398 ANTiaUITIES OF SELBORNE. 
I 
I A dove-house was a constant appendant to a manorial dwell- 
I ing : of this convenience more will be said hereafter. 
I A corn-mill was also esteemed a necessary appendage of every 
manor ; and therefore was to be expected of course at the Priory 
of Selborne. 
The prior had secta molendini, or ad molendinum :* a power 
of compelhng his vassals to bring their corn to be ground at his 
mill, according to old custom. He had also, according to bishop 
Tanner, secta molendini de Strete : but the purport of Strete, we 
must 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.f 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 four^d 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 wood- 
lands: 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 statement seems to be necessary. The author there- 
fore thinks this the proper place, before he concludes these 
antiquities, to introduce all that has been collected by the ju- 
dicious 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 a few hands 
cannot be easily consulted. J He also adds a few of its many 
privileges from other authorities : — the account is as follows. 
Tanner, page 166. 
* " Servilium, quo feudatorii grana sua ad Domini molendinum, ibi molcuda perferre, ex- 
consuetudiiie, astringuntur." 
t Thomas Knowles, president, &c. anu. Hen. 8vi. xxiii.o [viz. 1532.] demised to J. Whitehe 
their mills, &c, for twenty years. Rent xxiii $. iiii (2. — Accepted Frewen, president, &c. aun 
Caroli xv. [viz. 16J0.] demised to Jo. Hook and Elizabeth, his wife, the said mills. Rent as above. 
t A few days after this was written a new edition of this valuable work was a'.inounced, in the 
Toonth of April of the year 178/, as published b)- Mr. Nasmith. 
