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BYGONE   LINCOLNSHIRE. 


WORKS   BY   WILLIAM   ANDREWS,    F.R.H.S. 


Mr.  William  Andrews  has  produced  several  books  of  singular  value 
in  their  historical  and  archaeological  character.  He  has  a  genius  for 
digging  among  dusty  parchments  and  old  books,  and  for  bringing 
out  from  among  them  that  which  it  is  likely  the  public  of  to-day  will 
care  to  read. — Scotsman. 

Old  Church  Lore. 

The  result  is  in  every  way  satisfactory.  Much  that  is  new, 
carefully  gathered  from  unpublished  documents  and  other  sources, 
is  interwoven  with  a  fund  of  anecdote  and  information  that  has 
never,  perhaps,  been  so  readably  offered  to  the  general  public 
before.  .  .  .  There  is  not  a  dry  page  or  a  superfluous  para- 
graph in  the  whole  book.  .  .  .  To  the  antiquary,  as  well  as  the- 
general  reader,  this  work  will  prove  useful  and  instructive. —  The 
Gentlewoman. 

Contains  much  that  will  interest  and  instruct. — Glasgow  Herald. 

A  well-written  work  on  a  deeply  interesting  subject. — European 
Mail. 

Old-Time  Punishments. 

This  is  an  entertaining  book  .  .  .  well-chosen  illustrations 
and  a  serviceable  index. — Athen&um. 

A  work  which  will  be  eagerly  read  by  all  who  take  it  up. — 
Scotsman. 

A  vast  amount  of  curious  and  entertaining  matter. — Sheffield 
Independent. 

We  can  honestly  recommend  a  perusal  of  this  book. — Yorkshire 
Post. 

A  very  readable  history. — Birmingham  Daily  Gazette. 

Mr.  Andrews'  book  is  well  worthy  of  careful  study,  and  is  a 
perfect  mine  of  wealth  on  the  subject  of  which  it  treats. — Herts 
Advertiser. 

Curiosities  of  the  Church. 

A  volume  both  entertaining  and  instructive,  throwing  much  light 
on  the  manners  and  customs  of  bygone  generations  of  Churchmen, 
and  will  be  read  to-day  with  much  interest. — Neivbery  House 
Magazine. 

An  extremely  interesting  volume. — North  British  Daily  Mail. 

A  work  of  lasting  interest. — Hull  Examiner. 

Full  of  interest.—  The  Globe. 

The  reader  will  find  much  in  this  book  to  interest,  instruct,  and 
amuse. — Home  Chimes. 

We  feel  sure  that  many  will  feel  grateful  to  Mr.  Andrews  for 
having  produced  such  an  interesting  book. — The  Antiquary. 

Historic  Yorkshire. 

Cuthbert  Bede,  the  popular  author  of  "Verdant  Green,"  writing 
to  Society,  says:  "Historic  Yorkshire,"  by  William  Andrews,  will 
be  of  great  interest  and  value  to  everyone  connected  with  England's 
largest  county.  Mr.  Andrews  not  only  writes  with  due  enthusiasm 
for  his  subject,  but  has  arranged  and  marshalled  his  facts  and 
figures  with  great  skill,  and  produced  a  thoroughly  popular  work 
that  will  be  read  eagerly  and  with  advantage. 

Historic  Romance. 

STRANGE  STOKIES,  CHARACTERS,  SCENES,  MYSTERIES,  AND 
MEMORABLE  EVENTS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  OLD  ENGLAND. 

In  his  present  work  Mr.  Andrews  has  traversed  a  wider  field  than 
in  his  last  book,  "Historic  Yorkshire,"  but  it  is  marked  by  the 
same  painstaking  care  for  accuracy,  and  also  by  the  pleasant  way  in 
which  he  popularises  strange  stories  and  out-of-the-way  scenes  in 
English  History.  There  is  much  to  amuse  in  this  volume,  as  well 
as  to  instruct,  and  it  is  enriched  with  a  copious  index. — Notes  and 
Queries. 

A  fascinating  work. —  Whitehall  Review. 


BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE 


EDITED    BY 

WILLIAM    ANDREWS,    F.R.H.S., 

AUTHOR  OF 

"OLD  CHURCH  LORE,"  "CURIOSITIES  OF  THE  CHURCH,"  "OLD-TIME 
PUNISHMENTS,"  "HISTORIC  YORKSHIRE,"  ETC. 


HULL: 
A.     BROWN     &     SONS. 

LONDON  :  SIMPKIN,  MARSHALL,  HAMILTON,  KENT,  &  Co.,  LIMITED. 


T 


preface. 

HIS  volume  brings  to   a  close   an   account 
of  Lincolnshire  in  the  olden  time. 


I  am  grateful  to  my  contributors,  and  think 
that  their  articles  cannot  fail  to  interest  and 
instruct  the  readers  of  this  work. 

My  thanks  are  also  due  to  the  Rev.  W.  J. 
Gordon,  M.A.,  and  Mr.  H.  W.  Ball,  the  historian  of 
Barton-on-Humber,  for  the  loan  of  illustrations. 

I  should  be  lacking  in  courtesy  if  I  did 
not  express  my  thanks  to  the  critics  for  the  kind 
notices  of  my  previous  volume.  If  the  present 
one  meets  with  a  similar  welcome  from  the  press 
and  the  public,  I  shall  have  every  reason  to 
believe  my  labours  have  not  been  in  vain. 

WILLIAM  ANDREWS, 

HULL  LITERARY  CLUB, 

November  27th, 


Contents, 

PAGE 

LINCOLN  CATHEDRAL.  By  T.  Tindall  Wildridge  1 

LINCOLN  CASTLE.  By  E.  Mansel  Sympson,  M.A.,  M.D.,  CANTAB.  25 
TATTERSHALL,  ITS  LORDS,  ITS  CASTLE,  AND  ITS  CHURCH.  By 

E.  Mansel  Sympson,  M.A.,  M.D.,  CANTAB.  ...  ...  43 

BOLINGBROKE  CASTLE.  By  Tom  Robinson,  M.D 56 

ANCIENT  STAINED  GLASS,  AND  THE  GREAT  EARL  BEAUMONT. 

By  T.  Tindall  Wildridge 62 

ON  THE  POPULATION  OF  LINCOLNSHIRE.  By  Tom  Robinson, 

M.D.  ...  69 

SUPERSTITIOUS  BELIEFS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  LINCOLNSHIRE.  By 

the  Rev.  Wm.  Proctor  Swaby,  D.D 80 

THE  LEGEND  OF  BYARD'S  LEAP.  By  the  Rev.  J.  Conway 

Walter 96 

ROBERT  DE  BRUNNE,  MONKISH  CHRONICLER  AND  POET.  By 

Frederick  Ross,  F.R.H.S 117 

THE  WITCHES  OF  BELVOIR.  By  T.  Broadbent  Trowsdale  ...  127 

THORNTON  ABBEY.  By  Frederick  Ross,  F.R.H.S.  ...  ...  136 

THE  BATTLE  OF  LINCOLN.  By  Edward  Lamplough 151 

"LINCOLN  FAIR."     By  Edward  Lamplough       ...         ...         ...  161 

ALFORD  FIGHT.  By  the  Rev.  Geo.  S.  Tyack,  B.A.  ...  ...  170 

BARTON-ON-HUMBER  FERRY.  By  C.  H.  Crowder  175 

THE  GREAT  BRASS  WELKYN  OF  BOSTON.  By  William 

Stevenson          ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  185 

DR.  WILLIAM  DODD,  THE  FORGER.  By  John  T.  Page  ...  190 
AN  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  POET.  By  the  Rev.  Alan 

Cheales,  M.A 203 

THE  GREAT  HAWTHORN  TREE  OF  FISHTOFT.  By  William 

Stevenson  212 

SPALDING  GENTLEMEN'S  SOCIETY.  By  Marten  Perry,  M.D.  ...  215 

SIR  ISAAC  NEWTON.  By  J.  W.  Odling 226 

LINCOLNSHIRE  A  CENTURY  AGO  243 

INDEX  249 

LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS  ...  251 


BYGONE    LINCOLNSHIRE. 


Xincoln    Catbe&ral. 

By  T.  TlNDALL  WlLDRIDGE. 

LINCOLN  was  an  important  town  of  the 
ancient  British  Coritani,  and  as  such  it 
was  mentioned  by  Ptolemy,  under  the  name  of 
Lindos.  It  sent  a  bishop  to  the  Council  of 
Aries.  Upon  the  advent  of  the  Romans,  it  was 
chosen  as  the  site  of  a  station  or  barracks,  and 
of  a  colony,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of 
"  Lindum  Colonia,"  which,  by  abbreviation,  has 
become  "  Lincoln."  The  derivation  of  the  name 
Lindum  (which  is  the  Latin  designation  also  of 
two  other  places,  Lindisfarne,  and  Lindo  in 
Rhodes)  is  said  to  be  from  a  root  lin,  a  fen,  pool, 
lake,  and,  at  any  rate,  has  doubtless  an  origin 
common  to  the  large  number,  all  over  the  world, 
of  place-names  having  the  same  constituent. 
The  station  was  on  the  hill  later  occupied  by  the 


2  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

cathedral  and  castle.  It  was  parallelogram! c,  the 
sides  facing  the  cardinal  points.  The  district  is 
rich  in  Roman  relics,  the  objects  unearthed 
including  a  fine  fragment  of  a  tesselated  pave- 
ment, yet  in  its  original  position  in  the  north-east 
part  of  the  cathedral  cloisters,  where  also  lie  (too 
much  exposed)  several  Roman  altars  and  other 
remains. 

