Stanhope family, 114, 122, 165
,, Sir Richard, of Rampton, 109
Stennet, Jeffery, murder of, 119, 120
Stixwold, church described, 199, 200
,, field names at, 207
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Ulviet and Siward, Saxons, 187
,, ,, Waldin Brito, 188
,, ,, Alured, of Lincoln, 188
,, ,, Ivo Taillebois, 188
,, ,, Alan, of Lincoln, 190
,, ,, Roger de Romara, 189
,, ,, Ranulph, Earl of Chester, 189, 190
,, ,, Gilbert de Gant, 190
,, ,, Bec family, 190
,, ,, Pinso, “Dapifer,” 190
,, ,, Willoughby family, 190
,, ,, Robert de Haye, 190
,, ,, Ranulph de Meschines, 190
,, ,, Earl of Northumberland, 191
,, ,, Robert Dighton, 191
,, ,, Thimbleby family, 191
,, ,, Savile family, 192
,, ,, Sir John Coventry, 192
,, ,, Lord High Admiral Anson, 192, 193
,, ,, Edmund Turnor, Esq., 193
,, Halstead Hall owners—
,, ,, Roger de Stixwold, 201
,, ,, Sir Theobald de Stikeswald, 201
,, ,, Ranulph de Meschines, 202
,, ,, Welby family, 202
,, ,, Evington family, 203
,, ,, George Townshend, 203
,, ,, Kirkland Snowden, 203
,, ,, Gibbon family, 203
,, ,, Sir John Coventry, 203, 204
,, ,, Sir William Kyte, or Keate, 204
,, ,, Lord Anson, 204
,, ,, Edmund Turnor, Esq., 204
,, Robbery at Halstead Hall, 204, 205, 206
Stixwold Priory, founded by “the Lady Lucia,” 194
,, Benefactors—
,, ,, Galfred de Ezmondeys, 194 and note
,, ,, Alexander Creveceur, 194 and many others
,, Perquisites—
,, ,, “Assize of beer and bread,” 195
,, ,, “Lincoln farthings,” 195
,, ,, “Shot for wax,” 195
,, Possessions very large, 195
,, Prioress, the last, 196
,, Registers mention—
,, ,, “Artillery in charges,” “town muskets,” etc., 200
,, ,, Dog-whippers for church, 200
,, ,, “Dunkirkers,” 200
,, ,, “Dyke-reeve,” 200
,, stone coffins from, 199
,, stone with curious device, cross within circle, 198 and note
,, Cistercian pottery found, 207
Stourton, church described, 209, 210
,, benefice united to Baumber, 211
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Grinchel, the Saxon, 209
,, ,, Eudo, son of Spirewic, 208
,, ,, Robert de Novâ Villâ, 208
,, ,, Odo, Bishop of Baieux, 208
,, ,, William de Karilepho, 208
,, ,, Ilbert de Lacy, 208
,, ,, Dighton family, 209
,, ,, E. Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, 209
,, ,, Duke of Newcastle, 209
,, ,, W. H. Trafford, Esq., 209
,, ,, R. Harrison, Esq., 211
,, a Roman station, 209
,, “Stoup” farm, 211
Tapestry, Baieux, 102, note
Tetford, 211
,, church described, 213
,, Saxon, formerly existing, 211
,, Owners—
,, ,, Elmer, Arnwi and Britnod, Saxons, 211
,, ,, Thomas (of Baieux) Archbishop of York, 212
,, ,, Gozelin, son of Lambert, 212
,, ,, De Hesele family, 212
,, ,, Cormayle family, 212
,, ,, Creveceur family, 212
,, ,, Braybœuf family, 212
,, ,, Barkworth family, 212
,, ,, Thimbleby family, 212
,, ,, Savile family, 212
,, ,, George Anton, Esq., 212
,, ,, Hussey family, 213
,, ,, Dymoke family, 213
,, ,, Sir H. A. H. Cholmeley, 213
,, ,, Meaburn Staniland Esq., 213
,, ,, Executors of G. Westerby, 213
Thimbleby, imprisoned at Lincoln, cruel treatment of wife, 37
,, family, 212
Thorndyke, Francis, of Scamblesby, (Lincolnshire Gentry, 1634), 176
Thorold, of Bucknall, 150
,, Horncastle, Dean of, 161
,, of Horsington, 42
,, of Salmonby, 172
Touthby, John de, 36
Tyrwhitt, Sir William, 180
Umfraville, Gilbert de, Earl of Angus, 59, 110, 182, 188, note
Valery, St., Ralph de, 156
Vere, Earl of Oxford, 49
Wac (Wake), Hugh, gives land to Revesby Abbey, 139
Waddingworth, 215
,, meaning, probable, of name, 217
,, Dymoke monument, 221
,, Owners of—
,, ,, William de Karilepho, 218
