Chapter III: Preface (3)

Andrew de Craon, lord of Craon, of } = { Agnes, daughter of Fulk, the good
Bruslon, and of Loches. } | { count of Anjou, and lord of Loches.
|
+-----------------------+---------------------+
| |
Lisois the elder, lord of Craon: he Artus de Craon, chambrier de
lived in the time of Nerra, earl l’abbay de St. Aubin d’Angers.
of Anjou.
|
+-------------+
|
Suhard de Craon the elder, lord of Craon.
|
+---------+--------------+----------------------------+
| | |
Lisois de Craon the Guerin de Craon, lord of Suhard de Craon the younger.
younger, author of the Craon. He doing homage for
elder or English house his baronage to Conan II. duke of Britany, instead of
of Craon: he was lord Geffrey Martel, earl of Anjou, who claimed that service,
of Mordelles. V. it was confiscated; whereupon he waged war, but was
Histoire de Sablé, p. wounded therein, and died.
109, 110. |
| +--------+
| |
| Robté de Craon, heiress = Robert de Vitré, lord of Vitré.
+----------------+ |
| | +----------------+
| | | Robert de Nevers, sirnamed the = Avis de Sablé.
Hildeberg married | | Burgundian, or Allobrog. |
to Herbert | | |
Marquis of | Inogen de Vitré. = Reynold the Burgundian, lord
| | | of Craon.
| | |
| | Authors of the second house of Craon, of special note in
| | France. He founded the abbey of Roé, in the neighbourhood
| of Craon, 1096. His Cri d’Arms was +Cleriau+.
+-------------+ |
| | |
Geffry, first prior | Guy de Croun, baron Croun of Frieston, near Boston,
to the abbey of St. | Lincolnshire, given him by William the Conqueror, with whom
Evron in Normandy, | he came into England. He had another seat at Burton Crown,
after abbot of | near (Sleaford) so called from him, as now Pedwardyn from
Croyland, ob. 1124. | his descendants: he had much land in Ashby, Ravendale, Wade,
+----------------+ and Bliton, com. Linc. 20 W. I. as appears in Domesday. He
| possessed no less than sixty lordships. He gave to the
Robert, monk of priory of Spalding, refounded about this time by his
St. Evron, was countryman, Ivo Talbois, one carucat of land in that town,
afterwards abbot anno 1081. Histoir. de Sablé, p, 138. thus says the charter
of Thorney. of donation. Guy de Croun, in obedience to the divine
inspiration, out of his ability, gave a certain parcel of
his estate to GOD and St. Nicholas, for the soul of William
the king, and Maud the queen, and for the soul of William
the First, that the Lord would grant him success in his
reign, and bring him to a good end; one carucat of land in
Spaldingue, with the appurtenances; his wife, all his sons
and daughters, and brothers, consenting thereto, for the
good of his soul.----He likewise gave ten carucats of land
in Pynchbeck to the abbey of Croyland, and two carucats in
Spalding to the same.
|
+---------------------------------------+-----+------------+
| | | |
Godfrey de Croun, first prior | Emme. Roger de Croun.
of Frieston. | |
+--------------------------------------+ William de Crown.
|
Alan de Croun = Muriel.
Baron Croun.
He was in highest favour with king Hen. I. to whom he was great steward of the
houshold. Petrus Blesensis says he was dear to the king above all other barons of the
court, and whose counsel he valued most. He so far excelled in industry, honesty,
wisdom, and sanctity, that he was called the King’s God, by the soldiery. In his
country at Frieston, he was called _Alan Open-doors_, because he kept so great a
house, says Leland in his Itinerary, Vol. VII. p. 126. He owned Southwarnburn, com.
Southampt. He founded the priory of Frieston for Benedictin monks, subject to the
abbot of Croyland, anno 1142: he was buried at Croyland abbey, on the south side of
the high altar. See the _Monasticon_, and History of Ingulfus and Continuation, and
Dugdale’s Baronage. |
+--------------------------------------+-------------+
| |
1150. | Matilde.
Maurice de Craon, baron Croun. He was } {
made keeper of the castle of Ancennis by } { Clarice, sister to Henry III. vid.
Hen. II. and governor of the provinces } { liberat. 35 Hen. III. m. 3. and Claus.
of Anjou and Main: he was one of the } = { 45 Hen. III. m. 13. she was after
plenipotentiaries on the part of the } | { married again to the duke of Burgundy,
king, in the treaties between him and } | { 33 Hen. III. 39 Hen. III. p. 2. m. 2.
Philip the August, king of France. } | {
+---------------------------+-+
| |
Maurice de Croun, nepos regis & nepos | Guy de la Val, qui habuit in liberio
Almerici de Croun, cui manerium de Burn | maritagio quasdam terras in Walttun com.
restituitur post mortem Almerici de | Surr. sed forisfecit illas adherendo
Croun.--Pat. 55. Hen. III. p. 1. m. 28. | baronibus contra Ric. I. v. Lib. Feod.
| Milit. f. 16. b.
+-----------------------------+---------------+
| | |
Ralf de Croun. | Peter de Croun habet Hamma, Waletun &
| Ewell, cum. Surr. Pat. 17 Hen. I. m. 24.
+--------------------------------+
1180. |
Guy de Crown, } = Isabel.
baron Crown }
He accompanied Richard I. in his voyage to the Holy Land, 1192; was present at
the treaty between him and Tancred, king of Sicily, recited by Hoveden, annal. He
confirmed, to the nuns of Haverholm, pasture for ninescore sheep in Bloxam fields,
even to the bounds between them and the abbot of Grelle.--V. lib. R. Dodsworth,
vocat. petigrees, tom. i. f. 94. b.
|
| Walter to Langtot = Matildis.
| |
| +----+
| |
| Ranulf de Langtot =
| |
| Robert de Vallibus came into } { |
There were lands in | England with William the } = { Agnes.
Sutton held of the | Conqueror. } { |
honour of Croun,--Inquis. | +----------------------------+
Wap. Elhou. 1 Ed. III. | |
feod. milit. 42. | William de Vaux =
offic. armor, p. 32. | |
| +--------+
| |
| Robert de Vaux =
+---+ |
