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Title: Records, historical and antiquarian, of Parishes Round Horncastle
Author: Walter, James Conway
Language: English
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ANTIQUARIAN, OF PARISHES ROUND HORNCASTLE***
Transcribed from the 1904 W. K. Morton edition, by David Price, email
ccx074@pglaf.org
[Picture: Book cover]
[Picture: Photograph of J. Conway Walter with his signature]
Records,
HISTORICAL AND ANTIQUARIAN,
OF
Parishes Round Horncastle.
* * * * *
BY
J. CONWAY WALTER,
AUTHOR OF “RECORDS OF WOODHALL SPA,” “THE AYSCOUGHS,”
“LITERÆ LAUREATÆ,” &c.
[Picture: Ancient Chrismatory, see page 38]
Ancient Chrismatory, see page 38.
* * * * *
HORNCASTLE:
W. K. MORTON, HIGH STREET,
1904.
PREFACE.
In perusing the following pages, readers, who may be specially interested
in some one particular parish with which they are connected, may in
certain cases be disappointed on not finding such parish here described,
as they have previously seen it, along with the others, in the columns of
the “Horncastle News,” where these ‘Records’ first appeared. This may
arise from one of two causes:—
(1) The volume published in 1899, entitled “Records of Woodhall Spa and
Neighbourhood” (which was very favourably received), contained accounts
of parishes extending from Somersby and Harrington in the east of the
district, to Horsington and Bucknall in the west, with others between; as
being likely to interest visitors to that growing health resort. These,
therefore, do not find a place in this volume.
(2) Further it is proposed that in the near future this volume shall be
followed by a “History of Horncastle,” already approaching completion,
and with it accounts of the fourteen parishes within its “soke.” These,
again, are, consequently, not here given.
The Records of all these different parishes will be found in the volumes
to which they respectively belong.
In again submitting a work of this character to the many friends whom his
former volume has gained for him, the author wishes to say that he is
himself fully alive to its imperfections; none could be more so. In not
a few instances it has, almost perforce, come short of his own aim and
aspirations; the material available in connection with some of the
parishes described having proved meagre beyond expectation. In many
chains links have been lost; there are gaps—in some cases a yawning
hiatus—which it has been found impossible to fill.
Further, as the account of each parish was intended originally to be
complete in itself, and several parishes have, at different periods, had
the same owners, there will be found, of necessity, some cases of
repetition as to individuals, their character, or incidents connected
with them.
Anyone who reads the book will see that it has involved no small amount
of labour; whether in visiting (always on foot) the many localities
described (in all more than 70 parishes having been visited); or in the
careful search and research, necessary in many directions, for the
information required.
In both these respects, however, the task has been a congenial one, and
of more or less engrossing interest, thus bringing its own reward.
It has been said by a thoughtful writer that no one can enjoy the country
so thoroughly as the pedestrian who passes through it leisurely.
We all, instinctively (if not vitiated), have a love of the country. As
Cowper has said:—
“’Tis born with all; the love of Nature’s works
Is an ingredient in the compound man,
Infused at the creation of his kind.”—(“The Task.”)
It is not, however, the cyclist, who rushes through our rural charms with
head in the position of a battering ram, and frame quivering with the
vibration engendered of his vehicle, who can dwell on these attractions
with full appreciation. Nor is it his more reckless brother, the
motorist, who crashes along our country roads, with powers of observation
narrowed by hideous binocular vizor, and at a speed whose centrifugal
force drives in terror every other wayfarer—chicken, child, woman, or
man—to fly like sparks from anvil in all directions, if haply they may
even so escape destruction. For him, we might suppose, the fascination
must be to outstrip the thunderbolt, not to linger over mundane scenery.
But to the man who walks deliberately, and with an observant eye for all
about him, to him indeed nature unfolds her choicest treasures. Not only
antiquities such as the British, Roman, or Danish camps on the hill sides
above him have their special attractions; but the very hedge-rows and
banks, with their wealth of flower and of insect life, the quarries with
their different fossils, the ice-borne boulders scattered about, and even
the local, and often quaint, human characters, whom he may meet and chat
with. All these afford him sources of varied interest as well as
instruction.
The process, again, of antiquarian investigation is absorbing and
recuperative, alike to man and matter, bringing to life, as it were,
habits and customs long buried in the “limbo” of the past, re-clothing
dry bones with flesh, uniting those no longer articulate; like the kilted
warriors springing to their feet, on all sides, from the heather, at the
signal of some Rhoderick Dhu. Here also, albeit, the recording MSS and
folios may be “fusty,” knights of old are summoned up, as by a long
forgotten roll-call, to fight their battles over again; or high-born
dames and “ladyes fayre,” may unfold anew unknown romances.
With our span-new Rural, Urban and County Councils, we are apt to fancy
that only now, in this twentieth century, is our little world awakening
to real activity; but the antiquary, as by a magician’s wand, can conjure
up scenes dispelling such illusions; and anyone, who reads the following
pages, may see that the humblest of our rural villages may have had a
past of stirring incident, which must be little short of a revelation to
most of its present occupants, “not dreamt of in their simple
philosophy.”
Among the calls of other duties, to one whose occupations are by no means
limited to this particular field of labour, the work had often, of
necessity, to be suspended, and so its continuity was liable to be broken
into a collection of _disjecta corporis membra_. Such, however, as they
are, the author submits these ‘Records’ to future generous readers, in
the confident hope that they will make due allowance for the varied
difficulties with which he has had to contend.
He could wish the results attained were more worthy of their acceptance;
but he has some satisfaction in the feeling that, in his humble degree,
he has opened up, as it were, a new world (though still an old one) for
their contemplation.
A popular writer has said: “To realise the charm and wealth of interest
of a country side, even in one’s armchair, is an intellectual pleasure of
no mean order.” If the old-time incidents found in the following pages
enliven some of our modern “ingle neuks,” the author will, in some
degree, have gained his reward.
J.C.W.
CORRIGENDA. {0}
Page 1, line 23, _for_ moot-free _read_ moot-tree.
„ 3, line 11, _for_ Creœceur _read_ Creveceur.
„ 8, line 24, _for_ Sharford _read_ Snarford.
„ 14, line 13, _for_ resident _read_ residence.
„ 18, line 20, _for_ Ascham _read_ Acham.
„ 19, line 9, _for_ Anjon _read_ Anjou.
„ 30, foot-note, _for_ Anjon _read_ Anjou.
„ 31, line 36, _for_ Stukley _read_ Stukeley.
„ 41, line 24, Richard, King, _omit comma_.
„ 44, line 28, Emperor of Constantine, _omit_ of.
„ 45, line 18, _for_ Improprietor _read_ Impropriator.
„ 50, line 1, _for_ Mabysshendery _read_ Mabysshenderby.
„ 51, line 31, _for_ Tessara _read_ Tessera.
„ 56, line 41, _for_ 1349 _read_ 1846.
,, 67, line 23, _for_ call _read_ called.
„ 114, last line, _for_ smalle _read_ smaller.
„ 116, line 8, _for_ Bernek _read_ Bernak.
„ 119, line 9, _for_ his misdeeds _read_ their misdeeds.
„ 125, foot note, _for_ one launcar _read_ one lance.
„ 126, line 34, _for_ 13th century _read_ 18_th_ century.
„ 128, line 35, _for_ attatched _read_ attached
„ 136, line 20, _for_ a aumbrey _read_ an aumbrey.
„ 136, line 42, _for_ Canon Oldfield _read_ Rev. G. R. Ekins.
„ 138, line 18, Asgarby Benefice is now held with Lusby, by Rev. C. E.
Bolam.
„ 154, line 35, _for_ right north _read_ left north.
„ 169, line 29, _for_ succumbuit _read_ succubuit.
,, 170, line 16, _for_ Almond _read_ Salmond.
„ 171, line 22, _for_ place _read_ places.
„ 184, line 5, _for_ sprays _read_ splays.
„ 185, line 12, _for_ similiar _read_ similar.
„ 190, line 41, _for_ Cladius _read_ Claudius.
„ 194, line 3 5, _for_ Creviceur _read_ Creveceur.
NOTES ON PARISHES ROUND HORNCASTLE.
ASHBY PUERORUM
is situated about five miles from Horncastle in an eastern direction,
lying between Somersby on the north-east, Greetham nearly west, and
Hagworthingham almost south. It includes the hamlets of Stainsby and
Holbeck. The register dates from 1627. Letters, via Horncastle, arrive
at 10 a.m. At Tetford is the nearest money order and telegraph office,
although there is in the village an office where postal orders and stamps
can be obtained. The principal owners of land are Earl Manvers, the
representatives of the late Mr. Pocklington Coltman, of Hagnaby Priory,
and F. W. S. Heywood, Esq., of Holbeck Hall. The antiquity of the parish
is implied in its name. “Ash” is the Danish “esshe” (the pronunciation
still locally used), and “by” is Danish for “farmstead.” Indeed, the
whole of the neighbourhood was overrun by the Danish Vikings, as is shewn
by the termination “by,” which is almost universal, as in Stainsby,
Somersby, three Enderbys, Spilsby, etc. The ash was probably the “moot”
tree of the village, beneath whose spreading shade the elders sat in
council. This tree was formerly held sacred. The “world-tree,” or “holy
ash” of the Danish mythology (called by the Druids “Yggdrasil”) was
supposed to have its top in heaven and its roots in hell {2a} (“Asgard
and the Gods,” by Wagner). I am aware that another derivation has been
suggested, viz., that “ash” represents the Norse “is,” “use,” “uisge”
(compare river Ouse), all of which mean “water,” as in Ashbourne, where
the latter syllable is only a later translation of the former, both
meaning water. But I cannot see that water is so prominent a local
feature as to give a name to this parish, nor to the other Ashbys in the
neighbourhood. {2b}
The oldest official notice of the parish is in Domesday Book, where it is
stated that “in Aschebi, Odincarle (Wodin’s churl) and Chilbert had 4
carucates (_i.e._, 480 acres) rateable” to the tax called “gelt,” their
whole land being 5 carucates or 600 acres. This was in Saxon times.
When William the Conqueror took possession these were deprived of their
property, and he bestowed the manor on Odo, Bishop of Baieux, who was his
half-brother on the mother’s side. On the bishop coming to England,
William created him Earl of Kent, and also Count Palatine, and
“Justitiarius Angliæ.” He was so powerful that historians of the day
described him as “Totius Angliæ Vice-dominus sub rege,” second only to
the King. He held, of the King’s gift, 76 manors in Lincolnshire,
besides 463 in other parts. This greatness, however, was his ruin, for,
from his pride and arrogancy, he incurred the Conqueror’s displeasure and
was sent to prison in Normandy. On the Conqueror’s death, in 1084, King
Rufus restored him to his honours, but, finding his power not so great as
formerly, he headed a conspiracy against Rufus in favour of Robert, Duke
of Normandy, and, failing in it, he fled to the Duke, who made him
governor of that Province, where he died in 1097. Ashby Puerorum was
thus again “in the market.”
The subsequent history of Ashby is more or less enveloped in the folding
mists of antiquity. The clouds, however, do here and there lift a
little, and we get a glimpse into the past which enables us to form a
shrewd guess as to its early proprietors. Among the list of noble
soldiers contained in the famous “Battle Roll” of the Conqueror, as
coming over with him to England and fighting for him at Hastings, is the
name of Creuquere, or Creveceur, Latinized as “De corde Crepito,” which
some have rendered “of the craven heart,” not a very likely attribute of
a brave soldier. We prefer another rendering, “of the tender heart,” and
connect it with the legend of his rescuing a “ladye fayre” at the risk of
his own life, who was kept “in durance vile” by a knight of ill repute,
in his castle, situated in a lonesome forest. The name also took the
alternative form of De Curcy. A de Curcy was seneschal, or High Steward,
to Henry I., and it is a name which ranks high still. This Creveceur (we
are not sure of his Christian name) was one of a doughty race. Giraldus
Kambrensis tells us of one of them, who conquered the Irish kingdom of
Ulster in 1177 (Hibernia Expugnata, lib. ii., c. 16, 17), and was created
Earl of Ulster. He was of gigantic stature, and in a dispute between
Kings Philip of France and John of England, the former sent one of his
most redoubted knights to maintain his cause, but, the Creveceur being
appointed champion for John, the Frenchman thought it best to show a
clean pair of heels and shun the combat. In recognition of his valour
this Knight was allowed by King John to wear his hat in the King’s
presence, a privilege still enjoyed by Lord Kinsale, the present
representative of the family. Lord Forester had the same privilege
granted by Henry VIII.
Now the Creveceurs were lords of considerable territory in the
neighbourhood of Ashby; for instance, at Bag Enderby, Somersby, Tetford,
etc., and in the document “Testa de Nevill” (circa 1215) it is stated
that Hugh Fitz Ralph is tenant, under the Barony of Cecilia de Creveceur,
of lands in Ashby, Tetford, etc. Other documents lead us back a little
further, as an “Assize Roll,” of date A.D. 1202, says that the property
came from Matilda de Creveceur, who was the daughter and heir of
Gislebert Fitz Gozelin, who held lands at Bag Enderby, etc., and this
last is named as owner in Domesday Book.
Another name now appears. By an Assize Roll of 9 Edw. I. (A.D. 1280),
Thomas de Houton claims of Robert de Kirketon, and Beatrix his wife,
certain “rents and appurtenances in Ashby next Greetham (_i.e._, Ashby
Puerorum), Stainsby,” etc.
The Kirketon family would seem eventually to have acquired a part of the
manor of Ashby Puerorum, and from them it passed to Lord Cromwell of
Tattershall. A Chancery Inquisition, held at Horncastle in 1453, shews
that the College at Tattershall held the advowsons of Ashby Puerorum,
Wood Enderby, Moorby, and several other benefices. By an Inquisition of
the same date and place, the Jurors state that the Manors of Ashby
Puerorum and certain other places belong to the Earl of Albemarle. After
that, at the Dissolution of Religious Houses (Tattershall College being
one), the King granted to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, most of their
lands in the neighbourhood, including those in Ashby Puerorum. This
brings us down to 1539. In course of time a general process of
dissolution also took place in ownership of land. The lands owned in
this parish by the Brandons, were sold (22 Elizabeth, _i.e._, in 1580) to
James Prescott, gentleman, who married a daughter of Sir Richard
Molineux, Knight. He had a son, John, whose widow married Lord
Willoughby of Parham (Architect. S. Journal vol. xxiii., pp. 128, 9). By
a Feet of Fines, held at Lincoln, of the same date, it is shewn that
George Gedney, Esq., and his descendents, also had lands in this parish
in 20 Henry VII. (A.D. 1504), etc. (Ibidem. p. 27.) All these lands
ultimately passed to Tattershall College. But even before that date it
would appear, by a Chancery Inquisition, held at Lincoln, A.D. 1504, that
Joan Eland, {4} the widow of Thomas Gedney, held lands in Ashby Puerorum,
Somersby, and other near places.
Another prominent family now appears as owning the manor of, or at least
considerable lands in, Ashby Puerorum, viz., the Wentworths. A tradition
remains that Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, in the reign of Charles
I., and one of his Sovereign’s most faithful adherents, owned the manor
of Greetham. I have not been able fully to verify this, but a lease of
that parish was granted in 1685 (see my account of Greetham) to Sir
William Wentworth, Knight, of Ashby Puerorum, who was son of Sir William
Wentworth, who fell at the battle of Marston Moor, fighting for Charles
I. The Parish Award shows that Thomas, Earl of Strafford, was Lord of
the Manor in 1705. (“Architect. Soc. Journal,” 1891.)
The succession of the Wentworths to this property probably came about in
this wise. We have seen that it passed from the Kirketons {5} to Lord
Cromwell, and the Cromwells were succeeded, through a marriage on the
female side, by the Fortescues; and Camden (“Britannia,” p. 266, ed.
1695) tells us that a daughter of Sir Adrian Fortescue (who was
attainted) being heiress of her mother, married the first Baron
Wentworth.
The Wentworths were a very ancient family. They are now represented by
the Earls Fitzwilliam, one of whose names is Wentworth, and they own the
princely residence of Wentworth Castle, near Rotherham. They trace their
descent from Saxon Royalty, in the person of their ancestor, Sir William
Fitz Godric, cousin to King Edward the Confessor. (“Beauties of England.
Yorkshire,” p. 838.)
It is worthy of note that one of this family, accompanying William the
Conqueror to England, fought so valiantly at the battle of Hastings that
William gave him a scarf from his own arm (presumably), to stanch a
wound. Drake, the historian, in his “Eboracensis,” gives plates of the
Wentworth monuments in York Cathedral. The Barony of Wentworth still
survives in the present Lord Wentworth, of Wentworth House, Chelsea, its
creation dating from 1529.
We have now done with the Wentworths. Their property at Ashby descended,
towards the end of the 18th century, to Mr. Stevens Dineley Totton, from
whom it passed to Earl Manvers and the Coltman family.
We now take the hamlet of Stainsby, which lies to the north-east, distant
about a mile, on the right of the road to Somersby. This was formerly
the chief seat, in this neighbourhood, of the Littlebury family. We
mention them in our Records of various other parishes. There are mural
monuments of them in both Somersby Church and that of Ashby Puerorum; the
former is a small brass, about 10in, broad by 14in. high, having a
kneeling figure of George Littlebury, with the inscription, “Here lyeth
George Littleburie of Somersbie, 7th sonne of Thomas Littleburie of
Stainsbie, who died the 13th daye of October, in ye yeare of our Lord
1612, being about the age of 73 yeares.” The Littleburys were a very old
family, coming originally from Littlebury Manor, near Saffron Walden, in
the county of Essex, A.D. 1138. One of them was Chief Justice of
England. Subsequently they had a fine residence at Holbeach Hurn, in
South Lincolnshire, and large property in many other places. We have
spoken already of the Kirketons, as connected with Ashby Puerorum and Sir
Humphrey Littlebury, Knight, whose name appears in the Sheriffs List, in
1324, married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir John Kirkton (or
Kirton), and so became Lord of Holbeach. Sir John Littlebury {6a}
married a daughter of Thomas Meeres, an old and wealthy family, also of
Kirton, {6b} and it would seem that it was through this marriage with the
Kirtons of Kirton the Littleburys came to Stainsby. Sir Humphrey was
buried in Holbeach Church, where there is a very fine tomb of him, now in
the north aisle, but formerly “before the altar.” The effigy is that of
a knight, encased in armour, the hands joined in prayer, the head resting
on a woman’s head, which is enclosed in a net, the feet being supported
by a lion. The sides are covered with roses, and there are four niches,
with canopies, which probably held figures on a smaller scale. Two views
of it are given by C. A. Stoddard, in his “Monumental Effigies of Great
Britain” (London, 4to., 1817). The actual date of the Littleburys coming
to Stainsby cannot be exactly ascertained, but they were there in the
reign of Henry VIII.
A small proprietor in Stainsby is named in a Chancery Inquisition, 19
Henry VII., No. 20 (_i.e._, A.D. 1503), viz., John H. Etton, who, besides
several other lands, held “one messuage and four cottages in Bag Enderby,
Stanesby and Someresby,” which lands also passed to Tattershall College.
(“Architect. Soc. Journal,” xxiii., p. 21.)
Stainsby (let not my readers be alarmed, for witches and warlocks are out
of fashion in this unimaginative, or sceptical, age) has not been without
its supernatural associations. I here give a colloquy held, not many
months ago, with a quondam resident. (J. C. W. loquitur. F. C.
respondet). “Well, C., did you ever hear of a ghost at Stainsby?” “Aye,
that I did, mony a year sin’. When I were young, I lived i’ them parts,
and I heard o’ one oftens.” “Did you ever see it yourself?” “Noa, I
never seed it me-sen, but I knowed several as did.” “Where was it seen?”
“Why, i’ mony places.” “Tell me one or two.” “Well, it were seen about
Stayensby, haaf a mile afore ye come to Somersby, and it were seen about
the esh-planting (notice the ‘esh,’ the old Danish pronunciation still
surviving, the Danish for Ashby being Eshe-by), just afore ye go down to
the brig o’er the beck.” “Can you name anyone who saw it?” “O, many on
’em, specially gean the brig.” “Name someone.” “Well, a waggoner living
at Bag Enderby.” “What was it like?” “Well, a misty kin’ o’ thing. Ye
could make nayther heead nor taal on it, only ye knew it was there, and
it flitted unaccountable.” {7}
I will here give a few extracts from old documents connected with former
owners, which may be of interest from their peculiarity, or otherwise.
John Gedney, of Bag Enderby, in his will, dated 14 June, 1535, mentions
his lands in Ashby Puerorum and other parishes.
Margaret Littlebury, widow of Thos. Littlebury, Esq., of Stainsby, by her
will, of date 2 January, 1582, requests that she may be buried in the
Church of Ashby Puerorum, “near unto my husband.” She bequeaths to the
poor of the parish, as also of Greetham, Salmonby, Somersby, Bag Enderby,
and Hagg, the lease of the Parsonage of Maidenwell; a sheepwalk there to
her sons George and Edward; to her daughter Anne, wife of Thomas
Grantham, £10 (N.B.—The Granthams still survive); to her daughter,
Elizabeth Fitzwilliam (a good family), £10; to her daughter, Katherine
Wythornwyke, £5; to Thomas Dighton, son of Christopher Dighton, deceased
(a family connected with several parishes), £10; “to Francis Atkinson, my
warrener, 20s.” (“warrener” probably equivalent to gamekeeper). She
refers to a schedule of plate, etc., bequeathed by her late husband to
his deceased son, Humphrey, to be handed over to his son Thomas. She was
a daughter of John St. Paul, of Snarford.
Thomas Littlebury, of Ashby, by will, proved June 10th, 1590, bequeathed
to his wife Katherine £100, and “one goblett with gylte cover, two
‘tunnes’ (_i.e._, cups) parcel gilte, 6 silver spoons of the best, my
gylte salte I bought of my uncle Kelke, with a cover.” (The Kelkes were
related to the Kirtons of Kirkton). Then follow a number of bequests of
property in various parts of the county. The husband makes his executors
“my father-in-law, Charles Dymoke, my cousins Andrew Gedney and Thomas
Copledike.” (N.B.—These are the Copledikes, of whom so many monuments
exist in Harrington Church.)
George Littlebury, of Somersby, by will, dated 10 Sept., 1612, requests
to be buried “in the Queare of Somersby Church,” and leaves 2s. to it,
and 1s. to Ashby Church, and 1s. to Lincoln Cathedral. He wishes a stone
to be placed over his grave, and his arms set in the wall, as his
father’s were at Ashby. (N.B.—Both these stones and brasses still
exist.)
When the Spanish Armada was expected, among the gentry who contributed to
the defence of the country, at the Horncastle Sessions, 1586–7, was “John
Littlebury of Hagworthingham Esq. ij. light horse.” At the same time
“Thomas Littlebery of Staynsby Esq. [furnished] j. launce [and] j. light
horse.” At the “Rising” in Lincolnshire (1536) against Henry VIII., on
the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a previous John Littlebury was just
deceased, but his son Humphrey took part in it, as also did Robert
Littlebury, who was probably a son of Thomas Littlebury, of Stainsby.
The Littleburys and the Langtons of Langton intermarried more than once.
In the reign of Henry VIII., Rose, daughter of John Littlebury of
Hagworthingham, married John Langton, and in the next century (about
1620) Troth. daughter of Thomas Littlebury of Ashby Puerorum, married a
son of Sir John Langton, Knt., High Sheriff of Lincolnshire.
(“Architect. Soc. Journal,” vol. xxii., pp. 166–7). Probably it was
owing to this connection that we find that Sir John Langton, of Langton,
by his will, dated 25 Sept., 1616, leaves 20s. to the poor of Ashby,
Langton, and several other places. (N.B.—I am indebted for these
particulars to “Lincolnshire Wills,” edited by Canon Maddison of
Lincoln.)
The second half of the name of this parish of Ashby Puerorum is derived
from the fact that the rent of certain lands in the parish were assigned
towards the support of the choristers of Lincoln Cathedral, which is now
raised by a general rate of the parish, and, accordingly, the Dean and
Chapter of Lincoln are patrons of the benefice, a vicarage {9} which is
now held by the Rev. Robert Ward, who resides at Hagworthingham.
One of the early Norman Barons, probably Gislebert Fitz Gozelin, erected
here a gallows (Hundred Rolls, A.D. 1275). The site of this is not now
known, unless it may be traced in a part of the parish lying in an
easterly direction from the village, and named “Knowles,” possibly a
corruption for “Knoll Hill,” a rising ground on which a gallows might
well be placed as a conspicuous warning for future would-be offenders. A
lane in the parish is called Galley Lane, which again may point to the
former gallows.
Another field-name in the parish is not without interest, viz.,
Peaseholme. We have Peasedale gate (_i.e._, road) in Hameringham,
Peasegate Lane at Spilsby, Peasewang (_i.e._, field) in High Toynton, and
similar names in Louth and elsewhere. All these are indicating the
general use of pulse as an article of diet in those early times.
Near the western end of the village is a farm named “Clapgate,” so called
because the fugitive Royalists, after the battle of Winceby (Oct. 11,
1643), kept a neighbouring gate clapping all night in their haste to
escape. Near this is a footpath across the fields, which leads to
Holbeck Lodge, and here again, till recently, survived the same name,
“Clapgate,” because there was formerly a gate near Holbeck Lodge, on the
now high road to Salmonby, which was also kept in motion by other
fugitives, to the disturbance of the slumbers of those living near. And
this brings us to Holbeck, the other hamlet comprised in the parish of
Ashby Puerorum, commonly described as “an extra-parochial liberty.”
The name Holbeck contains two Danish, or Norse, elements. “Hol” implies
a hollow, connected with our word “hole.” We have it in the German Swiss
Eulenthal, or hollow dale. “Beck” is Norse, corresponding to the German
“bach,” as in Schwabach, Staubbach, Reichenbach, etc. Thus Holbech means
a beck or stream running through a hollow. {10} The name Holbeck still
exists in Denmark. Thus we have a name, like so many (as already
remarked) in the vicinity, shewing the great immigration of Danes in this
neighbourhood. There is also a Holbeck near Leeds, to which the Danes,
who came up the Humber, extended their settlements. At the back, to the
north of the present Holbeck Hall, is the rising ground named “Hoe Hill.”
This again indicates the same. The How, or Hoe, is probably the Norse
“Hof,” a holy place (found in such names as Ivanhoe, Ivinghoe,
Piddinghoe, etc.), or it may have been the Norse “Haughr,” a burial
place. In that case it may have been held sacred as the burial place of
some Viking chief, who led his followers in their invasion of the
district. It may be described as a truncated, and rather obtuse, cone,
with a dyke, or scarpment, running round it, like a collar round the
neck. There is a How Hill near Harrogate. We have also Silver-how,
Bull-how, and Scale-how, which were probably the burial places of the
chiefs Solvar, Boll, and Skall. But whether or not it once served these
purposes, there can be little doubt that it has been a Danish encampment,
and probably a stronghold of the Briton at a still earlier period. The
dyke would form the outer defence of the height above, from which to
charge down upon an enemy, laboriously breasting the hill, with
overwhelming advantage to the defenders. Geologically, Hoe Hill is
interesting, the ironstone, of which it is composed, being so totally
different from the sandstone of Holbeck below. These lower rocks are
said to be still the haunt of that much-baited, but harmless animal, the
badger.
As to former owners of Holbeck, old title deeds show that it was formerly
the property of Augusta Ann Hatfield Kaye, sister of Frederick Thomas,
Earl of Stafford, who also, as we have seen, was lord of the manor of
Ashby. She died at Wentworth Castle, and was buried at St. John’s
Church, Wakefield, May 4, 1802, as I am informed by the present owner, F.
W. S. Heywood, Esq. Old documents, still existing, show that the house
at Holbeck was formerly called “The Grange,” and from this we may fairly
infer that, before the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it was a “Grange,”
or dependency, of Tattershall College, which owned other lands in Ashby.
The site was well adapted for a monastic house, as they invariably chose
a position near water, this being necessary for the supply of fish, which
formed so large a portion of their diet when fasting days were so many.
Like some other parts of this parish, Holbeck also passed, at a later
period, into the ownership of Mr. Stevens Dineley Totton, from whom Mr.
John Fardell, of the Chantry, Lincoln, and formerly M.P. for that city,
purchased this manor, about 1830. He took down the old residence, then a
farmhouse, occupied by a Mr. Hewson, several of whose family are buried
in the churchyard at Ashby, and built Holbeck Lodge, forming also the
three lakes out of an extent of morass traversed by a brook, or beck.
Portions of the old stables and outhouses still remain, but an
interesting old circular dovecote {12a} was removed. There was, at that
time, a watermill and cottage at the lower end of the lake. {12b}
The Lodge was subsequently bought by a Mr. Betts, but, through mortgages,
it became the inheritance of a Miss Cunliffe, from whom Mr. Heywood
recently bought it. This gentleman has made considerable improvements
and additions to the residence, and one or two interesting discoveries
have been made. In sinking a well there was found, at a depth of 20ft.,
an old key; also, as workmen were trying to trace a drain under the lawn,
one of them dropped into a hollow below, where arches were found,
apparently of ancient vaults. {12c} The monks of old knew what was meant
by a good cellar, and these probably formed a part of the original
monastic institution.
I now proceed to a description of the church of Ashby in the words of the
late learned Precentor Venables, who gave it, on the visit of the
Architectural Society in 1894 (which I conducted). “The chancel was
restored in 1869 by the Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln. The
rest was restored in 1877. The fabric consists of nave, north aisle
chancel, porch, and western tower, having 2 bells. The main building is
of the Early English style. A lancet window still remains in the south
wall, and at the west end of the aisle. The other windows of the nave
are mostly Perpendicular. On the south side of the chancel is a
two-light square-headed window of the Decorated period. The arcade has
two chamfered arches, on low cylindrical piers. The tower is low, of
Perpendicular style, the green sandstone, picturesquely patched with
brick, giving a mellowed tint to the whole. The west doorway is well
proportioned, and the three-light Perpendicular window above it, and the
tower arch are plain, but good. The font is plain octagonal. On the
south wall is a brass to Richard Littlebury, of Stainsby, who died A.D.
1521, also his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edmund Jenny, died in
1523, and their ten children. {13} Haines says that this brass was not
cut till 1560, at the same time with another of a knight in armour,
without inscription, probably one of the six sons. In the pavement is a
very fine incised slab of blue marble, representing a priest in
Eucharistic vestments, with chalice on his breast. The head, hands,
chalice, and other portions were of brass, but have disappeared.” An
interesting discovery was made in this parish rather more than 100 years
ago, a description of which I here give in the words of Saunders (“Hist.
County Lincoln,” vol. ii., p. 170, 1), who gives particulars more fully
than any other authority I have been able to consult. “On the 26th of
October, 1794, a labourer, cutting a ditch (the actual site is not given)
discovered at a depth of three feet below the surface a Roman sepulchre,
consisting of a stone chest, in which was deposited an urn of strong
glass, well manufactured, but of a greenish hue; the chest was of
freestone, such as is found in abundance on Lincoln heath. When found
the urn was perfect and had not suffered any of that decay which
generally renders the surface of Roman glass of a pearly or opaline hue,
for the surface was as smooth as if it had newly come from the fire.
This receptacle was nearly filled with small pieces of bone, many of
which, from the effects of ignition, were white through their whole
substance; and among the fragments was a small lacrymatory of very thin,
and very green, glass, which had probably been broken through the
curiosity of the finder, as he acknowledged his having poured out the
contents upon the grass in the hope of finding money, before he took it
to his employer. The circumstances attending this sepulchre clearly
prove it to have been Roman. It is, however, singular that the place
chosen was not, as was customary with that people, near to a highway, and
that it does not appear to have been the burial place of a family, since,
although the trench was dug quite across the field, no traces of a body
having been buried in any other part of it were observed. . . . No traces
of the Romans have been observed here . . . except that some coins of
brass or copper were dug up in an orchard at Stainsby, said to have been
Roman, but as they were not preserved this must remain doubtful. . . .
The locality, however, is so adapted, for various reasons, to the Roman
villa, that Sir Joseph Banks, in an article communicated to
‘Archæologia,’ vol. xii., p. 36, thought it ‘not improbable that such a
residence might some day be discovered, the Roman town of Banovallum
being so near, with a number of Roman roads branching through the
country.’”
The name of Stainsby itself indicates a considerable antiquity, meaning
the stones-farm. This may have been from stepping-stones over the
Somersby beck, near at hand or from some quarry of the sandstone in the
vicinity, still so largely used. The stones were evidently the
distinguishing feature of the locality.
P.S.—The writer is requested to say that he is in error in connecting the
family of Coltman of Ashby with that of the Pocklington Coltman of
Hagnaby, the two being quite distinct.
ASTERBY.
Asterby is situated about 6½ miles from Horncastle in a north-easterly
direction, being approached by the road to Scamblesby and Louth, but
diverging from that road northward shortly before reaching Scamblesby.
The Rector is the Rev. J. Graham, J.P., who has a substantial residence,
erected at a cost of £1,200 in 1863, and standing on the slope of a hill
in good grounds. Letters, _viâ_ Lincoln, arrive at 10 a.m.
Not much can be gathered of the early history of this parish. It is
named in _Domesday Book_ Estreby; this may mean the “buy,” byre, or
farmstead, of the Saxon Thane Estori. But, according to another
interpretation, the three elements of the name are As, or Aes, tre and
by; the first of these implying “water,” the second “a way” or “passage,”
the third a “homestead,” the whole thus meaning the Homestead by the
water-way; and so probably referring to the river Bain, which forms the
boundary between this parish and Ranby; its breed of trout being not
unknown to anglers of our own day.
According to the Domesday survey this manor belonged to the Norman noble
Ivo Taillebois, doubtless through his marriage with the Saxon heiress of
the Thorolds, the Lady Lucia. And she conveyed to the Priory of Spalding
certain “temporalities,” _i.e._, rents of lands, here, as well as at
Scamblesby; her uncle Thorold, Vice-Comes, or Sheriff, of Lincolnshire,
being the founder of that institution, and she herself one of its chief
benefactors. In the Priory Charters this parish is also called Esterby.
Ivo, however, was only this lady’s first husband, and, as is mentioned in
the “Notes” on various other parishes with which he was connected, he
died without issue; and on her re-marrying, {15a} her great possessions
passed to the Romara family, subsequently to the Gaunts, and were then
gradually broken up, and dispersed among their various descendants. Only
a few fragmentary records of former owners can now be found.
By Will dated 31st July, 1585, Edmund Dighton, of Little Sturton, leaves
lands in Asterby and elsewhere to his son Robert, and also his leases of
land held by grant of the late Abbot of Kirkstead, and a house called
Beadway Hall. The Dighton’s were a wealthy family, originally engaged in
commerce in Lincoln, but afterwards acquiring considerable property in
various parts of the county, and taking a good position. The
headquarters of the family were at the Old Hall, of which traces still
remain, in Little Stourton; a daughter of Thomas Dighton “of that ilk”
married Edward, 2nd son of the 1st Earl of Lincoln, of that line, temp.
Elizabeth; she eventually, on the death of his eldest brother, becoming
Countess of Lincoln. {15b}
Elizabeth Hansard, of Gayton-le-Wold, widow, by her Will, dated 17th
March, 1591, makes her father, John Jackson, of Asterby, executor, and
the guardian of her children, Edward, Margaret, and Mary Hansard; and
leaves all her property to them, except 20s. each to her brother Thomas
Jackson, and her brother-in-law William Hansard. These Hansards, a
knightly family located in this county at South Kelsey (also of
Beesthorpe and Thornton), were of very old extraction; tracing their
descent from Ughtred, Earl of Northumberland in the reign of Edmund
Ironsides, who came to the throne A.D. 016. {16} South Kelsey, their
chief seat, passed to the old family of the Ayscoughs, by the marriage of
Sir Francis Ayscough to the Hansard heiress, Elizabeth, in the middle of
the 16th century. Both Hansards and Ayscoughs were connected with many
of the leading county families.
John Guevera, of Stenigot, by Will dated 18th March, 1607, leaves his
manor of Stenigot and all his premises in Asterby (certain portions being
excepted) to his “Sonne Francis, his heir apparent, on his coming of
age,” and specifies that “till then he be held content by Sir Nicholas
Saunderson, knight, of Fillingham, and Captaine Henrie Guevera, of
Barwick.” These Gueveras were of Spanish origin, probably coming to
England in the train of Catharine of Arragon, or in attendance on King
Philip of Spain, Queen Mary’s husband. Spain was then a flourishing
country, and they soon acquired property, and took their position among
the landed gentry, Francis Guevera being named among the Herald’s List of
Gentry in 1634. Sir Nicholas Saunderson, here named, of Fillingham, was
grandson of Nicholas Saunderson, of Reasby, in the parish of
Stainton-by-Langworth. He was made a baronet in 1612, and Viscount
Castleton in 1628. The family was involved in the Lincolnshire Rebellion
of 1536. The manor, and greater part of the parish, are now in the hands
of trustees of the Trafford family, who are also patrons of the benefice.
Messrs. W. Pinning and Benjamin Harrison are also landowners, and Mr.
James Walter has a large and picturesque farmhouse with good grounds and
surroundings.
The church, dedicated to St. Peter, was for some years in an
unsatisfactory condition, but during recent years it has been gradually
undergoing restoration. It was formerly larger than it is now, having
had a north aisle. The tower was half taken down towards the close of
the 18th century, and rebuilt, the plinth of the tower buttress on the
south side of the west door being said to be the original one of the 12th
century. There are three bells. In 1896 the chancel was taken down and
extended about 6ft. in length, the interior face of the walls being
constructed of rubbed sandstone, in courses obtained from a quarry in the
parish. The exterior character of the old work was carefully preserved,
and a dressed stone plinth-course inserted. The old east window with
wooden framework was removed and a stone traceried window introduced,
filled with tinted glass. The floor was paved with encaustic tiles in
place of ordinary bricks, and the communion table raised 18 inches above
the body of the church, by three steps. A new altar rail of oak, with
standard of wrought-iron and brass, was put up, and the roof was made of
open timbers covered with match boards and slates. This work was done by
Mr. R. Mawer, builder, of Louth, under the direction of Messrs. Mortimer
and Son, architects, of Lincoln. The entire cost was defrayed by the
present rector. Since then other improvements have been effected. The
tower, in a dangerous condition, was partly taken down in 1898, and the
bells rehung in new oak framework. A handsome altar cloth was presented
by Lady Wigan. The nave floor has now boards in place of the old damp
and unsightly bricks. It has been supplied with new seating of
pitchpine. This work was entrusted to Messrs. Thompson & Sons, of Louth,
and is thoroughly satisfactory. Inspired by these efforts, a generous
donor, Mrs. Woodall, presented a massive oak lectern in memory of her
parents who for many years worshipped in this church, and the whole
fabric is now at length, through the exertions of the rector, liberally
seconded by Mrs. Graham, a credit to the parish. Old features of
interest in the church are the chancel arch, which is Early English; and
in the south chancel wall, near the reading desk, is also a three-light
Early English window, containing some fragments of very old glass, the
new east window being a copy of this. In the north wall of the nave are
two bays of the former aisle blocked up, with a grinning figurehead
between the arches. In a frame affixed to the north wall is the text,
from Eccl. v., 1, “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and
be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools.” The font is
old, having an octagonal bowl, with plain shields on each face, the shaft
also being octagonal and standing on a pediment of three steps. In the
south wall of the chancel, outside, is a mutilated slab bearing an
inscription in memory of “Samson Meanwell, who departed this life Feb.
17, 1744, in ye 63 yeare of his age.” Nearly opposite the west door is a
very old yew-tree, which may well have supplied the village archers with
their bows in the days of Crecy, Poictiers, and Agincourt. The benefice
is now held jointly with that of Goulceby. It was formerly in the gift
of the Dymokes. Dame Jane Dymoke presented in 1711 and 1725. She also
gave church plate. The patronage then passed to the Crown, who presented
in 1771 and 1784, after which the Trafford Southwell family acquired it,
with the manor, and presented in 1807.
Near the church is a field named Hall Close, where there are traces of a
large residence; and here, about the year 1821, were dug up three human
skeletons and an ancient dagger.
The poor of the parish have the benefit of a bequest made by Anthony
Acham, for them, and for those of Goulceby; who also, in 1638, founded a
school for the two parishes, with Stenigot.
We have only to add that the pilgrim to Asterby, who has an eye for rural
scenery, will be gratified on his way thither by an extent of view not
often to be found. He can take in, at one and the same moment, a
prospect reaching almost 30 miles, including Lincoln Cathedral and miles
beyond it to the north-west; and embracing Heckington and other fine
church spires, with Tattershall Castle to the south-west, and extensive
woods, corn fields, and meads to vary the scenes between.
BAUMBER.
Baumber, or Bamburgh, lies on the old Roman road, from Horncastle to
Lincoln, about 4 miles to the north-west from the former place, and
half-a-mile from the point where another Roman road furcates northward
for Caistor; it is thus somewhat interestingly connected with the three
ancient Roman stations, Lindum, Banovallum, and Caistor (Castrum). Its
own name, in the older form, Bam-burg doubtless means the “Burg,” or
fort, on the Bain; as it stands on high ground above the valley of the
Bain, and commands what would formerly be a ford of that river at
Hemingby, through which there passes a branch line of road, running due
east from Baumber, and stretching into the wold hills, being doubtless
also a Roman structure.
Baumber has had some interesting associations in the past. In Domesday
Book it is reckoned among the possessions of the Norman Ivo Tayle-bois,
nephew of William the Conqueror, Earl of Anjou, and chief of the Angevin
auxiliaries of William’s army. Through his wife, the Lady Lucia, the
Saxon heiress of Earl Alf-gar, who was given to him in marriage by the
Conqueror, he acquired very large possessions in Lincolnshire and
elsewhere. He was of a very tyrannical disposition; his chief residence
being near Croyland Abbey. The Historian Ingulphus records of him, that
he “tortured, harrassed, annoyed, and imprisoned their people”; that “he
chased their cattle with his dogs, driving them into the marsh pools,
where they were drowned; cut off their ears, or their tails; broke their
backs, or their legs; and made them useless.” When the world was
relieved of him by an early death, he was not mourned by his Saxon wife,
or anyone else. Another historian, Peter de Blois, says, “Hardly had one
month elapsed after his death, when the Lady Lucia married that
illustrious young man, Roger de Romara, and entirely lost all
recollection of Ivo Tayle-bois”; and he bursts into a volley of
imprecations, to this effect:—“What does it now profit thee, O Ivo! ever
most blood-thirsty, thus to have risen against the Lord? Unto the earth
hast thou fallen, numbered with the dead; in a moment of time thou hast
descended to hell, a successor of the old Adam, a frail potsherd, a heap
of ashes, a hide of carrion, a vessel of putrefaction, the food of worms,
the laughing-stock of those who survive, the refuse of the inhabitants of
heaven, the avowed enemy of the servants of God; and now, as we have
reason to suppose, an alien and exile from the congregations of saints,
and for thine innumerable misdeeds, worthy to be sent into outer
darkness.” {19}
Such was one of the proprietors of Baumber, but he was not the only one;
as Domesday mentions another, and larger, and more worthy, land owner in
the person of Gilbert de Gaunt, who succeeded, “by right,” or, more
strictly speaking, by confiscation, to all the property of the Saxon
Tonna; while another Saxon, Ulf, had also an estate in the parish. This
Gilbert de Gaunt founded Bardney Abbey; and, when he died, was buried
there.
The Lady Lucia was Countess of Chester and Lincoln; and at a later
period, Baumber, including the hamlet of Sturton Parva, would seem to
have been mainly divided between the family of the Earls of Lincoln, more
recently created Dukes of Newcastle, and the wealthy family of the
Dightons. Both had residences in or near this parish. A daughter of
Thomas Dighton, and his heiress married Edward Clinton, second son of the
first Earl of Lincoln of that line (temp. Elizabeth), and on failure of
issue to the elder brother, this Edward succeeded to the Earldom. Many
generations of the Clintons were buried here; but towards the end of the
18th century, the Clinton property was sold by the third Duke to Mr.
Thomas Livesey, of Blackburn, Lancashire, {20} whose son, the late Joseph
Livesey, Esq. erected a large mansion in 1810, which again was almost
rebuilt, and considerably enlarged in 1873–5. A large part of the parish
now belongs to the Vyner family of Gautby. The Baumber register dates
from 1691. One entry is “June 20th, 1730, the Corpse of the Right
Honourable, the Right Noble, Lord George Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, was
interred.”
The Church is dedicated to St. Swithun. The west door is a good specimen
of Norman work, with dog-tooth pattern running round the semi-circular
arch, in bass relief; the capital of its south pillar has a head, with
serpents whispering into each ear. The north capital is a conventional
acanthus. The inner eastern door of the tower is also Norman, but plain.
The Nave has north and south aisles of three bays; the eastern-most
column of the north arcade, under the removable flooring of the Vicar’s
seat, has the original round Norman plinth, the only one preserved. The
Church of stone was cased in brick, in the early part of the eighteenth
century (1736), when the present large, perpendicular windows were placed
in the north and south walls, three in each. Placed against the west
wall, south of the west entrance, is a large slab, commemorating John
Ealand, who died in 1463, and his wives Alice and Elizabeth. This was
formerly in the floor of the north aisle. Above is a tablet in memory of
members of the family of J. Bainbridge Smith, D.D., formerly Vicar, as
well as Rector of Sotby, and of Martin, and Headmaster of the Horncastle
Grammar School. The Font is octagonal and massive, but plain. There is
a handsome oak lectern with eagle on swivels, the gift of Mrs. Taylor
Sharpe, of Baumber Park, in memory of her eldest son, who died in 1891.
The pose of the eagle is very natural.
In the south aisle, and over the west entrance are hatchments of the
Clintons.
In the chancel, the east window is blocked up; there are two windows in
the north wall, one in the south wall, the second having been removed
when a vestry was erected, and it now forms the vestry window. On each
side, east of the chancel arch, are remains of massive early English
pillars. South of communion table are three plain sedilia of wood.
North of the table, a blue slate slab in the floor, with the Clinton
arms, covers the vault, in which sixteen of the Clinton family are
interred. Another slab close by, commemorates “Francis Clinton, alias
Fynes, Esq., grandson of Henry Lord Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, who
departed this life, February 5th, A.D. 1681.” On the south, a slab
commemorates his wife, “who died, February 15th, A.D. 1679.” A communion
chair, of very solid construction, was carved out of a beam formerly in
Tattershall Castle. There are some remains of a former rood screen,
“Arch. Journ.,” 1890, p. 206.
Mr. Weir, in his History of Lincolnshire (vol. I., p. 299, Ed., 1828),
says that portions of the former residence of the Earls of Lincoln were
at that date still standing, near the modern mansion of the Liveseys.
Then the latter was re-constructed in 1873–5, the furniture and other
arrangements, were of a very costly character. The present writer, with
an acquaintance of the family, had the privilege of being shewn over the
whole house, by the lady of the house, shortly after its completion. It
might be called a repertoire of valuable works of art and vertu, in
furniture, books, paintings, stuffed birds, and animals, among the latter
being the famous lion “Nero,” from the Zoo. The owner, being devoted to
engineering and mechanical operations, had one room, of which the walls
were covered with clocks, of endless kinds, with various elaborate
mechanism, such as cocks crowing, horns blowing, etc., etc., for chiming
the hours. All these came to the hammer in 1891. Even the economy of
the farm yard was elaborate. To give one instance:—At the back of the
cattle sheds, ran a tramway of small trucks; doors opened at the back of
the crib of each stall, and the trucks conveyed the exact modicum of
provender, and it was injected into each separate crib, periodically, for
the animals which were there fed. The lake in the park was formed from a
small stream running through the grounds, it is well stocked with fish of
various kinds, especially affording sport to the troller by the abundance
of fine pike. It was originally stocked, as tradition avers, from the
Moat of Langton Rectory, now no longer existing, but formerly of
considerable size, and connected with a large pond, where fish of many
kinds abounded. The vicarage is a substantial residence, with good
garden, erected in 1857, on a site presented by Robert Vyner, Esq.
BELCHFORD.
Belchford is one of our largest villages, lying at a distance of about 5
miles from Horncastle, in a north-east direction, and buried in a valley
among the wolds. It was anciently among the possessions of the
Conqueror’s nephew, Ivo Tailebois, which he acquired by his marriage with
the Lady Lucia, the wealthy heiress of the Thorolds. Tithes and
territory here were assigned by her to the Abbey of Croyland, as well as
to its cell, the branch Priory of Spalding. There were two mills here,
valued in Domesday book, at 18s. 8d. yearly. The acreage is large; Ivo
had five carucates in demesne, or some 600 acres, while villeins,
bordars, and soc-men, occupied nine carucates, or about 1080 acres; there
were 360 acres of meadows, and six carucates (720 acres) reateable to
gelt. The arable land was a mile long, and a mile broad, which was a
large proportion. The acreage is now 2480, the population more than 400.
By an indenture, 28th October, 1641, we find Sir Thomas Glemham owning
lands in Belchford and Oxcombe, as well as other places, which he sold to
Sir Matthew Lister, and his brother Martin Lister, subsequently the
Listers of Burwell Park. The Listers, however, sold the Belchford lands
again to Sir Thomas Hartopp, about 20 years later. Mr. Robert Charles de
Grey Vyner is now Lord of the Manor, but much of the land belongs to the
Epton, Reed, and other families. At the inclosure, land left by Henry
Neave to the poor, was exchanged for two acres, now let for £5 15s.,
which is distributed among the poor at Christmas, as well as a rent
charge of 4s., left by Mrs. Douglas Tyrwhitt. Letters, _via_ Horncastle,
arrive at 9.30 a.m. The nearest telegraph office is at Tetford.
Of the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, little can be said which is
satisfactory, at the present time. It was rebuilt in 1781, in the
characteristic poor style of that period. Some years ago it became
almost unsafe, and the walls were strengthened to prevent their falling.
The chancel was rebuilt in 1859–60; and in 1884–5, the church was
reseated, the plaster ceiling removed, a new floor supplied, and fresh
windows inserted; but once more it is in a bad and unsightly condition,
gaps and fissures appear in the walls, the tower is much out of the
perpendicular, and only kept together by bands of iron. The north wall
is only relieved by one very plain Georgian window. The east window, a
triplet in the early English style, is perhaps the best feature in the
church. It was put in by a former Rector, Rev. W. Anthony Fitzhugh. The
font, which is octagonal and perpendicular, formerly stood in St. Mary’s
Church, Horncastle. The pulpit, of old oak, came from the private chapel
of Lord Brougham, who was a relative of the late Rector; it has some
quaintly-carved panels, and other portions in the same style lie unused
in the church. The baptismal register has an entry of a baptism
performed by Dr. Tennyson, father of the Poet Laureate. The register
dates from 1698.
Some embellishments have been introduced in the chancel of late by the
present Rector. An Italian crucifix, behind the Communion table, with
devices representing the keys of St. Peter, and sword of St. Paul, the
patron saints, with vine leaves and grapes, and a central chalice. There
is a scroll below these, bearing the words, “Ecce panis Angelorum Factus
cibus Viatorum.” The church ornaments include a processional cross of
18th century foreign work. An effort is now being made to accomplish a
thorough restoration of the church. A flint implement was found in the
parish in the year 1851, and fossils of the Echinus and other kinds have
been found. The name of Belchford may be British; Bel (Baal) being the
Druid name of the Sun-God and “fford,” is Welsh (or British), for road; a
more pleasing, if more fanciful, derivation, has been suggested, viz.:
that the prefix is connected with the words “bellow” and “bell,” and
refers to the tinkling music of the ford on the brook, which passes
through the valley.
In an ancient register of Spalding Priory, of date 1659, is an extract
from a charter of the foundation of the Priory, in which it is stated
that one Thorold, ancestor of Lucia, Countess of Lincoln and Chester, and
wife of Ivo Tailebois, gave the Tithes of Belchford, Scamblesby, etc., to
the Priory. The name is there spelt Beltisford, which would seem to
favour the former of these two derivations. In Domesday Book it is
Beltisford, further confirmatory of the same.
A former Rector of this Benefice was somewhat of a “character.” He was a
_bon vivant_, though not of an objectionable kind. He was popular among
his clerical brethren, and, like several others, gave an annual clerical
dinner, which was attended by them from considerable distances. One of
the special features of the repast, was a leg of mutton, with port wine
sauce, which, as well as the wine, might be said to be “old.” The
cellars of the rectory were very cool, and he usually had a leg which had
been hanging for a quarter of a year, half a year, or more. At one of
the last of his dinners, the joint had been in the cellar, specially
preserved, for more than twelve months, but, served as it was, with a
good surrounding, it was unanimously declared to be excellent.
The Rev. Egremont Richardson was long remembered by many friends, for his
kindly, genial qualities.
Since the above remarks on the church were written, the fabric has, in a
great measure, been worthily restored. The architect, Mr. Townsend, of
Peterborough, employed Messrs. Thompson, of Peterborough (who have
restored Peterborough Cathedral), and they have done the work thoroughly.
The tower, in a dangerous condition, has been taken down, and will not be
rebuilt until funds allow it, but otherwise the restoration is complete.
Five decorated windows have been introduced into the former dark walls, a
vestry has been added, and the walls of the nave have been beautifully
decorated. The chancel walls are relieved with terra cotta, of the 17th
century style, the roof having black and white arrow-head work. The
choir stalls are stained green, and decorated in harmony with the walls.
There is a new altar-table of oak, its panels being richly painted. The
nave is furnished with chairs, in place of the old pews. The church is
heated with the Radiator system, on the Italian principle, supplied by
Messrs. J. Ward & Co., of Horncastle, being the first church in the
neighbourhood furnished with this apparatus. In the porch is preserved a
relic of the past, an old stoup, or holy water vessel, found in the
Churchwarden’s yard. This has been done at a cost of about £900, and a
further sum of £700 or £800 will be needed to restore the tower. The
chief donors to the work have been the Rawnsley family, and Lord Heneage.
BOLINGBROKE, OLD.
Bolingbroke, to which is now added the epithet “old,” to distinguish it
from the modern creation, New Bolingbroke, near Revesby, lies distant
about seven miles, in an easterly direction from Horncastle, and about
four miles westward from Spilsby, in a kind of _cul-de-sac_, formed by
steep hills on three sides. As to the meaning of the name, whether its
commonly accepted derivation from the brook, the spring-head of which, as
Camden says (Britannia, p. 471), is in low ground hard by, be correct, we
must leave to full-fledged etymologists to decide; but the small
streamlet, as it exists at present, in no way answers to the ideal of a
bowling brook, sufficient to be a distinguishing feature of the place.
We would venture to suggest, as a fair subject for their enquiry, that,
as “bullen” is Danish for “swollen,” and “brock” is only another form of
“burgh” (and common enough in Scotland), meaning a fort (as we have a few
miles away, near Hallington station, _Bully_-hill, near an ancient
encampment), there may have been an older fort, swelling out like an
excrescence at the mouth of this valley; and so a “bollen” (or bulging)
“broc,” providing a fitting site on which the later castle was also
erected. It might, too, seem some confirmation of this, that, in
Domesday Book, the name is given as Bolin broc. Be this as it may,
however, the place itself is one of unusual interest to the archæologist.
It is a town in decadence. Possessed of a market-place, and a number of
good houses, some paved streets, a fine church, the site of a castle, and
that rare distinction an “Honour,” it is yet but a village, with little
to stir its “sleepy hollow” into social life or animation. The visitor
may, perhaps, meet there (as the writer has done), one who has retired
from her Majesty’s service; who has weilded his cutlass on quarterdeck,
or carried his rifle through stockade or over battlement; the said
individual may long, on the settle by the snug hostel fire, to fight his
battles over again, in converse with some kindred spirit; but there is
now no tread of sentinel on castle-wall, no warder now blows his bugle at
castle gate. The castle itself is but a phantom of the past, only to be
now seen in imagination. He would, perhaps, fain know something of its
bygone history; but he finds no one to tell it. Ichabod echoes through
the silent streets, and he can only murmur in the words of an ancient
lament (for, is it not written in the book of Jasher?) “How are the
mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished.” The County Directory
tells him (as would also Domesday Book) that Bolingbroke had a weekly
market {26a}; from a like authority he may learn that the soke, or
Honour, of Bolingbroke embraced nearly 30 parishes, Spilsby amongst them.
{26b} Yet he goes to Spilsby on a Monday and finds it crowded with
traffickers, while, from week’s end to week’s end, the market place of
Bolingbroke does not see a merchant or a huckster. Sooth to say, the
secluded nature of the locality, which of old commended it as a fitting
position for a strongly-protected castle, embedded in hills, save on one
side, served really to isolate it from the outer world, and hindred, and
ultimately destroyed, the traffic, which became gradually transferred to
other towns more easy of access. And so the once busy market is grass
grown, and the buzz of its barter would not awaken a baby. The sole
sound, indeed, of any volume, to break the moribund monotony—and this
only one of recent creation—is the peal of fine bells with which the
church is now furnished, and instead of soliloquising further we will now
proceed to describe these, and then unfold the fine features of the
church, of which they form so melodious an appurtenance. There are six
larger bells and the old sanctus bell. Of the larger bells, one is old,
and five were presented in 1897, by Miss Maria Wingate, whose family,
formerly resided at Hareby House, which small parish and benefice were
annexed to Bolingbroke in 1739. {27} The five new bells were cast by
Messrs. Taylor, of Loughborough, a well-known firm of bell-founders.
These were consecrated by Bishop King, of Lincoln, soon after they were
hung. On one of them, the treble bell, is the inscription, “God save the
Queen, a thank-offering in commemoration of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee,
1897.” The peculiar appropriateness of this inscription will be the more
manifest, when the singular fact is remembered (as will be fully
explained hereafter), that, as Duchess of Lancaster, the Queen was Lady
of the Manor of Bolingbroke. The old bell bears the date 1604, and has
the inscription—
“I, sweetly tolling, men do call,
To taste our meats that feede the soole.”
This old bell is a very fine one, and is named among the “Bells of
Lincolnshire.”
Of the church itself, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, it may be said
that it has had its peculiar vicissitudes. It was built probably by John
of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; as the flamboyant style of its architecture
indicates a late 14th century erection; and he was granted the manor in
that century (1363). Many of our finest churches, such as those of
Boston, Grantham, Heckington, &c., were built in that century. This of
Bolingbroke is one of the latest of them, corresponding most closely in
style and date to the Church of Kyme Priory; but it is certainly not one
of the least striking. We now see in it only a portion of the original,
namely, the south aisle, porch, and tower. It was occupied as head
quarters by the Parliamentary troops in 1643, while they were laying
siege to the castle, which was held for the King; and, with their usual
puritan hatred of holy places, they destroyed the beautiful stained glass
which adorned the windows; while, further, their presence there drew upon
the building heavy bombardment by the King’s men, no less destructive to
the edifice itself. Since that time, the original south aisle has been
used as the main body of the church; and until recently, the arches of
the arcade, formerly dividing it from the original nave, were distinctly
visible, built up in the (later) north wall; while the tower, originally
standing at the west end of the nave, became (in consequence of the
destruction of the latter, semi-detached from the later south aisle)
church, at its north-west angle. The church was restored in 1889,
through the munificence of Mr. C. S. Dickinson, of Lincoln, at a cost of
£3,000; the architect being the late Mr. James Fowler; and it was
re-opened by the Bishop on Oct. 10th of that year; the old disfiguring
galleries having been removed, and new battlements and pinnacles being
added to the tower; and a new north aisle being erected, extending
eastward from the tower; the original south aisle being still retained as
a modern nave, re-seated, and re-furnished in every respect; and a new
organ added, with various improvements. As to the result, we cannot do
better than quote some of the observations of the late Precentor
Venables, made by him on the visit of the Lincolnshire Architectural
Society in 1894. {28} He described it as “a building of great
stateliness, the proportions being excellent, and in its general design
and architectural details, presenting a specimen of the decorated style
in its greatest purity and beauty; the windows are almost faultless
examples of flowing tracery in its early purity. The east window has
five lights, with quatrefoil window in the gable above; the west window
four lights; and the side windows three lights each; all excellent. The
south porch has a well-proportioned inner door with good moulding; there
being an open quatrefoil over the door. In its east corner there is a
very sumptuous holy water stoup of unusual design, surmounted by a tall
canopy of great richness. There is a statue bracket over the door, and
one at the side. The recently opened arcade on the north side of nave is
composed of fine equilateral arches, with mouldings continuous from their
bases, without the intervention of capitals. On the south wall of the
present chancel is a range of three rich, though rather heavy, stone
sedilia, with projecting canopies over-braided with wall-flowers, and
groined within Traces of canopied niches of similar design to the
sedilia, are visible on each side of the east window. The piscina, with
projecting basin, is plain.”
In the middle of the south wall of the nave there is also an old piscina,
with aumbrey above it, which would indicate that, in the original church,
there was here a chantry. {29} The present pulpit, and the choir seats
in the chancel, are of modern oak richly carved; and the vestry, at the
back of the organ, is screened off by similar rich modern oak carving.
The tower has a west door, with a four-light window over it; a two-light
window above this, with corresponding ones in the north and south faces.
Within the tower, over an ancient fireplace, is embedded in the wall,
4ft. from the ground, a curious old gurgoyle head of peculiar
hideousness, which doubtless, at one time, grinned down from the original
roof. Over the said fireplace there is this inscription graven in a
stone:—“Sixpence in bread every Sunday for ever for the poore women
present at divine service, given by John Andred, M.A., rector of
Bolingbroke, Anno Domini MDCLXXX.”
In the churchyard is a tall monument, surmounted by a cherub with
expanded wings, in memory of Edward Stanley Bosanquet, who died July
16th, 1886, formerly vicar; also of his wife Emmeline, and three
children, who died at different dates. Outside the north wall are some
stone ends of seats, formerly in the tower.
It may here be worthy of remark that Chancellor Massingberd, in his
account of the battle of Winceby mentions that “among the slain on the
side of the King was a Lincolnshire gentleman of the name of Hallam, the
immediate ancestor of the Historian of the Middle Ages,” Henry Hallam.
The name is not a common one; and on a broken stone slab, lying behind
the N.E. buttress, under the N.E. window, is the fragmentary inscription,
“Body of Henry Hallam, who dyed January The 6, 1687.” {30a}
We conclude our notice of this church with the words of the
Precentor:—“We may realize the magnitude, and the beauty of the (former)
entire church, when we bear in mind that, besides what we now see, there
was a wide nave, a north aisle, doubtless equal in dimensions and style
to that now standing, and a long chancel reaching to the limits of the
churchyard.” A building so fine would attest the former importance of
the place; and we now proceed to consider other proofs of that importance
which we know to have existed.
Bolingbroke is, indeed, a place of no mushroom growth. The Castle was
built in the reign of Henry I. by William de Romara, Earl of Lincoln, who
also founded the Abbey of Revesby about 1143. But history carries us
back to a still earlier date, and to an older, and even more interesting,
and more important family than that of Romara. The mother of William de
Romara (or, according to others, his grandmother) was Lucia, a Saxon
heiress {30b}; sister of the powerful Morcar, Earl of Northumberland, who
for some time withstood the Conqueror, and daughter of Algar, Earl of
Mercia, who was the brother of Edgiva, King Harold’s Queen (others making
Edgiva the sister of Lucia). She was also a near relative of the
renowned “Hereward the Wake,” the stubborn champion of Saxon freedom.
There was an earlier Algar, Earl of Mercia, who, 200 years before, fell
in the famous fight of Threckingham (between Sleaford and Folkingham)
against the Danes, about A.D. 865. He was the son of another Algar, and
grandson of Leofric, both successively Earls of Mercia; the wife of the
last-named being the Lady Godiva (or God’s gift, “Deodata”), renowned for
her purity and good works. This Lady Godiva was the sister of Turold, or
Thorold, of Bukenale (Bucknall), {30c} Lord of Spalding, and Vice-Count,
or Sheriff of the County of Lincoln. And these Thorolds, father and son,
were among the chief benefactors of the famous Monastery of St. Guthlac,
at Croyland; a similar good work being also performed, in her own day, by
the aforesaid Lady Lucia, who was chief patroness of the Priory of
Spalding {31a} an offshoot of the greater Croyland Abbey. Thus William
of Romara was not only a Norman “of high degree,” on his father’s side,
but, through his mother, he came of a race of Saxons, powerful, brave,
and distinguished for their services to their country and religion. It
has been frequently observed that, although the Normans conquered and
subjugated Saxon England, the stubborn Saxon eventually absorbed, or
prevailed over, his Norman master; and we have an illustration of it
here, not uninteresting to men of Lincolnshire. The name of Romara has
long been gone, in our country and elsewhere, beyond recall; but the old
Saxon name of Thorold yet stands high in the roll of our county families.
There is probably no older name in the shire; none that has so completely
maintained its good position and succession, in unbroken descent. {31b}
Now the Lady Lucia inherited many of the lands of her Saxon ancestors;
and among those which passed to her Son William of Romara, was
Bolingbroke. He was a man of many, and wide domains, but of them all he
selected this, as the place for erecting a stronghold, capable of defence
in those troublous times. The castle is described by Holles (temp.
Charles I) as “surrounded by a moat fed by streams, and as covering about
an acre and half; built in a square, with four strong forts,” probably at
the corners; and “containing many rooms, which were connected by passages
along the embattled walls and capable to receyve a very great prince with
all his trayne.” The entrance was “very stately, over a fair draw
bridge; the gate-house uniforme, and strong.” The gateway, of which the
crumbling ruins were engraved by Stukeley in the first half of the l8th
century, finally fell in 1815; and nothing now remains above ground. The
whole structure was of the sandstone of the neighbourhood, which, as
Holles observes, will crumble away when the wet once penetrates it. The
moat is still visible; and further, in the rear of it, to the south,
beyond the immediate precincts, there is another moated enclosure, still
to be seen, the residence doubtless of dependants under the shelter of
the castle; or these may have been earthworks excavated by the forces
besieging the castle. We cannot here give in detail the long and varied
history of the great owners of Bolingbroke. But, omitting minor
particulars:—“A Gilbert de Gaunt by marrying a Romara heiress, obtained
the estate. One of his successors of the same name, joining the Barons
against King John and Henry III., forfeited it. It was then granted to
Ranulph, Earl of Chester. It afterwards passed to the de Lacy family,
earls in their turn, of Lincoln; and by marriage with Alicia de Lacy,
Thomas Plantagenet, grandson of Henry III. obtained it, with the title.
A later Gaunt, the famous John, Duke of Lancaster, married the heiress of
this branch of the Plantagenets, and so in turn became Earl of Lincoln
and Lord of Bolingbroke, and their son Henry, born here April 3, 1366,
became Henry IV. As being the birthplace of a sovereign, the estate,
instead of remaining an ordinary manor, was elevated to the rank of an
‘Honour’” (Camden’s Britannia, p. 471) and is entitled, in all legal
documents “the Honour of Bolingbroke.” Since the accession of Henry IV.
it has remained an appanage of the Crown; and as Duke of Lancaster, King
Edward is “Lord of the Honour,” at the present day. Gervase Holles
states that Queen Elizabeth made sundry improvements in the interior of
the castle, adding “a fayre great chamber with other lodgings.” The
Constable of the Castle was (in his day) “Sir William Mounson, Lord
Castlemayne, who received a revenue out of the Dutchy lands of £500 per
annum; in part payment of £1,000 yearly, given by the King to the
Countess of Nottingham his lady.” He also says “In a roome in one of the
towers they kept their audit for the whole Dutchy of Lancaster,
Bolingbroke having ever been the prime seat thereof, where the Recordes
for the whole country are kept.” {32}
And he then gives a detailed account of the following supernatural
occurrence, as being beyond controversy authenticated:—Which is, that the
castle is haunted by a certain spirit in the likeness of a hare; which,
“att the meeting of the auditors doth runne betweene their legs, and
sometimes overthrows them, and soe passes away. They have pursued it
downe into the castleyard, and seen it take in att a grate, into a low
cellar; and have followed it thither with a light, where, notwithstanding
they did most narrowly observe it, and there was no other passage out,
but by the doore or windowe, the roome being all close-framed of stones
within, not having the least chinke or crevice, they could never finde
it. Att other times it hath been seen to run in at the iron grates below
into other of the grotto’s (as their be many of them), and they have
watched the place, and sent for hounds, and put in after it; but aftar a
while they came crying out.” (Harleian M.S.S. No. 6829, p. 162). The
explanation of this hare-brained story we leave to others more versed in
the doings of the spirit world; merely observing that such an apparition
has not been entirely confined to Bolingbroke Castle.
The town of Bolingbroke confers the title of Viscount on the family of
St.-John of Lydiard Tregoze, Co. Wilts. The career, the abilities, the
accomplishments, the vicissitudes, and the writings, of the great
statesman, author and adventurer, Henry St.-John, Viscount Bolingbroke,
during the reigns of Anne, William and Mary, and George I. are too
well-known, to need further mention here.
Saunders in his History of Lincolnshire (Vol. ii., p. 101, 1834) says
that there was then still in the church the remains of an altar cloth,
beautifully embroidered, and traditionally said to have been the work of
Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, wife of John of Gaunt, and mother of Henry
IV., who is celebrated in Chaucer’s poem “the Dream.” Chancellor
Massingberd, however, writing his account of Bolingbroke Castle in 1858
(“Architect Soc. Journ.” vol. iv. p. ii.) says that it had then
disappeared, and not been seen for some 20 years, having probably been
disgracefully purloined.
The parish register dates from 1538; a rather unusual occurrence, as the
keeping of registers was only enforced 1530–8 by Act of 27 Henry VIII.,
and the order was in few cases observed till a later period.
EDLINGTON.
This is a pleasant, small village, about 2½ miles from Horncastle, the
chief approach to it being by the so-called “Ramper,” the great Roman
road, connecting the two Roman fortresses, Lindum and Banovallum (Lincoln
and Horncastle), and still one of the best roads in the county. The Park
of Edlington, now the property of the Hassard Short family, is a
pleasantly undulating enclosure, adorned with some very fine trees;
although of late some £3,000 worth, chiefly of outlying timber, has been
converted into cash. The ground is varied by small copses, which afford
excellent pheasant and rabbit shooting; as also do two covers, about two
miles from the Park, called Edlington Scrubs; and there are also some
very gamey plantations, belonging to the estate, situated about two miles
north-west from Woodhall Spa. The estate comprises about 2,700 acres,
and is fully five miles long from one end to the other, being intersected
by portions of other parishes. There was formerly a substantial
residence, with stew ponds and extensive gardens, at the upper or
northern end of the park, {34a} with the parish road running behind it,
covered by lofty trees. Here, it may interest the botanist to know that
the plant “Butcher’s Broom” (Ruscus Aculeatus) grew plentifully, although
it now seems to be extinct, having been improved away. From this
position there is a very fine view, extending many miles to the south and
west, over very varied country. While the late Mr. Hassard Short himself
resided here, he had frequently coursing parties, hares being then very
plentiful, to which, among others, the present writer, as a boy, and his
father, were always invited. This residence was, however, pulled down
sometime “in the fifties,” the owner, for the sake of his health,
preferring to reside in the south. It was for a time, however, occupied
by a Mrs. Heald, {34b} and her nephew George Heald, Esq., a fine-looking
young fellow, who held a commission in the Guards. And hereby hangs a
tale. In riding in the Park, in London, he made the acquaintance of the
famous coquette, and adventuress, Lola Montez, created Countess of
Landsfeldt by the King of Hanover, whose mistress she was. Being a
mixture of Spanish and Irish blood, she possessed all the vivacity of
both those races, with a gay dash in her manners, and considerable
beauty, along with an extremely outré style of dress. Thus she
fascinated the young man, as she previously had done her late Royal
Master. He married her, although she was said to have been already
married to a Captain James. The charm soon lost its power, and as a
means of ridding himself of her, his friends prosecuted her for bigamy.
Sergeant Ballantine in his autobiography gives the whole particulars
(vol. II., p. 106), but he does not remember the result of this action.
She was of a temper so violent, that she commonly carried arms, and was
almost reckless of what she did. Young Heald came at length to live in
almost hourly fear for his life. I well remember his coming down to a
hotel at Horncastle, to receive rents; when he sat at table, with a
loaded pistol at each side of him. I knew him and his aunt well, and
from the latter I received many kindnesses. The poor persecuted young
man soon passed from mortal ken; but the lady migrated to America, to
seek higher game once more; but a fracas having occurred, in which she
shot someone in a railway carriage, her career also was brought to a
close.
The earliest mention which we have of this part of the Manor of
Edlington, is as being part of the Barony of Gilbert de Gaunt (some of
that name, still residing as farmers in the parish). He probably, or his
ancestors, acquired the property, from what was a common source, in that
day, viz., from the great Norman Baron, Ivo Taillebois, on whom William
the Conqueror bestowed the rich Saxon heiress, the Lady Lucia, the
representative of the wealthy family of the Thorolds, and near relative
of King Harold (see my records of Old Bolingbroke). He held this Manor
till about the year 35 Ed. I., or A.D. 1307. It then passed to the
Barkeworthes; Robert de Barkeworthe being the first of them to reside in
the parish, as owner of Poolham. They were a family of wealth and
position in the neighbourhood at that period. There is a legal document
called Feet of Fines (file 98 [39]), of date A.D. 1329, in which William
de Barkeworthe, and ffloriana his wife, on the one part, and Robert de
Haney and Alice his wife, on the other part, lay claim to considerable
property, in Claxby, Normanby and Ussylby, in which the former establish
their claim. In 1351, William de Barkeworthe presented to a moiety of
the chapelry of Polum. But in 1369, Thomas de Thymbelby presented. This
marks the period when the property passed from the Barkeworthes to the
Thimblebys. A Walter de Barkeworthe died in 1347, and was buried in the
Cloister of Lincoln Cathedral. At the period of this transition (1369),
another Feet of Fines exists, between Thomas, son of Nicholas de
Thymelby, with several others, on the one part, and Richard, “son of
Simon atte See,” on the other part, by which the said Richard surrenders
lands in Claxby, Normanby, Tetford, and other property, to the said
Thomas, son of Nicholas de Thymelby and his friends (“Architectural Soc.