Lincoln  retained  its  consequence  under  the 
Saxons.  It  was  re-Christianized  by  Paulinus  in 
628.  Until  656,  the  see  of  Lindsey,  or  Sidna- 
cester,  was  in  Northumbria.  Thence  to  678  it 
was  part  of  the  see  of  Mercia,  but  in  that  year 
Egfrid,  King  of  Northumbria,  seized  Lindsey, 
and  formed  it  into  a  separate  see  under  York, 
having  its  seat  at  Sidnacester,  afterwards  called 
Stow.  It  continued  but  for  a  year  as  part 
of  Northumbria.  At  a  date  before  949,  Sidna- 
cester, as  Leicester  had  already  been,  was  united 
to  Dorchester,  under  Canterbury,  as  part  of  the 
great  Mercian  see  of  Lichfield.  It  remained 
to  the  Normans  to  transfer  the  whole  to 
Lincoln. 

The  proximity  of  the  Humber  laid  the 
district  open  to  the  attacks  of  the  Danes,  who 
finally  established  their  hold  upon  it  in  877, 


LINCOLN  CATHEDRAL.  3 

and  Lincoln  became  the  seat  of  a  Danish  burgh, 
and  part  of  the  Danelagh. 

As  the  amalgamation  of  the  Saxons  and  Danes 
proceeded,  Lincoln  became  one  of  the  principal 
trading  boroughs  of  the  country,  and  an  evidence 
of  its  prosperity  lies  in  the  very  large  number  of 
churches  found  here  at  the  Conquest. 

Under  the  Norman  rule,  Lincoln  was  almost 
immediately  given  special  prominence,  and  affords 
us  one  instance  of  many  where  the  Norman 
policy  and  strategetic  arrangements  coincided 
closely  with  those  of  the  Romans.  In  various 
ways  the  position  of  Lincoln  as  a  centre  of 
control  was  strengthened ;  a  castle  was  built, 
involving  the  destruction  of  240  of  Lincoln's 
1070  houses,  upon  part  of  the  site  of  the  forgotten 
station  ;  while  the  town  was  made  the  seat  of  a 
bishopric. 

The  founder  of  Lincoln  Cathedral  was  Remi 
(also  met  as  "  Romo  "  and  "  Rumi,"  but  doubtless 
"  of  Rheims,"  and  styled  in  Latin  documents  as 
"Remigius,")  almoner  of  the  Norman  Convent 
of  Feschamp.  His  origin  is  doubtful.  Bishop 
Godwin  says  he  was  the  son  of  a  priest ;  others 
say  he  was  a  son  of  Gerard  Salven,  and  brother 
of  Ranulf  de  Flambard,  Bishop  of  Durham.  On 


4.  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

a  sepulchral  plate  of  lead,  preserved  in  Lincoln 
Cathedral  library,  William  D'Aincourt,  of  the 
royal  stock,  records  that  he  is  a  kinsman  of 
Remi.  Whatever  was  the  extent  of  Henri's 
blood-relationship  to  the  Conqueror,  it  was 
sufficient  to  place  and  keep  him  in  high  favour 
at  the  court  of  William  I.,  and  at  that  of  Rufus 
after.  Remi  was  a  man  of  small  stature  and 
bilious  complexion,  but  of  ultra-Norman  astute- 
ness and  energy.  He  came  over  with  William  in 
1066,  furnishing  a  ship  and  twenty  armed  men, 
by  way  of  bargain  (say  William  of  Malmesbury 
and  other  writers),  in  exchange  for  the  promise 
of  an  English  bishopric.  However  that  may  be, 
his  head  received  the  first  English  mitre  bestowed 
after  Senlac.  He  was  made  Bishop  of  Dorchester 
in  the  place  of  Wulfi,  who  died  soon  after  the 
Conquest.  In  1070,  Remi  accompanied  the 
two  English  Archbishops  to  Rome,  and  was, 
practically,  confirmed  in  his  see.  He  prepared  to 
build  a  cathedral  at  Dorchester,  but  the  con- 
centrating Norman  policy  (in  which  he  was 
merely  an  instrument,  being  evidently  greater  in 
detail  than  in  general  organization)  intervened. 
His  triple  see  was  translated  to  Lincoln.  The 
exact  time  is  yet  unknown,  but  as  near  as  can 


LINCOLN  CATHEDRAL.  5 

be  conjectured  it  was  shortly  before  1075.  The 
inactive  claim  to  have  jurisdiction  over  the  see 
of  the  Archbishops  of  York,  grounded  upon 
the  facts  above  given,  was  disregarded,  or  it 
may  perhaps  have  been  a  factor  in  the  selection 
of  the  site  of  the  new  cathedral ;  however,  that 
choice  shews  a  strong  faith  in  Canterbury's  case, 
and  was  justified  by  the  ultimate  result,  to  which 
it  perhaps  lent  an  influence. 

There  seems  to  have  been  no  more  than  the 
usual  facility  for  acquiring  the  ground.  Gilbert 
de  Gant,  a  nephew  of  King  William,  is  credited 
with  furnishing  much  of  the  land,  William 
D'Aincourt  not  improbably  contributed  something, 
while  the  Conqueror  himself  gave  a  part  of  the 
site.  With  regard  to  the  endowment,  the 
Conqueror  was  munificent ;  he  gave  the  manors 
of  Welton  and  Sleaford ;  the  rectories  of  the 
manors  of  Chircheton  (Kirton-Lindsey),  Castre 
(Caistor),  and  Wallingour,  with  rectorial  glebes 
and  tithes,  as  well  as  the  rent-tithes  of  the 
manors ;  and  the  churches  of  St.  Martin  and  St. 
Lawrence,  in  Lincoln.  He  likewise  confirmed  to 
Lincoln  what  he  had  given  to  Dorchester,  viz., 
the  churches  of  Bedford,  Leighton  Buzzard, 
Buckingham,  and  Aylesbury,  and  the  Manor  of 


6  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Woburn,  and  confirmed,  also,  Waltheof  s  grant  of 
Leighton  Bromeswold.  Among  other  less  trace- 
able temporalities  of  the  see  were  some  lands 
taken  by  the  king  from  one  Halden,  a  Saxon. 

The  see  established,  the  site  obtained,  the 
materials  for  the  proposed  cathedral  were  at 
hand.  Far  below  the  surface,  the  oolite  beds  of 
the  great  limestone  range  which  underlies  Lincoln 
Heath  offered  for  deep  excavating  an  excellent 
stone,  which,  though  it  decays  near  contact 
with  the  soil,  hardens  after  tooling,  and  resists 
atmospheric  action  admirably.  From  strata  of 
the  same  range,  the  Romans  had  procured  the 
stones  of  which  were  constructed  their  buildings 
in  this  locality,  and  portions  of  which  remain,  as 
is  well  known,  to  this  day.  Remi  had  shafts 
sunk,  lateral  galleries  carried  out,  and  immense 
quantities  of  stone  were  accumulated.  The 
Saxon  Church  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen  was  cleared 
away  from  the  south-east  portion  of  the  city, 
arrangements  being  made  by  which  the 
parishioners  were  allowed  for  worship  the  use 
of  part  of  the  nave  of  the  new  cathedral,  together 
with  a  priest,  though  a  separate  church  was 
afterwards  provided  for  them. 

Take  away  the  angel  choir  of  the  east  end,  and 


LINCOLN  CATHEDRAL.  7 

the  present  ground  plan  of  Lincoln  is,  in  the 
main,  that  of  Remi's  Norman  cathedral,  after  the 
design  of  Rouen.  All  that  is  now  left  of  his 
date  is  the  central  portion  (without  the  arcade) 
of  the  west  front,  hooded  over  by  the  later  work  ; 
a  recess  and  arch  on  the  north  and  south  sides  of 
the  west  transept  ;  and  the  font  of  black 
basalt,  probably  a  foreign  bargain.  This 
has  bold  dragons  and  lions  of  semi- Assyrian 
character  carved  on  the  sides;  and  on  the  upper 
edge,  a  five-leaf  ornament  at  the  four  corners,  and 
a  medallion  in  the  centre  of  each  side. 

Without  doubt,  the  remains  of  foundation  at 
the  west  end  shew  that  Remi's  design  was  for  two 
towers.  From  the  general  probability,  supported 
by  the  existence  of  grooves,  it  is  evident  that  the 
three  sections  of  the  front  were  surmounted  by 
gables,  a  chief  point  in  which  Norman  and  Early 
English  design  had  coincidence,  outside  any 
blending  of  style  consequent  on  transition.  The 
gables  were  part  of  the  work  removed  to  make 
way  for  the  Early  English  work,  when,  also,  the 
circular  head  of  the  central  recess  was  changed  to 
a  pointed  arch.  There  is  sufficient  trace  of  the 
spring  of  the  circular  arch  left  to  be  seen  below7 
the  trellis  work.  The  height  of  the  Norman 


8  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

arch  was  seventy-five  feet,  the  effect  of  the 
alteration  being  the  addition  of  rather  more  than 
one-fifteenth.  The  Norman  masonry  is  a  good 
instance  of  "  wide-jointing."  Above  the  two 
inner  side  recesses,  there  is  a  series  of  interesting 
sculptures,  inserted  irregularly  along  the  front. 
It  has  been  said  that  these  are  earlier  work, 
removed  from  another  building,  but  they  do  not 
appear  to  be  necessarily  so.  It  is  not  unusual  in 
Norman  work  to  find  such  sculptures  inserted  in 
a  haphazard  and,  so  to  speak,  abrupt  manner ; 
even  in  the  more  cultured  Decorated,  where  life- 
designs  are  so  thoroughly  and  beautifully  in- 
corporated, this  odd  "  using  up  "  of  sculptures  is 
not  infrequently  to  be  noticed.  The  subjects  of 
this  deeply-sculptured  frieze  include  the  Torments 
of  the  Damned,  the  Descent  into  Hell,  Adam 
and  Eve  Driven  from  the  Garden,  the  Building 
of  the  Ark,  etc. 

