Bolingbroke, Old.
Bolingbroke, to which is now added the epithet “old,” to distinguish it from the modern creation, New Bolingbroke, near Revesby, lies distant about seven miles, in an easterly direction from Horncastle, and about four miles westward from Spilsby, in a kind of cul-de-sac, formed by steep hills on three sides. As to the meaning of the name, whether its commonly accepted derivation from the brook, the spring-head of which, as Camden says (Britannia, p. 471), is in low ground hard by, be correct, we must leave to full-fledged etymologists to decide; but the small streamlet, as it exists at present, in no way answers to the ideal of a bowling brook, sufficient to be a distinguishing feature of the place. We would venture to suggest, as a fair subject for their enquiry, that, as “bullen” is Danish for “swollen,” and “brock” is only another form of “burgh” (and common enough in Scotland), meaning a fort (as we have a few miles away, near Hallington station, Bully-hill, near an ancient encampment), there may have been an older fort, swelling out like an excrescence at the mouth of this valley; and so a “bollen” (or bulging) “broc,” providing a fitting site on which the later castle was also erected. It might, too, seem some confirmation of this, that, in Domesday Book, the name is given as Bolin broc. Be this as it may, however, the place itself is one of unusual interest to the archæologist. It is a town in decadence. Possessed of a market-place, and a number of good houses, some paved streets, a fine church, the site of a castle, and that rare distinction an “Honour,” it is yet but a village, with little to stir its “sleepy hollow” into social life or animation. The visitor may, perhaps, meet there (as the writer has done), one who has retired from her Majesty’s service; who has weilded his cutlass on quarterdeck, or carried his rifle through stockade or over battlement; the said individual may long, on the settle by the snug hostel fire, to fight his battles over again, in converse with some kindred spirit; but there is now no tread of sentinel on castle-wall, no warder now blows his bugle at castle gate. The castle itself is but a phantom of the past, only to be now seen in imagination. He would, perhaps, fain know something of its bygone history; but he finds no one to tell it. Ichabod echoes through the silent streets, and he can only murmur in the words of an ancient lament (for, is it not written in the book of Jasher?) “How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished.” The County Directory tells him (as would also Domesday Book) that Bolingbroke had a weekly market [26a]; from a like authority he may learn that the soke, or Honour, of Bolingbroke embraced nearly 30 parishes, Spilsby amongst them. [26b] Yet he goes to Spilsby on a Monday and finds it crowded with traffickers, while, from week’s end to week’s end, the market place of Bolingbroke does not see a merchant or a huckster. Sooth to say, the secluded nature of the locality, which of old commended it as a fitting position for a strongly-protected castle, embedded in hills, save on one side, served really to isolate it from the outer world, and hindred, and ultimately destroyed, the traffic, which became gradually transferred to other towns more easy of access. And so the once busy market is grass grown, and the buzz of its barter would not awaken a baby. The sole sound, indeed, of any volume, to break the moribund monotony—and this only one of recent creation—is the peal of fine bells with which the church is now furnished, and instead of soliloquising further we will now proceed to describe these, and then unfold the fine features of the church, of which they form so melodious an appurtenance. There are six larger bells and the old sanctus bell. Of the larger bells, one is old, and five were presented in 1897, by Miss Maria Wingate, whose family, formerly resided at Hareby House, which small parish and benefice were annexed to Bolingbroke in 1739. [27] The five new bells were cast by Messrs. Taylor, of Loughborough, a well-known firm of bell-founders. These were consecrated by Bishop King, of Lincoln, soon after they were hung. On one of them, the treble bell, is the inscription, “God save the Queen, a thank-offering in commemoration of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, 1897.” The peculiar appropriateness of this inscription will be the more manifest, when the singular fact is remembered (as will be fully explained hereafter), that, as Duchess of Lancaster, the Queen was Lady of the Manor of Bolingbroke. The old bell bears the date 1604, and has the inscription—
“I, sweetly tolling, men do call,
To taste our meats that feede the soole.”
This old bell is a very fine one, and is named among the “Bells of Lincolnshire.”
