[87a]“Life of Nansen, 1881–1893,” by W. C. Brögger and Nordahl Rolfsen. (Longmans, 1896, pp. 350–357).
[87b]Ibidem, p. 139.
[88a]Ibidem, p. 123.
[88b]This subject has been fully gone into by Mr. P. F. Kendall, F.G.S., in his article “The Cause of an Ice-age,” contributed to the “Transactions of the Leeds Geological Association,” part viii. Other ice-streams also passed down various alleys from Teesdale to Airedale, and the Ouse.
[88c]See an article “On the Occurrence of Shap Granite Boulders in Lincolnshire,” by Mr. W. T. Sheppard, in the “Naturalist” of 1896, pp. 333–339. Also the “Presidential Address to the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union,” by J. Cordeaux, F.R.G.S., M.B.O.U., in the “Naturalist” for 1897, pp. 195, 6. See also a very interesting article in the “Fortnightly Review,” November, 1863, on “The Ice-age and its Work,” by A. R. Wallace, F.R.S.
[89a]Mr. J. Cordeaux gives this thickness in the “Naturalist” (1897, p. 186). Professor J. Geikie says it “did not exceed 3,500ft. or 4,000ft. at most, and would take 3,000ft. as an average.” (“The Glacial Period and Earth Movement,” a paper read before the Victoria Institute in 1893. Trans. No. 104, pp. 221–249, where also the question is largely considered of the causes of the Ice-age).
[89b]Mr. Wallace says; “Every mountain group, north of the Bristol channel, was a centre from which, in the Ice-age, glaciers radiated; these became confluent, extensive ice-sheets, which overflowed into the Atlantic on the west, and spread far over the English lowlands on the east and south.” “The Ice-age and its work.”—“Fortnightly Review,” Nov., 1893, p., 269.
[90]Quoted by Mr. Wallace in “The Fortnightly,” p. 630.
[91a]Quoted from “Glacialist’s Magazine,” “Fortnightly Review,” Nov., 1893, p. 631.
[91b]A list of Scandinavian boulders, which have been found in Lincolnshire is given by Mr. T. Sheppard, in the “Glacialists’ Magazine,” vol. iii, 1895, p. 129. Notices of lakeland boulders are given in the “Naturalist” of 1897, pp. 67, 103–104, 195–6, 283–4; and of 1898, pp. 17–20,85–87, 133–138, 221–224. In the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for May, 1885, Mr. Jukes Brown gives the general range of the boulder clay in Lincolnshire, while its range of flanking rocks in our own more immediate neighbourhood is treated of in the Government Geological Survey of “Lincoln and the Country around,” pp. 2, 122–129, 155, 156.
[91c]The average rate of a glacier has been computed at 64 inches for the four summer months; in other cases one inch a day. The progress, of course, varies with the slope or smoothness of its bed, and is more rapid in the centre than at the sides, where it scrapes against flanking rocks.
[92]Sydney B. J. Skertchly, F.G.S., joint author of a valuable work, entitled “The Fenland, Past and present.”
[93a]Geological Survey, p. 79.
[93b]At Bardney, Baumber, Horncastle, West Ashby, and Fulletby, &c. Geological Survey, 79–81.
[93c]These beds of inflammable shale are also found on the coast of Dorset, and are worked by levels driven into the cliff. This clay indeed receives its name Kimeridge, from a Dorset village, on the coast, near Corfe Castle and Poole.
[94a]Mr. Jeans, in “Murrey’s Handbook of Lincolnshire,” [p. 6] puts the total thickness of the various cretaceous formations at “about 1,000ft.”
[94b]Geological Survey, pp. 207–209.
[95a]Ibedem.
[95b]Quarterly Journal, Geol. Soc., vol. xxxi., p. 125.
[95c]Geological Survey, pp. 202–206.
[95d]Geological Survey, pp. 203–206.
[95e]Ibidem.
[96a]Ibidem, pp. 198–222.
[96b]White’s Dictionary of Lincolnshire. Article on the Geology by W. J. Harrison, F.G.S.
[97a]Quoted Ibidem.
[97b]Geolog. Survey Memoir of S. Yorks and N. Linc. p. 3.
[97c]Mr. F. M. Burton, F.L.S., F.G.S., Naturalist, 1894, p. 251. In “A Selection of Papers relative to the County of Lincoln,” read before the Lincolnshire Topographical Society, published by W. and B. Brooke, 1843, there is a paper by W. Bedford on the Geology of Lincoln. He divides the rocks into 26 beds, commencing from the north of the Cathedral and descending to the bed of the Witham. He gives a very interesting coloured section, showing these different strata, where the springs arise beneath the oolite; then the ferruginous gravels, the clunch clay, and the lias underlaying all.
[97d]Geolog. Survey, “Around Lincoln,” pp. 33–35.
[98a]Article on Geology, White’s Lincolnshire, p. 70.
[98b]Ibidem.
[98c]Taken from a paper read by Surgeon-Major Cuffe, V.D., before the British Medical Congress, held in London, August, 1895.
[99a]The original analysis of Mr. West gave some properties not noticed by Professor Frankland as follows:—
In one gallon.
Chloride of Sodium
1,215,175
„ Potassium
2,453
„ Magnesium
86,146
„ Calcium
105,001
Bromide of Sodium
5,145
Iodide of Sodium
2,731
Bi-carbonate of Soda
45,765
Carbonate of Lime
9.381
,, Iron
0.277
Silica
0.339
[99b]Smith’s Dict. of Bible. Art., “The Salt Sea,” and The Dead Sea and Bible Lands,” by F. de Saulcy.
[99c]Geolog. Survey Memoir, p. 210.
[99d]Information by R. Harrison, at one time resident at the farm where the well was sunk. Geolog. Survey, p. 205.
