330 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 



most : but on the other, which seems to be of stone of a closer 

 and harder texture, is to be discerned a discus, with a cross on it, 

 at the end of a s,taff or rod, the well-known symbol of a Knight- 

 Templar.* 



This order was distinguished by a red cross on the left shoul- 

 der of their cloak, and by this attribute in their hand. Now, if 

 these stones belonged to Knights-Templars, they must have lain 

 here many centuries ; for this order came into England early in 

 the reign of king Stephen in 1113, and was dissolved in the time 

 of E(Jward II. in 1312, having subsisted only one hundred and 

 ninety-nine years.f Why I should suppose that Knights- 

 Templars were occasionally buried at this church, will appear in 

 some future letter, when we come to treat more particularly con- 

 cerning the property they possessed here, and the intercourse 

 that subsisted between them and the priors of Selborne. 



We must now proceed to the chancel, properly so called, 

 which seems to be coeval with the church, and is in the same 

 plain unadorned style, though neatly kept. This room measures 

 thirty-one feet in length, and sixteen feet and a half in breadth, 

 and is wainscoted all round, as high as to the bottom of the 

 windows. The space for the communion table is raised two 

 steps above the rest of the floor, and railed in with oaken balus- 

 ters. Here I shall say somewhat of the windows of the chancel 

 in particular, and of the whole fabric in general. They are mostly 

 of that simple and unadorned sort called Lancet, some single, 

 some double, and some in triplets. At the east end of the chan- 

 cel are two of a moderate size, near each other ; and in the north 

 wall two very distant small ones, unequal in length and height: 

 and iii the south wall are two, one on each side of the chancel 

 door, that are broad and squat, and of a different order. At the 

 east end of the south aisle of the church there is a large lancet- 

 window in a triplet ; and two very small, narrow, single ones in 

 the south wall, and a broad squat window beside, and a double 

 lancet one in the west end ; so that the appearance is very irre- 

 gular. In the north aisle are two windows, made shorter when 

 the roof was sloped ; and in the north transept a large triple 



* See Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum, Vol. II. where there is a fine engraving of a Knight- 

 Templar, by Hollar. 



t It is not generally known that this order sprung out of freemasonry. It is one of the highest 

 degrees in that society, and at the present day many *' encampments," as they are called, of the 

 order of Knights-Templars exist in the metropolis and other parts of the kingdom. Our modern 

 templars boast of an uninterrupted series of encampments from tile times of their ancient brethren, 

 and deny that their order was ever effectually dissolved or suppressed. D. 



