rd William Rufus set out on the hunting expedition to the
New Forest which was attended by such fatal consequences. All that now
remains of this stronghold is the fine old hall built by Henry III.

For some time this apartment was used as the County Hall, and here Judge
Jeffreys opened his Bloody Assize before proceeding to Dorchester,
Exeter, and Taunton. Alice Lisle was the widow of John Lisle, who had
been Master of St. Cross Hospital, and member for Winchester in the Long
Parliament. Although the men of Hampshire had taken no part in
Monmouth's Rebellion, many of the fugitives had fled thither, and two of
them, John Hickes, a Non-conformist divine, and Richard Nelthorpe, a
lawyer, found refuge in the house of Alice Lisle, where they were
eventually discovered. At her trial, Alice Lisle stated briefly that,
although she knew Hickes to be in trouble, she was quite ignorant of the
fact that he had participated in the rebellion. When the jury said they
doubted if the charge had been made out, Jeffreys was furious, and after
another long consultation they returned a verdict of "Guilty". The next
morning the judge pronounced sentence, and ordered the prisoner to be
_burned alive_ that same afternoon. When remonstrances had poured in
from all quarters, Jeffreys consented to the execution being postponed
for five days; and the sentence was eventually commuted from burning to
hanging. So the first victim of Monmouth's ill-fated rebellion was
hanged on a scaffold in the market-place of Winchester.

A striking object hanging at one end of the hall is the top of the
reputed Round Table of King Arthur, painted in radiating white and green
sections, with a portrait of the famous king inset, crowned and robed,
and the Tudor rose in the centre, while around the circumference are
the names of the knights in old black-letter characters. Doubtful though
it is that the table is the actual one that figures in the Arthurian
legends, yet it is certainly of great antiquity, and has been frequently
referred to by more than one writer of mediaeval days. It has been
conjectured that it may be nothing more than the wheel of fortune which
Henry III commanded to be made for the castle. In later years another
palace was started here by Charles II, the only portion that was
completed being now used as barracks.

Beyond the West Gate is an obelisk, set up in commemoration of a
visitation of the Plague in 1669, when the country people brought their