398 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 



A dove-house was a constant appendant to a manorial dwell- 

 ing : of this convenience more will be said hereafter. 



A corn-mill was also esteemed a necessary appendage of every 

 manor ; and therefore was to be expected of course at the Priory 

 of Selborne. 



The prior had secta molendini, or ad molendinum :* a power 

 of compelling his vassals to bring their corn to be ground at his 

 mill, according to old custom. He had also, according to bishop 

 Tanner, secta molendini de Strete : but the purport of Strete, we 

 must confess, we do not understand. Strete, in old English, 

 signifies a road or highway, as Watling Strete, &c. therefore the 

 prior might have some mill on a high road. The Priory had 

 only one mill originally at Selborne ; but, by grants of lands, it 

 came possessed of one at Durton, and one at Oakhanger, and 

 probably some on its other several manors.f The mill at the 

 Priory was in use within the memory of man, and the ruins of 

 the mill-house were standing within these thirty years : the 

 pond and dam, and miller's dwelling, still remain. As the stream 

 was apt to fail in very dry summers, the tenants found their 

 situation very distressing, for want of water, and so were forced 

 to abandon the spot. This inconvenience was probably never 

 felt in old times, when the whole district was nothing but wood- 

 lands : and yet several centuries ago there seem to have been 

 two or three mills between Well-head and the Priory. For the 

 reason of this assertion, see Letter XXIX. to Mr. Barrington. 



Occasional mention has been made of the many privileges 

 and immunities enjoyed by the convent and its priors ; but a more 

 particular statement seems to be necessary. The author there- 

 fore thinks this the proper place, before he concludes these 

 antiquities, to introduce all that has been collected by the ju- 

 dicious bishop Tanner, respecting the Priory and its advantages, 

 in his Notitia Monastica, a book now seldom seen, on account 

 of the extravagance of its price ; and being but in a few hands 

 cannot be easily consulted. I He also adds a few of its many 

 privileges from other authorities : the account is as follows. 

 Tanner, page 166. 



* " Servitium, quo feudatorii grana sua ad Domini molendinum, ibi molenda perfcrre, ex- 

 cotisuetadine, astringuntur." 



t Thomas Knowles, president, Sec. ann. Hen. 8vi. xxiii.o [viz. 1532.] demised to J. Whitelie 

 their mills, &cc. for twenty years. Rent xxiii $ iiii d. Accepted Frewen, president, &cc. ann. 

 Caroli xv. [viz. 1640.] demised to Jo. Hook and Elizabeth, his wife, the said mills. Rent as above. 



t A few days after this was written a new edition of this valuable work was announced, in the 

 month of April of the year 1787, as published by Mr. Nasmith. 



