Transcribed from the 1822 Sherwood, Neely, And Jones edition by David Price.

HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE
SKETCHES
OF THE
TOWN AND SOKE
OF
HORNCASTLE,
IN THE
COUNTY OF LINCOLN,

AND SEVERAL

PLACES ADJACENT,

EMBELLISHED WITH ENGRAVINGS.

BY GEORGE WEIR.

SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:
PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR BY SHERWOOD, NEELY, AND JONES,
PATERNOSTER-ROW.

SOLD AT HORNCASTLE BY WEIR AND SON.

1822.

p. iiPrinted by Weir and Son,
               Horncastle.

p. iiiADVERTISEMENT.

The first impression of this work being sold off, and copies still enquired for, a second edition has been prepared for publication.  In this edition the Author has taken care to insert such additional information respecting the places described in the former impression, as he has been able to procure.  A view of the Monastic Remains at Tupholme, together with a short description of the place, is also added; and for the drawing from which this view is engraved, the Author has to acknowledge his obligation to Mr. Espin, of Louth, who kindly furnished several of the former views.

In order to reduce the price of the book as much as possible, the ancient and modern plans of Horncastle, together with the Appendix, consisting chiefly of charters, which were included in the first edition, in this are omitted.

August 15, 1822.

p. vCONTENTS.

EMBELLISHMENTS.

p. 1HORNCASTLE.

SITUATION.

Horncastle is pleasantly situated at the foot of that bold and even range of Hills, which, from their openness, have been termed the wolds.  It is nearly in the centre of the Lindsey division of the county of Lincoln, and is the chief of a soke of fifteen parishes to which it gives name.

The principal part of the town is built within an angle formed by the confluence of two rivers, the Bane and the Waring, where an ancient fortification formerly stood, the scite of which is still visible, denoting it in early times to have been a station of importance.

p. 2The character of the place however is now completely changed.  From a military station it has become a situation of trade; and owing to its being surrounded by a considerable number of villages, possesses one of the largest markets in the county.

Its distance from the city of Lincoln is twenty-one miles, and eighteen from the town of Boston.

p. 3HORNCASTLE DURING THE ROMAN AND SAXON GOVERNMENTS.

Before the invasion of Britain by the Romans, whilst yet the island was divided into independent states, the present scite of Horncastle with its immediate neighbourhood was doubtless appropriated, like the rest of the country of the Coritani, to the pasturing of herds and flocks.  In the formation of settlements no other circumstances influenced the Britons than the conveniences which might be afforded them in their accustomed occupations.  Vallies fertilized by streams, and the contiguous hills would supply food for their cattle and sheep, whilst the neighbourhood of forests invited to the pursuits of the chase.  The rich tracts of open grass land stretching along the banks of the river Bane, and its tributary stream, would be populously occupied by the pastoral inhabitants of this district.  Hence it may be presumed, that when the weak efforts of the Coritani for independence had left them vanquished by the victorious arms of the Romans, under Ostorius Scapula, and finally a tributary state by the more efficient achievements of Suetonius Paulinus, this portion of the country was soon secured by fixing on the present scite of Horncastle a military station.  From the almost imperishable masses of the ancient wall which still remain, and by the numerous coins, urns, and other vestiges of the Roman people which have been found in this place, and are still met with in turning up the soil, it evidently became in process of time a station of considerable importance.  It is difficult however to make any definite suggestions as to the period at which the fortifications were erected, no inscription having been found to throw light upon the subject.

To secure by effectual barriers against insurrections, the conquests which had already been made, whilst yet the bordering people to the north, the fierce and powerful Brigantes, remained unsubdued, might be deemed by the Romans a sufficient inducement for raising frequent and effectual military works among the inhabitants of this state: for it was not until Petillius Cerealis was appointed by the emperor Vespasian to the command in the province of Britain, that this hitherto p. 4unbridled nation were either conquered or involved in all the calamities of warfare.  Though there be no precise data by which the decision may be guided, as to the time of the earlier military erections which were formed at this place; yet it cannot be ascribed to a much later period than the above occurrences so intimately connected.  At all events, it may not be considered posterior to the effects which resulted from the wise policy of Agricola.  Immediately on his arrival to assume the command, he placed along the frontiers of the several subjugated districts, a chain of fortresses: these were constructed with so much care and judgment, that the inhabitants of those parts where the Roman arms had not then penetrated, could never consider themselves secure from the vigor of the conqueror. [4a]  The people, soon after this, completed their submission to the yoke by yielding to the allurements of Roman manners.  Their ferocity was tamed: from a savage people running wild in woods, they became cultivated, acquiring knowledge, and dwelling in towns; and finally sweetened their slavery, by indulging in the pleasures of polished life.

From the circumstances of this station being situated on the river Bane, several antiquaries have concurred in fixing here the Banovallum of the Roman geographer Ravennas.  This opinion has been the more readily adopted from the etymology of the name; the latter part of the word being Latin, and the whole collectively signifying a fortification on the Bane.  It is indeed probable that the Romans were induced at first to make a station at this place, from its convenient situation, easily rendered defensible by a vallum, or temporary barrier, drawn across the aperture of the two rivers from one bank to the other, and thence came its designation.  Afterwards they built the indissoluble stone wall, whose vestiges after the lapse of ages are manifest nearly the whole compass round. [4b]  It is to be regretted that Ravennas gives no distances: he merely places Banovallum next after Lindum, so that nothing decidedly certain can be gained from his work.

But, though it cannot be positively ascertained that this spot was the Roman Banovallum; yet, as the name most evidently points out a fortification on the river Bane, there appears little reason to question it; both from its contiguity to the colony of Lindum, with which place p. 5it had communication by means of a military road; as also from its situation; particularly as no other remains of the Romans have been discovered on that river, nor yet any near to it, except some coins at the village of Ludford, where the Bane has its source; and traces of an encampment at Tattershall, more than a mile distant from its banks. [5a]

In what circumstances this station was involved from the final subjugation of the Britons by Agricola, under whose paternal government the province felt some portion of enjoyment in cultivating the arts of peace, is not known: but, from the evidence of antiquities, it is perceptible that it continued a place of importance down to the period when the Romans in the decline of their empire had withdrawn from Britain; though probably, in the security of a long abstraction from war, its military strength was somewhat disregarded.  No sooner however had the necessities and the mistaken policy of the enervated inhabitants, again left to themselves, called to their assistance the warlike Saxons, against the eruptions of the northern barbarians, than we find this place agitated, in common with the rest of the country, by all the calamities which were connected with the desperate contests which ensued: the Britons having to struggle for liberty, against the eagerness for dominion on the part of the victorious Saxons.  These people, according to the practice which prevailed amongst them of changing the names of Roman stations, gave to this place the appellation of Hyrncastre or Hornecastre, from its situation in an angle formed by the junction of the two rivers, which denotes a fortification in a corner, of which the present name Horncastle is evidently a corruption.

The Roman fortress was at that time either destroyed, or in a very dilapidated state: for Horsa, the Saxon general and brother of Hengist is stated to have enstrengthened the fortress of Horncastle.  This fortification however did not continue long; for Horsa being defeated in an engagement with the Britons, under the command of Raengeires, at the neighbouring village of Tetford, Vortimer king of the Britons caused it to be beaten down and rendered defenceless. [5b]

p. 6THE MANOR.

By the record called Domesday, compiled towards the latter end of the reign of William the Conqueror, it appears that the manor of Horncastle, previous to the close of the Saxon Government, belonged to Editha the queen of Edward the Confessor; but at the time of making that survey, it formed, together with the soke, part of the possessions of the king. [6a]

When the manor was separated from the crown does not appear; but in the reign of Stephen it was the demesne of Alice or Adelias de Cundi, who resided at her castle here, which leaves it to be concluded that she held it by inheritance from her father. [6b]  As she took part against the king in his contention with the Empress Maud, he seized her lands, but restored them again on condition that she should demolish her castle, the means which had served to render her political alliance formidable to his interest. [6c]  What may have been the extent and nature of the structure possessed as the mansion of Adelias is not now discoverable, no traces being to be found; but its strength most probably consisted in a restoration of the walls of the Roman fortress, which encircling some convenient and less durable edifice, gave to the place of her residence the security of a castle.

The restitution by Stephen of these lands to Adelias de Cundi, seems to have been only for life, as her heir did not succeed thereto; for this manor came again to the crown, and was afterwards given by Henry the second to Gerbald le Escald, a Fleming, who held it for one knight’s fee, and who was succeeded by his grandson or nephew and heir Gerrard de Rhodes.  [6d]  Gerrard was succeeded by his son and heir Ralph de Rhodes, who, in the reign of Henry the third, sold the manor to p. 7Walter Mauclerke, the third Bishop of Carlisle, who also held the office of Treasurer of the Exchequer.  This sale being made in the spirit of these times when the feodal system prevailed, the bishop and his successors were to hold the estate by the performance of suit and service to Ralph de Rhodes and his heirs.  In the fourteenth year of the same reign, the transfer to Walter Mauclerke was confirmed by the king, who in the same year also granted to him three several charters, conferring those immunities upon the manor and soke, which served to raise the town of Horncastle from the dependence of a village, to become in some degree the mart of the surrounding country.

The first of these charters gave to the bishop free warren over the manor and the soke: the second the liberty of holding an annual fair at this place, which was to commence two days before the eve of the feast of St. Barnabas, and to continue eight days: the third had for its objects the empowering of the bishop to try felons, and to hold a court leet; also the exemption of the inhabitants of the manor and the soke from toll, and several other payments and services, beside protecting them from arrest by the officers of the king and the sheriff. [7a]  An additional charter was granted in the following year enabling the bishop to hold a weekly market here every Wednesday; and also another annual fair to commence on the eve of the feast of St. Lawrence, and to continue seven days. [7b]  The custom of holding a fair on the anniversary of this festival appears to have prevailed at an earlier period, it being alluded to in the charter granting the former fair.

In the same reign, Gerrard, the son and heir of Ralph de Rhodes, appears to have preferred his claim to this manor, which had been sold by his father; perhaps in consequence of some omission in the performance of those services by which the estate was to be held. [7c]  His claim does not appear to have been successful; for in the seventeenth year of the same king, the bishop fined to hold the manor in fee, but not to alienate without licence.  [7d]

Walter Mauclerke resigned the see of Carlisle in 1246, and as the manor devolved to his ecclesiastical successors, it may be inferred that it had been purchased to increase the revenues of the bishoprick, and p. 8not to be appropriated as his private property.  The privileges of such essential interest to the estate, which had already been conferred by the preceding charters, were in part strengthened by fresh acknowledgments to the Bishops of Carlisle, in the reigns of the two succeeding kings; Edward the first confirming the grant of free warren, and Edward the second that which exempts the inhabitants of the manor and soke from certain payments and services. [8a]

At the period of Richard the second, Roger le Scrop and Margaret his wife, with Robert Tibetot and Eve his wife, heirs and descendants of Gerbald le Escald, appear to have advanced a claim to this manor, and to have succeeded in obtaining letters patent, confirming to them homage and service from the ecclesiastical possessor. [8b]  At that time also when the border contests had laid waste the see of Carlisle, and divested the bishops of their seat of Rose Castle in Cumberland, they were necessitated to take up their residence at Horncastle, which continued for some time to be their principal place of abode.

In the twenty-fifth year of Henry the sixth, that monarch confirmed the several charters granted to the bishops as lords of this manor, by Henry the third, and also conferred on them numerous other privileges. [8c]

The manor continued in the possession of the Bishops of Carlisle, until the reign of Edward the sixth, when under the authority of a licence from the crown, it was sold by Bishop Aldrich to Edward Lord Clinton, who, during the time he held it, compounded with the copyhold tenants, and enfranchised their estates; but after Mary had ascended the throne, he was compelled to re-convey his purchase to the see of Carlisle, to which, since that time, it has continued to belong. [8d]  Bishop Aldrich died at this place in March, 1555, the second year of the reign of Queen Mary: from which it appears, that the estate had either been restored previous to his decease; or, in the conditions of the sale he had reserved to himself the privilege of residing in the manor house. [8e]

p. 9In the sixteenth year of the reign of Charles the second, the several charters which had before been granted to the possessors of this manor were again acknowledged, and the privileges further extended. [9a]

Queen Elizabeth had a lease of this manor from the then possessing bishop, in which she was succeeded by James the first, who assigned it to Sir Edward Clinton, knight; but owing to a neglect of enrollment, it proved void. [9b]  For nearly a century the lease was held by the late Right Honorable Sir Joseph Banks, Baronet, and his ancestors, and it is now held in trust for the benefit of his devisees.

The large tract of fen land, situated between this place and Boston, at a very early period belonged to the lords of this manor, in conjunction with the lords of the manors of Bolingbroke and Scrivelsby; but by the grants which they gave to the neighbouring abbies at Revesby and Kirkstead, their right therein became comparatively small. [9c]  On the enclosure of these fens, pursuant to Act of Parliament, in 1801, about six hundred acres were annexed to the parish of Horncastle, eighty-one acres of which were allotted to the lord of the manor; the remainder to the owners of common-right houses.

The parochial extent of Horncastle, exclusive of the fen allotment, is about one thousand three hundred acres, two hundred and fifty of which are contained in the manorial estates.

The house where the bishops used to reside, a spacious structure, but destitute of architectural merit, was situated at the north-west corner of the ancient fortress.  It was demolished about the year 1770, when the present manor house was erected on its scite.

p. 10HORNCASTLE DURING THE CIVIL WARS IN THE
REIGN OF CHARLES THE FIRST.

Notwithstanding that in this part was born that individual of the family of Plantagenet, whose assumption of the throne plunged the country, for half a century, into the civil wars which nearly exterminated the ancient nobility; yet had the soil here been unstained by the blood so profusely shed.  Partaking, in common with all, the miseries of the land, it seemed peculiarly exempted from beholding those contentions of the houses of York and Lancaster, which sprung from the elevation of Henry of Bolingbroke to the sovereignty of England.  It was however otherwise when the usurpation of unlimited power on the part of Charles the first had urged a war between the people and the king.  As peculiar circumstances of policy and interest had brought the military operations into these parts, it will be necessary in their detail to revert to the conduct of the parties opposed in the opening of the war.

No sooner had the commons demanded concessions from the royal prerogative, as the only security against the repeated encroachments which had been made on the privileges of the people, than they were impelled, by the insincerity of the monarch, to protect the interest of the subject by every possible means.  The right of the sword was looked upon as the exalted claim of the patriot alone; but as either party considered themselves influenced by the sacred love of their country, both made gradual advances to an appeal: the one to protect the liberties of the people; the other, those general interests which seemed connected with upholding the authority of the king.  As the commons were sensible that the monarch would seize the first favorable opportunity to reinstate himself in the former excess of his power, the earliest precautions were taken in regard to the military establishments of the country.  Amongst these was secured the important fortress of Hull, containing the arms of all the forces which had been levied against the Scots: with these the parliament also assumed to themselves the disposal of the militia, a force indeed collected, but totally p. 11untried in the conduct of war.  The king, on erecting his standard, opposed to this, as a resource of strength, his Commission of Array.  The call of the monarch was obeyed by each county, as the political inclinations of individuals led them, or in submission to the influence and example of those men of fortune, with whose interests that of their tenantry was intimately connected. [11a]

The contest carried on in the south and in the west with vigor, already appeared favorable to the royal cause.  In the north, however, it sustained a decided check, by the strong hold which the parliament possessed in the garrison of Hull, then commanded by Lord Fairfax, who, unable to maintain the field against the Marquis of Newcastle, had there retired, determined to repel a siege with courage and ability; and to diminish the strength of his enemy by sudden incursions.

The disposable forces of the parliament, not immediately required for the defence of Hull, were too inconsiderable to oppose the march into the south.  Notwithstanding this, the affairs of the king were ruined by confining the efforts of a powerful army to investing this fortress; while the active enemy, though few in number, acquired by their boldness and intrepidity, an effective strength in the field.  When Oliver Cromwell, then beginning to signalize himself as the companion in arms of the young and gallant Sir Thomas Fairfax, had by a signal victory at Gainsborough, routed the royal troops; the Marquis of Newcastle, beholding his brother Cavendish dead, amid the noblest and bravest of his soldiers, seemed as if awakened by the calls of vengeance to the necessity of more extensive exertions.  He therefore suddenly decided on harassing his opponents, while weak and inefficient, by dispatching a competent force into the heart of Lincolnshire.  Cromwell, though a conqueror, was obliged to make a precipitate retreat; and as Lincoln was not defensible, he hastened on the day succeeding his victory to Boston; intending there, with the young Sir Thomas Fairfax, who was proceeding with additional horse from Hull, to concentrate their forces with those of the Earl of Manchester. [11b]

The division of the royal army, destined for these parts, was entrusted to the command of Sir John Henderson, an old and valiant soldier, and to Sir William Widdrington, who was appointed governor of Lincoln.  As these leaders were anxious to requite themselves for p. 12the defeat which had so recently crowned the conquerors with the applause of heroism, they determined to draw the enemy to an engagement before their reinforcements should arrive: ere this however could be effected, Manchester, upon advice of their intention, after possessing himself of the strong fortress of Lynn, had advanced with the disposable part of the army of the associated counties.  Such appeared to be the mutual disposition of affairs in the north, at the beginning of October, 1643, in the first year of the civil war.

The army of the parliament, about six thousand foot, and thirty-seven troop of horse, being concentrated at Boston, it was determined that companies should be distributed into such parts as might secure their early co-operation whensoever occasion should require.  Bolingbroke, defended by a castle held by the partizans of the king, called forth into exertion their vigor and the alacrity of their courage. [12]  This they decided upon as the place of military operation; whilst as the neighbourhood promised the most favorable circumstances for a field, they would there invite the enemy on to battle.  Accordingly ten companies commanded by Major Knight, an officer under Sir Miles Hobart, were disposed of at this place.  A regiment commanded by Colonel Russel, was quartered at Stickford, about two miles distant; and three companies of the Earl of Manchester’s own at the village of Stickney.  The cavalry were all distributed into the country round, for about eight or ten miles distance.

In the evening after their arrival, the castle of Bolingbroke was summoned.  The answer in effect was, that “the commander need not expect that the demands of arrogance alone should win the castle.”  From this determined reply promising a strenuous defence, dispositions were immediately taken to acquire it by a regular siege.  The church and a neighbouring house were occupied by the assailants, earth works were thrown up, and the assault commenced, but without much effect.

During this time, the royalists, bold, eager, and trusting that a generous heroism would nerve them for victory, waited only the opportunity for attack.  Upon learning the arrival of the Earl of Manchester, they lost no time in drawing out all their military from the several garrisons of Lincoln, Newark, and Gainsborough, still p. 13stimulated by an undaunted resolution to find out the enemy, and advance to the combat.  Hastening on, they arrived, early on the day previous to the battle, at the out-posts of the parliamentary forces.

No sooner had a detachment from the king’s army, advancing on the western road, been observed at Edlington, reconnoitring the lines of their enemy, than word came to Sir Thomas Fairfax, the commandant of the cavalry at Horncastle, that a surprize was expected.  Information was accordingly dispatched to the Earl of Manchester: it found him at East Kirkby hill, with Colonel Cromwell, and the Lord Willoughby of Parham, intently observing the progress which the besiegers made against the castle of Bolingbroke, and assiduously ordering the dispositions of attack.  Roused at this communication, Cromwell immediately hurried to collect the troops dispersed around.  Fairfax was still every where distributing horsemen for the purpose of enquiry, cautious to ascertain and forward such accounts as might be obtained of the progress and number of the royal forces; who though eager for battle, were careful to deliberate on the promises of success.  As the party who caused the alarm, suspecting themselves seen, had drawn off with such intelligence as they gathered, there seemed reason to suppose that the main body of the royalists were yet at a considerable distance: Fairfax therefore about sun set, learning nothing additional, proceeded to the quarters at East Kirkby, to confer on the measures proposed for the expected conflict.  In the mean time, the Earl of Manchester, with Lord Willoughby and some other officers, had with the like object hastened to Horncastle, previously appointing that at that place the forces should be immediately collected; where, being drawn together, the most effective resolutions might be taken for ensuring a victory, or lessening the calamities of a defeat.

