A break in the continuity of the sub-tenure of the manor here occurs, but not of long duration. The family of Banks are next found holding the lease, under the said bishops; the most distinguished of them being Sir Joseph Banks, the eminent naturalist, and patron of science in almost every form; who visited Newfoundland in pursuit of his favourite study; accompanied Captain Cook in his voyage to the South Seas; visited Iceland with Dr. Solander, the pupil of Linnæus; made large natural history and antiquarian collections; [31c] became President of the Royal Society; and was largely instrumental in forming the schemes for the drainage and inclosure of the fens; and other works of public utility. His family acquired the Revesby Abbey estates in 1714, and were closely connected with Horncastle for more than a century, as he died in 1820.
One of his ancestors, also Joseph, was M.P. for Grimsby and Totnes; another, also Joseph, had a daughter, Eleonora, who married the Honble. Henry Grenville, and was mother of the Countess Stanhope. Through this last connection, on the demise of Sir Joseph, the leased manor passed, as the nearest male relative, to Col. the Honble. James Hamilton Stanhope, who served in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo. He died three years later, in 1823, and was succeeded by the late James Banks Stanhope, Esq., then a minor, and afterwards M.P. for North Lincolnshire; who, some years ago, transferred all his manorial rights to the Right Honble. Edward Stanhope, 2nd son of the 5th Earl Stanhope, and M.P. for the Horncastle Division. He died 22 December, 1898, and his widow, the Honble. Mrs. Stanhope of Revesby Abbey, became Lady of the Manor; this, on her decease in 1907 reverting to the family of the Earl Stanhope, of Chevening Park, Sevenoaks, Kent, in the person of his son, the Honble. Richard Stanhope, now residing at Revesby Abbey.
In 1856 the manoral rights of the Bishops of Carlisle were transferred to the See of Lincoln, and the Bishop of Lincoln is now ex officio Patron of the Benefice. The head of the Stanhope family is still the chief owner of property in Horncastle; other owners being the Vicar with 92 acres, the representatives of the late Sigismund Trafford Southwell with 67 acres, representatives of the late W. B. Walter (now Majer Traves) with 58 acres; while Coningtons, Clitherows, Rev. Richard Ward, and about 100 other proprietors hold smaller portions. We have mentioned the influence of Sir Joseph Banks in the drainage and enclosure of the fens, and on the completion of that important work in Wildmore Fen, in 1813, some 600 acres were added to the soke of Horncastle, about 80 acres being assigned to the manor, while the glebe of the Vicar was increased so that it now comprises 370 acres.
We conclude this chapter with another record of the past, which should
not be omitted. It is somewhat remarkable that although Horncastle has been connected with so many personages of distinction as proprietors, and for about 600 years (as already shewn) with royalty itself, as an appanage of the crown, it has only once been visited by royalty in person. History tells [32a] that “on Sep. 12, 1406, Henry IV. made a royal procession” from this town (probably coming hither from Bolingbroke Castle, his birthplace), “with a great and honourable company, to the Abbey of Bardney, where the Abbot and monks came out, in ecclesiastical state, to meet him,” and he was royally entertained by them. We may perhaps assume that as his father, John of Gaunt, had a palace at Lincoln, [32b] he was on his way thither, where also his half brother, Henry Beaufort, had been Bishop, but was promoted two years before this to the See of Winchester.
The nearest approach to another royal visit was that of the Protector, Oliver Cromwell, which however was of a private character. Although historians do not generally relate it, it is locally understood that, after the Battle of Winceby, on Oct. 11, 1643, Cromwell personally came to Horncastle to see that proper honours were paid, by the churchwarden, Mr. Hamerton, to the body of Sir Ingram Hopton, slain on that eventful day in single combat with Cromwell himself, who pronounced him to be “a brave gentleman,” he having, indeed, first unhorsed Cromwell. This visit would seem to be further proved by the fact that a man, named John Barber, died in Horncastle, aged 95, A.D. 1855 (or 1856), whose grandfather remembered Cromwell, on that occasion, sleeping in the house now called Cromwell House, in West Street (or rather an older house on the same site); while in the parish register of West Barkwith there is an entry of the burial of Nicholas Vickers, in 1719, with the additional note that he “guided Cromwell over Market Rasen Moor,” in his journey northward after the battle. He may well, therefore, have taken Horncastle on his way.
CHAPTER III.
Having, so far, dealt with the more or less conjectural, prehistoric period of Horncastle’s existence in Chapter I, and with the Manor and its ownership in Chapter II, we now proceed to give an account of the town’s institutions, its buildings, and so forth. Among these the Parish Church, naturally, claims precedence.
ST. MARY’S CHURCH.
This is probably not the original parish church. There is no mention of a church in Domesday Book, and although this is not quite conclusive evidence, it is likely that no church existed at that date (circa 1085 A.D.); but in Testa de Nevill (temp. Richard I.) we find “Ecclesia de Horncastre,” named with those of (West) Ashby, High Toynton, Mareham (-on-the-Hill), and (Wood) Enderby, as being in the gift of the King; [33a] while at an Inquisition post mortem, taken at Horncastle, 8 Richard II., No. 99, [33b] the Jurors say that “the Lord King Edward (I.), son of King Henry (III.), gave to Gilbert, Prior of the alien Priory of Wyllesforth, and his successors, 2 messuages, and 6 oxgangs (90 acres) of land, and the site of the Chapel of St. Laurence, with the appurtenances, in Horncastre,” on condition that they find a fit chaplain to celebrate mass in the said chapel three days in every week “for the souls of the progenitors of the said King, and his successors, for ever.” This chapel probably stood near the street running northwards from the Market Place, now called St. Lawrence Street, though, a few years ago, it was commonly called “Pudding Lane.” It is said to have formerly been a main street and at the head of it stood the Market Cross. Bodies have at various times been