514 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 



rates. But, as soon as the convent was suppressed, the 

 town which it had occasioned began to decline, and the 

 market was less frequented ; the rough and sequestered 

 situation gave a check to resort, and the neglected roads 

 rendered it less and less accessible. 



That it had been a considerable place for size formerly 

 appears from the largeness of the church, which much 

 exceeds those of the neighbouring villages ; by the ancient 

 extent of the burying ground, which, from human bones 

 occasionally dug up, is found to have been much encroached 

 upon ; by giving a name to the hundred ; by the old founda- 

 tions and ornamented stones, and tracery of windows that 

 have been discovered on the north-east side of the village ; 

 and by the many vestiges of disused fish-ponds still to be 

 seen around it. For ponds and stews were multiplied in the 

 times of popery, that the affluent might enjoy some variety 

 at their tables on fast days; therefore the more they 

 abounded the better probably was the condition of the inha- 

 bitants. 