It was not until the dusk of the evening that the royal army, under Sir John Henderson, moved rapidly on to the station of their enemy.  They had judged that the dubious light would serve to conceal their true numbers; and that as nothing was known of them with certainty, but their anxious readiness for the encounter; so their opponents, whether few or many, deeming them prepared for every casualty, might, by their indecision, leave an easy conquest to their arms.

The out-posts were surprized by the precipitate advance of these hostile forces; and in the unprepared circumstances of those who maintained them, and the disparity of their numbers, there was p. 14afforded them no means of encountering their difficulties, but the hardihood of a cool intrepidity.  This indeed was a stern calmness which always pervaded the breast of a Puritan who was a soldier.  He did not untremblingly bare his bosom to the steel because, like a Roman, he abstractedly considered fear inconsistent with the nobler qualities of human nature; but because the factitious enthusiasm of his religion had taught him to look with indifference on temporal things.  If the general good required the sacrifice of his life, the particular calamities of his family were dismissed with scarce a thought beyond a pious supplication.  It was this feeling which finally rendered the parliament victorious in the contest.  However in this unlooked-for state the soldiers at the out-posts were exposed to much perplexity, and many were the dangers recited amongst them on the morning of the gathering of their strength for the field of battle.  Some finding themselves surrounded, out-numbered, and in all the perilous circumstances of desperate warfare, were obliged to supply by politic conduct the helplessness of their condition.  These therefore, hastily mounting their horses, agreed with much resolution to break through the opposing ranks, sword in hand, with the words of mutual encouragement, “Come on! come on! all is our own,” thinking that the royalists, by these ambiguous shouts, fearing an ambuscade, would leave to them an easy passage by the sudden confusion of their alarm.  In this manner about four companies encountered two thousand cavalry, with the loss of only three men.

Though these warriors, taking the advantage of the darkness of the evening, were enabled by their resolute conduct to overcome these difficulties; yet as the royal army had already advanced onward to Horncastle, in strong and numerous detachments, they were exposed in their retreat thither to fresh and obstinate encounters.  Perceiving, as they approached the town, that they had come up to another party of the royalist’s horse, they determined, after saluting them as friends, to hurry onward as if destined for some urgent duty.  They had, however, scarce passed them, when flushed with the success of their stratagem, and feeling the pride and bravado of soldiers, who deemed their individual preservation as of little value to their common strength, if purchased without the blood of their enemy, they turned to the attack of the unwary royalists.  “For whom are ye?” said they.  “For the king.”  “We are for the king and parliament.”  Scarcely had these p. 15declarations been interchanged, when rushing precipitately on the unsuspecting royalists and throwing them into disorder, the assailants fled towards the town, deeming themselves secure in the quarters of their comrades, and considering their valour rewarded in the acclamations that would greet them from their friends.  But Horncastle, surprized at the approach of numerous hostile forces, had been evacuated by the detachment of horse which possessed it; and the inhabitants as soon as the town was seized by the troops of the king, having secured the entrances and roads through it, by forming barriers with carts and timber; the cavalry found themselves again obliged to exert their unyielding valor in turning upon their pursuers.  Desperately therefore they burst through them with the full energy of their courage, sustaining the loss of some few men, among whom was a cornet; but bringing away prisoners as the evidence of their perils and their triumph. [15a]

At this period of hurried confusion, and the setting in of the night, the Earl of Manchester reached the town.  He heard the rejoicings of the troops, thus victorious in the dangers of their retreat; taunting the royalists with their shouts, as they drew off undefeated from their toils.  Finding now that the place designed for the assembling of his forces was already possessed by the enemy, he hastily recalled the orders for the general rendezvous at Horncastle, and appointed Bolingbroke in its stead.  Thither at night repaired the dispersed soldiery of the parliament, except three or four troops of horse, who, in the difficulties of retreating before superior forces, had been obliged to proceed by the circuit of Tattershall, and did not arrive until the next morning.

At Bolingbroke, Manchester designed to wait for the royalists; but Cromwell, actuated by prudence, urged the delaying of the battle, since the troops, upon whose prowess and exertion success depended, were wearied, and little able to sustain the ardour of the fight. [15b]  The royal army were however too eager to secure the promises of a victory, to permit their adversaries to renew their strength by avoiding the contest.  As soon as the morning had dawned and the silence of the surrounding country assured them that their enemies were withdrawn from near them, and were assembling together at Bolingbroke, they arrayed themselves for the encounter.  Before the middle of the day they p. 16marched out, in strength about seventy-five troops of horse, and five thousand foot, to meet the soldiers of the parliament.  Foreboding with certainty that this would be their determination, Manchester was constrained to the resolution of giving them battle, and immediately advanced towards them.

The spot upon which the contending armies engaged was a gently rising and broadly extended eminence, at a village called Winceby, midway between Horncastle and Bolingbroke.  It commands an extensive prospect of the far stretched fen-lands of the county; whilst to the westward is seen those cliffs, on the summit of one of which magnificently rises the cathedral of Lincoln.  This the royal army had contemplated as a district, which by victory was either to be restored to the authority of the king; or by defeat to afford an effectual check to the military operations in the north, and to be ensured as a further resource to the parliament.  The noon was already passed when the armies came in sight of each other.  The royalists trusting with confidence to their mutual ardor, rejoiced when they beheld the adverse soldiers advancing to meet them, though amid the wild chant of hymns for mercy and for victory.  In the fields immediately before them they fixed the order of their battle: formed into closely compacted lines, the cavalry was placed in the advance, and covered the infantry.  The left wing of this array, was commanded by the general Sir John Henderson. [16a]

The Earl of Manchester, pressed for ground in the marshalling of his forces, presented alone his cavalry to the fight; the infantry, headed by himself, being stationed so far in the rear that they were unable to second the exertions of their horsemen. [16b]  The disadvantages arising from fatigue, with the closeness of ground, and inequality of numbers, were apparent to the warriors of the parliament.  In the doubtful promises of the contest, their leaders sought to replenish their strength, and supply their situation by words and by actions, infusing into them an energy and martial ardour rivalling their own.  Fairfax, who knew by experience that the undaunted intrepidity of a few was more efficient in its achievements than the impetuosity of those who p. 17relied for security on their numbers, pointed to his men the imposing array of his adversaries, exclaiming “Come let us fall on; I never prospered better than when I fought with my enemies three or four to one.”  Cromwell, by the apparent bravery with which he was animated, promised them that examples of heroism should not be wanted, whilst life was given him to lead them. [17a]

On the other hand, the commander of the royal forces did not lose the opportunity which was afforded him of reminding his fellow soldiers that vengeance was yet due for the defeat at Gainsborough; and that now was supplied them a time to requite themselves for the blood of the illustrious brother of Newcastle.  He set before them the necessity of strenuous exertions and important sacrifices, by pointing to the example of one, who exalted amidst the mighty of the land, lately fighting among them, did not hesitate to devote himself to death for the cause of his sovereign.  At the moment therefore when the armies were ready to engage, the royalists raised the cry of “Cavendish! on for Cavendish!” which was as loudly answered by the enthusiastic shout of “Religion!” the zeal which animated those who proclaimed it, by inspiring them with hopes of immortality, rendered death less to be dreaded than the misfortunes of a defeat. [17b]

Scarce had the words of onset been given, when the divisions of cavalry, under the command of Cromwell and Fairfax, were led to the charge by Vermeydun, a soldier of valour, who headed the first detachment as a forlorn hope, aspiring to the honor of directing his comrades on to victory.  Already the horsemen of the royalists, with a well directed precision, had vigorously poured into their ranks the second discharge of their fire arms.  These did some execution among them; and Cromwell thus early had his horse shot under him.  A minute had elapsed before the parties fiercely met in the close encounter, arm to arm.  Cromwell for a time was compelled to grapple on foot with his enemies, entangled amid the trappings of his dying charger.  Though felled to the ground as he attempted to extricate himself from this perilous situation, he rose uninjured.  This singular man, bold and intrepid, animated by zeal, foremost in the fight, struggling with disasters, seemed peculiarly preserved in all his dangers to fill that situation in the page of history, where, though elevated by violence, he p. 18powerfully commands our admiration by his success, his prudence, and the daring of his genius.  Sir Ingram Hopton, who at this moment had attempted to seize him, was killed. [18]  Cromwell, now recovering a horse from a soldier near him, bravely led on his companions to the combat, strengthening their stern courage by the most signal proofs of his personal bravery.

Not with less valor was the conflict sustained on the part of the royalists.  Sir John Henderson, the hardy veteran of former battles, firm as a rock amid the rushing of the waves, resisted every impetuous assault.  His adversaries were driven back in disorder; but these men, not readily to be repulsed, returned, with a cool bravery and redoubled vigor to the attack.  For half an hour, firm and undecided, continued the contest, sword against sword, and fortitude repelling courage.  The resolute warriors, who sustained the furious charges of Fairfax and Cromwell, for the whole were not engaged, relinquished not a portion of their ground.  At last, a division commanded by Sir William Saville wavering, though reluctant to give way, became routed and completely disordered.  Yielding, they struck confusion into the other bodies of their own horse; and these again were hurled with precipitance upon the mass of their infantry.  All being alike borne down in this part of the field, none were left to second the broken and disordered, in again advancing to the combat.  The division of Sir John Henderson and Lord Ething alone maintained itself unyielding and unsubdued.  The exulting army of the parliament, now taking advantage of the discomfiture of the other troops, and the tumult of the infantry, assailed with a desperate charge the yet unrepulsed.  In vain did the royalist commander exhort his men to be resolute and undismayed; but no prudence could uphold the advantages which valor must lose.  Their fortitude was giving way to despair; and the successful, elated with the promises of victory, found no equal disputants in men dismayed by the certainty of a defeat.  Perplexed amid the various and ineffectual efforts of the other bodies of the royal troops, the disheartened defenders of the field yielded beneath the shock of the adverse weapons.  The victorious soldiers now fiercely p. 19plunging in amidst the routed dragoons, many of whom at this time were on foot and in the most appalling confusion, saw them quickly disappearing beneath the havoc of their swords and the fury of their horses.  The infantry were for the most part destroyed; for being intercepted by a body of cavalry, scarce a man survived the carnage. [19a]  There was now no safety but in a dishonorable flight.  The pursuit continued beyond Horncastle with unremitting fury; and along the road were strewed the horse and the rider, the dead and the dying. [19b]

The soldiers under the command of Manchester, who as yet had partaken in no respect in the glory of the blood-shed, reserved their efforts for securing the prisoners, and assisting the scarce breathing wounded of the royal army, who were scattered about the field in groups.  Such partizans as had recently been embodied by the commission of array, were pitiably supplicating the mercy of their conquerors.  Cursing with deep execration that little regard which had hurried them to the fight, without a feeling of interest in its issue, they cried out that the commission of array had brought them thither against their wills, and blessing the cause of liberty and religion, added “We die as true servants of the parliament as any in England, and woe be to those who were the cause that Lincoln and York became the prey of such a war.” [19c]

Though the battle was fought with determined obstinacy; yet, whilst the parties maintained their ground, the loss was comparatively small: the havoc that ensued was among the routed and the flying.  There were killed but few on the side of the parliament.  Those of rank who were slain of the royal forces, were Sir George Bolles, and Sir Ingram Hopton.  The prisoners, about one thousand in number, were the wounded on the field, and those parties of the dispersed fugitives, who to avoid the overwhelming carnage of their pursuers, had secreted themselves amongst the rugged and winding banks of a neighbouring river: many indeed were taken whilst seeking refuge in the very waters, where some had already perished, bleeding and wearied in their armour, overcome in their inability to recover themselves p. 20from the deeper parts of the stream.  The trophies which the conquerors obtained in the fight of Winceby field, were arms for fifteen hundred men, and thirty-five standards. [20a]

Returning from the pursuit, the exhausted cavalry rested for the night in the villages around Horncastle.  The infantry occupied quarters in the town, where they found two hundred horses left by their fugitive enemy.  Of the wounded, the Earl of Manchester ordered especial care to be taken, whilst the dead were hastily consigned to the nearest graves.  The body of Sir Ingram Hopton was brought to Horncastle and buried in the church: for Cromwell, who did not permit his political resentment to render him callous or insensible to the generous feelings of a soldier, experienced some sympathy for the individual whose ardor in attempting his destruction, for what was deemed the welfare of his country, had cost the sacrifice of his own life: he therefore, upon his arrival in the town, commanded the inhabitants to fetch the body of Sir Ingram Hopton, and inter it with the honors due to his rank; observing, that though an enemy, he was a gentleman and a soldier. [20b]

Of those royalists who escaped the slaughter, there were scarce a thousand efficient for the field; and these were destined to sustain another overthrow at the battle of Lincoln close, which completed the warfare in this county.  Bolingbroke castle had already yielded; and this with Tattershall, the principal places of defence in this neighbourhood, were soon after devoted to the dismantling policy of the parliament, which doomed them with the noble edifices of the country, to that destruction which left them but ruins in silent and lingering decay.

Although this victory afforded a cause for so much rejoicing to the friends of the parliament; yet were its consequences mightier for the interests which it strengthened, by the defeat, on the same day, [20c] of the Marquis of Newcastle before the fortress of Hull.  The Lord Fairfax and Sir John Meldrum, making a desperate sortie, had completely overthrown the royalists with much slaughter; forcing them, though p. 21protected behind strong entrenchments, to abandon the siege with the loss of all their cannon.  The impolicy of the royalist commander was now perceptible too late.  This ruin of the affairs of the king seemed at once to have obliterated all the generous services which the faithful Newcastle had made in the cause of his sovereign; and shortly after these disasters, he retired to the continent, [21] where he spent a life of indigence, until the restoration gave again the royal authority to Britain.  These actions, though inconsiderable in themselves, were yet great in their effects.  The expectations of the royalists in Yorkshire were now nearly blasted: Lincolnshire, after the occupation of its city, escaped the further deluge of blood; and the defeats served to assist in hastening the fight of Marston Moor, where the hopes of Charles were reduced to that one gleam, which was finally extinguished at the battle of Naseby.

p. 22ANTIQUITIES.

Amongst the remains of antiquity at this place, the vestiges of the Roman fortress are the most worthy of attention; and although they are too small to give an adequate idea of the original structure, are yet sufficient to show the form and extent of the space enclosed, which appears to have been nearly a parallelogram, of about six hundred feet in length, and in breadth three hundred and fifty on the east, and three hundred on the west. [22]  The wall by which this area was surrounded p. 23was fifteen or sixteen feet in thickness, and composed of small blocks of a loosely aggregated sand stone, dug from the neighbouring hills.  It was formed with casing stones on the outside, the internal parts being filled up with courses laid diagonally, which according to the customary and substantial mode of building among the Romans, were run together by mortar disseminated through the interstices in a fluid state, forming a cement which has acquired by time an imperishable induration.  Of the casing stones none are now to be seen, except in cellars which have been formed by the side of the wall.  Where the fragments are sufficiently high, those portions of the Roman masonry, which remained after the destruction of the fortress, may be perceived rising to about six or seven feet above the ground, the diagonal courses of stone then ceasing.  Above this the construction is marked by masses of larger dimensions than the lower parts; a circumstance evincing that another structure of a different period has been erected on the original foundation: this was probably a reparation which was made in the time of the Anglo-Saxons.  At the north-east corner of the enclosure the remains of a circular turret are still visible; but of the towers or gateways no traces are left.

Near the junction of the two rivers, on the south-west of the town, was formerly one of those mazes common to Roman stations, called the Julian Bower.  In these the youth were exercised in a martial game, called Troy Town, which in after years, though divested of its martial character, continued to be amongst the healthy pastimes of the young, in their evening assemblies of pleasure and sport. [23]  Cultivation has long since effaced every vestige of the maze; but the piece of land on which it stood still retains the name of the Julian Bower Close.

A peculiar rustic ceremony, which used annually to be observed at this place, doubtless derived its origin from the Floral games of antiquity.  On the morning of May-day, when the young of the neighbourhood assembled to partake in the amusements which ushered in p. 24the festivals of the month of flowers, a train of youths collected themselves at a place to this day called the May Bank.  From thence, with wands enwreathed with cowslips, they walked in procession to the may-pole, situated at the west end of the town, and adorned on that morning with every variety in the gifts of Flora.  Here, uniting in the wild joy of young enthusiasm, they struck together their wands, and scattering around the cowslips, testified their thankfulness for that bounty, which widely diffusing its riches, enabled them to return home rejoicing at the promises of the opening year.  That innovation in the manners and customs of the country, which has swept away the ancient pastimes of rustic simplicity, obliterated about the year 1780 this peculiar vestige of the Roman Floralia.

In the fields on the south side of the town, the ground abounds with fragments of cinerary urns, and several perfect ones have also there been discovered.  From these circumstances, together with the appearance of the soil, it seems certain that in this part the Romans used to burn their dead on the funeral pile.  Of the urns found, only two are known to exist in the neighbourhood; one being in the collection of the late Right Honorable Sir Joseph Banks, at Revesby Abbey, the other in the possession of Mr. Crowder, an inhabitant of the town.

It is much to be regretted for the advancement of researches into local antiquities that the chief part of the urns, coins, fibulæ, and other Roman vestiges discovered at Horncastle, have been sold to strangers who have visited the town, or to dealers elsewhere.  The coins which have been found here are numerous, and though chiefly of small brass and denarii ærei of the lower empire, yet they include many extremely fine and varied specimens of the earlier imperial coins, both of a larger size and of other metals, several of which are in the possession of different individuals of the town.  Amongst these may be particularized the silver coins of Vespasian, L. Septimius Severus, Alexander Severus, and Volusianus; the large brass of Trajan; and the middle brass of Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Trajan, Hadrian, Domitian, Antoninus Pius, Faustina the elder, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, and Faustina the younger.  The small brass and denarii ærei form nearly a complete series of the emperors from Gallienus to Valentinianus the second, and include also within that period, coins of some of the tyrants of Britain and Gaul.  Beside these are some others in the collection of p. 25the late Reverend Charles L’Oste, now possessed by his son, but unfortunately no memoranda exist by which they are to be distinguished from those obtained at other places.  This gentleman also had in his collection several fibulæ and stiles which had been discovered here.

A British coin found at this place has on its concave side the horse and symbolic circles; on the convex is the representation of an animal apparently intended for a stag, with similar ornaments around it, to those the other side possesses.  Many of the early English silver currency have been found here, and also a specimen of the Scottish coinage of David the second.

In deepening the bed of the river Bane, to complete the navigation, in 1802, an ornamental brass spur, part of a brass crucifix, and a dagger, were found together at a short distance from the north bason of the navigation.  The spur is now lost; the part of the crucifix and the dagger are in the possession of the author.

p. 26THE CHURCH.

From the silence of the Domesday Book respecting a church at this place, it may be concluded that there was not one erected when that survey was made; there however appears to have been one in the reign of Richard the first. [26a]

The present structure, which is dedicated to Saint Mary, stands in the centre of the town, and possesses but few attractions for the antiquary or the architect.  It consists of a square tower, a nave and chancel, with north and south aisles.  Being for the most part built with the soft and imperfectly aggregated sand-stone of the neighbourhood, which yields easily to the moisture of the atmosphere, it has suffered much from the effects of time; and the decayed parts being repaired with brick, gives to the building a motley and unprepossessing appearance.

The few portions of the original architecture which have escaped the silent ravages of years and the hands of the innovator, bespeak the building of no higher antiquity than the period of Henry the seventh.  The aisle on the north side of the chancel is ornamented with embattlements, on which quatrefoils and blank shields are sculptured.  It was probably used as a chantry, one of the windows having formerly contained an inscription justifying such a supposition. [26b]  This aisle does not extend the whole length of the chancel, and in the space so left, the remains of an oratory and confessional are still visible; this space formerly appropriated as a depository for coals to distribute among the poor, is now occupied by a building to contain the fire engines; a corresponding part of the south aisle being used as a vestry.  The aisle on the south side of the chancel was rebuilt in 1820; but the original windows were restored and again inserted.  Part of the aisle on the south of the nave was rebuilt in the following year.

p. 27The interior of the church is remarkably neat and well pewed.  A gallery at the west end of the nave contains an organ which was purchased by subscription in 1810.  Galleries are also erected in each aisle of the nave.

In the wall of the north aisle is a stone, containing the figure in brass of Sir Lionel Dymoke, in armour, kneeling on a cushion, and holding in his hand a label, on which is written, in black letter,

“Sc’ta trinitas unus deus miserere nob.”

