A house at the south-west corner of the market place, where Mr. R. W. Clitherow, solicitor, now lives, was formerly a public-house, but was burnt down and the present one erected. At this house, then occupied by Mr. Sellwood, solicitor, Sir John Franklin visited, and was entertained at a public dinner, a few days beforehe set out, in 1844, on his final Arctic expedition; and the writer remembers his father going to attend this dinner.
We have said that, 100 years ago, almost every house was thatched. A record in Mr. Overton’s possession states that the two first slate-roofed houses in the town were one built by Mr. Storr, a gardener, afterwards occupied by Mrs. L’Oste, widow of the Rev. C. L’Oste, rector of Langton, and now occupied by Dr. Howes; and the house of Mr. Titus Overton, now occupied by Mr. John Overton, being erected in 1793.
Having completed our perambulations of the town, let us betake ourselves once more to the country. We remount the hill, which we descended on leaving Thimbleby for Horncastle, but by a different road, viz., one running due west. Half way up the ascent of this, the westernmost spur of the chalky Wolds, we have two roads, either of which would bring us to Woodhall Spa, almost equi-distant by either; but that is not, as yet, our destination. We continue the ascent, due westward. The summit reached, we have a wide prospect before us. To the left, on a clear day, Boston Stump is visible, the Tower on the Moor rises above the woods, beyond that Tattershall castle and church; in the dim distance the graceful spire of Heckington points, like a needle, to the sky. Straight in front of us woods on woods band and bar the prospect, relieved by the spires of Old Woodhall and Horsington. To the right, the horizon is crowned by the almost pyramidal shape of Lincoln Minster, the seeing eye also detecting the lesser pyramid of the Chapter House, other spires, with the factory chimneys of the now busy city, more than its old prosperity being revived. Further to the right the plantations of Fillingham Castle, some miles beyond Lincoln, on the “Spital road,” fringe the view. Truly, it is a wide-ranging outlook, embracing little short of 30 miles, with many a village and hamlet, buried and unseen, in its entourage of wood. Immediately in the near front is Langton mill, a conspicuous object, which I have distinguished from the top of Lincoln Minster itself. Half-a-mile farther lies the village of Langton, one of three of the same name in the neighbourhood—one near Spilsby, one near Wragby, and this “by Horncastle.” As to the meaning of the name Langton, Dr. Oliver refers the first syllable to the British “Lan” (Welsh Llan), meaning “place of worship,” and so corresponding to Kirkby, orKirkstead. In this particular case, however, the ordinary meaning of “Lang,” or “long,” would be specially applicable, since the village has evidently at one time been larger than at present, and the parish extended, some six miles, to the Witham, until, quite recently, the distant portion was included in Woodhall Spa. Here again we had, until recent years, in the rectory, another moated residence, standing almost on an island, being surrounded by water except for the space of the churchyard and the width of a drive to the house. The moat was drained for sanitary reasons about 50 yeans ago, to the regret of many, since, as has been mentioned in a previous chapter (Chapter VI.), it contained an abundance of large pike, and other fish, from which the lake at Sturton Hall was stocked. The Queen was the lady of the manor until, in 1860, much Crown property was sold in this neighbourhood, and the manor and most of the land in the parish, except the glebe, was bought by the Coates family, who have a substantial residence here.
In three fields at the west end of the village are traces of ponds, mounds, and hollows, indicating large buildings existing at one time. And we have sundry records of men of rank who have owned land, and probably resided, in the parish. Dugdale[196a]tells us that this “town” was given by the Conqueror to the then powerful Bishop of Durham, whose name was William de Karilepho. He was Chief Justice of England. This gift the Conqueror may be said to have “confirmed with an oath,” for the charter, conveying the land, sets forth that they “shall be preserved inviolable for ever,” and concludes with an anathema on whosoever shall profane the charter, or change anything therein, unless for the better:—“by the authority of the Prince of Apostles, I deprive them of the society of the Lord, the aforesaid Pope Gregory, and the Church; and reserve them by the judgment of God, to be punished by everlasting fire with the devil and his angels. Amen.” This fearful threat of Divine vengeance, however, seems to have lost its terror after a lapse of time of no very great length, since, according to the historian Banks,[196b]in the 9th year of Edward I. Philip de Marmion held the manor.
There was formerly not only Langton, but an outlying Langton-thorpe, and this is probablyreferred to in Domesday Book as the “Berewick” of Langton, for it is there stated that Robert Dispenser held in this Berewick[197a]of Langton one carucate in demesne, eight soke men (tenants) with half a carucate, and four villeins with two carucates, and twenty-four acres of meadow, and two hundred and eighty acres of wood containing pasturage.
A powerful family of the Angevines lived here at a later period. There is, extant among the Records of Lincoln,[197b]the Will of Robert Angevine, Gent., of Langton by Horncastle, dated 25th April, 1545, in which he requests that he may be buried in the church of St. Margaret; he bequeaths to his daughters, Millesancte, Grace, Jane, and Mary, “vli. apiece,” the money to come out of Burnsall, Hebden, Conyseat, and Norton, in Yorkshire; to his wife Margaret “xli. a year for life out of the said lands”; and to his son William lands in Hameringham. The family acquired their name thus:—Ivo Tailbois was at the head of the Aungevine troops of auxiliaries which William the Conqueror brought over with him from Normandy; and this name, in time, took the various forms of Aungelyne, Aungeby, and Angevine. There were Angevines at Whaplode, in the south-east of the county, in the 12th century. There was a branch of them at Theddlethorpe, and at Saltfleetby, in the 14th century. The one at Langton had a brother at West Ashby. They appear in the Visitation of 1562 among the leading families of the county gentry; but in 1592 the name does not appear, and they dwindled away, and at the time of the Commonwealth are nowhere found. The old families of Scroope and of Langton are also said to have resided here. A member of the family of the Dightons, who owned Stourton, Waddingworth, and other properties in this neighbourhood, if not actually residing in Langton (although he probably did), had an interest in the place, as, in a Will, still at Lincoln, dated 15th July, 1557, having requested that he might “be buried in the quire whereI die”; among other bequests, he leaves a sum of money “to the poore of Langton by Horncastle.”[198]
From 1653 to 1656 Justice Filkin resided at Langton, and before him persons of Horncastle and the neighbourhood were frequently married, the law at that time recognising only civil marriages.
