In the year 1262 he petitioned the prior of Selborne in his own name, and that of his wife Constantia only, for leave to build him an oratory in his manor-house, “in curia sua.” Licenses of this sort were frequently obtained by men of fortune and rank from the bishop of the diocese, the archbishop, and sometimes, as I have seen instances, from the Pope; not only for convenience’ sake, and on account of distance, and the badness of the roads, but as a matter of state and distinction. Why the owner should apply to the prior, in preference to the bishop of the diocese, and how the former became competent to such a grant, I cannot say; but that the priors of Selborne did take that privilege is plain, because some years afterwards, in 1280, Prior Richard granted to Henry Waterford and his wife Nicholaa, a licence to build an oratory in their court-house, “curia sua de Waterford,” in which they might celebrate divine service, saving the rights of the mother church of Basynges. Yet all the while the prior of Selborne grants with such reserve and caution, as if in doubt of his power, and leaves Gurdon and his lady answerable in future to the bishop, or his ordinary, or to the vicar for the time being, in case they should infringe the rights of the mother church of Selborne.
The manor-house, called “Temple,” is at present a single building, running in length from south to north, and has been occupied as a common farmhouse from time immemorial. The south end is modern, and consists of a brewhouse, and then a kitchen. The middle part is a hall twenty-seven feet in length, and nineteen feet in breadth; and has been formerly open to the top, but there is now a floor above it, and also a chimney in the western wall. The roofing consists of strong massive rafter-work ornamented with carved roses. I have often looked for the lamb and flag, the arms of the knights templars, without success; but in one corner found a fox with a goose on his back, so coarsely executed, that it required some attention to make out the device.
Beyond the hall to the north is a small parlour with a vast heavy stone chimney-piece, and at the end of all the chapel or oratory, whose massive thick walls and narrow windows at once