[99e]The Roman generals are supposed to have imported Belgian workmen, and by their aid, with their own soldiers, and the forced labour of the Britons, to have made the huge embankments, of which there are remains still existing in “The Roman Bank,” near Sutterton and Algarkirk, Bicker, and other places. The Car Dyke, skirting the Fens, on the west, some four miles from Kirkstead, was their work, and a few miles westward is Ermine Street, the great Roman highway, which stretches from Sauton on the Humber to London.
[101a]The revolution effected in the drainage of the Fens was not accomplished without considerable and even violent opposition on the part of many of the inhabitants, who thought that their interests were being ruthlessly disregarded, and in some cases even their means of subsistence destroyed. The state of affairs at this period, and the measures resorted to, are very graphically described in the historic novel, “A daughter of the Fens,” written by Mr. J. T. Bealby. This book the present writer would recommend to visitors to our Lincolnshire health-resort, as likely to give them an interest in the neighbourhood.
[101b]Mr. H. Preston, F.G.S., of Grantham, goes into the matter rather fully in the “Naturalist” of 1898, pp. 247–255; as also Mr. F. M. Burton, F.L.S., F.G.S., of Gainsborough had previously done, in the “Naturalist” of 1895, pp. 273–280.
[102]Dr. Oliver (in his “Religious houses on the Witham,” appendix pp. 165–167) says: “The honours of the Witham may be inferred, not only from the consecrated spots and temples (once existent) on its banks, but from its very names. It was called Grant-avon, or the divine stream; and Cwaith-Ket,i.e.the work or river of “Ket” (Ked or Keridwen, the Druid goddess Ceres). Ket survives in Catley, not far from the Witham. The river was worshipped as her embodiment. Oliver adds: “The sacred places on its banks were more numerous, perhaps than those of any other river in Britain.” It will be apparent, to anyone that the name Witham is not a river name at all, but that of a village, the village near which the river rises. In the time of Leland, the antiquary (circa 1550) it was known as the Lindis. He says: “There be four ferys upon the water of Lindis betwixt Lincoln and Boston. Shut (Short) Fery, Tatershaul Fery, Dogdick Fery, Langreth Fery” (quoted by Mr. G. Sills, Archl. His. Wash., “Lin. N. and Q.,” Nat. His. section, July, 1897, p. 108). But Mr. Taylor tells us (in his “Words and Places,” p. 130) that “throughout the whole of England there is hardly a single river name which is not Celtic,” and accordingly the Celtic name of the Witham was Grant-avon (avon meaning “river”), while the town upon it was Grantham. It was also known by the names “Rhe” and “Aye,” the former Celtic, the latter Saxon or Danish. “Lin. N. and Q.,” vol. ii., p. 222.
[103a]“Introduction to vol. on “The Geology arounde Lincoln.” Government Geolog. Survey Memoir.
[103b]“Naturalist,” 1895, p. 274.
[103c]The late Mr. W. H. Wheeler, one of our ablest engineers, held the opinion that there was a time when the Witham, by a somewhat similar process, instead of passing through “the Lincoln Gap,” if it then existed, found its way through a low tract of country northward into the Trent, and so passed out into the Humber. See “Lincolnshire Notes and Queries,” vol. i., pp. 53, 54, and 213. It would almost seem that the poet Drayton had an idea of something of this kind, when he says of the Witham—
“Leaving her former course in which she first set forth,Which seemed to have been directlyto the north,She runs her silver front into the muddy fen. . . coming down,. . . to lively Botolph’s town.”Polyolbion, song xxv.
“Leaving her former course in which she first set forth,Which seemed to have been directlyto the north,She runs her silver front into the muddy fen. . . coming down,. . . to lively Botolph’s town.”
Polyolbion, song xxv.
It may here be added that the antiquary, Stukely, who at one time lived at Boston was of opinion, that the Witham, at one period, diverged from its present channel a little below Tattershall, about Dogdyke, to the east, and through various channels, which are now drains, found its way to Wainfleet and there debouched into the sea. And an old map of Richard of Cirencester, in the 14th century, confirms this.
[105a]“Naturalist,” 1895, pp. 230, 231.
[105b]This “celt,” as they are called, has been exhibited by the writer at more than one scientific meeting. It is still in the possession of Mr. Daft, who would doubtless be glad to show it to any one wishing to see it.—N.B.—the term “celt” is not connected with the name Celtic or Keltic, but is frem a Latin word celtis, or celtes; meaning a chisel, and used in the Vulgate, Job xix., 24, the classic word is cœlum.
[106a]Gov. Geolog. Survey, “Country round Lincoln,” p. 161, now in the possession of Mr. Fox, land surveyor, of Coningby.
[106b]S. B. J. Skertchly, “Fenland,” p. 344.
[107]A representation of Chaucer on horseback, in a MS. on vellum, of the Canterbury Tales, in the possession of the Duke of Sutherland, and reproduced as a frontispiece to “Illustrations of the lives of Gower and Chaucer,” by H. J. Todd, F.S.A., 1810, shows the anelace hanging from a button on the breast of his surcoat. It was usually worn at the girdle, except in the case of ecclesiastics. M. Paris mentions Petrus de Rivallis as “gestans anelacium ad lumbare, quod clericum non decebat.” The present writer possesses what he believes is an anelace, which was found among the ruins of a cottage on the Kirkstead Abbey estate some 25 years ago. He exhibited it at a meeting in London of the Archæological Institute, in November, 1882, where it was described as a “beautiful knife handle, decorated with nielli of Italian character.” It is of blue enamel, beautifully chased with an elegant filigree pattern in silver. It has also been pronounced by an authority to be Byzantine work. As being found near the ruins of Kirkstead Abbey, we might well imagine it to have hung at the girdle, or from the breast, of some sporting ecclesiastic; and to have belonged to the jewelled blade,
Wherewith some lordly abbot, in the chase,Gave to the deer “embossed” hiscoup de grace.