Journ.,” vol. XXIII., p. 255). There is another Feet of Fines, in 1374,
between Thomas de Themelby, John de Themelby, Parson, and others, on the
one part, and John de Toutheby, and his wife Alianora, on the other part,
which assigns the Manor of Tetford, and advowson of the church, to the
Thymelbys. In 1388, John, son of Thomas de Thymelby, presented to
Tetford. The Thimbleby pedigree is given in the Herald’s Visitation of
1562.
In 1333, at a Chancery Inquisition, held at Haltham, “on Friday next,
after the feast of St. Matthew,” the Jurors declare, that Nicholas de
Thymelby, and his wife Matilda, hold land in Haltham, of the right of the
said Matilda, under the Lord the King, as parcel of the Manor of
Scrivelsby; also that the said Nicholas held land in Stikeswold, of the
Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, by the service of paying them ijs and vid
yearly; and also that he held lands in Thymelby, under the Bishop of
Carlisle. Further inquisitions show that Nicholas de Thymelby, and John,
his brother, also held lands in Horncastle and over (_i.e._ High)
Toynton, under the said Bishop of Carlisle; that Thomas de Thymelby
presented to the Church of Ruckland in 1381; and that John, his son,
presented to the Church of Tetford, April 4th, 1388. In 1427, it was
found that the heirs of John de Thymelby, held by their trustees, lands
“in Polum and Edlynton.”
In 1439, William Thymelby, Esq., Lord of Polum, presented to the Benefice
of Somersby, having already presented to Tetford. He seems to have
married Joan, daughter of Sir Walter Tailboys, a descendant of the same
family, from which sprang Ivo Taillebois, the great Norman Baron,
previously mentioned, from whom Gilbert de Gaunt probably acquired his
land in Edlington. {37a} Richard Thimbleby, in 1474, obtained the
Beelsby estates, through marriage with Elizabeth, daughter and heir of
Sir Thomas Beelsby, knight, and widow of Sir John Pygot, Knt. He died
(1522) possessed (in right of his wife, who was coheir of Godfrey
Hilton), of the Manors of Beelsby, Holton-le-Moor, Horsington, Harpswell,
Harleston, Thorgansby; and a share of the advowson of Horsington; John
Thymelby, his son, succeeded him (Escheator’s Inquisitions, 14 H.S., No.
24). To show the religious fanaticism in the reign of Elizabeth, even
among Protestants, note the following:—A Thimbleby of Poolham, A.D. 1581,
was thrown into prison by the Bishop of Lincoln (T. Cowper), for refusing
to attend Protestant services. His wife was near her confinement, but
she begged to see her husband, she was treated so roughly that the pains
of labour seized her in her husband’s dungeon. She was nevertheless
detained in prison without any nurse or assistant, and a speedy death
followed; her husband also dying soon afterwards in prison from the rough
treatment which he underwent there. (“The Church under Queen Elizabeth,”
by F. G. Lee, II. p. 60). I have given these details to show the
importance of the family of Thimbleby.
After another generation or two, Matthew Thymbleby’s widow of Poolham,
married Sir Robert Saville, Knt., who, through her, died possessed of the
Manors of Poolham, Edlington, and several more. Confining ourselves here
to Poolham, we find the Saviles, who were members of the Saviles of
Howley, co. York (now represented by Lord Mexborough, of Methley, co.
York, etc., etc., and the Saviles, of Rufford Abbey, co. Notts.),
continuing to own Poolham until 1600, when Sir John Saville, Knt., sold
it to George Bolles, Esq., citizen of London, whose descendant, Sir John
Bolles, {37b} Bart., sold it to Sir Edmund Turnor, of Stoke Rochford. It
has recently been sold to Dr. Byron, residing in London.
As we have, thus far, chiefly confined ourselves to the owners of the
hamlet of Poolham, we will now make some rather interesting remarks upon
the old Poolham Hall, and matters connected with it. The old mansion was
probably built originally on a larger scale than the present farm house.
It is enclosed by a moat, in the south-west angle of which stand the
remains of a chapel, or oratory, now in the kitchen garden; they consist
of an end wall and part of a side wall, each with a narrow window. The
font, a few years ago, was taken away, and in order to preserve it from
destruction, it was placed, some twenty years ago, in the garden of
Wispington Vicarage, by the Vicar (the late Rev. C. P. Terrot), a great
ecclesiastical antiquarian. It has further again been removed by the
present writer, and, on the restoration of the Church of St. Margaret, at
Woodhall, in 1893, it was once more restored to its original purpose, as
font in that Church, being further adorned by four handsome columns of
serpentine, the gift of the Rev. J. A. Penny, the present Vicar of
Wispington. Near the chapel, there was till recently, a tombstone,
bearing date 1527. This stone was a few years ago removed, and now forms
the sill of a cottage doorway in Stixwould. The writer should here add
that, on the moat of this old Hall being cleaned out a few years ago,
there was found in the mud, beneath the chapel ruins, a curious object,
which at once passed into his possession. It proved to be an ancient
chrismatory, of which there has never been found the like. The material
is terra cotta, with peculiar primitive ornamentation, of a pale stone
colour, containing two divisions, or wells, with spouts at each end, each
having been covered with a roof, although one of them is now broken off,
curiously carved. The use of the chrismatory, was, in mediæval times,
connected with baptism; as the child was brought into the church, it was
sprinkled with salt, and at the font it was anointed with oil. The two
wells were meant to hold the salt and oil. As I have said, it is unique.
Its use was first explained to me, by Sir Augustus Franks, of the British
Museum. It has been exhibited among the ecclesiastical objects of art at
the Church Congresses, at Norwich, London, Newcastle, Northampton, and
other places. It has created very great interest, and has been noticed
in various publications. According to Ecton’s “Thesaurus,” this chapel
was connected with Bardney Abbey, but it is now a ruin, and unused. The
population is limited to three houses, and the most convenient place of
worship is Woodhall, St. Margaret’s.
We will now revert more especially to Edlington. We have mentioned
Gilbert de Gaunt as among the first owners, but this applies, more
strictly to the hamlet Poolham. Edlington proper, is evidently a place
of great antiquity, the name is derived from “Eiddeleg,” a deity in the
Bardic Mythology (Dr. Oliver’s “Religious Houses on the Witham”); the
whole name meaning the town of Eiddeleg. In connection with this, we may
mention that, until about three years ago, when it was destroyed by
dynamite, there existed an enormous boulder, standing on a rising ground,
about sixty yards from the present highway, on the farm of Mr. Robert
Searby, which weighed about 10 tons, its height being about 10ft., width
4ft. 6in., and its thickness about 3ft. This would be just the Druidic
altar, at which the Bardic mysteries, in the British period, might be
celebrated. In 1819, while digging a field in Edlington, some men found
several heaps of ox bones, and with each heap an urn of baked clay.
Unfortunately none of these urns were preserved, so that we are unable to
say whether they were of Roman make, or of earlier date. They imply
heathen sacrifice of some kind, and were close to a Roman road; still the
existence, already mentioned, of an earlier Bardic worship, would favour
for them, an earlier origin.
From Domesday Book (completed circa 1086), we gather (1st) that among the
possessions of the King (William the Conqueror), there were 4 carucates,
_i.e._ 480 acres of land, with proportionate sokemen, villeins, and
bordars. The whole land of the parish being reckoned at 6,960 acres. Of
this extent, the Saxon Ulf, so often mentioned as an owner in this
neighbourhood, had 10 carucates (or 1,200 acres). Egbert, the vassal of
Gilbert de Gaunt had 480 acres, a mill, always a valuable possession, as
all dependants were bound to have their grain ground there; 90 acres of
meadow, and 210 acres of wood land, in all 780 acres. A Jury of the
wapentake of Horncastle, declared that the powerful noble Robert
Despenser, wrongfully disputed the claim of Gilbert de Gaunt, to half a
carucate, or 60 acres, in Edlington, which in the time of Edward the
Confessor had been formerly held by one Saxon, Tonna.
Edlington was one of the 222 parishes in the county which had churches
before the Norman conquest, but as the number of priests serving these
churches was only 131, it is doubtful whether it had a resident minister,
it being more probably that it was served by a Monk of Bardney Abbey, to
which (according to Liber Regis) it was attached. Here again we have a
trace of Gilbert de Gaunt being Lord of the Manor of Edlington, as well
as of the subdivision of Poolham. The Monastery of Bardney was
originally one of the few Saxon foundations, and established before the
year 697. It was however reduced to great poverty by the Danes, under
Inguar and Hubba, in 870, 300 monks being slain. It remained in ruins
some 200 years, when it was restored by Gilbert de Gaunt, who succeeded
to some of the property of Ulf, the Saxon Thane, already named. Gilbert
de Gaunt had 54 Manors conferred upon him; being nephew of the Conqueror,
and among the several which he bestowed on Bardney, was Edlington. At
the dissolution, it would revert to the King, and (as we are here reduced
to conjecture), we may well suppose that it was one of the many Manors in
this district conferred by Henry VIII., on Charles Brandon, Duke of
Suffolk, among whose descendants these vast possessions were subsequently
divided. In Dr. Oliver’s learned book on the “Religious Houses on the
Witham,” it is stated that Bardney had land in Edlington, that the abbot
had the advowson of the benefice, and that before the King’s Justices, in
the reign of Ed. I., the abbot proved his right, by act of Henry I.,
confirmed by Henry III. to the exercise of “Infangthef, pit, and gallows
at Bardney.”
In “Placito de Warranto,” p. 409, he claimed, and proved his right, also
to a gallows at Edlington (as well as at Hagworthingham, and Steeping,
and Candlesby); and in connection with this, it is interesting to note
that, as at Bardney, there is a field called “Coney Garth” (Konig Garth),
or King enclosure, where the abbot’s gallows stood; so at Edlington there
is a field (the grass field, in the angle, as you pass from the village
road to the high road, leading northward), which is still called “Coney
Green,” which name moderns of small education, suppose to be derived from
the numbers of conies, _i.e._ rabbits, which abound there; but in which
the antiquarian sees the old Konig-field, the King’s enclosure; and in
that field, doubtless, stood the abbot of Bardney’s gallows; {41} just as
the Abbots of Kirkstead had a gallows in Thimbleby. On this Edlington
Coney Green, I have found bricks of an early style, with various mounds
and hollows, indicating buildings of some extent, and probably belonging
to the King.
In the year 1897, the Rev. J. A. Penny, Vicar of Wispington, discovered
and published in “Linc. N. and Q.,” some very interesting Bardney
charters of the 13th century, which make many mentions of Edlington. In
one case they record the gift of a bondman, and his progeny to Thomas de
Thorley, living in Gautby, the slave being William, son of Peter
Hardigrey, of Edlington; among the witnesses to the deed of gift being
Master Robert, of Poolham, Simon, the Chamberlain of Edlington, and
others. Date, 22nd May, 1281.
Another is a declaration of Thomas de Thorley, living in Gautby, that he
grants to Master William Hardegrey, Rector of Mareham, all the lands and
tenements which he owns in the village and fields of Edlington; among the
witnesses being Simon, son of John, the Chamberlain of Edlington; Richard
King of the same, Simon the Francis of Edlington, and others.
Another charter states that, “I, William, son of William of Wispington,
have granted, and by this deed confirmed, the gift, to William Hardigrey,
of Edlington, clerk, all my toft, with its buildings, lying in the parish
of Edlington, which is situate between the public highway, and the croft
of Richard, son of Henry King, for ever. Among the witnesses being
Simon, the Chamberlain of Edlington, John, his son, Alured of Woodhall,
and others. Given at Edlington, the Wednesday after Michaelmas, A.D.
1285. (30th Sep., 1285), and 13th year of the reign of King Edward I.”
We further get disconnected notices of various owners of, or in,
Edlington, but I can not make out a connected series.
For instance, in a Chancery Inquisition, 13. Ed. I. (12th May, 1285),
held by order of the King, among the jurors are Henry of Horsington,
Robert, son of the Parson of Horsington, Hugh Fraunklyn, of Langton,
William de Wodehall, of Edlington, and others. Thus the William de
Woodhall, already named, was a proprietor in Edlington, as early as 1285.
We find, in a Final Concord, Nov. 22nd, 1208 (three-quarters of a century
earlier than the preceding), between Andrew, of Edlington, plaintiff, and
Alice, daughter of Elvina, who acted for her, the said Andrew
acknowledged the said Alice to be free (he had probably claimed her as a
bond-slave, in his house, or on his land, at Edlington), for which Alice
gave him one mark. It was only in the reign of Henry VI. that a servant
was permitted, after giving due notice to leave his place, and take the
services of another (23. Hen. VI. c. 13). Before that, all were the
property of their owners, unless given their freedom for some special
reason. Here is another proprietor in a dispute, on 10th Nov., 1208,
between Thorold, of Horsington on the one part, and John, son of Simon,
of Edlington. The said Thorold surrendered for ever, certain lands in
Edlington, to John and his heirs, another family of proprietors, at the
same date as the previous.
In November, 1218, in a Final Concord, between John, of Edlington, and
Hugh, his tenant, as to the right to certain lands in Edlington, it was
agreed that John was the rightful owner, and for this, John granted Hugh
certain other lands, but in case Hugh died without issue, they were to
revert to John, of Edlington. He would seem, therefore, to have been
rather a large proprietor.
The will of Richard Evington, of Halsteade Hall, was made, on 22nd
January, 1612, by which he leaves his lands in Edlington, and other
places, to his two sons, Maurice and Nicholas Evington.
On 23rd December, 1616, Edward Turnor, clerk, of Edlington, made his
will, the details of which do not here concern us, beyond showing that he
was Vicar.
The parish register dates from 1562, beginning with Thomas fforeman, the
sonne of William fforeman, christened 2nd February, 1562. This register
is very peculiar, as it gives the baptisms down to 1700, then the
marriages from and to the same dates, then the burials from and to the
same dates. This is very unusual, the common arrangement, in those
times, being to give the baptisms, marriages, and burials under the same
dates all together. The present book is the copy on paper, of the
original on parchment or vellum. Among some of the surnames are
Billinghay, Padison, Melborn, fford, Hollywell, Kaksby, Stanley, Gunby,
Brinkels (Brinkhills), William, son of Thomas Bounsayne, gent., bap.
Jany. 12th, 1605. Margaret, daughter of John Elton, gent. (and a
sister), baptized October 29th, 1611; and Siorach Edmonds, Vicar, 1617.
Mary, the daughter of Robert Brookley, gent., bapt. Nov. 2nd, 1652; with
others.
This list shews a considerable number of landed proprietors in the
parish; there being no one pre-eminent landowner.
Among the Christian names, which occur in the oldest register, are
Bridgett, Muriall, Rowland, Judith, Dorothie, Anthony, Hamond, Cicilie,
and others.
George Hamerton, gent., and Sarah Hussey, were married June 21st, 1699.
[These Hamertons were a wealthy family in Horncastle, owning a large
block of houses at the junction of the east and south streets. The
initials of John Hamerton and his wife, remain there, over the
fire-place, in an oak-pannelled room. I believe they were connected with
the Hamertons, of Hamerton, co. York.]
John Corbet and Isabell Thylley were married, December 6th, 1660. [The
Corbets have been a long-established family in Lincolnshire, and also
taking a leading position in Shropshire, in Sir Andrew Corbett, Bart].
In register III., is a note, “Thomas Barnett, of Thimbelby, found dead in
Edlington parish, and was buried Sep. 6th, 1798”; also, “Deborah Bell,
aged 95, buried November 7th, 1804.”
In the 2nd register book, among other entries are these:—The Rev.
Tristram Sturdivant, Vicar, buried August 3rd, 1755. (The clerk, William
Blow, had died 2 years before). Belmirah, daughter of Thos. Clarke of
Horncastle, and Mary, his wife, buried Feb. 23rd, 1773.
The 3rd register has the following:—Mr. Wells’ youngest child (of
Poolham), christened by me, William Wells, at Poolham, baptized by Mr.
L’Oste (then Vicar), at Woodhall Church, named Charles, Aug. 11, 1794.
[The Wells’ resided at Poolham down to about 1850. They were wealthy
gentlemen farmers, and were most generous to the poor, and supported the
church in every possible way, as I know from my own experience, and that
of my father].
Margaret Spencer, a traveller, commonly called “Scotch Peg,” she being a
Scotch woman, was buried (at Edlington), Sept. 2, 1789. In the 2nd
Register again we have, among the surnames, Greenland, Walesby, Bouchier,
Soulby, Bates, Longstaffe, Falkner, Bullifant, Gaunt, Elsey, Sturdivant,
Bontoft, Darwin, and others.
We have just mentioned the name of Soulby. I find from the returns made
by Government, that Charles Soulby, and his brother Edward, both payed
the tax for male servants, the former for 2, the latter for 1, in the
year 1780.
Among the Gentry of Lincolnshire, a list of whom was made by the Royal
Heralds in the year 1634, is Thomas Tokyng, of Edlington, with Ambrose
Sheppard, of Hemingby, Robert and John Sherard, of Gautby, Thomas Morgan,
Esq., of Scrivelsby, &c., &c. John Rolt, of Edlington, declined the
honour, there being some slight “duty” chargeable on the distinction.
Ralph Palframan, clerk, was presented to the Benefice of Edlington, by
his brother Anthony, merchant of the staple, at Lincoln, by an assignment
of the advowson made for this turn by the late Abbot of Bardney. William
Palfreyman was Mayor of Lincoln in 1536, probably the father. He was
instituted A.D. 1569, on the demise of Leonard Nurse. “Architect, Soc.
Journ.,” vol. xxiv., p. 15.
The Church of Edlington is dedicated to St. Helen, the mother of the
Emperor Constantine, who was, by birth, a Yorkshire woman. The edifice
was re-built, with the exception of the lowest part of the tower, in
1859–60, at a cost of £1146. It consists of a nave, south aisle,
chancel, and substantial tower of 3 tiers, with 3 bells. The font is
square at the base, octagonal above. The tower arch at the west end is
the original Norman, and the only part remaining of the original
building. The upper part of the tower is in the Early English style.
The windows in the tower are copies of the former Early English ones, the
south arcade is perpendicular, with windows in the same style, and
consisting of 3 bays, with octagonal columns. The Chancel Arch is of
good Early English style. There is a good coloured two-light window,
near the pulpit, in memory of Margaret, the wife of J. Hassard Short,
Esq., who died Feb. 2nd, 1881. The subject of this window is the three
Maries, and the Angel, at the Sepulchre; combined with his wife, he also
by the same window, commemorated his daughter, Agnes Margarette, who died
17th Dec., 1867. Another coloured window was placed in the Church in
December, 1900, in memory of the late Squire, the subject being the
Saviour appearing to Mary Magdalene, at the Sepulchre. Both figures are
of life-size, the countenances being full of expression. It was designed
by Messrs. Heaton and Butler, and placed in position by Mr. C. Hensman,
of Horncastle; and forms a fitting companion to the window in memory of
his wife. It bears the inscription, “To the glory of God, in loving
memory of John Hassard Short, Esq., who died Dec. 4, 1893, this window is
erected by his daughter Marian.” The Shorts have held this estate for
four generations. The flooring is laid with Minton tiles, the church is
fitted with open benches, and pulpit of oak, with reading desk and
lectern of the same. These were the gift of the Lay Impropriators of the
Benefice, the Trustees of Oakham and Uppingham Schools. The organ is by
Stephenson, of Lincoln. The inscription on the 3 bells (according to
North, in his “Lincolnshire Bells”), 2 Royal Heads on each, Edwd. I., and
Queen Eleanor; Edwd. III. and Queen Philippa; Henry VI. and Margaret of
Anjou. Further details are given, as that Edlington had, in 1553, “three
big bells and a Priest’s bell.” Inscriptions now, on 1st bell “1824,”
2nd bell “I.H.S. Sancte Peter,” with diameter of 34 inches; 3rd bell
“I.H.S., Sancte Paule”; Priest’s bell, “T.L. TFCW., 1670,” with diameter
11½ inches.
There have been at least 5 Vicars within the last 50 years. The present
Vicar, is the Rev. E. H. Bree, formerly Curate of Belchford, who has a
good and commodious residence and premises, recently enlarged, and good
garden, pleasantly situated close to the Park.
We have said that the former old Residence of the Shorts was pulled down
several years ago; no building has been erected on the same scale or site
since, but a farm house was adopted as a shooting box, for members of the
family; and for the last three or four years this has been occupied by J.
R. Hatfeild, Esq., who rents the shooting. The Benefice is in the gift
of the Lord Chancellor, as representing the former Patron, the King.
Small as is the parish of Edlington, it has seen some stirring scenes.
On the day before the Battle of Winceby, near Horncastle, where the
Royalists were defeated by Cromwell, viz., on the Evening of Tuesday,
Oct. 10, 1643, a troop of Parliamentary Horse, commanded by Capt. Samuel
Moody, were surprised at Edlington, by the King’s forces, under the
command of Sir John Henderson and Lord Widdrington, of Blankney, and
there befell a rather sharp skirmish, in which the Parliamentary troops
had to fall back. Such was one violation of the quietude of the little
village. In older times, lying as it did, between the two Roman forts of
Banovallum (or Cornucastrum) and the ancient Lindum (or Lincoln), it
would often, in the time of the Roman occupation of the country, be
disturbed by the heavy tread of Roman Legions, and the accompanying music
of Roman Clarions.
History also tells us that “in the year of our Lord, 1406, Sept. 12, King
Henry IV. made a Royal procession from the town of Horncastle, with a
great and honourable company, to the Abbey of Bardney, where the Abbot
and Monastery came out, in ecclesiastical state, to meet him,” [Leland’s
“Collectanea”]. As by-roads did not exist, as they do now, we can hardly
doubt, that his line of route would be by the King’s highway, through
Edlington.
Surely, even in these days of easy locomotion, it can have fallen to the
lot of few villages, large or small, to have given to the gaze of their
rustic wondering inhabitants, such varied, and unusual scenes as these.
MAVIS ENDERBY.
Mavis Enderby is nearly 8 miles from Horncastle, in an easterly
direction, the road passing through High Toynton, skirting Scrafield, and
through Winceby, and Lusby, and being part of the old Roman road from
Doncaster to Wainfleet. It is about 3 miles west by north of Spilsby,
where is the nearest telegraph office; the nearest money order office
being at Raithby. Letters, via Spilsby, arrive at 7.30 a.m. The village
is prettily situated on a slope of the wolds, the houses clustering about
the church, except solitary farm residences of a substantial kind; the
parish is roughly divided into Northfield and Southfield. To the north
formerly stood a religious house, a dependency of Revesby Abbey. It was
last occupied by C. J. H. Massingberd Mundy, Esq. It fell into decay
some years ago, and nothing now remains of it, beyond the turf-covered
foundations and some fine yew-trees, apparently survivals of a former
avenue leading to it. A varied view is seen to the north-east, towards
Aswardby and Langton, including the wooded height of Harrington Hill, and
other elevated ground, with the graceful spire of Sausethorpe church
conspicuous in the intervening valley, one of the most successful
creations of the Architect, Stephen Lewin, who, fifty years ago, did some
good work among our Lincolnshire churches, notably in his restoration of
Swineshead, and his re-building of Brothertoft. The stranger might, by
the name of this parish, be reminded of the lines of Sir Walter Scott.
{47a}
Merry it is in the good green woods,
When the Mavis {47b} and Merle {47c} are singing,
When the deer sweep by, and the hounds are in cry,
And the hunter’s horn is ringing.
But no groves or hedgerows vocal with their songsters, gave the parish
its name. The Lord of the Manor, in the 12th century was Richard de
Malbyse, or Malbishe, a large proprietor, and exercising considerable
influence in this neighbourhood, and elsewhere. The epithet has been
retained to distinguish this from Bag Enderby, and Wood Enderby; one of
which is near and the other not far away. The name Malbyse or Malbishe,
means, in old Norman French, an evil beast (compare Bis-on); and the arms
of the family, as still preserved at Acaster Malbis, near York, once
belonging to a member of the family, are a chevron, with three wild stags
heads “erased,” _i.e._, raggedly severed from the body.
Domesday Book, however, tells us of owners of land before the Malbyshes,
in pre-Norman times. The Saxon, Thane Elnod, held land in Mavis Enderby
and Raithby and East Keal, in the reign of Edward the Confessor (p. 31)
{47c}; while another Saxon, Godwin, whose name appears in connection with
several other parishes, had the Manor of Mavis Enderby (p. 159) {47c}
The old hereditary owners of the lands met with no mercy from the
Conqueror, who had to provide for his Norman followers. The historian
records that as William passed along the ranks of his army before the
great Battle of Hastings, he addressed them in a loud voice thus,
“Remember to fight well, if we conquer we shall be rich, if I take this
land, you will have it among you,” and the promise then held out, was
amply fulfilled; the vanquished Saxons were robbed of their lands, to
reward William’s favorites who had capacious maws. Among those rewarded
extensively with plundered territory, was William de Karilepho,
consecrated Bishop of Durham in 1082, and also made Chief Justice of
England; he received grants of land in Mavis Enderby, Raithby, Spilsby,
Hundleby, Grebby, and many other places. Ivo Taillebois (equivalent to
the modern Underwood), who was then leader of the Angevin Auxiliaries of
the Conqueror, also received very extensive grants; among them being
lands in Mavis Enderby, Raithby, Hareby, Halton Holgate, Asgarby,
Miningsby and many other demesnes. About the same time also (1070),
another of the Conqueror’s favourites Eudo—son of Spirewic, subsequently
the founder of the Tattershall family, received very extensive domains,
among them being the Manor of Mavis Enderby, a Berewick (or smaller
outlying portion) in Raithby, another in Hundleby, and in the two Keals,
Hagnaby, and endless more possessions, his head-quarters being at
Tattershall, all of which he held “in capite” or directly of the King.
But, as we have repeatedly observed in these notes, these early Norman
tenures were precarious, they were acquired by violence, and when the
hand that held them waxed feeble, a stronger hand, in turn, took
possession. Mavis Enderby, like very many other parishes, became an
appurtenance of the Manor, or Honor, of Bolingbroke, and throughout that
great appanage of the Crown there were many changes in the Lords of
demesnes.
The first of the Malbishes, whose name is recorded, is Osbert Malbishe,
who, with others, is witness to a charter of Revesby Abbey, of date 1173;
this probably is accounted for by the fact of there being a cell of
Revesby Abbey at Mavis Enderby. Another Malbishe, William, also
witnesses another Revesby charter in 1216. Both these lived before the
Richard Malbishe who is generally referred to as being the Lord of the
Manor, whose name became attached to the parish.
Among the “Final Concords” (p. 162), we find it recorded, that in a deed,
dated 5th June, 1222, Matilda, wife of the above William Malebisse,
claimed certain lands in Enderby (not yet specially designated “Mavis”),
as her dower, but that through the agency of Robert de Wion, she
quit-claimed all her rights to that particular portion in favour of one
Nicholas and his heirs, for which the said Nicholas gave her 20s.
In a Chancery Inquisition, 4 Edw. III., 1330, it is shown that the heirs
of Alan Malbish hold certain lands in Sausthorpe and Langton; and another
Inquisition in 1352, mentions ¼ fee held in Sauzethorpe and Langton,
which the heirs of Alan Malbish hold. (“Archit. S. Journ.,” 1894, p.
170.)
After this we hear nothing more of the Malbishe family. But in a
Chancery Inquisition post-mortem, 18 Henry VII., No. 34, taken at “Est
Rasen, 26th October, 1502, after the death of Thomas Fitzwilliam, heir of
Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam, Knight, lately deceased,” it is stated that John
Vere, Earl of Oxford, Sir Robert Dymmok, Knight, Robert Rede, Justice of
the Lord the King, Thomas Chaloner, and others, were seized of the fee of
the Manors of Malburssh Enderby, Maydinwell, Malberthorp, etc., with
their appurtenances (which are described as extensive) to the use of the
heirs male of the said Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam lawfully begotten, and the
Jurors further say, that the Manor of Malburssh Enderby, with
appurtenances, etc., are held of the Lord the King, of the Duchy of
Lancaster, as of his Manor of Bolingbroke, and that certain lands are
held of Sir George Taylboys (doubtless a descendent of Ivo Taillebois,
owner in the days of the Conqueror), but by what services they do not
know. (“Architect. Soc. Journ.” 1895, p. 14).
The Fitzwilliams still held lands in Mablethorp in the reign of Henry
VIII. One of the family, Sir William Fitzwilliam was Lord High Admiral,
and a staunch supporter of the King in the rebellion of 1536. Only two
years later, in an Inquisition, 20 Henry VII., No. 14 (January 31,
1504–5). After the death of George Gedney, it is stated that a certain
John Billesby (of Billesby) {49} and Nicholas Eland were seized of the
Manor of Mabysshenderby, with appurtenances, as well as lands in
Hagworthynham, Bag Enderby, Holbeche, Fleet, and Swaby, and that they
enfeoffed the said George Gedney and Anne his wife of the aforesaid
Manors, to them and their heirs for ever. The Gedneys continued for many
generations an influential family in the neighbourhood. Andrew Gedney,
of Bag Enderby, married Dorothy, daughter of Sir William Skipwith, of
South Ormsby, 1536; and within recent years Arthur P. Gedney, Esq. (a
cousin of the writer of these notes), owned the Manor of Candlesby, and
resided at Candlesby Hall. (“Arch. S. Journ.,” 1895, page 27.)
In an Inquisition p.m. in the same year No. 52, after the death of the
said Anne, wife of George Gedney, much of this is repeated, but it is
further specified that the property in Hagworthingham is held of the
Abbot of Bardney; some in Bag Enderby is held of the Warden of Tateshale,
some in Holbeche of the Lady Dacre de la South, and some in Flete of the
Lord Fitz Water; that the said Anne died on the Saturday after the feast
of the Holy Trinity, and that John Gedney is son and next heir. In a
deed of 14 June, 1535, John Gedney, of Bag Enderby, refers to his wife’s
jointure of lands in Mavis Enderby and other parishes; the said wife
being Isabel, heiress of the Enderbies of Bag Enderby.
In the register of Mavis Enderby, one book of which extends from 1579 to
1772, an entry shows that George Lilbourne was Rector from 1522 to 1588,
or 66 years. He was a relative of the Smyths of Elkington, near Louth,
who are still represented in the two parishes of North and South
Elkington, as is shown by his will, dated 5th July, 1587 (Lincolnshire
Wills), in which he requests that he may be buried on the north side of
the chancel, bequeathing “to my niece Lacon, my niece Hansard, and my
niece Simpson, an old English crown apiece; to Sir Edward Hustwaite, all
the books he hath of mine, and a great book of St. Gregory’s works, in
the hands of Sir Robert Welles, Parson of Howell; to my servant Agnes
Cressie, a silver spoon with akorne at the end of it; to George Smithe
3li.; to Dorothy and Susan Smyth, 10s. apiece; to my nephew Herbert
Lacon, a macer (mazer or drinking bowl), lined with silver and gilt; to
my cousins Thomas Smithe and Anthony Smithe, and my nephew Tristram
Smithe a little silver salt (cellar). I make my nephew Herbert Lacon,
and Mr. Thomas Taylor, supervisors.” (Prob., 8 May, 1588).
It would appear that he was more generous in lending his books than his
friends were careful in returning them, the latter, a failing not unknown
in our own day, and even St. Paul could write to Timothy (2 T. iv. 13),
“Bring with thee the books, but especially the parchments.”
Among Lincolnshire Wills is one of Roger Metcalf, clerk of Mavis Enderby,
dated 18 July, 1606, in which he desires to be buried in the chancel,
John Downes of Lusby, clerk, being left executor, and George Littlebury
of Somersby, Gent., and John Salmon of Haltham-on-Bain, clerk,
supervisors. We thus see that in Saxon times, lands in Mavis Enderby and
Raithby were held by the same owner, and that in early Norman times,
lands in the two parishes were held more than once by the same Lord. In
a Feet of Fines, Lincoln, file 68 (32), 30 Ed. I., there was a dispute
between John Beck (of the ancient family of Bec, of Eresby, Lusby, etc.)
and Robert de Wylgheby (ancestor of the Lords Willoughby) about the
Manors and advowsons of Enderby Malbys, and Ratheby, as well as other
properties, in which the said Robert granted to the said John the said
lands and advowsons. “Architect. S. Journal,” 1897, p. 56. And in the
present day the two benefices are held together by the Rev. George Ward,
who is himself patron of Mavis Enderby, Raithby being in the gift of the
crown.
Early in the seventeenth century, the benefice was held by the Rev. James
Forrester, who was chaplain to Anne, Queen of James I., and wrote a
curious book, entitled “The Marrowe Juice of 260 Scriptures, or
Monas-Tessera-Graphica”; printed at the signe of the crowne, in Paul’s
churchyard, 1611.
The head of one of our old and distinguished Lincolnshire families, Sir
Edward Ascough, presented to the benefice in 1679 and 1685. In 1734,
Decimus Reynolds presented, and in 1782 Henry Best, Esq., presented.
“Liber Regis.,” s.v., Malvis, alias Maurice, Enderby.
The present owners of the parish are Mrs. Rashdall of London, Mrs.
Coltman of Hagnaby, Mr. Holmes of Eastville, and the Rector.
It need hardly be said that the poem, by Miss Ingelow, of Boston, called
“The Brides of Mavis Enderby,” has no connection with this parish, being
entirely imaginary, except that it is founded on the fact of a high tide
on the Lincolnshire coast. It was published in 1849, and Tennyson, the
Laureate, much admired it. “Life of Lord Tennyson,” Vol. I., p. 287.
The name was chosen as being euphonious.
The Church, dedicated to St. Michael, consists of tower, nave with south
aisle, and chancel. The tower is of three stories. In the western wall,
above the west door, is a three-light trefoiled perpendicular window,
above this a clock, above that a smaller three-light window, similar
windows being in all four faces. The sill of the west door is an ancient
stone, with the “Runic involuted knot” pattern, which, however, is almost
obliterated by the tread of worshippers entering by the door. It is
similar to the Runic stone at Miningsby. The church has been restored or
rebuilt at various periods. The tower, originally a lofty one, but a
large part of which, through decay of the sandstone, had fallen down, was
partly rebuilt in 1684, and a lower bell-chamber provided. In 1894 it
was again restored, and carried up to its original height. The chancel
also was rebuilt to its original length in 1871, and the nave, aisle, and
porch were handsomely restored in 1878. There are three bells. On the
south interior wall of the tower is an inscription on a tablet, recording
that the tower was restored and clock set up in 1894, in memory of four
generations of the Ward family, “who were married in 1704, 1728, 1783,
1836, G. Ward, F.S.A. (Rector), W. Sharpe (Churchwarden), their 23rd year
of office together, C. Hodgson Fowler (Architect), Edwd. Bowman and Sons
(Contractors).”
In the north wall of the nave is a door, two three-light trefoiled
windows, with two quatrefoils above. The south aisle consists of three
bays, one of the original sandstone pillars still remains in the north
corner of the west end, next to the tower wall, where there is also a
two-light window behind the font. In the south wall, east of the porch,
are two windows of three lights, one of the decorated style, the other
perpendicular, both square-headed. The eastern one has coloured glass,
by Clayton and Bell, the subjects being—in the centre the annunciation,
to the east the angel appearing to Zacharias, to the west the visitation,
adapted from the famous picture by Mariotto Albertinelli, in the Academy
Gallery, at Florence. The seats are of modern oak, with carved
poppy-heads, except one or two ancient ones preserved from an older
structure near the tower, and the roof throughout is of red deal. There
is a modern oak rood screen, with rood-loft, having standing figures of
angels, one on each side, as well as one over the pulpit. These were
originally in Louth church. The pulpit and reading desk are of modern
oak. The font is octagonal, decorated with plain Ogee arch on each face.
The south porch is modern, but having a curious old stoup, the pedestal
being a cluster of early English columns, the bowl of a rather later
date, in keeping with the carving round the doorway; these have probably
been imported from elsewhere. The chancel, entirely modern, has a
three-light east window, both the tracery and coloured glass being
adapted from a window in Louth church (where the Rector was formerly
Curate), the glass being by Clayton and Bell, the tracery by the late Mr.
James Fowler of Louth. The subjects are—below, the agony, crucifixion
and entombment, and above, the annunciation, with six-winged cherubim on
either side. In the south wall are two windows of two lights, with
quatrefoil above. On the north is an organ chamber, with low wide arch,
and a modern piscina and aumbrey in the wall. The altar cloths are very
handsome, the upper cover being crimson plush, decorated with shields,
and the cross and scales; the frontals are gifts of various persons, one
of Algerian red silk and gold work in three compartments; a second of
white silk, worked by Mrs. Clarke, late of Stainsby House, with the Agnus
Dei in the centre; the third is of green silk, with very rich embroidery;
the fourth, of plain purple velvet, with four bands of darker purple, for
the Lent season.
The churchyard cross has been recently restored after the fashion of the
Somersby cross, a portion of the shaft being old. There is also a modern
sun dial, erected by the present Rector. Fragments of the old tower, and
of the Norman sandstone pillars, form ornaments in the Rectory garden.
The present Rectory was built in 1871, the architect being the late Mr.
James Fowler, of Louth, it has been added to since that date, and now
forms a commodious residence in pretty grounds, and a picturesque
situation.
It may be added, as an incident of special interest, that the father of
the late Sir John Franklin, the arctic explorer, on retiring from
business in Spilsby, bought a portion of ground in this parish, in south
field, and built a house, now occupied by Mr. W. R. Cartwright, in which
he resided for some years, and in which Sir John Franklin spent his
youth.
Some years ago, the Rector found in his garden a silver groat of Philip
and Mary, two Nuremberg tokens, and a half-penny of William III.
The church and parish, in their past and present history, are among the
most interesting in the neighbourhood.
FULLETBY.
Fulletby lies about 3½ miles from Horncastle, in a north-east by north
direction, on the road to Belchford. Letters, _via_ Horncastle, arrive
at 10 a.m. The nearest Money Order Office is at Belchford, the nearest
Telegraph Office at Tetford, or Horncastle. We do not know very much of
the ancient history of this parish. In Domesday Book it is stated
(“Lands of the Bishop of Durham”) that the Saxons, Siward and Edric, had
there two carucates (or about 240 acres) and six oxgangs of land,
rateable to gelt. William, a vassal of the Bishop {54} had also there
two carucates (or 240 acres) and five villeins and 19 socmen, who had two
carucates and two oxgangs. In Hearne’s “Liber Niger” (vol. ii) Ranulph,
Bishop of Durham, is said to have “in Fuletebi and Oxcum 4 carucates and
6 oxgangs which Pinson holds” (Circa A.D. 1114). Pinson was a Norman
soldier, Dapifer, or Steward of the Durham Bishops, and held many lands
in this neighbourhood under them for the service of acting as their
bailiff; the Bishop holding, “in chief,” direct from the sovereign.
Pinson thus became (deputy) Lord of Eresby, and other Episcopal
Lordships, and by the marriage of Walter de Beck, with Agnes, a daughter
of Hugh Pinson, several of these lands passed to the family of Bec, or
Bek; one of the family, Anthony de Bec, himself became Bishop of Durham.
In 1214 the Bishop of Durham’s land in Fulletby and Oxcomb was held under
him by Henry Bec, and in the reign of Ed. I. John Beck and John de
Harington held a Fee (doubtless the same property in Fulletby and
Oxcombe). At another date, temp King Henry II., a certain “Count
Richard,” probably the Earl of Chester, had “in Fulledebi 2 carucates.”
By the marriage of Sir William Willoughby with a daughter of Baron Bec,
of Eresby, several of these Lordships passed to the Willoughby d’ Eresby
family; and among them (“Testa de Nevill,” page 318) were lands in
“ffotby”; and in Feet of Fines, Lincoln, (file 69, 31, Ed. I. A.D. 1303)
it is stated that Robert de Wylgheby held “rent of 6 quarters of salt in
ffoletby, Beltefford, Golkesby, &c.” While Gervase Holles says
(“Collectanea,” Brit. Mus., vol. iii., p. 770) that in the reign of
Elizabeth, “Carolus, Dominus Willoughby de Parham,” was Lord of the Manor
of Fulletby (“Old Lincolnshire,” vol. i., pp. 213–214). The lands have
passed from these old owners many years ago, and are now the property of
the Elmhirst, Booth, Riggall, and other families.
In the rebellion, called “the Lincolnshire Rising,” in 1536, Robert
Leech, of Fulletby, joined with the insurgents, and, although his
brother, Nicholas Leech, parson of Belchford, escaped trial, Robert was
put to death with Thomas Kendall, vicar of Louth, the Abbots (Matthew
Mackerell) of Barlings, and (Richard Harrison) of Kirkstead, and many
others. Their names were included in a “List of Lincolnshire Martyrs,”
sent to the Apostolic See, who were “first made Venerable, then Blessed,
and lastly Canonised,” by his holiness, for their steadfastness in the
Papal cause. Other persons, known by name, connected with the parish as
patrons of the benefice, have been the heirs of Nicholas Shepley in 1701;
George Lascells, Esq., in 1741; Thomas Rockliffe, Esq., in 1782; Francis
Rockliffe, clerk, in 1784; Mrs. A. R. Rockliffe, 1826; Rev. J. Jackson in
1863. F. Charsley, Esq., is the present patron; and Rev. R. Barker is
rector, who has a substantial residence in the parish. The benefice was
formerly charged with a pension of 6s. 8d. to Bullington Priory.
The Church, St. Andrews, is a modern edifice, almost entirely rebuilt in
1857 by Messrs Maughan and Fowler, of Louth; a previous larger church
having been erected in 1705, on the site of a Saxon church, mentioned by
Archdeacon Churton, in his “English Church,” as one of the two hundred
and twenty-two churches in Lincolnshire existing before the Norman
conquest. No traces of the original Saxon church remain. The fabric,
400 years ago, is said to have been considerably longer, to have had a
tower, and north and south aisles. In the later fabric, the aisles had
disappeared, as shewn in an old print, and the tower which partly fell,
in 1799, was then cut down to the level of the nave roof, with a small
wooden bell-turret above it.
The Land Revenue Records (bundle 1392) state that there were “iij bells
and a lytel bell.” In 1566 the Churchwardens reported a “sacringe bell”
as still remaining (Peacock’s “Church Furniture” p. 81.) There are now
only two bells; and a tradition still lingers, that the largest of the
former bells now hangs in the belfry of Tetford church. In 1834, the
Church, like several others in the neighbourhood, was thatched; at that
date the roof was repaired, and covered with tiles.
The east window is a good triplet, in early English style. The present
pulpit was put up by the late Rector, the Rev. G. E. Frewer; and, along
with the Reredos, was carved by Mr. Winn, living in the parish. The
reading desk was carved by a former Rector, Rev. J. Jackson, but has of
late years, been altered. There is a handsome brass lectern given by the
present Rector, Rev. R. Barker. In the floor of the chancel is a slab,
with this inscription, “Depositum Ricardi Dugard qui obiit anno ætatis
68, salutis 1653, Januarii 28.” He is supposed to have been a nephew of
William Dugard, who printed the original edition of “Ikon Basilike,” in
his own house. The two present bells are inscribed “Warner and Sons,
1857.” All the registers previous to 1750 have been lost. Of the
communion plate, the chalice and paten are dated 1688; the flagon is
modern.
In 1566 there was in the church “one alb, one cope, a crosse, super
altaire, ij images, a mass, a piece of wood, whereon stood xxiv candels.”
George Monson, the royal commissioner, ordered that “they must awaie with
(these) this side the first of Maie, and certifie.”
In 1846 six Roman urns, containing calcined bones, were dug up in this
parish in an abandoned brickyard; and, about 5 years afterwards, another
similar urn was found near the same place. There are still found there a
considerable quantity of fossils, ammonites, gryphæa, &c.; and the writer
of these notes possesses a vertebra of a large saurian, one of several
which have quite recently been found at the same place.
Fulletby School was rebuilt in 1849. The 1st stone being laid in the
last week in August, to contain 60 children, by Dr. Spranger, Rector of
Low Toynton, who gave handsomely, besides building at his own expense and
endowing a School at New York. The Rev. W. M. Pierce, Rector,
contributed, also Mrs. Elmhirst, of Yorkshire; the Lady of the Manor, the
Queen Dowager giving £10. (“Lincolnshire Chronicle,” August 28th, 1849).
GOULCEBY.
Goulceby lies in a northerly direction, about 7 miles from Horncastle,
some two miles further on than Scamblesby, and barely a mile west of
Asterby, to which parish it is now ecclesiastically annexed; the joint
value of the two benefices, the former a vicarage and the latter a
rectory, being about £380 a year, now held by the Rev. J. Graham, J.P.,
who resides at Asterby. Goulceby was probably, in Saxon times, the more
important of the two places, since it was one of the 222 parishes in the
county (according to Sir Henry Ellis) which possessed a church before the
Norman Conquest, and one of the 131 which had a resident priest.
Letters arrive _via_ Lincoln at 10 am., and are despatched at 3.55 p.m.
The nearest money order office is at Scamblesby, the nearest telegraph
office at Baumber; but, by arrangement, telegrams can be sent from the
Donington-on-Bain station, on the Lincoln and Louth railway, which is
distant about 2 miles.
The village lies in a valley which is watered by a branch of the river
Bain. The patronage of the benefice has been in various hands. In
pre-reformation times it belonged to the Preceptory of the Knights
Templars at Willoughton; in 1605 it was held by Christopher Pickering
(“Liber Regis”), later by a Mr. Hatley (Ecton’s “Thesaurus”); then by the
Listers of Burwell Park, who presented as late as 1837; from whom the
patronage, with the manor, was acquired by the Bagnell family; whose
representative now presents to the united benefice, alternately with the
Traffords, as Lords of the Manor of Asterby. At what period the original
church perished does not appear to be recorded; but, according to Weir
(“History of Lincolnshire,” ed. 1828) there was in 1821 only a small
modern church, dedicated to all Saints. This fell into decay, and in
1855 was succeeded by a small brick and stone structure; which, in turn,
has more recently been taken down; and the church at Asterby now serves
for the two parishes.
Historic references to this parish are “few and far between,” yet by
bringing them together, with a moderate degree of assumption from given
premises, we can make out a fairly connected catena of its ownership.
The name itself can hardly be said to give a certain sound. It has been
variously spelt, as Golsby, Goldesby, Gouthesby, Golksby, Colceby, and,
in Domesday Book, Colchesbi. We can only conjecture that it may have
been the “Buy,” _i.e._, Byre, or farmstead of a Saxon Thane, named Col,
Kol, or Golk, the two former being common as contractions of Colswen, or
Colegrim, and not uncommon in the neighbourhood. {58}
According to Domesday Book, this, like many other parishes in the
neighbourhood, was among the possessions of the Norman noble, Ivo
Taillebois, acquired through his marriage with the Lady Lucia, the
wealthy Saxon heiress of the Thorolds, and connected with the Royal line
of King Harold. He (or she), had here 3 carucates of land (or 360
acres), rateable to gelt; with 16 socmen and 2 villeins, occupying 6
carucates (or 720 acres); a mill worth 4s. yearly; a church and priest,
and 120 acres of meadow. As I mention in notices of other parishes
(Bolingbroke, Scamblesby &c.), the tenure of these demesnes was not of
long duration, and in a few years they were dispersed among the
descendants of the Saxon heiress. Goulceby would seem to have become an
appurtenance, with Belchford, Donington and several others, of the
superior manor of Burwell. It would thus be granted, originally, by
Henry I. to the Norman family of De la Haye, one of whom, in the 13th
century, founded the Benedictine Alien Priory of Burwell, as a dependency
of the Abbey of S. Mary Silvæ Majoris, near Bourdeaux, and endowed it
with some of his own demesnes. This family held these possessions for
150 years. The last of them, John De la Haye, in the reign of Edward I.,
having enfeoffed Philip de Kyme of the same, continued for the remainder
of his life to hold the lands, under the said Philip, by the peculiar
(nominal) “service of _one rose_.” (Chancery Inquis., post mortem, 21,
Edward I., No. 33). For some years the Kymes held the property, being
called to Parliament as Barons, and doing other service for their
sovereigns; until in 12 Edward III. (Dugdale’s “Baronage,” i., 621)
William of that name died without issue; and his widow married as her
second husband, Nicholas de Cantelupe (whose ancestors had been Earls of
Abergavenny), who thus succeeded to these demesnes. He dying also
without issue, on the subsequent death of his widow, the property
reverted to Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus, who had been enfeoffed
of it by his uncle, the above William. Gilbert, again, died without
issue, and his widow married Henry Percy, created at the coronation of
Richard II., the 1st Earl of Northumberland, who thus in turn acquired
the property. He, however, rebelled against Henry IV. (Camden’s
“Britannia,” p. 547); and on his attainder that sovereign granted the
manors to his son John, afterward. Duke of Bedford (Patent Rolls, 6, H.
iv., p. 2., m. 16s) He dying without issue, the property reverted to the
crown, and Henry VI. granted it to Ralph, Lord Treasurer Cromwell.
(Patent Roll 18, H. vi., pt. 2, m. 19).
Before this period, however, the Cromwells were connected with Goulceby,
since it is shewn, by an Inquisition in the reign of Henry V. (post
mortem, No. 72, A.D. 1419), that Matilda, the wife of Sir Ralph Cromwell,
Knight, held lands in Roughton, Wodehall, Langton, Golseby, Belcheford,
Donington, etc., {59} and that Sir Ralph Cromwell her son was the next
heir. When the Lord Treasurer founded at Tattershall, the College of the
Holy Trinity, on the 17th Henry VI. (1439), he endowed it with portions
of many of these manors, as had also been done in the case of Burwell
Priory, centuries before; Goulceby doubtless being one of them. On the
dissolution of Religious Houses by Henry VIII. a great number of the
lands connected with them in this neighbourhood were bestowed by that
sovereign on Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, among these being
Goulceby, Belchford, ffulletsbye, etc. {60a} He died 24 August, 1545,
leaving two sons, Henry and Charles, by his wife Catherine, daughter and
heiress of William Lord Willoughby de Eresby. They, while at St. John’s
College, Cambridge, died of the epidemic, called “the sweating sickness,”
16 July, 1551 (Cooper’s “Athenæ Cantabridgenses,” i., 105); whereupon the
descendants of the daughters of their great grandfather, Sir William
Brandon, were declared the rightful heirs. One of these, Eleanor, had
married John Glemham, of Glemham Parva, Suffolk, and their great grandson
succeeded Thomas Glemham, Burwell, and a considerable portion of these
demesnes. {60b} He died about the 14 year of Queen Elizabeth, and was
succeeded by his son Henry, afterwards Sir Henry Glemham, Knight, who
married Lady Anne Sackville, daughter of the Earl of Dorset. {60c} He
settled upon his wife, Burwell, with appurtenances; and documents
connected with the Lister family (subsequently owners of Burwell, etc.),
now in the possession of Porter Wilson, Esq., shew that, in 1602, the
farm rents included those from “Goulsby, Belchforde, Donington super
bayne,” etc. We now proceed a step further to another change of
ownership:—In 1641, Sir Thomas Glemham, of Burwell, was a strong
supporter of Charles I., being Colonel of the King’s 4th Regiment, and
successively, Governor of York, Carlisle, and Oxford. {60d} He, probably
in order to raise funds for his royal master, sold for £15,000, the
Burwell estate and its many appurtenances, to Sir Matthew Lister, Knight,
of St. Martin in the Fields, co. Middlesex, and Martin Lister, of Thorpe
Arnold, co. Leicester, his brother. It is somewhat curious that in the
list of manors, which then changed hands, although Belchford, Oxcombe,
ffaireforth (_i.e._ Farforth), and Walmesgate, all in the near
neighbourhood of Goulceby, are named, no mention is made of Goulceby
itself, yet down to as recently as 1863 the patronage of the benefice was
vested in them (Morris’s “Gazetteer,” 1863). It appears, however, from a
deed of settlement, dated 10 Jan. 1656–7 (or about 15 years after the
sale), that Sir Martin Lister, of Thorpe Arnold, was possessed of
Belchford, Colceby, &c.; and after his death, his children were to divide
his property, and the trustees were “empowered to sell, if necessary,
Belchford, Colceby,” &c. It is possible that by this “Colceby,” Calceby
may be intended, which was annexed to Driby and Ormsby; but it certainly
looks as if Goulceby formed a part of the share of the property
originally bought by Sir Matthew Lister’s brother Martin. The Listers
continued to be owners of Burwell, doubtless at different periods parting
with various of the subsidiary “appurtenances” down to a few years ago;
intermarrying with the Dymokes, Alingtons, Gregorys of Harlaxton, Lord
Deloraine, members of the families of Sir Robt. Barkham, Knollys, Sir
Edward Boughton, and forming other good connections. Only in 1883, was
the property finally parted with by the late Matthew Henry Lister, eldest
son of Matthew Bancroft Lister, High Sheriff in 1800, to the present
owner, William Hornsby, Esq., High Sheriff in 1898. We may add that
Matthew Bancroft Lister claimed descent from Philip of Kyme; whose
family, we have seen, were owners of Goulceby, in the reign of Edward I.,
and in 1840 he petitioned the Queen for a revival in his person of the
Barony of Kyme; but that dignity still remains in abeyance. Of the
Matthew Lister who married Eleanor, daughter of the Hon. Sir Charles
Dymoke, Knight, champion of James II. (Circa 1683), it is recorded that
he had a son “Martin, baptized 1 October, buried in woollen 30 Nov.,
1693.” {61} For these particulars as to the ownership of Goulceby in the
past, I am largely indebted to a paper in the “Architectural Society’s
Journal” for 1897, by Mr. R. W. Goulding, entitled “Notes on the Lords of
the Manor of Burwell.”
The present owners of Goulceby are Colonel Bagnell, Lord of the Manor,
Earl Manvers, Thomas Falkner Alison, and various small proprietors.
The following particulars of the Listers are worthy of mention.—Sir
Matthew Lister, M.D., was fellow of Oriel College, Oxford; Physician to
Queen Anne, Consort of James I.; and Physician in Ordinary to Charles I.,
by whom he was knighted in 1636 (Woods’ “Fasti Oxon.,” 3rd ed., 1815, i.,
307–8), he died at the age of 92. The entry of his burial is as follows,
“Matthew Lyster, Kt. & cheefe lord of Burwell, &c., was buried December
the 19th, 1657.” Among the bequests in his will, dated 18th August,
1656, are the following:—To his wife all his household stuff . . ., all
“the jewells she usually weareth, and hath in her custodie”; also his
“coach and coach-horses, if he should have any at his death.” “Item, I
give to be divided between her and my neece, Sir Martin Lister’s wife,
all that poure remnant of Plate which is left me since these troubles.”
To his “son in law George Banfield, and to his sister, the Ladie Cobham,
£10 for a remembrance.” To his “servant John Mitchele, £50 . . ., and if
he bee with me at my death all my wearing apparel, except one _fringed
sattin gown lyned with furre called ffitches_ (_i.e._, Marten skins),
which I desire my wife may have.” We may assume that this was some
official, or court, robe worn by Sir Matthew on occasions of ceremony.
He was President of the London College of Physicians, and even in our own
day, members of a College wear the “gowns” of their degree or office.
Another member of the family, Martin Lister, M.D., F.R.S., was one of
Queen Anne’s Physicians, an eminent zoologist, and author of books on
various branches of Natural History. His most important work was his
“Historia sive, synopsis Methodica Conchyliorum.” Various plants and
animals have been named after him.
Two or three other documents connected with Goulceby, may be here briefly
referred to:—
By a Final Concord, dated 20 June, 1202, an agreement was made between
Holda, daughter of Geoffrey, on the one hand, and certain Monks of
Minting Priory, who were tenants of an oxgang of land in Goutheby, by
which she surrendered all claim to the land, in favour of the Monks and
their successors for ever. In return for which the Monks gave her one
mark.
On July 28, 1231, an agreement was made between the Master of the Knights
Templars in England, and William Moysaunt and Amice his wife, by which
the said William and Amice acknowledged a certain meadow in Golkesby to
be the right of the said Master “to have and to hold, to him and his
successors, in free, pure, and perpetual alms”; and for this the said
Master gave them 2s.
By will, dated 30 May, 1617, Adam Henneage of Donynton Super Bane, Gent,
left to Frances his wife “all my messuage in Goulcebie, wherein John
Clarke now dwelleth”; and to his “sonne James his copyhold land in
Goulcebie, in tenure of Peter Pindar and John Tomson.” Proved at
Horncastle, 28 June, 1617. By will, dated 23 July, 1623, Thomas Kent, of
Scamblesby, Clerk, left “to the poor people of the parish of Goulceby,
20s.,” with similar bequests to the poor of Donington and Scamblesby.
Proved at Lincoln, 15 Nov., 1623.
The will of Timothy Kent, of Donington, Clerk, dated 13 Feb., 1623–4,
mentions lands in Goulceby and Asterby, and leaves bequests to various
relations and servants, and to the Cathedral Church, Lincoln, 2s., and to
the poor of Donington, 20s. Proved at Lincoln, 28 May, 1624. Elias
Kent, of Scamblesby, Gent., by will, dated 13 Feb., 1625, leaves various
bequests to relatives and friends, and “to the poorest people of Goulceby
10s., to those of Donington 10s., to those Scamblesby 40s.” Proved at
Lincoln, 20 Dec., 1628. (“Lincs. N. & Q.,” Vol. III., pp. 205–207).
The poor of Goulceby have an annual rent charge of £2 10s., left by
Anthony Acham, which is distributed in bread. He also in 1638 founded,
and endowed with £10 yearly, a school here; which was re-built in 1865,
with accommodation for 130 children; the original endowment is now
supplemented from other sources, and the school serves for the parishes
of Goulceby, Asterby, and Stenigot.
GREETHAM.
Greetham is distant about 3½ miles from Horncastle, in an easterly
direction, lying just beyond the parish of High Toynton, south of
Fulletby, west of Ashby Puerorum and north of Winceby. The village is
chiefly situated on a cross-road running north and south (and probably
Roman) which unites the road from Horncastle to Tetford with that from
Horncastle to Hagworthingham and Spilsby. The nearest money order and
telegraph office is at Horncastle, whence the letters arrive at 9.20.
a.m. The population of this village is now just over 130; but, as Isaac
Taylor says (“Words and Places,” p. 1), “local names are records of the
past,” and Greetham, as its name implies, was at one time a place of
considerably more importance than at present. The Saxons named it
Greetham, or the great village; which, as Mr. Streatfeild suggests
(“Lincolnshire and the Danes,” p. 18), the Normans translated into
“Grandham,” or “Granham,” as we find it in the Conqueror’s survey in
Domesday Book; and which was sometimes further curtailed into “Graham,”
as we find a field in High Toynton described as the “24 acres towards
Graham.” (Feet of Fines, Lincoln, 9, Henry III., No. 52, A.D. 1224–25,
quoted “Linc. N. & Q,” vol. iii., pp. 245–6). And not only was Greetham
(or Grandham) held in demesne, _i.e._, as a manor, but, like the
neighbouring Bolingbroke, being connected with Royalty, it became also
designated an “Honour.”
In a Chancery Inquisition post mortem (21 Henry VII., No. 122) taken
after the death of Henry Dawson, it is stated that “4 messuages, &c., in
Tetney are held of the Lord the King, as of his Honour of Bullingbroke”;
and in almost similar terms, in a Chancery Inquisition post mortem, of
the same King, No. 124, taken after the death of William Quadring, Esq.,
it is stated that he “held a messuage in Irby, of the Lord the King, as
of his Manor of Greetham, parcel of his Duchy of Lancaster.” In Domesday
Book it is stated that certain lands in the Manor of Bilsby, near Alford,
are “held of the Manor of Grandham”; Greetham apparently not in either of
these cases being regarded as an Honour. But in an Inquisition post
mortem, of John Asfordby, A.D. 1499, it is stated that the manor of this
same Bilsby, with Westhalgarth, is “held of the Lord the King, as of the
Honour of Greetham.” But, even as early as Domesday (1080), lands are
enumerated as belonging to “Grandham,” lying in Langtune (by Spilsby),
Hacberdineham (Hagworthingham), Salmundby, Tedforde, Brinkhill, Wingsby,
and Clachesby Pluckacre, in all amounting to 33 carucates, or close upon
4,000 acres (3960). And, to shew the wealth of the manor at that date,
compared with some others in the neighbourhood, while Scrivelsby is given
in Domesday as of the value of £14, and Horncastle at £44, Bolingbroke is
put at £40, but Greetham at £60, and it is further tallaged, _i.e._,
taxed at £70. It was the “caput Honoris,” or head, of the Lincolnshire
Barony of Hugh de Abrincis, or Avranches, the Conqueror’s nephew,
surnamed Lupus, or The Wolf, from his many deeds of violence. He was
Earl of Chester, having the whole of Cheshire assigned to him, except a
small portion belonging to the Bishop; and his royal uncle further
granted to him, nine manors in Berkshire, seven in Yorkshire, ten in
Dorset, thirty-two in Suffolk, and twelve in Norfolk, twenty-two in
Leicester, and about a score in Lincolnshire, besides smaller numbers in
other counties, and sokes and berewicks beyond counting. Earl Lupus in
his later years, attempted to atone for the irregularities of his early
life, by becoming monk in his own Abbey of St. Werburg, at Chester.
Later, the estates which he held, reverted to the crown, and were, in
part, granted to the Earl of Lincoln, who was created Duke of Lancaster.
His daughter and heiress, married the 4th son of King Edwd. III., who
also, through his wife, became Duke of Lancaster, and was father of Henry
of Bolinbroke, afterwards Henry IV. After various vicissitudes, the
Honour and much of the very extensive soke of Bolingbroke, became merged
in the Crown; and, in part, still remains the property of the Sovereign,
the King having among his titles still the Palatine Dukedom of Lancaster.
The fortunes of Greetham were more varied. It is impossible, from the
sources of information available for these notes to give all the
successive steps in the tenure of this manor, and of its numerous and
valuable appurtenances; or to give the connection, if any, between
successive owners. Fixity of tenure was by no means a feature of those
times, the power of the Sovereign was almost absolute, and demesnes were
seized by him, forfeited, retained, granted anew, or disposed of for
money, according to the royal caprice, or the exigencies of his purse, in
a most arbitrary fashion. To show the precarious nature of tenures held
“in capite,” or “in chief” from the Sovereign, we will mention one or two
cases, taken haphazard:—Edmund of Woodstock, 2nd son of Edwd. I., was
beheaded by Edward III., in the 4th year of his reign. He had been
granted the manor of Greetham only 3 years before (Dugdale’s “Baronage,”
vol. ii., p. 93). At a previous period, Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln,
died seised of the manor of Greetham. In the ordinary course of events,
the manor would have remained a possession of his daughter, Alice,
countess of Lincoln. Yet a Lancaster Record (class xxv. R. 8), shows
that Alice granted the manor to Hugh Dispenser, 16 Ed. II., and, he being
a favourite of that King, we can hardly doubt that the grant was a forced
one. The historian Speed informs us that, the Earl of Lancaster being
attainted, the elder Dispenser obtained a grant of some of the Lancaster
property in Lincolnshire. But in 1327, the younger Dispenser, the Hugh
above-named, the favourite of the King (Edward II.), fell into disfavour,
and a commission was appointed to enquire what goods and chattels he
possessed at the time of his banishment, in his manors of Greetham,
Thorley, Wainfleet and Brattleby. He also held at that time, as shown by
other records, lands in Thornton, Roughton, Wilksby, Wood Enderby,
Partney, Mareham-le-Fen, &c., and a manor in Scrivelsby. But he, in his
turn being banished, the attainder of the Earl of Lancaster was revoked,
and the property once more reverted to the Lancaster family, in the
person of his brother and successor, Henry of Lancaster.
Truly the history of many a noble family of those times was a moving and
vivid commentary on the words of Holy Writ, “Put not your confidence in
Princes!”
In a list of military tenures (temp. Henry II.), while Norman d’Arcy, the
Earl of Britanny, Alan de Percy, Stephen of Albemarle, and several
others, are named as holding various of the manors in the neighbourhood,
the Duke of Lancaster is given as “Lord” of Greetham, Winceby and
Hameringham (“Old Lincolnshire,” by G. H. Burton, 1885, vol. i. pp.
214–215). These, as we have seen, had been very extensively added to,
and further additions are named in various records, some of which we will
here give, as they show the importance of Greetham. We should, however,
observe that because a great Baron held the manor of a demesne, it did
not at all follow that he owned the whole parish. This applies to
Greetham, as follows:—In an Assize Roll, at Lincoln, of 9 Edward I. (A.D.
1280), a certain Robert de Kyrketon, and his wife Beatrix, demand (and
their claim is admitted), certain rents of lands in “Askeby next Gretham
(_i.e._, Ashby Puerorum), Stavenesby (_i.e._, Stainsby), Bag-endreby and
Little Gretham,” at a time when the Earl of Lancaster was lord of the
manor. An Inquisition of the Earls of Kent (2nd son of Edwd. I.,
beheaded. 4 Edward III. and at that time, as we have already stated,
holding the manor of Greetham), shows that lands in Huttoft,
Theddlethorpe, Wainfleet and Thoresby, as well as in Bratoft and
Mablethorpe (the two latter also given in Domesday), were held under the
manor of Greetham in addition to those already named in the more
immediate neighbourhood, of Bratoft and Mablethorpe, appurtenances of
Greetham at the time of Domesday (1080) and continued to be so as late as
1552 (“Linc. N. & Q.” vol. iv. p. 122).
We will now look at the evidence of Greetham being an “Honour” as well as
a manor. The two properties of Bolingbroke and Greetham, eventually,
after various changes, passed under the same ownership; both forming
parts of the Duchy of Lancaster. The Honour of Bolingbroke, was also
called the Honour of Richmond, from the Earl and Countess of that name,
the parents of the future Henry IV. of England, the only Sovereign of
England born in Lincolnshire. The manor of Greetham is sometimes called
the “Honour of Lancaster,” _par excellence_, but it is quite clear that
Greetham is then intended, and though united, even under one common
management, they were legally regarded and treated as distinct “Honours.”
In a bailiff’s account of Rents of Assize, and of Court Perquisites (now
in the possession of John Sykes, Esq., F.S.A., of Doncaster, quoted
“Linc. N. & Q.” iii. p. 82), it is specified, that beside the Bolingbroke
Rents, there “is nothing, because the others are given in the accounts of
the Honour of Lancaster,” _i.e._ of Greetham; and the same distinction is
observed in the “Perquisites of Courts,” where we find, “13s. 6d. from
two views and Courts of the Honour of Bolingbroke, and one view and Court
of Honour of Lancaster” (Greetham). Although the two accounts were thus
kept distinct, the Court Rolls of the year (10 Richard II), show that the
Court of both Honours were at that time “holden together by order of
Thomas Hungerforde, Knight, Chief Steward.” In the earlier of these
Records, Greetham was necessarily described merely as a manor, because it
was not yet connected with royalty, and therefore was not then an Honour.
But in later documents it is frequently referred to as such; for
instance, in a Chancery Inquisition post mortem taken at Alford, 22 July
A.D. 1506 (21 Henry VII. No. 121), we find it stated that “Thomas Rygge
Gentylman, held certain lands, with their appurtenances, in Westyrkele
and Langton, of the lord the King, of his Honour of Greteham” (“Journal
of Architect. Society,” 1895, pp. 42–3). It is further stated that “John
Afforby held the manor of Bilsby, of the Lord the King, as of the Honor
of Gretham, of his Duchy of Lancaster” (quoted “Lincs. N. & Q.” iv. p.
108).
Besides the places already named as belonging to the demesne, or soke, of
Greetham, I find “Lecheburne” (_i.e._ Legbourne), Swaby, Elgelo (_i.e._,
Belleau), Claythorpe, Totele (_i.e._, Tothill), Withern, Haugh, Calceby,
Dalby, Dexthorpe, and many more.
Enough has, however, been said to shew the extent of the soke, or
jurisdiction, of the lords of Greetham, and its rank as an “Honour”
connected at different periods with royalty.
Its subsequent history, down to the present century, is almost a blank.
The Manor, although still, in our Directories (see Weir, Kelly, etc.),
styled “a parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster,” has dwindled much in
importance; and the inhabitants are apparently becoming fewer. In 1821
they numbered 148, in 1843 they were 152, in 1883 they were 147, in 1891
they had dropped to 131. The total acreage is 1250. A few stray
notices, connected with by-gone Greetham, are the following:—In Gibbon’s
“Early Lincoln Wills” (p. 67), Richard de Ravenser, Archdeacon of
Lincoln, by Will, dated “15 May, 1385,” bequeaths a legacy to Walter de
Gretham. Who the latter was, we have no means of learning. The
Ravensers were of a good family. In Maddison’s “Wills of Lincolnshire”
(1500–1600), p. 26, No. 68, we find that Richard Newcomen, of Nether
Toynton, by will, dated “3 Sep., 1540, left xx pence to the poor of
Greetham.” The Newcomens were among our oldest families, originally
seated at Saltfleetby, where their names appear in the registers, for
many generations. One of them, John Newcomen, “of Sallaby,” was involved
in the Lincolnshire Rebellion of 1536, along with Monsons, Massingberds,
Heneages, Maddisons, and many other members of leading families. This
Richard, above-named, settled at Low Toynton early in the 16th century,
and his grandson Samuel, “of Nether Toynton,” married Frances, daughter
of Thomas Massingberd, of Bratoft Hall, Esq., M.P. Several of them are
mentioned in the Herald’s “Lists of Gentry” in 1634 and 1666, as residing
at Hagnaby, Withern, Bag Enderby, &c. They have now disappeared from
Saltfleetby and “their place knoweth them no more.” Their pedigree is
given in the “Architectural Society’s Journal” for 1897. Another old
record (from the same source) is “John Dighton of Minting, by Will dated
17 December, 1606, leaves to Thomas Page of Greetham vj £.” Who Thomas
Page was is unknown; but the Dightons were a well known family, of
mercantile origin at Lincoln; the founder having served as Mayor and
Sheriff; one of them, Thomas resided at Waddingworth, another at Minting;
the chief member, Robert, owned and occupied the Hall at Stourton Magna,
of which traces still remain in mounds and moats. He also was involved
in the Lincolnshire rebellion. A daughter of Dighton of Stourton married
Edward Clinton, Esq., of Baumber, who afterwards became Earl of Lincoln,
and his descendants Dukes of Newcastle, whose burial place, for some
generations, was at Baumber. “The fashion of the world changeth” the
Dightons are gone, the Clintons, renovated in blood, remain.
A tradition remains to this day, that Thomas Wentworth, Earl of
Stratford, in the reign of Charles I., and one of his Sovereign’s most
faithful adherents, owned the manor of Greetham. I cannot find any
positive proof of this; but it seems not at all unlikely, since a lease
dated 14 Nov., 1685, was granted to Sir William Wentworth, Knight, of
Ashby Puerorum, who was a son of Sir William Wentworth, who fell at
Marston Moor, fighting for Charles I; and from him descended the first
Earl of Stafford, of the second creation. {69} It is proved by the award
that Thomas, Earl of Stafford was Lord of the Manor in 1785.
We pass on to the present century. About the year 1830, John Fardell,
Esq., of Lincoln (who represented that City in Parliament for a brief
period, being unseated on petition) became owner, by purchase, of the
Manor of Greetham, the rest of the parish, except the Rectory farm of 48
acres, being purchased by the late Mr. Robert Dennis, who built in 1830,
a commodious residence, Greetham House, where his two daughters now
reside. The manor, and about half the parish, was sold by the Fardell
Trustees to F. Wormall, Esq., whose present representative is his
grand-daughter, Lady Garden of Templemore Abbey, co. Tipperary; whose
father was Colonel Valentine Baker, one of a family distinguished as
sportsmen, travellers, and soldiers. We have said that the road, or
street, on which the village houses cluster, was probably originally
Roman; and some years ago, the neck of a Roman urn was found near it.
Along this road, to the North is a quarry in which many ammonites and
other fossils are found, in the gravel lying above the white clay. The
age of “Praise God Barebones” and his Puritanical allies, has long since
passed away; but something of the Puritan Spirit seems to survive in the
names of the villagers, given in the registers, which date from 1653. My
informant had herself known, within recent years, the names Mordecai,
Naomi, Keziah, Solomon, and Bridget shortened into Briggy. There are
also some curious field names. A boggy field is called the “Waddles”; a
similar field in the almost adjoining parish of Salmonby is called
“Wallows,” both probably referring to a slough of mire, and the awkward
ducklike gait involved in traversing it. A grass field is named
“Thunker,” as locally pronounced, which may embody the Norse Thing-garth,
or Council enclosure of the great hamlet. Another meadow is named
“Kirtle,” probably the Kirk-dale; while two fields, one ploughed and the
other meadow, are called “the Gousles,” which Mr. Streatfeild
(“Lincolnshire and the Danes,” p. 174.) considers to mean the first
slopes of the Wolds. “Gaut,” or “gout” (go-out) means an outlet from a
drain; and throughout the whole range of the Wolds, there are numerous
springs, issuing from their base, not uncommonly possessing medicinal
properties. Greetham is situated on the first spur or projection, of the
Wolds in this locality, and these gousles may have been the goutsleys, or
meadows, in which were the sources of local springs.
N.B.—In East Kirkby, at the foot of the Wolds, is a field named
Goutscroft.
There is also a field, named “Cross Close,” from which the poor receive a
yearly dole of 10s., bequeathed by Elizabeth Somersby, in 1733. Here is
a name which would seem to embody ancient history. We can picture to
ourselves, the Saxon “rude forefathers of the (great) hamlet,” gathered
round that sacred symbol, the village cross, before a church existed, to
listen to the itinerant man of God, awakening in their hearts a simple
faith in a welcome Saviour. These fields all, or most, of them lie in
the western part of the parish, the property of the Misses Dennis.
Of the Church, dedicated to All Saints, little can be said. It is a poor
fabric, of Spilsby sandstone, with square wood-framed windows, one in
each side and end. A “three-decker” pulpit, reading desk, and clerk’s
seat, square pews, a west singing gallery, a very meagre rood screen of
apparently modern poor carving, all painted wainscot colour. The roof a
flat, white-washed ceiling inside, is covered externally over the nave
with lead, which, from the decay of the supporting timbers is now almost
flat, and probably not in a very safe condition. The chancel roof is
slated and pointed. The font is plain octagonal, with octagonal shaft,
and square basin, within the bowl being a pewter christening basin, with
date “1821.” The single bell hangs in a shabby bell turret, surmounted
by a cross. A slab records the death of a former Rector, the Rev. Thomas
Jesset, in 1837. The inscriptions on the grave-stones in the churchyard
would imply that the inhabitants are long-lived, and the place healthy,
as it should be, from its elevated and well-drained position. The Rector
has a good residence, built in 1852.
