Petersfield in the 18th C

The 18th Century began with the death of William III in 1702 and the accession to the throne of Queen Anne (1702~1714). She passed through Petersfield en route to Portsmouth in 1703. The century saw the continued growth and prosperity of Petersfield both as a market town and an important point of communication between London and Portsmouth.

The increasing importance of Portsmouth and the dockyard brought heavy traffic on the London to Portsmouth road. Years of high rates for road repairs charged to inhabitants whose own traffic had not caused the damage induced protests and petitions to Parliament. At length the Portsbridge to Sheet Turnpike Act was finally passed by Parliament in 1711. This Turnpike Trust took responsibility for the road between Sheetbridge and Portsbridge to collect the tolls on a user pays basis. This turnpike trust was the first in Hampshire and also the first section of the London to Portsmouth Road to be so organised

Churchers College

Richard Churcher was born in Funtingdon, Sussex and apprenticed to a London barber surgeon. It is not known where he spent most of his life, but he had property in Petersfield at No. 24 The Square (now Square House) and a financial interest in the East India Company. When he died in 1723 he was buried at Funtingdon, leaving all his property, except £3000, to his brother Adam, who lived next door to No. 24 The Square. The money was to found and build a school in Petersfield for boys, twelve of whom were to have free tuition and to be instructed in mathematics, arithmetic and writing before being apprenticed to Masters of vessels plying to the East Indies. The apprenticeships did not become a reality. Churchers College was built in College Street in 1729 the building that is now occupied by the H.C.C. and the Registrar's Office. The school moved to Ramshill in 1881 to a more extensive and suitable site.

The Jolliffe Family

Through his wife John Jolliffe had inherited a number of properties with votes in the Borough as well as a useful fortune. During the 1730's Jolliffle rebuilt his father inlaw's house. The new Petersfield House was elegantly set in its own grounds, sweeping down to the ponds, the Grange becoming stabling and with matching dairy buildings.

In 1734 John Jolliffe nominated as M.P. his uncle Sir William, Jolliffe, who served to 1741 with Edward Gibbon Il. John Jolliffe served as M.P. 1741 54 and 1761 68. After 1761 there followed a long period when a member of the Jolliffe family represented the Borough of Petersfield until 1866, except 1835 41, when Cornthwaite John Hector served. Sir William strongly supported the Protestant succession, symbolised by William III. After the 1745 Jacobite troubles, he wished the Jolliffe family to be visibly aligned with Protestantism. Sir William Jolliffe died in 1749 and, in his Will, left his three nephews £500 to erect an equestrian statue to William III in the Borough. The statue by John Cheere was erected first in the circus at the entrance to Petersfield House (which today is the centre of the road by the Police Station). The statue was moved to its present position in 1812.

Heath Pond

The occupiers of the Boroughs burgage plots had the right to graze certain animals on the Heath and also to dig peat. There were three modest sized ponds on the Heath in 1700, but problems arose by the 1720's with the extensive peat diggings becoming a morass with the danger that animals could become stuck. By about 1735, when Edward Gibbon II owned Buriton and the Borough, he and the residents agreed (and subscribed to a fund) to tidy up the peat diggings and link the three ponds into one large pond, by making an embankment on the east side. The pond level would be controlled by a sluice to the drain leading to the River Rother, which would make the grazing safe for the permitted stock.

The Market

A visitor to Petersfield in the mid 18th Century would have found the Market Square a very different scene from today. There were rows of lock up stalls or shambles permanent timber framed structures with tiled roofs.

Animal sales were conducted in the High Street and some in The Spain. By 1780 the scene had changed. A house on the south side in front of the church, next to the present Market Inn, was pulled down and replaced by a Town Hall with five pillars facing the market place, with space on the ground floor and a court room above. The remaining shambles were cleared away so that the sale of animals, which had been increasing in number, could be organised in the Market Square.

A solitary gravestone in the Churchyard commemorates John Small (1737 1826) and some of his family. John Small II and his son John III were renowned cricketers. John II was a cordwainer by trade who made cricket balls and is credited with fashioning the first straight bat. He, with some others from Petersfield, played for the famous Hambledon Cricket Club and England. The brothers Henry and Thomas Bonham who lived in 'Castle House' were great supporters and organisers of cricket at Hambledon.

At various times when there were movements of the military, the Heath was used for an encampment. During the Seven Years War and the war with Napoleon some French prisoners were located at Petersfield. Eight were buried in the Churchyard 175862, and seven during 1794 96. Some French officers were on parole and on occasions were hosted by Henry and Thomas Bonham.