Records, Historical and Antiquarian, of Parishes Round Horncastle

by J. Conway Walter

This is a pleasant, small village, about 2½ miles from Horncastle, the chief approach to it being by the so-called “Ramper,” the great Roman road, connecting the two Roman fortresses, Lindum and Banovallum (Lincoln and Horncastle), and still one of the best roads in the county. The Park of Edlington, now the property of the Hassard Short family, is a pleasantly undulating enclosure, adorned with some very fine trees; although of late some £3,000 worth, chiefly of outlying timber, has been converted into cash. The ground is varied by small copses, which afford excellent pheasant and rabbit shooting; as also do two covers, about two miles from the Park, called Edlington Scrubs; and there are also some very gamey plantations, belonging to the estate, situated about two miles north-west from Woodhall Spa. The estate comprises about 2,700 acres, and is fully five miles long from one end to the other, being intersected by portions of other parishes. There was formerly a substantial residence, with stew ponds and extensive gardens, at the upper or northern end of the park, [34a] with the parish road running behind it, covered by lofty trees. Here, it may interest the botanist to know that the plant “Butcher’s Broom” (Ruscus Aculeatus) grew plentifully, although it now seems to be extinct, having been improved away. From this position there is a very fine view, extending many miles to the south and west, over very varied country. While the late Mr. Hassard Short himself resided here, he had frequently coursing parties, hares being then very plentiful, to which, among others, the present writer, as a boy, and his father, were always invited. This residence was, however, pulled down sometime “in the fifties,” the owner, for the sake of his health, preferring to reside in the south. It was for a time, however, occupied by a Mrs. Heald, [34b] and her nephew George Heald, Esq., a fine-looking young fellow, who held a commission in the Guards. And hereby hangs a tale. In riding in the Park, in London, he made the acquaintance of the famous coquette, and adventuress, Lola Montez, created Countess of Landsfeldt by the King of Hanover, whose mistress she was. Being a mixture of Spanish and Irish blood, she possessed all the vivacity of both those races, with a gay dash in her manners, and considerable beauty, along with an extremely outré style of dress. Thus she fascinated the young man, as she previously had done her late Royal Master. He married her, although she was said to have been already married to a Captain James. The charm soon lost its power, and as a means of ridding himself of her, his friends prosecuted her for bigamy. Sergeant Ballantine in his autobiography gives the whole particulars (vol. II., p. 106), but he does not remember the result of this action. She was of a temper so violent, that she commonly carried arms, and was almost reckless of what she did. Young Heald came at length to live in almost hourly fear for his life. I well remember his coming down to a hotel at Horncastle, to receive rents; when he sat at table, with a loaded pistol at each side of him. I knew him and his aunt well, and from the latter I received many kindnesses. The poor persecuted young man soon passed from mortal ken; but the lady migrated to America, to seek higher game once more; but a fracas having occurred, in which she shot someone in a railway carriage, her career also was brought to a close.

The earliest mention which we have of this part of the Manor of Edlington, is as being part of the Barony of Gilbert de Gaunt (some of that name, still residing as farmers in the parish). He probably, or his ancestors, acquired the property, from what was a common source, in that day, viz., from the great Norman Baron, Ivo Taillebois, on whom William the Conqueror bestowed the rich Saxon heiress, the Lady Lucia, the representative of the wealthy family of the Thorolds, and near relative of King Harold (see my records of Old Bolingbroke). He held this Manor till about the year 35 Ed. I., or A.D. 1307. It then passed to the Barkeworthes; Robert de Barkeworthe being the first of them to reside in the parish, as owner of Poolham. They were a family of wealth and position in the neighbourhood at that period. There is a legal document called Feet of Fines (file 98 [39]), of date A.D. 1329, in which William de Barkeworthe, and ffloriana his wife, on the one part, and Robert de Haney and Alice his wife, on the other part, lay claim to considerable property, in Claxby, Normanby and Ussylby, in which the former establish their claim. In 1351, William de Barkeworthe presented to a moiety of the chapelry of Polum. But in 1369, Thomas de Thymbelby presented. This marks the period when the property passed from the Barkeworthes to the Thimblebys. A Walter de Barkeworthe died in 1347, and was buried in the Cloister of Lincoln Cathedral. At the period of this transition (1369), another Feet of Fines exists, between Thomas, son of Nicholas de Thymelby, with several others, on the one part, and Richard, “son of Simon atte See,” on the other part, by which the said Richard surrenders lands in Claxby, Normanby, Tetford, and other property, to the said Thomas, son of Nicholas de Thymelby and his friends (“Architectural Soc. Journ.,” vol. XXIII., p. 255). There is another Feet of Fines, in 1374, between Thomas de Themelby, John de Themelby, Parson, and others, on the one part, and John de Toutheby, and his wife Alianora, on the other part, which assigns the Manor of Tetford, and advowson of the church, to the Thymelbys. In 1388, John, son of Thomas de Thymelby, presented to Tetford. The Thimbleby pedigree is given in the Herald’s Visitation of 1562.