The church of Langton (St. Margaret’s) is a small edifice, and, until recently, was in a very poor condition, with no pretension to architectural beauty in any of its features. It had been rebuilt in the 18th century, at the very worst period for such work, and so badly done that it was almost a ruin when the writer, as rector, undertook its restoration. Though still small, it now has several interesting features. The pulpit, reading desk and lectern have been carved by the Rector, in old oak, in Jacobean style, in memory of his father, who was rector 49 years. In the chancel there is an Aumbrey containing an ancient stoup of Barnack stone, said to have formerly been the holy water vessel of Spalding Priory. On the Communion table is a curious old alms dish of “lateen” metal; the device in the centre is the temptation by the devil of our first parents; an inscription in old Dutch runs round,—Vreest Goedt honderhovedt syn geboedt; or, Fear God, keep his commandments. The font bowl is Early Norman, of Barnack stone, discovered by the Rector among rubbish in some back premises in Horncastle, and supposed to have been the font of the Early Norman church of St. Lawrence, once existing there; the pedestal and base are fragments from the ruins of Kirkstead. In a recess, or aumbrey, behind the west door, is a very interesting relic, found, a few years ago, in the moat of the old hall at Poolham, which we described in the previous chapter. We there mentioned the remains of an oratory, or chapel, still standing in the south-west corner of the kitchen garden at the old Hall. Some men were employed in cleaning out the mud from the encircling moat, the season being a very dry one, and the moat almost empty of water. This had not been done for many years, if ever before, and the mud was some feet thick. Below the above-named chapel ruins an object was thrown up among the mud, which the men took to be a broken seed vessel formerlybelonging to a birdcage, but as it was curiously marked, one of them took it home, and asked the writer to go and look at it. He did so, and, seeing its antiquity, he obtained it for a trifle, and communicated with the Society of Antiquaries, and other authorities, about it, with the result that it was pronounced to be a mediæval chrismatory. It was made of coarse tarra-cotta of a greyish buff colour, ornamented with patterns of squares, diamonds and crosses, with a fleur-de-lys in the centre of one side, emblematic of the Trinity. It contained in the body two square wells about an inch deep, which were originally covered with arched roofs, but one of these had been broken off. At each end was a spout from the cellar. Its total length was 7 inches; its height, including the roof, 4 inches; breadth, 3 inches. The use of the chrismatory was this:—When a child was to be baptised, as it was brought into the church it was sprinkled with salt, and at baptism it was anointed with oil; and the two cellars were intended respectively to hold the salt and oil. This object has been exhibited on various public occasions, and has excited much interest, as it is considered to be quite unique. The church was at one time considerably larger, as, at the restoration in 1891, the foundations of a north aisle were found, as well as of a tower. The Land Revenue Records mention that, in 1553, it had “three gret bells and a sanctum bell.”[199a]The only remaining bell bears the inscription “Anno Domini 1579, R. G.”[199b]Considerable neglect has been allowed in the past, as is shown by the Archdeacon’s Visitation in 1606, when the rector, Wm. Kirk, was presented “for the decay of his parsonage house”; while Wm. Newport, Thos. Goniston, and John Hodgson, guardians, were reported as “collecting monie to ye value of iijl, vjs, vijd, to buy a Co’ion Cup, and not p’viding one, and for not p’viding a sufficient bible, and a chest with two lockers and keys.” Uriah Kirke, rector, was also presented “for suffering a barne of 3 baies to fall down belonging to ye parsonage, and for his chauncel being in decay, and the chauncel windows all broken.” And Charles Johnson and Augnes, widow of Robt. Thurnhill, late guardian, were reported as “selling away ye Communion Cup belonging to ye church.” This larger church had several windows in the chancel, instead of the one window of the modern church, and an olddocument thus describes them and their colouring:—
Boreales fenestræ in Cancello. Arg. Crosse Crusilly a lyon ramp. double queued. G. a lyon ram. very crowned or, Everingham. Arg. billetty a lyon double queued G. Rob. de Seyrt me fecit fieri. Blue a bend 6 mullets of 6 poynts or. Fenestra Austualis—Barry of 6 arg. and gules in chief, a greyhound cursant sa., collard or.—Skipworth.In Campanili gules, a cross sarcelly arg. Beke sa. a crosse engrayled or, Ufferd (Willoughby).
Boreales fenestræ in Cancello. Arg. Crosse Crusilly a lyon ramp. double queued. G. a lyon ram. very crowned or, Everingham. Arg. billetty a lyon double queued G. Rob. de Seyrt me fecit fieri. Blue a bend 6 mullets of 6 poynts or. Fenestra Austualis—Barry of 6 arg. and gules in chief, a greyhound cursant sa., collard or.—Skipworth.
In Campanili gules, a cross sarcelly arg. Beke sa. a crosse engrayled or, Ufferd (Willoughby).
These windows were evidently fine, and indicate a connection with the parish of the ancient families Everingham, Skipwith, Deseyrt, Bec and Willoughby.[200a]The architect for the restoration was Mr. W. Scorer, of Lincoln; and the roof of nave and chancel was painted in panels, with emblems of the Passion, and texts, by Mr. Powell, of Lincoln. The patronage of the living was vested in Mr. Willoughby West, who also founded and endowed a couple of Bede houses, but the family is now extinct, and by lapse the patronage is with the Bishop.
A walk of a mile farther through fields, one of which is known as Dog-fight, another Broad moor, and a third Pry-close, brings us to the church (St. Margaret also) of Old Woodhall. The name of this field “Pry-close” would seem to be an interesting Norman survival; “Pre” is a meadow. Near Northampton are “the verdant meads of De la Prè.” And this may have been the home pasture of the old Wood-Hall. Praie, however, is an old word meaning coarse grass, which is still to be seen in the field. This church again, of which the writer is vicar, was in a dangerous condition when he entered on the benefice in 1890, but was restored in 1893. It possessed an interesting feature in the spire, one, according to an old saying, of the only four spires existing on this, the eastern, side of the river Witham; that of Louth being the chief, and one of the finest in the kingdom, which took 15 years in building; that of South Somercotes being a third; and that of Linwood being a fourth, of which Gough, in his additions to Camden’s “Britannia,” (vol. ii., p. 267), says it “is the only one to be seen in a round of 59 parishes hereabouts.”[200b]The spire ofWoodhall is a modest imitation of that of Louth, having flying buttresses. Half-way up it is encircled by a battlemented corona. Its structure is peculiar, as it rests entirely and solely on two buttresses on each side of the west door. It dates from the 14th century. The body of the church is modern, being rebuilt in the worst style in 1807, partly of brick and partly of stone, the roof throughout being of one elevation, without any distinction between nave and chancel. At the restoration, the Vicar, as at Langton, carved the pulpit, reading-desk, font cover, and desk for Communion table, in memory of his father, who was 50 years vicar. The font was formerly in the little chapel, or oratory, in the garden at Poolham Hall, previously referred to, and left there neglected. It is here restored to its original sacred purpose, and is supported by four handsome columns of serpentine, from the Lizard quarries, Cornwall, the gift of the Rev. J. A. Penny, vicar of Wispington. The church has two bells. Further details of Woodhall were given in a previous chapter, in describing the old moated Wood-Hall. It was at the farm close by the church that a well (also previously mentioned) was sunk to a depth of 33 feet, which tapped a saline spring, resembling, it was said, the Woodhall Spa water, but which soon lost its salt taste from the inrush of fresh water.[201]Beside a pond just outside the churchyard there is a very large ice-borne boulder, measuring about 4½ feet in length, 4 feet in width, and 1½ feet in thickness.
In an old charter “dated at Edlington on Wednesday next after the feast of St. Michael, 1285,” by which William, son of William de Wvspington, grants to William Hardigrey of Edlington, clerk, certain properties, one of the witnesses is Aluered de Wodhalle, along with several others. This would probably be a descendant of Alured of Lincoln, who, in Domesday Book, is said to be possessed of 51 lordships in Lincolnshire, besides property in other counties. The last descendant died without male issue, 48 Henry III., leaving his three sisters his next heirs, and so the name perished.
