Records, Historical and Antiquarian, of Parishes Round Horncastle

by J. Conway Walter

Kirkby-on-Bain.

Kirkby-on-Bain is a village larger than most of those in the immediate neighbourhood, situated on the river Bain, between 4 and 5 miles from Horncastle, in a southerly direction, about 4 miles north-east of Tattershall, and rather less south-east of Woodhall Spa, where are the nearest railway station, money order, and telegraph office, there being a post office in the village.

It was a saying of one of our chief archæologists, that “anciently every local name had its meaning”; and we may extract more than conjectural history from the name, Kirkby-on-Bain. The first syllable carries us back into a distant past, earlier than the date of most of our written records. As a rule, when the word “Kirk” forms part of a place-name, it implies, not only the former existence of a church in the locality (the name in Domesday is “Chirchebi,”) but also of a still earlier, and probably Druid, temple. The syllable “Kir,” or “Ker,” [98a] with its plural Kerrog, Kerig, or Curig (hence “Church”) means a sacred circle, which was the form of the ancient British, or Druid, place of worship, such as are still to be seen, on a large scale, in the megalithic remains of Stonehenge near Salisbury, and at Avebury near Marlborough, in Wiltshire; and, on a smaller scale, in many a lonely spot among the hills in Wales and Scotland, and on the continent, as far Palestine. These remarks apply to many places in our own neighbourhood, as Kirkstead, Kirkby Green, beyond the once sacred stream of the Druids, the Witham, or Rhe, East Kirkby beyond Revesby, &c. We have 5 Kirkbys, and 2 Kirtons (Kirk-ton), in the county. Thus we get a British origin for this parish; while the name of the river, on which it is situate, is also British; the word “Ban,” meaning “bright,” or “clear,” is found not only in the river Bain, but in several other streams. [98b]

The second syllable of the name Kirkby yields further information. While the two contiguous parishes of Kirk-stead and Kirk-by have the first syllable in common, in their suffix, they differ, since “stead,” connected with our word “steady,” is Saxon, meaning a settled domicile; and “by,” is an old Danish word, (still surviving in Scotland as “byre”) meaning the same. [99a]

The Britons, therefore, have left their mark in the first half of both these names, but from the second halves we gather that the Saxons made their permanent residence in Kirkstead, whereas in Kirkby, although they doubtless there also succeeded the Britons, they were, in turn, supplanted by the Danes, who made this place their “byre,” or “by,” with three “by-roads,” or village roads, branching from it.

In this connection we may also note, that “Toft,” which is a farm name in the parish, is also a Danish word, and this is another of their “footprints on the sands of time”; while further we may observe, that those roving invaders were called “Vikings,” because they first frequented our “viks,” “wicks,” or creeks; and there are geological indications, in the beds of sand and gravel, in this parish, that the river Bain was, at one time, much wider and deeper than it is in the present day [99b]; and so, we may well suppose, that, up this “ancient river,” the river Bain, those Danish marauders steered their way, from its mouth at “Dog-dyke,” originally Dock-dyke, because there was a Dock, or Haven, for shipping there (as the present Langrick was a long-creek of the sea, a few miles beyond; the sea then coming up from Waynfleet); and made their settlement here, from which they ousted the Saxons, whose presence is implied in the name of the hamlet Tumby, originally Tunne-by, which is, in part, a Saxon appellation.

Thus, by the analysis of a name we are brought down from those far-off, dark ages to within the range of historic times. Kirkby is stated to be in “the soke of Horncastle,” in a document of date 1327–8 (“Lincolnshire N & Q.” vol. v., No. 44., p. 248), but the local historian, Mr. Weir (“Hist. Horncastle,” p. 310, Ed. 1828) says, that it had a jurisdiction of its own, including Kirkstead, and even more distant parishes, as Wispington, and Waddingworth. [100a]

The Domesday survey of this county, made in 1089, by order of William the Conqueror, and so named by the Saxons, because it recorded the doom of many a Saxon Thane, ejected from his possessions by Norman warriors, contains several notices of this parish; and although at first sight they appear somewhat conflicting, yet a careful study of them enables us to put together something like a connected account of some of its former proprietors.

First we may mention the Saxon owners, who were dispossessed of their lands by the Normans.

One of these was Ulmar, who had 150 acres, charged with the land tax, called “gelt,” which was about 2s. to the carucate (or 120 acres); besides which he had 1½ carucates (180 acres), sub-let to smaller bond tenants, making in all 330 acres. He had also in the adjoining parish of Tattershall Thorpe, 240 acres, “in demesne,” i.e., in his own occupation, as Lord of the Manor, besides 360 acres sub-let to dependents. Ulmar was therefore what we should call, “well to do,” a Saxon yeoman of substance.

There were also two other Saxon owners in the parish, who would seem, to some extent, to have been partners. Godwin and Gonewate had between them 60 acres in Kirkby, charged with the aforesaid payment of “gelt,” and 75 acres exempt from it. They had also 360 acres in Tattershall Thorpe; and separately, or together, they had lands in several other parishes. Especially in Tumby, they owned 300 acres rateable to “gelt,” and 360 acres more sub-let to dependents.

Another part of this parish would seem to have been a separate demesne, Fulsby, probably a contraction of Fugels-by, or the homestead of Fugel. [100b] Here, at a later period, there was a large residence, named “Fulsby Hall” of which possibly there may be still some traces in ponds and mounds, in a field in the middle of what is still called “Fulsby Wood.”

