ANTIQUITIES OP SELBOUNE. 
259 
confess, we do not understand. Strete, in old English, signifies a road 
or highway, as Watling Strete, &c., therefore the prior might have some 
mill on a high road. The priory had only one mill originally at 
Selborne ; but, by grants of lands, it came possessed of one at Durton, 
and one at Oakhanger, and probably some on its other several manors.* 
The mill at the priory was in use within the memory of man, and the 
ruins of the mill-house were standing within these thirty years : the 
pond and dam, and miller's dwelling, still remain. As the stream was 
apt to fail in very dry summers, the tenants found their situation very 
distressing, for want of water, and so were forced to abandon the spot. 
This inconvenience was probably never felt in old times, when the 
whole district was nothing but woodlands : and yet several centuries 
ago there seem to have been two or three mills between Well Head 
and the priory. For the reason of this assertion, see Letter XXIX. to 
Mr. Barrington. 
Occasional mention has been made of the many privileges and 
immunities enjoyed by the convent and its priors; but a more 
particular state seems to be necessary. The author, therefore, thinks this 
the proper place, before he concludes these antiquities, to introduce all 
that has been collected by the judicious Bishop Tanner, respecting the 
Priory and its advantages, in his " Notitia Monastica," a book now 
seldom seen, on account of the extravagance of its price, and being but 
in few hands cannot be easily consulted.f He also adds a few of its 
many privileges from other authorities : — the account is as follows. 
Tanner, page 166. 
SELBURNE. 
A priory of black canons, founded by the often-mentioned Peter 
de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester, A.D. 1233, and dedicated to the 
blessed Virgin Mary ; but was suppressed, and granted to William 
Wainfleet, Bishop of Winchester, who made it part of the endowment 
of St, Mary Magdalene College in Oxford. The Bishops of Winchester 
were patrons of it. [Pat. 17, Edward II.] Vide Mon. Ang. tom ii. p. 343. 
" Cartam fundationis ex ipso autographo in archivis Coll. Magd, Oxon. 
ubi etiam conservata sunt registra, cartae, rentali et alia munimenta ad 
hunc prioratum spectantia. 
" Extracta qugedam e registro MSS. in bibl. Bodl. — Dodworth, vol. 
89, f. 140. 
" Cart, antiq. I^. K n. 33. P. P. n. 48. et 71. Q. Q. n. 40. plac. coram 
justit. itin. [Southampton] 20 Hen. rot. 25. De eccl. de Basing & 
Basingstoke. Plac. de juratis apud Winton. 40 Hen. III. rot. — 
Protecta molendini de Strete. Cart. 54. Hen. III. m. 3. [De mercatu, 
& feria apud Seleborne, a mistake.] Pat. 9. Edw. I. m. — Pat. 30. 
Edw. L m.— Pat. 33. Edw. 1. p. i. m.— Pat. 35. Edw. L m.— Pat. i. 
Edw. 11. p. i. m. 9. Pat. 5. Edw. II. p. i. m. 21. De terris in Ach- 
* Thomas Knowles, president, &c. ann. Hen. 8vi. xxiii«*. [1532] demised to 
J. Whitelie their mills. &c. for twenty years. Rent xxiiis. iiiicZ. — Accepted 
Frewen, president, &c. ann. Caroli xv, [viz. 1640.] demised to Jo. Hook and 
Elizabeth his wife, the said mills. Kent as above. 
t A few days after this was written a new edition of this valuable work was 
amiounced, in the month of April of the year 1787, as published by Mr. Nasmith. 
s 2 
