Bishop Henry de Blois regained it for the church by exchange, in whose
possession it has remained but for a few brief intervals in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in one of which John Evelyn
bought it, until to-day.
It is probably to this fact we owe the beauty and preservation of the
church here, with its fine twelfth century nave, not fundamentally
altered, and its chancel still largely of the thirteenth century.
Especially notable are the two Norman doorways in the nave and curious
supports of the belfry there, four naked and massive posts.
[Illustration: SELBORNE FROM THE HANGER]
Bishop Sutton was the last place I was to see upon the old road, for a
mile beyond that village I left it where it turned northward, to go
east into Ripley and so by the byways to climb into the hills, and
crossing them to descend steeply at evening into the village of
Selborne by the Oakhanger stream just before it enters that narrow
brief pass into the Weald. There in the twilight I stayed for awhile
under the yew tree in the churchyard to think of the writer, for love
of whom I had made this journey all the way from Winchester.
Pages:
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433