Toft Grange also would seem to have been another distinct property; and was at a later date (as will be shown hereafter), owned or occupied by a Dymoke. The term “Grange” would imply that it was an appendage of some Religious House; and an old charter of Richard I., now in the Library of Revesby Abbey, shows that that Sovereign granted to the Monks of St. Lawrence at Revesby, the Grange of Toft, [101a] with its appurtenances, a mill at Fulsby, with lands in Tumby, Coningsby, &c.

The greater part of Tumby was, as it is still, woodland, and formed “Tumby Forest,” or “Tumby Chase,” of which old maps still show the trees. [101b]

In a Close Roll, 5 Ed. IV. (1466), there is a reference to the great wood, called “Tumbi Wode,” or “Tumbi Chase” (“Ibiden,” p. 131).

We have, thus far, three Saxon proprietors in this parish, who were, in their day, men of substance; but the incoming of the Norman was the Saxon’s doom; and while Domesday Book says, with pregnant brevity, that Ulmar, Godwin, and Gonewate “had,” i.e. formerly owned, such and such lands, it names the Normans alone as present proprietors.

In the case of Kirkby the accounts also of these Norman Lords might seem, at first sight, somewhat conflicting. For instance, Domesday Book gives Odo, Bishop of Baieux as owner of this parish, or a large portion of it; but we turn over only a few pages, and find it referred to as among the possessions of William de Karilepho, Bishop of Durham. But “hereby hangs a tale.” Odo of Baieux was half brother of William the Conqueror; being the son of Arlette, the concubine of his father, Robert, Duke of Normandy, by a Norman Noble, Herluin de Contaville. Odo’s brother was created Earl of Moretaine, his sister was the Countess d’ Aumale (which in later times became Albemarle), and he was given by the Duke, in 1049, the high position of Bishop of Baieux, in the now department of Calvados, in Lower Normandy. [102a] On coming to England in the train of the Conqueror, he was created Earl of Kent, Count Palatine, and “Justiciarius Angliœ,” and no less than 439 manors were bestowed upon him, 76 of these being in Lincolnshire. He was thus among the most powerful of the Normans in this country; he was styled “Vice-Lord of the whole of England,” and was said to be “second only to the King.” But his greatness was his ruin. Elated by his vast wealth, he aspired to the Papacy, and collecting a great amount of treasure, he was about to set sail for Rome, when William seized him and his treasure, and sent him to prison in Normandy, confiscating his estate. [102b] Thus Odo’s tenure of his lands in Kirkby and elsewhere, was only brief; and there were other grasping Norman followers of the Conqueror ready to step into his shoes. One of these was the aforenamed William de Karilepho, Bishop of Durham; who had been Abbot of St. Karilepho in Normandy, but, coming over to England, was consecrated to that Palatine See in 1082. Thus Kirkby again became the property of a scarcely less powerful prelate than Odo; for the Bishops of Durham have ranked high in the episcopate down to quite recent times; but in early days they were not only bishops, but princely nobles, whose influence almost rivalled that of the Sovereign; and this prelate again was Chief Justice of England. An indirect evidence of the Bishop of Durham’s influence in Kirkby is seen in the following circumstance. Both Ecton’s “Thesaurus,” and “Liber Regis,” state that the benefice of Kirkby formerly paid a “pension of 40s. to the Priory of St. Leonard at Stamford.” This would appear to have come about in the following manner. Oswy, the Saxon King of Northumbria, in the middle of the 7th century of the Christian era, having conquered the pagan King of Mercia, of which Lincolnshire formed a part, as a thank-offering to God, gave to Wilfred, the friend and instructor of his son Alchfrid, certain lands in Stamford, for the maintenance of 100 Monks. Accordingly Wilfred, who afterwards became Bishop of York, founded the Priory of St. Leonard at Stamford; and, having received his own education at the Monastery of Lindisfarne, in Holy Island, he gave the Priory to that Religious House. At the time of the Conquest, the Monks of Lindisfarne, were attached to the See of Durham, and thus their dependency at Stamford came under the cognizance of William de Karilepho; and as Lord of the Manor of Kirkby, he charged this benefice with this contribution to the Priory. Had the Monks of Lindisfarne not been plundered by the Danes, and so driven to Durham, Kirkby would not have had this payment to make; “40s” was, in those days a considerable sum, the whole tithes of the benefice being only £1 7s. 4¼d. The buildings of the Priory at Stamford, were plundered by the Danish rovers, but were rebuilt by William de Karilepho, partly doubtless with money from Kirkby, about the year 1082. On the dissolution of the Monasteries, in the reign of Henry VIII. that King, who was generally in need of cash, appropriated the temporalities of the benefice of Kirkby, and so became patron of the living, which is still in the gift of the Sovereign.

We now get another name of rank among the Normans connected with Kirkby. Domesday Book says, “Ilbert has here 1 caracate (120 acres), with 10 villeins (the lowest class of bondmen), and 4 bordars (the higher class of bondmen), who hold under him another carucate; also the site of a mill (a valuable possession in those times), 12 acres of meadow (probably rich grass land watered by the Bain), and 160 acres of woodland interspersed with pasture,” where the serfs would tend the lord’s herds of swine, which fattened on the acorns in their season, and where he would harbour his deer, and other animals of the chase.

In those times even a powerful noble did not disdain to be the vassal of such a princely prelate as the great Bishop of Durham, at the head of one of the three palatine counties in England; and such was this Ilbert, or, as he was otherwise called, Hildebert de Lacy.

