Portsmouth (Portesmuth) was given a grant of murage dated 15/11/1342.
This was in the form of:-
This is a grant which may have been used for walls but could have been used for other civic improvements.
Wording
Grant to the bailiffs and good men of Portesmuth of murage for eight years for the fortification of their town against the enemy, who of late have miserably burned and destroyed the same; to be applied under the supervision of the sheriff of Southampton. By p.s.
Grant to them of pavage for the same time.
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Nov. 16. 1342. Kennington.
To the sheriff of Southampton for the present or the future. Order to cause the king's letters for the walling and paving of Portesmuth to be read and proclaimed and to permit the men of the town to levy the customs contained in those letters, and to see that the money be applied to the walling and not to other uses, as the king having compassion on the state of those men, who have suffered much from the robberies, burnings and destruction of alien enemies at divers times, has granted that those men shall be quit of all tallages, taxation and other contributions for eight years next following, and has granted to them in aid of enclosing, fortifying that town and for paving it, certain customs on things coming to the town for sale, which sums and the portion for tallages and other contributions shall be expended upon the fortifying of the town by the view of the sheriff.
Et erat patens. By p.s.
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July 2. 1344. Westminster.
The men of the town of Portsmouth have made petition to the king setting forth that, whereas on 15 November in his sixteenth year he granted to them for eight years certain customs towards enclosing, paving and improving their town, inasmuch as the men of Southampton in all time past have taken divers customs on merchandise sold in the port of Portsmouth and they from the making of the king's letters patent aforesaid have likewise taken customs pursuant to the same letters on merchandise bought or sold within the town, men and merchants whether alien or denisen, do not care to come to the town and they have hitherto had no profit of the grant other than 40s. which they have applied about the repair of the enclosure of the town, they may surrender their said letters patent to be cancelled that they be henceforth discharged of the customs; and the king in answer to their petition has caused the letters to be cancelled. By C.
Granted by Edward III. (Regnal year 16). Granted at Kennington. Granted by p.s..
Primary Sources
Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1900,
Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1340-43) Vol. 5 p. 562
online copyMaxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1904,
Calendar of Close Rolls Edward III Vol. 7 p. 603
online copyMaxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1902,
Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1343-45) Vol. 6 p. 322
online copy
Secondary Sources
Coulson, Charles, 2009,
Murage Grants (Handwritten list and notes)
Turner, H.L., 1971,
Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 38, 158
Page, Wm (ed), 1908, 'The liberty of Portsmouth and Portsea Island: Introduction',
VCH Hampshire Vol. 3 p. 172-192
online copy
Comments
The walling of Portsmouth began in 1386 (re King) but not much was done before Tudors. It was commercially an appendage of Southampton (cf. Harwich and Ipswich) which explains why tolls there were levied by men of Southampton so that the men of Portsmouth could only charge an internal sales tax which was not lucrative (Coulson)
Presumably the trade that Portsmouth lost would be going, at least in part, to Southampton.
A secure port, safe from pirates and foreign raids would be attractive to merchants but the tax to fund this security would be off putting. Balancing these is clearly difficult.
PORTSMOUTH 4648 993. Borough 1106 (BF, p. 120). 1334 Subsidy £126.08. This new town replaced the earlier port and settlement of Portchester, Hampshire (q.v.) (Beresford, pp. 448-9). Market town c.1600 (Everitt, p. 175). See also
VCH Hampshire iii, pp. 176-182. (Letters, S., 2003,
Gazetter of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 (Centre for Metropolitan History)
online copy)
Record created by Philip Davis. This record created 16/01/2009. Last updated on 04/06/2012. First published online 5/01/2013.