ADDENDUM.—The above remarks on the Church were written in the year 1900.
We have much pleasure in adding, in the year 1903, that the present
Rector, the Rev. T. Hoole, has succeeded in effecting a thorough
restoration of the old fabric, at a cost of about £1,650, towards which
sum, the Misses Dennis, of Greetham House, contributed £500 each. The
Architect was Mr. Hodgson Fowler, of Durham; the contractors for the work
were Messrs. Bowman & Co., of Stamford. The only features of interest in
the former mean structure were a 13th century cross, and doorway, and the
south respond of the chancel arch. The restored fabric has been
constructed in harmony with this respond. It is throughout of a simple,
but effective, late 15th century design. The chancel, vestry,
bell-turret, and porch are new, and the screen has been restored; the
nave has new windows, a well-repaired roof, and new flooring, all the
internal fittings being of oak.
In the course of the work, other features of interest were discovered,
namely, the responds of a south aisle, a north door, and a Norman
entrance into a former tower. All these were effectively utilised by the
architect, with his accustomed skill, and now the Church, though small,
is large enough for the parish, and a worthy edifice for divine worship,
a result which must be gratifying to all concerned.
HAGWORTHINGHAM.
Hagworthingham is a considerable village, at a distance of 6 miles east
of Horncastle, and 4½ north-west of Spilsby, on the road from Horncastle,
_via_ High Toynton and Greetham, to Partney. Letters _via_ Spilsby,
arrive about 9 a.m. It has its own Post Office, Money Order Office, and
Savings Bank; the nearest telegraph office being at Spilsby. Of this
parish there are several notices in Domesday Book. It is described as
comprising six manors. These were owned, at the date of the Norman
Conquest, by Thanes named Sivert, Elric, Swen, Swave, Holinchetel, and
Adestan. The Conqueror apparently removed all these original
proprietors, to provide for his own followers. Few places shew to a
greater degree than this parish the insecurity of tenure which marked
those times of trouble, transition, and lawlessness, when might was
right. The survey of the country, made by order of the Conqueror, in
Lincolnshire in 1085, was called by the Saxons “Domesday Book,” because
it recorded their “doom,” or their almost universal expropriation from
their rights, in favour of the Normans, who flocked into the country with
William. But the “doom” was not confined to the Saxon. The Norman
intruder, in many cases, found his possessions even less secure than had
been that of those whom he superseded, and the Norman Lords of these
demesnes succeeded each other with such rapidity, that, at this distance
of time, it is beyond our power to trace their connection, in every case,
with each other, or the causes of the changes. Doubtless, in many
instances, having acquired possession through violence to others,
violence again led to the confiscation of what they had acquired. The
first-named of these is Alan, Earl of Britanny, on whom the Conqueror had
conferred his daughter Constance in marriage. Famed for his valour and
martial spirit, he had held an important command at the Battle of
Hastings; and for his services the Conqueror conferred upon him, firstly,
all the lands in the North Riding of Yorkshire, forming the district
called Richmondshire, which had belonged to the powerful Saxon Earl
Edwin, who was now dispossessed. From this gift he derived the title of
Earl of Richmond, as well as of Britanny. Dugdale tells us that,
altogether he held, by grant from the Conqueror, 450 Manors, 101 of these
being in Lincolnshire. He seems however, in himself, to have been not
unworthy of so great a position; since, though so great a warrior, the
Chronicler, Ordericus Vitalis, states, that he was “ever studious for
peace, a great lover of the poor, an especial honourer of the religious”;
and that “his death, without issue created no little sorrow to all good
people.” Such was one of the first Norman Lords of Hagworthingham. He
was succeeded by his brother, also named Alan. His chief residence,
probably, being in Yorkshire, when not in attendance on the King, he was
represented at Hagworthingham, by his vassal, Eudo, who occupied his land
here, to the extent of 3 carucates (or 360 acres), with dependents, in
whose hands were 5 carucates (or 600 acres) more. Before proceeding to
speak of other Norman Lords connected with this place, let us notice the
name itself of the parish. It has 3 elements: “Haugh,” (says
Streatfeild, “Lincolnshire and the Danes”), “is low, meadow land,
bordering on a stream, and frequently overflowed”; a kindred form, “Hagi”
he says also means a meadow. {73} Anyone standing in the churchyard at
Hagworthingham will see below him westward, just such a low-lying meadow,
traversed by a beck. The second element in the name is “Worthing.” Here
we seem to have the Saxon “Weorthig,” which enters into many a place-name
as “Worth”; (compare Waddingworth, and Benniworth in the neighbourhood);
which is derived from the old Saxon “Warian,” to ward or protect. Hence
these two elements mean the warded, or fenced, meadow, and “Ham,” the
last element, also is Saxon, and means a place _hem_med in; but
especially the residence, the “home,” or the collection gathered round
the one house, now forming the “hamlet.” What could give a more speaking
description of the locality? It is the homestead, and afterwards the
residences of the villagers gathered round it, whose position was on the
higher ground, because they wished to be above the low-lying enclosed
meadow, liable to be flooded by the brook, which runs through it, when
swollen by the rain. Even in these days of drainage universal, the
fox-hunter, in crossing that grassy valley, may still find his steed
“boggled” in the slough of quagmire. In connection with this we may
mention, that even in modern times, this dampness has not been forgotten.
In a note to Chap. ii. vol. i. of Smiles’ “Lives of Engineers,” it is
stated that, when Dr. Whalley was appointed to the Rectory of this
parish, it was with the singular proviso, that he should not reside in
it, as the air was fatal to any but a native (Letters and Correspondence
of T. S. Whalley, D.D.)
Another Norman soldier, named in Domesday as having a grant of land in
Hagworthingham from the Conqueror was Drogo de Bevere. He was a Fleming
by birth, and for his services in the cause of the King had many
lordships given him in Lincolnshire and other counties. Among others, he
had the lordship of all Holderness, in which was Beverley, whence he had
the title of “Terrius de Bevere.” He was however of a very grasping and
overbearing disposition. Not content with the lordship of Holderness, he
wished further to seize lands given by the King to the Church of St. John
at Beverley. Camden says that, as a mark of royal favour, he received in
marriage the Conqueror’s niece; but that he got rid of her by poison; and
then fled the country to escape the punishment he deserved. He was
succeeded (his estates being probably confiscated) by Odo, Lord of
Albemarle, in Normandy (Camden “Britannia” p. 742, Ed. 1695.)
To this Drogo was granted all the land in Hagworthingham, which at the
conquest had belonged to the Saxon Thane, Adestan, including “a hall,
with sac and soke” (or the right to hold a court of justice for the trial
of misdemeanours), with 8 villeins occupying considerable lands under
him, and a mill of the value of 18d. yearly. As his chief residence,
when not in attendance on the King, would probably be in Holderness, he
was here represented by one Robert, who was his vassal.
Another name mentioned as having property in this parish, is Gozlin, son
of Lambert, of whom little is known. This was one of the 222 parishes in
the county which had a church before the Conquest; and Domesday Book
states that he had the church here, as well as a mill; but as it is added
that “the soke” (or jurisdiction) belonged to Gilbert de Gaunt, the
latter was evidently the superior lord. Gozlin had lands in 39 parishes
in Lincolnshire, besides those in other counties; but Gilbert de Gaunt
had 113 Manors in this county, besides 41 in other counties.
It has been mentioned that, on the flight of Drogo de Bevere, after
poisoning the Conqueror’s niece, his estates were transferred to Odo,
Earl of Albemarle. {75} Accordingly we find the old record, Testa de
Nevill, p. 336. (_Circa_ 1213), stating, “the Earl of Albemarle” holds of
the King (land) in Hagworthingham, which Gilbert de Langton holds, as his
vassal.
About the same time the same old record states that the Earl of Chester,
besides other neighbouring possessions, held land of the King in
Hagworthingham, which the same Gilbert de Langton held under him, as his
vassal. This Earl was the only son of Hugh d’Abrincis (or Avranches),
one of the most important among the followers of the Conqueror, who was
his uncle. William gave to him numerous manors in this and other
counties, and especially the earldom of Chester. He was surnamed Lupus,
or the Wolf, for his daring deeds. It was supposed that he was granted
the county of Chester, that he might restrain the incursions of the
neighbouring Welsh people, the stubborn descendants of the old Britons;
and this he did with a vengeance, for, in conjunction with Hugh
Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, he took the Isle of Anglesey from the
Welsh. Later in life, to make up for his tyrannous proceedings, he
became a monk of the Abbey of St. Werberg, of his own establishment in
Chester, and died there, in 1101. The Earl of Chester held in
Lincolnshire about a score of manors, besides more than that number in
Leicester, 32 in Suffolk, many in other counties, and the whole of
Cheshire. At this stage the successive, or contemporary Lords of these
manors become too complicated a tissue to unravel here. Some of the
manors became merged in the superior manor of Richmond or Bolingbroke;
some, in that of Greetham. The Earl of Chester enfeoffed before his
death, William de Hardyshall, of certain land in Hagworthingham, where
his descendant resided in the 14th century. A Gilbert de Langton held
land here as a vassal of Alan de Mumby; his son John, held the same lands
under a de Quincy. Hawise de Quincy, Countess of Lincoln in her own
right, had a daughter Margaret, who married John de Lacy, and the de
Lacies thus became Earls of Lincoln. At one period, members of two
different families were at the same time Earls of Lincoln. After a
succession of steps, John of Gaunt became Earl of Lincoln, and ultimately
Duke of Lancaster, and held many of these manors.
Walter de Gant gave land in Hagworthingham to Bardney Abbey. The Abbot
of Bardney (“Placito de Warranto,” p. 409), claimed the right to have a
gallows in Hagworthingham, as well as in Edlington and other places.
Other owners were Laurence de Dikeby, who died 1270, Robert de Altomonte,
1274, William de Saxill, in 1280. Gilbert de Hagworthingham is named in
an Assize Roll (No. 478, John A.D. 1202), Walter de Hagworthingham and
his son Philip, are named in an Assize Roll, 5 Ed. III. 1331. In the
14th century the Cupledyke family had land in Hagworthingham, _viz._,
Roger de Cupledyke, who died 1324, and Alexander who died, 1335. In the
15 century, Thomas Blunt held a manor here, of the Duchy of Lancaster,
dying in 1468. {76} The great family of Welles, also connected with the
Dymokes, acquired lands here, which were forfeited after the battle of
Loose-coat field, when Sir Robert Welles was attainted and executed at
Doncaster, for espousing the Lancastrian cause, 1470. In the next
century the old county family of the Hansards held a manor here, by
Knight’s service, of the Honour of Bolingbroke. Sir William Hansard died
1520, leaving as his heir his granddaughter Elizabeth. Robert Marbury,
in 1545 died, seized of a third part of a manor in this parish, which he
left to his son William. Humphrey Littlebury, of East Kirkby, died Nov.
3rd, 1558, seized of a manor here, which was connected with the superior
manor of Herby (probably Hareby, and equivalent to the Honour of
Bolingbroke), which he held of the Queen (Elizabeth) by fealty. He also
held another manor here, of the Queen’s manor of Greenwich, which had
belonged to Bardney Abbey; the gift, as stated above, of Walter de Gaunt.
John Littlebury, of Hagworthingham, Esq., by will, dated 20 June, 1535,
requests that he may be buried in the parish Church “before our Lady of
the Rood.” He seems to have been a man of large property, for he
bequeaths “to my wife £40, due to me from Mr. John Hercy; £4 of land in
Somersby, Tetford, Skegness and Orby, to bring up my children in their
nonage.” This she is to have for life; and then Somersby and Tetford are
to go to his son George and his heirs male; Skegness and Orby to his son
Peter and heirs male, and failing them, to his son Humphrey, and his
heirs. “My sheep gate called Thorpe in the Mires (I leave) to my wife
for her life, and then to my son Humphrey and Ursulay his wife, according
to the indenture between me and Mr. Hercy. To my three daughters, my
brother Humphrey Myssendyne 10s. a year for life, out of my copyhold held
of Lord Willoughby.” His wife is to have the “putting in of the priests
at Langton,” _i.e._, the presentation to the benefice for her life, and
after her death, the “first avoidence of one priest” is to go to his son
Humphrey, the other to his son Thomas. To his son Thomas his lands in
Kealcotes. To his wife he leaves “my copyholds held of Lord Willoughby;
and the farm of my son Langton, as long as the lease lasteth.” Also “if
my wife be in decay in her widowhood, I will that she give no peny to her
daughters, of the £40 that is appointed to every of them, and if they be
not rewled by her in their marriage they are to have nothing. Item. I
will all my children be contente with the lands which was assigned to me
by my brother, and the feoffe of my father’s purchased lands; and if
they, or any of them, be interrupted of the parts assygned to them by my
neve Thomas, or his heires, I wyll they restate their tytyll of Richmonde
fee, wych is the moyty of 360 akers, as it apperyth by a customar booke
remaynyng with my wyfe, and a crosse set at the hede of it by Sir John
Lyttlebury my grandfader’s fader. I appoint my brother John Eland
supervisior, and my wyfe ex’x.” Witnesses, William Langton Gent, Sir
Malmaduke Myssendyne and Sir Richard Cheles, of Ashby Puerorum. Various
other wills show that Thomas Littlebury had lands at Hagworthingham in
1589, that Humphrey, of East Kirkby, held land in Hagg in 1568, and that
Margaret Littlebury, of Stainsby, held land there in 1582.
The will of John Gedney, of Bag Enderby, mentions his lands in Hagg in
1535. The Gedneys were an old family in this neighbourhood. In the
church at Bag Enderby, there is a stone mural monument, commemorating
Andrew Gedney and Dorothy his wife, with their two sons and two daughters
kneeling before prayer desks, date 1591. There is a slab of John Gedney
in the floor, date 1535. {78} Andrew Gedney married Dorothy, daughter of
Sir William Skipwith, of South Ormsby, in 1536. Within recent years
Arthur P. H. Gedney, a cousin of the writer, owned Candlesby Hall, near
here.
The will of John Gannock, of Boston, shews that he also was a landowner
here, in 1583.
In 1572, Francis Bountague, died seized of a manor in Hagworthingham,
which he held of the King, as of the manor of Greetham, of the Duchy of
Lancaster.
John Littlebury, gent., of Hagworthingham, by will dated 27th March,
1594, bequeaths to Mr. William Wray, “the ring that it pleased my lady,
his mother, to give me.” The Lady Wray, would be the wife of Lord Chief
Justice Wray (temp. Elizabeth), whose residence was at Glentworth—he died
in 1592; they were an old Durham family. The fine house at Glentworth
continued to be the family residence of the Wrays, until Sir Cecil Wray,
Bart., erected “Summer Castle” at Fillingham, in 1760, so called from
Esther Summers, Lady Wray. Mr. John Littlebury also leaves to Sir George
St. Poll, “my half part of the hawks,” with bequests to other relatives.
Sir G. St. Poll or St. Paul, or Simpole, was a member of a good
Lincolnshire family, their chief residence being at Snarford. Mr. John
Saintpole was compulsively mixed up with the Lincolnshire Rising in 1536.
The grandson, George, was created a Baronet in 1611. They were connected
with the Hansards, already mentioned as having land in Hagworthingham.
Yet one more will of a Littlebury concerns us. John Littleburye (28 Sep.
1611), requests to be buried in Hag church. He leaves to the poor 20s.;
to his son John, his land in Raithbye, for his life, and for his
“bringing up in learning.” £100 to his daughter Bridgett, “soe that shee
be ruled by mye wief her mother in marriage,” with £200 to be paid her
when married. “To my wief Anne the lease of Orbye from Mr Massingberd,
alsoe my stocke and cattle, with all my plate and furniture.” As the
children are young he confirms an indenture previously made with Richard
Gedney, and others, to act as trustees.
Sir John Langton, of Langton, by will dated 25 Sep. 1616, also left to
the poor of Hagworthingham 10s., and like bequests to other places.
(These particulars are taken from “Lincolnshire Wills,” by Canon
Maddison).
Among “Final Concords,” there are agreements about lands in
Hagworthingham, under date 26 Oct. 1208, between Thomas de Winceby and
Gilbert and Osbert of Hag, under date 20 Jan. 1213–14, between Mary, the
wife of Hugh, son of Robert, Ernald de Dunham acting for her and Hugh de
Harrington, appertaining to her “reasonable dowery;” and under the same
date between the same Mary, and John de Bardney, as to land called
“Sigwardes Croft,” in “Hacworthingeham, which Mary surrenders to John de
Bardney and his heirs,” he for this giving her 2 marks.
We have already mentioned that in the 14th century, Roger de Cupledyke
who died 1324, and Alexander, who died in 1335 had land in
Hagworthingham. We also find that John Copledyke of Harrington, by will
dated Palm Sunday, 1408, left to his sons lands in Hagworthingham, and
other places.
In the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. a certain John Parker of this
place became somewhat notorious as a religious and political turncoat.
He made a public declaration “of the manner in which he had been drawn
from the service of God to become a Papist,” dated 12 December, 1580; but
in 1605, evidence was taken against him at Enderby, as to his making
certain seditious speeches, and he was pronounced to be a Recusant
(“Domestic State Papers” James I. vol. xv. “Architect. S. Journal” 1865
p. 55).
At the present day the only one of the old families of proprietors in
this parish is the Rev. Alan Cheales above named, descended from Sir
Richard Cheales who lived as far back as 1535. At the present time Earl
Manvers is Lord of the Manor; Sir Henry D. Ingelby, Bart., the trustees
of the late Rev. W. A. Bathurst, and the Wingate family are the principal
landowners, the larger portion belonging to Mr. Cheales. We now proceed
to the Church. It is beautifully situated on the slope of a steep hill
commanding a view along a deep valley to the west, of fertile soil varied
by copse and whin; and it is surrounded by a beautifully kept God’s acre.
The Church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, consists of tower, nave, south
aisle and chancel. In the tower are 8 melodious bells. The Church was
carefully restored and largely rebuilt in 1859; but still retains several
of its original Early English features. The tower, of green sandstone,
being much decayed, had new belfry windows inserted, but still retains
its patched appearance by a mixture of brick: the green and red tints
blending harmoniously. Towards the west end of the north wall is one of
the old Early English pilaster buttresses; and at the east bay of the
same wall is an original low-side window. Within, the aisle arcade of
four bays is supported by circular-shafted pillars, having
rudely-designed caps; the arches above being not sufficiently massive to
correspond, and their junction clumsy. These low arches produce a sort
of “dim religious light.” The aisle itself is entirely new; as are also
the seats and fittings generally. The early English font has a plain
octagonal bowl, supported upon a central shaft, and unengaged subsidiary
shaftlets. The east windows are modern, but may be reproductions of the
old. That in the east end (of three lights) is filled with coloured
glass by Wailes, in memory of the Cheales family. There is a modern
brass on the north side of the chancel, commemorating the Rev. Henry
Cheales sometime Vicar of Burton Pedwardine, “and for sixty-six years a
landowner of this parish,” 1870.
N.B.—The Parish Registers contain a large numbers of names of this
family. The earliest mention of them is in the Church Book Topographical
Collection of Sir Joseph Banks, 1786, where Hugh Cheales is given as one
of the Churchwardens, 25 Henry VIII. (1534).
The window in the north wall is by Clayton and Bell, that in the south
wall by Powell. They commemorate the families of the late Rector the
Rev. F. Pickford, and his wife’s relatives, the Listers of Burwell Park;
one also being in memory of the late Prince Consort. “The whole effect,”
says the late Bishop Suffragan, Dr. E. Trollope, one of our greatest
authorities, “is most pleasing and appropriate.” Gervase Holles the
antiquarian says that, when he visited the Church (temp. Chas. I.) there
was in the Chancel this fragmentary inscription, “Hic jacet . . .
Redilston quondam Rector istius Ecclesiæ.” He says also, “on a
gravestone of blue marble in ye body of ye Church is pourtrayed in brasse
one in compleate armour, bearing upon ye manches of his coate of arms, on
either side, 2 crescents. Between his feet a right hand couped. The
rest is defaced.” (Harleian MSS., No. 6829.) The benefice was formerly
in the gift of the Bishop of Ely (see Ecton’s “Thesaurus” p. 188); the
patron is now the Bishop of Lincoln.
In the Registers were formerly some curious entries of “Briefs,” or Royal
Letters, issued for various charitable objects, among 65 which were
publicly read in Church in the 14 years from 1653 to 1667, 24 were for
relief in cases of loss by fire; others were for various purposes; one
being “For the Church of Lithuania being under persecution” (1661). {82}
Walter de Gaunt gave the manor, benefice, and six oxgangs of land, and “a
view of frankpledge” in this parish to Bardney Abbey (Dugdale’s
“Monasticon,” 1682, p. 143).
In sinking a well in 1897, on the property of Mr. Cheales in this parish,
there were found at a depth of about 45ft. fragments of “Brinkhill gold”
and fossilized wood. The gold has also been found in the churchyard. It
is pronounced, chemically, to be a form of silicate of aluminia. Iron
pyrite is also found, abounding in small fossils. The rectory is now
held by the Rev. G. R. Ekins. The rectory house was built in 1841, a
very commodious residence, at a cost of about £2000, by the late Rector
the Rev. F. Pickford, the memory of whose family still remains in the
parish, and many miles round it, as “a sweet smelling savour.”
There is a rent charge of £8 for the poor paid out of the estate, about
700 acres, of the Cheales family.
The Rev. William Dales also in 1667 left land, the rent of which was for
the poor and the bell-ringers.
HAMERINGHAM.
Hameringham is about 4 miles from Horncastle, in a south-east direction,
the road passing through Mareham-on-the-Hill. The marriage register
dates from 1744, those for burials and baptisms from 1777. Letters,
_via_ Horncastle, arrive at 10 a.m.
We know little of the early history of this village; it is not named in
Domesday Book, but in a list of military tenures, of the reign of Henry
I. about A.D. 1108, the “Hundred of Hamringeheim” is mentioned, and
“Count Richard,” probably the Norman Earl of Chester, is said to hold
there eleven carucates and four oxgangs, or nearly 1400 acres, and
Gilbert Fitz Gocelin had four oxgangs, or about 60 acres (“Old
Lincolnshire,” vol. i. pp. 213, 214).
In the year 1208 Henry, son of Geoffrey, granted to Ralph, Abbot of
Revesby, and his successors, an oxgang of land and a messuage in
Hameringham; the said Ralph giving to the said Henry 20s., in
consideration thereof.
In the year 1529, Jane Sheffield, widow, of Croxby, in her will dated 7
January, refers to a deed of feoffment, dated 4 June, 8 Henry VIII.,
whereby Sir John Sheffield, Parson of Hameringham, and others are feoffed
of certain lands, for her life; Sir John Sheffield and Alexander Amcotts,
Gent., being supervisors. (“Lincolnshire Wills,” page 6, No. 14).
In 1540 John Angevin of Ashby by Horncastle, by will, dated 10 Oct. makes
his wife Margaret, executrix, and confirms to her lands in Ashby and
Hameringham, to remain in her hands “unto suche tyme, as all suche goods
as I am bownden, and myne heyres, in covenants by indenture to Sir
Rycherde Warde, and to Sir Robert, be fully paid.” To which is added, in
a different hand, “I Robert Awngeven agreed to this wyll.” The Angevins
disappear in the 17th century; but one of the family held land in
Hameringham in the reign of Henry VIII. (“Lincolnshire Wills,” p. 28, No.
72). By will, dated 20 April, 1545, Robert Angevin, of Langton by
Horncastle, leaves his land in Hameringham to his son William. (Ibidem
p. 36, No. 96). {83}
By will, dated 10 Sept. 1612, George Litilburie, of Somersby, leaves to
his nephew Jeffery Litelburie all his apparell, and lands in Winceby and
Hameringham. He wishes his armes to be “sette in the walle (of the
church) as my grandfather’s was at Ashby (Puerorum).”
Among the Revesby charters is one, of date 1198, whereby Richard I.
grants and confirms to the monks of Revesby certain lands in Hameringham,
Enderby, and elsewhere (Dugdale v. 456).
By a deed in the reign of Richard I., or John, William, son of Gaufrid,
clerk, of Hameringham, gives to the monks of Revesby 9 acres of arable
land in Hameringham, a meadow called “Baldvinegaire {84a} and pasture
near the 9 acres, and other lands; free of all service,” save that the
monks are to pay to the donor annually “two spurs of the cost of one
nummus,” at Michaelmas.
By a deed early in the 13th century Symon, son of Hugo, of Dunsthorpe,
gives to the monks one toft in Hameringham, and 10 acres, and one selion
in a place called Thyrne, and 2 selions in Pesedalegate, {84b} free from
all claims.
In the reign of Henry III. Juetta, daughter of Alan, of Hameringham, gave
to the Abbey of Revesby, 4 acres of arable land, for the purpose of
gate-alms. In the reign of Edwd. I. Robert Cressaunt of Tuluse gave his
rights and claims on lands in Tuluse, Hameringham, and elsewhere, to the
monks of Revesby, on condition that they pay to him and his heirs
annually 8_s._ Alicia the daughter of William, son of Alward of
Hameringham, in the same reign, gave a half toft for the Revesby almsbox;
with pasturage rights for 26 sheep and 4 cattle and 4 pigs in
Hameringham; the monks to pay to her 6_d._ annually.
Sir Lionel Dymoke, by will, dated 15 Ap. 1512, bequeathed “for churche
walke in hameringham xxd. to John Sheffield parsone of hameringham, . . .
to pray for me, my wyf Anne, and my wyf Jane deceased, and for all
christen soules.” “Linc. N. & Q.” iv. p. 12.
On the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. that sovereign
granted to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, in consideration of his
“acceptable and long service,” “all manner of houses, messuages, &c.,”
along with the lands, hitherto belonging to the monastery of Revesby,
including property in Hameringham, and nearly 50 other parishes, to be
held of the crown, on payment of the fifth part of one soldier’s service,
and an annual payment of £28 to the Court of Augmentations every
Michaelmas, the duke’s title to date “from March 1, in the 29th year of
our reign (1538).”
[These different documents are among the Revesby charters, printed by the
late Right Honble. E. Stanhope, M.P.]
The benefice of Hameringham was formerly charged with a pension of 6s. to
the Prior of Bullington. In the early part of the 18th century, the
Chaplin family would seem to have been proprietors here, as Mr. Thomas
Chaplin presented to the benefice in 1712 and 1720. The manor now
belongs to the Coltman family, who are also patrons of the benefice; and
there are several smaller proprietors.
Scrafield, which has now no church, is united to Hameringham. Some of
the communion plate is ancient, being Elizabethan, the rest is modern,
being presented by the late Rector, Rev. Joseph Coltman.
Hameringham church, All Saints, stands appropriately on almost the
highest ground in the vicinity, so that the parishioners may look, and
wend, upward to it. It was restored by the present Rector, the Rev.
Brice Smith, in 1894, the architect being Mr. Hodgson Fowler. It now
consists of nave, chancel, and south aisle. It has, doubtless, gone
through vicissitudes at various periods, as is evidenced by remains and
records. In 1800 there was no chancel in existence. In 1820 a chancel
was built by the then Rector, the Rev. Joseph Coltman. There was at one
time a much larger edifice, of which the foundations were discovered by
the present Rector, in preparing for the restoration. The chancel arch
is Early English. The west window is modern, perpendicular in style. In
the north wall of the nave is one window, perpendicular, of three lights,
near the pulpit. The pulpit is of plain oak, with the old hour glass
frame still affixed to it, and containing an ancient hour glass,
recovered from a villager. These remnants of the days of long discourses
are now very rare. There is still one in the church at Cowden, near
Edenbridge, Kent. The arcade of the south aisle is of the 13th century,
renewed in the 14th century with Lincoln stone. It consists of three
bays, with two octagonal pillars having carved capitals; the eastern-most
support is a circular, single, small shaft, apparently Norman, with
carved capital, different from the others; where the moulding of the two
eastern arches meet, the corbel is a King’s head; these two arches are
considerably broader than the western one, which is pointed. This
western pillar is the original 13th century one. The south wall is of
the late 12th century, and the south porch arch is the original. In the
south wall are two windows east of the porch, and one west of it, each
having two lights, and a quatrefoil above, style perpendicular. There is
a piscina near the door. The roof of the restored nave is of modern
pitch pine. The chancel roof is considerably below the chancel arch. It
is apparently of wood, and has formerly been divided into panels. The
chancel is so long, that the communion table is placed 7 or 8 feet west
of the east wall, and the space behind, shut off by drapery, forms a
vestry. The east window, in perpendicular style, is of 3 lights, with
six smaller lights above, within the arch. The font is a very old and
interesting one, octagonal, on an octagonal shaft; the devices,
quatrefoils, &c., on the faces of the bowl are much mutilated, those on
the shaft are perpendicular mouldings on 5 sides, and on the three other
sides are grotesque figures, much mutilated, the centre one being winged,
and supposed to represent St. Michael. It stands on a plain oblong slab.
There is one good medieval bell, the other being the “Sanctus bell,”
re-cast in the Jubilee year 1887, as it had become cracked. The entire
church is built of Spilsby green sandstone, faced in the porch with red
Dumfries stone.
The visitor to Hameringham from Horncastle, looking south and westward,
will see some beautifully wooded scenery, around Scrivelsby Park,
Haltham, and beyond towards Revesby, Tattershall, &c. the view extending
even beyond the Fens; with the spires of Heckington and other churches
towering up in the dim distance, twenty miles or more away, a most
delightful prospect. Conspicuous among these objects is the magnificent
tower, with its lantern, of what is commonly called Boston Stump.
HAREBY.
Hareby is situated about 7 miles, in an easterly direction from
Horncastle, is about 1 mile west of Bolingbroke, and 4½ miles from
Spilsby. From the first place it is approached by the old Roman road
from Horncastle to Waynflete, as far as the cross-roads at Lusby, turning
to the right for half-a-mile and then to the left. It is a small parish,
of less than 40 inhabitants, and comprising about 740 acres. Letters,
_via_ Spilsby, arrive at 8.30 a.m. The nearest money order office is at
Bolingbroke, the nearest telegraph office at Spilsby. Hareby Manor
House, the property of Messrs. Ramsden and Taylor, stands on a steep
hill-side, commanding extensive views over Bolingbroke, West Keal, and
southward, far away to the waters of “The Wash.” It has been said that
the name of Hareby, and probably also that of Eresby—the older name of
Spilsby—is derived from the hares, which formerly abounded on these hills
and valleys of the Wolds, the “South Wolds,” as we might here call them,
of Lincolnshire. {87} We are only able to recover fragmentary
particulars, “disjecta membra,” of the past history of this parish. From
Domesday Book we gather, that, like Miningsby, Bolingbroke, and many
other neighbouring parishes, it was once the property of Ivo Taillebois,
through his marriage with the Lady Lucia, heiress of the Saxon princely
family of the Thorolds, whom the Conqueror bestowed upon him. They were
married in A.D. 1072, and on his death, without male issue, in 1114, the
Lady Lucia married Roger de Romara, who thus, through her, became Lord of
Bolingbroke, with other manors in the soke of that demesne. At that
period the parish would seem to have been more populous than it is at the
present day; the Domesday survey, giving the acreage as four carucates
(or 480 acres), rateable to gelt; adds, that thirty-three socmen, five
villeins and five bordars had another four carucates, and 100 acres of
meadow.
The Lady Lucia, marrying as her 3rd husband the Norman noble, Ranulph, he
delivered some of her estates to the King, Henry I., in return for the
dignity of the Earldom of Chester. Against this, William de Romara, her
son by her late husband, Roger de Romara, protested, but in vain. Some
years later, however, Henry I. restored to him some of his mother’s
property, and made him Earl of Lincoln; and later still, by the exchange
of some lands in Normandy with Robert de Tillot, he acquired the
lordships of Hareby, Hundleby and Mavis Enderby. By his wife Maud,
daughter of Richard de Redver, he had a son William, who married Hawise,
daughter of Stephen, Earl of Albemarle. The last of the Romaras dying
without male issue, the property passed to Gilbert de Gaunt, who married
his daughter, who also succeeded to the Earldom of Lincoln. Robert de
Gaunt forfeited the property by rebelling against King John, and the
estates were conferred upon Ranulph de Meschines, surnamed de Blundeville
(_i.e._, of Oswestry), Earl of Chester, A.D. 1100–1120. He died with
issue, but assigned to Hawise, one of his sisters, the Earldom and
manors. She married Robert de Quincy, son of the Earl of Winchester,
whose daughter Margaret, married John de Lacy, a descendant of the Barons
of Pontefract. His son Edmund, left issue Henry (and others), who, dying
without surviving issue, bequeathed his property to the heirs of Edmund
Plantagenet; after various changes the property again came to a Gaunt,
John, afterwards Duke of Lancaster, and father of Henry of Bolingbroke,
who later on succeeded to the throne as Henry IV. {88} In the course,
however, of the these changes, Hareby, and some other manors, had become
separated from Bolingbroke, and had passed to the Willoughby family,
since we find that in the time of Edw. III., father of Henry of
Bolingbroke, John Willoughby, held “the manors of Wester Kele with
Hareby, Lusby, Easter Kele, &c.” (Chancery Inquisition, 46 Ed. III. No.
78). The family of Willoughby, although originally holding lands under
the Becs, who were lords of Spilsby, Eresby, &c., &c., subsequently
inter-married with that family, and thus succeeded to some of their
property, and were the ancestors of the family of the present Lords
Willoughby d’Eresby, and eventually acquired very large possessions in
these parts, much of which they still retain.
We find, however, at different periods, various other parties holding
lands in, or connected with, Hareby.
In a Revesby Charter (No. 28, collection of the late Right Hon. E.
Stanhope), conveying the right of lands in East Kirkby to Revesby Abbey
(temp. Henry II. or Richard I.) the first witness is Alan, Dean of
Hareby, others being, Aschetill, priest of Keal, Alan, priest of Asgarby,
&c.
By another Charter (No. 53 temp. Richard I. or John), Henry Smerehorn of
East Kirkby, gives his home-born (“nativum”) servant, Robert, son of
Colvan, with all his chattells to Revesby Abbey, and receives in return
“one silver mark from Peter, the monk of Hareby.” This monk of Hareby
would therefore seem to be a nominee of the Abbot of Revesby.
And this connection is confirmed by another charter (No. 92, temp. Henry
III.), by which the Abbot and monks of Revesby lease certain lands in
Stickney to Bricius, son of Roger, clerk of Stickney, to which deed the
witnesses are Walter of Hareby, at that time Prior of Revesby; Reginald
the cellarer, John of Moorby, Alan of Horncastle, &c., so that it would
seem the former priest, or dean, of Hareby, was promoted to the Priorate
of Revesby.
By another charter (No. 129, temp. Ed. I.), Alan son of Richard atte
Grene (or, as we should now say, Richard Green) gives certain lands in
East Kirkby to the Abbey, the monks paying in return, “one farthing a
year” to Alan, son of William, son of Roger Palmer, of Hareby, and his
heirs, at the feast of St. Botolph, for all claims on the land.
By another charter (150 B.), lands in Hareby, Bolingbroke, West Keale,
&c., formerly belonging to Revesby Abbey, are conveyed by Henry VIII., on
the dissolution of the monasteries, to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.
Another name, once well-known in the neighbourhood, is found connected
with Hareby, in the 15th century. In a Chancery Inquisition, 32 Henry
VI., 1453, taken at Horncastle, the witnesses on oath are Walter
Tailbois, Esq., William Dalison, of Hareby, and others. The Dalisons
(doubtless originally d’Alencon), were a very old Lincolnshire family,
seated at Laughton, probably of Norman extraction. In the 16th century
Sir Francis Ayscoughe a member of another very old county family {90a}
married, as his 2nd wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Dighton, Esq., of
Stourton, and widow of Sir William Dalyson.
In 1635 Robert Bryan died, at Bolingbroke (March 7th) seized of lands in
Bolingbroke and Hareby, which he held of the Crown, a captain Bryan being
governor of the Castle in the time of the Commonwealth, and a few years
later, (1663), a grant of leases in reversion of demesne land was made in
favour of the widow of Thomas Blagge, groom of the bedchamber {90b}
(“Architect. S. Journal,” 1865, p. 57).
We have mentioned this manor as formerly being the property of the
Plantagenets. Of this there exists a curious piece of evidence. One
Alan de Cuppledyke, {90c} was appointed by Edward II. governor of
Bolingbroke castle, and his steward’s accounts still exist. In one
passage he says that “the open woods of Hundleby, Kirkby and Hareby
Thorns cannot be agisted (modern Linc. ‘gisted,’ _i.e._, let to be
stocked with cattle), on account of the _new coppice_, planted by the
late Earl,” _i.e._, Thomas Plantagenet, the recent owner, the King’s
cousin, but who had forfeited his property, by stirring up a rebellion.
This probably may be said to be the only wood in England which can be
proved to have been planted by a Plantagenet (“Arch. S. Journ.” 1865, p.
43).
The Littleburies, whose chief residence in this neighbourhood was
Stainsby House, in the parish of Ashby Puerorum, formerly owned land in
Hareby. Humphrey Littlebury, of East Kirkby, in his will, dated 1 Sep.,
1568, among other property mentions land in Hareby. {91}
Another old family connected with Hareby was that of the Skynners. Henry
Skynner of Bolingbroke, by his will of date 29 May, 1612, leaves to his
daughter Judith, all his copyholds in Harebie, and £100 when she is
married, or 21 years of age; to his brother, Sir Vincent Skynner, knight,
and his heirs, he bequeaths certain lands in Harebie, and other places,
with the advowson of the parsonage of Harebie, “all of which I lately
purchased of him, on condition that he pay to my executor the sum of £60,
within six months of my decease, which sum I have already paid for my
said brother, unto Margery Neale of Horncastle, deceased, or else this
gift is utterly void, and I give it to my daughters . . . I have made
surrender of all my customary messuages, lands, &c., in Bullenbroke and
Harebie, into his Majestie’s hands by Vincent, in the name of one Grave,
in the presence of Richard Smyth, gent., and others.” This testator was
the son of John Skynner, and brother of Sir Vincent Skinner, of Thornton
Curtis.
Mention has been made of Robert Bryan as owning land in Hareby, in 1635.
Members of the same family would seem to have had property there nearly a
century later, as John Bryan was patron of the benefice in 1754, and
united it to that of Bolingbroke. In 1555 King Philip and Queen Mary
presented Gilbert Skroweston to Hareby; but in 1779 the patronage of the
united benefice had passed to Matthew Wildbore, Esq. In 1834 the patron
was Earl Brownlow; in 1836, C. Bosanquet, Esq.; and in 1863, Sir John W.
Smith, Bart.; after him the trustees of the late G. Bainbridge, Esq.,
held the patronage, which now has passed to C. S. Dickinson, Esq. The
owners of the estate are now Messrs. Ramden and Taylor, and it is managed
for them by their relative, G. Mariner, Esq.
The church, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, was rebuilt in 1857–8,
at a cost of about £450. It consists of nave and chancel, with belfry,
having one bell, the fabric being constructed of brick. Sir J. W. Smith,
the then patron, built the nave, and the chancel was built by the then
Rector, the Rev. E. Stanley Bosanquet. The east widow, of coloured
glass, with the crucifixion, was erected in memory of William Bernard
Wingate, a late owner, by members of his family. There is another
coloured window in the south wall of the chancel, without inscription,
but probably erected by the Wingate family; and there is a marble tablet
in the north wall of the nave, in memory of the late owner of the estate,
Frederick Tooth, Esq., of Sevenoaks, Kent. The register dates from 1567.
Hareby Manor House is a handsome, substantial structure, standing on a
slope, looking towards Old Bolingbroke, and surrounded by extensive
gardens and good farm buildings.
HATTON.
Hatton lies about 7½ miles from Horncastle, to the north-west, and about
4 miles south-east of Wragby; being about ½ a mile eastward of the high
road between those two places. Letters, _via_ Wragby, the nearest money
order and telegraph office, arrive at 10 a.m. The register dates from
1552. There are also entries relating to this parish, from 1695 to 1799,
in the Baumber register. The name Hatton, as a parallel to Hatcliffe,
Hatfield, Hatfield Chase, &c., doubtless means a “ton,” _i.e._, “town,”
or protected enclosure, on an open “heath”: pointing to a time when the
neighbourhood was more or less a wild tract; and when the neighbouring
Wragby (from Vargr, a wolf, or outlaw), was the haunt of wild beasts, or
the no less dangerous human robber.
The Church, dedicated to St. Stephen, described by Weir in his “History
of Lincolnshire” (vol. i. p. 296, Ed. 1828), as a small building,
possessing no claim to attention, and by Saunders (vol. ii. p. 71, Ed.
1834) in nearly the same terms, was at that time in the gift of the
well-known, somewhat eccentric, but popular member for Lincoln, Colonel
Sibthorpe; the Rev. H. W. Sibthorpe being Rector. In 1863 it was in the
gift of G. W. Sibthorpe, Esq., and in 1869 in that of Coningsby C.
Sibthorpe, Esq., being then held by the Rev. C. E. Jarvis. The latter
resigned in 1891, since which time it has been held by the Rev. W. T.
Beaty-Pownall, who has a good rectory house, built in 1871, at a cost of
£1,300 the late Mr. James Fowler being the Architect. It does not appear
to have been long in the patronage of the Sibthorpe family, as in 1711
the patrons were Sir Richard Wynch, Bart., and Rebecca Wynch, widow;
while in 1750, and again 1780 Sir Robert Lawley, Bart, presented. The
trustees of W. H. Sibthorpe, Esq., are first-named as patrons in 1824.
In the calendar (No. 1), of Institutions to Benefices, from 1540 to 1570
preserved in the Alnwick Tower, Old Palace, Lincoln (“Architect. Soc.
Journal,” 1897) fol. 22b. 176, we find “William Mershall, clerk, pres. by
W. Dighton of the City of Lincoln, gent., to the church of Hattone, vac.
by the resignation of Sir William Smith; inst. Vicar, A.D. 1550.” {93}
The Dightons were originally a mercantile family, of Lincoln, who filled
the offices of Mayor and Sheriff, and amassed fortunes. One of them,
Robert, became owner of Old Stourton Magna Hall, the moated remains of
which can still be traced in a field about a mile to the west beyond the
Stourton Parva plantations. A daughter of Thomas Dighton of that place,
married Edward Clinton of Baumber, who afterwards became Earl of Lincoln.
In the parish Register of Stourton Magna is the entry “Alice ye wife of
Rob Diton was buried ye 14 Jany. 1688,” and as there are no later entries
of the name, this Robert was probably the last to reside there. There
were other Dightons at Waddingworth and Horkstow. We find, however,
earlier notices of Dightons residing in Hatton. In 1544 by his will,
dated 1 May, “John Dighton of Hatton” requests to be “buried in the
churchyard of St. Elwold in Hatton.” He leaves a bequest for his
brother, “Robert Dighton, parson of Haltham,” and the residue to his
wife, Agnes, his executrix; his two fathers-in-law, Thomas Dighton and
William Chatterton, being “supervisors.” He evidently died early in
life. As to the expression “the churchyard of St. Elwold,” there seems
to be no explanation forthcoming. Possibly there was a chapelry in the
parish, with separate burial grounds. In 1606 we find another John
Dighton, residing at Minting, who, by his will, dated 28 Dec. of that
year, leaves 40s. to the poor of Baumber, Minting, and Hatton. Other
names in connection with this parish are as follows:—Among Lincoln Wills
is one made by “Roger Holmes, of Hatton, gent.” dated 15 May, 1611, in
which he makes various bequests of no particular interest. In 1613 John
Wharfe of Wickenby, by will dated 18 Sept., leaves to his sons lands in
Hatton, which he had on a mortgage, from his father-in-law Smythe. And
in 1616, by will dated 12 November, “Heneage Smith of Hatton,” leaves
“lands in Hatton for a schoolmaster.” He says that he received nothing
from his son-in-law, J. Wharfe, for the mortgage, but that, nevertheless,
he leaves certain moneys for his (J. Wharfe’s) sons, because they are his
grandsons.
(N.B.—These notices are from “Lincolnshire Wills,” by Canon Maddison.)
The Church of Hatton was re-built in 1871; entirely of brick, except the
stone facings. It consists of a nave, chancel, and small spire on the
south side of the chancel, containing one bell. Its chief features are
as follows:—the east window, of coloured glass, has three separate
trefoiled lights, in memory of Waldo Sibthorpe, Rector, who died, 14 Nov.
1865, the subjects are, in the centre, the Crucifixion; in the northern
light, the Agony in the Garden; in the south light, the Resurrection,
“Noli me tangere.” In the north chancel wall are two brass tablets, one
recording that £100 was left by Mary Esther Waldo Sibthorpe in trust to
the Rector, for the poor of the parish; the other, that £100 was given by
Charles Edward Jarvis, in trust to the Rector, for the benefit of the
parish. In the north wall is one two-light Early English window, and one
single-light window in the same style. In the south wall is one
single-light window, the vestry door, and organ chamber, over which
stands the tower and spire. In the north wall also is a credence table
of stone, with trefoiled arch. The east end is in the form of an apse.
The chancel arch, and that of the organ chamber, terminate in elaborately
foliated finials. In the nave, the pulpit is of Caen stone, a device in
one panel being a cross within a quatrefoil, surrounded by a circular
moulding. In the nave north wall, near the pulpit are a pair of
two-light windows, with trefoils above; and westward is a three-light
window with quatrefoil above. In the south wall of the nave is one
two-light window, with two trefoils, and a circle above; and one
three-light window corresponding to that in the north wall. The lectern
is of oak. The font is of Caen stone, with fluted bowl in eight
partitions, and supported by eight round columns. The sittings, for
fifty, and the roof throughout, are of pitch-pine.
The Rectory, close by, is a commodious and substantial residence in good
grounds. In a field to the south of the gardens are remains of former
stews, or fishponds, and two rather large boulders, {95} which have
evidently been ice-borne, and like many others in the neighbourhood, are
of carboniferous “Spilsby” sandstone of the Neocomian period. The soil
of the parish generally, is a heavy clay; and in a brickyard adjoining
the Horncastle and Wragby road, are numerous ammonites and other fossils.
There is a yearly rent charge of £6 left by Heneage Smith, in 1616, for
the education of poor children, which is paid out of the estate of
Coningsby C. Sibthorpe, Esq.; 14s. 2d. was left by William Marshall, in
1557, for poor parishioners, to be paid out of land at Minting, but this
has fallen into abeyance. Edmund Turnor, Esq., is lord of the manor but
C. C. Sibthorpe, Esq., owns the greater part of the soil. “Midge Inn,”
which has the reputation of formerly being the haunt of the highwayman,
who lightened the pocket of many a traveller on the King’s highway, is on
the Horncastle and Wragby road in this parish, which is in the soke of
Wragby.
HEMINGBY.
This parish lies 4 miles north by west from Horncastle, on the river
Bain. Letters, _via_ Horncastle, which is the nearest money order
office, arrive at 9.30. The Incumbent is the Rev. E. S. Bengough, who
has a commodious Rectory. The register dates from 1579.
The Church is dedicated to St. Margaret. A previous structure, erected
in nondescript, “Grecian,” style, in 1771 (a period when so many of the
churches in the neighbourhood were re-modelled in the worst taste),
consisting of nave, chancel, and low tower, with three bells, was
re-seated in 1856, when additional accommodation was provided. A west
door, made of bog oak, from a large tree dug up, when the railway line
was made between Boston and Lincoln, was presented by the Rev. E. Walter,
Rector of Langton. The entire fabric was restored in 1896, at a cost of
£1450, and re-opened in January of that year, through the liberality and
exertions of the Rector, Rev. E. S. Bengough, aided by handsome donations
from Earl Manvers, the family of the late Rector, Rev. G. Thackeray, and
others. The tower was entirely re-built and the chancel enlarged. A
relic of a former medieval church was found in the pavement of the nave,
consisting of a slab, carved with two quatrefoils, with shields in the
centre of each. This was placed in the wall of the chancel, above the
east window. The pulpit, of carved oak, was the gift of the family of
the Rev. G. Thackeray, the late Rector. The architect was Mr. W. Scorer,
of Lincoln. The bells, of the 18th century, bear the names of the
founders, Mears and Stainbanks, of London.
At the date of Domesday Book, the great Norman Baron, Ivo Taylebois,
owned land in this parish, as Earl Harold had done before him. Baldric,
one of the Earl’s vassals, had there one carucate, and two villeins, and
two bordars, and seven sokemen, who had two carucates, and half a mill,
worth 7s. yearly, and 30 acres of meadow. There were three carucates,
rateable to gelt. The manor, held by Edric, had six oxgangs, also
rateable to gelt. Its value, temp. Edwd. the Confessor, was 60s., in
Domesday 100s.
Among the gentry of Lincolnshire, enrolled in the List made by the King’s
Heralds, at their visitation in 1634, was Ambrose Shepard of this parish
(Everard Green, F.S.A., “Lincs. N. & Q.,” p. 105).
In Liber Regis, the living was valued at £17 8_s._ 6½_d._, now at £500;
423 acres being allotted at the enclosure in lieu of tithes and the old
glebe. In 1722 the benefice was in the gift of the Rev. Mr. Carr of
Newcastle-on-Tyne; after that the patronage was vested in King’s College,
Cambridge.
There is an endowed School, for master and mistress, founded by Jane
Dymoke, widow of the champion, in 1727, and endowed by her in 1736, for
teaching the children of the poor of the parish, “to read, write, spin,
and card wool.” Commodious schoolrooms for boys and girls have been
erected in late years. Lands in Woodhall yield an income of about £110 a
year. There is a rent charge of £5 on a farm in Asterby, and £568 in
consols. The whole yearly income is about £130, besides residence and 20
acres of land for the master. Four almswomen receive 2_s._ 3_d._ weekly,
with an allowance of fuel. Four apprentices are provided for with a
premium of £10, and £3 a year for clothing, during the 7 years of their
service. The late Mrs. Baker, in 1848, also left the interest of £500 to
be distributed in coals among the poor of the parish. The living is now
in the gift of King’s College, Cambridge; but by an Inquisition held at
Boston, 12 Henry VII. (A.D. 1497) it was found that Sir John Ratclyff,
knight, besides considerable other property in the county, was seised of
the advowson of Hemingby, and alternate advowson of Skyrbeck, but he
being attainted, in the 11th year of that King, his property passed to
Andrew Dymmock, as the Kings “Solidat” (soldier). (“Linc. N. & Q.,” iv.,
p. 11.) In 1711 Leonard Smelt, Esq., presented to this benefice; in 1722
the Rev. Mr. Carr, of Newcastle, gent.; and King’s College for the first
time in 1768.
KIRKBY-ON-BAIN.
Kirkby-on-Bain is a village larger than most of those in the immediate
neighbourhood, situated on the river Bain, between 4 and 5 miles from
Horncastle, in a southerly direction, about 4 miles north-east of
Tattershall, and rather less south-east of Woodhall Spa, where are the
nearest railway station, money order, and telegraph office, there being a
post office in the village.
It was a saying of one of our chief archæologists, that “anciently every
local name had its meaning”; and we may extract more than conjectural
history from the name, Kirkby-on-Bain. The first syllable carries us
back into a distant past, earlier than the date of most of our written
records. As a rule, when the word “Kirk” forms part of a place-name, it
implies, not only the former existence of a church in the locality (the
name in Domesday is “Chirchebi,”) but also of a still earlier, and
probably Druid, temple. The syllable “Kir,” or “Ker,” {98a} with its
plural Kerrog, Kerig, or Curig (hence “Church”) means a sacred circle,
which was the form of the ancient British, or Druid, place of worship,
such as are still to be seen, on a large scale, in the megalithic remains
of Stonehenge near Salisbury, and at Avebury near Marlborough, in
Wiltshire; and, on a smaller scale, in many a lonely spot among the hills
in Wales and Scotland, and on the continent, as far Palestine. These
remarks apply to many places in our own neighbourhood, as Kirkstead,
Kirkby Green, beyond the once sacred stream of the Druids, the Witham, or
Rhe, East Kirkby beyond Revesby, &c. We have 5 Kirkbys, and 2 Kirtons
(Kirk-ton), in the county. Thus we get a British origin for this parish;
while the name of the river, on which it is situate, is also British; the
word “Ban,” meaning “bright,” or “clear,” is found not only in the river
Bain, but in several other streams. {98b}
The second syllable of the name Kirkby yields further information. While
the two contiguous parishes of Kirk-stead and Kirk-by have the first
syllable in common, in their suffix, they differ, since “stead,”
connected with our word “steady,” is Saxon, meaning a settled domicile;
and “by,” is an old Danish word, (still surviving in Scotland as “byre”)
meaning the same. {99a}
The Britons, therefore, have left their mark in the first half of both
these names, but from the second halves we gather that the Saxons made
their permanent residence in Kirkstead, whereas in Kirkby, although they
doubtless there also succeeded the Britons, they were, in turn,
supplanted by the Danes, who made this place their “byre,” or “by,” with
three “by-roads,” or village roads, branching from it.
In this connection we may also note, that “Toft,” which is a farm name in
the parish, is also a Danish word, and this is another of their
“footprints on the sands of time”; while further we may observe, that
those roving invaders were called “Vikings,” because they first
frequented our “viks,” “wicks,” or creeks; and there are geological
indications, in the beds of sand and gravel, in this parish, that the
river Bain was, at one time, much wider and deeper than it is in the
present day {99b}; and so, we may well suppose, that, up this “ancient
river,” the river Bain, those Danish marauders steered their way, from
its mouth at “Dog-dyke,” originally Dock-dyke, because there was a Dock,
or Haven, for shipping there (as the present Langrick was a long-creek of
the sea, a few miles beyond; the sea then coming up from Waynfleet); and
made their settlement here, from which they ousted the Saxons, whose
presence is implied in the name of the hamlet Tumby, originally Tunne-by,
which is, in part, a Saxon appellation.
Thus, by the analysis of a name we are brought down from those far-off,
dark ages to within the range of historic times. Kirkby is stated to be
in “the soke of Horncastle,” in a document of date 1327–8 (“Lincolnshire
N & Q.” vol. v., No. 44., p. 248), but the local historian, Mr. Weir
(“Hist. Horncastle,” p. 310, Ed. 1828) says, that it had a jurisdiction
of its own, including Kirkstead, and even more distant parishes, as
Wispington, and Waddingworth. {100a}
The Domesday survey of this county, made in 1089, by order of William the
Conqueror, and so named by the Saxons, because it recorded the doom of
many a Saxon Thane, ejected from his possessions by Norman warriors,
contains several notices of this parish; and although at first sight they
appear somewhat conflicting, yet a careful study of them enables us to
put together something like a connected account of some of its former
proprietors.
First we may mention the Saxon owners, who were dispossessed of their
lands by the Normans.
One of these was Ulmar, who had 150 acres, charged with the land tax,
called “gelt,” which was about 2_s._ to the carucate (or 120 acres);
besides which he had 1½ carucates (180 acres), sub-let to smaller bond
tenants, making in all 330 acres. He had also in the adjoining parish of
Tattershall Thorpe, 240 acres, “in demesne,” _i.e._, in his own
occupation, as Lord of the Manor, besides 360 acres sub-let to
dependents. Ulmar was therefore what we should call, “well to do,” a
Saxon yeoman of substance.
There were also two other Saxon owners in the parish, who would seem, to
some extent, to have been partners. Godwin and Gonewate had between them
60 acres in Kirkby, charged with the aforesaid payment of “gelt,” and 75
acres exempt from it. They had also 360 acres in Tattershall Thorpe; and
separately, or together, they had lands in several other parishes.
Especially in Tumby, they owned 300 acres rateable to “gelt,” and 360
acres more sub-let to dependents.
Another part of this parish would seem to have been a separate demesne,
Fulsby, probably a contraction of Fugels-by, or the homestead of Fugel.
{100b} Here, at a later period, there was a large residence, named
“Fulsby Hall” of which possibly there may be still some traces in ponds
and mounds, in a field in the middle of what is still called “Fulsby
Wood.”
Toft Grange also would seem to have been another distinct property; and
was at a later date (as will be shown hereafter), owned or occupied by a
Dymoke. The term “Grange” would imply that it was an appendage of some
Religious House; and an old charter of Richard I., now in the Library of
Revesby Abbey, shows that that Sovereign granted to the Monks of St.
Lawrence at Revesby, the Grange of Toft, {101a} with its appurtenances, a
mill at Fulsby, with lands in Tumby, Coningsby, &c.
The greater part of Tumby was, as it is still, woodland, and formed
“Tumby Forest,” or “Tumby Chase,” of which old maps still show the trees.
{101b}
In a Close Roll, 5 Ed. IV. (1466), there is a reference to the great
wood, called “Tumbi Wode,” or “Tumbi Chase” (“Ibiden,” p. 131).
We have, thus far, three Saxon proprietors in this parish, who were, in
their day, men of substance; but the incoming of the Norman was the
Saxon’s doom; and while Domesday Book says, with pregnant brevity, that
Ulmar, Godwin, and Gonewate “had,” _i.e._ formerly owned, such and such
lands, it names the Normans alone as present proprietors.
In the case of Kirkby the accounts also of these Norman Lords might seem,
at first sight, somewhat conflicting. For instance, Domesday Book gives
Odo, Bishop of Baieux as owner of this parish, or a large portion of it;
but we turn over only a few pages, and find it referred to as among the
possessions of William de Karilepho, Bishop of Durham. But “hereby hangs
a tale.” Odo of Baieux was half brother of William the Conqueror; being
the son of Arlette, the concubine of his father, Robert, Duke of
Normandy, by a Norman Noble, Herluin de Contaville. Odo’s brother was
created Earl of Moretaine, his sister was the Countess d’ Aumale (which
in later times became Albemarle), and he was given by the Duke, in 1049,
the high position of Bishop of Baieux, in the now department of Calvados,
in Lower Normandy. {102a} On coming to England in the train of the
Conqueror, he was created Earl of Kent, Count Palatine, and “Justiciarius
Angliœ,” and no less than 439 manors were bestowed upon him, 76 of these
being in Lincolnshire. He was thus among the most powerful of the
Normans in this country; he was styled “Vice-Lord of the whole of
England,” and was said to be “second only to the King.” But his
greatness was his ruin. Elated by his vast wealth, he aspired to the
Papacy, and collecting a great amount of treasure, he was about to set
sail for Rome, when William seized him and his treasure, and sent him to
prison in Normandy, confiscating his estate. {102b} Thus Odo’s tenure of
his lands in Kirkby and elsewhere, was only brief; and there were other
grasping Norman followers of the Conqueror ready to step into his shoes.
One of these was the aforenamed William de Karilepho, Bishop of Durham;
who had been Abbot of St. Karilepho in Normandy, but, coming over to
England, was consecrated to that Palatine See in 1082. Thus Kirkby again
became the property of a scarcely less powerful prelate than Odo; for the
Bishops of Durham have ranked high in the episcopate down to quite recent
times; but in early days they were not only bishops, but princely nobles,
whose influence almost rivalled that of the Sovereign; and this prelate
again was Chief Justice of England. An indirect evidence of the Bishop
of Durham’s influence in Kirkby is seen in the following circumstance.
Both Ecton’s “Thesaurus,” and “Liber Regis,” state that the benefice of
Kirkby formerly paid a “pension of 40_s._ to the Priory of St. Leonard at
Stamford.” This would appear to have come about in the following manner.
Oswy, the Saxon King of Northumbria, in the middle of the 7th century of
the Christian era, having conquered the pagan King of Mercia, of which
Lincolnshire formed a part, as a thank-offering to God, gave to Wilfred,
the friend and instructor of his son Alchfrid, certain lands in Stamford,
for the maintenance of 100 Monks. Accordingly Wilfred, who afterwards
became Bishop of York, founded the Priory of St. Leonard at Stamford;
and, having received his own education at the Monastery of Lindisfarne,
in Holy Island, he gave the Priory to that Religious House. At the time
of the Conquest, the Monks of Lindisfarne, were attached to the See of
Durham, and thus their dependency at Stamford came under the cognizance
of William de Karilepho; and as Lord of the Manor of Kirkby, he charged
this benefice with this contribution to the Priory. Had the Monks of
Lindisfarne not been plundered by the Danes, and so driven to Durham,
Kirkby would not have had this payment to make; “40_s_” was, in those
days a considerable sum, the whole tithes of the benefice being only £1
7_s._ 4¼_d._ The buildings of the Priory at Stamford, were plundered by
the Danish rovers, but were rebuilt by William de Karilepho, partly
doubtless with money from Kirkby, about the year 1082. On the
dissolution of the Monasteries, in the reign of Henry VIII. that King,
who was generally in need of cash, appropriated the temporalities of the
benefice of Kirkby, and so became patron of the living, which is still in
the gift of the Sovereign.
We now get another name of rank among the Normans connected with Kirkby.
Domesday Book says, “Ilbert has here 1 caracate (120 acres), with 10
villeins (the lowest class of bondmen), and 4 bordars (the higher class
of bondmen), who hold under him another carucate; also the site of a mill
(a valuable possession in those times), 12 acres of meadow (probably rich
grass land watered by the Bain), and 160 acres of woodland interspersed
with pasture,” where the serfs would tend the lord’s herds of swine,
which fattened on the acorns in their season, and where he would harbour
his deer, and other animals of the chase.
In those times even a powerful noble did not disdain to be the vassal of
such a princely prelate as the great Bishop of Durham, at the head of one
of the three palatine counties in England; and such was this Ilbert, or,
as he was otherwise called, Hildebert de Lacy.
Coming to England with the Conqueror, he was granted by William the manor
of Pontefract, and 150 other lordships in Yorkshire, 10 in
Nottinghamshire, and 4 in Lincolnshire. In several other parishes,
{104a} Kirkby being among them, he also held lands, not absolutely “in
demesne,” as his own, but under the absentee Bishop of Durham as lord
paramount, to whom he paid a small yearly rent, which was exacted from
his Saxon dependents. This Ilbert, or Hildebert, built the castle of
Pontefract, {104b} and was one of the most powerful nobles in Yorkshire.
Another of his family, also Ilbert, was a witness to the Charter of King
Stephen, which secured the ecclesiastical liberties of England; and
another, John de Lacy, became Earl of Lincoln, by marrying Margaret,
daughter of Hawise de Quincy, sister of Ranulph, Earl of Lincoln and
Chester (A.D. 1232). Their son, Henry de Lacy, held the same honours in
the reigns of Henry III. and Ed. I. {104c} A John de Lacy was among the
signatories of the Magna Charta, and we may add that it is not a little
remarkable that, in this 20th century, the name of Ilbert is yet to the
fore, Sir Courtenay Peregrine Ilbert, K.C.S.I., C.I.E., &c., being now
Clerk of the House of Commons, and a distinguished lawyer and scholar.
By a curious coincidence, Pontefract was in Saxon times known by the name
of Kirkby, and this name continued even in later times; a charter of
Ilbert’s son, Robert, conveying lands to the Priory of St. John at
Pontefract, mentions them as being “de dominio de Kirkby,” while another
charter gives them as “de Pontefract” (Camden’s “Britannia,” p. 729.)
Thus Ilbert, Lord of Kirkby-on-Bain, held two lordships in different
counties, of the same name.
We have yet another landowner named as connected with this parish, of
scarcely less note than Ilbert de Lacy.
As we have observed in our “Records” of other parishes, Eudo, son of
Spirewic, and Pinso, were two Norman sworn brothers in arms, who came
over with the Conqueror, and did him such good service that William
granted them “the manor of Tattershall with the hamlet of Thorpe and the
towne of Kirkeby,” beside some 24 other lordships; Eudo to have tenure
directly from the King, and Pinso under St. Cuthbert of Durham. They
subsequently divided these possessions between them, Pinso taking those
further away, while Eudo seated himself at Tattershall. On his death
there, he was succeeded by his son, Hugh Fitz Eudo, commonly called
“Brito,” or “The Breton,” who founded the neighbouring abbey of
Kirkstead, A.D. 1139. He had in Kirkby 1 carucate (120 acres) of land
“in demesne,” with 8 acres of meadow and 80 acres of woodland
interspersed with pasture, very much as “Kirkby Moor” is still. He had
also in Tumby another carucate, in his own occupation, with villeins and
bordars, and two soc-men, _i.e._, free tenants, on 75 acres; also 20
acres of meadow, one fishery and a half, two mills, and 370 acres of
woodland, forming the “Tumby chase.” He had also lands in Waddingworth
and Wispington, which were within the jurisdiction of Kirkby; in the
latter two parishes he halved the land with the Bishop of Durham, who
also (as we have seen) had a slice of Kirkby.
With these several important personages connected with this parish, it
naturally also acquired a more important position than the villages
around, justifying the term “town of Kirkby,” given to it in old records
(Dugdale’s “Baronage” vol. i., p. 439).
Of subsequent owners of Kirkby, and its appurtenances, Tumby, Fulsby, and
Toft, we are not able to give a connected series, but there is evidence
enough to enable us to form fairly safe conjectures, concerning several
of them.
The ownership of the de Lacys continued, with one brief interruption, for
some generations. Hildebert was succeeded by his son Robert Henry, but
he, as Camden relates (“Britannia,” p. 712), taking part in the battle of
Tinchebray, Sep. 28, 1106, against Henry I., in favour of Robert, Duke of
Normandy, on the victory of Henry, was deprived of his possessions, which
were given to another Norman, Henry Travers (Dugdale’s “Baronage” vol. i.
p. 99), and afterwards to Wido de Laval, who held them till the reign of
Stephen; when that King restored to the said Henry his possessions once
more. His two sons Henry and Ilbert dying without issue, the estates in
1193 passed to their half sister, on the mother’s side, Albreda de
Lisours. She married Richard Fitzeustache, Constable of Chester; which
family subsequently took the name of de Lacy, and (as has been already
stated) became Earls of Lincoln. The estates continued in this line till
1310; when Henry de Lacy, having no male issue, left his property to his
daughter Alice, who married Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. He joined a
conspiracy against Edward II., and being defeated in the battle of
Boroughbridge, in the West Riding of Yorkshire (March 16, 1322), was
beheaded on a hill near his Castle of Pontefract {106}; being, it is
said, led out to the spot, by way of disgrace, “on a lean horse,” by an
official, named Gasgoyne; which name also, somewhat curiously (as will be
seen hereafter), is connected with Kirkby. A change in ownership now
appears; in the family of Bec, or Beke. In the 13th century one of them
Walter Bec was Constable of Lincoln Castle, under Henry de Lacy, Earl of
Lincoln, A.D., 1275 (“Hundred Rolls,” vol. i. p. 312). But 80 years
before this, a Final Concord, of 27 Nov. 1197, gives the following
agreement, “on the 2nd day after the feast of St. Katharine” between
Walter, son of Walter Bec, plaintiff, and Richard, Abbot of Kirkstead, as
to a wood called Langhace, and other land “in the field of Kirkebi which
is upon Bayne,” within the Court of the said Abbot, whereby Walter
“quitclaims all his rights to the Abbot and Convent” for which they give
him 4 marks (£21 13_s._ 4_d_).
By another Concord, on the octave of St. Michael (Oct. 6, 1226), between
William Bec, plaintiff, and Henry, Abbot of Kirkstead, tenant of certain
lands, in Kirkby, the Abbot acknowledges the lands to be “of the right of
the said William, which his father also had, to have and to hold (them)
to him and his heirs for ever, of the Abbot, and his successors,
rendering to them 6_d._ by the year, for all service”; and for this
William quitclaims all his rights to the Abbot, and his successors.
Another Concord (p. 220), shows that in 1227, Walter Bec had lands in
Kirkeby, Tattershale, and Thorpe, which he granted to Robert de
Tateshale; for which the latter was to “render £20 13_s._ 4_d._ yearly,
at Kirkby upon Bayne, and to do the service of one knight” (“Architect S.
Journal” xxiv. p. 34).
By another deed, in the same year, 1227, “three weeks from Easter day”
(May 1st), between Walter Bec, plaintiff, and Robert de Tateshale,
touching right of warren on the lands of the said Walter, in Kirkby,
Tateshale, and Thorpe, concerning which Walter complained, that Robert
unjustly, and without warrant, caused warren in the said lands, which
rightly are of the fee of the Bishop of Durham, an agreement is made that
Robert shall give an exchange of lands: whereupon Walter grants to Robert
“all his lands in Kirkeby, Tateshale, and Thorpe, in demesnes, homages,
rents, an services of free men, within the said manor, rendering £21
13_s._ 4_d._, by the year, at Kirkeby on Bayne, and the service of one
knight’s fee”; and for this Robert gives him 10 marks (£6 13_s._ 4_d._)
The head quarters of the Becs were at Lusby; Henry Bec, of Lusby, being
father of the Walter Bec, already named as Constable of Lincoln Castle.
They were strong in church influence; Thomas Bec, son of the said Walter
Bec, being Bishop of Lincoln, 1342–1346; while another Thomas Bec, a
cousin, had been Bishop of St. David’s, 1280–1293; and another cousin,
Anthony Bec, was Bishop of Durham, and so connected with Kirkby, as Lord
Superior, 1283–1310.
In a Harleyan charter (45 H. 12) in the British Museum we find the
following, “To all sons of Holy Church, Walter Bec, son of Henry Bec,
greeting. Know that I have granted and quitclaimed to the monks of
Kirkstead, the manure of their 300 sheep of their fold of Kirkby. Also I
quitclaimed to the same the toll of my corn, which now they are
accustomed to grind, according to the tenor of their charter &c.”
Witnesses, Richard, Dean of Horncastr, Henry de Langton, Nicholas Bec,
Henry Bec, and others.
Another name now appears among owners of Kirkby. The Willoughbys and the
Becs inter-married, and by a Feet of Fines (Lincoln file 68, 32; 30 Ed.
I.) Robert de Wilgeby grants to John Bec, for life only, certain lands
in “Kirkeby next Bayne,” and 37 other parishes, with mills, advowson of
benefices, 9 fees of knights, &c.; after his decease the said properties
to revert to the said Robert and his heirs, quit of the heirs of the said
John.
By an inquisition _ad quod damnum_ (17 Ed. II., 1323), it was shewn that
this manor was charged with a payment of £21 13_s._ 4_d._ to John son and
heir of this Robert de Wilgeby (Willoughby).
Some of the Lords of Kirkby and Tumby seem to have treated the Abbots of
Kirkstead with considerable liberality; for which, doubtless, they would
receive an equivalent in prayers, if not “indulgences,” granted in their
favour. In a cartulary of the Abbey (Vespasian, E., xviii.), now in the
British Museum, is a charter running as follows:—“I, Robert, son of Simon
de Tumby, have granted to the Church of St. Mary of Kirkstead half the
fishery of Troholm, and 5 acres of land in the field of Tumby, and common
pasture through all the fields and territory within the bounds of Tumby.”
This was early in the 12th century. The witnesses to this deed, it is to
be noticed, are his nephew Richard, and Gilbert, “clerk,” _i.e._, parson,
“of Driebe”; hence we should infer that the “de Tumby” and “de Driby”
families were one and the same; and this is proved to have been the case
by a Final Concord of 12 John (A.D. 1211), which mentions the above grant
of “5 acres in Tumby” to Simon de Driby and his heirs. {108} The grant
to the Abbots of Kirkstead was confirmed, some years later, by Robert,
son of Hugh de Tateshale, who “put his hand to the altar” in testimony of
the same (charter of same cartulary, quoted “Architect. Journ.,” xxiii.,
p. 107).
By a Chancery Inquisition p.m., 8 Ed. III. (1335), and by a similar
document, 41 Ed. III., it is shown that John de Kirketon (Kirton) held
for life the manor of Tumby, with that of Tateshale. The Kirktons of
Kirton, near Boston, were probably kinsmen of the Dribys, as this
transfer was made by John de Driby, and the Driby armorial bearings were
formerly in the windows of Kirton Church, along with those of the Earls
of Lincoln (connected, as we have seen, with Kirkby) and others
(“Lincolnshire Churches,” by Stephen Lewin). This local connection may,
in aftertimes, have led to the marriage alliance of the D’Eyncourts, who
held the manor of Kirton, with the next family whom we shall mention, the
Cromwells. {109a} The above Robert, son of Simon de Driby (or de Tumby),
had to wife Joan, co-heiress of the Barons of Tattershall; and somehow
that connection seems to have brought the Cromwells into possession of
the manor of Kirkby. In an Inquisition p.m., 22 Rich. II. (1399), Ralph
de Cromwell is described as owning the manor of Kirkby, with that of
Tattershall, through his wife Matilda, or Maud de Bernak, sister and sole
heir of William de Bernak, Lord of Tattershall. He had lands in 14
parishes in this county, 1 in Derbyshire, and 6 in Notts. {109b} His
grandson, Ralph, married Margaret, sister and co-heir of the 5th and last
Baron D’Eyncourt. His granddaughter, Maud, married Sir Richard Stanhope,
of Rampton, knight. Their daughter, Maud, married Sir Gervase Clifton,
of Clifton, knight, “The gentle Sir Gervase,” who was killed at the
battle of Tewkesbury, May 4, 1471; and afterwards married Sir Thomas
Neville, and then the 6th Baron Willoughby d’ Eresby. Thus we have a
number of important alliances of this family of Kirkby proprietors
(“Architect. S. Journal,” 1858, p. 228).
At the time when Gervase Holles, in 1630, made his peregrinations round
this county, he says that there were in the windows of the rectory house,
of Kirkby, the armorial bearings, in coloured glass, of some 20 leading
county families, including—Becs, Willoughbys, Percys, Tyrwhitts,
Tailbois, Dymokes, &c. These had probably been originally in the windows
of the church, and, on the decay of the edifice, had been transferred to
the house. Representations of these are given in the Harleyan MS.
(6829), now in the British Museum, together with a description of
monuments formerly in the church, but now lost. These arms enable us to
form an idea of the great families who were connected with this parish.
The association with the place of the Tailbois is not quite clear; but
Gilbert Tailbois was summoned to Parliament, as Baron Tailbois, in the
reign of Henry VIII., when he showed that he was descended from Sir
Edward Dymoke, who married Anne Tailbois. This Gilbert was also
descended from Henry Tailbois, who married Eleanor Burdon, daughter of
Gilbert Burdon, by Elizabeth de Umfraville, sister and heiress of the
Earl of Angus (“Dugdale’s Baronage,” vol. i.); who again was related to
the de Kymes, kinsmen of the Dymokes; the Kymes also being connected with
the old and distinguished county family of the Ayscoughs.