Wherewith some lordly abbot, in the chase,Gave to the deer “embossed” hiscoup de grace.
[108a]The conserving properties of the mud ooze is remarkable. The “Philosophical Transactions” mention a human body dug up in the Isle of Axholme, of great antiquity, judging by the structure of the sandals on its feet, yet the skin was soft and pliable, like doe-skin leather, and the hair remained upon it.-—“Lincs. N. & Q.” Vol. III., p. 197.
[108b]This relic of not less that 1700 years ago is further interesting from the fact that the bone, of which it is made, was proved to be that of a horse, yet the horse must have been smaller than any of the present day, except the Shetland pony. The Britons are known to have had horses of great size, which excited the admiration of Cæsar; which survived in the huge war-horse carrying the great weight of the mail-clad Norman knight in the active exercises of the tournament; and the descendants of which are the Shire horses of to-day.—“The Old English Warhorse,” by Sir Walter Gilbey. We may add here, as an interesting fact, that there is evidence to show that the horses of our neighbourhood were specially valued, as far back as the time of the Commonwealth. Cromwell wrote to an acquaintance, “I will give you sixty pieces for that black [horse] you won [in battle] at Horncastle”; and on the acquaintance not jumping at the offer, he wrote again, “I will give you all you ask for the black you won the last fight.”—Quoted, “Animals and their Conversations,” p. 85, by C. J. Cornish.
[108c]The bolt of a crossbow was forged square, hence its name “quarrel,” from “carre,” or “quarre,”—square.—“Lincs. N. & Q.” Vol. IV, p. 21.
[108d]The Roman lituus is supposed by antiquarians to have been adopted from barbarous nations, the serpentine form indicating the object of their worship. The serpent was held sacred among the Druids of Britain.
[110a]“Archæological Journal,” No. VII., Sept., 1845, p. 253. The dimensions of the chest were 16 inches square by 8½ inches high; the interior 12 inches square. The height of the urn was 7 inches; its diameter at the widest part, 7 inches; diameter of mouth, 4 inches.
[110b]At the restoration of the Parish Church in 1864, in making some alterations in the floor of the chancel, a lead coffin was found below, said to have been that of Lady Jane Dymoke. It was temporarily removed during the operations, but orders were given that it should be re-interred. Before, however, these instructions could be carried out, it mysteriously disappeared, and doubtless found its way to the melting-pot.
[111]“Proc. Soc. Antiq.” 1849, 1st series, 57. The finding of the Horncastle coffins is described in “The Reliquary and Illustrated Archæologist,” April, 1897.
[112a]In Norwich one of the principal thoroughfares is named “Rampant Horse Street.” To this same superstition also we owe the huge figures of the white horse cut in the turf at Bratton Castle and at Oldbury Camp, both in Wiltshire. Tacitus speaks of “immolati diis abscissum equi caput.”
[112b]Quoted, “Surtees Society Publications,” vol. lxxvi.
[112c]Weir’s “History of Horncastle,” p. 27.
[113]“Provincial Words of Lincolnshire.”
[114a]An old Lincolnshire term for a male elf is “Tom-tut,” which may be a corruption of Tom-cat. A person in a rage is said to be “quite a Tom-tut,” or spitfire, like a cat spitting. In connection with “shag,” we may add that there is a sea bird frequenting some of our coasts called a “Black-shag.” Another explanation of Tab-shag, which has been suggested is that “Tab” is another word for turf sods, and sods used to be cut on the moor for fuel.
[114b]“Facts and Remarks relative to the Witham, &c.” by W. Chapman, p. 18. A large anchor was also dug up at a considerable depth, indicating that large vessels also ascended the river to Lincoln.
[115a]Thompson’s “Boston,” p. 126.
[115b]Letter from Sir Joseph Banks to the Editor of the “Journal of Science and Art,” No. ii., p. 224.
[116]There was a wood called Synker Wood, which extended from within 100 yards of Kirkby lane, westward to the Tattershall road skirting the boundary between the parishes of Kirkstead and Thornton, having at the east end of it Synker Wood House. South of this wood, near the Tattershall road, was a lee, or strip of grass land: and south of that again, and opposite the present larger farm house, there was another smaller wood called the Synker Pool Wood. Of this there is one solitary oak left still standing, about 20 yards from the road; and it was some yards eastward of this tree that the boat was found.
[118a]Account of trees found under ground in Hatfield chase. “Philosoph, Transactions,” No. 275, p. 980
[118b]Richard of Cirencester (circaa.d.1380) says of them, Coitani in tractu sylvis obsito (habit-antes). Some writers, following Ptolemy, call them Coritani, others Coriceni, but the learned Dr. Pegge prefers Coitani, as a name in harmony with the “circumambient woods,” Coed being still Welsh for wood.
[118c]“Flores Historiarum,”a.d.1377.
[118d]Brooke’s “Lincoln,” p. 14.
[119a]Brooke, Ibid. But the earliest record of a stone church in the British Isles is that built by St. Ninian, first Bishop of Scotland.a.d.488, at Witherne, in Galloway. Bede, “Eccles. Hist.,” book iii., ch. iv.
[119b]“Egregii opperis,” Bede, “Eccles. Hist.,” book i. p. 32.
[119c]Weir’s “Hist. Lincolnshire,” vol i., p. 32.
[120a]A fine copy of Magna Charta, is still preserved among the Archives of the Cathedral.
