In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Selborne like this:
SELBORNE, a village, a parish, and a hundred, in Hants. The village stands among trees, in a long valley, overhung by the Hanger and the Nore hills, 4¼ miles S S E of Alton r. station; was once a market-town; and has a post-office under Alton, an inn, and a fair on 29 May. The parish contains also eight hamlets, and is in Alton district. ...
Acres, 8, 506. Real property, £5, 428. Pop., 1, 110. Houses, 223. The manor belonged, in the Saxon times, to Queen Editha; and belongs now to Magdalen College, Oxford. Temple was the seat of the free-booter Sir A. Gordon, taken in 1266 by Prince Edward; and was made a grange to Southington preceptory. An Augustinian priory was founded at the village, in 1232, by Bishop de Rupibus; and was given, by William of Wainflete, to Magdalen College, Oxford. 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 N Eparts exhibit constant out-croppings of the upper green-sand, the gault, and the lower greensand. A portion of the land is under hops, and much of the rest is sheep-walk. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Winchester. Value, not reported.* Patron, Magdalen College, Oxford. The church is chiefly later English, simple, old-fashioned, and good. There are an Indepenpent chapel, a national school, and charities £12. Gilbert White was a native; both his grandfather and he were vicars; and the house in which he was born, and where he lived, still stands in the village. The hundred contains six parishes; is cut into two sections, lower and upper; and is in Alton division. Acres, 5, 632 and 13,056. Pop. in 1851, 723 and 2,034. Houses, 114and 398.
Selborne through time
Selborne is now part of East Hampshire district. Click here for graphs and data of how East Hampshire has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Selborne itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Selborne in East Hampshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/5648
Date accessed: 23rd April 2024
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