Chapter III: Preface (3)

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.

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}

Merry it is in the good green woods,
When the Mavis {47b} and Merle {47c} are singing,
When the deer sweep by, and the hounds are in cry,
And the hunter’s horn is ringing.

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.

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).

GOULCEBY.

Goulceby lies in a northerly direction, about 7 miles from Horncastle, some two miles further on than Scamblesby, and barely a mile west of Asterby, to which parish it is now ecclesiastically annexed; the joint value of the two benefices, the former a vicarage and the latter a rectory, being about £380 a year, now held by the Rev. J. Graham, J.P., who resides at Asterby. Goulceby was probably, in Saxon times, the more important of the two places, since it was one of the 222 parishes in the county (according to Sir Henry Ellis) which possessed a church before the Norman Conquest, and one of the 131 which had a resident priest.

Letters arrive _via_ Lincoln at 10 am., and are despatched at 3.55 p.m. The nearest money order office is at Scamblesby, the nearest telegraph office at Baumber; but, by arrangement, telegrams can be sent from the Donington-on-Bain station, on the Lincoln and Louth railway, which is distant about 2 miles.

The village lies in a valley which is watered by a branch of the river Bain. The patronage of the benefice has been in various hands. In pre-reformation times it belonged to the Preceptory of the Knights Templars at Willoughton; in 1605 it was held by Christopher Pickering (“Liber Regis”), later by a Mr. Hatley (Ecton’s “Thesaurus”); then by the Listers of Burwell Park, who presented as late as 1837; from whom the patronage, with the manor, was acquired by the Bagnell family; whose representative now presents to the united benefice, alternately with the Traffords, as Lords of the Manor of Asterby. At what period the original church perished does not appear to be recorded; but, according to Weir (“History of Lincolnshire,” ed. 1828) there was in 1821 only a small modern church, dedicated to all Saints. This fell into decay, and in 1855 was succeeded by a small brick and stone structure; which, in turn, has more recently been taken down; and the church at Asterby now serves for the two parishes.

Historic references to this parish are “few and far between,” yet by bringing them together, with a moderate degree of assumption from given premises, we can make out a fairly connected catena of its ownership. The name itself can hardly be said to give a certain sound. It has been variously spelt, as Golsby, Goldesby, Gouthesby, Golksby, Colceby, and, in Domesday Book, Colchesbi. We can only conjecture that it may have been the “Buy,” _i.e._, Byre, or farmstead of a Saxon Thane, named Col, Kol, or Golk, the two former being common as contractions of Colswen, or Colegrim, and not uncommon in the neighbourhood. {58}

According to Domesday Book, this, like many other parishes in the neighbourhood, was among the possessions of the Norman noble, Ivo Taillebois, acquired through his marriage with the Lady Lucia, the wealthy Saxon heiress of the Thorolds, and connected with the Royal line of King Harold. He (or she), had here 3 carucates of land (or 360 acres), rateable to gelt; with 16 socmen and 2 villeins, occupying 6 carucates (or 720 acres); a mill worth 4s. yearly; a church and priest, and 120 acres of meadow. As I mention in notices of other parishes (Bolingbroke, Scamblesby &c.), the tenure of these demesnes was not of long duration, and in a few years they were dispersed among the descendants of the Saxon heiress. Goulceby would seem to have become an appurtenance, with Belchford, Donington and several others, of the superior manor of Burwell. It would thus be granted, originally, by Henry I. to the Norman family of De la Haye, one of whom, in the 13th century, founded the Benedictine Alien Priory of Burwell, as a dependency of the Abbey of S. Mary Silvæ Majoris, near Bourdeaux, and endowed it with some of his own demesnes. This family held these possessions for 150 years. The last of them, John De la Haye, in the reign of Edward I., having enfeoffed Philip de Kyme of the same, continued for the remainder of his life to hold the lands, under the said Philip, by the peculiar (nominal) “service of _one rose_.” (Chancery Inquis., post mortem, 21, Edward I., No. 33). For some years the Kymes held the property, being called to Parliament as Barons, and doing other service for their sovereigns; until in 12 Edward III. (Dugdale’s “Baronage,” i., 621) William of that name died without issue; and his widow married as her second husband, Nicholas de Cantelupe (whose ancestors had been Earls of Abergavenny), who thus succeeded to these demesnes. He dying also without issue, on the subsequent death of his widow, the property reverted to Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus, who had been enfeoffed of it by his uncle, the above William. Gilbert, again, died without issue, and his widow married Henry Percy, created at the coronation of Richard II., the 1st Earl of Northumberland, who thus in turn acquired the property. He, however, rebelled against Henry IV. (Camden’s “Britannia,” p. 547); and on his attainder that sovereign granted the manors to his son John, afterward. Duke of Bedford (Patent Rolls, 6, H. iv., p. 2., m. 16s) He dying without issue, the property reverted to the crown, and Henry VI. granted it to Ralph, Lord Treasurer Cromwell. (Patent Roll 18, H. vi., pt. 2, m. 19).