In 1333, at a Chancery Inquisition, held at Haltham, “on Friday next, after the feast of St. Matthew,” the Jurors declare, that Nicholas de Thymelby, and his wife Matilda, hold land in Haltham, of the right of the said Matilda, under the Lord the King, as parcel of the Manor of Scrivelsby; also that the said Nicholas held land in Stikeswold, of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, by the service of paying them ij^s and vi^d yearly; and also that he held lands in Thymelby, under the Bishop of Carlisle. Further inquisitions show that Nicholas de Thymelby, and John, his brother, also held lands in Horncastle and over (i.e. High) Toynton, under the said Bishop of Carlisle; that Thomas de Thymelby presented to the Church of Ruckland in 1381; and that John, his son, presented to the Church of Tetford, April 4th, 1388. In 1427, it was found that the heirs of John de Thymelby, held by their trustees, lands “in Polum and Edlynton.”

In 1439, William Thymelby, Esq., Lord of Polum, presented to the Benefice of Somersby, having already presented to Tetford. He seems to have married Joan, daughter of Sir Walter Tailboys, a descendant of the same family, from which sprang Ivo Taillebois, the great Norman Baron, previously mentioned, from whom Gilbert de Gaunt probably acquired his land in Edlington. [37a] Richard Thimbleby, in 1474, obtained the Beelsby estates, through marriage with Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Beelsby, knight, and widow of Sir John Pygot, Knt. He died (1522) possessed (in right of his wife, who was coheir of Godfrey Hilton), of the Manors of Beelsby, Holton-le-Moor, Horsington, Harpswell, Harleston, Thorgansby; and a share of the advowson of Horsington; John Thymelby, his son, succeeded him (Escheator’s Inquisitions, 14 H.S., No. 24). To show the religious fanaticism in the reign of Elizabeth, even among Protestants, note the following:—A Thimbleby of Poolham, A.D. 1581, was thrown into prison by the Bishop of Lincoln (T. Cowper), for refusing to attend Protestant services. His wife was near her confinement, but she begged to see her husband, she was treated so roughly that the pains of labour seized her in her husband’s dungeon. She was nevertheless detained in prison without any nurse or assistant, and a speedy death followed; her husband also dying soon afterwards in prison from the rough treatment which he underwent there. (“The Church under Queen Elizabeth,” by F. G. Lee, II. p. 60). I have given these details to show the importance of the family of Thimbleby.

After another generation or two, Matthew Thymbleby’s widow of Poolham, married Sir Robert Saville, Knt., who, through her, died possessed of the Manors of Poolham, Edlington, and several more. Confining ourselves here to Poolham, we find the Saviles, who were members of the Saviles of Howley, co. York (now represented by Lord Mexborough, of Methley, co. York, etc., etc., and the Saviles, of Rufford Abbey, co. Notts.), continuing to own Poolham until 1600, when Sir John Saville, Knt., sold it to George Bolles, Esq., citizen of London, whose descendant, Sir John Bolles, [37b] Bart., sold it to Sir Edmund Turnor, of Stoke Rochford. It has recently been sold to Dr. Byron, residing in London.

As we have, thus far, chiefly confined ourselves to the owners of the hamlet of Poolham, we will now make some rather interesting remarks upon the old Poolham Hall, and matters connected with it. The old mansion was probably built originally on a larger scale than the present farm house. It is enclosed by a moat, in the south-west angle of which stand the remains of a chapel, or oratory, now in the kitchen garden; they consist of an end wall and part of a side wall, each with a narrow window. The font, a few years ago, was taken away, and in order to preserve it from destruction, it was placed, some twenty years ago, in the garden of Wispington Vicarage, by the Vicar (the late Rev. C. P. Terrot), a great ecclesiastical antiquarian. It has further again been removed by the present writer, and, on the restoration of the Church of St. Margaret, at Woodhall, in 1893, it was once more restored to its original purpose, as font in that Church, being further adorned by four handsome columns of serpentine, the gift of the Rev. J. A. Penny, the present Vicar of Wispington. Near the chapel, there was till recently, a tombstone, bearing date 1527. This stone was a few years ago removed, and now forms the sill of a cottage doorway in Stixwould. The writer should here add that, on the moat of this old Hall being cleaned out a few years ago, there was found in the mud, beneath the chapel ruins, a curious object, which at once passed into his possession. It proved to be an ancient chrismatory, of which there has never been found the like. The material is terra cotta, with peculiar primitive ornamentation, of a pale stone colour, containing two divisions, or wells, with spouts at each end, each having been covered with a roof, although one of them is now broken off, curiously carved. The use of the chrismatory, was, in mediæval times, connected with baptism; as the child was brought into the church, it was sprinkled with salt, and at the font it was anointed with oil. The two wells were meant to hold the salt and oil. As I have said, it is unique. Its use was first explained to me, by Sir Augustus Franks, of the British Museum. It has been exhibited among the ecclesiastical objects of art at the Church Congresses, at Norwich, London, Newcastle, Northampton, and other places. It has created very great interest, and has been noticed in various publications. According to Ecton’s “Thesaurus,” this chapel was connected with Bardney Abbey, but it is now a ruin, and unused. The population is limited to three houses, and the most convenient place of worship is Woodhall, St. Margaret’s.

