OF SELBORNE 243 



LETTER III. 



FROM the silence of Domesday respecting churches, it has been 

 supposed that few villages had any at the time when that record 

 was taken ; but Selborne, we see, enjoyed the benefit of one : 

 hence we may conclude, that this place was in no abject state 

 even at that very distant period. How many fabrics have 

 succeeded each other since the days of Radfredus the presbyter, 

 we cannot pretend to say ; our business leads us to a description 

 of the present edifice, in which we shall be circumstantial. 



Our church, which was dedicated to the Firgin Mary, consists 

 of three ailes, and measures fifty-four feet in length by forty- 

 seven in breadth, being almost as broad as it is long. The 

 present building has no pretensions to antiquity ; and is, as I 

 suppose, of no earlier date than the beginning of the reign of 

 Henry VII. It is perfectly plain and unadorned, without painted 

 glass, carved work, sculpture, or tracery. But when I say it has 

 no claim to antiquity, I would mean to be understood of the fabric 

 in general ; for the pillars which support the roof, are undoubtedly 

 old, being of that low, squat, thick order, usually called Saxon. 

 These, I should imagine, upheld the roof of a former church, 

 which, falling into decay, was rebuilt on those massy props, 

 because their strength had preserved them from the injuries of 

 time. 1 Upon these rest blunt got hie arches, such as prevailed in 

 the reign above-mentioned, and by which, as a criterion, we would 

 prove the date of the building. 



At the bottom of the south aile, between the west and south 

 doors, stands the font, which is deep and capacious, and consists 

 of three massy round stones, piled one on another, without the 

 least ornament or sculpture : the cavity at the top is lined with 

 lead, and has a pipe at bottom to convey off the water after the 

 sacred ceremony is performed. 



The east end of the south aile is called the South Chancel, 

 and, till within these thirty years, was divided off by old carved 

 gothic frame-work of timber, having been a private chantry. In 

 this opinion we are more confirmed by observing two gothic niches 

 within the space, the one in the east wall and the other in the 

 south, near which there probably stood images and altars. 



1 In the same manner, to compare great things with small, did Wykeham, when 

 he new-built the cathedral of Winchester, from the tower westward, apply to his 

 purpose the old piers or pillars of Bishop Walkelins church, by blending Saxon. 

 and Gothic architecture together. See LowtKs Life of Wykeham. 