Before this period, however, the Cromwells were connected with Goulceby, since it is shewn, by an Inquisition in the reign of Henry V. (post mortem, No. 72, A.D. 1419), that Matilda, the wife of Sir Ralph Cromwell, Knight, held lands in Roughton, Wodehall, Langton, Golseby, Belcheford, Donington, etc., {59} and that Sir Ralph Cromwell her son was the next heir. When the Lord Treasurer founded at Tattershall, the College of the Holy Trinity, on the 17th Henry VI. (1439), he endowed it with portions of many of these manors, as had also been done in the case of Burwell Priory, centuries before; Goulceby doubtless being one of them. On the dissolution of Religious Houses by Henry VIII. a great number of the lands connected with them in this neighbourhood were bestowed by that sovereign on Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, among these being Goulceby, Belchford, ffulletsbye, etc. {60a} He died 24 August, 1545, leaving two sons, Henry and Charles, by his wife Catherine, daughter and heiress of William Lord Willoughby de Eresby. They, while at St. John’s College, Cambridge, died of the epidemic, called “the sweating sickness,” 16 July, 1551 (Cooper’s “Athenæ Cantabridgenses,” i., 105); whereupon the descendants of the daughters of their great grandfather, Sir William Brandon, were declared the rightful heirs. One of these, Eleanor, had married John Glemham, of Glemham Parva, Suffolk, and their great grandson succeeded Thomas Glemham, Burwell, and a considerable portion of these demesnes. {60b} He died about the 14 year of Queen Elizabeth, and was succeeded by his son Henry, afterwards Sir Henry Glemham, Knight, who married Lady Anne Sackville, daughter of the Earl of Dorset. {60c} He settled upon his wife, Burwell, with appurtenances; and documents connected with the Lister family (subsequently owners of Burwell, etc.), now in the possession of Porter Wilson, Esq., shew that, in 1602, the farm rents included those from “Goulsby, Belchforde, Donington super bayne,” etc. We now proceed a step further to another change of ownership:—In 1641, Sir Thomas Glemham, of Burwell, was a strong supporter of Charles I., being Colonel of the King’s 4th Regiment, and successively, Governor of York, Carlisle, and Oxford. {60d} He, probably in order to raise funds for his royal master, sold for £15,000, the Burwell estate and its many appurtenances, to Sir Matthew Lister, Knight, of St. Martin in the Fields, co. Middlesex, and Martin Lister, of Thorpe Arnold, co. Leicester, his brother. It is somewhat curious that in the list of manors, which then changed hands, although Belchford, Oxcombe, ffaireforth (_i.e._ Farforth), and Walmesgate, all in the near neighbourhood of Goulceby, are named, no mention is made of Goulceby itself, yet down to as recently as 1863 the patronage of the benefice was vested in them (Morris’s “Gazetteer,” 1863). It appears, however, from a deed of settlement, dated 10 Jan. 1656–7 (or about 15 years after the sale), that Sir Martin Lister, of Thorpe Arnold, was possessed of Belchford, Colceby, &c.; and after his death, his children were to divide his property, and the trustees were “empowered to sell, if necessary, Belchford, Colceby,” &c. It is possible that by this “Colceby,” Calceby may be intended, which was annexed to Driby and Ormsby; but it certainly looks as if Goulceby formed a part of the share of the property originally bought by Sir Matthew Lister’s brother Martin. The Listers continued to be owners of Burwell, doubtless at different periods parting with various of the subsidiary “appurtenances” down to a few years ago; intermarrying with the Dymokes, Alingtons, Gregorys of Harlaxton, Lord Deloraine, members of the families of Sir Robt. Barkham, Knollys, Sir Edward Boughton, and forming other good connections. Only in 1883, was the property finally parted with by the late Matthew Henry Lister, eldest son of Matthew Bancroft Lister, High Sheriff in 1800, to the present owner, William Hornsby, Esq., High Sheriff in 1898. We may add that Matthew Bancroft Lister claimed descent from Philip of Kyme; whose family, we have seen, were owners of Goulceby, in the reign of Edward I., and in 1840 he petitioned the Queen for a revival in his person of the Barony of Kyme; but that dignity still remains in abeyance. Of the Matthew Lister who married Eleanor, daughter of the Hon. Sir Charles Dymoke, Knight, champion of James II. (Circa 1683), it is recorded that he had a son “Martin, baptized 1 October, buried in woollen 30 Nov., 1693.” {61} For these particulars as to the ownership of Goulceby in the past, I am largely indebted to a paper in the “Architectural Society’s Journal” for 1897, by Mr. R. W. Goulding, entitled “Notes on the Lords of the Manor of Burwell.”