,, ,, Eudo, son of Spirewic, 218
,, ,, Tupholme Abbey, 218
,, ,, Richard de Waddingworth, 218
,, ,, Roger Fulstow, 219
,, ,, Thomas Dighton, 219
,, ,, George Townshend, 220
,, ,, George Snowden, 220
,, ,, Edward Dymoke, 221
,, ,, Trafford Southwell family, 221
,, ,, Vyner family (of Gautby), 221
,, a native of, became Lord Mayor of London, 220
,, old armour in cottage, 222
,, highway robbery of resident in, 220
Wainflete, William of, Rector of Salmonby, 172
Walesby monument, 157
Ward, Rev. R. F., 172
Webberley family, 128
Welby, Thomas, of Oxcombe, 147
,, large possessions of, 147
,, family, of Stixwold, 203
Wentworth, Lord Strafford, 69
William de Barkworthe, 35
,, Wodehall, 42
Willoughby, arms of, 110
,, d’Eresby, 55
,, and Kirkstead Abbey, 230, note
Willoughby, Rev. West, charity of, 118, 119
Winceby, church described, 227
,, a haunted boulder, 225
,, Owners of—
,, ,, Agemund the Saxon, 225
,, ,, Gozelin the Norman, 225
,, ,, Hugh de Abrincis, 225
,, ,, Gaunt family, 226
,, ,, Duke of Lancaster, 226
,, ,, C. Manwaring, Esq., 226
,, ,, Hill family, 226
,, register, curious entries, 228
Wispington, church described, 238, 239
,, Owners of—
,, ,, William de Karilepho, Bishop of Durham, 231
,, ,, Eudo, son of Spirewic, 232
,, ,, Kirkstead Abbey, 234
,, ,, Bec family, 233
,, Sir William Willoughby, 233
,, Robert Phillips, Esq., 235
,, Phillips Glover, Esq., 236
,, Turnor family, of Stoke Rochford, 237
,, anecdote of Vicar, R. Glover, 238, note
,, benefice formerly a rectory, 241
,, duel fought by Major Glover, 244
,, list of vicars, 242
,, Manor house, formerly a fine residence, 237
,, register, names “weaver” and “spinster,” 242, 243
,, spinning, a common occupation, 243, note
Witham debouched at Wainfleet, 99
Woodstock, Edmund of, 65
Yarborough, Earl of, 178
[0] The corrigenda has applied in this transcription.—DP.
[2a] Among the names in the “Myntlyng” MS., of Spalding Priory, is “John atte Ash,” i.e., John living by “the Ash,” which in time became John Ash. The ash tree was supposed to have peculiar virtues: weakly children were passed through it three times, before sunrise, to give them strength; and to the Rowan, or mountain-ash many superstitions are attached. (“Folklore,” vol. ii., No. 1, p. 88, et alibi.)
[2b] It would appear, however, that water was a more marked feature of the locality 100 years ago. Sir Joseph Banks, writing of the antiquities of Ashby, in an article contributed to “Archæologia” at that time (vol. xii., p. 96), mentions the “sloping hills with brisk rills of water running through almost every valley.” It should not be forgotten that formerly a tract of forest extended all along this district, so that (as I have mentioned elsewhere) a Dutch sportsman spent a whole season in hunting “in Lincolniensi montium tractu,” among the Lincolnshire hills. When that forest was cleared away, as a natural consequence the streams would shrink in volume, or disappear altogether.
[4] The Elands were landowners in Stourton, East Kirkby, and other places. One of them resided at East Kirkby as late as 1870. Sir William Eland was Constable of Nottingham Castle, 1330, and M.P. for the county in 1333 (Bailey’s “Annals,” vol. i., p. 223). The Gedneys were considerable owners in the neighbourhood. In the church at Bag Enderby there is a handsome stone mural monument of Andrew and Dorothy Gedney, with their two sons and two daughters kneeling before prayer desks. This Andrew Gedney married Dorothy, daughter of Sir William Skipwith, of South Ormesby, by his wife, Alice Dymoke.