Of the church itself, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, it may be said that it has had its peculiar vicissitudes. It was built probably by John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; as the flamboyant style of its architecture indicates a late 14th century erection; and he was granted the manor in that century (1363). Many of our finest churches, such as those of Boston, Grantham, Heckington, &c., were built in that century. This of Bolingbroke is one of the latest of them, corresponding most closely in style and date to the Church of Kyme Priory; but it is certainly not one of the least striking. We now see in it only a portion of the original, namely, the south aisle, porch, and tower. It was occupied as head quarters by the Parliamentary troops in 1643, while they were laying siege to the castle, which was held for the King; and, with their usual puritan hatred of holy places, they destroyed the beautiful stained glass which adorned the windows; while, further, their presence there drew upon the building heavy bombardment by the King’s men, no less destructive to the edifice itself. Since that time, the original south aisle has been used as the main body of the church; and until recently, the arches of the arcade, formerly dividing it from the original nave, were distinctly visible, built up in the (later) north wall; while the tower, originally standing at the west end of the nave, became (in consequence of the destruction of the latter, semi-detached from the later south aisle) church, at its north-west angle. The church was restored in 1889, through the munificence of Mr. C. S. Dickinson, of Lincoln, at a cost of £3,000; the architect being the late Mr. James Fowler; and it was re-opened by the Bishop on Oct. 10th of that year; the old disfiguring galleries having been removed, and new battlements and pinnacles being added to the tower; and a new north aisle being erected, extending eastward from the tower; the original south aisle being still retained as a modern nave, re-seated, and re-furnished in every respect; and a new organ added, with various improvements. As to the result, we cannot do better than quote some of the observations of the late Precentor Venables, made by him on the visit of the Lincolnshire Architectural Society in 1894. [28] He described it as “a building of great stateliness, the proportions being excellent, and in its general design and architectural details, presenting a specimen of the decorated style in its greatest purity and beauty; the windows are almost faultless examples of flowing tracery in its early purity. The east window has five lights, with quatrefoil window in the gable above; the west window four lights; and the side windows three lights each; all excellent. The south porch has a well-proportioned inner door with good moulding; there being an open quatrefoil over the door. In its east corner there is a very sumptuous holy water stoup of unusual design, surmounted by a tall canopy of great richness. There is a statue bracket over the door, and one at the side. The recently opened arcade on the north side of nave is composed of fine equilateral arches, with mouldings continuous from their bases, without the intervention of capitals. On the south wall of the present chancel is a range of three rich, though rather heavy, stone sedilia, with projecting canopies over-braided with wall-flowers, and groined within Traces of canopied niches of similar design to the sedilia, are visible on each side of the east window. The piscina, with projecting basin, is plain.”
In the middle of the south wall of the nave there is also an old piscina, with aumbrey above it, which would indicate that, in the original church, there was here a chantry. [29] The present pulpit, and the choir seats in the chancel, are of modern oak richly carved; and the vestry, at the back of the organ, is screened off by similar rich modern oak carving. The tower has a west door, with a four-light window over it; a two-light window above this, with corresponding ones in the north and south faces. Within the tower, over an ancient fireplace, is embedded in the wall, 4ft. from the ground, a curious old gurgoyle head of peculiar hideousness, which doubtless, at one time, grinned down from the original roof. Over the said fireplace there is this inscription graven in a stone:—“Sixpence in bread every Sunday for ever for the poore women present at divine service, given by John Andred, M.A., rector of Bolingbroke, Anno Domini MDCLXXX.”
In the churchyard is a tall monument, surmounted by a cherub with expanded wings, in memory of Edward Stanley Bosanquet, who died July 16th, 1886, formerly vicar; also of his wife Emmeline, and three children, who died at different dates. Outside the north wall are some stone ends of seats, formerly in the tower.
It may here be worthy of remark that Chancellor Massingberd, in his account of the battle of Winceby mentions that “among the slain on the side of the King was a Lincolnshire gentleman of the name of Hallam, the immediate ancestor of the Historian of the Middle Ages,” Henry Hallam. The name is not a common one; and on a broken stone slab, lying behind the N.E. buttress, under the N.E. window, is the fragmentary inscription, “Body of Henry Hallam, who dyed January The 6, 1687.” [30a]
We conclude our notice of this church with the words of the Precentor:—“We may realize the magnitude, and the beauty of the (former) entire church, when we bear in mind that, besides what we now see, there was a wide nave, a north aisle, doubtless equal in dimensions and style to that now standing, and a long chancel reaching to the limits of the churchyard.” A building so fine would attest the former importance of the place; and we now proceed to consider other proofs of that importance which we know to have existed.
Bolingbroke is, indeed, a place of no mushroom growth. The Castle was built in the reign of Henry I. by William de Romara, Earl of Lincoln, who also founded the Abbey of Revesby about 1143. But history carries us back to a still earlier date, and to an older, and even more interesting, and more important family than that of Romara. The mother of William de Romara (or, according to others, his grandmother) was Lucia, a Saxon heiress [30b]; sister of the powerful Morcar, Earl of Northumberland, who for some time withstood the Conqueror, and daughter of Algar, Earl of Mercia, who was the brother of Edgiva, King Harold’s Queen (others making Edgiva the sister of Lucia). She was also a near relative of the renowned “Hereward the Wake,” the stubborn champion of Saxon freedom. There was an earlier Algar, Earl of Mercia, who, 200 years before, fell in the famous fight of Threckingham (between Sleaford and Folkingham) against the Danes, about A.D. 865. He was the son of another Algar, and grandson of Leofric, both successively Earls of Mercia; the