The connection of the Dymokes with Kirkby is seen in the following
bequest of “Arthur Dymmocke of Toft Grange, in the p’she of Kyrkebye,” of
date May 27, A.D., 1558. “I geve and bequeathe to the Church of the said
Kyrkebye one satteyn gown, to make a coope or a vestment. I will that
there shall be distributed among the poore people at my buriall xiiili.
xiis. viii. I give to the poore people of the towneshipp of Kirkebye
vili., to the poore of Tunbye xls.” There are also bequests to “Marum,
Willesby, Screuelby, Roughton, Connyngesbye, Tattershall, Haltam,” &c.
He adds, “I will that myne executour shall geve to the marriages of poore
maydens, at their discretions, xxvjli. I geve to the repayring of fowle
and noysome hie wayes xxvjli. I geve to my brother Sir Edwarde Dymmocke,
Knight, tenne pound, and my best gelding, with the best jewell he will
chuse among all my jewells. I geve to my sister his wif one gold ring wt
a turkey (turquoise). I geve to Sir {111} Thomas Olive, p’sonne of
Kirkebye one gold ring enamelled.” These, and many more bequests to poor
people in the county of Middlesex, &c., &c., show that Arthur Dymoke of
Toft Grange, was a man of substance, as well as of generous mind.
(“Linc. N. & Q.” July 1897, vol. v., No. 39).
We now get another family resident in this parish, of some importance.
We have mentioned Fulsby Hall, of which nothing certain now remains.
This demesne would seem to have belonged to the Nelthorpes of Scawby, N.
Lincolnshire, but it was occupied by a family named Cressy. The Cressy
pedigree is given in a MS. book of “Lincolnshire Gentry,” written by
Thomas Beckwith, F.S.A., 1768, and preserved in the Library of Revesby
Abbey (“Linc. N. & Q.” vol. ii., p. 166). As far back as A.D., 1216, we
find a William de Cressy named, along with Ralph de Haya (an old Norman
family), as being “sureties for the faithful service” of Simon de Driby,
already named. (Hardy’s “Rolls de oblatis et finibus,” p. 575.) Whether
he was of the same family we cannot say, but it is some hundreds of years
before the name occurs again.
Also a charter of Hamelin, Count de Warren, and his Countess Isabella,
about A.D., 1074, mentions a Roger de Cressy, with whom they unite in
granting a wood, and other properties, “to God and the Church of St.
Victor, and the Monks thereof,” in Normandy. The same charter also names
3 houses given by Ranulph de Cressy, “for the soul of his brother Hugh,”
(“Archæological Journal,” No. 9, 1846.) Thomas Cressy, of Fulsby, is
named among the Gentry of Lincolnshire in the “Herald’s Visitation” of
1634, preserved in the Library of the Herald’s College. Canon Maddison
in a note to his “Lincolnshire Wills” (p. 141) says that Nicholas Cressy
married Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Ayscough, Knight of Blyborough,
and left Blyborough for Kirkby-on-Bain, _i.e._, for Toft Grange. The
daughter, Faith, of this Nicholas Cressy, married George Tyrwhitt, a
cadet of the Kettleby family of Tyrwhitts; and we have already seen that
the Tyrwhitt arms were among those formerly in the Rectory windows. Her
sister Jane married Sir Edward Dymoke, Knight, of Scrivelsby. Her eldest
brother was named Brandon, from the connection of the Ayscoughs, with
Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. This Faith had a daughter named
“Douglas”; the Tyrwhitts being related to the Sheffields, and John, 2nd
Lord Sheffield married Douglas, daughter of William, 1st Lord Howard of
Effingham. His son, again, Edmund, created Earl of Mulgrave, married
about 1590, Ursula, daughter of Sir Robert Tyrwhitt of Kettleby. Faith
Tyrwhitt, by will, dated 18 Feby, 1669, leaves bequests to Lady Jane
Dymoke, to her brother Major Thomas Cressy, to Edward and Charles Dymoke,
to Elizabeth Dymoke, her goddaughter; and “to my good child Douglas
everything else.” This “Douglas” was baptized at Horncastle, 8 January,
1628–9.
There is some difficulty in connecting the Percy family with Kirkby,
beyond the fact that their arms were among those in the rectory windows.
But a Chancery Inquisition post mortem of 1381–2 (5 Richard II., No. 47),
shows that Mary de Percy, wife of John de Roos, was next heir to
Margaret, wife of John de Orby, who was jointly enfeoffed of certain
lands in Tattershall, &c.; and that on her decease the Earl of
Northumberland (a Percy) held and occupied the same, he having married
their daughter Joan, as second wife. The above John de Orby is stated to
have been kinsman and heir of Robert de Tateshale, knight. These lands
were also held of the Duke of Lancaster, a Gaunt. (“Linc. N. & Q.” vol.
vi., No. 47, p. 73). We further find that after the death of Gilbert de
Gaunt, his widow the Countess Roheis, in her own right married one
“Robertus, Dapifer” who was steward to the house of Percy (“Topographist
and Genealogist” i., 303). If this was, as seems likely, a Robert de
Tateshale, he would be a landowner in Tumby, and, as steward, also a
vassal of the Percys, Earls of Northumberland. As further connecting the
Percy family with this neighbourhood, we may mention, that among the
Revesby charters, is one of date about 1142, the witnesses to which are
Henry de Perci, Gilbert de Bec, and others. The same Henry de Perci is
also witness to another of these charters, of date 1155.
The arms of the Willoughbys have been already mentioned as among those
formerly in the Rectory. This may be accounted for by the fact that
Matilda, or Maud, Lady Willoughby, widow of Lord Cromwell, died in 1497,
seized of a greater part of the possessions of her late husband, and,
among others, “in fee tail of the manor of Kyrkeby upon Bayne” (“Chancery
Inquisition” p.m., 13, Henry vii., No. 34. Quoted “Architect S. Journal”
xxiii. p. 132.)
We have now shown links connecting this parish, more or less closely,
with most of the families whose armorial bearings formerly existed here.
There is only one more name not yet accounted for: that of Gasgoyne. We
are unable positively to establish any link in this case. Camden tells
us (“Britannia,” pp. 714–731), that the Gasgoynes were an “ancient and
virtuous family of Yorkshire, seated at Gawthorpe, probably (he says)
from Gasgoyne in France,” to which family belonged the famous Judge, Sir
William Gasgoyne, who showed his courage by committing to prison the
young Prince, who was to be the future King Henry V.
We have already mentioned that the property of the de Lacys (including,
probably, Kirkby) passed to Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, who was afterwards
beheaded for rebellion, being led out for execution by an officer named
Gasgoyne. It would appear, therefore, that a Gasgoyne held some official
post at Pontefract Castle, and that Lordship (as we have seen), was
connected with Kirkby, as belonging to the same noble owners, de Lacys,
and others; and hence the Gasgoyne arms appear along with those of the de
Lacys, and others. The name of Gasgoyne is found in Stow’s copy of the
roll of Battle Abbey, as among the distinguished soldiers who came over
with the Conqueror, coupled with Gaunt, Gaunville, and many another good
name.
At the dissolution of religious houses by Henry VIII., we find among
institutions to benefices, that Robert Brantingham, was presented to
Kirkby, in 1565, by Robert Brantingham, of Horncastle, by reason of the
advowson, for that turn, being granted to him by “the late Prior and
Convent of the Cathedral Church of Durham.” And so ended the connection
of Kirkby with the See of the proud Bishops of Durham. On the extinction
of the Cromwell line these lands, in Tattershall, Tattershall Thorpe,
Kirkby, &c., would revert to the King. Henry VIII. granted Tattershall,
and doubtless the other possessions, to his mother Margaret, Countess of
Richmond; and in the following year entailed them on the Duke. On the
latter dying without issue, Henry granted a vast number of estates in
this, and other localities, to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. On the
death of two infant sons of the Duke, shortly after their father’s
decease, Edward VI. granted them to Edward, Lord Clinton, whose arms were
also among those formerly in the rectory windows. His descendant Edward
Earl of Lincoln, died without issue in 1692, when the properties passed
to his cousin Bridget, who married Hugh Fortescue, Esq.; whose son was
created Baron Fortescue, and Earl of Lincoln in 1740; and a large portion
of Kirkby is still the property of Lord Fortescue, who is Lord of the
Manor, other owners being the Clinton, Wilson, Ashton, Lely families,
Lockwood trustees, &c.
By a similar process the lands formerly held by the Monks of Revesby,
were granted, on the dissolution, by Henry VIII. to his “well beloved and
dear kinsman,” the aforesaid Duke of Suffolk, Charles Brandon. Among
these are named lands in Tumby, Fulsby, Kirkby-on-Bain, &c., &c. From
the Brandons they passed to the great Lord Treasurer Burleigh, and then
to the Howards; then to the family of Sir Joseph Banks; and he, dying
without issue, left his estates divided among the families of Stanhope,
Sir H. Hawley, Bart., and Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bart. The present Sir
Henry M. Hawley, of Leybourne, Maidstone, Kent, is lord of the manor of
Tumby, including Fulsby, and resides at Tumby Lawn. Some of the land
belongs to the representatives of the late Right Honourable E. Stanhope,
H. Rogers, Esq., and smaller proprietors. The Fulsby Hall Farm, with the
watermill, was given in 1669 to the Grammar School at Brigg, by Sir John
Nelthorpe, the then proprietor; but most of this has been purchased in
late years by Sir Henry James Hawley; so that there now only remain some
70 acres, and the Fulsby watermill, connected with that school.
Just outside the parish to the south-east is a large wood, now called
“Shire Wood”; but in a Revesby charter (No. 29), date Henry II., the name
is given as “Skire-wode”; which is Danish, connected with our words
“shear” to cut, and “shire” a division, and means the “boundary,” or
“dividing” wood. The same syllable occurs in the “Skir-beck” quarter of
Boston. In a smaller wood, in the west of the parish, called “Kirkby
Riddings” we have another relic of the Danes, as Mr. Streatfeild, in his
work “Lincolnshire and the Danes,” tells us, that in their language
“ridja” means to “clear away a wood.” We still speak of “ridding
ourselves” of anything, when we clear it away. The Kirkby Riddings,
doubtless tell of the “clearings” in those larger woods which we have
already mentioned as formerly existing here, wherein the Lords of the
demesne found their sport in the chase of the deer, the wild boar, and
other animals. {115a} Those “hardy Norsemen” were a tough race, and have
thus left their traces behind them.
We have mentioned an Ayscough in connection with Kirkby; a daughter of
Sir Henry Ayscough having married Nicholas Cressy of Fulsby Hall. This
was a very old family, originally located in Yorkshire; the name having
probably been Akes-heugh, or Ake-shaw, _i.e._, Oak-wood; it afterwards
came to be spelt in a variety of ways, as Ayscough, Ayscoghe, Aiscough,
Askew, &c.
They claimed descent from a Saxon thane, Thurstan “de Bosco,” and
“boscus” is Latin for “wood,” or “coppice.” This confirms the above
meaning. The heraldic device of the family was “three asses coughing”
(Guillim’s “Heraldry,” 1794), and the name, in some of their branches, is
still pronounced like Ass-_coff_ and not Ass-coe. They have been
distinguished in church, court, and camp, acquiring large property in
Lincolnshire, and allying themselves with some of our oldest families,
the Tailbois, Brandons, Hilyards, St. Pauls, Kymes, Clintons, Heneages,
Foljambes, Saviles, Boucheretts, &c. They gave to this county, what the
county may well be proud of, Anne Askew, who died at the stake, a Martyr
for the Protestant faith, at Smithfield, 16 July, 1546. {115b} A Walter
Ascoughe, and Henry his son, are named among those who succeeded to parts
of the former Revesby Abbey estates, when the Duke of Suffolk’s family
became extinct. (Dugdale’s “Baronage” ii., 300). And this family is
still established in various parts of the kingdom, the name surviving in
all ranks of life. Few families are without their humbler connections.
For instance, in the case of the parish with which we are now concerned,
we find in its former records a “Robert de Tumbi” who was a Bec, or a
Bernak, or a Cromwell, lord of many a manor, and also a “William de
Tumbi” who was a bondman of John Bec, lord of the manor, whose “body and
chattels,” the said John reserves to himself, while giving the land on
which the said William labours, to the Abbey of Kirkstead. (Charter of
John Bec. Harley, MS. 45, H. 13).
So in modern times, the late lord of the manor of Tumby, Sir Henry James
Hawley, Bart., married, as his first wife, Miss Elizabeth Askew, in the
south of England, while, in a humbler sphere in life, we find a small
farmer, in the person of Mr. Thomas Askew, residing in Kirkby-on-Bain; an
illustration in a new sense of Shakespeare’s saying, “a touch of nature
makes the world akin” (“Troilus and Cressida” act. iii., sc. iii.)
As these notes have now reached a considerable length, we will briefly
notice the Church of St. Mary, at Kirkby; and indeed, it barely deserves
more than a brief notice, as it has no claims to architectural beauty.
We may well suppose, that, as at that other Kirkby, now known as
Pontefract, a fine church was once a feature of the locality, so it was
once the same here; but this is no longer the case. If those armorial
bearings which Gervase Holles saw in the rectory 250 years ago, were
originally in the church, as would seem probable, they would doubtless
embellish a fabric of some size and beauty. We can hardly imagine, that
the benefice, under the patronage of rich prelates like the Bishop of
Durham, in a parish also connected with important monasteries like those
of Kirkstead and Revesby, having also powerful landowners such as the
Becs, Willoughbys, Cromwells, and other “Lords of Tattershall” (where so
fine a collegiate church was provided by them), would have been left with
an unworthy church here. But whatever may have been its former merits,
of these there are no longer any traces. On the south side lies the
square base of a churchyard cross, shorn of its shaft, probably by the
reckless Puritans, who may also have demolished, as they often did, the
fine stained-glass windows, of which the armorial bearings, once in the
rectory, may likely enough have been remnants. Gervase Holles mentions
two monuments which were in the church in his time. Of these one was in
the chancel, having a quaint Latin inscription to the following effect:—
Richard Lambard lies by this stone entombed;
Of this Church formerly Rector was he.
Who caused this Chancel to be newly built.
He presented a Missal, and other valuables.
On the 14th day of January he sought the stars,
In the 1450th year of our Lord.
To whom God grant eternal rest! Amen.
On a flat slab, beside the above, was the following, also in Latin:—
William Bulliar lies here entombed;
Of this church formerly Rector was he;
He caused a new Crucifix to be erected.
He presented a gradual {117a} and cross, and other valuables.
He died the 11th day of December, 1510.
There was also apparently a window to his memory.
Of a later Church, in a state of ruin, there was given an engraving in
the “Gentleman’s Magazine” of August 11, 1801, with brief account of the
church; a copy of which is in the possession of the present rector, the
Rev. R. Gathorne, M.A.; framed, in his study. {117b} In that later
edifice, the pulpit is said to have been a massive one, of stone. But
this, like the monuments given above, has disappeared. Of the present
church, built in 1802, the best we can say is that it is in the style
called “Debased Gothic.” The late rector, the Rev. C. F. R. Baylay,
rural dean, &c., put stone mullions, in place of wood, in the windows, in
1879; when the late bishop, Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, performed the
ceremony of re-opening the church on November 6th, as is recorded on a
brass tablet on the north wall of the nave. The church was, at the same
time, re-seated with open sittings of pitch-pine. The western gallery
was also then removed. Over the west door is a good painting of the
royal arms, of date 1712, with initials “A.R.” (Anne Regina). There is
a slab in the pavement of the nave at its east end, in memory of Rev. T.
Roe, formerly rector. The font is plain octagonal. The ceiling is flat,
of polished pitch-pine. There are three plain windows in the south wall
of the nave, and two in the north wall. The chancel is apsidal, with a
three-light window in the centre, and a small single-light window on each
side. The chancel arch is unusually low, and broad, out of proportion.
The only handsome thing in the church is the communion table, which is of
old oak, probably of the Caroline period, massive, and richly carved,
having a curious cupboard below the upper slab. It is, however, more fit
to be a chiffonier or dining room sideboard, than for its present use.
The church has accommodation for 212, which is amply sufficient, as the
once “Town” of Kirkby has been decreasing in population for many years.
The one bell hangs in an external small turret. The registers date from
1562.
The present rectory is a commodious residence, built in 1827, at a cost
of £1,800. It stands in almost park-like grounds, with fine timber. The
village school was rebuilt in 1870, with residence for the teacher, and
was endowed by Richard Brocklesby with 33 acres of land in the parish of
Bicker. The poor have an interest in the almshouses of Sir Joseph Banks
at Reyesby; also a yearly dole of 5_s._, left by Martha Chamberlain.
The poet Dyer, who was appointed rector of Coningsby, by Sir John
Heathcote in 1752, became rector of Kirkby in 1755, but presently
exchanged it for Belchford. He was the author of “Grongar Hill,” “The
Fleece,” and other poems of some merit, and was honoured in a
complimentary sonnet by Wordsworth, the Laureate.
Another rector, the Rev. Willoughby West, extended his charity beyond his
own parish, since by will dated 30 January, 1690, he founded two
almshouses, for deserving poor persons, in the parish of
Langton-by-Horncastle, (he being one of the patrons of the benefice),
endowed with the rent of land purchased by him “from Geo. Langto of
Langto, Esq.” His burial is registered at Kirkby, 29 May, 1691, and that
of his wife, Mary Ester, “April ye 8th, 1690.”
At “Leeds Gate,” to the south of this parish, in Coningsby, are two
fields, named “Gibbet close,” and “Gibbet nook close,” where probably
some offenders formerly expiated their misdeeds, under the stern hand of
the lord of the manor. {119} The name “Leeds gate,” given in old maps as
“Lidyate,” is probably a corruption of “Our Lady’s gate” (_i.e._ road);
there having been formerly a “Guild of the Virgin Mary,” connected with
Coningsby church. There are also two fields called “Over Coney Green,”
and “Low Coney Green,” which may have reference to the rabbit warren of
Tumby Chase, or to “the King’s Garth,” or inclosure, “Conig,” _i.e._
King, also forming part of the name Coningsby. These field-names are
found in several other parishes. There are fields called “Otter Close,”
“Best Moor,” and “Worst Moor,” the not uncommon “Pingle” (or small
croft), “North Ings,” and “Tumby Ings,” these meaning well-watered
meadows. Another name, not easy to explain, though not uncommon, is
“Pry-close.” It occurs also in Woodhall and elsewhere. One
interpretation which has been suggested is that it may have marked the
place where watch was kept for game, or game-marauders, or like
“Toot-hill,” also found in the vicinity, it may have been a look-out for
cattle, strayed in the time of Fen floods. But another suggestion is
that it is a form of the old Norman “Pre,” a meadow, praie being a kind
of coarse grass. Near Northampton, there are “the verdant meads of de la
Pre,” and in Normandy there was a monastery of “De la Pre de Rouen,”
attached to the abbey of Bec, and the Norman Becs (as we have seen) were
connected with Kirkby and Tumby. There is a “Pry-farm,” in Wiltshire.
What is now only Fulsby mill, in this parish, was formerly and within
living memory also, a public-house, rejoicing in the name of “The Jolly
Sailor.” Here, after the murder of Stennet Jeffery, in “the Wilderness”
of Whitehall Wood, on June 22, 1822, the murderers, who belonged to
Coningsby Moor, stopped for refreshment. They were said to be “bankers,”
_i.e._ navvies, whose chief employment was digging drains, repairing
their banks, &c.; while employed on the Horncastle canal near at hand,
they had doubtless frequented the house before. They were usually rough
and even violent characters, and it is said that Mrs. Copping, the
landlady of the Inn, was aware of their guilt, but too much afraid of
them to mention it. After their visit, some blood-stained clothing was
found concealed in a hedge hard by. Two of these men were convicted of
the murder and transported for life. (See “Records of Woodhall Spa,” by
J. Conway Walter, pp. 16, 17.)
Geologically, Kirkby has some interest; parts of the parish are on the
blue clay, with ammonites and other fossils, while there is also a
stratum of fine gravel, termed the “Bain terraces,” in which teeth of the
“elephas primi-genius” have been found. (“Government Geolog. Survey,”
Lincoln, 1888, pp. 161, &c.)
To the ornithologist and entomologist its interest would seem to be
increasing. The abandonment of the Horncastle canal, which runs through
this parish, is making it a sort of sanctuary where the coot, the
moorhen, the dab-chick, and the mallard resort; the green sand-piper may
be seen, skimming the water, or the king-fisher darting into the
shallows, and the heron, which nests in the adjacent woods, stands like a
silent sentinel on one leg, by its pools, on the watch for its finny
prey. On the reedy banks of the fast silting-up canal, it would hardly
be surprising if that rarity among butterflies, the swallow-tail, which
over-drainage has driven from its former haunts, should once more
re-appear. But we have said enough about Kirkby, and more than exceeded
the measure of space allowed us.
KIRKBY, EAST.
East Kirkby is situated just below the steep slope of the Wolds, near
their southern extremity, between 7 and 8 miles south south-east of
Horncastle, 6 miles south-west from Spilsby, and 9 miles north-east from
Tattershall. From Horncastle it is approached _viâ_ Scrivelsby and
Moorby. It is contiguous, on the east, to Revesby.
This in one of the 220 odd parishes in the county which possessed a
church before the Norman Conquest. At that period it seems to have been
united with Revesby, since in Domesday Book (1080–86) “Cherchebi” and
“Resuesbi” are given together, and it is stated that “the whole manor and
all that belongs thereto is six miles long, and six miles broad.” There
are 12 carucates (or 1440 acres) rateable to gelt (_i.e._, 2_s._ to the
carucate); and the same extent of arable land (or 2,880 acres in all);
with (in Saxon times), 54 socmen, and 14 villeins. The great Norman
Noble, Ivo Taillebois, Chief of the Angevine troops of the Conqueror, was
lord of this manor, through his marriage with the wealthy Saxon, Lady
Lucia, heiress of the Thorolds. On his death early in life—a death not
regretted by her, for the marriage had been forced upon her by the
Conqueror—she re-married, with hardly a decent delay, Roger de Romara,
about 1093; and by him had a son, William de Romara, who was created Earl
of Lincoln. This William founded Revesby Abbey in 1142, and, by an
interchange of lands, while retaining Revesby, Moorby, Wilksby, &c., as a
compact property, he separated East Kirkby as a distinct domain. Among
those with whom exchanges were effected was one Ivo, a priest, who held a
church at Thoresby, probably standing on the site of the present Revesby
church. In lieu of this, the Earl gave to Ivo the church of East Kirkby
with its appurtenances, and a toft near the churchyard. In the 13th
century, the family of de la Launde (represented, down to recent times,
by the Kings, of Ashby de la Laund, near Sleaford) were manorial lords
{121} of East Kirkby, while the Earls of Exeter (as shewn in Notes on
Revesby, &c.) had the manor of Thoresby and Revesby, &c. East Kirkby, as
well as Revesby, was in the soke of Old Bolingbroke, and, as parts of the
Duchy of Lancaster, the Sovereign would be the superior lord of the
various manors in that soke, or “Honour,” as it was named, as being
connected with royalty. Accordingly, in 1604, we find that Sir V.
Skinner, of Bolingbroke, was appointed by the crown keeper of Kirkby
Park, the site of which is still shown on old maps; and, according to
“Liber Regis,” in 1762 the Sovereign presented to the benefice, although,
by some arrangement, William Ellis, Esq., had presented in 1719. The
manor now belongs to R. Maidens, Esq., and Dr. T. Robinson, but most of
the soil belongs to the Stanhope or Coltman families, the patronage of
the benefice being in the hands of the former.
Among the Revesby charters and deeds, printed by the late Rt. Hon. E.
Stanhope, is one (No. 27) of Alan Smerehorn, of East Kirkby, dated 1165,
by which he gives a watermill and premises to the Abbots of Revesby, with
the right to draw water through his land, from Bolingbroke to Kirkby; the
Abbey thus being supplied with water. {122} He also, by another deed
(No. 28), conveys to the Abbey his rights in certain lands in Kirkby,
undertaking all claims and services due to the King, in return for which
the Revesby Monks confirm to him certain rights in Hagnaby.
By a deed of the same period, Alan, son of Walter of Kirkby, gives his
feudal rights, in certain lands in Kirkby, to the monks, with lands in
Hagnaby and Engcroft in Stickford, free of all claims from the King.
A charter of Richard I. (“Dugdale,” v. 456) confirms to the Monks of
Revesby, among other possessions, 620 acres of land in E. Kirkby, and
part of Kirkby Wood, along the road called “Swinistigate” (No. 40 B).
N.B.—There is still a Swinecote in Revesby. Various other deeds assign
to the monks lands given by William son of Ivo, of Kirkby (No. 43); by
Alan son of Walter of Kirkby (No. 45); by Lucy widow of Walter Faber, of
Kirkby (a “Smith?”) a meadow, “to decorate and strew the monk’s choir.”
(No. 56). While Henry Smerehorn gives to them his “servant Robert, son
of Colsvan, with all his chattels” (No. 53); and Alan Smerehorn, of
Kirkby, gives a plot “ad portam josep.” (at the Joseph gate), among
several others, taking on himself all claims to the king or others (No.
58). The seal of Smerehorn is a round one with the device, a man blowing
a horn. Gaufrid, son of Alan Buche, of Kirkby, gives land in E. Kirkby
specially as “gate alms” for the poor (No. 68); the same Gaufrid also
confirming the gift made by his brother Walter, of a meadow in Goutscroft
(No. 70). N.B.—“Gout,” or, writ fully, “go-out,” means a spring issuing
from a hill side, of which there are many on the Wold slopes
(Streatfeild, “Lincolnshire and the Danes,” p. 174). {123a} Alan de
Cuilter, of Kirkby, among other lands, gives a place (placeam) called
“gayres” (No. 101); gaire meaning a triangular plot which requires
ploughing a different way to the rest of the ground. {123b} A meadow in
Kirkby is given by Nicholas son of Roger, of Miningsby, towards
maintaining “the light before the image of St. Nicholas in Kirkby Church,
every St. Nicholas’ day.” (No. 119).
There are other deeds connected with East Kirkby, but these are typical.
We give here some other records connected with East Kirkby, which are of
more or less interest, taken from “Lincolnshire Wills.”
William Saltfletby, alias Massenge {123c} of “Kirkby juxta Bolingbroke,”
by his will, dated 3 January, 1443, requests that he may be buried in
Kirkby Church; and leaves money to the church, as well as to the Church
of St. Peter in Eastgate, Lincoln; also to his daughter, his wife, and
her daughter, certain lands in Kirkby, Miningsby, and West Kele; and his
house opposite the Church of St. Peter, Eastgate, “called the Gryffin.”
The witnesses are Robt. Drydyke, Vicar of Kirkby (N.B.—The place-name
Drysykes occurs in Salmonby); John Cokeryll, chaplain of the same; and
Hugh Wellys, clerk.
Richard Skepper, of East Kirkby, by will dated 26 May, 1556, requests to
be buried in the church; and leaves to his sons, Thomas, George, and
Edward, and daughters, Bridget and Anne, his copyholds in Kirkby,
Miningsby, Bolingbroke, Waynflete, Irby, Thorpe, and Friskney. N.B.—This
was a family from Durham.
John Ballet, parson of Nether Toynton, by his will, of 17 April, 1558,
leaves his “gown, that the Bishop of Ely gave him,” to Mr. Goodryke, of
Kirkby {123d} and a gold ring; he also leaves money to repair the roads
between Fulletby and Horncastle.
Connected with the Goodricks, by marriage, were the Littleburies,
descended as is shown elsewhere {124a} from a very ancient knightly
family, originally seated in south Lincolnshire, and hence we find the
following will of Humphrey Littlebury, of East Kirkby, dated 1 Sep.,
1568, by which he leaves all his lands in Hagworthingham to his son John,
who is to pay to his brother Edward xxli a year “for his _exhibition_,”
{124b} during the widow’s lifetime; the annuity to cease when the said
Edward becomes a “counsaler,” and able to provide for himself. He
bequeaths his lands in Hareby, East Keal, Keal Cotes, and Raithby, to his
daughter Ann, “if she will be ordered by her friends, Sir John Kersey and
John Littlebury,” and if she will not, then “never a penny.” It would
rather appear, from this testamentary provision, that the said daughter
Ann was somewhat of a wilful “hussy.” Sir John Kersey would be one of
the family who came in for a share of the Revesby estates after the
extinction of the direct line of the Dukes of Suffolk. To his daughter
Dorothy he leaves “one hundred marks” with a like proviso. To his son
John he leaves a “ring with the seal,” _i.e._, the family signet; also
“one silver salt, vi. silver spoons, 1 silver goblet, gilt, a flat silver
piece, and 1 of my silver pots I bought in London.” Reference is then
made to an Inventory of Lyon Goodricke, deceased, which was bequeathed to
testator’s wife, Winifred, and Edward Goodricke, her son. The testator
had married (1) Ursula, co-heir of Sir John Kersey, knt., of Grove, co.
Notts, and (2) Winifred, daughter of Henry Sapcote {125a} of Lincoln, and
widow of Lyon Goodricke, of East Kirkby.
We have noticed, above, a Richard Skepper, of East Kirkby, whose will was
dated 26 May, 1556. We find later, the will of George Skeeper, of
Boston, evidently the same name, of date 28 Sep., 1606, in which he
desires to be buried “in ye parish church of East Kirkby.” The name
still survives in this neighbourhood.
Another name still occupying a position in the county is that of Booth,
and we find that William Booth, of East Kirkby, by will dated 31 Oct.,
1584, left property to his brother George’s children in Cheshire, to his
brother Edward’s children, of Rand, to George Booth of Thorpe, and to
Thomas Booth, his brother’s son; appointing as his executors, Sir Thomas
Scales and John Scales, his sons-in-law.
We have named, above, Edward Goodrick, of East Kirkby. He died in 1615,
and by his will, of 16 August in that year, he left the bulk of his
property to his son Lyon, but £35 from lands in Suffolk to his daughter
Washbourne, besides £400, in the hands of Sir Thomas Jenney, as her
portion; “a best bed” to another daughter; and “bedsteads of those in
Suffolk,” to four other daughters, all married, “2 Jacobuses to each as a
token of my love.” Small sums are bequeathed to his cousin, Richard
Palfreyman, {125b} and his godson, Nathaniel Palfreyman; to his servant
John Tupholme 20s. besides his wages 13s. 4d. His “grandson John
Godricke to have the manor of Stickney when 22 years old,” and his cousin
Richard Palfreyman to have it meanwhile; paying “a penny a year to Lyon
Godricke.” The will was proved at Horncastle by Lyon Goodrick and
Richard Palfreyman, 25 Oct., 1615.
A name which we cannot omit to notice in connection with East Kirkby is
that of Silkstone; there being a monumental slab in the parish church of
Robert de Silkeston, who died in 1347. Among 14 documents in the
possession of Porter Wilson, Esq., of Louth, this Robert is a principal
party in 13 of them; by which lands are conveyed to him by Ranulphus, son
of Baldwin de Thorpe, in Ireby; by Robert, son of Philip de Kirkeby, in
Kirkby; by Walter de Kirkby, in Kirkby; by Hugo de Hatton, lands in
Kirkby; by Walter, son of Robert de Langena, lands in Kirkby; Robert, son
of Adam Pertrich, of Bolingbroke; Alan, son of Walter de Kirkeby, and
William, son of Henry de Kirkeby, give him other lands in Kirkeby;
Beatrice, widow of William Wriht, of Miningsby, gives him lands in
Miningsby; John de Waynflet gives him lands in that parish; and Robert de
Swylington, Thomas de Marketon, Rector of Hareby, and Robert de
Miningsby, chaplain, grant to him lands in “Kirkby, Winthorpe, Thorp,
Waynflet, Irby, ffriseby (Firsby), Boston, Leek, Wrangel, Stepying,
frrisseneye (Friskney), Bolynbrok, and Menyngesby,” by Deed, given at
Kirkebi, 26 Dec., 29 Ed. III. (1355). Robert de Silkeston thus became a
proprietor of large estates. At a later period Sir Robert Sylkeston had
issue Alicia, who was “maryed to Robert Grynne.” {126} A large portion
of the property passed to that family, and through them to the Skeppers
already mentioned; and from them, by marriage, to the Loddingtons; one of
whom, Thomas Loddington, was Vicar of Horncastle in the early years of
the 18th century; his name being on one of the church bells with date
1717.
Sir John Browne, knight, resided here for several years, holding lands in
East Kirkby, conveyed to him by Lionel Goodrick in 1616, and on a dispute
arising between him and the Skeppers, already mentioned, an agreement was
made, 20 May, 1619, by which Sir John granted to Richard Skepper certain
property, for 2,000 years, at a peppercorn rent, Richard Skepper in
return granting to Sir John, other lands for a like term and
consideration. (Mr. R. W. Goulding, “Linc. N & Q.,” vol. v. p. 75).
Some of these lands were known as Bonthelandes, (Boothlands), West-wang,
Wayteclif, Bulgaire, Inge-croft, Langemer-dayles, Goutscroft, &c.
Sir John Browne was 2nd son of Sir Valentine Browne, of Croft, “Treasurer
and Vittler of Barwicke, and Treasurer of Ireland in ye raigne of Queen
Elizabeth,” who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Monson, of South
Carlton, ancestor of Lord Oxenbridge. Sir John Browne was “Sergant to
King James in his privy chamber.” He married (1) Cicely, daughter of
William Kirkman, Esq., of Easter Keale, who only lived 20 weeks after
marriage; and (2), Francis, daughter of Richard Herbert, Esq., of
Montgomerie Castle. She was youngest sister of George Herbert, who wrote
the well-known poem, “The Country Parson,” and of Edward, Lord Herbert of
Cherbury, who was so prominent a figure in the time of Charles I. They
were nearly related to the Pembroke family, and descended from Sir
Richard Herbert of Edwd. IV.’s time. There is an elaborate altar tomb in
Croft church, with effigies of Sir Valentine and his lady above; and of
their eight sons and seven daughters on the panels below. Beside this is
an equally elaborate monument of Sir John and his 2nd wife. (“Arcitect.
S. Journal,” vol. viii. pp. 70, 71).
Another family, with a good old Saxon name, connected with East Kirkby,
were the Elands (Ea-land or Eyland), representatives of whom have lived
in this parish within quite recent times; the last of them being William
Fawcett Ealand residing at the High Hall in 1860–70. The name means
Island-land, or water land. {127a} Sir William de Eland was constable of
Nottingham castle in 1330, and M.P. for the county in 1333 (Baily’s
“Annals,” vol. i. p. 223). They possessed the “Honour of Peverel.” In
Baumber church there is a slab of John Ealand (obiit 1463) and his two
wives, in the north aisle. {127b} A branch of the family resided at
Raithby near Louth. Toward the close of the 16th century, one of them
resided at Cawkwell, and had that manor and the advowson of the benefice.
{128} Others had estates, and lived at various places in Yorkshire.
In the latter part of the 17th century another family, the Webberley’s of
Addlethorpe, resided at East Kirkby. They intermarried with the Amcotts
family, now represented by Colonel Cracroft Amcotts, of Hackthorne Hall,
Lincoln. John Webberly, who was born here, was a strong partizan of
Charles I., in his contentions with the Parliament. He did not die for
his King on the field of battle like his compatriot Hallam, possibly of
Bolingbroke (see “Notes” on Bolingbroke); but his support of the King,
and his religious opinions (Socinian), subjected him to persecution, and,
in 1648, to much suffering from imprisonment. He was afterwards expelled
from Lincoln College, Oxford. (Weir’s History, Ed. 1828, vol. i. p.
415).
The church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, is pronounced by Mr. Jeans to be
“one of the most interesting in this district, though sadly patched with
brick, and defaced with ugly windows.” It is no longer used for
services, a small modern church having been recently erected more
conveniently near the village. The varied colouring of the edifice, from
the combination of grey-green crumbling sandstone, with the red tone of
the bricks, surrounded as it is also by lofty trees, render it a pleasing
study for the artist, but its decayed condition inspires the fear that,
unless tenderly dealt with, this interesting relic, may soon go to decay.
It is to be hoped in the interest of archæology that this may be averted.
The original Saxon church was mostly replaced by a later fabric, but now
ancient, of the 14th century. It consists of nave, aisles, chancel and
tower, having two bells; this tower probably dating from early in the
13th century, occupies an unusual position, being attached to the south
aisle towards the west end of it. Its lower storey forms a groined
porch, having a head of the Saviour, rather rudely carved, as the central
top of the vault. It has some early features, especially the window in
its eastern face, but, we quote the late Precentor Venables, in a
description given by him on the visit of the Architectural Society in
1894. Like the rest of the fabric, it has been patched and repaired at
various periods, and most of the remains are debased. The battlemented
upper storey is Perpendicular, the fabric generally being Decorated, of
the 14th century. Of the windows, however, there are few surviving of
that period, the west being the most noticeable. It is of two lights,
beautifully designed, the mask heads of the hood moulding being remnants
of an earlier style. The side windows, both of nave and chancel, were
square-headed. One remains, to the west of the tower, portions of others
remaining among modern degradations. The eastern windows of both aisles
have flamboyant tracery, but now blocked and partly destroyed. The
blocked arch of an entrance to a north chantry which has been removed, is
seen in the north aisle wall. It must have been filled in at an early
date, as the window inserted is of the Tudor period. The piscina of this
chantry altar, with a square basin, is still to be seen outside the
church. In the north wall of the chancel, a small two-light window is
worth attention as an excellent example of the purest Decorated. The
south chancel wall has three-light windows, with segmental heads and
super-mullioned tracery of Perpendicular date; one of these has been
removed to form a poor east window, in place of a good 14th century
window, destroyed a few years ago. The eastern gable is surmounted by a
good cross and saddle stone. The windows of the south aisle are of the
meanest type. There is an arcade of four bays, with Decorated arches
supported on very slender octagonal piers, which are too tall and
slender, and which drive up the arches too high. The moulded brackets
which serve as responds, being elaborately moulded, deserve notice. The
roofs are very poor, being of a later period; one of the beams bears the
date 1583. The chancel arch has been decapitated and blocked by
boarding, but the rood-screen below is an unusually good specimen of
Perpendicular. It has five bays, the centre being double the width of
the others, and having still its panelled doors. It is 12ft. 4in. wide,
and nearly 18ft. high. {129} (Dr. Mansel Sympson, “Architect. S.
Journ.,” 1890, p. 209).
Parts of the parclose which formerly enclosed the chantries at the ends
of the aisles, still remain. The Silkstone chantry on the south retains
its decorated trefoil piscina.
In the floor of the south aisle is an incised slab, commemorative of Sir
Robert Silkstone, the builder of the chantry and church. The late Bishop
Trollope’s rendering of the Latin inscription, which is somewhat defaced,
the slab being broken into four pieces, is as follows:—“Here is buried
Sir Robert Silkstone. He erected this church and chantry. He departed
hence in 1347, and on the 14th of June lost his life. To whom may God
ever grant rest in Heaven. Amen.” The tradition is that he died an
untimely death, if not by his own hand. (“Linc. N. & Q.,” 1896, p. 50).
The old oak seating remains at the west end, and there are fragments,
scattered about, of other screen-work. In the north wall of the chancel
is a narrow trefoil-headed recess, thought by some to be an Easter
sepulchre; it has a curious carved panel, with three kneeling figures,
supposed to be the three Maries, each holding a heart. The recess is an
aumbrey, intended for the Host. The projecting basin, which Mr. Bloxam
thought was a receptacle for “creeping silver,” is a piscina and the
so-called carved “hearts” are boxes for spice. This portion of the
service of the Mass is referred to by Barnaby Googe (1570), in the
lines:—
“While frankincense and sweet perfume
Before the shrine they burn.”
The font is a good sample of Perpendicular, having a panelled octagonal
bowl, supported on a panelled shaft, standing on a platform of steps; the
panels contain heads and flowers. There are fragments of old stained
glass scattered about the windows, and old encaustic tiles in the floor.
A St. Edmund’s penny was found some years ago on the north side of the
church, which the late Vicar, the Rev. G. Maughan, pronounced to have
been issued before A.D. 905. Not far distant, in the year 1899, on some
cottages being pulled down, there were found some fragments of dog-tooth
pattern, and portions of columns and capitals, which are supposed to have
come originally from Revesby; these are now in the garden of Mr. T.
Coltman, at Hagnaby Priory.
The chantry on the north side of the church formerly existing, was called
the Jesus Chapel. Here was buried William Goodrick, father of the Bishop
of Ely, at his own request, by his will dated 20 March, 1517, to be
buried “in the chapell of Jhus in my p’ysh church of Saint Nicholas.”
{131} “On the viij. Kal. Nov., 1344, Robert de Silkestone presented”
Thomas West, of Mucton, priest, to this chantry (then newly founded), and
on Kal. June 1346, he presented “Rob., son of John Fowler, of Mithingsby,
priest, to the same chantry.” (“Linc. N. & Q,” 1896, p. 51, note).
LUSBY.
Lusby (called in Domesday Book Lodeby and Luzebi), is distant from
Horncastle about 6 miles, in an easterly direction, being 1 mile beyond
Winceby. Prior to the Norman Conquest, the Saxon Thane, Tonna, held
lands here, as well as in other parishes in the neighbourhood, his
property here being 3 carucates, or about 360 acres (Domesday). Other
owners of land were Almer, and his brother John, and his son Mauger.
These, at the Conquest, were mostly superseded by Normans. William the
Conqueror gave to his nephew Gilbert de Gaunt, son of Baldwin, Earl of
Flanders, whose sister was William’s Consort, 113 Manors in Lincolnshire,
besides several in other counties, among them being Lusby, the adjoining
Hagworthingham, and Grantham (Greetham), &c. The property would seem,
however, to have been only held by the Gaunts for three generations. In
1223 we find Simon de Kyme instituting a suit in the King’s Court to
recover certain lands in Lusby, as being the descendant and lawful
representative and heir of the aforesaid Almar. He failed, however, to
establish his case. (Curia Regis, Roll No. 82, Hilary, 7 Henry III.) He
still, however, held lands in Langton and Sausthorpe; and he must also
have had other lands in Lusby, as we find that in the 9th year of King
John he granted the fee of 1 knight to Walter de Bec, “to have and to
hold of the same Simon and his heirs for ever.”
The superior lord, however, of all these parties, would seem to have been
the Bishop of Durham, a powerful and wealthy prelate. Early in the 12th
century (circa 1114) we find that Ranulph, Bishop of Durham, held in
chief, lands in Lusby, and several other parishes in the neighbourhood,
and one Pinson was tenant under him at Lusby, holding by the service of
acting as the bishop’s bailiff. Whether this Pinson was the same as
Pinso, sworn brother in arms of Eudo, the Norman lord of Tattershall, is
not clear; but it seems likely, as the Bishop of Durham, his over-lord,
also held lands in Tattershall. (N.B.—The author of “The History of
Spilsby,” Rev. H. Cotton-Smith, says that he was; p. 24). But through
the Pinsons, Lusby, Winceby, and other manors passed to another family,
already named, which for some time held an important position in the
county, the Beks or Becs. There is some confusion in the different
records of the earlier generations of this family. Walter de Bek was the
scion of a family of Norman blood, whose ancestor, according to Sir
William Dugdale in his “Baronage,” had “a faire inheritance in Flanders,”
but came over with the Conqueror. This Walter de Bec married Agnes,
daughter of Hugh Pinson, the steward, and had by her five sons, Hugh,
Henry, Walter, John, and Thomas. Of these, Henry succeeded to the manors
of Eresby, Spilsby, Scrivelsby, and Wispington; and Walter became “Lord
of Lusceby, Wynceby, Neuton (_i.e._ Wold Newton) and ffoulstow
(Fulstow).” (Lansdown MSS. 207, cf., 453). The Becs were a family of
great influence. Of two brothers, one, Anthony, was Bishop of Durham,
the other, Thomas, was Bishop of St. David’s, and another Anthony, was
Bishop of Norwich, his brother being Bishop of Lincoln, in days when
Bishops were statesmen and even soldiers, as well as proud prelates.
Walter was Constable of the Castle of Lincoln (Harleyan MSS, f. 23).
In the old documents called “Final Concords,” p. 80., under date “17 May,
A.D. 1208,” we find Walter Bec, named as “tenant of one knight’s fee in
Lusceby.” In 1300 A.D. Sir John Bek, like his father, was Constable of
Lincoln Castle, but also holding the additional office of Constable of
Bristol. He made a grant to the Priory of Bullington, near Wragby, which
is worthy of notice, as its terms are peculiar. It runs as follows:—“I,
John son of Walter Beck, of Lusceby, have granted, &c., for ever to prior
and convent of Bolington, for the safety of my soul, and the souls of my
ancestors, two selions of land, &c., which formerly, Simon, merchant of
Burgh, held of me for one pair of white gloves.” We have mention, in the
case of High Toynton, of land, held by the tenure of a pair of spurs,
presented annually to the lord, as rent; here we have a no less singular
tenure, by the gift of a pair of gloves. The knightly gauntlet was
probably in those days a more costly article than a nineteenth or
twentieth century glove. In illustration of the above peculiar tenure,
we may notice the legacy of Baron Bec’s “gauntlets” to Kirkstead. This
John, son of Walter, was created first Baron Bec of Eresby; he obtained a
license to fortify his castle at Eresby, 1295. By his will, dated July
20, 1301, he ordered his body to be buried at Kirkstead, whereunto he
gives his best horse, his mail coat, “gauntlets,” harness of iron, lance,
targe and other accoutrements. His daughter married Sir William
Willoughby.
Most of the property of the Lusby Beks passed, a generation or two later,
to another branch of the family, the Becks of Eresby; whose descendant,
John Willoughby, through the marriage of Baron Bec’s daughter to Sir
William Willoughby, in the reign of Edwd. III., held the manors of
“Hareby, Lusceby, Ester Kele, Wester Kele,” &c.; and thus the property
passed to the ancestors of the present Earl of Ancaster, and Lord
Willoughby d’ Eresby. We still, however, find (by Feet of Fines,
Lincoln, file 69) that in A.D. 1302, John Bek had “the rent of 6 quarters
of salt, {133} in Wispington, Marton next Horncastle, Langtone,
Wodehalle, Thymelby, Scrivelsby,” and other parishes, “with advowson of
the church of Wispington.” “Henry Bek, of Pusseby (Lusby), sold to Lord
Stephen de Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, lands and tenement in
ffowlestow; which same bishop gave the said manor to Beatrice, his
sister, who was married to Alan de Normanby.” (Lansdowne MSS. 207, cf.,
453). For these details of the Becks, I am chiefly indebted to a paper,
by Rev. W. O. Massingberd, in the “Architect. Soc. Journal,” for 1897.
To show that the Becs were not confined to the neighbourhood of Eresby
and Lusby, I may mention that, not only are their armorial quarterings
found, as was to be expected, in Spilsby church, but according to Gervase
Holles’ “Notes on Churches,” they formerly existed in windows in the
churches of Coningsby and Langton-by-Horncastle, and probably many
others. (Harleyan MSS., 6829.)
Of later proprietors of Lusby, I am not able to give any, except that, in
a List (given in the Melbourne Hall MSS.) of Gentry, of the 16th century,
who furnished launces and light horses, when the country was preparing to
give a warm reception to the expected Spanish Armada, I find that Mr.
Palfreyman of Lusby, gent., attended the muster at the Horncastle
Sessions in 1586, and furnished 1 launce and 1 light horse, when his
neighbour, Mr. Langton, of Langton, and Augustine Cavendish, of Orby,
furnished each 1 light horse, but no lance; John Littlebury of
Hagworthingham, furnishing 2 light horses and no lance. Mr. Maddison
explains that this Mr. Palfreyman would be a descendant of William
Palfreyman, who was Mayor of Lincoln in 1536. (“Arch. Soc. Journ.” 1894,
pp. 214, 220).
In Liber Regis we also find the names of those who presented to the
benefice, and therefore were in some way connected with the place; George
Davenport in 1699, Carr Brackenbury in 1720, and Robert Carr Brackenbury
in 1780. In recent times the bishops of Lincoln seem to have inherited
the position formerly held by the bishops of Durham, as owners of the
soil and lords of the manor; and these are now in the hands of the
Ecclesiastical Commissions.
We now come to speak of the church, dedicated to St. Peter. At the date
of Domesday Book, this was one of the 222 parishes in the county which
possessed a church. A priest is also there named, doubtless one of the
131 only resident presbyters in the county; many of the churches being
served by the “Religious” of the convents. There is also mention of a
mill, worth 3_s._ yearly. {135}
There was thus at Lusby a church at that early period, and it, as well as
Winceby, paid a pension to the Bardney Monastery, probably through the
connection with Gilbert de Gaunt, that Norman noble being one of
Bardney’s most generous patrons, and the re-founder of that institution
after it had been in a state of decay for some 200 years. Ecton’s
Thesaurus gives the pension as 30_s._, a fairly large sum in those days.
The present very interesting church is, in parts, so very ancient, that
it is more than likely that some portions of the original fabric of that
day still remain. Only a few years ago the building was in a state of
squalid neglect and architectural disfigurement; but it was restored by
the Commissioners in 1892, and re-opened by the Bishop of Lincoln on
January 17, 1893, the work having been done with great care and judgment;
and the former flat-ceiled, white-washed room has given place to a
structure church-like in all its arrangements. It is nevertheless of a
somewhat conglomerate character, windows, and other objects, breaking
out, as it were, in all sorts of unexpected positions; and thus making it
a study of curiosities. We quote here some of the remarks of the late
Precentor Venables made on the occasion of the visit of the Architectural
Society in 1894, “of the original Norman fabric, itself of more than one
date, and which was shortened at the west end, there are several relics,
especially in the charming narrow doorway in the north wall of the nave,
now built up, the arch of which is surrounded with zigzag moulding; and a
very remarkable little ‘key-hole’ window, high up in the north wall of
the chancel. An incised line which runs round the head of this ends in
volutes, and above it is a small incised cross. Holes in the jamb of the
shutter indicate that this widow was originally unglazed. Opposite the
north doorway are traces of another Norman doorway in the south wall,
also now blocked, having above it a cross with round medallions.”
Eastward in this same south wall of the nave is a two-light early English
window with quatrefoil above, in the eastern splay of which, inside the
church, is a small, but “singularly fine corbel head, crowned.”
Immediately eastward of the chancel arch in the south wall of the chancel
is a small square window, possibly a squint; and east of this a very
narrow small “lancet window has been opened,” and still east of this, at
a different elevation, there is a good two-light decorated window. The
chancel arch is round-headed and plain; on either side of it are a pair
of Norman pillars, with the capitals hacked away; those on the north side
partly retain their rounded columns. There is a perpendicular screen
across the chancel arch of three compartments above with ogee arches and
richly carved finials, the central compartment being open; and below are
two panels on either side the central open compartment, having ogee
arches within semi-circular rims. On the north side of the chancel arch
is a niche for a figure. In the north wall of the chancel is an aumbrey,
and an oblong one above it; and in the south wall a square one
corresponding. In the south wall, under the easternmost window, is an
easter sepulchre a plain semi-circular arched recess, probably marking
the tomb of the founder. In the north wall of the nave is a similar, but
rather larger recess. The east window has three lights, quatrefoiled,
with trefoiled compartments above, and a quatrefoil above these. The
west door is square-headed with a low arch within; over this a
three-light quatrefoiled widow with square-headed moulding above; and
over this, in the gable, a square, slit widow, above which hangs the one
bell in a large turret. The font on the north side of the west door, is
modern, circular, massive, of Caen stone. The sittings are of deal; the
pulpit, lectern, and chancel sedilia, of modern oak; the roof throughout
of pitch pine. There is a small brass tablet of date circa 1600, with
eight English rhyming lines, forming a dialogue between a deceased wife
and her surviving husband. The stones of the walls are of all sizes and
shapes, and the massive western buttresses are 5ft. thick. The benefice,
a rectory, is now held with that of Hagworthingham, and is in the
incumbency of the Rev. G. R. Ekins, who resides at the latter place.
Letters, _via_ Spilsby, arrive at 8 a.m., and are despatched at 5 p.m.
ASGARBY, which is ecclesiastically annexed to the benefice of Lusby, lies
about six miles south-east of Horncastle, being about a mile south by
east of Winceby, by which it is reached from Horncastle, and about a mile
west of Lusby. Letters, via Spilsby, arrive at 8.30 a.m. The nearest
money order office is at Old Bolingbroke, and the nearest telegraph
office at East Kirkby, about 5 miles distant. The whole parish comprises
about 760 acres, divided into two farms, the property of Ecclesiastical
Commissioners, and occupied respectively, Asgarby Hall farm by Mr. M.
Dunham, and the Asgarby House farm by Mr. W. H. Robinson, both these
residences being substantial structures of considerable age. It has been
asked “What’s in a name?” yet the name Asgarby would seem significant.
Its elements are “as” (or Aes), “gar” (guard or garth), {137} and “by”;
the first of these implying the presence of “water,” the second meaning,
“an enclosure”; and the third “a building”; thus we have, as the meaning
of the whole, “a water-enclosed building,” or moated residence. The hall
stands on an elevation, commanding an extensive view, and there are
various hollows and banks still existing, which probably indicate the
moat which at one time surrounded a more important building than the
present hall. This is confirmed by the stews, or fish-ponds, lying
westward below the hall, which imply that the establishment required an
extensive fish diet, on the numerous Romish fast days. The demesne is
given in Domesday Book, along with Hareby, Mavis Enderby, Raithby, and
many others, which became the property of Ivo Taillebois, by his marriage
with the Lady Lucia, daughter of the powerful Saxon Earl Alfgar,
father-in-law of King Harold. It probably passed at a later period to
the Bishops of Durham, who held many lordships in the neighbourhood; and
ultimately came to the Bishops of Lincoln, who were lords of the manor,
until the transference in 1862, of episcopal property to the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who have since that time, owned the estate.
The Benefice, now worth £40 a year, is described in Liber Regis, as a
curacy. It, however, gives its name to a prebendal stall in Lincoln
Cathedral. The church, dedicated to St. Swithin, is an unpretending
structure, of no architectural merit; but since it was re-seated, with
deal fittings, in 1882, it has been kept, to say the least, in a neat
condition. It is doubtless one of the smallest parish churches in the
kingdom, the nave being slightly over 20ft. in length, and the chancel
about 9ft. The east window has two lights, in debased style. There is a
three-light debased window in the north wall, and a corresponding one in
the south wall. The pulpit is of modern oak. There is a tablet on the
south nave wall in memory of Sarah, wife of John Parkinson, “greatly
admired for her virtue, frugality, and charity,” who died 17 May, 1816;
also in memory of John Parkinson, her husband, who died May 15, 1821.
In the north wall of the chancel is a memorial tablet of the Rev. W.
Ward, Incumbent, who died 26 Nov., 1846. The one bell hangs in a turret
over the west door. The register dates from 1575. Canon Oldfield, who
holds the benefice, with that of Lusby, is also Rector of Hagworthingham,
where he resides. Asgarby Benefice is now held with Lusby, by Rev. C. E.
Bolam.
MININGSBY.
Miningsby is situated about 7 miles from Horncastle in a south-easterly
direction, and is approached by way of Mareham-on-the-Hill and
Hameringham. It is seven miles from Spilsby westward, and 9 miles
north-east of Tattershall Station. Letters, _via_ Boston, arrive at 9
a.m. The nearest money order and telegraph office is at East Kirkby.
In the time of the Conqueror, this manor belonged to his nephew, Ivo
Taillebois, through his marriage with the Lady Lucia, the rich heiress of
the Saxon Thorolds. It is stated in Domesday Book to comprise 6
carucates of land rateable to gelt (_i.e._, 720 acres), worked by
thirty-six soke-men, eight villeins, and 4 bordars, who had also 40 acres
of meadow, {138} which is several acres in excess of the present
measurement.
Miningsby was connected with Spalding Priory in the following manner.
That monastery was founded by Thorold de Buchenale (_i.e._, Bucknall,
near Horncastle), A.D. 952; and the Lady Lucia, his niece and heiress, in
conjunction with her husband Ivo Taillebois (who was Lord of Spalding),
added largely to the original endowment from her uncle. The churches of
Bolingbroke, Stickney, and other parishes, with “half the Church of East
Keal,” were given to the priory; also tithes from Claxby, Edlington,
Minting, Gautby, &c., and “temporalities” from Haltham, Bolingboke,
Miningsby, &c., the latter including two carucates (or 240 acres) of land
in Miningsby. On the Dissolution of the Monasteries, by Henry VIII.,
several of these properties passed to the crown, and became connected
with the Duchy of Lancaster, and the “Honour of Bolingbroke.” We mention
in the Notes on Revesby, and other parishes, how those and other lands,
passed, through the Lady Lucia’s son (by her 2nd husband), William de
Romara, to the Abbey of Revesby, and at a later period to the Stanhopes,
and, by a parallel process, although through a distinct channel, the
Stanhopes are now lords of the manor of Miningsby, and own most of the
soil.
Frequent mention is made of Miningsby in the ancient Revesby Abbey
charters. {139} By charters No. 1 B. and C., William de Romara conveys
to the abbey, 23 acres of land in Miningsby, as well as common pasture in
the same. Among the witnesses to the latter, is Baldric de Cheles, a
name still represented in the neighbourhood, by the family of the Rev.
Alan Cheales, rector of Friskney, and owner of land in Hagworthingham,
&c. By charter No. 7 C., Hugo Wac confirms to the Abbot of Revesby “two
oxgangs (or 30 acres) of land in Miningsby with right of pasturage and
the hermitage, which Ranulph the Monk made in Halton marsh.” This Hugo
Wac, would seem to be a representative of the ancient Lincolnshire Saxon
family of the Wakes, whose most distinguished member was “Hereward the
Wake,” lord of Bourne, the last hero of Anglo-Saxon independence, whose
“Camp of Refuge” for some time defied the Conqueror, and whose exploits
have been celebrated in prose and verse. By charter No. 39, Alan son of
Ranulph, of Miningsby, gives 2 perches of meadow in “Sud Bec” (south
beck) in Miningsby, free of all service and claims (temp. Henry II. or
Richard I.) We may mention here that this Miningsby beck is now the
chief feeder of the reservoir which furnishes Boston with its water
supply. By charter No. 40 B., Richard I. confirms to the monks of
Revesby certain lands and possessions in Miningsby, Kirkby, Claxby,
Mareham, &c. This is witnessed by Hubert Walter, Archbishop of
Canterbury, Robert de Harecourt and others. By No. 41, a plot of land in
Miningsby is given “for the use of the gate-monk, and for gate alms,” at
the abbey, by William, son of Roger de Bikinghesby (Wilksby?) temp.
Richard I. or John. By No. 59, William Helle, of Miningsby, gives the
right of pasturage for 60 sheep in Miningsby, free of all claim. By No.
63, William, son of Ivo, of Kirkby, gives land adjoining the place from
which the sand was taken for building Miningsby church, near
“Crosbesich.” By No. 115, William, son of John Barette, of Stickney,
residing at Miningsby, gives one perch of meadow, “for the maintenance of
two candles always burning in the Abbey Chapel.” (Date Henry III. or Ed.
I.) By No. 119, Nicholas, son of Roger Herod of Miningsby, gives “one
meadow, free of all claims,” and stipulates that “the monks shall pay
annually one penny towards maintaining the light before the image of St.
Nicholas, in Kirkby church, every St. Nicholas Day.” By No. 131, Alan of
Miningsby, gives “one selion, {140} and four akerheveds” of land in
Miningsby, in two places, called “Hankes” and “Claxby dale,” free of all
claim (date, Ed. I.) By charter No. 150 B., the King, Henry VIII.,
grants to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, all rights and property,
hitherto belonging to the monastery of Revesby, in Miningsby, Moorby,
Wood Enderby, Wilksby, East Kirkby, and many other places, “having come
into our hands by reason of the dissolution of the said monastery.” The
Duke’s title is to date from March 1, in the 29th year of our reign, A.D.
1538. (British Museum, additional MSS. 24805, fol. 32).
Among “Lincolnshire Wills,” we find Richard Skepper, of East Kirkby, in
his will, dated 26 May, 1556, mentioning among other land, which he
devises, certain copyhold lands in Miningsby.
By will, dated 22 Dec. 1615, Robert Hustwait, of Great Grimsby, makes his
brother, Edward Hustwait, of Miningsbye, and his cousin, Tristram Smith,
of Awdbee Grange, supervisors, and gives them twenty shillings each. The
Husthwaites were above the yeoman class, but not important enough to
appear in the Visitations of the Heralds; they intermarried with the
Wrights of Grimsby and Smyths of Audby, and lived at Little Coates and
Bradley.
By a Chancery Inquisition post mortem, 23 Henry VII., No. 78 (A.D.
1507–8), taken at Horncastle, Jan. 14th, John Parke of Mynyngesby, John
Skayman, of Mynyngesby, being among the jurors, it was shewn that Thomas,
the Abbott of Revesby, was entitled to hold from the King, among other
lands, 10 acres of arable land and 4 acres of meadow, called “Symondes
lands” in Mynyngesby (“Architect. S. Journal,” 1895, p. 59),
notwithstanding the Statute of Mortmain.
By a Feet of Fines, Lincoln, file 68 (32), 30 Edw. I., Robert de Wylgheby
(Willoughby) granted to John Beek (Bec) certain lands in Hareby, Kyrkeby,
Bolyngbrok, Mythyggesby, &c., and “the advowsons of the churches of
Spillesby, Kyrkeby next Bolingbroke, and the Church of Toynton.”
(“Architect. S. Journal,” 1897, p. 56.)
Among the deeds connected with property in East Kirkby, now in the
possession of Porter Wilson, Esq., of Louth, is one, by which Beatrix,
wife of William Wriht of Mythingesby, quitclaims to Robert de Silkeston,
and Robert, son of Isabella Skells (Scales), all her right in the lands
and tenements in Mythingesby, which they held of the gift of the said
William her late husband. Given at Kyrkeby juxta Bolingbrok, on Thursday
next before the feast of St. Michael, 1 Edw. III. (A.D. 1327.)
By another Deed, “Robert de Menynggesby, chaplain,” with “Thomas de
Marketon, Rector of Harreby,” and another, “give to Robert de Silkeston
of Kyrkeby,” certain lands “in Menyngesby, Kirkby, Bolynbrok, &c.” Given
at Kirkeby, 26 Dec., 29 Edw. III. (A.D. 1355.)
Among charters of the Ipré family, it is shewn that Sir John de Ipré
acquired “lands in Est Kerkeby, Mithyngesby, &c., of Sir John de Nevill,
knight, Lord of Raby; which property descended to his son Thomas Ipré,
who granted the said lands for the use of Robert Grynne, and Richard
Grynne his son.” Date, 31 December, 1392.
N.B.—Sir Robert Sylkeston, knyght, of Est Kyrkeby, had issue “Alicia
maryed unto Robert Grynne”; whose great great granddaughter “Audrya
maryed unto Ric. Skepper,” a member of the family already mentioned.
(“Linc. N.& Q,” v., pp. 73–4.)
By a Deed, dated 19 May, 24 Henry VI. (1446), Henry the King orders that
certain rents for lands in Est Kirkby, Menyngesby, &c., which had been
unlawfully withheld by Alice Browne, shall be duly paid to John Grynne,
and Richard, his son, “they being at the time of acquisition, men (_i.e._
bond-tenants) of our manor.” “Given under our seal of our Duchy of
Lancaster at our palace of Westminster.” (“Linc. N. & Q.” vol. v. p.
89.)
According to Liber Regis, there was formerly a charge of 1_s._ 6_d._
annually on certain lands in Miningsby, towards the repairs of the church
windows.
The Church, dedicated to St. Andrew, consists of nave, chancel and a
double bell-gable at the west end. It was restored at the expense of J.
Banks Stanhope, Esq., in 1878, when nearly the whole fabric was taken
down by the architect, the late Mr. James Fowler, of Louth, and carefully
reconstructed so as to preserve its most interesting features. The stone
then employed is already (1901) showing signs of decay. The south wall
of the nave retains portions of an earlier Norman building, viz., one
Norman window and a semi-circular headed doorway, set flush with the
wall, enclosing a later pointed arch, also set flush. {142a} The chancel
is early English, with lancet windows, in the east end and side walls;
there is also a lancet window in the north wall of the nave. There was
formerly a chantry in the north side of the church, the arch of which is
now blocked. In the west wall are two tall trefoil windows. The font is
perpendicular, with octagonal embattled bowl, supported by four columns
with square flowers in the capitals. The chancel is separated from the
nave by a good open rood screen, containing portions of the original.
The whole interior presents a well-ordered church appearance. {142b} The
object, however, of special interest here, is a so-called “Runic” stone,
covered with the involuted “knot,” or “figure of eight” pattern. Not
many years ago it formed the threshold of a door, but was rescued by the
Rev. G. Maughan, rector of East Kirkby, when he had charge of this
parish, who had it placed against the north wall of the chancel. It is
fortunately still in a very fair condition, with the exception of a
portion gone from one end, and a crack towards the other end. There are,
or were recently, two other specimens in the neighbourhood, one, a
fragment at Lusby, and the other at Mavis Enderby. The Lusby fragment is
said to have been Norman. (“Linc. N. & Q.” vol. iv. p. 225). That at
Mavis Enderby, now used as a church door step, and the pattern,
consequently much defaced, is, like this at Miningsby, said to be of
pre-Norman style, though not necessarily pre-Norman date. The former,
however, is coped, while the latter is flat. The Rev. G. Maughan
believed that there was another similar stone within the same chancel
wall, but, as that part of the fabric was not taken down by the
architect, it was not exposed to view. (“Linc. N. & Q.” vol. iii. p.
157.) The frill border of the Miningsby stone is decidedly Saxon in
character. It is 44 inches long, by 19½ wide, and 6in. thick. These
stones are specially interesting and far from common. Interlaced work
was an ancient Hittite ornament, as shewn in a seal, engraved in the
“Archæological Journal,” vol. xliv. p. 348. Specimens are found,
however, in Italy, Greece, France, as well as similar patterns in Saxon,
Lombardic, and Spanish MSS. The stones are more common in Ireland than
in England. Several are found like the Iona cross in Scotland, probably
imported from Ireland, by the missionaries of St. Columba. There is an
excellent sketch of the Miningsby stone, by the Rev. J. A. Penny, vicar
of Wispington, in “Lincolnshire Notes and Queries,” vol. iv., p. 225.
After the Reformation, the earliest presentation which we find to this
benefice is that of William Clerke, by King Edward VI. (as Duke of
Lancaster); he was instituted as rector, 4, Edwd. VI., A.D. 1550–1.
(“Architect. S. Journal,” 1897, p. 23.)
Recent rectors have been the Rev. E. Repton, in the earlier years of the
century; the Rev. W. Nevins, later; and the Rev. H. Caukwell, appointed
in 1878. The register dates from 1688, earlier records being lost. The
children have a right to go to the free school of East Kirkby.
There is a modern commodious house, occupied by the present rector, who
has 170 acres of glebe; but it is remarkable that about 100 acres of
glebe are missing; the award made by the commissioners in lieu of tithe
being largely in excess of the land now attached to the benefice. This
parish also contains about 100 acres of charity land belonging to
Stamford school.
OXCOMBE.
This parish is situated about 7 miles, in a north-easterly direction from
Horncastle, and about the same distance south-west from Louth. It is
interesting to notice that in the name of this parish we have one of the
few survivals in the county of its former British inhabitants. The old
writer, William Camden, Clarenceaux King of Arms, in his “Remaines
concerning Britain,” p. 116, A.D. 1657, says “Combe, a word in use both
in France and England, for a valley between high hills.” It is, in fact,
the term still common in the south of England for a secluded valley, as
in such names as Pyecombe, in Sussex, a village nestling in a hollow at
the base of the south Downs; Combe Pyne, and Combe Martin, in Devonshire,
and many another similar name, as well as in the old Welsh (or British)
“cwm,” which occurs in many a name in Wales, of places situated in like
hill-locked positions. And this exactly describes the situation of
Oxcombe, a valley almost cup-shaped, surrounded by steep hills, the whole
parish now forming one estate, of something over 1,000 acres in extent,
lying in a ring fence.
In Domesday Book it is also called Oxetune, in which the suffix “tune,”
or “ton,” is the later Saxon for inclosure, implying a secluded
farmstead, where some Saxon Thane’s cattle were housed. In that record
of the Norman Conqueror, of which the date for Lincolnshire is about 1085
A.D., this parish is mentioned twice, once, as connected with the manor
of Fulletby, which was among the lands conferred by William the
Conqueror, on the Bishop of Durham, William de Karilepho, a Norman, who
was a favourite with that king, and was appointed by him Chief Justice of
England; and once among the possessions of the Norman noble, Hugh de
Abrinchis (or Avranches), who was nephew of the Conqueror, and, besides
being endowed by him with the Barony of the whole county of Chester, held
also nearly one hundred and fifty manors in this County and elsewhere.
He was surnamed Lupus or “The Wolf” (as has been stated in other of these
records) from the many deeds of violence, for which he was famed; and for
which he endeavoured to atone in the closing years of his somewhat
lawless life, by becoming a monk in the Abbey of St. Werberg, at Chester,
which he had himself founded.
The part of this manor, held by the Bishop of Durham, was combined with
Fulletby, the adjoining parish westward, and was, under the Bishop,
farmed by socmen, or free tenants. The portion belonging to Lupus was
held by him, as in the soke of Farforth, another adjoining parish
eastward, and was also farmed by socmen.
Hugh de Abrincis left one son, who succeeded to his estates; but, as we
have elsewhere observed, the tenure of land was, in those unsettled
times, very precarious, and we have evidence that lands in Oxcombe, at an
early date, passed into other hands. The land became in part the
property of Bullington Priory, which was an off-shoot of the Gilbertine
Priory, of Sempingham, famous for the severity of its monastic rules.
Bullington Priory was founded by Simon Fitzwilliam, {145a} in the reign
of Stephen, and endowed with various lands in the neighbourhood. These
endowments were augmented by William de Kyme, a member of another
powerful family in the county, who had also lands at Sotby, and
elsewhere; and further additions were made by the Crevecœurs, {145b} a
family of much importance from the time of the Norman Conquest, Sir Hamon
de Crevecœur succeeding to the barony of the Abrincis, located in Kent,
with the title of Barons of Folkstone; while in this immediate
neighbourhood, they held the lands in Somersby and Bag Enderby. A few
old records exist showing ownership in Oxcombe, at an early date, by
several other parties.
By an agreement made under date, 15 June, 1202, between Matilda, wife of
Richard de Ormsby, on the one part, and Walter Futenglaz, tenant of
certain lands in Oxcombe, the said Walter, on his part, acknowledged the
said lands to be the right and inheritance of Matilda; and in return
Matilda granted them to Walter, to hold to him and his heirs, of the said
Matilda, and her heirs for ever, by the service of 12_d._ by the year;
and for this grant, the said Walter gave her ½ mark. (“Final Concords.”)
We next get a connection of this parish with the Priories of Sempringham
and Bullington, already referred to. By an agreement, dated 20 April,
1203, between Roger, Prior of Sempringham, and William de Oxecumbe,
touching lands in the parish, the said William “warranted to the said
prior and his successors, the charters which the same prior had of
William, father of the said William, and all the said lands; and he
granted them to hold to the said prior and his successors, and to the
church of the blessed Mary of Bulinton, and to the Nuns and the Brethren
serving God there, in pure and perpetual alms, free of all secular
service and exaction.” And for this grant and warrant, the prior gave
the said William 2 marks.
Another document introduces a member of an important family holding
considerable possessions in Yorkshire and elsewhere. It is an agreement,
dated 26 April, 1214, between Robert de Malo Lacu and Emma his wife, on
the one part, and Robert de Oxecumbe and others, among them being Walter
Bec, on the other part, concerning the right to certain lands which
Walter Bec “acknowledges to be the right of the said Robert de Malo Lacu,
and Emma, his wife,” &c. In return for which they grant to the said
Walter, 12 oxgangs of land, here and elsewhere, “to have and to hold to
him and his heirs for ever, doing the service of five parts of a knight’s
fee.” This Walter Bec would appear to have been a member of the wealthy
family who are mentioned in the Records of Spilsby and Lusby, as holding
large property in those parishes and elsewhere, and as being ancestors of
the Lords of Willoughby. The de Malo Lacu family, otherwise de Mauley
were powerful Normans; the head of the race, Peter de Malo Lacu being
born at Poictou in France. He, coming over to England in the reign of
Henry III., built the castle of Mountgrace, in the East Riding of
Yorkshire. Camden, states that there were eight Peters in succession who
held these estates, the last of them leaving two daughters, one of whom
married Bigot, a member of the family of the Earl Marechal, of England;
the other married a member of the knightly family of Salvain, and the de
Mauley estates were divided between these two families. The arms of the
Lords de Malo Lacu were a bend, sable, on an escutcheon, or. (“Hist. of
Meux Abbey,” quoted Camden’s “Britannia,” pp. 751, &c.)
By deed, dated 25 November, 1218, in a dispute between the same Matilda,
wife of Richard Ormesby, and William, Prior of Bolinton, concerning the
advowson of the church of Oxecumb, the said Prior recognised the advowson
to be the right of Matilda, and for himself and his successors
surrendered it to the said Matilda and her heirs for ever, an unusual act
of grace, as it was rarely that any property passing into the possession
of a religious house left their grasp again, until the time came when
they had finally and for ever to disgorge their acquisitions, not seldom
questionably obtained. On 12 May, 1240, in a dispute between Robert, son
of Osbert, and Matilda de Marton, concerning land in Oxecumbe, Matilda
admitted the said land to be the right of Robert, “to have and to hold to
him and his heirs for ever, he rendering 4_s._ by the year, and doing
foreign service.” Truly, it would seem, from these various disputes all
occurring within less than the first half of the 13th century, {147}
there must have been something in the atmosphere of Oxcombe which
rendered its people peculiarly litigious. Could the confined position,
we are almost inclined to ask, have narrowed their ideas, and, shut out
as they were from the larger world beyond, the “combe,” have given them
an undue sense of their own importance?
A gap now occurs of many years before we find further records of this
little lordship.