[120b]In the preamble to a Charter granted to the city (4 Charles I.) Lincoln is called “one of the chiefest seats of our kingdom of England for the staple and public market of wool-sellers and merchant strangers, &c.” There came into the writer’s possession a few years ago a curious relic, consisting of a terra cotta cube, light red in colour, each of the six sides being 1¾ inches square, and having each a different, deeply-cut, pattern; crosses of different kinds, squares, or serpentine lines. It was found in a private garden in Lincoln, and was pronounced to be a stamp for bales of wool. I exhibited it before the Linc. Architectural Society, the Society of Antiquaries, &c.; and ultimately presented it to the British Museum.
[120c]The number of monasteries closed by Henry VIII. was 645, containing some 20,000 religious persons.
[121a]Anderson’s “Pocket Guide,” pp. 119–121.
[121b]Anderson, p. 126.
[121c]Letter written to Mr. Page, who was Mayor of Lincoln in that year.
[122]“Brooke’s “History,” pp. 56, 56.
[125]Brooke’s “History, pp. 55, 56.
[126a]Demesne is an old Norman compound word. “The Mesne” was “the Lord of the Manor” (conf. Fr. “mener” and “menager”—to command), and “de-mesne” was the land “of the lord.” In this case, the “mesne” was originally the Baron Eudo, to whom the Conqueror gave the manors of Tattershall and Kirkstead, with certain appendages, of which Woodhall, or a large portion of it, would seem to have been one; for, when his son Brito endowed the Abbey of Kirkstead, he assigned to it two parts of the manor of Woodhall, and the advowson of the benefice.
[126b]It was customary, where feasible, to thus connect the moat with running water, to avoid complete stagnation, and so to keep the water more healthy.
[127]The writer has also an old map, undated, but belonging to a Dutch History of “Lincolnshire” or “Nicolshire,” probably published in the sixteenth century; also another old map, inscribed “Fodocus Hondius cælavit Anno Domini 1610,” as well as another by Christophorus Saxton, undated; in all of which Buckland is given instead of Woodhall.
[128a]The Abbot of Bardney had a hunting establishment at Bardney Vaccary; and why not the powerful Abbot of Kirkstead also, who possessed the right of “free warren” over many thousands of acres; in the Wildmore Fen alone about 45,000 acres.
[128b]That this supposition is correct would seem to be shewn by fact that this property—High-hall wood and land adjoining—still belongs to the Earls of Fortescue, who now own the manor of Tattershall, the estates having gone together since the days of Eudo, in the Conqueror’s time. In the Award Map, one of the fields in Woodhall just outside the High-hall property, is named “Priests’ Moor,” probably as marking the limit of the Church (formerly the Abbey) estate, as distinguished from the land of the Baron. The Abbots’ land in Woodhall was, at the Dissolution, given to the Bishops of Lincoln, and only enfranchised from them in the year 1868. The writer has in his possession a copy of the deed, conveying, in the first year of Edward VI., the rectorial rights and appurtenances of Woodhall to Henry Holbeach, at that time Bishop of Lincoln, and his successors, “post mon. de Kirksted nuper dissolutum.”
[129]The pistol was originally a German invention, so named because its calibre corresponded with the diameter of the old coin, “pistole.” They were first used by German cavalry at the battle of Renty (1554), and contributed greatly to the defeat of the French. After that they were introduced into the French army, and later into the English. They were at first furnished with a matchlock, and fired by a match. This was followed by a wheel-lock, wound up like a clock, and having a piece of iron pyrite, and later, a piece of flint, for producing ignition. The wheel-lock was superseded by the trigger and the hammer, still with flint. The percussion cap, invented by the Scotchman, Alexander Forbes, was introduced about 1820 (“Notes on Arms and Armour,” by C. Boutell). The pistol found at High-hall is inscribed with the two French words “Shermand Brevete” (patentee). The earliest pistol preserved in the United Service Museum is supposed to date from Charles I. (Haydn, “Dict. of Dates”), and it is known that, at that period, the French gunsmiths were much in advance of the English.
[131]Series ii., 1600–1617, p. 30, No. 34, edited by Rev. A. R. Maddison, 1891.
[133]It may occur to some to wonder for what purpose the Lord Clinton could need so many as “1,000 kiddes”; and as a probable answer we may say that, in those days, coal was not in universal use, as it is now. Peat-sods, called in Lincolnshire “bages,” and wood, were the ordinary fuel. Hence we find frequent mention of the right of “Turbary,”i.e., of cutting turf on certain lands, as a valuable privilege. At such an extensive establishment as Tattershall Castle, then at least three times its present size, there would be no small number of persons needing fire-warmth. The old writer, William of Worcester, (“Itinerarium,” p. 162), tells us that the Lord Treasurer Cromwell’s household consisted ordinarily of 100 persons, and that, when he rode to London, his retinue was commonly 120 horsemen (Weir’s “Hist.” vol. i. p. 304, ed. 1828). The beautiful mantelpieces still remaining in the castle, embellished with his arms, and the proud motto, “Ne j’ droit?”—“Have I not right?” are famed throughout the kingdom; and on the spacious hearths beneath them the smouldering peat and blazing faggot would yield welcome warmth to guests and retainers reclining before them, wearied with the varied labours of the day: days, indeed, we may well believe, by no means monotonous, when it is remembered that, besides the sport of hunting and hawking, the Lord Clinton’s followers were not uncommonly engaged in predatory strife (of which I shall presently give instances) with neighbours hardly less powerful than himself. By way of adding note to note, I may here say that, among the poor, cheaper kinds of fuel were in use than the peat and faggot. Cow-dung was dried in brick-shaped blocks, which were called “dythes”; or sheep-dung into “brocks,” and stacked like peat for burning. I have spoken with old people, in the marsh, who remember both these being in common use.
[134]There is a prevalent tendency to pronounce, in a general and uncritical fashion, many things to be “Roman” which are only ancient and of indefinite date; an easy way of getting out of a difficulty. Possibly we may trace to this source the origin of the Lincolnshire expression, descriptive of anything or anybody out of the ordinary, that it is, or he is, or she is, “a rum un.”
