Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/422

 392 MedicBval Military Architecture. In his third year, the king granted to Sir William de Montacute, afterwards Earl of Salisbury, the castle and borough of Christchurch- Twynam, the Manor of Westovre, and the Hundred of Christchurch. The earl died so seized, and his will is dated at Christchurch- Twynam, 20th April, 1397. With the exception of a short forfeiture by Earl John to Henry IV., the castle remained in the Montacutes until Earl Thomas, who died in 7 Henry V., and left it to his daughter and heiress, Alice, who married Richard Nevile. Probably it was regarded as a male fief, for in 32 Henry VI. was a grant of a lease for twelve years of the manor, borough, and hundred, to Richard, Earl of Salisbury, in right of the Lady Alice, his wife, at the rent of a red rose. The leasehold appears to have been extended, and eventually converted into a freehold, as the Christ- church estates were held by the son of Richard and Alice, the king- maker Warwick, and descended to his elder daughter and co-heir, Isabel, who married George, Duke of Clarence. Their son, Edward, Earl of Warwick, held Christchurch till his forfeiture and death, after which (5 Henry VIII.) his estates and the title of Salisbury were allowed to his sister Margaret, executed 1541, and who at her death or forfeiture held the manor, castle, borough, and hundred of Christchurch, which then escheated to the Crown. It is by descent from Countess Margaret, through her granddaughter Catherine Pole, that the inheritors of the Hastings baronies are now claiming the chantry erected for their Plantagenet ancestress in the priory church. They, no doubt, are the heirs-general ; the heir male is the Earl of Huntingdon. From Henry to James, Christchurch remained in the Crown. The latter sovereign granted it to trustees for the benefit of Prince Charles, whence it passed by sale through various hands, and finally was purchased by Sir George Rose in 1790. It is now the property of Lord Strathnairn. The Priory buildings stood to the south of the church, and but scanty traces of them remain. There are considerable fragments of the containing wall to the south and east, and the fragments of two mural towers and the gateway. On the low ground on the Stour to the south-west, on the edge of the wet land called quomps," are traces of a large fish-pond. Beyond the mill are the " convent meadows." On the corbel shields terminating the drip-stone of the west door of the tower, are, dexter, what appears to be a " cross patonce" for de Fortibus; and, sinister, Montacute quartering Monthermer.