Among the Chancery Inquisitions in the reign of Richard III. and Henry
VII., is one (No. 246), held at Lincoln Castle, 28 January, 1504–5, by
which it appears that Thomas Welby, a member of another prominent
Lincolnshire family, who held the manor of Halstede, in Stixwould, in
this neighbourhood, and manors or lands in nearly 30 other parishes in
various parts of the county, had lands in Oxcomb, and the adjoining
Ruckland. He, by charter, granted these possessions to Edward Burgh,
knight, George Taylbois, knight, and others, to administer his will, on
behalf of his son and heir, Thomas Welby, then of the age of 16.
(“Architect. Soc. Journal,” 1895, p. 68.)
After the dissolution of the monasteries, in the following reign, the
lands connected with the priories of Sempringham and Bullington, in
Oxcombe, would pass into other hands, and accordingly we find new names
among the owners. By will, dated 14 June, 1535, John Gedney, of Bag
Enderby, Esquire, leaves lands in Bag Enderby, Oxcombe, Winceby, Langton,
and Somersby, to his sons John and Andrew, a witness to the will being
George Musgrave, parson of Oxcombe. Oxcombe evidently fell to the share
of the latter of these two sons, since a few years later, Andrew Gedney
of Bag Enderby {148} (in 1562) presented Robert Brown to the benefice of
Oxcombe, vacated by the death of Roger Barry, (“Architect. S. Journal,”
1897, p. 8.)
The tenure of the Gedneys, however, in due course went “the way of all
flesh.” They had apparently inherited considerable property from the old
family of the Crevecœurs, already mentioned. They had made good
connections, this Andrew himself having married Dorothy, daughter of Sir
William Skipwith, of South Ormsby, but they probably got into
difficulties at the time of “the Lincolnshire Rising” in 1536, in which
Andrew was involved. In 1579, Andrew Gedney sold Oxcombe Grange to John
Copledyke, who obtained Queen Elizabeth’s pardon for making the purchase
without her license, which was then required by law, as a royal
prerogative and source of revenue; and the following is the next notice
we find of the family:—By will, dated 1 April, 1613, Richard Gedney, of
Bag Enderby, Esq., leaves 10_s_. to the poor of Oxcombe; but William
Morton, of Oxcombe, and Thomas Cheales of Hagworthingham, are requested
to manage his manor of Oxcombe, and pay his debts out of it. This was
the beginning of the end, and the Gedneys in due course disappeared from
the landed gentry of Lincolnshire. The name, for a time, revived in the
second half of the 19th century, in the person of a relative of the
present writer, who owned Candlesby Hall, but it was only “a flash in the
pan,” and they are gone.
Another name now comes to the fore. Henry VIII. granted extensive lands,
which had been connected with the rich monasteries, to Charles Brandon,
Duke of Suffolk, who was grandson of William Brandon, standard bearer to
Henry VII., who was slain at the battle of Bosworth. The Duke died
leaving two sons by his 4th wife, Catherine, who was daughter and heiress
of the Lord Willoughby d’ Eresby of that day. (Dugdale “Baronage,” ii.,
300.) These both died of “the sweating sickness,” while quite young, and
thereupon the descendants of Sir William Brandon’s daughters were
declared to be the heirs. One of these, Eleanor, married John Glemham,
of Glemham Parva, Co. Suffolk. Their descendants, by marriage, or
otherwise, acquired the manors of Burwell, Calceby and Mareham-le-Fen,
and at later periods, lands in Goulceby, Donnington-on-Bain, Belchford,
Walmsgate, Fairforth, and several other parishes, and in 1641, Sir Thomas
Glemham sold most of these to Matthew Lister, Esq., of St. Martins-in-the
Fields, Co. Middlesex; among the lands then disposed of, Oxcombe is named
with the above neighbouring parishes, though we do not find it specified
before. It is supposed that Sir Thomas, who was a warm supporter of the
unfortunate King Charles I., effected this sale in order to aid his
sovereign. Be that as it may, Oxcombe passed from the Glemhams to the
Listers. For nearly 200 years this family continued to hold the bulk of
this property, but, in their turn, the Listers also fell upon evil times,
and their estates gradually came under the hammer. The patronage of the
benefice was vested in the Langtons, of Langton-by-Spilsby, in 1677,
1717, and 1762 (Liber Regis), and, according to Noble’s “Gazetteer,” also
as late as 1833, and they were probably owners in part, of the soil. In
1799, John Grant died lord of the manor, and three members of his family
held it in succession. In 1842, the benefice was held jointly with that
of Belchford, by the Rev. Egremont Richardson, B. Grant, Esq., being
patron. Since then it has been held singly by three successive
incumbents, the Rev. John Chalmers, the Rev. Goulding Saunders, and the
Rev. James Clarke, but since 1898 the two have been again held together
by the Rev. R. H. Domenichetti. In 1863, David Briggs, Esq., was lord of
the manor. On his death, in 1876, it was bought by T. Ross, Esq., who
died in 1885, when it was again sold to the late Spedding Whitworth,
Esq., of Wath-upon-Dearne, Co. Yorke, whose son, Harrie Whitworth, is the
present owner. The whole parish is now occupied and farmed by Mr. Henry
Meanwell, who resides in the manor house, a substantial residence, built
in Elizabethan style, in 1845–6, surrounded by extensive grounds,
well-kept, and a well-wooded park of some 50 acres.
The Church, dedicated to All Saints, is a small brick structure,
adjoining, to the east, the manor house grounds. It was restored in
1884, by T. Ross, Esq., the then owner of the manor, in the decorated
style. It consists of nave, and chancel, with apsidal east end. Over
the west door rises an octagonal turret of stone, containing one small
bell. The pulpit and sittings are of good old oak, with nicely carved
poppy heads. Near the pulpit is an old-fashioned square family pew. The
north and south walls of the nave have each a couple of two-light
trefoiled windows. The font is octagonal, the faces trefoiled, with
plain shields in each face, the shaft octagonal, standing on a pediment
of two steps. The chancel arch is peculiar as being remarkably low.
There are good carved oak altar rails, and a modern east window of three
lights. On the south wall of the chancel is a tablet in memory of John
Grant, the former lord of the manor, who died in 1799. The inscription
formerly stated that he had made “£100,000 by farming, which had never
been done before,” but this latter part is now erased. On the north wall
is a tablet to Thomas Grant, who died in 1810; also to William Grant, who
died in 1817. In the churchyard is a Grant altar tomb and vault; also
two tombs of grey granite, in memory of Thomas Ross, and his wife Anne;
also a tomb of David Briggs, Esq., former owner of the manor, who died,
April 1st, 1876, and two others of Benjamin Briggs, and another David
Briggs.
This sequestered place is approached by a road, worn, probably by usage
through long ages, to a depth of several feet below the ordinary level of
the ground, the high banks on each side of it being covered with
neatly-trimmed shrubbery, and the whole has the appearance of a
well-cared-for estate, all the buildings being substantial and in
excellent order. Some of the fields still retain names which tell of
by-gone ages. To the north are fields named “Scotland Deepdales,” and
“Scotland Walk,” which may possibly refer to the old parochial taxation,
“Scot and Lot” (Saxon, sceat and lot), which was levied upon all subjects
according to their ability, for the poor, church expenses, village
watchman, &c., the right of voting for members of parliament and other
officials, being vested in those who paid “scot and lot.” One field is
named “Mill Walk,” indicating where the manorial lord once had that
valuable source of revenue, the mill, at which all the bordars and
villeins were bound to have their corn ground. One part of the ground is
named “Groves’ Walk,” a plantation so-called from a poacher, Groves, who
was shot in a night skirmish many years ago. In a wood in the Farford
direction, adders are said to have been numerous. There is an extensive
pasture named the “Intake,” probably recording its first inclosure from
the common land. Two arable fields are called the “Near” and “Far”
“Gaire”; gaire, garing, or geira, being a very ancient term for a section
of land ploughed in a different direction from the rest, as these are
still at the present time. While ploughing a part of this manor in the
year 1818, a labourer found a small silver casket, containing 46_s._ of
the early part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, which were scarcely
injured by the lapse of time. (“Hist. Linc.,” by J. Saunders, vol. ii.,
p. 177.)
Altogether, this parish of some 5 houses, and less than 40 inhabitants,
forms a very interesting little estate.
RAITHBY.
Raithby is situated about 2 miles from Spilsby and about 9 miles from
Horncastle, on the main road between the two towns, _via_ Hagworthingham.
It is within the ancient soke of Bolingbroke, and an appanage of the
Duchy of Lancaster. There is a post and money order office, and letters,
_via_ Spilsby, arrive at 7.5 a.m., and depart at 5.40 p.m. The nearest
telegraph office is at Spilsby. Not much of the early history of this
parish is to be found. As is stated in the notes on Mavis Enderby, these
two parishes were closely connected, land in both being held by the
Saxon, Elnod (Domesday Book), also, in early Norman times, by William de
Karilepho, the powerful Bishop of Durham, and by the Conqueror’s
favourite, Ivo Taillebois, who, from the vast possessions which he
acquired through his wife, the Lady Lucia, seems to have verily suffered
from the disease of “land hunger.” Rather later, Eudo, son of Spirewic,
the founder of the Tattershall family, held lands in Raithby, as well as
at Mavis Enderby. In the reign of Edwd. I. (1402), the manor and
advowsons of Raithby and Mavis Enderby were held by Robert de Willoughby,
ancestor of the present Lord Willoughby. The descendants of Ivo
Taillebois seem to have retained at least some of their property in
Raithby for a longer period than they did in some other parishes, as we
find that “Thomas Tailbus” of Raithby, by will, dated 7 March, 1556,
requested that he might be buried “in our Lady’s Choir.” He states that
he made his will while “mighty of mind, whole of witt and understanding.”
He makes his wife, Johan, executrix, and desires her to give to their son
Roger, and Agnes Harper (presumably a married daughter), “as much as may
be conveniently spared.” (“Lincolnshire Wills,” by Canon Maddison).
The pedigree of the Taylbois’ of Raithby is given in the Visitation of
1562.
Again, by will, dated 5 March, 1579, John Taylboys, of Raithby, gent.,
desires that he may be buried in the church. He leaves everything to his
wife, except 10_s._ to his mother, and William Thompson and “Wil
Cockson,” executors are to pay £12, “bequeathed by my father to sexe
children.”
The Littleburies had also land in Raithby; since by will, dated 1 Sep.,
1568, Humphrey Littlebury, of East Kirkby, left land at Raithby, and
other places, to his son, John Littlebury, and John Littlebury of
Hagworthingham, by will, dated 28 Sep., 1612, left his lands at Raithby
to his son John. As I mention in the notes on Salmonby, the Littlebury
family were originally located in the Holbeach neighbourhood; Robert and
his ancestors held land there, and at Whaplode, of the abbots of Croyland
long before the reign of Edw. III. But he began to get in arrear with
his rent, as shewn by the following list of omissions recorded against
him:—
£ s. d.
For his own and his men’s table with the 40 0 0
abbot of Croyland
Farms of tithes in Whaplode 9 0 0
Denariis mutuo receptis (_i.e._ money 12 0 0
borrowed)
Several horses borrowed and not returned 4 0 0
Other items are given as a set off, as well 40 0 0
as his legacy of
But there still remains a debt of 60 0 0
This was a large sum in those days. But John Littlebury gave the abbot
“diverse jewels” in payment of this debt. (Appendix to Cough’s
“Croyland,” from the Abbey register.)
Sir Martin Littlebury was Chief Justice of England, A.D. 1243. His wife
was Anne, daughter of Sir Henry Rochford. They intermarried with several
other families of position and influence. Their pedigree is given in the
Herald’s Visitation of Lincolnshire, in 1562–64, coming down to Humphrey
Littlebury, of Stainsby, named above, as holding land in Raithby.
(“Notices on Holbeach,” by G. W. McDonald).
By will, dated 4 March, 1599, Anne Skipwith, of Hanney, left legacies to
Thomas and Robert Raithby, and this patronymic is not uncommon in the
neighbourhood still.
In later years the manor of Raithby was the property of the
Brackenburies, who had a handsome residence, Raithby Hall, which was, in
1848, purchased by the Rev. E. Rawnsley, who is now lord of the manor. A
curious circumstance connected with the Hall is that during the time when
it was owned by Mr. Robert Carr Brackenbury, he, being a friend of John
Wesley, granted him the use of the hay loft for religious services, and
subsequently by will provided that all future owners of the property
should fulfil this condition, and these services are still occasionally
held there, so that we have now the anomaly of the Hall being owned and
occupied by a clergyman of the church of England, while the loft over his
stables is used by a Wesleyan minister.
The benefice formerly paid a pension to the abbots of Croyland of £1
6_s._ 8_d._ At the Reformation the tithes were seized by “the Merry
Monarch,” and the patronage of the benefice now belongs to the crown.
The late Geo. Walker, Esq., of Offord House, Spilsby, owned an estate in
this parish, also Admiral Buckle, who now resides at Gunby Hall. There
is a free school here for the poor children of Raithby, Mavis Enderby,
Hundleby, and Sausthorpe, founded and endowed by Thomas Lawford, in 1683,
and besides his endowment, the teacher has the dividend of £204 1_s._
8_d._ left by Elizabeth Kirkbridge, of Hull, in 1813, and the interest of
£100 left by John Dawson, in 1839.
The Church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. It consists of tower, nave,
with south porch, north and south aisles, and chancel. The tower is of 3
tiers, and has 3 bells. The church was thoroughly restored in 1873, the
chancel and nave wholly rebuilt, the architect being Mr. G. G. Scott.
The porch has a very curious stoup in the western corner, with 3 Norman
columns as supports. The north and south aisles have 3 bays, the columns
being transitional Norman. In the north wall is a door and two
square-headed, perpendicular windows with coloured glass; one of these
has for its subjects St. George and St. Andrew, the other, St. David and
St. Patrick. There is also a two-light window in the east wall of the
north aisle. In the south wall, west of the porch, is a coloured
two-light window, the subjects being, above, the Good Shepherd and the
Presentation in the Temple, and below, Christ blessing little children,
and our Lord’s baptism. Next to the porch, eastward, is a memorial
two-light window to John Coleridge Kennard, the subjects being, the
Resurrection, and the Ascension. The window at the east end of the south
aisle is a two-light one, with coloured glass, by Kemp, the subjects
being, Works of Mercy; it was put in in memory of Mrs. Rawnsley, by
friends. The font is modern, also the lectern and the rood screen, which
is coloured red, gilt, and blue. The east, north, and south windows in
the chancel were given by the late Mrs. Rawnsley, who lengthened the
chancel to its original dimensions, and gave the screen. The east window
has three lights, the subjects being, in the centre, the Crucifixion, in
the northern light, Gethsemane, in the southern light, the Saviour’s
baptism. The walls of the chancel are painted with various devices. The
reredos has three compartments, the centre, showing the Crucifixion; on
the right (south), the Saviour and the Magdalen, Noli me tangere; on the
left (north), the angel appearing to Mary, Ave Maria. Two other windows
have the following subjects:—In one, in the centre, is the Lord in glory,
with St. Michael, on the one side, St. Gabriel, on the other, by Milner;
in the other, of four lights, put in by members of the Rawnsley family,
in memory of their mother, the subjects are, in the lower part, one scene
throughout, the birth at Bethlehem; above, the compartments show the
Annunciation, with the Presentation and Visitation on either side. The
south chancel window of three lights, with coloured glass, has the three
subjects, St. Alban, St. Agnes, and St. Catherine. There is a piscina in
the south wall of the chancel. The material of the structure is Spilsby
green sandstone. The tower is of the Perpendicular period, other parts
being a mixture of the Perpendicular, Decorated, and Transitional styles.
The church is unusually rich in coloured glass, although all of it
modern. The benefice, a rectory, is held by the Rev. George Ward, who
lives at Mavis Enderby, of which parish he is also rector. Of the church
plate, the chalice is of the date of Cromwell; the paten and former cover
of chalice are of the date of Elizabeth. A modern paten has been
presented by the Rev. E. Rawnsley. The register dates from 1558. It
contains a note by a former rector, stating that a number of pages had
been lost in the waste paper basket of his predecessor, but that, from
other sources, he had himself supplied the deficiency. Then follows a
long series of entries, all in one handwriting, the curious part,
however, is that his own death is recorded in the same handwriting. We
leave it to the reader to solve this puzzle of a posthumous record. The
sandstone, which prevails generally throughout this district, disappears
at Raithby, but about half-a-mile north-east of Raithby church, numerous
phosphatic nodules are found scattered about the surface. The nodule bed
can be traced across the fields to the south-west, and the phosphates lie
generally in patches. The hill, south of Raithby, consists of the
formation known as Tealby clay, capped with chalky boulder clay, blue
clay appearing on its western slope. These clays rest upon a floor of
hard calcareous ferruginous rock, full of brown oolitic grains.
RANBY.
Ranby is situated on the old Roman road to Caistor, northward, rather
more than 7 miles from Horncastle. The vicar, the Rev. G. S. Lee,
resides at Benniworth, rather more than 3 miles distant, of which he is
rector. Letters, _via_ Lincoln, arrive at 10.30. Ranby is probably a
contraction of Ravenby; as we have near Louth, two parishes, Ravendale,
east and west, and the hamlet of Raventhorpe, in the north of the county,
in the parish of Appleby, near Brigg. Ravendale is contracted into the
patronymic Randell; and so Ravenby becomes Ranby.
Ranby Hall, the seat of the Otter family, who have been located here and
at Clayworth, Notts., more than a century, is a handsome residence in
well-wooded grounds. One of the family was Bishop of Chichester, and
another Archdeacon of Chichester.
In Domesday Book, the manor of Ranby is reckoned among the possessions of
Odo, Bishop of Baieux, who was half-brother of William the Conqueror, and
Earl of Kent. He became Bishop in 1049, and died at Palermo, on his way
to the Holy Land, in 1097. Besides being Earl of Kent, he was Count
Palatine and Justiciary of England. His abilities and his influence were
so great that writers of the day described him as being, “totius Angliæ,
Vice-dominus sub rege.” He was, however, too arrogant, and aspiring to
the Papacy, he was about to leave England for Rome, taking with him the
wealth he had amassed, when he was apprehended by King William, and sent
to prison in Normandy. On the death of the Conqueror, he was liberated
by William Rufus, but never acquired his former power, and being
concerned in a conspiracy, had to abjure the realm. He held at one time
76 lordships in Lincolnshire, besides many in other counties. Another
Norman, Ralph de St. Valery, a town in Picardy, also had a grant of land
in Ranby, to the extent of 360 acres with 14 socmen holding 7 oxgangs,
and 2 bordars with 240 acres between them. A Saxon thane, Godric, had
some 604 acres. The church had a resident priest, owning a mill, worth
10_s._ 8_d._ a year, and 270 acres of meadow. At a later date, Ranby was
an appanage of Tupholme Abbey. {156a}
The Church, dedicated to St. German, stands on an elevation, and would be
a conspicuous object for several miles, but that it is embowered in lofty
trees. {156b} It was restored in 1839 at the expense of Miss Alice
Otter, who also presented three bells; and it was further improved in
1862, when the tower was incased with new stone, and the chancel
re-built. The old chancel arch was at that time removed, and now forms
the arch under the tower, the stone having been re-chiselled. The tower
is massive, with four pinnacles, having two-light flamboyant windows in
each face, and small lancet windows below them, in the west and south
sides. In the north wall of the nave, there is one two-light flamboyant
window, and in the south wall, two similar ones. A small north transept
forms a vestry, in the west wall of which are preserved some small arches
from an earlier fabric, and in its north wall is a two-light flamboyant
window. In the north chancel wall there is a small one-light window.
The east window has three lights with three trefoils above, and in the
south chancel wall there is a two-light window with trefoil above. All
the chancel windows have coloured glass. The south window is a memorial
of Francis Otter, of Clayworth. The subject of the east window is the
Ascension. The pillars of the new chancel arch have richly-carved
capitals. The sittings are of plain oak. The font is octagonal, with
plain shields and other devices on the faces. There is a Walesby tablet
on the south wall of the nave, and large Walesby monuments in the
churchyard. Weir, in his “History of Lincolnshire,” mentions a large
ancient tumulus as being near the church. {157a}
REVESBY.
Revesby is situated about 7½ miles from Horncastle, in a south-easterly
direction; some 12 miles north-west from Boston, 8 miles south-west from
Spilsby, and about 7 miles East, from the nearest railway station at
Tattershall. Letters, _via_ Boston, arrive at 7 a.m. The nearest
telegraph office is at Mareham-le-Fen. One derivation of the name
Revesby is from a Danish word meaning a “fox,” the Danes certainly at one
time settled extensively in this neighbourhood, and “by” is a very common
Danish termination. (Streatfeild “Lincolnshire and the Danes.”) Another
and perhaps more likely derivation is from the “reeve,” or public
guardian of the fen, {157b} who might well reside here, to look after the
means of communication, roads and channels in the great tract of country
southward, which was at one time almost a waste of morass, and subject to
frequent inundation from the sea, and in connection with this, it may be
mentioned that one of the recognised duties of religious houses, {158a}
such as the Abbey of Revesby, was to keep roads and bridges in proper
repair, and a portion of the Revesby property, named Stickney Wydale, was
granted to the abbey, on condition that the monks kept in proper order
the “Northdyke Causeway,” then a main road raised above the floods.
{158b} And among the charters and deeds of Revesby, is one (No. 7_b_),
by which William de Romara undertakes to compel the men of Holland to
keep in repair a waggon-road from Sibsey. {158c}
The history of Revesby at that period is lost to us. No Saxon chronicles
exist, as they do as regards some other places, to tell us of those early
days. Yet we can, in a degree, connect Revesby with a great Saxon
family, and one which is represented by a leading family in our county in
the present day.
The Abbey of Revesby was founded by William de Romara, A.D. 1143. {158d}
He was the son of Roger de Romara, who married (about 1093), as her 2nd
husband, the lady Lucia, who was daughter and heiress of Thorold, of
Buchenale (now Bucknall in this neighbourhood), Sheriff of Lincolnshire,
and that family survives now in Sir John C. Thorold, of Syston Hall, near
Grantham. The family of Thorold, or, as it was spelt at that time,
Turold, was even then old and distinguished. He was the brother of the
Lady Godiva, of Coventry fame, wife of Earl Leofric, and mother of Earl
Algar, and descended, according to Camden (“Britannia”, p. 474), and
others, {158e} from the Saxon Earl, Egga (and Morcar), who flourished in
the 8th century. The first husband of Lucia, was Ivo Taillebois, of
Anjou, who came over with the Conqueror, as the leader of his Angevin
auxiliaries. After the death of the brave young Saxon nobles, Edwin and
Morcar, brothers-in-law, of King Harold, who refused to submit to the
Norman yoke, their sister, the Lady Lucia, became entitled to all their
possessions, and therefore was an heiress worth securing; and, much
against her wish, the Conqueror bestowed her upon his favourite, Ivo
(A.D. 1072). With her, this Ivo acquired, among much other property, the
manors of Revesby and East Kirkby. We find the first mention of Revesby,
in Domesday Book (A.D. 1085), as follows:—“In Churchebi and Resuesbi
there are 12 carucates (or about 1440 acres) of land, rateable to gelt;”
{159} the land is 12 carucates; 54 sokemen and 14 villeins have these 12
carucates. Ivo has 1 carucate (in demense) and 2 churches, and 180 acres
of meadow land. The whole manor, with all that belongs thereto, is 6
miles long and 6 miles broad. Turold was Lord of Spalding, and his
daughter Lucia, and conjointly her husband, Ivo, founded the Priory of
Spalding. But Ivo, by his acquisitions, became so great a tyrant, to all
connected with him, that he was eventually outlawed by King Rufus, and
banished the kingdom. He fled to Anjou. After a time he was allowed to
return to his wife, the Lady Lucia, who was holding her court at
Spalding; but, to her great relief, he shortly afterwards died of
paralysis, and, writes the chronicler, Peter de Blois, “hardly had one
month elapsed after his death, when she married that illustrious young
man, Roger de Romara, and lost all recollection of Ivo Taillebois.”
Their son, William, was created first Earl of Lincoln, and, following the
example of his mother at Spalding, he gave certain lands to the monks of
Riveaux, Co. York, to found a Cistercian Abbey, the lands aforesaid being
all Revesby, Thoresby and Sithesby, and, as certain portions of Revesby
were held by another lord, he effected an exchange, by giving land
commensurate in Miningsby, and by a similar process of exchange, secured
other further portions, so as to bring the abbey estates into what would
now be termed “a ring fence.” We have not space to go to any extent into
the history of the abbey. The original charter describes the property as
“totam terram de Revesbiâ, et Thoresbiâ, et Schichthesbiâ.” Of the two
churches, one, that of Thoresby, was at the time held by a priest named
Ivo, in exchange for which the Earl William, gave him the church of East
Kirkby, and appurtenances. This church probably stood on a site of the
present church of St. Lawrence, at Revesby. (Howlett’s “Lincolnshire,”
Allan’s “Hist. Linc.”) The other church, of St. Sythe, was doubtless in
the southern part of the present park, which has retained the name of
Sithesby, or St. Scythe’s until recent times. The abbey itself was to
the south-east of the present church, at some quarter-of-a-mile distance,
and of considerable dimensions, covering some acres of ground. From a
lecture, given by the late Right Honble. Edward Stanhope, we gather that
the abbey church, built of Ancaster stone, was at least 240ft. long, and
over 60ft. wide, with many graceful pillars supporting its roof. The
choir was of unusual form, extending some distance down the nave. Beyond
it, discovered in making excavations in 1869, 70, was the tomb of the
founder, having this inscription: HIC JACET IN TUMBA WIELLIELMUS DE
ROMARE, COMES LINCOLNIÆ, FUNDATOR ISTIUS MONASTERII SANCTI LAURENTII DE
REIVISBYE. {160} Near this were tombstones inscribed to William de
Romara, son of William, Earl of Lincoln, who died before his father, and
of William de Romara, son of Lucia, Countess of Lincoln. Three bodies
were discovered and re-buried a short distance from this spot, being
doubtless those of the founder and his two sons. In his later years,
William de Romara himself became a monk, and requested to be buried
“before the high aulter;” and the site is now marked by a granite stone,
placed here in 1890, by the late Right Honourable Edward Stanhope. The
Abbey field, approached by a broad causeway, on the north side, more than
250 yards long, has traces of four mounds, at different points, probably
for outlook and defence. One of these, stands in an enclosure to the
west, called Saffron Garth, doubtless the favourite resort of the monks,
who were skilled gardeners; an enclosure on the other, north side, of the
road, opposite this “garth,” is called “Paradise,” supposed to have been
the orchard. Fish ponds, to supply the monks with their ascetic diet,
are to be traced in various parts around. At Medlam, to the south-east,
are the remains of a chapel or oratory. The abbot’s private residence
stood in the present park, and some of the outbuildings of his
establishment remained until recent years, near the later mansion of the
proprietors of Revesby.
We will now give a few peculiar extracts from some of the deeds connected
with the abbey. Most of these, until late years, were in the possession
of the Marquis of Exeter, at Burghley House, Stamford, whose ancestors,
as will be shewn hereafter, once held the property, and in 1881 they were
presented to the Right Honble. E. Stanhope, by his lordship.
In celebration of the foundation of the Abbey, William de Romara
“manumitted,” or released from serfdom, any of his villeins and
dependants who would accept their freedom, “to go where they chose, and,
if they remained on the estate, to give them land instead.” Among those
who accepted freedom, were William Medicus, or the Doctor, and Roger
Barkarius, a name still known in the neighbourhood. {161} The witnesses
to the deed of liberty were Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, William
Archdeacon, William Chancellor, and others.
By deed No. 8, William gives land in Stickney, and services due to him,
from Alan of Stickney and his successors, to which Alan agrees; the money
to be spent on wine for the “Masses” of the Abbey services.
To one deed (No. 20), for conveyance of pasturage for 20 cattle, 20 pigs,
and 100 sheep, the witness is Thorold, Dean of Horncastle, a scion,
doubtless, of the family of the Lady Lucia. He is further designated as
“Magister Willelmus Novi Operis,” _i.e._ of Newark.
By deed 24, Matilda daughter of Roger de Huditoft (Huttoft) widow of
William of Stickney gives half a bovate of land in Stickney “in the time
of my widowhood” _i.e._, when the property became at her own disposal.
The witnesses are two women, Christiana, wife of Henry de Claxby, and
Eda, wife of Richard, priest of Mareham; not, therefore, a celibate.
By deed 27, Alan Smerehorn of Kirkby (East) gives a sedes molendini,
_i.e._ a water mill and premises, with right to draw water through his
land from Bolingbroke and Kirkby.
By deed 30, Hamelinus de Jherdeburcg (Jerburg) gives land in Stickney,
“quam tenui de hospitalibus de Jerusalem in terretorio de Stickenei”
_i.e._ which he had held of the monks of the Hospice of Jerusalem in
Stickney, there having been a minor religious house there; of which
Robert Picha is named as Preceptor in another Deed (25), temp. Henry II.
By a charter of Richard I. (Dugdale V. 456) the abbots are confirmed in
the possession of lands in Toynton, the grange of Toft (still existing)
Fulsby, lands in Miningsby, Kirkby, Claxby, Mareham, Tumby, Hameringham,
Wood Enderby, Skegness, and many other parishes.
By deed No. 41, William, son of Roger de Bikinghesbi gives land in
Miningsby for gate alms, _i.e._ to relieve beggars at the Abbey-gate, the
monks being the great, and almost only, friends of the suffering and
needy.
By deed No. 50, Ranulph, Earl of Chester, gives to the Abbey “his servant
Roger, son of Thoreword of Sibsey, with all his property and chattells.”
Here the man himself is treated as part and parcel with the chattells.
By deed 69, Gaufrid of Kirkby gives certain lands “ad chorum ecclesiæ
aspergendum et decorandum,” _i.e._ for washing and decorating the choir.
Deed 75 conveys to the Abbey another servant, Radulph, son of Gamel the
Palmer, with goods and chattells. The father here mentioned had
evidently made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Deed 78 gives to the Abbey “the homage of Gaufrid Le Neucume of Stickney
and all his service.” Here, (temp. Henry III.) is one of the family of
Newcome, or Newcomen, who, centuries later, became connected by marriage
with the Banks family, in the person of the grandfather of Sir Joseph
Banks.
By No. 108, Hugo de Lindsey gives one selion of land to maintain one
candle burning before the altar of the blessed Virgin in the Chapel of
St. Lawrence, (temp. Henry III. or Ed. I.)
By No. 115, William of Stickney gives land for the maintenance of candles
to be kept burning in the Abbey church, one before the altar of the
blessed Virgin, in honour of St. Margaret, and the other at the altar of
St. Nicholas, in honour of St. James the Apostle.
By No. 141, the Abbot leases land in Wilksby (A.D. 1344) to John
Hardegray, who is to pay “unum granum piperis” (pepper corn rent),
annually at Christmas.
By No. 144, the Abbot and Convent grant to Richard Cave of Stickney
certain land on payment of 8 silver pence annually. (2 Hen. V. Jan. 25,
1415.)
Then follows finally at the Dissolution, deed No. 150A, by which John,
Abbot of Revesby, and the convent, grant (Nolentes Volentes) to Charles
Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and his heirs, and assigns, the office of chief
steward of the manors, lands, etc., of the Abbey, with an annuity of £26
3_s._ 8_d._ (Harleyan Charter, 44, Brit. Mus.)
This was the beginning of the end. The monks, who, with all their
faults, had preserved for us our Bibles, had been the great patrons of
learning, the friends of the poor, the teachers of agriculture, who had
maintained our bridges and our roads, were forced to accept pittances
smaller than those they had, on a generous scale, dealt out to thousands
of others. To Charles, Duke of Suffolk, were granted the Abbey estates
in 1539. He died in 1545, and was buried at Windsor. His two sons both
died in one day, July 16th, 1551, at the Bishop of Lincoln’s house at
Buckden. The Dukedom descended to the Marquis of Dorset, who had married
the half-sister of Charles. The estates were divided, in 1552, among the
descendants of Sir William Brandon. They were Sir Henry Sidney, Knight;
Thomas Glemham, Esq.; John Carsey, Esq.; and Francis his son by Margaret
his wife, sister to Charles Brandon; Christian Darnell, widow; Walter
Ayscoughe, Esq.; and Henry Ayscoughe his son by Elizabeth his wife; and
John Tyre, gentleman, and Elizabeth his wife.
John Carsey (also spelt Kersey) had the Revesby estate, Wilksby and Wood
Enderby, and resided at Revesby. His son Francis probably resided at
South Ormsby, and in 1575, the father and son jointly sold the estate to
Thomas Cecil, Lord Treasurer Burleigh. The property then descended,
through the 1st and 2nd Earls of Exeter, and Elizabeth, wife of Thomas
Howard, Earl of Berkshire, to Henry Howard. He dying without male issue,
was succeeded by his nephew, Craven Howard, in 1663. Craven Howard built
a mansion here. But the entire property was sold in 1714 to the Banks
family for £14,000, by his representatives the daughters of Henry Howard.
{164} The last of the Banks family was Sir Joseph Banks, well known for
his enclosure of the Fens and other works of public utility in the
county, his patronage of science in every form, and his voyages of
discovery. He died in 1820, and, by his will, most of the estates were
bequeathed to Col. the Honble. James Hamilton Stanhope, who served in the
Peninsular War, and at Waterloo, other portions being left to Sir Henry
Hawley and his heirs, “with remainder to Sir Edward Knatchbull” (who
managed the estates for his widow, Lady Banks). (Weir’s “Hist. Linc.”
vol. i., p. 414, Ed., 1828; “Saunders’ Hist.” vol. ii., p. 113). He held
them for a very short period, and was succeeded by J. Banks Stanhope,
Esq., formerly M.P. for N. Lincolnshire (in 1823), who, some years ago,
surrendered the estates to his cousin and adopted heir, the Right Honble.
E. Stanhope, 2nd son of the 5th Earl Stanhope; and late M.P. for
Horncastle Division.
Mr. Banks Stanhope greatly improved, and, indeed, may be said to have
rebuilt the mansion of Revesby, from designs by the architect Burns,
which now stands in beautiful grounds, and an extensive park, near the
site of the former residence of the abbots. Vast sums have also been
spent by him on the improvement of the estate; the rebuilding of
farmhouses and cottages, so as to make the village a model one in every
way. The Abbey, which is constructed throughout of Ancaster stone, and
in the style of James I., is the repository of objects of art, of natural
history, and of antiquarian interest, collected by Sir Joseph Banks, J.
Banks Stanhope, Esq., and more recently by the Right Honble. E. Stanhope,
sufficient to form a museum.
A subject of interest which has not yet been noticed is two tumuli, or
barrows, in the parish, on the left hand, close to the road, and not many
yards south of the Red Lion Inn. They were considered by the antiquarian
Stukeley (“Itin Curios,” p. 23) to have been the burial place of two
British kings, and probably also connected with the religious services of
the Druids. They stand in an enclosure, the breadth of which, he says,
“is 100 Celtic feet, and the length 300.”
In 1780 the northernmost of these barrows—there were formerly three—was
explored by Sir Joseph Banks, but nothing was found of any interest
beyond indications that it had been examined before, and since that time
it has been levelled. He thought, however, that it had been the site of
religious sacrifices. In August, 1892, explorations were carried out
under the eye of the late Right Honble. E. Stanhope. Here again there
were indications of former examination, not however to any great depth,
and when the centre of the mound was reached a kind of sarcophagus, made
of puddled clay, was found, from 5ft. to 6ft. in length, lying north and
south, the sides 7in. or 8in. thick, and having an arch rising to a
height of 2½ft.; the bottom, slightly concave, rested on the original
soil, within this was black earth quite different in colour to the rest,
which was believed to be human remains. No bones, however, were found.
Broken pieces of pottery and two old nails, were found outside this
receptacle, which were pronounced by Sir A. W. Franks, of the British
Museum, to be mediæval, and to have probably been introduced by previous
explorers. (Account by E.S., “Linc. N. & Q.,” vol. iii., pp. 145–7.)
We have little more to say of the past history of Revesby. When the
Spanish Armada was expected to invade our shores in 1589, one of those
Lincolnshire gentry who subscribed £25, a large sum in those days,
towards the defence of the country, was Nicholas Saunderson of Rearsby,
or Revesby; he also, at the muster at Horncastle in 1586, furnished “1
light horse”; John May of Mareham doing the same (“Architect. S.
Journal,” 1894, p. 214.)
Among the old observances of Revesby was the annual fair, an occasion of
much jovial festivity, and in the days of Sir Joseph Banks, that fine old
English gentleman, the Sir Roger de Coverley of his day, encouraged such
old time customs, providing ale most generously for all comers, and
driving down to the village green, where the booths were arranged, with
his party in two or three coaches. Morrice dancing and the mummers play
always had his patronage. In these days of “_autres temps_, _autres
mœurs_,” all these have gone out of vogue. Whether the modern, _soi
disant_, more refined practices at village feasts are an improvement on
the old is a question we leave others to decide.
Revesby church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, was formerly a small
structure, rebuilt in 1735, partly with materials taken from the former
Abbey, by Joseph Banks, Esq. (great grandfather of the Right Honble. Sir
Joseph Banks), who purchased the property from the Honble. Henry Howard,
3rd son of the Earl of Berkshire, in 1714. The benefice then, as now,
was a chaplaincy to the owners of the Revesby Abbey estate. {166} That
church contained among its chief features a memorial tablet at the east
end of the chancel to Nehemiah Rawson, Esq., who died in 1657, a name
still common in the neighbourhood; another to the above-named Honble.
Henry Howard, who died in 1663; and on the north side of the chancel was
a large marble monument, surmounted by a bust, and an inscription in
Latin to Joseph Banks, Esq., who died 1727. After renovation at various
periods this old fabric was removed, and, on the same site, the present
handsome church, a fine specimen of the 14th century, flamboyant style,
was erected at the joint expense of J. Banks Stanhope, Esq., and the late
Right Honourable Edward Stanhope, M.P., lord of the manor in 1890–2. The
church consists of western tower, surmounted by a lofty spire; nave, with
north aisle and south porch; and chancel, with organ chamber and vestry
on the north side; the whole forming an elegant structure, reminding one,
though on a smaller scale, of the famous marble church of Bodelwyddan in
North Wales. It is built generally of Ancaster stone, the walls inside
being lined with red Hollington sandstone. Mr. Hodgson Fowler was the
architect, and in several details of the building he reproduced features
borrowed from the original Abbey.
The following is a detailed description of the church:—In the south wall
of the interior of the tower, in a recess, are various carved and other
fragments of stone, and near them the capitals and bases of some small
Norman columns; and on the north wall is a fragment of a canopied niche;
all these being carefully preserved remnants of the original Abbey
church.
In the centre is a small Norman font with plain bowl, supported on a
shaft of 8 clustered columns, resting on a square base. In the tower
above is a peal of 8 carillon bells of good tone, embracing the octave.
The north aisle has 4 lofty bays. In the north wall are four two-light
windows with trefoil and other tracery above. Against the west wall of
this aisle is a massive marble monument surmounted by a bust, probably
the old monument renewed, bearing in English the inscription, “In memory
of Joseph Banks, M.P. for Grimsby and Totnes, born 1681, died 1727,
married Mary Hancock, and had issue Joseph, and Mary, Lady Whichcote,
died 1726”; to the left, “Joseph Banks II., born 1695, died 1741,
married, 1st, Annie Hodgkinson, and had issue, &c.; Eleonora (the
youngest) born 1723, died 1793, married the Honble. Henry Grenville, and
was mother of Louisa, Countess Stanhope; married, 2ndly, Catherine widow
of Newcomen Wallis.” Right inscription, “William Banks, born 1719, died
1761, married Sarah Bate, and left issue, (1) Joseph, afterwards Sir
Joseph Banks, (2) Sarah Sophia, born 1744, died 1818.”
The south nave wall next to the porch eastward has two two-light windows
similar to those in the north wall, and next to the chancel wall a large
three-light window, flamboyant above, of coloured glass—the subjects
being St. James, St. Peter, and St. John, bearing the inscription below,
“Presented by the tenants of the Revesby estate as a token of esteem for
James Banks Stanhope, Esquire, of Revesby Abbey, 1892.” The pulpit is of
carved modern oak, being Flemish work, the subjects scriptural, resting
on a stone base; the sittings throughout are of oak with carved panels at
the ends. There is a good brass lectern, and oak fald-stool. The choir
stalls in the chancel are of massive carved oak with good poppy heads.
The panels of the sedilia are from the Abbot’s house; the encaustic tiles
are copies of the originals, the remains of which are preserved in the
bell chamber of the tower. The east window is of five lights with rich
flamboyant tracery above. It is filled with coloured glass by Messrs.
Heaton, Butler and Bayne, and erected by public subscription in memory of
the late Right Honourable Edward Stanhope. The subjects are two rows of
figures; in the lower row, in the two lights on the north side, are St.
Edward and St. Matthew, then St. Boniface and St. Wilfred; in the central
compartment, three figures, St. George, St. Martin, and St. Alban; then,
to the south, St. Hugh and St. Jerome, in one light, St. Thomas and St.
Lawrence in the other outside light. In the upper row, the central
figure is the Saviour, crowned, His right hand uplifted in blessing, His
left holding a sceptre; in the two compartments, on either side, are
angels with harps, viols, &c. In the tracery above are heads of angels,
and above all, the Angus Dei. The reredos is of plush velvet. A
jewelled cross stands on the super-altar. The communion table is covered
with a rich altar cloth of velvet and lace. To the north and south of
the table, the walls are panelled with oak, to the height of the east
window, with devices representing the ivy, olive, rose, gourd,
pomegranate, vine, and fig; the fruit being inlaid mother of pearl, given
by the Honble. Mrs. Stanhope. There is a brass tablet in the north wall,
giving an account of the east window. In the south wall is a plain
two-light trefoiled window, and a long stone seat below. The organ has
handsome coloured pipes, and has in front a richly-carved oak screen. At
the main entrance to the churchyard is a lich gate, “erected by friends
and tenants, in loving memory of the Right Honourable Edward Stanhope.”
In the churchyard, beneath the east window, is the Stanhope grave, framed
in white marble, with a recumbent cross of the same material within it.
Beneath that spotless emblem of our faith, lies all that was mortal of a
noble being, a man “sans peur et sans reproche,” singularly gifted, of
varied tastes, wide sympathies, generous instincts, of indefatigable
industry as a statesman in the service of his Queen and country, and we
may add without presumption, a sincere Christian, of strong convictions.
Edward Stanhope, died, 22 December, 1893, admired by his opponents almost
as much as he was beloved by his friends, and of him, we may truly say
that his gain was our loss. Opposite the village green are alms-houses,
for five poor men and five poor women, founded by Joseph Banks, Esq., in
1727, who endowed them with an annual rent charge of £50. Revesby is
emphatically a model village, the residences of the tenants and their
labourers, being alike maintained in the best order.
The parsonage, a good residence, erected by J. Banks Stanhope, Esq.,
stands in pretty grounds and is now adorned, internally, with much carved
oak furniture, cabinets, overmantel, &c., &c., and with a display of
numerous silver cups, trophies won in various competitions, by the Rev.
P. O. Ashby, the active and energetic chaplain.
SALMONBY.
Salmonby is distant from Horncastle about five miles, in an easterly
direction, on the road to Tetford, which it adjoins. The register dates
from 1558, and contains some curious entries. One is as follows:—“Helena
More, centesimo decimo ætatis anno, et undecimo die mensis Junii, Anno
Dom. 1638 fato succubuit, et die duo decimo dicti mensis sepulta est
1638,” _i.e._, Helena More succumbed to her fate in the 110th year of her
age, and on the 11th day of the month of June, A.D. 1638, and was buried
on the 12th day of the said month, 1638.
In the month of March, 1723, there were six burials within nine days,
three members of the same family; no cause for the mortality being
mentioned. In the following year (1724), there were ten burials, among
them being four of the name of Wait, three Ansels, and two Bartholomews.
The rector from 1710 to 1741, Rev. Henry Marshall, was also rector of
Fulletby, and vicar of Orby, and he was succeeded by his son in the
rectory of Salmonby, who also held the benefice of Ashby Puerorum.
There are some rather peculiar field names in this parish, two Wongs, far
and near, a relic of Saxon nomenclature; also Skerrills and Skerrills
Holt, Bramfleets, Haverlins (Haver=oats), Dry-sykes, Rotten Fen, Wallow
Farm, and Wallow Camp, and The Mires, the last four, doubtless derived
from the character of the localities. From a part of this boggy land in
the north of the parish, rises a spring of chalibeate water, said to
resemble the properties of the Tunbridge Wells; a pulverulent blue
phosphate of iron, and an earthy oxide of iron. We do not know much of
the early history of Salmondby, the village of some Saxon thane of the
name of Salmond. The manor was apparently the property of the Saxon
Earl, Harold, but William the Conqueror gave it to his nephew, Hugh de
Abrincis, or Avranches, surnamed “Lupus,” or the Wolf, from his many
deeds of violence, and it was held as part of the soke of the more
important manor, or honour, of Greetham. In an ancient charter, found
among the “Final Concords” (p. 359), it is stated that Geoffrey de
Benigworth, grants to Avice, wife of William de Benigworth, his manors of
Walmersty, Friskeney, Salmundesby, and Skreythesfeld (Scrafield), and all
appurtenances, saving the advowson of the church of Salmundesby, which
remains to Geoffrey and his heirs, and we have here an example of how the
common labourers were regarded as little better than “goods and
chattels.” Since, herewith he grants all the villeins holding the
“villeinages,” or cottages, and “all their sequels,” _i.e._, their
progeny, “to have and to hold to the said Avice all her life,” and after
her decease, the manors and services were to revert to the said Geoffrey
and his heirs for ever.
By will, dated 2 July, 1582 (“Lincolnshire Wills,” 1500, 1600, p. 105,
No. 285), Margaret Littlebury, late wife of Thomas Littlebury, Esq., of
Stainsby, in the parish of Ashby Puerorum, leaves money to the poor of
Salmonby, Greetham, and other places. This Margaret was the daughter of
John St. Paul, of Snarford, who, like the Dymokes, the Dightons,
Maddisons, Massingberds, and many other leading county families, were
mixed up in the Lincolnshire Rebellion of 1536. The Littleburies were
seated at Hagg and Somersby, as well as at Stainsby, but they seem to
have resided originally at Holbeach Hurn. Sir Humphrey Littlebury, Lord
of Littlebury, was born, 1346. He married Elizabeth, daughter and
heiress of Sir John Kirton, knight, Lord of Kirton, and there is a fine
altar tomb of them both, in Holbeach church. His will was dated, Dec. 1,
1330. But there was a Sir Ralph Littlebury, knight, a juror at Holbeche,
in A.D. 1293.
There would seem at one time to have been a substantial manorial
residence at Salmonby, for by will, dated 23 January, 1614, Edward King,
of Ashby-de-la-Laund, devises “to my sonne, John Kinge, my manor house,
of Salmondbie, _alias_ Salmonbie, with all appurtenances,” also certain
“closes,” among them being the “Rush Close, Warlowe close, the Conie
Hill, Huntepitts, Sheepe Walks, The Lings, _alias_ Gallows Hill, Rotten
Fen, &c., which manor and lands were late in the tenure of Richard
Caterton.” He adds a codicil, dated “9 day of June, 1617,” bequeathing
to his said sonne, John Kinge, various cottages, with his “commons of
Key-gaite, and Sheepe-gait acre, and sheepe pasture in other places in
Salmonbie. Lastlie, I bequeath to my right worthie and faithful friende,
Sir John Meres, knight, a ring of gold of the value of xl_s._, to be
inamiled on the outside, and within to be ingraven these words, Donum
Fidelis Amici.” This testator built the hall at Ashby-de-la-Laund in
1595. The Kings took the side of the Parliament, and Colonel Edward King
distinguished himself. The last male heir, the Rev. John King, died
without issue, a few years ago. The manor took its name from the two
families, Essheby and De la Laund, who held it till the reign of Henry
VI. It has belonged to the Kings since the reign of Henry VIII., but has
now passed to Colonel Neville H. Reeve.
A former rector of Salmonby, Phyllip Robert, clerk, by will, dated 26
July, 1617, but not written in a clerkly style, desired “to be buried in
the queare” (choir) of the church.
By a Chancery Inquisition (18 Henry VII., No. 46), it was found that
Hamon Sutton, held the manor of Salmonby, with Maydenwell and others, and
also the advowson of Salmonby, holding them of the Lord the King, as of
his Duchy of Lancaster, and in the time of Queen Elizabeth, Anthony
Thorold, knight, is named in certain documents still in the British
Museum, as being lord of the manor at that time. (“Collectanea” G.
Holles, vol., iii., p. 770.)
In 1415, John Kyghly, of Salmonby, a feoffe of Sir William Cromwell,
knight, presented to the chantry in Driby church, because he, Sir
William, was “out of the realm.” It is probable that he was with Henry
V. at the battle of Agincourt, October 25, 1415. (“Architectural
Society’s Journal,” 1895, p. 124).
Among the Revesby charters is a deed of Symon, son of Gilbert of Halton,
and his wife Sarah, by which they jointly give to the Abbey of Revesby,
all “their lands in Salmonby and in Scraydesfield (Scrafield), and in
Stickney, and all their claims on the goods of Gilbert of Benniworth.
Witnesses, Gilbert Cusin, seneschal of the house of the Earl Chester, and
others.” Date, temp. Hen. III.
The patronage of the benefice of Salmonby was at one time attached to the
crown, probably as an appurtenance of the honour of Greetham and Duchy of
Lancaster, but it has now passed into private hands. In 1779, Henry
Marshall, clerk, already referred to, was patron and incumbent. Prior to
1840, W. Bowerbank held the patronage and rectory. He was succeeded by
the late Rev. Henry Fielding, formerly Canon of Manchester, next followed
Rev. R. F. Ward, then for a brief period, Rev. F. Cooper, and it is now
held by the Rev. John Booth, who is also patron. It has the unique
distinction of having once been held in commendam by William Patten,
commonly known later as William Waynflete, from his birth place,
Wainfleet, in Lincolnshire; that most munificent divine, Provost of Eton,
Bishop of Winchester, Lord Chancellor, Founder of Magdalen College,
Oxford, and of a free school at his native place.
The church, dedicated to St. Margaret, was until recent years, an
ivy-mantled structure, of the period Edwd. III. but it was restored in
1871, during the incumbency of the Rev. R. Fawssett Ward, at a cost of
about £600, who also enlarged the rectory, and it now forms an
interesting, well-kept and complete church, in the Perpendicular style.
It comprises nave, chancel, south porch, and small spire, which contains
one bell, and stands at the N.E. corner of the chancel. The east window
was given by the late Henry James Fielding, Esq., eldest son of the
former rector, in memory of his father and mother. It has five lights,
with numerous compartments above, and is filled with good coloured glass,
the subjects being, the Crucifixion above, and the Last Supper below, the
design adapted from a window in the Refectory at Milan. There is a
piscina in the south wall of the chancel. The south wall has also one
three-light, and one two-light window in the Perpendicular style. The
nave has, in the south wall, one three-light, and one two-light window,
and the porch door; and in the north wall, one three-light window. The
west window again, of three lights, has good stained glass, in memory of
the Rev. Matthewman Manduel, for more than fifty years curate or rector
of Tetford; the subject is, Christ Blessing Little Children. The tracery
of all these windows is good. There is an organ, by Nicholson, of
Lincoln, with nine stops, and handsome coloured pipes in front, the gift
of the Rev. F. Cooper. The chancel sedilia and choir stalls are of good
carved modern oak, by Messrs. Walter & Hensman, of Horncastle. The nave
is fitted with open benches, which, with the roof, are of pitch pine.
The font is modern, octagonal, with shields and roses floriated on
alternate faces of the bowl, supported by an octagonal shaft and
pediment. There is a graceful ogee arch as the priest’s entrance to the
vestry. There was formerly in the nave of the church a brass of a
civilian of the 15th century, much defaced, but it some years ago
disappeared; it is mentioned among the list of sepulchral brasses
supplied to the Archæological Institute on their visit to Lincoln in
1848, so that it still existed at that date. (“Journ. Archæol.
Institute,” 1848, p. lii, etc.)
The lady of the manor is now Mrs. Nesbitt Hamilton Ogilvy, as
representing the late Right Honble. Robert Adam Christopher Nesbitt
Hamilton, a staunch Protectionist, who was one of the eight members of
Parliament who voted to the last against the abolition of the corn laws.
Some of the land belongs to F. S. Dymoke, Esq., and other smaller owners.
An interesting family heirloom preserved at the rectory, is a massive
silver urn-shaped cup, 13 inches high, which was presented to Major
Robert Booth, great uncle of the present Rector, by the officers and
privates of the Wainfleet Infantry Volunteers, comprising three
companies, which were raised at the time, when the first Napoleon was
expected to invade this country in 1808, and of which he was Major
Commandant (Oldfield’s “History of Waynfleet” 1829).
SCAMBLESBY.
This rather straggling village is pleasantly situated about 6 miles
north-east of Horncastle, in a basin of the Wolds, between the steep hill
on the west, by which it is approached from Horncastle and West Ashby, by
the old turnpike road to Louth, and the still steeper hill of Cawkwell, a
mile further to the east, Louth-ward. In the centre of this basin, which
is watered by a small tributary of the river Bain, rising near at hand,
is an almost circular prominence, like the boss of a shield, on which
fitly stands the church, above all the other human erections. Only a few
years ago, this was a very poor structure of brick, although recent
explorations have shewn that there formerly existed a fair-sized edifice,
with nave, aisles, and chancel, fragments of which were built into the
later brick structure. This earlier church is said to have been
demolished about the middle of the 18th century. An inscription in the
west wall of the present fabric records that “The nave of this church was
taken down, and rebuilt, A.D. 1893: Alfred Soden, Vicar; C. B. Robson, J.
R. Bourne, Churchwardens.” The chancel had been rebuilt in the previous
incumbency of the Rev. T. White, by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, at
a cost of £400, in 1890–1. In the reconstruction, stone was utilized
from the small church of Cawkwell, the adjoining parish, which had been
disused and in a state of decay for some years, and was not needed for
the very small population of that parish, which is now, for
ecclesiastical purposes, annexed to Scamblesby. The present erection of
stone has a south door, with porch, and a priest’s door in the south wall
of the chancel. The nave has north and south aisles, of three bays; the
easternmost column in the south arcade is the original Norman, the rest
being modern, in similar style. In the north wall are three lancet
windows, the central one having two lights, the eastern and western one
light, and in the south wall there are two similar windows, one with two
lights, the other with one. The west end has two lancet windows, each
with a single light, and above them an ox-eye window, with smaller
lancets on either side of it. In the eastern wall of the nave, on either
side of the chancel arch, is a narrow lancet window. In the chancel, the
east window has two lights, with quatrefoil above, two square-headed
windows in the south wall, and one in the north. The present font is
modern, and plain; the curious, massive, circular bowl of the old font,
about 2ft. 8in. in diameter, in height more than 2ft., and with depth of
interior 1ft., large enough for immersion, stands outside the porch. The
seats of the nave are modern, of deal, but they have very good old oak
carved poppy-heads. The pulpit, of oak, was presented as a memorial of
the late Vicar, the Rev. T. White, by his pupils; he having been formerly
second master of the Horncastle Grammar School; it already, however,
shows signs of decay. The chancel sedilia, of deal, were given by the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The communion table, of oak, which is
raised on two steps, was the gift of the present Vicar. In the north
wall of the chancel is a tablet, commemorating, in Latin, and in quaint
English verse, Margaret, the daughter of Henry Coppinger, of a
distinguished family in Kent, and wife of “Franciscus Thorndike,” a lady,
“imbued with a liberal piety from early years, who religiously fulfilled
her conjugal duties, and who, suffering severely herself, also bore, as
became a Christian, the loss of three children, and then, with one only
surviving, herself yielded willingly to the call of God. Erected to a
most beloved wife, by the most sorrowing of husbands.” No date is given,
but it has been found from the Herald’s College, that she was buried at
Scamblesby, Dec. 30, 1629. (“Linc. N. & Q.” iv., pp. 208–9). Another
member of this family, the brother of Francis, was the Rev. Herbert
Thorndyke, an eminent divine and worthy of Lincolnshire, Fellow of
Trinity College, Cambridge, collated prebendary of “Layton Ecclesia” in
the cathedral of Lincoln, by Bishop, afterwards Archbishop, Williams (in
which dignity he succeeded the well-known George Herbert), and later,
made a Prebendary of Westminster. He, by his will, dated July, 3rd,
1672, bequeathed his estates in this parish to the Dean and Chapter of
Lincoln, for the endowment of the benefice, which, like that of the
adjoining Cawkwell, was a very poor one. Thorndyke’s works form the 6th
volume of the Anglo-Catholic Library. That the family was one of good
position, is shewn by the fact of the name of Francis Thorndyke appearing
in the list of the Gentry of Lincolnshire, in 1634, as “of Scamblesby,”
also that of “Herbert Thorndyke, of Greenfield.”
The church is dedicated to St. Martin. Among the church plate is a
communion cup, bearing the inscription “Communion Cup, 1712,” the
Cawkwell cup is also old, but not dated. The register of Scamblesby
dates from 1569, that of Cawkwell from 1685, but they contain no entries
of special interest. This was one of the many possessions of the Norman,
Ivo Taillebois, nephew of William the Conqueror, and chief of the Angevin
auxiliaries, who came over with the Conqueror. After the death of the
brave young Anglo-Saxon nobles, Edwin and Morcar, the sons of Alfgar, and
brothers-in-law of King Harold, who refused to submit to the Norman yoke,
their sister, the Lady Lucia, was the last of that royal line, and, being
an unprotected female, William the Conqueror bestowed her in marriage
with all her many possessions, on Ivo. He received with her, lands in
Goulceby, Cawkwell, Asterby, and other places, too many to enumerate. He
was a man of violent and tyrannous temperament, eventually, in the next
reign, being outlawed as an enemy of King Rufus. He was subsequently
allowed to return to this country, but not long afterwards died of
paralysis. According to accounts, more or less authentic, the Lady, with
a haste which was hardly decent—though under the circumstances perhaps
not surprising—barely allowed one month to elapse (says the chronicler,
Peter de Blois), “when she married that illustrious young man, Roger de
Romara, son of Gerald de Romara,” who had been seneschal or steward to
William of Normandy, before the Conquest; two other sons, Ralph and
Edward, subsequently being founders, the former, of the Tankervilles, and
the latter, of the Earls of Salisbury. By this marriage, the large
possessions of the Lady Lucia, passed to the Romaras. Lucia herself had
been a great benefactress to the priory of Spalding, which had been
founded by her uncle, Vice-Comes, or Sheriff, Thorold of Buchenale.
Among other gifts she conveys to the monks of Spalding “one watermill (a
valuable property in those days), and all her tithes in Scamblesby,” with
much more in the neighbourhood. (“Charters of Spalding Priory,” British
Museum, D. n. 5). William de Romara, her son by her husband Roger, in
due course, following suit, founded the Abbey of Revesby. In a later
generation, the heiress of this family, married Gilbert de Gaunt, who
thus succeeded to the large property, but it is probable that, on the
occasions of each of these changes, some of the demesnes were diverted in
different directions, and the changes were not few, as the Gaunts were
succeeded by the Blondvilles, they by the Lacys, and they again by John
of Gaunt, Earl of Richmond, 4th son of Edwd. III. whose son was King
Henry IV., of Bolingbroke. How long Scamblesby remained a part of this
heritage we are not able to say, but it may be observed that in this
varied line of descent (as indeed in many others), there were various
causes for the alienation, or disintegration of large demesnes. The
Sovereign’s power was absolute and most arbitrarily exercised, unless, as
was sometimes the case, the subject’s power was greater. The owners of
large estates, and especially heiresses, were an object of peculiar
interest to Sovereigns, who by reason of war, or their own extravagance,
were not seldom more impecunious than their powerful subjects. The
actions of the latter were carefully scanned, in order, if possible, that
the Sovereign might find an excuse for confiscation, partial or entire,
of the offender’s property, and so replenish the royal coffers. In the
case of male proprietors, they could only obtain coveted privileges, or
even exercise their own undoubted rights, on the payment of a very heavy
fine. The times were turbulent, rebellion was not uncommon, and a large
landowner sometimes found that he had espoused the unsuccessful cause,
whereupon he naturally incurred the penalty. In the case of an heiress,
a marriage contracted without the King’s license, was made sufficient
ground for the royal displeasure, and a heavy fine or deprivation was the
result. Some, or all of these causes were at work with different members
of this particular line. In the case of the attainder of Thomas, Earl of
Lancaster, even his divorced wife, Alicia, became subject to a penalty of
£20,000, a very large sum in those days, when pence were almost
equivalent to our pounds. In this, and other ways, the once vast
possessions of the Thorolds, in this part of the county, passed into
other hands; although they are still one of the leading families on the
other side of it. Other families here came to the fore. On the
dissolution of the monasteries, any property which had been granted by
benefactors to those institutions, would pass, by grant of the sovereign,
to others, unless he retained it himself. As we pass the small stream in
Scamblesby, over which a child could now leap, we may recognise it as a
power that once turned the mill-wheel of the Lady Lucia, or ground corn
for the tenants of the priors of Spalding, but it knows their name no
more. Some of the land, including the manor, passed to the Bishop of
Lincoln; until, in 1862, it was transferred to the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners, who are now the Lay Impropriators; the living, now, after
various augmentations, worth £300 a year, being in the patronage of the
Bishop of Lincoln, and the Earl of Yarborough. The latter nobleman is
now one of the largest proprietors in the county, though we believe he
originally belonged to the south of England, and was connected with the
Earls of Chichester, of Stanmer Park, in Sussex, in which county the
heraldic Pelham buckle is a marked feature in many of the churches. {178}
Other proprietors are the Lill and Bourne families. There is a prebendal
stall in Lincoln Cathedral, attached to Scamblesby in conjunction with
Melton Ross, which is now held by the Rev. Canon Arthur Wright, rector of
Coningsby, and Rural Dean of Gartree.
There are rent charges for the poor of the parish, left by David Atkinson
and dame Tyrwhitt; also the interest of £6 6_s._ 8_d._, left by an
unknown donor, and a charge on land in Belchford, for poor widows.
Within a short distance of the church, in a south-eastward direction, are
traces of a moated inclosure, which has probably been the site of a
residence of some size. Nothing is known of its past history, but it may
well have been a mansion on the property of the Countess Lucia, or some
of her descendants, and occupied by a dependent vassal. There are a few
records of former persons connected with the parish, of which we here
give one or two. Among the “Final Concords,” under date, 1 July, 1202,
is an agreement between Roger de Maletoft, on the one part, and Philip de
Claythorp, and Mary his wife, on the other part, tenants of “4 oxgangs in
Scamblesbi (about 60 acres),” by which they acknowledge the said land to
be the right and inheritance of the said Roger; and in return for this,
he granted it “to them and their heirs, to hold of him and his heirs for
ever, doing for it foreign service”; and, as an acknowledgment of this,
the said Philip and Mary gave the said Roger 4 marks. (Note appended to
the will of John Guevera, made 18 March, 1607.) N.B.—A sister of John
Guevera, married John Chapman, of Scamblesbi. The Guevera family came
from Biscay, in Spain, probably imported by Katherine of Arragon, or
Philip of Spain, Queen Mary’s husband.
Thomas Kent, of Scamblesby, clerk, by will, dated 23 July, 1623, among
other bequests, leaves, “to my wife Mary, £40, with other benefits; my
dau., Lydia Lent £200; my dau., Penelope Dennis, £16; my dau., Mary
Martingdale, £20; my son, Thomas Kent, £20; my dau., Anne Millington,—;
Henry Neave, my grandchild, £30; Gabriel Neave, my grandchild, £66 13_s._
4_d._; Mary Neave, £66 13_s._ 4_d._; my son Elias Kent, 2 Kye, a pr. of
oxen, a pr. of 2 yr. old fleaces; a mare that I had of my son-in-law,
James Martingdale, my waines and waine-geares, and ploughs and
plough-geares, my trays and harrows, also a bedd, a presse and a table,
with the lease of the manor of Scamblesby; my son, Thomas, 44_s._ in
gold; my son, Abell, 44_s._ in gold; to everyone of my grandchildren,
11_s._ in gold; to the poor of Donington, 22_s._; of Goulceby, 20_s._;
and to the poorest of Scamblesby 20_s._; to everyone of my servants,
16_d._; to Lewis Whiteing, 2 ewes and 2 lambes; to Dorothie Candroy, a
flocked yearing quee.” The testator’s wife is to have his household
goods and chattels, for division among his children at her discretion;
Timothy, his son, being sole executor, to whom he bequeaths the
residence, after payment of debts and funeral expenses. To be buried in
the chancel of Scamblesbie.
Elias Kent, of Scamblesby, gent., by will, dated 13 Feb., 1625, bequeaths
to “my wife, Elizabeth, £200, and the household stuff, &c.; to my
daughter, Martha Kent, £200 when 16, and the lease of Scamblesby manor;
to my sister, Marie Martingdale, Mr. Benjamin Storre, 20_s._; Thomas,
William, and Elizabeth, the three eldest children of my brother Timothy
Kent, deceased, 20_s._ a piece; and to Edward Kent, a new coat; to my
brother, Thomas Booth, ‘Speede’s Chronicles’; to my brother, Richard
Sharpe, my black gelding; to my mother, a 5_s._ piece of silver; to the
poor of Scamblesby, 40_s._; to the poorest of Goulceby, 10_s._ and of
Donington, 10_s._; to everie one of my sisters 10_s._; to my cosen, Alice
Brooke, £3 6_s._ 8_d._, and the horse called ‘Maud,’ &c., &c. My body to
be buried in the chancel. My brother, Thomas Kent, clerk of Donington,
to be executor.”
N.B.—On the death of the said Thomas Kent, Incumbent of Donington, 13
years later, he leaves “to my much honored friend, Sir John Munson, my
black colt; to Sir Thomas Munson, my noble friend whom I much honor, my
Spurr Royal; to the Right Honble., my Lord Beaumont, my bald colt; to the
Rectors of Donington, for the time being, and their successors for ever,
my Spalding tythes (these were the gift of the Lady Lucia to Spalding
priory); to the repairs of St. Paul’s church in London, £5.”
The name Scamblesby means the “By,” _i.e._, farmstead (Scotice Byre) of
the Saxon Skamel; probably his land, amounting to six carucates (or 720
acres), was that which, through the Lady Lucia, became the property of
Ivo Taillebois, lord of Spalding.
The parish of Cawkwell, now ecclesiastically annexed to Scamblesby, is of
small extent, being a lordship comprising some 680 acres of land, now the
property of the Duke of Portland; the benefice, a vicarage now valued at
£39 a year, being in the patronage of the Earl of Yarborough, who, as
such, has the alternate presentation with the Bishop of Lincoln, to the
consolidated benefice of Scamblesby with Cawkwell. This property, again,
was among the lands of Ivo Taillebois, acquired by his marriage with the
Saxon heiress, Lucia. Little is known of its past history. It probably
passed through the like vicissitudes as Scamblesby, until it was granted
to Sir Charles Cavendish, of Bolsover Castle, and from him, passed to the
Dukes of Newcastle, the Earl of Oxford, and finally, by the marriage of
his daughter and heiress, to the noble family of Bentinck, the ancestors
of the present Duke of Portland, who, in the present generation, has
married a lady of the almost neighbouring parish of Walmsgate. There was
formerly a priory of Cawkwell, of which Sir William Tyrwhitt was steward.
It was probably not a richly endowed institution, as his fee as steward
was only £1. It would seem to have been a dependency of the much
wealthier priory of Austin Canons, at Nocton. (Dugdale “Monasticon,”
vol. ii., p. 211)
The Church, dedicated to St. Peter, was demolished, and the materials, in
part, utilized for the rebuilding of Scamblesby church, in 1893. At the
date of Liber Regis (temp. Queen Anne), the benefice was so poor that it
is there described as “not presented to,” and the church has not been
used for divine worship since 1885. Cawkwell house is a substantial
residence, standing in good grounds, and occupied by C. B. Robson, Esq.
The only thing worthy of note in connection with this parish, is that it
was the birth-place, in 1599, of a learned and pious man, Hanserd
Knollys, who was educated at Cambridge, distinguished for his zeal in
religion, appointed master of the Free School at Gainsborough, took Holy
Orders, and was presented by the Bishop of Lincoln to the living of
Humberston. Afterwards, conceiving scruples as to the lawfulness of
certain church observances, he resigned his benefice; for a time, with
the Bishop’s connivance, he preached in various parishes, without using
the church service. He eventually abjured his orders, and joined the
Baptist persuasion, and became one of its pastors in London. The
intolerance of the age forced him to seek refuge in Wales, Holland,
Germany, and even America. He died, Sept., 1691, in the 93rd year of his
age. (Weir’s “Hist. Lincolnshire,” vol. i, p. 301). {181}
We have mentioned Cawkwell hill. This is one of “the Alps of
Lincolnshire,” and, although there are, among the Wold hills, several
considerably steeper, being on a high road, formerly having much traffic,
it has been the scene of some accidents. Only a few years ago, a
gentleman living near, was driving down the hill in a thunderstorm, when
he was struck by lightening, his carriage was upset, and his horse
afterwards found on the other side of the hedge, he himself recovering
without any serious effects. Sometime in the forties, the late Sir Henry
Dymoke was driving a carriage and pair down the hill, when the horses
bolted. The father of the present writer happened at the time to be
walking down the hill, on his way home from Louth; as the horses dashed
past him he made a spring at the bridle of the near horse, fortunately
catching hold of it, and by running alongside, he succeeded in bringing
the horses to a stand, without injury to anyone. But for this timely
aid, the champion of England might have incurred a more serious ordeal
than that of challenging his sovereign’s enemies.
The name of this parish, “Calche uuelle,” in Domesday Book, and now
Cawkwell, might have been given with prophetic foresight into the future,
as it is here, from a deep well, the bore of which passes through the
chalk to the gravel below, that a pure and plentiful supply of water is
obtained for the town of Horncastle, and more recently also for the
modern health resort of Woodhall Spa.
SOTBY.
Sotby, also in Liber Regis, called Saltby, lies to the west of Ranby,
about 2 miles to the north-west of Great Stourton, and is about 8 miles
north-north-west from Horncastle. Letters, _via_ Wragby, arrive at 9.30
a.m. This manor, in the reign of the Conqueror, was granted by him to
his half-brother, Odo, Bishop of Baieux, {182} along with many other
demesnes, as mentioned more fully in the account of Ranby. Ralph the
vassal of Odo is mentioned in Domesday Book, as holding “4 carucates,” or
480 acres, with 16 socmen and 3 villeins. The Saxon thane, Ulnod, had
about the same extent. The church had 150 acres of meadow. At an
Inquisition, held 1 Edward II. (No. 107, 11 April, 1308), it was shewn
that Philip de Kyme, enfeoffed his son, William de Kyme, of the manor of
Sotteby, held by the service of half a knight’s fee. This William, in
1334, enfeoffed his nephew, Gilbert de Umfraville, of the manor. He was
Earl of Angus. William’s widow, Joan, married as her 2nd husband,
Nicholas de Cantelupe, who, through her, held the manor of Baumber.
(“Architect. S. Journal,” 1897, pp, 69, 70). This Nicholas de Cantelupe,
founded a chantry in Lincoln Cathedral, dedicated to St. Nicholas. It is
situated to the east of the great south door, under the lesser east
window. On the north side of this chantry, are two altar tombs, one of
which, having a figure clad in surcoat of mail, is the sepulchre of Lord
Cantelupe. In the pavement below, is a slab, in memory of his wife, the
Lady Joan. She founded a small chapel on the east side of the south
transept, dedicated to St. Paul. According to “Testa de Nevill,” Simon
de Kyme, at an earlier date, held lands in Sotby, in chief from the king
(circa, 1242). (“Linc. N. & Q.,” iv., p. 174. Compare Oldfield’s “Hist.
Waynfleet,” p. 168).
By a Close Roll, 9 Henry VII., No. 30, it is shewn that Sir Robert
Dymmok, knt., was, with others, seized of the manor of Sotby, A.D. 1494.
By an Inquisition, taken 31 May, 1495 (10 Henry VII.), it was found that
Robert Taillebois, died seized of the manor of Sotby, held from the king,
by the service of half a knight’s fee. (“Linc. N & Q.” ii., p. 141).
His ancestor, Ivo Taillebois, had lands in Baumber.
The abbot of Bardney had a pension from Sotby, as he also had from
Edlington and other parishes in the neighbourhood. At the Lincolnshire
Rising, in the reign of Hen. VIII., Thomas Yoell, parson of Sotby, though
old and blind took a prominent part in the movement, along with the
rectors of Low Toynton, Belchford, and others. In 1798, Thomas Roe was
rector. The Rev. John Bainbridge-Smith, D.D., headmaster of the
Horncastle Grammar School, held the rectory of Sotby, with that of
Martin-by-Horncastle and the perpetual curacy of Baumber, from 1828 to
1854; he was also Honorary Chaplain to the Duke of Newcastle. He was
succeeded at Sotby, by his son, John Bainbridge-Smith, and the latter
rebuilt the chancel of the church, St. Peter’s, and made other
improvements in 1858–9. The register dates from 1658. Among the entries
is a record that in the year 1728, there were sixteen burials, but no
cause for that excessive mortality is named. The second Rev. J.
Bainbridge-Smith married a daughter of Judge Haliburton, of Nova Scotia,
the author of “Sam Slick,” “The Old Judge,” “Nature and Human Nature,”
&c. He was for some years chaplain at Smyrna.
When the chancel was taken down in 1858, some interesting relics were
discovered. A sepulchral arch was opened at the north-east end, supposed
to lead to the burial place of the founder of the Pre-Conquest Church.
It was constructed of grey stone. Three very ancient windows, also of
grey stone, and blocked with rubbish, were opened, on the splays of which
were found frescoes, the figures being, so far as they remained, very
distinct. One was a crowned figure, seated, and holding a sceptre in his
left hand, the right hand being stretched out in the attitude of judgment
or command, but the lower part of the arm was wanting. Another was a
female figure, with long tresses, and a robe with lengthy train behind.
