PORCHESTER, or PORTCHESTER, a parish in
the hundred of PORTSDOWN, Portsdown division of the
county of SOUTHAMPTON, 2 miles (E.S.B.) from Fareham,
containing 757 inhabitants. This place, the ancient
Caer Peris of the Britons, and the Portus Magnus
of the Romans, was by the Saxons called Port ceastre,
either from the castle which defended its spacious harbour,
or from Port, a Saxon chief, who landed here with
his two sons, Bieda and Maegla, and having obtained
a settlement in this part of the island, assisted Cerdic
in establishing the kingdom of the West Saxons. A
castle of great strength was erected on the old Roman
works, which was greatly enlarged, or more probably
rebuilt, soon after the Conquest; and previously
to the destruction of the harbour, on the retiring of the
sea, this place was the principal station of the British
navy, subsequently removed to Portsmouth. Porchester
castle is situated on a neck of land projecting for
a considerable way into the sea: the walls, which are
from eight to twelve feet in thickness, and eighteen
feet .high, enclose a quadrangular area of nearly five
acres, and are defended by numerous towers, and
surrounded by a broad and deep moat: the keep
is a strong square. building, one hundred and fifteen
feet in length, and sixty-five feet in breadth, with
four towers, the largest of which forms the northwest
angle; it contains many spacious rooms, of which
some are vaulted with stone, and one appears
to have been the chapel: the entrance to the outer
area is through massive Norman towers on the east
and west sides. The ancient parish church of St.
Mary is within the outer area of the castle, of which
several of the towers and a considerable portion of the
walls are now in ruins; the castle, during the late war,
was appropriated as a place of confinement for prisoners
of war. The village of Porchester, called by way of
distinction Porchester-street, extends for about a mile
on the road to Fareham, and contains several neat
houses: the publicans, by charter of Elizabeth, enjoy
exemption from having soldiers billeted in their houses.
The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Winchester, rated in the king's books
at £6, endowed with £200 royal bounty, and in the
patronage of the Crown. The church, dedicated to St.
Mary, is an ancient and venerable cruciform structure,
in the Norman style of architecture, with a low central
tower; the south transept has been destroyed, and the
chancel, which is small, is of later date, and has an east
window of three lights, in the later style of English
architecture; -the west front is-in-good preservation,
and exhibits a fine specimen of the Norman style.