Kemi,  it  is  said,  died  a  day  or  two  before  that 
upon  which  he  had  arranged  that  the  consecration 
of  the  Cathedral  should  be  held,  having,  it  is  said, 
invoked,  by  means  of  a  sum  of  money,  the  royal 
authority  to  compel  the  Archbishop  of  York  to 
desist  from  troubling  the  see  with  his  claim. 
Remi  had  appointed  twenty-one  secular  canons, 


LINCOLN  CATHEDRAL.  9 

dean,  precentor,  treasurer,  seven  archdeacons,  and 
ten  ordinary  canons,  each  with  his  incomed 
canonry.  The  foundation  was  one  of  the 
thirteen  which  were  served  by  secular  canons. 
"  Every  stall  has  produced  a  prelate  or  cardinal." 
He  founded  an  hospital  for  lepers.  His  was  the 
principal  hand  in  the  making  of  the  Domesday 
survey. 

To  Remi  succeeded  Robert  Bloet,  the 
Chancellor  of  Rufus.  He  postponed  the  con- 
secration till  1094,  and  vigorously  pushed  on  the 
building  work.  He  also  erected  a  monastery  at 
Stowe,  and  in  the  pride  of  his  architectural  exploits 
made  a  comparison  between  that  and  a  monastery 
built  by  the  king  at  Reading,  which  sealed 
against  him  the  door  of  the  royal  favour  for  all 
his  life.  He  was  persecuted  by  lawsuits  ;  but  one 
of  these,  in  which  the  king  was  the  chief  mover, 
resulted,  though  unfortunately  for  Bloet,  happily 
for  Lincoln,  for  Bloet  was  compelled  to  buy  off 
York  (with  either  one  or  five  thousand  pounds), 
which  finally  secured  the  see  from  York's  claims. 
Bloet  doubled  the  number  of  canons.  He  was 
bishop  thirty  years,  dying  in  1123. 

The  third  bishop  was  Alexander,  who  not  only 
proceeded  with  the  building  of  the  Cathedral  but 


10  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

evidently  re-built  portions  in  the  more  refined 
style  belonging  to  his  day.  The  parts  remaining 
of  his  date  are  the  three  doorways  within  the 
central  recesses  of  Remi's  front,  with  the  intersect- 
ing arcade  above  the  two  outer  entrances,  and  the 
three  lower  stages  of  the  west  towers.  The 
distinction  between  Remi's  work  and  that  of 
Alexander  is  clear.  He  vaulted  the  roof  with 
stone,  a  thing,  for  large  spans,  then  quite  new. 

The  astonishing  change  in  the  fashion  of  build- 
ing which  swept  over  the  land  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  12th  century  took  early  effect  at  Lincoln. 
The  Norman  style — calculated,  when  united 
with  commensurate  workmanship,  to  endure  a 
thousand  epochs — was  in  every  shire  cleared  away 
to  make  room  for  a  new  and  more  beautiful  kind 
of  structure.  The  new  style  was  scarcely  founded 
upon  anything  else ;  it  was  a  sublime  invention  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  and  one  which,  in  the  hands  of 
its  enthusiastic  originators,  seems  to  have  been 
capable  of  development  and  extension  to  infinity. 
Hugh  of  Grenoble — afterwards  canonised  as  St. 
Hugh  of  Lincoln — is  to  be  termed  the  second 
founder  of  Lincoln  Cathedral.  He  is  more 
fortunate  than  Remi  in  that  the  work  planned  by 
him,  and  in  great  part  erected  in  his  lifetime,  has 


LINCOLN  CATHEDRAL.  11 

endured  to  the  present  day.  The  choir,  the 
chapter-house,  the  east  transept,  the  east  wall,  and 
perhaps  the  lower  part  of  the  west  wall 
of  the  west  transept,  and  some  of  the 
added  work  of  the  west  front  are  his.  The  east 
end,  as  built  by  him,  was  apsidal,  and  terminated 
near  the  high  altar.  His  architect  was  the 
Englishman,  Geoffrey  de  Noiers,  and  his  work  at 
Lincoln  is  the  earliest  specimen  of  pure  Early 
English  work  in  the  country. 

The  choir,  like  the  nave,  presents  a  disagree- 
able effect  in  the  ungraceful  lowness  of  the  sweep 
of  its  vaulting,  while  the  ribs  do  not  terminate  in 
the  central  bosses,  giving,  where  perspective  does 
not  hide  part  of  these  defects,  a  clumsy  ill-formed 
appearance.  Notwithstanding  this  the  choir  is  a 
work  of  real  beauty,  and  is,  moreover,  of  unique 
interest,  being,  as  before  said,  the  earliest  example 
of  Pointed  Gothic  extant  in  England.  Here  the 
classic  origin  of  many  mediseval  forms  of  archi- 
tectural detail  is  seen  in  unusual  purity,  while 
there  are  several  indications  that  the  influence  of 
the  Norman  style  of  ornament  had  not  then 
(circa  1200)  died  away. 

The  comparatively  complete  state  of  Lincoln  is 
particularly  noticeable  in  the  great  transept,  the 


12  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

east  side  of  which  retains  its  chapels,  separated 
from  the  rest  of  the  transept  by  elaborate  stone 
screens.  They  have  wall  arcading  of  varying 
designs.  They  have  all  had  double  arcades,  but 
in  some  cases  the  outer  series  of  arches  has  been 
torn  away.  The  splendid  Early  English  glass  of 
the  rose  window,  thirty  feet  in  diameter,  in  the 
north  end  of  the  transept,  as  well  as  the  rich 
Decorated  rose  window  of  the  south,  are  strikingly 
beautiful. 

In  the  lesser  transept  are  two  curious  pillars  ; 
the  stone  piers,  having  projecting  leaflets,  are  each 
surrounded  by  eight  detached  shafts  of  Purbeck 
marble.  This  transept  is  disfigured  by  two  dis- 
guised oak  beams,  necessary  to  support  the  piers 
opening  on  the  transept  north  and  south.  In  fact, 
although  Lincoln  is  so  perfect,  it  is  full  of  lines 
fallen  from  both  the  horizontal  and  perpendicular. 

St.  Hugh  died  in  1200.  After  three  years' 
vacancy  the  see  was  filled  in  1203,  until  1206,  by 
William  of  Blois,  and  after  him,  from  1209,  by 
Hugh  of  Wells,  under  both  of  whom  the  building 
in  the  new  style  went  forward.  Under  Hugh  de 
Wells  (brother  of  Jocelyn,  Bishop  of  Wells),  who 
lived  till  1235,  was  built  the  nave  and  the  wings 
and  upper  cornice  of  the  west  front  and  the 


LINCOLN  CATHEDRAL.  13 

Galilee  porch.  He  also  finished  the  chapter- 
house. This  is  the  earliest  polygonal  chapter- 
house in  England.  It  has  considerable  associative 

o 

interest.  It  was  the  probable  meeting-place  of 
several  Parliaments  ;  here  the  Knights  Templars 
were  tried  in  1310,  and  here,  in  1536,  the  leaders 
of  the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace  met  in  council. 

The  Early  English  west  front  is  a  wide  expanse 
of  arcade  panelling.  It  has  in  the  centre  an 
elaborate  gable,  forming  the  gable  of  the  nave, 
which  intersects  the  west  towers.  The  third 
tier  from  the  ground  is  occupied  chiefly 
by  two  rose  windows,  which,  of  no  improve- 
ment to  the  general  effect  exteriorly,  usefully 
light  two  chapels  behind.  The  corners  of 
the  facade  are  flanked  by  turrets  almost 
detached  ;  these  have  figures  upon  their  spires— 
on  the  south  St.  Hugh,  on  the  north  the 
Swineherd  of  Stow,  a  humble  individual  who  is 
said,  by  popular  legend,  to  have  be- 
queathed a  peck  of  silver  pennies  to  the 
work  of  the  building.  The  surrounding  of 
the  lean  Norman  arches  by  this  patterned  mass  of 
Early  English  work  gives  an  effect  distinctly 
incongruous  to  the  purist,  but  it  has  withal  a 
touch  of  barbaric  dignity,  as  the  idea  suggested 


U  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

by  the  recesses,  and  accentuated  by  their  ornate 
setting,  is  that  of  magnificent  entrance.  The  rich 
arcading  of  the  gable,  though  beautiful  and  of 
the  purest  Early  English  character,  wants  the 
perfect  grace  which  sometimes  distinguishes  even 
plainer  instances,  as,  for  example,  some  portions 
of  Beverley  Minster. 

The  cinquefoil  window  in  the  central  recess  has 
mouldings  of  open  work.  The  inner  portions  of 
the  west  end  and  of  the  central  tower  are 
distinguished  by  a  curious  stone  trellis  work, 
apparently  an  imitation  of  plain  strips  of  metal 
or  wood  crossing  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees, 
and  is  said  to  be  peculiar  to  this  cathedral.  It 
stands  in  the  place  of  diaper  work,  but  it  cannot 
be  said  that  the  effect  is  pleasing. 