On each side of him are two shields containing arms, at one of the lower corners are the figures of his two sons, and at the other those of his three daughters, and under him this inscription in black letter:

“In honore sc’te et individue trinitatis Orate p’ a’ia Leonis Dymoke milit’ q’ obijt xvij die me’se augusti aº D’ni mº ccccc xix cuj’ a’ie p’piciet’ de’ Amen.”

The shields contain these arms:—1.  Dymoke, sable, two lions passant argent in pale, ducally crowned or; empaling Waterton, Barry of six ermine and gules, three crescents sable; a crescent for difference.  2. Dymoke; empaling Marmyon, Vairè, on a fesse gules frettè or; in chief, Hebden, Ermine, five fusils in fess; a crescent for difference.  3. Argent, a sword erect azure, hilt and pomel gules. [27a]  4.  Dymoke; empaling Haydon, Quarterly gules and argent, a cross engrailed counterchanged; a crescent for difference.

On the floor beneath this monument is a brass, on which is the following inscription in black letter, nearly obliterated:

“Leonis fossa nunc haec Dymoke capit ossa
Miles erat Regis cui parce Deus prece matris
Es testis Christe quod non jacet hic lapis iste
Corpus ut ornetur sed spiritus ut memoretur
Hinc tu qui transis senex medius puer an sis
Pro me funde preces quia sic mihi fit venie spes.”  [27b]

p. 28On the floor of the vestry is a stone, with this inscription, in black letter, around the verge:

“Here lyeth the Boyddes of Thomas Raithbeck & Ame his wyf y^e founders of the Beidhous Departed thys world in y^e fayth of Christ y^e last day of October in y^e yere or lord mdlxxv.”

On the wall over the door of the vestry is a shield containing three storks proper, on an azure field; the crest a stork; and under the arms this inscription:

“Sacred to the Memory of the Rev. Mr. THO: GIBSON, A.M. Forty four years Vicar of this Parish.  He liv’d in such times when Truth to the p. 29Church, and Loyalty to the King, met with Punishment due only to the Worst of Crimes.  He was by the Rebellious Powers carried away Prisoner, four times, from his congregation, once exchanged into the Garrison of Newark, for a Dissenting Teacher: afterwards Sequester’d, and his family driven out by the then Earl of Manchester.  He survived the Restoration, and was brought back at the head of several hundreds of his Friends, and made a Prebendary in the Cathedral Church of Lincoln.  As his Enemies never forgave his Zeal to the Church and Crown: so nothing but the height of Christian Charity could forgive the insults he met with from them.  He Died April the 22d, 1678.”

Against the wall on the south side of the chancel is a lozenge shaped piece of canvas, on which are painted these arms: Argent, two bars sable, each charged with three mullets of six points or, pierced gules; and under them the following inscription:

“Here lieth the worthy and memorable Kt. Sir INGRAM HOPTON, who paid his debt to nature and duty to his King and Country in the attempt of seizing the Arch-rebel in the bloody skirmish near Winceby, October the 6th, A.D. 1643. [29]

“—nec tumultum
Nec mori per vim metuit, tenente
Cæsare terras.

“Paulum sepultæ distat inertiæ
Celata virtus.”

On a stone in the floor of the chancel is this inscription, in capital letters:

“M. S.
THOMÆ LODINGTON, LL. D.
Qui Vicarii jure usus
Sacra apud Paganos de Horncastle
De More Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ
Annos perpetuos XLV peregit
Annorumque LXXIII Curriculo
Confecto Morti cessit
Mar. XXI A.D. MDCCXXIII.
Posuit Pientissima Conjux
Prudentia Lodington.”

Beside the sepulchral memorials already detailed, are a number of others on the floor, and a few of recent date, on marble tablets, against the walls.

p. 30At the end of the north aisle of the chancel, is the following table:

The BENEFACTORS to the CHURCH and POOR of this Town, the Clauses of whose Wills may be seen at large in a Book in the Town Chest.  Note these Tables were erected 1724.

William Everitt and Joseph Brown Churchwardens.

Anno 1611, October.  Mr. Robert Clark of Woodhall gave to the Poor of this town . . .  Shillings a year, to be paid to vicar on St Thomas’s, and by him to be distributed every Christmas-day for ever, out of his lands in Thimbleby, now belonging to John Hutchinson, Gent.

Mrs Ann Smith gave to the poor of Horncastle twenty shillings a year out of her lands there, now in the possession of Mr. Thomas Coats: it is given in brown bread every Good Friday.

George Acham of Asterby, Gent. gave also one hundred and forty pounds, to purchase lands, the rents thereof to be disposed off yearly to the poor of Horncastle, at the discretion of the governors of the free-school (for the time being,) which lands are in the parish of Burgh in the Marsh.

Anno 1629 May the 2d.  Mr. William Hurtscroft gave one house the yearly rent of fifty-two shillings; to be given weekly (viz.) twelve pence in bread every Lord’s day to poor fatherless and motherless children in Horncastle, by the Overseers for the poor; the said house now in the possession of widow Scamon.

The same year.  Andrew Kent, gent. gave six pounds thirteen shillings and fourpence, to be a stock for the poor of Horncastle, which is applied accordingly in coals for their use.

Anno 1661, June the 6th.  Thomas Bromley of Conesby gent, left to the poor of this town forty shillings per annum (viz.) twenty shillings every good Friday, and twenty every St. Thomas’s day, to be paid out of his lands in Haltham super Bane; now the said lands belong to Thomas Hammerton gent.

Rutland Snowden, gent. gave to the poor of Horncastle one house of the yearly rent of twenty-six shillings; but being decayed is now reduced to thirteen, paid in bread sixpence every other Sunday: the said house belongs now to Mr. William Dawson.

Anno 1673, December the 5th.  Thomas James, gent. gave to the poor of Horncastle twenty shillings yearly in white bread on every Christmas day for ever payable out of his lands there, which lands are now the estate of Thomas Howgrave, Esquire.

Anno 1702, December the 20th.  Captain John Francis gave two chaldern of coals yearly to be given to the poor, appointed by the governors of the school, out of lands in this town now the Rev. Mr. John Francis’s of Sibsey.

Anno 1703, December the 14th.  Mrs Douglass Tyrwhitt of Gaiton on the would gave ten shillings yearly to the poor of Horncastle on St. Thomas’s day, out of her lands in Belshford, now the lands of Joseph Sutton of the same.

Anno 1696, May the 26th.  Nicholas Shipley, gent. gave to this church one brass candlestick of twenty-four sockets, and Fox’s three books of martyrs.  He gave also to the poor five pounds, which was immediately given amongst them, and thirty shillings yearly for ever, (viz.) twenty on St. Thomas’s day, and ten every good Friday, in brown bread, to be paid out of his lands adjoining to this church yard, now purchased by Mr. Thomas p. 31Hammerton.  He gave also to the governors of the school one hundred pounds the interest thereof to put out poor boys apprentices to trades; but their then treasurer dying insolvent, that money was lost.  We mention this here because this misfortune doth not lessen the charity of that well disposed gentleman.

Anno 1719.  Mrs. Mary Hussey, widdow, gave one silver plate to the communion table for ever.

Anno 1721.  Mrs. Dorothy Parker of Boston, gave to this church one brass candlestick of sixteen sockits, and to the poor widdows and widdowers of this town she gave sixty pounds, the interest or rents thereof to be given amongst them on St. John’s day, in Christmas, and St. James’s in July, yearly for ever.

Anno 1724.  Mrs Mary Waters, widdow, gave to the overseers of the poor, five pounds, to be by them put out at interest, and the said interest to be given to the poor yearly on Christmas day for ever.

Against the wall over the north entrance are several scythes and hay knives, some of which are yet remaining in the shafts to which they have been affixed, in order to render them instruments of warfare.  The occasion for which they were so prepared is unknown, the traditionary accounts of them being both vague and contradictory.

In the steeple are six bells, bearing the following inscriptions in capital letters:

1.  Lectum fuge discute somnum.  G. S. I.  W. H. Penn Fusor 1717.

2.  In templo venerare Deum.  Hen. Penn nos fudit Cornucastri.

3.  Supplicem Deusi audit.  Daniel Hedderly cast me 1727.

4.  Tho. Osborn fecit Downham Norfolk 1801.  Tho. Bryan and D. Brown Churchwardens.

5.  Dum spiras spera.  H. Penn Fusor 1717.  Tho. et Sam. Hamerton Æditivi.

6.  Exeate busto auspice Christo.  Tho Lodington LL.D. Vic. H. P. 1717.

The fourth bell previous to being recast bore this inscription:

Fac et spe.  Henri Penn Fusor Peterburgensis.

The benefice is a vicarage, in the presentation of the Bishop of Carlisle, valued in the King’s books at £14. 4s. 2d.

The registers commence in the year 1559.  In them are contained the following singular entries:

“On the vth daie of October one thousand six hundrete & three, in the first yere of our Souvraine Lord King James was holden in Horncastle Church a solemnn fast from eight in the morning until foure a clock in the afternoone by five preachers vidz. Mr Hollinhedge vicar of Horncastle, Mr Turner of Edlington, Mr Downes of Lusbye, Mr Phillipe of Salmonbye, Mr Tanzey of Hagworthingha’, occasioned by a general and most feareful plague yt yeare in sundrie places of this Land, but especially upon the Cytie of London.

Pr. me Clementem Whitelock.”

p. 32“Thomas Gibson Clerk Master of the Free Schoole of Newcastle uppon Tine one of the Chapleines of the Right Reverend Father in God Barnabas by Divine P’vidence Lo. Bpp. of Carliol, presented by the said Lo. Bpp. was inducted into the Vicarage of Horncastle, April the xiiij 1643.”

“The said Mr. Thomas Gibson being outed of Horncastle by Cromwell Commissiner removed to Nether Toynton, lived ther one yeare.  After returne again taught some gentlemen sonnes in his owne house, was afterwards called to ye schoole at Newark where he continued one yeare, then was importuned to Sleeford whether he went the week after Easter 1650, continued there until May ye first 1661 then the King being restored he returned to his vicaridge and was by Doctor Robet Sandeson Bishop of Linkcoln made Preban of Sant Marie Crake Poule in the Church of Linkcoln,”

“Septr. 28, 1662.

“Memorandum the Day and yeere above written that the Booke of Common Prayer lately set forth by the Authority of the King’s Majestie and his court was read in the Parish Church of Horncastle by me Thomas Gibson Vicar there, and freely and willingly assented unto according to an act of Parliament in that case made and provided.  In witness whereof the said Mr. Gibson with other of the inhabitants whose names are hereunto subscribed have sette their hands.

Tho: Gibson, Vicar.
John Harding, Parrish Clerk”

p. 33

THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

The Grammar School is situated at the south-east corner of the church yard, and is a spacious and well-constructed edifice of brick.  It was founded and endowed by Edward Lord Clinton and Saye, the Lord High Admiral of England, under the authority of letters patent, dated the 25th of June, 1652.  By these letters it was ordained, that this institution should be denominated “The Free Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth, in the Town or Soke of Horncastle, of the foundation of Edward Lord Clinton and Saye,” for the education, training, and instruction of boys and youths in grammar, and to be appropriated to this object for ever.

The school was to be conducted by a master, and a sub-master, or usher: ten governors were also appointed and incorporated, with perpetual succession, and a common seal.  These governors were empowered on the death of any of their body, to elect others in their places; also to nominate the master and usher on any vacancy; and to make such statutes concerning the preservation and disposal of the revenues, as circumstances at any time might dictate.  Besides holding the endowments, they were authorized to purchase and receive lands and other possessions, not exceeding £40. per annum.

The estates by which the establishment is maintained, consist of houses and land situated at Horncastle, Hemingby, Sutton, Huttoft, p. 34and Winthorpe.  The lands in the last three named parishes being subject to inundations from the sea, the annual revenue is rendered precarious; but in the more favorable years it amounts to about £200.

The salaries for a long time were £40. per annum to the master, and £30. to the sub-master or usher: but on the appointment of the present master, in 1818, the salary was advanced to £80. per annum, to which was also added a house for his residence; the salary of the sub-master remaining as heretofore, at £30.  The sum of £2. 2s. per annum is charged for those scholars who are instructed in writing and arithmetic.  There are at this period about twenty boys on the foundation.

The governors of this School have also the management of another school in the town, for the instruction of poor children in reading, sewing, and knitting.  A house, with a salary to the teacher of £17. per annum, charged upon certain estates in Horncastle, having been bequeathed to them in trust, for that purpose, by Mr. Richard Watson, a native of this place, who died in 1784.

p. 35

THE RIVER BANE AND NAVIGABLE CANAL.

The river Bane, rising at the village of Ludford, takes its course in a direction nearly south to join its waters with those of the Witham.  After meandering through an extent of country about fourteen miles, it receives at Horncastle, the tributary stream of the Waring, and abundantly supplies the town, conveniently situated at the confluence of the two rivers.  From hence continuing a gently winding course, it washes Tattershall and its moorlands, before it falls into the larger river to increase its waters to the sea.

In the year 1792, an act of parliament was obtained for making the Bane navigable from the river Witham, through Tattershall to Horncastle. [35]  The act, after reciting the names of the original subscribers, incorporates them by the name of “The Company of Proprietors of the Horncastle Navigation in the County of Lincoln,” giving them perpetual succession and a common seal, and empowering them to raise £15,000. in three hundred shares of £50. each.  The interest of these was not to exceed £8. per cent.  No person was to be the p. 36possessor of less than one share, nor to hold more than twenty.  As circumstances might require, they were authorized to raise £1,000. more, by shares or mortgages of the tolls.

The tollage allowed by this act was, for goods passing the whole length of the navigation, 2s. per ton; from the Witham to the seventh lock, 1s. 9d. per ton; and from the Witham to the fourth lock, 1s. 3d. per ton; excepting lime, lime-stone, manure, or materials for roads, for which, only half the already mentioned tolls were to be taken.

The works were commenced in the year 1793; but, when about two thirds were completed, the whole of the funds to be appropriated to their execution were already expended.  After suffering the canal to remain several years in this unfinished state, the company applied again to Parliament, and in the year 1800 another act was obtained, enabling them to raise £20,000. more by subscription amongst themselves, by admission of new subscribers in shares of £50. each, by mortgage, or by granting annuities.  The limitation of shares and interest were repealed by this act; and the tonnage rates advanced to 3s. 3d. per ton for the whole length of the navigation, 2s. 7d. to the seventh lock, and 1s. 8d. to the fourth; lime, lime-stone, manure, and materials for roads excepted as before from the payment of full rates.

Shortly after the works were recommenced, the plan of completing them by an entirely new canal was adopted in preference to that which they had before pursued of rendering the Bane navigable.  It was therefore at the village of Dalderby diverted from the course of the natural stream, and carried on in a less varied track to the point of junction between the waters of the Bane and Waring: from hence it was continued in the divergent courses of these two rivers, to the more extreme parts of the town of Horncastle.  It was completed in September, 1802, and on Friday the seventeenth of that month the vessels entered the town.  The canal is sufficiently deep to navigate vessels of fifty tons burthen.

From this town to the river Witham the distance is about eleven miles, in which the stream has a fall of eighty-four feet.

p. 37THE PRESENT STATE OF THE TOWN, FAIRS, MARKETS, &c.

Although this place was favored at an early period with a charter for a market, which in the time of Henry the eighth appears to have been well frequented, yet it remained for many years little more than a considerable village. [37]  From the earliest accounts it seems to have been gradually encreasing; but it was not until later years, when a new impulse was given to the agricultural interests of the country, that it began to exhibit material evidences of extention and improvement.

From a plan of the town drawn by Dr. Stukeley, in the year 1722, it appears at that period of time, now the lapse of a century, to have been little more than half its present extent.  This plan, not having been made from actual survey, cannot be considered as an accurate representation: nevertheless it is calculated to give a tolerable idea of the state of the town at the time it was executed.  It is traditionally asserted that at that period scarcely a brick house was to be found in the parish; the early erected dwellings being all constructed with clay walls and covered with thatch; thus evidencing that common character which Leland the antiquary assigns to the towns of this part.  The clay buildings have for the most part disappeared, and brick structures are now erected in their stead; and from the spirit of improvement which has lately been evinced, they will doubtless in a few years be entirely removed.  The rebuilding of many houses in the principal streets in a handsome manner, within the last twenty years, has given to the town an air of respectability; but the effect which p. 38would be produced by these buildings in its general appearance, is materially diminished by the narrowness and irregularity of the streets.  At this time the number of houses may be computed at about seven hundred, and of inhabitants, about three thousand five hundred.

The entrances to the town, as well as its general aspect, have also been improved by the inclosure of the fields by which it is surrounded.  To accomplish this an act of parliament was obtained in 1803, and carried into effect the following year.

In no respect has the town changed more than in its trade; a large proportion of its inhabitants having formerly been employed in the tanning of leather, in which manufacture the yards on the south side of the Far-street were almost exclusively occupied.  About fifty years ago the number of these establishments began rapidly to decline, and are at this time reduced to two.  Since the completion of the canal in 1801, a considerable trade in corn and wool has been carried on here; about thirty thousand quarters of the former, and three thousand sheets of the latter being annually sent from this place.  The town also from its situation in a well inhabited district enjoys a large retail trade.

There are now three fairs for horses, cattle and sheep, held here annually.  The first, which concludes on the twenty-second of June, has of late years declined very much, and though chartered for eight days seldom continues more than three.  The second, which terminates on the twenty-first of August, has long been celebrated as the largest fair for horses in the kingdom, perhaps it may be said in the world; it continues about ten days, being three days more than the time expressed in the charter.  To this fair are brought for sale horses of all descriptions from every part of the kingdom, to the number of many thousands; and beside the most extensive dealers of this country, there are to be found in the fair purchasers and dealers from different parts of the continent of Europe, and even from America.  The third fair, which is held on the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth days of October, was removed to this place in 1768, from Market-Stainton, a decayed market town, about eight miles distant, two hundred pounds being given to the lord of the manor of that place, to permit the removal, one half of this sum was raised by subscription amongst the inhabitants of this town, the other by William Banks, Esquire, the then lessee of the manor.  The market is now held every Saturday, p. 39to which it was changed from Wednesday, the day mentioned in the charter, probably in consequence of the markets at Boston and Louth being also on that day; but the time at which the alteration took place cannot now be ascertained.

On the south side of the church-yard is a building appropriated for the purposes of a Dispensary, which is supported by public subscription.  Those to whom medical aid is administered are such of the sick poor, in the town and neighbourhood of Horncastle, as are recommended by subscribers; and the many to whom assistance has been afforded, evince its utility in a striking degree.  The Dispensary is attended every Tuesday and Saturday morning by a physician, whose service is gratuitous, and by an apothecary who receives a salary.  These gentlemen visit such patients as are unable to attend at the Dispensary.  A female accoucheur also belongs to the establishment.  The number of patients admitted from the commencement of the institution in September 1789, to September 1821, was 9389.

In the year 1790 a Literary Society was established in this town, and which since its commencement has occupied a room at the Dispensary as a library.  The property of this society is permanent and unalienable; excepting that books considered unworthy of being preserved are disposed of at the next anniversary but one after their purchase.  The library contains about eleven hundred volumes, and is open to the members two days in the week.  For several years the subscription was only ten shillings and sixpence per annum; it was afterwards advanced to fourteen shillings, and subsequently to one pound.  Subscribers are now also required to pay one pound on their admission.  The society at present consists of about forty members.

In the year 1807 the inhabitants of this town in conjunction with several other towns and villages, in the county of Lincoln, made application to parliament, and obtained an act for the recovery of debts not exceeding the sum of five pounds.  The commissioners hold their courts at this place every fourth Thursday.

The education of the poor which has lately excited so much attention in various parts of the kingdom, has not been neglected here.  A school on the Lancasterian or British system was established at a public meeting held in October, 1813; and but a few days subsequently a meeting was held at the church, when it was resolved to establish also a school on the plan of Dr. Bell.  Early in the ensuing p. 40year, buildings were erected, and each system began to be acted upon.  Both schools are supported by voluntary contributions, and each contains about two hundred children.

Beside the established church, there are in this town a society of Wesleyan Methodists; a small congregation of Calvinistic Baptists; a society of Primitive Methodists, or ranters; and a congregation of Independents.

p. 41THE SOKE OF HORNCASTLE.