Coming to England with the Conqueror, he was granted by William the manor of Pontefract, and 150 other lordships in Yorkshire, 10 in Nottinghamshire, and 4 in Lincolnshire. In several other parishes, [104a] Kirkby being among them, he also held lands, not absolutely “in demesne,” as his own, but under the absentee Bishop of Durham as lord paramount, to whom he paid a small yearly rent, which was exacted from his Saxon dependents. This Ilbert, or Hildebert, built the castle of Pontefract, [104b] and was one of the most powerful nobles in Yorkshire. Another of his family, also Ilbert, was a witness to the Charter of King Stephen, which secured the ecclesiastical liberties of England; and another, John de Lacy, became Earl of Lincoln, by marrying Margaret, daughter of Hawise de Quincy, sister of Ranulph, Earl of Lincoln and Chester (A.D. 1232). Their son, Henry de Lacy, held the same honours in the reigns of Henry III. and Ed. I. [104c] A John de Lacy was among the signatories of the Magna Charta, and we may add that it is not a little remarkable that, in this 20th century, the name of Ilbert is yet to the fore, Sir Courtenay Peregrine Ilbert, K.C.S.I., C.I.E., &c., being now Clerk of the House of Commons, and a distinguished lawyer and scholar.

By a curious coincidence, Pontefract was in Saxon times known by the name of Kirkby, and this name continued even in later times; a charter of Ilbert’s son, Robert, conveying lands to the Priory of St. John at Pontefract, mentions them as being “de dominio de Kirkby,” while another charter gives them as “de Pontefract” (Camden’s “Britannia,” p. 729.) Thus Ilbert, Lord of Kirkby-on-Bain, held two lordships in different counties, of the same name.

We have yet another landowner named as connected with this parish, of scarcely less note than Ilbert de Lacy.

As we have observed in our “Records” of other parishes, Eudo, son of Spirewic, and Pinso, were two Norman sworn brothers in arms, who came over with the Conqueror, and did him such good service that William granted them “the manor of Tattershall with the hamlet of Thorpe and the towne of Kirkeby,” beside some 24 other lordships; Eudo to have tenure directly from the King, and Pinso under St. Cuthbert of Durham. They subsequently divided these possessions between them, Pinso taking those further away, while Eudo seated himself at Tattershall. On his death there, he was succeeded by his son, Hugh Fitz Eudo, commonly called “Brito,” or “The Breton,” who founded the neighbouring abbey of Kirkstead, A.D. 1139. He had in Kirkby 1 carucate (120 acres) of land “in demesne,” with 8 acres of meadow and 80 acres of woodland interspersed with pasture, very much as “Kirkby Moor” is still. He had also in Tumby another carucate, in his own occupation, with villeins and bordars, and two soc-men, i.e., free tenants, on 75 acres; also 20 acres of meadow, one fishery and a half, two mills, and 370 acres of woodland, forming the “Tumby chase.” He had also lands in Waddingworth and Wispington, which were within the jurisdiction of Kirkby; in the latter two parishes he halved the land with the Bishop of Durham, who also (as we have seen) had a slice of Kirkby.

With these several important personages connected with this parish, it naturally also acquired a more important position than the villages around, justifying the term “town of Kirkby,” given to it in old records (Dugdale’s “Baronage” vol. i., p. 439).

Of subsequent owners of Kirkby, and its appurtenances, Tumby, Fulsby, and Toft, we are not able to give a connected series, but there is evidence enough to enable us to form fairly safe conjectures, concerning several of them.

The ownership of the de Lacys continued, with one brief interruption, for some generations. Hildebert was succeeded by his son Robert Henry, but he, as Camden relates (“Britannia,” p. 712), taking part in the battle of Tinchebray, Sep. 28, 1106, against Henry I., in favour of Robert, Duke of Normandy, on the victory of Henry, was deprived of his possessions, which were given to another Norman, Henry Travers (Dugdale’s “Baronage” vol. i. p. 99), and afterwards to Wido de Laval, who held them till the reign of Stephen; when that King restored to the said Henry his possessions once more. His two sons Henry and Ilbert dying without issue, the estates in 1193 passed to their half sister, on the mother’s side, Albreda de Lisours. She married Richard Fitzeustache, Constable of Chester; which family subsequently took the name of de Lacy, and (as has been already stated) became Earls of Lincoln. The estates continued in this line till 1310; when Henry de Lacy, having no male issue, left his property to his daughter Alice, who married Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. He joined a conspiracy against Edward II., and being defeated in the battle of Boroughbridge, in the West Riding of Yorkshire (March 16, 1322), was beheaded on a hill near his Castle of Pontefract [106]; being, it is said, led out to the spot, by way of disgrace, “on a lean horse,” by an official, named Gasgoyne; which name also, somewhat curiously (as will be seen hereafter), is connected with Kirkby. A change in ownership now appears; in the family of Bec, or Beke. In the 13th century one of them Walter Bec was Constable of Lincoln Castle, under Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, A.D., 1275 (“Hundred Rolls,” vol. i. p. 312). But 80 years before this, a Final Concord, of 27 Nov. 1197, gives the following agreement, “on the 2nd day after the feast of St. Katharine” between Walter, son of Walter Bec, plaintiff, and Richard, Abbot of Kirkstead, as to a wood called Langhace, and other land “in the field of Kirkebi which is upon Bayne,” within the Court of the said Abbot, whereby Walter “quitclaims all his rights to the Abbot and Convent” for which they give him 4 marks (£21 13s. 4d).

By another Concord, on the octave of St. Michael (Oct. 6, 1226), between William Bec, plaintiff, and Henry, Abbot of Kirkstead, tenant of certain lands, in Kirkby, the Abbot acknowledges the lands to be “of the right of the said William, which his father also had, to have and to hold (them) to him and his heirs for ever, of the Abbot, and his successors, rendering to them 6d. by the year, for all service”; and for this William quitclaims all his rights to the Abbot, and his successors.

