Of the church itself, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, it may be said that it has had its peculiar vicissitudes. It was built probably by John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; as the flamboyant style of its architecture indicates a late 14th century erection; and he was granted the manor in that century (1363). Many of our finest churches, such as those of Boston, Grantham, Heckington, &c., were built in that century. This of Bolingbroke is one of the latest of them, corresponding most closely in style and date to the Church of Kyme Priory; but it is certainly not one of the least striking. We now see in it only a portion of the original, namely, the south aisle, porch, and tower. It was occupied as head quarters by the Parliamentary troops in 1643, while they were laying siege to the castle, which was held for the King; and, with their usual puritan hatred of holy places, they destroyed the beautiful stained glass which adorned the windows; while, further, their presence there drew upon the building heavy bombardment by the King’s men, no less destructive to the edifice itself. Since that time, the original south aisle has been used as the main body of the church; and until recently, the arches of the arcade, formerly dividing it from the original nave, were distinctly visible, built up in the (later) north wall; while the tower, originally standing at the west end of the nave, became (in consequence of the destruction of the latter, semi-detached from the later south aisle) church, at its north-west angle. The church was restored in 1889, through the munificence of Mr. C. S. Dickinson, of Lincoln, at a cost of £3,000; the architect being the late Mr. James Fowler; and it was re-opened by the Bishop on Oct. 10th of that year; the old disfiguring galleries having been removed, and new battlements and pinnacles being added to the tower; and a new north aisle being erected, extending eastward from the tower; the original south aisle being still retained as a modern nave, re-seated, and re-furnished in every respect; and a new organ added, with various improvements. As to the result, we cannot do better than quote some of the observations of the late Precentor Venables, made by him on the visit of the Lincolnshire Architectural Society in 1894. [28] He described it as “a building of great stateliness, the proportions being excellent, and in its general design and architectural details, presenting a specimen of the decorated style in its greatest purity and beauty; the windows are almost faultless examples of flowing tracery in its early purity. The east window has five lights, with quatrefoil window in the gable above; the west window four lights; and the side windows three lights each; all excellent. The south porch has a well-proportioned inner door with good moulding; there being an open quatrefoil over the door. In its east corner there is a very sumptuous holy water stoup of unusual design, surmounted by a tall canopy of great richness. There is a statue bracket over the door, and one at the side. The recently opened arcade on the north side of nave is composed of fine equilateral arches, with mouldings continuous from their bases, without the intervention of capitals. On the south wall of the present chancel is a range of three rich, though rather heavy, stone sedilia, with projecting canopies over-braided with wall-flowers, and groined within Traces of canopied niches of similar design to the sedilia, are visible on each side of the east window. The piscina, with projecting basin, is plain.”
In the middle of the south wall of the nave there is also an old piscina, with aumbrey above it, which would indicate that, in the original church, there was here a chantry. [29] The present pulpit, and the choir seats in the chancel, are of modern oak richly carved; and the vestry, at the back of the organ, is screened off by similar rich modern oak carving. The tower has a west door, with a four-light window over it; a two-light window above this, with corresponding ones in the north and south faces. Within the tower, over an ancient fireplace, is embedded in the wall, 4ft. from the ground, a curious old gurgoyle head of peculiar hideousness, which doubtless, at one time, grinned down from the original roof. Over the said fireplace there is this inscription graven in a stone:—“Sixpence in bread every Sunday for ever for the poore women present at divine service, given by John Andred, M.A., rector of Bolingbroke, Anno Domini MDCLXXX.”
In the churchyard is a tall monument, surmounted by a cherub with expanded wings, in memory of Edward Stanley Bosanquet, who died July 16th, 1886, formerly vicar; also of his wife Emmeline, and three children, who died at different dates. Outside the north wall are some stone ends of seats, formerly in the tower.
It may here be worthy of remark that Chancellor Massingberd, in his account of the battle of Winceby mentions that “among the slain on the side of the King was a Lincolnshire gentleman of the name of Hallam, the immediate ancestor of the Historian of the Middle Ages,” Henry Hallam. The name is not a common one; and on a broken stone slab, lying behind the N.E. buttress, under the N.E. window, is the fragmentary inscription, “Body of Henry Hallam, who dyed January The 6, 1687.” [30a]
We conclude our notice of this church with the words of the Precentor:—“We may realize the magnitude, and the beauty of the (former) entire church, when we bear in mind that, besides what we now see, there was a wide nave, a north aisle, doubtless equal in dimensions and style to that now standing, and a long chancel reaching to the limits of the churchyard.” A building so fine would attest the former importance of the place; and we now proceed to consider other proofs of that importance which we know to have existed.
Bolingbroke is, indeed, a place of no mushroom growth. The Castle was built in the reign of Henry I. by William de Romara, Earl of Lincoln, who also founded the Abbey of Revesby about 1143. But history carries us back to a still earlier date, and to an older, and even more interesting, and more important family than that of Romara. The mother of William de Romara (or, according to others, his grandmother) was Lucia, a Saxon heiress [30b]; sister of the powerful Morcar, Earl of Northumberland, who for some time withstood the Conqueror, and daughter of Algar, Earl of Mercia, who was the brother of Edgiva, King Harold’s Queen (others making Edgiva the sister of Lucia). She was also a near relative of the renowned “Hereward the Wake,” the stubborn champion of Saxon freedom. There was an earlier Algar, Earl of Mercia, who, 200 years before, fell in the famous fight of Threckingham (between Sleaford and Folkingham) against the Danes, about A.D. 865. He was the son of another Algar, and grandson of Leofric, both successively Earls of Mercia; the wife of the last-named being the Lady Godiva (or God’s gift, “Deodata”), renowned for her purity and good works. This Lady Godiva was the sister of Turold, or Thorold, of Bukenale (Bucknall), [30c] Lord of Spalding, and Vice-Count, or Sheriff of the County of Lincoln. And these Thorolds, father and son, were among the chief benefactors of the famous Monastery of St. Guthlac, at Croyland; a similar good work being also performed, in her own day, by the aforesaid Lady Lucia, who was chief patroness of the Priory of Spalding [31a] an offshoot of the greater Croyland Abbey. Thus William of Romara was not only a Norman “of high degree,” on his father’s side, but, through his mother, he came of a race of Saxons, powerful, brave, and distinguished for their services to their country and religion. It has been frequently observed that, although the Normans conquered and subjugated Saxon England, the stubborn Saxon eventually absorbed, or prevailed over, his Norman master; and we have an illustration of it here, not uninteresting to men of Lincolnshire. The name of Romara has long been gone, in our country and elsewhere, beyond recall; but the old Saxon name of Thorold yet stands high in the roll of our county families. There is probably no older name in the shire; none that has so completely maintained its good position and succession, in unbroken descent. [31b]
