Records, Historical and Antiquarian, of Parishes Round Horncastle

by J. Conway Walter

In 1415, John Kyghly, of Salmonby, a feoffe of Sir William Cromwell, knight, presented to the chantry in Driby church, because he, Sir William, was “out of the realm.” It is probable that he was with Henry V. at the battle of Agincourt, October 25, 1415. (“Architectural Society’s Journal,” 1895, p. 124).

Among the Revesby charters is a deed of Symon, son of Gilbert of Halton, and his wife Sarah, by which they jointly give to the Abbey of Revesby, all “their lands in Salmonby and in Scraydesfield (Scrafield), and in Stickney, and all their claims on the goods of Gilbert of Benniworth. Witnesses, Gilbert Cusin, seneschal of the house of the Earl Chester, and others.” Date, temp. Hen. III.

The patronage of the benefice of Salmonby was at one time attached to the crown, probably as an appurtenance of the honour of Greetham and Duchy of Lancaster, but it has now passed into private hands. In 1779, Henry Marshall, clerk, already referred to, was patron and incumbent. Prior to 1840, W. Bowerbank held the patronage and rectory. He was succeeded by the late Rev. Henry Fielding, formerly Canon of Manchester, next followed Rev. R. F. Ward, then for a brief period, Rev. F. Cooper, and it is now held by the Rev. John Booth, who is also patron. It has the unique distinction of having once been held in commendam by William Patten, commonly known later as William Waynflete, from his birth place, Wainfleet, in Lincolnshire; that most munificent divine, Provost of Eton, Bishop of Winchester, Lord Chancellor, Founder of Magdalen College, Oxford, and of a free school at his native place.

The church, dedicated to St. Margaret, was until recent years, an ivy-mantled structure, of the period Edwd. III. but it was restored in 1871, during the incumbency of the Rev. R. Fawssett Ward, at a cost of about £600, who also enlarged the rectory, and it now forms an interesting, well-kept and complete church, in the Perpendicular style. It comprises nave, chancel, south porch, and small spire, which contains one bell, and stands at the N.E. corner of the chancel. The east window was given by the late Henry James Fielding, Esq., eldest son of the former rector, in memory of his father and mother. It has five lights, with numerous compartments above, and is filled with good coloured glass, the subjects being, the Crucifixion above, and the Last Supper below, the design adapted from a window in the Refectory at Milan. There is a piscina in the south wall of the chancel. The south wall has also one three-light, and one two-light window in the Perpendicular style. The nave has, in the south wall, one three-light, and one two-light window, and the porch door; and in the north wall, one three-light window. The west window again, of three lights, has good stained glass, in memory of the Rev. Matthewman Manduel, for more than fifty years curate or rector of Tetford; the subject is, Christ Blessing Little Children. The tracery of all these windows is good. There is an organ, by Nicholson, of Lincoln, with nine stops, and handsome coloured pipes in front, the gift of the Rev. F. Cooper. The chancel sedilia and choir stalls are of good carved modern oak, by Messrs. Walter & Hensman, of Horncastle. The nave is fitted with open benches, which, with the roof, are of pitch pine. The font is modern, octagonal, with shields and roses floriated on alternate faces of the bowl, supported by an octagonal shaft and pediment. There is a graceful ogee arch as the priest’s entrance to the vestry. There was formerly in the nave of the church a brass of a civilian of the 15th century, much defaced, but it some years ago disappeared; it is mentioned among the list of sepulchral brasses supplied to the Archæological Institute on their visit to Lincoln in 1848, so that it still existed at that date. (“Journ. Archæol. Institute,” 1848, p. lii, etc.)

The lady of the manor is now Mrs. Nesbitt Hamilton Ogilvy, as representing the late Right Honble. Robert Adam Christopher Nesbitt Hamilton, a staunch Protectionist, who was one of the eight members of Parliament who voted to the last against the abolition of the corn laws. Some of the land belongs to F. S. Dymoke, Esq., and other smaller owners.

An interesting family heirloom preserved at the rectory, is a massive silver urn-shaped cup, 13 inches high, which was presented to Major Robert Booth, great uncle of the present Rector, by the officers and privates of the Wainfleet Infantry Volunteers, comprising three companies, which were raised at the time, when the first Napoleon was expected to invade this country in 1808, and of which he was Major Commandant (Oldfield’s “History of Waynfleet” 1829).

Scamblesby.