Another Concord (p. 220), shows that in 1227, Walter Bec had lands in Kirkeby, Tattershale, and Thorpe, which he granted to Robert de Tateshale; for which the latter was to “render £20 13s. 4d. yearly, at Kirkby upon Bayne, and to do the service of one knight” (“Architect S. Journal” xxiv. p. 34).

By another deed, in the same year, 1227, “three weeks from Easter day” (May 1st), between Walter Bec, plaintiff, and Robert de Tateshale, touching right of warren on the lands of the said Walter, in Kirkby, Tateshale, and Thorpe, concerning which Walter complained, that Robert unjustly, and without warrant, caused warren in the said lands, which rightly are of the fee of the Bishop of Durham, an agreement is made that Robert shall give an exchange of lands: whereupon Walter grants to Robert “all his lands in Kirkeby, Tateshale, and Thorpe, in demesnes, homages, rents, an services of free men, within the said manor, rendering £21 13s. 4d., by the year, at Kirkeby on Bayne, and the service of one knight’s fee”; and for this Robert gives him 10 marks (£6 13s. 4d.) The head quarters of the Becs were at Lusby; Henry Bec, of Lusby, being father of the Walter Bec, already named as Constable of Lincoln Castle. They were strong in church influence; Thomas Bec, son of the said Walter Bec, being Bishop of Lincoln, 1342–1346; while another Thomas Bec, a cousin, had been Bishop of St. David’s, 1280–1293; and another cousin, Anthony Bec, was Bishop of Durham, and so connected with Kirkby, as Lord Superior, 1283–1310.

In a Harleyan charter (45 H. 12) in the British Museum we find the following, “To all sons of Holy Church, Walter Bec, son of Henry Bec, greeting. Know that I have granted and quitclaimed to the monks of Kirkstead, the manure of their 300 sheep of their fold of Kirkby. Also I quitclaimed to the same the toll of my corn, which now they are accustomed to grind, according to the tenor of their charter &c.” Witnesses, Richard, Dean of Horncastr, Henry de Langton, Nicholas Bec, Henry Bec, and others.

Another name now appears among owners of Kirkby. The Willoughbys and the Becs inter-married, and by a Feet of Fines (Lincoln file 68, 32; 30 Ed. I.) Robert de Wilgeby grants to John Bec, for life only, certain lands in “Kirkeby next Bayne,” and 37 other parishes, with mills, advowson of benefices, 9 fees of knights, &c.; after his decease the said properties to revert to the said Robert and his heirs, quit of the heirs of the said John.

By an inquisition ad quod damnum (17 Ed. II., 1323), it was shewn that this manor was charged with a payment of £21 13s. 4d. to John son and heir of this Robert de Wilgeby (Willoughby).

Some of the Lords of Kirkby and Tumby seem to have treated the Abbots of Kirkstead with considerable liberality; for which, doubtless, they would receive an equivalent in prayers, if not “indulgences,” granted in their favour. In a cartulary of the Abbey (Vespasian, E., xviii.), now in the British Museum, is a charter running as follows:—“I, Robert, son of Simon de Tumby, have granted to the Church of St. Mary of Kirkstead half the fishery of Troholm, and 5 acres of land in the field of Tumby, and common pasture through all the fields and territory within the bounds of Tumby.” This was early in the 12th century. The witnesses to this deed, it is to be noticed, are his nephew Richard, and Gilbert, “clerk,” i.e., parson, “of Driebe”; hence we should infer that the “de Tumby” and “de Driby” families were one and the same; and this is proved to have been the case by a Final Concord of 12 John (A.D. 1211), which mentions the above grant of “5 acres in Tumby” to Simon de Driby and his heirs. [108] The grant to the Abbots of Kirkstead was confirmed, some years later, by Robert, son of Hugh de Tateshale, who “put his hand to the altar” in testimony of the same (charter of same cartulary, quoted “Architect. Journ.,” xxiii., p. 107).

By a Chancery Inquisition p.m., 8 Ed. III. (1335), and by a similar document, 41 Ed. III., it is shown that John de Kirketon (Kirton) held for life the manor of Tumby, with that of Tateshale. The Kirktons of Kirton, near Boston, were probably kinsmen of the Dribys, as this transfer was made by John de Driby, and the Driby armorial bearings were formerly in the windows of Kirton Church, along with those of the Earls of Lincoln (connected, as we have seen, with Kirkby) and others (“Lincolnshire Churches,” by Stephen Lewin). This local connection may, in aftertimes, have led to the marriage alliance of the D’Eyncourts, who held the manor of Kirton, with the next family whom we shall mention, the Cromwells. [109a] The above Robert, son of Simon de Driby (or de Tumby), had to wife Joan, co-heiress of the Barons of Tattershall; and somehow that connection seems to have brought the Cromwells into possession of the manor of Kirkby. In an Inquisition p.m., 22 Rich. II. (1399), Ralph de Cromwell is described as owning the manor of Kirkby, with that of Tattershall, through his wife Matilda, or Maud de Bernak, sister and sole heir of William de Bernak, Lord of Tattershall. He had lands in 14 parishes in this county, 1 in Derbyshire, and 6 in Notts. [109b] His grandson, Ralph, married Margaret, sister and co-heir of the 5th and last Baron D’Eyncourt. His granddaughter, Maud, married Sir Richard Stanhope, of Rampton, knight. Their daughter, Maud, married Sir Gervase Clifton, of Clifton, knight, “The gentle Sir Gervase,” who was killed at the battle of Tewkesbury, May 4, 1471; and afterwards married Sir Thomas Neville, and then the 6th Baron Willoughby d’ Eresby. Thus we have a number of important alliances of this family of Kirkby proprietors (“Architect. S. Journal,” 1858, p. 228).