Now the Lady Lucia inherited many of the lands of her Saxon ancestors; and among those which passed to her Son William of Romara, was Bolingbroke. He was a man of many, and wide domains, but of them all he selected this, as the place for erecting a stronghold, capable of defence in those troublous times. The castle is described by Holles (temp. Charles I) as “surrounded by a moat fed by streams, and as covering about an acre and half; built in a square, with four strong forts,” probably at the corners; and “containing many rooms, which were connected by passages along the embattled walls and capable to receyve a very great prince with all his trayne.” The entrance was “very stately, over a fair draw bridge; the gate-house uniforme, and strong.” The gateway, of which the crumbling ruins were engraved by Stukeley in the first half of the l8th century, finally fell in 1815; and nothing now remains above ground. The whole structure was of the sandstone of the neighbourhood, which, as Holles observes, will crumble away when the wet once penetrates it. The moat is still visible; and further, in the rear of it, to the south, beyond the immediate precincts, there is another moated enclosure, still to be seen, the residence doubtless of dependants under the shelter of the castle; or these may have been earthworks excavated by the forces besieging the castle. We cannot here give in detail the long and varied history of the great owners of Bolingbroke. But, omitting minor particulars:—“A Gilbert de Gaunt by marrying a Romara heiress, obtained the estate. One of his successors of the same name, joining the Barons against King John and Henry III., forfeited it. It was then granted to Ranulph, Earl of Chester. It afterwards passed to the de Lacy family, earls in their turn, of Lincoln; and by marriage with Alicia de Lacy, Thomas Plantagenet, grandson of Henry III. obtained it, with the title. A later Gaunt, the famous John, Duke of Lancaster, married the heiress of this branch of the Plantagenets, and so in turn became Earl of Lincoln and Lord of Bolingbroke, and their son Henry, born here April 3, 1366, became Henry IV. As being the birthplace of a sovereign, the estate, instead of remaining an ordinary manor, was elevated to the rank of an ‘Honour’” (Camden’s Britannia, p. 471) and is entitled, in all legal documents “the Honour of Bolingbroke.” Since the accession of Henry IV. it has remained an appanage of the Crown; and as Duke of Lancaster, King Edward is “Lord of the Honour,” at the present day. Gervase Holles states that Queen Elizabeth made sundry improvements in the interior of the castle, adding “a fayre great chamber with other lodgings.” The Constable of the Castle was (in his day) “Sir William Mounson, Lord Castlemayne, who received a revenue out of the Dutchy lands of £500 per annum; in part payment of £1,000 yearly, given by the King to the Countess of Nottingham his lady.” He also says “In a roome in one of the towers they kept their audit for the whole Dutchy of Lancaster, Bolingbroke having ever been the prime seat thereof, where the Recordes for the whole country are kept.” [32]
And he then gives a detailed account of the following supernatural occurrence, as being beyond controversy authenticated:—Which is, that the castle is haunted by a certain spirit in the likeness of a hare; which, “att the meeting of the auditors doth runne betweene their legs, and sometimes overthrows them, and soe passes away. They have pursued it downe into the castleyard, and seen it take in att a grate, into a low cellar; and have followed it thither with a light, where, notwithstanding they did most narrowly observe it, and there was no other passage out, but by the doore or windowe, the roome being all close-framed of stones within, not having the least chinke or crevice, they could never finde it. Att other times it hath been seen to run in at the iron grates below into other of the grotto’s (as their be many of them), and they have watched the place, and sent for hounds, and put in after it; but aftar a while they came crying out.” (Harleian M.S.S. No. 6829, p. 162). The explanation of this hare-brained story we leave to others more versed in the doings of the spirit world; merely observing that such an apparition has not been entirely confined to Bolingbroke Castle.
The town of Bolingbroke confers the title of Viscount on the family of St.-John of Lydiard Tregoze, Co. Wilts. The career, the abilities, the accomplishments, the vicissitudes, and the writings, of the great statesman, author and adventurer, Henry St.-John, Viscount Bolingbroke, during the reigns of Anne, William and Mary, and George I. are too well-known, to need further mention here.
Saunders in his History of Lincolnshire (Vol. ii., p. 101, 1834) says that there was then still in the church the remains of an altar cloth, beautifully embroidered, and traditionally said to have been the work of Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, wife of John of Gaunt, and mother of Henry IV., who is celebrated in Chaucer’s poem “the Dream.” Chancellor Massingberd, however, writing his account of Bolingbroke Castle in 1858 (“Architect Soc. Journ.” vol. iv. p. ii.) says that it had then disappeared, and not been seen for some 20 years, having probably been disgracefully purloined.
The parish register dates from 1538; a rather unusual occurrence, as the keeping of registers was only enforced 1530–8 by Act of 27 Henry VIII., and the order was in few cases observed till a later period.
This is a pleasant, small village, about 2½ miles from Horncastle, the chief approach to it being by the so-called “Ramper,” the great Roman road, connecting the two Roman fortresses, Lindum and Banovallum (Lincoln and Horncastle), and still one of the best roads in the county. The Park of Edlington, now the property of the Hassard Short family, is a pleasantly undulating enclosure, adorned with some very fine trees; although of late some £3,000 worth, chiefly of outlying timber, has been converted into cash. The ground is varied by small copses, which afford excellent pheasant and rabbit shooting; as also do two covers, about two miles from the Park, called Edlington Scrubs; and there are also some very gamey plantations, belonging to the estate, situated about two miles north-west from Woodhall Spa. The estate comprises about 2,700 acres, and is fully five miles long from one end to the other, being intersected by portions of other parishes. There was formerly a substantial residence, with stew ponds and extensive gardens, at the upper or northern end of the park, [34a] with the parish road running behind it, covered by lofty trees. Here, it may interest the botanist to know that the plant “Butcher’s Broom” (Ruscus Aculeatus) grew plentifully, although it now seems to be extinct, having been improved away. From this position there is a very fine view, extending many miles to the south and west, over very varied country. While the late Mr. Hassard Short himself resided here, he had frequently coursing parties, hares being then very plentiful, to which, among others, the present writer, as a boy, and his father, were always invited. This residence was, however, pulled down sometime “in the fifties,” the owner, for the sake of his health, preferring to reside in the south. It was for a time, however, occupied by a Mrs. Heald, [34b] and her nephew George Heald, Esq., a fine-looking young fellow, who held a commission in the Guards. And hereby hangs a tale. In riding in the Park, in London, he made the acquaintance of the famous coquette, and adventuress, Lola Montez, created Countess of Landsfeldt by the King of Hanover, whose mistress she was. Being a mixture of Spanish and Irish blood, she possessed all the vivacity of both those races, with a gay dash in her manners, and considerable beauty, along with an extremely outré style of dress. Thus she fascinated the young man, as she previously had done her late Royal Master. He married her, although she was said to have been already married to a Captain James. The charm soon lost its power, and as a means of ridding himself of her, his friends prosecuted her for bigamy. Sergeant Ballantine in his autobiography gives the whole particulars (vol. II., p. 106), but he does not remember the result of this action. She was of a temper so violent, that she commonly carried arms, and was almost reckless of what she did. Young Heald came at length to live in almost hourly fear for his life. I well remember his coming down to a hotel at Horncastle, to receive rents; when he sat at table, with a loaded pistol at each side of him. I knew him and his aunt well, and from the latter I received many kindnesses. The poor persecuted young man soon passed from mortal ken; but the lady migrated to America, to seek higher game once more; but a fracas having occurred, in which she shot someone in a railway carriage, her career also was brought to a close.
