io8 



THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY & NATURALIST. 



Both establishments were of the reformed Benedictine 

 Order, which was planted at Citeaux, in Burgundy, about 

 the year 1075, from which place its name of Cistercian is 

 taken. 



Beaulieu Abbey was founded by King John in 1204, and 

 the church of the abbey was consecrated and dedicated by 

 his second son Richard, Earl of Cornwall, in 30 Henry III 

 (1245-6), and from all accounts he was a liberal patron to 

 the abbe) - . On the completion of the Cistercian 

 Abbey of Hayles, near Winchcombe in Gloucestershire, 

 which the Earl of Cornwall founded in 1246, he removed 

 thither 20 msnks from the Abbey of Beaulieu, and constituted 

 one of them their Abbot. And Isabel, his first wife, who was 

 widow of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, and 

 Hertford, and daughter of Wm. Mareschal, Earl of Pem- 

 broke, dying in i23g, the Earl of Cornwall had her body 

 brought to Bea ilieu Abbey and there interred. 



As her donations and benefactions for the maintenance 

 of her tomb and masses for her soul vested in the Abbot 

 and Convent she would be esteemed by them as a bene- 

 factress, to be held in grateful remembrance and esteem. 

 They would therefore be disposed to perpetuate the 

 memory of her husband and herself among their chief 

 patrons according to the customary practice in the decora- 

 tion of their sanctuary. For these reasons, though I 

 have met with only one memorial of Richard Earl of 

 Cornwall among the decorative tiles at Beaulieu, viz., the 

 Spread Eagle of the Holy Roman Empire, I conclude that 

 many examples of his heraldic emblems, as Earl of Corn- 

 wall and King of the Romans must have existed at 

 Beaulieu. Monastic and ecclesiastical memorials of 

 Richard, and of his son Edmund Earl of Cornwall are of 

 frequent occurence in all parts of England ; for instance, 

 the crowned red lion rampant of Poitou within a bordure 

 bezanty of Cornwall ; several varieties of the spread 

 eagle of the empire, both with single and double heads, 

 some bearing shields on their breasts charged with a lion 

 rampant for Isabel, first wife of the King of the Romans, 

 as daughter of William Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke, as at 

 Warblington in this county, others with shields charged 

 with red chevronnels on a gold ground, for the same 

 Isabel, as widow of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester 

 and Hertford, as at Netley. And here I would bring to 

 your notice the fac-simile of a tile that occurs at Win- 

 chester Cathedral and Netley, as a remarkable and 

 beautiful design in arabesque, which illustrates the intro- 

 duction of the Renaissance style in the close of the isth or 

 the early part of the i6th century. Here we see the 

 fanciful combination of birds, animals and foliage growing 

 out of each other, and involved in the main subject of 

 design. Richard's eldest son, Edmund, who succeeded 

 him in the Earldom of Cornwall, bore on his seal an 

 imperial eagle, from whose beak hangs by its guige his 

 shield of Cornwall, charged with the lion of Poitou (as in 

 the pencil outline), with this legend around the whole : 

 " S [igillum] Eadmundi de A/emannia Comitis Cornubie. ' 

 Richard, King of the Romans, isthe only Englishman who 

 attained the next highest grade to the Emperor of Ger- 

 many as his successor ; and he styled himself " Ricardus 

 Dei gratia Romanorum Rex semper Augustus." 



A short drive to the southward brought the party 

 to Buckler's Hard, now a mere collection of a dozen 

 or so of labourers' cottages on the bank of the Exe 

 river, but at one time a thriving little shipbuilding 

 place. The contrast from the former busy times is 

 indeed great. The arrival of the party was quite an 

 invasion of the quiet quaint little hamlet. Assembling 

 on the greensward overlooking the river and the now 



disused slips, the Rev. G. N. Godwin read the follow- 

 ing paper, which exigencies of space compel us to 

 curtail : 



BUCKLER'S HARD A DESERTED SHIP YARD. 



About the middle of the last century John, Duke of 

 Montagu, formed a plan of making Buckler's Hard on the 

 Beaulieu River, an important sea-port. Owning, as he did, 

 the sugar producing island of St. Lucia, in the West Indies, 

 possessing a large amount of timber in the New Forest, 

 having the iron works at Sowley Pond within easy 

 distance, and his lordship ol Beaulieu Manor possessing, 

 moreover, all the privileges of the Cinque Ports as a free 

 harbour, he set vigorously to work. Statements were 

 issued proving that ships could sail from the Solent when 

 the winds would keep them unable to move at either 

 Bristol or London. Extensive quay frontage was offered 

 at a yearly rent of 6s. 8d. on 99 years' lease, three loads of 

 timber were given gratis for every house erected, and the 

 cheapness of carriage from Buckler's Hard was strongly 

 insisted upon. At first the new settlement grew apace, 

 and extensive shipbuilding operations were carried on. 

 But at the close of the Seven Years War in 1763, the island 

 of St. Lucia was restored to France, and all hopes of the 

 Duke's West India trade vanished. Shipbuilding, both 

 naval and mercantile, was, however, still continued. As 

 many heroes and mighty men lived before Agamemnon, so 

 many a gallant ship was launched at Buckler's Hard, whose 

 name, together with her timbers, have perished. 



The first man of war of which I find mention is the 

 Thames, built in 1758. She carried 32 guns, 12 pounders. 

 The length of her gun-deck was i27ft. ; of her keel 104(1., 

 8Jin. ; breadth, 34ft. 4)11. ; depth of hold, nft. gin ; 

 tonnage, 656. 



The Brilliant, a 28 gun frigate, the first of her name, was 

 launched in 1779. Length of gundeck laoft 6in., of keel 

 ggft. 6in., breadth 33(1. Sin. , depth lift., tons 600. She is 

 noted for having run foul of and swept away the last ol the 

 masts of the Royal George (sunk in 1782) that remained 

 above water at Spithead, after which a buov, removed 

 some years ago, was placed over the wreck. 



The Garland, 28 gun frigate, was built in 1779. The 

 length of her gundeck was i2oft. yin., tonnage 599. She 

 was, when launched, named the Sybil, which name was 

 changed about 1797, in consequence of the capture in 1797, 

 and subsequent addition to the navy of a very beautiful 44 

 gun French frigate La Sybille. 



In the Salisbury and Winchester Journal of April 10, 

 1781, we read " was launched at Buckler's Hard the Aga- 

 memnon, a fine 64 gun ship, built by Mr. Adams of that 

 place." The length of her gun deck was i6oft. 2in., of her 

 keel i3iit. loin. Her breadth was 44ft. sin., her depth of 

 hold was iSft. uin., and her tonnage was 1,384. In Febru- 

 ary, 1783, Horatio, Lord Nelson, was appointed as her 

 captain, and on bard her Nelson lost his right eye. She 

 was in every affair of importance at that time in the Medi- 

 tenanean. If you wish to see what a grand old ship our 

 New Forest oaks produced, and the ways of the men who 

 sailed her, read " Ben Brace," by Capt. Chamfer. 



The Heroine, 32, glided into the water of the Beaulieu 

 River in April, 1783. The length of her gun deck was 

 i3oft. nfin., of her keel icyft. ioj}in. Her breadth was 

 36ft. iojin., her depth isft., and her tonnage 779. 



The Sheerness, 44 guns, was to have been launched in 

 August, 1784, but the event was first put off till January, 

 1785, and it was not until 1787 that she finally left the 

 stocks. Her gun deck was i4oft. sin. in length, her keel 

 being nsft. 4jin., her breadth 38ft. sin., her depth 

 i6ft. ioin., and her tonnage 905. 