This rather straggling village is pleasantly situated about 6 miles north-east of Horncastle, in a basin of the Wolds, between the steep hill on the west, by which it is approached from Horncastle and West Ashby, by the old turnpike road to Louth, and the still steeper hill of Cawkwell, a mile further to the east, Louth-ward. In the centre of this basin, which is watered by a small tributary of the river Bain, rising near at hand, is an almost circular prominence, like the boss of a shield, on which fitly stands the church, above all the other human erections. Only a few years ago, this was a very poor structure of brick, although recent explorations have shewn that there formerly existed a fair-sized edifice, with nave, aisles, and chancel, fragments of which were built into the later brick structure. This earlier church is said to have been demolished about the middle of the 18th century. An inscription in the west wall of the present fabric records that “The nave of this church was taken down, and rebuilt, A.D. 1893: Alfred Soden, Vicar; C. B. Robson, J. R. Bourne, Churchwardens.” The chancel had been rebuilt in the previous incumbency of the Rev. T. White, by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, at a cost of £400, in 1890–1. In the reconstruction, stone was utilized from the small church of Cawkwell, the adjoining parish, which had been disused and in a state of decay for some years, and was not needed for the very small population of that parish, which is now, for ecclesiastical purposes, annexed to Scamblesby. The present erection of stone has a south door, with porch, and a priest’s door in the south wall of the chancel. The nave has north and south aisles, of three bays; the easternmost column in the south arcade is the original Norman, the rest being modern, in similar style. In the north wall are three lancet windows, the central one having two lights, the eastern and western one light, and in the south wall there are two similar windows, one with two lights, the other with one. The west end has two lancet windows, each with a single light, and above them an ox-eye window, with smaller lancets on either side of it. In the eastern wall of the nave, on either side of the chancel arch, is a narrow lancet window. In the chancel, the east window has two lights, with quatrefoil above, two square-headed windows in the south wall, and one in the north. The present font is modern, and plain; the curious, massive, circular bowl of the old font, about 2ft. 8in. in diameter, in height more than 2ft., and with depth of interior 1ft., large enough for immersion, stands outside the porch. The seats of the nave are modern, of deal, but they have very good old oak carved poppy-heads. The pulpit, of oak, was presented as a memorial of the late Vicar, the Rev. T. White, by his pupils; he having been formerly second master of the Horncastle Grammar School; it already, however, shows signs of decay. The chancel sedilia, of deal, were given by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The communion table, of oak, which is raised on two steps, was the gift of the present Vicar. In the north wall of the chancel is a tablet, commemorating, in Latin, and in quaint English verse, Margaret, the daughter of Henry Coppinger, of a distinguished family in Kent, and wife of “Franciscus Thorndike,” a lady, “imbued with a liberal piety from early years, who religiously fulfilled her conjugal duties, and who, suffering severely herself, also bore, as became a Christian, the loss of three children, and then, with one only surviving, herself yielded willingly to the call of God. Erected to a most beloved wife, by the most sorrowing of husbands.” No date is given, but it has been found from the Herald’s College, that she was buried at Scamblesby, Dec. 30, 1629. (“Linc. N. & Q.” iv., pp. 208–9). Another member of this family, the brother of Francis, was the Rev. Herbert Thorndyke, an eminent divine and worthy of Lincolnshire, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, collated prebendary of “Layton Ecclesia” in the cathedral of Lincoln, by Bishop, afterwards Archbishop, Williams (in which dignity he succeeded the well-known George Herbert), and later, made a Prebendary of Westminster. He, by his will, dated July, 3rd, 1672, bequeathed his estates in this parish to the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, for the endowment of the benefice, which, like that of the adjoining Cawkwell, was a very poor one. Thorndyke’s works form the 6th volume of the Anglo-Catholic Library. That the family was one of good position, is shewn by the fact of the name of Francis Thorndyke appearing in the list of the Gentry of Lincolnshire, in 1634, as “of Scamblesby,” also that of “Herbert Thorndyke, of Greenfield.”