At the time of compiling the Domesday record, there appears to have been included other parishes, in addition to those now comprised in this soke; but it cannot now be ascertained at what time the alteration took place. [41]  Beside the parish of Horncastle it at present contains the following townships:—Thimbleby, West Ashby, Low Tointon, High Tointon, Mareham on the Hill, Roughton, Haltham, Wood Enderby, Moorby, Wilksby, Mareham le Fen, and Coningsby.  To these have lately been added Langriville and Thornton le Fen, portions of the fen district, which had been sold by the commissioners appointed under an act of enclosure, and rendered parochial by act of parliament in 1812.  On the enclosure of these fens, under the act which was obtained in 1801, the whole of the parishes in this soke, excepting the two newly formed ones, had portions of land allotted to them, in lieu of their right of common.

West Ashby, High Tointon, Mareham on the Hill, and Wood Enderby, were formerly hamlets of the parish of Horncastle; but have for several years been considered as distinct parishes, and have appointed their own churchwardens and overseers of the poor.

THIMBLEBY,

In Domesday Book Stimelbi, and in old writings Thimelby, is about a mile north-west from Horncastle, the parishes adjoining each other.  The manor which in the reign of Charles the second was the property of Sir Robert Bolles of Scampton, is now possessed by Thomas Hotchkin, Esquire, of Tixover, in the county of Rutland, in the possession of whose ancestors it has been for many years.  In this parish is also the manor of Hallgarth, which formerly belonged to a family named Bolton; but is now the joint property of Richard p. 42Elmhirst, Esquire, of Uzzleby, and Mr. Kemp of Thimbleby.  The church rebuilt in the year 1744, is a small stone edifice, possessing a considerable share of architectural merit: a stone over the door points out the year in which it was rebuilt, but besides this it exhibits no other inscription. [42a]  The advowson of the rectory belongs to the lord of the manor.

WEST ASHBY,

In Domesday called Aschebi, and in old writings Askeby, is a parish adjoining to the north boundaries of that of Horncastle, from which town the village is about two miles distant.  In this parish is the manor of Ashby Thorpe, now belonging to the devisees of the late Mr. Joseph Rinder; but the possessor of that of Horncastle claims manorial rights over the other parts of the parish.  Previous to the dissolution of monasteries in the reign of Henry the eighth, the abbey of Kirkstead had a grange in this parish, which, in the fifth year of Edward the sixth, was granted amongst other estates to William Cecil Lord Burghley, Lord High Treasurer of England; and now forms part of the Ashby Thorpe estate.  The church consists of a tower, a nave with a north aisle, and a chancel. [42b]  The benefice is a curacy, in the presentation of the Bishop of Carlisle.

LOW TOINTON,

In Domesday Todingtune, and in old writings Nether Tointon, is about a mile eastward from the town of Horncastle, the parishes adjoining.  p. 43The manorial estates, which comprise nearly the whole parish, are the property of Lancelot Rolleston, Esquire, of Watnall, in the county of Nottingham, by whose ancestors it has been possessed for several generations.  The church, which is a small modern erection, being rebuilt in 1811, contains a very curiously sculptured font, and the following inscription on a plate of copper in the north wall:

“Heare lyeth the Body of EDWARD ROLLESTON Esquir who departed this Life the twenty-third of July in the thirtey-fourth year of his age interr’d underneath this place the fourth of August Anno Domini 1687.”

The patrons of the rectory are Lord Gwydir, and the Baroness Willoughby of Eresby, his mother.

HIGH TOINTON,

In old writings Over Tointon, is about a mile and a half eastward from Horncastle, to which parish and also that of Low Tointon it adjoins.  From only one place of this name being mentioned in the Domesday record, it is probable that at the time of making that survey both High and Low Tointon were included in one parish.  The manorial estates, which have descended with those of Horncastle, belong to the Bishop of Carlisle, and are leased to different individuals.  The church is a small uninteresting building.  The Bishop of Carlisle is patron of the curacy.

MAREHAM ON THE HILL,

Anciently written Maringe and Mayring, is about a mile and a half south-east from Horncastle, the parishes adjoining each other.  The manor once belonged to Edward Marsh, Esquire, of Hundle House, in the county of Lincoln, by a descendant of whom it was sold to William Hudson, Esquire, of Gray’s Inn.  In 1659 it was sold to a person named Duncombe, of whom it was purchased, in 1688, by Sir Edmund Turnor, of Stoke Rochford, Knight, and is now possessed by his descendant of the same names. [43]  The chapel is completely destitute of interest.  On repairing it, about fifteen years ago, two nobles of Edward the fourth, two angels of Henry the seventh, and several silver coins of different reigns, contained in a leathern purse, were discovered concealed in the wall.  The patron of the curacy is the Bishop of Carlisle.

p. 44ROUGHTON,

In Domesday Rocstune, and in old writings Ructon, is about four miles from Horncastle.  The manorial estates belong to Lady Banks.  The church, which is a small building, consisting of a tower, nave and chancel, contains a marble tablet, on which is the following inscription:

“Here lies the Body of NORREYS FYNES, Esq. Grandson to Sir Henry Clinton, commonly called Fynes, eldest Son of Henry Earl of Lincoln, by his Second Wife, Daughter of Sir Richard Morrison, and Mother of Francis Lord Norreys, afterwards Earl of Berkshire.  He had by his much beloved and only Wife Elizabeth, who lies by him, Twelve Children, of which Four Sons and Two Daughters were living at his decease, which happened on the 10th of January 1735–6 in the 75th year of his age.  From the Revolution he always liv’d a Nonjuror, which rendered him incapable of any other Publick Employment (tho’ by his Great Abilitys and Known Courage equal to the most Difficult and Dangerous) than that of being Steward to two great Familys, wherein he distinguish’d himself during his Service of 40 years a most Faithful and Prudent Manager, of a most Virtuous and Religious Life.  His paternal Estate he left without any addition to his Son Kendal his next heir.  His eldest Son Charles was buried here the 26th of August 1722, aged 36 years, whose Pleasant Disposition adorn’d by many virtues which he acquir’d by his Studys in Oxford made his death much lamented by all his Acquaintance.”

There also occur two other tablets; one to the memory of the Rev. Arthur Rockcliffe, who died in 1798, aged 71; the other to the memory of Charles Pilkington, Esq. who died in 1798, aged 75, and of Abigail his wife, who died in 1817, aged 80. [44]  The rectory, united to that of Haltham in 1741, is in the presentation of the Honorable and Reverend Champion Dymoke.

HALTHAM,

Called in the Domesday survey Holtham, is about five miles distant p. 45from Horncastle.  The manorial estates, which comprise almost the whole of the parish, once belonged to the Marmyons of Scrivelsby, and are now possessed by the Champion Dymoke, a descendant of the female branch of that family.  The church, which appears to have suffered much from time, has in its pristine state possessed a considerable share of architectural merit.  A large window at the eastern end contains very fine tracery, and at one time, together with some of the other windows, exhibited a large portion of stained glass, of which only one piece, containing the arms of La Warre, is now remaining. [45]  The rectory, united to that of Roughton in 1741, is in the presentation of the lord of the manor.

p. 46WOOD ENDERBY,

In the Domesday record written Endrebi, is about five miles distant from Horncastle.  The manor is the property of Lady Banks.  The church is a small uninteresting building.  The Bishop of Carlisle is patron of the curacy.

MOORBY,

In Domesday Morebi, is about five miles distant from Horncastle.  The manorial estates, comprising the principal part of the parish, are the property of Lady Banks.  The church is totally destitute of interest.  The Bishop of Carlisle is patron of the rectory.

WILKSBY,

In Domesday Wilchesbi, is about six miles distant from Horncastle.  The manor is the property of Lady Banks.  The church is a small modern erection.  The Champion Dymoke is patron of the rectory.

MAREHAM LE FEN,

In the Domesday book called Marun, and in old writings Marum, is about seven miles distant from Horncastle, and situated on the verge of the recently enclosed fenny district, from whence it has received its appellation.  The manor is the property of Lady Banks; it having been purchased, together with the three before mentioned manors, by an ancestor of the late Sir Joseph Banks, above a century ago.  The manor house, which has for several years been occupied by Mr. James Roberts, possesses from its adjoining gardens, a considerable share of interest.  Having accompanied Sir Joseph Banks, in the first voyage of Captain Cook round the world, Mr. Roberts has sought to associate with the rural simplicities of an English garden, such objects of curiosity as a pleasurable recollection of those scenes had furnished.  In addition to numerous rustic and ornamental seats, the gardens are embellished with huts resembling those of Terra del Fuego and New Holland; and also a small museum of curiosities, principally from the South Sea islands.  A visit to this spot is always an agreeable recreation.  The following lines were written after a visit here, by a native of Jamaica.

p. 47SONNET,
WRITTEN AFTER A VISIT TO THE GARDENS AT MAREHAM.

   Dear is the rural scene that Fancy loves,
   Where tuneful Rapture chants th’ enliv’ning song,
   In wildest warblings to the darkling groves,
   Pouring in wildest mood the strains along;
   While Echo, from the leafy bowers among,
   Gives a soft cadence to the songster’s tale,
   A mingled sweetness to the warbling throng,
   That comes in whispers on the balmy gale.
   These, Mareham, with thy spreading greenwood shade,
   Thy silent waters, and thy mossy cell,
   Breathe such a charm, that oft Delight has strayed,
   With ling’ring steps, ’mid scenes she lov’d so well;
   And when fond Mem’ry shall thy joys renew,
She’ll tell with musing voice her sweet, her last adieu.

The church consists of a tower, a nave with north and south aisles, and a chancel. [47]  In the chancel is a tablet to the memory of the Rev. Henry Shepherd, who was rector of this parish thirty-four years, and died in January 1764, aged 62.  The advowson of the rectory belongs to the Bishop of Carlisle.

CONINGSBY,

In Domesday Cuningesbi, is a considerable village on the banks of p. 48the river Bane, about eight miles from Horncastle.  The manor, which was once possessed by the Marmions of Wintringham, has for many years belonged to the Heathcote family, and is now the property of Sir Gilbert Heathcote, Baronet, of Normanton in Rutlandshire.  The church consists of a tower of excellent masonry, a nave, two aisles, and a chancel. [48]  The rectory, which is in the presentation of the lord p. 49of the manor, was for several years held by the Reverend John Dyer, the poet.  It was here that he finished his didactic poem of “The p. 50Fleece.”  He died at this place in 1758, and lies buried in the church; but there is no inscription to perpetuate his memory.  A congregation of General Baptists was formed at this place, during the government of Cromwell: the society still exists, with an endowment for the minister.

LANGRIVILLE AND THORNTON LE FEN.

The lands composing these parishes were chiefly those sold by the commissioners appointed under the act for draining and enclosing Wildmore Fen; Langriville also contains the portion allotted to the Earl of Stamford and Warrington, in lieu of his manorial rights over p. 51Armtree and Wildmore.  In 1812, an act of parliament was passed, rendering these lands, with others, parochial, and approximating these two parishes to the soke of Horncastle.

POPULATION.

p. 53BAUMBER.

The village of Baumber or Bamburgh is situated in the hundred of Gartree, about four miles northward of Horncastle, on the turnpike road leading from that place to Lincoln.  In the Domesday survey it is called Badeburgh, which perhaps may signify Bane-burgh, or a town on the Bane, that river forming the eastern boundary of the parish.  At the period of making that survey, Ulf and Gilbert de Gand are mentioned as proprietors. [53a]

The manor, together with the adjoining hamlet of Stourton parva, once belonged to Thomas Dighton, Esquire, whose daughter and heiress was married to Edward Clinton, second son of the first Earl of Lincoln.  On failure of male issue in the elder branch, the earldom devolved to the son of this Edward, whose successors afterwards had the Dukedom of Newcastle conferred on them.  These estates continued in the possession of this family until the latter part of the last century, when they were sold to Thomas Livesey, Esquire, of Blackbourn, in the county of Lancaster, whose son, Joseph Livesey, Esquire, the present proprietor, resides thereon, in an elegant mansion, which was completed in 1810.  Part of the residence of the Earls of Lincoln is still standing.

The church at Baumber with all its appurtenances, and eight oxgangs of land, were given by Gilbert de Gaunt to the monks at Bridlington, which grant Pope Innocent the fourth, and the Bishop of Lincoln confirmed. [53b]  It is now a donative, extrajudicial.  It was rebuilt about sixty years ago, and is a very neat brick structure, consisting of a tower, a p. 54nave with side aisles, and a chancel. [54]  Under the chancel is the vault of the Newcastle family, which was their place of sepulture previous to disposing of their estates in this parish.  Over the vault are the following inscriptions:

“Here lieth the Body of Francis Clinton al’s Fynes Esq. Grandson of Henry Lord Clinton Earl of Lincoln who departed this life Feb. 5 Anno Dom. 1681.”

“Here lieth the Body of Priscilla the Wife of Francis Clinton al’s Fynes Esq. who departed this life Febr. 15 Anno Dom. 1679.”

In the north aisle is a stone with this inscription in black letters around the verge:

“Orate p’ a’iabus Joh’es Eland armig’i Alicie et Elisabeth uxor ejusde’ qui Joh’es obijt xix die marcii aº d’ni millo cccclxxiii cuj’ q’rs a’iabs p’pciet’ de.”

In 1821, the population of this parish amounted to 319, and the number of houses to 51.

p. 55EDLINGTON.

At the time of forming the Domesday survey, this place, then called Tedlintune formed part of the soke of Horncastle; [55] but is now comprised in the hundred of Gartree.  It is very pleasantly situated about two miles northward of Horncastle, near to the road leading from that place to Lincoln.

The manorial estates comprising the chief part of the parish, are the property of Richard Samuel Short, Esquire, a descendant of a female branch of the family of that name, which he adopted on coming into possession of the estates.  The manor house, the seat of the proprietor, though not of regular architecture, acquires an agreeable effect from the grove in which it is situated.  From the house the prospect to the south-west, over the adjacent level country, is both extensive and pleasing.

The church is a small building possessing no claim to attention.  The vicarage is in the gift of the Duchy of Lancaster.  The rectorial tythes belong to the grammar school at Oakham, in the county of Rutland.

On under-draining a field in this parish, in the latter part of the year 1819, several heaps of ox bones were dug up, and with each heap an urn of baked clay, apparently of Roman manufacture; but unfortunately none of the urns were taken up whole.  To account for these relics being found here, it is probable that on this spot a Roman sacrifice had been celebrated, in honor of some deity, on the occasion of a victory, or in the exercise of other pagan rites.

Annexed to this parish is the hamlet or manor of Poolham, anciently called Polum.  It formed part of the barony of Gilbert de Gaunt until about the thirty-fifth year of Edward the first, when p. 56Robert de Barkeworthe died seized of it; [56a] and it appears to have been the residence of Walterus de Barkeworthe, who died in 1347, and was buried in the cloister of Lincoln cathedral.  Afterwards it was the residence of the family of Thimbleby, a branch of the Thimblebys of Irnham, [56b] who probably built the mansion house within the ancient moat, about the time of Henry the eighth.  The Savilles of Howley in the County of York, enjoyed the estate in the reign of Elizabeth, and in 1600, Sir John Saville, Knight, sold it to George Bolles, Esquire, citizen of London, whose descendant Sir John Bolles, Baronet, conveyed the same to Sir Edmund Turnor, of Stoke Rochford, Knight, and it is now the inheritance of Edmund Turnor, Esquire. [56c]

Within the moat, beside the mansion house, are the remains of a chapel, built of stone, a font, and a grave-stone with the date 1527.

In 1821, the parish of Edlington contained 37 houses, and 263 inhabitants.

p. 57TUPHOLME.

The village of Tupholme stands nearly a mile from the north bank of the river Witham, at the distance of seven miles west by north from Horncastle; and is contained in the hundred of Wraggoe. [57a]

In the time of Henry the second, an Abbey of premonstratensian canons, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was founded here, by Allan de Nevill and Gilbert his brother, and endowed by them with their possessions in this place, together with estates in other parts of the county.  This abbey also had numerous benefactions in lands and churches, from other persons; and the king gave a canal, so large, that ships might pass between the Witham and Tupholme.  These gifts were confirmed to the abbot and canons, by charter, from Henry the third, in the twentieth year of his reign. [57b]  At the dissolution of monasteries, this abbey contained nine religious: and in the thirtieth year of Henry the eighth, the scite was granted to Sir Thomas Henneage.

Of the abbey, a wall only is now remaining, the upper part of which appears to have formed a side of the refectory or dining hall.  It contains lancet windows, and a small gallery, in which the person sat who read to the brethren during their meals: a practice which was common in all monasteries, and anciently in colleges.  The story beneath the refectory appears to have been vaulted, and was probably used as a cellar.  Adjoining to the ruins is a farm house, which has been built out of part of the materials.  The gate house, now gone, was standing when Dr. Stukeley visited this place in 1716.  A view of it is engraved in the Itinerarium Curiosum.

p. 58The manorial estate, comprising the whole parish, is the property of Robert Vyner, Esquire, of Gautby, by an ancestor of whom it was purchased in the early part of the last century.

The church has been long since demolished.  The benefice is a vicarage in the patronage of the Bishop of Lincoln.

p. 59SOMERSBY.

The village of Somersby is pleasantly situated on the wolds, in the hundred of Hill, at about the distance of six miles east from Horncastle.

The manorial estates, which comprise the whole parish, have for many years been the property of a family named Burton.  The present proprietor is William Raynor Burton, Esquire, which latter name he assumed on coming into possession of the estates on the death of his uncle, Robert Burton, Esquire, of Lincoln.

On the south side of the church, near to the porch, is an elegant stone cross, which having escaped both the ravages of time, and the destruction of the Puritans, remains in so perfect a state as to be justly esteemed of unrivalled excellence and beauty.  The extreme height of it, including the subcourse, is fifteen feet.  The shaft is octagonal, and decorated with a capital, surmounted by a coronal of small embattlements.  The cross, with its pediment, which rises from this, is ornamented on the south face with the representation of the crucified founder of the christian faith, and on the opposite side with that of the virgin and child.

The church is a small building, consisting of a tower, nave, and chancel, and is void of architectural interest. [59]  In the wall at the end of the chancel is a plate of brass, on which is sculptured the representation of a person full robed, kneeling on a cushion, before a reading p. 60desk, in the sinister upper corner is a shield containing arms, and under the figure this inscription:

“Here lyeth GEORGE LITTLEBVRY of Somersby seventh Sonne of Thomas Littlebvry of Stainsbie Esq. who died the 13 daye of Octob. in y^e yeare of our Lord 1612 being abovt the age of 73 yeares.”

The shield contains these arms:—1. Two lioncels statant guardant in pale.  2. Quarterly, 1 and 4, Barry of six; 2 and 3 A bend.  3. Three shackle bolts.  4. A mullet between three crescents, a dexter canton.  On the fesse point a rose for difference.

Against the skreen between the nave and chancel is a marble tablet surmounted by a shield containing the arms of Burton, Sable, a chevron argent, between three owls argent, ducally crowned or; the crest, an owl argent, crowned as before.  Under the arms is this inscription:

“Here lieth Mrs. KATH. BURTON Daughter of Richard Langhorne Esq.  She died Aug. 25 A.D. 1742.  Also ROBERT BURTON, Esq. Citizen of London, Husband of the said Mrs. Katherine Burton.  He died Nov. 30 1753.”

The advowson of the rectory belongs to the lord of the manor.

In a woody dell in this parish is a spring, gently bursting from the rock, called Holy-well, but the name of the saint to whom it was dedicated is not preserved.

According to the returns of 1821, this village at that time contained 12 houses and 96 inhabitants.

“The Topcliffes were an ancient family at Somersby, of which family Richard Topcliffe was the representative in 1592.  He was the eldest son of Robert Topcliffe, by Margaret, one of the daughters of Thomas Lord Borough, and married Jane, daughter of Sir Edward Willoughby, of Wollaton, Nottinghamshire, and had issue Charles his heir, and three other sons who died infants, and a daughter Susannah.  He was a most implacable persecutor of the Roman Catholics, so much so, that the use of the rack and other tortures were called Topcliffian customs.” [60]

p. 61SCRIVELSBY.

About two miles south of Horncastle, on the road leading from that place to Boston, stands the village of Scrivelsby, which is included in the Hundred of Gartree.

