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rampier, and they call it old Winchester: at which, by report,
there stood in old time a cittie, but now neither top nor toe, as
they say remaineth of it: so as a man would quickly judge it to
have beene a summer standing campe and nothing els. Under this is
Warnford seated where Adam de Portu a mighty man, in this tract
and of great wealth in the reigne of William the first, reedified
the church a new, as a couple of rude verses set fast upon the
wall doe plainly shew. Upon these, more high into the land, those
SEGONTIACI, who yeelded themselves unto Julius Caesar, had
there[their] seat toward the North limite of this shire, in and
about the hundred of Holeshot: wherein are to bee seene Mercate
Aultun, which King Aelfred bequeathed by his will unto the keeper
of Leodre: also Basingstoke a mercate towne well frequented: upon
the descent of an hil, on the North side wherof standeth
solitarie a very faire chapell consecrated unto the holy Ghost by
William, the first Lord Sandes, who was buried there. In the
arched and embowed rooffe whereof is to bee seene the holy
historie of the Bible painted most artificially, with lively
portraicts and images representing the Prophets, the Apostles,
and the Disciples of Christ. Beneath this, Eastward lieth Basing,
a towne very well knowne, by reason of the Lords bearing the name
of it, to wit, Saint John, the Poinings and the Powlets. For,
when Adam de Portu, Lord of Basing matched in marriage with the
daughter and heire of Roger de Aurevall, whose wife was likewise
daughter and heire to the right noble house of Saint John,
William his sonne, to doe honour unto that familie assumed to him
the surname of Saint John, and they who lineally descended from
him have still reteined the same. But when Edmond Saint John
departed out of this world without issue in King Edward the third
his time, his sister Margaret bettered the state of her husband
John, Saint Philibert, with the possessions of the Lord Saint
John: And when shee was dead without children Isabell the other
sister wife unto Sir Luke Poynings, bare unto him Thomas, Lord of
Basing, whose Neice Constance by his sonne Hugh, (unto whom this
fell for her childs part of inheritance) was wedded into the
familie of the Powlets, from her descended that Sir William
Powlet who being made Baron. Saint John of Basing by King Henrie
the Eighth, and created by King Edward the Sixth first Earle of
Wilshire, and afterward Marquesse of Winchester, and withall was
Lord Treasurer of England, having in a troublesome time runne
through the highest honours, fulfilled the course of nature with
the satietie of this life, and that in great prosperity, (a rare
blessing among Courteours) after he had built a most sumptuous
house heere, for the spacious largenesse thereof admirable to the
beholders, untill for the great and chargeable reparations his
successors pulled downe a good part of it. But of him I have
spoken before.
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Neere unto this house, the Vine sheweth it selfe, a verie faire
place, and Mansion House of the Baron Sands, so named of the
vines there, which wee have had in Britaine, since Probus the
Emperours time, rather for shade than fruit. For, hee permitted
the Britains and others to have vines. The first of these Barons
was Sir William Sands, whom King Henrie Eight advanced to that
dignitie, being Lord Chamberlaine unto him, & having much amended
his estate bby marrying Margerie Braie, daughter and heire of
John Bray, and cousiin to Sir Reinold Bray, a most worthy Knight
of the Order of the Garter, and a right noble Baneret: whose
Sonne Thomas Lord Sands, was Grandfather to William L. Sands that
now liveth. Neighbouring hereunto is Odiam glorious in these
daies for the Kings house there: and famous for that David the
Second King of Scots, was there imprisoned: a burrough corporate,
belonging in times past to the Bishop of Winchester: the
fortresse whereof in the name of King John thirteene Englishmen
for fifteene daies defended most valiantly, and made good against
Lewis of France, who with his whole armie besieged and assaulted
it verie hotely. A little above, among these Segontiaci, towards
the North side of the country, somtimes stood VINDONUM, the
chiefe citie of the Segontiaci, which casting off his own name,
hath taken the name of the Nation, like as Lutetia hath assumed
unto it the
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