We now retrace our steps as far as Langton mill, and there taking the road which branches off to the right, southward, we soon arrive at Thornton. The church, dedicated to St. Wilfrid (Archbishopa.d.709), which replaceda mean structure, built about 1730 in the worst of styles, with flat plaster ceiling and wooden window frames with large square panes of glass, was entirely rebuilt in the Perpendicular style, and thoroughly well done, in 1889–90, by Canon J. Clare Hudson, vicar, and the leading parishioners, at a cost of £1,000. The only objects of any antiquarian interest are some quaint wrought-iron double crosses affixed to the north and south walls of the nave, having eight iron hat pegs on each. The font is modern, its bowl octagonal, with the monogram I.H.S. and other devices on alternate sides. In the chancel are modern frescoes executed by Miss Alice Erskine, an amateur artist of much taste. The subject on the north wall is the visit of the Magi to the Infant Saviour, while on the wall to the south of the east window are representatives of the Archangels St. Michael and St. Gabriel. Gifts of handsome brass candlesticks for the Holy Table, and service books have recently been made by H. R. Elmhirst, Esq., and Mrs. Elmhirst. The Communion table is of Indian teakwood. We may here observe that the Records at Lincoln shew that there were rectors in this parish (though now a vicarage) in 1232 and downwards, and a list of the incumbents from that date to the present time has been compiled by Canon Hudson, and may be seen in the parish chest. The Parish Registers date from 1561. Among the gentry mentioned in the Registers as residents in the parish are several members of the very old county family of Maddison, who intermarried with the Dymokes. In digging in the churchyard on the north-west of the old church, the base of the west tower of the pre-Reformation church was found, which was said also to have had two aisles. In the churchyard is a tombstone commemorative of Penelope Gunnis, who died in 1826, at the advanced age of 107 years. The western portions of this parish, which stretches from within 150 yards of St. Mary’s Church, Horncastle, to within 100 yards of the Witham at Kirkstead wharf, are now included in the Civil parish of Woodhall Spa.
In the reign of the Conqueror the powerful Robert Despenser had in this parish eighty acres of meadow land, three hundred and fifty acres of wood, and two mills, with sokemen, velleins, and bordars; other land, with dependents, being owned by Gozelin, a vassal of Alured of Lincoln, named above in connectionwith Woodhall. The Champion Dymoke is lord of the manor in the present day. A Roman urn, as has been stated elsewhere, was dug up in this parish when the railway was being constructed. The only public notice in connection with Thornton of an unusual character, in modern times, is the following, which appeared as an advertisement in the “Stamford Mercury” of January 5th, 1810:—Sacrilege.—Whereas the Parish Church of Thornton, near Horncastle, has been lately broken open and a thin silver half-pint cup stolen out of the chest, any person giving information of the offender or offenders, shall, on conviction, receive from the parishioners of Thornton five guineas reward, and if there was an accomplice in the above sacrilege who will turn King’s evidence, he shall, on conviction, have the above reward, and every endeavour will be used to obtain his Majesty’s pardon.—“Lincs. N. & Q.,” Oct., 1896.
In a list of gentry who furnished “launces and light horse” for the defence of the country in 1584, given in the Melbourn Hall MS., we find the name of Edward Dymmock, of Thornton, Gent., put down for “j light horse” for the master at Horncastle, and among those who were summoned for the Sessions there, according to another list, we again find Edward Dymmock of Thornton, Gent. (“Architect. S. Journal,” vol. xxii., pt. ii., pp. 214 and 221). In a grass field, on the south side of the road through Thornton, there are mounds and hollows, indicating a large residence, which this Dymmock probably occupied.
Proceeding three quarters of a mile further southward, and passing Martin Hall, we turn up a lane to the right and find the church of Martin, St. Michael’s, in a secluded spot, like many a flower born to blush unseen. Yet it is worthy of a visit, having features of more than ordinary interest, which were well preserved on its partial restoration in 1869, and again by the late W. J. Gilliatt, of the Hall, and his sisters, in 1877. For many years it was a thatched edifice, but now has a slated roof. The south doorway is Early Norman, with broad, receding semi-circular arch, with a double band of zigzag moulding; on each side, Norman columns, with, quaint heads as capitals. The church is entered by two descending steps. The font is modern, Norman in style, the bowl having eight semi-circular fluttings, being supported by eight columns raised on a stone pediment. The westwindow is filled with good modern glass from Munich. The central subject is the Saviour’s body being taken down from the Cross; the left subject is the Saviour bearing His Cross; the right, the body being borne away. This was a memorial, placed in the church by Miss Spalding, of Lincoln, commemorative of the Rev. J. B. Smith, D.D., the rector, who, in returning from paying her a visit at Lincoln, fell out of his railway carriage at Kirkstead and broke his neck, although, strange to say, he lived for several weeks afterwards.[204]In the north wall of the nave is a plain arched Easter sepulchre, which was probably the founder’s tomb. The pulpit is of Caen stone, plain, and massive; behind it is a curious semi-circular recess, in the east wall. The chancel arch is Early English, and very narrow, only 3ft. 9in. in width, which makes the chancel very dark, an effect further increased by the great thickness, 3ft. 4in., of the chancel arch wall. The east window has two trefoiled lights, small and narrow, their total width only 2ft. 3in. In the south wall of the chancel are two deeply-recessed small square-headed windows, partly built up, and having a stone seat at the base, but too high for use. There are several flat tombstones of Hughsons and Oldhams in the floor. The Early Norman doorway and the massive chancel arch wall and gloomy chancel are the special features of this interesting little church. At the time of the restoration, in 1877, the original large altar slab, decorated with four crosses, was found in the floor, face downwards. It was taken, up, and now forms the base, or däis, of the Communion table. The Parish Register commences with 1562. Under the year 1649 occurs this entry:—“This yeare ye lordship of Marton was inclosed; no consent of Bishop or Rector.” The unusual name, “Ingelo,” specially known in connection with the poem, “The Bells of Enderby,” occurs frequently in the Registers from 1673 downwards.The names of Norreys Fynes, and other members of the family, resident at White-Hall, in this parish, occur frequently. There is an engraving of the church in the “Church of England Magazine” for 1849. We must not omit to mention that the fine fragment of brickwork called the “Tower on the Moor,” and co-eval with Tattershall Castle, although now included in the Civil parish of Woodhall Spa, stands in what was part of Martin parish till 1897. There only remains the staircase of what was once a much larger structure. Leland says, “One of the Cromwelles builded a preaty turret caullid the Tour of the Moore: and thereby he made a faire greate pond or lake brickid about. The lake is commonly called the Synkker” (Itinerarium, vol. iv., p. 58).
Scott, the celebrated commentator, began his ministerial labours in this parish.
In early times. Martin was in the “soke” of Kirkby-on-Bain, i.e., it was under the jurisdiction of the lord of the manor of Kirkby, who, in the time of the Conqueror, was Eudo, son of Spirewick, the founder[205a]of the Tateshall, or Tattershall, family in Lincolnshire. This Eudo, as Dugdale relates,[205b]with his sworn brother in arms, Pinso (though no blood relation), came into England with the Conqueror, and the two merited so well of him in that service that they obtained for recompense the lordship of Tattershall, with the hamlet of Thorpe, and town of Kirkby. He held direct from the king certain lands in Martin; and as the Clintons, shortly after the extinction of the Tattershall family, received their estates, this would be the way in which the Whitehall estate in Martin came to the Clintons.