1. William Longchamp = } | +--------------+
2. Henry de Mara. = } = Petronilla. | ³
Gules, a fesse between three } | = { Oliver de Vaux. Chequy
water-budgets ermine. } | | { argent and gules.
+-------------------+ |
| +--------------------------+
Sir Henry de Longchamp: he died March } |
1274, and was buried at Swynshed } { Sibilla, daughter of John de Vaux =
abbey; his heart at Burton Pedwardin, } { Sir Thomas Heringande, owned the manor
as called from his son in-law, before } = { Sir Thomas Heringande, of Frieston,
the altar in the chapel of the Virgin } | { com. Suff. Az. and certain lands
Mary. Or, three crescents gules, } | { six herrings argent. in Boston by gift
charged each with a mullet argent. } | { of his mother,
| _in feodo talliata,
There is a great Fe gatery’d about Bostone parts | ob._ 1288. |
by the name of _Petronille de la Corone_ dowghter | |
by _Lykelehode de la Corone_ foundar of Frieston | |
priorye, and buried at Croyland. This fe is | |
now paid to the lord Rosse, but the Richmount | |
fe is greater there. There is also anoder fee +---------------------------+ |
cauld _Pepardyne_; and that the lord Linsey had: and the owners of these fees | |
be lords of the town of Boston.--Leland’s Itin. Vol. VIII. p. 124.--Petronil | |
had lands in Holbech and Quaplode.--Inquis. Elho, 1 Ed. III. feod. milit. 42. | |
offic. arm. p. 32. and in Weston, p. 33, 20, 21, &c. _Juratores dicunt quod | |
Petronilla de vallibus tenet de domino rege in capite manerium de Warnburn | |
com. Southampton & in com. Lincoln 22. feod. mil. & dimid. per Baronium & | |
quod Henricus de Longo Campo est ejus propinquior heres & ætat. 50. & | |
amplius._--Escaet. 46 Hen. III. N. 5. | |
| |
+----------------------------------------------------+ |
| |
Roger Penwardyn. } { Alice: she died 15 May, 1330, was buried in the north |
} = { Pedwardin, side of the chapel of the Virgin Mary, |
Gules, two lions } | { in Burton where I saw her tomb-stone, with this |
regardant argent. } | { inscription, 1714. |
| |
+-----------------+ |
|*DAME ALIS. DE. PETTEWARDIN. GYT. ITY.* |
| *DEU. DE. SA. ALME GYT. MERCI.* |
| +------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | |
| Petronil = Sir William de Nereford. |
| | +----------------+
| | William de Roos, lord of Hamlake, } |
| +---+ Gules, three water-budgets argent. } = Maud, heiress.
| | |
|Matilda, ob. S. P. +-----------------------------+
| | { Margery, one of the coheiresses of Giles de
| William de Ros. = { Badlismere, lord of Chillham. Their descendants
| { were barons Ros; and the Manors’s,
| { earls of Rutland, married an heiress.
+------------------------------+
|
Thangharat, sister to } ¹ { Wallter Pedwardin, alias Lloyd, } ² { Maud, daughter
Thelwell Llewellin, } = { lived in the castle of Brampton, } = { of Sir John
prince of Wales. } { in Wigmorland, in the marches of } | { Lyngain.
{ Wales, called Waugher Thleud by } |
{ reason of his white hairs. } |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| =anno 1340.=
Roger Pedwardin II. he built entirely new the church of }
Burton Pedwardin and St. Mary’s chapel there, being on the } = { Alice, daughter of
north side; but the south aile, together with the chapel of } | { Henry Longchamp.
St. Nicholas, was rebuilt at the same time by the } |
parishioners. } |
+--------------------------------------------------+
|
Sir Roger Pedwardin: he died 10 Feb. } { Agnes, daughter of Philip Darcy, sister
1368, buried at Burton: he obtained a } { and coheiress of Norman D’arcy, lord
bull for 530 days pardon to all } = { Darcy of Nocton, Azure, semée de cross
benefactors towards the church and } | { croslets or, three cinquefoils ar.
chapels there. } | {
+-------------+
| |
John de Markham, } { daughter | Brian de Pedwarin, esc. 11 E.
J. C. Az. on a chief } = { of Nicholas | III. N. 4. Lincoln.
ar. a demi-lion. } | { Bottomsell. |
| +----+
| | |
+--------------+ | Alice = John de Warbelton.
| |
Robert de Markham } = { daughter |
} | { of Caunton. +-------+
| |
| Sir Walter } { Isabel, daughter
| Pedwardin, ob. } { and coheiress of
| 11 June, 1405. } = { Sir Rob. Hilton,
² | ¹ } | { and Margaret,
Milicent } { Sir John } { Eliz. daughter } | { daughter and
daughter of } = { Markham, justic. } = { and coheiress } | { coheir of Marmaduke
Beckerin. } | { de Banco. } { of Hugh } | { Tweng, knt.
| de Cressy. |
| +--+------------+
| | |
Sir John Markham, of Nottingham: } | Walter de Pedwardin.
he was lord chief justice, } |
10 Hen. IV. buried in Sidbrook } +------+
church, near Grantham. That } = { Margaret, coheiress | |
manor continued in his family } | { of Simon Leek. | Catharine = David, son
till Sir George Markham lately } | | of Sir Daniel Fletwick.
sold it to Sir John Thorold. } | |
| +----------------+
| | 1430.
| Sir Robert Pedwarin, } { Elizabeth, daughter
| ob. 26. April, 1432. } = { to Sir Edmund
| _fines prim. mich._ } | { Pierpoint, knight.
| 8 Hen. IV. Linc. } | {
| |
| +---------------+
| |
+--------+ ² = Walter Pedwardin, } { Katharine daughter
¹ } | esq. ob. 4. Aug. } ² { of Ingilby
Matthew Leak. } | 1429, 9 Hen. VI. } = { of Ripley, near
² } | Ecc. N. 7. } = { Knaresburgh.
John de Fleet of } = Katharine. |
Framton, esq. a } | |
lawyer. Ar. two +------------+ +----------------+------+
bars sable, each | | | | |
charged with | Beatrice = Roger Pedwardin. | Thomas Pedwardin.
three scallops | Leak. | |
of the first. | | +------+
| Christopher Pedwardin, of Brompton, | |
| Salop, son and heir, released all | Katharine.
| his right to the manor of Burton |
| Pedwardin, Claus. 7. Ed. IV. m. 8 Linc. |
| +------+
| | |
| | Joanna.
+------------+ +----------------+
| | |
Alexander Leak = Margaret |
|
|
John Quickerell, of Boston = Ann.

