the sub-prior's hall after the departure of Sir Thomas West its
then occupier, as noblemen were in the habit of occupying it to the
great disturbance of the order and the keeping open of gates which ought
to be closed.

No. 2. Enjoined the building of a house for the proecentor, and a new
chamber for the sick.

No. 3. Ordered the setting apart of a chamber for recreation apart from
the infirmary (it may be supposed that the canons during recreation
hours were noisy, thereby disturbing the sick).

No. 4. Directed the provision of separate studies for the canons. It
would appear that nobles, such as the Montacutes and Wests, put the
priory to such great expense by taking up their abode, together with
their retainers, in the domestic part of the buildings.

THE NORMAN CASTLE

Very little of the castle erected by Richard de Redvers, who died in
1137, remains; but on an artificial mound at no great distance to the
north of the Priory Church stand fragments of the east and west walls of
the square Norman keep, about 20 feet high and 10 feet thick. The castle
belonged to the De Redvers, Earls of Devon, till they were alienated to
the crown in the 9th year of Edward I. (1280), the last earl having died
in 1263, though the last female descendant lived till 1293. In 1331,
Edward III. granted the castle and land to William de Montacute, Earl of
Salisbury; after the execution of John de Montacute in 1400 for the part
he took in the plots against the new king, Henry IV., Sir Thomas West,
who lies buried in the Lady Chapel, was appointed constable. He died in
1405, then Thomas, Earl of Salisbury, held the castle till 1428. After
this it was held by various persons, and we find a constable of the
Lordship of Christchurch as late as 1656. The manor held by the De
Redvers, and then by the Montacutes, passed through various hands. Among
the holders we may notice the Nevilles, hence the connection with the
Priory of the ill-fated Margaret, the kingmaker's granddaughter, who was
Countess of Salisbury in her own right, the Earl of Clarendon, Sir
George Rose, and the present owner, the Earl of Malmesbury, who obtained
it in 1862.

In early days the bailiff of the de Redvers regulated all markets,
fairs, tolls, and fines, and had the right of preemption and sat as
judge in the tenants' court. Edward I. relieved the burgesses of
Christchurch from all arbitrary exactions, and established a fixed
fee-farm rent instead. The castle was ta