A third, was one figure complete, probably the Saviour, with the head
only of another figure, facing him, probably the Magdalen; both heads
being surrounded by a nimbus. The Saviour’s attitude, with uplifted
finger, indicated the giving of some command, probably the _Noli me
tangere_. The fourth subject was apparently a rude representation of the
last supper, the Saviour being in the act of taking the cup. {184}
Copies of these frescoes were made, and are preserved with the registers.
The present writer has copies, from which this description is given.
When the south and east walls were taken down, a very ancient doorway,
probably Saxon, of grey and red sandstone was found; close beside it was
another doorway of later date. Towards the east end of the south wall,
was found a beautiful geometrical window, the inner arch much broken.
This had apparently been the original east window, but in later times
broken up, and some of the fragments built into the wall in various
parts. All this seemed to indicate that a Saxon church had existed, that
it was rebuilt about the time of the Norman Conquest, with stone found in
the neighbourhood, that in the 13th century it was adorned with frescoes,
an east window, of Lincoln stone, &c. The new chancel was re-opened by
the Bishop of Lincoln, in 1859. (Extract from “Lincolnshire Times,”
Nov., 1859).
The chief features of the present church are as follows:—The font,
modern, octagonal, and plain. A former very small font, with small bowl
remains, sunk into the base of a recess in the west wall. A small metal,
portable font, is also preserved in the rectory, which was formerly used.
The chancel arch is probably Saxon. It is very low, with massive
supports, has been mutilated, but is still in fairly good condition. In
the south wall of the chancel is a double piscina, supposed to be
peculiar to the 13th century. In the north chancel wall is an easter
sepulchre, with an aumbrey above, having a trefoil moulding in a 13th
century arch. The east window is modern, with three lights. In the
south wall is a two-light window, in memory of J. B. Smith, D.D. In the
floor of the chancel, in the centre, is a slab commemorating John Porter,
rector from 1658 to 1688–9. In the north wall of the nave is one
square-headed window; in the south wall are two similar windows. On the
north wall there is a tablet to J. Scholey. There is only one small bell
hanging in the bell turret. Altogether this church has some very
interesting features. In the parish chest, with the registers, is a copy
made by the late rector, of the transcripts in the Archidiaconal
Registry, dating from 1556 to 1590.
STIXWOULD.
This parish is situated about 6 miles westward of Horncastle; the village
being less than a mile from the Stixwould station, on the loop line of
the Great Northern Railway, between Boston and Lincoln. The parish is
bounded on the west by the river Witham, on the north by Horsington, and
on the east and south by Woodhall and Edlington. In Domesday book the
name takes the form of Stigeswald, or Stigeswalt. The origin of this
name can only be a matter of conjecture, but the following, as not being
without interest, is suggested. The ancient arrangement for crossing a
river, especially a sluggish, oozy one, such as the Witham, was commonly
by a stockaded ford. {185} This stockade would be constructed of stakes
or sticks, a kind of structure which is also implied in the names
Stickford, (_i.e._, staked ford), and Stickney (staked water, or island),
both of which places lie in what was formerly a marshy district in this
county. {186a} Hence, we may suppose, the first syllable of the name
Stix (or Sticks) wold; as to the next syllable, “Wold,” or wald, is the
Saxon for wood. At some places certain woods were anciently assigned by
law or custom, for the supply of these stakes. {186b}; and such a wood
might naturally acquire the name of the Stakes wood, or Sticks wold.
In the case of this parish, as the embankment, now confining the Witham
to its narrow channel, did not anciently exist, that river would then
have a much greater width, and the ford would probably be a long
“causeway” through a morass, raised by sods and strengthened by stakes.
{186c} Mr. C. Gowen-Smith, the translator of Domesday Book, for
Lincolnshire, says (Introduction, p. xl.) that “wad,” or “wode,” means “a
causeway.” We thus, on either of these suppositions, get Stixwould
meaning a staked ford, or causeway. {186d}
In the days of ancient savage warfare, fords were important positions of
defence; and especially on the Witham would a ford be important, that
river being the boundary between the barbarous “Girvii,” who inhabited
the wild Fen tracts, {186e} and the less warlike Saxons, who dwelt east
of it. A ford also, or ferry, was a source of considerable revenue; for
instance, at Stow, the lord of the manor, in 1234, let the ferry on the
Trent (now of Littleborough), with the fishery, for £3 6_s._ 8_d._
yearly, a large sum in those days. Thus the staked ford, and the wood
supplying the stakes, may well have been local features of sufficient
importance to originate the name of Stickswold.
Of the wood formerly existing, there are still some relics, in fine oak
trees of great age; one of these, nearly 20ft. in girth, is to be seen by
the garden gate at the abbey farm house; another stands near the drive to
Halstead Hall, in the east of the parish; and others are nearer the
Witham, in fields adjoining Newstead House farm. The present Stixwould
wood, or Long wood, south of the village, is of comparatively modern
growth; but on the eastern border of the parish is Halstead wood,
separated from Sto-bourne wood, by what, probably, was formerly a “stow,”
“stoke,” or stake-marked “bourn,” or boundary stream, being a ditch of
running water, which gives its name to the latter wood, which lies in the
next parish; the two woods until recent years, belonging to the two
different manors.
At the time of the Norman Conquest, we find only two names of Saxon
landowners in this parish, viz.:—Ulviet, and Siward, who had here between
them, about 720 acres. Both these would seem to have been thanes of some
importance, as the former held, in demesne or otherwise, lands in at
least ten other parishes, in various parts of the county; and the latter
had lands in eleven parishes, also widely distributed, and further, had
sufficient influence to continue as tenant, under the Norman proprietors,
to whom the Conqueror transferred the lands previously owned by Saxons.
{187} Of Normans, a grant of 270 acres (that amount having been
previously owned by Ulviet,) was conferred by King William, upon Waldin
Brito (or the Breton), a distinguished soldier, who accompanied him from
Normandy. These Bretons were highly valued for their faithful services,
by the Plantagenet kings, and were largely employed in court offices;
Waldin also received manors in eight other parishes in this
neighbourhood. Another favourite of the Conqueror, who received land
here, was Alured, of Lincoln. The Domesday Survey gives him as owning
180 acres of arable, meadow, and wood land in Stixwould, with fifty-one
manors in the county, beside lands elsewhere.
A still larger proprietor was Ivo Taillebois, Earl of Anjou, and nephew
of the Conqueror. On him, William bestowed in marriage, the Saxon Lady
Lucia, sister of Edgiva, wife of the late King Harold. Beside the lands
of her father, Earl Algar, she had succeeded to the large possessions of
her uncle, Sheriff Thorold, of the neighbouring Bucknall (where
traditions still linger of him, and his sister, the “Lady Godiva.”) She
was probably a kinswoman of the above Alured, of Lincoln, since his
relative, Alan of Lincoln, is named in old deeds, as nephew of Thorold.
Either through her, or by direct grant to himself, Ivo owned 1,020 acres
in Stixwould, beside lands in 104 other parishes. On this Ivo Taillebois
(or “Underwood” as the name signifies), we may here make a few remarks.
He was commonly known as “the Lord of Holland,” through his wife’s
extensive possessions in that division of the county, inherited from
Thorold, her uncle, who was lord of Spalding, and he also had a fine
residence at Spalding, where he lived in great state. He was, however,
of a temperament fitted rather to inspire fear than affection. The
chronicler, Ingulphus (“History of Croyland Abbey,”) tells us, that his
dependants “supplicated him on bended knees, and did him all due
service,” but, in return, he “tortured, harrassed, and daily loaded them
with fresh burdens”; and by his cruelty, “compelled most of them to sell
their property and seek other countries.” On the death of his patron,
the Conqueror, he joined a conspiracy against William Rufus, and was
banished the country. After a few years he was allowed to return, but
died shortly afterwards of paralysis, in 1114. {188} Having been forced
as a husband, by the Conqueror, upon the Lady Lucia, and being further of
the temperament already described, we may assume that, as the saying is,
there was “no love lost” between them, and we are therefore hardly
surprised to find another old chronicler (Peter de Blois), saying, on the
death of Ivo, “hardly had a month elapsed, when the Lady Lucia married
that illustrious man, Roger de Romara, son of Gerald de Romara (seneschal
or high steward of William, as Duke of Normandy), and that she lost all
recollection of Ivo.”
These are the only two landowners, Saxon or Norman, mentioned in Domesday
Book, as having property in Stixwould. The extent of their lands in the
parish, all added together, amounted to rather less than 2,000 acres,
whereas the present acreage is nearly 2,360, there is therefore a margin
of between 300 and 400 acres unaccounted for; and this we may probably
assume to have been waste land of bog and morass, subject to the Witham
floods, and not brought under cultivation till centuries later.
Accordingly, we find that the parish rate-book shows a sudden rise in
value of certain land, owing to drainage early in the nineteenth century.
We are not able to trace the successive landowners of Stixwould through a
connected series. There would seem to be some confusion in the old
chroniclers, between the Lady Lucia, who married Ivo Taillebois, and
another lady of the same name, probably her daughter, who married Roger
de Romara, {189a} and, on his death, married Ranulph, Earl of Chester.
The eldest son of this Lady Lucia, by Roger de Romara, was William de
Romara, who was created Earl of Lincoln, by King Stephen, A.D. 1140. His
grandson, also William de Romara, married Philippa, daughter of John
Count d’ Alencon, {189b} but died childless. His property would then
pass to the descendants of the second husband of the Lady Lucia II.,
viz., Ranulph, Earl of Chester. The latter married his niece, the
Countess Roheis, to Gilbert de Gaunt, whose grandfather was nephew of
Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror. He became Earl of Lincoln, and
it is probable that the Earl of Chester’s property passed to him; among
other such lands, being also those in Stixwould, and in this connection,
it is interesting to note that, although in a less exalted position,
there are still, in this twentieth century, Gaunts in this parish, whose
very countenance would bespeak their Norman origin. In course of time,
the lands of the Gaunts, passed, in great measure, to two families,
namely, that of the Becks of Lusby, Spilsby, &c., and the Pinsons of
Tattershall, &c. These two families flourished during the 13th, 14th,
and 15th centuries, and they, in turn, were succeeded by the Willoughbys,
ancestors of the present Earl of Ancaster, and Lord Willoughby d’Eresby.
A Court Roll, 9 Richard I., shows that Robt. Willoughby had then land in
the adjoining Wispington, but there is indirect evidence to show that the
Willoughbys had also property in Stixwould, since, in the twenty-second
year of Edwd. III. (1348), John, the first Lord Willoughby d’Eresby,
endowed the chantry of the Holy Trinity, at Spilsby, with certain lands
in Stixwould, Fulletby, and other parishes (Pat., 22 Ed III); while
further, in a charter of Baron Bek (circa 1300), conveying lands to
Kirkstead Abbey, we find as witnesses to the deed, William de Wylcheby
(_i.e._, Willoughby), two Beks, William de Thorp, and “Dominus,” Theobald
de Hallested (“Architect. S. Journal,” 1897, p. 38); thus connecting,
again, Halstead, or Stixwould, with a Willoughby, as well as his
relatives, the Beks, of Spilsby, and the owners of Tattershall Thorpe.
At an earlier date than this, however, we find mention of other owners of
Stixwould. In a list of landowners in Lindsey, in the reign of Henry I.
(1100, 1135), we find Alan of Lincoln (already referred to as kinsman of
Alured), owning six oxgangs (ninety acres), in this parish, with Gilbert
Fitz-Gozelin, and Gerard as his tenants, as Siward had been under Alured;
also Robert de Hay, owning here, one carucate (120 acres). (Cotton MSS.,
Claudius, C 5, fol. 9_b._, Brit. Museum, “Archit. Journ.,” 1881, p. 197.)
The de Hays were a wealthy family, owning lands in Cammerigham,
Spridlington, Fillingham, Hackthorn, Owmby, Barlings and many other
parishes. (Ibid, pp. 184, 185, &c.) One of them was among the Barons
who signed the Magna Charter.
At the same date, we find a certain Ralph de Stixwald, holding land in
Edlington, as tenant under Ranulph le Meschin; the latter being the
second husband of the (second) Lady Lucy, Earl of Chester, and son of the
Vicomte de Bessin, in Normandy. (Ibid., fol. 14, and “Archæolog. S.
Proceedings,” 1848, p. 257).
Near the close of this 12th century (1 and 3 Richard I., 1190 and 1192),
we find Roger de Stixwald (with Gerard de Camvill), Sheriff of the
County. He was probably son of the above Ralph de Stixwould. (“Hist.
Lincoln,” 1816, p. 200). These de Stikswalds resided at Halstead Hall,
in this parish, which will be noticed hereafter under that head.
By an Inquisition, taken at Wragby (5 Richard II., 1381–2), it was shewn
that Margaret, wife of John de Orbi, knight (Orby), held jointly with her
husband, fifty-two acres of wood in Tattershall and Stixwold, with
various other lands; and that Mary de Percy, wife of John de Roos, is
their next heir; but that her brother, the Earl of Northumberland,
occupied the land meanwhile. (“Linc. N. & Q.” vol. vi., No. 47). Her
will was proved 29th Augt. 1394. Mentions of other owners in subsequent
times are rather rare.
On the Dissolution of the Monasteries, by Hen. VIII., that sovereign in
1541, gave the lands of Stixwould Priory in this parish, to Robert
Dighton. The Dightons had amassed considerable wealth, as merchants in
Lincoln. A Robert Dighton was Mayor in 1494, and again in 1506, and
William Dighton was Sheriff in 1533. The Robert Dighton, who thus became
a landowner in Stixwould, resided at the old hall of Stourton Parva, in
the parish of Baumber, dividing the ownership of that parish with the
Earls of Lincoln, afterwards Dukes of Newcastle. He married Joyce,
daughter and heiress of William St. Paul; the St. Pauls being a good
family, later represented by Sir George St. Paul, Bart., who died in
1613. Robert Dighton’s daughter, married first, Judge Dalison, and
secondly, Sir F. Ayscough, Bart. (“Archit. Journ.,” 1891, p. 16).
Members of both these families took part in the Lincolnshire Rising of
1536, along with John Heneage, Edwd. Dymoke (Sheriff), William
Willoughby, Thimblebies, Massingberds, and many others. (“State Papers,”
Henry VIII., vol. ii. p. 971, “Architect. S. Journal,” 1894. pp. 174,
&c). A daughter of Thomas Dighton married Edwd. Clinton, second son of
the first Earl of Lincoln, of that line (temp. Elizabeth.)
Another family, here comes on the scene, viz., the Thimblebys, who
resided at Poolham, a hamlet of the adjoining parish of Edlington; and
for some generations owned land in Stixwould. Their chief residence was
at Irnham, near Bourn, where Richard Thimbleby Esq., in 1510, built the
hall, a fine mansion, standing in a well-wooded deer park; having
acquired the property by marriage with an heiress of the Hiltons, whose
ancestor, Sir Geoffrey Hilton, again, had obtained it by marriage with an
heiress of the Luterels; that family having also succeeded to it in the
person of Sir Andrew Luterel, who married an heiress of the Paganels, on
whose ancestor, the Norman, Ralph Paganel, it had been bestowed by the
Conqueror. The pedigree of the Thimblebys is given in the Herald’s
Visitation of 1562. They owned property in Claxby, Normanby, Tetford
(manor with advowson), Haltham, High Toynton, Horsington (with moiety of
advowson), and many other parishes. They doubtless took their name from
the proximate parish of Thimbleby, as we find them first designated as
John, Thomas, &c., “de Thimbleby.”
By a Chancery Inquisition post mortem, of date, 1333 (7 Ed. III.), taken
on Friday after the feast of St. Matthew (Sep. 21), at Haltham, it was
shewn that Nicholas de Thymelby held certain land in Haltham, of the
right of his wife Matilda, with lands in Thimbleby, under the Bishop of
Carlisle, and lands in Stikeswold, of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln.
He was succeeded by his son John, who married Isabel, daughter and
co-heir of Sir William Fflete, knt., and his successor, William Thymelby,
Esq., apparently married Joan, daughter of Sir Walter Taillebois, one of
the family connected with Stixwould, through the Lady Lucia, already
named, nearly 400 years earlier; Sir Walter was grandnephew of Gilbert
Umfravill, Earl of Angus. (“Architect. Journ.,” 1896, pp. 297–8).
Again (nearly 200 years later), by a Court of Ward’s Inquisition (3, 4,
5, Ed. VI.,) it was shown that Matthew Thimbleby, who married Anne,
daughter of Sir Robert Hussey, was seised of lands in Styxwolde,
Horsington, Edlington, Thymylby, Buckland (_i.e._ Woodhall), &c.,
inheriting them from his father (Ibid. p. 258). His widow married Sir
Robert Savile, knt., of Poolham, and through her, he died in 1585–6
(Jany. 24), seised of the same land in Stixwolde, &c.
We now pass over eighty years, during which another change in the
ownership has taken place.
In 1665, and again in 1685, Sir John Coventry, K.B. presented to the
benefice, and was probably lord of the manor. At the beginning of the
18th century, Sir Thomas Keate had succeeded as patron (Ecton’s
“Thesaurus,” p. 183) and his widow, Agnes Keate, was owner in 1704.
(Liber Regis, p. 424). This name is written Kyte, in the “Histories of
Lincolnshire,” by Weir, and by Saunders. They are said to have been a
Warwickshire family; the last of them, Sir William, squandered a large
fortune, and, in a fit of despair, set fire to his fine mansion in the
Cotswold hills, and himself perished in the flames. The manor of
Stixwould had been previously sold by him to Lord Anson, the
distinguished Naval Commander, and Circumnavigator, Lord High Admiral of
England, &c., who presented to the benefice in 1753. On his death, in
1762, his son, Thomas Anson, Esq., of Shuckborough, Co. Stafford,
succeeded to the property, and presented to the benefice in 1767.
In 1763, Mary Lister, fourth daughter of Matthew Lister, Esq., of Burwell
Park, near Louth, married (19 May), Thomas Elmhirst, Esq., of Stixwould
(Parish Register of Burwell, quoted “Archit. Soc. Journal,” 1897, p. 92).
He was probably at that time tenant of the Abbey Farm House. Matthew
Lister, her father, had married Grace, widow of Sir Edward Boughton,
Bart., daughter, and co-heir of Sir John Shuckborough, Bart., of
Shuckborough, at which place also resided the above-named Thomas Anson,
son of Lord Anson.
The whole estate of Stixwould was afterwards purchased by Edmund Turnor,
Esq., of Stoke Rochford, who first presented to the benefice in 1778, his
nominee, as Vicar, being a member of a very old Lincolnshire family,
Bernard Cracroft, who also held the Vicarage of Bardney. A former Sir
Edmund Turnor was knighted by Charles II., in 1663, as a reward for
services rendered to that king’s martyred father. The property still
remains with this family. Among the gentry of Lincolnshire named at the
Heralds’ Visitation in 1634, is Edwd. Broxholme “of Stixwould,” who seems
to have had relatives at Lincoln, North Kelsey, Grimsby, Nettleham, and
elsewhere among the county gentry; one of them, John of Otbye,
contributing £25 to the national loan for defence against the Spanish
Armada. (“Linc. N. & Q.” ii., pp. 9 and 134). Whether this Edward
Broxholme was a landowner in Stixwould, or a tenant, does not appear. He
resided at the Priory.
We now give a brief notice of Stixwould Priory, dedicated to the blessed
Virgin Mary. This was founded by the Lady Lucia (_i.e._, the second of
that name), and her two sons, Ranulph, Earl of Chester, and William de
Romara, Earl of Lincoln (Leland “Collect.,” vol. i., p. 92), in the reign
of Stephen. The Rev. Thos. Cox, in his “Lincolnshire” (of date, 1719),
ascribes the foundation to Galfred de Ezmondeys. {194} Doubtless, at
different periods, additions and augmentations were made to the original
institution, entitling the benefactors to be numbered among the
“fundatores”; but the general testimony of Leland, Dugdale, and others,
is in favour of the Lady; whose uncle, Sheriff Thorold, was a benefactor
to Croyland Abbey, and founded Spalding Priory, his sister, the Lady
Godiva, also (as the Chronicler Henry of Huntingdon tells us), spending
much of her vast wealth in building monasteries and churches, while her
descendant, William de Romara II., founded Revesby Abbey. By an
Inquisition taken 3 Edwd. I. (1275), it was found that the lands held by
the Priory, given by these and other benefactors, had been so held for
100 years (Dugdale’s “Monasticon” i., p. 56, No. 486); and further, by an
Inquisition at Stamford, in the same reign, it was found that the Priory
had certain lands at Huntingdon, from divers benefactors (“Ibid.” ii., p.
223, No. 809), one of these being Alexander Creveceur, a member of a
distinguished Norman family, who owned lands in Somersby, circa A.D.,
1242, and in several other parishes in this neighbourhood; the name also
appearing in the Battle Roll. They are now represented by the de
Courcy’s whose chief, Lord Kinsale, is premier Baron of Ireland, and
entitled by royal warrant to the singular privilege of keeping his hat on
in the Sovereign’s presence. Besides the Huntingdon property, the Priory
possessed house property in Lincoln, 900 acres of land in Honington, 120
in Bassingthorpe, 120 in Bucknall, 42 in Wyberton, 249 in Stixwould, with
the advowson of the Church; smaller amounts in Westby, Waynfleet,
Horkstow, Wymondham, Low Toynton, Tupholme, the advowson of Waynfleet
benefice; 2 tofts in Horsington, to provide candles for the altar, and a
pension from Alford; while the Prioress also received as lesser
perquisites, obits, mortuaries, Easter offerings, “shot for wax,”
“Lincoln farthings,” “Assize of bread and beer,” and various “fines and
amerciaments.” (Oliver’s “Religious Houses,” pp. 65, 6.)
As to the particular ecclesiastical order to which this Priory belonged,
authorities differ. In Thomas Coxe’s “Lincolnshire” (already referred
to), it is called a Gilbertine Institution; Stukeley (in his “Itinerarium
Curiosum,” vol. i., p. 88), calls it Benedictine; while Dugdale, in his
“Monasticon,” vol. i., No. 486, places it among the Benedictines, and in
vol. ii., No. 809, gives it as Gilbertine; while Noble and others call it
Cistercian. The Cistercians, however, were only a stricter sect of the
Benedictines. The early training of Gilbert had been mainly Cistercian,
and we shall therefore probably be right in saying that Stixwould Priory
was at first a Gilbertine, and afterwards changed to a Benedictine
establishment of the strictest order. As to the strictness of the
regulations, we gather full evidence from the accounts given by Dr.
Oliver, in his “Religious Houses on the Witham,” from which we here make
a few quotations. We may premise that, although the sisterhood consisted
nominally of a Prioress and Nuns, there was a resident male “Master of
the Nuns” (Court Rolls, 6 Richard I.); and, at times, at least, according
to Leland (“Collect.,” i., p. 92), there were also “Brothers” (fratres),
as at the Sempringham House, which Gilbert founded. The time of the nuns
was chiefly spent in works of charity, reading legends of the Saints,
solitary meditation and prayer (a perfunctory repetition of devotions,
which must too often have been deadening, rather than invigorating, to
spiritual life), and needlework, such as the embroidery of altar cloths,
&c. {196a} They were not even allowed to converse with each other,
except on permission from the Prioress; they could only converse with
friends from outside through a grating “of the length of a finger, and
barely a thumb’s breadth,” and with a veil over it, in the presence of
two “discreet sisters”; and all letters were inspected by the Prioress.
The Convent was so shut in by walls, as “scarcely (it was said) to leave
an entrance for birds,” and, during divine service, the door of the
choir, where they sat, was closed, so that they could not see, or be seen
by, strangers. The diet was of the plainest, and if a nun was
disobedient, it was reduced to bread and water. They were not allowed to
go beyond the Priory walls except to visit the sick, or attend funerals;
and even in the Priory garden, usually a resort for monastic recreation,
but an indulgence only granted to these sisters on Sundays and festivals,
they were allowed to pluck only jessamine and violets, except by special
permission. These rules, however, were occasionally relaxed; they were
permitted to cultivate music and dancing, and even to attend the village
sports (Oliver, p. 67, note 8); and the Prioress, who by charter had free
warren over the Priory lands, is said to have indulged in hawking and
hunting (Placit. de quo Warranto, 22 Edwd. I.) {196b} This house was
dissolved with more than 600 other monastic establishments by Henry VIII.
in the 27th year of his reign (A.D. 1536); a year later he founded in its
place, and with the same revenues, “for the good of his soul, and that of
his Consort Jane,” a Premonstratensian house, which, however, only
continued two years, when it, in turn, was abolished. The last Prioress
under the old regime was Helena Key; the first and only Prioress, under
the new regime, being Mary Missenden (Dugdale “Monast.,” iii., No. 81.)
The estates, as already mentioned, were bestowed, on the final
dissolution of this house, upon Robert Dighton. According to Speed, the
historian, the value of the estates was £163 1_s._ 2½_d._, which was in
those days a considerable sum. The steward for some of the Lindsey
estates of the Priory was John Heneage, brother of Sir Thomas Heneage of
Hainton; for others of the estates in the same division, Sir Robert
Dymoke; for the estates in Kesteven, Sir Robert Hussey, a younger brother
of Lord Hussey, of Sleaford; these two brothers having between them no
less than 23 stewardships for religious houses, that post being one of no
small emolument.
Nothing now remains of the Priory itself, beyond some stone coffins lying
close to the north wall of the parish church, which were found to the
west of the Abbey Farm house. There remained, however, until 1846, when
they were removed to give space for the present farm buildings, a postern
gate, and the east end of the Priory chapel {197} with a window of the
date of Edwd. III.; under the arch of the gateway were the arms of the
Leake family of Lincolnshire carved on a truss of wood, “Argent a chief,
gules, over all a bend engrailed, azure.” A rough sketch of these
remains by Mr. Willson, architect, is in the possession the lord of the
manor and from it a sketch is given by the Rev. J. A. Penny, late Vicar,
in vol. iii., of “Linc. N. & Q.” p. 161. The moat round the Priory
enclosed an area of about 4 acres, and was connected with the Witham,
about three-quarters of a mile distant, doubtless for the conveyance of
goods to the monastery, as well as for the renewal of the moat water, and
that of the stew ponds, a matter of some importance where a supply of
fish was required for the “fasting” diet of “the religious.”
We now proceed to a description of the church, dedicated to St. Peter,
which possesses features of more than usual interest. This was rebuilt
in 1831, the architect being Mr. W. A. Nicholson, of Lincoln.
The former building was on the same site as the present, but larger.
Wilson (architect, of Lincoln), in a MS. collection of churches (vol.
ii., p. 87), has the following notes on the earlier fabric:—“Stixwould,
spacious; has been elegant, full of curious remnants; style, Edwd. VI. or
Henry VIII.; tower very handsome, but much decayed, the walls being built
of soft-grained stone (_i.e._, the usual ‘Spilsby’ sandstone). Interior
has been very beautiful, lofty pointed arches, roof of nave and south
aisle supported on rich carved figures of angels, with shields, etc.;
windows full of scattered remnants of beautiful stained glass; old oak
desks and benches with carved (finials); curious font; upper end of south
aisle inclosed by two screens of oak, mutilated, but exquisitely rich and
elegant; this is called ‘the little choir,’ and belongs to Halstead Hall
in Stixwould; choir screen very lofty, with front of rood-loft over it,
painted with Ten Commandments, in ‘black letter’; choir same date as
nave; east window spoilt; some ancient slabs, one of two children of the
Welby family (this is now lost) in the little choir; both aisles have had
altars; two bells; curious stone, with letters like a clock face, in
front of tower {198} (N.B.—This was removed some years ago, to Newport,
Lincoln, but has been seen at Stixwould by the present writer). Base and
part of pillar of churchyard cross remain; Mr. Turnor (lord of the
manor), took some painted glass from the church ‘to the Hall at Stoke
Rochford’.” So far, Mr. Willson. We may add that the panels of the
pulpit of Lea Church, 12 miles beyond Lincoln, were taken from Stixwould.
As to the present fabric, I have been favoured with the following
observations by the Rev. J. Alpass Penny, Vicar of Wispington, formerly
of Stixwould. The church consists of nave, chancel, and a good tower
containing two bells; one of these being exactly the same as that in the
Guildhall at Lincoln, with date 1370, dedicated to “St. Katrine,” with
Nottingham foundry mark, founder’s initials, and merchant’s mark. The
pinnacles and figures on the tower are from the former tower; the choir
screen, now only one third of the original, consists of three equal-sized
bays, the central one forming a doorway; and has been pronounced by Dr.
F. Mansel Sympson (“Architectural S. Journal,” 1890, p. 211) to be “of
excellent work;” it has however, been recently removed, by the late vicar
(in 1899), from the chancel arch to its eastern wall, and now forms a
rather elegant reredos. The chancel was enlarged, and the nave reseated,
in 1864. The stone slab in the nave floor, nearest to the Chancel arch,
of date 1722, is in memory of a Boulton, who, as well as his ancestors
for several generations, resided at the Abbey Farm house: he stabbed his
mother to death in the little chapel outside the Priory gate, no longer
existing. {199} The stone figure-heads and angels within the church
belonged to the former edifice, as did also the bench ends south of the
nave. The royal arms, with date 1662, formerly in the church, are now in
a wall of the entrance hall at the Abbey Farm house; and the holy water
stoup is now under the pump in the school yard. There is a fine slab,
with cross, lying outside the tower, which was dug up on the site of the
Priory, also a stone coffin; other fragments were found in the vicarage
garden. The font is octagonal, divided into panels by rich pinnacles
with lions and flowers, the panels bearing four quaintly-cut emblems of
the Evangelists, with names in black letter, but now very indistinct; the
figures between them being a monk, seated in chair, and holding Y in his
hand, representing January; next, a man with arms akimbo, facing east,
meaning February; next, a friar, for March; and next, a man in flat cap
with sword, holding a rose in his left hand, and his right resting on his
belt, for April. This curious font is engraved, in outline, by James
Sandly Padley, in his work “Selections from the Ancient Monastic,
Ecclesiastical, and Domestic Edifices of Lincolnshire.” Waterlow, 1851.
The register dates from 1543. In a parish book are some curious items
between 1624 and 1629, or the early years of the reign of Charles I.
These shew that the parish overseers “held the artillery in charges,”
also the “town musket and knapsack.” The military forces were at that
time a sort of militia, maintained by local rates, and every parish
contributed towards it, in money, arms, and accoutrements. Probably
these contributions were sometimes compounded for by a lump payment, as
we here find mention of a sum being paid “for excusing of the town” from
its liability. There is also mention of alms being given to certain
persons who had been taken prisoners “by the Dunkirkers” _i.e._, the
Dunkirk privateers. This, however, must belong to a rather later date,
since the English and Dutch were in conflict at Dunkirk in 1635, and
Dunkirk was taken by the French and English from the Spaniards, and
finally handed over to England, in the last year of Cromwell’s
administration, June, 1658.
Mention is also made of the payment of “dog-whippers,” officials who
drove dogs out of the church at the time of service. In some churches in
Wales the whips are still to be seen. Another item is the payment of
“dyke-reeve,” a very useful official in parishes in, or bordering on, the
fens, where inundations were only to be avoided by keeping the “dykes and
meres” in proper order.
We are enabled to give here a list of the vicars of Stixwould from A.D.
1425 to the present time, except for an interval of about 70 years,
through the researches of Mr. Gibbon, author of “Early Lincolnshire
Wills.” Thomas Lane, 1425–1440; Giles Storror, 1440–1472; John
Shadworth, 1472–1482; Thomas Tymson, 1482–1485; Alexander Anyson,
1485–1502; John Aby, 1502–1520; John Robynson, 1520–1530; John Oregower,
1530. Down to this date, all appointments had been made by the Lady
Prioress; and there is a gap in Mr. Gibbon’s list till 1603. We are,
however, able partly, if not entirely, to fill up the gap, since we find
that in 1548, Thomas Wilson, clerk, S.T.B., was presented by Edmund
Dighton, of Donington (kinsman, doubtless, of Robert Dighton, to whom the
Priory estates were granted by Henry VIII. on the Dissolution), “this
turn of advowson being given by the late Prioress and convent of B.V.”
(Institutions to Benefices, “Architectural Journal,” 1898, p. 476, No.
328). Also, in a List of Institutions in the 16th century, without date,
but among several others in the middle of that century (“Linc. N. & Q.”
vol. vi., No. 45, p. 10), we find John Cressie, clerk, appointed by
Thomas Disney, of Carlton-in-Moreland, gentleman, by grant of the
Prioress to him and others, vacant by resignation of John Boysworth, and
these three nominations may well have embraced the 70 years. The next
vicar was probably Richard Travisse, who is mentioned in Mr. Gibbon’s
list as signing, in 1603, a bequest (and therefore, we may assume, near
the close of his vicariate) of “xl_s._”, the interest to be used “for the
benefit of the poor, and church, of Stixwould.” He was succeeded by
Thomas Burton, buried October 21st, 1617. Then followed Francis Bowman,
vicar in 1618; Richard Skiggs, 1648; John Skelton, 1665: a note here
states that from 1677 to 1704, being in the time of Mr. Fox, vicar, the
registers were all on loose papers, and were lost by W. Reading, vicar.
(This Thomas Fox was appointed by Sir John Coventry, K.B., in 1685). He
was succeeded by William Reading, just named; who was followed by Anthony
Baker, appointed by Lord Anson, 1753; George Blennerhaysett (also vicar
of Saxilby) was appointed by Thomas Anson in 1767; Bernard Cracroft (also
vicar of Bardney) was the first nominee of Edmund Turnor, of Panton, in
1778; William Mounsey, 1802; Washbourn Uvedale, 1832, who died within the
year; William Gurdon Moore, 1833; John Francis Wray, 1839; John Woodlands
Watkin, 1852; William Lush, 1870; William Bennett, 1881; J. A. Penny,
1888; A. R. Wilson, 1896; James Bryan Turner, 1901.
We now proceed to treat of the Halstead Hall estate, in this parish,
formerly a distinct lordship. The earliest mention we can find of this
as a separate manor, is in the 13th century, a deed of that period naming
Roger, son of Roger de Stixwould, and Sir Theobald de Stykeswald, knight:
this Theobald also witnessed a deed as “Dominus Theobaldus de Halstead,”
May 22nd, 1281. (“Linc. N. & Q.” 1897, p. 82). Their grandfather would
appear to have been the Roger de Stixwould who, with Gerard de Camvill,
was sheriff of Lincoln A.D. 1190, and again 1192–1193. In the survey of
the county, made between 1114 and 1118, Ralph de Stixwould is named as
holding 1 carucate and 4 oxgangs (180 acres) in Edlington, under Ranulph
de Meschin, Earl of Lincoln, son of the second Lady Lucia, already
referred to. We may therefore infer that these four generations, at that
early period, resided at Halstead, being designated indifferently “de
Stikeswald” or “de Halstead.” We have then to pass over an interval of
more than 180 years, when, in 1465, a Richard Welby, of Moulton, names
Halstead in his will as part of his property. He was sheriff in 1471,
and M.P., 1472. We find a Chancery Inquisition (18 Henry VII., No. 96)
held at Spalding, 24 April, 1503, whereby it was shown that Thomas Welby,
who was sheriff in 1492, died October 16, 1497, seised of the manors of
Moulton, Freeston, Sutton, Farlesthorpe, and Halstead, besides lands in
several other parishes. (“Architectural S. Journal,” 1895, p. 18).
His will was dated Dec. 9, 1493; the executors being Sir Edward Borough,
knt., Sir G. Tailbois, knt. (a name, as we have seen, already connected
with this parish), and others.
He was succeeded in these possessions by his son and heir, another Thomas
Welby. In 1586, Vincent Welby, “of Hawstead” Esq., is mentioned, along
with Thomas Dighton, of Waddingworth (another name already mentioned in
connection with Stixwould), Sir E. Dymmock, Sir G. Heneage, etc., as
contributing “horses and lances” for the defence of the country against
the Spanish Armada. (“Architect. S. Journal,” 1894, p. 213). This
Vincent Welby was son of the above, second, Thomas Welby, {202} by
Dorothy, daughter of Vincent Grantham, of Goltho, near Wragby, and of St.
Martin’s Lincoln; a name still surviving in good position in the county.
Vincent Welby also subscribed, in 1589, £25 towards the loan for the
defence of the country, along with his neighbours, Robert Phillips, of
Wispington, Robt. Smithe, of Horsington, Willm. Heneage, of Benington,
and others. (“Linc. N. & Q.” vol. ii., p. 133).
In 1561, March 21st, Richard Welby, of Halstead, was granted the crest of
“an arm armed, the hand charnell (_i.e._, flesh-coloured or ‘proper’)
yssving out of a cloud, azure, in a flame of fire,” the arms are “sable a
fess, between three fleur de lys, argent,” with six quarterings. This
coat of arms is said to have been formerly over a mantelpiece in Halstead
Hall, but was removed, several years ago, to Denton Hall. In the year
1561, this Richard Welby, of Halstead, was Sheriff of Lincoln. There are
many entries of the Welbys in the parish registers of Stixwould; the last
of these occurs in 1598.
The next who owned, and resided at Halstead, was Richard Evington, who
was buried at Stixwould. By his will, dated 22nd January, 1612, he left
his lands in Edlington and other places to his two sons, Maurice and
Nicholas, and bequeathed the sum of £4 10_s_. “yearlie, at the discretion
of my executors, to the poore of Stixwolde, on the 25th March, and 29th
Sept.” This family did not, apparently, long remain at Halstead, since
we find entries in the Register of the death of this Richard, 10 March,
1610; and the baptism of Maurice, son of Nicholas Evington, 2 Nov., 1611;
and we hear no more of them, another family succeeding, of whom there are
the following mentions in the register:—“Mr. George Townshend Esqr. died
att Halstead and was buried att Waddingworth on Wednsdaie _night_ the
13th of Februarie 1627,” and “Mr. Kirkland Snawden [note the local
pronunciation for Snowden] and Mrs. Townsend married the 25th of December
being Christmas daie 1628.” {203} No reason is assigned for the somewhat
unusual burial by night (though still occasionally practised), but he was
probably a Papist, not entitled to burial in a Protestant churchyard.
Notice is specially drawn to the second entry, by a hand with finger
extended towards it, sketched in the margin, implying probably some
covert allusion. This Kirkland Snowden was a grandson of the Bishop of
Carlisle, his father, the Bishop’s son, being Vicar of Horncastle, the
rectorship being vested in the Bishop of Carlisle, who had a residence in
Horncastle at that time, at the back of the premises now occupied by
Messrs. Lunn and Dodson. Mr. George Townshend belonged to the Norfolk
family of that name, and left his Manor of Cranworth in that county to
his eldest son Thomas. This Kirkland Snowden is elsewhere named Rutland
Snowden. Their eldest son, Robert, had a daughter Jane, who married
Charles Dymoke of Scrivelsby, and their eldest daughter Abigail, married
Edward Dymoke, younger son of Sir Edward Dymoke, 18 July, 1654, and was
ancestress of the Tetford branch of the Dymokes, now also (1904) of
Scrivelsby.
After this the Gibbon family lived at Halstead, coming from Tealby, and
are supposed to have owned it, the baptism of “John Gibon” being
registered in 1666. Another owner of Halstead was Sir John Coventry,
Bart., who as before stated, presented to the benefice of Stixwould in
1685. His sister married the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, who is said to
have been entertained more than once with a large retinue at Halstead.
Sir John was the subject of various attacks, for using offensive language
concerning his eccentric Sovereign, Charles II, asking in Parliament
“whether the King’s pleasure lay in the men, or women players” at the
theatres; in consequence of which “The Coventry Act” was passed in 1671,
making it felony to maim or disfigure a person, and declaring the
Sovereign incompetent to pardon such offenders. Halstead, subsequently,
became the property of Sir William Kyte, or Keate; then of Lord Anson,
and his son Thomas Anson, who presented to the benefice in 1767, and it
was in 1778, bought by Edmund Turnor, Esq., of Stoke Rochford. Having
been the residence of these various owners of wealth and position, we can
hardly doubt that Halstead Hall was formerly much larger then it is at
present, and there still remains, as a part of the farm buildings, a
lofty structure with stone-framed windows; the walls being of brick,
smaller than those of modern times, and relieved by diamond-shaped
patterns of black bricks, indicating a care and taste in the style of
erection, which would hardly have been bestowed upon a mere barn. It
probably dates from the 15th century. {204} The present Hall, probably
erected in the 16th century, is a two-storeyed structure; the rooms not
large, but lofty, their height on the ground floor being over 10ft, and
on the upper floor more than 13ft, with spacious attics above, for
stores; the walls are very substantial, being 2½ft. thick; while the
windows, with their massive mullions of Ancaster stone, would indicate a
much larger building; and foundations of further buildings have, from
time to time, been discovered.
In recent times Halstead Hall has been chiefly remarkable for the great
robbery, which occurred there on February 2nd, 1829, the details of which
are so peculiar that we give them here. The Hall was at that time
occupied by the farming tenant, Mr. Wm. Elsey, his wife, and servants.
At 8 o’clock in the evening, when the servant men went out to “supper-up”
the horses, they were attacked by seven or eight men, thrown down, their
legs tied, and their hands secured behind their backs, and each was left
in a separate stall of the stable. The stable door was then locked, and
one of the gang was stationed outside to keep watch. The thieves then
went to the Hall, and knocked at the back door. One of the servant girls
asked who was there; when the answer was given, “Open the door, Betsy.”
She did so; when four or five men rushed into the kitchen. One of the
maids escaped, and ran to the room where her master and mistress were
sitting. Mr. Elsey was smoking his pipe; Mrs. Elsey preparing something
for supper. She saved the silver spoon, which she was using, by slipping
it into her bosom. Mr. Elsey seized the poker to defend himself; but, on
seeing their number, he prudently laid it down. They then rifled his
pockets, took his watch and money; also making Mrs. Elsey empty her
pockets. They then obliged the two to go into a large closet, locked the
door, and tied a hayfork across it. They then collected what plate they
could find, to the value of about £30, and £50 in cash; taking also all
the silk handkerchiefs they could find. They then ransacked the
property, and made a hearty meal. Mrs. Elsey, in her confinement close
by, complained to them that she was very cold, and begged them to let her
out to get to the fire. Accordingly, one of them brought her out to the
fire; but seeing that she was noticing them, he ordered her to go into
the closet again, giving her some of the overcoats, which were hanging in
the passage near. When they had got all they wanted, they compelled Mr.
Elsey to go upstairs, one walking before him, and another behind, each
holding a pistol. They then obliged Mrs. Elsey to follow him. Having
locked up the two once more in the closet, the marauders went off with
their plunder, wishing them good night, and saying that, if any alarm was
given, they would return to retaliate. About two hours afterwards, Mr.
Elsey, with the aid of a knife and small hammer, succeeded in making a
hole through the brick wall of the closet, through which one of the maids
was able to thrust her arm and set them at liberty. The only article
recovered was a plated coffee-pot found in Halstead wood, which the
thieves had thrown away. The footpath, outside this wood, passes near a
farmhouse, and the farmer named Sleight, heard the voices of the thieves
as they went by in the night; and some of them were found drunk by the
roadside next morning. An old woman still alive (1904), and aged 93, has
told the writer that she remembers this robbery well; that two of the
robbers were hanged together at Lincoln, with a sheep-stealer “Bill
Clarke,” the last time that offence was punished by hanging; these two
were known as “Lister,” (others say “Tippler,”) and “Tiger Tom”; {206a}
the latter was a desperate character, and it was thought that no one
would take him; but two men, powerfully built and fearless, David English
of Hameringham, and a keeper named Bullivant, were set to the task, and
they succeeded in running their men down at “The Bungalow,” a small
public house on the bank of the Witham at Boston. {206b} Of the last
hanged it is said, that he was such a bad character, that his own mother
foretold that he would “die in his shoes,” and that, on the scaffold, he
shook off his shoes, in order to falsify her prediction. One of them,
who was transported for life, leagued with two other criminals on board
the same vessel, and the three were caught in the act of attempting to
scuttle the ship, and were afterwards thrown overboard. As a tinge of
romance not uncommonly has attended daring exploits of this character, it
was remarked at the time that Italian banditti could hardly have planned
the robbery more cleverly, or carried it out with more deliberate
courage. Some mystery seemed to hang about the apparent leader of the
party, whose demeanour was said to be above that of his temporary
position; and one of them, Timothy Brammar, was exalted into a hero, by
being celebrated in a ballad.
There are some rather singular field-names in this parish; as
“Bull-pingle,” to the east, one field from the road to Horsington;
“pingle” being a Lincolnshire word for a small inclosure (Brogden’s
“Provincial Words.”) “The Devil’s Parlour” is a triangular field,
abutting on “The Monk’s Drain,” adjoining the Bull-pingle. “The Coulter
Cast” adjoins Poolham Ings; it is a narrow strip, probably difficult to
plough; hence the names adjoining this, are the “High” and “Low”
“Priest’s Fields.” All these fields are in the Halstead manor. In
Stixwould proper, is “The Field,” _par excellence_, probably one of the
earliest clearings, and so named to distinguish it from the “Wood,” or
“Would,” the “Field,” was where the trees had been “felled;” then there
are the “Warren Field,” “The Sykes,” “Hemp-yard,” the “Town Close,”
probably where the villeins had right of common pastures. “Coney-Green,”
like the “Warren Field,” has a reference to the rabbits, being the term
used in Norman law, for warren, although in some cases, like the
“Coney-Garth,” at Bardney, or “Coney-Green,” at Edlington, it means,
probably, the “King’s Enclosure.” Such names as “Steer Piece,” “Ewes
Walk,” “Sheep-cote Lane” (_i.e._, Sheep Bank Lane,) and “Cow Legs,” speak
for themselves. There is also the “Mill Field,” although there is no
tradition of a mill having existed; possibly there may have been a mill
in connection with the drainage. At the junction of the three roads,
east of the village, the Roman “Trivium,” formerly stood, what to the
rustic offender was no “trivial” matter, the village stocks, doubtless
with the usually concomitant “whipping post.” These stood on what was
called “The Town Mound,” which was levelled about the middle of the last
century, and is now only represented by a triangular plot of sward.
Near the Witham, in a field south of the road to the ferry, the Rev. J.
A. Penny, late vicar, found fragments of mediæval pottery, pieces of
“puzzle jugs,” the neck of a “pilgrim’s bottle,” &c., all of which the
late Sir Augustus Franks, of the British Museum, pronounced to be
Cistercian ware, being only found where Cistercian houses have existed.
In the church of St. Andrew, Woodhall Spa, is a sepulchral stone, having
a rather rudely-carved effigy of a lady, in the attitude of prayer,
holding a book between her hands. This now supports the credence table,
but it was taken from Stixwould priory, and is commonly supposed to have
represented the Lady Prioress, or the Lady Lucia, the foundress; the
latter, however, was buried at Spalding, and would therefore hardly have
an effigy at Stixwould.
STOURTON.
Stourton, called Stourton Magna, or Great Stourton, to distinguish it
from Stourton Parva, the hamlet included in Baumber, is rather more than
a mile, northward, beyond Baumber, and five miles from Horncastle. This
was formerly the property, a sheep-walk, of the Premonstratensian Abbey
of St. Mary, of Tupholme, founded by Robert de Nova Villa or Nevill, in
the twentieth year of Henry III. (“Liber Regis,” Bacon’s ed. 1786, p.
424). Dugdale states that he held the lands of the king _in capite_,
from the time of the Conquest, with which he endowed that monastery.
(“Monasticon,” vol. ii., 596.) Land in this parish was also granted by
the Conqueror, to Eudo, son of Spirewick, the founder of the Tattershall
family. He held five carucates, or about six hundred acres, beside a
mill, and 190 acres of meadow. The powerful Bishop of Durham, William de
Karilepho, who was Lord Chief Justice under the Conqueror, had also a
grant of land in this parish, as also had Odo, Bishop of Baieaux, and his
vassal, Ilbert, occupied one carucate, or 120 acres, with villeins,
bordars, and socmen under him, occupying 480 more acres. The Saxon thane
Grinchel also had here 360 acres, valued in King Edward’s time at 40_s._
In the reign of Henry VIII. the family of Dighton, though of mercantile
origin at Lincoln, ancestors having been mayors and sheriffs of that
city, were landed proprietors in this neighbourhood, one of them, Thomas,
residing at Waddingworth; but the head of the family was Robert Dighton,
of Stourton Magna, he married Joyce, daughter and heiress of William St.
Paul, of Snarford, which family became extinct on the death of Sir George
St. Paul, Bart., in 1613. Robert of Stourton, along with members of the
Heneage, Dymoke, Monson, Hussey, and very many other leading county
families, took part in the Lincolnshire rising, to protest against the
dissolution of the monasteries. A daughter of Thomas Dighton, of
Stourton, married Edward Clinton, of Baumber, who subsequently became
Earl of Lincoln. {209} The residence of the Dightons, traces of which
still remain in the moats and mounds, was situated on land now belonging
to W. H. Trafford, Esq., in what is now a grass field, about a mile to
the west of the present Stourton Hall park and plantations, lying between
the road, on the north, from Stourton Magna to Minting and Bardney, and,
on the south, the main Baumber, or Horncastle and Lincoln, old Roman
highway. It must have been a building of some considerable size; the
moat, which enclosed nearly a square, the sides, just under 100 yards
long, is distinctly traceable, the whole of the surface of the inclosure
is covered with mounds or depressions; there is an apparent opening in
the middle of the south-western side, and outside, to the south, are
traces of a large stew-pond, E-shaped, in length thirty-six yards, by
thirty broad, with a small pond, or reservoir behind it. A modern drain
has been made on this south-west side, probably to draw the water off the
moat, as these moats and ponds were periodically cleaned out. A
footpath, forming a short cut between the above-named two roads, passes
east of these remains, so that they can be easily approached and
inspected. This path branches off from the Horncastle and Lincoln high
road, at a gate nearly opposite some cottages named the “Hungrum Houses”.
Sturton is believed to have been a Roman station. It is close to the old
road from Horncastle to Caistor, both Roman towns.
The church, dedicated to All Saints, although a heterogeneous mixture of
a variety of styles, and for many years in a dilapidated condition, has
some very interesting features. The vicar, the Rev. F. M. Blakiston,
following up the efforts of his predecessor, the Rev. E. B. Bland, is now
(1904) raising money to restore the fabric, and with Mr. J. T.
Micklethwaite, as architect, the result will doubtless be a creditable
structure. The cost of complete renovation is estimated at close upon
£2,000, so that the work may probably have to extend over some years.
Although the aspect of the church has been one of ruin and desolation,
there are traces of the work of seven centuries. Domesday Book mentions
a church as existing in Saxon times, but of that, nothing remains. The
oldest parts of the present fabric belong to the 12th century. At that
time the nave was two-thirds of its present length, and the chancel was
narrower. In the 13th century a north aisle, with two arches, and
probably a tower, with a third and larger north arch, were added. In the
14th century a new chancel was built, wider and probably longer. Then
followed a period of neglect and varied vicissitudes. In the 17th
century the chancel was shortened, and the present east wall cuts away
part of an eastern sepulchre, in the north chancel wall. The north aisle
was taken down probably about this period. The upper part of the tower
was removed, probably early in the 19th century, as the bells, three in
number, are said to have been sold in 1810. The stones of the tower and
aisle were used for building two sides of the churchyard wall. Nothing
now remains of the tower, except the string course at the top of the
truncated basement, {210} which now forms part of the nave. There are
still stones of a Norman arch in the south wall at the back of the modern
porch. An original window, small and much dilapidated, remains in the
north wall of the chancel, a larger one having been bricked up. There is
a priest’s door in the south wall. The westernmost window in the south
wall of the nave is a relic of the 14th century, the renovation, being of
floriated style, with two lights. In the floor of what was the tower are
portions of stone, from the windows of the former aisle, much broken.
The rest is modern, as is also the roof of the nave. What is now used as
a font is really an old mortar, the old font in Perpendicular style
having been, it is said, sold about 40 years ago, and removed to the
garden of a farmhouse in the adjoining parish of Edlington, where it
still remains. The furniture of the church is of the 18th century, or
later, but there is a good old oak chest. On the western portion of the
north wall is a curious fresco, not probably of very ancient date,
consisting of a skeleton, and a winged figure rising from a sepulchral
monument, which bears an inscription, mostly illegible, “Redeem the time,
&c.” The chancel arch, now almost ruinous, is part of the original
building; south of it, is a tablet, in memory of “William Settle, Clerk,
who departed this life, July 4, 1848, born at Urswick, in the County of
Lancaster, graduated at Trinity College, Cambridge, aged 82, and 52 years
vicar of this parish.” The Settles have a burial vault in the
churchyard. The register dates from 1679. The name of William Vaux
appears as vicar, from 1690 to 1719. One entry is as follows:—“Margaret
Vaux the 21st child of William Vaux and Elizabeth his wife was baptized
ye 23 of October 1718,” and shortly after, follows, in a different hand,
“Mr. William Vaux, vicar, buryed May ye 30, 1719.” The family would seem
to have continued to reside in the parish, for we find recorded the
burial of Mary Vaux, February 19, 1720; that of Margaret Vaux, September
3rd, 1721; and that of Elizabeth Vaux, “January ye 10, 1755.” Of the
rest of the numerous progeny of this fruitful couple no traces remain.
A small hamlet in this parish is named Lowthorpe, probably from its
position; while a farm, belonging to Mr. Robert Harrison, of Horncastle,
who is Lay-Rector, is named “Sturton Stoup” farm. This name, however,
has no connection with the “Stoup,” or holy-water vessel of the church;
but “Stoup” is a Lincolnshire word, meaning a post, or stake. The
farmhouse was, within recent years, a wayside inn, called “The Stoup”;
and the “stoup” was a post, or stake, planted in the middle of an
adjoining green lane to prevent its being used as a thoroughfare. The
parish was inclosed in 1778.
The benefice of Stourton was formerly in the patronage of the Crown, and
there was a Vicarage house, standing in its own grounds, in what is now
an open field, south of the churchyard. This was demolished many years
ago. The Vicarage was united to that of Baumber, in the patronage of the
Duke of Newcastle, about the year 1870, the consolidated benefices being
now in the gift of the Lord Chancellor. They had, however, been held
together by at least three previous incumbents. The communion plate is
old, although only the chalice bears a date, 1648.
TETFORD.
Tetford, which adjoins Belchford, lies to the north-east of Horncastle,
at a distance of about 7 miles; though a village with a population under
500, it almost aspires to the rank of a small town, as it possesses more
than one street; has several shops, and a number of fair residences.
Letters _via_ Horncastle, arrive at 10 a.m. At the date of Domesday
Book, it was one of the limited number of parishes which then possessed a
church. Saxon thanes, by name Elmer, Arnwi and Britrod, held lands here.
Thomas, Archbishop of York, formerly a Canon of Baieux, in Normandy, and
one of the Conqueror’s Chaplains, received a grant of land here from his
Sovereign; and we find his vassal, Gilbert, occupying under him two
carucates with eight villeins and seven socmen, who had two more
carucates (240 acres) among them. The Norman Gozelin, son of Lanbert,
also held land here, which was occupied by his vassal, Walter, with five
socmen, and three villeins. At a later date (13th century) the family of
De Hesele were proprietors in Tetford, and benefactors to the church,
also presenting to the benefice of Somersby, as well as to that of
Tetford (“Linc. N. & Q.” 1894–5, pp. 228–29). Then we find the Cormayles
family holding lands here, and presenting to Somersby. The Crevequers,
and the Brayboeufs had the presentation to a chapelry here, of St.
Bartholomew, besides owning land. After them followed the Barkworths,
and to them succeeded the Thimbelbies. In the Court of Ward’s
Inquisitions (3, 4, and 5, Edwd. VI., vol. v., 91) we find Matthew
Thimbleby, who married Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Hussey, about 1521,
seised of the advowsons of Tetford and Somersby; and his widow married
Sir Robert Savile, Knt., who (through her apparently) was seised
(according to Chancery Inquisition, post mort., 28 Eliz., 1st part, No.
116) of the manors of Tetford, Somersby, and several others. Sir Robert
disposed of some of the property thus acquired, selling Tetford to George
Anton, Esq., through whose daughter Elizabeth, married to Sir Edward
Hussey, the property passed to the Hussey family, whose head, Lord
Hussey, of Sleaford, for his treachery at the time of the Lincolnshire
Rebellion, was attainted and executed, by Henry VIII. A widow, Elizabeth
Hussey, presented to the benefice as late as 1690. For many years a
branch of the Dymoke family were located at Tetford, until, under the
will of the late Lionel Dymoke, they succeeded to the Scrivelsby
property, and removed to Scrivelsby Court. Sir Hugh A. H. Cholmeley is
now lord of the manor, but the principal landowners are Meaburn
Staniland, Esq., F. S. Dymoke, Esq., the executors of George Westerby,
and many small freeholders. There was formerly a Tetford Literary Club,
having as its members most of the gentry of the neighbourhood; one of
whom, Langhorne Burton, of Somersby, celebrated the association in an
amusing poem, of some 200 lines, published in 1772. It is given in
Weir’s History, of date 1828. Dr. Samuel Johnson attended the meetings
of this club, when visiting the Langtons of Langton Hall; and he is said
to have played skittles at the White Hart Inn, in Tetford. There are
traces of an ancient encampment in this parish, probably the scene of
struggles between Britons and Saxons. It lies between the two main
streets, to the south, and on one side is skirted by a beck which forms
one of the feeders of the Somersby stream, sung of by Tennyson as “The
Brook.” Here, Leland (“Collectanea,” vol. i., pt. 2., p. 509) states
that Horsa, brother of Hengist, the Saxon General, was defeated by the
Britons, under Raengeires; and the name, like that of Belchford, would
seem to be of British origin; “Tat” being a Druid deity, and “fford”
meaning a road.
The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a structure of Spilsby sandstone,
of some considerable antiquity, and of larger proportions than most of
those in the immediate neighbourhood. For many years it has been in a
sadly neglected condition, although of late it has been somewhat
improved. It is capable of being made an edifice fully worthy of divine
worship. The Puritan square pews survive for the most part; and a
western gallery, or singing loft, now disused. The nave has north and
south aisles of three bays, and a clerestory above. These, with the
tower, are in the Perpendicular style; the south aisle has some Decorated
features; and a lancet window in its west end, in which a crocheted open
canopy has been introduced, tells of a still earlier church. The north
aisle was rebuilt on the old foundations in 1826. The chancel arch has a
continuous moulding, without capitals. A closed arch in the north
chancel walls shews a former chantry on that side. The east window is
modern. There are traces in the south aisle indicating a former chantry
altar. The font is a plain octagon, the basin relieved by foliage at
each angle. On the south wall of the nave is a monument to Captain
Edward Dymoke, cousin to Champion Lewis Dymoke, who died 1739; with
breastplate and helmet suspended above. There are three other Dymoke
tablets; and one to J. Emeris, Fellow of Corpus xsti. College, Rector,
and Head Master of Louth Grammar School. The tower is massive, somewhat
low, though well-proportioned. It has small corner pinnacles, and
immense gurgoyles. On the right of the doorway, within the west porch,
is a stoup, rising from a stone bench. There are three bells; one weighs
1 ton, 1 cwt., 3 qrs., 7 lbs., and has the inscription “Sancta Maria, ora
pro nobis”; the second bell weighs 16½ cwts.; the third weighs 11 cwts.,
cast at Barton, by Harrison. The Sanctus bell stands on the floor. One
of these bells is said to have formerly belonged to the church at
Fulletby, when there was a larger fabric there than at present. In 1887
a Jubilee clock was put up, by subscription, made by Messrs. Maddison and
Blythe, of Horncastle. In 1903 the present rector, the Rev. W. Wood,
inaugurated, by a bazaar, a scheme for the much needed restoration of
this church, in which, it is to be hoped, he may be successful.
On the south side of the church is the base, and part of the shaft, of a
churchyard cross. Upon the former, several shields are cut; one of
these, within a quatrefoil panel, bears three bars in pale, four mullets
bendwise; and upon another is the same bearing, impaling a cinquefoil,
between 6 crosses plain. These were the Thimbleby bearings.
Tetford has been the scene of traditionary witchcraft, the following
anecdote having been related by a quondam inhabitant, whose widow still
survives. It has some resemblance to the story of the phantom hare at
Bolingbroke Castle.
Once upon a time, there lived in Tetford an old woman possessed of
magical powers. It was said that she could assume the form of a hare,
and, emerging from her cottage through the “cat hole” in the door, could
roam the country round at will. She had a son who was given to poaching.
The events on a particular occasion are recorded as follows: “Two men are
walking on the road from Somersby to Tetford in the evening; one carries
a gun. Just in front a hare passes through the hedge, and comes into the
road. “Bang at her, Jack,” says Joe. Jack puts gun to shoulder, and
aims, but for some reason, does not fire. He lowers his gun, then tries
again, but with the same result. “Dal it, Joe,” says Jack, “I cannot;
summat stops me. Tack thou the gun!” Joe seizes the gun, but the hare
is, by this time, nearly out of shot. However, he fires, and exclaims,
“Its noa goa, she’s hit i’ the leg, but it woant stop her.” They quicken
their steps, lest the shot might have attracted a keeper. Jack goes to
the cottage where his mother lives, while Joe goes to his home further
down the “street.” Jack goes to the pantry and empties a very roomy
pocket, inside his fustian coat, of its contents, we will not say what.
He brings out a mug of ale, and sits down by the fire, to enjoy it. His
mother is sitting on the other side of the fire, rather doubled up in her
chair, and with a look of pain on her wrinkled face, “What’s up Mother?”
asks Jack. “I’ve a bad pain i’ my leg,” she says, “it came on all of a
sudden, a few minutes ago.” “Rub it wi’ some o’ them oils ye’ve got,”
says Jack; “Let’s hev supper, and then ye’d better goa to bed.” “I’ve
hed my supper,” she says, “ye were so long o’ coming, that I did’nt wait
o’ ye, an’ I’ll goa to bed now.” She gets up with difficulty, hobbles
across the room, and slowly mounts the “lether” (ladder) to her bedroom.
Jack gets his supper, and then goes out to the ale-house not far off, for
a final pot, and chat, before “turning in.” There he meets Joe, and they
have a pipe together. In the course of conversation Jack says, “Mother’s
bad i’ the leg, she was ta’en all of a sudden a little afore I comed
hoam.” Joe laughs, and says, “I’d upode it, she’s bewitched hersen,
instead of some un else.” Next morning the old woman does not get up.
She calls to Jack, he goes to her, “My leg is worser, gie me some tea,
and then goa to the wise man at the town an’ ask him what’s the matter
wi’ me, for I feel that queer. Get my stocking out o’ yon chest, and
I’ll gie thee a crown to gie him for his fee.” To be brief, Jack attends
to her wants, gets his breakfast, and walks off some miles to the
neighbouring town. There he has a jug of ale, to refresh him after his
walk, and so goes to the wise man. He finds him at home, and tells his
errand. The wise man takes him into a back room, tells him to sit down,
while he lays out a big book on the table, and opens it at random. Jack
cannot read, but he would not be any wiser in this case, if he could, for
the page is covered with curious characters, which none but the wise man
can read, and a sceptic might suggest that he cannot either. The latter
then turns to a cupboard in the corner of the room, opens the door of it,
put his head inside, and _sotto voce_, mumbles something. Having done
this for a moment or two, as if conversing with some “familiar spirit” in
an unknown tongue, he throws the cupboard door wide open, whereupon out
flies a large “bumble-bee,” which circles, buzzing, round the room, and
at length settles on the open book. The wise man examines the particular
letters, or characters, on which the bee has settled. Having studied
them carefully, he says to Jack, “When did your mother first feel the
pain?” “Last night,” says Jack,” afore I came home to supper.” “When
did you shoot that hare?” asks the wise man. “I did not shoot a hare at
all,” replied Jack. The wise man consults the characters again, and then
says “No! I see you did not, but it was your gun that shot her.” At
this Jack is astonished, and tells the whole particulars. The wise man
says, “your good spirit kept you from shooting, because she was your own
mother, but your mate shot her with your own gun. Don’t you know that
your mother’s a witch, and goes out as a hare whenever she likes? Why, I
heard of her running across the road in front of a team of horses, in her
form of a hare and they were so scared that they nearly dragged the
waggon into a dyke. However,” he adds,” she’ll soon be well again.
Here’s the remedy: Catch a hedgehog, take a comb, and with it saw off one
of its legs, and tell her to rub her leg well with the hedgehog’s leg,
and the pain will soon go.” Jack journeyed home in high spirits, taking
a pot or two on the way, by way of self-congratulation; and my informant
deponeth that all came about as the wise man foretold.
Outside the boundary of Tetford, to the west, and strictly speaking in
the parish of Salmonby, a number of flint arrow-heads have been found on
Warlow farm, near a spot named “Warlow Camp.” They are of a trilobite
form, finely chipped, and about one inch in length, three-quarters of an
inch broad at base. They belong to the neolithic period; and from the
very crisp character of the chipping, it is evident that they have not
been used; there was probably a factory of such implements on the spot.
Several specimens may be seen at the house of Mr. Westerby, tenant of the
farm.
WADDINGWORTH.
Waddingworth is a small village, about 6 miles from Horncastle, in a
north-westerly direction, between Gautby and Wispington. The church,
dedicated to St. Margaret, is now in a very dilapidated condition. The
rectory is held at the present time (1904) by the Rev. L. Dewhurst, along
with that of Gautby, where he has a fairly commodious house, with
permission from the Bishop to hold only occasional services at
Waddingworth Church, as that at Gautby is almost equally convenient for
the people of both parishes.
The register dates from 1640, but entries are found in the registers of
Baumber, for this parish, from 1695 to 1779. At Bardney is the nearest
postal and telegraph office. Letters come _via_ Horncastle. It is
altogether a very out-of-the-way spot.
The antiquity of Waddingworth is probably shown in its name, which,
according to some, consists of the Saxon “Wodin” (or “Odin”), their God
of war (which name also appears in our Wednesday, or Wodin’s day), and
the Saxon “worth,” an inclosure, which also appears in several
place-names in the neighbourhood, as Benniworth, Faldingworth,
Hag-_worth_-_ing_ham. The last of these names, however, suggests a
derivation which I am inclined to think more probable. Divide the name
into three elements, and we get wad, or “woad,” a plant greatly valued by
the Britons, who dyed their bodies with it (and which name would continue
through the Saxon period, as it does still), and “ing,” Saxon for meadow,
and “worth,” Saxon for enclosure, the whole meaning an “enclosed field of
woad”; enclosed, doubtless, because of the value of the woad. It is
still a valuable crop, and frequently mixed with the Indian “Indigo.”
The earliest actual mention of Waddingworth is in Domesday Book, in which
there are two references to it. In one of these we are told that the
Conqueror gave part of the parish to the proud and powerful Bishop of
Durham, William de Karilepho, A.D. 1082, who was also Chief Justice of
England. There were 4 carucates of land, _i.e._, 480 acres, rateable to
gelt (a very small tax), the whole being 6 carucates, or 720 acres, with
20 acres of meadow (“ings”) and 25 acres of underwood. The other notice
is that the same amount of land was given by the Conqueror to one of his
distinguished Norman soldiers, Eudo the son of Spirewic. Eudo, it will
be remembered, was a comrade in arms of Pinco, the latter of whom
acquired large property in the neighbourhood of Spilsby, and his
descendants eventually became the Lords Willoughby d’ Eresby (_i.e._,
Spilsby). Eudo received the manor of Tattershall and several others, one
of these being a moiety of Waddingworth. He was the founder of Kirkstead
Abbey, which he richly endowed. This leads to a curious coincidence.
Dr. Oliver, the learned writer of “The Religious Houses on the Witham,”
mentions that among the possessions of Tupholme Abbey were lands in
Waddingworth. What more natural than that, in days when spending one’s
wealth on so-called religious works was a passport to heaven for the
giver, and for his forefathers or his descendants, Eudo should have
devoted some of his wealth to the Religious House at Tupholme, as well as
to the Religious House at Kirkstead? Tupholme was founded by two
brothers, Alan and Gilbert de Nevil, in 1160, Kirkstead was founded 1139.
At the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII. seized monastic
property, and this is why we find the King as Patron of Waddingworth in
“Liber Regis,” and also in much later authorities. It is, indeed, now in
the patronage of the Lord Chancellor, as representing the crown. The
Conqueror seized it by the right of conquest; Henry VIII. seized it as
the plunderer of monasteries. This carries us down to nearly the middle
of the 16th century. There were, however, other small proprietors who
owned land, besides these two prominent parties. At an early period,
there is a “Final Concord,” so called, or agreement, of the 13th century,
as follows:—“On October 19, A.D. 1200, Petronilla, the widow of Richard
de Waddingworth, claimed of Robert de Waddingworth, tenant of a 3rd part,
viz., 20 oxgangs (or 300 acres), with 6 tofts, in Waddingworth, besides
lands in Bucknall and Horsington, as her dower, given to her by her late
husband, the said Richard; and Robert surrendered all claim to the lands
in favour of the said Petronilla for her life, for which Petronilla gave
him 2½ marks.” After the dissolution of the monasteries, though the
crown retained the patronage of the benefice, the land seems to have
passed into several other hands. In 1559, Roger Fulstow, of
Waddingworth, claimed of his sovereign, Queen Elizabeth, protection
against the outrages committed by the mad Earl of Lincoln, who lived at
Tattershall; and was well known for his violent proceedings towards the
Saviles of Poolham, and others. {219a} He (Fulstow) was afterwards sent
on an embassy to the Landgrave of Hesse. Macaulay, the historian, says
that a Fulstow, of Waddingworth, incurred the displeasure of Henry VIII.,
and was punished, though he does not say how. This was probably the same
man earlier in life, and the employment of him, by Elizabeth, shows that,
having annoyed the father, he recovered the favour of the daughter. But
even earlier than this, Thomas Dighton, of Waddingworth, gent. (son of
Edmund Dighton, and grandson of Robert Dighton, lord of the manor of
Stourton) was intimate with the Dymokes, and was visiting at Scrivelsby
Court at the time of the “Lincolnshire Rising,” against Henry VIII.
(otherwise called the Pilgrimage of Grace), in 1536, which led to the
merry monarch pronouncing his well-known criticism on the men of
Lincolnshire, that they were “the most beastly in all the realm.” These
Dightons came of a mercantile stock in Lincoln, where they were Mayors
and Sheriffs, and amassed large fortunes. One of them, Robert, of
Stourton, married Joyce {219b} St. Paul (or vulgarly Sampoole), daughter
and heiress of William St. Paul of Snarford, who was also involved in the
Rising aforesaid; the chief member of the family being Sir George St.
Paul, who died childless in 1614, when, with him, the family became
extinct. In the lists of those gentry who contributed to the defence of
the country, when the Spanish Armada was expected, are the names of G.
St. Paul, who contributed “1 lance, and 2 light horse”; while Thomas
Dighton, of Waddingworth, of that day, contributed also 1 lance, and 1
light horse. In the year 1546, Robert Hoberthorn, a native of
Waddingworth, became Lord Mayor of London (“Weir’s History,” vol. i., p.
313.) We have an early presentation to the Benefice of Waddingworth, in
John Smith, clerk, appointed by Queen Elizabeth to the Rectory, _vacant
by the resignation of Thomas Rumney_; this institution took place in
1563. {220a} This notice implies a good deal more than it contains to
the uninitiated. Thomas Rumney had doubtless to resign, or rather was
expelled from his living by “the bloody” Queen Mary, because he was a
Protestant, and the living, like many others, remained for some years
vacant, until the Protestant Queen Elizabeth, succeeding her sister Mary,
had time to look about her, and she in 1562 filled the vacancy by
instituting John Smith.
In the Stixwould Register there is an entry relating to Waddingworth,
stating that Mr. George Townshend died at Halstead Hall, and was buried
at Waddingworth “on Wensdaie night, the 13 of February, 1627.” The cause
of this is supposed to have been, that he was a Romanist, and therefore
could not legally be buried at a Protestant place of worship. Mr.
Rutland Snowden, and Mrs. Frances Townshend, were married “the 25
December, being Christmas daie, 1628.” This looks rather as if, after a
year’s delay after the death of Mr. G. Townshend, to be respectable, Mrs.
Townshend, his widow, married Mr. Rutland Snowden. {220b} I find another
record that Mr. George Townshend of Halstead Hall, by will, dated 1627
(he evidently dying rather suddenly) left his land in Waddingworth to his
second son, George, the executor being Nicholas Larke, parson of
Waddingworth. This Mrs. Townshend was the widow of an Evington of
Halstead Hall, so that she had three husbands, Rutland Snowden being the
last, and by him she had several children. He was the son of the Bishop
of Carlisle. They lived, it is recorded, at Horncastle, as they
naturally would do, the Bishop being then officially the Lord of the
Manor of Horncastle, having his episcopal residence near the present
manor house. He was buried at Horncastle in 1654, and his wife in 1658.
Richard Evington, of Halstead Hall, according to an old record, on his
death in 1612, left 40_s._ to Abdeel and Joel Larke, sons of the
above-named Mr. Nicholas Larke, parson, of Waddingworth. The will of
George Snowdon, of Waddingworth, was proved in 1704. He left his lands
in Waddingworth and Horsington to his nephew, Edward Dymoke, of Lincoln,
gentleman, and to his heirs. It is not clear who this George Snowdon
was, but Jane Snowden, granddaughter of Rutland and Frances Snowden,
married Charles Dymoke, of Scrivelsby, and died childless in 1743; and
Abigail Snowden, daughter of the same Rutland and Frances Snowden,
married Edward Dymoke, younger son of Sir Edward Dymoke, of Scrivelsby,
from whom sprang the Tetford branch, who now hold the property of
Scrivelsby and the Championship; and so Waddingworth passed to the
Dymokes. There is still a tablet in the church of Waddingworth referring
to these parties. It is a slab of black marble in the pavement, in the
centre of the nave, and runs as follows:—“Here lyes ye body of Edward
Dymoke, Esq., son of Edward Dymoke, of Tumby, in the County of Lincoln,
Esq., grandson of the Honble. Sir Edward Dymoke, Champion of England. He
married Mary, daughter and co-heiress of John Lodington, Esq., {221}
relict of Captain Booth, of Market Rasen, in the county of Lincoln, and
died April 29, A.D. 1729, aged 78 years, leaving Jane, his only surviving
daughter and heir, married to Edward Southwell, Esq. of Wisbeach, in the
county of Cambridge. Here also lies interred Abigail, daughter of the
said Edward Dymoke and Mary his wife, who died March 22nd, A.D. 1708,
aged 17 years.” Above this inscription are the crest, a sword and
mantle, and on the shield, two lions, crowned, passant. In course of
time the manor passed, through the above marriage, to Edward Southwell,
of the Trafford Southwell family, who now live at Wroxham, in Norfolk,
and who, with the Vyners of Gautby, own the parish.