The site of Roushall, where the barons Ros lived, is in the parish of Fishtoft.

[Sidenote: +Vainona.+]

In Wainfleet church, the bishop of Winchester, whose name was Patten, founder of Magdalen college, Oxford, erected a marble monument for his father, where are his coats of arms in the windows. In the town he built a handsome chapel of brick, and endowed it with a pretty good revenue, to pray for his and his ancestors souls. Now it is made a free-school house. This place still retains its ancient name; for I am certain it is the Vainona mentioned by the famous author of _Ravenna_, who has happily preserved so many of our old British cities. The learned Mr. Baxter, in his Glossary of British Antiquities, with a sagacity peculiar to himself, has corrected this from Navione. The sea has added much ground to this place since the Roman times, and then their city stood higher up by the churches, which is a mile off the present town. The haven was near St. Thomas church, now called North-holm: it is still very deep thereabouts, and appears to have been broad, being a pretty good river, whilst the waters of the east fen ran through it, and kept it open: it was thirty foot wide a mile above the churches, as appears by the old cloughs there; for they had wisely contrived by that means to keep out the salt water and heighten the fresh, which no doubt would have preserved the haven to this day, had they not foolishly suffered the east-fen water to be carried to Boston. It is apparent the natural course of water here (as we before observed of other parts of the level) is eastward: the east fen is lower than the west fen. At Nordike bridge anciently were four arches: the edge of the piers which cut the water was westward; which shows that the water originally run eastward, and the whole level was drained that way, though now most currents run to Boston. The inhabitants have a constant tradition, that this was a great town; but when the haven was filled up, Boston became the sea-port: likewise they say there is a road across the east fen, called Salter’s road, which probably was the Roman road; and there are people now alive who knew such as had remembered it. Doubtless this was a place where the Romans made their salt of the sea water, to supply all this province; and it is not improbable that this road led to Banovallum, Lindum, &c. Many salt hills are visible from Wainfleet to Friskney. The king is still lord of the soil of this old Roman city.

[Sidenote: +Burgh+, _a_ Ro. _fort_.]

Three miles north, and as much from Skegness and the sea, is Burgh, a market-town, whose name drew my attention. I found it to be a Roman _castrum_ to guard the sea-coasts, probably against the Saxon rovers: it is a piece of very high ground, partly natural, partly raised by Roman labour, overlooking the wide extended marshes, perhaps in those times covered with salt water, at least in spring tides. There are two artificial _tumuli_, one very high, called Cock-hill. In St. Mary’s church-yard, now demolished, Roman coins have been found. I saw a very fair and large Antoninus Pius in brass, cos. +iiii+. in possession of Tho. Linny. In the yards and gardens about the town they frequently dig up bodies. St. Peter’s church is large and good. There appear no Roman ways, _vallum_, or ditch, to inclose the town, which is a sort of knoll, or rising ground.

I was told of a Roman aqueduct of earth, found at Spilsby. In Halton church hard by is this inscription on a flat stone. + *SIRE WATER BER GIST ICY DE SA ALME DEUS EIT MERCI*. Another, a cross-legged knight: on his shield a lion rampant. At Hagnaby, a religious house founded by Agnes de Orreby. Well, by Ralf de Hauvile. Near Well, on a chalky heath, are three curious Celtic barrows contiguous and joined one into another, composed of chalk: the chalk in Lincolnshire by Alford answers to that in Norfolk. Tateshall collegiate church founded by Ralf Cromwell. Many _tumuli_ hereabouts, as at Hagnaby and other places, but none so remarkable a curiosity as those by the broad road upon the descent of the high country, overlooking the vast level towards Boston. At Revesby, by the seat of Joseph Banks, esq; there is an oval inclosed with a broad ditch: the longest diameter, which is somewhat above 300 foot, is precisely east and west; the other a little above 100: the entrance to it is on the middle of the south side: within, at each end of the length, is a large _tumulus_ 100 foot in diameter: they are equal in shape and similar positure, a large vacuum of 100 foot lying between: it is very regularly formed: the length of the oval ditch that incloses the two _tumuli_ is equal to thrice the breadth: the _tumuli_ are large and high: that rising on the north side, without the ditch, is of an odd figure, but similar. It seems to have been a place of sepulture; perhaps two British kings were there buried; and the height on the north side was the place whereon they sacrificed horses, or the like, to the _manes_ of the deceased. Or is it a place of religious worship among the old Britons? and the two hills may possibly be the temples of the Sun and Moon. I am inclined to think it ancient, because of the measure: the breadth is equal to 100 Celtic feet, as I call them; the length to 300.

