veral smaller streams rise in the north-west parts, but soon quit the county in their passage to the Thames. The Itchin has its source in the vicinity of Alresford, near the middle of Hampshire, and being soon increased by the Alne, flows westward to King's Worthy; where suddenly turning to the south, it passes Winchester, and the Hospital of St. Cross. Thence gliding through fertile meadows, it flows by Twyford, and passing Bishopstoke, hastens to unite its stream with the Southampton Water, which it falls into about half a mile eastward from the town. The Avon enters the county from Wiltshire, and meandering in several channels near the western edge of the New Forest, is much increased by different rivulets rising in that district. This part of its course is well wooded, and much enlivened by the villas that ornament its banks. Passing Fordingbridge and Ringwood, it flows through a less interesting sandy level towards Christchurch; below which it receives the waters of the Stour from Dorsetshire, and conveys them with it to the sea in Christchurch Bay. The Boldre Water is formed by various springs, that rise in the New Forest, and mostly unite above Brokenhurst; whence they, in a single stream, pass Boldre, and Lymington, to the sea. The Exe also has its source in the same district, and beginning to widen near Beaulieu, opens in a broad estuary to the sea below Exbury. The Anton rises in the north-west angle of the county, and flowing through part of Andover, has its stream increased by the Tillhill Brook; and afterwards runs into the Tese, about one mile below Whirwell. The Tese has its origin in the neighbourhood of Whitchurch, and after its junction with the Anton, assumes a southerly course, and passing Stockbridge and Romsey, receives several small rills from the New Forest, near Redbridge; below which it opens, and forms the head of the Southampton Water. This is properly an arm of the sea, extending from above Southampton to Calshot Castle, and rendered exceedingly picturesque by its woody and irregular banks. Near Hamble, it is joined by the river of that name, which, swelling from an inconsiderable stream into a broad estuary, descends into it from the interior of Hampshire. WINCHESTER. WINCHESTER. THIS eminent and very ancient city, stands on the eastern declivity of a hill, gradually sloping to the river Itchin, the chalky cliffs of which, combined with the whiteness of the surrounding soil, is affirmed by Camden to have occasioned its original name, which was Caer Gwent, or the White City, an appellation that, from similar circumstances, was also bestowed on two other British cities, viz. Venta, Silurum, in Monmouthshire, and Venta Icenorum, in Norfolk. Its present name is most probably a corruption from Gwent-chestre; and was not derived, as commonly imagined, from the fact of a royal weavery being established here under the Roman Emperors. The early history of Winchester is involved in all the confusion of those distant ages, which, from the numerous romantic legends interwoven with their records, have been truly termed fabulous. Its origin, unquestionably remote as it is, has been carried to an era far beyond belief, and even made antecedent to the foundation of Rome itself, by a period of nearly one hundred and forty years.* The "We have been told by former historians, that this city was built by a King of Britain, named Ludor Rous Hudibrass, 892 years before the birth of Christ, or 139 years before the foundation of Rome: but the very existence of such a King, as the above named, rests upon no better foundation than certain romantic tales, invented fifteen hundred years after the period in question, by British writers, in order to prove that their ancestors, no less than the Romans, were descended from the heroes of Troy. We cannot admit, as a real historical fact, that Winchester was founded by this pretended Monarch of our Island, without also believing that London was built by a supposed great grandson of Æneas, called Brutus, as a substitute for the ancient Troy, after having conquered all Greece, and the greatest part of Gaul; and that Bath was built and enriched with the inextinguishable fire of Minerva, by Bladud, the son and successor of our Hudibrass; with many other fables equally romantic, which all rest on the same authority." History, Civil and Ecclesiastical, &c. of Winchester; by the Rev. J. Milner, M. A. F.S. A, The celebrated Dunwallo Mulmutius, who is represented as contemporary with Darius of Persia, has been also brought in to embellish its history, and he is recorded as having erected its walls, though on the same insufficient evidence, as ascribes its origin to Hudibrass, eighth in succession from Brute, or Brutus, a supposed great grandson of Eneas of Troy. "After our city is stripped of all these false honors," observes Mr. Milner, "she will nevertheless still retain a well-founded claim to as high an antiquity as that of perhaps any other city within the compass of the Island. It is clear, both from argument and authority, that South Britain, at least, was first peopled from the opposite coast of Gaul, and particularly from the Armorican coast of the Celtic Gauls, whom, in language, manners, and religion, they so much resembled; that the southern coast of the same was first inhabited, and that thence population gradually spread itself into other parts of the country. This being so, and the relative situation of the twenty-eight original British cities considered,§ we can have no difficulty in pronouncing that the first Celtic settlers, embarking at the nearest Armorican port to Britain, that of the Unelli, * Galfrid.