The earliest mention which we have of this part of the Manor of Edlington, is as being part of the Barony of Gilbert de Gaunt (some of that name, still residing as farmers in the parish). He probably, or his ancestors, acquired the property, from what was a common source, in that day, viz., from the great Norman Baron, Ivo Taillebois, on whom William the Conqueror bestowed the rich Saxon heiress, the Lady Lucia, the representative of the wealthy family of the Thorolds, and near relative of King Harold (see my records of Old Bolingbroke). He held this Manor till about the year 35 Ed. I., or A.D. 1307. It then passed to the Barkeworthes; Robert de Barkeworthe being the first of them to reside in the parish, as owner of Poolham. They were a family of wealth and position in the neighbourhood at that period. There is a legal document called Feet of Fines (file 98 [39]), of date A.D. 1329, in which William de Barkeworthe, and ffloriana his wife, on the one part, and Robert de Haney and Alice his wife, on the other part, lay claim to considerable property, in Claxby, Normanby and Ussylby, in which the former establish their claim. In 1351, William de Barkeworthe presented to a moiety of the chapelry of Polum. But in 1369, Thomas de Thymbelby presented. This marks the period when the property passed from the Barkeworthes to the Thimblebys. A Walter de Barkeworthe died in 1347, and was buried in the Cloister of Lincoln Cathedral. At the period of this transition (1369), another Feet of Fines exists, between Thomas, son of Nicholas de Thymelby, with several others, on the one part, and Richard, “son of Simon atte See,” on the other part, by which the said Richard surrenders lands in Claxby, Normanby, Tetford, and other property, to the said Thomas, son of Nicholas de Thymelby and his friends (“Architectural Soc. Journ.,” vol. XXIII., p. 255). There is another Feet of Fines, in 1374, between Thomas de Themelby, John de Themelby, Parson, and others, on the one part, and John de Toutheby, and his wife Alianora, on the other part, which assigns the Manor of Tetford, and advowson of the church, to the Thymelbys. In 1388, John, son of Thomas de Thymelby, presented to Tetford. The Thimbleby pedigree is given in the Herald’s Visitation of 1562.
In 1333, at a Chancery Inquisition, held at Haltham, “on Friday next, after the feast of St. Matthew,” the Jurors declare, that Nicholas de Thymelby, and his wife Matilda, hold land in Haltham, of the right of the said Matilda, under the Lord the King, as parcel of the Manor of Scrivelsby; also that the said Nicholas held land in Stikeswold, of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, by the service of paying them ijs and vid yearly; and also that he held lands in Thymelby, under the Bishop of Carlisle. Further inquisitions show that Nicholas de Thymelby, and John, his brother, also held lands in Horncastle and over (i.e. High) Toynton, under the said Bishop of Carlisle; that Thomas de Thymelby presented to the Church of Ruckland in 1381; and that John, his son, presented to the Church of Tetford, April 4th, 1388. In 1427, it was found that the heirs of John de Thymelby, held by their trustees, lands “in Polum and Edlynton.”
In 1439, William Thymelby, Esq., Lord of Polum, presented to the Benefice of Somersby, having already presented to Tetford. He seems to have married Joan, daughter of Sir Walter Tailboys, a descendant of the same family, from which sprang Ivo Taillebois, the great Norman Baron, previously mentioned, from whom Gilbert de Gaunt probably acquired his land in Edlington. [37a] Richard Thimbleby, in 1474, obtained the Beelsby estates, through marriage with Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Beelsby, knight, and widow of Sir John Pygot, Knt. He died (1522) possessed (in right of his wife, who was coheir of Godfrey Hilton), of the Manors of Beelsby, Holton-le-Moor, Horsington, Harpswell, Harleston, Thorgansby; and a share of the advowson of Horsington; John Thymelby, his son, succeeded him (Escheator’s Inquisitions, 14 H.S., No. 24). To show the religious fanaticism in the reign of Elizabeth, even among Protestants, note the following:—A Thimbleby of Poolham, A.D. 1581, was thrown into prison by the Bishop of Lincoln (T. Cowper), for refusing to attend Protestant services. His wife was near her confinement, but she begged to see her husband, she was treated so roughly that the pains of labour seized her in her husband’s dungeon. She was nevertheless detained in prison without any nurse or assistant, and a speedy death followed; her husband also dying soon afterwards in prison from the rough treatment which he underwent there. (“The Church under Queen Elizabeth,” by F. G. Lee, II. p. 60). I have given these details to show the importance of the family of Thimbleby.
After another generation or two, Matthew Thymbleby’s widow of Poolham, married Sir Robert Saville, Knt., who, through her, died possessed of the Manors of Poolham, Edlington, and several more. Confining ourselves here to Poolham, we find the Saviles, who were members of the Saviles of Howley, co. York (now represented by Lord Mexborough, of Methley, co. York, etc., etc., and the Saviles, of Rufford Abbey, co. Notts.), continuing to own Poolham until 1600, when Sir John Saville, Knt., sold it to George Bolles, Esq., citizen of London, whose descendant, Sir John Bolles, [37b] Bart., sold it to Sir Edmund Turnor, of Stoke Rochford. It has recently been sold to Dr. Byron, residing in London.
As we have, thus far, chiefly confined ourselves to the owners of the hamlet of Poolham, we will now make some rather interesting remarks upon the old Poolham Hall, and matters connected with it. The old mansion was probably built originally on a larger scale than the present farm house. It is enclosed by a moat, in the south-west angle of which stand the remains of a chapel, or oratory, now in the kitchen garden; they consist of an end wall and part of a side wall, each with a narrow window. The font, a few years ago, was taken away, and in order to preserve it from destruction, it was placed, some twenty years ago, in the garden of Wispington Vicarage, by the Vicar (the late Rev. C. P. Terrot), a great ecclesiastical antiquarian. It has further again been removed by the present writer, and, on the restoration of the Church of St. Margaret, at Woodhall, in 1893, it was once more restored to its original purpose, as font in that Church, being further adorned by four handsome columns of serpentine, the gift of the Rev. J. A. Penny, the present Vicar of Wispington. Near the chapel, there was till recently, a tombstone, bearing date 1527. This stone was a few years ago removed, and now forms the sill of a cottage doorway in Stixwould. The writer should here add that, on the moat of this old Hall being cleaned out a few years ago, there was found in the mud, beneath the chapel ruins, a curious object, which at once passed into his possession. It proved to be an ancient chrismatory, of which there has never been found the like. The material is terra cotta, with peculiar primitive ornamentation, of a pale stone colour, containing two divisions, or wells, with spouts at each end, each having been covered with a roof, although one of them is now broken off, curiously carved. The use of the chrismatory, was, in mediæval times, connected with baptism; as the child was brought into the church, it was sprinkled with salt, and at the font it was anointed with oil. The two wells were meant to hold the salt and oil. As I have said, it is unique. Its use was first explained to me, by Sir Augustus Franks, of the British Museum. It has been exhibited among the ecclesiastical objects of art at the Church Congresses, at Norwich, London, Newcastle, Northampton, and other places. It has created very great interest, and has been noticed in various publications. According to Ecton’s “Thesaurus,” this chapel was connected with Bardney Abbey, but it is now a ruin, and unused. The population is limited to three houses, and the most convenient place of worship is Woodhall, St. Margaret’s.
We will now revert more especially to Edlington. We have mentioned Gilbert de Gaunt as among the first owners, but this applies, more strictly to the hamlet Poolham. Edlington proper, is evidently a place of great antiquity, the name is derived from “Eiddeleg,” a deity in the Bardic Mythology (Dr. Oliver’s “Religious Houses on the Witham”); the whole name meaning the town of Eiddeleg. In connection with this, we may mention that, until about three years ago, when it was destroyed by dynamite, there existed an enormous boulder, standing on a rising ground, about sixty yards from the present highway, on the farm of Mr. Robert Searby, which weighed about 10 tons, its height being about 10ft., width 4ft. 6in., and its thickness about 3ft. This would be just the Druidic altar, at which the Bardic mysteries, in the British period, might be celebrated. In 1819, while digging a field in Edlington, some men found several heaps of ox bones, and with each heap an urn of baked clay. Unfortunately none of these urns were preserved, so that we are unable to say whether they were of Roman make, or of earlier date. They imply heathen sacrifice of some kind, and were close to a Roman road; still the existence, already mentioned, of an earlier Bardic worship, would favour for them, an earlier origin.