[Sidenote: +Banovallum.+]

[Sidenote: TAB. LXXXIX.]

Horncastle was undoubtedly the Banovallum in _Ravennas_: the latter part of the word is Latin, so that it signifies the fortification upon the river Bane. It is of a low situation, placed in the angle of the two brooks meeting here, the Bane and Waring; whence the modern name Horncastle, which signifies an angle, all this country over, as you know in your neighbouring Cow-hurn, Holbech-hurn, Guy-hurn, &c. I will not venture to conceit it came from the ancient way of painting rivers horned, from their windings and turnings; of which we may find a hint in Burton’s Comment. on Antoninus’s Itinerary, pag. 56. and they that please may consult Bochart’s _Phaleg_, II. 22. where are many proofs of the ancients expressing an angle by the term _horn_. Skinner in his _Etymologicon_ rightly affirms it comes from the Saxon word _hyrn_; and Ælfricus expounds it by the word _cornu_. It is probable the Romans were induced to make a station here at first from its convenient situation, easily rendered defensible by a _vallum_ drawn across the aperture from one river to the other; and thence came the Roman name. Afterwards they built the indissoluble stone wall, whole _vestigia_ are manifest the whole compass round, and in some places pretty high, as three or four yards, and four yards thick. It serves for sides of gardens, cellars, out-houses, &c. as chance offers, inclosing the market-place, church, and good part of the town. It is a perfect parallelogram, composed of two squares: at the angles have been square towers, as they report: the gates were in the middle of three sides, and I suppose a postern into the meadows called the Holmes at the union of the two rivulets. I suspect originally the river Bane ran nearer to the wall in that part, and behind the manor-house: the garden there has been heightened, and the river pushed farther off, and turned with a larger bow to favour the people who live in Far-street, and especially the tanners, who are very numerous there: both rivers probably were wider and deeper than now, as the Celtic name of _Bane altus_ intimates, which at present is conformable to reality lower down. Some do not scruple to affirm it was a sea-port, that is, navigable. The Waring arises but a mile or two off. The field across it south of the town is called the Thowng and Cagthorp, and probably was its _pomæria_, from the Saxon word _pang_, _campus_, _ager_. Here they find a great number of Roman coins. I saw a brass coin of Vespasian; reverse, an eagle, +CONSECRATIO+; dug up from under the walls of Banovallum: Mr. Hograve of the place has it now: but Horncastle was not built in the time of Vespasian. I saw, in possession of Mr. Terry of Lincoln, a silver Vespasian found here; reverse, a sitting Genius with a sympulum in her hand, and +DN. MA+. In 1734, a girl digging sand by the road side going from Les Yates to Horncastle, and near Horncastle, dug up an earthen urn full of Roman coins, rings, &c. Mr. Terry collector gave me some of them. Near the walls upon digging cellars they sometimes find bodies buried. A rivulet called Temsford runs into the Bane. The school lands were given by private persons, and it was incorporated by queen Elizabeth: their seal is a castle and hunting-horn: and a horn is the brand for the town cattle upon the common. It is dubious whether Bowbridge has its name from the arch of the bridge, or from its being the entrance into the town from Lindum through the gate called formerly a Bow. This way is the maypole-hill, where probably stood an Hermes in Roman times. The boys annually keep up the festival of the _Floralia_ on May day, making a procession to this hill with _May gads_ (as they call them) in their hands: this is a white willow wand, the bark peeled off, tied round with cowslips, a _thyrsus_ of the Bacchanals: at night they have a bonfire and other merriment; which is really a sacrifice, or religious festival. The king formerly had this whole town in his possession, until it was bestowed on the bishop of Carlisle. Near the conflux of the two brooks was lately a pleasant garden, and a place called Julian’s Bower, much talked of.

Josepho Banks _de Revesby Ar._ Romanorum hæc Vestigia d.d. W.
Stukeley.

_Stukeley. Del._]

_Amicissimo Henrico Pacey Ar.
Prospectum Bostoniæ Suæ d.d. W. Stukeley
Aug. 29. 1722._]

[Sidenote: +Boston.+]

[Sidenote: +TAB. XIX.+]

_Leak_ signifies a watery marshy place. _Wrangle_ an _ab_ A. S. _Wear lacus_, and _hangel arundo_, _lacus arundinibus obsita_? Return we to Boston, _Fanum Sti. Botulphi_, the saint of sea-faring men. St. Botulf (the bishop) his body lay in St. Edmund’s monastery at Bury. Wm. Malmsb. p. 137. This seems to have been the last bounds northward of the _Iceni_ in most antient times; therefore its old name was _Icanhoe_, or _Icenorum munimentum_, as Mr. Baxter interprets it in his Glossary. I guess the first monastery founded here was on the south of the present church; for I saw vast stone walls dug up there, and a plain leaden cross taken up; in my possession. Many were the religious houses here in superstitious times, whose lands were given to the corporation by Hen. VIII. as likewise the estate of the lord Hussey, beheaded then at Lincoln for rebellion: he lived in one of the houses where is a great square tower of brick, called now Hussey tower. There are many such in this country, as that now called Rochford and sometimes Richmond tower, which is very high. Queen Mary was a great benefactress to this corporation, and gave them lands called Erection-lands, to pay a vicar, a lecturer, and two school-masters: they have now a revenue of a thousand pounds per annum. In the parsonage-house is a scutcheon with a pastoral staff behind it thus: a fess charged with a fish and two annulets between three plates, each charged with a cross fitché. The church, I think, is the largest parish church (without cross ailes) in the world: it is a hundred foot wide and three hundred foot long within the walls: the roof is handsomely cieled with Irish oak supported by four and twenty tall and slender pillars: many remains of fine brasses in the church, none so perfect as this in the south aile. Under the figures of the man and woman this inscription,

*Ecce sub hoc lapide henricus Mete sistit humatus
vi mortis rapida generosus semper vocitatus
hic quisquis veneris ipsum precibus memoraris.
sponsam defunctam simul aliciam sibi junctam
anno mil C quater quadragenoque deno
marcia quarto dies, extat ei Requies.*

[Sidenote: TAB. III. 2d vol.]