The present owners of Goulceby are Colonel Bagnell, Lord of the Manor, Earl Manvers, Thomas Falkner Alison, and various small proprietors.

The following particulars of the Listers are worthy of mention.—Sir Matthew Lister, M.D., was fellow of Oriel College, Oxford; Physician to Queen Anne, Consort of James I.; and Physician in Ordinary to Charles I., by whom he was knighted in 1636 (Woods’ “Fasti Oxon.,” 3rd ed., 1815, i., 307–8), he died at the age of 92. The entry of his burial is as follows, “Matthew Lyster, Kt. & cheefe lord of Burwell, &c., was buried December the 19th, 1657.” Among the bequests in his will, dated 18th August, 1656, are the following:—To his wife all his household stuff . . ., all “the jewells she usually weareth, and hath in her custodie”; also his “coach and coach-horses, if he should have any at his death.” “Item, I give to be divided between her and my neece, Sir Martin Lister’s wife, all that poure remnant of Plate which is left me since these troubles.” To his “son in law George Banfield, and to his sister, the Ladie Cobham, £10 for a remembrance.” To his “servant John Mitchele, £50 . . ., and if he bee with me at my death all my wearing apparel, except one _fringed sattin gown lyned with furre called ffitches_ (_i.e._, Marten skins), which I desire my wife may have.” We may assume that this was some official, or court, robe worn by Sir Matthew on occasions of ceremony. He was President of the London College of Physicians, and even in our own day, members of a College wear the “gowns” of their degree or office.

Another member of the family, Martin Lister, M.D., F.R.S., was one of Queen Anne’s Physicians, an eminent zoologist, and author of books on various branches of Natural History. His most important work was his “Historia sive, synopsis Methodica Conchyliorum.” Various plants and animals have been named after him.

Two or three other documents connected with Goulceby, may be here briefly referred to:—

By a Final Concord, dated 20 June, 1202, an agreement was made between Holda, daughter of Geoffrey, on the one hand, and certain Monks of Minting Priory, who were tenants of an oxgang of land in Goutheby, by which she surrendered all claim to the land, in favour of the Monks and their successors for ever. In return for which the Monks gave her one mark.

On July 28, 1231, an agreement was made between the Master of the Knights Templars in England, and William Moysaunt and Amice his wife, by which the said William and Amice acknowledged a certain meadow in Golkesby to be the right of the said Master “to have and to hold, to him and his successors, in free, pure, and perpetual alms”; and for this the said Master gave them 2s.

By will, dated 30 May, 1617, Adam Henneage of Donynton Super Bane, Gent, left to Frances his wife “all my messuage in Goulcebie, wherein John Clarke now dwelleth”; and to his “sonne James his copyhold land in Goulcebie, in tenure of Peter Pindar and John Tomson.” Proved at Horncastle, 28 June, 1617. By will, dated 23 July, 1623, Thomas Kent, of Scamblesby, Clerk, left “to the poor people of the parish of Goulceby, 20s.,” with similar bequests to the poor of Donington and Scamblesby. Proved at Lincoln, 15 Nov., 1623.