On  entering  the  nave  by  the  west  door  the 
effect  is  one  of  grandeur,  the  arrangement  of  the 
tower-supports,  though  they  are  in  themselves 
ugly,  furnishing  a  stately  vestibule,  which 
prevents  the  long  perspective  from  immediately 
engulfing  the  spectator.  The  unskilful  lowness 
of  the  vaulting  strikes  the  eye,  and  the  wide  span 
of  the  arches  exaggerates  the  actual  slightness  of 
their  supporting  piers.  The  great  length  which 
is  given  to  the  building  by  the  addition  of  the 


LINCOLN  CATHEDRAL.  15 

presbytery  to  the  original  choir  is  considered  by 
some  to  be  a  defect,  but  it  is  questionable  whether 
this  is  so,  as  it  has  not  the  effect  of  narrowing 
the  aspect ;  and  it  may  be  doubted  whether  many 
observers  have  received,  as  their  first  impression 
that  which  one  eminent  writer  describes,  namely, 
that  the  view  looking  through  the  inside  of  the 
cathedral  is,  eastward  and  westward,  little  better 
than  that  afforded  by  "  looking  through  a  tube.': 
There  is,  moreover,  an  artistic  gain  in  the 
dwarfing  of  the  large  windows  by  the  mere  fact 
of  the  great  distance,  and  it  is  surprising  to  find 
that  effect  pointed  out  as  a  blemish. 

Lincoln,  however,  contains  one  defect,  in  which  it 
is  similar  to  a  by  no  means  inconsiderable  number 
of  other  European  churches,  small  and  large.  This 
is  the  irregularity  of  the  axis  of  the  church,  and 
in  all  cases  is  doubtless  due  to  the  want  of  due 
care  in  fixing  the  orientation  of  new  portions  at 
the  time  of  commencing  alterations,  the  apparent 
meridian  varying  according  to  the  time  of  year. 
The  presence  of  this  peculiarity  in  various  churches 
has  led  to  the  propounding  of  a  far-fetched 
theory  that,  just  as  the  form  of  the  whole 
building  is  symbolic  of  Christ's  cross,  so  the 
deviation  of  part  of  it  from  one  true  line  is 


16  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

symbolic  of  the  inclination  of  his  head  in  the 
hour  of  death.  But  if  its  improbability 
alone  does  not  prevent  this  explanation  from 
being  ignored,  it  may  be  well  objected  that 
the  deviation  does  not  invariably  occur  at  the 
chancel.  Lincoln  is  an  instance  of  this. 
Equally  unacceptable  is  the  suggestion  that  the 
old  architects  purposely  made  their  churches 
crooked  in  order  to  give  a  variety  in  the 
perspective. 

The  five  eastern  bays  of  Lincoln  nave  are 
twenty-six  and  a  half  feet  wide,  and  in  the  same 
axis  as  the  choir.  The  western  bays,  however, 
are  only  twenty-one  and  a  quarter  feet  wide,  and 
have  a  more  northerly  inclination  than  the  others. 

It  may  be  reasonably  presumed — though  it  is 
not  a  matter  of  necessity — that  at  one  period  it 
was  intended  to  re-build  all  the  west  end  ;  that 
such  intention  was  abandoned  ;  and  that  even  the 
discovery  that  the  orientation  of  the  old  work 
was  different  from  that  of  the  new  approaching  it, 
was  not  sufficient  to  cause  the  demolition  of  the 
Norman  remains.  It  may  have  been  that  the 
question  of  cost  caused  its  retention,  or,  more 
probably,  that  the  architectural  conscience  was 
averse  from-  destroying  the  ancient  front ;  though 


LINCOLN  CATHEDRAL.  17 

it  must  have  suffered  a  pang  in  abandoning  the 
uniformity  of  the  interior.  In  the  triforium  the 
contraction  of  the  western  bays  is  carried  out  by 
the  omission  there  of  one  arch  from  each  group 
of  three  arches,  which  groups  run  two  to  each 
bay  throughout.  In  the  clerestory  the  space  is 
saved  merely  by  narrowing  the  arches,  which 
there,  as  elsewhere,  are  in  groups  of  three.  The 
nave  is  forty-two  feet  wide.  There  is  great 
variety  in  its  detail.  The  arcade  on  the  north 
side  is  supported  by  shafts  detached  from  the 
wall  ;  on  the  south  side  the  vaulting  shafts  are 
not  detached  ;  while  here  there  is  more  sculpture 
than  on  the  other  side,  including  a  dog-tooth 
moulding,  which,  however,  is  not  part  of  the 
arches,  but  carved  in  the  wall.  Some  of  the 
bosses  and  crockets  here  are  models  of  graceful 
beauty.  A  chapel  at  the  north-west  corner 
has  some  fine  Purbeck  marble  shafting,  the 
filleted  pillar  which  supports  the  vaulting- 
standing  in  the  centre,  as  is  seen  in  chapter- 
houses— being  very  elegant. 

The  next  bishop  after  Hugh  de  Wells 
was  Robert  Grosteste,  the  champion  of  the 
Anglican  Church  against  the  aggressions  of 
Rome.  There  is  no  account  of  building  by 


18  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

him  in  the  Cathedral  records,  but  from 
the  style  of  parts  of  the  building  it  is 
probable  that  he  completed  the  works  of  his 
predecessor,  and  evident  that  he  built  the  great 
central  tower  for  one  storey  above  the  roof.  It  is 
said  that  the  older  tower  of  Remi  had  given  way, 
but  this  and  similar  statements  of  earthquakes  and 
fires,  which  are  curiously  coincident  for  the  12th 
century,  must  be  looked  at  with  caution,  as  the 
universal  change  of  style  was  in  itself  a  stronger 
circumstance  than  any  incident  of  required  re- 
paration. There  is,  on  the  other  hand,  no  want 
of  proof  that  the  very  heaviness  of  Norman  work 
was  in  part  the  result  of  ignorance  of  proper 
principles  of  construction,  and  the  new  style  may 
have  had  increased  knowledge  of  those  principles 
as  its  prime  liberator.  The  tower  standing  in 
1240  is  that  year  said  to  have  almost  miraculously 
fallen  at  an  opportune  moment  when  a  Romish 
advocate  was  remarking  from  the  pulpit  that  if 
men  held  their  peace  the  very  stones  would  cr}^ 
out  against  Grosteste. 

The  appearance  of  the  interior  of  the  central 
tower  is  very  beautiful,  despite  the  slight  in- 
congruity of  the  coarse  trellis  work  and  the 
irregularity  of  the  window-piercing  above  it, 


LINCOLN  CATHEDRAL.  19 

Grosteste  was  bishop  from  1235  to  1253,  and 
was  followed  by  Henry  Lexington.  Under  him 
the  great  work  of  preparing  a  place  for  St. 
Hugh's  shrine  was  commenced.  It  was  decided 

o 

to  be  placed  at  the  extreme  east  end  of  the 
cathedral ;  and  to  make  room  for  the  additional 
building,  now  known  as  the  presbytery  or  angel 
choir,  it  was  found  necessary  to  remove  part 
of  the  city  wall,  which  was  done  by  licence  of 
King  Henry  IV. 

One  of  the  most  pleasing  features  of 
ecclesiastical  history  is  the  readiness  and  faithful 
adherence  to  plan  with  which  successive 
dignitaries  took  up  great  architectural  works 
bequeathed  to  them.  This  angel  choir  was 
carried  on  by  Richard  de  Gravesend,  who  was 
bishop  from  1259  to  1279,  and  at  his  death 
passed  forward  to  Bishop  Oliver  Sutton,  who 
had  the  gratification  of  completing  it,  and  of 
having  it  opened  by  King  Edward  I.  and  his 
Queen  on  the  6th  October,  1280. 

On  the  tympanum  on  the  exterior  of  the  south 
door  of  the  presbytery  are  some  figures  which, 
though  grievously  mutilated,  bear  the  impress  of 
a  masterly  hand.  It  cannot  be  said,  however, 
that  they  approach  in  artistic  conception  and 


20  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

arrangement  the  magnificent  sculptures  of  the 
interior.  The  subject  is  the  Last  Judgment, 
with  God  enthroned,  and  kneeling  angels  of 
excellent  workmanship,  while  below  is  one  of  the 
popular  representations  of  Hell's  Mouth,  with 
Satan  stood  receiving  the  lost  souls  which  two 
fiends  are  throwing  into  the  pit. 

The  angel  choir,  of  some  three-quarters  of  a 
century  later  than  St.  Hugh's  choir,  was  wisely 
made  similar  in  its  general  characteristics,  though 
in  the  proportions  of  its  elevation  and  the  execu- 
tion of  its  details  it  is  beyond  comparison  the 
superior.  The  sculptures,  which  have  suggested 
the  name  by  which  the  presbytery  is  known,  are 
more  than  an  instance  of  this  superiority,  being 
without  rivals  as  examples  of  true  art  in  the  archi- 
tectural ornament  of  any  known  building.  They 
occupy  the  spandrils  of  the  triforium,  and  are  em- 
phatically sculptures  rather  than  stone-carvings, 
being  the  work  of  artists  rather  than  masons. 
They  shew  traces  of  being  the  work  of  more  than 
one  hand,  some  being  much  better  than  others  ; 
and  were  executed  before  being  placed.  Though 
splendidly  congruous,  and  shewing  what  Gothic 
might  have  been  if  art  had  not  been  so  far  behind 
Architecture,  these  noble  and  graceful  figures  are 


LINCOLN  CATHEDRAL,  21 

exotics  ;  perhaps  they  were  executed  by  some 
Italian  artist,  whose  name — if  we  could  but  know 
it — would  be  familiar  to  us,  and,  whether  that  be 
so  or  no,  are  the  production  of  genius  of  the 
first  order. 