Journeying on still southward, some mile and a half from Martin, we reach the parish of Roughton. The church has no pretensions to architectural beauty, being a mixture of brick and sandstone. It has nave, chancel, and castellated tower, and small castellated parapets at the north and south ends of the chancel wall; a large west door, and small priests’ door in the chancel. It was newly roofed and fitted with open oak benches in 1870, the chancel being then also paved with encaustic tiles, the tower opened to the nave, and most of the windows partly filled with stained glass. The font is plain, circular, upon a circular pediment; it hasan old font cover, cupola shaped, octagonal, of oak, plain, except some slight carving round the rim. There are some fragmentary remains of a carved rood screen, and a plain old oak pulpit. In the chancel is a lengthy inscription, commemorative of Norreys Fynes, Esq., which has already been given to a previous chapter in connection with Fynes of Whitehall. There is also a mural tablet to the memory of the Rev. Arthur Rockliffe, who died in 1798; and another to Charles Pilkington, Esq., who died in 1798, and Abigail his wife, who died in 1817. The register dates from 1564, and is therefore a fairly good one, since parochial registers were only first enjoined in the reign of Henry VIII., 1530–1538. The registers contain some peculiar entries, and exhibit a remarkable orthography, if such a term can be applied to what would more correctly be called orthography. Of these entries one is as follows:—The churchyard fence was repaired by lengths in 1760, each parishioner (of any substance) taking a length; a list of their names is given, closing with the words “a piece to the Lord,” i.e., the lord of the manor. In the year 1631–2 there were 43 burials; among them the rector, Randulph Woodinge, on Oct. 23nd; his daughter Ann, Oct. 23rd; and daughter Thomasine, Nov. 1st. There were two of the family of Carrot, two Lincolns, two Applebys, two Grogbys, three Hawards, two Burches, besides other single cases. Though it is not so specified, this would doubtless be the epidemic called “the Plague,” or “Black Death.”
An entry on “Aprill the 15 1707” gives “The Church More lying in Well sick cloase was leten for 4 & 6.” This is moorland near Well Syke wood belonging to the church, from which peat was cut for church fuel; and two other entries refer to this practice: “Simon Grant of Dalderby for 1 days work of bages (i.e., sods) . . . 2 ,, 6.” “Simon flinte for 1 days works of bages . . . 2 „ 6.” This was good pay according to the rate of wages in the early part of the 18th century, to which these entries refer. But it was “skilled” labour, and, moreover, hard work, as anyone will understand who remembers the instrument used on the moor forty years ago. It was a large, flat, and broad kind of shovel at the end of a long pole with transverse handle a foot long, which was placed against the workman’s waist or pit of his stomach, and he thus thrust the tool forward through the turf with the whole weight andforce of his body. Those who were much engaged in this kind of work usually suffered from rupture of the lower muscles of the body.
For some years before 1657 none but civil marriages were valid in law, and Justice Filkin is mentioned in the Register as marrying the Rector of Roughton, John Bancroft, to Ann Coulen. Persons were often married in the church, as well as before the Justice; the civil marriage was also often neglected, and the feeling was generally so strong that marriage should be a religious rite, that in the year 1657 marriage by the minister was allowed by Act of Parliament.
A peculiar entry in the parish account book is “Mary Would overseer of ye poore gave up hir accountes” (1707 Ap. 15). We are now, at the beginning of the 20th century, admitting women to a limited number of public offices, yet the people of Roughton were evidently in advance of the times, and forestalled us 180 yeans ago. One or two curious instances of spelling may here be given, showing that the schoolmaster was not then much in evidence:—“1703 Beuerils, &c.”; “1705 Bearths, Robert ye son of bniamen hehuhinson (Benjamin Hewinson) and jane his wife was borne ye 15 day of january.” “Burial. John Snow, Inn-holder, July 3d., 1765”; “1707 Rebekah Leach was beureid July the 10”; “1708 John Bouth and Doryty his wife”; “Rebekah Langcaster 1725, the douter of Joseph Langcaster.” “John Swingo the sun of John Swingo and Ann his wife howous (was) Baptized the 17 of Aprill 1709.” This name, in another entry, 1733, is given as Swinsgo; the modern spelling is Swinscoe.
The names of some good families appear, as “An the wife of Will Hennag was buered ye 9 of Feberery, 1729”; “Madame Elizabeth fines was buered May ye 29, 1730”; “George soun of Mr. Clinton Whichcote 1624”; and, later, “Mary the wife of John Gaunt, and Anthony, son of John Gaunt, were buried Dec. 16, 1803.” The Hall, not an ancient moated mansion, like so many described in these pages, but yet one of some antiquity, has been occupied at different times, by members of several leading county families, as Fynes, Whichcote, Heneage, Dymoke, Pilkington, and Beaumont. It has belonged to the Dymokes, as also the patronage of the benefice, although Sir H. M. Hawley is lord of the manor.
In the reign of Elizabeth a family of Eastwoods was located here, as the Records shewthat Andrew Eastwood of Roughton was among the gentry who contributed £25 each to the Armada Fund for the defence of England.[208a]By a Chancery Inquisition, post mortem, 22 Richard II., No. 13, taken at Market Staynton, the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist (1399a.d.), before William Bolle, escheator, it was shewn that “Ralph de Cromwell, chivaler, held jointly with his wife Matilda, besides other property, the manor of Tumby with appurtenances in Rughton, Wodehall, Langton,” etc. And again, in a later Inquisition, post mortem, 13 Henry VII., No. 34, taken at Burwell, it was shewn that “the said Matilda Willughby died seised in fee tail of the manor of Kirkeby upon Bayne, and lands in Roughton, Woodhall, Langton,” &c.[208b]
In Domesday Book, the powerful Robert Despenser is named as having in Roughton twelve oxgangs rateable to gelt, with three sokemen, and a half sokeman holding two carucates of land with three draught oxen; also fifteen acres of meadow land, a fishery worth 2s. yearly, and forty acres of woodland, containing pasturage in parts. The name is there given as “Roc-stune,” whether from any Druidical boulder, or sacred stone, or landmark, does not appear to be known.
From Roughton, going eastward by a ford on the river Bain, or returning to Horncastle and taking the main road south-eastward, we arrive, a little over two miles distant, at Scrivelsby, a village which is unique in the kingdom, since there is but one King’s Champion, and he is “Lord of Scrivelsby.” As we approach Scrivelsby[208c]Court, by a road shaded by stately trees of hoar antiquity, with the well-wooded park on our left, and fields, nicely timbered and interspersed with copses, on our right, we pause, after a slight ascent, at a point where three ways meet. Before us stands the “Lion gateway,” a substantial arched stone structure with sculptured Lion “passant” surmounting it; the Royal beast indicating the official hereditary honour of the head of the family as the Sovereign’s Champion. On our right, in a humbler position of less prominence, under the shade of trees, and green with age, stillsurvive the parish stocks. Thus the emblems of civil and military power confront each other. The Court itself, standing some 150 yards from this gateway, is approached through another arch in the wall of the Courtyard. The present building is not one of large proportions, the chief part of the old baronial residence having been destroyed by fire about 130 years ago; to replace which modern additions were made, on a smaller scale, early in the 19th century. Of the portion destroyed a chief feature was a very large hall, with wainscoted panels, on which “were depicted the arms and alliances of the family through its numerous and far-traced descents.”[209a]The chief features of interest now remaining within are some of the suits of armour worn by Champions, and a collection of “Champion Cups.” The collection of armour was much finer a few years ago, but, on the extinction of the line of the late Sir Henry Dymoke, most of these were dispersed by sale, and the Cups were bequeathed to the Queen, although Her Majesty, through the intermediation of the late Right Honourable E. Stanhope, most graciously restored them to the father of the present Champion. On the wall of the “Lion gateway,” to the right of the arch, is a rebus, or “canting” device, formed of a rude representation of a tree dividing in a Y shape referring to an old-time emblem of the family. As the Plantagenets had their “planta genista,” the broom; so the Dymokes would seem to have had their “oak.”[209b]Thedescent of the early Dymokes may be briefly given thus:—Scrivelsby, forming part of the Soke of Horncastle, of which the Conqueror held the manor, was given by William to Robert Dispenser, his steward, whom we have several times named in connection with other neighbouring parishes. From him it passed, by some process unknown, to the Marmions. The last Lord Marmyon died in 1292, and the Lincolnshire portion of his estates,—for Sir Walter Scott describes him as
“Lord of Fontenay,Of Lutterworth and Scrivelsbay,Of Tamworth tower and town.”—
“Lord of Fontenay,Of Lutterworth and Scrivelsbay,Of Tamworth tower and town.”—
passed to his younger daughter, Joan, whose granddaughter, Margaret de Ludlow, married, in the reign of Edward III., Sir John Dymoke, who acted as Champion at the coronation of Richard II., and from that time, more than 500 years, the Dymokes have acted in that capacity for their respective Sovereigns, down to the last century, the ceremony, however, having been dispensed with, to the regret of many, on the accessions of William IV., Queen Victoria, and our present Most Gracious Majesty King Edward VII.