wife of the last-named being the Lady Godiva (or God’s gift, “Deodata”), renowned for her purity and good works. This Lady Godiva was the sister of Turold, or Thorold, of Bukenale (Bucknall), [30c] Lord of Spalding, and Vice-Count, or Sheriff of the County of Lincoln. And these Thorolds, father and son, were among the chief benefactors of the famous Monastery of St. Guthlac, at Croyland; a similar good work being also performed, in her own day, by the aforesaid Lady Lucia, who was chief patroness of the Priory of Spalding [31a] an offshoot of the greater Croyland Abbey. Thus William of Romara was not only a Norman “of high degree,” on his father’s side, but, through his mother, he came of a race of Saxons, powerful, brave, and distinguished for their services to their country and religion. It has been frequently observed that, although the Normans conquered and subjugated Saxon England, the stubborn Saxon eventually absorbed, or prevailed over, his Norman master; and we have an illustration of it here, not uninteresting to men of Lincolnshire. The name of Romara has long been gone, in our country and elsewhere, beyond recall; but the old Saxon name of Thorold yet stands high in the roll of our county families. There is probably no older name in the shire; none that has so completely maintained its good position and succession, in unbroken descent. [31b]
Now the Lady Lucia inherited many of the lands of her Saxon ancestors; and among those which passed to her Son William of Romara, was Bolingbroke. He was a man of many, and wide domains, but of them all he selected this, as the place for erecting a stronghold, capable of defence in those troublous times. The castle is described by Holles (temp. Charles I) as “surrounded by a moat fed by streams, and as covering about an acre and half; built in a square, with four strong forts,” probably at the corners; and “containing many rooms, which were connected by passages along the embattled walls and capable to receyve a very great prince with all his trayne.” The entrance was “very stately, over a fair draw bridge; the gate-house uniforme, and strong.” The gateway, of which the crumbling ruins were engraved by Stukeley in the first half of the l8th century, finally fell in 1815; and nothing now remains above ground. The whole structure was of the sandstone of the neighbourhood, which, as Holles observes, will crumble away when the wet once penetrates it. The moat is still visible; and further, in the rear of it, to the south, beyond the immediate precincts, there is another moated enclosure, still to be seen, the residence doubtless of dependants under the shelter of the castle; or these may have been earthworks excavated by the forces besieging the castle. We cannot here give in detail the long and varied history of the great owners of Bolingbroke. But, omitting minor particulars:—“A Gilbert de Gaunt by marrying a Romara heiress, obtained the estate. One of his successors of the same name, joining the Barons against King John and Henry III., forfeited it. It was then granted to Ranulph, Earl of Chester. It afterwards passed to the de Lacy family, earls in their turn, of Lincoln; and by marriage with Alicia de Lacy, Thomas Plantagenet, grandson of Henry III. obtained it, with the title. A later Gaunt, the famous John, Duke of Lancaster, married the heiress of this branch of the Plantagenets, and so in turn became Earl of Lincoln and Lord of Bolingbroke, and their son Henry, born here April 3, 1366, became Henry IV. As being the birthplace of a sovereign, the estate, instead of remaining an ordinary manor, was elevated to the rank of an ‘Honour’” (Camden’s Britannia, p. 471) and is entitled, in all legal documents “the Honour of Bolingbroke.” Since the accession of Henry IV. it has remained an appanage of the Crown; and as Duke of Lancaster, King Edward is “Lord of the Honour,” at the present day. Gervase Holles states that Queen Elizabeth made sundry improvements in the interior of the castle, adding “a fayre great chamber with other lodgings.” The Constable of the Castle was (in his day) “Sir William Mounson, Lord Castlemayne, who received a revenue out of the Dutchy lands of £500 per annum; in part payment of £1,000 yearly, given by the King to the Countess of Nottingham his lady.” He also says “In a roome in one of the towers they kept their audit for the whole Dutchy of Lancaster, Bolingbroke having ever been the prime seat thereof, where the Recordes for the whole country are kept.” [32]
And he then gives a detailed account of the following supernatural occurrence, as being beyond controversy authenticated:—Which is, that the castle is haunted by a certain spirit in the likeness of a hare; which, “att the meeting of the auditors doth runne betweene their legs, and sometimes overthrows them, and soe passes away. They have pursued it downe into the castleyard, and seen it take in att a grate, into a low cellar; and have followed it thither with a light, where, notwithstanding they did most narrowly observe it, and there was no other passage out, but by the doore or windowe, the roome being all close-framed of stones within, not having the least chinke or crevice, they could never finde it. Att other times it hath been seen to run in at the iron grates below into other of the grotto’s (as their be many of them), and they have watched the place, and sent for hounds, and put in after it; but aftar a while they came crying out.” (Harleian M.S.S. No. 6829, p. 162). The explanation of this hare-brained story we leave to others more versed in the doings of the spirit world; merely observing that such an apparition has not been entirely confined to Bolingbroke Castle.
The town of Bolingbroke confers the title of Viscount on the family of St.-John of Lydiard Tregoze, Co. Wilts. The career, the abilities, the accomplishments, the vicissitudes, and the writings, of the great statesman, author and adventurer, Henry St.-John, Viscount Bolingbroke, during the reigns of Anne, William and Mary, and George I. are too well-known, to need further mention here.
Saunders in his History of Lincolnshire (Vol. ii., p. 101, 1834) says that there was then still in the church the remains of an altar cloth, beautifully embroidered, and traditionally said to have been the work of Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, wife of John of Gaunt, and mother of Henry IV., who is celebrated in Chaucer’s poem “the Dream.” Chancellor Massingberd, however, writing his account of Bolingbroke Castle in 1858 (“Architect Soc. Journ.” vol. iv. p. ii.) says that it had then disappeared, and not been seen for some 20 years, having probably been disgracefully purloined.
The parish register dates from 1538; a rather unusual occurrence, as the keeping of registers was only enforced 1530–8 by Act of 27 Henry VIII., and the order was in few cases observed till a later period.
Edlington.
