IX.] OF SELBORNE. 498 
been divorced from Ameria, who afterwards married, and had 
sons. By Agnes Sir Adam had a daughter Johanna, who was 
his heiress, to whom Agnes in her lifetime 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 1262 he petitioned the prior of Selborne 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 bad- 
ness of the roads, but as a matter of state and distinction. 
Vvliy 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 Selborne 
did take that privilege is plain, because some years afterv/ard, 
in 1280, Prior Eichard granted to Henry Waterford and his 
wife Mchola a license to build an oratory in their courthouse, 
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 Selborne 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 Selborne. 
The manor house called Temple is at present a single build- 
ing, running in length from south to north, and has been 
occupied as a common farmhouse from time immemorial. The 
south end is modern, and consists of a brewhouse, and then a 
kitchen. The middle part is a 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 ornamented wdth carved roses. I have often looked 
for the lamb and flag, the arms of the Knights Templars, without 