The tower is the highest (100 yards) and noblest in Europe, flattering a weary traveller with its astonishing aspect even at ten miles distance. It is easily seen forty mile round this level country, and farther by sea: the lantern at top is very beautiful, and the thinness of the stone-work is admirable. There was a prodigious clock-bell, which could be heard six or seven miles round, with many old verses round it: about the year 1710 they knocked it in pieces, without taking the inscription. Twenty yards from the foundation of this tower runs the rapid Witham, through a bridge of wood. On the south side of the church-yard was, some few years ago, a curious monument[25] (as they say) of one of the builders of the church, in stone, of arched work, but now intirely demolished; and in the market place in my memory was an old and large cross, with a vault underneath, steps all around it, and at top a stone pyramid of thirty foot high, but at this time quite destroyed. I found here an old brass seal of William Chetwynd, with his coat of arms, A fesse lozengé between three mullets, which I gave to the honourable gentleman of that name. Several frieries here, black, white and grey; of which little remains. Oliver Cromwell, then a colonel, lay in Boston the night before he fought the battle of Winceby near Horncastle, Oct. 5. 1643. In North Holland they have a custom of pulling geese twice a year; which has not escaped Pliny’s notice, X. 22. There is nothing left of the adjacent Swineshed abbey, founded by Rob. Greisly, but a yew-tree and a knightly tomb fixed in the wall of the new house. Here king John sickened in his journey to Sleeford castle and Newark castle, where he died.

East of Boston was a chapel called Hiptoft, and in the town a church dedicated to St. John, but demolished. Here was a staple for wool and several other commodities, and a vast foreign trade: the hall was pulled down in my time. The great hall of St. Mary’s Guild is now the place of meeting for the corporation and sessions, &c. Here was born the learned John Fox the martyrologist. Queen Elizabeth gave the corporation a court of admiralty all over the sea-coast hereabouts.

Abundance of rare sea-plants grow near this coast: many species of sea-_wormwoods_, _scurvy-grass_, _crithmum marinum_, _atriplex marinum_, _&c._ of which we may expect a good account from Dr. Blair of Boston; as also of many rare fishes caught hereabouts, _Raja_, _needle-fish_, _star-fish_, &c. and of the _stickle-back_ oil is made in very large quantities, the invention of the _Ichtyophagi_, Pliny XV. 7. _Carum vulgare_, Caraway, grows plentifully in the pastures all about Boston. _Sambucus foliis variegatis baccis albis_, Elder-tree with gilded leaves and white berries, in Boston Fen-ends: a gilded _ivy_ in Mr. Pacey’s garden. _Apium palustre Italicum_, Selery _vulgo dictum_, in all the ditches of Holland. _Paronychia folio rutaceo_, Rue-leaved whitlow-grass, on the north side of walls and houses. A _barberry-tree_ without stones, in Alderchurch parish. _Asparagus sylvestris_, wild asparagus, in Gorham wood, Whaplode. Many rare plants in the east fen, such as _stratiotes azoides_, fresh water fengreen. In the boggy grounds about Tattersall, _Trifolium palustre_, _ros solis_, _virga aurea_, _myrtus brabantica_, _pinguicula_, _asphodelus_, _adianthum aureum_. In the park, _androsæmum_, _tutsan_: in the ditches hard by, _valeriana sylvestris_: in the heaths, many sorts of _erica_: _solanum lethale_ about Cowhurn.

[Sidenote: +Kirton.+]

Pass we from Boston by Kirkton, famous for apples, denominated from its fair church built by Alexander, that magnificent bishop of Lincoln, after the manner of a cathedral with a transept. It has a handsome tower standing upon four pillars in the middle of the cross, with a noble ring of five large bells. I observe, this building is set upon the ruins of a former church, part whereof is visible at the west end: and in most of the churches in this country the same may be discovered, from the different manner of the architecture; the most ancient having small windows arched semicircularly; what is additional, to be known by the pointed Gothic arches. This church is very neat both within and without: upon the font is this inscription:

+ *Orate pro anima alani burton qui fontem istum fieri fec. a. d. mccccii.*

Against the north wall is the monument of a person in armour, and round it this inscription,

+ *Orate pro anima Iohannis de Meres.*

The family of the Meres has flourished much hereabouts.

_Boston Cross_

_Stukeley delin_ _I Harris Sculp_]

The Remains of Crowland Abby. 14. July. 1724._

_Stukeley del._ _I Harris Sculp_]

[Sidenote: +Crowland.+]

[Sidenote: TAB. IV.]

