Letters, via Spilsby, arrive at 8 a.m., and are despatched at 5 p.m.
Asgarby, which is ecclesiastically annexed to the benefice of Lusby, lies about six miles south-east of Horncastle, being about a mile south by east of Winceby, by which it is reached from Horncastle, and about a mile west of Lusby. Letters, via Spilsby, arrive at 8.30 a.m. The nearest money order office is at Old Bolingbroke, and the nearest telegraph office at East Kirkby, about 5 miles distant. The whole parish comprises about 760 acres, divided into two farms, the property of Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and occupied respectively, Asgarby Hall farm by Mr. M. Dunham, and the Asgarby House farm by Mr. W. H. Robinson, both these residences being substantial structures of considerable age. It has been asked “What’s in a name?” yet the name Asgarby would seem significant. Its elements are “as” (or Aes), “gar” (guard or garth), [137] and “by”; the first of these implying the presence of “water,” the second meaning, “an enclosure”; and the third “a building”; thus we have, as the meaning of the whole, “a water-enclosed building,” or moated residence. The hall stands on an elevation, commanding an extensive view, and there are various hollows and banks still existing, which probably indicate the moat which at one time surrounded a more important building than the present hall. This is confirmed by the stews, or fish-ponds, lying westward below the hall, which imply that the establishment required an extensive fish diet, on the numerous Romish fast days. The demesne is given in Domesday Book, along with Hareby, Mavis Enderby, Raithby, and many others, which became the property of Ivo Taillebois, by his marriage with the Lady Lucia, daughter of the powerful Saxon Earl Alfgar, father-in-law of King Harold. It probably passed at a later period to the Bishops of Durham, who held many lordships in the neighbourhood; and ultimately came to the Bishops of Lincoln, who were lords of the manor, until the transference in 1862, of episcopal property to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who have since that time, owned the estate.
The Benefice, now worth £40 a year, is described in Liber Regis, as a curacy. It, however, gives its name to a prebendal stall in Lincoln Cathedral. The church, dedicated to St. Swithin, is an unpretending structure, of no architectural merit; but since it was re-seated, with deal fittings, in 1882, it has been kept, to say the least, in a neat condition. It is doubtless one of the smallest parish churches in the kingdom, the nave being slightly over 20ft. in length, and the chancel about 9ft. The east window has two lights, in debased style. There is a three-light debased window in the north wall, and a corresponding one in the south wall. The pulpit is of modern oak. There is a tablet on the south nave wall in memory of Sarah, wife of John Parkinson, “greatly admired for her virtue, frugality, and charity,” who died 17 May, 1816; also in memory of John Parkinson, her husband, who died May 15, 1821.
In the north wall of the chancel is a memorial tablet of the Rev. W. Ward, Incumbent, who died 26 Nov., 1846. The one bell hangs in a turret over the west door. The register dates from 1575. Canon Oldfield, who holds the benefice, with that of Lusby, is also Rector of Hagworthingham, where he resides. Asgarby Benefice is now held with Lusby, by Rev. C. E. Bolam.
Miningsby.
Miningsby is situated about 7 miles from Horncastle in a south-easterly direction, and is approached by way of Mareham-on-the-Hill and Hameringham. It is seven miles from Spilsby westward, and 9 miles north-east of Tattershall Station. Letters, via Boston, arrive at 9 a.m. The nearest money order and telegraph office is at East Kirkby.
In the time of the Conqueror, this manor belonged to his nephew, Ivo Taillebois, through his marriage with the Lady Lucia, the rich heiress of the Saxon Thorolds. It is stated in Domesday Book to comprise 6 carucates of land rateable to gelt (i.e., 720 acres), worked by thirty-six soke-men, eight villeins, and 4 bordars, who had also 40 acres of meadow, [138] which is several acres in excess of the present measurement.
