292 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 
SELBORNE CHURCH AND VICARAGE. 
LETS ER ETE. 
FROM the silence of Domesday respecting churches, it has been 
supposed that few villages had any at the time when that record 
was taken ; but Selborne, we see, enjoyed the benefit of one: hence, 
we may conclude, that this place was in no abject state even at 
that very distant period. How many fabrics have succeeded each 
other since the days of Radfredrus the presbyter, we cannot pretend 
to say; our business leads us to a description of the present edifice, 
in which we shall be circumstantial. 
Our church, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, consists of 
three aisles, and measures fifty-four feet in length, by forty-seven in 
breadth, being almost as broad as it is long. The present building 
has no pretensions to antiquity, and is, as I suppose, of no earlier 
date than the beginning of the reign of Henry VII. It is perfectly 
plain and unadorned, without painted glass, carved work, sculpture, 
or tracery. But when I say it has no claim to antiquity, I would 
mean to be understood the fabric in general; for the pillars, which 
