282 ANTIQUITIES 



LETTER III. 



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 

 Radfredus the presbyter, we cannot pretend to say ; our busi- 

 ness leads us to a description of the present edifice, in winch 

 we shall be circumstantial. 



Our church, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, con- 

 sists 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 of the fabric in general; for the pillars 

 which support the roof, are undoubtedly old, being of that 

 low, squat, thick order, usually called Saxon. These, I 

 should imagine, upheld the roof of a former church, which, 

 falling into decay, was rebuilt on those massy props, because 

 their strength had preserved them from the injuries of time. 

 Upon these rest blunt gothic arches, such as prevailed in the 

 reign above-mentioned, and by which, as a criterion, we would 

 prove the date of the building. 



At the bottom of the south aisle, between the west and 

 south doors, stands the font, which is deep and capacious, and 



In the same manner, to compare great things with small, did Wyke- 

 ham, when he new-built the cathedral of Winchester, from the tower 

 westward, apply to his purpose the old piers or pillars of Bishop Walke- 

 lirfs church, by blending Saxon and Gothic architecture together. See 

 Lowttts Life of Wykeham. 



