ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE 245 



how familiar the Saxon dialect was to this district, since in more than seven 

 hundred years it is far from being obliterated. G. W. 



8 Well head signifies spring head, and not a deep pit from whence we 

 draw water. For particulars about which see Letter I. to Mr. Pennant. 

 G. W. 



4 The parish of Kingsley lies between and divides Wolmer Forest from 

 Ayles Holt Forest. See Letter IX. to Mr. Pennant. G. W. 



6 " Item, paid at the lodge at Wolmer, when the king was stag-hunting 

 there, to Morris Ken, of the kitchen, because he rode before the king and 

 often fell from his horse, at which the king laughed exceedingly a gift, by 

 command, of twenty shillings." A MS. in possession of Thomas Astle, 

 Esq., containing the private expenses of Edward II. G. W. 



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 

 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, 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 the fabric in general; for the pillars, which sup- 

 port 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. 1 Upon these rest 

 blunt Gothic arches, such as prevailed in the reign above- 



