Portchester

The Roman fort at Portchester, known as Portus Adurni, was constructed c.285 AD as part of the Saxon Shore defence system. Its walls still stand to nearly their full height on all four sides, enclosing an area of approximately nine acres. It is the most complete Roman fort of its type in northern Europe. The Normans recognised the defensive value of the site and built a castle in the north-west corner of the Roman enclosure after 1066.

At the time of the Domesday survey in 1086, three separate manors at Portchester were consolidated under William Mauduit. The Mauduit family held Portchester through their hereditary office of chamberlain of the treasury and exchequer. This was a serjeanty tenure: the right to hold the manor depended on performing a specific service to the Crown rather than on military knight service or cash rent. The chamberlainship was one of the great hereditary offices of the medieval English state.

Before his accession to the throne, Henry II promised Portchester Castle and its appurtenant lands to Henry Mauduit, the younger son of William Mauduit. This promise, made c.1153, was never fulfilled. The Mauduit claim persisted but the castle remained in Crown hands.

In 1230, the Crown granted two-thirds of the manor to Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, who transferred his portion to Titchfield Abbey. The remaining third was later assigned as dower, first to Eleanor of Aquitaine and then to Margaret of France, second wife of Edward I. In 1299 the town was assigned in dower to Margaret. By 1316 the liberty was described as belonging to the king but held by Queen Margaret.

The castle served as a staging point for English military operations throughout the medieval period. Henry II was present in 1164 during the Becket dispute. King John used it as a departure point for France in 1200 and was at the castle in 1208 when the papal interdict fell on England. In 1216 the castle surrendered to Louis of France. Henry V filled the castle with invasion troops before Agincourt in 1415, and it was here that the Southampton Plot of Richard, Earl of Cambridge, Henry Lord Scrope of Masham, and Sir Thomas Grey was discovered and the conspirators arrested. Henry VIII visited with Anne Boleyn in October 1535.

The castle's constables included notable figures. Sir Robert Assheton held the position in 1376 and gave his name to Ashton's Tower. John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, was made constable of both England and Portchester in 1462. Sir Reginald Bray undertook repairs under a privy seal writ in 1488. In the late sixteenth century Sir Thomas Cornwallis, groom porter to Elizabeth I, built the eastern range of the inner bailey and was granted sixty timber trees from East Bere Forest for the purpose in 1608.

After the Dissolution, Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, received the Titchfield Abbey portion in 1537 but reconveyed it to the Crown in 1538, reuniting the whole manor. In 1632 the Crown granted the manor to Sir William Uvedale. On Uvedale's death the manor was divided between his two daughters, Victoria (who married Sir Richard Corbett) and Elizabeth (who married first Sir William Berkeley and then Edward Howard). Jonathan Rashleigh purchased the Corbett half in 1724. In 1775 trustees sold the Rashleigh half to Robert Thistlethwayte, reuniting both halves of the manor under one owner.

The castle was used for military detention from an early date. Scottish prisoners were held in 1306. During the Dutch wars of Charles II, 500 prisoners were confined there in 1665. The Seven Years War brought 4,000 French prisoners in 1761. During the Napoleonic Wars, French prisoners again filled the castle. By 1821 it was recorded that 5,000 had been held simultaneously during the recent conflict.

At the time of the VCH publication, Alexander Thistlethwayte of Southwick Park held the manor. The castle is now in the care of English Heritage and is a Scheduled Monument open to the public.