As this, formerly, State ceremony was so imposing, and of such antiquity, it deserves more than a passing notice. We here give a description of it, as observed at the coronation of Queen Mary, from the account of Planché, in the Royal Records. “At the close of the second course of the Coronation Banquet, the Champion, Sir Edward Dymoke, entered WestminsterHall, riding on a roan destrier (war horse) trapped in cloth of gold, with a mace in one hand and a gauntlet in the other. He was escorted to the upper end of the hall by the Lord High Constable, and the Earl Marshall, and the Herald of the Queen with a trumpet; and after he had made obeisance to the Queen’s highness, he turned him a little aside, and with a loud voice made proclamation, ‘If there be any manner of man, of what estate, degree, or condition soever he be, that will say, and maintain, that our Sovereign Lady Queen Mary, this day here present, is not the rightful, and undoubted, heretrix to the Imperial Crown of this realm of England, and that of right she ought not to be crowned Queen, I say he lieth as a false traitor, and that I am ready the same to maintain with him, whilst I have breath in my body, either now at this time, or at any other time, whensoever it shall please the Queen’s highness to appoint; and thereupon the same I cast him my gage.’ Then he cast the gauntlet from him, the which no man would take up, till that a herald took it up and gave it to him again. Then he proceeded to another place, and did in this manner, in three several places in the said Hall. Then he came to the upper end, and the Queen drank to him; and after sent to him the cup, which he had for his fee, and likewise the harness and trappings, and all the harness which he did himself wear, and then he returned to the place from whence he came, and was gone.” On the last occasion, when this ceremony was observed, viz., at the coronation of George IV., the rightful champion being in Holy Orders, his son Henry, afterwards Sir H. Dymoke, Bart., was allowed to act for his father, who was the eighteenth of the hereditary champions of his family. Sir Walter Scott was present, and, writing to a friend, says, “Young Dymoke is a fine-looking youth, but bearing perhaps a little too much the appearance of a maiden knight to be a challenger of the world.” But he adds, with the eye of an antiquary, “His armour was in good taste, except that his shield was out of all propriety, being a round ‘Rondache,’ or Highland target, impossible to use on horseback, instead of being a three-cornered, or leather, shield, which, in the time of the Tilt, was suspended round the neck. However, on the whole . . . the Lord of Scrivelsby looked and behaved extremely well.”[211]
Onecontre-temps, however, occurred on this occasion, which Sir Walter, perhaps, thought it polite, or politic, not to mention; others have not had the same scruples, and hence an incident is recorded which may have had something to do with the future omission of the ceremony. The Duke of Wellington, as Lord High Constable, had to ride by the Champion’s side, with the Deputy Earl Marshal on the other side. It was part of the observance that, in withdrawing from the Sovereign’s presence, the riders should back their horses, keeping their heads towards the King. The Duke, in his anxiety that all should go without a hitch, had hired a horse from Astley’s circus, which had been specially trained for that part of the ceremony; but, unfortunately, the intelligent animal chose the wrong stage in the ceremony for the performance, and most conscientiously and obstinately persisted in turning tail and backingtowardsthe King instead of from him, and was with difficulty slewed round by the attendants.[212a]
It were much to be desired that this picturesque and interesting relic of feudal custom’s might be restored. The present may be an age of new-born energies, and even revolutionary ideas, but the spirit of “Reverentia Cani” is by no means extinguished, and the interest in old institutions seems ever widening and deepening in the general sentiment.
As a curiosity I will give here a bill, sent in by Sir Edward Dymoke to Sir William Cecil (he spells it “Syscell”) for the cost of some of the articles necessary to him as Champion at the coronation of Mary, which he seems to have had a difficulty in getting paid, although he was, by custom, entitled to them.
Stuff yt Phyllyp Lenthall have delyvered to Sir Edward Dymocke.Item for a showrde (a) and gerdyll (b), and scabbart (c) of velvet . . . xlsItem for ij pardeynzyns (d) gylte (e) . . . xlsItem for a poll (f) ax . . . xxsItem for a chasynge (g) staff . . . vis viiidItem for a gylte payre of spowres (h) . . . xvisSm total VI£ .. IIs .. VIIId.[212b]
Stuff yt Phyllyp Lenthall have delyvered to Sir Edward Dymocke.
Item for a showrde (a) and gerdyll (b), and scabbart (c) of velvet . . . xls
Item for ij pardeynzyns (d) gylte (e) . . . xls
Item for a poll (f) ax . . . xxs
Item for a chasynge (g) staff . . . vis viiid
Item for a gylte payre of spowres (h) . . . xvis
Sm total VI£ .. IIs .. VIIId.[212b]
It may strike us as singular that so high an official as the King’s Champion should perpetrate such spelling as the above; but those were days in which many a baron bold found it easier to inscribe his name on the scroll of fame, by dint of his trusty sword, than by the clerkly crowquill.
The church of Scrivelsby was thoroughly restored in 1861, and further improvements made in 1876, the previous structure being a poor one. Sir Henry added, at his own cost, a spire. The most interesting features of the former building were carefully retained. There is an aumbrey, in a curious position, near the north-west door. The font is octagonal, on pedestal, apparently modern, the faces having poppy head and other simple devices. There is a tomb, of Lewis Dymoke, under the reading desk, in the nave; in the north aisle, having Early English columns of three bays, and eastward two bays with Norman columns, there are recumbent figures of a knight and lady (supposed to be Sir Philip Marmion and wife), the male figure with shield, delapidated, the female entire. At the east end of the same aisle is the tomb of Sir Robert Dymoke, “upon whose soule Almightie God have m’ie. Amen.” There is a good rood screen in the chancel. In 1899 a beautiful window was given, of coloured glass, by Mrs. Dymoke, of the Court, in memory of her husband, Francis Scaman Dymoke, the Hon. the Queen’s Champion. The subjects illustrated are (1) Our Lord preaching the sermon on the Mount, and (2) in the act of blessing little children, under the former of which are the words “Blessed are the pure in heart,” and under the latter “Suffer little children to come unto me.” In the chancel is also a rich mural monument to Lewis Dymoke, “who performed the service at the coronation of George I. and George II. He was the youngest son of Sir Charles Dymoke and Eleanor eldest daughter of the first Lord Rockingham.” There are two other tablets, on the north and south walls, of Dymokes, and others in the floor; also a tablet to John Tyrwhitt, Esq., of Pentre Park, and his wife Sophia, a Dymoke; and another of the Rev. I.Bradshaw Tyrwhitt, of Wilksby. In the churchyard are also tombs of Dymokes, one a massive structure opposite the east window, containing the remains of the late Sir Henry Dymoke, Bart., and Emma his wife. There are also many tombstones of the Gilliat family. Some years ago, when repairs were being made in the church, the flooring was removed, and a skeleton was discovered without a head, a block of clay lying in place of the skull. This was supposed to be the remains of Sir Thomas Dymoke, who, with his relative, Lord Welles, was beheaded by Edward IV., in London, at the time of the Battle of “Loosecoat field,” near Stamford, 1470, when the fugitive rebels threw off their coats to expedite their flight.
