Selborne Walk 26th July 2023

John and Maureen led the 4.7 mile walk from Selborne, a Hampshire village just inside the Southdowns National Park and synonymous with Gilbert White, the naturalist whose book ‘The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne’ (1789) has never been out of print and is allegedly the fourth most published book in the English language. No pressure on John and Maureen then!

We met up behind The Selborne Arms, were herded together and endured the pain of climbing uphill by straight away ascending the Selborne Hanger on the zigzag path attributed to Gilbert and his brother, we suspected there may have been some volunteers as well. The view at the top was enjoyed while we got our breath back and debated over the giant golf balls at RAF Oakhanger. On the common we encountered a tree clearing operation and recovered a warning sign that was put back up for fellow users of the common. Crossing the Common on Selborne Hill we turned right to stay on the edge of the Common and met up with some other walkers that shunned us as we were obviously not their type. The coffee break was not far from Wood Pond. Afterwards we continued to skirt the edge of the Common when we arrived at Gracious Street where some of us debated whether to continue by bus. At Grange Farm we left the road, descended to the main road, crossed over and continued to a gully where we dropped down to Hangers Way and made our way up to St Mary the Virgin church which is a Grade I listed church that dates back to the late 12th century. The church was open so we had a visit and found Gilbert White’s humble grave outside. We returned to the high street, passing the plaque for Sullivan Black, the fictional author of the rediscovered ‘Unnatural History of Selborne’, and an amoral and disreputable contemporary of Rev Gilbert White, described as a Libertine, opium eater, drunkard, duellist, gambler and wastrel. This provided a challenge for us as we headed back to the Selborne Arms to wine and dine and fail miserably to attain any of Mr Black’s attributes.