Records, Historical and Antiquarian, of Parishes Round Horncastle

by J. Conway Walter

„ 194, line 3 5, for Creviceur read Creveceur.

NOTES ON PARISHES ROUND HORNCASTLE.

Ashby Puerorum

is situated about five miles from Horncastle in an eastern direction, lying between Somersby on the north-east, Greetham nearly west, and Hagworthingham almost south. It includes the hamlets of Stainsby and Holbeck. The register dates from 1627. Letters, via Horncastle, arrive at 10 a.m. At Tetford is the nearest money order and telegraph office, although there is in the village an office where postal orders and stamps can be obtained. The principal owners of land are Earl Manvers, the representatives of the late Mr. Pocklington Coltman, of Hagnaby Priory, and F. W. S. Heywood, Esq., of Holbeck Hall. The antiquity of the parish is implied in its name. “Ash” is the Danish “esshe” (the pronunciation still locally used), and “by” is Danish for “farmstead.” Indeed, the whole of the neighbourhood was overrun by the Danish Vikings, as is shewn by the termination “by,” which is almost universal, as in Stainsby, Somersby, three Enderbys, Spilsby, etc. The ash was probably the “moot” tree of the village, beneath whose spreading shade the elders sat in council. This tree was formerly held sacred. The “world-tree,” or “holy ash” of the Danish mythology (called by the Druids “Yggdrasil”) was supposed to have its top in heaven and its roots in hell [2a] (“Asgard and the Gods,” by Wagner). I am aware that another derivation has been suggested, viz., that “ash” represents the Norse “is,” “use,” “uisge” (compare river Ouse), all of which mean “water,” as in Ashbourne, where the latter syllable is only a later translation of the former, both meaning water. But I cannot see that water is so prominent a local feature as to give a name to this parish, nor to the other Ashbys in the neighbourhood. [2b]

The oldest official notice of the parish is in Domesday Book, where it is stated that “in Aschebi, Odincarle (Wodin’s churl) and Chilbert had 4 carucates (i.e., 480 acres) rateable” to the tax called “gelt,” their whole land being 5 carucates or 600 acres. This was in Saxon times. When William the Conqueror took possession these were deprived of their property, and he bestowed the manor on Odo, Bishop of Baieux, who was his half-brother on the mother’s side. On the bishop coming to England, William created him Earl of Kent, and also Count Palatine, and “Justitiarius Angliæ.” He was so powerful that historians of the day described him as “Totius Angliæ Vice-dominus sub rege,” second only to the King. He held, of the King’s gift, 76 manors in Lincolnshire, besides 463 in other parts. This greatness, however, was his ruin, for, from his pride and arrogancy, he incurred the Conqueror’s displeasure and was sent to prison in Normandy. On the Conqueror’s death, in 1084, King Rufus restored him to his honours, but, finding his power not so great as formerly, he headed a conspiracy against Rufus in favour of Robert, Duke of Normandy, and, failing in it, he fled to the Duke, who made him governor of that Province, where he died in 1097. Ashby Puerorum was thus again “in the market.”

The subsequent history of Ashby is more or less enveloped in the folding mists of antiquity. The clouds, however, do here and there lift a little, and we get a glimpse into the past which enables us to form a shrewd guess as to its early proprietors. Among the list of noble soldiers contained in the famous “Battle Roll” of the Conqueror, as coming over with him to England and fighting for him at Hastings, is the name of Creuquere, or Creveceur, Latinized as “De corde Crepito,” which some have rendered “of the craven heart,” not a very likely attribute of a brave soldier. We prefer another rendering, “of the tender heart,” and connect it with the legend of his rescuing a “ladye fayre” at the risk of his own life, who was kept “in durance vile” by a knight of ill repute, in his castle, situated in a lonesome forest. The name also took the alternative form of De Curcy. A de Curcy was seneschal, or High Steward, to Henry I., and it is a name which ranks high still. This Creveceur (we are not sure of his Christian name) was one of a doughty race. Giraldus Kambrensis tells us of one of them, who conquered the Irish kingdom of Ulster in 1177 (Hibernia Expugnata, lib. ii., c. 16, 17), and was created Earl of Ulster. He was of gigantic stature, and in a dispute between Kings Philip of France and John of England, the former sent one of his most redoubted knights to maintain his cause, but, the Creveceur being appointed champion for John, the Frenchman thought it best to show a clean pair of heels and shun the combat. In recognition of his valour this Knight was allowed by King John to wear his hat in the King’s presence, a privilege still enjoyed by Lord Kinsale, the present representative of the family. Lord Forester had the same privilege granted by Henry VIII.

Now the Creveceurs were lords of considerable territory in the neighbourhood of Ashby; for instance, at Bag Enderby, Somersby, Tetford, etc., and in the document “Testa de Nevill” (circa 1215) it is stated that Hugh Fitz Ralph is tenant, under the Barony of Cecilia de Creveceur, of lands in Ashby, Tetford, etc. Other documents lead us back a little further, as an “Assize Roll,” of date A.D. 1202, says that the property came from Matilda de Creveceur, who was the daughter and heir of Gislebert Fitz Gozelin, who held lands at Bag Enderby, etc., and this last is named as owner in Domesday Book.

Another name now appears. By an Assize Roll of 9 Edw. I. (A.D. 1280), Thomas de Houton claims of Robert de Kirketon, and Beatrix his wife, certain “rents and appurtenances in Ashby next Greetham (i.e., Ashby Puerorum), Stainsby,” etc.

The Kirketon family would seem eventually to have acquired a part of the manor of Ashby Puerorum, and from them it passed to Lord Cromwell of Tattershall. A Chancery Inquisition, held at Horncastle in 1453, shews that the College at Tattershall held the advowsons of Ashby Puerorum, Wood Enderby, Moorby, and several other benefices. By an Inquisition of the same date and place, the Jurors state that the Manors of Ashby Puerorum and certain other places belong to the Earl of Albemarle. After that, at the Dissolution of Religious Houses (Tattershall College being one), the King granted to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, most of their lands in the neighbourhood, including those in Ashby Puerorum. This brings us down to 1539. In course of time a general process of dissolution also took place in ownership of land. The lands owned in this parish by the Brandons, were sold (22 Elizabeth, i.e., in 1580) to James Prescott, gentleman, who married a daughter of Sir Richard Molineux, Knight. He had a son, John, whose widow married Lord Willoughby of Parham (Architect. S. Journal vol. xxiii., pp. 128, 9). By a Feet of Fines, held at Lincoln, of the same date, it is shewn that George Gedney, Esq., and his descendents, also had lands in this parish in 20 Henry VII. (A.D. 1504), etc. (Ibidem. p. 27.) All these lands ultimately passed to Tattershall College. But even before that date it would appear, by a Chancery Inquisition, held at Lincoln, A.D. 1504, that Joan Eland, [4] the widow of Thomas Gedney, held lands in Ashby Puerorum, Somersby, and other near places.

Another prominent family now appears as owning the manor of, or at least considerable lands in, Ashby Puerorum, viz., the Wentworths. A tradition remains that Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, in the reign of Charles I., and one of his Sovereign’s most faithful adherents, owned the manor of Greetham. I have not been able fully to verify this, but a lease of that parish was granted in 1685 (see my account of Greetham) to Sir William Wentworth, Knight, of Ashby Puerorum, who was son of Sir William Wentworth, who fell at the battle of Marston Moor, fighting for Charles I. The Parish Award shows that Thomas, Earl of Strafford, was Lord of the Manor in 1705. (“Architect. Soc. Journal,” 1891.)