This is a pleasant, small village, about 2½ miles from Horncastle, the chief approach to it being by the so-called “Ramper,” the great Roman road, connecting the two Roman fortresses, Lindum and Banovallum (Lincoln and Horncastle), and still one of the best roads in the county. The Park of Edlington, now the property of the Hassard Short family, is a pleasantly undulating enclosure, adorned with some very fine trees; although of late some £3,000 worth, chiefly of outlying timber, has been converted into cash. The ground is varied by small copses, which afford excellent pheasant and rabbit shooting; as also do two covers, about two miles from the Park, called Edlington Scrubs; and there are also some very gamey plantations, belonging to the estate, situated about two miles north-west from Woodhall Spa. The estate comprises about 2,700 acres, and is fully five miles long from one end to the other, being intersected by portions of other parishes. There was formerly a substantial residence, with stew ponds and extensive gardens, at the upper or northern end of the park, [34a] with the parish road running behind it, covered by lofty trees. Here, it may interest the botanist to know that the plant “Butcher’s Broom” (Ruscus Aculeatus) grew plentifully, although it now seems to be extinct, having been improved away. From this position there is a very fine view, extending many miles to the south and west, over very varied country. While the late Mr. Hassard Short himself resided here, he had frequently coursing parties, hares being then very plentiful, to which, among others, the present writer, as a boy, and his father, were always invited. This residence was, however, pulled down sometime “in the fifties,” the owner, for the sake of his health, preferring to reside in the south. It was for a time, however, occupied by a Mrs. Heald, [34b] and her nephew George Heald, Esq., a fine-looking young fellow, who held a commission in the Guards. And hereby hangs a tale. In riding in the Park, in London, he made the acquaintance of the famous coquette, and adventuress, Lola Montez, created Countess of Landsfeldt by the King of Hanover, whose mistress she was. Being a mixture of Spanish and Irish blood, she possessed all the vivacity of both those races, with a gay dash in her manners, and considerable beauty, along with an extremely outré style of dress. Thus she fascinated the young man, as she previously had done her late Royal Master. He married her, although she was said to have been already married to a Captain James. The charm soon lost its power, and as a means of ridding himself of her, his friends prosecuted her for bigamy. Sergeant Ballantine in his autobiography gives the whole particulars (vol. II., p. 106), but he does not remember the result of this action. She was of a temper so violent, that she commonly carried arms, and was almost reckless of what she did. Young Heald came at length to live in almost hourly fear for his life. I well remember his coming down to a hotel at Horncastle, to receive rents; when he sat at table, with a loaded pistol at each side of him. I knew him and his aunt well, and from the latter I received many kindnesses. The poor persecuted young man soon passed from mortal ken; but the lady migrated to America, to seek higher game once more; but a fracas having occurred, in which she shot someone in a railway carriage, her career also was brought to a close.
The earliest mention which we have of this part of the Manor of Edlington, is as being part of the Barony of Gilbert de Gaunt (some of that name, still residing as farmers in the parish). He probably, or his ancestors, acquired the property, from what was a common source, in that day, viz., from the great Norman Baron, Ivo Taillebois, on whom William the Conqueror bestowed the rich Saxon heiress, the Lady Lucia, the representative of the wealthy family of the Thorolds, and near relative of King Harold (see my records of Old Bolingbroke). He held this Manor till about the year 35 Ed. I., or A.D. 1307. It then passed to the Barkeworthes; Robert de Barkeworthe being the first of them to reside in the parish, as owner of Poolham. They were a family of wealth and position in the neighbourhood at that period. There is a legal document called Feet of Fines (file 98 [39]), of date A.D. 1329, in which William de Barkeworthe, and ffloriana his wife, on the one part, and Robert de Haney and Alice his wife, on the other part, lay claim to considerable property, in Claxby, Normanby and Ussylby, in which the former establish their claim. In 1351, William de Barkeworthe presented to a moiety of the chapelry of Polum. But in 1369, Thomas de Thymbelby presented. This marks the period when the property passed from the Barkeworthes to the Thimblebys. A Walter de Barkeworthe died in 1347, and was buried in the Cloister of Lincoln Cathedral. At the period of this transition (1369), another Feet of Fines exists, between Thomas, son of Nicholas de Thymelby, with several others, on the one part, and Richard, “son of Simon atte See,” on the other part, by which the said Richard surrenders lands in Claxby, Normanby, Tetford, and other property, to the said Thomas, son of Nicholas de Thymelby and his friends (“Architectural Soc. Journ.,” vol. XXIII., p. 255). There is another Feet of Fines, in 1374, between Thomas de Themelby, John de Themelby, Parson, and others, on the one part, and John de Toutheby, and his wife Alianora, on the other part, which assigns the Manor of Tetford, and advowson of the church, to the Thymelbys. In 1388, John, son of Thomas de Thymelby, presented to Tetford. The Thimbleby pedigree is given in the Herald’s Visitation of 1562.
