THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY &> NATURALIST. 



27 



class of old English towns than that of Basingstoke. 

 Towns grew from manors, and because a 

 large number of important manors were 

 demesne lands of the Crown, these royal manors 

 in numerous instances became the chief market 

 towns of the counties in which they were situated. 

 In this way the ancient growth of such a place at Basing- 

 stoke, set forth as it is with so much clearness in this 

 history, and illustrated by extracts ot ancient docu- 

 ments and court rolls, is of great value. It is scarcely 

 too much to say that no book in the English language 

 will afford the historical student more solid informa- 

 tion as to the process by which a royal manor of the 

 Anglo-Saxon period gradually became developed into 

 a municipal town, than this history. In these days 

 when local government is being greatly developed 

 under forms adapted to the wants of our own age, it 

 cannot fail to be interesting to all who take a part in 

 town or county government to read how the same 

 ends which our borough and county councils now 

 have in view were accomplished by the Great Court 

 and by the Little Court of their hundred held by the 

 men of Basingstoke. These men of Basingstoke 

 were those who were intrusted with important 

 administrative functions, not merely for their own 

 town, but for the hundred in which it was situated, 

 and of which it was the head, and of five other sub- 

 ordinate hundreds over which the proved men of 

 Basingstoke exercised in some matters a jurisdiction, 

 as coming within the purview of their Hundred Court. 



This book contains an account of every matter 

 of interest connected with Basingstoke. Its ecclesi- 

 astical history is very well sketched out ; its early 

 connexion with the monastery of St. Michael's Mount 

 in Normandy is explained ; and also how at a later 

 date the figure of St. Michael slaying the dragon 

 became incorporated in the town arms. The account 

 of the ancient arrangement of the church is full and 

 very instructive. The Basingstoke people may from 

 this account learn for the first time where the chapels 

 of various dedications were situated all under the 

 same roof, as the book contains a plan of the church 

 previous to the Reformation. The Hospital of St. 

 Mary and St. John, which existed at Basingstoke at a 

 very early date, is described fully, and also such other 

 ecclesiastical matters as the parish registers, and the 

 remarkable Guild and Chapel of the Holy Ghost, of 

 which some part of the buildings, now a ruin, exists 

 near the railway station. This Guild has had a 

 singular history for after being suppressed in the 

 time ot Henry VIII, it was re-established by Queen 

 Mary, on the intercession of Cardinal Pole. It will 

 be remembered that its old Book of Accounts was 

 found about ten years ago, and some reference is 

 given to this book, now preserved in the Hartley 

 Institution. The revenues of the Holy Ghost Guild 

 became ultimately the endowment of the Grammar 

 School of the town, but it appears that the Guild 

 always was a teaching fraternity. 



There is a chronology of the history of the town, 

 which, owing to its geographical position and its 

 being a Crown demesne, was often favoured with 

 royal visits. The history of Basingstoke is insepar- 

 able from the history of Basing. These two places, 

 now distinct, appear to have had a closer connexion 

 in earlier ages. The history of Basing is part ot the 

 history of England, aud the chief events of the Civil 

 War of the iyth century as connected with this place 

 and the remarkable siege of Basing House, held by 

 the Marquis of Winchester for the king, are fully 

 described. The full account of this, which was s 

 ably written some years ago by the historian of the 

 Civil War in Hampshire, the Rev. G. N. Godwin i 

 chaplain of H.M. forces, to whose work the authors 

 very properly refer, must have rendered this part of 

 their work comparatively light. 



Basingstoke can number among those who were 

 born there or have resided there fora sufficient length 

 of time to become identified more or less with it, a 

 number of worthies who have left their mark on 

 English history or literature. A good account of 

 these is given. They comprise such men as Walter 

 de Merton, John of Basingstoke (both noted persons 

 in the middle ages), Richard White, a scholar of the 

 i6th century ; Sir James Lancaster, the navigator, 

 who discovered Lancaster Sound ; Sir George 

 Wheeler, a generous benefactor to the town ; Thomas 

 Warton, the poet ; Joseph Warton, Sir James Deane 

 and others. 



As already stated, the most important part of the 

 book is that which relates to the development of the 

 town and its early government. The extracts from 

 the Court Rolls from the i4th century to the end of 

 the i6th century are copious and full of interesting 

 information of the manner of life of our forefathers of 

 that period, and of the system of local government 

 under which they lived. A list of the mayors, cor- 

 poration, and officers of the borough of Basingstoke 

 is given from the earliest date to which these records 

 extend unto the present time. 



In an Appendix are to be found copies of documents 

 preserved at Merton College, Oxford, relating to St. 

 John's Hospital. These are very important. It also 

 contains a calendar of muniments relating to Basing 

 and Basingstoke which are preserved at Magdalen 

 College, Oxford, and which have been extracted from 

 the Rev. W. D. Macray's MS. Catalogue of the 

 College Muniments. It includes also copies of docu- 

 ments relating to the Fraternity of the Holy Ghost 

 and Queen's School, a list of the masters and ushers 

 of the same school, a list of the lecturers appointed to 

 preach at the parish church, a list of burgesses and 

 aldermen from 1641 to 1835, and of the sergeants-at- 

 mace from 1622 to 1836. Some very curious documents 

 of another kind are also included in the appendix, 

 such as a copy of the translation of the contract for 

 the Sandys tomb, and an account of the ordination 

 held at Holy Ghost Chapel in 1309, when a large 