From Domesday Book (completed circa 1086), we gather (1st) that among the possessions of the King (William the Conqueror), there were 4 carucates, i.e. 480 acres of land, with proportionate sokemen, villeins, and bordars. The whole land of the parish being reckoned at 6,960 acres. Of this extent, the Saxon Ulf, so often mentioned as an owner in this neighbourhood, had 10 carucates (or 1,200 acres). Egbert, the vassal of Gilbert de Gaunt had 480 acres, a mill, always a valuable possession, as all dependants were bound to have their grain ground there; 90 acres of meadow, and 210 acres of wood land, in all 780 acres. A Jury of the wapentake of Horncastle, declared that the powerful noble Robert Despenser, wrongfully disputed the claim of Gilbert de Gaunt, to half a carucate, or 60 acres, in Edlington, which in the time of Edward the Confessor had been formerly held by one Saxon, Tonna.
Edlington was one of the 222 parishes in the county which had churches before the Norman conquest, but as the number of priests serving these churches was only 131, it is doubtful whether it had a resident minister, it being more probably that it was served by a Monk of Bardney Abbey, to which (according to Liber Regis) it was attached. Here again we have a trace of Gilbert de Gaunt being Lord of the Manor of Edlington, as well as of the subdivision of Poolham. The Monastery of Bardney was originally one of the few Saxon foundations, and established before the year 697. It was however reduced to great poverty by the Danes, under Inguar and Hubba, in 870, 300 monks being slain. It remained in ruins some 200 years, when it was restored by Gilbert de Gaunt, who succeeded to some of the property of Ulf, the Saxon Thane, already named. Gilbert de Gaunt had 54 Manors conferred upon him; being nephew of the Conqueror, and among the several which he bestowed on Bardney, was Edlington. At the dissolution, it would revert to the King, and (as we are here reduced to conjecture), we may well suppose that it was one of the many Manors in this district conferred by Henry VIII., on Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, among whose descendants these vast possessions were subsequently divided. In Dr. Oliver’s learned book on the “Religious Houses on the Witham,” it is stated that Bardney had land in Edlington, that the abbot had the advowson of the benefice, and that before the King’s Justices, in the reign of Ed. I., the abbot proved his right, by act of Henry I., confirmed by Henry III. to the exercise of “Infangthef, pit, and gallows at Bardney.”
In “Placito de Warranto,” p. 409, he claimed, and proved his right, also to a gallows at Edlington (as well as at Hagworthingham, and Steeping, and Candlesby); and in connection with this, it is interesting to note that, as at Bardney, there is a field called “Coney Garth” (Konig Garth), or King enclosure, where the abbot’s gallows stood; so at Edlington there is a field (the grass field, in the angle, as you pass from the village road to the high road, leading northward), which is still called “Coney Green,” which name moderns of small education, suppose to be derived from the numbers of conies, i.e. rabbits, which abound there; but in which the antiquarian sees the old Konig-field, the King’s enclosure; and in that field, doubtless, stood the abbot of Bardney’s gallows; [41] just as the Abbots of Kirkstead had a gallows in Thimbleby. On this Edlington Coney Green, I have found bricks of an early style, with various mounds and hollows, indicating buildings of some extent, and probably belonging to the King.
In the year 1897, the Rev. J. A. Penny, Vicar of Wispington, discovered and published in “Linc. N. and Q.,” some very interesting Bardney charters of the 13th century, which make many mentions of Edlington. In one case they record the gift of a bondman, and his progeny to Thomas de Thorley, living in Gautby, the slave being William, son of Peter Hardigrey, of Edlington; among the witnesses to the deed of gift being Master Robert, of Poolham, Simon, the Chamberlain of Edlington, and others. Date, 22nd May, 1281.
Another is a declaration of Thomas de Thorley, living in Gautby, that he grants to Master William Hardegrey, Rector of Mareham, all the lands and tenements which he owns in the village and fields of Edlington; among the witnesses being Simon, son of John, the Chamberlain of Edlington; Richard King of the same, Simon the Francis of Edlington, and others.
Another charter states that, “I, William, son of William of Wispington, have granted, and by this deed confirmed, the gift, to William Hardigrey, of Edlington, clerk, all my toft, with its buildings, lying in the parish of Edlington, which is situate between the public highway, and the croft of Richard, son of Henry King, for ever. Among the witnesses being Simon, the Chamberlain of Edlington, John, his son, Alured of Woodhall, and others. Given at Edlington, the Wednesday after Michaelmas, A.D. 1285. (30th Sep., 1285), and 13th year of the reign of King Edward I.”
We further get disconnected notices of various owners of, or in, Edlington, but I can not make out a connected series.
For instance, in a Chancery Inquisition, 13. Ed. I. (12th May, 1285), held by order of the King, among the jurors are Henry of Horsington, Robert, son of the Parson of Horsington, Hugh Fraunklyn, of Langton, William de Wodehall, of Edlington, and others. Thus the William de Woodhall, already named, was a proprietor in Edlington, as early as 1285.
We find, in a Final Concord, Nov. 22nd, 1208 (three-quarters of a century earlier than the preceding), between Andrew, of Edlington, plaintiff, and Alice, daughter of Elvina, who acted for her, the said Andrew acknowledged the said Alice to be free (he had probably claimed her as a bond-slave, in his house, or on his land, at Edlington), for which Alice gave him one mark. It was only in the reign of Henry VI. that a servant was permitted, after giving due notice to leave his place, and take the services of another (23. Hen. VI. c. 13). Before that, all were the property of their owners, unless given their freedom for some special reason. Here is another proprietor in a dispute, on 10th Nov., 1208, between Thorold, of Horsington on the one part, and John, son of Simon, of Edlington. The said Thorold surrendered for ever, certain lands in Edlington, to John and his heirs, another family of proprietors, at the same date as the previous.
In November, 1218, in a Final Concord, between John, of Edlington, and Hugh, his tenant, as to the right to certain lands in Edlington, it was agreed that John was the rightful owner, and for this, John granted Hugh certain other lands, but in case Hugh died without issue, they were to revert to John, of Edlington. He would seem, therefore, to have been rather a large proprietor.
The will of Richard Evington, of Halsteade Hall, was made, on 22nd January, 1612, by which he leaves his lands in Edlington, and other places, to his two sons, Maurice and Nicholas Evington.
On 23rd December, 1616, Edward Turnor, clerk, of Edlington, made his will, the details of which do not here concern us, beyond showing that he was Vicar.
The parish register dates from 1562, beginning with Thomas fforeman, the sonne of William fforeman, christened 2nd February, 1562. This register is very peculiar, as it gives the baptisms down to 1700, then the marriages from and to the same dates, then the burials from and to the same dates. This is very unusual, the common arrangement, in those times, being to give the baptisms, marriages, and burials under the same dates all together. The present book is the copy on paper, of the original on parchment or vellum. Among some of the surnames are Billinghay, Padison, Melborn, fford, Hollywell, Kaksby, Stanley, Gunby, Brinkels (Brinkhills), William, son of Thomas Bounsayne, gent., bap. Jany. 12th, 1605. Margaret, daughter of John Elton, gent. (and a sister), baptized October 29th, 1611; and Siorach Edmonds, Vicar, 1617. Mary, the daughter of Robert Brookley, gent., bapt. Nov. 2nd, 1652; with others.
