Addendum.—The above remarks on the Church were written in the year 1900. We have much pleasure in adding, in the year 1903, that the present Rector, the Rev. T. Hoole, has succeeded in effecting a thorough restoration of the old fabric, at a cost of about £1,650, towards which sum, the Misses Dennis, of Greetham House, contributed £500 each. The Architect was Mr. Hodgson Fowler, of Durham; the contractors for the work were Messrs. Bowman & Co., of Stamford. The only features of interest in the former mean structure were a 13th century cross, and doorway, and the south respond of the chancel arch. The restored fabric has been constructed in harmony with this respond. It is throughout of a simple, but effective, late 15th century design. The chancel, vestry, bell-turret, and porch are new, and the screen has been restored; the nave has new windows, a well-repaired roof, and new flooring, all the internal fittings being of oak.
In the course of the work, other features of interest were discovered, namely, the responds of a south aisle, a north door, and a Norman entrance into a former tower. All these were effectively utilised by the architect, with his accustomed skill, and now the Church, though small, is large enough for the parish, and a worthy edifice for divine worship, a result which must be gratifying to all concerned.
Hagworthingham.
Hagworthingham is a considerable village, at a distance of 6 miles east of Horncastle, and 4½ north-west of Spilsby, on the road from Horncastle, via High Toynton and Greetham, to Partney. Letters via Spilsby, arrive about 9 a.m. It has its own Post Office, Money Order Office, and Savings Bank; the nearest telegraph office being at Spilsby. Of this parish there are several notices in Domesday Book. It is described as comprising six manors. These were owned, at the date of the Norman Conquest, by Thanes named Sivert, Elric, Swen, Swave, Holinchetel, and Adestan. The Conqueror apparently removed all these original proprietors, to provide for his own followers. Few places shew to a greater degree than this parish the insecurity of tenure which marked those times of trouble, transition, and lawlessness, when might was right. The survey of the country, made by order of the Conqueror, in Lincolnshire in 1085, was called by the Saxons “Domesday Book,” because it recorded their “doom,” or their almost universal expropriation from their rights, in favour of the Normans, who flocked into the country with William. But the “doom” was not confined to the Saxon. The Norman intruder, in many cases, found his possessions even less secure than had been that of those whom he superseded, and the Norman Lords of these demesnes succeeded each other with such rapidity, that, at this distance of time, it is beyond our power to trace their connection, in every case, with each other, or the causes of the changes. Doubtless, in many instances, having acquired possession through violence to others, violence again led to the confiscation of what they had acquired. The first-named of these is Alan, Earl of Britanny, on whom the Conqueror had conferred his daughter Constance in marriage. Famed for his valour and martial spirit, he had held an important command at the Battle of Hastings; and for his services the Conqueror conferred upon him, firstly, all the lands in the North Riding of Yorkshire, forming the district called Richmondshire, which had belonged to the powerful Saxon Earl Edwin, who was now dispossessed. From this gift he derived the title of Earl of Richmond, as well as of Britanny. Dugdale tells us that, altogether he held, by grant from the Conqueror, 450 Manors, 101 of these being in Lincolnshire. He seems however, in himself, to have been not unworthy of so great a position; since, though so great a warrior, the Chronicler, Ordericus Vitalis, states, that he was “ever studious for peace, a great lover of the poor, an especial honourer of the religious”; and that “his death, without issue created no little sorrow to all good people.” Such was one of the first Norman Lords of Hagworthingham. He was succeeded by his brother, also named Alan. His chief residence, probably, being in Yorkshire, when not in attendance on the King, he was represented at Hagworthingham, by his vassal, Eudo, who occupied his land here, to the extent of 3 carucates (or 360 acres), with dependents, in whose hands were 5 carucates (or 600 acres) more. Before proceeding to speak of other Norman Lords connected with this place, let us notice the name itself of the parish. It has 3 elements: “Haugh,” (says Streatfeild, “Lincolnshire and the Danes”), “is low, meadow land, bordering on a stream, and frequently overflowed”; a kindred form, “Hagi” he says also means a meadow. [73] Anyone standing in the churchyard at Hagworthingham will see below him westward, just such a low-lying meadow, traversed by a beck. The second element in the name is “Worthing.” Here we seem to have the Saxon “Weorthig,” which enters into many a place-name as “Worth”; (compare Waddingworth, and Benniworth in the neighbourhood); which is derived from the old Saxon “Warian,” to ward or protect. Hence these two elements mean the warded, or fenced, meadow, and “Ham,” the last element, also is Saxon, and means a place hemmed in; but especially the residence, the “home,” or the collection gathered round the one house, now forming the “hamlet.” What could give a more speaking description of the locality? It is the homestead, and afterwards the residences of the villagers gathered round it, whose position was on the higher ground, because they wished to be above the low-lying enclosed meadow, liable to be flooded by the brook, which runs through it, when swollen by the rain. Even in these days of drainage universal, the fox-hunter, in crossing that grassy valley, may still find his steed “boggled” in the slough of quagmire. In connection with this we may mention, that even in modern times, this dampness has not been forgotten.
