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Selborne (St. Mary)

SELBORNE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Alton, hundred of Selborne, Alton and N. divisions of the county of Southampton, 4½ miles (S. E. by S.) from Alton; containing 1052 inhabitants. In the time of the Saxons, Selborne was held in royal demesne. In 1233 a priory of Black canons, in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was founded here by Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester; but it was subsequently suppressed, and became part of the endowment of Magdalen College, Oxford. The parish comprises 8506 acres, of which 3097 are common or waste land. A fair is held on May 29th. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £8. 2. 1., and in the gift of the College. The church is principally in the early English style; the altar-piece is ornamented with a fine painting by Albert Durer, representing the Offerings of the Magi, presented by the Rev. Gilbert White, author of The Natural History of Selborne, and similar works, who was born here in 1720, and chiefly resided in the parish. At Temple, lived Sir Adam Gurdon, the noted freebooter in the time of Henry III.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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