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ANTIQUITIES OF SELBOHNE. 
SELBORNE CHURCH AND VICARAGE. 
LETTER III. 
From the silence of Domesday respecting cliurches, it has been 
supposed that few villages had any at the time when that record was 
taken ; but Selborne, we see, enjoyed the benefit of one : hence, we 
may conclude, that this place was in no abject state even at that very 
distant period. How many fabrics have succeeded each other since the 
days of Kadfredrus the presbyter, we cannot pretend to say; our 
business leads us to a description of the present edifice, in which we 
shall bo circumstantial. 
Our church, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, consists of 
three aisles, and measures fifty-four feet in length, by forty-seven in 
breadth, being almost as broad as it is long. The present building has 
no pretensions to antiquity, and is, as I suppose, of no earlier date than 
the beginning of the reign of Henry YII. It is perfectly plain and 
unadorned, without painted glass, carved work, sculpture, or tracery. 
But when I say it has no claim to antiquity, I would mean to be 
understood the fabric in general ; for the pillars, which support the 
roof, are undoubtedly old, being of that low, squat, thick order, usually 
called Saxon. These, I should imagine, upheld the roof of a former 
church, which, falling into decay, was rebuilt on those massy props, 
because their strength had preserved them from the injuries of time.* 
* In the same manner, to compare great things with small, did Wykeham, when 
lie new-built the cathedral at Winchester, from the tower westward, apply to his 
purpose the old piers or pillars of Bishop Walkelin's church, by blending Saxon 
and Gothic architecture together. — See Lowth's Life of Wykeham. 
