OF SELBORNE. 
439 
would not mucli approve of sucli a place of worsWp ; for it 
has at present much more the appearance of a dungeon than 
of a room fit for the reception of people of condition. The 
field on which this oratory abuts is still called Chapel Field. 
The situation of this house is very particular^ for it stands 
upon the immediate verge of a steep abrupt hill. 
Not many years since, this place was used for a hop-kiln, 
and was divided into two stories by a loft, part of which re- 
mains at present, and makes it convenient for peat and turf, 
with which it is stowed/ 
LETTER X. 
HE Priory at times was much obliged to Gur- 
don and his family. As Sir Adam began to 
advance in years he found his mind influenced 
by the prevailing opinion of the reasonable- 
ness and efficacy of prayers for the dead ; 
and therefore, in conjunction with his wife Constantia, in 
the year 1271, granted to the prior and convent of Selborne 
all his right and claim to a certain place, flacea, called La 
Pleystow, in the village aforesaid, " in liberam, jpuram, et 
perpetuam elemosinamj' This Pleystow,'^ locus ludorum, or 
play-place, is a level area near the church of about forty- 
four yards by thirty-six, and is known now by the name of 
the Plestor.^ 
^ There is not a vestige now remaining of the house described by 
Gilbert White. But the modern residence, in its whitened walls, 
slated roof, and squared form (the very reverse of the irregular and 
picturesque building represented on the opposite page), occupies nearly 
the same position with its predecessor, and commands the same exten- 
sive view over the forest, — Ed. 
2 In Saxon Ple^ej^rop, or Plegjfrop ; viz. Plegestow, or Plegstow. 
— G. W. 
^ At this juncture probably the vast oak, mentioned p. 5, was planted 
by the prior, as an ornament to his new acquired market-place. Accord- 
ing to this supposition the oak was aged four hundred and thirty-two 
years when blown down. — G. W. 