At the time of compiling the Domesday survey, it appears that part of this parish, then called Scrivelesbi, was annexed to the Soke of Horncastle, which was then retained by the conqueror. [61a]  By the same record, the manor appears to have been then holden by Robert de Spenser, but by what service is not said.  How it passed from De Spenser to the family of Marmyon; whether by inheritance, or escheat of the crown, and subsequent grant, cannot now be ascertained.  It was however shortly after in the tenure of Robert Marmyon, whose male descendants enjoyed the same until the twentieth year of Edward the first, 1292, when Philip the last Lord Marmyon died seized of this manor, holden by barony, and the service of champion to the kings of England on their coronation day; and seized also of the castle of Tamworth in Warwickshire, held therewith as parcel of his barony, but by the service of knight’s fees, to attend the king in his wars in Wales. [61b]  This Philip had only female issue, and between them his great estates here, in Warwickshire, Leicestershire, and elsewhere, were divided.  By this partition, the manor and barony of Scrivelsby were allotted to Joan, the youngest daughter, by whose grand-daughter and heir the same passed in marriage to Sir John Dymoke, who, with Margaret his wife, had livery thereof in the twenty-third year of Edward the third.

p. 62At the coronation of Richard the second, Sir John Dymoke claimed in right of his wife, to perform the office of champion: this right was counterclaimed by Baldwin Freville, who, as lord of Tamworth, also claimed to perform that service; but the commissioners of the court of claims deciding in favor of Sir John Dymoke, he performed that office; and from that period to the present time, nearly five hundred years, their male issue have continued in possession of the same inheritance.  The present champion, the Reverend John Dymoke, is the seventeenth of his family, from Sir John Dymoke, who has inherited that high and singular office. [62]

p. 63The chief part of Scrivelsby Court, the ancient baronial seat, was destroyed by fire, between fifty and sixty years ago.  In the part consumed was a very large hall, on the pannels of the wainscottings of which were depicted the various arms and alliances of the family, through all its numerous and far traced descents.  The loss has been in some degree compensated for, by the addition which the late proprietor recently made to those parts which escaped the ravages of the fire.

The church is a small building, consisting of a nave, with a north aisle, and a chancel.  At the eastern end of the aisle are two tombs, on one of which is the figure of a knight, in chain armour, cross-legged; on the other that of a lady, with a lion at her feet.  By the side of these is the tomb of Sir Robert Dymoke, who was champion at the coronations of Richard the third, Henry the seventh, and Henry the eighth; by the last of whom he was made a knight banneret.  On the top of the tomb is a plate of brass, on which is sculptured his figure in full armour, in a recumbent posture, with his helmet under his head, and a lion at his feet.  Above him is a shield, containing arms, and under him is the following inscription, in black letter:

“Here liethe the Body of sir Robert Demoke of Screvelsby knight & baronet who departed owt of this present lyfe the xv day of Apryl in y^e yere of our lord god mdlxv upon whose sowle almighte god have m’ci Amen.” [63]

p. 64The shield contains these arms:

1.  Dymoke.  Sable, two lions passant in pale argent, ducally crowned or.

2.  Marmyon.  Vairè, a fesse gules, frettè or.

3.  Hebden.  Ermine, five fusils in fesse gules.

4.  Rye.  Gules, on a bend argent three ears of rye proper.

5.  Welles.  Or, a lion rampant double tailed sable.

6.  Engaine.  Gules, a fesse dauncette between six crosselets or.

7.  Waterton.  Barry of six ermine and gules, three crescents sable.

8.  Hastings.  Or, a manche gules.

9.  Ludlow.  Azure, three lions passant guardant in pale, argent.

10.  Sparrow.  Argent, six martlets sable, three, two, and one; on a chief indented gules, two swords in saltire, points upwards, proper, between two lions heads erased.

Beside these arms, the sides and ends of the tomb were ornamented with others contained in eight shields of brass, none of which are now remaining.

On the floor of the aisle is a stone which has once contained a brass figure, with corner shields and an inscription, all which are now gone.

On the floor at the south side of the communion table is a plate of copper, on which is this inscription:

“Under this Stone lyes Sir Charles Dymoke, Knight, who was Champion at the Coronation of King James the 2d.  On his left hand lyes the Lady Dymoke; next to her, the Honourable Lewis Dymoke, their youngest son; next to him lies Capt. Dymoke, the eldest son of Sir Charles, who died in France; next to him, Mrs. Dymoke, Daughter of Sir Charles; at the head of Sir Charles lyes Mrs. Eliz. Dymoke, the youngest daughter of Sir Charles Dymoke.”

On the floor at the north side of the communion table, is a stone, containing this inscription:

“Here lyeth the Body of the Honourable CHARLES DYMOKE Esq. of Scrielsby, Champion of England, who departed this life the 17th day of January, and in the year of our Lord, 1702.

“This Gravestone was laid at the proper cost and charge of His widow, Jane Dymoke, and in the year 1726.”

Against the south wall of the chancel is a very handsome marble monument, ornamented with a bust of the individual whose memory it perpetuates, at the top is a shield containing the arms of Dymoke, with the crest, a sword erect; and underneath is the following inscription:

“Near this place lieth Interr’d the Body of the Honourable LEWIS DYMOKE, Esq. late Champion of England, who performed that service p. 65at the Coronation of King George the 1st and King George the 2d.  He was the youngest Son of Sir Charles Dymoke and Eleanor his wife, eldest Daughter of the first Lord Rockingham.  He departed this Life on the 5th of February 1760, in the 91st Year of his Age.”

On the north side of the chancel is a mural tablet containing this inscription:

“Sacred to the Memory of the Honourable JOHN DYMOKE of Scrivelsby, in this county, Champion of England, who performed that service at the Coronation of His Majesty George 3d, and whose body lieth interred in a Vault near this place: He departed this life, March 6th.  1784.  Aged 52 years.”

Against the south wall is the following inscription on a small marble tablet:

“Sacred to the Memory of LEWIS JONES, Esquire, of Great Hale in this County, who departed this Life May 1st 1786.  Aged 71 Years.”

The rectory, united in 1741 to that of the adjoining village of Dalderby, is in the presentation of the lord of the manor.

On the inclosure of Wildmore Fen, pursuant to an act of parliament obtained for that purpose in 1801, a portion thereof was allotted to this parish, in lieu of right of common.

By the returns of 1821, this parish at that period contained 24 houses, and 153 inhabitants.

p. 66BOLINGBROKE.

SITUATION.

Bolingbroke, a decayed market town, is distant about eight miles south east from Horncastle, and gives name to the soke wherein it is situated.  The town is seated on a clear, rapid brook, from which the name is derived, and which runs along a peculiar deep recess of rugged sand-stone hills, which suddenly terminate at the northern border of the adjacent fen district.  Embayed amid these deep declivities, and having but one narrow outlet into the level land, it is a matter of no surprize that its importance as a place of security was not overlooked in the feodal times, when it became further strengthened by a castle.

THE MANOR.

The manor appears to have been, from an early period, connected with the dignity of the Earldom of Lincoln.  Ranulph, an illustrious nobleman, marrying Lucia, widow of Roger de Romara, sister, and heiress of Morcar, the Saxon Earl of Northumberland and Lincoln, delivered the estates, amongst which was this lordship, to Henry the first, for the dignity of the Earldom of Chester.  Against this, William de Romara, son of Lucia by her former husband, appealed to the king, but in vain.  William however strengthening by his interest the rebellion in Normandy which had been raised by Robert, the eldest son of the conqueror and brother of the king; Henry, to appease his wrath, and obtain his favor, was in the twenty-second year of his reign, induced to restore to him the estates of his mother Lucia, and invest him with the Earldom of Lincoln.  After this, exchanging certain lands in Normandy with Robert de Tillol for the lordships of Hareby, Enderby, and Hundleby, parts of this soke, William was p. 67invited by the security of the situation, to erect his castle at Bolingbroke.  About the same time asserting the rights of the Empress Maud, in her contentions with Stephen for the throne, he greatly contributed to her early successes, particularly at the siege of Lincoln.

By his wife Maud, the daughter of Richard de Redvers, he had issue a son named William, who married Hawise daughter of Stephen Earl of Albemarle; but dying in the life time of his father, the estates descended to his son, also called William.  This William, the third of that name, to further improve his fortress, and add to the advantages of its situation, procured from Simon Briton, who also held lands in these parts, remission of all his claims in the whole marsh of Bolingbroke, and from Jeffrey Fitz Stephens, the superior of the Knights Templar, a full release of their interest in all the fens belonging to this manor, and its soke, which William de Romara his grandfather had given to them.

This last mentioned individual of the family of Romara died without issue, and in him the male line of the family ceased; which appears from Gilbert de Gaunt, after being a suppliant prisoner when fighting on the side of Stephen at the siege of Lincoln, and compelled by the first William de Romara to marry his daughter Hawise, becoming in her right possessor of this manor, and receiving also the Earldom of Lincoln.

Gilbert de Gaunt, died in the second year of the reign of Henry the second, and left issue, two daughters, Alice and Gunnora; the former of whom was married to Simon de St. Liz, Earl of Huntingdon, who is said to have enjoyed, during her life time, the Earldom of Lincoln, and with it this lordship.  Alice as well as her sister Gunnora dying without issue, their uncle Robert de Gaunt, though unallied by blood, became their heir, and possessed himself of these estates.  Gilbert his son succeeded him; but joining the cause of the barons against King John, and afterwards against his son and successor, Henry the third, he was defeated at Lincoln, taken prisoner, and these estates conferred upon Ranulph de Meschines, surnamed de Blundeville, Earl of Chester, who being third in descent from Ranulph Earl of Chester, by his wife Lucia, the widow of Roger de Romara, had, independent of the claims on his sovereign for aiding in firmly establishing his family on the throne, a natural right, superior to that of the family of de Gaunt.  Ranulph de Blundeville dying without p. 68issue, his sisters became his co-heiresses; but he had during his life time assigned by charter to one of them, named Hawise, the Earldom of Lincoln, and with it this manor and castle.

Robert, son and heir of Sayer de Quincy, Earl of Winchester, marrying Hawise, left issue, a daughter, Margaret, who was married to John de Laci, a descendant of the Barons of Pontefract.  John de Laci received from Henry the third a charter of confirmation of the Earldom of Lincoln, and the inheritances which he possessed by his wife Margaret de Quincy.

Edmund his son dying before his mother, did not inherit the Earldom, though he received the tertium denarium of the county.  He left issue, Henry, John, and Margaret, the former of whom succeeded to this manor and the Earldom of Lincoln; and is said to have been the most exalted nobleman of his time.  He is stated to have been illustrious in counsel, undaunted in the fight, chief among the warriors of his country, and in fine, the brightest ornament of the reign. [68]  His sons dying young, he bequeathed by will all his possessions to the heirs of Edmund Plantagenet, in case of failure of issue by his daughter Alice.  Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, son of Edmund Plantagenet, marrying Alice, held in her right, the estates of her father Henry de Laci, who, on his death bed, desirous that his son in law should be ennobled not only by the attendant riches, but also by the influence of his example, enjoined him to devote his power to secure the liberties of his country.  But the proud and resolute spirit of the Earl of Lancaster needed no such injunctions to spur him on to action.  Indignant that Hugh de Spenser should enjoy the favor of his sovereign, Edward the second, he after effecting the destruction of Piers Gaveston, broke out into open rebellion: defeated however at Boroughbridge, he was ignominiously put to death at his castle of Pontefract, and his estates forfeited to the crown.  The inheritances which were, as has been before noticed, the right of his wife, were still reserved to her: but having borne an indifferent reputation for chastity; following the impulses of her amours in the life time of her late husband, and after his death marrying without the consent of the king to Eubold le Estrange; the king, with whom but trivial pretences were sufficient for p. 69abridging the powers of any individual allied to his haughty relatives of the house of Lancaster, seized for this breach of fealty, or homage, all the inheritance which she held of the crown in chief, among which were this manor, and that of Denbigh, and conferred the whole on his favorite Hugh de Spenser.

Henry, brother of Thomas the late Earl of Lancaster, procured in the first parliament after the accession of Edward the third, a remission of the forfeited estates of the family; and upon the death of the countess Alice, the wife of his late brother, her honors and splendid inheritances devolved to him, partly by the will of her father Henry de Laci, and partly by reason of a render made by him to Edward the first, and a re-grant by charter from that monarch to the heirs of Henry de Laci, with remainder to the heirs of Edmund Plantagenet.

Henry Earl of Lancaster died without male issue, but left two daughters Maud and Blanche; the former of whom married William of Bavaria, and left no issue; but Blanche became the sole heir of her father, and married John of Gaunt, who, by reason of the inheritances, was created Duke of Lancaster.  By her he had issue, at the castle at this place, the celebrated Henry of Bolingbroke; upon whose accession to the throne, the whole patrimony, through the line of Lancaster, became invested in the crown; and in his reign was counted one of the manorial possessions of the king, denominated honors.

THE CASTLE.

On the south side of the town is the scite of the castle, which is now only to be distinguished by the traces of its foundations, encompassed by a moat.

The seclusion of this spot amongst steep hills, with only an opening to the level country, southward, rendered it in the early mode of warfare a desirable situation for a place of defence, since it was at all times secure from the emergencies of a sudden surprise.  The advantages of such a situation were not overlooked by William de Romara, who about the early part of the reign of king Stephen, erected his castle at this place.

From the testimony of Mr. Gervase Holles, who is the only person that has left us a description of this castle, it appears to have been a very spacious square edifice, characterized in its construction by p. 70strength and uniformity, and containing beside numerous apartments, all the conveniences of warfare. [70]  By queen Elizabeth it was improved p. 71by elegant and extensive erections, and though afterwards neglected, yet it remained a place of importance down to the time of the civil wars in the reign of Charles the first, when for some time it withstood a siege by the parliamentary forces.

After the defeat of the royal army at Winceby, this castle was compelled to yield to the army of the parliament, who, after dismantling it, left it silently to decay.  For a many years part of a circular building, said to be the gate-house, continued standing; but in May 1815, the last remaining fragment of this once formidable structure fell to the ground.

To the east of the enclosure may be seen the entrenchments, behind which the assailants, in 1643, protected themselves in their attack on this castle.

THE CHURCH.

The church being occupied by the parliamentary forces when they stormed the castle, was almost entirely demolished by the cannon of that fortress.

The part now remaining, is situated a short distance north of the scite of the castle, and consists of a tower, and a part appropriated for public worship, which was once the southern aisle of the original edifice.  It is built of sand stone, and if the delicate tracery of its windows be excepted, it contains but little architectural beauty.  These windows were once ornamented with richly stained glass, of which not a fragment is now remaining. [71]

p. 72There is yet preserved in this church the mutilated remains of an embroidered cloth for the communion table, said to have been wrought by one of the Duchesses of Lancaster.

Two chantries, which formerly were attached to this church, were suppressed at the dissolution of religious houses, in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Henry the eighth.

The rectory is in the presentation of Lady Eyre of Mortlake, in Surrey.

THE TOWN.

At so early a period as the time of forming the Domesday survey, this town appears to have arisen into some consideration as a place of trade, being possessed of a market, which however is in that record denominated a new one. [72]

For a many years it was considered one of the principal market towns of the county of Lincoln; but its trade, for some time previous to the destruction of the castle, had been gradually withdrawing to p. 73other places more conveniently situated; and afterwards the town fell rapidly into decay, and its market became wholly unfrequented.

Although it may be at present identified as a mere village; yet its widely detached houses, partially paved streets, and grass grown market place, connected with the mounds of the castle which once adorned the spot, evince sufficiently that there has been a time when destitution was not the characteristic of the town of Bolingbroke.

An attempt has lately been made to revive the market, on a portion of land allotted to this parish on the enclosure of the fens, in lieu of right of common thereon.  An annual fair on the tenth of July, is held both at this town and on the fen allotment.

There is a free school at this place, founded and endowed in 1588, by a Mr. Chamberlain.

In 1821, this parish contained 158 houses, and 753 inhabitants.

Bolingbroke gives the title of viscount to the family of St. John, of Lydiard Tregoze, in Wiltshire.

p. 74REVESBY.

Revesby is situated at the distance of six miles south from Horncastle, on the road from that place to Boston, and is included in the soke of Bolingbroke.

What now constitutes the parish of Revesby, appears formerly to have been three distinct manors, Revesby, Thoresby, and Seithesby; the greater part of which was the property of William de Romara, Earl of Lincoln.  In the year 1142 he founded a Cistertian monastery at this place, and previous to endowing it with the whole of his possessions here, he negotiated exchanges with the other proprietors, by which he was enabled to give the entirety of the three manors to his new monastery. [74]

To add to the solemnity of the ceremony of foundation, the Earl on this occasion manumitted several slaves, who had petitioned for their liberty.  One of them, called Wilhelmus Medicus, was doubtless a physician; another, Rogerus Barkarius, probably a shepherd: the surnames of persons at that time being derived from their professions.  A person named Roger Barker resided until lately at a place called Stickney Wydale.  This place belongs to the parish of Revesby, though about four miles distant, and is supposed to have been given to the monks, on condition of their keeping Nordyke Causeway, formerly a dangerous pass, in repair.

Beside the endowment of William de Romara, the monastery was enriched by numerous other benefactions.  At the dissolution of religious houses, its possessions with all its rights were granted to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk; and on the death of his two infant sons, who survived him only a short time, their extensive possessions were divided among the heirs general.  On this division, Revesby fell p. 75to the lot of the Carsey family, who resided here several years, and afterwards sold it to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, from whom it descended to the first and second Earls of Exeter; the latter of whom settled it on his grandson, Henry Howard, the third son of the Earl of Berkshire.  About a century ago it was sold by the descendants of Henry Howard, to Joseph Banks, Esquire, the great grandfather of the late Right Honorable Sir Joseph Banks, Baronet, whose widow is the present possessor.

The seat of the proprietor was built by Craven Howard, nephew and heir of Henry Howard; but has been much enlarged by the family of Banks.  Part of an ancient mansion, formerly the residence of the abbots, now forms the offices.  The monastery, which stood at a considerable distance, has long been entirely demolished.

The church, which is a small neat structure, was re-built by the before mentioned Joseph Banks, Esquire.  It is a donative of exempt jurisdiction.

At the east end of the chancel is a tablet containing this inscription:

“Dedicated to the Memmorie of NEHEMIAH RAWSON, Esq.  A Member of this Common Wealth, and a Justice of Peace.  Hee Married Frances the Daughter of Thomas Knightley of Brough Hall in the County of Stafford, Esq.  By Whoome hee had Issue Six Daughters, Elizabeth Married to Richard Parkes of Lutton, Gent.  Hanna to Theophilus Hartt of Birkwood Esq.  Abigal to Daniell Hartt of London Grocer, Sarah, Rebecca and Mary, Dyed Younge, he Departed this Life in January 1657.  Aged 80 Yeares.”

At the same end is another tablet, with the following inscription, and a shield containing a bend, in the sinister chief three crosses fitchy:

“To the perpetual Memorie of HENRY HOWARD third Son of Thomas Howard Earle of Barkshire by Elizabeth Daughter and heiresse to William Cecill Earle of Exeter his Wife who departed this Life in the XLIIII Yeare of his age in December MDCLXIII.

“This Monument was Dedicated and Erected by his Nephew whom hee made his heir and successor to this Mannor of Revesby and his Lands in Lincolnshire, Craven Howard Son of William Howard who was 4th Son of the Earle and Countesse of Barkshire (before mentioned) in the yeare 1691.”

On the north side of the chancel is a large marble monument, surmounted by the bust of the individual whose memory it perpetuates, and ornamented with a shield containing the arms of Banks, Sable, p. 76a cross or, between four flowers de luce argent.  This monument contains the following inscription:

“H. S. E.

“JOSEPHUS BANKS Armiger ex antiqua familia apud Bank-Newton, in agro Eborac Oriundus.  Juris prudentiæ studio operam dedit illamq. feliciter exercuit.

“In honorem Dei Ecclesiam hanc vetustate collahentem, a solo restituit Vicinium Ptochotrophium in X Senum aut Mancorum subsidium a fundamentis extruxit.

“Bis ad suprema Regni Comitia Senator Grimsbeiæ in Lincolnia, et Totenesiæ in Devonia.  Electus, Regi suo et Patriæ utriamque vicem fideliter inservivit.

