Selborne, Hampshire

Historical Description

Selborne, a village and a parish in Hants. The village stands among trees, in a long valley overhung by the Hanger and the Nore Hills, 4½ miles SSE of Alton station on the L. & S.W.R. In 1894 the village was supplied with water from "The Fountain" by means of a ram and pipes, in memory of the centenary of Gilbert White. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Alton. Acreage of the civil parish, 7916; population, 1320; of the ecclesiastical, 613. The manor belongs to Magdalen College, Oxford. Temple was the seat of the freebooter Sir A. Gordon, taken in 1266 by Prince Edward, and was made agrangeto Southington Preceptory. An Augustinian Priory was founded at the village in 1232 by Bishop de Eupibus, and was given by William of Wainflete to Magdalen College, Oxford. Sir Roundell Palmer took his title of Earl from this village. The surface of the parish is picturesque, and figures minutely in Gilbert White's well-known " Natural History of Selborne." The S part of it consists of chalk, and the N and NE parts exhibit constant out-croppings of the upper greensand, the gault, and the lower greensand. A portion of the land is under hops and much of the rest is arable. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Winchester; value, £400 with residence. Patron, Magdalen College, Oxford. The church is chiefly Later Norman. It has been restored several times, and in 1888 a portion of the chancel was rebuilt. There is a Congregational chapel. Gilbert White was a native, and his grandfather was vicar.

BLACKMOOR is an ecclesiastical parish formed in 1867 out of Selborne. The living is a vicarage; value, £200. Patron, the Earl of Selborne. The church is a handsome stone building in the Gothic style, and was erected in 1868. It and the vicarage and school were built and the living endowed by the first Earl of Selborne. Blackmoor House, the seat of the Earl of Selborne, is a handsome modern mansion situated on an eminence.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Selborne from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Selborne (St. Mary))

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Hampshire (County Southampton) is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Selborne are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Hampshire newspapers online:

• Portsmouth Evening News
• Hampshire Telegraph
• Hampshire Advertiser
• Hampshire Chronicle
• Aldershot Military Gazette

Villages, Hamlets, &c

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Hampshire, 1530, 1575, & 1622-34 is available to view on the Heraldry page.