A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



court (De Cur) of Gordon, Norton, and Oakhanger, 

 and of the demesne lands of the convent ' originally 

 assigned for the foundation of the conventual church.' 184 

 Later in the sime year a further agreement was made. 

 The vicar was to have in addition to other tithes one 

 cartload of hay from the tithe hay of Norton and 

 ' one cartload of straw at the courtyard of Gordon,' 

 all tithes within Oakhanger and Blackmoor excepting 

 corn and hay, the moiety of all oblations hereafter or 

 newly arising in the parish beyond those at the 

 church or the chapels of Oakhanger and Blackmoor, 

 and a portion of the accustomed small tithes from 

 the churches or chapels of Hartley and Empshott. 

 From this time the vicar was bound to find a chaplain 

 to celebrate in the chapels of Oakhanger and 

 Blackmoor. 18 ' 



In the fifteenth century the advowson of Selborne 

 church passed in 1484, among the other possessions 

 of Selborne priory, to Magdalen College, Oxford. 188 

 Thus the rectory is entered as appropriated to the 

 college in the Valor Ecclesiastlcus of I535- 187 The 

 chapel of Selborne is also mentioned as appropriated 

 to Magdalen, but is bracketed with the vicarage 

 of East Worldham. 188 Magdalen has held the church 

 to the present day and endowed it in the eigh- 

 teenth century with the great tithes of both Selborne 

 and Oakhanger. 189 



(i) Richard Byfield, vicar of Sel- 

 CHJRITIES borne, by will, 1679, bequeathed 

 80 for the purchase of an annuity 

 towards apprenticing poor children to good trades. 

 The trust fund (with accumulations) is represented 

 by ^138 6s. 8 a 1 , consols held by the official trustees 

 of charitable funds. By scheme, 1882, it is provided 

 that in the absence of poor children eligible to be 

 selected for apprenticeship the trustees may apply in- 

 come in grants of clothing to children on going out 

 to service, or in payments not exceeding 1 to 

 deserving poor children to encourage the continuance 

 of their attendance at school. 190 



(ii) Rev. Gilbert White, vicar, by will, 1719, gave 

 jioo to be laid out in land, rent to be employed in 

 teaching poor children to read and write, and say 

 their prayers and catechism, and to sew and knit. In 

 1735 two closes called Collyer's in Hawkley were pur- 

 chased and settled upon the trusts of the will. This 

 property was exchanged in 1870 for l6a. 31-. zzp. in 

 Selborne, producing 18 a year. 191 



(iii) The first earl of Selborne by will, 1895, be- 

 queathed 56 Js. ->,d. Bank of Ireland Stock (held by 

 the official trustees) dividends for keeping the church 



of St. Matthew, Blackmoor, in proper repair and main- 

 taining divine service therein. 192 



(iv) A site and buildings was by deed, 1885, settled 

 in trust for a reading room at Oakhanger, and vested 

 in the official trustee of charity lands. 153 



WOOLMER FOREST (Ulmere, Wolvemare, xiii 

 cent.). 



The history of the wardenship of Woolmer Forest 

 is identical with that of Alice Holt in Binsted, fol- 

 lowing the descent of the manor of East Worldham 

 (q.V.).' 



Various notices throughout the Close and Patent 

 Rolls show how carefully the kings guarded their 

 rights in the forest, as in 1278 when Edward I 

 ordered Adam Gurdon to take all indicted of trespass 

 in the forest and cause them to be kept safely until 

 otherwise ordered. 195 In 1286 Edward ordered Adam 

 Gurdon to cause the prior and convent of Selborne to 

 have from Woolmer Forest six good oaks fit for timber 

 with all their strippings ' in recompense for the under- 

 wood and heather which the king caused to be taken 

 from the priory for the expenses of his household 

 when he was last there.' m A sharp winter probably 

 brought the command of December, 1285, that the 

 keepers of certain of the king's dogs in Woolmer 

 Forest should have six oak stumps from the forest for 

 fuel for the dogs aforesaid. 197 A similar command was 

 given in 1315 for six leafless oaks to be delivered 

 to the keeper of the king's horses at Odiham for 

 fire for the king's horses. 198 In April, 1378, John 

 Blake was appointed clerk of the works at the 

 ' manor of Wolmer ' with power to punish refractory 

 workmen, and with 1 8J. daily wages. 199 William de 

 Hannay, king's clerk, was in the same month appointed 

 controller of the purveyances, purchases, and expendi- 

 ture for the wages of workmen and carriage upon the 

 works to be executed by the said John Blake on the 

 manor of Woolmer. 800 The earliest mention of a lodge 

 in the forest, probably the Waldron Lodge described 

 by Gilbert White, is in 1386, when oaks to the value 

 of 10 marks were to be felled, and the proceeds 

 delivered ' for the repair of a lodge of the king within 

 the said forest.' f01 



Until the eighteenth century, when deer-stealing 

 had brought in its train such crime and atrocities 

 that the 'Black Act' of 1722 had to be passed, 

 Woolmer Forest was well stocked with the red deer 

 whose disappearance Gilbert White so honestly 

 bewailed. 10 ' 



The forest was inclosed by the award of 10 July, 

 1857."' 



91 



Selborne Chart, (Hants Rec. Soc.), i, 



Ibid. 92. 

 186 Ibid. 119-33. 

 W Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 12, 284. 



1 88 Ibid. 12. 



189 Gilbert White, Antiq. of Selborne, 

 Letter vi. 



190 Char. Com. Rep. xii, 531. 



Ibid. 



192 Ibid, liuucvi, 434, 



Ibid. 



!" V.C.H. Hants, ii, 490, 518-20. 



195 Col. of Close, 1272-9, p. 437. 



196 Ibid. 1279-88, p. 390. 

 W Ibid. p. 381. 



198 Cal. of Close, 1313-18, p. 140. 



199 Cal. of Pat. 1377-81, p. 186. 



* Ibid. 210. 



*> l Ibid. 1385-9, p. 127. 



"O" See y.C.H. Hants, ii, 452-4. Here 

 also an account is given of the report of 

 commissioners of 1 790 on Woolmer Forest. 

 For further account of this report see 

 Rev. J. Chas. Con, The Royal Forests of 

 England, 309-10. 



808 Stat. 1 8 and 19 Viet. cap. 46. 



16 