In a note to Chap. ii. vol. i. of Smiles’ “Lives of Engineers,” it is stated that, when Dr. Whalley was appointed to the Rectory of this parish, it was with the singular proviso, that he should not reside in it, as the air was fatal to any but a native (Letters and Correspondence of T. S. Whalley, D.D.)
Another Norman soldier, named in Domesday as having a grant of land in Hagworthingham from the Conqueror was Drogo de Bevere. He was a Fleming by birth, and for his services in the cause of the King had many lordships given him in Lincolnshire and other counties. Among others, he had the lordship of all Holderness, in which was Beverley, whence he had the title of “Terrius de Bevere.” He was however of a very grasping and overbearing disposition. Not content with the lordship of Holderness, he wished further to seize lands given by the King to the Church of St. John at Beverley. Camden says that, as a mark of royal favour, he received in marriage the Conqueror’s niece; but that he got rid of her by poison; and then fled the country to escape the punishment he deserved. He was succeeded (his estates being probably confiscated) by Odo, Lord of Albemarle, in Normandy (Camden “Britannia” p. 742, Ed. 1695.)
To this Drogo was granted all the land in Hagworthingham, which at the conquest had belonged to the Saxon Thane, Adestan, including “a hall, with sac and soke” (or the right to hold a court of justice for the trial of misdemeanours), with 8 villeins occupying considerable lands under him, and a mill of the value of 18d. yearly. As his chief residence, when not in attendance on the King, would probably be in Holderness, he was here represented by one Robert, who was his vassal.
Another name mentioned as having property in this parish, is Gozlin, son of Lambert, of whom little is known. This was one of the 222 parishes in the county which had a church before the Conquest; and Domesday Book states that he had the church here, as well as a mill; but as it is added that “the soke” (or jurisdiction) belonged to Gilbert de Gaunt, the latter was evidently the superior lord. Gozlin had lands in 39 parishes in Lincolnshire, besides those in other counties; but Gilbert de Gaunt had 113 Manors in this county, besides 41 in other counties.
It has been mentioned that, on the flight of Drogo de Bevere, after poisoning the Conqueror’s niece, his estates were transferred to Odo, Earl of Albemarle. [75] Accordingly we find the old record, Testa de Nevill, p. 336. (Circa 1213), stating, “the Earl of Albemarle” holds of the King (land) in Hagworthingham, which Gilbert de Langton holds, as his vassal.
About the same time the same old record states that the Earl of Chester, besides other neighbouring possessions, held land of the King in Hagworthingham, which the same Gilbert de Langton held under him, as his vassal. This Earl was the only son of Hugh d’Abrincis (or Avranches), one of the most important among the followers of the Conqueror, who was his uncle. William gave to him numerous manors in this and other counties, and especially the earldom of Chester. He was surnamed Lupus, or the Wolf, for his daring deeds. It was supposed that he was granted the county of Chester, that he might restrain the incursions of the neighbouring Welsh people, the stubborn descendants of the old Britons; and this he did with a vengeance, for, in conjunction with Hugh Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, he took the Isle of Anglesey from the Welsh. Later in life, to make up for his tyrannous proceedings, he became a monk of the Abbey of St. Werberg, of his own establishment in Chester, and died there, in 1101. The Earl of Chester held in Lincolnshire about a score of manors, besides more than that number in Leicester, 32 in Suffolk, many in other counties, and the whole of Cheshire. At this stage the successive, or contemporary Lords of these manors become too complicated a tissue to unravel here. Some of the manors became merged in the superior manor of Richmond or Bolingbroke; some, in that of Greetham. The Earl of Chester enfeoffed before his death, William de Hardyshall, of certain land in Hagworthingham, where his descendant resided in the 14th century. A Gilbert de Langton held land here as a vassal of Alan de Mumby; his son John, held the same lands under a de Quincy. Hawise de Quincy, Countess of Lincoln in her own right, had a daughter Margaret, who married John de Lacy, and the de Lacies thus became Earls of Lincoln. At one period, members of two different families were at the same time Earls of Lincoln. After a succession of steps, John of Gaunt became Earl of Lincoln, and ultimately Duke of Lancaster, and held many of these manors.