To the Manor of Portland is attached a very chequered and interesting history, which, however, is by no means complete or consecutive. In Saxon times it belonged to the Crown. In 1042 Edward the Confessor gave the Manor to the church of Winchester, but it was probably alienated from that church by William the Conqueror.

The Domesday Book states : " The King holds the island which is called Porland," and subsequently that "The Prior and Convent of Winchester held Portland, etc in free alms of the old " "feoffment of the Kings of England." The. Manor was granted by Henry I to the monks of S. Swithin of Winton.

In the reign of Edward I it is referred to as belonging to the Bishop of Winchester, and in the same reign Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, held it by exchange with the church of S. Swithin of Winchester. It was also held by Gilbert de Clare in the reign of Edward II, whilst in the following reign we find Lionel, Duke of Clarence and Elizabeth, his wife, " seized of Portland Manor."

In the reigns of Richard II and Henry VI the Mortimers, Earls of March, held land in Portland, and in those of Edward IV and Richard III. the Manor and Isle were granted to Cecilia, Duchess of York. In the reign of Henry VIII they were granted to Catherine Howard, being parcel of Jane Seymour's possessions, and thence to Catherine Parr.

The Manor was subsequently granted in the reign of Elizabeth to Henry Howman; in that of James I to Queen Anne, Charles, Prince of Wales, Edward Witchfield, John Highlord, and others ; in that of Charles I to James Eliot ; and in 1669, for 25 years, to John Strong. It, is now in possession of the Crown.

ANCIENT CHARTERS

We are indebted to the courtesy of the chairman and members of the Portland Urban District Council for permission to publish the ancient charters of the island. They will without doubt be read with much interest.

The notes are given with the hope of elucidating the meaning. The first of these royal charters dated 1258, was granted in the troubled times of King Henry III. It was the year of the Mad Parliament which met at Oxford, and of the movement of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, which culminated in the first. English Parliament of 1265

The Earl of Gloucester, to whom the royal grant. was given, was the rival of Leicester, and is secret desertion to the crown in the struggle probably secured or him this mark of royal favour.

CHARTER ROLL, 42 HENRY III., M. 2.

Inspeximus (1) and confirmation by the King of the Charter which Andrew, Prior of St. Swithin, Winchester and the Convent thereof made to Ademar [Bishop] Elect of Winchester of "all the Manor of Portland with all its appurtenances," and all their Manor of Wyke next Portland, with Wymuthe, and all their appurtenances and all their land of Hellewell, with all its appurtenances, to hold to him and his successors, Bishops of Winchester or assigns, "as well in demesnes (2) homages (3), fealties (4), rents, services of men, reliefs (5), escheats (6), meadows, feedings, and pastures as in all other things advantages and profits " - in consideration of 2,000 marlin (7).

Dated in the Chapter House, 1st. January, 1250 [-7].

The King's confirmation is dated 24th April [1258].

(There is a note in the, margin, partly decayed, as to the stealing of the King 's Charter on Whit Tuesday, 42 Hen. III., with fresh witnesses apparently, but the note is obscure.)

PATENT ROLL, 42 HENRY III., M. 5.

Royal Mandate to the Men of the Island of Portland and the Towns and Ports of Waymuthe and Wyke and their appurtenances, informing them that for the safety of the King, the Realm, and of the said Island, &c., the King has committed to Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, the aforesaid Island with the Towns and Ports, &c., to be kept during the King's pleasure; and commanding there to be intendent to him its Keeper (or Warden).

Dated at Winchester 6 July [1258].

By the King's Council.

Similar Mandate to the Bailiffs Reives (8) and Men of Lyme. 7 July

NOTES TO CHARTER ROLL, 1258.

1. Inspeximus - Latin, literally, we have inspected. This term in old charters signified a Royal grant.

2. Demesnes.- A manor house and adjacent land which a lord keeps in his own hand as distinguished from land distributed among his tenants.

3. Homages.- A symbolic acknowledgment on receiving a fee.

4. Fealties.- The oath of fealty was given by a tenant to his lord, the former promising to defend the lord against all enemies. The tenant was called a liegeman and the superior liege-lord.

5. Reliefs.- Fines which the heir of a tenant holding by knight's service or other tenure paid to the lord at the death of the ancestor for the privilege of taking up the estate, which, according to strict feudal law, had lapsed to the lord. The reliefs consisted of horses arms, money, and the like.

6. Escheats.- The resulting back of any tenement to the lord of the fee through failure of heirs; formerly also through the corruption of the blood of the tenant by his having been attainted. Lands of freehold escheated to the King as lord of the manor of copyhold to the lord of the manor.

7. Marks.- An old English coin worth thirteen shillings and fourpence.

8 Reives or Reeves.- (Angle-Saxon gerefa - a steward; sheriff - a shire reeve or county governor; borough reeve; port reeve - grieve - a farm bailiff). In Portland, the reeve is all officer of the. Court Leet responsible for the correct record of the various land holdings.

THE ISLAND'S NAME

Portland had a name before Weymouth existed.

Some authorities derive Portland's name from a Saxon pirate who landed at Portsmouth A.D. 501 with his two sons Bieda and Mægla, and possessed themselves of this shore.

In a Saxon Charter of King Ethelred the Island name is Portelond. In 1042 the name is again spelled "Portelond" In 1110, Portelond : 1239, Portelond.

The Domesday Book says "The King holds the Island which is called Porland" and subsequently that "the Prior and Convent of Winchester hold Portland, Etc, in free alms of old feoffment of the Kings of England."

In 1042 Edward the Confessor had given the Manor to the Church of Winchester. It was probably alienated from the Church by William the Conqueror. The Manor is still in the possession of the Crown.

1250, in the Calendarium Rotulorum Chartarum 43rd Henry III, Wyke, Weymouth and Hellwell are there styled as "dependencies " of Portland.

1642. The Island's name is given as "Isle of Portland."

ROMAN REMAINS.

There are evidences that the Island was once a Roman settlement.

Traces of a Roman cemetery have been discovered in the Grove.

There were Roman settlements at Fortune's Well and Southwell.

There used to be an entrenched camp on the Verne Hill, said to be Danish.

Wakeham is probably the most anciently inhabited part of the Island.

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