Selborne Church  may claim to be a Royal Foundation because it was in the year 1049 that King Edward the Confessor gave the land on which the first Church was built. There is a record of that Church in Domesday Book (1086) together with the name of the priest, Radfred, who served it.

Of this original building nothing remains, except, perhaps the Font. Some 130 years after its foundation the Church was rebuilt, but for what reason is not known. This building is what substantially we have now, and is dated about 1180.

THE NAVE
The outstanding feature is the Norman Pillars with their simply carved capitals, and solid base plinths. On the north side at the corners of the bases of the pillars are carved curious pairs of wings. The arches are a good example of the 'Transitional' style, but the roof is 19th century. Some old rafters may be seen above the arches on the south side.

THE CHANCEL
This is contemporary with the Nave, and here the original barrel roof timbers have been retained, but the roof itself is 18th century.

There has been some rebuilding, particularly of the East wall, which originally had only two lancet windows. Also the North wall had to be broken into when the Organ chamber was added in 1910.

The dominant feature is the great painting which forms the reredos to the High Altar. This is by the Flemish artist Jan Mostaert and is dated c.1510. It was presented to the Church in memory of Gilbert White, by his brother Benjamin in 1793. (Benjamin was a Bookseller with a business in London).

The wainscotting is 18th century and the two seats have been made from the remains of 15th century benches. The AJtar Rails are Elizabethan and were brought here from a Church in Cornwall and installed as a memorial, as recorded on the small plaque attached to them. They were too long to fit into the Chancel and from the balusters which were cut off were made the altar and standard candlesticks. The piscina on the south side is 12th century, but the altar is a modern memorial gift with a fine consecration stone set in the mensa.

Outside the Altar Rails on the south side is the only remaining complete 15th century bench. On the north side will be seen a fine piece of Flemish wood-carving depicting the Descent from the Cross, (c. 1520) In the north pillar of the Chancel Arch is a curious niche. This may have been a small aumbry (cupboard), perhaps for keeping the Holy Oils, but there is no trace of a door: possibly it could have been an Easter Sepulchre, but it is rather small; its origin is really a puzzle.

In the centre of the floor will be seen a grave stone slab to 'Gilbert White' - this was the Grandfather of the Naturalist, and he was Vicar of the Parish 1681 - 1727.

The fine modern oak Choir Stalls and Pulpit were designed by Sir Charles Nicholson and put in during the restoration of the interior between 1937 and 1939. Inscriptions commemorating important events connected with the history of the Church have been carved on the back of the stalls, and the bench ends have appropriate coats of arms. The Reading Pew, like the seats in the sanctuary, has been made from an old bench.

THE SOUTH AISLE
Originally (his was probably similar to the north aisle, but when the Priory was founded in 1232 it quickly acquired a good deal of property which included (in 1234) the Church with its revenue. In return it had to supply the Priest for the Church. About 1284 Ella Longspee, Countess of Warwick gave to the monks a large sum of money to say Mass for her soul every day, whether she were alive or dead. To carry out this bequest the monks built a Chantry Chapel at the east end of the south aisle which may account for its rebuilding. Certainly it was rebuilt in the 13th century, and while there was further rebuilding in the 19th century, the east window, piscina, and niche on the north side of the altar belongs to this period. The dedication of the altar is in honour of St. Thomas of Canterbury, and presumably the niche originally had a statue of the saint.

The easternmost window of the south wall is filled with very fine stained glass representing St. Francis preaching to the birds. The birds are almost all of those mentioned in Gilbert White's famous book: in the background can be seen the Church, the great Churchyard Yew, and the old Vicarage where the Naturalist was born. This window in honour of Gilbert White was designed and executed by two Nottingham Artists, Gascoyne and Hinks, in 1920, paid for by public subscription, and is now known in many parts of the world.

Set into the Altar Pace (or step) are a number of mediaeval tiles which came from the Priory when it was closed, by the Bishop of Winchester, in 1484. The Altar Rails are the original ones from the chancel, but unfortunately the balusters have been removed and wrought iron work inserted.

In the space between the two eastern-most arcades can be seen some rough plaster work which indicates where the original chapel screen was fixed.

THE NORTH TRANSEPT
This was originally a complete chapel, built about 1305. Corbels on the East wall would have supported statues. On the south side is a contemporary piscina. The framework of the great north window is original, but the mullion is 19th century Traces of original colouring can be seen on the corbels and tlie window frame. The four roundels of coloured glass in tlie window are old: the top one about 1560, the two side by side are English 17th century, and the bottom one is Flemish of the late 17th century.

The present chapel, the back of which is used as the sacristy is divided from the church by a parclose screen of oak, erected as a memorial to tlie men of Selborm who fell in both world wars.

The top of the altar table is formed by the mensa on which Gilbert White would have celebrated Holy Communion when he was Curate of the Parish.