This list shews a considerable number of landed proprietors in the parish; there being no one pre-eminent landowner.
Among the Christian names, which occur in the oldest register, are Bridgett, Muriall, Rowland, Judith, Dorothie, Anthony, Hamond, Cicilie, and others.
George Hamerton, gent., and Sarah Hussey, were married June 21st, 1699. [These Hamertons were a wealthy family in Horncastle, owning a large block of houses at the junction of the east and south streets. The initials of John Hamerton and his wife, remain there, over the fire-place, in an oak-pannelled room. I believe they were connected with the Hamertons, of Hamerton, co. York.]
John Corbet and Isabell Thylley were married, December 6th, 1660. [The Corbets have been a long-established family in Lincolnshire, and also taking a leading position in Shropshire, in Sir Andrew Corbett, Bart]. In register III., is a note, “Thomas Barnett, of Thimbelby, found dead in Edlington parish, and was buried Sep. 6th, 1798”; also, “Deborah Bell, aged 95, buried November 7th, 1804.”
In the 2nd register book, among other entries are these:—The Rev. Tristram Sturdivant, Vicar, buried August 3rd, 1755. (The clerk, William Blow, had died 2 years before). Belmirah, daughter of Thos. Clarke of Horncastle, and Mary, his wife, buried Feb. 23rd, 1773.
The 3rd register has the following:—Mr. Wells’ youngest child (of Poolham), christened by me, William Wells, at Poolham, baptized by Mr. L’Oste (then Vicar), at Woodhall Church, named Charles, Aug. 11, 1794. [The Wells’ resided at Poolham down to about 1850. They were wealthy gentlemen farmers, and were most generous to the poor, and supported the church in every possible way, as I know from my own experience, and that of my father].
Margaret Spencer, a traveller, commonly called “Scotch Peg,” she being a Scotch woman, was buried (at Edlington), Sept. 2, 1789. In the 2nd Register again we have, among the surnames, Greenland, Walesby, Bouchier, Soulby, Bates, Longstaffe, Falkner, Bullifant, Gaunt, Elsey, Sturdivant, Bontoft, Darwin, and others.
We have just mentioned the name of Soulby. I find from the returns made by Government, that Charles Soulby, and his brother Edward, both payed the tax for male servants, the former for 2, the latter for 1, in the year 1780.
Among the Gentry of Lincolnshire, a list of whom was made by the Royal Heralds in the year 1634, is Thomas Tokyng, of Edlington, with Ambrose Sheppard, of Hemingby, Robert and John Sherard, of Gautby, Thomas Morgan, Esq., of Scrivelsby, &c., &c. John Rolt, of Edlington, declined the honour, there being some slight “duty” chargeable on the distinction.
Ralph Palframan, clerk, was presented to the Benefice of Edlington, by his brother Anthony, merchant of the staple, at Lincoln, by an assignment of the advowson made for this turn by the late Abbot of Bardney. William Palfreyman was Mayor of Lincoln in 1536, probably the father. He was instituted A.D. 1569, on the demise of Leonard Nurse. “Architect, Soc. Journ.,” vol. xxiv., p. 15.
The Church of Edlington is dedicated to St. Helen, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, who was, by birth, a Yorkshire woman. The edifice was re-built, with the exception of the lowest part of the tower, in 1859–60, at a cost of £1146. It consists of a nave, south aisle, chancel, and substantial tower of 3 tiers, with 3 bells. The font is square at the base, octagonal above. The tower arch at the west end is the original Norman, and the only part remaining of the original building. The upper part of the tower is in the Early English style. The windows in the tower are copies of the former Early English ones, the south arcade is perpendicular, with windows in the same style, and consisting of 3 bays, with octagonal columns. The Chancel Arch is of good Early English style. There is a good coloured two-light window, near the pulpit, in memory of Margaret, the wife of J. Hassard Short, Esq., who died Feb. 2nd, 1881. The subject of this window is the three Maries, and the Angel, at the Sepulchre; combined with his wife, he also by the same window, commemorated his daughter, Agnes Margarette, who died 17th Dec., 1867. Another coloured window was placed in the Church in December, 1900, in memory of the late Squire, the subject being the Saviour appearing to Mary Magdalene, at the Sepulchre. Both figures are of life-size, the countenances being full of expression. It was designed by Messrs. Heaton and Butler, and placed in position by Mr. C. Hensman, of Horncastle; and forms a fitting companion to the window in memory of his wife. It bears the inscription, “To the glory of God, in loving memory of John Hassard Short, Esq., who died Dec. 4, 1893, this window is erected by his daughter Marian.” The Shorts have held this estate for four generations. The flooring is laid with Minton tiles, the church is fitted with open benches, and pulpit of oak, with reading desk and lectern of the same. These were the gift of the Lay Impropriators of the Benefice, the Trustees of Oakham and Uppingham Schools. The organ is by Stephenson, of Lincoln. The inscription on the 3 bells (according to North, in his “Lincolnshire Bells”), 2 Royal Heads on each, Edwd. I., and Queen Eleanor; Edwd. III. and Queen Philippa; Henry VI. and Margaret of Anjou. Further details are given, as that Edlington had, in 1553, “three big bells and a Priest’s bell.” Inscriptions now, on 1st bell “1824,” 2nd bell “I.H.S. Sancte Peter,” with diameter of 34 inches; 3rd bell “I.H.S., Sancte Paule”; Priest’s bell, “T.L. TFCW., 1670,” with diameter 11½ inches.
There have been at least 5 Vicars within the last 50 years. The present Vicar, is the Rev. E. H. Bree, formerly Curate of Belchford, who has a good and commodious residence and premises, recently enlarged, and good garden, pleasantly situated close to the Park.
We have said that the former old Residence of the Shorts was pulled down several years ago; no building has been erected on the same scale or site since, but a farm house was adopted as a shooting box, for members of the family; and for the last three or four years this has been occupied by J. R. Hatfeild, Esq., who rents the shooting. The Benefice is in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, as representing the former Patron, the King.
Small as is the parish of Edlington, it has seen some stirring scenes. On the day before the Battle of Winceby, near Horncastle, where the Royalists were defeated by Cromwell, viz., on the Evening of Tuesday, Oct. 10, 1643, a troop of Parliamentary Horse, commanded by Capt. Samuel Moody, were surprised at Edlington, by the King’s forces, under the command of Sir John Henderson and Lord Widdrington, of Blankney, and there befell a rather sharp skirmish, in which the Parliamentary troops had to fall back. Such was one violation of the quietude of the little village. In older times, lying as it did, between the two Roman forts of Banovallum (or Cornucastrum) and the ancient Lindum (or Lincoln), it would often, in the time of the Roman occupation of the country, be disturbed by the heavy tread of Roman Legions, and the accompanying music of Roman Clarions.
History also tells us that “in the year of our Lord, 1406, Sept. 12, King Henry IV. made a Royal procession from the town of Horncastle, with a great and honourable company, to the Abbey of Bardney, where the Abbot and Monastery came out, in ecclesiastical state, to meet him,” [Leland’s “Collectanea”]. As by-roads did not exist, as they do now, we can hardly doubt, that his line of route would be by the King’s highway, through Edlington.