In 1333, at a Chancery Inquisition, held at Haltham, “on Friday next, after the feast of St. Matthew,” the Jurors declare, that Nicholas de Thymelby, and his wife Matilda, hold land in Haltham, of the right of the said Matilda, under the Lord the King, as parcel of the Manor of Scrivelsby; also that the said Nicholas held land in Stikeswold, of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, by the service of paying them ijs and vid yearly; and also that he held lands in Thymelby, under the Bishop of Carlisle. Further inquisitions show that Nicholas de Thymelby, and John, his brother, also held lands in Horncastle and over (i.e. High) Toynton, under the said Bishop of Carlisle; that Thomas de Thymelby presented to the Church of Ruckland in 1381; and that John, his son, presented to the Church of Tetford, April 4th, 1388. In 1427, it was found that the heirs of John de Thymelby, held by their trustees, lands “in Polum and Edlynton.”
In 1439, William Thymelby, Esq., Lord of Polum, presented to the Benefice of Somersby, having already presented to Tetford. He seems to have married Joan, daughter of Sir Walter Tailboys, a descendant of the same family, from which sprang Ivo Taillebois, the great Norman Baron, previously mentioned, from whom Gilbert de Gaunt probably acquired his land in Edlington. [37a] Richard Thimbleby, in 1474, obtained the Beelsby estates, through marriage with Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Beelsby, knight, and widow of Sir John Pygot, Knt. He died (1522) possessed (in right of his wife, who was coheir of Godfrey Hilton), of the Manors of Beelsby, Holton-le-Moor, Horsington, Harpswell, Harleston, Thorgansby; and a share of the advowson of Horsington; John Thymelby, his son, succeeded him (Escheator’s Inquisitions, 14 H.S., No. 24). To show the religious fanaticism in the reign of Elizabeth, even among Protestants, note the following:—A Thimbleby of Poolham, A.D. 1581, was thrown into prison by the Bishop of Lincoln (T. Cowper), for refusing to attend Protestant services. His wife was near her confinement, but she begged to see her husband, she was treated so roughly that the pains of labour seized her in her husband’s dungeon. She was nevertheless detained in prison without any nurse or assistant, and a speedy death followed; her husband also dying soon afterwards in prison from the rough treatment which he underwent there. (“The Church under Queen Elizabeth,” by F. G. Lee, II. p. 60). I have given these details to show the importance of the family of Thimbleby.
After another generation or two, Matthew Thymbleby’s widow of Poolham, married Sir Robert Saville, Knt., who, through her, died possessed of the Manors of Poolham, Edlington, and several more. Confining ourselves here to Poolham, we find the Saviles, who were members of the Saviles of Howley, co. York (now represented by Lord Mexborough, of Methley, co. York, etc., etc., and the Saviles, of Rufford Abbey, co. Notts.), continuing to own Poolham until 1600, when Sir John Saville, Knt., sold it to George Bolles, Esq., citizen of London, whose descendant, Sir John Bolles, [37b] Bart., sold it to Sir Edmund Turnor, of Stoke Rochford. It has recently been sold to Dr. Byron, residing in London.
As we have, thus far, chiefly confined ourselves to the owners of the hamlet of Poolham, we will now make some rather interesting remarks upon the old Poolham Hall, and matters connected with it. The old mansion was probably built originally on a larger scale than the present farm house. It is enclosed by a moat, in the south-west angle of which stand the remains of a chapel, or oratory, now in the kitchen garden; they consist of an end wall and part of a side wall, each with a narrow window. The font, a few years ago, was taken away, and in order to preserve it from destruction, it was placed, some twenty years ago, in the garden of Wispington Vicarage, by the Vicar (the late Rev. C. P. Terrot), a great ecclesiastical antiquarian. It has further again been removed by the present writer, and, on the restoration of the Church of St. Margaret, at Woodhall, in 1893, it was once more restored to its original purpose, as font in that Church, being further adorned by four handsome columns of serpentine, the gift of the Rev. J. A. Penny, the present Vicar of Wispington. Near the chapel, there was till recently, a tombstone, bearing date 1527. This stone was a few years ago removed, and now forms the sill of a cottage doorway in Stixwould. The writer should here add that, on the moat of this old Hall being cleaned out a few years ago, there was found in the mud, beneath the chapel ruins, a curious object, which at once passed into his possession. It proved to be an ancient chrismatory, of which there has never been found the like. The material is terra cotta, with peculiar primitive ornamentation, of a pale stone colour, containing two divisions, or wells, with spouts at each end, each having been covered with a roof, although one of them is now broken off, curiously carved. The use of the chrismatory, was, in mediæval times, connected with baptism; as the child was brought into the church, it was sprinkled with salt, and at the font it was anointed with oil. The two wells were meant to hold the salt and oil. As I have said, it is unique. Its use was first explained to me, by Sir Augustus Franks, of the British Museum. It has been exhibited among the ecclesiastical objects of art at the Church Congresses, at Norwich, London, Newcastle, Northampton, and other places. It has created very great interest, and has been noticed in various publications. According to Ecton’s “Thesaurus,” this chapel was connected with Bardney Abbey, but it is now a ruin, and unused. The population is limited to three houses, and the most convenient place of worship is Woodhall, St. Margaret’s.
