The church is a small building possessing no claim to attention. The vicarage is in the gift of the Duchy of Lancaster. The rectorial tythes belong to the grammar school at Oakham, in the county of Rutland.
On under-draining a field in this parish, in the latter part of the year 1819, several heaps of ox bones were dug up, and with each heap an urn of baked clay, apparently of Roman manufacture; but unfortunately none of the urns were taken up whole. To account for these relics being found here, it is probable that on this spot a Roman sacrifice had been celebrated, in honor of some deity, on the occasion of a victory, or in the exercise of other pagan rites.
Annexed to this parish is the hamlet or manor of Poolham, anciently called Polum. It formed part of the barony of Gilbert de Gaunt until about the thirty-fifth year of Edward the first, when Robert de Barkeworthe died seized of it; [56a] and it appears to have been the residence of Walterus de Barkeworthe, who died in 1347, and was buried in the cloister of Lincoln cathedral. Afterwards it was the residence of the family of Thimbleby, a branch of the Thimblebys of Irnham, [56b] who probably built the mansion house within the ancient moat, about the time of Henry the eighth. The Savilles of Howley in the County of York, enjoyed the estate in the reign of Elizabeth, and in 1600, Sir John Saville, Knight, sold it to George Bolles, Esquire, citizen of London, whose descendant Sir John Bolles, Baronet, conveyed the same to Sir Edmund Turnor, of Stoke Rochford, Knight, and it is now the inheritance of Edmund Turnor, Esquire. [56c]
Within the moat, beside the mansion house, are the remains of a chapel, built of stone, a font, and a grave-stone with the date 1527.
In 1821, the parish of Edlington contained 37 houses, and 263 inhabitants.
TUPHOLME.
The village of Tupholme stands nearly a mile from the north bank of the river Witham, at the distance of seven miles west by north from Horncastle; and is contained in the hundred of Wraggoe. [57a]
In the time of Henry the second, an Abbey of premonstratensian canons, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was founded here, by Allan de Nevill and Gilbert his brother, and endowed by them with their possessions in this place, together with estates in other parts of the county. This abbey also had numerous benefactions in lands and churches, from other persons; and the king gave a canal, so large, that ships might pass between the Witham and Tupholme. These gifts were confirmed to the abbot and canons, by charter, from Henry the third, in the twentieth year of his reign. [57b] At the dissolution of monasteries, this abbey contained nine religious: and in the thirtieth year of Henry the eighth, the scite was granted to Sir Thomas Henneage.
Of the abbey, a wall only is now remaining, the upper part of which appears to have formed a side of the refectory or dining hall. It contains lancet windows, and a small gallery, in which the person sat who read to the brethren during their meals: a practice which was common in all monasteries, and anciently in colleges. The story beneath the refectory appears to have been vaulted, and was probably used as a cellar. Adjoining to the ruins is a farm house, which has been built out of part of the materials. The gate house, now gone, was standing when Dr. Stukeley visited this place in 1716. A view of it is engraved in the Itinerarium Curiosum.