The office of rural dean was of con- 

 siderable importance. He granted probate 

 of wills, and his seal was often sought, 

 like that of the mayoralty, to strengthen 

 documents. The seal of the dean of 

 Southampton is frequently found in this 

 connexion, e.g. in 1267. 



