Paulsgrove

Paulsgrove was a hamlet situated on the northern shore of Portsmouth Harbour within the parish of Wymering, in Portsdown hundred. The earliest documentary reference appears in a fine of 1318, where it is recorded as "Palegrove". The place-name survived into the modern period through Paulsgrove Lake and Paulsgrove Quay. A local tradition, noted by the VCH, held that St Paul landed here during a supposed visit to England (VCH Hampshire Vol. 3, pp. 165-170).

Paulsgrove was not a separate manor but formed part of the larger Wymering estate. Wymering was ancient demesne of the Crown, held by King Edward the Confessor and retained by William the Conqueror after 1066. In the twelfth century the Vidame of Picquigny held the manor through his wife, a daughter of Stephen, second Earl of Albemarle. During the reign of Henry III, William de Fortibus, Earl of Albemarle, held Wymering, dying seised in 1260. In July 1280 Edward I assigned the manor to his mother Eleanor, and in 1281 it was granted in fee simple to John le Botiller by Ralph de Sandwich, the king's steward (VCH Hampshire Vol. 3, pp. 165-170).

The le Botiller family held Wymering for over a century. John le Botiller died seised in 1309, and the manor passed through his descendants until 1387, when it reverted to John Botiller of Limbourne. He died the same year and it passed to his daughter Isabel, wife of Geoffrey de Roucle. Through Isabel's son Richard Wayte (by her first husband), the manor entered the Wayte family, who held it from 1390 until 1561. William Wayte died in 1561 and the manor was divided among his six daughters: Eleanor (married Richard Bruning), Mary (married William Cresswell), Honor (married cousin William Wayte), Margaret (married Henry Perkins), Elizabeth (married Richard Norton), and Susan (married William Wollascot) (VCH Hampshire Vol. 3, pp. 165-170).

The divided shares were gradually consolidated over the following two centuries. By 1730 George Kelly held the whole manor in right of his wife Sarah. In 1733 it was conveyed to Sir John Huffield. By 1821 Thomas Gosling held it in right of his wife Elizabeth and sold it to Thomas Thistlethwayte, in whose family it remained at the time of the VCH publication. The Domus Dei at Portsmouth received a rent-charge of three quarters of corn (15s.) from William de Fortibus's gift. The Prior and Convent of Southwick held the advowson of the vicarage until the Dissolution (VCH Hampshire Vol. 3, pp. 165-170).