Upon the edge of Lincolnshire, in the middle of a vast fenny level, Crowland is situate, memorable for its early religion and the ruins of an opulent monastery, which still makes a considerable prospect. The abbey presents a majestic view of ruins; founded a thousand years ago, by Athelbald king of the Mercians, in a horrid silence of bogs and thorns; made eminent for the holy retirement of his chaplain Guthlac, who changed the gaieties of the court for the severities of an anchorite. The king endowed it with a profuse hand, and all the land for several miles round the church belonged to it. The foundation is laid on piles of wood drove into the ground with gravel and sand, and they have found several of them in tearing up the ruins of the eastern part of the church; for what remains now is only part of the west end; and of that only one corner in tolerable repair, which is their parish-church at present. It is not difficult at this time to distinguish part of the very first building of this church, from that which was built by Ingulphus.[26] In the middle of the cross stood once a lofty tower and a remarkably fine ring of bells, of which there is a proverb in this country still remaining: one prodigiously great bell was sacred to Guthlac: they are said to have been the first peal of bells in the county, perhaps England.[27] From the foundation of this tower to the west end, is somewhat left, but only the walls, pillars, with passages or galleries at top, and stair-cases at the corners. The roof, which was of Irish oak finely carved and gilt, fell down about twenty years ago: you see pieces of it in every house. The pavement is covered with shrubs for brass inscriptions, and people now at pleasure dig up the monumental stones, and divide the holy shipwreck for their private uses; so that, instead of one, most of the houses in the town are become religious. The painted glass was broke by the soldiers in the rebellion, for they made a garrison of the place. All the eastern part of the body of the church is intirely razed to the foundation; and the ashes as well as tombs of an infinite number of illustrious personages, kings, abbots, lords, knights, &c. there hoping for repose, are dispersed, to the irreparable damage of English history. The great Waltheof, earl of Northumberland and Huntingdon, was one of the saints here: he was beheaded by the Norman conqueror. The monastic buildings, cloysters, hall, abbot’s lodgings,[28] and the like, which no doubt were very fine, are absolutely demolished; no trace thereof left, whereby their extent might be guessed at. In the north-west corner of the church stands a strong tower with a very obtuse spire, and a pleasant ring of small bells. Over the west gate are the images of divers kings, abbots, &c. among the rest St. Guthlac with a whip and knife, as always painted: they were cut in a soft kind of stone, and drawn over in oil colour with gilding.

[Sidenote: TAB. VII.]

[Sidenote: TAB. XI.]

Not far off the abbey eastward, upon a hillock, is the remnant of a little stone cottage, called Anchor Church-house: here was a chapel over the place where St. Guthlac lived a hermit, and where he was buried.[29] Over-against the west end of the abbey is the famous triangular bridge: it is too steep to be commonly rode over; horses and carriages go under it: it is formed upon three segments of a circle meeting in one point; they say each base stands in a different county. The rivers Nyne and Welland here meet. On one side sits an image of king Athelbald with a globe in his hand. St. Guthlake’s cross, between Spalding and Crowland, near Brother-house and Cloot-bar, stands upon the side of the bank, almost buried under earth: it is a boundary of the church lands: of great antiquity.[30]

ITER OXONIENSE. II.

_Sed prior hæc hominis cura est cognoscere terram._ +Virg.+

_To Mr._ JOHN HARDY _of_ Nottingham.

It is commonly remarked, that impressions of any sort made upon youthful minds last long; and, like a cut in the bark of tender sprigs, grow deeper and more apparent with advancing years.

_Crescent illæ crescetis amores._ +Virg.+

The many hours I have spent with you when I first began to cast my eyes upon the scenes of the world, and consider things about me, recur to my mind with pleasure. I should be ungrateful then, (to which my temper is most abhorrent) and I should deny myself a particular satisfaction, did I not acknowledge the remembrance of a friendship now mature: therefore to you I offer the earliest fruits of it, this small account of the first pleasurable journey I can reckon to myself, where I had opportunity for satisfying my growing curiosity. It is no wonder that your learning, your taste of antiquities, and all endearing qualities, made me fond of cultivating your acquaintance; and perhaps to you in great measure do I owe what may not be discommendable in amusements of the following kind, since our converse and our journeying sometimes together, to visit the remains of venerable antiquity, in my first years, gave me the love and incitement to such pursuits. I am not concerned to make an excuse for the meanness of this present: were it not juvenile, it would not be genuine. As when first with you, so since it has been my method, to put into writing what little remarks I made in travelling: at length I had collected so much, that with some drawings of places and things taken at the same time, it was judged not unworthy of publication: my consent was grounded upon hopes that by this means I might give some account of every part of my time, and that my own pleasures might not be altogether unuseful; especially thinking it was no hard task to equal somewhat of this sort lately done, and well received of the public. It is to be wished this branch of learning should revive among us, which has lain dormant since the great Camden; so that either in discoursing on it, or journeying, we might find some entertainment worthy of men of letters.

_W. Stukeley f. 1721. & Jonathan Sisson Mathematico, Conterraneo suo
ut Amicitice pignus offert._]

[Sidenote: +Stanford.+]

Passing the fenny counterscarps of Holland, we begin our journey at Stanford, which stands in a mild air and pleasant country abounding with noblemen’s seats. Many religious houses have been at Stanford, and once a college founded there, of which they boast much; but of all these things we expect shortly an exact and full account from the reverend Mr. Peck. About 1708, a brass seal was dug up, in the castle at Stanford, of Thomas bishop of Elphin in Ireland; in possession of Ralf Madyson, esq. Burghley, the earl of Exeter’s, is worth a traveller’s view: the rooms are finely painted by Seignior Varrio: abundance of curious pictures from Italy, collected by my lord’s grandfather. At St. Martin’s church are the monuments of that noble family.