At the time when Gervase Holles, in 1630, made his peregrinations round this county, he says that there were in the windows of the rectory house, of Kirkby, the armorial bearings, in coloured glass, of some 20 leading county families, including—Becs, Willoughbys, Percys, Tyrwhitts, Tailbois, Dymokes, &c. These had probably been originally in the windows of the church, and, on the decay of the edifice, had been transferred to the house. Representations of these are given in the Harleyan MS. (6829), now in the British Museum, together with a description of monuments formerly in the church, but now lost. These arms enable us to form an idea of the great families who were connected with this parish. The association with the place of the Tailbois is not quite clear; but Gilbert Tailbois was summoned to Parliament, as Baron Tailbois, in the reign of Henry VIII., when he showed that he was descended from Sir Edward Dymoke, who married Anne Tailbois. This Gilbert was also descended from Henry Tailbois, who married Eleanor Burdon, daughter of Gilbert Burdon, by Elizabeth de Umfraville, sister and heiress of the Earl of Angus (“Dugdale’s Baronage,” vol. i.); who again was related to the de Kymes, kinsmen of the Dymokes; the Kymes also being connected with the old and distinguished county family of the Ayscoughs.

The connection of the Dymokes with Kirkby is seen in the following bequest of “Arthur Dymmocke of Toft Grange, in the p’she of Kyrkebye,” of date May 27, A.D., 1558. “I geve and bequeathe to the Church of the said Kyrkebye one satteyn gown, to make a coope or a vestment. I will that there shall be distributed among the poore people at my buriall xiii^li. xii^s. viii. I give to the poore people of the towneshipp of Kirkebye vi^li., to the poore of Tunbye xl^s.” There are also bequests to “Marum, Willesby, Screuelby, Roughton, Connyngesbye, Tattershall, Haltam,” &c. He adds, “I will that myne executour shall geve to the marriages of poore maydens, at their discretions, xxvj^li. I geve to the repayring of fowle and noysome hie wayes xxvj^li. I geve to my brother Sir Edwarde Dymmocke, Knight, tenne pound, and my best gelding, with the best jewell he will chuse among all my jewells. I geve to my sister his wif one gold ring w^t a turkey (turquoise). I geve to Sir [111] Thomas Olive, p’sonne of Kirkebye one gold ring enamelled.” These, and many more bequests to poor people in the county of Middlesex, &c., &c., show that Arthur Dymoke of Toft Grange, was a man of substance, as well as of generous mind. (“Linc. N. & Q.” July 1897, vol. v., No. 39).

We now get another family resident in this parish, of some importance. We have mentioned Fulsby Hall, of which nothing certain now remains. This demesne would seem to have belonged to the Nelthorpes of Scawby, N. Lincolnshire, but it was occupied by a family named Cressy. The Cressy pedigree is given in a MS. book of “Lincolnshire Gentry,” written by Thomas Beckwith, F.S.A., 1768, and preserved in the Library of Revesby Abbey (“Linc. N. & Q.” vol. ii., p. 166). As far back as A.D., 1216, we find a William de Cressy named, along with Ralph de Haya (an old Norman family), as being “sureties for the faithful service” of Simon de Driby, already named. (Hardy’s “Rolls de oblatis et finibus,” p. 575.) Whether he was of the same family we cannot say, but it is some hundreds of years before the name occurs again.

Also a charter of Hamelin, Count de Warren, and his Countess Isabella, about A.D., 1074, mentions a Roger de Cressy, with whom they unite in granting a wood, and other properties, “to God and the Church of St. Victor, and the Monks thereof,” in Normandy. The same charter also names 3 houses given by Ranulph de Cressy, “for the soul of his brother Hugh,” (“Archæological Journal,” No. 9, 1846.) Thomas Cressy, of Fulsby, is named among the Gentry of Lincolnshire in the “Herald’s Visitation” of 1634, preserved in the Library of the Herald’s College. Canon Maddison in a note to his “Lincolnshire Wills” (p. 141) says that Nicholas Cressy married Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Ayscough, Knight of Blyborough, and left Blyborough for Kirkby-on-Bain, i.e., for Toft Grange. The daughter, Faith, of this Nicholas Cressy, married George Tyrwhitt, a cadet of the Kettleby family of Tyrwhitts; and we have already seen that the Tyrwhitt arms were among those formerly in the Rectory windows. Her sister Jane married Sir Edward Dymoke, Knight, of Scrivelsby. Her eldest brother was named Brandon, from the connection of the Ayscoughs, with Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. This Faith had a daughter named “Douglas”; the Tyrwhitts being related to the Sheffields, and John, 2nd Lord Sheffield married Douglas, daughter of William, 1st Lord Howard of Effingham. His son, again, Edmund, created Earl of Mulgrave, married about 1590, Ursula, daughter of Sir Robert Tyrwhitt of Kettleby. Faith Tyrwhitt, by will, dated 18 Feb^y, 1669, leaves bequests to Lady Jane Dymoke, to her brother Major Thomas Cressy, to Edward and Charles Dymoke, to Elizabeth Dymoke, her goddaughter; and “to my good child Douglas everything else.” This “Douglas” was baptized at Horncastle, 8 January, 1628–9.