The  cloisters,  which  are  small  and  slight, 
though  charmingly  graceful,  Bishop  Sutton  built  in 
1295.  He  also  erected  a  wall  round  the  precincts 
(the  monks  being  much  subject  to  disturbance  from 
the  ungodly  before  they  had  this  protection),  and 
began  the  court  of  the  vicars  choral.  Bishop 
Sutton  practically  finished  the  cathedral.  John 
D'Alderby,  who  followed  him,  built  up  the 
central  tower  in  1307,  completed  the  cloisters, 
with  their  vestibule  from  the  north  transept,  the 
choir  screens,  and  the  Easter  Sepulchre,  all  of 
the  Geometric  Decorated. 

The  face  of  the  south  transept  was  rebuilt,  its 
fine  circular  curvilinear  windows  inserted,  and  the 
parapets  of  the  west  front  and  south  aisle  added, 
as  well  as  the  organ  screen,  in  1320-60,  a  period 
which  may  have  been  in  the  time  of  Henry 
Burghersh  (1320-40)  or  Thomas  Bek  (1342-47). 
Bishop  Bek  was  the  brother  of  Anthony  Bek, 
Bishop  of  Durham,  and  he  it  was  who,  while 
Bishop  of  St.  David's,  defrayed  the  whole  cost 


22  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

of  the    pageantry   of  consecration   of  the   angel 
choir. 

To  the  date  which  is  understood  by  Early 
Perpendicular  belong  the  higher  stages  of  the 
west  towers,  the  rows  of  kings  on  the  west  front, 
and  the  vaulting  of  the  towers,  the  credit  of 
which  work,  in  the  absence  of  any  particular 
information,  must  be  shared  by  John  Gynwell, 
Bishop  1347-62,  and  John  de  Buckingham 
(1363-98). 

The  fine  series  of  stalls  were  given  by  John  de 
Welbourn,  the  cathedral  treasurer,  in  the  time  of 
John  de  Buckingham,  but  the  miserere  carvings 
appear  to  be  of  later  date.  They  are  of  the  usual 
miscellaneous  character,  including  many  semi- 
satirical  subjects,  but,  though  executed  with  skill 
and  finish,  lack  something  of  the  bold  originality 
of  style  which  marks  similar  sets  in  some  other 
places. 

Fully  developed  Perpendicular  supplies  nothing 
to  the  present  design  of  Lincoln  Cathedral,  and 
the  only  details  of  that  style  which  can  be  pointed 
out  with  certainty  are  the  inserted  west  window 
and 'the  accumulation  of  beautiful  chantry  chapels, 
though  several  authorities  concur  in  considering 
that  the  spires  of  the  towers  were  of  this  date. 


LINCOLN  CATHEDRAL.  23 

Some  of  the  chantry  tombs  are  remarkably 
fine,  those  of  the  Burghersh  family  being  of  great 
interest. 

The  dispensary  of  the  cathedral  adjoins  the 
north  lesser  transept.  It  was  an  upper  chamber, 
but  the  floor  is  now  gone,  and  the  curious  recesses 
for  drugs  are  looked  up  to  from  the  space  below. 
The  windows  of  this  lower  room  have  the 
original  shutters,  bound  with  iron. 

Up  to  the  Reformation,  Lincoln  was  the  finest 
and  richest  cathedral  in  the  kingdom.  King 
Henry  VIII.,  in  1540,  had  removed  from  it  to 
his  coffers  2621  ounces  of  pure  gold  and  4285 
ounces  of  silver,  St.  Hugh's  shrine  of  pure  gold, 
and  Bishop  (St.  John)  D'Alderby's  of  silver, 
besides  an  immense  quantity  of  precious  stones. 
There  was  even  then  left  behind  sufficient  to 
furnish  a  second  plunder,  eight  years  later,  when 
Bishop  Holbech,  in  his  zeal  for  the  Reformation, 
gave  up  all  that  was  left. 

In  length,  east  to  west,  the  cathedral  is  530 
feet,  in  breadth,  from  north  to  south  of  the  great 
transept,  227  feet. 

The  two  western  towers,  St.  Mary's  and-  St. 
Hugh's,  are  200  feet  high;  with  their  wood  spires, 
which  were  removed  in  1808,  they  reached  301 


24  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

feet.  The  central  tower,  called  "  the  Broad 
Tower," — the  vaulting  of  which  is  127  from  the 
floor, — rises  to  the  height  of  271  feet,  and  is  the 
highest  central  tower  in  England.  The  wood 
spire  of  this  was  blown  down  in  1547,  the  total 
height  previously  being  525  feet,  and  would,  if  it 
now  existed,  be  fourteen  feet  higher  than  the 
soaring  spires  of  Cologne. 

Lincoln  Cathedral  occupies  the  proud  pre- 
eminence of  being  the  earliest  pure  Gothic 
building  in  Europe,  and  its  interest,  great  on  that 
account,  is  enhanced  by  its  embracing,  in  an 
almost  harmonious  whole,  instances  of  every 
phase  through  which  Gothic  architecture  passed  ; 
beyond  which,  it  may  be  said  that  its  examples 
are  not  only  most  early,  but  excellent. 


Xincoln  Castle. 

BY  E.  MANSEL  SYMPSON,  M.A.,  M.D.  CANTAB. 

ON  approaching  Lincoln  by  the  Old  North 
Road,  the  Ermine  Street,  and  while  still 
a  mile  or  so  away  from  the  city,  two  prominent 
objects  catch  the  eye.  One,  the  Cathedral, 
"  towering  in  its  pride  of  place,"  the  other,  a  long 
low  mass  of  grey,  yet  still  high  above  the  sur- 
rounding houses, — the  Castle.  Approaching 
Lincoln  from  the  South,  the  same  effect  is 
noticed,  only  less  prominently,  as  all  the  houses 
on  the  slope  are  manifest  as  well.  How  much 
more  then  in  the  fifteenth  century,  when  the 
castle  towers,  now  shorn  of  well-nigh  half  their 
height,  must  have  formed  a  grim  contrast  to  the 
delicate  stonework  and  the  heavenward  pointing 
spires  of  our  noble  Cathedral. 

For  many  a  year  after  the  Norman  Conquest, 
most  places  of  any  importance  were  under  these 
two  dominions,  that  of  the  Church  and  that  of  the 
Soldier.  Sometimes  the  two  agreed  not  well 


26  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

together,  as  at  Old  Sarum,  and  to  those  ancient 
quarrels  the  beautiful  Cathedral  and  the  town  of 
Salisbury  are  witnesses  to  this  day.^  The  two 
characters  were  not  uncommonly  found  in  the 
same  person,  as  in  our  Bishop  Alexander  (to 
whom  we  probably  owe  the  three  west  doors  of 
the  Cathedral),  who,  following  in  his  uncle, 
Roger  of  Salisbury's  footsteps,  built  for  himself 
castles  at  Newark,  Sleaford,  and  Banbury. 

A  brief  sketch  of  the  manner  of  castle  building 
(not  in  Spain,  or  the  Editor  would  soon  put 
a  practical  veto  on  this  paper),  in  Britain  among 
the  various  nations  who  have  dwelt  here,  may 
make  it  tolerably  clear  how  this  castle  of  Lincoln 
has  assumed  its  present  form. 

First,  then,  let  us  take  the  British.  They 
selected  the  summits  of  hills  or  other  naturally 
strong  positions  for  their  forts.  These  were 
defended  by  a  ditch  and  rampart,  sometimes 
double,  and  varying  in  shape  and  material  with 
the  situation.  Thus  in  Wiltshire,  the  walls  are 
of  earth,  in  Wales  (as  at  Pen-maen-mawr),  and 
Cornwall  (as  at  Castle  en  Dinas  and  Chun),  they 
consist  of  stones  piled  together,  with  a  little  earth 


*  The  Bishop  and  Clergy  having  removed  from  Old  Sarum  to  the 
site  of  the  present  city,  and  there  built  the  Cathedral. 


LINCOLN  CASTLE.  27 

occasionally,  to  form  a  very  effectual  defence. 
Have  we  any  remains  of  British  fortifications  in 
Lincoln  ?  Probably  not,  though  certain  earth- 
works on  the  Riseholme,  the  great  North  Road, 
have  been  assigned  to  this  people  by  some 
authorities. 

But,  judging  from  the  rectangular  character  of 
these  works,  the  way  in  which  the  Roman  road 
bisects  them,  their  distance  from  the  city  (600  or 
700  yards)  and  the  extreme  probability  that  the 
British  would  have  placed  their  castle  where  all 
the  succeeding  nations  have,  i.e.,  on  the  brow  of 
the  hill,  these  earthworks  are  either  Roman  or 
erected  by  Romanized  British,  to  defend  their 
store  of  cattle  from  attack. 