[5] John de Kirketon (or Kirton), near Boston, received the honour of knighthood from Ed. II., owned Tattershall and Tumby, and was summoned to Parliament 16 Ed. III. They had large property in Boston in 1867 (Thompson’s “History of Boston,” p. 226).
[6a] The pedigree of the Littleburys is given in the Herald’s “Visitation of Lincolnshire” 1562–4; edited by W. Metcalf, F. S. A. (Bell and Sons, 1881).
[6b] Sir Thomas Meeres was knighted 11 June, 1660. He was almost continuously M.P. for Lincoln from 1660 to his death in 1708. (“Architect. Soc. Journal,” 1891, p. 13.)
[7] The late Poet Laureate, in his poem “Walking to the Mail” (Poems, 1842), tells of a farmer who was so pestered by the presence of this ghost about his house, that he harnessed his horse to his cart and started to leave home to get rid of it:—
“The farmer, vext, packs up his bed,
And all the household stuff, and chairs,
And with his boy betwixt his knees, his wife
Upon the tilt—sets out and meets a friend,
Who hails him, ‘What! Art flitting?’
‘Yes, we’re flitting,’ says the ghost,
For they had packed her among the beds.
‘Oh! Well!’ the farmer says, ‘You’re flitting with us too!
‘Jack, turn the horse’s head, and home again.’”
There are sundry other ghosts, or witches, remembered in the neighbourhood, which may be heard of by the curious.
[9] Among the lists of institutions to benefices, preserved in the Archives at Lincoln, is that of “Thomas Hardie, clerk, presented by the Dean and Chapter, Vicar, A.D. 1567.” This was in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; the patronage, therefore, was probably granted to that body by her father, Henry VIII., on the dissolution of the Tattershall College. (“Institutions, 1540–1570,” edited by Rev. C. W. Foster.)
[10] The writer has reason to remember the hollowness of the beck, for on one occasion, when riding with the foxhounds, there being a steep descent to the beck, and the beck itself having rotten, hollow banks, the soil gave way beneath his horse’s hind legs, and, although they landed on the other side, the horse was all in a heap, and the rider shot over its head. They, however, recovered themselves, and no other riders attempting it they gained a considerable advantage over the rest of the field. When shooting along its banks he has seen places where the hollowness was still more marked, the beck itself being barely more than two feet wide, and four feet, or even more, deep.
[12a] “The culverhouse, or dovecote, attached to old baronial and other houses, was a valuable source of food supply in days when the fattening of cattle was not understood.” (“Nature and Woodcraft,” by J. Watson.)
[12b] The existence of this watermill is not without interest. They were a source of considerable revenue, and this probably belonged to the monks of Tattershall College, and all their tenants would be expected to have their grain ground at it. In an ancient MS., of Spalding Priory, it is recorded that certain tenants of the Prior were heavily fined because they took their corn to be ground elsewhere.
[12c] At a monastery at Norwich 1,500 quarters of malt were used annually for ale. Ingulphus, the abbot of Croyland, laments in his History, the damage caused by a fire at the Abbey, inasmuch as it “destroyed the cellar and casks full of ale therein” (quoted Oliver’s “Religious Houses,” p. 15, note 5).
[13] The full inscription is:—“Here lyeth Rychard Lyttleburye, of Stanesbye in ye countie of Lincoln Esquier and Elizabeth his wyffe daughter of Sir Edmund Jenney of Knotsolt in the countie of Suff. Knight, which Richard departed this lyfe in the xiii year of the Reign of King Henry ye eight Ao. D’ni. 1521 and Elizabeth dyed in ye xv yeare of ye Raigne of ye sayd King H. Ao. 1523.”
[15a] See Notices on Baumber, Bolingbroke, Hareby, East Kirkby, etc.
[15b] See the Notices of Baumber and Stourton.
[16] They had also large possessions in the counties of York and Durham.
[19] The descendants of Ivo Tailbois seem to have lost the commanding position of their ancestor; since in a Close roll of Henry VII., No 30., it is stated that Sir Robert Dymmok, and others, “being seized of the Manors of Sotby and Baumburg, granted an annuity therefrom of £20 to William Tailboys, who now assigns the deed, granting that annuity to him, to Bartholomew Rede, citizen, and goldsmith, of London, for a debt,” (evidently a London money-lender), Dated May 9th, Henry VII., A.D. 1494.