The church is dedicated to St. Martin. Among the church plate is a communion cup, bearing the inscription “Communion Cup, 1712,” the Cawkwell cup is also old, but not dated. The register of Scamblesby dates from 1569, that of Cawkwell from 1685, but they contain no entries of special interest. This was one of the many possessions of the Norman, Ivo Taillebois, nephew of William the Conqueror, and chief of the Angevin auxiliaries, who came over with the Conqueror. After the death of the brave young Anglo-Saxon nobles, Edwin and Morcar, the sons of Alfgar, and brothers-in-law of King Harold, who refused to submit to the Norman yoke, their sister, the Lady Lucia, was the last of that royal line, and, being an unprotected female, William the Conqueror bestowed her in marriage with all her many possessions, on Ivo. He received with her, lands in Goulceby, Cawkwell, Asterby, and other places, too many to enumerate. He was a man of violent and tyrannous temperament, eventually, in the next reign, being outlawed as an enemy of King Rufus. He was subsequently allowed to return to this country, but not long afterwards died of paralysis. According to accounts, more or less authentic, the Lady, with a haste which was hardly decent—though under the circumstances perhaps not surprising—barely allowed one month to elapse (says the chronicler, Peter de Blois), “when she married that illustrious young man, Roger de Romara, son of Gerald de Romara,” who had been seneschal or steward to William of Normandy, before the Conquest; two other sons, Ralph and Edward, subsequently being founders, the former, of the Tankervilles, and the latter, of the Earls of Salisbury. By this marriage, the large possessions of the Lady Lucia, passed to the Romaras. Lucia herself had been a great benefactress to the priory of Spalding, which had been founded by her uncle, Vice-Comes, or Sheriff, Thorold of Buchenale. Among other gifts she conveys to the monks of Spalding “one watermill (a valuable property in those days), and all her tithes in Scamblesby,” with much more in the neighbourhood. (“Charters of Spalding Priory,” British Museum, D. n. 5). William de Romara, her son by her husband Roger, in due course, following suit, founded the Abbey of Revesby. In a later generation, the heiress of this family, married Gilbert de Gaunt, who thus succeeded to the large property, but it is probable that, on the occasions of each of these changes, some of the demesnes were diverted in different directions, and the changes were not few, as the Gaunts were succeeded by the Blondvilles, they by the Lacys, and they again by John of Gaunt, Earl of Richmond, 4th son of Edwd. III. whose son was King Henry IV., of Bolingbroke. How long Scamblesby remained a part of this heritage we are not able to say, but it may be observed that in this varied line of descent (as indeed in many others), there were various causes for the alienation, or disintegration of large demesnes. The Sovereign’s power was absolute and most arbitrarily exercised, unless, as was sometimes the case, the subject’s power was greater. The owners of large estates, and especially heiresses, were an object of peculiar interest to Sovereigns, who by reason of war, or their own extravagance, were not seldom more impecunious than their powerful subjects. The actions of the latter were carefully scanned, in order, if possible, that the Sovereign might find an excuse for confiscation, partial or entire, of the offender’s property, and so replenish the royal coffers. In the case of male proprietors, they could only obtain coveted privileges, or even exercise their own undoubted rights, on the payment of a very heavy fine. The times were turbulent, rebellion was not uncommon, and a large landowner sometimes found that he had espoused the unsuccessful cause, whereupon he naturally incurred the penalty. In the case of an heiress, a marriage contracted without the King’s license, was made sufficient ground for the royal displeasure, and a heavy fine or deprivation was the result. Some, or all of these causes were at work with different members of this particular line. In the case of the attainder of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, even his divorced wife, Alicia, became subject to a penalty of £20,000, a very large sum in those days, when pence were almost equivalent to our pounds. In this, and other ways, the once vast possessions of the Thorolds, in this part of the county, passed into other hands; although they are still one of the leading families on the other side of it. Other families here came to the fore. On the dissolution of the monasteries, any property which had been granted by benefactors to those institutions, would pass, by grant of the sovereign, to others, unless he retained it himself. As we pass the small stream in Scamblesby, over which a child could now leap, we may recognise it as a power that once turned the mill-wheel of the Lady Lucia, or ground corn for the tenants of the priors of Spalding, but it knows their name no more. Some of the land, including the manor, passed to the Bishop of Lincoln; until, in 1862, it was transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who are now the Lay Impropriators; the living, now, after various augmentations, worth £300 a year, being in the patronage of the Bishop of Lincoln, and the Earl of Yarborough. The latter nobleman is now one of the largest proprietors in the county, though we believe he originally belonged to the south of England, and was connected with the Earls of Chichester, of Stanmer Park, in Sussex, in which county the heraldic Pelham buckle is a marked feature in many of the churches. [178] Other proprietors are the Lill and Bourne families. There is a prebendal stall in Lincoln Cathedral, attached to Scamblesby in conjunction with Melton Ross, which is now held by the Rev. Canon Arthur Wright, rector of Coningsby, and Rural Dean of Gartree.

There are rent charges for the poor of the parish, left by David Atkinson and dame Tyrwhitt; also the interest of £6 6s. 8d., left by an unknown donor, and a charge on land in Belchford, for poor widows.