[137]I may, perhaps, here explain that “non-jurors” were those persons who considered that James II. was unjustly deposed, and who refused to swear allegiance to William III. and his successors. Non-jurors were subjected to double taxation, and obliged to register their estates (1723); and from the first were excluded from any public office. I may also here state that the Sir Richard Morrison who is named in this epitaph was a man of great learning, and employed by Henry VIII. and Edward VI. in several embassies to the greatest princes in Europe (Camden’s “Britannia,” p. 302). He was also appointed “President of Mounster in Ireland.” He had a brother, Fynes Morrison, who was fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, who obtained from his college permission to travel, and spent eight years in foreign parts. On his return he went to Ireland and became secretary to Sir Charles Blount, the Lord Lieutenant. There he wrote an account, in Latin, of his “Travels through the twelve dominions of Germany, Bohemia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, England, Scotland and Ireland.” These he afterwards translated into English, but they were not published till three years after his death, which occurred in 1614. His works are a treasury of old-time information, and he is named in the second volume of “Magna Britannia” among the learned men whom our county has produced.
[138]It is a coincidence which seems to merit a note, that on the very day on which these lines were penned it was the writer’s duty to unite in the bonds of wedlock a young woman whose mother’s maiden-name was Fynes, to her cousin, Charles Fynes: their common grandfather, Charles Pelham Fynes, a fine sample of the old English yeoman, having been, as well as two of his sons, the tenant of land held under the writer, and under his father before him, during many years.
[139]This font which is old Norman, plain, but massive, was, some years ago, taken away from its position at Poolham, and, by way of rescuing it from destruction, was placed as an ornamental relic in the garden of Whispington Vicarage, by the late Rev. C. P. Terrot who was, in his day, one of our greatest antiquaries. When the writer restored Woodhall Church, in 1893, the font in that church being of no architectural value, he obtained the gift of this ancient font and restored it to its original religious purpose, where it now stands, supported by four handsome columns of serpentine, the gift of the Rev. J. A. Penny, the present Vicar of Whispington. The gravestone here referred to was taken away some years ago, and now forms the sill of a cottage doorway in Stixwould.
[142a]He sold Tetford to George Anton, Esq., through whose daughter Elizabeth, married to Sir Edward Hussey, that property passed to the Hussey family, the head of which was Lord Hussey of Sleaford, who, for his treachery at the time of the Lincolnshire Rebellion, was attainted and beheaded by Henry VIII., as were also the Abbots of Kirkstead and Barlings, and many more. He sold Somersby to George Littlebury (to whom there is a memorial tablet in the church), a younger son of Thomas Littlebury of Stainsby. These Littleburys, again, Sir John of Stainsby, with Humphrey of Hagworthingham, and Robert his brother, were all mixed up with the Lincolnshire Rising; so, also, was their relative, Andrew Gedney, “lord of Oxcombe and of Bag Enderby” (of whom, and his wife Dorothy, there is a mural monument in the church), who married a daughter of Sir William Skipwith of South Ormsby; so, also, were the Dightons, Robert of Stourton and Thomas of Waddingworth, all in this neighbourhood; so, also, was William Dalyson, of a very old family (D’Alencon) of Laughton; with scores more: John Savile of Poolham, Vincent Welby of Halstead Hall, Stixwould; several Dymokes, Heneages, Massingberds, Tyrwhitts, &c., &c. But these are mentioned here because the Littleburys, the Gedneys, the Dightons and the Dalysons, were connected, in one way or another, with the family, on one side, of the present writer. He may further add here, in connection with the Saviles, that when the first Napoleon was expected to invade England, a Company of Volunteer Grenadiers was raised in the loyal town of Pontefract, of which a Savile, Lord Mexborough, was Colonel Commandant, and the writer’s grandfather, George Pyemont, of Tanshelf House, of Methley and Rothwell, was Major. The Major’s sword hangs on the dining-room wall at Langton Rectory.
[142b]Thoroton’s “Hist. of Notts.,” vol. iii., p. 360.
[142c]“Collin’s Peer.,” vol. i., p. 207. This Denzil Hollis, or Holles, is mentioned in the list, given at the “Spittle Sessions,” March 1, 1586–7, of those gentry who supplied “launces and light hors,” as furnishing ij. horse, being “captaine”; John Savile of Poolham furnishing “ij. launces and ij. horse.”
[142d]“Illustrations of English History.”
[143a]“Lansdown MSS.” 27, Art. 41.
[143b]This would be the present Halstead wood, on the western side of Stobourne; the ditch, or sto-bourne, running between the two is the bourne or boundry of the two parishes, Woodhall and Stixwould (or Halstead), where the Welbys lived at that time. The first syllable of Sto-bourne would be “stow” or “stoc” a “stake” or post, marking the boundary; oftener used as a suffix than a prefix, as in Hawkstow, Chepstow, Woodstock, &c.
[143c]Thomas Metham of Metham. The chief seat of the Methams was Bullington Priory. A George Metham was executor, with Andrew Gedney, to Sir William Skipwith’s will proved 31st March, 1587. Metham’s letter, quoted above, is given in the “Lansdown MSS.” 27, Art. 32.
[144]“Lansdown MSS.” 27, Art. 41.
[145]These details are given in a Paper on “The feuds of Old Lincolnshire Families,” by Lord Monson (“Proceedings of Archæol. Institute, Lincoln,” 1848).