We will now revert more especially to Edlington. We have mentioned Gilbert de Gaunt as among the first owners, but this applies, more strictly to the hamlet Poolham. Edlington proper, is evidently a place of great antiquity, the name is derived from “Eiddeleg,” a deity in the Bardic Mythology (Dr. Oliver’s “Religious Houses on the Witham”); the whole name meaning the town of Eiddeleg. In connection with this, we may mention that, until about three years ago, when it was destroyed by dynamite, there existed an enormous boulder, standing on a rising ground, about sixty yards from the present highway, on the farm of Mr. Robert Searby, which weighed about 10 tons, its height being about 10ft., width 4ft. 6in., and its thickness about 3ft. This would be just the Druidic altar, at which the Bardic mysteries, in the British period, might be celebrated. In 1819, while digging a field in Edlington, some men found several heaps of ox bones, and with each heap an urn of baked clay. Unfortunately none of these urns were preserved, so that we are unable to say whether they were of Roman make, or of earlier date. They imply heathen sacrifice of some kind, and were close to a Roman road; still the existence, already mentioned, of an earlier Bardic worship, would favour for them, an earlier origin.
From Domesday Book (completed circa 1086), we gather (1st) that among the possessions of the King (William the Conqueror), there were 4 carucates, i.e. 480 acres of land, with proportionate sokemen, villeins, and bordars. The whole land of the parish being reckoned at 6,960 acres. Of this extent, the Saxon Ulf, so often mentioned as an owner in this neighbourhood, had 10 carucates (or 1,200 acres). Egbert, the vassal of Gilbert de Gaunt had 480 acres, a mill, always a valuable possession, as all dependants were bound to have their grain ground there; 90 acres of meadow, and 210 acres of wood land, in all 780 acres. A Jury of the wapentake of Horncastle, declared that the powerful noble Robert Despenser, wrongfully disputed the claim of Gilbert de Gaunt, to half a carucate, or 60 acres, in Edlington, which in the time of Edward the Confessor had been formerly held by one Saxon, Tonna.
Edlington was one of the 222 parishes in the county which had churches before the Norman conquest, but as the number of priests serving these churches was only 131, it is doubtful whether it had a resident minister, it being more probably that it was served by a Monk of Bardney Abbey, to which (according to Liber Regis) it was attached. Here again we have a trace of Gilbert de Gaunt being Lord of the Manor of Edlington, as well as of the subdivision of Poolham. The Monastery of Bardney was originally one of the few Saxon foundations, and established before the year 697. It was however reduced to great poverty by the Danes, under Inguar and Hubba, in 870, 300 monks being slain. It remained in ruins some 200 years, when it was restored by Gilbert de Gaunt, who succeeded to some of the property of Ulf, the Saxon Thane, already named. Gilbert de Gaunt had 54 Manors conferred upon him; being nephew of the Conqueror, and among the several which he bestowed on Bardney, was Edlington. At the dissolution, it would revert to the King, and (as we are here reduced to conjecture), we may well suppose that it was one of the many Manors in this district conferred by Henry VIII., on Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, among whose descendants these vast possessions were subsequently divided. In Dr. Oliver’s learned book on the “Religious Houses on the Witham,” it is stated that Bardney had land in Edlington, that the abbot had the advowson of the benefice, and that before the King’s Justices, in the reign of Ed. I., the abbot proved his right, by act of Henry I., confirmed by Henry III. to the exercise of “Infangthef, pit, and gallows at Bardney.”
In “Placito de Warranto,” p. 409, he claimed, and proved his right, also to a gallows at Edlington (as well as at Hagworthingham, and Steeping, and Candlesby); and in connection with this, it is interesting to note that, as at Bardney, there is a field called “Coney Garth” (Konig Garth), or King enclosure, where the abbot’s gallows stood; so at Edlington there is a field (the grass field, in the angle, as you pass from the village road to the high road, leading northward), which is still called “Coney Green,” which name moderns of small education, suppose to be derived from the numbers of conies, i.e. rabbits, which abound there; but in which the antiquarian sees the old Konig-field, the King’s enclosure; and in that field, doubtless, stood the abbot of Bardney’s gallows; [41] just as the Abbots of Kirkstead had a gallows in Thimbleby. On this Edlington Coney Green, I have found bricks of an early style, with various mounds and hollows, indicating buildings of some extent, and probably belonging to the King.
In the year 1897, the Rev. J. A. Penny, Vicar of Wispington, discovered and published in “Linc. N. and Q.,” some very interesting Bardney charters of the 13th century, which make many mentions of Edlington. In one case they record the gift of a bondman, and his progeny to Thomas de Thorley, living in Gautby, the slave being William, son of Peter Hardigrey, of Edlington; among the witnesses to the deed of gift being Master Robert, of Poolham, Simon, the Chamberlain of Edlington, and others. Date, 22nd May, 1281.
Another is a declaration of Thomas de Thorley, living in Gautby, that he grants to Master William Hardegrey, Rector of Mareham, all the lands and tenements which he owns in the village and fields of Edlington; among the witnesses being Simon, son of John, the Chamberlain of Edlington; Richard King of the same, Simon the Francis of Edlington, and others.
Another charter states that, “I, William, son of William of Wispington, have granted, and by this deed confirmed, the gift, to William Hardigrey, of Edlington, clerk, all my toft, with its buildings, lying in the parish of Edlington, which is situate between the public highway, and the croft of Richard, son of Henry King, for ever. Among the witnesses being Simon, the Chamberlain of Edlington, John, his son, Alured of Woodhall, and others. Given at Edlington, the Wednesday after Michaelmas, A.D. 1285. (30th Sep., 1285), and 13th year of the reign of King Edward I.”
