256 KINGSCLERE 



there are good grounds for believing that the farm- 

 house at Freemantle Park is the spot referred to in 

 the Itinerarium of the movements of King John. 

 As to Freemantle Park Farm, at the foot of the 

 southern slope of Cottington s Hill, Mr. Money says 

 it is impossible on approaching the house not to be 

 struck with its ancient appearance and its old-world 

 surroundings, although a closer inspection reveals the 

 signs of various ages and many changes. The most 

 singular feature of the kitchen — a long low room, with 

 a spacious open fireplace — is an ancient well, 225 ft. 

 deep, surmounted by a raised platform in the middle 

 of the apartment, whence the water is drawn up by 

 the aid of a large fly-wheel attached to the spindle : 

 and it is from this well that the cottages at Cotting- 

 ton's Hill are supplied. It was in order to settle 

 a point in dispute among local and other antiquaries 

 that Mr. Money made his examination, with, it would 

 seem, convincing results. He says: 'The most 

 striking: fact in connection with the old farmhouse at 



o 



Freemantle Park is that it actually abuts on the 

 line of the great Roman Road from Old Sarum to 

 Silchester and London, called the Portway, which 

 here presents itself to our view in a remarkable state 

 of preservation, between the house and where it 

 traverses the Newbury and Whitchurch Road, 

 whence it runs o'er hill and dale, through Bradley 

 Wood to St. Mary Bourne and Andover. When 

 we consider that these roads, constructed by the 

 Romans with such extraordinary skill, formed for 

 centuries after they left England the direct com- 