Among the privileges of the Champion family was the right to hold a market and fair at Scrivelsby, first granted, 42 and 43 Henry III., to Philip de Marmyon, to which he proved his claim in the 9th year of Edwd. I.; also the right of free warren over the Manor of Scrivelsby, and to erect a gallows for the punishment of felons at Scrivelsby. Where the gallows were erected is not known.
Sir Edward Dymoke, Sheriff of Lincolnshire 27 Henry VIII., and also 1 Ed. VI. and 2 and 3 Philip and Mary, married Anne, sister and coheir to Gilbert, Lord Taillebois of Kyme; by which alliance the castle and manors of North and South Kyme came to the Dymoke family, and members of the family resided there until it was sold, about 1730, to the Duke of Newcastle. This Sir Edward had issue Sir Robert Sir Charles, and a daughter Elizabeth, who married Henry Ascough, a member of a very old and distinguished family. Sir Robert Dymoke, Champion to James I., married well, the daughter of Edward Clinton, Lord Clinton and Saye, afterwards created Earl of Lincoln and a K.G. Her mother had been the widow of Gilbert, Lord Taillebois, previously a mistress of Hen. VII., by whom she had a son, created Duke of Richmond.
Charles Dymoke, who died, unmarried, at Oxford in 1644, was a zealous supporter of his unfortunate Sovereign, Charles I., and by his Will bequeathed £2,000 (a large sum in those days) to relieve his necessities.
Sir Edward Dymoke, at the time of the Commonwealth, being, from his office and his loyalty, obnoxious to the Republican party, was fined, for his “delinquency,” £200 a year, and yet was obliged to pay the further, then enormous, sum of £4,633.
His son, Sir Charles, was highly esteemed for his loyalty, and was put down among those who were to be created by Charles II. “Knights of the Royal Oak,” in grateful remembrance of the King being saved in an oak at Boscobel in Staffordshire, resting on the lap of Colonel Careless, afterwards Carlos.
The Dymokes’ estates were greatly reduced by sale in the year 1871, when most, if not all, the lands not entailed were disposed of. Within the writer’s memory the Dymokes shot over lands extending from their own door (with the exception of the Ostler ground) to Kirkstead wharf.
We must here, however, pass on our way from Scrivelsby, although we shall meet with Dymokes again in the next parish.
Taking an accommodation road[215]which branches off westward from the main road opposite the Lion gate, and going through some fields, past the modern rectory, a substantial residence, we emerge, by an old cottage, whose roof, covered with ancient drab-coloured slates or slabs, reaches, on one side, to the ground, upon another main road leading to Boston. Pursuing this about a mile and a half, and passing a disused churchyard, with two or three gravestones and no church, at Dalderby, we reach the village of Haltham. Here we have a church of considerable interest. Taking the exterior first, we find a remarkable semi-circular tympanum over the door, within the porch on the south. It has a kind of Maltese cross within a circle, with a second circle running through the limbs of the cross. Below this is a small round object, with an oblong on each side of it; and below them, to the east, is an oval figure like a buckle, while below, to the west, is a square, having three-quarter circles at its corners, and semi-circles in the middle of its sides, which form the extremities of a cross, and between the limbs and the sides of the square are roundels. Below this is a curious lobated object, with what may be called a fish placed perpendicularly on it; east of the circlecontaining the Maltese cross are four rows of inverted triangles, of different lengths; below them, within a circle, is a curious figure, made of twelve unequal curved lines, arranged in four groups of threes, and forming a triple Fylfot or Swastica. Touching the east side of this circle is another, which cuts into the border of the base of the tympanum at its eastern corner, containing a cross within a square similar to that on the west side. This very curious tympanum is Early Norman, or possibly Saxon.[216]There is a priest’s door in the south wall of the chancel. There was once a north door in the nave, now bricked up. There was a large western door, round arched, with triple moulding, now also bricked up. Over this door are two stone gurgoyles, one above the other, let into recesses in the west wall, which is mainly of brick. The length of the nave, externally, is 150ft.; and its breadth, with the porch, is 150ft. The length of the chancel is 30ft. The east window is a fine, decorated, flamboyant specimen, its date being about 1350, which has been copied on a larger scale, in St. Mary’s Church, Horncastle.
Taking the interior, the sittings are all of very old oak, many of them with rudely carved poppy heads. There are very fine, heavy, old oak, carved canopies over two long pews in the north aisle for the Champion Dymokes and their servants. These, probably, were taken from a former rood screen. There is now a low screen, fragmentary, in the chancel, and an oak pulpit, old but plain. There is a piscina, with two fronts, in the south wall of the chancel, and a series of three sedilia and an aumbrey in the north wall; also carved brackets on each side of the east window. The font stands in the north-east corner of the north aisle, on a very broad base which serves as a seat. The north aisle has three bays with round arches, and two eastward with pointed arches. The windows throughout are perpendicular, but either square-topped or debased, except the fine east window, and one in the south wall of nave, of two lights. There is an incised slab to one of the Dymokes. The bell chamber is closed by ancient boarding adorned with the Commandments in old characters, and very curious Royal arms of Charles I. There are three bells, and a very curious old ladder, constructed of rude beams,leading up to the belfry. Miss Spurrier, the Rector’s daughter, assisted by the coachman, have improved the church by renovating the screen. This lady has also carved a cover for the font in very delicate pattern, the ironwork being done by the village blacksmith, Mr. Priestley.
In the village is an old hostel, partly of the Tudor style, with pointed gable ends, projecting upper story, and constructed, externally, of brick and woodwork.