Beneath the Chapel are buried tlie remains of Sir Adam de Gurdon, a wellknown Knight who lived at Temple Manor. Possibly this chapel was erected as his Chantry.

Also to be seen in this Transept are some Crusader-Knights tomb stones. Tlie Knights Templars occupied Temple Manor for some time during tlie 13th century.

In the display case are various editions of Gilbert White's Book, a sermon by him, and various items of correspondence. A large dog collar is also on display: this belonged to a huge mastiff owned by the Vicar (William Cobbold) in 1830, as a protection against the local labourers who had attacked him during a riot against tithes.

THE TOWER
This is a later addition to the Church, probably 17th century, and contains five bells and an old clock. Originally there were three bells, which were taken down and re-cast into four in 1735 and at the same time the fifth was added. The Clock is about 1680, and was possibly made by a local blacksmith. It was originally at Hartley Maudit House and was brought to the Church when the house was destroyed.

OUTSIDE
The main, south door is worthy of notice as the iron work is fine 13th century and probably made locally.

THE GREAT YEW TREE is a magnificent specimen, and its age is about a thousand years. Some experts think it is older, and some say it is not quite so old!

THE GRAVE OF GILBERT WHITE is on the north-east side of the Church, close by the outside vestry door, and is marked with a simple head-stone with the initials 'G.W.' and the date of his death.

THE MEMORIAL TO THE TRUMPETER (under the Yew Tree) is a modern stone commemorating the burial of John Newman who was the leader of the rioters mentioned above, and summoned them by blowing a trumpet or horn. He escaped arrest and lived in the woods on the Hanger by day, coming to his cottage at night, and eventually died in his own bed.

THE YEW ALTAR
The altar is made from the largest boughs of the Yew tree whose massive
trunk can be seen outside the church. The tree was blown down on 25th
January 1990 and is estimated to be 1400 years old. A section of the main
bough from which the altar was made can be seen in the church porch. The
growth rings of this section go back to 1549, a few years after the Reformation of the Church of England.

The altar was designed by Philip Hussey of Buckinghamshire College, High Wycombe and Peter Legg of the same institution all without cost to the church. The whole process of planking, seasoning and construction took eight years and the finished altar was dedicated and used to celebrate the Holy Communion on
Sunday, 25th January 1998.

The yew was brittle and unsound and posed many difficulties which were overcome by using birch in hidden places to provide stability. The altar rises from a massive pedestal made of seven overlapping sections receding from the centre like a tree trunk. This branches out to support an equally massive top or mensa eight feet long. There was only one sound piece of yew the full length of the altar and this was used for the front. The top surface consists of narrow sections up to half this length, bonded together.

The whole has a weight and solidity in keeping with the simple and sturdy architecture of the church. It stands on a pavement of fourteenth century
tiles.

Panels carved in the seven sections of the pedestal echo the gothic panels of a few surviving mediaeval pew-ends which furnish the chancel of the church. Subtle variations in the shape call to mind the tombstones of the churchyard, the rising and setting of the sun and the seven ages of man. In this way the altar commemorates the generations of men, women and children whose lives are bound up with the church and village and whose remains rest under and around the tree and the building. We hope it will serve many generations to come.

Around the top of the altar are triangular drops derived from the classical decoration known as guttae. Examples may be seen in an eighteenth century memorial to a former Vicar, Andrew Etty, in the North transept. The line is incomplete and on the right, detached elements seem to be rising to join their comrades like swallows on a line in autumn or the birds which once flew among the branches of the great tree. The number of the detached guttae is the same as that of the fallen in the two world wars whose names are inscribed on the screen of the Peace Chapel. In this way the sacrifice of the village community is honoured in the altar.

The function of an altar is to enable the supreme sacrifice of Christ, offered on the cross, to be renacted and to be a focal point, a Holy Table around which the Christian community gathers to eat and drink bread and wine, consecrated as the body and blood of Jesus. In some moods therefore, the drops may seem to be falling like the blood of that sacrifice or the tears of the disciple or any mourner. In a joyful mood they may signify the rising of souls to join "the whole company of heaven" around the throne of God, which is in large measure the purpose of Christ's self offering, or the prayers of the people ascending to heaven.

It is a Christian tradition to carve five crosses in the top of an altar, symbolising the five wounds of Christ. The five crosses in this altar are derived in form from the cross on the stone coffin lid of a Knight Templar on the right of the altar, in which four hearts converge on the centre.

It is not the intention of the designer to lay down a cut-and-dried "meaning" for every feature of the altar but rather to feed the imagination with a variety of suggestions. He himself sees in the decoration the end of mediaeval natural history derived from Greek and Latin authors and the start of the modem science based on observation as practised by Gilbert White. You may be stimulated to further reveries or you may simply enjoy the glowing colour and silky texture of the polished yew.