OF SELBORNE. 511 



Two years ago some labourers digging again among the 

 ruins found a sort of rude thick vase or urn of soft stone, 

 containing about two gallons in measure, on the verge of 

 the brook, in the very spot which tradition has always 

 pointed out as having been the site of the convent kitchen. 

 This clumsy utensil, whether intended for holy water, or 

 whatever purpose, we were going to procure, but found that 

 the labourers had just broken it in pieces, and carried it 

 out on the highways. 1 



The Priory of Selborne had possessed in this village a 

 Grange, an usual appendage to manorial estates, where the 

 fruits of their lands were stowed and laid up for use, at a 

 time when men took the natural produce of their estates in 

 kind. The mansion of this spot is still called the Grange, 

 and is the manor-house of the convent possessions in this 

 place. The author has conversed with very ancient people 

 who remembered the old original Grange ; but it has long 

 given place to a modern farm-house. Magdalen College 

 holds a court-leet and court-baron 2 in the great wheat-barn 

 of the said Grange, annually, where the president usually 

 superintends, attended by the bursar and steward of the 

 college. 3 



The following uncommon presentment at the court is 

 not unworthy of notice. There is on the south side of the 

 king's field (a large common field so called) a consider- 

 able tumulus, or hillock, now covered with thorns and 

 bushes, and known by the name of Kite's Hill, which is 

 presented, year by year, in court as not ploughed. Why 

 this injunction is still kept up respecting this spot, which 

 is surrounded on all sides by arable land, may be a question 



1 A judicious antiquary, who saw this vase, observed, that it possibly 

 might have been a standard measure between the monastery and its 

 tenants. The Priory we have mentioned claimed the assize of bread 

 and beer in Selborne manor ; and probably the adjustment of dry mea- 

 sures for grain, &c. G. W t 



2 The time when this court is held is the mid-week between Easter 

 and Whitsuntide. G. W. 



3 Owen Oglethorp, president, &c. an. Edw. Sexti primo [viz. 1547] 

 demised to Robert Arden, Selborne Grange, for twenty years. Kent 

 vi' 1 . Index of Leases. G. W. 