[Sidenote: +Foderinghay.+]

Through a pleasant and woody country, we went to Foderinghay castle, situate on a branch of the river Nyne, overlooking the adjacent country and wide-extended meadows. The castle seems to have been very strong: there was a high mount, or keep, environed with a deep ditch: the space around it is guarded by a wall, double ditch, and the river: it is mostly demolished, and all the materials carried off. They pretend to show the ruins of the hall where Mary queen of Scots was beheaded. Some say king James I. ordered this fortress to be destroyed out of indignation: it was the seat of Edmund of Langley, duke of York, buried in the collegiate church here, a very neat building, founded by Edward duke of York, and here likewise interred: their monuments in the chancel (which was intirely demolished at the suppression) were restored by queen Elizabeth: the windows of the church are filled with very handsome painted glass, representing the images of cardinals, arch-bishops, abbots, &c. such as St. Denis with his head in his hand, St. Guthlac of Croyland, Richard Scrope arch-bishop of Canterbury, &c. these were saved in the late civil war, by the then minister of the parish, with a little money given to the soldiers that came to execute the harmless saints. We met with these uncouth verses upon the wall, showing the poetry of those times:

_In festo Martyrii processus Martiniani,
Ecclesiæ prima fuit hujus petra locata,
Anno Christi primum centum ac mille
Cum deca quinta H. V. tunc imminente 2ᵈᵃ._

On the north side of the church are the remains of the college, and the meadow under it retains its name: the steeple has an octagonal tower at the top, somewhat like that of Boston; at the bases of which are the images of bears and ragged staffs, cognisances (I suppose) of the founders; as the falcon and fetterlock often painted in the glass. They have a very ancient MS. book here, of the affairs of the parish. There is a school in the town, erected by Hen. VII. worth about 30l. per ann. over the door is wrote, _Disce aut discede_. A stone bridge over the river was built by queen Elizabeth anno 1555. shown by an inscription on the wall, a monument of the spite of the soldiers, who cut out with their swords, as they passed by, one line of it, _God save the queen_.

[Sidenote: +Oundale.+]

Oundale, or Avondale, is remarkable for a drumming well, much talked of by the superstitious vulgar: no doubt it is owing to the passage of the water, and air upon certain conditions, through the subterraneous chinks; for, as Virgil says, in his fine poem called _Ætna_,

_Secta est omnis humus penitusque cavata latebris, &c._

and that it is done by intervals or pulses as it were, is but consentaneous to many of Nature’s operations. Here are two long bridges of stone. Louick church, on the side of a hill, is very fine, founded by John de Drayton, anno 1125: the windows are full of coats of arms. There is a picture of the founder in armour, on his knees, presenting his church to God: here is his monument, of the Veres too, and Staffords earls of Wiltshire, and others who intermarried with his family: there is a modern one of the late Dutchess of Norfolk, who was married, after her divorcement, to the present owner of the family seat, called Drayton house, Sir John Germayn, who has for the most part new-built it.

[Sidenote: +Boughton.+]

From hence we went to Boughton, the seat of the duke of Montagu, magnificent for building, painting and gardens: the stables are large and stately, well calculated for the designed grandeur of the house; for it is not yet finished: the hall is a very noble room: on the cieling is a convocation of the gods admirably painted, as are many suites of rooms and apartments, stair-cases, galleries, &c. beside the great numbers of portraits and other curious pictures, part of the furniture: the gardens contain fourscore and ten acres of ground, adorned with statues, flower-pots, urns of marble and metal, many very large basons, with variety of fountains playing, aviaries, reservoirs, fish-ponds, canals, admirable greens, wildernesses, terraces, &c. the cascade is very fine: a whole river, running through the length of the gardens, is diversified very agreeably to complete its beauty.

[Sidenote: +Geddington.+]

A mile off is Geddington, where in a _trivium_ stands one of the stone crosses[31] built by king Edward I. in memory of his queen Eleanor, who died at Hareby near Bolingbroke, in Lincolnshire, 1291. It is formed upon a triangular model, of pretty Gothic architecture to suit its station. Her bowels were buried by the high altar in the Lady’s chapel of Lincoln minster; and in her journey thence to Westminster, where ever her herse rested, the king erected one of these magnificent crosses, as a monument of his great love: upon them are the arms of England, Castile, Leon and Poictou. These are the places, as far as I am at present informed, Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford,[32] Geddington, Northampton, Stony Stratford, Dunstable, St. Alban’s, Waltham, Cheapside over against Wood-street, Charing-cross. Near this place is Boughton, having a petrifying spring, which forms itself a canal of stone as it runs, consolidating the twigs, moss, and all adventitious bodies. We saw near the road a spring-head, with a statue of Moses in the middle of the water, belonging to Boughton house.

_Petro Le Neve Ar. Norroy. tab. d.d. Wˢ. Stukeley_

_Stukeley delin._ _J. Harris Sculp._]

[Sidenote: +Eltabona+]

Through Kettering we went to Northampton, the most elegant town in England: which, being wholly burnt down, is rebuilt with great regularity and beauty. There is a spacious square market-place, a fine assize-house of Corinthian architecture. Allhallow’s church is built after a pretty model, with a cupola and a noble portico before it of eight lofty Ionic columns: upon the balustrade a statue of king Charles II. There is an inscription of John Bailes, aged above 126: his sight, hearing and memory, intire; buried 1706. One of the old churches, St. Sepulchre’s, seems to have belonged to the Knights Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem, of a circular form: there has been another tacked to it of later date, with a choir and steeple, as to that at Cambridge of the same name and figure: another such I am told is at Guildford, which are all of this sort that I know of in England. I suspect these are the most ancient churches in England, and probably built in the later times of the Romans for Christian service, at least in the early Saxon reigns. Westward are the ruins of the castle, by the river side, built by Simon Silvanect I. earl of Northampton, who founded here likewise St. Andrew’s abbey: his son Simon Silvanect II. earl of Northampton and Huntingdon, founded St. Mary de Près abbey here about 1150. This probably is a Roman town arising from one of the forts built upon this river, as that great people proceeded northward in the conquest of the island; and being mentioned by Ravennas between Leicester and Stoney Stratford, it is very likely the Eltabona there, meaning _ael_, _supercilium_, and Avon, the river. Roman coins have been found on the other side the river: there are likewise the footsteps of the fortifications round the town, thrown up with bastions in the time of the civil wars. Under those on the south side, descending into a stone quarry which has abundance of intricate turnings, I saw a piece of oak wood, as big as both one’s hands, lie between the _strata_ of solid stone: though petrified, the ligneous fibres when split would burn in a candle. I suppose it to have been lodged there in the deluge. A little way from the town, about Sprotton, are the pits where they dig up tobacco-pipe clay. Near Billing, about three miles from Northampton, not far from the earl of Twomond’s seat, was lately found a mine of copper, and coal, and marble, as they told me.