In the parish register, at the bottom of the page containing the entries for the year 1584, by way of accounting for the number of funerals (51), is the following note: “This yeare plague in Haltham.” Although Haltham and Roughton are ecclesiastically united, and, in position, contiguous, there were, in that year, no extra deaths in Roughton; while in the year 1631–2 there were 43 burials at Roughton, and no increase of mortality at Haltham. The only peculiar record which I can find in connection with Haltham is a “Feet of Fines, Lincoln, 9 Henry III., No. 52,” too long to be quoted in full, which contains an agreement between Henry del Ortiay and Sabina his wife on the one hand, and Ralph de Rhodes on the other hand, tenant of lands with appurtenances, in Horncastre, Upper Tynton, Cuningbye, Holtham, &c., whereby the said Henry and his wife recognise the said lands &c. to be the right of Ralph; he on his part granting to Henry and Sabina other land with appurtenances, in Upper Tynton; certain of the lands being designated Pese-wang, Leir-me-Wang, Whete-wang, and Krunce Wong, with Hethotenacre (Heath of ten acre), Sexacre, and other names. These names illustrate what was said on a previous page regarding the field named “the Wong,” at Horncastle. A very curious feature of the agreement is that the said Henry and Sabina are “to have and to hold” these lands “of the aforesaid Ralph and his heirs forever, rendering therefor, by the year, one pair of gilt spurs, or 6d., at Easter, for all service and exaction.”[217]
Having thus made our halt at Haltham, we bid adieu to the place, and push on southward. Passing Tumby Lawn, the residence of Sir H. M. Hawley, surrounded by leafy groves, within whose shade (teste scriptore) Philomel doth pour forth (malgré the poets)hisflood of song, while a whole coterie of other birds in “amorous descant” join; and sheltered from the east by the extensive woods of Haltham, Fulsby, and Tumby, remains of the whilom “Tumby Chase,” we find ourselves, at the end of some three and a half miles, entering the main street of Coningsby. Here again, we might ask, with love-sick Juliet, “What’s in a name?” But, in sooth, a name may be an epitome of history. There is an old proverb that “knowledge is power,” and we might say, the name of Coningsby is a territorial exemplification and perpetuation of this adage. In the language once spoken in these parts,[218]the conning, cunning man and the king were one and the same; the kingwasking because he was the conner, the thinker, and so overtopped his fellows in cunning. He embodied in his own person the moral of every age of progress, that brute force must yield the palm to skill and judgment. Mob-rule may for a while snatch at, and hold, the mastery; but ’tis the man who has the cunning to bide his time, and then seize the opportunity, who will be borne in triumph on the shoulders of those who once hustled and jostled him. Within some miles northward of where I am writing lies Kingthorpe, “the king’s village”; and at just about the same distancesouthward lies Coningsby, with precisely the same meaning. Both names imply the presence at one time of a king; who he may have been we do not know, but he put down his foot there, and the stamp remains. There was once a castellated residence here, the home of the Coningsby family; and one of them, Thomas, was created Earl of Coningsby, but, dying without issue, the title became extinct in 1729. I may here mention that the tomb of the last Countess of Coningsby is in the north chantry chapel of Heydour church (between Sleaford and Grantham); it is a marble monument by Rijsbrach. There is also a slab to the last Viscount, 1733, who is traditionally said to have been taken from his cradle by a pet monkey, and dropped by it, in the terror of pursuit, from the roof of the house on to the stone pavement below, and so killed. The position of this old Coningsby mansion is not precisely known; but in a field on the south side of the main street there is an ancient dove-cot, and some fine trees, such as one might expect about a baronial residence. The Coningsbys moved from Coningsby to Hampton Court in Herefordshire more than two centuries ago.[219a]There was a very fine collection of pictures at this place, a list of which was given in the “Gentleman’s Magazine” of April 26, 1826. Among these was a painting of the old mansion of Coningsby. Hampton Court is now the residence of John Arkwright, Esq., and is situated between Hereford and Leominster. But “vixere fortes ante Agamemnona,” and there were men of mark at Coningsby long before those who took its name as their patronymic. In Domesday Book we find that Sortibrand, the son of Ulf, the Saxon, who was one of the Lagmen of Lincoln, and had “sac and soc[219b]over three mansions in that city,” as successor to his father (loco Ulf patris sui), held a berewick (a corn farm) in Coningsby.
When the powerful favourite of the Conqueror, Robert Despenser, laid claim to a fishery and certain land in Coningsby, the Jurymen of the Wapentake of Horncastle decided that his claim was good, because Achi, his Saxon predecessor,had held the same in the time of Edward the Confessor. Moreover, the said Robert Despenser already held in Coningsby a berewick—“bere” (barley) land—of nine oxgangs, or some 225 acres, of meadow and wood, besides land in a score more parishes. And, again, from the same source we learn that a noble Fleming, Drogo de Bruere, who fought under the Conqueror at the battle of Hastings, and was rewarded by the gift of the whole of Holderness in Yorkshire, and other manors in Lincolnshire and elsewhere, also held land in Coningsby. Of this noble, Camden relates that the Conqueror valued his services so highly that he bestowed his own niece upon him in marriage; but that he destroyed her by poison, and then fled the country, all attempts to discover him having failed down to the time of the Domesday Survey being taken.[220a]
In the List of the Gentry of Lincolnshire, made on the Herald’s Visitation of the county in 1634, and still preserved at the Herald’s College, are the names of John Carter and Clinton Whichcote, of Coningsby.[220b]
In a Chancery Inquisition, post mortem, taken 31st May, 10 Henry VII., No. 72 (1495), it was found that Robert Taillebois, Knight, and John Gygour, Clerk, Warden of the College of Tatteshale, were “seized in their demesne as of fee of the manors of South Kyme, North Kyme, Conyngsby, Dokdyke, Byllingay,” and other properties.[220c]While, as an evidence of the trade of Coningsby, in a list of “Lincolnshire Town and Traders’ Tokens,” made by the late Mr. C. J. Caswell, of Horncastle, there occurs one of a Coningsby tradesman, bearing on the obverse side, “John Lupton—The Baker’s Arms,” and on the reverse side, “Of Cunsby, 1663—J. A. L.”[220d]Mr. Caswell adds a note that “where three initials are given, as in this case, the issuer’s wife is included, sometimesjoined in a true lover’s knot. Mr. John Lupton (in the present day) is a well-known and respected farmer of Pinchbeck West. His daughter married T. A. Roberts, Esq., M.R.C.S., late of Coningsby.”
I have already, in connection with Haltham, quoted an old Record, Feet of Fines, 9 Henry III., No. 52, which gives an agreement between Henry del Ortiay and Sabina his wife, as plaintiffs, on the one part, and Ralph de Rhodes on the other part, holding lands in Coningsby, Haltham, Marynge (Mareham), and other places; by which they recognise these lands as his by right, and, in return, he assigns certain land to them in Upper Tynton, to have and to hold for ever, by the tenure of a pair of gilt spurs, given annually. This brings this powerful baron into connection with Coningsby.[221a]While further, in a Feet of Fines, 19 Henry VII. (1503), on the Octave of Holy Trinity, an agreement is given between Sir Edward Ponyngs, Knt., Sir Thomas Fenys (Fynes?), Knt., Sir John Peeche, Knt., John Mordaunt, and others, plaintiffs, on the one part, and Sir George Nevyll, of Burgavenny, Knight, and Joan his wife, deforciants, whereby George and Joan recognise certain lands in Conysby, Halton, Belcheford, and elsewhere, to be the right of John Mordaunt, for which the plaintiffs gave them £l,000.[221b]Here we have another proprietor, John Mordaunt, brought into connection with Coningsby, and that he was a man of substance was shewn by the fact that this recognition of his property was not confined to Coningsby, but extended to the manor of Estwardesbersoke, etc., in Notts.; the manors of Halton, Aukebarow, and Burton Stather; lands in Winterton, Theylby, Hybalstede, Barnaby, Eyrby, Crosby, Gunnall, Donyngton, etc. Further, by Feet of Fynes, 21 Henry VII. (1505), an agreement is given between Richard, Bishop of Winchester, Sir Giles Daubeney, of Daubeney, Knight; Sir T. Lovell, Sir R. Emson, Sir James Hobart,Humphrey Conyngesby, one of the King’s Sergeants at Law, and others, as plaintiffs, and Robert Ratclyfe de Fitzwater, and Margaret Ratclyfe, widow of Sir John Ratclyfe de Fitzwater, deforciants; whereby Robert and Margaret recognise the castle of Egremound, and various other manors and properties, to be the right of the Bishop.