We further get disconnected notices of various owners of, or in, Edlington, but I can not make out a connected series.
For instance, in a Chancery Inquisition, 13. Ed. I. (12th May, 1285), held by order of the King, among the jurors are Henry of Horsington, Robert, son of the Parson of Horsington, Hugh Fraunklyn, of Langton, William de Wodehall, of Edlington, and others. Thus the William de Woodhall, already named, was a proprietor in Edlington, as early as 1285.
We find, in a Final Concord, Nov. 22nd, 1208 (three-quarters of a century earlier than the preceding), between Andrew, of Edlington, plaintiff, and Alice, daughter of Elvina, who acted for her, the said Andrew acknowledged the said Alice to be free (he had probably claimed her as a bond-slave, in his house, or on his land, at Edlington), for which Alice gave him one mark. It was only in the reign of Henry VI. that a servant was permitted, after giving due notice to leave his place, and take the services of another (23. Hen. VI. c. 13). Before that, all were the property of their owners, unless given their freedom for some special reason. Here is another proprietor in a dispute, on 10th Nov., 1208, between Thorold, of Horsington on the one part, and John, son of Simon, of Edlington. The said Thorold surrendered for ever, certain lands in Edlington, to John and his heirs, another family of proprietors, at the same date as the previous.
In November, 1218, in a Final Concord, between John, of Edlington, and Hugh, his tenant, as to the right to certain lands in Edlington, it was agreed that John was the rightful owner, and for this, John granted Hugh certain other lands, but in case Hugh died without issue, they were to revert to John, of Edlington. He would seem, therefore, to have been rather a large proprietor.
The will of Richard Evington, of Halsteade Hall, was made, on 22nd January, 1612, by which he leaves his lands in Edlington, and other places, to his two sons, Maurice and Nicholas Evington.
On 23rd December, 1616, Edward Turnor, clerk, of Edlington, made his will, the details of which do not here concern us, beyond showing that he was Vicar.
The parish register dates from 1562, beginning with Thomas fforeman, the sonne of William fforeman, christened 2nd February, 1562. This register is very peculiar, as it gives the baptisms down to 1700, then the marriages from and to the same dates, then the burials from and to the same dates. This is very unusual, the common arrangement, in those times, being to give the baptisms, marriages, and burials under the same dates all together. The present book is the copy on paper, of the original on parchment or vellum. Among some of the surnames are Billinghay, Padison, Melborn, fford, Hollywell, Kaksby, Stanley, Gunby, Brinkels (Brinkhills), William, son of Thomas Bounsayne, gent., bap. Jany. 12th, 1605. Margaret, daughter of John Elton, gent. (and a sister), baptized October 29th, 1611; and Siorach Edmonds, Vicar, 1617. Mary, the daughter of Robert Brookley, gent., bapt. Nov. 2nd, 1652; with others.
This list shews a considerable number of landed proprietors in the parish; there being no one pre-eminent landowner.
Among the Christian names, which occur in the oldest register, are Bridgett, Muriall, Rowland, Judith, Dorothie, Anthony, Hamond, Cicilie, and others.
George Hamerton, gent., and Sarah Hussey, were married June 21st, 1699. [These Hamertons were a wealthy family in Horncastle, owning a large block of houses at the junction of the east and south streets. The initials of John Hamerton and his wife, remain there, over the fire-place, in an oak-pannelled room. I believe they were connected with the Hamertons, of Hamerton, co. York.]
John Corbet and Isabell Thylley were married, December 6th, 1660. [The Corbets have been a long-established family in Lincolnshire, and also taking a leading position in Shropshire, in Sir Andrew Corbett, Bart]. In register III., is a note, “Thomas Barnett, of Thimbelby, found dead in Edlington parish, and was buried Sep. 6th, 1798”; also, “Deborah Bell, aged 95, buried November 7th, 1804.”
In the 2nd register book, among other entries are these:—The Rev. Tristram Sturdivant, Vicar, buried August 3rd, 1755. (The clerk, William Blow, had died 2 years before). Belmirah, daughter of Thos. Clarke of Horncastle, and Mary, his wife, buried Feb. 23rd, 1773.
The 3rd register has the following:—Mr. Wells’ youngest child (of Poolham), christened by me, William Wells, at Poolham, baptized by Mr. L’Oste (then Vicar), at Woodhall Church, named Charles, Aug. 11, 1794. [The Wells’ resided at Poolham down to about 1850. They were wealthy gentlemen farmers, and were most generous to the poor, and supported the church in every possible way, as I know from my own experience, and that of my father].
Margaret Spencer, a traveller, commonly called “Scotch Peg,” she being a Scotch woman, was buried (at Edlington), Sept. 2, 1789. In the 2nd Register again we have, among the surnames, Greenland, Walesby, Bouchier, Soulby, Bates, Longstaffe, Falkner, Bullifant, Gaunt, Elsey, Sturdivant, Bontoft, Darwin, and others.
