ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 313 
divine service, saving the rights of the mother church of Basynges. 
Yet all the while the prior of Selborne grants with such reserve 
and caution, as if in doubt of his power, and leaves Gurdon and 
his lady answerable in future to the bishop, or his ordinary, or to 
the vicar for the time being, in case they should infringe the rights 
of the mother church of Selborne, 
The manor-house, called “Temple,” is at present a single 
building, running in length from south to north, and has been 
occupied as a common farmhouse from time immemorial. The 
south end is modern, and consists of a brewhouse, and then a 
kitchen. The middle part is an hall twenty-seven feet in length, 
and nineteen feet in breadth; and has been formerly open to the 
top, but there is now a floor above it, and also a chimney in the 
western wall. The roofing consists of strong massive rafter-work 
ornamented with carved roses. I have often looked for the lamb 
and flag, the arms of the knights templars, without success ; but 
in one corner found a fox with a goose on his back, so coarsely 
executed, that it required some attention to make out the device. 
Beyond the hall to the north is a small parlour with a vast heavy 
stone chimney-piece, and at the end of all the chapel or oratory, 
whose massive thick walls and narrow windows at once bespeak 
great antiquity. This room is only sixteen feet by sixteen feet 
eight inches ; and full seventeen feet nine inches in height. The 
ceiling is formed of vast joists, placed only five or six inches apart. 
Modern delicacy would not much approve of such a place of 
worship; for it has at present much more the appearance of a 
dungeon than of a room fit for the reception of people of condition. 
The field on which his oratory abuts is called Chapel-field. The 
situation of this house is very particular, for it stands upon the 
immediate verge of a steep abrupt hill. 
Not many years since this place was used for a hop-kiln, and 
was divided into two stories by a loft, part of which remains at 
present, and makes it convenient for peat and turf, with which 
it is stowed. 
