From the testimony of Mr. Gervase Holles, who is the only person that has left us a description of this castle, it appears to have been a very spacious square edifice, characterized in its construction by strength and uniformity, and containing beside numerous apartments, all the conveniences of warfare. [71] By Queen Elizabeth it was improved by elegant and extensive erections, and though afterwards neglected, yet it remained a place of importance down to the time of the civil wars in the reign of Charles the first, when for some time it withstood a siege by the parliamentary forces.
After the defeat of the royal army at Winceby, this castle was compelled to yield to the army of the parliament, who, after dismantling it, left it silently to decay. For a many years part of a circular building, said to be the gate-house, continued standing; but in May 1815, this last remaining fragment of the once formidable structure fell to the ground.
To the east of the enclosure may be seen the entrenchments, behind which the assailants, in 1643, protected themselves in their attack on this castle.
THE CHURCH.
The church being occupied by the parliamentary forces when they stormed the castle, was almost entirely demolished by the cannon of that fortress.
The part now remaining, is situated a short distance north of the scite of the castle, and consists of a tower, and a part appropriated for public worship, which was once the southern aisle of the original edifice. It is built of sand stone, and if the delicate tracery of its windows be excepted, it contains but little architectural beauty. These windows were once ornamented with richly stained glass of which not a fragment is now remaining. [73]
There is yet preserved in this church the mutilated remains of an embroidered cloth for the communion table, said to have been wrought by one of the Duchesses of Lancaster.
Two chantries, which formerly were attached to this church, were suppressed at the dissolution of religious houses, in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Henry the eighth.
The rectory is in the presentation of Lady Eyre of Mortlake, in Surrey.