The old Manor House, or Hall, stood in the centre of the parish, and was
at one time occupied by the Calthrop family, until they removed to West
Ashby Manor, near Horncastle; the last of them residing there is
remembered by the present writer, and there is a memorial in Ashby Church
of Richard Calthrop, an officer who fell during the siege of Algiers.
John Calthrop afterwards removed to Stanhoe Hall, in Norfolk. The old
Hall of Waddingworth was a ruin 60 years ago, and afterwards pulled down.
The outline of it can still be traced. The interesting old Rectory, of
mud and stud, still survives as a cottage, to the north of the
churchyard. There is an inverted base of a churchyard cross still
remaining on the south side of the Church. Over the west door, which is
of the Perpendicular style, but sadly dilapidated, is a reticulated
window, and above that, let into the wall, is an Early English tombstone,
or, more probably, a “consecration cross,” carved as a “cross flory,” in
heraldic phrase.
It is recorded that some ancient armour was some years ago found in a
cottage in the parish, consisting of the helmet, breast-plate,
back-piece, and gorget of a cavalier, probably a fugitive from the battle
of Winceby.
The Church, although now so dilapidated, was rebuilt in 1808, the
previous edifice having been a much handsomer and larger structure.
There was a very remarkable case of robbery, which occurred near this
parish, on January 2nd, 1841, and which is recorded in the “Stamford
Mercury,” of March 12th, of that year, with which we may fitly close our
records of Waddingworth.
Mr. James Turner, a considerable farmer, of Waddingworth, declared, on
his own public affidavit, that he was attacked by robbers when riding
home from Horncastle market, for, be it remembered, gigs were then little
used; men rode to and from market, and carried their wives behind them on
pillions (as the present writer has frequently seen, as a boy). To use
Mr. Turner’s words, he said, “When I had proceeded a quarter-of-a-mile
through the village of Thimbleby (which he needs must pass), a little
after 6 o’clock, p.m., I observed three men, walking in the middle of the
road, about 100 yards before me. I was riding at a canter, as it was
moonlight. Two of the men walked in the ‘ruts,’ on either side, and one
in the middle. He was a little behind the others, and he remained so,
till I nearly rode over him. I tried to turn out of the road, to avoid
him, but I then found he had seized my horse by the rein. The two men
said ‘good night,’ and I replied to the same effect. I then said to the
man, ‘What! Are you going to rob me?’ He made no reply, and I struck
him with my stick on the head. The mare I was riding then began to
plunge, and the other two took hold of me, and dragged me from my saddle.
I lit on my feet, but the mare got away. I struggled with the men, and
got away from them. The two stood on my left, and as I saw the third
coming in on my right, I struck at him, and he for the moment gave way,
but then, supported by the others, he again sprang at me, and seized me
by the collar (which in those days were large). The three then threw me
to the ground, and placed a stick across my throat, and so kept me down.
They hurt me considerably, but I lifted the stick across my throat to my
chin, which was much bruised. They then tore my waistcoat open and took
from my pocket a book containing blank cheques and memorandums, and my
game license. On this, they began muttering among themselves, and the
one who first attacked me, said, ‘Where’s your money?’ I threw myself,
as much as I could, on one side, to protect my ‘fob,’ but they tore my
breeches open, and took from my right-hand pocket two canvas purses, in
one of which I had two notes and some silver, and in the other £5 in
gold. They took all this, and an old-fashioned silver watch, and some
loose coins besides. I begged them not to murder me. They took from my
mackintosh a small bundle and threw it on the road, which contained my
banking book and memorandum book, both of which I subsequently recovered.
They then struck, or kicked, me violently in the ribs, and ran through a
gate into a field, towards Edlington.”
Mr. Turner testified to his recognising the men, as it was a moonlight
night, and he had seen one of them before, in Bucknall, an almost
adjoining parish. Further evidence was very strong against them. Anne
Dawson, whose husband kept the “Nag’s Head” Inn, at Bardney, proved that,
earlier on the same day, three men had called at the Inn, for
refreshment, and took the road for Thimbleby. Joseph Aukland also
testified that, in returning from Horncastle market, the same evening, he
saw the men only a few yards from the spot, before the robbery took
place. At the “Ram” Inn, at Stourton, three men called about 8.30 p.m.,
to have some ale, for which they paid, apparently (as was noticed) having
plenty of money, and asked their way to Market Rasen. On the next
morning, Sunday, at 7.30 a.m., one of them entered the “White Hart,” the
leading hotel in Rasen, and had refreshment. Later, two of them called
at a shop at Glentham, and produced two £5 notes (such as were stolen).
They were then on their way to Gainsborough. They subsequently went to
the “Dog and Gun” Inn at that place, and the landlord changed a £5 note
for them, and a Mrs. Watson another of the same value. One of them, next
day, bought a new coat at Gainsborough, for £4 13_s._; one prisoner was
taken at Lynn, in Norfolk, wearing the said coat; and the others were
subsequently captured, where is not stated. The Judge pronounced the
evidence to be most decisive, and the sentence was “Transportation for
Life.” The victim of this outrage arrived at his home late that night,
in rather a sorry plight. I think readers of this account will agree
that Mr. James Turner made a very brave stand against such odds. He must
have been a powerful man, as his son, Mr. Jabez Turner, certainly was in
his day. I have myself been inside the house, for refreshment, of Mr.
James Turner when shooting on the farm, but the robbery took place before
I was old enough to carry a gun. So end our annals of Waddingworth, with
not the least stirring incident in its history.
WINCEBY.
Winceby is situated about five miles south-east of Horncastle, on the way
to Old Bolingbroke. It is approached by a good road, but leading up and
down hills so steep as to render travelling slow, either for man or
beast. The village itself stands on high ground commanding very
extensive views; the church of West Keal being a conspicuous object to
the east; the lofty tower of Boston looming in the distance, southward,
many miles away; Tattershall Castle and Church, the churches of
Coningsby, Heckington, and others in the Sleaford direction being also
visible, beyond the extensive tracts of fen barred by woods, which
intervene; while, on a clear day, the prospect extends across the Wash to
the low-lying coast of Norfolk. Northward stretches a tract, less
extensive, of varied, undulating ground, with the wooded heights of
Warden Hill, Brinkhill, &c., forming the distant elevated horizon. In
early spring, or on a bright autumnal day, it would be difficult to find
a wider range of view, or more varied colouring, to please the eye. The
parish is small, being but little more than 800 acres in extent,
comprised in one large farm, the homestead of which, a large, lofty, and
somewhat bleak-looking house, occupied by Mr. Edwd. Patchett, forms, with
its surrounding buildings and well-filled stackyard, a prominent feature.
Yet this humble village has had its associations in the past of more than
ordinary interest.
There are few parishes which have not some tradition connected with the
supernatural; and here, on the left of the road to Winceby, in a hollow
in Slash Lane, about half-a-mile before reaching the village, there stood
until recent years a large boulder in the field close by. It was
supposed to cover hidden treasure, and various attempts were made at
different times to remove it, sometimes with six, or even eight horses.
At one of these attempts, his Satanic Majesty, having been invoked by the
local title of “Old Lad,” appeared, it is said, in person, whereupon the
stone fell back, upsetting the horses. On another occasion a black
mouse, probably the same Being incarnate, in another form (compare
assistance rendered by a black mouse to the devil, in Goethe’s Faust),
ran over the gearing of the horses, with a similar result. Eventually,
as a last resort, to break the spell, the boulder was buried, and now no
trace of boulder, black mouse, or Satan’s (Linc. “Samuel’s”) foot-print
remains.
Domesday Book records that the Saxon Agemund held lands here, and in the
adjoining Claxby Pluckacre; and that Walter, a vassal of the wealthy
Norman Gozelin, also held land and a mill of the yearly value of 4_s._,
while the still more powerful Norman, Hugh de Abrincis (Avranches, in
France), Earl of Chester, also received a grant of land in this parish
from his uncle, William the Conqueror. Of this “Baron bold,” we may
observe, in passing, that he acquired the surname of Lupus, or “the
wolf,” from his many daring deeds. In addition to almost the whole of
the county of Chester, which gave him his title, he held about 20 manors
in Lincolnshire, 22 in Leicestershire, 12 in Norfolk, 32 in Suffolk,
besides several more in other counties. Indeed, so large were his
possessions, and so great his power, that the terms of the royal grant to
him stated that he held his properties, not “de capite,” or “in chief,”
of the Sovereign, as was almost universally the case, but “tam libere ad
gladium, sicut Rex ipse tenebat Angliam ad coronam,” _i.e._, as freely by
his sword, as the King did by his crown. It is recorded of him, that he
founded and endowed several monasteries, in England, and elsewhere, “for
the good and salvation of his soul”; and it is näively added, that “if a
tithe of that be true which is related of him by the Chronicler,
Ordericus Vitalis (p. 787), he had needs enough to make some such amends
for his doings.” He, however, seems, in his latter days, to have
attained to a proper sense of his actions, since he closed his career,
after a long illness, by adopting the tonsure, as a monk of the Abbey of
St. Werberg, of Chester, in his own Barony. Few of these baronial
possessions, however, remained long in the families of those favourites
to whom they were granted by the Conqueror, solely by the right of
conquest. It had been asked long before, even by a Jezebel, “Had Zimri
peace, who slew his master?” And there were Norman Omris and Zimris. It
was a matter of natural, as well as of retributive justice, that, when
the grip, by which the strong held his own, lost its vigour, even the
strongest should make way for “a stronger than he.” And although the
proud Lupus lorded it over demesnes in Hag, Salmonby, Tetford, Brinkhill,
Langton, Greetham, and in many another parish, beside Winceby, yet at a
later period we find another powerful family, the Gaunts, in the
ascendant, and the Duke of Lancaster, John de Gandivo, was “Dominus
Manerii de Winceby” (Harl. MS., Brit. Mus., vol. iii., p. 770); and
Walter de Gaunt granted to the Abbey of Bardney, which had been
re-founded by his father, Gilbert de Gaunt, after being in ruins some 200
years, the tithes of his Fee in Winceby. (Dugdale’s “Monasticon” ed.
1682, p. 143). But not yet even was “fixity of tenure” a feature of the
times. Every dog has (only) his day; other owners followed not now
known, and Winceby is now also owned by a name unknown to fame in the
representative of the Hill family, who purchased the estate from C.
Manwaring, Esq. But the Domus Dei should be a spot undesecrated by
earthly broils, a fold unviolated by “the wolf,” and although the Church,
erected at Winceby, possibly by the proud Lupus himself, “for the good of
his soul,” has, in its original fabric, passed away, yet there still
stands on the same site, a place of worship, small indeed, but not
unworthy of its holy purpose. Dedicated to St. Margaret, the special
Saint of purity undefiled, {227} it fitly stands on an isolated knoll,
which on one side looks down on a deep gorge; with the few cottages of
the, some 60, inhabitants clustering near at hand; with the great farm
house, Winceby hall, standing out eastward, and the picturesque modern
Rectory, peacefully embowered in trees and shrubbery, one field away to
the west, the calm and comfortable retreat of the Rev. C. E. Bolam,
Rector of Lusby, the Rector of Winceby being the Rev. Brice-Smith,
resident at Hameringham.
Until recent years, the church had, in the course of time, degenerated
into a small, mean thatched edifice; but, during the late incumbency of
the Rev. William Wordsworth Talfourd, acting in the spirit of that “high
priest of nature,” whose name he bore, the fabric was reconstructed in
early English style; the nave being built at the expense of the late Mr.
Charles Hill, of Winceby House, and the chancel by the rector. It
consists of nave, chancel, porch, and bell turret. Its chief features
are as follows:—In the north wall of the nave are two pairs of narrow
pointed windows, within debased arches; the south wall has the same, with
a porch, having narrow pointed arch. The font, of stone, has a circular
bowl, relieved by four small quatrefoils, at the four quarters, a
circular shaft, and square pediment. The west window is a cinquefoil,
surrounded by eight small quatrefoils. The pulpit and seats are of light
deal. The east window of the chancel, the gift of Miss Talfourd, is of
three distinct trefoiled compartments, of coloured glass, the central one
rather larger than the other two, and surmounted by a quatrefoil. The
subjects are, in the centre, the Crucifixion; in the northern one, Christ
blessing little children; in the southern, the Last Supper. In the south
wall of the chancel is a single-light trefoil, window, with three small
quatrefoils above; its subject being, Christ and the Magdalen, or “Noli
me tangere”; a brass tablet states that this is “in memory of Frances
Talfourd, March 9, 1862.” The sedilia in the chancel are of handsome,
modern, substantial oak. The roof throughout is of pitch pine. The one
bell hangs in a turret supported by eight pilasters. The living is in
the gift of the Lord Chancellor. The register dates from 1579. Among
the entries are the following:—“1773, Thursday, June 28th, — Spenly
buried. He was servant to Thomas English, and instantly killed with
thunder and lightening in the house of his master, about 5 o’clock the
evening before.” In the two following, we do not see the object of the
financial computation, unless the party making the entry was
hypochondriac on the subject of £ s. d. “1698 Mary daughter of Tho.
Jeffery, ffarmer (not worth six hundred pounds) and Anne, his wife,
baptised, October 23rd.” “1699. A similiar entry of John Bowsley,
ffarmer, being not worth £600.”
The main interest of Winceby is as being the scene of the decisive
battle, commonly called “Winceby fight,” between the forces of the
Royalists and the Parliamentarians which took place on Wednesday, Oct.
11, 1643.
We have only space here for a brief account of that engagement, which was
important in its effect. We quote from a curious contemporary record,
written by a Parliamentarian, and who apparently took part in the events
described. {228} The Parliamentary army, then in the neighbourhood of
Boston, after suffering a reverse near Grantham, and gaining a doubtful
victory at Gainsborough, had been reinforced by Sir Thomas Fairfax; and
Cromwell was also on his way to join it, with a valuable body of horse.
To prevent this formidable combination, the Marquis of Newcastle from the
north, hurried towards Boston, and despatched Sir John Henderson, to
intercept Cromwell. Forces belonging to both sides had been encamped, on
the previous night, in Horncastle, Thimbleby, Edlington, and neighbouring
villages, where skirmishes had occurred. The main body under Manchester,
had moved from near Boston to Bolingbroke, which was held by Royalists.
On the Monday night, Major Knight, in the name of Manchester, had
summoned the Castle of Bolingbroke (to surrender); but was answered that
“his bug-bear words must not winne castles.” Whereupon Knight resolved
the next evening, to break open the Church doors, “and there to mount a
morter-piece, and fire the Castle.” But the events of the next day
prevented this. “Those of the Castle (the Royalists), killed one or two
of our men; and, as Major Knight, and the Quarter-master Generall
Vermeyden were viewing of it, made some shots at them, and one of them
hit the said Quarter-master Generall a little below the ancle, but
pierced not the skin, only bruised his leg.” Seeing that they were
determined to resist, Manchester then moved to East Kirkby; and his
forces were encamped there, at Stickney, and at different points around.
Cromwell was encamped at Winceby, in advance, with his “light horse and
dragooners,” where he passed the night. The Royalists, under Sir John
Henderson, pressed forward from Horncastle, in order, if possible, to
attack Cromwell, before the main body had come up. But Cromwell did not
object to hard blows, and though his “horse were extremly wearied with
hard duty,” he calmly and sternly awaited the event. “About twelve of
the clock . . . we began to descry the enemy coming toward us. So soon
as our men had knowledge of (this), they were very full of joy and
resolution, thinking it a great mercie that they should now fight.
Cromwell led the van.” He gave the watchword “Truth and Peace,” and then
gave out a Psalm; and his troops moved on, singing it, to charge the foe.
They sustained a hostile fire along the whole of their line, but they
rode on unshaken, at full speed. A second volley, at close quarters,
killed Cromwell’s charger; and as he rose to his feet, “he was knockit
down again by the gentleman who had charged him, who ’twas conceived, was
Sir Ingram Hopton;” and for a moment he lay as slain. But he who, as a
child, had escaped death in the arms of a monkey, was not to be so easily
extinguished; he recovered consciousness, and mounted a trooper’s horse;
his opponent, Sir Ingram Hopton, was slain in his turn; and “this first
charge was so home-given (says the Chronicler), and with so much
admirable courage and resolution by our troops, that the enemy stood not
another, but were driven back upon their own body, which was to have
seconded them, and at last put them into a plain disorder; and thus, in
less than half an hour’s fight, they were all quite routed. Our men
pursued, and did execution upon them about five or six miles; all the way
being strewed with broken arms, dead men and horses.” Two hundred horses
were afterwards found left in Bolingbroke Castle, which had been
abandoned by the Royalists in a panic. Many hundreds of the defeated
fugitives rushed frantically into “waters up to their arm-holes {230a};
they that lay slain in the highways were very many; and divers of
qualitie, for there were brave bodies stript naked. The number of horses
taken were about 2000, of prisoners about 1000, . . . of arms 1500, and
not 100 of the enemie (’twas verily believed), to be found in a body; of
94 standards 35 were taken, whereas (he adds), wee but lost very few of
our men, none of note, (and), wee hardly found above one of our officers
hurt.” With the Puritan’s faith he exclaims, “God himself did it all,
taking away the enemie’s hearts, and giving resolution and courage to our
men; to him therefor be all the honour and glory of this famous victory.”
{230b} This was a greater blow to the Royalist cause than has commonly
been estimated. Hitherto the struggle had been carried on with varied
fortune, but as yet the Royalists had had no reason to despair, and had
even achieved considerable successes. At Winceby it may be said, the
tide decidedly set in against them. The struggle was prolonged; but
Lincoln was taken by Manchester’s forces in the following May (1644). In
the same year was fought the disastrous battle of Marston Moor; and the
even more fatal fight of Naseby in 1645. After that the issue was almost
a foregone conclusion. As to the actual scene of the fight, the
Royalists, from Horncastle, would seem to have advanced slightly beyond
the village, before they encountered the enemy. The name of “Slash
Lane,” westward, still surviving, tells its own tale of their wild flight
towards the town, which they had so lately left full of high hope. The
“clap-gate” farm at Holbeck, tells of hurried movements in the dark hours
of the night. The Winceby registers record no increase of burials at the
time. But tradition avers that many were interred by the peasantry on
Scrafield hill-top. The one known burial is that of Sir Ingram Hopton,
whose body, by order of Cromwell himself, was conveyed to Horncastle,
that it might be interred in a manner worthy of one, in whom he
recognised “a brave gentleman.”
WISPINGTON.
Wispington is situated about 4 miles from Horncastle, in a north-westerly
direction; adjoining Edlington on the east, Baumber on the north,
Waddingworth on the west, and Horsington and Edlington on the south.
Letters arrive from Horncastle at 9 a.m. The nearest money order office
is at Horncastle, and telegraph office at Baumber.
Like two of the parishes just mentioned as contiguous, the name of
Wispington contains the Anglo-Saxon patronymic “ing.” A Saxon settler
named Uisp, or Wisp, probably took up his residence here; his children
formed the “family” of Uisp, or Wisp-“ing”; and the settlement or
enclosure, which they occupied, was the Uisp-ing-town, or Wispington.
{231} Under the ruthless rule of William the Conqueror, these early
occupants would be displaced, and their land given to some favourite of
that King; under whom possibly the late Saxon thane, and his family,
might, at least, be allowed to labour as serfs. Accordingly we find, in
the great survey made for the Conqueror, called “Doomsday Book,” because
it recorded the doom of so many, whom he subjugated, or dispossessed, two
mentions of this parish. The first of these, places it amongst the
possessions of William de Karilepho, who had been Abbot of St. Vincent,
but was promoted by the Conqueror to the Bishopric of Durham, as well as
being made Chief Justice of England. Old Chroniclers say that he was a
man of great determination, but regulated by judgment; and he ingratiated
himself with the King, who gave him large possessions in Lincolnshire,
and other counties; a quarrel, however, with the succeeding King, Rufus,
so wounded his pride, that he died of chagrin. He held of the King, a
large part of this parish, viz., 4 carucates (or 480 acres), 2 carucates
of which were rateable to the tax called “gelt” (2_s._ to the carucate,
or 120 acres). Wispington is there said to be “in the soke” of Great
Stourton, and Kirkby-on-Bain, _i.e._, within the liberty, or under the
jurisdiction, of those parishes. There was no resident proprietor at
that date, but 9 sokemen (or free tenants) and 6 bordars worked the land
under their “Mesne or Lord” the land being his “de-mense” or domain,
_i.e._, Lordship. The second mention of the parish in Domesday gives its
whole extent as 8 carucates (or 960 acres), divided between the
above-named Bishop and another of the Conqueror’s favourites, not seldom
named in these records, viz., Eudo, son of Spirewic, Lord of Tattershall,
who claimed, over the Bishop, the lion’s share, namely, two thirds of the
parish.
How long the Bishops of Durham continued in possession does not appear,
but in the “Lindsey Survey” (circa A.D., 1114) Ranulph, Bishop of that
See, had 9 carucates of land (or 1080 acres) in Wispington, Kirkby, and
two other parishes; and, according to the old record, “Testa de Nevill”
(p. 335), the Bishop of that day still held the same (circa 1214, A.D.);
while in the 46th year of the reign of Edwd. III. (A.D. 1373), on the
death of John Willoughby of Eresby, it is stated that he held all his
manors, among which Wispington is named, “of the Bishop of Durham, by the
service of being his steward, and carrying to the table the messes of
meat, on the day of his consecration, and on the feasts of Christmas and
Whitsuntide,” so that, at that date, the Bishop would seem to have been
still the superior Lord of Wispington, as of the other connected Manors.
(“Fragmenta Antiquitatis”; quoted “Linc. N. & Q.,” July 1896, p. 38).
After this period the ownership is not quite clear. But this we can
state. We have seen that Eudo, son of Spirewic, owned two thirds of
Wispington, by gift from the Conqueror. His son, Hugh Fitz Eudo,
commonly called Brito, founded Kirkstead Abbey, in 1137, A.D., and that
religious house, at a later period, became possessed of land in
Wispington, and the benefice thereof. But meanwhile the ownership
changed more than once. From the Lansdowne M.S. (207 e., f. 455) in the
British Museum, we find that Walter Bek, {233} who had come from
Flanders, late in the 12 century, married Agnes, daughter of Pinso, and
became, through his wife, Lord of Spilsby, Eresby, Lusby, Wispington, and
other parishes; so that Eudo, and his later representatives, seem to have
passed from the scene, and the successors of his quondam companion in
arms, Pinso, to have taken their place.
By a Court Roll (9. Richard I., A.D., 1198), it appears that Philip, son
of Robert, “put in a plea against Henry Bek, for a Knight’s fee,” _i.e._,
a certain portion of land “in Tattershall, Wispington, and Kirkby.”
(“Architect S. Journ,” xxiv. pt. i. p. 39).
We further find, from “Testa de Nevill,” (p. 335, “Wapentake of
Horncastle,”) that Simon de Driby, held, “of the Fee of Tattershall,”
(circa A.D. 1215), lands in Kirkby, Waddingworth, Wispington, and other
places under Robert of Tattershall; the Wispington portion, therefore,
was probably that formerly held by Eudo.
When Walter Bek’s sons succeeded to his property, the eldest, Henry,
received as his portion the manors of Spilsby, Scrivelsby, Wispington,
etc. (Harleian MS., 3720, f. 23.)
With the beginning of the 14th century, another prominent family is found
connected with this parish. Sir William Willoughby married Alice,
daughter of John Bek, Lord of Eresby; and a “Feet of Fines,” of date A.D.
1304, (Lincoln, file 69, 31 Edwd. I.) shows that a law-suit arose between
John Bek, plaintiff, and Robert Willoughby, defendant, as to the
possession of lands in Wispington, Thimbleby, Langton, Woodhall, etc.,
and the advowson of Wispington, which ended in a compromise, Robert
granting the lands and advowson to John, for his life-time, but to
revert, on his decease, to Robert and his heirs for ever. (“Architect S.
Journal,” xxiv. p. 52). The manor and advowson of Wispington thus passed
to the ancestors of the Lords of Willoughby. In the next century, we
find these transferred to Kirkstead Abbey, as shown by the following
entry, in the “Kalendar of Patent Rolls 1399–1401”:—“1401, April 20.
Licence paid in the hanaper for Philip de Dispenser, Knight; James Roos,
knight; Eudo de Zouche, clerk; Richard de Wynnewick, clerk; Richard de
Chesterfield, clerk; Henry Malbys, parson of the Church of Wylughby; and
Thomas Fitz William of Mablethorpe, to grant in mortmain a toft and 4
bovates of land, in Wyspyngton, and the advowson of the Church of the
same town, not held in chief, to the Abbot, and Convent of Kirkstede, in
aid of their maintenance.” (p. 477). {234}
This was further confirmed, A.D. 1401, May 2, with the addition that the
“Abbot and Convent of Kirkstede” might “serve the Benefice by a Chaplain,
Monk, or Secular” (pp. 278, 279).
We are, after this period, unable to give (as has been done in the cases
of some other parishes), a connected series of proprietors. There are
however, various scattered records of individual owners, which possess
some interest. In a Bardney Abbey Charter, lately recovered by the Rev.
J. A. Penny, the present Vicar of Wispington, Thomas Sely of Wispington,
and Henry son of Andrew, of the same place, are witnesses to a deed, of
date May 22, 1281, signed in the Chapter House of that Monastery, “on the
Sunday next after the Ascension of our Lord,” by which the Abbot of that
House gives up for himself and his successors, all claim to his bondman,
William, son of Peter Hardigray, with all his goods and chattels, in
favour of Thomas Thorley of Gautby. It is worthy of notice, that, by
another charter, this same Thomas Thorley, of Gautby, grants to the above
William Hardigray, no longer a bondman, but Rector of Mareham, certain
lands and tenements in the adjoining parish of Edlington. The two were,
therefore, evidently close friends. This deed is witnessed by Henry, son
of John, of Wispington, Simon Francis, of Edlington, William son of
Master Bartholomew, of Thimbleby, and others.
By a third charter, dated at Edlington, the day of Mercury (Wednesday)
next after the feast of St. Michael, A.D. 1285, William, son of William
of Wispington, gives, grants, and confirms, to the same William
Hardigray, now of Edlington, clerk, a toft with the tenements thereon,
situated in Edlington, for which he is to pay annually the rent of one
farthing, at the feast of Easter. {235}
Among Gibbons’ “Early Lincolnshire Wills” (pp. 35, 36.) we find, that
Henry de Brauncewell, Canon of Lincoln, by will in 1395, leaves money to
his poor parishioners, at Wispington, Leasingham, St. Peter’s at Arches,
and elsewhere.
We now get another name, which was one of weight in this parish and
elsewhere for many years. Among the list of noblemen and gentry, who
subscribed for the defence of the country, when the Spanish Armada was
expected, in 1589, we find the name of “Roberte Phillippes, of
Wispington,” who, like his neighbour Vincent Welby, of Halstead Hall,
contributed £25, which was a large sum in those days. (“Linc. N. & Q.”
vol. ii., p. 133). In the next century, among the list of gentry of
Lincolnshire, made on the Herald’s Visitation, in 1634, along with the
well-known names of Heneage, Pelham, Massingberd, Monson, &c., we also
find Robert Phillips, of Wispington. (“Linc. N. & Q.” vol. ii., p. 73).
This family, which afterwards by marriage acquired the name of Glover,
{236} possessed property outside of Wispington, for we find from a bond
dated October 25, 1735, that disputes having arisen as to the boundary of
the estate of Phillips Glover, at Walmsgate, and that of the estate of
Matthew Lister, of Burwell Park, adjoining it, the two proprietors agreed
to place 12 stones, in the presence of witnesses, to fix for the future
the line of separation between the properties. (Notes on the Manor of
Burwell, by R. W. Goulding; “Architect. S. Journal,” xxiv., pt. i., p.
91.) Other records in connection with this family, are as follows:—
(1.) Walter Harpham, by his will dated 10 Feb. 1607–8, leaves the
reversion of £100 to Alice Phillips, his daughter, and £300 to his
granddaughter, Elizabeth Phillips, and to his grandson, Willoughby
Phillips, £100, and makes his son-in-law, Thomas Phillips, executor.
(Maddison’s “Wills of Lincolnshire,” 1600–1617, p. 180).
(2.) John Holland, of Hemingby, by will, of date 15 Sep., 1608, leaves
20s. to Mr. Stephen Phillips, of Wispington, for supervising his will.
(Maddison’s “Wills of Lincolnshire,” 1600–1617, p. 27.)
(3.) Margery Neale, of Horncastle, by her will, dated July 10, 1611,
leaves to Jane Phillips, wife of Vincent Smithe, £6 in money, herself to
keep £3 of it, and to give £3 to her daughter Elizabeth, “my
Goddaughter.” (Ibidem, p. 51.)
In the Register of Admissions to Gray’s Inn, London (edited by J. Foster,
1889), “Robert Phillips, of Wispington, Co., Lincoln,” is named as a
student “admitted Feb. 7, 1653–4.”
Phillips Glover, Esq., of Wispington, or Colonel Glover, married, circa.
1790, being then resident at Stainfield, Rebecca, eldest daughter of Mr.
William Jepson Proctor, Chapter Clerk, &c., of the Bail, Lincoln, and
sister to the Rev. George Jepson, M.A., Prebendary of Lincoln, 1781–1787.
(“Linc. N. & Q.” vol. ii., p. 150).
Colonel Glover had a daughter, who married Robert Vyner, Esq., of
Eathorpe, Co. Warwick, and had a numerous family. He, or more probably
his father, was Sheriff of the county of Lincoln, in the year 1727.
Early in the 19th century was issued a large mezzotint portrait of
Phillips Glover, Esq., of Wispington, described “as a steady
disinterested friend, who never courted popularity, but was ever
deserving of it.” (“Linc. N. & Q.” vol. ii., p. 87). The Glovers, or
Phillipses, were patrons of the Benefice; John Phillips, according to
“Liber Regis,” presenting in 1707, and Mrs. Glover in 1755. In 1769,
“pro hac vice,” Henry Martinson, Gent., presented, having doubtless
bought the next presentation, since we find his relative John Martinson,
instituted to the vicarage at that date. On his death a Glover presented
for the last time, the entire property being subsequently sold to Mr.
Turnor, of Stoke Rockford, Panton, &c.
The Glovers, and Phillipses, had a fine residence here, of which
extensive traces still remain, in moats, fish ponds, and terraced mounds,
some 500 yards in length, and covering 5 or 6 acres. The series of ponds
and moats are arranged so as to curl about in a curious serpentine shape,
forming the outline of a snake with double head. This apparent survival
of an old serpent worship, is not unusual in such ancient places as Abury
Hill, on Salisbury Plain; Stanton Drew, in Somersetshire; Carnac, in
Brittany; &c. (Dean’s “Worship of the Serpent,” 1833); but here it would
seem to indicate a greater antiquity than the time of the Glover family.
The gardens, and “pleasaunce,” surrounding the residence, must have been
very extensive; the farmhouse, now occupied by Mr. Andrew Evison, was
part of this residence, and there is some old brickwork among the farm
buildings, said to have been part of a private chapel. {237} To the east
was an avenue of fine trees, of great age, which were felled in the first
half of the 19th century. The family continued at Wispington down to
recent times, though in greatly reduced circumstances, the last of them
being the Rev. Robert Glover, vicar of the parish from 1795 to 1838. He
died leaving a numerous family, scantily provided for. {238a} During his
time the church and parsonage would seem to have participated in the
dilapidated condition of his own fortune, and in the Register we find the
following note, in his own hand:—“The chancell of this church fell in, on
Friday the 22 day of November, 1833, about 9 o’clock at night, R. Glover,
vicar.”
We now proceed to the church. Both Weir and Saunders state that the
edifice, in their day, was without interest. The late Rev. Charles Pratt
Terrott, who was appointed to the vicarage, in 1838, by Mr. Christopher
Turnor, took down this decayed structure, and erected an entirely new
church; and, being well-known as an archæologist of wide learning, and
cultivated tastes, {238b} with the aid of the architect, Mr. G. B.
Atkinson, of York, he produced a church, which, though small, as the
population only required, is one of unusual interest. It was erected in
1863. In the process of demolition of the former church, two late Norman
capitals cut from one stone, {238c} were discovered, indicating that
there had, at one time, been a Norman edifice here; and, from other
relics, it was apparent that this early structure, had been either
rebuilt or added to in the 13th century. That building, however, had in
turn been superseded by a wretched fabric of no architectural
pretensions, now, happily, gone the way of its more worthy predecessors.
The present church, dedicated like so many others in the neighbourhood to
St. Margaret, is of the Early English style, and consists of a tower with
spire, nave, south porch, chancel, and vestry on the north side of the
chancel, from which, for economy of space, access is had to the pulpit,
standing in the north-east corner of the nave. The nave has coupled
lancet windows in the north and south walls; there are detached lancet
windows, with a trefoiled light above them, in the west tower wall; and a
triplet at the east end of the chancel, and two single lights in its
south wall. The tower and spire are almost a copy of the small but
elegant spire of Woodhall St. Margaret. It is supported within by the
rather unusual arrangement of a narthex or arcade of three arches, and
two pillars, instead of the more common single arch. The walls are
relieved by coloured patterns running round the windows, and various
devices elsewhere, which have a very pleasing effect. The roof of the
nave is supported by corbels bearing the symbols of the Evangelists. The
pulpit is of Caen stone, with coloured marble shafts, the panels having
sculptures, the work of Mr. Terrot, assisted by Mr. Watson Moore, of
Horncastle; they represent the Nativity, Nathan and David, and the return
of the Prodigal. The font, of the same materials, is adorned with
medallions, also carved by the reverend artist, representing the animals
mentioned in the New Testament, arranged in groups and intermingled with
foliage. Mrs. Terrot’s artistic skill is also shown in the carving of
the figure of St. Margaret, placed above a dedication stone in the
western wall of the nave, and in various bosses and capitals, as well as
in the oaken eagle lectern. The paving of the nave alley is of red and
black tiles; that of the chancel of Minton’s encaustic tiles, their
richness being increased within the altar rails. The reredos is of the
same material, but differing in character. The subjects in the coloured
east window, by Messrs Ward and Hughes, are scenes from our Lord’s life
on earth; and in the western window, are the figures of St. Margaret, and
St. John the Baptist, by the same artists. These were provided through
the efforts of Mrs. Terrot, who also obtained the 3rd bell to complete
the set. The three bells bear the following inscriptions:—(1) “Ave Maria
Graciæ Plena” (diameter 26¾ inches); (2) “Cast by John Warner and Sons,
London” (diameter 28 inches); (3) “Sancta Maria Ora Pro Nobis” (diameter
36¾ inches). It is curious that the only bells in a minor key, in this
neighbourhood, are those of Baumber and Wispington, contiguous parishes.
Between the font and the west window is a blue slate slab, having the
inscription “Here lyeth the body of Robert Phillips, gentleman, who
departed this life, the 24th day of June, 1668.” On the south side of
this stone, close to it, lies the body of Phillips Glover, Esq. On a
white marble monument on the north wall of the chancel, are the arms and
crest, of the Phillips family; crest, a white eagle, with blue crown
round its neck, on a hemlet, mantled, the visor closed; arms, azure,
party per chevron, argent, three white eagles with azure crowns round
their necks passant, 1 and 2. Below is the inscription:—“To the memory
of John Phillips, Esq., this monument is dedicated by his nephew and
heir, Phillips Glover, Esq. He was the second and last surviving son of
Robert Phillips, Esq., who lies buried in this chancel. He died
unmarried on the 19th of February, 1719–20, aged 62, and in him his
family was extinct. In memory of Phillips Glover, Esq: He married Mary
daughter and heiress of Richard Lee, Esq., of Winslade, in Devonshire,
and left two children, Phillips and Mary. He died, June 28, 1745. Veri
cultor et Libertatis. This inscription by his order.”
Opposite this monument is one of white marble, on the south side of the
chancel, behind the desk. The arms and crest are the same, with this
inscription:—“Near this place lyeth ye bodye of Robert Phillips, Esq.,
who departed this life, ye 24th of June, 1668. And of Stephen Phillips,
Esq., eldest son of Robert, who departed this life, ye 9th of Feb.,
1682–3. And of Robert Phillips, of London, Goldsmith, third son of
Robert Phillips, who departed this life, the 12 of December, 1707. And
of Benjamen Phillips, merchant, fourth son of ye above said Robert, who
departed this life, Aug. ye 8th, 1715, æt 49.”
Over the instruments of the Passion, in a medallion above the vestry
door, in the chancel (which are really the masonic signs of a Knight
Templar’s encampment, {240}) is a tablet with this inscription:—“To the
memory of the Rev. Robert Merony Glover, who was upwards of 43 years
vicar of this parish. He died Feb. 8th, 1838, aged 62 years. He was the
poor man’s friend. Also of Ann, relic of the above Robert Merony Glover,
whose remains are interred in the family vault of her parents, at
Horncastle. Four of their children rest in this chancel. This tablet is
consecrated by the affectionate and grateful survivors.”
In the vestry, on a tablet on the north wall, is this
inscription:—“Sacred to the memory of the Rev. John Martinson, late vicar
of this church, and rector of Screamby, who departed this life, the 16th
of July, 1788, aged 51 years.” An incised slab, now in the floor of the
vestry, but whence removed is not known, has an inscription to John
Hetherset, “Rector,” in 1399. The figure is habited in full canonicals,
even to the gloves.
The benefice is now only a “vicarage”; but the explanation of this
difference is, that, at that date, just before the advowson was given to
Kirkstead Abbey, it was a rectory. When the rectorial tithes passed to
the abbot, the incumbent became the abbot’s vicar.
In the south-east corner of the churchyard, is a tombstone with the
inscription:—“In memory of the 18 children of George and Mary Hannath,
who all died in their infancy, 1831–1855. {241} He shall gather the
lambs in His arms, and carry them in His bosom.”
One of the double lancet windows in the nave, nearest the pulpit has
been, within recent years, filled with coloured glass in memory of the
Rev. C. P. Terrot, by his widow. The subjects are four:—(1) Bezaleel
carving cherubim on the altar, and overlaying them with gold; (2)
Aholiab, the cunning workman, looking at his work; (3) our Lord as a
youth, working at his trade of carpenter; (4) a medieval priest,
presenting before the altar, a small church, which is held in his hands.
The two small lancets in the south wall of the chancel have stained glass
to the memory of Colonel Charles Terrot, eldest son of the Rev. C. P.
Terrot. The subjects are two:—(1) Samuel presented by Hannah in the
Temple; (2) Joshua commanding the sun to stand still. The small window
over the font was presented by Miss Terrot, the subject being the Holy
Dove hovering. Recently Mrs. Terrot presented to the church a casket,
containing an account of the restoration, and contents, of the church,
beautifully bound. This is kept on a bracket in the east wall of the
nave, opposite the pulpit.
We give here a list of the vicars of this parish during the last two and
a half centuries. William Azlack, 1662–1670; John Smith, 1670–1707;
Thomas Doughty, 1707–8–1754; J. Carr, 1754–1769; John Martinson,
1769–1788; William Chaplin, 1788–1795; Robert Merony Glover, 1795–1838;
C. P. Terrot, 1838–1886; Beauchamp St. John Tyrwhitt, 1886–1890; F. S.
Alston, 1890–1896; James Alpass Penny, 1896.
We have mentioned that the Glovers became very much reduced in pecuniary
means; when the Rev. Robert Merony Glover, died in 1838, he left the
church, vicarage, and farmstead adjoining, almost in ruins; and we think
it should not go unrecorded, that the Rev. Charles Pratt Terrot, who
succeeded him, declined to accept any compensation for these
dilapidations, as the Glover family were so poor.
An ancient font was placed in the church, June 2nd, 1841, having been
removed from the ruins of an oratory in the garden of Poolham Hall. This
is now the font in the church of Woodhall St. Margaret, being placed
there by the vicar, the present writer. It is supported by 4 columns of
serpentine, the gift of the Rev. J. A. Penny, of Wispington.
The register dates from 1662. Some of the entries are peculiar. From
1662 to 1667, the entries of baptisms regularly alternate between
children of William Azlack, clerk, and Mary, his wife, and those of
Robert Phillips, Esq., and Mary, his wife; vicar and squire thus running
each other “neck and neck” in their progeny, a competition which
curiously is terminated by the demise of the vicar’s wife, buried May
10th, 1668, and that of Mr. Robert Phillips, six weeks later, who was
buried June 26th, 1668.
On “Oct. 18th, 1682, Mr. Philip Ormston, rector of Skremby, was buried”
here. Why he was brought to Wispington for burial does not appear,
unless his Christian name indicates relationship to the Phillips family.
On Oct. 27th, 1692, is registered the marriage of “John Spennly, weaver,
and Isabel Hawstead, spinster.” The latter, doubtless derived her name
from the neighbouring hamlet of Halstead, in Stixwould, still pronounced
“Haw-stead.” The addition of “weaver” to the husband’s name is
interesting, as evidence of a bygone craft. Weaving and spinning were at
that time a common occupation of the humbler classes. {243} The epithet
“spinster” we still retain, of the woman to be married, but the term
“weaver” for the man is now obsolete. The Rev. J. A. Penny has part of a
blanket, which was woven by the great grandmother of a parishioner in
Wispington, now 60 years of age.
In 1792, we find “Bartho (Bartholomew) Goe” signing as curate; a
patronymic which, until recently, survived in the neighbourhood. Among a
list of the Vicars of Boston, Bartholomew Goe is given as appointed in
1817 (Thomson’s “Boston,” p. 86). It may also be noticed that on “July
16th, 1788, John Martinson, vicar, was buried”; the next entry recording
the burials of his posthumous son, John, aged 8 weeks, on March 17th,
1789; while the next entry again records the burial of his relict, Mary
Martinson, Sept. 21st, 1791.
On Nov. 2nd, 1710, “William Peascodd of this parish, and Amy Todd of ye
parish of Bardney, were married”; in connection with which entry, we may
mention, that there is in Boston Church, within the altar rails, on the
north side, a fine brass of “Walter Peascod, merchant, 1398.”
Opposite several of the names in the register, both in the 17th and 18th
centuries, are appended curious “hieroglyphic” signs, the meaning of
which is, at the least, obscure.
Of the communion plate, the cup and paten are dated 1712, presented by
John Phillips, Esq.
A group of trees in this parish is named “Barrow Plantation.” Whether
there existed formerly a sepulchral barrow, which gave rise to the name,
is not known; the explanation given by the modern bucolic mind is that
the spot is haunted by a spectral wheelbarrow.
A tradition lingers here that, in the 18th century, a duel was fought,
around which the usual accretions have clustered; that the combatants
were two brothers, who were attached to the same “ladye fayre”; that one
killed the other; that they fought in the avenue near the former hall of
the Glovers; while, in a pannelled bedroom at the adjoining hall farm,
there is still preserved a cupboard, which has not been opened for many
years, as it is supposed, in some way, to be connected with “the green
lady” (such ladies are usually “green”), who was the cause of the
quarrel. Careful enquiry, however, has ruthlessly swept away all of the
accumulated romance of this incident, and the bare facts are found to be
as follows, for which, it should be added, the writer is indebted to a
MS. in the possession of Captain Craggs, of Threekingham Hall, confirmed
by the “Gentleman’s Magazine” of 1760, p. 246.:—Thursday, May 1st. The
combatants were Major Glover, of Wispington, of the Lincolnshire Militia,
and Mr. Jackson, an apothecary, of Manchester. “At a rehearsal, at the
playhouse, in that town, Mr. Jackson came behind the Major, and struck
him on the back, seemingly in joke, upon which the Major turned about and
with a switch struck Jackson, saying, also in joke, ‘What! Jackson, is
it you?’ On this Jackson, in a great passion, said ‘D—n you, sir,
although you are a Major, I will not take this from you.’ The Major,
surprised at this, replied, ‘Why, what can you mean? I was only in joke,
as well as yourself.’ But Jackson persisted in his anger, and said he
insisted on satisfaction. The Major was not able to pacify him by saying
that he meant no affront. But Jackson insisted on fighting him with
swords. They went to a coffee-house, and there, in a back room, they
fought. The Major ran Mr. Jackson through the body, after which, on the
former leading Mr. Jackson through the coffee-room for assistance, Mr.
Jackson, owned, before several witnesses, that it was entirely his own
fault, and that he had been wounded by the Major in a very fair and
gentlemanlike manner; and that, if he died, he entirely forgave the
Major.”
The unfortunate Mr. Jackson would seem to have incurred the fatal penalty
of his own folly; for, in the same magazine, under the date “Wednesday,
Aug. 20th, 1760,” p. 440, is the following notice:—“At the Assizes at
Lancaster, Philip Glover, Esq., Major in the Lincolnshire Militia, was
found guilty of manslaughter, for killing Mr. Jackson, of Manchester, in
a duel, and was immediately discharged out of custody in court. It was
with great difficulty that sufficient evidence could be procured to
induce the grand jury to find the bill.”
Thus the one passage of arms, of which we know, connected with
Wispington, although fatal in its effect, is reduced to the farce of
human folly. From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step.
May Wispington’s future martial sons fight in a nobler cause than that of
self pride.
We may add, that at a court-martial held eight months later, March 24th,
1762, Philip Glover was acquitted of any “behaviour contrary to the
articles of war,” but the court was of opinion that he had, in hasty
heat, used language to Capt. Gardiner, contrary to good order and
discipline, and he was adjudged to be reprimanded publicly in the
presence of the officers and men of his regiment. The member of this
court-martial were the following:—Col. Lord Vincent Mandeville, Hunts.
Militia, president; Lieut.-Col. Richard Townley, Lancashire Militia;
Lieut.-Col. John Lister, Yorkshire Militia; Major Robert Coney, Norfolk
Militia; Major Sir Philip Monoux, Bart., Bedfordshire Militia; Major
Francis Longe, Norfolk Militia; Capt. Edmund Townley, Lancashire Militia;
Capt. Carr Brackenbury, Lincolnshire Militia; Capt. G. De Ligne Gregory,
Lincolnshire Militia, and others; with the Honble. Charles Gould, Deputy
Judge Advocate General.
INDEX
A.
ABERGAVENNY, Earls of, 59
Abrincis, Lupus de, 65, 75, 144, 170, 225
Acham, Anthony, charity founded by, 63
Albemarle, or Aumale, Earl of, 75 and note
Algar, Earl of Mercia, 30, 137, 176
Alms, gate, bequeathed at Revesby, 140, 162
Angevin auxiliaries, 176
Angus, Earl of, 59, 110, 182, 192
Asgarby, meaning of name, 137 and note
,, church described, 138
,, Owners, former—
,, ,, Ivo Taillebois, 137
,, ,, Bishops of Durham, 137
,, ,, Bishops of Lincoln, 137
,, ,, present owners, Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 137
Asgarby Benefice annexed to Lusby, 137
Ashby, meaning of “Ash,” 12, 14, 15
Ashby Puerorum, church described 12, 13
,, ,, field-name, 10
,, ,, gallows, 9
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Saxons Odincarle and Chilbert, 2
,, ,, Odo, Bishop of Baieux, Earl of Kent, 2
,, ,, Creveceur, or De Courcy family, 3, 145
,, ,, Gilbert Fitz-Gozelin, 3
,, ,, Kirktons, of Kirton, 4
,, ,, Lord Treasurer Cromwell, 4
,, ,, Earl of Albemarle, 4
,, ,, Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, 4
,, ,, Lord Willoughby of Parham, 4
,, ,, James Prescott, Esq., 4
,, ,, Gedney family, 4
,, ,, Sir William Wentworth, 5
,, ,, Stephen Dinely Totton, 6
,, ,, Earl Manvers, 1, 6
,, ,, Pocklington-Coltman family, 1, 6
,, Holbeck hamlet in Ashby, 10
,, Hoe-hill in Holbeck, 10, 11
,, Stainsby hamlet in Ashby, 6
,, ,, ghost, 7, 8
,, Littlebury family, 6
,, Roman sepulchre, 13
Asterby, church described, 16, 17, 18
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Lady Lucia Thorold, 15
,, ,, Ivo Taillebois, 15
,, ,, Guevera John, 16
,, ,, ,, Francis, 16
,, ,, Dighton family, 15
,, ,, Hansard, 15, 16
,, ,, Dame Jane Dymoke, 18
,, ,, Trafford family, 16
Ayscough, or Askew, Sir Edward, 51
,, Sir Francis, 90, 191
,, Walter, Esq., 163
,, Henry Esq., 163
,, family of, 16, 110
,, arms of, 115
,, meaning of name, 115
B.
BAIEUX, Odo, bishop of, 2, 101, 102, 156, 182, 208
,, ,, influence and great possessions, 156
,, ,, possessions forfeited, 156
,, Tapestry, 102, note
Banks, Sir Joseph (1714), 114, 164
,, ,, his collections at Revesby Abbey, 164, 165
,, ,, monument and inscription to, 166
Bardney Abbey, charters, 41
,, ,, pension to, 135
Barkham, Sir Robert, 61
Barkworth, Robert de, 35
,, William de, 35
,, family, 212
Barrows at Revesby, 165
,, at Ranby, formerly, 157 and note
Baumber, church described, 20, 21
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Saxons, Ulf and Tonna, 20
,, ,, Ivo Taillebois, 19
,, ,, Gilbert de Gaunt, 20
,, ,, Dightons, 20
,, ,, Earls of Lincoln, 20
,, ,, Dukes of Newcastle, 20
,, ,, Livesey family, sold to, 20
,, ,, Vyner family, a moiety, 20
,, Site for vicarage given by Robt. de Grey Vyner, Esq., 1857, 22
Bavent, William de, note, 88
Bec, Anthony, 132
,, Anthony, bishop of Durham, 107
,, John’s gifts to Kirkstead Abbey, note, 234
,, Thomas, bishop of Lincoln, 107
,, Thomas, bishop of St. David’s, 107
,, Walter, 54, 107, 146
,, ,, grants to Kirkstead Abbey, manure of sheep in Kirkby, 107
,, ,, quitclaims to Kirkstead Abbey, toll on corn, 107
,, Walter, constable of Lincoln Castle, 106, 133
,, ,, constable of Bristol, 133
,, family, influential, 106, 107, 132
Bec arms, formerly in church, Kirkby-on-Bain, 110
Bedford, duke of, 59
Beelsby, Sir Thomas, of Beelsby, 37
Belchford, church described, 23–25
,, stoup, richly carved, 25
,, Owners—
,, ,, Ivo Taillebois, 22
,, ,, Sir Thomas Glemham, 23
,, ,, Sir Thomas Hartopp, 23
,, ,, R. de Grey Vyner, Esq., 23
Benigworth, Geoffrey de, 170
Bentinck, William de, 170
,, family, 180
Bernak, de, family, 109
Bevere, Drogo de, his rapacity, 74
Bigot, Earl Marshall, 147
Billsby of Billsby, 49
Blagge, Thomas, groom of bedchamber, anecdote, 90, and note
Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, 33
Blundville, _i.e._, Oswestry, 88
Blunt, family of, 76 and note
Boars, wild, protected by law, 115
Bolingbroke, church described, 27, 28, 29
,, benefice united with Hareby, 91
,, Hare, phantom of, 33
,, “Honour” of, 26, 32
,, Owners of—
,, ,, William de Romara, 30
,, ,, Gilbert de Gaunt, 32
,, ,, Ranulph, Earl of Chester, 32
,, ,, De Lacy family, 32
,, ,, John, Duke of Lancaster, 32
,, ,, Henry IV., 32
Bolles, Sir George, 37
,, Sir John, 37
Bond-servant, 41
,, given as “chattells,” 89, 122, 162, 170, 235
Booth, John, Rector of Salmonby, 172
,, ,, silver cup of Volunteers, 1808, 173
Boroughbridge, battle of, Earl of Lancaster defeated at, 106
Boucherett, 115
Boundary stones, 231
Bourg-Thorold, hotel de, 31, note
Brackenbury, Robert Carr, of Raithby, 153
,, ,, grants hay loft for Wesleyan services, 153
Brandon, Charles, duke of Suffolk, 4, 40, 60, 84, 89, 114, 140, 149, 163
,, ,, two sons die of “sweating sickness,” 60
“Brides of Enderby,” the, 51
“Briefs,” curious, Hagg Registers, 81, 82
Brigg Grammar School, 114
Brinkhill “gold,” 82
Brittany, Alan, earl of, a worthy character, 73
Brown, Sir John, 126
Bryan, Governor of Bolingbroke Castle, 90
Bucknall, Thorold of, 158
,, ,, his sister, the Lady Godiva, 158
Burghley, Lord Treasurer, 114, 164
Burials, numerous, Salmonby, 169, Sotby, 183
Buried in wool, 61 and note
“By” as suffix, meaning of, 99
By-road—village road, 99
C.
CANDLES before altar, money bequeathed for, 140, 163, 195
Cantelupe, Nicholas, 59, 182
,, ,, his chantry and tomb in Lincoln Cathedral, 183
Carsey, John, owner of Revesby, 164
Causeway, ancient, at Revesby, 160
Cavendish, Augustine, 134
,, Charles, 180
Cawkwell church, 181
Chalibeate spring at Salmonby, 170
Chaloner, Thomas, 49
Chase, Tumby, 105
Cheales, family of, 80
Cheles, Baldric de, 139
Cholmeley, Sir Hugh, 212
Chrismatory found at Poolham Hall, 38
Clap-gate, 10
Clifton, of Clifton, arms at Kirkby-on-Bain, 109
Clinton, of Baumber, marries daughter of Dighton, of Stourton, 69
,, ,, Lord Edward, 114
Conquest, churches before the, 40, 55, 56, 57, 75, 121, 183, 184, 211
Copledyke, family of, 8, 76, 80
,, Alan, governor of Bolingbroke Castle, 90
,, John, lord of Oxcombe, 148
Corbet, John, old family, 43
Cormayle family, 211
“Coventry Act” of Parliament, 204
Craven, Howard, owner of Revesby, 164
Cressaunt of Tuluse, 84
“Creeping-silver,” box for, East Kirkby church, 130
Cressie, Agnes, 50
Cressy, Faith, married G. Tyrwhitt, 111
,, ,, her will, 112
,, ,, family, of Fulsby, 111
Creveceur, or de Courcy, 3, 145 and note, 195, 212
,, ,, privileged to wear hat in presence of royalty, 3, 195
Cromwell, Lord Treasurer, 4, 59, 109, 156 and notes
Cross close (where stood the village cross), 71
Croyland cattle destroyed by Ivo Taillebois, 19
Culverhouse, value of, 12, note
D.
DACRE de la South, Lady (Mavis Enderby), 50
Dalison, William, of Hareby, 90
,, probably d’Alencon, 189, note
Deer, Roe, common in Tumby Chase, note, 115
,, tax on their skins, ½_d._ per 100, ibid.
De Haya, of Kirkby-on-Bain, 111
De Lacy family, Old Bolingbroke, 32
,, of Scamblesby, 177
,, of Kirkby-on-Bain, 103, 104
De la Haye, Lord of Goulceby, 58
Deloraine, Lord, connected with Goulceby, 61
D’Eyncourt, owners of Kirkby-on-Bain, 109 and note
,, body sewn up in leather, buried in Lincoln Cathedral, 109, note
Dighton, John, of Minting, 69
,, John, of Hatton, 93
,, Robert, owner of Stourton, 90, 197, 208
,, marries a Clinton, 69
,, Thomas, of Waddingworth, 217
,, family, 15, 20, 69
Dog-dyke, _i.e._, Dock-dike, 99
Dog-whippers in church, 200
Dorset, Marquis of, 163
Druid circles, 98 and note
Duel fought by Capt. Glover, of Wispington, 243, 244
Duke of Lancaster, 27
,, of Newcastle, owner of Baumber, 20
Dutch sportsman in Lincolnshire Wolds, 2, note
Dymock, Arthur, of Toft, 110, 111
,, his will, ibidem
,, Sir Robert, (Mavis Enderby) 49
Dymoke, Dame Jane, founds Hemingby school, 97
Dyer, poet, rector of Kirkby-on-Bain, 118
E.
EARL of Abergavenny, 59
,, Angus, 110
,, Chester, 88
,, Exeter, 121
,, Kent, 102
,, Lancaster, 106
,, Lincoln, 104, 159, 189
Earl Manvers, 80, 96
,, Mercia, 30, 137
,, Moretaine, 102
,, Northumberland, 59
,, Oxford, 49, 180
,, Strafford, 5, 11, 69
Easter sepulchre, 130, 136, 185
Edlington, church described, 44, 45
,, registers, curious, 42, 43
,, Owners—
,, ,, Saxons, Egbert, 39, Ulf, 39, Tonna, 40
,, ,, Danes, Hubba and Inguar, 40
,, ,, Gilbert de Gaunt, 35
,, ,, Robert de Barkeworth, 35, 36
,, ,, Thymelby family, 36
,, ,, Saviles, of Howley, 37
,, ,, Bolles family, 37
,, ,, Sir E. Turnor and descendants, 37
,, ,, William Byron, Esq., 38
,, ,, Hassard Short family, 34
,, meaning of name, 39
,, ancient remains found at, 39
Edmund, St.’s, penny, 130
Edric, the Saxon, 54
Eland, Saxon family, 127 and notes
,, John, tomb in Baumber church, 127
,, held manor of Cawkwell, 128
,, held manors of Bag Enderby and Mavis Enderby, note, 128
,, held Honour of Peverel, 127
Elnod, the Saxon, 47
Enderby, Mavis, church described, 52, 53
,, Runic stone in west doorway, 52
,, stoup, curious, 53
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Elnod and Godwin, Saxons, 47
,, ,, Richard de Malbyse, 47
,, ,, William de Karilepho, 48
,, ,, Ivo Taillebois, 48
,, ,, Eudo, son of Spirewic, 48
,, ,, several smaller owners, 49
,, ,, Henry IV. as duke of Lancaster, 49
,, ,, Sir George Taillebois, 49
,, ,, John Billesby, of Billesby, 49, 128, note
,, ,, Nicholas Eland, 49, 128, note
,, ,, Gedney family, 50
,, ,, Willoughbies and Becs, 51
,, Present owners—
,, ,, Mrs. Rashdall, of London, 51
,, ,, Mrs. Coltman, of Hagnaby, 51
,, ,, Mrs. Holmes, of Eastville, 51
,, ,, The Rector, 51
Epigram on Goodrich, 131, note
Eudo, son of Spirewic, 48, 105, 152, 208, 216, 232
“Exhibition” paid for maintenance 124, note
F.
FARTHING, rent of land, 89, 235
Field-names, see Names of fields
Fishery, valuable property, held by Pinso, in Tumby, 105
,, granted by Simon de Tumby to Kirkstead Abbey, 108
“Ffitches,” _i.e._, marten skins, gown lined with, 62
Fitz-Eudo, Hugh, called Brito, 8, 105, 152
,, ,, founded Kirkstead Abbey, 105
Fitz-Eustache, Richard, constable of Chester, 106
Fitz-William, Wm., High Admiral, 49
Flint implements found in Salmonby, 216
Foljambes connected with Ayscoughs, 115
Fortescue, Lord, 114
Fulletby, church described, 55, 56
,, Saxon church, 55
,, Owners of—54–56
,, ,, Saxons, Siward and Edric, 54
,, ,, Ranulph, Bishop of Durham, 54
,, ,, Pinson “Dapifer,” 54
,, ,, Bec family, 54, 55
,, ,, Willoughby d’Eresby, Lord, 55
,, ,, Willoughby of Parham, Lord, 55
,, ,, Elmhirst, Booth, Riggall, &c. 55
,, church “xxiv candels” altar, 56
,, “Ikon Basilike,” 56
,, Robert Leech of, joined “Lincolnshire Rising,” 55
,, paid pension to Bullington Priory, 55
,, Roman urns found at, 56
Fulsby, _i.e._ Fugels-by, 100
,, Cressy of, 111
,, Hall, 101
Fulstow, Roger, of Waddingworth, 216, 217
G.
Gallows, 9, 40, 76, 119 and note, 171
“Garth, Saffron,” Revesby, 161
Gascoyne, connected with Kirkby-on-Bain, “ancient and virtuous family,”
113
Gate-alms, 140, 162
Gaunt, Gilbert de, 20, 32, 35, 40, 75, 88, 177, 226
,, John, Duke of Lancaster, 27, 88, 131, 226
Gedney, Andrew, 148
,, George, 4, 49
,, family, 50, 78, 148
Ghost of Stainsby, 7
Girvii of the Fens, 186 and note
Glemham, Sir Henry, 60
,, John, of Glemham Parva, Suffolk, 60
,, Thomas, 60 (Burwell)
,, Sir Thomas, 23, 149
Glover family, of Wispington, 231, 232, 233
,, Duel fought by Capt. Glover, 244
Gloves, tenure by, 133
Godiva, Lady, 30, 158, 188, 194
Goodrich family, 123, note
,, bequest of gown, and money to repair roads, 123, 124
,, epigram on, 131 note
Goulceby, Saxon church formerly, 67
,, Benefice united to Asterby, 57
,, charity, by Anthony Acham, 63
,, tenure by rose, 59
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Ivo Taillebois, 58
,, ,, De la Haye family, 58
,, ,, Philip de Kyme, 59, 61
,, ,, Nicholas de Cantelupe, 59
,, ,, Earl of Abergavenny, 59
,, ,, Gilbert Umfraville, 59
,, ,, Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, 59
,, ,, Duke of Bedford, 59
,, ,, Cromwell, Lord Treasurer, 59
,, ,, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, 60
,, ,, Glemham family, of Glemham Parva, Suffolk, 60
,, ,, Sir Matthew Lister, 60, 62
,, ,, Sir Martin Lister, 61
,, ,, Lord Deloraine, 61
,, ,, Sir E. Boughton, 61
,, ,, Sir Robert Barkham, 61
,, ,, Knollys family, 61
,, ,, Adam Heneage, 63
,, Present owners—
,, ,, Col. Bagnall, 63
,, ,, Earl Manvers, 63
,, ,, T. Falkner Alison, Esq., 63
Grant, John, Lord of Oxcombe, 149
Grantham family, 8
“Grayle,” or “Graduate,” (Kirkby-on-Bain) 117, note
Green Lady of Thorpe Hall, 37 and note
“Green, Coney,” “low” and “over,” 40, 119, 171
Greetham, church described, 71, 72
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Hugh de Abrincis, 65
,, ,, Henry de Lacy, 66
,, ,, Edmund of Woodstock, 65
,, ,, Hugh Despenser, 66
,, ,, Henry of Lancaster, 66
,, ,, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford (1785), 69
,, ,, John Fardell, Esq., M.P. for Lincoln, 70
,, ,, Robert Dennis, Esq., 70
,, ,, F. Wormall, Esq., 70
,, ,, Lady Carden, 70
Grynne family, 126 note
Guevera family, 16, 179
H.
HAGWORTHINGHAM, church described, 80, 81
,, Owners—
,, ,, Earl of Brittany, 73
,, ,, Drogo de Bevere, 74, 75
,, ,, Earl of Chester, 75, 76
,, ,, Gaunt family, 76
,, ,, De Quincy family, 76
,, ,, Copledyke family, 76
,, ,, Hansard family, 76
,, ,, Welles family, 76, 77
,, ,, Blunt, Thomas, 76
,, ,, Littlebury family, 77, 78
,, ,, John Gedney, 78
,, ,, Francis Bountague, 79
,, Present—
,, ,, Cheales family, 80
,, ,, Sir H. Ingleby, 80
,, ,, Earl Manvers, 80
,, John Littlebury of, buried before Our Lady of the Rood, 77
,, Registers, curious briefs in, 81, 82
Hallam, Henry (Old Bolingbroke), 30
Halstead Hall—see Stixwould
,, robbery at, 204
Hameringham, church described 85, 86
,, old hour-glass in, 85
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Gilbert de Fitz-Gozelin, 83
,, ,, Angevin family, 83
,, ,, Robert Cressaunt, 84
,, ,, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, 84, 85
,, ,, Chaplin family, 85
,, ,, Coltman family, 85
,, tenure by annual gift of spurs, 84
,, curious field-names, 84
Hamerton, George, old family, 43
Hansards, 15, 16, 77
Hand, putting to altar, to confirm charter, 108
Hardegrey, Peter, 41
,, “Master” William, 41
Hareby, church described, 91, 92
,, Owners of—
,, ,, The Lady Lucia Thorold, 87
,, ,, Ivo Taillebois, 87
,, ,, Roger de Romara, 87
,, ,, Ranulph, Earl of Chester, 88
,, ,, Gilbert de Gaunt, 88
,, ,, Ranulph de Meschines, 88
,, ,, Robert de Quincy, 88
,, ,, John of Gaunt, 88
,, ,, Willoughby family, 88
,, ,, Revesby Abbey and other smaller owners, 89
,, ,, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, 89
,, ,, several smaller owners, 90
,, ,, Littleburies, 90
,, ,, Skynners, 91
,, ,, Bryan, 91
,, ,, Messrs. Ramsden & Taylor, 91
Harecourt, Robert de, 140
Hatton, church described, 94, 95
,, Neocomian boulders near, 95
,, Owners of—
,, ,, E. Turnor, Esq., lord of the manor, 95
,, ,, C. C. Sibthorpe, Esq., 95
Hauley, Sir Thomas, 109, note
Hawise de Quincy, 76
,, Redvers, 158, note
Hawks, bequest of, 79
Hawley, family of, 114
Haye, de la, 58
Hay-loft bequeathed for Wesleyan services, 153
Hemingby, church described, 96
,, charity of Dame Jane Dymoke, 97
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Edric the Saxon, 96
,, ,, Ivo Taillebois, 96
,, ,, Sir John Ratclyffe, 97
,, ,, Dymoke family, 97
,, ,, Earl Manvers, etc., 96
Heneage, Adam, 63
Henry IV., of Old Bolingbroke, 88, 121, 177
Hesele, de, family, 211
“Honour of Bolingbroke,” 26
,, Greetham, 64, 68
Horsington, Thorold of, 42
Hotel de Bourg-Thorold, 31 note
Hour-glass, old, on pulpit, 85
Howard family, 114
Hubert Walter, 140
Hugh Fitz-Eudo, 8, 105, 152, 229
Hussey, Lord, 212
,, family, 212
Hustwaite, Sir Edward, 50
I.
INGELBY, Sir H. D., Bart., 80
Inguar and Hubba, Danes, 40
Ipre, Sir John, 141
Ivo Taillebois, 15, 24, 48, 58, 87, 121, 137, 138, 139, 151, 159, 176,
180, 188
,, his tyrranous nature, 159, 188
J.
JEFFERY, Stennet, murderers of, 119, 120
Jenney, Sir Thomas, 125
K.
KARILEPHO, William de, Bishop of Durham, 48, 54, note, 101, 102, 103,
144, 151, 208, 215, 228
,, Abbey of St., in Normandy, 102
“Key-hole” window in Lusby church, 155
Kighly, John, of Salmonby, at Agincourt, 172
King, E., of Ashby-de-la-Launde, land in Salmonby, 171
King Henry IV., 49, 88, 177
Kirketon, of Kirketon (Kirton), 66, 108, 109
Kirkby-on-Bain, church described, 116, 117, 118
,, Armorial bearings, once in church, 109
,, Jurisdiction of, 105
,, a “town,” 105
,, Pontefract also called Kirkby, 104
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Ulmar, Godwin, Gonewate, Saxons, 101
,, ,, Odo, Bishop of Baieux, 101
,, ,, William de Karilepho, 101
,, ,, Ilbert de Lacy, 103, 104
,, ,, Eudo, son of Spirewic, 105
,, ,, Henry Travers, 106
,, ,, Wido de Laval, 106
,, ,, Albreda de Lisours, 106
,, ,, Richard Fitz-Eustache, 106
,, ,, Earl of Lancaster, 106
,, ,, Bec family, 106, 107
,, ,, Willoughby family, 108
,, ,, Ralph de Cromwell, 109
,, ,, Dymokes and Cressies, 110
,, ,, Percy family, 112
,, ,, Lord Clinton, 114
,, ,, Lord Fortescue, 114
,, ,, Sir H. M. Hawley, 114
,, ,, Stanhope family, 114
,, ,, H. Rogers, Esq., 114
Kirkby, East, church described, 128, 131
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Ivo Taillebois, 121
,, ,, Romara family, 121
,, ,, De La Launde family, 121
,, ,, Duke of Lancaster, Henry IV. 121
,, ,, Sir Vincent Skinner, 121
,, ,, Littlebury family, 124
,, ,, R. Maidens, Esq., 122
,, ,, Dr. T. Robinson, 122
,, ,, Stanhope and Coltman families, 122
,, Bequest of money for “exhibition,” 124 and note
,, “Silver salt” and “silver flat piece,” 124
,, Browne, Sir John, Knt., 126
,, “Sergant of Privy Chamber,” 127
,, Treasurer of Ireland, 127
,, Granted land at “Peppercorn Rent,” 126, 127
,, Ealand family, held “Honour of Peverel,” 127
,, Sir William, Constable of Nottingham Castle, 127
,, Lucy Faber gives meadow “to strew the monks’ floor,” 122
,, Goodrich family, 123, 124, note
,, Bishop of Ely, his character, 131 note
,, Epigram on, 131 note
,, Sapcote family, 125
,, Silkstone, Robert de, Monument in Church, 126
,, Smerehorn, Alan gives Watermill to Revesby Abbey, 128
,, Webberly family, John, strong supporter of Charles I., 128
Kirkstead, Abbey founded by Hugh, Fitz Eudo, 105, 229
,, Mastiffs, 101, note
Knatchbull, Sir Edward, 114, 164
Knollys, Hanserd, Churchman and Baptist, 181 and note
Kyme, Barony of, 61
,, family, 110, 182
,, Simon de, 131
L.
LACY, John de, 88
,, John de, Earl of Lincoln, 104
,, Ilbert de, Lord of Kirkby-on-Bain, 104, 177, 208
,, Also of Pontefract, called Kirkby by the Saxons, 104
,, Great possessions of, 104
,, Henry de, 104
Lucia, 15, 87, 88, 121, 152, 159, 176, 178, 180, 189, 194, 208
Lancaster, Duke of, 27
,, Thomas, Earl of, 106
Langrick, _i.e._, Long Creek, 99
Langton of Langton, Patron of Lusby, 1677–1833, 149
,, Stephen de, Archbishop, 134
Laval, Wido de, 106
Lawlessness, temp. Simon de Tumby, 108 note
Leedsgate, _i.e._, “our Lady’s gate,” 119
“Liber Niger,” Hearne’s, 54
Lichgate, memorial to Honble. E. Stanhope, 168
Lindisfarne, Monks of, 103
Lisours, Albreda de, 106
Lister, Sir Martin, Eminent Zoologist, &c., 61, 62
,, Sir Matthew, Court Physician, &c., 60, 62
,, Matthew, Esq., Lord of Oxcombe, 149
Littlebury, family of, 6, 8, 90, 91 and note, 124, 153
,, Sir Humphrey, 6
,, George of Somersby, 51
,, Humphrey, 152
,, John of Hagworthingham, 77
,, Margaret, bequest to the poor, 170
,, Their large residence, 171
Livesey, Thomas, Esq., of Blackburn, 20
Lodington family, 126
Lola Montez, 35
L’Oste, Revs. C. N., 166 and note
Lusby church described, 135, 136
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Tonna Almer and other Saxons, 131
,, ,, Gilbert de Gaunt, 131
,, ,, Simon de Kyme, 131
,, ,, Walter de Bec, 132
,, ,, Ranulph, Bishop of Durham, 132
,, ,, Pinson, 132
,, ,, John Bec, 133
,, ,, Willoughby family, 133
,, ,, Bishop of Durham, 134
Bishop of Lincoln, 134
M.
MALBISH, Osbert, 48
,, Richard de, 47
Maletoft, Roger de, 178
Malo Lacu (Mauley) family of, 146
,, Arms of, 147
Malo Lacu, Peter, born at Poictou, 146
,, Built Castle of Mountgrace, 146
Manvers, Earl, 62, 80, 96
Manure of sheep in Kirkby granted to Kirkstead Abbey, 107
Margaret, St., 227, note
Mastiffs of Kirkstead Abbey, 101, note
Massenge, or Masinge, 123 and note
Mavis Enderby, church described, 52–3
,, Owners of, see Enderby, Mavis
Meschines, Ranulph de, 88, 201
Mills, as valuable property, 12 note, 103, 105, 108, 135, note, 156, 176,
225
Miningsby, church described, 142
,, ,, Runic stone in Churchyard, 142
,, ,, Ranulph de, 139
,, Owners of Miningsby—
,, ,, Moretaine, Earl of, 102
,, ,, Ivo Taillebois, 138, 139
,, ,, William de Romara, 139
,, ,, Baldric, de Cheles, 139
,, ,, Hugo Wac (Wake), 139
,, ,, Ranulph de, Miningsby, 139
,, ,, Hubert Walker, Archbishop, 140
,, ,, Robert de Herecourt, 140
,, ,, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, 140
,, ,, John Scayman, of Miningsby, 141
,, ,, Robert de Willoughby, 141
,, ,, Sir John de Ipre, 141
,, ,, Richard Skepper, 140
,, ,, Grynne family, 141
Monas-Tessera-Graphica, 51
Montez, Lola, 35
N.
NAMES of fields, peculiar, 9, 10, 11, 18, 40, 70, 71, 79, 84, 114, 115,
119, 122, 123, 127, 141, 150, 151, 161, 170, 171, 207
Newcastle, Duke of, 20, 180
Newcomen, John, of “Sallaby,” 68
,, Pedigree, 69
Newcomen, Richard, of “Nether Toynton,” 68
,, Samuel, of “Nether Toynton,” 68, 69
“Niger Liber,” Hearne’s, 54
Northumberland, Earl of, 59
Nova-villa, Robert de, 208
O.
ODD, Bishop of Baieux, 2, 101, 102, 182, 208
Old Revesby deeds, from Burghley House, 161
Oratory Medlam, (Revesby), 161
Ordericus Vitalis quoted, 226
Ormsby, Richard de, 146
Oswy, King of Northumbria, 102, 103
Otter, Francis, memorial window, 157
Otter, Miss, restored Ranby church, 1839, 156
P.
