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Rh sanctuary at Beaulieu Abbey. The chief events connected with Hampshire in the Civil War of the 17th century were the gallant resistance of the cavalier garrisons at Winchester and Basing House; a skirmish near Cheriton in 1644 notable as the last battle fought on Hampshire soil; and the concealment of Charles at Titchfield in 1647 before his removal to Carisbrooke. The duke of Monmouth, whose rebellion met with considerable support in Hampshire, was captured in 1685 near Ringwood.

Hampshire was among the earliest shires to be created, and must have received its name before the revival of Winchester in the latter half of the 7th century. It is first mentioned in the Saxon chronicle in 755, at which date the boundaries were practically those of the present day. The Domesday Survey mentions 44 hundreds in Hampshire, but by the 14th century the number had been reduced to 37. The hundreds of East Medina and West Medina in the Isle of Wight are mentioned in 1316. Constables of the hundreds were first appointed by the Statute of Winchester in 1285, and the hundred court continued to elect a high constable for Fordingbridge until 1878. The chief court of the Isle of Wight was the Knighten court held at Newport every three weeks. The sheriff’s court and the assizes and quarter sessions for the county were formerly held at Winchester, but in 1831 the county was divided into 14 petty sessional divisions; the quarter sessions for the county were held at Andover; and Portsmouth, Southampton and Winchester had separate jurisdiction. Southampton was made a county by itself with a separate sheriff in 1447.

In the middle of the 7th century Hampshire formed part of the West Saxon bishopric of Dorchester-on-Thames. On the transference of the episcopal seat to Winchester in 676 it was included in that diocese in which it has remained ever since. In 1291 the archdeaconry of Winchester was coextensive with the county and comprised the ten rural deaneries of Alresford, Alton, Andover, Basingstoke, Drokinsford, Fordingbridge, Isle of Wight, Sombourne, Southampton and Winchester. In 1850 the Isle of Wight was subdivided into the deaneries of East Medina and West Medina. In 1856 the deaneries were increased to 24. In 1871 the archdeaconry of the Isle of Wight was constituted, and about the same time the deaneries were reduced to 21. In 1892 the deaneries were reconstituted and made 18 in number, and the archdeaconry of the Isle of Wight was divided into the deaneries of East Wight and West Wight.

After the Conquest the most powerful Hampshire baron was William Fitz-Osbern, who in addition to the lordship of the Isle of Wight held considerable estates on the mainland. At the time of the Domesday Survey the chief landholders were Hugh de Port, ancestor of the Fitz-Johns; Ralf de Mortimer; William Mauduit whose name is preserved in Hartley Mauditt; and Waleran, called the Huntsman, ancestor of the Waleraund family. Hursley near Winchester was the seat of Richard Cromwell; and Gilbert White, the naturalist, was curate of Farringdon near Selborne.

Apart from the valuable foreign and shipbuilding trade which grew up with the development of its ports, Hampshire has always been mainly an agricultural county, the only important manufacture being that of wool and cloth, which prospered at Winchester in the 12th century and survived till within recent years. Salt-making and the manufacture of iron from native ironstone also flourished in Hampshire from pre-Norman times until within the 19th century. In the 14th century Southampton had a valuable trade with Venice, and from the 15th to the 18th century many famous warships were constructed in its docks. Silk-weaving was formerly carried on at Winchester, Andover, Odiham, Alton, Whitchurch and Overton, the first mills being set up in 1684 at Southampton by French refugees. The paper manufacture at Laverstoke was started by the Portals, a family of Huguenot refugees, in 1685, and a few years later Henri de Portal obtained the privilege of supplying the bank-note paper to the Bank of England.

Hampshire returned four members to parliament in 1295, when the boroughs of New Alresford, Alton, Andover, Basingstoke, Overton, Portsmouth, Southampton, Winchester, Yarmouth and Newport were also represented. After this date the county was represented by two members, but most of the boroughs ceased to make returns. Odiham and the Isle of Wight were represented in 1300, Fareham in 1306, and Petersfield in 1307. From 1311 to 1547 Southampton, Portsmouth, and Winchester were the only boroughs represented. By the end of the 16th century Petersfield, Newport, Yarmouth, and Andover had regained representation, and Stockbridge, Christchurch, Lymington, Newtown and Whitchurch returned two members each, giving the county with its boroughs a total representation of 26 members. Under the Reform Act of 1832 the county returned four members in four divisions; Christchurch and Petersfield lost one member each; and Newtown, Yarmouth, Stockbridge and Whitchurch were disfranchised. By the act of 1868 Andover, Lymington and Newport were deprived of one member each.

Antiquities.—Hampshire is rich in monastic remains. Those considered under separate headings include the monastery of Hyde near Winchester, the magnificent churches at Christchurch and Romsey, the ruins of Netley Abbey, and of Beaulieu Abbey in the New Forest, the fragments of the priory of St Denys, Southampton, the church at Porchester and the slight ruins at Titchfield, near Fareham, and Quarr Abbey in the Isle of Wight. Other foundations, of which the remains are slight, were the Augustinian priory of Southwick near Fareham, founded by William of Wykeham; that of Breamore, founded by Baldwin de Redvers, and that of Mottisfont near Romsey, endowed soon after the Conquest. There are many churches of interest, apart from the cathedral church of Winchester and those in some of the towns in the Isle of Wight, or already mentioned in connexion with monastic foundations. Pre-Conquest work is well shown in the churches of Corhampton and Breamore, and very early masonry is also found in Headbourne Worthy church, where is also a brass of the 15th century to a scholar of Winchester College in collegiate dress. The most noteworthy Norman churches are at Chilcombe and Kingsclere and (with Early English additions) at Brockenhurst, Upper Clatford, which has the unusual arrangement of a double chancel arch, Hambledon, Milford and East Meon. Principally Early English are the churches of Cheriton, Grately, which retains some excellent contemporary stained glass from Salisbury cathedral; Sopley, which is partly Perpendicular; and Thruxton, which contains a brass to Sir John Lisle (d. 1407), affording a very early example of complete plate armour. Specimens of the later styles are generally less remarkable. The frescoes in Bramley church, ranging in date from the 13th to the 15th century, include a representation of the murder of Thomas à Beckett. A fine series of Norman fonts in black marble should be mentioned; they occur in Winchester cathedral and the churches of St Michael, Southampton, East Meon and St Mary Bourne.

The most notable old castles are Carisbrooke in the Isle of Wight; Porchester, a fine Norman stronghold embodying Roman remains, on Portsmouth Harbour; and Hurst, guarding the mouth of the Solent, where for a short time Charles I. was imprisoned. Henry VIII. built several forts to guard the Solent, Spithead and Southampton Water; Hurst Castle was one, and others remaining, but adapted to various purposes, are at Cowes, Calshot and Netley. Fine mansions are unusually numerous. That of Stratfieldsaye or Strathfieldsaye, which belonged to the Pitt family, was purchased by parliament for presentation to the duke of Wellington in 1817, his descendants holding the estate from the Crown in consideration of the annual tribute of a flag to the guard-room at Windsor. A statue of the duke stands in the grounds, and his war-horse “Copenhagen” is buried here. The name of Tichborne Park, near Alresford, is well known in connexion with the famous claimant of the estates whose case was heard in 1871. Among ancient mansions the Jacobean Bramshill is conspicuous, lying near Stratfieldsaye in the north of the county. It is built of stone and is highly decorated, and though the complete original design was not carried out the house is among the finest of its type in England. At Bishops Waltham, a small town 10 m. S.S.E. of Winchester,