440 



ANTIQUITIES 



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

 of recreation for the youths and children of the neighbour- 

 hood ; 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. 1 



THE PLESTOR. 



As soon as the prior became possessed of this piece of 

 ground, he procured a charter for a market 2 from King 

 Henry III., and began to erect houses and stalls, " seldas," 

 around it. From this period Selborne became a market 

 town, but how long it enjoyed that privilege does not 



1 For more circumstances respecting the Plestor, see Letter II. to 

 Mr. Pennant. G. W. 



2 Bishop Tanner, in his Notitia Monastica, lias made a mistake re- 

 specting the market and fair at Selborne ; for, in his references to Dods- 

 worth, cart. 54 Hen. III. m. 3. he says, " De mercatu, et feria de Scle- 

 burn" But this reference is wrong ; for, instead of Seleburn, it proves 

 that the place there meant was Lekeborne or Legeborn, 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 Sel- 

 borne. For several particulars respecting the present fair at Selborne 

 see Letter XXVI. of these Antiquities. G. W. 



