350 
ANTiaUITIES OF SELBORNE. 
to a tenement and some crofts at the upper end, abutting on the 
south corner of the church-yard. This was, in old days, the 
manorial house of the street manor, though now a poor cottage ; 
and is known at present by the modern name of Elliot's. Sir 
Adam also did, for the health of his own soul, and that of his 
wife Constantia, their predecessors and successors, grant to the 
priors and canons quiet possession of all the tenements and gar- 
dens, "curtillagia," which they had built and laid out on the 
lands in Selborne, on which he and his vassals, " homines," had 
undoubted right of common : and moreover did grant to the 
convent the full privilege of that right of common ; and empower- 
ed the religious to build tenements and make gardens along the 
king's highway in the village of Selborne. 
From circumstances put together it appears that the above 
were the first grants obtained by the Priory in the village of 
Selborne, after it had subsisted about thirty-nine years : more- 
over they explain the nature of the mixed manor still remaining 
in and about the village, where one field or tenement shall belong 
to Magdalen-college in the university of Oxford, and the next to 
Norton Powlet, esq. of Rotherfield house ; and so down the whole 
street. The case was, that the whole was once the property of 
Gurdon, till he made his grants to the convent; since which 
some belongs to the successors of Gurdon in the manor, and some 
to the college ; and this is the occasion of the strange jumble of 
property. It is remarkable that the tenement and crofts which 
Sir Adam reserved at the time of granting the Pies tor should 
still remain a part of the Gurdon-manor, though so desirable an 
addition to the vicarage that is not as yet possessed of one inch 
of glebe at home: but of late, viz. in January 1785, Magdalen- 
college purchased that little estate, which is life-holding, in re- 
version, for the generous purpose of bestowing it, and its lands, 
being twelve acres (three of which abut on the church-yard and 
vicarage-garden) as an improvement hereafter to the living, and 
an eligible advantage to future incumbents. 
The year after Gurdon had bestowed the Plestor on the Priory, 
viz. in 1272, Henry III. king of England died, and was succeeded 
by his son Edward. This magnanimous prince continued his 
regard for Sir Adam, whom he esteemed as a brave man, and 
made him warden, " custos," of the forest of Wolmer.* Though 
* Since the letters respecting Wolmer-forest and Ayles holt, from p. 14 to 26, were printed, the 
author has been favoured with the following extracts : — 
In the " Act of Resumption, 1 Hen. VII." it was provided, that it be not prejudicial to " Harry 
