LETTER VI.
The living of Selborne was a very small vicarage; but, being in the patronage of Magdalen College, in the university of Oxford, that society endowed it with the great tithes of Selborne, more than a century ago; and since the year 1758 again with the great tithes of Oakhanger, called Bene's parsonage; so that, together, it is become a respectable piece of preferment, to which one of the fellows is always presented. The vicar holds the great tithes, by lease, under the college. The great disadvantage of this living is, that it has not one foot of glebe near home.*
| ITS PAYMENTS ARE— | £. | s. | d. |
| King's books | 8 | 2 | 1 |
| Yearly tenths | 0 | 16 | 2½ |
| Yearly procurations for Blackmore and Oakhanger Chap, with acquit |
0 | 1 | 7 |
| Selborne procurations and acquit | 0 | 9 | 0 |
I am unable to give a complete list of the vicars of this parish till towards the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth; from which period the registers furnish a regular series.
In Domesday we find thus—" De isto manerio dono dedit Rex Radfredo presbytero dimidiam hidam cum ecclesia." So that before Domesday, which was compiled between the years 1081 and 1086, here was an officiating minister at this place.
After this, among my documents, I find occasional mention of a vicar here and there; the first is—
Roger, instituted in 1254.
In 1410 John Lynne was vicar of Selborne.
In 1411 Hugo Tybbe was vicar.
The presentations to the vicarage of Selborne generally ran in the name of the prior and the convent; but Tybbe was presented by Prior John Wynechestre only.
* At Bene's, or Bin's, parsonage there is a house and stout barn, and seven acres of glebe; Bene's parsonage is three miles from the church.
