OF SELBORNE. 505 



ground at his mill according to old custom. He had also, 

 according to Bishop Tanner, secta molendini de Strete : but 

 the -purport of Strete, we must confess, we do not under- 

 stand. 1 Strete, in old English, signifies a road or highway, 

 as Watling Strete, &c., therefore the prior might have some 

 mill on a high road. The Priory had only one mill origi- 

 nally at Selborne ; but, by grants of lands, it came possessed 

 of one at Durton, and one at Oakhanger, and probably some 

 on its other several manors. 2 The mill at the Priory was 

 in use within the memory of man, and the ruins of the 

 mill-house were standing within these thirty years: the 

 pond and dam, and miller's dwelling, still remain. 3 As the 

 stream was apt to fail in very dry summers, the tenants 

 found their situation very distressing for want of water, and 

 so were forced to abandon the spot. This inconvenience 

 was probably never felt in old times, when the whole dis- 

 trict was nothing but woodlands : and yet several centuries 

 ago there seem to have been two or three mills between 

 Well-head and the Priory. 



Occasional mention has been made of the many privileges 

 and immunities enjoyed by the convent and its priors ; but 

 a more particular statement seems to be necessary. The 

 author therefore thinks this the proper place, before he 

 concludes these antiquities, to introduce all that has been 

 collected by the judicious Bishop Tanner, respecting the 

 Priory and its advantages, in his JSTotitia Monastica, a book 

 now seldom seen, on account of the extravagance of its 

 price; and being but in few hands cannot be easily con- 



1 As there was another manor besides that of the Priory, in the Strete 

 of Selborne, namely Sir Adam Gurdon's, possibly the privilege secta 

 molendini de Strete enabled the prior to compel the vassals of that manor, 

 equally with his own, to bring their corn to be ground at his mill. ED. 



2 Thomas Knowles, president, &c. ann. Hen. 8vi. xxiii . [viz. 1532.] 

 devised to J. Whitelie their mills, &c. for twenty years. Rent xxiii s. 

 iiii d. Accepted Frewen, president, &c. ann. Caroli xv. [viz. 1640.] 

 demised to Jo. Hook and Elizabeth, his wife, the said mills. Rent as 

 above. G. W. 



3 The miller's dwelling has long since disappeared ; and the Mill- 

 field, now cultivated as a hop -ground, commemorates in name only the 

 former use of the spot. ED. 



