From a manuscript account of the diocese of Lincoln, taken in the year 1588, it appears that at that period Tattershall contained 236 families, and the hamlet of Tattershall Thorpe 68. By the returns made in the year 1821, it appears that the number of houses in Tattershall was 120, and of inhabitants 627: Tattershall Thorpe, at the same time, contained 39 houses, and 269 inhabitants.
There are two fairs holden annually at this place; one on the fifteenth of May, the other on the twenty-fifth of September. The market is now held on Friday weekly.
In the market place stands an octagonal column or shaft, which was once surmounted by a cross. The cross has however long since been removed and an urn substituted in its place. On three of the shields with which this column is ornamented these arms are sculptured, viz. Cromwell, Cromwell and Tateshall quarterly, and Cromwell and Tateshall impaling Deincourt. The arms on the fourth shield are obliterated.
TOWER ON THE MOOR.
On an extensive moor, about four miles north of Tattershall, and about six miles south west of Horncastle, stands the remain of a brick building, called from its situation the Tower on the Moor. It was built by the Lord Treasurer Cromwell, and is supposed to have been an appendage to the castle at Tattershall, from which place it is plainly visible, by reason of the flatness of the intervening country. [96]
Of this tower only an octangular turret remains, to which fragments of the walls adhere; it is about sixty feet in height, and contains winding stairs of brick, now in a very ruinous condition. Traces of the fosse, by which it was surrounded, are still visible.
GEOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY
OF THE
SOKE AND NEIGHBOURHOOD OF HORNCASTLE.
GEOLOGY.
Although the Soke of Horncastle does not possess much variety in its geological structure, yet a considerable diversity is to be found in the formation of the adjacent elevated country, called the wolds. On the annexed map the denudations of the various strata in this district are traced out, and distinguished by different colours: the order of stratification is also exemplified by a section, of imaginary elevation, but on the same scale as the map with respect to horizontal distance. The section too shows a greater extent than the map to the east, where, on account of the dip of the strata towards that quarter, it is necessary to commence the description; although in point of distance it cannot be properly considered within the prescribed limits of this work.