Surely, even in these days of easy locomotion, it can have fallen to the lot of few villages, large or small, to have given to the gaze of their rustic wondering inhabitants, such varied, and unusual scenes as these.
Mavis Enderby is nearly 8 miles from Horncastle, in an easterly direction, the road passing through High Toynton, skirting Scrafield, and through Winceby, and Lusby, and being part of the old Roman road from Doncaster to Wainfleet. It is about 3 miles west by north of Spilsby, where is the nearest telegraph office; the nearest money order office being at Raithby. Letters, via Spilsby, arrive at 7.30 a.m. The village is prettily situated on a slope of the wolds, the houses clustering about the church, except solitary farm residences of a substantial kind; the parish is roughly divided into Northfield and Southfield. To the north formerly stood a religious house, a dependency of Revesby Abbey. It was last occupied by C. J. H. Massingberd Mundy, Esq. It fell into decay some years ago, and nothing now remains of it, beyond the turf-covered foundations and some fine yew-trees, apparently survivals of a former avenue leading to it. A varied view is seen to the north-east, towards Aswardby and Langton, including the wooded height of Harrington Hill, and other elevated ground, with the graceful spire of Sausethorpe church conspicuous in the intervening valley, one of the most successful creations of the Architect, Stephen Lewin, who, fifty years ago, did some good work among our Lincolnshire churches, notably in his restoration of Swineshead, and his re-building of Brothertoft. The stranger might, by the name of this parish, be reminded of the lines of Sir Walter Scott. [47a]
But no groves or hedgerows vocal with their songsters, gave the parish its name. The Lord of the Manor, in the 12th century was Richard de Malbyse, or Malbishe, a large proprietor, and exercising considerable influence in this neighbourhood, and elsewhere. The epithet has been retained to distinguish this from Bag Enderby, and Wood Enderby; one of which is near and the other not far away. The name Malbyse or Malbishe, means, in old Norman French, an evil beast (compare Bis-on); and the arms of the family, as still preserved at Acaster Malbis, near York, once belonging to a member of the family, are a chevron, with three wild stags heads “erased,” i.e., raggedly severed from the body.
Domesday Book, however, tells us of owners of land before the Malbyshes, in pre-Norman times. The Saxon, Thane Elnod, held land in Mavis Enderby and Raithby and East Keal, in the reign of Edward the Confessor (p. 31) [47c]; while another Saxon, Godwin, whose name appears in connection with several other parishes, had the Manor of Mavis Enderby (p. 159) [47c] The old hereditary owners of the lands met with no mercy from the Conqueror, who had to provide for his Norman followers. The historian records that as William passed along the ranks of his army before the great Battle of Hastings, he addressed them in a loud voice thus, “Remember to fight well, if we conquer we shall be rich, if I take this land, you will have it among you,” and the promise then held out, was amply fulfilled; the vanquished Saxons were robbed of their lands, to reward William’s favorites who had capacious maws. Among those rewarded extensively with plundered territory, was William de Karilepho, consecrated Bishop of Durham in 1082, and also made Chief Justice of England; he received grants of land in Mavis Enderby, Raithby, Spilsby, Hundleby, Grebby, and many other places. Ivo Taillebois (equivalent to the modern Underwood), who was then leader of the Angevin Auxiliaries of the Conqueror, also received very extensive grants; among them being lands in Mavis Enderby, Raithby, Hareby, Halton Holgate, Asgarby, Miningsby and many other demesnes. About the same time also (1070), another of the Conqueror’s favourites Eudo—son of Spirewic, subsequently the founder of the Tattershall family, received very extensive domains, among them being the Manor of Mavis Enderby, a Berewick (or smaller outlying portion) in Raithby, another in Hundleby, and in the two Keals, Hagnaby, and endless more possessions, his head-quarters being at Tattershall, all of which he held “in capite” or directly of the King. But, as we have repeatedly observed in these notes, these early Norman tenures were precarious, they were acquired by violence, and when the hand that held them waxed feeble, a stronger hand, in turn, took possession. Mavis Enderby, like very many other parishes, became an appurtenance of the Manor, or Honor, of Bolingbroke, and throughout that great appanage of the Crown there were many changes in the Lords of demesnes.
The first of the Malbishes, whose name is recorded, is Osbert Malbishe, who, with others, is witness to a charter of Revesby Abbey, of date 1173; this probably is accounted for by the fact of there being a cell of Revesby Abbey at Mavis Enderby. Another Malbishe, William, also witnesses another Revesby charter in 1216. Both these lived before the Richard Malbishe who is generally referred to as being the Lord of the Manor, whose name became attached to the parish.
Among the “Final Concords” (p. 162), we find it recorded, that in a deed, dated 5th June, 1222, Matilda, wife of the above William Malebisse, claimed certain lands in Enderby (not yet specially designated “Mavis”), as her dower, but that through the agency of Robert de Wion, she quit-claimed all her rights to that particular portion in favour of one Nicholas and his heirs, for which the said Nicholas gave her 20s.
In a Chancery Inquisition, 4 Edw. III., 1330, it is shown that the heirs of Alan Malbish hold certain lands in Sausthorpe and Langton; and another Inquisition in 1352, mentions ¼ fee held in Sauzethorpe and Langton, which the heirs of Alan Malbish hold. (“Archit. S. Journ.,” 1894, p. 170.)
After this we hear nothing more of the Malbishe family. But in a Chancery Inquisition post-mortem, 18 Henry VII., No. 34, taken at “Est Rasen, 26th October, 1502, after the death of Thomas Fitzwilliam, heir of Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam, Knight, lately deceased,” it is stated that John Vere, Earl of Oxford, Sir Robert Dymmok, Knight, Robert Rede, Justice of the Lord the King, Thomas Chaloner, and others, were seized of the fee of the Manors of Malburssh Enderby, Maydinwell, Malberthorp, etc., with their appurtenances (which are described as extensive) to the use of the heirs male of the said Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam lawfully begotten, and the Jurors further say, that the Manor of Malburssh Enderby, with appurtenances, etc., are held of the Lord the King, of the Duchy of Lancaster, as of his Manor of Bolingbroke, and that certain lands are held of Sir George Taylboys (doubtless a descendent of Ivo Taillebois, owner in the days of the Conqueror), but by what services they do not know. (“Architect. Soc. Journ.” 1895, p. 14).
The Fitzwilliams still held lands in Mablethorp in the reign of Henry VIII. One of the family, Sir William Fitzwilliam was Lord High Admiral, and a staunch supporter of the King in the rebellion of 1536. Only two years later, in an Inquisition, 20 Henry VII., No. 14 (January 31, 1504–5). After the death of George Gedney, it is stated that a certain John Billesby (of Billesby) [49] and Nicholas Eland were seized of the Manor of Mabysshenderby, with appurtenances, as well as lands in Hagworthynham, Bag Enderby, Holbeche, Fleet, and Swaby, and that they enfeoffed the said George Gedney and Anne his wife of the aforesaid Manors, to them and their heirs for ever. The Gedneys continued for many generations an influential family in the neighbourhood. Andrew Gedney, of Bag Enderby, married Dorothy, daughter of Sir William Skipwith, of South Ormsby, 1536; and within recent years Arthur P. Gedney, Esq. (a cousin of the writer of these notes), owned the Manor of Candlesby, and resided at Candlesby Hall. (“Arch. S. Journ.,” 1895, page 27.)
