Vol. xxxiii.] 4 



tempest of 1703. Hard by the Plestor is the Vicarage, 

 built about 1840, in succession to the Parsonage House, 

 where Gilbert White was born ; the yew-hedge in the garden 

 should b9 noticed, it was planted by Gilbert White, grand- 

 father of the Naturalist, who as vicar, records in the 

 Register of Baptisms, that he ' Gilbert White took possession 

 of ye Church June ye 23rd, 1681.' ' 



Adjoining the Vicarage is the Church, described by 

 Gilbert White in the third and fourth letters of the 

 'Antiquities/ where some description of the Parsonage may 

 also be found. 



' The Church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is an ancient 

 building of Selborne rock and Wolmer sandstone. It is a 

 large and handsome edifice with a massive tower with five 

 bells, a nave of four bays in the Transition Norman style, 

 a chancel with three early English lancet windows, and a 

 south aisle terminating in a chantry, which had an altar at its 

 east end, the piscina and a niche for a figure remaining*. . . 

 The roof of the chancel is of sweet chestnut, and is probably 

 the original one.' (Hampshire Notes and Queries, vol. vii. 

 p. 153.) 



According to Gilbert White the Church dates from the 

 time of Henry VII. Portions of it, however, including 

 the arches and pillars, belong to a much earlier period, 

 the date of the original building being unknown, but there 

 certainly was a church existing at Selborne at the time of 

 the Domesday book. The ancient font on the left when 

 entering the Church should be noticed, as should also the 

 oak benches in the porch, part of the old pews which were 

 removed from the interior of the Church when it was restored. 

 The iron- work of , the church doors is very old and curious 

 and may possibly be of Sussex manufacture. In the south 

 aisle or Chantry, termed by Gilbert White the South Chancel, 

 which was originally ' divided off by an old carved gothic 

 framework of timber ' will be noticed some stone coffin-lids, 

 found undeimeath the floor when the Church was restored, 

 one of which bears the symbols of a Knight Templar. The 

 * Doubtful {cf. Bell, vol. i. p. 287). 