The will of Timothy Kent, of Donington, Clerk, dated 13 Feb., 1623–4, mentions lands in Goulceby and Asterby, and leaves bequests to various relations and servants, and to the Cathedral Church, Lincoln, 2s., and to the poor of Donington, 20s. Proved at Lincoln, 28 May, 1624. Elias Kent, of Scamblesby, Gent., by will, dated 13 Feb., 1625, leaves various bequests to relatives and friends, and “to the poorest people of Goulceby 10s., to those of Donington 10s., to those Scamblesby 40s.” Proved at Lincoln, 20 Dec., 1628. (“Lincs. N. & Q.,” Vol. III., pp. 205–207).

The poor of Goulceby have an annual rent charge of £2 10s., left by Anthony Acham, which is distributed in bread. He also in 1638 founded, and endowed with £10 yearly, a school here; which was re-built in 1865, with accommodation for 130 children; the original endowment is now supplemented from other sources, and the school serves for the parishes of Goulceby, Asterby, and Stenigot.

GREETHAM.

Greetham is distant about 3½ miles from Horncastle, in an easterly direction, lying just beyond the parish of High Toynton, south of Fulletby, west of Ashby Puerorum and north of Winceby. The village is chiefly situated on a cross-road running north and south (and probably Roman) which unites the road from Horncastle to Tetford with that from Horncastle to Hagworthingham and Spilsby. The nearest money order and telegraph office is at Horncastle, whence the letters arrive at 9.20. a.m. The population of this village is now just over 130; but, as Isaac Taylor says (“Words and Places,” p. 1), “local names are records of the past,” and Greetham, as its name implies, was at one time a place of considerably more importance than at present. The Saxons named it Greetham, or the great village; which, as Mr. Streatfeild suggests (“Lincolnshire and the Danes,” p. 18), the Normans translated into “Grandham,” or “Granham,” as we find it in the Conqueror’s survey in Domesday Book; and which was sometimes further curtailed into “Graham,” as we find a field in High Toynton described as the “24 acres towards Graham.” (Feet of Fines, Lincoln, 9, Henry III., No. 52, A.D. 1224–25, quoted “Linc. N. & Q,” vol. iii., pp. 245–6). And not only was Greetham (or Grandham) held in demesne, _i.e._, as a manor, but, like the neighbouring Bolingbroke, being connected with Royalty, it became also designated an “Honour.”

