A History of Horncastle, from the earliest period to the present time

by J. Conway Walter

In the Harleian MS. in the British Museum, among his “Lincolnshire Church Notes,” Gervase Holles (circa 1640) mentions several other arms and inscriptions, as then existing, which are now lost. [42b]

In the pavement of the former vestry, in the south chancel aisle, is a slab with the inscription running round it, “Here lyethe the boyddes of Thomas Raithbeck & Arne his wyf, ye founders of the Beid hous. Departed thys world, in ye fayth of Christ, ye last day of October, in ye yere of our Lord, MDLXXV.” In the pavement at the east end of the south aisle of nave is a slab bearing the names of William Hamerton and his wife Elizabeth, and westward of this another slab, in memory of “Sarah Sellwood, wife of Henry Sellwood, Esq., [42c] who died Sep 30, 1816, aged 28 years.” The late Poet

Laureate, Alfred, afterwards Lord Tennyson, married Mr. Sellwood’s daughter Emily Sarah, the marriage being solemnised at Shiplake after the family had left Horncastle. The Laureate’s elder brother, Charles Tennyson, married another daughter, Louisa, afterwards taking the additional name of Turner. He held the vicarage of Grasby near Caistor.

Other monuments are, on the wall of the south aisle, a tablet inscribed “To the memory of Elizabeth Kelham, only surviving child of Richard Kelham, Rector of Coningsby. She was pious, virtuous, and charitable, and died 26 Feb., 1780, aged 58. Reader, imitate her example. Erected by Robert Kelham, her nephew, as a grateful acknowledgment of her regard towards him.” On the north wall of the chancel is a marble tablet in memory of “George Heald, Armiger, e Consultis Domini Regis, in Curiâ Cancellariâ. Obiit 18 May, 1834.” Inscriptions below are to his wife and daughter. Another tablet, of black marble, records the death of Elizabeth, first wife of the Rev. John Fretwell, Curate, Dec. 4, 1784, and of his son, Matthew Harold, Sept. 11, 1786. [44a] Another tablet is in memory of “Clement Madeley, DD., 42 years Vicar, who died Good-Friday, 1845, aged 73;” also of his wife Martha, who died 1807, and of his son Houghton, who died 1838, erected by his daughter, M. A. Dymoke, [44b] wife of Rev. John Dymoke, Champion.

In a glass covered case in the north aisle of the chancel are three volumes of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, 1632 edition, these were formerly chained to a desk, and parts of the chains remain. They were given by Nicolas Shipley, gentleman, in 1696, who also presented a brass chandelier of 24 sockets; he was among the benefactors to the poor of the town. The present glass case and desk on which the case rests, were given by the late Vicar, the Rev. A. Scrivenor. Along with these vols. are “The History of the Old and New Testaments, gathered out of sacred scripture and writings of the fathers, a translation from the work of the Sieur de Royaumont, by several hands. London, printed for R. Blome, I. Sprint, John Nicholson and John Pero, 1701.” There are some good old engravings of “The Work of Creation,” “The Temptation and Fall of Man,” “The Expulsion from Paradise,” “The Murder of Abel,” “Ishmael Banished,” &c. The first of these is dedicated to “Her sacred Majesty, Mary, by the grace of God, Queen of England, Scotland, France, Ireland, &c., by Her Majesty’s most obedient servant Richard Blome.” The next is dedicated to “Her sacred Majesty Katherine, Queen Dowager of England,” by the same; another is dedicated to “Her Royal Highness Ann, Princess of Denmark;” and other plates are dedicated to various Lincolnshire worthies, some of these are rather damaged, and the fine old bible is imperfect.

Various old documents may here be quoted, which give items of interest connected with this church. In Lincolnshire Wills, 1st series, edited by Canon A. R. Maddison, F.S.A., 1888, is that of James Burton of Horncastle, of date 9 June, 1536, which mentions the lights burnt in the church at that time before different shrines; these were in all 23, of which 7 were in honour of the blessed virgin, one was called “The light of our Lady of Grace,” another

“Our Lady’s light at the font.” Mention is also made of a “St. Trunyan’s light;” this last saint is connected with a well at Barton-on-Humber, but nothing further is known of him under that name. It has been suggested that it is a corruption of St. Ninian (Lincs. Notes & Queries, vol. i, 149), and in connection with this it is interesting to refer to the fact that Gervase Holles, whose description of Horncastle windows we have already quoted, states that there was a window to St. Ninian placed in the chancel south aisle, by the Guild of Shoemakers. Here, then, it is possible, the “St. Trunion’s” or St. Ninian’s “light” may have been burned, as the emblem of some whilom Horncastrian’s faith.

A Chancery Inquisition post mortem, 19 Richard II., No. 83 (11 Dec., 1395), shows that Albinus de Enderby and others assigned a messuage, with appurtenances, in Horncastle, to pay a chaplain to say daily masses in the church of the blessed Mary, for the soul of Simon de Dowode, and other faithful deceased. Wood Enderby was at that time a chapelry attached to Horncastle Church.

The right of sanctuary, enjoyed by felons, who sought refuge in a church, was a very ancient institution, dating from Saxon times, and only abolished by James I., in 1621, because the great number of churches in the country rendered it so easy a matter for highwaymen, then very numerous, to avail themselves of the privilege, that justice was too often defeated and crime encouraged. According to custom, if the offender made confession before a coroner, within 40 days, and took the prescribed oath at the church door, that he would quit the realm, his life was spared. A Close Roll, 13 Henry III., Aug. 22, 1229, states that the King, at Windsor, commands the Sheriff of Lincolnshire (Radulphus filius Reginaldi) to send two coroners to see that a robber who keeps himself in the church at Horncastle abjures the kingdom, (Lincs. Notes & Queries, vol. i, p. 49). It is a somewhat curious coincidence, that a similar document, of date 16 Henry III., Aug. 22, 1232, only three years later, records a similar incident; and the malefactor is ordered to “make the assize, and abjuration of the kingdom, according to the custom of the land and according to the liberties granted to Walter, Bishop of Carlisle,” (Lincs. Notes & Queries, vol. iv, p. 58). We have the explanation of this later instruction in a Memoranda Roll of 4 Ed. III., 1330, which states that Henry III. granted, by charter dated 16th July, in the 15th year of his reign, to Walter, Bishop of Carlisle, and his successors, that they should claim “all chattels of felons and fugitives within their manors,” the crown giving up all claim to the same in their favour; and the case is added of Robert Mawe, a fugitive, whose chattels were demanded by the Bishop, and £34 exacted on that account “from the township of Horncastre.”