554 ANTIQUITIES 



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 : moreover they explain the nature of 

 the mixed manor still remaining 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-hold- 

 ing, in reversion, for the generous purpose of besto \\in<r 

 it, and its lands, being twelve acres (three of which 

 abut on the churchyard 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 war- 

 den, " custos" of the forest of Wolmer 5 . Though little 



5 Since the letters respecting Wolmer Forest and Ayles Holt, from p. 

 25 to 40, were printed, the author has been favoured with the following 

 extracts : 



In the " Act of Resumption, 1 Hen. VII." it was provided, that it be 

 not prejudicial to " Harry at Lode, ranger of our forest of Wolmere, to 

 him by oure letters patents before tyme gevyn." Rolls of Parl. vol. vi. 

 p. 370. 



In the 11 Hen. VII. 1495." Warlham [Ward le ham] and the office of 



