In the reign of Henry III. Juetta, daughter of Alan, of Hameringham, gave to the Abbey of Revesby, 4 acres of arable land, for the purpose of gate-alms. In the reign of Edwd. I. Robert Cressaunt of Tuluse gave his rights and claims on lands in Tuluse, Hameringham, and elsewhere, to the monks of Revesby, on condition that they pay to him and his heirs annually 8s. Alicia the daughter of William, son of Alward of Hameringham, in the same reign, gave a half toft for the Revesby almsbox; with pasturage rights for 26 sheep and 4 cattle and 4 pigs in Hameringham; the monks to pay to her 6d. annually.
Sir Lionel Dymoke, by will, dated 15 Ap. 1512, bequeathed “for churche walke in hameringham xxd. to John Sheffield parsone of hameringham, . . . to pray for me, my wyf Anne, and my wyf Jane deceased, and for all christen soules.” “Linc. N. & Q.” iv. p. 12.
On the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. that sovereign granted to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, in consideration of his “acceptable and long service,” “all manner of houses, messuages, &c.,” along with the lands, hitherto belonging to the monastery of Revesby, including property in Hameringham, and nearly 50 other parishes, to be held of the crown, on payment of the fifth part of one soldier’s service, and an annual payment of £28 to the Court of Augmentations every Michaelmas, the duke’s title to date “from March 1, in the 29th year of our reign (1538).”
[These different documents are among the Revesby charters, printed by the late Right Honble. E. Stanhope, M.P.]
The benefice of Hameringham was formerly charged with a pension of 6s. to the Prior of Bullington. In the early part of the 18th century, the Chaplin family would seem to have been proprietors here, as Mr. Thomas Chaplin presented to the benefice in 1712 and 1720. The manor now belongs to the Coltman family, who are also patrons of the benefice; and there are several smaller proprietors.
Scrafield, which has now no church, is united to Hameringham. Some of the communion plate is ancient, being Elizabethan, the rest is modern, being presented by the late Rector, Rev. Joseph Coltman.
Hameringham church, All Saints, stands appropriately on almost the highest ground in the vicinity, so that the parishioners may look, and wend, upward to it. It was restored by the present Rector, the Rev. Brice Smith, in 1894, the architect being Mr. Hodgson Fowler. It now consists of nave, chancel, and south aisle. It has, doubtless, gone through vicissitudes at various periods, as is evidenced by remains and records. In 1800 there was no chancel in existence. In 1820 a chancel was built by the then Rector, the Rev. Joseph Coltman. There was at one time a much larger edifice, of which the foundations were discovered by the present Rector, in preparing for the restoration. The chancel arch is Early English. The west window is modern, perpendicular in style. In the north wall of the nave is one window, perpendicular, of three lights, near the pulpit. The pulpit is of plain oak, with the old hour glass frame still affixed to it, and containing an ancient hour glass, recovered from a villager. These remnants of the days of long discourses are now very rare. There is still one in the church at Cowden, near Edenbridge, Kent. The arcade of the south aisle is of the 13th century, renewed in the 14th century with Lincoln stone. It consists of three bays, with two octagonal pillars having carved capitals; the eastern-most support is a circular, single, small shaft, apparently Norman, with carved capital, different from the others; where the moulding of the two eastern arches meet, the corbel is a King’s head; these two arches are considerably broader than the western one, which is pointed. This western pillar is the original 13th century one. The south wall is of the late 12th century, and the south porch arch is the original. In the south wall are two windows east of the porch, and one west of it, each having two lights, and a quatrefoil above, style perpendicular. There is a piscina near the door. The roof of the restored nave is of modern pitch pine. The chancel roof is considerably below the chancel arch. It is apparently of wood, and has formerly been divided into panels. The chancel is so long, that the communion table is placed 7 or 8 feet west of the east wall, and the space behind, shut off by drapery, forms a vestry. The east window, in perpendicular style, is of 3 lights, with six smaller lights above, within the arch. The font is a very old and interesting one, octagonal, on an octagonal shaft; the devices, quatrefoils, &c., on the faces of the bowl are much mutilated, those on the shaft are perpendicular mouldings on 5 sides, and on the three other sides are grotesque figures, much mutilated, the centre one being winged, and supposed to represent St. Michael. It stands on a plain oblong slab. There is one good medieval bell, the other being the “Sanctus bell,” re-cast in the Jubilee year 1887, as it had become cracked. The entire church is built of Spilsby green sandstone, faced in the porch with red Dumfries stone.
The visitor to Hameringham from Horncastle, looking south and westward, will see some beautifully wooded scenery, around Scrivelsby Park, Haltham, and beyond towards Revesby, Tattershall, &c. the view extending even beyond the Fens; with the spires of Heckington and other churches towering up in the dim distance, twenty miles or more away, a most delightful prospect. Conspicuous among these objects is the magnificent tower, with its lantern, of what is commonly called Boston Stump.
Hareby.
Hareby is situated about 7 miles, in an easterly direction from Horncastle, is about 1 mile west of Bolingbroke, and 4½ miles from Spilsby. From the first place it is approached by the old Roman road from Horncastle to Waynflete, as far as the cross-roads at Lusby, turning to the right for half-a-mile and then to the left. It is a small parish, of less than 40 inhabitants, and comprising about 740 acres. Letters, via Spilsby, arrive at 8.30 a.m. The nearest money order office is at Bolingbroke, the nearest telegraph office at Spilsby. Hareby Manor House, the property of Messrs. Ramsden and Taylor, stands on a steep hill-side, commanding extensive views over Bolingbroke, West Keal, and southward, far away to the waters of “The Wash.” It has been said that the name of Hareby, and probably also that of Eresby—the older name of Spilsby—is derived from the hares, which formerly abounded on these hills and valleys of the Wolds, the “South Wolds,” as we might here call them, of Lincolnshire. [87] We are only able to recover fragmentary particulars, “disjecta membra,” of the past history of this parish. From Domesday Book we gather, that, like Miningsby, Bolingbroke, and many other neighbouring parishes, it was once the property of Ivo Taillebois, through his marriage with the Lady Lucia, heiress of the Saxon princely family of the Thorolds, whom the Conqueror bestowed upon him. They were married in A.D. 1072, and on his death, without male issue, in 1114, the Lady Lucia married Roger de Romara, who thus, through her, became Lord of Bolingbroke, with other manors in the soke of that demesne. At that period the parish would seem to have been more populous than it is at the present day; the Domesday survey, giving the acreage as four carucates (or 480 acres), rateable to gelt; adds, that thirty-three socmen, five villeins and five bordars had another four carucates, and 100 acres of meadow.