We have just mentioned the name of Soulby. I find from the returns made by Government, that Charles Soulby, and his brother Edward, both payed the tax for male servants, the former for 2, the latter for 1, in the year 1780.
Among the Gentry of Lincolnshire, a list of whom was made by the Royal Heralds in the year 1634, is Thomas Tokyng, of Edlington, with Ambrose Sheppard, of Hemingby, Robert and John Sherard, of Gautby, Thomas Morgan, Esq., of Scrivelsby, &c., &c. John Rolt, of Edlington, declined the honour, there being some slight “duty” chargeable on the distinction.
Ralph Palframan, clerk, was presented to the Benefice of Edlington, by his brother Anthony, merchant of the staple, at Lincoln, by an assignment of the advowson made for this turn by the late Abbot of Bardney. William Palfreyman was Mayor of Lincoln in 1536, probably the father. He was instituted A.D. 1569, on the demise of Leonard Nurse. “Architect, Soc. Journ.,” vol. xxiv., p. 15.
The Church of Edlington is dedicated to St. Helen, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, who was, by birth, a Yorkshire woman. The edifice was re-built, with the exception of the lowest part of the tower, in 1859–60, at a cost of £1146. It consists of a nave, south aisle, chancel, and substantial tower of 3 tiers, with 3 bells. The font is square at the base, octagonal above. The tower arch at the west end is the original Norman, and the only part remaining of the original building. The upper part of the tower is in the Early English style. The windows in the tower are copies of the former Early English ones, the south arcade is perpendicular, with windows in the same style, and consisting of 3 bays, with octagonal columns. The Chancel Arch is of good Early English style. There is a good coloured two-light window, near the pulpit, in memory of Margaret, the wife of J. Hassard Short, Esq., who died Feb. 2nd, 1881. The subject of this window is the three Maries, and the Angel, at the Sepulchre; combined with his wife, he also by the same window, commemorated his daughter, Agnes Margarette, who died 17th Dec., 1867. Another coloured window was placed in the Church in December, 1900, in memory of the late Squire, the subject being the Saviour appearing to Mary Magdalene, at the Sepulchre. Both figures are of life-size, the countenances being full of expression. It was designed by Messrs. Heaton and Butler, and placed in position by Mr. C. Hensman, of Horncastle; and forms a fitting companion to the window in memory of his wife. It bears the inscription, “To the glory of God, in loving memory of John Hassard Short, Esq., who died Dec. 4, 1893, this window is erected by his daughter Marian.” The Shorts have held this estate for four generations. The flooring is laid with Minton tiles, the church is fitted with open benches, and pulpit of oak, with reading desk and lectern of the same. These were the gift of the Lay Impropriators of the Benefice, the Trustees of Oakham and Uppingham Schools. The organ is by Stephenson, of Lincoln. The inscription on the 3 bells (according to North, in his “Lincolnshire Bells”), 2 Royal Heads on each, Edwd. I., and Queen Eleanor; Edwd. III. and Queen Philippa; Henry VI. and Margaret of Anjou. Further details are given, as that Edlington had, in 1553, “three big bells and a Priest’s bell.” Inscriptions now, on 1st bell “1824,” 2nd bell “I.H.S. Sancte Peter,” with diameter of 34 inches; 3rd bell “I.H.S., Sancte Paule”; Priest’s bell, “T.L. TFCW., 1670,” with diameter 11½ inches.
There have been at least 5 Vicars within the last 50 years. The present Vicar, is the Rev. E. H. Bree, formerly Curate of Belchford, who has a good and commodious residence and premises, recently enlarged, and good garden, pleasantly situated close to the Park.
We have said that the former old Residence of the Shorts was pulled down several years ago; no building has been erected on the same scale or site since, but a farm house was adopted as a shooting box, for members of the family; and for the last three or four years this has been occupied by J. R. Hatfeild, Esq., who rents the shooting. The Benefice is in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, as representing the former Patron, the King.
Small as is the parish of Edlington, it has seen some stirring scenes. On the day before the Battle of Winceby, near Horncastle, where the Royalists were defeated by Cromwell, viz., on the Evening of Tuesday, Oct. 10, 1643, a troop of Parliamentary Horse, commanded by Capt. Samuel Moody, were surprised at Edlington, by the King’s forces, under the command of Sir John Henderson and Lord Widdrington, of Blankney, and there befell a rather sharp skirmish, in which the Parliamentary troops had to fall back. Such was one violation of the quietude of the little village. In older times, lying as it did, between the two Roman forts of Banovallum (or Cornucastrum) and the ancient Lindum (or Lincoln), it would often, in the time of the Roman occupation of the country, be disturbed by the heavy tread of Roman Legions, and the accompanying music of Roman Clarions.
History also tells us that “in the year of our Lord, 1406, Sept. 12, King Henry IV. made a Royal procession from the town of Horncastle, with a great and honourable company, to the Abbey of Bardney, where the Abbot and Monastery came out, in ecclesiastical state, to meet him,” [Leland’s “Collectanea”]. As by-roads did not exist, as they do now, we can hardly doubt, that his line of route would be by the King’s highway, through Edlington.
Surely, even in these days of easy locomotion, it can have fallen to the lot of few villages, large or small, to have given to the gaze of their rustic wondering inhabitants, such varied, and unusual scenes as these.