The  Roman  method  of  fortification  was  as 
follows  :  every  night,  when  an  army  was  on  a 
march,  a  square  camp  was  constructed  by  forming 
a  deep  and  wide  ditch,  and  a  rampart  on  the 
inner  side  of  the  ditch  from  the  earth  thrown  up 
from  it.  Then  stakes  were  firmly  driven  into  the 
rampart,  four  gates  were  made,  one  in  each  side 
of  the  square,  and  the  defences  were  complete. 
Their  method  of  fortifying  permanently,  as  at 
Lincoln,  was  just  the  same,  save  that  the  ditch 
and  earthern  rampart  were  of  greater  size,  and 


28  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

that,  springing  from  the  natural  level  of  the 
ground,  as  a  kind  of  facing  to  the  earthwork,  and 
elevated  over  it,  a  stone  wall  took  the  place  of 
the  palisades  of  the  temporary  camp.  In .  the 
castle,  undoubtedly,  the  existence  of  the  Roman 
walls  (or  their  ruins,  for  they  almost  certainly 
were  ruined  in  Saxon  times)  has  caused  the 
present  plan  as  far  as  the  west  and  south  walls 
are  concerned.  In  the  west  wall,  or  rather  in 
the  earthern  rampart  on  which  it  stands,  just 
north  of  the  sallyport  (which  we  shall  treat  of 
presently)  was  the  old  Roman  west  gate,  which 
was  discovered  in  1836,  but  which  unfortunately 
fell  down  forthwith.  In  the  observatory  mound, 
at  the  south-east  angle  of  the  Castle,  are  some 
portions  of  the  Roman  south  wall  of  the  city.* 

The  Saxon  method  of  defending  a  position  was 
by  making  huge  earthworks  round  the  area,  sur- 
rounded by  a  ditch,  and  surmounted  by  palisades 
or  fencing  of  wood.  Inside  the  area,  or  forming- 
part  of  this  earthern  wall,  but  always  with  its 
own  ditch,  was  a  large  mound,  which  would 
represent  the  keep  of  later  days.  Occasionally 
there  were  two  mounds,  as  in  this  very  castle, 

*  The  first  south  wall,  for  even  in  Roman  times,  the  original  city 
was  too  small  for  its  inhabitants,  and  had  to  extend  its  limits  towards 
the  river  and  Brayford. 


LINCOLN  CASTLE.  29 

the  keep  and  the  observatory  mounds.  All  the 
earthworks,  then,  belonging  to  the  present  castle, 
are  almost  certainly  of  Saxon  date.  They  con- 
sist of  these  two  circular  mounds  already 
mentioned,  both  in  the  line  of  the  outer  walls, 
and  of  a  nearly  continuous  earthern  rampart, 
beginning  at  the  south-west  angle,  running  due 

O  O  O        '  O 

north  to  the  north-west  angle,  then  along  the 
north  side  to  the  north-east  angle,  and  lessening 

O        '  O 

to  the  Eastgate,  where  it  stops.  It  is  about 
fifty  to  eighty  yards  broad,  and  from  twenty  to 
thirty  feet  in  height,  internally,  as  Mr. 
Clark  *  notes,  of  easy  slope  ;  externally  steep. 

On  these  mounds  and  earthworks,  William  the 
Conqueror,  in  1068,  ordered  fortifications  to  be 
erected,  and  in  the  execution  of  this  order,  one 
hundred  and  seventy-six  houses  were  destroyed, 
probably  because  they  were  situated  on  the 
glacis,  or  actually  inside  the  castle  area.  Most 
likely  these  fortifications  were  of  wood  (as  we 
know  some  of  William's  at  York  were)  and  later 
on  they  were  replaced  in  stone.  At  this  date, 
then,  we  have  left  the  inner  part  of  the  eastern 
gate,  the  western  gate  or  sallyport,  and 

*  See  an  admirable  paper  by  G.  T.  Clark,  Esq.,  on  Lincoln  Castle, 
in  the  Associated  Societies'  Reports  and  Papers  for  1876,  to  which  I 
am  glad  to  record  my  acknowledgments. 


30  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

the  north  and  west  walls.  Mr.  Clark  assigns 
the  keep,  the  wall  running  eastwards  and 
westwards  from  it,  and  the  observatory 
tower,  to  a  rather  later  date,  but  certainly 
before  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century. 
The  front  of  the  eastern  gate,  the  upper  portion 
of  the  observatory  tower,  and  the  tower  called 
Cobb's  Hall  are  all  of  Edwardian  date,  probably 
about  1300,  when  Thomas  of  Lancaster,  Earl  of 
Lincoln,  was  constable  of  the  castle. 

The  gaol  buildings  were  erected  about  1786, 
the  assize  courts  in  1826. 

Here  it  may  be  convenient  to  give  a  short 
account  of  the  existing  buildings. 

The  entrance  to  the  castle  is  now  limited  to 
the  eastern  gate,  facing  Castle  Hill.  This  was 
once  defended  by  a  barbican  consisting  of  two 
walls,  which  started  from  the  present  gate,  crossed 
the  ditch,  and  ended  each  in  a  small  tower.  This 
was  still  standing  in  1790,  when  it  was  removed  to 
make  a  better  approach  to  the  castle.  Between  its 
walls  the  drawbridge  would  be  let  down.  The 
entrance  gate  is  pointed,^  and  has  two  angle 
turrets  over  it,  by  which  access  was  gained  to  the 


*  There  was  a  stone  lion  on  each  side  of  the  gate,  a  portion  of  one 
remains  just  outside  Cobb's  Hall. 


LINCOLN  CASTLE.  31 

walls.  A  little  within  it,  is  the  original  round- 
arched  Norman  gate.  Where  the  present  doors 
stand  was  the  groove  for  the  portcullis,  the 
ancient  doors  having  been  fixed  about  six  feet 
further  west.  On  the  right  hand  side,  on  enter- 
ing, is  seen,  fixed  in  the  wall  of  a  modern  porter's 
lodge,  a  very  beautiful  oriel  window  brought  by 
the  late  Earl  BrownlowJ  for  preservation,  from 
John  of  Gaunt's  palace  *  in  the  lower  town.  It 
dates  probably  from  the  time  of  his  daughter  (by 
Catherine  Swynford),  Joan,  Countess  of  West- 
moreland, who  with  her  mother  was  buried  in  the 
cathedral. 

Passing  through  the  gate,  and  turning  to  our 
left,  we  find  a  large  mound,  about  forty  feet 
high,  capped  with  buildings,  the  observatory 
tower,  which  has  been  already  mentioned. 
The  wall  here  (as  in  many  other  places)  shows 
evidence  of  "  herring  bone"  work,  that  is,  flat 
stones  like  tiles  placed  in  rows  one  above  another, 
but  sloping  in  opposite  directions,  like  the  back- 
bone of  a  fish.  In  Roman  building,  this  work  is 

*  Opposite  the  palace  is  a  fine  Norman  building,  really  the  home  of 
St.  Mary's  Guild,  but  mis-called  John  of  Gaunt's  stables.  Behind 
this  is  a  field,  greatly  used  for  football,  and  occasionally  for  school 
treats.  A  mother  of  a  treated  scholar  was  recently  asked  where  the 
festivity  was  being  held  ;  with  a  nice  sense  of  not  wishing  to  be  too 
familiar,  she  said,  "  Please,  ma'am,  in  Mr.  Gaunt's  Field  !  "  But  Free 
Education  will  end  all  tales  of  this  kind. 


32  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

frequent,  but  it  differs  from  the  Norman  use  of 
it,  by  being  continued  right  through  the  whole 
thickness  of  the  wall,  here  it  only  forms  a  facing. 
Just  where  the  wall  begins  to  ascend  the 
observatory  mound,  may  be  noticed  a  Norman 
arch  blocked  up.  The  observatory  tower  is 
square  itself,  is  composed  of  one  half,  the  western, 
of  Norman  date,  of  two  floors,  with  a  good  stone 
staircase  in  the  wall,  and  an  eastern  half,  of 
fourteenth  century  date,  also  of  two  floors, 
flanked  by  two  square  turrets.  A  modern 
turret  caps  the  whole,  and  gives  its  name  to  the 
tower.  It  was  erected  by  Mr.  Merryweather,  a 
former  governor  of  the  castle,  who  was  of  astro- 
nomical tastes. 

Proceeding  along  the  outer  wall,  westwards 
from  this,  we  come  to  a  large  circular  conical 
mound,  which  supports  the  keep.  This  is  a 
many-sided  building,  of  the  kind  called  shell- 
keeps,  because  it  simply  consists  of  an  outer 
wall,  around  the  inside  of  which  would  be  wooden 
structures,  leaving  a  free  space  in  the  midst. 
The  wall  is  about  twenty  feet  high,  and  eight 
feet  thick,  but  the  parapet  is  entirely  gone. 
Where  the  keep  and  outer  walls  join  are  two 
small  rooms.  That  on  the  eastern  side  has  been 


LINCOLN  CASTLE.  33 

groined  and  vaulted,  and  may  have  been  an 
oratory.  There  are  two  gates,  the  one  facing 
south-west  to  the  outer  slope  of  the  mound,  the 
other  (by  which  admission  is  gained)  north-east 
on  to  the  inner  slope.  The  steps  up  to  this  are 
modern,  but  probably  replace  older  ones  in  the 
same  place.  At  the  south-west  angle  of  the 
castle  wall  is  a  new  piece  of  stone-work,  evidently 
where  a  large  breach  has  existed.  Here  the  city 
west  wall  joined  it,  and  ran  down  by  Mother  by 
Hill  to  Brayford.  The  sally-port  on  the  west 
side  much  resembles  the  eastern  gate,  but  it 
possesses  considerable  remains  of  its  barbican, 
and  it  is  entirely  of  Norman  date.  The  only 
other  building  of  antiquarian  interest  left  to  be 
mentioned  is  the  tower  at  the  north-east  angle, 
called  Cobb's  Hall.  It  is  of  horseshoe  form,  with 
the  curved  portion  projecting  outside  the  angle  of 
the  walls.  It  has  two  storeys,  both  acutely 
vaulted,  and  with  loop-holes  commanding  the 
flanking  walls  and  the  country  (as  it  was !)  opposite. 
The  lower  one  is  reached  by  a  trap-door  and 
ladder,  and  on  some  of  the  stones  may  be  still 
seen  rude  carvings,  which,  doubtless,  have  wiled 
away  some  of  the  many  hours  of  captivity ;  for 
this  was,  we  know,  a  prison.  The  roof  is  reached 


34  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

by  a  stone  staircase,  and  the  battlements  are 
modern.  Here,  in  the  days  of  public  executions 
(happily  no  more),  the  last  act  of  many  a  sordid 
tragedy  was  played  out. 

