ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE 269 



From circumstances put together, it appears that the above 

 were the first grants obtained by the Priory in the village of 

 Selborne after it had subsisted about thirty-nine years ; more- 

 over, they explain the nature of the mixed manor still remain- 

 ing in and about the village, where one field or tenement shall 

 belong to Magdalen College in the University of Oxford, and 

 the next to Norton Powlet, Esq., of Rotherfield House, and so 

 down the whole street. The case was, that the whole was 

 once the property of Gurdon, till he made his grants to the 

 convent, since which some belongs to the successors of Gurdon 

 in the manor, and some to the college ; and this is the occasion 

 of the strange jumble of property. It is remarkable that the 

 tenement and crofts which Sir Adam reserved at the time of 

 granting the Plestor should still remain a part of the Gurdon 

 Manor, though so desirable an addition to the vicarage, that 

 is not as yet possessed of one inch of glebe at home ; but of 

 late, viz., in January 1785, Magdalen College purchased that 

 little estate, which is life-holding, in reversion, for the gener- 

 ous purpose of bestowing it, and its lands, being twelve acres 

 (three of which abut on the church-yard and vicarage garden) 

 as an improvement hereafter to the living, and an eligible 

 advantage to future incumbents. 



The year after Gurdon had bestowed the Plestor on the 

 Priory, viz., in 1272, Henry III., King of England, died, and 

 was succeeded by his Son Edward. This magnanimous prince 

 continued his regard for Sir Adam, whom he esteemed as a 

 brave man, and made him warden, "custos" of the forest of 

 Wolmer. 5 Though little emolument might hang to this ap- 

 pointment, yet are there reasons why it might be highly accept- 

 able ; and, in a few reigns after, it was given to princes of the 

 blood. 6 In old days gentry resided more at home on their 

 estates, and, having fewer resources of elegant indoor amuse- 

 ment, spent most of their leisure hours in the field and the 

 pleasures of the chase. A large domain, therefore, at little 

 more than a mile distance, and well stocked with game, must 

 have been a very eligible acquisition, affording him influence 

 as well as entertainment ; and especially as the manorial house 

 of Temple, by its exalted situation, could command a view of 

 near two-thirds of the forest. 



