ANTiaUITIES OF SELBORNE. 
349 
et perpetuam elemosinam." 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.f 
The Plestor. 
It continues still, as it was in old times, to be the scene of re- 
creation for the youths and children of the neighbourhood ; and 
impresses an idea on the mind that this village, even in Saxon 
times, could not be the most abject of places, when the inhabit- 
ants thought proper to assign so spacious a spot for the sports 
and amusements of its young people. J 
As soon as the prior became possessed of this piece of ground, 
he procured a charter for a market§ from king Henry III. and 
began to erect houses and stalls, " seldas," around it. From this 
period Selborne became a market town : but how long it enjoyed 
that privilege does not appear. At the same time Gurdon re- 
served to himself, and his heirs, a way through the said Plestor 
* In Saxon PlegejftoJ) or PlejJTTo]? ; viz. Plegestow, or Plegstow. 
t At this juncture probably the vast oak, mentioned p. 5, was planted by the prior, as an 
ornamen: to his new acquired market place. According to this supposition the oak was aged 432 
years when blown down. 
t For more circumstances respecting the Plestor, see Letter II. to Mr. Pennant. 
§ Bishop Tanner, in his Notitia Monastica, has made a mistake respecting the market and fair 
at Selborne : for in his references to Dodsworth, cart 54 Hen. Ill m. 3. he sajs, ** De mercatu, 
et feria de Seleburn." But this reference is wrong; for, instead of Seleburn, it proves that the 
place there meant was Lekeborne, or Legeborne, in the county of Lincoln. This error was copied 
from the index of the Cat. MSS, Angl. It does not appear that there ever was a chartered fair at 
Selborne. For several particulars respecting the present fair at Selborne see Letter XXVI. of 
these Antiquities. 
