SOUTHWEEK, (Hampshire) 5 m. N. from Portsmouth. K. Hen. VI. was married here to the D. of Anjou's daughter. In the R. of
Edw. IV. Humphry Ld. Stafford was stiled Ld. Stafford of Southweek; but whether he was Ld. of the manor, is uncertain. It
has, ever since the R. of Eliz. been the seat of the Mortons, an ancient family; some of whom have been sheriffs of this
Co. others its representatives in Pt. The last of them, Col. Rich. Norton, who died in Dec. 1732, made an extraordinary
will by which he left his real estate of 6000 l. a year, and a personal one computed at 60,000 l. to the poor, hungry and
thirsty, naked and strangers, sick and wounded, and prisoners, to the end of the world, appointing the Pt. his executors,
and on their refusal the Bps. and leaving his pictures and other moveables to the K. Trustees were soon nominated, by
proper authority, to inspect into and take care of the premisses; but the will carried such evident marks of insanity, in
the very face of it, that it was soon set aside. His house here was part of a mon. founded by Hen. I. good part of the
walls whereof are yet standing. It has a great deal of morass about it; but a park rises from the house to the highest
point of Portsdown, where are 2 large clumps of Scots fir-trees planted by the colonel, which are seen near 20 m. at land,
and a good way at sea: And from the level on this spot, there is such a view of Portsmouth-T. harbour, and docks, and of
St. Helen's in the Isle of Wight, with such an unbounded prospect of the sea to the S. E. and of an extensive vale on the
land-side, well-planted and cultivated, bounded with hills spread with woods, and of the South-Downs covered with sheep,
that it may be reckoned one of the finest prospects in England. It is now the seat of Mr. Fr. Whitehead.