Before  the  gallows  were  erected  here,  they 
used  to  be  put  at  the  junction  of  three  roads,  at 
the  north-west  angle  of  the  castle,  close  by 
Hangman's  Dyke. 

The  Assize  Courts  and  gaol  need  no  description 
here.  Apart  from  them,  the  view  of  the  grounds 
inside  the  castle,  which  are  very  well  kept  up,  is 
very  pretty,  and  the  banks  well  furnished  with 
trees,  and  the  noble  expanse  of  lawn,  make  a  very 
charming  vista  on  passing  through  the  entrance- 
gate.  In  spring,  there  is  a  particularly 
picturesque  glimpse  of  the  keep  from  just  below 
it,  in  Drury  Lane,  and  even  the  modern  cap  to 
the  observatory  tower  is  harmoniously  designed. 
The  outer  surface  of  the  west  mound  is  covered 
with  trees,  while  the  long  stretch  of  the  north 
wall,  unbroken  by  any  tower  from  angle  to  angle, 
is  very  impressive.  It  is  rather  a  curious  feature 
of  this  castle,  indeed,  that  there  are  so  few  towers 
to  protect  the  walls ;  however,  it  seems,  as  we 
shall  see  presently,  to  have  been  a  very  hard  nut 
to  crack  by  those  who  attacked  it. 


LINCOLN  CASTLE.  35 

A  short  sketch  of  the  chief  historical  events 
connected  with  Lincoln  Castle  will  form  a  fitting 
finish  to  this  paper. 

But  little  is  known  of  the  very  early  history  of 
the  castle,  till,  in  1140,  the  Empress  Maud  made 
herself  master  (if  the  apparent  misnomer  be 
pardoned !)  of  the  city  and  the  castle.  Stephen 
promptly  laid  siege  to  both.  The  castle  was 
soon  taken  by  assault,  though  the  Empress  had 
the  good  fortune  to  effect  her  escape.  Then,  by 
stratagem,  William  de  Romare  (who  had  been 
made  Earl  of  Lincoln  by  King  Stephen)  and 
Ranulph,  Earl  of  Chester,  his  half-brother, 
seized  the  castle,  and  held  it  for  the  Empress. 
Stephen  again  promptly  laid  siege  to  it,  and  the 
Earl  of  Chester  managed  to  escape,  being  lowered 
over  the  walls,  in  this,  resembling  St.  Paul. 
He  joined  the  army  already  in  the  field  under 
the  Empress's  half-brother,  Robert,  Earl  of 
Gloucester,  who  at  once  marched  to  the  relief  of 
the  beleaguered  garrison.  According  to  old 
chroniclers,  the  Earls  swam  the  Trent  at  the  head 
of  their  forces,  and  attacked  Stephen  where  the 
slope  of  the  hill  was  least,  that  is,  on  the  south- 
west side,  where  the  new-formed  Yarborough 
Road  runs  upwards.  Stephen,  after  performing 


36  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

prodigies  of  valour,  was  captured,  and,  from  the 
ease  and  completeness  of  the  victory,  the  battle 
was  known  as  the  "  Joust  of  Lincoln."  It  was 
fought  on  Candlemas  Day,  1141. 

Again  Stephen  regained  his  liberty,  and  again 
besieged  the  Earl  of  Chester  in  the  castle.  This 
was  in  1144.  The  siege  was  again  unsuccessful. 
On  this  occasion,  or  on  the  earlier  one,  he 
executed  those  entrenchments,  which  can  still  be 
seen,  just  to  the  west  of  the  castle,  in  what  is 
now  "  The  Lawn  "  and  a  field  to  the  north  of  it. 
Probably  these  were  made  when  he  first  attacked 
Maud,  because,  the  city  being  hostile  to  him,  he 
could  not  attack  the  castle  from  any  other  side 
but  the  west.  Two  years  after  this,  the  Earl  of 
Chester  was  taken  prisoner,  and  had  to  resign 
the  castle  as  pnrt  of  the  price  of  freedom. 
"During  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,"  writes  Mr. 
Clark,  "  the  Crown  recovered  much  of  its  power, 
and  Lincoln  Castle  seems  to  have  been  dissociated 
from  the  earldom,  though  the  Earl  of  Chester 
preserved  a  hold  upon  it.  Richard  de  Hay  held 
the  constableship  in  fee,  and  it  descended  to  his 
daughter  and  heiress,  Nicholaa,  who  married 
Gerard  de  Camvile,  who  received  from  Richard  I. 
the  custody  of  the  castle  and  the  farm  of  the 


LINCOLN  CASTLE.  37 

revenues  of  the  county.  Gerard,  however,  was  a 
partizan  of  Prince  John,  and  stood  a  siege  in  the 
castle  from  Longchamp,  Chancellor  to  the  absent 
Richard.  The  castle  was  relieved  by  John,  but 
Gerard  lost  his  office  and  farm  in  1194,  until 
John  became  king.  His  widow,  Nicholaa,  held 
the  castle  for  the  king  against  the  insurgent 
lords.  After  the  war,  King  John  visited  Lincoln, 
and  Nicholaa,  then  of  great  age,  received  him  at 
the  east"  (west,  according  to  Mr.  W.  Brooke) 
"  gate  of  the  castle,  and  offered  him  the  keys,  desir- 
ing to  be  relieved  on  account  of  her  age.  John 
gracefully  requested  her  to  retain  the  keys,  and 
she  continued  in  command  throughout  his  reign, 
and  into  that  of  Henry,  his  son."  In  1216, 
Gilbert  de  Gant  *  (who  was  nephew  of  a  Gilbert 
de  Gant,  Earl  of  Lincoln,  who  died  in  1156) 
seized  the  city  for  the  Dauphin  and  the  barons, 
and  laid  siege  to  the  castle.  William,  Earl 
Marsechal,  in  whose  hands,  after  the  death  of 
John,  the  royal  authority  was  vested,  assembled 
an  army  and  marched  to  Newark.  There,  the 
legate  of  the  Pope  excommunicated  the  army  of 
the  Dauphin  and  the  barons,  and  the  whole  city 
of  Lincoln. 

*  He  was  made  Earl  of  Lincoln  by  the  Dauphin,  Prince  Louis  of 
France. 


38  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

"  Upon  the  approach  (of  the  Earl  Marshall 
and  his  army),"  says  Speed,  "if  the  Counsell  of 
some  English  Lords  had  beene  followed,  the 
Lewysian  Army  had  issued  forth  of  the  City, 
and  giuen  them  Battle  in  the  open  field ;  but  the 
Earle  of  Perch  (the  French  Generall),  thinking 
the  King's  party  to  be  greater  than  it  was,  for 
that  the  Noblemen  and  Bannerets  thereof  had 
each  of  them  two  Ensignes,  the  one  borne  with 
themselues,  the  other  advanced  among  the 
carriages,  which  doubled  the  shew  of  their 
numbers ;  they  did,  thereupon,  change  that 
course,  closed  the  gates  of  the  City,  and  plyed 
their  endeavours  against  the  Castle  more  fiercely 
than  before.  The  Earle  of  Pembroke  (the  Earl 
Marshall)  therfore  lets  Falcasius  (a  well-known 
soldier  of  fortune)  slippe  in  at  the  Castle-posterne 
with  his  Arbalasters,  whiles  others  breake  vp  the 
South-gate  of  the  Citie,  at  which  the  King's 
Army  most  couragiously  entring,  and  they  of  the 
Castle  sallying  out  in  Flancke  of  the  Enemy, 
scattered  and  utterly  defeated  the  Lewysians. 
.  .  .  The  whole  riches  of  the  Lewysian  campe, 
and  of  the  Citie  of  Lincolne,  became  the  booty 
and  spoyle  of  the  King's  Army,  wherupon,  this 
discomfiture  was  called  Lewis  Fair."  The 


LINCOLN  CASTLE.  39 

more  general  term,  I  imagine,  was  Lincoln 
Fair. 

From  that  date  to  that  of  the  struggle  between 
King  Charles  and  the  Parliament,  the  castle's 
record  has  all  the  silence  of  probable  peace.  In 
1642-3,  orders  were  sent  from  the  Parliament  to 
have  all  the  prisoners  removed  to  a  place  of 
safety,  and  that  the  castle  should  be  put  in  the 
hands  of  the  Earl  of  Lincoln,  and  be  fortified. 
However,  shortly  afterwards,  we  find  the  Royalist 
party  in  possession,  with  Sir  Francis  Fane  as 
Governor. 

In  1644,  the  Earl  of  Manchester  attacked 
the  lower  city,  and  became  master  of  it. 
Two  days  afterwards,  he  carried  the  close  and  the 
castle  by  assault,  fifty  of  the  besieged  were  killed, 
and  more  than  700  captured.  With  this  event, 
the  martial  history  of  the  castle  closes,  never,  let 
us  hope,  to  be  re-opened.  Prisoners,  indeed, 
there  are  and  have  been  within  its  walls,  but 
prisoners  (except  perhaps  in  1745)  of  the  civil 
power  alone. 

The  castle  originally,  of  course,  was  Crown 
property,  and  the  custodian  or  constable  was 
appointed  by  the  Crown.  Thus  we  have  seen 
Nicholaa,  a  lady,  held  it  in  the  reign  of  John. 


40  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Henry  III.  conferred  it  on  William  de  Longespde, 
Earl  of  Salisbury,  in  1224,  who  married  the 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Gerard  de  Camvile,  who 
has  been  mentioned  above. 