Miningsby was connected with Spalding Priory in the following manner. That monastery was founded by Thorold de Buchenale (i.e., Bucknall, near Horncastle), A.D. 952; and the Lady Lucia, his niece and heiress, in conjunction with her husband Ivo Taillebois (who was Lord of Spalding), added largely to the original endowment from her uncle. The churches of Bolingbroke, Stickney, and other parishes, with “half the Church of East Keal,” were given to the priory; also tithes from Claxby, Edlington, Minting, Gautby, &c., and “temporalities” from Haltham, Bolingboke, Miningsby, &c., the latter including two carucates (or 240 acres) of land in Miningsby. On the Dissolution of the Monasteries, by Henry VIII., several of these properties passed to the crown, and became connected with the Duchy of Lancaster, and the “Honour of Bolingbroke.” We mention in the Notes on Revesby, and other parishes, how those and other lands, passed, through the Lady Lucia’s son (by her 2nd husband), William de Romara, to the Abbey of Revesby, and at a later period to the Stanhopes, and, by a parallel process, although through a distinct channel, the Stanhopes are now lords of the manor of Miningsby, and own most of the soil.
Frequent mention is made of Miningsby in the ancient Revesby Abbey charters. [139] By charters No. 1 B. and C., William de Romara conveys to the abbey, 23 acres of land in Miningsby, as well as common pasture in the same. Among the witnesses to the latter, is Baldric de Cheles, a name still represented in the neighbourhood, by the family of the Rev. Alan Cheales, rector of Friskney, and owner of land in Hagworthingham, &c. By charter No. 7 C., Hugo Wac confirms to the Abbot of Revesby “two oxgangs (or 30 acres) of land in Miningsby with right of pasturage and the hermitage, which Ranulph the Monk made in Halton marsh.” This Hugo Wac, would seem to be a representative of the ancient Lincolnshire Saxon family of the Wakes, whose most distinguished member was “Hereward the Wake,” lord of Bourne, the last hero of Anglo-Saxon independence, whose “Camp of Refuge” for some time defied the Conqueror, and whose exploits have been celebrated in prose and verse. By charter No. 39, Alan son of Ranulph, of Miningsby, gives 2 perches of meadow in “Sud Bec” (south beck) in Miningsby, free of all service and claims (temp. Henry II. or Richard I.) We may mention here that this Miningsby beck is now the chief feeder of the reservoir which furnishes Boston with its water supply. By charter No. 40 B., Richard I. confirms to the monks of Revesby certain lands and possessions in Miningsby, Kirkby, Claxby, Mareham, &c. This is witnessed by Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert de Harecourt and others. By No. 41, a plot of land in Miningsby is given “for the use of the gate-monk, and for gate alms,” at the abbey, by William, son of Roger de Bikinghesby (Wilksby?) temp. Richard I. or John. By No. 59, William Helle, of Miningsby, gives the right of pasturage for 60 sheep in Miningsby, free of all claim. By No. 63, William, son of Ivo, of Kirkby, gives land adjoining the place from which the sand was taken for building Miningsby church, near “Crosbesich.” By No. 115, William, son of John Barette, of Stickney, residing at Miningsby, gives one perch of meadow, “for the maintenance of two candles always burning in the Abbey Chapel.” (Date Henry III. or Ed. I.) By No. 119, Nicholas, son of Roger Herod of Miningsby, gives “one meadow, free of all claims,” and stipulates that “the monks shall pay annually one penny towards maintaining the light before the image of St. Nicholas, in Kirkby church, every St. Nicholas Day.” By No. 131, Alan of Miningsby, gives “one selion, [140] and four akerheveds” of land in Miningsby, in two places, called “Hankes” and “Claxby dale,” free of all claim (date, Ed. I.) By charter No. 150 B., the King, Henry VIII., grants to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, all rights and property, hitherto belonging to the monastery of Revesby, in Miningsby, Moorby, Wood Enderby, Wilksby, East Kirkby, and many other places, “having come into our hands by reason of the dissolution of the said monastery.” The Duke’s title is to date from March 1, in the 29th year of our reign, A.D. 1538. (British Museum, additional MSS. 24805, fol. 32).
Among “Lincolnshire Wills,” we find Richard Skepper, of East Kirkby, in his will, dated 26 May, 1556, mentioning among other land, which he devises, certain copyhold lands in Miningsby.