Records, Historical and Antiquarian, of Parishes Round Horncastle

by J. Conway Walter

The Abbey of Revesby was founded by William de Romara, A.D. 1143. [158d] He was the son of Roger de Romara, who married (about 1093), as her 2nd husband, the lady Lucia, who was daughter and heiress of Thorold, of Buchenale (now Bucknall in this neighbourhood), Sheriff of Lincolnshire, and that family survives now in Sir John C. Thorold, of Syston Hall, near Grantham. The family of Thorold, or, as it was spelt at that time, Turold, was even then old and distinguished. He was the brother of the Lady Godiva, of Coventry fame, wife of Earl Leofric, and mother of Earl Algar, and descended, according to Camden (“Britannia”, p. 474), and others, [158e] from the Saxon Earl, Egga (and Morcar), who flourished in the 8th century. The first husband of Lucia, was Ivo Taillebois, of Anjou, who came over with the Conqueror, as the leader of his Angevin auxiliaries. After the death of the brave young Saxon nobles, Edwin and Morcar, brothers-in-law, of King Harold, who refused to submit to the Norman yoke, their sister, the Lady Lucia, became entitled to all their possessions, and therefore was an heiress worth securing; and, much against her wish, the Conqueror bestowed her upon his favourite, Ivo (A.D. 1072). With her, this Ivo acquired, among much other property, the manors of Revesby and East Kirkby. We find the first mention of Revesby, in Domesday Book (A.D. 1085), as follows:—“In Churchebi and Resuesbi there are 12 carucates (or about 1440 acres) of land, rateable to gelt;” [159] the land is 12 carucates; 54 sokemen and 14 villeins have these 12 carucates. Ivo has 1 carucate (in demense) and 2 churches, and 180 acres of meadow land. The whole manor, with all that belongs thereto, is 6 miles long and 6 miles broad. Turold was Lord of Spalding, and his daughter Lucia, and conjointly her husband, Ivo, founded the Priory of Spalding. But Ivo, by his acquisitions, became so great a tyrant, to all connected with him, that he was eventually outlawed by King Rufus, and banished the kingdom. He fled to Anjou. After a time he was allowed to return to his wife, the Lady Lucia, who was holding her court at Spalding; but, to her great relief, he shortly afterwards died of paralysis, and, writes the chronicler, Peter de Blois, “hardly had one month elapsed after his death, when she married that illustrious young man, Roger de Romara, and lost all recollection of Ivo Taillebois.” Their son, William, was created first Earl of Lincoln, and, following the example of his mother at Spalding, he gave certain lands to the monks of Riveaux, Co. York, to found a Cistercian Abbey, the lands aforesaid being all Revesby, Thoresby and Sithesby, and, as certain portions of Revesby were held by another lord, he effected an exchange, by giving land commensurate in Miningsby, and by a similar process of exchange, secured other further portions, so as to bring the abbey estates into what would now be termed “a ring fence.” We have not space to go to any extent into the history of the abbey. The original charter describes the property as “totam terram de Revesbiâ, et Thoresbiâ, et Schichthesbiâ.” Of the two churches, one, that of Thoresby, was at the time held by a priest named Ivo, in exchange for which the Earl William, gave him the church of East Kirkby, and appurtenances. This church probably stood on a site of the present church of St. Lawrence, at Revesby. (Howlett’s “Lincolnshire,” Allan’s “Hist. Linc.”) The other church, of St. Sythe, was doubtless in the southern part of the present park, which has retained the name of Sithesby, or St. Scythe’s until recent times. The abbey itself was to the south-east of the present church, at some quarter-of-a-mile distance, and of considerable dimensions, covering some acres of ground. From a lecture, given by the late Right Honble. Edward Stanhope, we gather that the abbey church, built of Ancaster stone, was at least 240ft. long, and over 60ft. wide, with many graceful pillars supporting its roof. The choir was of unusual form, extending some distance down the nave. Beyond it, discovered in making excavations in 1869, 70, was the tomb of the founder, having this inscription: HIC JACET IN TUMBA WIELLIELMUS DE ROMARE, COMES LINCOLNIÆ, FUNDATOR ISTIUS MONASTERII SANCTI LAURENTII DE REIVISBYE. [160] Near this were tombstones inscribed to William de Romara, son of William, Earl of Lincoln, who died before his father, and of William de Romara, son of Lucia, Countess of Lincoln. Three bodies were discovered and re-buried a short distance from this spot, being doubtless those of the founder and his two sons. In his later years, William de Romara himself became a monk, and requested to be buried “before the high aulter;” and the site is now marked by a granite stone, placed here in 1890, by the late Right Honourable Edward Stanhope. The Abbey field, approached by a broad causeway, on the north side, more than 250 yards long, has traces of four mounds, at different points, probably for outlook and defence. One of these, stands in an enclosure to the west, called Saffron Garth, doubtless the favourite resort of the monks, who were skilled gardeners; an enclosure on the other, north side, of the road, opposite this “garth,” is called “Paradise,” supposed to have been the orchard. Fish ponds, to supply the monks with their ascetic diet, are to be traced in various parts around. At Medlam, to the south-east, are the remains of a chapel or oratory. The abbot’s private residence stood in the present park, and some of the outbuildings of his establishment remained until recent years, near the later mansion of the proprietors of Revesby.