[146]There is a common tendency to give a far-fetched origin to ancient structures and things, to make them more remarkable; but the skill and economy of the old builders often lay in utilising and making the most of material at hand. The bricks of Tattershall Castle have been said to be Dutch, and brought up the Witham from the “Low Countries” in exchange for other commodities; but a geologist assures me that both the bricks and the mortar at Tattershall, when examined, shew a native origin; and, so, doubtless, the bricks of Halstead are “born of the soil” of the locality.
[149a]To show that I am not here speaking “without book,” I may cite the following:—Some years ago a bundle of papers were found among the Archives at Lincoln, stitched together, and much damaged by time. They proved to be “Letters of indulgence,” issued by Bishop Dalderby of Lincoln, in which he instructed the Deans to enjoin the clergy throughout their deaneries to make it known, on Sundays and other festivals, that money was needed to complete the central tower of the Cathedral, and that indulgences and other privileges would be granted (indulgencias multiplices, et alia Suffragia) to any who should contribute to this object (qui ad constructionem campanilis contulerint subsidia.) This mandate was dated Stowe-park vii. 1d. Marciia.d. mcccvi. Among these papers was found a letter of indulgence from John, Bishop of Carlisle, dated Horncastle, May 12, 1305 (that Prelate then having a palace at Horncastle, on what are now the premises of Mr. Lunn, grocer), and a similar document from Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, dated Lincoln, Oct. 11, 1314; shewing that the practice was a universal one. The Indulgences were, in each case, for forty days. We may look with admiration at our Cathedral, “fabrica tam nobilis, et honorifica toti regno,” as the Bishop calls it; but surely it takes not a little gilt from the gingerbread, when we reflect that this grand edifice was not entirely the product of the piety of our forefathers, as we have too fondly supposed, but due largely to the episcopal sanction of what with all charity, can hardly be called a pious fraud; and that it was really paid for by “the wages of sin.” The individuals were granted their forty days’ “fling” of iniquity, with the episcopal pledge of exemption from its penalty, provided they responded to the episcopal call—a system of “Do ut des,” based on a “superstitio damnabilis,”—Bishop Dalderby’s Memorandums, 101 b. Quoted “Archit. Soc. Reports,” vol. iv., pt. ***., pp, 42, 43. The author of a book recently (1904) published on “French Cathedrals,” says that many of them were “built in expiation of wrong deeds.”
[149b]“Ayen-bite of Inwyt,” by Dan Michel (Early English Text Society), edited by R. Morris, Esq.
[151a]This being in a fragile condition was recently removed to the wall of the east end by the late Vicar, and forms a rather fine reredos.
[151b]The device on this stone was a cross, within a circle. On the four arms of the cross were the capital letters LX—DI—ST—VRA, and in the centre the letter E. Taking this letter as common to all four arms, we get Lex., Dei, Est, Vera; the law of God is true. A similar device is graven on one side of the font in Dunsby church, near Bourne.
[152a]“Itner. Cur.,” vol. i., p. 88.
[152b]“Monast.,” vol. i., p. 486.
[152c]“Stikeswalde Prior. Monial Cistert. Collectanea,” vol. i., p. 92.
[152d]The Rev. Thos. Cox, in his “Lincolnshire,” calls it a Gilbertine Priory, and Dugdale, in a second notice of it (vol. ii., 809), also places it among the Gilbertines. Further, Dr. Oliver, on what authority he does not state, says that the nuns were habited in a white tunic, with black scapulary (bands across the back and shoulders), and girdle, with a capacious hood, called a culla; whereas Dugdale has an engraving of a nun, in black cloak, under skirt, and culla. Probably they wore different attire on different occasions.
[153a]Leland, vol. i., p. 92.
[153b]Dugdale, vol. i., 486 ii., 809.
[153c]Within quite recent times a handsome satin pulpit cloth, embroidered with rich emblematical devices, was still in use in Scopwick church, some 6 miles from Woodhall.
[154a]Candlemas was one of the chief festivals, of which we now only retain the name; but in those days every family contributed its quota, or “shot for wax.”—Oliver, p. 65, note 4.
[154b]Oliver, p. 67, note 8.
[154c]It is still on record that Queen Elizabeth, an ardent sportswoman, shot her four bucks before breakfast.
[154d]“Placit. de quo Warrento,” 22 Ed. I.
[154e]Matthew of Westminster, “Flores Historiarum,” p. 313.
[154f]“Rot. Hund.,” p. 317.
[154g]“Rot. Can. Reg.,” 6 Rich I.
[154h]Leland, “Coll.,” vol. i.. 92.
[155a]The buildings of the Priory must have been on a large scale, as they covered several acres, and of great architectural beauty. Not one stone of them now remains upon another, but, as an ornament, outside the front door of a house in Horncastle, there stands a large “boss,” formerly in the Priory roof, from which branch off six concentric arches. It is about 2ft. in diameter, and most exquisitely carved with elaborate foliage. The writer has a photograph of it.
[155b]The Rev. James Alpass Penny, now Vicar of Wispington.
[156]Bedæ Martyrology, D. Kalend, Nov.
[157]Commem. of All Souls. “Golden Legend,” fol. 200.
[158]Maddison’s “Lincolnshire Wills,” Series I., p. 32, No. 84.
[159]This collar disappeared about the year 1887, but has since been recovered.
[160]“The Story of Two Noble Lives.” Memorials of Charlotte, Countess Canning, and Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford, pp. 93, 95, 96.
[161a]It is said that Thistlewood’s last words before mounting the scaffold, addressed to one executed with him, were “Courage, brother, we shall soon learn the great secret.”
[161b]“The Story of Two Noble Lives,” p. 187.
[161c]Compare “Bucks.,” Buckinghamshire, Buckland, Buckhurst. Taylor’s “Woods and Places,” p, 321. Beechnuts, it should be remembered, were the chief food of the herds of swine, very numerous in olden times.