[20] This Mr. Thomas Livesey married Lydia, widow of Matthew Dymoke Lister, Esq., of Burwell Park, and was buried at Burwell, 1790, March 28th. (‘Notices of the Listers’, “Architect Journal,” 1897, pp. 92, 3).
[26a] According to Magna Britannia, it had an annual fair as well as a weekly market, on Tuesdays; although Leland (Itiner. Cur., vol. vii. 52), says “It hath once a year a fair, but hath no weekly market.” But surely the larger mart could imply the smaller, and Weir in his History of Lincolnshire (vol. ii. p. 407), mentions an attempt at New Bolingbroke, to “revive the market on Tuesday,” showing that there was one of old.
[26b] To show the extent of the soke, we find from “Inquisition post mort. 41, Ed. III., No. 47,” that in 1367 it was decided that Ralph de Nevill holds “a fee in Ulceby, as of this Manor.” Yet Ulceby is distant several miles.
[27] The Tenor bell was also re-hung at her expense.
[28] The present writer had the charge of that excursion, and twice visited the church in company of the Precentor, to examine its details, which he has done again at a more recent date.
[29] That there was a chantry here is proved by the fact, that at the Lincolnshire Rising in 1536, the Bishop’s Chancellor Dr. Rayner, was seized while being ill in bed at the house of the Chantry Priest, and afterwards murdered. Arch. S. Journal, 1894, p. 195.
[30a] Proceed. Archæolog. Inst. Lincoln. (1848, p. 188).
[30b] She was given in marriage by William the Conqueror to his nephew, Ivo Taille-bois, Earl of Anjou; but he dying early to her great relief, she married secondly Roger de Romara, son of Gerald, who had been Seneschall or High Steward to William as Duke of Normandy, before the conquest of England. For third husband she married Ranulph, Earl of Chester.
[30c] A tradition still lingers in the parish of Bucknall, that the place was in some way connected with the Lady Godiva; and here we get the connection. Her brother, and therefore doubtless her father, was Lord of the Demesne of Bucknall. The Lord (Saxon “Laford”) and Lady (Saxon “Lafdig”) were esteemed for the loaf (Saxon “Laf”) dealt out to the hungry dependants, and their memory still lingers like a sweet savour behind them.
[31a] The Lady Lucia conveyed, and the conveyance was confirmed by King John, the church and benefice of Bolingbroke to the Priory of Spalding (Dugdale Monasticon ii., 381); and, according to Liber Regis, it paid to the Priory a pension of £3 6s. 8d.
[31b] The Thorolds were also men of position in Normandy. The name is on the ancient Bayeux tapestry; and it also still survives in the old family residence, the Hotel de Bourgthorould, in Rouen.
[32] The Head Office of the Duchy is now in London at Lancaster-place, Strand; but two courts are held at Bolingbroke in May and October for all copyhold accounts.
[34a] There was formerly at Edlington an old Jacobean Hall, on the site of the later Hall. The entire fittings of the dining room of this structure, some 23ft. in length, still survive in the dining room of Rollestone House, Horncastle, the residence of R. Jalland, Esq.
[34b] Mrs. Heald was the daughter of George Heald, Esq., Barrister, of the Chancery Court, commonly known, as “Chancellor Heald,” to whom, with his wife, and daughter Emma, there is a marble monument, on the north wall of the Chancel, in St. Mary’s Church, Horncastle. He died, March l8th, 1834. The Chancellor also at one time resided at Edlington Hall.
[37a] This Sir Walter Tailboys was the son of Henry Tailboys, and his wife Ahanora, who was daughter and heir of Gilbert Burdon, and his wife Elizabeth, the latter being sister and heir of Gilbert Umfraville, Earl of Angus.
[37b] Sir John Bolles, of Thorpe Hall, is the hero of the tradition of “the Green Lady,” of that place. She nursed him while imprisoned in Spain, and fell in love with him. He was obliged to explain to her that he had a wife at home already, whereupon she made valuable presents of jewellery to him for his wife. She was said to haunt Thorpe Hall, and for some time a plate was always laid, and a vacant place kept for her at the table. Some of this jewellery still exists, and is worn, to my knowledge, by connections of the family (see Percy’s Ballads, vol. I., “The Spanish Lady’s Love”).