There is some difficulty in connecting the Percy family with Kirkby, beyond the fact that their arms were among those in the rectory windows. But a Chancery Inquisition post mortem of 1381–2 (5 Richard II., No. 47), shows that Mary de Percy, wife of John de Roos, was next heir to Margaret, wife of John de Orby, who was jointly enfeoffed of certain lands in Tattershall, &c.; and that on her decease the Earl of Northumberland (a Percy) held and occupied the same, he having married their daughter Joan, as second wife. The above John de Orby is stated to have been kinsman and heir of Robert de Tateshale, knight. These lands were also held of the Duke of Lancaster, a Gaunt. (“Linc. N. & Q.” vol. vi., No. 47, p. 73). We further find that after the death of Gilbert de Gaunt, his widow the Countess Roheis, in her own right married one “Robertus, Dapifer” who was steward to the house of Percy (“Topographist and Genealogist” i., 303). If this was, as seems likely, a Robert de Tateshale, he would be a landowner in Tumby, and, as steward, also a vassal of the Percys, Earls of Northumberland. As further connecting the Percy family with this neighbourhood, we may mention, that among the Revesby charters, is one of date about 1142, the witnesses to which are Henry de Perci, Gilbert de Bec, and others. The same Henry de Perci is also witness to another of these charters, of date 1155.

The arms of the Willoughbys have been already mentioned as among those formerly in the Rectory. This may be accounted for by the fact that Matilda, or Maud, Lady Willoughby, widow of Lord Cromwell, died in 1497, seized of a greater part of the possessions of her late husband, and, among others, “in fee tail of the manor of Kyrkeby upon Bayne” (“Chancery Inquisition” p.m., 13, Henry vii., No. 34. Quoted “Architect S. Journal” xxiii. p. 132.)

We have now shown links connecting this parish, more or less closely, with most of the families whose armorial bearings formerly existed here. There is only one more name not yet accounted for: that of Gasgoyne. We are unable positively to establish any link in this case. Camden tells us (“Britannia,” pp. 714–731), that the Gasgoynes were an “ancient and virtuous family of Yorkshire, seated at Gawthorpe, probably (he says) from Gasgoyne in France,” to which family belonged the famous Judge, Sir William Gasgoyne, who showed his courage by committing to prison the young Prince, who was to be the future King Henry V.

We have already mentioned that the property of the de Lacys (including, probably, Kirkby) passed to Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, who was afterwards beheaded for rebellion, being led out for execution by an officer named Gasgoyne. It would appear, therefore, that a Gasgoyne held some official post at Pontefract Castle, and that Lordship (as we have seen), was connected with Kirkby, as belonging to the same noble owners, de Lacys, and others; and hence the Gasgoyne arms appear along with those of the de Lacys, and others. The name of Gasgoyne is found in Stow’s copy of the roll of Battle Abbey, as among the distinguished soldiers who came over with the Conqueror, coupled with Gaunt, Gaunville, and many another good name.

At the dissolution of religious houses by Henry VIII., we find among institutions to benefices, that Robert Brantingham, was presented to Kirkby, in 1565, by Robert Brantingham, of Horncastle, by reason of the advowson, for that turn, being granted to him by “the late Prior and Convent of the Cathedral Church of Durham.” And so ended the connection of Kirkby with the See of the proud Bishops of Durham. On the extinction of the Cromwell line these lands, in Tattershall, Tattershall Thorpe, Kirkby, &c., would revert to the King. Henry VIII. granted Tattershall, and doubtless the other possessions, to his mother Margaret, Countess of Richmond; and in the following year entailed them on the Duke. On the latter dying without issue, Henry granted a vast number of estates in this, and other localities, to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. On the death of two infant sons of the Duke, shortly after their father’s decease, Edward VI. granted them to Edward, Lord Clinton, whose arms were also among those formerly in the rectory windows. His descendant Edward Earl of Lincoln, died without issue in 1692, when the properties passed to his cousin Bridget, who married Hugh Fortescue, Esq.; whose son was created Baron Fortescue, and Earl of Lincoln in 1740; and a large portion of Kirkby is still the property of Lord Fortescue, who is Lord of the Manor, other owners being the Clinton, Wilson, Ashton, Lely families, Lockwood trustees, &c.

By a similar process the lands formerly held by the Monks of Revesby, were granted, on the dissolution, by Henry VIII. to his “well beloved and dear kinsman,” the aforesaid Duke of Suffolk, Charles Brandon. Among these are named lands in Tumby, Fulsby, Kirkby-on-Bain, &c., &c. From the Brandons they passed to the great Lord Treasurer Burleigh, and then to the Howards; then to the family of Sir Joseph Banks; and he, dying without issue, left his estates divided among the families of Stanhope, Sir H. Hawley, Bart., and Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bart. The present Sir Henry M. Hawley, of Leybourne, Maidstone, Kent, is lord of the manor of Tumby, including Fulsby, and resides at Tumby Lawn. Some of the land belongs to the representatives of the late Right Honourable E. Stanhope, H. Rogers, Esq., and smaller proprietors. The Fulsby Hall Farm, with the watermill, was given in 1669 to the Grammar School at Brigg, by Sir John Nelthorpe, the then proprietor; but most of this has been purchased in late years by Sir Henry James Hawley; so that there now only remain some 70 acres, and the Fulsby watermill, connected with that school.