Further, it is known that the manor of Coningsby was formerly held by the Marmyons, and they and their descendants, the Dymokes, were largely commemorated in stained-glass windows once existing in the church; and a tombstone records the “Hic jacet” of Anna, daughter of Thomas Dymoke, and his wife “que obijt A° Dni 1462.” The manorial rights ultimately passed to the Heathcotes, and are now the property of the head of that family, the Earl of Ancaster.
Let us now look at the church; and, taking the exterior first, we are struck by the fine tower, which is visible for many miles round. It is of the Perpendicular order, very plain; indeed, almost without ornament, except for the roses on the cuspings of the upper window; but it is of solid, good ashlar work, well supported by buttresses, and its outline relieved by several set-offs. It is pierced, below, by an arched passage, through which there is a public thoroughfare, existing from time immemorial,[222]the supposition being, that the monks of Croyland and other southern monasteries, on their way to Kirkstead, and their more northern brethren, “baited” at the rectory hard by, where there are still traces of a large refectory in the presence of an arch of wide span, which runs through the oldest part of the house, from top to bottom. In the east and west walls, on either side of this tower arch, is a sex-foiled, circular window; that on the east being in the west wall of the nave, and filled with coloured glass; that on the west, being in the outside wall of the tower, has never been glazed. In the south-eastern wall of the porch is a stoup, which formerly was open both within the porch and outside, though now it is closed outside. Built into the west wall of the south aisle, probably at the restoration in 1872, is a block of stone, carved with a closed hand, having a finely-laced cuff. This is, doubtless, an importation from elsewhere. Near the top of the wall of a cupola-shaped south finial of the rood-loft turret, is an old sun-dial. Taking now the interior, we find a massive heavy roof, of beams somewhat rudely hewn, with traces of former colouring still perceptible. The four western bays of the arcade are Early English, with low arches rising from octagonal piers; the easternmost bay seems to have been an addition at alater date; some of the piers, two on the north and one on the south, have been heightened, and the arches are higher and wider. The moulding between two of the north arches terminates in a head, on each side of which an evil spirit is whispering. Another terminal is the head of a woman wearing the “branks,” or scold’s bridle.[223]The clerestory windows were spoilt at the restoration, when their height had to be reduced. Externally their original design remains—two lancet windows over each arch; but internally the lancets have been cut short and converted into triangular lights with curved sides. On the south side of the chancel arch is a rood-loft staircase turret, of which both the upper and lower doorways remain. The chancel east end is apsidal, modern, and out of keeping with the rest of the structure. There are three two-light windows in the three faces of the apse. In one of these the present rector, Canon Arthur Wright, has placed a two-light memorial window, to his deceased wife, of some beauty. South of the Communion table, attached to the wall as a credence table, is an Early English capital, with piscina behind. The windows in the north aisle are decorated with reticulated tracery. Those of the south aisle are Perpendicular, with segmented heads. The windows throughout the church, and extending even to the rectory house, were, at a former period, unusually rich in stained glass,
With varied hues all richly dight,In radiance and collateral light,Of knight’s and baron’s heraldic scroll,And prayers invoked for manie a soule.
With varied hues all richly dight,In radiance and collateral light,Of knight’s and baron’s heraldic scroll,And prayers invoked for manie a soule.
The marvel is, what has become of it, since there is no record of any act of spoliation such as is known to have been committed in the neighbouring church of Tattershall. We give here extracts from Gervase Holles’ “Notes on Churches,” descriptive of these windows, etc., from the Harleyan MSS., No. 6,829, as they are given in Weir’s “History,” pp. 50–52, ed. 1820.
In fenestra Orientali Cancelli
Quarterly
Verry a fesse G. fretty d’or
Sa. 2 lyons passant arg. crowned d’or
Marmyon
Empaled
G. a frett of 8 pieces d’or
B.3 garbes d’or
Dymoke
G. a lyon rampant d’or
Sa. a sword in pale arg
Sa. 3 lyons passant arg crowned d’or
Dymoke
Arg, 3 flowres de lize between 6 crosse crosslets, fitchy sa. a border G.
Hillary
Arg. a playne crosse G.
G. a playne cross arg
Tumulus lapideus.
‘Hic jacet Anna fillla Thome Dymoke Militis D’ni . . . et Margaretis consortis suæ que obijt A° Dni 1642 &c.
Empaled } Verry a fesse G. fretty d’or
Marmyon
Empaled } Or a lyon rampant double queue sa
Welles
In mure boreali aere sculptum.
Orate pro a’i’a M’ri Joh’is de Croxby quondam Rectoris istius ecclesiæ. qui dedit annualem redditum xxs annuatim in p’petuum, et in secunda, Feriæ primæ hebdommadæ quadragesimæ habitantibus in Conningsby sc’am formam evidentiæ suæ distribuendorum.
“This charity hath ceased for many years, the evidence having been sacrilegiously stolen out of that monument within the wall, as by the loosening of the plate of brasse may appeare.
In fenestra Occidentali Capellæ Orientalis
Orate pro a’iabus . . Hatcliffe . . . Ux’is suæ
Fenestram
Sa. 3 welles arg. bis
Wellis
Empaled } Sa. 3 welles arg
Wellis
Emplaed } B. 2 bars d’or over all a lyon rampant . . . G.
Hatcliffe
Sa. a sword in pale arg
Arg. a fesse daunce betw. 3 talbots’ heads erased sa.
Arg. a fesse betw. 3 cootes sa
B. 2 bars d’or over all a lyon rampant G
Hatcliffe
“Orate pro bono statu H. Wellis notorii publici
Hatcliffe
Uxoris suæ et sequelis eorum, . . . hanc fenestram fieri fecerunt A’no D’ni 1460.
In superioribus fenestris Borealibus.
G. a cinquefoil pierced betw. 8 crosse crosselets d’or
Umframyille
Quarterly
Sa. a cross engrayled d’or . . . Ufford
G. a cross sarcely arg. . . Beke
Willoughby.
G. 3 Waterbougets arg
Ros
Or a lyon rampant double queue sa.
Welles
Arg. a crosse patonee G.
Arg. a chiefe G. over all a bend engrayled B
Chequy or & G. a chiefe ermine
Tateshale
Ermine a fesse G.
Bernake
Arg. a chiefe over all a bend B.
Crumwell
Sa. 2 lyons passant arg. crowned or
Dymoke
Or on fesse G. 3 plates
Huntingfield
Quarterly or & G. a border sa. bezanty, on the 2nd quarter a garbe arg.
Rochford
Quarterly &c. an annulet on the 2nd quarter
Rochford
B. crucilly a lyon rampant arg. bis
Arg. 3 shell snayles sa.
Dymoke Crumwell Holland
Quarterly France & England a label of 3 arg.
Quarterly France & England a label of 3 ermyne
In fenestra Orientali.
“Orate pro a’iabus fratrum and sororum Gildæ be’æ Mariæ de Cuningsby qui istam fenestram fieri fecerunt.
“This a fayre Window, adorned with the genealogy of the Kings of Israel and Judah, David lying along through the whole bottome, from whose roote branche 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 Gilda be’æ Mariæ Cunningsby, qui obiit 10 die mensis Decembrie A’no D’ni 1510. Cujus a’iæ &c., &c.