We will now revert more especially to Edlington. We have mentioned Gilbert de Gaunt as among the first owners, but this applies, more strictly to the hamlet Poolham. Edlington proper, is evidently a place of great antiquity, the name is derived from “Eiddeleg,” a deity in the Bardic Mythology (Dr. Oliver’s “Religious Houses on the Witham”); the whole name meaning the town of Eiddeleg. In connection with this, we may mention that, until about three years ago, when it was destroyed by dynamite, there existed an enormous boulder, standing on a rising ground, about sixty yards from the present highway, on the farm of Mr. Robert Searby, which weighed about 10 tons, its height being about 10ft., width 4ft. 6in., and its thickness about 3ft. This would be just the Druidic altar, at which the Bardic mysteries, in the British period, might be celebrated. In 1819, while digging a field in Edlington, some men found several heaps of ox bones, and with each heap an urn of baked clay. Unfortunately none of these urns were preserved, so that we are unable to say whether they were of Roman make, or of earlier date. They imply heathen sacrifice of some kind, and were close to a Roman road; still the existence, already mentioned, of an earlier Bardic worship, would favour for them, an earlier origin.

From Domesday Book (completed circa 1086), we gather (1st) that among the possessions of the King (William the Conqueror), there were 4 carucates, i.e. 480 acres of land, with proportionate sokemen, villeins, and bordars. The whole land of the parish being reckoned at 6,960 acres. Of this extent, the Saxon Ulf, so often mentioned as an owner in this neighbourhood, had 10 carucates (or 1,200 acres). Egbert, the vassal of Gilbert de Gaunt had 480 acres, a mill, always a valuable possession, as all dependants were bound to have their grain ground there; 90 acres of meadow, and 210 acres of wood land, in all 780 acres. A Jury of the wapentake of Horncastle, declared that the powerful noble Robert Despenser, wrongfully disputed the claim of Gilbert de Gaunt, to half a carucate, or 60 acres, in Edlington, which in the time of Edward the Confessor had been formerly held by one Saxon, Tonna.

Edlington was one of the 222 parishes in the county which had churches before the Norman conquest, but as the number of priests serving these churches was only 131, it is doubtful whether it had a resident minister, it being more probably that it was served by a Monk of Bardney Abbey, to which (according to Liber Regis) it was attached. Here again we have a trace of Gilbert de Gaunt being Lord of the Manor of Edlington, as well as of the subdivision of Poolham. The Monastery of Bardney was originally one of the few Saxon foundations, and established before the year 697. It was however reduced to great poverty by the Danes, under Inguar and Hubba, in 870, 300 monks being slain. It remained in ruins some 200 years, when it was restored by Gilbert de Gaunt, who succeeded to some of the property of Ulf, the Saxon Thane, already named. Gilbert de Gaunt had 54 Manors conferred upon him; being nephew of the Conqueror, and among the several which he bestowed on Bardney, was Edlington. At the dissolution, it would revert to the King, and (as we are here reduced to conjecture), we may well suppose that it was one of the many Manors in this district conferred by Henry VIII., on Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, among whose descendants these vast possessions were subsequently divided. In Dr. Oliver’s learned book on the “Religious Houses on the Witham,” it is stated that Bardney had land in Edlington, that the abbot had the advowson of the benefice, and that before the King’s Justices, in the reign of Ed. I., the abbot proved his right, by act of Henry I., confirmed by Henry III. to the exercise of “Infangthef, pit, and gallows at Bardney.”

In “Placito de Warranto,” p. 409, he claimed, and proved his right, also to a gallows at Edlington (as well as at Hagworthingham, and Steeping, and Candlesby); and in connection with this, it is interesting to note that, as at Bardney, there is a field called “Coney Garth” (Konig Garth), or King enclosure, where the abbot’s gallows stood; so at Edlington there is a field (the grass field, in the angle, as you pass from the village road to the high road, leading northward), which is still called “Coney Green,” which name moderns of small education, suppose to be derived from the numbers of conies, i.e. rabbits, which abound there; but in which the antiquarian sees the old Konig-field, the King’s enclosure; and in that field, doubtless, stood the abbot of Bardney’s gallows; [41] just as the Abbots of Kirkstead had a gallows in Thimbleby. On this Edlington Coney Green, I have found bricks of an early style, with various mounds and hollows, indicating buildings of some extent, and probably belonging to the King.