[41] In the “Placito de quo Warranto,” p. 409, these gallows are distinctly referred to as “furcœ in Edlington,” and the same document says “Abbs de Bardeney venit hic,” etc., “the Abbot of Bardney comes here,” doubtless to see for himself that the punishment is duly inflicted.
[47a] Lady of the Lake, Canto IV. 12, the Ballad of Alice Brand.
[47b] Mavis is the thrush, and Merle the blackbird.
[47c] Domesday Book, translated by Charles Gowan Smith, dedicated to Earl Brownlow, Earl Yarborough, and H. Chaplin, Esq., M.P. (Simpkin, Marshall and Co.)
[49] The Billesbies were a good family. Sir Andrew Billesby was involved in the rebellion of 1536. He was steward of Louth Park Abbey and Bullington Priory.
[54] This Bishop was, at the date of Domesday, William de Karilepho. He had been Abbot of St. Vincent; was consecrated Bishop of Durham, January 3rd, 1082, and held the office of Chief Justice of England under the Conqueror. He was an ambitious man, and acquired great possessions, largely in this neighbourhood. He was banished from his See for three years by William Rufus for conspiring, with many of the nobility, against the throne. And for the part which he took in the quarrel between Rufus and Archbishop Anselm, he was so severely rebuked that he died of wounded pride.
[58] We have, in the north of the county, Goxhill which, in Domesday Book, is Golse; and in Broughton, not far from thence, is the hamlet Gokewell; both of which may contain the same prefix. Although Goltho, which has a similar sound, is a corruption of Caldicot.
[59] It is not improbable that these early possessions in Goulceby, &c., may have come to the Cromwells indirectly on the females’ side, through their connections, the Willoughbys; since we find, by a Feet of Fines (Lincoln, folio 69, A.D. 1302), that as early as the reign of Edward I., a suit was instituted between John Bec (of the ancient Spilsby and Lusby family), and Robert Wylgheby; wherein it was proved that the Willoughbys even then held lands in “Golkeby, Donington,” etc.
[60a] Feet of Fines, Lincoln, Trinity, 22 Elizabeth (“Architect. S. Journ.” 1895, p. 129.)
[60b] I have referred to this Thomas Glemham, in notices of Mareham-le-Fen, of which manor he was Lord. Other members of the family settled elsewhere in the neighbourhood, besides Burwell, the headquarters.
[60c] British Museum, Add., 5524., fol. 68.
[60d] He was eventually imprisoned by Cromwell, and died in exile in Holland.
[61] It is also stated that Mrs. Eleanor Lister “was buryed in ye vault, Dec. ye 28th, in woollen”; and their first-born grandson Matthew, baptized 7 May, 1703, was “buried in woollen” on the 13th of the same month.
[69] Of course it is possible that the supposed owner of Greetham may have been this second Lord Strafford, whose Ancestors held Ashby Puerorum. I quote this from a paper in the “Architectural Society’s Journal” of 1891, by Rev. A. R. Maddison, F.S.A., entitled “A Ramble through the parish of St. Mary Magdalene,” in which he mentions house property in Lincoln belonging to the Wentworths. It certainly shows a connection of the Wentworths with Ashby Puerorum, then probably still an appurtenance of the Greetham Manor.
[73] The close connection of Haugh and Hagi, is shown by Domesday Book, which called the Lincolnshire village Haugh Hage. Taylor (“Words and Places”) connected the word with “hedge” and our modern “haw-haw,” a sunk fence; and so a hedged enclosure.
[75] The present holders of this title (the Keppels), are a different family, their honour dating only from 1696. Albemarle or Awmarle, a town in North Normandy, is now Aumale, from which the Duc d’Aumale takes his title.
[76] The Blunts (or Blounts) were an old Norman Family, who came over at the Conquest. The name is in the Rolls of Battle Abbey. Walter Blunt was created Baron de Mountjoy by Ed. IV. The fine church of Sleaford was built by Roger Blunt, in 1271, as appears from an old MS. found in the parish chest (“Saunder’s Hist.,” vol. ii. p. 252). Camden (“Britannia,” p. 517), says that they had a “a fine house” in his day (circa 1600), at Kidderminster, and he mentions Sir Charles Blunt, Knight, as having a fine seat at Kimlet in Salop, where their “name is very famous” (p. 542). The late Sir Charles Blunt used to visit Harrington in this neighbourhood, where the writer has met him, in days gone by, and enjoyed sport with his beagles.