[162]A carucate is the extent cultivated by one plough in one year and a day (120 acres). “Villeins” were the lower class of labourers, living in the village; “bordars” a better class, living in cottages attached to the Manor House, and enjoying certain privileges. “Soc-men” were tenants of the lord, holding their tenures by rent or “service” of various kinds; i.e., freemen.
[165]I am indebted for these particulars to an account given by the Rev. J. A. Penny in “Lincs. N. & Q.,” vol. iii., pp, 97–201.
[166a]Among the questions asked at Monastic Visitations were, whether the monks were guilty of superstition, apostacy, treason or thieves, or coiners.—MSS., Cott. Cleop. ii., 59. Henry, Prior of Tupholme, was said to be “very ingenious in making false money.”—Monas. Anglic., ii., p. 269. Thompson’s “Boston,” Append., p. 61.
[166b]Horn was much used for drinking vessels, spoons, hunting horns, the heads of walking sticks, etc.; and, by statutes of Edw. II. and IV., a Horner’s Guild was founded and protected by Charter. Thus the Priory might well ply a lucrative, if illicit, trade.
[168a]“Monasticon,” vol. i., 142.
[168b]“Itin.,” vol. vi, p. 214.
[169a]Dugdale’s “Mon.,” vol. ii., 848.
[169b]Quoted in Oliver’s “Religious Houses on the Witham,” p. 87, note 21, ed. 1846. The Venerable Bede relates that while Oswald’s body remained outside the Abbey through a night, awaiting burial, protected by a tent, a pillar of light was seen reaching up from the waggon to heaven. The water in which his remains were washed was poured on the ground in a corner of the sacred place, and the soil which received it had the power to expel devils.—“Hist.” vol. iii., c. xi.
[171]Among the monks of Bardney was one known as Richardus de Bardney, whose chronicles are preserved to this day (Anglia Sacra, II., 326). Among other curious items given by him is one recording the miraculous birth of Bishop Grossetete, so named from his great head. It reads thus, in something better than monkish Latin:—
Impregnata parens patitur per somnia multum,Quod nihil in ventre sit, nisi grande caput;Et tam grande caput, et tanto robore forte,Quod puer ex utero fultus abit baculo.
Impregnata parens patitur per somnia multum,Quod nihil in ventre sit, nisi grande caput;Et tam grande caput, et tanto robore forte,Quod puer ex utero fultus abit baculo.
Which may be done thus into English:—
A mother, great with coming child,Much suffers in her dreams,That naught beyond a monster headHer inward burden seems.A head so huge, yet with such mightEndowed, that at his birth,Supported on a wooden staffThe infant issues forth.
A mother, great with coming child,Much suffers in her dreams,That naught beyond a monster headHer inward burden seems.A head so huge, yet with such mightEndowed, that at his birth,Supported on a wooden staffThe infant issues forth.
[173]The account of this incident is also given in “Gilda Aurifabrorum,” by Chaffers, 66. King Charles seems to have made himself merry over his cups, with others beside the Lord Mayor. It is recorded that dining with Chief Justice Sir George Jeffreys, the sovereign found his lordship’s wine so good that he “drank to him seven times.”—Verny, “Memoirs,” vol. iv., p. 234
[175]Early in this chapter.
[176]“Religious Houses on the Witham,” Appendix, p. 167, note 46.
[178]Bull-baiting was in vogue at Stamford in this county as early as the reign of King John, 1209, and continued till 1839.
A bill against the sport was introduced into the House of Commons, May 24th, 1802, but was rejected, mainly through the influence of Mr. Wyndham, who used some curious arguments in favour of the sport. It has since been made illegal, through the instrumentality of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, established 1824. At one time many towns, and even villages, practised the sport. Strutt, “Sports” (p. 277), says many of the rings “remain at the present time” (1780.)
[179]Liberty to hold an annual fair, two days before the Eve of St. Barnabas, and to continue eight days, was granted by Henry III. by charter, to Ralph de Rhodes, Lord of the Manor. This is the present June Fair. A. second charter, granted by the same king, empowered the Lord of the Manor to hold an annual fair, to commence on the Eve of the Feast of St. Lawrence, and to continue seven days. This is the great August Fair, once perhaps the largest in the world, though now greatly reduced. Our third, or October, Fair was removed to Horncastle from Market Stainton, where it was a Statute Fair, in 1768.
[180]The institution of “Bough-houses” at fairs was not confined to Horncastle. By Act of Parliament (35 George III., c. 113, s. 17) an exception was made to the general rule of a license being required for the sale of beer, that at fair-time any one hanging a bough at their door, and thus constituting the house a “booth,” might sell beer without a license. It prevailed at Pershore, with the sanction of the magistrates, as late as 1863; also at Bridgewater, Church Staunton, and Newton Poppleford (“Notes and Queries,” 3rd series, vol. iv., pp. 141 and 258). Hence we find at Carmarthen, the principal hotel named “The Ivy Bush”; and at Carlisle, in English Street, there is a coaching inn called “The Bush.” (“On the track of the Mail Coach,” by J. E. Baines, p. 226). There is also a “Bush Hotel” at Farnham. In out-of-the-way parts of Germany, as in the Upper Eisel District, at the village feast called “Kirmess” a bough is hung out at a house door to shew that refreshment may be obtained there. (“Field, Forest, and Fell,” by J. A. Owen, p. 74). Of the existence of similar houses at an early period in England, we have evidence in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.” There were ale-houses on the country road-sides, marked by a pole projecting over the door; and as the pilgrims rode along, the Pardoner would not begin his tale till he had stopped to refresh himself,
“But first, quod he, her, at thys ale-stake,I will both drynke, and biten at a cake.”
“But first, quod he, her, at thys ale-stake,I will both drynke, and biten at a cake.”
Jusseraud, in his “Wayfaring life of 14th century,” gives a sketch of such a Bow-house from a XIV. century illuminated MS.