“Maritus et Pater benignus Amicus sine fuco Pacti et Promissi sui observantissimus Annos LXII. vixit XXVII Septemb. A.D. MDCCXXVII obiit.

“Liberos vidit adultos Josephum et Mariam Quorum hanc Dno Francisco Whichcote Barnto. nuptam, Patre superstite præpropera mors abripuit; Optimo Parenti superstes Ille.

M. H. P. C.”

Near to the church are ten alms-houses, on the centre of the front of which is the following inscription:

“Joseph Banks Esq. Lord of Revesby by his Will Directed the Building of these Almshouses for Ten poor People & Endowed the Same with Fifty pounds a year.  He Departed this Life the 27th of Sept. 1727 Leaving Joseph Banks Esq. his only Son Heir who in Pursuance of his Father’s Will erected this Anno 1728.”

In this parish are two tumuli, each about one hundred feet diameter, and about one hundred feet apart, which have been formerly surrounded by a fosse.  Dr. Stukeley supposes them to have been either the places of sepulture of two British kings, or places of religious worship. [76]

A fair is held at Revesby on the second Monday after old Michaelmas day annually.

In 1821, the parish contained 113 houses, and 572 inhabitants.

THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR JOSEPH BANKS, BARONET.

The subject of this memoir was born in London on the 13th of December, 1743.  He was the only son of William Banks, Esquire, of Revesby, who died in 1761, leaving him, at the age of eighteen, possessed of an ample fortune.  He was at that time a member of the University of Oxford; and it was in the retirement of collegiate studies that he acquired his taste for natural history.

p. 77Immediately on his leaving the University, in 1763, he made a voyage to the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, and returned with those habits of investigation which are induced by a contemplation of rare and novel objects.

Having become a member of the Royal Society, his desire for further investigation of new worlds was again excited by the plan proposed by that learned body, for observing the expected transit of Venus, from one of the South Sea islands.  No sooner did Mr. Banks understand that the Endeavour, commanded by Captain (then Lieutenant) Cook, was equipping for her voyage, and intended to prosecute further discovery after the observation of the transit, than he determined to embark in the expedition.  Mr. Banks entered upon his preparations with a most generous spirit; providing himself with two draughtsmen, a secretary, and four servants, together with all the necessary books, and instruments.  He was also accompanied by Dr. Solander, a Swedish gentleman, who had been the pupil of Linnæus.

On the 26th of August, 1768, the Endeavour sailed from Plymouth, on this great expedition.  In the passage to Madeira, Mr. Banks and his companions discovered many marine animals, which no naturalist had described.  At Madeira, and as they sailed on to Rio Janeiro, their vigilance was still eagerly awake, and sufficiently gratified by observations and specimens new to science.  The jealousy of the Portuguese greatly disappointed their curiosity, by forbidding their researches at Rio Janeiro.

On Wednesday, April 12, 1769, the Endeavour arrived at Otaheite.  For three months the voyagers continued at this and the contiguous isles, making the astronomical observations, for the sake chiefly of which Lieutenant Cook was sent out; surveying, as navigators, the coasts of the different isles; collecting specimens of the natural productions peculiar to them; and studying the language, manners, and arts of the islanders.

In August, 1769, the Endeavour sailed from the last isle of the group.  In October they made New Zealand, which had not been visited since Tasman’s voyage.  They next sailed to New Holland, chiefly along the East coast, and gave the name of New South Wales to the adjacent territory.  The ship here struck upon a rock, and was saved only by extraordinary skill.  In laying her down for repairs the sea broke in, and spoiled the greater part of Mr. Banks’s specimens p. 78of natural history: but he was recompensed by the discovery of the kangaroo.  In August, 1770, they sailed for New Guinea.  On their homeward voyage, their short stay at Batavia was nearly fatal to the expedition.  Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander caught the fever.  Tupia, a priest, and a boy named Tayeto, both from Otaheite, who were proceeding to England, died.  Every person of the crew but one was taken ill.  Seven died at Batavia, and twenty-three more within six weeks after.  On the 12th of June, 1771, the vessel anchored in the downs.

Early in 1772 an expedition was prepared under the command of Captain Cook, to proceed in search of the so much talked of Southern Continent, in which Mr. Banks most anxiously took a part, intending to perform the voyage; and he accordingly prepared his establishment upon the most extensive scale.  On this account orders were given by the Admiralty for fitting the ships out with every possible accommodation that Mr. Banks could desire; but when the Resolution sailed from Long Reach for Plymouth, she was found so very crank, from the additional upper works, that she was obliged to be carried into Sheerness to have the additional cabins cut away, with such other alterations as were necessary to make her sea-worthy.  This of course struck at the very root of Mr. Banks’s project, in curtailing him of the space and accommodation absolutely necessary for the establishment which he had formed; and he was reluctantly compelled to give up his plans.

Disappointed in this expedition, Mr. Banks was prompted to engage in some other active research, and accordingly determined on a voyage to Iceland and the western islands of Scotland; partly for the purpose of scientific observation, and, as Van Troil states, who accompanied him, in order to keep together and employ the draughtsmen, and other persons, who had been engaged for the South Sea expedition.

They sailed from the river in July, and called at Portsmouth, thence to Plymouth, and proceeded up St. George’s Channel, to the Western Islands, visiting Oransay, Columbkill, Scarba, and Staffa, so remarkable for its basaltic columns, but until then comparatively unknown.  They passed the Orkneys and Shetland islands without any particular investigation; and on the 28th of August, 1772, arrived off the coast of Iceland.  After completely investigating every thing curious, they left Iceland, and arrived at Edinburgh in November, from whence they set off by land for London.

p. 79After his return Mr. Banks passed his time principally in London, or at his paternal seat at Revesby, surrounded by men of letters, and by persons of the first rank and fortune; and dedicating his time and fortune to scientific pursuits.

Sir John Pringle having retired from the office of President of the Royal Society in 1777, Mr. Banks was called to fill the vacant chair, when his ample fortune enabled him to commence a system by which his house became, through a long series of years, a scene of hospitality, to genius of every country, and of every rank in society.

The close attention which the President now paid to the duties of his station, induced him to select a rural retirement nearer to London than his seat at Revesby; he therefore, in the year 1779, took a lease of the premises, which he afterwards purchased, at Spring Grove, in the parish of Heston, in Middlesex; and on the 29th of March in the same year, he married Dorothea, daughter and co-heiress of William Weston Hugeson, Esquire, of Provender, in the parish of Norton, county of Kent.

In 1781, Mr. Banks was honored by his Sovereign with a baronetcy; as he was some years afterwards, by being created a Knight of the Bath, and sworn one of his Majesty’s Honorable Privy Counsel.

Sir Joseph was re-elected to the Presidency of the Royal Society, for several years, with an unanimous feeling; but the jealousies of some members of splendid and commanding talents began to be developed.  It was charged against him, that in the recommendation of candidates, he bowed rather to the pretensions of rank, than to the unobtrusive, but undoubted claims of eminent ability.  This feeling so far extended itself, that in 1784, a dignitary of the church, distinguished for his mathematical learning, threatened a secession in the following terms:—“If other remedies fail, we can at least secede.  When the hour of secession comes, the President will be left with his train of feeble amateurs, and that toy upon the table, the ghost of that society in which Philosophy once reigned, and Newton presided as her minister.”  The very temper of this burst of eloquence is a proof of the causes of the schism.  The pride of genius was opposed to the pride of rank, and the conflict was as obstinate as it was violent.  The President maintained his position firmly, and he lived to behold that intimate union which ought ever to exist between the patrons and the votaries of learning.

p. 80Beside devoting his attention to the duties of the chair of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph became an active member of all the public societies of the day; and to his care in a great degree the African Association owes its origin.  He also liberally encouraged and assisted those who undertook voyages or travels of discovery.  In his attentions to the breeding of sheep and cattle, and to the improvements in husbandry, he gave many instances of scientific patriotism; and to his exertions may be attributed the drainage of the Fens in the immediate vicinity of Revesby.  To the Horticultural society, which he assisted in forming, he was a contributor of several papers.  In politics he took no ostensible part, and had not even a seat in parliament.

During the latter years of his life, Sir Joseph was so severely afflicted with the gout, as to be deprived of the use of his lower extremities, and consequently unable to take his accustomed exercise.  In 1817 he was by death deprived of his sister, a loss which he severely felt.  In April, 1820, in consequence of increasing debility, he expressed a wish to resign his office of President of the Royal Society, but this resignation the society were unwilling to accept of, and he continued to hold the office until his death, which took place on the 19th of the following month.  His remains were interred in the church yard at Heston.  Having no issue, his title is extinct.  After the death of his widow, his estates in Lincolnshire go to the Honorable James Hamilton Stanhope, and Sir Henry Hawley, Baronet; the remainder of his estates to Sir Edward Knatchbull, Baronet.  His valuable and extensive library he bequeathed to the British Museum.

p. 81KIRKSTEAD.

Kirkstead, anciently called Cristed, is situated on the east bank of the Witham, in the hundred of Gartree, and is about three miles distant from Tattershall, and eight from Horncastle.  Formerly it was a hamlet of Kirkby super Bane, but for many years it has been considered as a separate parish.

The manor, with that of Tattershall, was among the several estates given by the conqueror to Eudo, one of his Norman followers.  His son Hugh fitz Eudo, called the Breton, founded a Cistertian Abbey here in 1139, and endowed it with his possessions in this place.  Afterwards the monks, considering the situation unhealthy, petitioned Robert, the son of the founder, to allow them to remove the abbey to some other place; but though they obtained permission, yet it does not appear that the affair was proceeded in any further.  The abbey had subsequently many benefactors, and acquired very extensive possessions.

At the dissolution of religious houses, the Kirkstead estate was given by Henry the eighth, to Charles Duke of Suffolk; and on the division of his estates after the death of his two sons, who survived him but a short time, it reverted to the king as one of the heirs general of the family, and was subsequently given to Lord Clinton and Saye, afterwards Earl of Lincoln.  This estate descended to Mr. Daniel Disney, in right of his wife Catherine, the youngest daughter of Henry Fynes Clinton, Esquire, and grand-daughter of the second Earl of Lincoln.  In the year 1792 it was sold by Mr. Disney Fytch, grandson of Mr. Daniel Disney, to the present possessor, Richard Ellison, Esquire, of Sudbroke Holme, near Lincoln.

Of the Abbey a small ruin only remains: but from a plate of “The Ichnography of the Monastery of Kirsted Linc.” in Stukeley’s Itinerarium Curiosum, the buildings appear to have been extensive.

p. 82South of the ruin of the Abbey is the Chapel, a very curious building, which according to tradition was built previous to the monastery.  It is of early English architecture, having lancet windows at the sides and east end, and an ox-eye window over the entrance at the west end.  The roof is beautifully groined, the ribs springing from corbel tables; and against the south wall on the inside, is a rude figure in stone of a knight templar, with the front part of his helmet in the shape of a cross.  For many years the roof of this building was covered with thatch, but in 1790 it was removed and a covering of tiles substituted.  At that time also the bell, which had previously hung in a tree, was placed over the west end of the building.

This chapel is a donative of exempt jurisdiction, but appears to have had no stipend for the officiating minister until it came into the possession of Mr. Daniel Disney, who being a presbyterian, appointed a minister of that persuasion to perform service there, with a salary of £30. per annum. [82]  In order that the tenets which he professed might not want support in his parish, in 1720 he settled certain lands upon five trustees, the profits of which were to be applied to the maintenance of a presbyterian minister at this place.  This gift he afterwards confirmed by his will in 1732, and in addition, bequeathed to the trustees the use of the chapel and chapel ground for the same purpose.  On the death or alienation of the minister, the trustees were to present the names of two to the lord of the manor, who was to appoint one of them, and on his neglect or refusal, the trustees themselves were to make the appointment.  Ministers continued to be nominated by the prescribed form until the death of Mr. Dunkley, who had for many years received the bequeathed stipend, and whose demise took place in 1794.  On that occasion the present owner of the manor took possession of the estates which had been conveyed to the trustees, and appointed to the chapel a minister of the Church of England, paying him £30. per annum.  The trustees recovered possession of the estates, by an action of ejectment, tried at Lincoln summer assizes, 1812; but not of the chapel.  A new chapel was erected and the presbyterian form of worship re-established here in 1822.

p. 83This village gave birth to the celebrated monk Hugh de Kirkstead, who is styled by Fuller “a Benedictine Cistertian Bernardine Monk, or, as it may be termed a treble refined Christian.”  He, and Serlo, one of his own order, joined in composing a chronicle of the Cistertians from their first arrival in England in 1131, to their own time, about 1210.

In the fourteenth volume of the “Archeologia of the Society of Antiquaries” is an engraving of an ancient iron candlestick of a very singular construction, six of which were found in cleaning the bed of the river Witham near this place.

This village contained, according to the returns of 1821, 24 houses and 132 inhabitants.

p. 84TATTERSHALL.

SITUATION.

Tattershall or Tateshall is a small market town in the wapentake of Gartree.  It is situated on the banks of the river Bane, near its junction with the river Witham, and is distant nine miles south west from Horncastle.  It is a place of considerable antiquity, having been a Roman military station; traces of two encampments of that warlike people being still visible, at a short distance from the town, in a place called Tattershall park.  Several Roman coins have also been found in different parts of the parish.

THE MANOR.

Shortly after the conquest, the lordship of Tattershall, together with the hamlet of Tattershall Thorpe, and several other estates, was given by King William to Eudo and Pinço, two Norman nobles, who had attended him into England, but who, though sworn brothers in war, were not otherwise related.  On the division of the estates between these chieftains, this manor became the property of Eudo, who fixed his residence here.  Upon his death his estates descended to his son, Hugh Fitz Eudo, who, in the year 1139, founded an abbey for Cistertian monks at the neighbouring village of Kirkstead.

Hugh was succeeded by his son Robert, who left issue a son named Philip.  Philip, after serving the office of sheriff of Berkshire in the seventh year of the reign of Richard the second, and also of Lincolnshire in the eighth, ninth, and tenth years of the same king, was succeeded by his son Robert, the second of that name, who, in the year 1201, procured from King John, by means of a present of a well-trained goshawk, a grant to hold a weekly market on Thursday, on this manor.  Robert was followed by his son of the same name, who p. 85about the year 1230, obtained from Henry the third a licence to build a castle at this place, together with a grant of free warren in all his demesne lands.  The male line of Eudo was continued in regular descent, by Robert the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh; upon the death of the latter of whom in his minority, it became extinct, and the inheritance was divided between his three sisters.  Tattershall became the portion of Joan, one of the co-heiresses, who married Sir Robert Driby, and who had issue by him a daughter and heiress Alice, afterwards married to Sir William Bernack.  John, the son of this latter marriage, was succeeded by William, who died a minor, and left his sister Maud his heiress.

The Fitz Eudos, from the place, assumed the cognomen of Tateshall, and by that title had summons to parliament among the great barons of the realm.

Maud, the heiress of the Bernack family, married Sir Ralph, afterwards Lord Cromwell, who, in her right, became lord of this manor; and upon his death, which happened on the twenty-seventh day of August, in the year 1398, left his son Ralph his heir, who died in 1416, and was succeeded by a son of the same name.  In the year 1433, this latter Ralph was by Henry the sixth appointed Treasurer of the Exchequer.  He died without issue on the fourth of January, 1455; whereby his two nieces, the daughters of his sister, the wife of Sir Richard Stanhope, became his co-heiresses.

It does not appear into whose hands the Tattershall estate fell after the death of the Lord Treasurer Cromwell, until the year 1487, when Henry the seventh granted the manor to his mother, Margaret Countess of Richmond, and in the following year entailed it on the Duke of Richmond.  The Duke dying without issue, Henry the eighth in 1520, granted it to Charles Duke of Suffolk, by letters patent, which were confirmed by Edward the sixth, in the year 1547.

On the death of the two infant sons of the Duke of Suffolk, who survived their father only a short time, this manor again came into the possession of the king, as one of the heirs general of the family.  By letters patent, dated the fifth of September, 1551, Edward the sixth granted the castle with the manor, in fee, to Edward Lord Clinton and Saye, afterwards Earl of Lincoln.  The Earl dying in 1584, was succeeded by his son Henry, who died in 1616, leaving issue a son and heir Thomas, who survived his father only two years, and was p. 86followed by his son Theophilus, who died in 1667.  The next possessor was Edward, who was the grandson of Theophilus, and who died at Tattershall in 1692; in him terminated the male line of the Clinton family.  Upon his death, without issue, the Tattershall estate became the property of his cousin Bridget, who married Hugh Fortescue, Esquire, by whom she had a son and heir Hugh, created in 1746, Baron Fortescue, and Earl Clinton.  Upon his death in 1751, his half brother Matthew succeeded him, but dying in 1785, the Tattershall estate descended to his eldest son, Earl Fortescue, the present possessor.

Besides the liberties of the parks, chases and free warrens, belonging to the castle and manor of Tattershall, it also appears in the several grants of Henry the third, Henry the fourth, Henry the seventh, Henry the eighth, and in the grant of the liberties of Richmond fee, whereof the castle and manor of Tattershall is a part, that to the said castle and manor also belong the liberties of stallage, tolls of markets and fairs, together with the privilege for all tenants and inhabitants of Tattershall to be discharged of any tolls in fairs and markets abroad; also the sole liberties of fishing, fowling, hawking, and hunting, in all the said manor, chases and the precincts of them; also suits of courts baron, waifs, estrays, treasure trove, goods and chattels of felons, fugitives, men outlawed, and felones de se, deodands, bondmen, villains, with their sequels; and also that neither the sheriff of the county, nor his bailiff shall arrest within the said manor, and that no distress taken therein shall be delivered, nor replevins granted by the sheriff, but only by the steward of the lord of the said manor.

THE CASTLE.

About two hundred and fifty yards south-west of the town stands the remains of the castle, a stately edifice, erected by the Lord Treasurer Cromwell, about the year 1440.

William of Worcester states, that the Lord Treasurer expended in building the principal and other towers of this castle above four thousand marks; his household there consisted of one hundred persons, and his suite, when he rode to London, commonly of one hundred and twenty horsemen; and his annual expenditure was about £5000. [86]

p. 87This castle was originally intended as a place of defence, and was surrounded by two fosses, the inner one faced with brick, great part of which is now remaining.  Formerly it was of great extent, but was dilapidated in the civil wars between the unfortunate Charles the first and his parliament: for the damages thereby sustained, Theophilus, fourth Earl of Lincoln, petitioned parliament in the year 1649.

The part now remaining, is a rectangular brick tower of exquisite workmanship, about one hundred feet in height, divided into four stories, and flanked by four octagonal turrets; and is raised on ponderous arches, forming spacious vaults, which extend through the angles of the building, into the bases of the turrets. [87]  Under the crown of these vaults was a deep well, which is now filled up.

The walls are of great thickness, particularly that on the east side, in which are several galleries and narrow rooms, arched in a curious manner, through which communications were obtained with the principal apartments in the several stories, from the great stairs in the south-east turret.  The east wall also contains the chimnies.

The windows are of the pointed order, well-proportioned, and contain tracery; those on the south, west, and north sides are large, and from them the principal apartments received light; those on the east are smaller, being designed to give light only to the rooms and galleries in that wall.

The main walls were carried to the top of the fourth story, where the tower was covered by a grand platform, or flat roof, which, together with the several floors, is entirely destroyed.  Surrounding this part of the tower are very deep machicolations, upon which, and part of the main walls, is a parapet of great thickness, with arches, intended to protect the persons employed over the machicolations.  Upon these arches is a second platform, enclosed with a parapet and embrasures; above which the embattled turrets rise to a considerable height; three of them terminating in cones covered with lead.  The cone on the fourth turret is demolished.

On the ground floor is an elegantly carved stone chimney piece, embattled, and ornamented alternately with arms, and treasury purses with the motto “nay je droit.”

p. 88First Row.

1.  Ten roundels.

3.  A lion rampant.  Fitz Alayn, or Bellers.

5.  Vairè a fesse.  Marmion.

6.  Ermine a fesse.  Bernack.

8.  A bend and chief, Cromwell, quartering a cheque and chief, Tateshall, impaling a fesse dauncette between ten billets, Deincourt.

10.  Cromwell and Tateshall quarterly.

Second Row.