Just outside the parish to the south-east is a large wood, now called “Shire Wood”; but in a Revesby charter (No. 29), date Henry II., the name is given as “Skire-wode”; which is Danish, connected with our words “shear” to cut, and “shire” a division, and means the “boundary,” or “dividing” wood. The same syllable occurs in the “Skir-beck” quarter of Boston. In a smaller wood, in the west of the parish, called “Kirkby Riddings” we have another relic of the Danes, as Mr. Streatfeild, in his work “Lincolnshire and the Danes,” tells us, that in their language “ridja” means to “clear away a wood.” We still speak of “ridding ourselves” of anything, when we clear it away. The Kirkby Riddings, doubtless tell of the “clearings” in those larger woods which we have already mentioned as formerly existing here, wherein the Lords of the demesne found their sport in the chase of the deer, the wild boar, and other animals. [115a] Those “hardy Norsemen” were a tough race, and have thus left their traces behind them.

We have mentioned an Ayscough in connection with Kirkby; a daughter of Sir Henry Ayscough having married Nicholas Cressy of Fulsby Hall. This was a very old family, originally located in Yorkshire; the name having probably been Akes-heugh, or Ake-shaw, i.e., Oak-wood; it afterwards came to be spelt in a variety of ways, as Ayscough, Ayscoghe, Aiscough, Askew, &c.

They claimed descent from a Saxon thane, Thurstan “de Bosco,” and “boscus” is Latin for “wood,” or “coppice.” This confirms the above meaning. The heraldic device of the family was “three asses coughing” (Guillim’s “Heraldry,” 1794), and the name, in some of their branches, is still pronounced like Ass-coff and not Ass-coe. They have been distinguished in church, court, and camp, acquiring large property in Lincolnshire, and allying themselves with some of our oldest families, the Tailbois, Brandons, Hilyards, St. Pauls, Kymes, Clintons, Heneages, Foljambes, Saviles, Boucheretts, &c. They gave to this county, what the county may well be proud of, Anne Askew, who died at the stake, a Martyr for the Protestant faith, at Smithfield, 16 July, 1546. [115b] A Walter Ascoughe, and Henry his son, are named among those who succeeded to parts of the former Revesby Abbey estates, when the Duke of Suffolk’s family became extinct. (Dugdale’s “Baronage” ii., 300). And this family is still established in various parts of the kingdom, the name surviving in all ranks of life. Few families are without their humbler connections. For instance, in the case of the parish with which we are now concerned, we find in its former records a “Robert de Tumbi” who was a Bec, or a Bernak, or a Cromwell, lord of many a manor, and also a “William de Tumbi” who was a bondman of John Bec, lord of the manor, whose “body and chattels,” the said John reserves to himself, while giving the land on which the said William labours, to the Abbey of Kirkstead. (Charter of John Bec. Harley, MS. 45, H. 13).

So in modern times, the late lord of the manor of Tumby, Sir Henry James Hawley, Bart., married, as his first wife, Miss Elizabeth Askew, in the south of England, while, in a humbler sphere in life, we find a small farmer, in the person of Mr. Thomas Askew, residing in Kirkby-on-Bain; an illustration in a new sense of Shakespeare’s saying, “a touch of nature makes the world akin” (“Troilus and Cressida” act. iii., sc. iii.)

As these notes have now reached a considerable length, we will briefly notice the Church of St. Mary, at Kirkby; and indeed, it barely deserves more than a brief notice, as it has no claims to architectural beauty.

We may well suppose, that, as at that other Kirkby, now known as Pontefract, a fine church was once a feature of the locality, so it was once the same here; but this is no longer the case. If those armorial bearings which Gervase Holles saw in the rectory 250 years ago, were originally in the church, as would seem probable, they would doubtless embellish a fabric of some size and beauty. We can hardly imagine, that the benefice, under the patronage of rich prelates like the Bishop of Durham, in a parish also connected with important monasteries like those of Kirkstead and Revesby, having also powerful landowners such as the Becs, Willoughbys, Cromwells, and other “Lords of Tattershall” (where so fine a collegiate church was provided by them), would have been left with an unworthy church here. But whatever may have been its former merits, of these there are no longer any traces. On the south side lies the square base of a churchyard cross, shorn of its shaft, probably by the reckless Puritans, who may also have demolished, as they often did, the fine stained-glass windows, of which the armorial bearings, once in the rectory, may likely enough have been remnants. Gervase Holles mentions two monuments which were in the church in his time. Of these one was in the chancel, having a quaint Latin inscription to the following effect:—

Richard Lambard lies by this stone entombed;
Of this Church formerly Rector was he.
Who caused this Chancel to be newly built.
He presented a Missal, and other valuables.
On the 14^th day of January he sought the stars,
In the 1450^th year of our Lord.
To whom God grant eternal rest! Amen.

On a flat slab, beside the above, was the following, also in Latin:—

William Bulliar lies here entombed;
Of this church formerly Rector was he;
He caused a new Crucifix to be erected.
He presented a gradual [117a] and cross, and other valuables.
He died the 11^th day of December, 1510.

There was also apparently a window to his memory.

