OF SELBORNE 287 



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 farm house from time im- 

 memorial. The south end is modern, and consists of 

 a brew-house, 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 wor- 

 ship : for it has at present much more the appearance of a 

 dungeon than of a room fit for the reception of people of 

 condition. For the outside I refer the reader to the plate, in 

 which Mr. Grimm has represented it with his usual accuracy. 

 The field on which this oratory abuts is still 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 an 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. 



