C26 ANTIQUITIES 



transept of the Priory church. Some fragments of large 

 pilasters were also found at the same time. The dia- 

 meter of the capital was two feet three inches and a 

 half; and of the column, where it had stood on the 

 base, eighteen inches and three quarters. 



Two years ago some labourers digging again among 

 the ruins found a sort of rude thick vase or urn of soft 

 stone, containing about two gallons in measure, on the 

 verge of the brook, in the very spot which tradition has 

 always pointed out as having been the site of the con- 

 vent kitchen. This clumsy utensil 2 , whether intended 

 for holy water, or whatever purpose, we were going to 

 procure, but found that the labourers had just broken it 

 in pieces, and carried it out on the highways. 



The Priory of Selborne had possessed in this village 

 a Grange, an usual appendage to manerial estates, 

 where the fruits of their lands were stowed and laid up 

 for use, at a time when men took the natural produce 

 of their estates in kind. The mansion of this spot is 

 still called the Grange, and is the manor-house of the 

 convent possessions in this place. The author has 

 conversed with very ancient people who remembered 

 the old original Grange; but it has long given place to 

 a modern farm-house. Magdalen College holds a court- 

 lee t and court-baron 3 in the great wheat-barn of the 

 said Grange, annually, where the president usually 

 superintends, attended by the bursar and steward of 

 the college 4 . 



The following uncommon presentment at the court is 



2 A judicious antiquary, \vho saw this vase, observed, that it possibly 

 might have been a standard measure between the monastery and its 

 tenants. The Priory we have mentioned claimed the assize of bread and 

 beer in Selborne manor : and probably the adjustment of dry measures 

 for grain, &c. 



3 The time when this court is held is the mid-week between Easter 

 and Whitsuntide. 



4 Owen Oglethorp, president, &c. an. Edw. Sexti primo [viz. 1547 ] 

 demised to Robert Arden, Selborne Grange, for twenty years. Rent vi'>. 

 Index of Leases. 