In an Inquisition p.m. in the same year No. 52, after the death of the said Anne, wife of George Gedney, much of this is repeated, but it is further specified that the property in Hagworthingham is held of the Abbot of Bardney; some in Bag Enderby is held of the Warden of Tateshale, some in Holbeche of the Lady Dacre de la South, and some in Flete of the Lord Fitz Water; that the said Anne died on the Saturday after the feast of the Holy Trinity, and that John Gedney is son and next heir. In a deed of 14 June, 1535, John Gedney, of Bag Enderby, refers to his wife’s jointure of lands in Mavis Enderby and other parishes; the said wife being Isabel, heiress of the Enderbies of Bag Enderby.
In the register of Mavis Enderby, one book of which extends from 1579 to 1772, an entry shows that George Lilbourne was Rector from 1522 to 1588, or 66 years. He was a relative of the Smyths of Elkington, near Louth, who are still represented in the two parishes of North and South Elkington, as is shown by his will, dated 5th July, 1587 (Lincolnshire Wills), in which he requests that he may be buried on the north side of the chancel, bequeathing “to my niece Lacon, my niece Hansard, and my niece Simpson, an old English crown apiece; to Sir Edward Hustwaite, all the books he hath of mine, and a great book of St. Gregory’s works, in the hands of Sir Robert Welles, Parson of Howell; to my servant Agnes Cressie, a silver spoon with akorne at the end of it; to George Smithe 3li.; to Dorothy and Susan Smyth, 10s. apiece; to my nephew Herbert Lacon, a macer (mazer or drinking bowl), lined with silver and gilt; to my cousins Thomas Smithe and Anthony Smithe, and my nephew Tristram Smithe a little silver salt (cellar). I make my nephew Herbert Lacon, and Mr. Thomas Taylor, supervisors.” (Prob., 8 May, 1588).
It would appear that he was more generous in lending his books than his friends were careful in returning them, the latter, a failing not unknown in our own day, and even St. Paul could write to Timothy (2 T. iv. 13), “Bring with thee the books, but especially the parchments.”
Among Lincolnshire Wills is one of Roger Metcalf, clerk of Mavis Enderby, dated 18 July, 1606, in which he desires to be buried in the chancel, John Downes of Lusby, clerk, being left executor, and George Littlebury of Somersby, Gent., and John Salmon of Haltham-on-Bain, clerk, supervisors. We thus see that in Saxon times, lands in Mavis Enderby and Raithby were held by the same owner, and that in early Norman times, lands in the two parishes were held more than once by the same Lord. In a Feet of Fines, Lincoln, file 68 (32), 30 Ed. I., there was a dispute between John Beck (of the ancient family of Bec, of Eresby, Lusby, etc.) and Robert de Wylgheby (ancestor of the Lords Willoughby) about the Manors and advowsons of Enderby Malbys, and Ratheby, as well as other properties, in which the said Robert granted to the said John the said lands and advowsons. “Architect. S. Journal,” 1897, p. 56. And in the present day the two benefices are held together by the Rev. George Ward, who is himself patron of Mavis Enderby, Raithby being in the gift of the crown.
Early in the seventeenth century, the benefice was held by the Rev. James Forrester, who was chaplain to Anne, Queen of James I., and wrote a curious book, entitled “The Marrowe Juice of 260 Scriptures, or Monas-Tessera-Graphica”; printed at the signe of the crowne, in Paul’s churchyard, 1611.
The head of one of our old and distinguished Lincolnshire families, Sir Edward Ascough, presented to the benefice in 1679 and 1685. In 1734, Decimus Reynolds presented, and in 1782 Henry Best, Esq., presented. “Liber Regis.,” s.v., Malvis, alias Maurice, Enderby.
The present owners of the parish are Mrs. Rashdall of London, Mrs. Coltman of Hagnaby, Mr. Holmes of Eastville, and the Rector.
It need hardly be said that the poem, by Miss Ingelow, of Boston, called “The Brides of Mavis Enderby,” has no connection with this parish, being entirely imaginary, except that it is founded on the fact of a high tide on the Lincolnshire coast. It was published in 1849, and Tennyson, the Laureate, much admired it. “Life of Lord Tennyson,” Vol. I., p. 287. The name was chosen as being euphonious.
The Church, dedicated to St. Michael, consists of tower, nave with south aisle, and chancel. The tower is of three stories. In the western wall, above the west door, is a three-light trefoiled perpendicular window, above this a clock, above that a smaller three-light window, similar windows being in all four faces. The sill of the west door is an ancient stone, with the “Runic involuted knot” pattern, which, however, is almost obliterated by the tread of worshippers entering by the door. It is similar to the Runic stone at Miningsby. The church has been restored or rebuilt at various periods. The tower, originally a lofty one, but a large part of which, through decay of the sandstone, had fallen down, was partly rebuilt in 1684, and a lower bell-chamber provided. In 1894 it was again restored, and carried up to its original height. The chancel also was rebuilt to its original length in 1871, and the nave, aisle, and porch were handsomely restored in 1878. There are three bells. On the south interior wall of the tower is an inscription on a tablet, recording that the tower was restored and clock set up in 1894, in memory of four generations of the Ward family, “who were married in 1704, 1728, 1783, 1836, G. Ward, F.S.A. (Rector), W. Sharpe (Churchwarden), their 23rd year of office together, C. Hodgson Fowler (Architect), Edwd. Bowman and Sons (Contractors).”
In the north wall of the nave is a door, two three-light trefoiled windows, with two quatrefoils above. The south aisle consists of three bays, one of the original sandstone pillars still remains in the north corner of the west end, next to the tower wall, where there is also a two-light window behind the font. In the south wall, east of the porch, are two windows of three lights, one of the decorated style, the other perpendicular, both square-headed. The eastern one has coloured glass, by Clayton and Bell, the subjects being—in the centre the annunciation, to the east the angel appearing to Zacharias, to the west the visitation, adapted from the famous picture by Mariotto Albertinelli, in the Academy Gallery, at Florence. The seats are of modern oak, with carved poppy-heads, except one or two ancient ones preserved from an older structure near the tower, and the roof throughout is of red deal. There is a modern oak rood screen, with rood-loft, having standing figures of angels, one on each side, as well as one over the pulpit. These were originally in Louth church. The pulpit and reading desk are of modern oak. The font is octagonal, decorated with plain Ogee arch on each face. The south porch is modern, but having a curious old stoup, the pedestal being a cluster of early English columns, the bowl of a rather later date, in keeping with the carving round the doorway; these have probably been imported from elsewhere. The chancel, entirely modern, has a three-light east window, both the tracery and coloured glass being adapted from a window in Louth church (where the Rector was formerly Curate), the glass being by Clayton and Bell, the tracery by the late Mr. James Fowler of Louth. The subjects are—below, the agony, crucifixion and entombment, and above, the annunciation, with six-winged cherubim on either side. In the south wall are two windows of two lights, with quatrefoil above. On the north is an organ chamber, with low wide arch, and a modern piscina and aumbrey in the wall. The altar cloths are very handsome, the upper cover being crimson plush, decorated with shields, and the cross and scales; the frontals are gifts of various persons, one of Algerian red silk and gold work in three compartments; a second of white silk, worked by Mrs. Clarke, late of Stainsby House, with the Agnus Dei in the centre; the third is of green silk, with very rich embroidery; the fourth, of plain purple velvet, with four bands of darker purple, for the Lent season.