Of a later Church, in a state of ruin, there was given an engraving in the “Gentleman’s Magazine” of August 11, 1801, with brief account of the church; a copy of which is in the possession of the present rector, the Rev. R. Gathorne, M.A.; framed, in his study. [117b] In that later edifice, the pulpit is said to have been a massive one, of stone. But this, like the monuments given above, has disappeared. Of the present church, built in 1802, the best we can say is that it is in the style called “Debased Gothic.” The late rector, the Rev. C. F. R. Baylay, rural dean, &c., put stone mullions, in place of wood, in the windows, in 1879; when the late bishop, Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, performed the ceremony of re-opening the church on November 6th, as is recorded on a brass tablet on the north wall of the nave. The church was, at the same time, re-seated with open sittings of pitch-pine. The western gallery was also then removed. Over the west door is a good painting of the royal arms, of date 1712, with initials “A.R.” (Anne Regina). There is a slab in the pavement of the nave at its east end, in memory of Rev. T. Roe, formerly rector. The font is plain octagonal. The ceiling is flat, of polished pitch-pine. There are three plain windows in the south wall of the nave, and two in the north wall. The chancel is apsidal, with a three-light window in the centre, and a small single-light window on each side. The chancel arch is unusually low, and broad, out of proportion. The only handsome thing in the church is the communion table, which is of old oak, probably of the Caroline period, massive, and richly carved, having a curious cupboard below the upper slab. It is, however, more fit to be a chiffonier or dining room sideboard, than for its present use. The church has accommodation for 212, which is amply sufficient, as the once “Town” of Kirkby has been decreasing in population for many years. The one bell hangs in an external small turret. The registers date from 1562.

The present rectory is a commodious residence, built in 1827, at a cost of £1,800. It stands in almost park-like grounds, with fine timber. The village school was rebuilt in 1870, with residence for the teacher, and was endowed by Richard Brocklesby with 33 acres of land in the parish of Bicker. The poor have an interest in the almshouses of Sir Joseph Banks at Reyesby; also a yearly dole of 5s., left by Martha Chamberlain.

The poet Dyer, who was appointed rector of Coningsby, by Sir John Heathcote in 1752, became rector of Kirkby in 1755, but presently exchanged it for Belchford. He was the author of “Grongar Hill,” “The Fleece,” and other poems of some merit, and was honoured in a complimentary sonnet by Wordsworth, the Laureate.

Another rector, the Rev. Willoughby West, extended his charity beyond his own parish, since by will dated 30 January, 1690, he founded two almshouses, for deserving poor persons, in the parish of Langton-by-Horncastle, (he being one of the patrons of the benefice), endowed with the rent of land purchased by him “from Geo. Langto of Langto, Esq.” His burial is registered at Kirkby, 29 May, 1691, and that of his wife, Mary Ester, “April ye 8th, 1690.”

At “Leeds Gate,” to the south of this parish, in Coningsby, are two fields, named “Gibbet close,” and “Gibbet nook close,” where probably some offenders formerly expiated their misdeeds, under the stern hand of the lord of the manor. [119] The name “Leeds gate,” given in old maps as “Lidyate,” is probably a corruption of “Our Lady’s gate” (i.e. road); there having been formerly a “Guild of the Virgin Mary,” connected with Coningsby church. There are also two fields called “Over Coney Green,” and “Low Coney Green,” which may have reference to the rabbit warren of Tumby Chase, or to “the King’s Garth,” or inclosure, “Conig,” i.e. King, also forming part of the name Coningsby. These field-names are found in several other parishes. There are fields called “Otter Close,” “Best Moor,” and “Worst Moor,” the not uncommon “Pingle” (or small croft), “North Ings,” and “Tumby Ings,” these meaning well-watered meadows. Another name, not easy to explain, though not uncommon, is “Pry-close.” It occurs also in Woodhall and elsewhere. One interpretation which has been suggested is that it may have marked the place where watch was kept for game, or game-marauders, or like “Toot-hill,” also found in the vicinity, it may have been a look-out for cattle, strayed in the time of Fen floods. But another suggestion is that it is a form of the old Norman “Pre,” a meadow, praie being a kind of coarse grass. Near Northampton, there are “the verdant meads of de la Pre,” and in Normandy there was a monastery of “De la Pre de Rouen,” attached to the abbey of Bec, and the Norman Becs (as we have seen) were connected with Kirkby and Tumby. There is a “Pry-farm,” in Wiltshire. What is now only Fulsby mill, in this parish, was formerly and within living memory also, a public-house, rejoicing in the name of “The Jolly Sailor.” Here, after the murder of Stennet Jeffery, in “the Wilderness” of Whitehall Wood, on June 22, 1822, the murderers, who belonged to Coningsby Moor, stopped for refreshment. They were said to be “bankers,” i.e. navvies, whose chief employment was digging drains, repairing their banks, &c.; while employed on the Horncastle canal near at hand, they had doubtless frequented the house before. They were usually rough and even violent characters, and it is said that Mrs. Copping, the landlady of the Inn, was aware of their guilt, but too much afraid of them to mention it. After their visit, some blood-stained clothing was found concealed in a hedge hard by. Two of these men were convicted of the murder and transported for life. (See “Records of Woodhall Spa,” by J. Conway Walter, pp. 16, 17.)

Geologically, Kirkby has some interest; parts of the parish are on the blue clay, with ammonites and other fossils, while there is also a stratum of fine gravel, termed the “Bain terraces,” in which teeth of the “elephas primi-genius” have been found. (“Government Geolog. Survey,” Lincoln, 1888, pp. 161, &c.)

To the ornithologist and entomologist its interest would seem to be increasing. The abandonment of the Horncastle canal, which runs through this parish, is making it a sort of sanctuary where the coot, the moorhen, the dab-chick, and the mallard resort; the green sand-piper may be seen, skimming the water, or the king-fisher darting into the shallows, and the heron, which nests in the adjacent woods, stands like a silent sentinel on one leg, by its pools, on the watch for its finny prey. On the reedy banks of the fast silting-up canal, it would hardly be surprising if that rarity among butterflies, the swallow-tail, which over-drainage has driven from its former haunts, should once more re-appear. But we have said enough about Kirkby, and more than exceeded the measure of space allowed us.