In a Chancery Inquisition post mortem (21 Henry VII., No. 122) taken after the death of Henry Dawson, it is stated that “4 messuages, &c., in Tetney are held of the Lord the King, as of his Honour of Bullingbroke”; and in almost similar terms, in a Chancery Inquisition post mortem, of the same King, No. 124, taken after the death of William Quadring, Esq., it is stated that he “held a messuage in Irby, of the Lord the King, as of his Manor of Greetham, parcel of his Duchy of Lancaster.” In Domesday Book it is stated that certain lands in the Manor of Bilsby, near Alford, are “held of the Manor of Grandham”; Greetham apparently not in either of these cases being regarded as an Honour. But in an Inquisition post mortem, of John Asfordby, A.D. 1499, it is stated that the manor of this same Bilsby, with Westhalgarth, is “held of the Lord the King, as of the Honour of Greetham.” But, even as early as Domesday (1080), lands are enumerated as belonging to “Grandham,” lying in Langtune (by Spilsby), Hacberdineham (Hagworthingham), Salmundby, Tedforde, Brinkhill, Wingsby, and Clachesby Pluckacre, in all amounting to 33 carucates, or close upon 4,000 acres (3960). And, to shew the wealth of the manor at that date, compared with some others in the neighbourhood, while Scrivelsby is given in Domesday as of the value of £14, and Horncastle at £44, Bolingbroke is put at £40, but Greetham at £60, and it is further tallaged, _i.e._, taxed at £70. It was the “caput Honoris,” or head, of the Lincolnshire Barony of Hugh de Abrincis, or Avranches, the Conqueror’s nephew, surnamed Lupus, or The Wolf, from his many deeds of violence. He was Earl of Chester, having the whole of Cheshire assigned to him, except a small portion belonging to the Bishop; and his royal uncle further granted to him, nine manors in Berkshire, seven in Yorkshire, ten in Dorset, thirty-two in Suffolk, and twelve in Norfolk, twenty-two in Leicester, and about a score in Lincolnshire, besides smaller numbers in other counties, and sokes and berewicks beyond counting. Earl Lupus in his later years, attempted to atone for the irregularities of his early life, by becoming monk in his own Abbey of St. Werburg, at Chester. Later, the estates which he held, reverted to the crown, and were, in part, granted to the Earl of Lincoln, who was created Duke of Lancaster. His daughter and heiress, married the 4th son of King Edwd. III., who also, through his wife, became Duke of Lancaster, and was father of Henry of Bolinbroke, afterwards Henry IV. After various vicissitudes, the Honour and much of the very extensive soke of Bolingbroke, became merged in the Crown; and, in part, still remains the property of the Sovereign, the King having among his titles still the Palatine Dukedom of Lancaster. The fortunes of Greetham were more varied. It is impossible, from the sources of information available for these notes to give all the successive steps in the tenure of this manor, and of its numerous and valuable appurtenances; or to give the connection, if any, between successive owners. Fixity of tenure was by no means a feature of those times, the power of the Sovereign was almost absolute, and demesnes were seized by him, forfeited, retained, granted anew, or disposed of for money, according to the royal caprice, or the exigencies of his purse, in a most arbitrary fashion. To show the precarious nature of tenures held “in capite,” or “in chief” from the Sovereign, we will mention one or two cases, taken haphazard:—Edmund of Woodstock, 2nd son of Edwd. I., was beheaded by Edward III., in the 4th year of his reign. He had been granted the manor of Greetham only 3 years before (Dugdale’s “Baronage,” vol. ii., p. 93). At a previous period, Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, died seised of the manor of Greetham. In the ordinary course of events, the manor would have remained a possession of his daughter, Alice, countess of Lincoln. Yet a Lancaster Record (class xxv. R. 8), shows that Alice granted the manor to Hugh Dispenser, 16 Ed. II., and, he being a favourite of that King, we can hardly doubt that the grant was a forced one. The historian Speed informs us that, the Earl of Lancaster being attainted, the elder Dispenser obtained a grant of some of the Lancaster property in Lincolnshire. But in 1327, the younger Dispenser, the Hugh above-named, the favourite of the King (Edward II.), fell into disfavour, and a commission was appointed to enquire what goods and chattels he possessed at the time of his banishment, in his manors of Greetham, Thorley, Wainfleet and Brattleby. He also held at that time, as shown by other records, lands in Thornton, Roughton, Wilksby, Wood Enderby, Partney, Mareham-le-Fen, &c., and a manor in Scrivelsby. But he, in his turn being banished, the attainder of the Earl of Lancaster was revoked, and the property once more reverted to the Lancaster family, in the person of his brother and successor, Henry of Lancaster.

Truly the history of many a noble family of those times was a moving and vivid commentary on the words of Holy Writ, “Put not your confidence in Princes!”

In a list of military tenures (temp. Henry II.), while Norman d’Arcy, the Earl of Britanny, Alan de Percy, Stephen of Albemarle, and several others, are named as holding various of the manors in the neighbourhood, the Duke of Lancaster is given as “Lord” of Greetham, Winceby and Hameringham (“Old Lincolnshire,” by G. H. Burton, 1885, vol. i. pp. 214–215). These, as we have seen, had been very extensively added to, and further additions are named in various records, some of which we will here give, as they show the importance of Greetham. We should, however, observe that because a great Baron held the manor of a demesne, it did not at all follow that he owned the whole parish. This applies to Greetham, as follows:—In an Assize Roll, at Lincoln, of 9 Edward I. (A.D. 1280), a certain Robert de Kyrketon, and his wife Beatrix, demand (and their claim is admitted), certain rents of lands in “Askeby next Gretham (_i.e._, Ashby Puerorum), Stavenesby (_i.e._, Stainsby), Bag-endreby and Little Gretham,” at a time when the Earl of Lancaster was lord of the manor. An Inquisition of the Earls of Kent (2nd son of Edwd. I., beheaded. 4 Edward III. and at that time, as we have already stated, holding the manor of Greetham), shows that lands in Huttoft, Theddlethorpe, Wainfleet and Thoresby, as well as in Bratoft and Mablethorpe (the two latter also given in Domesday), were held under the manor of Greetham in addition to those already named in the more immediate neighbourhood, of Bratoft and Mablethorpe, appurtenances of Greetham at the time of Domesday (1080) and continued to be so as late as 1552 (“Linc. N. & Q.” vol. iv. p. 122).