2.  Bendy of ten.  Clifton.

4.  Deincourt.

5.  Three cinquefoils. a dexter canton.  Driby.

7.  Barry of six, a bend, Grey of Rotherfield.

In the point of the surbase arch of this chimney piece is the coat of Cromwell.

Over this is another embattled chimney piece adorned with the following arms and devices, in circles:

1.  Treasury purse and motto.

2.  Tateshall.

3.  Saint Michael and the dragon.

4.  Quarterly, Cromwell and Tateshall, impaling Deincourt.

5.  Cromwell quartering Tateshall; crest, a helmet; supporters two wild men.

6.  Under an arch, a man tearing a lion.

7.  A lion rampant.

8.  Treasury purse and motto.

Above, between these circles, are seven small shields, with these arms: Deincourt, Driby, Cromwell, one broken, Cromwell, Tateshall, and Deincourt; and below seven purses.

The two upper stories also contain ornamented chimney pieces, but they are inferior to those described.

From the top of the castle is a very extensive view of the surrounding country.

Between the castle and the church stands an ancient brick building, which, from the stile of architecture, appears to be coeval with the castle, and is now inhabited.  On the west of the castle is another p. 89remain, apparently of the same date.  Each of these buildings is situated between the outer and inner fosse.

The principal entrance to the castle, with its portcullis and towers, was standing at the north-east corner of the enclosure, when Buck made his drawing in 1726.

THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH.

In the seventeenth year of the reign of Henry the sixth, a licence was obtained from that monarch, directed to Ralph Cromwell, Knight, Henry, Bishop of Winchester, Cardinal of England, William Alnewick, Bishop of Lincoln, John Scroope, Knight, Walter Hungerford, Knight, Walter Talbois, Esquire, and William Paston, patrons of the parish church of Tattershall, in the county of Lincoln, empowering them to convert the said church into a collegiate church or college, in honour of the Holy Trinity, the blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Peter the Apostle, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint John the Evangelist.  The establishment was to consist of seven chaplains, one of whom to be custos or master, six secular clerks, and six choristers.  The licence further authorized them to erect a perpetual alms-house on their own ground, being parcel of the castle and manor of Tattershall, next to the church-yard, containing ten acres, for thirteen poor persons of both sexes; with mansion houses and buildings for the said master, chaplains, clerks, choristers, and their servants; with cloisters, enclosures, gardens, orchards, and all other conveniences; and to assign the same to the said master and chaplains; who were to be a body corporate, and have a common seal for the execution of all business, with power to sue and be sued, and to purchase, receive and hold lands, tenements, and other revenues, ecclesiastical or secular, to the value of £200. per annum, over and above the advowson and yearly value of the said church of Tattershall, and the houses and ten acres of land aforesaid, without fine or fee to the king or his heirs.

The Lord Treasurer, in pursuance of this licence, began to convert the parish church into a college; but it appears that he died before it was finished, as, by his will, dated a short time previous to his decease, he bequeathed his body to be buried in the collegiate church of Tattershall, until the whole fabrick should be re-built, and then to be removed into the midst of the choir.

The church was afterwards finished nearly as it remains at this p. 90time; and mansion houses and other necessary buildings were erected for the use of the foundation, as well as the alms houses mentioned in the licence.  Among the inscriptions in the MS. of Lincolnshire Church Notes, taken by Mr. Gervase Holles, are the names of several persons who belonged to this establishment.

This college received several benefactions, and its possessions progressively increased to a considerable magnitude.  In the thirty-sixth year of Henry the eighth, the whole was granted to Charles, Duke of Suffolk, who at that time was possessor of the castle and manor.

The church stands about eighty yards east of the castle, near the outer fosse, and is a beautiful and spacious stone structure in the form of a cross, consisting of a square tower, a nave with five arches on a side, and eight clere-story windows placed in pairs, a transept, and a choir.  On the north side is a porch, on which are sculptured the arms of William of Wainflete, Bishop of Winchester; formerly there were two porches on the south side also bearing the arms of the same bishop; but these have been some time since removed.  Over the great eastern window is a richly ornamented niche, in which a statue once stood: the wall above the western door is likewise ornamented with thirteen blank shields.  The cloisters, which were on the south side of the chancel, are entirely demolished.

In the south wall of the choir are three stone stalls and a piscina, with a cornice charged with various animals; on each side of the transept is also a piscina.  There is a handsome rood-loft between the nave and choir, now used as a singing gallery.

The windows of the choir were once enriched with beautiful stained glass, which was removed in the year 1754, by the Earl of Exeter, on condition that it should be replaced with plain glass: but this being neglected to be done, the choir remained about fifty years with un-glazed windows; and being thus exposed to the weather, the elegantly carved oak stalls, the rich screens, and other ornamental work, fell entirely to decay. [90]  The choir has, within these few years, been repaired by the present Earl Fortescue, and fitted up in a plain but neat manner.

The windows of the nave and transept were also enriched with p. 91stained glass containing the legendary histories of St. Guthlake, St. Catherine, and other saints, a few fine fragments of which are preserved in two of the transept windows.

On the floor before the communion table is a stone which once contained a rich brass figure of the Lord Treasurer Cromwell, habited in full plated armour and a flowing mantle and cordon, the gauntlets reaching to the middle joint of the fingers, a long sword across him from the middle of the belt, and at his feet two wild men with clubs his supporters; by his side the figure of Margaret his wife; and over them a canopy charged with saints, and under them the following inscription in black letter:

“Hic jacet nobilis Baro Radulphus Cromwell Miles D’ns Cromwell quo’dm Thesaurarius Anglie et fundator hujus Collegii cum inclita consorte sua Margareta una herede d’ni Dayncourt qui quid’m Radulphus obiit quarto die mens. Januarij Anno d’ni Mill’o cccclv.  Et p’dicta Margareta obiit xv die Septe’br Anno d’ni mill’io ccccliij Quor’ A’iab’ pp’ietur Deus Amen.”

The whole of these figures, the canopy, and the arms are gone, and only half the inscription is now remaining.

On the north side of the Lord Treasurer, is the figure in brass of Joan Lady Cromwell, [91a] under a canopy adorned with saints, and under her this inscription in black letter:

“Orate p’ a’ia Johanne d’ne Cromwell que obijt decimo die martij Anno d’ni mill’mo cccclxxix cuj’ a’ie p’piciet’ Deus Amen.”

On the other side of the Lord Treasurer is the figure in brass of Matilda Lady Willoughby, [91b] under a canopy charged with saints, and at her feet the following inscription in black letter:

“Hic jacet d’na Matilda nuper d’ni Willughby quondam uxor Roberti d’ni de Willughby militis ac consanguinea et heres illustris d’ni Radulphi nup’ dn’i Crumwell militis fundatoris hujus collegii ac specialis benefactrix ejusdem collegij que obijt xxxo die aug’ Anno Domini Mill’imo cccclxxxxvij cujus anime p’picietur om’p’ns deus Amen.”

The corner shields from this stone, and also those from that of Joan Lady Cromwell are gone.  The canopies have sustained but little injury.

p. 92In the middle of the floor of the choir is the figure in brass of a priest, under which is the following inscription, in black letter, to the memory of William Moor, the second provost of this college:

“Vir virtute vivens Will’us vulgo vocatus
Hujus Collegii de Tateshale secundus
Hic Eboracensis fuit eccl’ie cathedralis
Sacre Scripture baccalaurius arte p’batus
Octobris dena mensis cu’ luce novena
Mil’ d’ni C quater I sexto continuat’

Moor micuit more mitis bene morigerat’
Prudens p’positus et egenis semp’ habundus
Canonicus Rector et de ledenham specialis
Jam sub tellure fit vermibus esca paratus
Mente pia morit’ cujus corpus sepelitur
S’pus in celis ejus sine fine locatur.”

A brass figure of a priest, about five feet long, with the figure of the deity on his breast, and several saints down his robe, is now loose in the choir.  Mr. Gough, in his “Sepulchral Monuments,” describes this as the figure of William Moor, and attached to the above inscription. [92a]

On the floor between the nave and the choir is a brass figure much worn, under which, though scarcely legible, is this inscription in black letter:

“Hic jacet Hugo . . . quondam . . . d’ni Rad’i de Cromwell Militis d’ni de Tateshale qui obiit ultimo die Septe’bris A’o d’ni mill’mo ccccxi cuj’ a’ie p’piciet deus Amen.” [92b]

In various parts of the floor of this church are traces of brass p. 93figures, which are now gone, one, in particular, against the door in the north aisle appears to have been exceedingly rich.

p. 94The south side of the transept is now partitioned off, and used as a school, in which the children are instructed on the plan of Dr. Bell.

p. 95The living is a donative, extra judicial, in the presentation of the lord of the manor.  It was once held by the Reverend Obadiah How, D.D. a man of considerable learning, and the author of several theological treatises; he died in 1685, and was buried in the church of Boston, of which he was vicar.  It was afterwards held for more than forty years by the Reverend Michael Taylor, who died in 1730, and was buried in the midst of the nave of this church.

The college, which was situated on the north side of the church, is entirely gone.  The alm-houses still remain with a small endowment.

An old building in the town, supposed to have been the parish chapel, now forms part of a malting office.

THE TOWN.

The parish of Tattershall contains about 1555 acres of land, and the hamlet of Tattershall Thorpe about 2589 acres, the principal part of which is the property of the lord of the manor.

The town has derived considerable benefit from the navigable canal, which passes through it from the river Witham to the town of Horncastle.  A fine bridge of three arches having been thrown over the Witham, in the place of the ferry, with a turnpike road to Sleaford, has also contributed to the improvement of the place.

From a manuscript account of the diocese of Lincoln, taken in the year 1588, it appears that at that period Tattershall contained 236 families, and the hamlet of Tattershall Thorpe 68.  By the returns made in the year 1821, it appears that the number of houses in Tattershall was 120, and of inhabitants 627: Tattershall Thorpe, at the same time, contained 39 houses, and 269 inhabitants.

There are two fairs holden annually at this place; one on the fifteenth of May, the other on the twenty-fifth of September.  The market is now held on Friday weekly.

In the market place stands an octagonal column or shaft, which was once surmounted by a cross.  The cross has however long since been removed and an urn substituted in its place.  On three of the shields with which this column is ornamented these arms are sculptured, viz. Cromwell, Cromwell and Tateshall quarterly, and Cromwell and Tateshall impaling Deincourt.  The arms on the fourth shield are obliterated.

p. 96TOWER ON THE MOOR.

On an extensive moor, about four miles north of Tattershall, and about six miles south west of Horncastle, stands the remain of a brick building, called from its situation the Tower on the Moor.  It was built by the Lord Treasurer Cromwell, and is supposed to have been an appendage to the castle at Tattershall, from which place it is plainly visible, by reason of the flatness of the intervening country. [96]

Of this tower only an octangular turret remains, to which fragments of the walls adhere; it is about sixty feet in height, and contains winding stairs of brick, now in a very ruinous condition.  Traces of the fosse, by which it was surrounded, are still visible.

p. 97GEOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY
OF THE
SOKE AND NEIGHBOURHOOD OF HORNCASTLE.

GEOLOGY.

Although the Soke of Horncastle does not possess much variety in its geological structure, yet a considerable diversity is to be found in the formation of the adjacent elevated country, called the wolds.  On the annexed map the denudations of the various strata in this district are traced out, and distinguished by different colours: the order of stratification is also exemplified by a section, of imaginary elevation, but on the same scale as the map with respect to horizontal distance.  The section too shows a greater extent than the map to the east, where, on account of the dip of the strata towards that quarter, it is necessary to commence the description; although in point of distance it cannot be properly considered within the prescribed limits of this work.

The tract of marsh land between the sea and the wolds, (No. 1.) consists principally of unstratified clay, with admixtures of sand, and various marine depositions.  These circumstances, together with the old sea banks, evidence that this mass of earth has been left by the gradual receding of the ocean.

On the west of these marshes is the rough elevated denudation of chalk, (No. 2.) which forms the highest stratum of the wolds, and gently dips underneath the marshes; for in boring in them for water the chalk is always found.  The chalk is of two colours, white and red, each lying in regular strata, which alternate frequently, the red bearing but a small proportion to the white.  In the white, compact seams of flint, of a light grey color, from two to six inches thick, are often met with.  In the chalk several extraneous fossils are found.

p. 98The stratum immediately below the chalk, (No. 3.) is a coarse, brown, pebbly sand, consisting of quartz and oxyd of iron, varying in thickness from six to ten yards, and of uncertain appearance at its denudation.  While the different strata in these parts were exposed to the action of the water, the sand would naturally be more affected by that element than the superincumbent stratum of chalk; and the latter being thus left projecting, would from the decomposing effects of the atmosphere, crumble down, and form those various declivities which now present themselves to view.

Beneath the sand is a bed, about fourteen yards in thickness, (No. 4.) containing equal proportions of oolite limestone and calcareous clay of a light grey colour.  In some parts the stone is divided by the clay into regular strata, whilst in others it occurs in large detached pieces imbedded in the clay.  Fossil shells, and lumps of pyrites, or sulphuret of iron, are frequently met with in the stone.

The next stratum (No. 5.) consists of grains of quartz, for the most part agglutinated into sandstone of different degrees of induration, and varying in colour from a light grey to a dark brown, whilst in some parts loose sand predominates.  In the grey variety of this stone, marine shells of different kinds, are found in great abundance: in the brown they occur very seldom, and not at all in the sand.  This stratum is considerably thicker than the two incumbent ones.

Beneath this is the shale, [98] (No. 6.) which generally makes its appearance in vallies; but it no where exhibits a denudated termination.  On sinking a shaft in the parish of Woodhall, about six miles south-west of Horncastle, it was found to be one hundred and fifty yards in thickness.  A great variety of organic remains are also found in this stratum.

Under the shale is a stratum of forest marble, which denudates about sixteen miles westward of Horncastle.

The last division to be considered is an alluvial collection of earth, almost entirely consisting of the spoils of the neighbouring strata in a state of decomposition, wherein however detached pieces of the different strata are to be found unaltered.  From this it appears that when these parts were deluged by the water, the current set in from east to west.  As the chalk and the shale would present the largest surfaces p. 99to the erosion of the water, they would be more extensively acted upon than the other strata: hence the greatest part of the alluvial deposition consists of white marle and blue; the former (No. 7.) being of the least specific gravity, has covered the hills, while the latter with sand and gravel (No. 8.) occupies the lower parts.

NATURAL HISTORY.

In the department of Natural History, this district possesses but little which is deserving of particular notice.

Of Birds there are none which can now be considered peculiar to this part, the drainage of the fen lands having entirely banished the great variety of aquatic birds which used, previous to that event, to be found here.

The Plants, indigenous to this district, are very numerous.  From a list of several hundreds which are to be found in the neighbourhood, the following interesting ones are selected.

Minerals occur rarely in this part, and in very small quantities.  Lumps of sulphuret of iron in the oolite stratum; earthy oxide of iron and a singular blue pulverulent mineral, which is a carbonate of iron containing some earthy impurities, in a valley at Salmonby; and a stalactitic oxide of iron in the ferruginous gravel; comprise all the varieties which have yet been found.

Although Organic Remains are to be found in some parts of this district in considerable quantities, yet they do not include many varieties.  The following list of those now in the possession of the author, comprises one of almost every species which has yet been found.

From the Chalk Stratum.  No 2.

Teeth of the Squalus or Shark.

An Impression of a Vertebræ.

A Terebratula subundata.

A Terebratula subrotunda.

A cast within some bivalve Venus.

A cast within a Terebratula semigloboso.  Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology, 15.

An Inoceramus Cuvierii.

An Echinus.

From the Oolite Stratum.  No. 4.

An Ostrea, curious and not named.

A bivalve, not named.

A piece composed of the Serpula auricula.

p. 101From the Sand Stone Stratum.  No. 5.

Ad Ammonites, curious and not named.  It is without a keel; else like Ammonites inflatus.

A Cardita.  Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology, 197.

An Inoceramus.

An Unio.

A Terebratula approaching glaber.

A Terebratula approaching acerminatus.

A Lucina concentrica.

A cast within a bivalve, not named.

A cast within a Trochus.

A cast within a Trigonia.

A cast within a Venus.

A cast within a Pecten.

A cast within a Cardium.

Several Bellemnitæ.

From the Shale or Clunch Clay.  No. 6.

An Os Femoris of the Ichthyosaurus or Giant Lizard.

Several Vertebræ of the same animal.

An Ammonites, not named.

A Venus equales.  Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology, 21.

A Cardita.

An Ostrea crista galli.  Linnæus.

An Ostrea under valve, with a cast of the inside of the upper valve.

A Gryphæa bullata

A Gryphites incurva.  Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology, 112, 1 and 2.

An Ammonites seratus.  Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology, 24.

An Inoceramus Cuvierii hinge.

An Unio hybrida.  Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology, 154, fig. 2.

Several Unios.

A piece composed entirely of shells, the chief part of which are the Serpula auricula.  It also contains an inside cast of a small turretted shell.

A Tellina.

A Pentacrinite.

A Mytilus.

Several Bellemnitæ.

From the beds of Ferruginous Gravel in Alluvium of Shale.  No. 3.

A Tooth of the Elephant or Mastodon.

An Inoceramus Cuvierii.

An Ostrea, with a cast of the upper valve.

A cast of an Unio indistinct.

p. 102A chama.

A cast of Shell, not named.

An Echinus.

Several bellemnitæ.

A Madrepore.

An Alcyonium.

An Astarte.

A part of a Spongites.

An impression of a Cactus, or an Euphorbia, or some other Oriental plant.  Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology, 40.

A piece of Wood similar to the Fossil Wood of Wooburn, Bedfordshire.

In the valley at Salmonby, near to the spot where the earthy oxide of iron is found, is a chalybeate spring, the water of which is of the same nature as that of Tunbridge, but much stronger.

Printed by Weir and Son,
            Horncastle.

FOOTNOTES.

[4a]  Taciti Breviarum Vitæ Cn. Julii Agricola. sec. xx et xxi.

[4b]  Stukeley’s Itinerarium Curiosum, p. 28.

[5a]  The Roman road from Lincoln to Horncastle did not vary materially from the present road between these places.  Another Roman way branched from this road at the distance of about four miles from Horncastle, leading nearly in a straight line to Caistor, and from thence to the Humber: it bears the name of the High Street, and several tumuli are to be seen on its sides.

[5b]  Leland’s Collectanea, tom 1, part 2, p. 509.

[6a]  Domesday, folio 339.

[6b]  Adelias de Cundi, was the daughter and heiress of William de Cheney, Lord of Cavenby and Glentham in the county of Lincoln, at the time of the conquest.  By her husband Roger de Cundi, whom she survived, she had a daughter and heiress Agnes, afterwards married to Walter, son of Walter de Clifford, of Clifford Castle, in the county of Hereford.  Dugdale vol. ii. p. 336.  Monast. Ang. vol. ii p. 646 a n. 50.

[6c]  Dugdale’s Baronage, p. 39.

[6d]  Hund. Rot. 19.  Hornc. Wap.

[7a]  On the eastern boundary of the parish is a place called Hangman’s Corner, where those convicted of capital offences in the court of the manor were executed.

[7b]  Cart. Rot. 14 et 15. H.3.

[7c]  Hund. Rot. ut antea.

[7d]  Mag. Rot. 17. H.3.

[8a]  Cart. Rot 18.  Ed. 1. m. 39 12.  Ed. 2 no. 17.

[8b]  Pat. 14 Ric. 2. pars. 1 m. 3.

[8c]  Cart. Rot. 25 H. 6.

[8d]  Parliamentary Survey, made in the years 1647 and 1648.

[8e]  Robert Aldrich was born at Burnham in Buckinghamshire, educated at Eton, and elected a scholar of King’s college, Cambridge, in 1507, where he took the degree of M.A. afterwards became proctor of the university, schoolmaster of Eton; fellow of the college, and at length provost.  In 1523 he was one of those who were sent out by the university of Cambridge to preach in different parts of the nation, as the judges now go their circuits.  In 1529 he retired to Oxford, where he was incorporated B.D.  About the same time he was made archdeacon of Colchester.  In 1534 he was installed canon of Windsor, and the same year he was appointed register of the most noble order of the garter.  July 18, 1537, he was consecrated bishop of Carlisle.  He was a correspondent of Erasmus, who termed him when young, “blandæ eloquentiæ juvenis,” and appears to have associated with him during his residence at Cambridge.  Leland was his familiar acquaintance, and gives him a high character for parts and learning.  He was the author of a volume of epigrams, and several theological treatises.