[Sidenote: TAB. XII.]

[Sidenote: +Guildsborough.+ Roman _Camp_.]

From Northampton, over the river, by a large stone bridge where is an old religious house, half a mile off in the London road, is another of queen Eleanor’s stone crosses, called Queen’s cross, with her images and arms. It stands on a hill in the open country upon eight steps, in form much like that of Waltham, of which I have given a print. On the other side of the town, about three miles distance, is Holdenby house, which lies in noble ruins: here king Charles I. was kept prisoner. A little way off is Naseby,[33] where the bloody and fatal battle happened between his forces and those of the parliament, upon a fine plain where at present stands a windmill: the marks of several great holes appear, where the slain were buried. This town, as near as may be, is the navel of England. Near is Guildsborough, so named from a Roman camp of a square form, and deep ditch, called the Burrows. I was told of several more thereabouts, which I suppose those made in the time of Ostorius about the heads of the rivers here; which all together made a sort of fortification between the north and south parts of the kingdom, especially between the Avon and Severn. A long barrow at Pesford, called Longman’s hill. We saw Althorp, a curious seat of the earl of Sunderland’s, elegantly furnished: there is a fine gallery adorned with good pictures, and a noble library.

[Sidenote: +Eston.+]

My lord Lemster’s seat, now earl of Pomfret, near Towcester, is a stately building, and stands pleasantly, encompassed with good plantations of wood, visto’s and agreeable prospects. In the grand view to the back front, beyond the garden, is a large and long canal: in the house are several curious pictures; an original, of Sir Paul Ricot; of a pillar of Persepolis, one of those sixty foot high; Perseus loosing Andromeda, by Gioseppi Cari; a copy of Galatea, from Raphael: but what highly inhances the glory of this seat, is the vast number of Roman and Greek marbles, statues, busto’s, bas reliefs, &c. part of the most noble collection of the great earl of Arundel. My lord has it in his thoughts to build a large room, or gallery, to receive this invaluable treasure; at present they are for the most part exposed to the weather in the garden. I shall cursorily name them all with the haste of a traveller, though each single piece merits a serious view, and a long description.

At the end of the side terrace in the garden, and near the house, stands an intire column of marble in two pieces, fluted, taken from among the ruins of the temple of Apollo at the isle of Delos, where many now lie: this is set upon a proper base and pedestal made purposely for it: the capital is unusual, but very beautiful, and seems perfectly to answer that description which Vitruvius gives us, IV. 1. of the origin of the Corinthian capital from the conceit of Callimachus, who was pleased with the appearance of a basket covered with a tile, and luckily set upon the middle of a root of _acanthus_, or _brank ursin_, which shot up its curled leaves around it in a delicate and tender manner: upon it stands a statue, the upper part naked. In the niches of that wall along the walk are several broken statues of goddesses, naked or in fine drapery, where the mind is divided between the pleasure of seeing what remains and the grief for what is lost. Upon the stairs that descend into the garden are a great many whole and broken statues, pieces of _basso relievo_, altars, urns, tombs, &c. such as the destruction of Troy, represented in the Trojan horse, the merriment of the Trojans, the slaughter of Priamus, Achilles driving his chariot with Hector tied to it: there is another bas-relief of a battle; a figure recumbent at dinner; two figures in procession, but covered over with moss; four figures, two with Phrygian bonnets; good pieces of cornice-work, with mouldings of ovolo’s, bead-moulds, &c. a tomb, the husband and wife with the son between; a piece of Bacchanalians; the end of a tomb, or vase; a mask and revelling figures; an horseman and footman engaging. Most of these antiquities seem of the highest Greek times. Before the steps upon pedestals are two Egyptian _sphynges_ mitred, and two Muses sitting: other things thereabouts are a sea-horse in basso; a man carrying another; a capital of a pillar made of a horse’s head, with branches coming out of his mouth like them at Persepolis, a dog’s head on one angle, and lions on the other: upon it are busts and heads: over that is a portal of a monumental stone, with a woman and two children, the tomb of some player, with fine bassos of masks, the busto of the deceased; four Genii; two lions devouring horses, finely cut: over it a priestess by the side of a temple: eight round altars or pedestals adorned with bulls heads, festoons, &c. which stand upon the piers of the stairs: upon and about them are other antiquities, such as the bottom part of Scylla; three monsters like dogs devouring three men; a receiver for an urn. Cupid asleep lies upon this.

On the north side the front of the house, a tomb; another capital of a horse’s head, &c. over it a basso of Venus riding on a sea-horse, a Cupid driving; a lion over it; two Cupids, _alto relievo_: some busts over the windows; a young Nero, Faunus, &c.

At the south end of the house, on the ground, an old headless statue; upon the basement, a tomb of a boy wrought in channel-work, his busto in basso upon it: over the windows a small statue; a woman with a child in her arms; a tomb; another capital from the temple of Apollo at Delos; a Greek mask.