314 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE, 
jy i aed Me aie, 
THE priory at times was much obliged to Gurdon and his 
family. As Sir Adam began to advance in years he found his mind 
influenced by the prevailing opinion of the reasonableness and 
efficacy of prayers for the dead ; and therefore, in conjunction with 
his wife Constantia, in the year 1271, granted to the prior and 
convent of Selborne all his right and claim to a certain place, 
placea, called “ La Playstow,” in the village aforesaid, ‘‘ zz /éberam, 
puran, et perpetuam elemostnam.” This Pleystow,* locus ludorum, 
or play-place, is a level area near the church of about forty-four 
yards by thirty-six, and is known now by the name of the Plestor. + 
It continues still, as it was in old times, to be the scene of 
recreation for the youths and children of the neighbourhood ; and 
impresses an idea on the mind that this village,even in Saxon 
times, could not be the most abject of places, when the inhabitants 
thought proper to assign so spacious a spot for the sports and 
amusements of its young people. 
As soon as the prior became possessed of this piece of ground, 
he procured a charter for a market,} from King Henry III., and 
began to erect houses and stalls, ‘‘se/das,’ around it. From this 
period Selborne became a2 market town; but how long it enjoyed 
that privilege does not appear. At the same time, Gurdon reserved 
to himself, and his heirs, a way through the said Plestor to a 
tenement and some crofts at the upper end, abutting on the south 
corner of the church-yard. This was in old days the manorial 
house of the street manor, though now a poor cottage, and is 
known at present by the modern name of Elliot’s. Sir Adam 
* In Saxon Plezerzop, or Plezrtop 5 viz., Plegestow, or Plegstow. 
+ At this juncture probably the vast.oak, mentioned page 6, was planted by the prior, as 
an crnament to his new acquired market-place. According to this supposition the oak 
was aged 432 years when blown down. 
For more circumstances respecting the Plestor, see Letter II. to Mr. Pennant. 
§ Bishop Tanner, in his ‘‘Nofitia Monastica,’’ has made a mistake respecting the 
market and fair at Selborne ;: for in his references to Dodsworth, cart. 54 Hen. III., m. 3., 
he says, ‘‘De mercatu, et feria de Seleburn.” But this reference is wrong; for, instead 
of Seleburn, it proves that the place there meant was Lekeborne, or Legeborne, in the 
county of Lincoln. This error was copied from the index of the Cat. MSS. Angl. It 
does not appear that there ever was a chartered fair at Selborne. For several particulars 
respecting the present fair at Selborne, see Letter XXVI. of these Antiquities. 