PALFREYMAN, 44, 125 and note, 134
Parker, John, a “Recusant,” 80
“Pelham Buckle,” its origin, 178 and note
“Peppercorn” rent, 127, 163
Percy, Henry, 59
Percy family, 110, 112
Pinson, “Dapifer,” 54, 132, 230
Plantagenet, Edmund, 88
Plantagenet, wood planted by, 90
Poolham, 35, 36, 37, 38, 43
Portland, Duke of, 181
Prayers for the dead, 84
Privilege of wearing hat before Royalty, 3, 195
Proviso, curious in Will, 124
Q.
QUINCY, Hawise de, 76
Robert de, 88
Quitclaims, Walter Bec, toll of corn, 107
,, Manure of sheep, 107
R.
RAITHBY church described, 154
,, Owners of Raithby—
,, ,, Elnod, the Saxon, 151
,, ,, William de Karilepho, 151
,, ,, Ivo Taillebois, 151
,, ,, Eudo, son of Spirewic, 152
,, ,, Robert de Willoughby, 152
,, ,, Littlebury family, 152, 153
,, ,, Brackenbury family, 153
,, ,, Rev. E. Rawnsley, 153
Ralph de Cromwell (Kirkby-on-Bain), 109
,, St. Valery (Ranby), 156
Ranby, an appanage of Tupholme Abbey, 156
,, Church described, 156, 157
,, Owners of Ranby—
,, ,, Godric, the Saxon, 156
,, ,, Odo, Bishop of Baieux, 156
,, ,, Ralph de St. Valery, 156
,, ,, Ralph de Cromwell, 156 note
,, ,, Otter family, 156, 157
Ranulph, Bishop of Durham, 54, 229
,, of Miningsby, 139
Ratcliffe, Sir John (Kirkby-on-Bain), 97
Rede, Robert, Justice of the King, 49
Registers of Edlington, 42, 43
,, Mavis Enderby, 50
,, Salmonby, 169
,, Sotby, 183
,, Stixwold, 199, 200
,, Winceby, 228
Rent of salt, 55
Revesby Abbey, cell at Mavis Enderby, 48
,, Abbot’s possessions, 162
,, Founded by William de Romara, 121
,, Church described, 166, 167, 168
,, Estates divided in 1552, 163
,, Meaning of name, 157 and note
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Ivo Taillebois, 159
,, ,, Roger de Romara, 159
,, ,, William, de Romara, Earl of Chester, 159, 160
,, ,, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, 163
,, ,, John Kersey, 163
,, ,, Lord Treasurer Burghley, 164
,, ,, Henry Howard, 164
,, ,, Sir Joseph Banks, 164
,, ,, J. Banks Stanhope, Esq., 164
,, ,, Right Honble. E. Stanhope, 164
,, Treasures at, 164, 165
,, Tumuli at, 164, 165
“Riddings,” Kirkby, 115
Ring, silver salt, bequest of, 124
Riveaux Abbey, Revesby lands given to, 124
Roads repaired by monks, a duty, 158
Robbery at Halstead Hall, 205
Roman Sepulture, 13
,, Urns, 56, 70
Rose, tenure by, 59
Runic stone, Marvis Enderby, 52
,, Miningsby, 142, 143
S.
SALMONBY, church described, 172, 173
,, Burials many, in 1723–4, 169
,, Rectory held by William of Waynflete, 172
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Hugh de Abrincis, 170
,, ,, Geoffrey of Benigworth, 170
,, ,, Littlebury family, 170, 171
,, ,, Hamon Sutton, 171
,, ,, Sir Anthony Thorold, 172
,, ,, King, family of, Ashby de la Launde, 171
,, ,, Reeve, family of, Ashby de la Launde, 171
,, ,, Mrs. Nesbit Hamilton, Ogilvie, 173
,, Flint implements found, 216
Sackville, Anne, Lady, 60
St. John family, 33
St. Sythe, Revesby, 160
St. Valery, Richard de, 156
Salt pans, 133 and note
Salt rent, 155
Sapcote family, 125 and note
Saxon churches, 40, 55, 56, 57, 75, 121, 184, 210
Scales, Sir Thomas, 125
Scales, Isabella, 141
Scamblesby and Cawkwell—
,, church described, 174, 175, 176
,, Owners of—
,, ,, The Lady Lucia Thorold, 176
,, ,, Ivo Taillebois, 176
,, ,, Romara, Roger de, 176
,, ,, William de, 177
,, ,, Gilbert de Gaunt, 177
,, ,, Blondville family, 177
,, ,, De Lacy family, 177
,, ,, John of Gaunt, 177
,, ,, Priory of Spalding, 176, 178
,, ,, Bishop of Lincoln, 178
,, ,, Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 178
,, ,, Earl of Yarborough, 178
,, ,, Lill family, 178
,, ,, Bourne family, 178
,, ,, Kent, family of, curious bequests, 179, 180
,, Cawkwell, church demolished, 181
,, ,, Owners of—
,, ,, Lady Lucia, 180
,, ,, Ivo Taillebois, 180
,, ,, Sir Charles Cavendish, of Bolsover, 180
,, ,, Dukes of Newcastle, 180
,, ,, Earl of Oxford, 180
,, ,, Bentinck family, 180
,, ,, Duke of Portland, 180
Silkstone, Robert, monument to, 126
,, large estates of, 126
Silver casket and coins found, 151
,, “creeping,” 130
,, “salt,” bequest of, 124
“Sir” equivalent to “parson,” 111, note
Siward the Saxon, curious tradition of, 187 and note
Skepper, George, 125
,, Richard, buried in church, 123
,, ,, will of, 140
Skinner family, of Hareby, 91
,, of Old Bolingbroke, 91
,, Sir Vincent, 91, 121
Skipwith, Sir William, 50
Slaves, bequest of, 162, 170
Smith, J. Bainbridge, D.D., tablet at Baumber, 21
,, memorial window in Sotby, 185
Sotby, church described, 184, 185
,, register, 16 burials in 1728, 183
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Ulnod the Saxon, 182
,, ,, Odo, B shop of Baieux, 182
,, ,, Philip de Kyme, 182
,, ,, William de Kyme, 183
,, ,, Simon de Kyme, 183
,, ,, Gilbert de Umfraville, 182
,, ,, Sir Robert Dymok, knt., 183
,, ,, Robert Taillebois, 183
“Spice boxes” at East Kirkby, 130
Spurs, tenure by, 84
“Squint” window at Lusby, 136
Stanhope family, 114, 122, 165
,, Sir Richard, of Rampton, 109
Stennet, Jeffery, murder of, 119, 120
Stixwold, church described, 199, 200
,, field names at, 207
,, meaning of name, 185, 186
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Ulviet and Siward, Saxons, 187
,, ,, Waldin Brito, 188
,, ,, Alured, of Lincoln, 188
,, ,, Ivo Taillebois, 188
,, ,, Alan, of Lincoln, 190
,, ,, Roger de Romara, 189
,, ,, Ranulph, Earl of Chester, 189, 190
,, ,, Gilbert de Gant, 190
,, ,, Bec family, 190
,, ,, Pinso, “Dapifer,” 190
,, ,, Willoughby family, 190
,, ,, Robert de Haye, 190
,, ,, Ranulph de Meschines, 190
,, ,, Earl of Northumberland, 191
,, ,, Robert Dighton, 191
,, ,, Thimbleby family, 191
,, ,, Savile family, 192
,, ,, Sir John Coventry, 192
,, ,, Lord High Admiral Anson, 192, 193
,, ,, Edmund Turnor, Esq., 193
,, Halstead Hall owners—
,, ,, Roger de Stixwold, 201
,, ,, Sir Theobald de Stikeswald, 201
,, ,, Ranulph de Meschines, 202
,, ,, Welby family, 202
,, ,, Evington family, 203
,, ,, George Townshend, 203
,, ,, Kirkland Snowden, 203
,, ,, Gibbon family, 203
,, ,, Sir John Coventry, 203, 204
,, ,, Sir William Kyte, or Keate, 204
,, ,, Lord Anson, 204
,, ,, Edmund Turnor, Esq., 204
,, Robbery at Halstead Hall, 204, 205, 206
Stixwold Priory, founded by “the Lady Lucia,” 194
,, Benefactors—
,, ,, Galfred de Ezmondeys, 194 and note
,, ,, Alexander Creveceur, 194 and many others
,, Perquisites—
,, ,, “Assize of beer and bread,” 195
,, ,, “Lincoln farthings,” 195
,, ,, “Shot for wax,” 195
,, Possessions very large, 195
,, Prioress, the last, 196
,, Registers mention—
,, ,, “Artillery in charges,” “town muskets,” etc., 200
,, ,, Dog-whippers for church, 200
,, ,, “Dunkirkers,” 200
,, ,, “Dyke-reeve,” 200
,, Vicars, list of, 200, 201
,, stone coffins from, 199
,, stone with curious device, cross within circle, 198 and note
,, Cistercian pottery found, 207
Stourton, church described, 209, 210
,, benefice united to Baumber, 211
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Grinchel, the Saxon, 209
,, ,, Eudo, son of Spirewic, 208
,, ,, Robert de Novâ Villâ, 208
,, ,, Odo, Bishop of Baieux, 208
,, ,, William de Karilepho, 208
,, ,, Ilbert de Lacy, 208
,, ,, Dighton family, 209
,, ,, E. Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, 209
,, ,, Duke of Newcastle, 209
,, ,, W. H. Trafford, Esq., 209
,, ,, R. Harrison, Esq., 211
,, a Roman station, 209
,, “Stoup” farm, 211
Stoups, 25, 53, 154
Sweating sickness, 60, 149
T.
TAPESTRY, Baieux, 102, note
Tetford, 211
,, church described, 213
,, Saxon, formerly existing, 211
,, Owners—
,, ,, Elmer, Arnwi and Britnod, Saxons, 211
,, ,, Thomas (of Baieux) Archbishop of York, 212
,, ,, Gozelin, son of Lambert, 212
,, ,, De Hesele family, 212
,, ,, Cormayle family, 212
,, ,, Creveceur family, 212
,, ,, Braybœuf family, 212
,, ,, Barkworth family, 212
,, ,, Thimbleby family, 212
,, ,, Savile family, 212
,, ,, George Anton, Esq., 212
,, ,, Hussey family, 213
,, ,, Dymoke family, 213
,, ,, Sir H. A. H. Cholmeley, 213
,, ,, Meaburn Staniland Esq., 213
,, ,, Executors of G. Westerby, 213
,, Tetford witch, 214, 215
Thimbleby, imprisoned at Lincoln, cruel treatment of wife, 37
,, family, 212
Thorndyke, Francis, of Scamblesby, (Lincolnshire Gentry, 1634), 176
Thorold, of Bucknall, 150
,, Horncastle, Dean of, 161
,, of Horsington, 42
,, of Salmonby, 172
Touthby, John de, 36
Tyrwhitt, Sir William, 180
U.
UMFRAVILLE, Gilbert de, Earl of Angus, 59, 110, 182, 188, note
V.
VALERY, St., Ralph de, 156
Vere, Earl of Oxford, 49
W.
WAC (Wake), Hugh, gives land to Revesby Abbey, 139
Waddingworth, 215
,, meaning, probable, of name, 217
,, church described, 221, 222
,, Dymoke monument, 221
,, Owners of—
,, ,, William de Karilepho, 218
,, ,, Eudo, son of Spirewic, 218
,, ,, Tupholme Abbey, 218
,, ,, Richard de Waddingworth, 218
,, ,, Roger Fulstow, 219
,, ,, Thomas Dighton, 219
,, ,, George Townshend, 220
,, ,, George Snowden, 220
,, ,, Edward Dymoke, 221
,, ,, Trafford Southwell family, 221
,, ,, Vyner family (of Gautby), 221
,, a native of, became Lord Mayor of London, 220
,, old armour in cottage, 222
,, highway robbery of resident in, 220
Wainflete, William of, Rector of Salmonby, 172
Walesby monument, 157
Ward, Rev. R. F., 172
Watermills, 12, 176
Webberley family, 128
Welby, Thomas, of Oxcombe, 147
,, large possessions of, 147
,, family, of Stixwold, 203
Welles, Sir Robert, 50, 77
Wentworth, Lord Strafford, 69
William de Barkworthe, 35
,, Wodehall, 42
Willoughby, arms of, 110
,, d’Eresby, 55
,, family of, 89, 108
,, and Kirkstead Abbey, 230, note
, of Parham, 4, 55
,, Robert de, 141, 152, 230
,, Sir William, 55, 138, 230
Willoughby, Rev. West, charity of, 118, 119
Winceby, church described, 227
,, a haunted boulder, 225
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Agemund the Saxon, 225
,, ,, Gozelin the Norman, 225
,, ,, Hugh de Abrincis, 225
,, ,, Gaunt family, 226
,, ,, Duke of Lancaster, 226
,, ,, C. Manwaring, Esq., 226
,, ,, Hill family, 226
,, register, curious entries, 228
,, fight, 228, 229, 230
Wispington, church described, 238, 239
,, Owners of—
,, ,, William de Karilepho, Bishop of Durham, 231
,, ,, Eudo, son of Spirewic, 232
,, ,, Kirkstead Abbey, 234
,, ,, Bec family, 233
,, Sir William Willoughby, 233
,, Robert Phillips, Esq., 235
,, Phillips Glover, Esq., 236
,, Turnor family, of Stoke Rochford, 237
,, anecdote of Vicar, R. Glover, 238, note
,, benefice formerly a rectory, 241
,, duel fought by Major Glover, 244
,, list of vicars, 242
,, Manor house, formerly a fine residence, 237
,, register, names “weaver” and “spinster,” 242, 243
,, spinning, a common occupation, 243, note
Witch of Tetford, 214, 215
Witham debouched at Wainfleet, 99
Woodstock, Edmund of, 65
Y.
YARBOROUGH, Earl of, 178
FOOTNOTES.
{0} The corrigenda has applied in this transcription.—DP.
{2a} Among the names in the “Myntlyng” MS., of Spalding Priory, is “John
atte Ash,” _i.e._, John living by “the Ash,” which in time became John
Ash. The ash tree was supposed to have peculiar virtues: weakly children
were passed through it three times, before sunrise, to give them
strength; and to the Rowan, or mountain-ash many superstitions are
attached. (“Folklore,” vol. ii., No. 1, p. 88, et alibi.)
{2b} It would appear, however, that water was a more marked feature of
the locality 100 years ago. Sir Joseph Banks, writing of the antiquities
of Ashby, in an article contributed to “Archæologia” at that time (vol.
xii., p. 96), mentions the “sloping hills with brisk rills of water
running through almost every valley.” It should not be forgotten that
formerly a tract of forest extended all along this district, so that (as
I have mentioned elsewhere) a Dutch sportsman spent a whole season in
hunting “in Lincolniensi montium tractu,” among the Lincolnshire hills.
When that forest was cleared away, as a natural consequence the streams
would shrink in volume, or disappear altogether.
{4} The Elands were landowners in Stourton, East Kirkby, and other
places. One of them resided at East Kirkby as late as 1870. Sir William
Eland was Constable of Nottingham Castle, 1330, and M.P. for the county
in 1333 (Bailey’s “Annals,” vol. i., p. 223). The Gedneys were
considerable owners in the neighbourhood. In the church at Bag Enderby
there is a handsome stone mural monument of Andrew and Dorothy Gedney,
with their two sons and two daughters kneeling before prayer desks. This
Andrew Gedney married Dorothy, daughter of Sir William Skipwith, of South
Ormesby, by his wife, Alice Dymoke.
{5} John de Kirketon (or Kirton), near Boston, received the honour of
knighthood from Ed. II., owned Tattershall and Tumby, and was summoned to
Parliament 16 Ed. III. They had large property in Boston in 1867
(Thompson’s “History of Boston,” p. 226).
{6a} The pedigree of the Littleburys is given in the Herald’s
“Visitation of Lincolnshire” 1562–4; edited by W. Metcalf, F. S. A. (Bell
and Sons, 1881).
{6b} Sir Thomas Meeres was knighted 11 June, 1660. He was almost
continuously M.P. for Lincoln from 1660 to his death in 1708.
(“Architect. Soc. Journal,” 1891, p. 13.)
{7} The late Poet Laureate, in his poem “Walking to the Mail” (Poems,
1842), tells of a farmer who was so pestered by the presence of this
ghost about his house, that he harnessed his horse to his cart and
started to leave home to get rid of it:—
“The farmer, vext, packs up his bed,
And all the household stuff, and chairs,
And with his boy betwixt his knees, his wife
Upon the tilt—sets out and meets a friend,
Who hails him, ‘What! Art flitting?’
‘Yes, we’re flitting,’ says the ghost,
For they had packed her among the beds.
‘Oh! Well!’ the farmer says, ‘You’re flitting with us too!
‘Jack, turn the horse’s head, and home again.’”
There are sundry other ghosts, or witches, remembered in the
neighbourhood, which may be heard of by the curious.
{9} Among the lists of institutions to benefices, preserved in the
Archives at Lincoln, is that of “Thomas Hardie, clerk, presented by the
Dean and Chapter, Vicar, A.D. 1567.” This was in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth; the patronage, therefore, was probably granted to that body by
her father, Henry VIII., on the dissolution of the Tattershall College.
(“Institutions, 1540–1570,” edited by Rev. C. W. Foster.)
{10} The writer has reason to remember the hollowness of the beck, for
on one occasion, when riding with the foxhounds, there being a steep
descent to the beck, and the beck itself having rotten, hollow banks, the
soil gave way beneath his horse’s hind legs, and, although they landed on
the other side, the horse was all in a heap, and the rider shot over its
head. They, however, recovered themselves, and no other riders
attempting it they gained a considerable advantage over the rest of the
field. When shooting along its banks he has seen places where the
hollowness was still more marked, the beck itself being barely more than
two feet wide, and four feet, or even more, deep.
{12a} “The culverhouse, or dovecote, attached to old baronial and other
houses, was a valuable source of food supply in days when the fattening
of cattle was not understood.” (“Nature and Woodcraft,” by J. Watson.)
{12b} The existence of this watermill is not without interest. They
were a source of considerable revenue, and this probably belonged to the
monks of Tattershall College, and all their tenants would be expected to
have their grain ground at it. In an ancient MS., of Spalding Priory, it
is recorded that certain tenants of the Prior were heavily fined because
they took their corn to be ground elsewhere.
{12c} At a monastery at Norwich 1,500 quarters of malt were used
annually for ale. Ingulphus, the abbot of Croyland, laments in his
History, the damage caused by a fire at the Abbey, inasmuch as it
“destroyed the cellar and casks full of ale therein” (quoted Oliver’s
“Religious Houses,” p. 15, note 5).
{13} The full inscription is:—“Here lyeth Rychard Lyttleburye, of
Stanesbye in ye countie of Lincoln Esquier and Elizabeth his wyffe
daughter of Sir Edmund Jenney of Knotsolt in the countie of Suff. Knight,
which Richard departed this lyfe in the xiii year of the Reign of King
Henry ye eight Ao. D’ni. 1521 and Elizabeth dyed in ye xv yeare of ye
Raigne of ye sayd King H. Ao. 1523.”
{15a} See Notices on Baumber, Bolingbroke, Hareby, East Kirkby, etc.
{15b} See the Notices of Baumber and Stourton.
{16} They had also large possessions in the counties of York and Durham.
{19} The descendants of Ivo Tailbois seem to have lost the commanding
position of their ancestor; since in a Close roll of Henry VII., No 30.,
it is stated that Sir Robert Dymmok, and others, “being seized of the
Manors of Sotby and Baumburg, granted an annuity therefrom of £20 to
William Tailboys, who now assigns the deed, granting that annuity to him,
to Bartholomew Rede, citizen, and goldsmith, of London, for a debt,”
(evidently a London money-lender), Dated May 9th, Henry VII., A.D. 1494.
{20} This Mr. Thomas Livesey married Lydia, widow of Matthew Dymoke
Lister, Esq., of Burwell Park, and was buried at Burwell, 1790, March
28th. (‘Notices of the Listers’, “Architect Journal,” 1897, pp. 92, 3).
{26a} According to _Magna Britannia_, it had an annual fair as well as a
weekly market, on Tuesdays; although Leland (Itiner. Cur., vol. vii. 52),
says “It hath once a year a fair, but hath no weekly market.” But surely
the larger mart could imply the smaller, and Weir in his History of
Lincolnshire (vol. ii. p. 407), mentions an attempt at New Bolingbroke,
to “revive the market on Tuesday,” showing that there was one of old.
{26b} To show the extent of the soke, we find from “Inquisition post
mort. 41, Ed. III., No. 47,” that in 1367 it was decided that Ralph de
Nevill holds “a fee in Ulceby, as of this Manor.” Yet Ulceby is distant
several miles.
{27} The Tenor bell was also re-hung at her expense.
{28} The present writer had the charge of that excursion, and twice
visited the church in company of the Precentor, to examine its details,
which he has done again at a more recent date.
{29} That there was a chantry here is proved by the fact, that at the
Lincolnshire Rising in 1536, the Bishop’s Chancellor Dr. Rayner, was
seized while being ill in bed at the house of the Chantry Priest, and
afterwards murdered. Arch. S. Journal, 1894, p. 195.
{30a} Proceed. Archæolog. Inst. Lincoln. (1848, p. 188).
{30b} She was given in marriage by William the Conqueror to his nephew,
Ivo Taille-bois, Earl of Anjou; but he dying early to her great relief,
she married secondly Roger de Romara, son of Gerald, who had been
Seneschall or High Steward to William as Duke of Normandy, before the
conquest of England. For third husband she married Ranulph, Earl of
Chester.
{30c} A tradition still lingers in the parish of Bucknall, that the
place was in some way connected with the Lady Godiva; and here we get the
connection. Her brother, and therefore doubtless her father, was Lord of
the Demesne of Bucknall. The Lord (Saxon “Laford”) and Lady (Saxon
“Lafdig”) were esteemed for the loaf (Saxon “Laf”) dealt out to the
hungry dependants, and their memory still lingers like a sweet savour
behind them.
{31a} The Lady Lucia conveyed, and the conveyance was confirmed by King
John, the church and benefice of Bolingbroke to the Priory of Spalding
(Dugdale Monasticon ii., 381); and, according to Liber Regis, it paid to
the Priory a pension of £3 6s. 8d.
{31b} The Thorolds were also men of position in Normandy. The name is
on the ancient Bayeux tapestry; and it also still survives in the old
family residence, the Hotel de Bourgthorould, in Rouen.
{32} The Head Office of the Duchy is now in London at Lancaster-place,
Strand; but two courts are held at Bolingbroke in May and October for all
copyhold accounts.
{34a} There was formerly at Edlington an old Jacobean Hall, on the site
of the later Hall. The entire fittings of the dining room of this
structure, some 23ft. in length, still survive in the dining room of
Rollestone House, Horncastle, the residence of R. Jalland, Esq.
{34b} Mrs. Heald was the daughter of George Heald, Esq., Barrister, of
the Chancery Court, commonly known, as “Chancellor Heald,” to whom, with
his wife, and daughter Emma, there is a marble monument, on the north
wall of the Chancel, in St. Mary’s Church, Horncastle. He died, March
l8th, 1834. The Chancellor also at one time resided at Edlington Hall.
{37a} This Sir Walter Tailboys was the son of Henry Tailboys, and his
wife Ahanora, who was daughter and heir of Gilbert Burdon, and his wife
Elizabeth, the latter being sister and heir of Gilbert Umfraville, Earl
of Angus.
{37b} Sir John Bolles, of Thorpe Hall, is the hero of the tradition of
“the Green Lady,” of that place. She nursed him while imprisoned in
Spain, and fell in love with him. He was obliged to explain to her that
he had a wife at home already, whereupon she made valuable presents of
jewellery to him for his wife. She was said to haunt Thorpe Hall, and
for some time a plate was always laid, and a vacant place kept for her at
the table. Some of this jewellery still exists, and is worn, to my
knowledge, by connections of the family (see Percy’s Ballads, vol. I.,
“The Spanish Lady’s Love”).
{41} In the “Placito de quo Warranto,” p. 409, these gallows are
distinctly referred to as “furcœ in Edlington,” and the same document
says “Abbs de Bardeney venit hic,” etc., “the Abbot of Bardney comes
here,” doubtless to see for himself that the punishment is duly
inflicted.
{47a} Lady of the Lake, Canto IV. 12, the Ballad of Alice Brand.
{47b} Mavis is the thrush, and Merle the blackbird.
{47c} Domesday Book, translated by Charles Gowan Smith, dedicated to
Earl Brownlow, Earl Yarborough, and H. Chaplin, Esq., M.P. (Simpkin,
Marshall and Co.)
{49} The Billesbies were a good family. Sir Andrew Billesby was
involved in the rebellion of 1536. He was steward of Louth Park Abbey
and Bullington Priory.
{54} This Bishop was, at the date of Domesday, William de Karilepho. He
had been Abbot of St. Vincent; was consecrated Bishop of Durham, January
3rd, 1082, and held the office of Chief Justice of England under the
Conqueror. He was an ambitious man, and acquired great possessions,
largely in this neighbourhood. He was banished from his See for three
years by William Rufus for conspiring, with many of the nobility, against
the throne. And for the part which he took in the quarrel between Rufus
and Archbishop Anselm, he was so severely rebuked that he died of wounded
pride.
{58} We have, in the north of the county, Goxhill which, in Domesday
Book, is Golse; and in Broughton, not far from thence, is the hamlet
Gokewell; both of which may contain the same prefix. Although Goltho,
which has a similar sound, is a corruption of Caldicot.
{59} It is not improbable that these early possessions in Goulceby, &c.,
may have come to the Cromwells indirectly on the females’ side, through
their connections, the Willoughbys; since we find, by a Feet of Fines
(Lincoln, folio 69, A.D. 1302), that as early as the reign of Edward I.,
a suit was instituted between John Bec (of the ancient Spilsby and Lusby
family), and Robert Wylgheby; wherein it was proved that the Willoughbys
even then held lands in “Golkeby, Donington,” etc.
{60a} Feet of Fines, Lincoln, Trinity, 22 Elizabeth (“Architect. S.
Journ.” 1895, p. 129.)
{60b} I have referred to this Thomas Glemham, in notices of
Mareham-le-Fen, of which manor he was Lord. Other members of the family
settled elsewhere in the neighbourhood, besides Burwell, the
headquarters.
{60c} British Museum, Add., 5524., fol. 68.
{60d} He was eventually imprisoned by Cromwell, and died in exile in
Holland.
{61} It is also stated that Mrs. Eleanor Lister “was buryed in ye vault,
Dec. ye 28th, in woollen”; and their first-born grandson Matthew,
baptized 7 May, 1703, was “buried in woollen” on the 13th of the same
month.
{69} Of course it is possible that the supposed owner of Greetham may
have been this second Lord Strafford, whose Ancestors held Ashby
Puerorum. I quote this from a paper in the “Architectural Society’s
Journal” of 1891, by Rev. A. R. Maddison, F.S.A., entitled “A Ramble
through the parish of St. Mary Magdalene,” in which he mentions house
property in Lincoln belonging to the Wentworths. It certainly shows a
connection of the Wentworths with Ashby Puerorum, then probably still an
appurtenance of the Greetham Manor.
{73} The close connection of Haugh and Hagi, is shown by Domesday Book,
which called the Lincolnshire village Haugh Hage. Taylor (“Words and
Places”) connected the word with “hedge” and our modern “haw-haw,” a sunk
fence; and so a hedged enclosure.
{75} The present holders of this title (the Keppels), are a different
family, their honour dating only from 1696. Albemarle or Awmarle, a town
in North Normandy, is now Aumale, from which the Duc d’Aumale takes his
title.
{76} The Blunts (or Blounts) were an old Norman Family, who came over at
the Conquest. The name is in the Rolls of Battle Abbey. Walter Blunt
was created Baron de Mountjoy by Ed. IV. The fine church of Sleaford was
built by Roger Blunt, in 1271, as appears from an old MS. found in the
parish chest (“Saunder’s Hist.,” vol. ii. p. 252). Camden (“Britannia,”
p. 517), says that they had a “a fine house” in his day (circa 1600), at
Kidderminster, and he mentions Sir Charles Blunt, Knight, as having a
fine seat at Kimlet in Salop, where their “name is very famous” (p. 542).
The late Sir Charles Blunt used to visit Harrington in this
neighbourhood, where the writer has met him, in days gone by, and enjoyed
sport with his beagles.
{78} Richard Gedney, in his will dated 1 April, 1613, speaks highly of
Thomas Cheales of Hagworthingham, “Yeoman, whom he makes his trustee.” A
junior branch of the Cheales family now reside at Friskney. The Rev.
Alan Cheales still owns land here, now residing at Reading. He is the
11th in descent from Anthonie, who bought the property in 1590.
{82} These are no longer to be found, but they were mentioned in a MS.
belonging to Sir Joseph Banks, dated 1784. Another brief was for “ye
first Fast day for ye Plague, 1665, the sum of 15s 6a” (August 2nd)
“September ye 6th, ye 2nd Fast day for ye Plague 1665 . . . 13_s_ 7_d_
and 2_s_ more was added afterwards.” Six Fast days were mentioned, when
money was collected “for ye Plague.” Among items, in the Church
accounts, were:—“A sheet borne over the sacrament,” a “Kyrchuffe that our
Lady’s coat was lapped in,” “to Peter Babbe for gilding the Trinity,
iiiili xvis 0d.” “It for painting the Dancing geere,” (_i.e._ at the
May-pole). “It for viii. pound of waxe for Sepulchre lights iiiis
iiiid.” “It for ii. antiphoonies bought at Stirbridge faire (&c.) iiili
xis 7d”; “It for thacking the steeple xs”; “To William Edwards for
finding our Lady’s light viiiis iiiid”; “iiili xs given to finde yearly
an obitt for the soul of Lawrence Clerke, . . . to say Dirige and Masse,
. . . and for the bede roule,” &c. There are charges, for “vi gallons
yearly of aile” for the ringers. The “Church corne, given of the good
will of the inhabitants to the value of xxs viiid.” “Wessell (Wassail)
for the young men.” “The town bull sold for iis viiid a quarter.” &c.,
&c. (“Lincs. N & Q.” vol. i. pp. 5–13).
{83} There are mounds, and traces of a moat in a field in Langton,
showing that there was formerly a large residence, probably the home of
this branch of the Angevin family, who came over with the Conqueror.
{84a} Gair means a triangular piece of land which requires ploughing a
different way from the rest of the field. There was a Thomas Baudewin
had lands in Coningsby in the reign of Henry III. 106. Coram Rege Roll,
42, Henry III. “Linc. N. & Q.” iv. p. 102.
{84b} A pulse diet, for man or beast, seems to have been very general.
Pesedale-gate, means the gate, or road by the Pease-valley. We have
Pesewang, _i.e._ Peasefield, in High Toynton, Pesegote-lane in Spilsby,
and there are similar names at Louth, and elsewhere.
{87} Streatfeild (“Lincolnshire and the Danes,” p. 219) says “from the
old Norse ‘heri,’ or hare, come Eresby (or Heresby) and Hareby.” In
south Lincolnshire, hares are still called “heres.” The canting crest of
the Withers’s family, is a hare’s head, with ears up-pricked. Whether
there is any connection between “ear” and “eres” or hares, I know not,
but the long ears are a distinguishing feature, and often the only part
of the animal visible in tall covers; and there is the same variation, in
the presence, or absence, of the aspirate, between the noun “ear” and the
verb “to hear,” as between Eresby and Hareby. The writer has a vivid
recollection of the hares as a feature of the locality, as he has
frequently joined coursing parties at Hareby, many years ago, when there
was game enough to afford sport for 30 couple of greyhounds. Fuller in
his “Worthies of England,” p. 150 (Circa 1659), tells of a Dutchman who
came over and spent a season in hunting “in Lincolniensi montium tractu,”
in the mountainous parts of Lincolnshire; and as foxhounds were not
established at that date, this must have been hare hunting in these
Wolds.
{88} These accounts are worked out carefully, by Weir, in his History,
but the various steps are very complicated and some authorities differ
from him in minor details. By an Inquisition, 37 Henry III., it was
shewn that in 1253, William de Bavent owned the Castle and manors
attached to it.
{90a} See “History of the Ayscoughs,” by J. Conway Walter, published by
Mr. W. K. Morton, Horncastle.
{90b} Of this Blagge the following anecdote is preserved. He was a
favourite with Henry VIII., who called him familiarly his “little pig.”
A retrograde religious movement occurring towards the end of this reign,
Blagge, with others, was imprisoned as an offender against the law of the
Six Articles (1539) against Popish practices. By Henry’s interposition
he was released and restored to his office. On his first re-appearance
at Court, the King said to him:—“So you have got back again my little
pig,” to which Blagge replied, “Yes, and but for your Majesty’s clemency,
I should have been _roast_ pig before now.”
{90c} The Cuppledykes were large owners of property in this
neighbourhood, several of their monuments still remaining in Harrington
Church and elsewhere.
{91} The pedigree of the Littleburies is given in the “Visitation of
Lincolnshire,” A.D. 1562–1564, edited by Mr. W. Metcalf, F.S.A., A. Bell
& Sons, 1881. Sir Humphrey Littlebury was descended from Hamon
Littlebury, of Littlebury Manor, Essex, A.D. 1138. Sir Martin Littlebury
Knight was Chief Justice of England, 28 Henry III., A.D. 1243. Fuller
particulars of this family are given in other of these Records.
{93} This record is interesting as giving an instance of the title “Sir”
as applied to the Clergy. A graduate of the University, having the M.A.
degree was styled “Master” so and so, but when in Holy Orders, if he was
only a B.A. he was styled “dominus,” the English equivalent of which was
“Sir.” This was a general style of address, and was continued in the
Isle of Man to a late period.
In “A Short Treatise on the Isle of Man,” by James Chaloner, governor,
date 1656, it is stated that all the clergy who are natives have this
title, even in one case a curate being so styled. In Bale’s “Image of
bothe Churches” (circa 1550), it is said, “the most ragged runagate among
them is no less than a Sir, which is a Lord in the Latin.” In Pulleyn’s
“Etymological Compendium,” we find “The title of ‘Sir’ was given to all
who had taken a degree, or had entered into Orders.” Thus, Hearne, the
Antiquary, after he had taken the degree of B.A., was addressed as “Sir
Hearne” (Aubrey’s Letters, i. 117), and William Waynfleet (afterwards
Bishop of Winchester), when he had taken the same degree, was called “Sir
Waynfleet,” (“Chandler’s Life,” p. 54), Chaucer in his “Canterbury
Tales,” speaks of “Sir Clerk,” “Sir Monk,” and it even appeared in Acts
of Parliament, as 12 and 13 Ed. IV., N. 14, “Sir James Theckness,
Preste,” and i. Henry VII., p. 11, “Sir Oliver Langton, Preste? Sir
Robert Nayelsthorp, Preste.”
{95} In a ploughed field, about 300 yards from the main road, a large
boulder was discovered by a ploughman, in 1902, measuring about 3ft. in
length, some 2½ft. in height, and about the same in thickness, being also
ice-borne Neocomian.
{98a} The learned Dr. Oliver (“Religious Houses,” Appendix, p. 167, note
40) says, “wherever the word ‘Kir,’ or any of its derivatives, is found,
it implies a former Druid temple.” This syllable forms the base of the
Latin “Circulus,” and our own “Circle.” We find many interesting British
names containing it; for instance, in the name of that favourite resort
of tourists in North Wales, Capel Curig, we have the plural Kerig,
implying the British (or Druid) sacred circle of stones, while we have
also, prefixed, the translation of it by the Roman Conquerors of those
Britons, “Capella,” or Chapel. As a parallel to this, we may mention,
that in Wiltshire on “Temple” Downs, there are some stone Druidical
remains, which are locally known by the name of “Old Chapel” (Oliver,
Ibid., p. 175, note 66). Again in Kerig y Druidion, another place in
North Wales, we have the sacred circle “Kerig,” directly connected with
the Druids, in the suffix Druidion. There is also at Kirkby Green, near
Sleaford, a spot called “Chapel Hill,” another at the neighbouring
village Dorrington (“Darun” the Druid sacred oak), and also south of
Coningsby, on the sacred Witham, all probably sites of Druid worship.
{98b} Mr. Taylor (“Words and Places” p. 130) says, “the names of our
rivers are Celtic (_i.e._ British).” There is a river Ben, in Co. Mayo;
Bandon, Co. Cork; Bann, Co. Wexford; Bana, Co. Down; Bannon (Ban-avon),
in Pembrokeshire; Banney, in Yorkshire; and Bain, in Hertfordshire.
{99a} The exact meaning of “by” is seen in the German, which is akin.
In Luther’s translation of Job. xxvi. 5, for “they dwell,” the old German
is “die bey”; the latter word being our word “bide,” or “abide.” A “by”
was an “abode,” or permanent residence; so the Lincolnshire farmer calls
the foundation of his stack, the “steddle,” connected with the Saxon,
“steady,” and “stead” in “homestead,” &c.
{99b} Government Geological Survey, pp. 154–5.
{100a} Portions of Waddingworth and Wispington are given in Domesday
Book, as being in the soke of Great Stourton, and Kirkby-on-Bain.
Stourton Magna, was formerly a place of some importance, sites being
still known as the positions of the market place, &c.
{100b} The names of Fulbeck, and Fulstow, are given in Domesday Book, as
Fugel-beck, and Fugel-stow.
{101a} Charter copied from “Dugdale” v., 456. Date 1199.
{101b} In a cartulary of Kirkstead Abbey, of the early part of the 12th
century, now in the British Museum (“Vespasian” E. xviii.), there is an
agreement between the Abbot of Kirkstead, and Robert de Driby, “Lord of
Tumby,” that the Abbots’ “mastiffs” should be allowed in “the warren,” of
Tumby, at all times of the year, with the shepherds, on condition that
they do not take greyhounds; and if the mastiffs do damage to the game,
they shall be removed, and other dogs taken in their stead. (“Architect
S. Journal” xxiii. p. 109).
{102a} In the Cathedral of this City is still preserved the famous
Baieux tapestry, said to be the work of Matilda, the Conqueror’s wife, in
which are represented the exploits of her husband, in the Conquest of
England.
{102b} He remained a prisoner during the reign of the Conqueror. On the
accession of William Rufus, he was set at liberty, and restored to
favour; but, after a time, heading a conspiracy against the King, in
support of Robert, Duke of Normandy, and being defeated, he once more
retired to that country, where Duke Robert rewarded him by making him
Governor of the province.
{104a} Among the other parishes, Cockerington, Owmby, Withcall, Hainton,
North Thoresby, Friesthorpe, Normanby, Ingham, Sixhills, &c., in all
seventeen.
{104b} The historian Camden (“Britannia,” fol. 711, 712), gives a
curious origin of the name Pontefract, which means “Broken Bridge.” He
says that William Archbishop of York, returning from Rome, was here met
by such crowds, to crave his blessing, that the bridge over the river
Aire broke beneath their weight, and great numbers fell into the river.
The prayers of the saint preserved them from being drowned, and hence the
name was given to the place. This however, occurred A.D. 1154, and, as
documents exist of an earlier date, in which the name is found, as
already in use, the legend would seem to be a fabrication. It is
probable, says another historian, that Hildebert gave the name to the
place, from its resemblance to some place in his own country where he was
born; the name being of Latin or Norman origin.
{104c} These connections, with authorities, are given fully in an
article on the “Descent of the Earldom of Lincoln,” in “Proceedings of
the Archæological Institute” for 1848, Lincoln volume pp. 252–278.
{106} As an illustration of the fickleness and superstition of the
times, although he was condemned as a traitor by Edward II., he was
regarded as a martyr in the cause of liberty by the people, and was
canonized as a Saint by Edward III., son of the King who condemned him.
Miracles were said to be wrought at his tomb; and a Church was built, for
pilgrims to the place where he was executed. (Rapin’s Hist. vol. i. for
396; Boothroyd’s “Hist. Pontefract” pp. 95, &c).
{108} To show the power and lawlessness of some of these Lords of Kirkby
and Tumby, it is recorded that the servants of this Simon de Driby took a
waggon, with a hogshead of wine, from Louth to Tumby, by their master’s
orders, and there forcibly detained it, “to the damage of 60s.” a large
sum in those days. (“Hundred Rolls,” p. 333.)
{109a} The last Baron D’Eyncourt died in the reign of Henry VI. His
sister married Ralph Lord Cromwell. Probably from this connection the
warden of Tattershall College had lands in Kirton (“Peerage,” vol. ii.,
p. 62, and Tanner’s “Notitiæ,” p. 286.) The D’Eyncourts still survive at
Bayons Manor, near Market Rasen. Their ancestors came over with the
Conqueror, and held many manors in Lincolnshire. Walter D’Eyncourt was a
great benefactor to Kirkstead Abbey in the reign of Ed. I. (Madox,
“Baronia Anglica,” p. 217.) The first Walter was a near relative of
Bishop Remigius, who also accompanied the Conqueror. A tomb was opened
in Lincoln Cathedral in 1741 supposed to be that of this Walter, and the
body was found carefully sewn up in leather.
{109b} Of another of the Cromwells, a few years later, it is found by a
Chancery Inquisition post mortem (15 Hen. VI., No. 71) that, to prove his
birth, John Hackthorne, of Walmsgare, testifies that he saw him baptized;
and being asked how he knows this, he says that, on the said day, he saw
Thomas Hauley, knight, lift the said infant, Robert Cromwell, at the
font. This Sir Robert was succeeded by Ralph Lord Cromwell in 1442.
This Sir T. Hauley also presented to the benefice of Candlesby, next
after Matilda, wife of Ralph Lord Cromwell (“Linc. N. and Q,” vi., p.
76.) Thus there was a Hawley connected with the place at that early
period, but, as will be shown further on, the family of the present Sir
H. M. Hawley did not obtain their property here till more than 300 years
later (“Architect S. Journal,” xxiii., p. 125).
{111} In former times parsons had the title “Sir,” not as being Knights,
or Baronets, but as the translation of “Dominus,” now rendered by
“Reverend.”
{115a} In those days the wild boar, as well as deer, were plentiful in
our forests, and were protected by royal statute. The punishment for
anyone killing a boar, without the King’s licence, was the loss of his
eyes. They became extinct about A.D., 1620; as to the deer, an old
Patent Roll (13, Richard II., pt. 1, m. 3), mentions that a toll of one
half penny was leviable on every “100 skins of roebuck, foxes, hares,
&c.,” brought for sale to the Horncastle market. This would look as
though roe-deer at least, were then fairly plentiful.
{115b} For further particulars of this family see “History of the
Ayscoughs,” by J. Conway Walter, published by W. K. Morton, Horncastle.
Henry Ascoughe, by his will, dated 16 Nov. 1601, desires to be buried in
the parish church of Moorbye (“Maddison’s Wills.”)
{117a} Two different things were formerly meant by the term “graduale,”
or “grayle.” (1) It was the name given to the Communion Chalice, or
Paten, probably from the “Sangraal,” or holy vessel, said to have been
found in the chamber of “the last supper,” of our Lord, by Joseph of
Arimathæa, and in which he afterwards collected the blood (sang-reale, or
King’s blood), from the wounds of the crucified Saviour. This vessel, in
Arthurian romance, was said to have been preserved in Britain, and to
have possessed miraculous properties. The legend has been finely adopted
by our late Poet Laureate in the “Quest of the Holy Grayle,” among his
“Idylls of the King.” (2). The name was given to a part of the service
of the Mass in pre-Reformation times, which was called the “Gradual,” or
grail, because it was used at the steps (“gradus”) of the chancel. As
the inscription on the first-named of these Kirkby tombs mentioned the
gift of a “Missal,” or mass book, it is probable that the “gradual” here
mentioned was this portion of the mass book, and not the Communion
Chalice, or Paten. The Communion plate of Kirkby does not appear to be
very old.
{117b} The writer of these Records has also a copy of this engraving, it
is dated 1800, and has the initials, E. C. The church is represented
with the roof fallen in, the porch closed by rails, south wall of nave,
with two 3-light windows, in a dilapidated## condition, a priest’s door
in chancel, with two 2-light windows above it, a shabby low tower, with
pinnacles, scarcely rising above the roof, the whole overgrown with
weeds; and churchyard and grave-stones in a neglected state.
{119} In the reign of Ed. I. it was complained that the too powerful
Abbot of Kirkstead erected a gallows at Thimbleby (being patron of that
benefice), where he executed various offenders (“Hundred Rolls,” p. 299),
and Simon de Tumby had gallows at Ashby Puerorum, of which there is
probably still a trace, in “Galley Lane” in that parish. (“Hundred
Rolls,” 1275).
{121} The Kings held property in this neighbourhood late in the 16th
century. By will, dated Jan. 23, 1614, Edwd. King, of Ashby, bequeathed
to his son John the manor house of Salmonby, and it was not till 1595
that the Hall of Ashby de la Laund was built.
{122} This conduit still exists. “Linc. & Q.” vol. iv. p. 131.
{123a} At Greetham there is a field called Gousles, or Gouts-leys. We
find the same in Gautby. “St. Peter at Gowt’s,” in Lincoln; and “Gaut”
is a common term for the outlets of fen and marsh drains.
{123b} There is in Hameringham a Baldvine gaire, given by the clerk to
the Revesby Monks. See notes on Hameringham.
{123c} The name Massenge is not a common one, but we find that Thomas
Masinge was presented to the Vicarage of Frampton, by King Philip and
Queen Mary, 6 August, 1556 (‘Lincolnshire Institutions,’ “Linc. N. & Q,”
vol. v., p. 165.)
{123d} The Goodricks were a fairly good family, originally settled at
Nortingley, Somersetshire; but the Lincolnshire branch came from the
marriage of Henry, son of Robert Goodrick, with the heiress daughter of
Thomas Stickford of this county. According to one version, one of his
descendants, Edward Goderich, of East Kirkby, married as his second wife,
Jane, daughter and heir of a Mr. Williamson of Boston, whose children
were Henry, Thomas (Lord Chancellor), John, Katherine, and Elizabeth; of
whom John married the daughter and co-heiress of Sir Lionel Dymoke, of
Stickford. According to another version, the John, of Bolingbroke, who
died in 1493, had two sons, William and Richard. William was of East
Kirkby, and was father of (1) the John, above-named, who married Miss
Dymoke, (2) Henry, ancestor of the Goodricks, baronets, of Yorkshire, and
(3) Thomas, Bishop of Ely, and Lord Chancellor, temp. Ed. VI., and one of
the compilers of the Reformed Liturgy (“Linc. N. & Q,” vol. i., p. 122).
In the reign of Elizabeth, Edward Goodrick, of East Kirkby, subscribed
£25 to the Armada Fund (“Linc. N. and Q.,” vol. ii., p. 132; “Architect.
S. Journal,” 1894, p. 214.)
{124a} See “Notes” on Salmonby and Raithby.
{124b} The term “exhibition” is equivalent to maintenance; Edward was
evidently studying for “the Bar,” and this was provision for him until he
should be able to “practice at the Bar,” as counsel in legal suits. The
term exhibition is still used at the Universities, along with
“scholarship,” for certain allowances, which are granted to students,
after examination, to aid them in their University course.
{125a} The Sapcotes were a well-to-do middle-class family. In 1554
Thomas Chamberlaine, clerk, was presented to the Church of Lee, Lincoln
Diocese, by Edward Sapcote, gentleman, one of the executors of the will
of Henry Sapcote, late alderman of the City of Lincoln (‘Lincoln
Institutions,’ “Linc. N. and Q,” v., p. 173.) William Sapcote was Rector
of Belchford in 1558. By a Chancery Inquisition post mortem, dated at
Hornecastell, 4 Nov., 23 Henry VII. (1507), the manor of Taunton
(Toynton) and advowson of Nether Taunton with other property were
recovered for Thomas Sapcote, and Joan his wife, and other parties.
(“Architect. S. Journal,” 1895, pp. 61–2.)
{125b} The Palfreyman family resided at Lusby. They were descended from
William Palfreyman, who was Mayor of Lincoln in 1536. Mr. E. Palfreyman
contributed “1 launce and 1 light horse” to the defence of the country
when the Spanish Armada was expected; one of them is named among the List
of Gentry in the county, on the Herald’s Visitation in 1643 (“Linc. N. &
Q,” ii., p. 73.) Ralph Palfreyman was presented to the Vicarage of
Edlington in 1869, by Anthony Palfreyman, merchant of the Staple, Lincoln
(“Architect, S. Journal,” 1897, p. 15.)
{126} The Grynnees were “nativi,” or tenants in bondage; yet, as
sometimes happens in modern days, a son married the daughter of a knight.
They were attached to the manor of Ingoldmells, which then belonged to
the King.
{127a} The prefix may either be Ea _i.e._ Eau, water, or Ey, Ea, island.
The small islands in the Thames are called eyots.
{127b} By an Inquisition taken at Partney, 8 Sep. 7 Hen. VIII (A.D.
1491), it was found that Bernard Eland, son of Eustace Eland, late of
Stirton, Esquire is an idiot, and that he has an infirmity called “Morbus
Caducus; and he held his manor of Stirton of the lord the King, by the
service of two parts of a knight’s fee.” (“Archit. S. Journ.” 1195, p.
74).
{128} By an Inquisition, 20 Hen. vii (A.D. 1504, 5), held at Lincoln, it
was found that John Billsby and Nicholas Eland were seized of the manor
of Malbissh-Enderby, with appurtenances in Hagworthingham and also of the
manor of Bag Enderby, with appurtenances in Somersby, &c.
{129} This rood-screen has been reproduced in late years in the restored
churches of Brant Broughton and Thornton Curtis. (“Linc. N. & Q.,” 1896,
p. 49).
{131} Of Thomas Goodrick, Bishop of Ely, we may observe that he was
rather a “timeserver,” though one of the supporters of Lady Jane Grey,
and acting on her Council during her nine days’ reign. On the accession
of Queen Mary, he did homage to her, and was allowed to retain his
bishopric. The historian says of him, that “he was a busy
secular-spirited man, given up to factions and intrigues of state,
preferring to keep his bishopric before the discharge of his conscience.”
The name was probably originally spelt Gode-rich, and a Latin epigram was
composed, in allusion to this, as follows:—
“Et bonus et dives, bene junctus et optimus ordo,
Prœcedit bonitas, pone sequuntur opes”;
which may be Englishised thus:—
“Both _good_ and _rich_, duly combined,
The good in front, the rich behind.”
There is probably a trace of the Goodrick family in a carved stone over
the kitchen door at the farmhouse close by the church, on which the
device is a cross “fitchée,” rising from another recumbent cross,
combined with a circle, between the initials L and G, with the date above
1544.
{133} Our modern rock-salt was unknown till 1670, when it was
accidentally found in Cheshire. Before that time the only salt in use,
was that collected by evaporation, in “salt-pans,” on the Humber or the
sea-coast. Of these, Sharon Turner calculates (“Hist. Anglo-Saxons,”
vol. iii., p. 251, Ed., 1836), that there were no less than 361 in the
county.
{135} Mills almost invariably belonged to the lord of the manor, and
were a source of considerable profit, as at these only were the tenants
allowed to have their grain ground. As an evidence of their value it may
be mentioned that the Bishop of Worcester had, in the parish of
Stratford, two carucates of land, or 240 acres, which were rated at
20_s._, whereas a mill belonging to him, yielded 100_s._ He let his land
at the annual rent of 5_d._ per acre, but his mill was let for £5. When
the Conqueror’s Commissioners visited Lincolnshire, there were between
400 and 500 mills in the county.
{137} We have an instance of a similar formation in the name of
Kingerby, near Market Rasen; which in a Chancery Inquisition, post mort.,
V.O., Ric. III. and Henry VII., No. 116a, is given as Kyngardby.
{138} In Morris’s Directory, of 1863, the total is given as only 730
acres.
{139} Privately translated and printed for the late Right Honble. E.
Stanhope, M.P., of Revesby.
{140} A selion is a ridge of land between two furrows.
{142a} This double-arched doorway has been pronounced by some to be
Saxon (“Linc. N. & Q.” 1896, p. 4), but about 1090 there was a revival of
Saxon ornament, which was continued for some time into the Norman period
(“Linc. N & Q.” 1895, p. 225, note.)
{142b} These details are taken from the description given by the late
Precentor Venables, on the visit of the Architectural Society, in 1894.
{145a} The Fitzwilliams were a wealthy family, having large possessions
in this county and elsewhere, and, at a later period, were created earls
of Southampton.
{145b} The Crevecœurs would seem to have derived their name from
Creveceur, a town with the title of Marquis, in the province of Masseran,
in Italy (“General Hist. of World,” by Dan Browne, 1721, p. 160.) There
was, however, another old town of this name in Holland, remarkable for
its strong fortress, which, from its impregnability, was named Creveceur,
or heart-break (Ibidem, p. 122). The arms of this family were “or, a
cross, voided, gules” (“Magna Charta,” p. 100.)
{147} These various records are taken from “Lincolnshire Wills,” &c., by
Canon Maddison.
{148} In Bag Enderby church there is a mural monument to Andrew and
Dorothy Gedney, and their two sons and two daughters kneeling by prayer
desks.
{156a} Ralph Lord Treasurer Cromwell had also property in this parish at
a later period.
{156b} A former church was built by the Lord Treasurer, who died in
1455; in the nave of which was the inscription, “Orate pro anima Radulph
Crumwell qui incepit hoc opus, Anno Domini 1450.” (Harl. MSS. No. 6829,
p. 174).
{157a} In the “Gentleman’s Magazine” for 1789, p. 636, is an account of
a beacon hill in this parish.
{157b} The objection to this is that “reeve” is a Saxon word, and the
termination “by” is Danish. The word appears in our modern “sheriff,” or
shire-reeve, “port-reeve,” &c.
{158a} Jusseraud’s “Life of the 14th Century,” p. 38.
{158b} Harleyan MSS. 4127.
{158c} Ibid, add. MSS., 6118, 330_b_.
{158d} The original charter of the foundation is lost, but a copy is
given in Dugdale’s “Monasticon,” vol. v. p. 454. The wife of this
William de Romara was Hawise, daughter of Richard de Redvers, Lord of
Tiverton, Co. Devon, and of Christchurch, Hants., and sister to Baldwin,
1st Earl of Devon. By the title of Comitissa Hawysia de Romara, she gave
the church of Feltham, in Middlesex, to the hospital of St.
Giles-in-the-Fields, near London. She joined in the foundation of
Revesby Abbey. (“Topogr. and Genealogist,” vol. i., p. 24).
{158e} Dugdale’s “Baronage,” vol. i. p. 6.
{159} Gelt was a tax of 2_s._ on each carucate, or 120 acres.
{160} It is customary to speak of Revesby Abbey as the monastery of St.
Laurence, but it would also appear at an early period to have been
dedicated to the Virgin Mother as well; for, while the inscription on the
tomb of the founder, as given above, mentions only St. Laurence, Dugdale
in his “Monasticon” (p. 531), calls it “the Monastery of our blessed Lady
the Virgin, and St. Lawrans.” Further, one impression of the Abbey seal
is preserved in the office of the Duchy of Lancaster, and another at the
British Museum; and they are inscribed “Sigillum Abbatis d’ St.
Laurentio”; but there is also in the British Museum, a seal of “Henry,
Abbot of St. Mary’s;” and another of “the Abbey and Convent of St. Mary,”
is among the Harleian Charters (44, z 2), and both the latter have, as
part of their device, the Virgin, crowned, holding the Infant Christ in
her arms.
{161} It is curious to find a Doctor among the slaves, he may have been
a foster-brother to one of better birth. Barcaria, in Monkish Latin
meant a tanning house (from “bark,”) or a sheep-fold, Norman French,
“Bergerie,” and Barkarius may have been a tanner or shepherd.
{164} I am indebted for these details to the accounts printed by the
late E. Stanhope, for private circulation, and the Revesby deeds and
charters, which he recovered, and also printed.
{166} Saunders in his “History of Lincolnshire,” 1836, gives the patron
of Revesby as Revd. C. N. L’oste. This, however, is an error, that
gentleman being chaplain in 1831, and there then being no residence he
resided at Horncastle, as many other country incumbents did at that time.
The L’ostes held various preferments in this neighbourhood for more than
one generation. In 1706, before the Banks family owned Revesby, the
Revd. C. L’oste held the Rectory of Langton-by-Horncastle. He was a man
of some attainments, and published a poetical translation of Grotius on
the Christian Religion, which the writer of these notes possesses.
Another L’oste, at that date resided in Louth; and, within living memory,
another of the name resided in Horncastle.
{178} The Pelhams of old were a martial family. At the battle of
Poitiers, the King of France surrendered to John de Pelham, and this
badge was adopted by him as representing the sword-belt buckle of the
defeated monarch, and became conspicuous on their residences, or in the
churches which they endowed.
{181} For an interesting life of Mr. Hanserd Knollys, see Crosby’s
“History of English Baptists,” vol. i, p. 334, &c.
{182} Odo was the son of Herluin de Contaville and Arlette, coucubine of
Robert, Duke of Normandy, so that Odo and the Conqueror were sons of the
same mother. The Earl of Moretaine, and Adeliza, Countess d’ Aumaile,
were his brother and sister.
{184} It has been suggested that this represented Belshazzar’s Feast
(“Architect. S. Journal,” 1858, p. lxxiii), but this would hardly be in
keeping with the other subjects.
{185} The next ford on the Witham, southward, was Kirkstead wharf, or
more properly “wath,” which is still the local pronunciation; “wath,”
meaning “ford,” corresponding to the Latin “vadum,” and related to our
word to “wade,” or “ford,” a stream, &c. There is a village called Wath
in Yorkshire, which is near a ford or causeway over a Marsh. (“Archit.
Journ.” xiii, p. 75).
{186a} Mr. T. W. Shore, in an interesting article on “The Roads and
Fords of Hampshire.” (“Archæolog. Review,” vol. iii., pp. 89–98), says
that all the “Stokes” (a common local name), are connected with “wades,”
or fords on streams, probably because they were stockaded. Stockholm,
means a staked, or stockaded island. In South America there is a plain
called Llano Estacedo, because the tracks across it are marked by stakes.
(“Greater Britain,” Sir C. Dilke, p. 75.)
{186b} This was the case with a manorial wood, formerly on the property
of the Bishops of Winchester, at Havant, in Hants. (“Archæol. Review,”
iii., p. 94), one of the conditions of tenure being, that it should
furnish stakes for a “wade-way,” from the main land to Hayling Island,
fordable by carts at low water, and stockaded on both sides.
{186c} In connection with this, it is not a little interesting to note
that, according to the Hundred Rolls (pp. 317 and 397), quoted Oliver’s
“Religious Houses,” (p. 72, note 25), the prioress of Stixwould was
accused in the reign of Ed. I., of obstructing the passage of ships on
the Witham, “by turfs and faggots” (“turbis et fagotis”); this would
probably be by making the ford shallower by sods, and narrower by bundles
of stakes or sticks.
{186d} Streatfeild (“Lincolnshire and the Danes,” pp. 147–8,) says “the
swampy locality would favour the idea of the stakes,” as originating the
name.
{186e} Called by Ingulphus “Patria Girviorum.” (“Hist. Rerum. Anglic.”
Vol. i., p. 5, A.D. 716).
{187} The name Siward may not have been confined to one person; but the
old chronicler, Ordericus Vitalis (A.D. 1142), tells the following, of
the great Earl Waltheof, son of Siward, that he was beheaded (probably
being too powerful a Saxon subject to suit the Conqueror), on May 31,
1076, at Winchester, and buried on the spot of his execution. The monks
of Croyland, however, begged that his body might be removed to their
Abbey; and this was granted and carried out a fortnight after his death.
He was then buried in the Chapter House. Sixteen years afterwards, the
abbot, Ingulphus, decided to remove the treasured remains from the
Chapter House to the Church, and ordered the bones to be first washed
with warm water. When the coffin lid was removed, the body was not only
found to be as fresh as at the first burial, but the head had become
re-united to the body, only a red streak showing the place of severance.
The body was re-interred near the high altar with great ceremony, and it
is added (and no wonder, after this one miracle) that “miracles were
often performed” at the tomb. (“Fenland N. & Q.” 1892, pp. 37–8).
{188} Although nothing is said, so far as we know, of Ivo leaving any
progeny, the name of Taillebois survived for some centuries, being
represented by men of wealth, large property, and good connections in the
county. Their chief seat was South Kyme, where the head of this house
succeeded Gilbert de Umfravill, Earl of Angus, and where his descendants
were, in turn, succeeded by the Dymokes. In the 15th century their
fortunes declined, and by a Close Roll of Henry VII. (9 May, 1494), it is
shewn that William Taillebois, then of Baumber, had got into the hands of
a London money-lender, and that his estates were handed over to Sir
Robert Dymoke, and other creditors, who made him an allowance of £20 a
year.
{189a} Judging by the dates, they could hardly have been one and the
same lady. This question is fully examined by J. G. Nichols, F.S.A., in
“Proceedings of the Archæological Institute,” 1848, who decides in favour
of two distinct persons, the latter being mother of William de Romara
(temp. Stephen), afterwards Earl of Lincoln.
{189b} From the title, d’ Alencon, it is probable that the name, once
not uncommon in this neighbourhood, of Dalyson arose.
{194} Dugdale (“Monasticon,” v., p. 725), says Sir Geoffrey de Ezmondeys
gave to Stixwold Priory certain lands at Honington, then called
Huntingdon. These lands still belonged to the Priory, temp. Henry VIII.
The name is spelt Ermondeys in a second Deed in Dugdale; it is Ermondys
in the Hundred Rolls (i. 393). In “Testa de Nevill,” (p. 323) it _is_
abbreviated as “Armets”; while in p. 342 of the same Henry de Armenters
is given as owner of the same lands.
{196a} Not many years ago there was preserved in the church of the not
distant parish of Scopwick, a richly-embroidered satin pulpit cloth,
probably a specimen of such work; but the Vicar, unfortunately, converted
it into window curtains, and it has been lost. (Oliver, p. 72, n. 23.)
{196b} The Harleian MS., in the British Museum, shows buxom dames
shooting stags and boars with the bow, mounted astride on horseback.
Italian and Dutch artists shew the same. Lady Superiors were wont thus
to relieve the montony of conventual life. It is related of Queen
Elizabeth, that when 60 years old, she shot four deer before breakfast.
“Standard,” ‘leader,’ Oct. 12th, 1898.
{197} There may be seen in Horncastle, at the house of Mr. Soulby
Hunter, of Horncastle, a very beautifully-carved boss of stone, which was
once in the roof of the Priory chapel, or church; it is circular, more
than 2ft. in diameter, and 6 portions of arches branch off from it. Its
size indicates that the fabric must have been on a large scale and lofty.
There is also at the same house a finely-carved figure of a crouching
lion, which may have formed part of a frieze, or cornice of the same
building.
{198} This stone consists of a square block, the carved device being a
cross within a circle, on the four arms of which are letters, which,
taking a central E as common to all, form the words “Lex Dei Est Vera,”
‘the law of God is true.’ The stone was taken to Lincoln, and placed in
the west gable of a house built by the late Mr. E. J. Willson. (“Linc.
N. & Q.” vol. i., p. 124). It was engraved in “Archæological Journal,”
vol. ix., p. 97.
{199} This Boulton was, for his crime, hanged at Lincoln; but his body
brought to be buried in the old church. When the present church was
built, his body was removed, with others, and re-interred in the
churchyard. His remains are, locally, said to have differed from all the
others, in that there were still large lumps of fat about the skeleton.
This may probably be accounted for by the fact that he died in the full
vigour of life. Some of the Boultons formerly resided at Hall-garth,
Thimbleby; others lived at Sturton-by-Stow, and left moneys for the poor
of that parish.
{202} Thomas Welby, in his will, proved 18th August, 1524, desired “to
be buried in the church of Stixwould, before the image of our Lady.” The
Welbys are now one of the leading county families, yet we find this very
name of “Thomas Welby of Moulton,” mentioned in the “Myntling MS.” of
Spalding Priory, as among the bondmen of that monastery. 25 Edward III.,
(1352). Thomas Grantham, living at Newstead farm, Stixwould, 40 years
ago, probably of the above Grantham family, was a great hunting man. His
brother, Redding Grantham, is buried at Woodhall Spa.
{203} For many of these particulars I am indebted to the account of
Halstead Hall, by the Rev. J. A. Penny, given in “Linc. N. & Q.,” vol.
iii., pp. 33–37.
{204} The bricks of this structure resemble those of Tattershall Castle
(built about 1440), and of the Tower-on-the-Moor; they were formerly
supposed to be Dutch bricks, brought by boat up the Witham; but
geologists tells us that they are made of the local clay.
{206a} A cast was taken of Tiger Tom’s head, after the execution, and a
mould from it now forms an ornament over the door of a house, No. 31,
Boston Road, Horncastle, which formerly belonged to Mr. William Boulton.
He witnessed the execution, and procured the cast at the time.
{206b} One of the gang was hanged on March 27, 1829; the two above-named
on March 19, the next year, 1830; a fourth was captured two years later,
but escaped hanging, as it was pleaded on his behalf, that he had
prevented Timothy Brammar, a reckless fellow, from shooting Mr. Elsey, or
ill-treating the maids. He, however, had formerly been a servant at the
house, knew the premises well, and was said to have planned the whole
proceedings; he was transported. There were said to be ten men in the
gang, all “bankers,” _i.e._, “navvies.” Mr. T. Mitchell, parish clerk of
Woodhall, informs me that two of the men confined in the stables were
named Henry Oldfield and George Croft; names frequently appearing in the
parish registers and still common in the neighbourhood. George Croft
died at Langton, January 18, 1878. Henry Oldfield’s daughter, still
living (1904), says that she remembers her mother stating that she saw
six of the men hanged, at one time or another, and heard the trial of the
last two, when the judge remarked “What, the case from Halstead Hall;
shall we ever have done with it?” Most of these particulars are given in
“Records of Woodhall Spa” (1899), and for them I am indebted to Mr. and
Mrs. Longstaff, now residing at Halstead Hall.
{209} The parish register has the entry “Alison ye wife of Rob. Diton
was buried ye 14 Jany., 1688,” and as none of the name are mentioned
again, they probably became extinct with this Robert.
{210} It has been doubted, of late, whether there ever was a tower; but
it is referred to by Mr. Jeans, in Murray’s “Handbook for Lincolnshire,”
also in several old Directories, and the Parish Terrier, dated June 27,
1724, mentions among the church possessions “Three bells and a
ting-tang.” The existence of this tower is further confirmed by the fact
that in the churchyard is the tombstone of a Mr. Wattam (a name still
surviving in the parish), the churchwarden who caused the tower to be
taken down. He was afterwards killed by lightning, and the villagers
regarded this as a “judgment” upon him for removing the tower and bells.
{219a} See my volume “Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood,” pp.
140–2, where this particular case of Fulstow is also mentioned.
{219b} In connection with Joyce Dighton, widow of Robert Dighton, of
Stourton, there is a record that she left her two sons, Robert and
William, her leases in Waddingworth, and in Maidenwell, Louth. This
indicates a connection. The Waddingworth property had belonged to
Tupholme Abbey. Maidenwell, also, was a sacred place, where is still a
well, in the cellar of the manor house, which I have seen, dedicated to
the “Maiden,” _i.e._, Virgin.
{220a} I quote from the list made out by the Rev. C. W. Foster
(“Architectural Society’s Journal,” vol. xxiv., p. 12).
{220b} This Mr. Rutland Snowden, gent., gave to the poor of Horncastle
one house, of the yearly value of 26s., but, being decayed, this is now
reduced to 13s., paid in bread, sixpence every other Sunday. The house
belongs now to Mr. Willm. Dawson. (Weir’s “Hist. of Horncastle,” p. 33,
ed. 1820.)
{221} Thomas Loddington, LL.D., was Vicar of Horncastle at the beginning
of the 18th century. His name is on one of the church bells, cast in
1717.
{227} St. Margaret was tortured and beheaded by Polybius, Roman
president of the East (who wished to marry her), because she refused to
abjure her faith in the Saviour. She died A.D., 278. Her holy day, July
20, is very ancient, not only in the Roman Church, but also in the Greek
Church, which celebrates her memory, under the name of Marina.
{228} The writer of this notice has a copy of this quaint production.
It is entitled, “God’s Arke, overtopping the world’s waves, or The Third
Part of the Parliamentary Chronicle, collected and published, for God’s
high Honour, and the great encouragement of all that are zealous for God,
and lovers of their Country. By the most unworthy admirer of them, John
Vickers, London. Printed by M. Simons & F. Macock. 3rd edition, 1646.”
The 1st edition was probably issued soon after the battle.
{230a} Of these Colonel Shelley was taken in the water. Sir George
Bolle, a member of a very old Lincolnshire family, was killed with Sir
Ingram Hopton, and Major Askew, of another old Lincolnshire family was
taken prisoner. (“Winceby Fight,” a Legend, by Alan Cheales, M.A.)
{230b} The writer once found on Langton Hill, within a quarter of a mile
of Horncastle, the rowell of a spur with very long spikes, which was
probably lost by a fugitive Cavalier after the fight. He has also a pair
of spurs which were ploughed up on the battle field; and he has also a
pistol of peculiar construction, found in a ditch near Woodhall Spa,
which had probably been lost by a fleeing trooper.
{231} There are more than 2000 place-names in England which contain this
element: from the county names of Nott-ing-hamshire and
Buck-ing-hamshire, to Wolsingham, to the North, in Durham; and Hastings
on the South coast of Sussex.
{233} The Beks, who have been mentioned before in this volume, became a
powerful and wealthy family. They attained to the honour of Knighthood,
and Barony, married into families of good position, acquired the
Constableship of Lincoln Castle, and were especially strong in Bishops;
four members of the family being raised to the episcopate, one as Bishop
of Lincoln, then the largest See in the Kingdom, another as Bishop of
Durham. Of this last it is related that he was so enormously wealthy
that his ordinary retinue consisted of 140 knights. Hearing that a piece
of cloth was said to be “too costly for even the Bishop of Durham,” he at
once bought it, and had it cut up into horse cloths. While he was
staying in Rome, a Cardinal greatly admired his horses. He thereupon
sent two of the best with his compliments, begging the Cardinal to take
which he preferred. The cardinal _took both_; whereat the Bishop drily
remarked, “He _has_ chosen the best.”
{234} That a connection of Beks and Willoughbys with Kirkstead Abbey
existed before this, is shewn by the following documents. Walter Bek,
first Baron of Willoughby, by will, dated July 20, 1301, directed that
his body should “be buried at Kirkstede, whereunto he gives his best
horse (price 40 marks), his mail-coat, gauntlets, targe and lance,” and
other accoutrements, Sir Willm. Willoughby being his executor. An old
Charter exists (Harleian MS., 45. h. 14), by which “John Bek, Lord of
Eresby, makes known to all sons of Holy Mother Church,” that he grants
and confirms “to God and the Church of the blessed Mary of Kyrkested, and
to the Monks there serving God, in pure and perpetual alms, all the gifts
and confirmations, which (his) ancestors made to them”; one of the
witnesses to this being “Dominus William de Wylcheby.”
{235} By a curious coincidence, we find 120 years later, another William
Hardigray, doubtless a descendant of this, occupying the post of master,
with sundry “fellows” under him, of the Chantry of the Holy Trinity, at
Spilsby; and to him, and his Institution, Sir William Willoughby, in
1406, granted certain lands in Scremby and elsewhere, to augment the
endowment; a further bequest being made by Robert, Lord Willoughby, in
1452. (“History of Spilsby,” p. 46, by H. Cotton Smith.)
{236} The Glovers would seem to have been of some antiquity in the
neighbourhood. In an Inquisition, taken at Sleaford, A.D. 1506, as to
the estate of Mawncer Marmeon, among the jurors is William Glover, of
Panton. (Architect. Soc. Journal, vol. xxiii., pt. i., pp. 55 and 69).
While, in another Inquisition taken at Spalding in the same year, among
the jurors is Robert Glover (Ibidem); and in another Inquisition taken at
Falkingham, 3 years later, we find Thomas Phillips of Stamford, and John
Obys, clerk, seized of the manor of Casewick (Ibidem, p. 80).
{237} The bricks of the former residence itself are said to have been
used in repairing Baumber Church many years ago.
{238a} Some anecdotes are told of this worthy. A friend, who, in his
early years, received some tuition from him, relates that he once took
him to the top of the church tower, and waving his arms around, exclaimed
“All this should be mine, every inch of it.” He planted an apple tree,
when each of his numerous progeny was born; two or three of which still
bear fruit in the vicarage orchard. He is said to have been a skilful
boxer, and to have thrashed a big bully at Thimbleby. Being accused by a
clerical superior, of frequenting public houses, and drinking too much,
he replied, “I am not the only man who has been accused of being a
gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.” He
was evidently well able to hold his own with tongue as well as fist,
although the valuable patrimony slipt through his fingers.
{238b} He was intimate with Prout, De Wint, Cattermole, and other
artists of his day, his own paintings in sepia being well-known and
highly valued. The writer of these Records possesses several of them,
and among them, the gift of Mr. Terrot, a painting of Stonehenge, the
original of which was presented by the artist to King Edward, on his
visit to Stonehenge, as Prince of Wales.
{238c} These capitals are still preserved in the vestry.
{240} The triple cross is said to be the sign of a Royal Arch-Mason, and
in Mr. Terrot’s own window are signs of the four Masonic crafts.
{241} The Hannaths had one other child, a girl, who married and is still
living at Blackpool. Of the 18 buried here, one a girl, Ann, having been
accidentally burnt, was a dwarf not only in body, but also in intellect.
At 23 years of age she was only 26 inches high, and an idiot. She was
buried July 9, 1844 (note in register). It is stated that her common way
of showing that she wanted food, was to lick with her tongue the
fire-grate. It is locally said that at the birth of each of the 18
children, a mysterious pigeon appeared, and, in consequence, the child
died at once, or within a day or two of its appearance.
{243} In the ancient house in Boston called “Shodfriars’ Hall,” there
was established in 1619, a school where 20 boys and 20 girls were taught
to “spin Jersey, or worsted.” It was called the “Jersey School,” till
1790. (Thomson’s “Boston,” p. 191.)
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