This word " Portsoken " is derived from "Port" in the sense of" city" as "Portreeve," and not in the sense of "gate," as suggested by Stow, and is used in other towns besides London to denote the " Liberties " or district outside the walls over which the jurisdiction of the City extended (N.E.D. "sub voce").
Messuage in the "portsoke" without Alegate which Bartholomew le Fevre held of the king, 1305, 33 Ed. I. (Cal. Fine Rolls, I. p.523).
It is difficult to understand why in the case of London the use of the term should be restricted to the Liberties on the eastern side and not extended to the other Liberties without the wall.
See Portsoken Ward.
A Dictionary of London. Henry A Harben. 1918.