OF SELBORNE 263 



Agnes in her life-time surrendered part of her jointure : — he had 

 also a bastard son. 



Sir Adam seems to have inhabited the house now called Temple, 

 lying about two miles east of the church, which had been the 

 property of Thomas Makerel. 



In the year 1 262 he petitioned the prior of Selbome in his own 

 name, and that of his wife Constantia only, for leave to build him 

 an oratory in his manor-house, " in curia sua ". Licenses of this 

 sort were frequently obtained by men of fortune and rank from 

 the bishop of the diocese, the archbishop, and sometimes, as I 

 have seen instances, from the pope ; not only for convenience- 

 sake, and on account of distance, and the badness of the roads, 

 but as a matter of state and distinction. Why the owner should 

 apply to the prior, in preference to the bishop of the diocese, and 

 how the former became competent to such a grant, I cannot say ; 

 but that the priors of Selbome did take that privilege is plain, 

 because some years afterward, in 1280, Prior Richard granted to 

 Henry Waterford and his wife Nicholaa a license to build an 

 oratory in their court-house, " curia sua de Waterford," in which 

 they might celebrate divine service, saving the rights of the 

 mother church of Basynges. Yet all the while the prior of Sel- 

 bome grants with such reserve and caution, as if in doubt of his 

 power, and leaves Gurdon and his lady answerable in future to 

 the bishop, or his ordinary, or to the vicar for the time being, 

 in case they should infringe the rights of the mother church of 

 Selbome. 



The manor-house called Temple is at present a single building, 

 running in length from south to north, and has been occupied as 

 a common farm house from time immemorial. The south end is 

 modem, and consists of a brew-house, and then a kitchen. The 

 middle part is an hall twenty-seven feet in length, and nineteen 

 feet in breadth ; and has been formerly open to the top ; but 

 there is now a floor above it, and also a chimney in the western 

 wall. The roofing consists of strong massive rafter-work orna- 

 mented with carved roses. I have often looked for the lamb and 

 flag, the arms of the knights templars, without success ; but in one 

 comer found a fox with a goose on his back, so coarsely executed, 

 that it required some attention to make out the device. 



Beyond the hall to the north is a small parlour with a vast 

 heavy stone chimney-piece ; and, at the end of all, the chapel or 

 oratory, whose massive thick walls and narrow windows at once 

 bespeak great antiquity. This room is only sixteen feet by 