-Rudb. dicet.-De Reg. Brit.-Mat. West. Æt. V. + "Cæsar gives no opinion of his own concerning the first inhabitants of Britain, he only reports their own accounts, which were so agreeable to their superstition, and to their prejudices against the new colonies from Belgium. Tacitus having considered this matter, concludes as follows: "In universum æstimanti Gallos vicinum solum occupasse credibile est." Bede says; "In primis hæc insula Britones solum, a quibus nomen accepit, incolas habuit, qui de Tractu Armoricano, ut fertur, Britanniam advecti, australes sibi partes illius vindicarunt." The same is the sense of the Saxon Chronicle, according to its true reading; as also amongst modern writers, as Camden, Borlase, Whitaker," &c. "Cum plurimam insulæ partem [Cincipientes ab austro] Britones possedissent," &c. Bede, Ecc. Hist. lib. 1. c. 1. § Gildas, Hist. c. 1.-Nennius, Hist. c. lxv.-Bede, Hist. c. 1.— Rudb. Hist. Major. c. 11. Unelli, or Cherburg, from the vicinity of which they must often have seen the white cliffs of the Isle of Wight, landed, and established themselves at Caer Peris, or Porchester, the only ancient city which is actually on this coast. From thence, proceeding up the country in a north-west direction, they could not overlook that beautiful and commodious spot, which possessed the several advantages within itself, or close to it, of a well-watered valley, and of fertile fields, for their own support, and that of their valuable flocks; of extensive downs interspersed with covers proper for the chase; and of shady forests+ necessary for defence, and for the mysterious rights of the Druidical religion: here then they made their chief settlement on the southern coast." The Celtic Britons being afterwards dispossessed by the Belgæ, Winchester became, as already stated, the chief city of that nation in this Island, and retained its pre-eminence till the Belga were finally subdued by Vespasian, and their capital submitted to the Roman arms. Afterwards, about the year 50, all the Belgic cities of note, between the Anton, or Southampton river, and the Severn, were fortified in a regular manner, by P. Ostorius Scapula, and garrisoned to defend the country from the incursions of the yet unconquered Britons. "This then is the proper period to which the regular construction of our city, in a square form, which was that of the Roman camps in general, is to be ascribed, together with the city walls, composed of flints and strong mortar, the substance of which, after so many repairs and alterations, still remains. These fortifications were not raised, except for the pur "Vita omnis in venationibus." Cæs. Bell. Gal. 1. vi. pose "The forests, indeed, round this city, have been destroyed as cultivation increased; but authority proves that there must have been much wood here, and experience proves that the soil in general is favorable to its growth." History &c. of Winchester, Vol. I. p. 4, 5. "The opinion that the substance of a considerable part of our city walls is of the period here assigned to them, will receive great support from pose of being defended by a garrison: hence there can be no doubt but that some Roman legion, or some cohorts, were then stationed in this city. These troops, according to their usual custom, had their Castrum Estivum, or summer encampment, in the neighbourhood, as well as their winter quarters in the city itself. We accordingly find the vestiges of this encampment in the situation where we should naturally look for them, on that singular peninsulated hill, within a mile of the city, called Catherine Hill, which communicates with the Roman road, between Porchester and Winchester on one side, and with the river which washes its foot on the other. On the top of this hill we discern the dimensions and form of the said Castrum in the bold intrenchment which still surrounds it, and which approaches to the Roman quadrangular shape, as nearly as the figure of the hill would admit." By the Romans the name of the city was changed from Caer Gwent to Venta Belgarum: many traces of the roads made to the surrounding stations, during the period of their occupation, are still visible, and particularly of those which conduct to Vindonum, or Silchester, and Sorbiodunum, or Old Sarum: two temples, the one consecrated to Concord, the other to Apollo, are also recorded to have been built here, by the Romans, in the vicinity of the Cathedral. Roman sepulchres have also been discovered within these few years just without the walls of the city, both to the east and to the north; in nine of them that were opened in the year 1789, human bones were found; and five of the number contained urns of black pottery, exceedingly well shaped and tempered, one of them being fluted, and the rest plain. A coin " apparently from comparing the same with the still existing walls of Silchester, which city we know was utterly destroyed soon after the Romans abandoned our Island." Near the west end of the cathedral are the shattered remains of an old flint wall, which, by its mode of construction and cement, seems also to indicate Roman workmanship. Milner's History, Vol. I. p. 23, 24. Rudb. Hist. Major Hist. Wint. c. ii. |