The churchyard cross has been recently restored after the fashion of the Somersby cross, a portion of the shaft being old. There is also a modern sun dial, erected by the present Rector. Fragments of the old tower, and of the Norman sandstone pillars, form ornaments in the Rectory garden.
The present Rectory was built in 1871, the architect being the late Mr. James Fowler, of Louth, it has been added to since that date, and now forms a commodious residence in pretty grounds, and a picturesque situation.
It may be added, as an incident of special interest, that the father of the late Sir John Franklin, the arctic explorer, on retiring from business in Spilsby, bought a portion of ground in this parish, in south field, and built a house, now occupied by Mr. W. R. Cartwright, in which he resided for some years, and in which Sir John Franklin spent his youth.
Some years ago, the Rector found in his garden a silver groat of Philip and Mary, two Nuremberg tokens, and a half-penny of William III.
The church and parish, in their past and present history, are among the most interesting in the neighbourhood.
Fulletby lies about 3½ miles from Horncastle, in a north-east by north direction, on the road to Belchford. Letters, via Horncastle, arrive at 10 a.m. The nearest Money Order Office is at Belchford, the nearest Telegraph Office at Tetford, or Horncastle. We do not know very much of the ancient history of this parish. In Domesday Book it is stated (“Lands of the Bishop of Durham”) that the Saxons, Siward and Edric, had there two carucates (or about 240 acres) and six oxgangs of land, rateable to gelt. William, a vassal of the Bishop [54] had also there two carucates (or 240 acres) and five villeins and 19 socmen, who had two carucates and two oxgangs. In Hearne’s “Liber Niger” (vol. ii) Ranulph, Bishop of Durham, is said to have “in Fuletebi and Oxcum 4 carucates and 6 oxgangs which Pinson holds” (Circa A.D. 1114). Pinson was a Norman soldier, Dapifer, or Steward of the Durham Bishops, and held many lands in this neighbourhood under them for the service of acting as their bailiff; the Bishop holding, “in chief,” direct from the sovereign. Pinson thus became (deputy) Lord of Eresby, and other Episcopal Lordships, and by the marriage of Walter de Beck, with Agnes, a daughter of Hugh Pinson, several of these lands passed to the family of Bec, or Bek; one of the family, Anthony de Bec, himself became Bishop of Durham. In 1214 the Bishop of Durham’s land in Fulletby and Oxcomb was held under him by Henry Bec, and in the reign of Ed. I. John Beck and John de Harington held a Fee (doubtless the same property in Fulletby and Oxcombe). At another date, temp King Henry II., a certain “Count Richard,” probably the Earl of Chester, had “in Fulledebi 2 carucates.” By the marriage of Sir William Willoughby with a daughter of Baron Bec, of Eresby, several of these Lordships passed to the Willoughby d’ Eresby family; and among them (“Testa de Nevill,” page 318) were lands in “ffotby”; and in Feet of Fines, Lincoln, (file 69, 31, Ed. I. A.D. 1303) it is stated that Robert de Wylgheby held “rent of 6 quarters of salt in ffoletby, Beltefford, Golkesby, &c.” While Gervase Holles says (“Collectanea,” Brit. Mus., vol. iii., p. 770) that in the reign of Elizabeth, “Carolus, Dominus Willoughby de Parham,” was Lord of the Manor of Fulletby (“Old Lincolnshire,” vol. i., pp. 213–214). The lands have passed from these old owners many years ago, and are now the property of the Elmhirst, Booth, Riggall, and other families.
In the rebellion, called “the Lincolnshire Rising,” in 1536, Robert Leech, of Fulletby, joined with the insurgents, and, although his brother, Nicholas Leech, parson of Belchford, escaped trial, Robert was put to death with Thomas Kendall, vicar of Louth, the Abbots (Matthew Mackerell) of Barlings, and (Richard Harrison) of Kirkstead, and many others. Their names were included in a “List of Lincolnshire Martyrs,” sent to the Apostolic See, who were “first made Venerable, then Blessed, and lastly Canonised,” by his holiness, for their steadfastness in the Papal cause. Other persons, known by name, connected with the parish as patrons of the benefice, have been the heirs of Nicholas Shepley in 1701; George Lascells, Esq., in 1741; Thomas Rockliffe, Esq., in 1782; Francis Rockliffe, clerk, in 1784; Mrs. A. R. Rockliffe, 1826; Rev. J. Jackson in 1863. F. Charsley, Esq., is the present patron; and Rev. R. Barker is rector, who has a substantial residence in the parish. The benefice was formerly charged with a pension of 6s. 8d. to Bullington Priory.
The Church, St. Andrews, is a modern edifice, almost entirely rebuilt in 1857 by Messrs Maughan and Fowler, of Louth; a previous larger church having been erected in 1705, on the site of a Saxon church, mentioned by Archdeacon Churton, in his “English Church,” as one of the two hundred and twenty-two churches in Lincolnshire existing before the Norman conquest. No traces of the original Saxon church remain. The fabric, 400 years ago, is said to have been considerably longer, to have had a tower, and north and south aisles. In the later fabric, the aisles had disappeared, as shewn in an old print, and the tower which partly fell, in 1799, was then cut down to the level of the nave roof, with a small wooden bell-turret above it.
The Land Revenue Records (bundle 1392) state that there were “iij bells and a lytel bell.” In 1566 the Churchwardens reported a “sacringe bell” as still remaining (Peacock’s “Church Furniture” p. 81.) There are now only two bells; and a tradition still lingers, that the largest of the former bells now hangs in the belfry of Tetford church. In 1834, the Church, like several others in the neighbourhood, was thatched; at that date the roof was repaired, and covered with tiles.
The east window is a good triplet, in early English style. The present pulpit was put up by the late Rector, the Rev. G. E. Frewer; and, along with the Reredos, was carved by Mr. Winn, living in the parish. The reading desk was carved by a former Rector, Rev. J. Jackson, but has of late years, been altered. There is a handsome brass lectern given by the present Rector, Rev. R. Barker. In the floor of the chancel is a slab, with this inscription, “Depositum Ricardi Dugard qui obiit anno ætatis 68, salutis 1653, Januarii 28.” He is supposed to have been a nephew of William Dugard, who printed the original edition of “Ikon Basilike,” in his own house. The two present bells are inscribed “Warner and Sons, 1857.” All the registers previous to 1750 have been lost. Of the communion plate, the chalice and paten are dated 1688; the flagon is modern.
In 1566 there was in the church “one alb, one cope, a crosse, super altaire, ij images, a mass, a piece of wood, whereon stood xxiv candels.” George Monson, the royal commissioner, ordered that “they must awaie with (these) this side the first of Maie, and certifie.”
In 1846 six Roman urns, containing calcined bones, were dug up in this parish in an abandoned brickyard; and, about 5 years afterwards, another similar urn was found near the same place. There are still found there a considerable quantity of fossils, ammonites, gryphæa, &c.; and the writer of these notes possesses a vertebra of a large saurian, one of several which have quite recently been found at the same place.
Fulletby School was rebuilt in 1849. The 1st stone being laid in the last week in August, to contain 60 children, by Dr. Spranger, Rector of Low Toynton, who gave handsomely, besides building at his own expense and endowing a School at New York. The Rev. W. M. Pierce, Rector, contributed, also Mrs. Elmhirst, of Yorkshire; the Lady of the Manor, the Queen Dowager giving £10. (“Lincolnshire Chronicle,” August 28th, 1849).