[9a]  Cart. Rot. 16 Car. 2.

[9b]  Memoirs of Sir Edward Fynes Clinton, Annual Register 1772, Characters, p. 2.

[9c]  Fenman’s Vade Mecum, Harleian MS. No. 4127.

[11a]  Clarendon, Rapin, and Hume.

[11b]  Ludlow’s Memoirs.

[12]  Vicar’s Parliamentary Chronicle.

[15a]  Vicars’s Parliamentary Chronicle.

[15b]  Ibid.

[16a]  Intercepted letter from Sir William Widdrington.  Rushworth’s Collections, 8vo. edit. vol. v. 78.

[16b]  Ibid.

[17a]  Vicars’s Parliamentary Chronicle.

[17b]  Ibid.

[18]  Some say this was a Captain Portington, who afterwards told Cromwell that he aimed at his nose, when he hit his horse on the head.  Life of Cromwell.  See also Ludlow, Vicars, and Hume.

[19a]  The road adjoining to Winceby field bears the name of Slash Lane, where it is traditionally related great numbers of the royal army were slaughtered, owing to their retreat being obstructed by a closed gate.

[19b]  Vicars’s Parliamentary Chronicle.

[19c]  Ibid.

[20a]  Vicars’s Parliamentary Chronicle.

[20b]  This anecdote the author has repeatedly heard from several of the old inhabitants of the town.

[20c]  October 11, 1643.

[21]  It is said accompanied by Sir William Widdrington.  Rapin.

[22]  Dr. Stukeley has incorrectly described this fortress as a complete parallelogram: Gough, too has erroneously stated it to have enclosed twenty acres.

[23]  The Roman youth were first instructed in the game of Troy Town by Ascanius, called also Julus, the son of Æneas, and from him the maze in which it was performed took the name of Julian Bower.  A very animated description of this game is given by Virgil in the fifth book of his Æneid.  See also Stukeley’s Itinerarium Curiosum, p, 91.

[26a]  “Ecclesia de Horne Caster, & de Askeby, & de superiore Toynton, & de Mering, & de Hinderby sunt de donac’oe d’ni Regis, & Osbertus Persona tenet eas de dono Regis Ricardi.”  Testa de Nevill.

[26b]  See the note in page 28.

[27a]  This shield is merely painted in a cavity where a brass has been fixed.

[27b]  In the Harleian collection of manuscripts, in the British Museum, is a volume of Lincolnshire Church Notes, taken about the year 1640, by Mr. Gervase Holles, a native of Great Grimsby, and a representative of that place in several parliaments.  Beside noticing the above monument and epitaph, it contains the following account of arms and inscriptions at that time in this church, not a vestige of which is now remaining.

In Fenestra Insulæ borealis.

Orate pro a’ia Thomæ Coppuldike Armig. & D’næ Margaretæ Consortis suæ fundatoris Gildæ Cantar . . . Fenestram fieri fecit Ano Dni. 1526.

Hic jacet Francisca filia primogenita Petri Frescheville de Staveley in Com. Derb. Arm. [ex priore uxore sua Elizabetha filia Gervasii Clifton de Clifton in Com. Nott. Militis] et quondam Uxor Gervasii Holles de Burgh in Com. Linc. Militis, cui peperit Freschevillum Holles, & Margaretum gemellos, & Franciscum Holles filium juniorem. Obijt Horncastell.

Harleian MS. No. 6829, p. 241.

[29]  It is observable that Cromwell is here stiled the arch-rebel, although at the time mentioned he was only a colonel, and by no means an illustrious individual in the war.  The date given to the battle is wrong, it having been fought on the 11th of October; and the signal defeat of the royalists is diminished in its importance, by stiling the conflict a skirmish.

[35]  The same Act also empowered the commissioners of the river Witham, in conjunction with the Horncastle and Sleaford Navigation Companies, to complete the navigable communication between the Witham and the Fosdike canal through the High Bridge at Lincoln.

[37]  “Horne Castelle, as far as I can lerne, is now most builded withyn the Circuite of an old waullid Toune, or sum hughe Castel, as apperith from divers Ruines of a Waulle.  It hath one fair Paroche Chirch.  Alluitur Bano et Verino qui paulo infra op Banum.  Dr. Thybleby of the Queen’s College hath Landes aboute the olde Walles of Horn Castelle.  Warig risith of divers springis aliquot passuum millibus ab oppido.  Pons ibidem super Verinum flu.  The market is very good and quick occupiers in the town.”  Leland’s Itinerary, vol. 7. p. 51.

[41]  Domesday, folio 339.

[42a]  Mr. Holles, in the Church Notes before quoted, mentions the following inscription at this place, which now no longer exists:

On a Gravestone.

Hic jacet Gulielmus Brackenburgh, & Emmotta uxor ejus, qui quidem Gulielmus obiit 6 die Januarii An’o D’ni 1476 quorum a’iabus p’pitietur Deus Amen.

The pictures of themselves upon the stone, & of ten children, all in brasse.

Harleian MS. No. 6829, p. 177.

[42b]  Mr. Holles. notices the following arms and inscriptions on the bells in this church, the first of which are now gone, the latter still remaining:

Fenes.  Boreal.  Cancelli.

Sa. a crosse betw. 4 cinquefoyles arg.

Campane.

[1]  Sit nomen Domini benedictum.

[2]  Intonat e cœlis vox campana Michaelis.

[3]  Sum rosa pulsata mundi Maria vocata.

Ibid. p. 342.

[43]  From the information of E. Turnor, Esq. F.S.A.

[44]  Mr. Holles notices the following arms once in this church, but now gone:

Harleian MS. No. 6829, p. 244.

[45]  In the windows were the following arms when this church was visited by Mr. Holles:

Harleian MS. No. 6829, p. 245.

[47]  The following arms and inscriptions, now gone, are noticed by Mr. Holles, as being in this church when visited by him:

Harleian MS. No. 6829. p. 213.

[48]  By the following extract it appears that in the time of Mr. Holles, the windows of this church abounded with stained glass, of which not a single vestige is now remaining.

In Fenestra Orientali.

Orate pro a’iabus fratrum & sororum Gildæ be’æ Mariæ de Cunningsby, qui istam fenestram fieri fecerunt.

This is a fayre Window, adorned with the Genealogy of the Kinges of Israel and Judah, David lying along through the whole bottome, from whose roote branch out the several stems.  In one part of it below the Picture of King Edward the first, crowned, &c. &c.

Edwardus primus regnavit annos . . .

Orate pro Matilda de Padeholme, et Alicia

On a Gravestone.

Hic jacet D’nus Thomas Butler, quondam Capellanus Gildæ be’æ Mariæ Cunningsby, qui obiit 10 die Mensis Decembris, A’no D’ni 1510.  Cujus aiæ &c. &c.

On another.

Pray for the Soule of John Smith of Cunsby sometimes M’chant of the Staple of Calis, which died in the yeare of our Lord God 1470, & Jonet his Wife which died the 24th Day of November in the yeare of our Lord God 1461.

And all good people that this Scripture reade or see
For theire soules say a Paternoster, Ave-Maria, & a creed for Charity.

On another the pourtraytures of a man and his two wives on either side of him in brasse with this inscription vizt.

Pray for the soules of Richard Whetecroft of Coningsby M’chant of the Staple at Calice & sometimes Lieutenant of the same, & Jane & Margaret his Wives, which Richard deceased the 23d day of November, Ao. D’ni 1524.

In the Parlour of the Parsonage House.

All these Escocheons are in 2 Windowes, in which two Windowes also are these Verses:

Alme Deus cœli Croxby tu parce Johanni
Hanc ædem fieri benefecit sponte Jo Croxby
Anno Milleno quater. c. L. x. quoq. terno.

In the other Windowes.

Harleian MS. No. 6829, p. 178 to 182.

[53a]  Domesday, folio 354.

[53b]  Burton’s Monast. Ebor. p. 215.

[54]  The following arms and inscriptions, now gone, were in this church when it was visited by Mr. Holles.

In Fenestra.

In the Church on a flat marble stone in Saxon Characters.

ICI : GIST : MARGARETA : DE : LACI : QE : FVLA : FEME : GWILLEAMA : DE ; MOVSTE . . .

Harleian MS. No. 6829. p. 177.

[55]  Domesday, folio 331.

[56a]  Escheat Rolls.

[56b]  Cook C. Herald, MS.

[56c]  From the information of E. Turnor, Esq. F.S.A.

[57a]  Tupholme is not mentioned either in the Domesday survey or Testa de Nevill.

[57b]  See the Charter in Dugdale’s Monasticon, p. 596.

[59]  The windows were formerly embellished with the following heraldic bearings in stained glass, of which no vestiges are now existing.

Harleian MS. No. 6829, p. 140.

[60]  Lodge’s Illustrations, vol. ii. 191.

[61a]  Domesday, folio 331.

[61b]  In the forty-second and forty-third years of Henry the third, Philip Marmyon had grants of a market, fair, and free warren, at his manor of Scrivelsby.  In the ninth year of Edward the first, he showed that he had those rights, and that of gallows at Scrivelsby, with the other privileges incident to one of the great barons of the realm; and also right of free warren in the soke of Horncastle.

[62]  On account of the present possessor of the manor of Scrivelsby being a clerk in orders, his son, Henry Dymoke, Esquire, was allowed to perform the service at the coronation of His present Majesty George the fourth, in 1821.  The following is a description of the ceremony on that occasion.

Before the second course was brought in, the Champion, in his full suit of armour, mounted on a horse richly caparisoned, appeared under the porch of the triumphal arch, at the bottom of the Hall.  Every thing being in readiness, the procession moved in the following order:

Two Trumpets with the Champion’s Arms on their banners.

The Sergeant-Trumpeter, with his Mace on his shoulder.

Two Sergeants at Arms, with their Maces on their shoulders.

The Champion’s Two Esquires, in half armour, one on the right hand bearing the Champion’s lance, the other on the left hand with the Champion’s target, and the arms of Dymoke depicted thereon.

A Herald, with a paper in his hand containing the challenge.

Four Pages, richly apparelled, attendants on the Champion.

At the entrance into the Hall, the Trumpets sounded thrice, and the passage to the King’s table being cleared by the Knight Marshal, the Herald with a loud voice proclaimed the Champion’s Challenge, in the words following:

“If any person, of what degree soever, high or low, shall deny or gainsay our sovereign lord King George the fourth, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, defender of the faith, son and next heir to our sovereign lord King George the third, the last king, deceased, to be right heir to the imperial crown of this United Kingdom, or that he ought not to enjoy the same, here is his Champion, who saith that he lieth, and is a false traitor, being ready in person to combat with him, and in this quarrel will adventure his life against him on what day soever he shall be appointed.”

Whereupon the Champion threw down his gauntlet; which, having lain a short time upon the ground, the Herald took it up, and delivered it again to the Champion.

They then advanced to the middle of the Hall, where the ceremony was again performed in the same manner.

Lastly, they advanced to the steps of the throne, where the Herald (and those who preceded him) ascending to the middle of the steps, proclaimed the challenge in the like manner; when the Champion having thrown down his gauntlet and received it again from the Herald, made a low obeisance to the King: whereupon the Cupbearer, having received from the Officer of the Jewel-House, a Gold Cup and Cover filled with Wine, presented the same to the King, and his Majesty drank to the Champion, and sent to him by the Cupbearer the said Cup, which the Champion (having put on his gauntlet) received, and having made a low obeisance to the King, and drank the Wine; after which, making another low obeisance to his Majesty, and being accompanied as before, he departed out of the Hall, taking with him the said cup and cover as his fee.

[63]  In this inscription Sir Robert Dymoke is, by mistake of the sculptor, styled knight and baronet instead of knight banneret.

[68]  “Vir illustris in consilio, strenuus in prælio, princeps militæ in Angliæ, et in omni regno ornatissimus.”  Wever’s Fun. Mem. p. 366.

[70]  The MS. vol. of Church notes, so often before quoted, contains the following description of this castle:—

“The castle of Bullingbrooke was built by William de Romara, Earle of Lincolne, and ennobled by the birth of King Henry the 4th, who from thence took his sirname.  Heretofore it was a famous structure, but now gone much to ruine and decay.

“The towne standes in a bottome, and the castell in the lowest part of it, compassed about with a large moat fed by springs.  It is most accessible on the south-west part, the rest being encompassed by the hills.

“As for the frame of the building, it lieth in a square, the area within the walls conteyning about an acre and a half, the building is very uniforme.

“It hath 4 stronge forts or ramparts, wherein are many roomes, and lodgings: the passage from one to another lying upon the walles, which are embattled about.  There be likewise 2 watch-towers all covered with lead.  If all the roomes in it were repayred, and furnished [as it seemes in former tymes they have bin] it were capable to receyve a very great prince with all his trayne.

“The entrance into it is very stately over a faire draw-bridge.  The gatehouse a very uniforme, and strong building.  Next within the porter’s lodge is a payre of low stayres, which goe downe into a dungeon, in which some reliques are yet to be seene of a prison-house.  Other 2 prisons more are on either side.

“The building itselfe is of a sandy stone hewen of a great square out of the rockes thereby, which though it abide the weather longe, yet [in processe of tyme] it will moulder, especially if wett gett within it, which hath bin the decay of many places of the wall where the roofe is uncovered.

“There be certaine roomes within the castle, [built by Queen Elizabeth of freestone] amongst which is a fayre great chamber with other lodgings.

“In a roome in one of the towers of the castle they usually kept their auditt once by the yeare for the whole Dutchy of Lancaster, having ever bin the prime seate thereof, where all the recordes for the whole countrey are kept.

“The constable of the castle is Sir William Mounson Lord Castlemayne, who receaveth a revenue out of the Dutchy lands of £500. per annum, in part of payment of £1000. yearely given by the king to the Countesse of Nottingham his lady.

“One thinge is not to be passed by affirmed as a certaine trueth by many of the inhabitants of the towne upon their owne knowledge, which is, that the castle is haunted by a certain spirit in the likenesse of a hare: which att the meeting of the auditors doeth usually runne betweene their legs, and sometymes overthrows them, and soe passes away.  They have pursued it downe into the castleyard, and seene it take in att a grate into a low cellar, and have followed it thither with a light, where notwithstanding that they did most narrowly observe it [and that there was noe 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] yet they could never finde it.  And att other tymes it hath been seene run in at iron-grates below into other of the grotto’s [as their be many of them] and they have watched the place, and sent for houndes, and put in after it; but after a while they have come crying out.”

Harleian MS. No. 6829, p. 162.

[71]  The following arms and inscriptions were in the windows of this church when it was visited by Mr. Holles.

Harleian MS. No. 6829. p. 163.

[72]  Domesday, folio 351.

[74]  See the Charter in Dugdale’s Monasticon, vol. i. p. 822.

[76]  Stukeley’s Itinerarium Curiosum, p. 28.

[82]  Dr. John Taylor of Norwich was one of the earliest ministers appointed by Mr. Disney.  He held his appointment from about 1715, for 18 years, and at this place composed his justly valued “Hebrew Concordance,” in two vols. folio.

[86]  Itinerarium, p. 162.

[87]  Gough, and others who have copied from him, erroneously state this tower to be two hundred feet in height.

[90]  The principal part of the stained glass taken from this church was placed by the Earl of Exeter in the church of St. Martin, Stamford Baron, with some other richly stained glass, procured from the churches of Snape in Yorkshire, and Barnack in Northamptonshire.

[91a]  Joan Lady Cromwell was one of the daughters of Sir Richard Stanhope, and niece and co-heiress of the Lord Treasurer Cromwell.  She married Humphry Bourchier, third Son of the Earl of Essex, who was created Lord Cromwell, in the first year of Edward the fourth.

[91b]  Matilda Lady Willoughby was the other daughter of Sir Richard Stanhope, and niece and co-heiress of the Lord Treasurer Cromwell.

[92a]  Sepulchral Monuments, vol. ii p. 179.

[92b]  The MS. volume of Lincolnshire Church Notes, notices all the foregoing inscriptions, though not in a very correct manner.  It also contains the following account of inscriptions and arms in this church, which are now gone:

In the upper ende of the Chancell.

Next under another fayre monument of blew marble [as the former] the picture of one also inlayd in brasse, adorned rounde aboute with a border of curious workemanship in brasse, with the pictures and names of some prophets in the Old Testament, and of other saintes, and some Saxon kinges, as Edmund, Edward, Etheldred, Ethelbert, there is noe inscription, onely this ensuing escocheon upon either side of him.

On the north Side under a Marble.

Orate pro a’ia M’ri Joh’is Gigur baccalaur.  Theologiæ custodis hujus collegii, ac etiam . . . Collegij Marton in Oxonia qui obijt 12º.die . . .

On the Wood Worke in the lower ende of the Quire, curiously carved in capital l’rs this,—

Ad honorem & gloriam Dei opt. Max. & decorum domus ejus hoc opus factum est Anno D’ni 1424.

In Fenestris.

The history of the passion depainted.  In another Hell’s torments, where are divers creatures bound together in a chayne; amongst whome one with a crowne, another with a mytre on his head, the divell tormenting them, and under them is written—

‘Sic affliguntur pœnis, qui prava sequuntur.’

The history of Hermogenes that raysed up devills, and of Guthlake [the saint of the fens] and of Catherina, who cast them into the sea, that Hermogenes and Philetus raysed.

The history of Cosdre with his decollation.

Wainflet Ep’usWinton cujus insignia sculptata sup. utranq. porticum in saxo.

Thomas Howard gen. & Beatrix consors ejus vitriaverunt fenestram borealem in honore s’cæ Catherinæ, cujus passio ib’dm.

Empaled.  Arg. a chevron chequy d’or & G betw 3 flesh-hookes sa,

Empaled.  B. a fesse betw. 3 storkes arg.

Arg. a chevron betw. 3 catherine wheels d’or

Deyncourt sup. portam collegii.

Sup. crucem in foro ville Crumwell & Tateshall paling Deyncourt & p. se 3.

Gravestones in the Church.

Hic jacet Thomas Gibbon Artium Liberalium M’gr. Rector nuper de Wiberton Socius & precentor hujus collegij qui obijt 16º. die mensis Januarij An’o D’ni 1506 cujus &c.

Another.

Orate pro a’ia D’ni Henr. Porter capti quondam Socij Collegij de Tateshall ac præcentor ejusdem Eccl’ie, qui obijt 12º. die Martij An’o D’ni 1519.

Another.

Hic jacet Edwardus Okey nup. unus sex clericorum hujus Collegij qui obijt 29 die Januarij An’o D’ni 1519, cujus &c.

In Insula Australi.

Hic jacet Ric’us English artium liberalium Mgr. socius ac p’centor huj. Collegij & Vicarius Eccl’iæ de Burwell qui obijt 27º. die Martij A’o D’ni 1522.

Another.

Orate pro a’ia M’ri Rob’ti Sudbury sacræ Theologiæ Baccalaureus nuper Rector . . . ac quondam p’centor & socius hujus Collegij qui obijt 19º. Decembris An’o 1482.

Under the arched worke of the Partition betw. the Chancell and the body of the Church, this,

Orate pro a’ia Rob’ti de Whalley . . . hujus collegij qui hoc opus fieri fecit A’o D’ni 1528. cujus a’ie p’pitietur Deus.  Amen.

Within a Chapel on the North side, a fayre flat Marble, on which this Epitaph,

Have mercy on the soule [good Lord] we thee pray
Of Edward Hevyn, lay’d here in sepulture,
W’ch to thine honour this chappel did array
With ceeling, desk, perclose and pourtrayture,
And paviment of marble long to endure.
Servant of late to the excellent Princesse
Mother to King Henry, of Richmond Countesse.

The Armes on the Gravestone are

Empaled.  A chevron betw. 3 boares heades couped, having so many pomeis in their mouths; on the chevron a cresc . . . Hevyn

Empaled.  A chevron betw. 3 bulls heades . . . Hevyn

Harleian MS. No. 6829. p. 184–189.

[96]  “One of the Cromwelle’s builded a preaty turret caullid the Tour of the Moore; and thereby he made a faire greate ponde or lake, brickid about.  The lake is commonly caullid the Synkker.”  Leland’s Itinerarium, vi. 58.

[98]  By some called Bind, by others Clunch Clay.