314 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNK. 



LETTER X. 



THE priory at times was much obliged to Gurdon and his 

 family. As Sir Adam began to advance in years he found his mind 

 influenced by the prevailing opinion of the reasonableness and 

 efficacy of prayers for the dead ; and therefore, in conjunction with 

 his wife Constantia, in the year 1271, granted to the prior and 

 convent of Selborne all his right and claim to a certain place, 

 placed, called " La Playstow," in the village aforesaid, "in liberam, 

 puram, et perpetuam clemosinam." This Pleystow,* locus ludorum, 

 or play-place, is a level area near the church of about forty-four 

 yards by thirty-six, and is known now by the name of the Plestor. f 



It continues still, as it was in old times, to be the scene of 

 recreation for the youths and children of the neighbourhood ; and 

 impresses an idea on the mind that this village, even in Saxon 

 times, could not be the most abject of places, when the inhabitants 

 thought proper to assign so spacious a spot for the sports and 

 amusements of its young people. % 



As soon as the prior became possessed of this piece of ground, 

 he procured a charter for a market, from King Henry III., and 

 began to erect houses and stalls, u seldas? around it. From this 

 period Selborne became a market town ; but how long it enjoyed 

 that privilege does not appear. At the same time, Gurdon reserved 

 to himself, and his heirs, a way through the said Plestor to a 

 tenement and some crofts at the upper end, abutting on the south 

 corner of the church-yard. This was in old days the manorial 

 house of the street manor, though now a poor cottage, and is 

 known at present by the modern name of Elliot's. Sir Adam 



* In Saxon Ple^eftop, or Ple^ftop ; viz., Plegestow, or Plegstow. 



t At this juncture probably the vast oak, mentioned page 6, was planted by the prior, as 

 an ornament to his new acquired market-place. According to this supposition the oak 

 was aged 432 years when blown down. 



J For more circumstances respecting the Plestor, see Letter II. to Mr. Pennant. 



Bishop Tanner, in his "Notitia Monastica" has made a mistake respecting the 

 market and fair at Selborne ; for in his references to Dodsworth, cart. 54 Hen. III., m. 3., 

 he says, "De mercatu, et feria de SeZebum." But this reference is wrong; for, instead 

 of Seleburn, it proves that the place there meant was Lekeborne, or Legeborne, in the 

 county of Lincoln. This error was copied from the index of the Cat. MSS. Angl. It 

 does not appear that there ever was a chartered fair at Selborne. For several particulars 

 respecting the present fair at Selborne, see Letter XXVI. of these Antiquities. 