[78] Richard Gedney, in his will dated 1 April, 1613, speaks highly of Thomas Cheales of Hagworthingham, “Yeoman, whom he makes his trustee.” A junior branch of the Cheales family now reside at Friskney. The Rev. Alan Cheales still owns land here, now residing at Reading. He is the 11th in descent from Anthonie, who bought the property in 1590.
[82] These are no longer to be found, but they were mentioned in a MS. belonging to Sir Joseph Banks, dated 1784. Another brief was for “ye first Fast day for ye Plague, 1665, the sum of 15s 6a” (August 2nd) “September ye 6th, ye 2nd Fast day for ye Plague 1665 . . . 13s 7d and 2s more was added afterwards.” Six Fast days were mentioned, when money was collected “for ye Plague.” Among items, in the Church accounts, were:—“A sheet borne over the sacrament,” a “Kyrchuffe that our Lady’s coat was lapped in,” “to Peter Babbe for gilding the Trinity, iiiili xvis 0d.” “It for painting the Dancing geere,” (i.e. at the May-pole). “It for viii. pound of waxe for Sepulchre lights iiiis iiiid.” “It for ii. antiphoonies bought at Stirbridge faire (&c.) iiili xis 7d”; “It for thacking the steeple xs”; “To William Edwards for finding our Lady’s light viiiis iiiid”; “iiili xs given to finde yearly an obitt for the soul of Lawrence Clerke, . . . to say Dirige and Masse, . . . and for the bede roule,” &c. There are charges, for “vi gallons yearly of aile” for the ringers. The “Church corne, given of the good will of the inhabitants to the value of xxs viiid.” “Wessell (Wassail) for the young men.” “The town bull sold for iis viiid a quarter.” &c., &c. (“Lincs. N & Q.” vol. i. pp. 5–13).
[83] There are mounds, and traces of a moat in a field in Langton, showing that there was formerly a large residence, probably the home of this branch of the Angevin family, who came over with the Conqueror.
[84a] Gair means a triangular piece of land which requires ploughing a different way from the rest of the field. There was a Thomas Baudewin had lands in Coningsby in the reign of Henry III. 106. Coram Rege Roll, 42, Henry III. “Linc. N. & Q.” iv. p. 102.
[84b] A pulse diet, for man or beast, seems to have been very general. Pesedale-gate, means the gate, or road by the Pease-valley. We have Pesewang, i.e. Peasefield, in High Toynton, Pesegote-lane in Spilsby, and there are similar names at Louth, and elsewhere.
[87] Streatfeild (“Lincolnshire and the Danes,” p. 219) says “from the old Norse ‘heri,’ or hare, come Eresby (or Heresby) and Hareby.” In south Lincolnshire, hares are still called “heres.” The canting crest of the Withers’s family, is a hare’s head, with ears up-pricked. Whether there is any connection between “ear” and “eres” or hares, I know not, but the long ears are a distinguishing feature, and often the only part of the animal visible in tall covers; and there is the same variation, in the presence, or absence, of the aspirate, between the noun “ear” and the verb “to hear,” as between Eresby and Hareby. The writer has a vivid recollection of the hares as a feature of the locality, as he has frequently joined coursing parties at Hareby, many years ago, when there was game enough to afford sport for 30 couple of greyhounds. Fuller in his “Worthies of England,” p. 150 (Circa 1659), tells of a Dutchman who came over and spent a season in hunting “in Lincolniensi montium tractu,” in the mountainous parts of Lincolnshire; and as foxhounds were not established at that date, this must have been hare hunting in these Wolds.
[88] These accounts are worked out carefully, by Weir, in his History, but the various steps are very complicated and some authorities differ from him in minor details. By an Inquisition, 37 Henry III., it was shewn that in 1253, William de Bavent owned the Castle and manors attached to it.
[90a] See “History of the Ayscoughs,” by J. Conway Walter, published by Mr. W. K. Morton, Horncastle.
[90b] Of this Blagge the following anecdote is preserved. He was a favourite with Henry VIII., who called him familiarly his “little pig.” A retrograde religious movement occurring towards the end of this reign, Blagge, with others, was imprisoned as an offender against the law of the Six Articles (1539) against Popish practices. By Henry’s interposition he was released and restored to his office. On his first re-appearance at Court, the King said to him:—“So you have got back again my little pig,” to which Blagge replied, “Yes, and but for your Majesty’s clemency, I should have been roast pig before now.”