Alverstoke

At the time of the Domesday survey in 1086, Alverstoke was held by the Bishop of Winchester for the support of the monks of St Swithun. The villeins themselves were farming the land in 1086. A half hide at Alverstoke was held before the Conquest by Sawin and in 1086 by a certain knight. The manor had allegedly been bestowed by the Saxon noblewoman Alwara for her husband Leowin's soul. Possession was confirmed to the monks by papal bull in 1205 and again in 1243 (VCH Hampshire Vol. 3, pp. 202-208).

In 1284 the manor of Alverstoke with Gosport was transferred to the bishop of Winchester in exchange for certain important concessions. The king confirmed this transfer in June 1284, with a second confirmation in May 1285. At this time the bishop received return of writs in his manorial lands and free warren and freedom from pleas of forest in all his lands. The successive bishops of Winchester retained the manor until the 1641 Act confiscating episcopal lands (VCH Hampshire Vol. 3, pp. 202-208).

A notable thirteenth-century charter from Prior Andrew (1239-1243) had granted tenants substantial privileges: freedom from tallages, pannage, and salt-rent; the right to make wills; exemption from wards and suit of hundred courts; hereditary land tenure with alienation rights; and manorial court oversight by prior or steward. In 1461 the tenants obtained an exemplification of the Domesday entry relating to Alverstoke, presumably to defend their ancient rights (VCH Hampshire Vol. 3, pp. 202-208).

During the Commonwealth the manor was seized and sold in 1648 to George Wither, the poet noted for his lyrics and later for pamphlets in support of Cromwell's government. At the Restoration the bishops regained their lands, and Alverstoke remained a possession of the see of Winchester until it was taken over by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The earliest record of Gosport as a borough dates from 1462, when John Bonsergaunte was elected bailiff. In 1682 Portsmouth attempted to extend its borough limits to include Gosport, but Gosport was separated from Portsmouth when Charles II's charter was annulled in 1688 (VCH Hampshire Vol. 3, pp. 202-208).