We will now give a few peculiar extracts from some of the deeds connected with the abbey. Most of these, until late years, were in the possession of the Marquis of Exeter, at Burghley House, Stamford, whose ancestors, as will be shewn hereafter, once held the property, and in 1881 they were presented to the Right Honble. E. Stanhope, by his lordship.

In celebration of the foundation of the Abbey, William de Romara “manumitted,” or released from serfdom, any of his villeins and dependants who would accept their freedom, “to go where they chose, and, if they remained on the estate, to give them land instead.” Among those who accepted freedom, were William Medicus, or the Doctor, and Roger Barkarius, a name still known in the neighbourhood. [161] The witnesses to the deed of liberty were Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, William Archdeacon, William Chancellor, and others.

By deed No. 8, William gives land in Stickney, and services due to him, from Alan of Stickney and his successors, to which Alan agrees; the money to be spent on wine for the “Masses” of the Abbey services.

To one deed (No. 20), for conveyance of pasturage for 20 cattle, 20 pigs, and 100 sheep, the witness is Thorold, Dean of Horncastle, a scion, doubtless, of the family of the Lady Lucia. He is further designated as “Magister Willelmus Novi Operis,” i.e. of Newark.

By deed 24, Matilda daughter of Roger de Huditoft (Huttoft) widow of William of Stickney gives half a bovate of land in Stickney “in the time of my widowhood” i.e., when the property became at her own disposal. The witnesses are two women, Christiana, wife of Henry de Claxby, and Eda, wife of Richard, priest of Mareham; not, therefore, a celibate.

By deed 27, Alan Smerehorn of Kirkby (East) gives a sedes molendini, i.e. a water mill and premises, with right to draw water through his land from Bolingbroke and Kirkby.

By deed 30, Hamelinus de Jherdeburcg (Jerburg) gives land in Stickney, “quam tenui de hospitalibus de Jerusalem in terretorio de Stickenei” i.e. which he had held of the monks of the Hospice of Jerusalem in Stickney, there having been a minor religious house there; of which Robert Picha is named as Preceptor in another Deed (25), temp. Henry II.

By a charter of Richard I. (Dugdale V. 456) the abbots are confirmed in the possession of lands in Toynton, the grange of Toft (still existing) Fulsby, lands in Miningsby, Kirkby, Claxby, Mareham, Tumby, Hameringham, Wood Enderby, Skegness, and many other parishes.

By deed No. 41, William, son of Roger de Bikinghesbi gives land in Miningsby for gate alms, i.e. to relieve beggars at the Abbey-gate, the monks being the great, and almost only, friends of the suffering and needy.