[181]This peculiar and ready mode of dissolving the bond of wedlock was not uncommon in former times; but I have a note of a similar transaction occurring in or near Scarborough in a quite recent year; and in 1898 (Nov. 18) a case came before Mr. Justice Kekewich, in the Chancery Court, when it was found that one of the parties concerned, before leaving this country for Australia, had sold his wife for £250.
[183]Abbey and Overton, “Church of England in the 18th Century,” quoted “Church Folklore,” by J. E. Vaux, p. 2.
[184]“Literæ Laureatæ”; or, the Poems of John Brown, the Horncastle Laureate. Edited by J. Conway Walter.
[188a]Other Roman mazes have been found in Lincolnshire at Alkborough, as well as at Louth and Appleby; at Wing, in Rutlandshire; at Sneinton and Clifton, in Notts.; at Hilton, in Hunts.; and many other places. The one at Hilton is also called “Julian’s Bower.” Views of the plans of some are given in the Architectural Society’s Journal (Yorkshire), vol. iv., pp. 251–268. I shall go into this subject again further on, in dealing with “Troy wood,” at Coningsby.
[188b]“Architect. Soc. Journ,” vol. iv., p. 200.
[188c]Stukeley, “Itin. Curios.” p. 91.
[188d]At Helston, in Cornwall, on May 8th, a procession of young persons marches through the town, decked with flowers; and the day is called “Flurry-day,” doubtless a corruption of the Roman “Floralia.”
[188e]“The Vikings of Western Christendom,” by C. F. Keary, p. 52.
[188f]“History of Horncastle,” p. 27.
[188g]“Collectanea,” vol. ii, p. 509.
[190]In the “Memoirs of the Verney Family,” Vol. i., it is stated that the King’s army were raw levies, pressed by force at short notice, ill fed and ill clothed. The Verneys’ relative, Dr. Denton, present with the forces, writes, “Our men are very rawe, our armes, of all sorts, naught, our vittle scarce, and provision for horses worse” (p. 315). Sir Jacob Astley writes, his recruits “have neither colours nor halberts”; and he has to “receive all the arch knaves of the kingdom, who beat their officers and break open prisons.” Edmund Verney writes, “We have 6 weeks’ pay due, and unless there be some speedy payment, you may expect to hear that our souldyers are in a mutiny; they are notable sheep stealers already.” Many had only rude pykes and lances; few who had a musket had a sword as well. Pistols and matchlocks were scarce. Old armour, which had hung in churches and manor houses, was used over again (pp. 109–116).
[192a]Walker’s “Sufferings of the Clergy,” pt. ii, pp. 252, 253.
[192b]Chancery Inquis., p. mort, 8 Ric. II, No. 99.
[193c]Some of these fragments were taken by Mr. Stanhope to Revesby Abbey. Two of them stand in the writer’s garden, at Langton Rectory.
[193]Cl. Rot., 13 Hen III., given in “Lincs. N. & Q.,” vol. i, p. 49. From a very early period churches and churchyards were regarded as so sacred that a criminal, having reached one of these, like the Biblical cities of refuge, could not be disturbed. On the north door of Durham Cathedral there is a ponderous bronze knocker-ring, to which the criminal, clinging, was safe. There is another at Hexham, and at St. Gregory’s, Norwich. At Westminster, Worcester, Croyland, Tintern, and many other places, there was the same privilege. In Beverley Minster there is a remarkable stone called the “Frith-stool,” because it “freeth” the criminal from pursuit. It is recorded that in 1325 ten men escaped from Newgate, four of them to the Church of St. Sepulchre, and one to St. Bride’s. Nicholas de Porter joined in dragging a man from Sanctuary, who was afterwards executed. But this act was itself so great an offence, that he only obtained pardon through the Papal Nuncio, on doing penance in his shirt and bare head and feet in the church porch, on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in Whitsun week. A result, however, of the abuse of Sanctuary was, that churches being so numerous over the country, criminals could always obtain a refuge, and the roads became infested with highwaymen. Henry VIII. passed Acts curtailing the privilege, and it was finally abolished by James I., 1624—“New Quarterly Mag.,” Jan., 1880.Et alibi.
[194a]Collectanea, vol. ii., p. 300.
[194b]Although these events happened more than 250 years ago, it does not require many links to connect that day with the present. The writer was informed, at the time he was putting these records together, that a man named John Barber died in Horncastle, aged 95, in the year 1855 or 1856, whose grandfather remembered Oliver Cromwell sleeping in the above-named house, then a mud and stud structure, on the night before Winceby fight. In the Register of West Barkwith is recorded the burial of Nicholas Vickers in 1719, who guided Cromwell over Market Rasen Moor after the battle. Cromwell may well, therefore, have returned to the same house at Horncastle before proceeding northward by Market Rasen.
[196a]“Monasticon,” p. 45.
[196b]“History of the House of Marmion,” p. 18.
[197a]Berewick is a hamlet or minor manor attached to a larger. The word strictly means cornland (bere, or barley). This Dispenser, as his name (Latin Dispensator) implies, was steward to the Conqueror. His descendants were the Despensers, Earls of Gloucester. He was brother to the Earl Montgomery. Being a powerful man, he forcibly seized the lordship of Elmley from the monks of Worcester. At the time of Domesday he held 15 manors in Lincolnshire, seventeen in Leicester, four in Warwickshire, &c.
[197b]Maddison’s “Wills,” series i., p. 360, No. 96.
[198]In a note on the Will, Mr. Maddison says, “The testator was the second son of Robert Dighton (of Sturton), by his wife, Joyce St. Paul (a lady of another very old and well-connected county family).”
[199a]Land Revenue Records, bundle 1392, file 79, Pub. Rec. Off.