8 THE PLESTOR LARGE OAKS. 



what a bulk planted elms may attain ; as this tree 

 must certainly have been such, from its situation. 

 In the centre of the village, and near the church, 

 is a square piece of ground, surrounded by houses, 

 and vulgarly called the Plestor l . In the midst of 

 this spot stood, in old times, a vast oak 2 , with 



10/. 17. the sawing. The whole esteemed 97 tons. 

 EVELYN'S Sylva, II. 189. 



Pitte's elm, in the Vale of Gloucester, was, in 1783, 

 about 80 feet high, and the smallest girth of the principal 

 trunk was 16 feet. W. J. 



Dr. Plot mentions an elm growing on Blechington Green, 

 which gave reception and harbour to a poor great-bellied 

 woman, whom the inhospitable people would not receive into 

 their houses, who was brought- to-bed in it of a son, now a 

 lusty young fellow. PLOT'S Oxfordshire. W. J. 



1 We have the following explanation of the Plestor in 

 the Antiquities of Selborne. It appears to have been left 

 as a sort of redeeming offering by Sir Adam Gordon, in 

 olden times an inhabitant of Selborne, well known in 

 English history during the reign of Henry III., particularly 

 as a leader of the Mountfort faction. Mr. White says: 

 " 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 con- 

 junction 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, placea, called La Pleystow, in the village 

 aforesaid, ' in liberam, puram, et perpetuam elemosinam.' 

 This pleystow, locus ludorum, or play -place, is in a level area 

 near the church, of about 44 yards by 36, and is known now 

 by the name of the Plestor. 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 xm the mind, 

 that this village, even in Saxon times, could not be the most 

 abject of places, when the inhabitants thought proper to as- 

 sign so spacious a spot for the sports and amusements of its 

 young people." W. J. 



2 Two species of oak only are admitted into the British 

 Flora, quercus roburandsessiliflora. Several others, however, 

 have been introduced, and grow well ; the quercus robur is 

 nevertheless superior to all of them. The other species are 

 said to be more susceptible of the dry rot. W. J. 