William's  great  granddaughter  Alice  married 
Thomas,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  grandson  of 
Henry  III.,  and  thus  it  was  conveyed 
into  the  Duchy  (afterwards  made)  of  Lancaster, 
as  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  Henry,  Earl 
of  Lancaster  and  Lincoln  (the  nephew  and 
heir  of  Thomas),  who  was  created  Duke  of 
Lancaster  in  1351,  and  whose  daughter 
Blanche  married  John  of  Gaunt,  "  Time-honoured 
Lancaster."  Their  son  was  Henry  IV.,  so  the 
Constableship  and  the  Earldom  became  again 
vested  in  the  Crown.  The  latter  was  revived 
several  times,  and  now  is  a  title  of  the  Ducal 
family  of  Newcastle. 

In  1832,  it  was  sold  by  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster 
to  the  County  of  Lincoln. 

Finally,  the  castle,  if  anywhere,  is  the  proper 
place  for  one  of  Lincoln's  greatest  needs  (from  an 
intellectual  point  of  view,  the  greatest) — a 
museum. 

It  is  a  distinct  and  damaging  blot  upon 
Lincoln  as  a  city  that  it  has  nothing  of  the 


LINCOLN  CASTLE.  41 

kind.^  Rich  in  archaeological  remains,  rich  in 
history,  rich  in  modern  mechanism,  rich  in  its 
cathedral,  it  is  yet  absolutely  poor  in  the  very 
thing  to  bring  all  these  branches  of  education 
together  into  a  focus.  And  there  would  be  no 
difficulty  about  filling  a  museum  which  had  been 
started.  Archaeological  collections,  more  or  less 
public,  are  fairly  numerous.  First-rate  geological, 
botanical,  and  entomological  collections  could  be 
obtained  without  much  difficulty  to  illustrate  the 
natural  history  of  the  district.  The  same  with 
birds  and  beasts.  Then  the  various  trades  of  the 
city  should  have  full  recognition  of  their  wants, 
particularly  that  of  iron  and  steel  work.  And 
probably  there  is  no  place  where  a  museum  could 
be  more  easily  or  more  profitably  situated  than  in 
those  very  castle  grounds  which  have  been 
described  just  now.  It  has  visitors  now,  it  would 
have  crowds  with  a  museum  within  its  walls, 
especially  if  local  art  were  to  be  exhibited,  and 
we  have  abundance  of  local  art ;  while  loans  from 
South  Kensington  (such  as  are  lent  to  the  Science 
and  Art  School,  Monk's  Road)  and  from  the 

*  The  Science  and  Art  Schools,  indeed,  have  a  room  open  free  as  a 
small  museum,  to  which  Bishop  Trollope  has  recently  given  a  most 
valuable  collection  of  local  Saxon  "finds,"  and  which  has  contribu- 
tions from  South  Kensington. 


42  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

county  families  would  serve  to  change  the 
exhibits  from  time  to  time.  Let  us  hope  that 
Lincoln  will  lose  no  time  in  supplying  this  great 
defect  in  her  public  institutions,  and  will  provide 
a  fitting  shrine  for  the  many  objects  of  art, 
of  science,  and  of  archaeology  which  she 
possesses. 


Gattersball,  its  Xorbs,  its  Castle,  ant)  its 
Cburcb, 

BY  E.  MANSEL  SYMPSON,  M.A.,  M.D.  CANTAB. 
A  NCIENT  castles,  in  this  island  at  least,  are 
±1-  always  interesting,  whether  from  their 
remote  antiquity,  like  those  in  Wiltshire,  Wales, 
and  Cornwall,  from  the  story  of  their  gallant 
defence  like  Newark,  from  their  comparative 
perfection  like  Caernarvon,  or  from  their  associa- 
tion with  history  like  The  Tower  of  London,  or 
with  the  magic  of  romance  like  Conisboro'  or 
Carlisle.  Again,  they  are  often  among  the  most 
picturesque  objects  of  our  country,  as  Beaumaris, 
Dunolly,  and  Tantallon  may  testify,  while  to 
antiquarians  they  present  a  world  of  interest  as 
their  plan,  their  builders,  and  their  history  are 
discussed,  occasionally  with  a  vigour  which  re- 
calls the  fights  their  walls  have  witnessed. 

Tattershall,  it  is  true,  can  lay  claim  to  but  few 
of  these  charms  ;  a  huge  square  pile  of  almost 
(Hurstrnoncaux  excepted)  the  noblest  brickwork 


44  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

in  the  kingdom,  it  can  scarcely  be  called  pictur- 
esque, it  has  no  sieges  whereof  to  tell  us,  and 
its  plan  and  arrangements  are  fairly  well  known. 
Nevertheless  its  size,  the  beauty  of  its  workman- 
ship, and  the  noble  families  who  have  been 
connected  with  it,  may  well  justify  a  short 
account  appearing  in  "  Bygone  Lincolnshire." 

The  manor  of  Tateshale  (as  it  was  then  written) 
and  Tateshale  Thorp,  were  given  by  William  the 
Conqueror  to  one  of  his  attendant  knights,  called 
Eudo.  His  son,  Hugh  FitzEudo,  also  distin- 
guished by  the  surname  of  Le  Breton,  in  1139, 
erected  the  neighbouring  Cistercian  Abbey  of 
Kirkstead.  A  small  fragment — part  of  the  south 
transept  apparently — alone  is  left,  reminding  one 
of  the  stately  remains  at  Kirkstall  and  Roche,  by 
its  unadorned  simplicity  of  style,  which  distin- 
guished the  early  buildings  of  the  Cistercian, 
itself  a  reformed  branch  of  the  Benedictine  order. 
In  the  chapel — one  of  the  daintiest  specimens  of 
Early  English  (and  containing  some  of  the 
earliest  wooden  screen  work)  in  the  kingdom, — 
a  few  yards  south  of  the  Abbey  ruin,  is  a  Purbeck 
marble  figure  of  an  armed  knight, .  which,  from 
the  fashion  of  the  helmet  and  other  evidence, 
is  believed  to  be  that  of  Robert  de  Tateshale 


TATTERSHALL.  45 

and  Kirkstead  (a  great-grandson  of  Hugh  le 
Breton),  who  died  in  1212.  His  son,  also  a 
Robert,  in  1231,  obtained  a  license  from  Henry 
III.  to  erect  a  castle  of  stone  here.  No  remains 
of  that  castle  are  known  to  exist  now  ;  it  seems 
doubtful  whether  some  portions  may  not  have 
endured  into  the  early  years  of  the  present 
century,  but  this  will  be  alluded  to  later  on. 
If  these  were  not  so,  then  probably  the  first  castle 
— as  far  as  the  masonry  at  least — was  entirely 
swept  away  when  the  second  castle  was  rising 
on  its  site  in  all  its  whilom  magnificence.  The 
grandson  of  the  castle-builder  was  summoned 
to  Parliament,  in  1297,  as  the  first  Baron  de 
Tateshale,  and  died  in  1298.  His  daughter,  . 
Joan,  married  Robert  Driby,  and  their  daughter 
married  Sir  William  Bernack.  Their  son,  Sir 
John  Bernack,  married  Joan,  daughter  and  co- 
heir of  Robert,  second  Baron  Marmion  of 
Widdrington.  This  is  another  link  (besides 
Scrivelsby,  *  which,  with  Tamworth,  had  been 
granted  to  Robert  de  Marmion,  Lord  of  Fon- 
tenay,  by  William  I.,  and  held  by  the  service 
of  being  the  royal  champion,  as  the  ancestors 

*  The  parish  of  St.  Michael's,  Coningsby,  only  a  mile  away  from 
Tattershall,  also  belonged  to  the  ancient  baronial  family  of  Marmion. 


46  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

of  Marmion  had  been  to  the  Dukes  of  Normandy) 
between  Lincolnshire  and  this  noble  family.  One 
of  Sir  John  Bernack's  children,  Maude,  married 
Sir  Ralph  Cromwell,  afterwards  Baron  Cromwell, 
who  died  in  1398.  The  family  of  Cromwell 
seems  to  have  been  settled  in  the  villages  of 
Cromwell  and  Lambley  (a  few  miles  north-east 
of  Nottingham),  in  Nottinghamshire,  since  about 
1166,  and,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  ancestors  of  the  "  Hammer  of 
the  Monks,"  as  Thomas  Cromwell  was  called,  or 
of  Oliver,  the  Protector. 

The  Cromwells  had  already,  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  been  allied  with  the  family  of  Marmion, 
as  the  third  Ralph  Cromwell  married  Mazera, 
second  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Philip  de 
Marmion,  Lord  "  of  Tarn  worth  tower  and  town." 
The  second  Ralph,  Lord  Cromwell,  died  in  1416, 
and  his  son,  the  third  Ralph,  Baron  Cromwell, 
Lord  Treasurer  of  the  Exchequer,  married 
Margaret,  daughter  of  John,  Lord  Deincourt, 
built  the  present  castle  and  church  of  Tattershall, 
and  died  childless  in  1455.  It  would  be  but  a 
tedious  task  for  my  readers  if  I  were  to  recount 
the  various  generations  of  possessors  of  Tatters- 
hall  since  that  date ;  suffice  it  to  say  then,  as 


TATTERSHALL.  47 

with  many  other  estates,  it  was  granted  by 
Henry  VIII.  to  his  absorbing  brother-in-law, 
Charles  Brandon,  Duke  of  Suffolk,  in  1522,  again 
by  Edward  VI.  to  Edward,  Lord  Clinton  and 
Say  (afterwards  Earl  of  Lincoln),  whose  great- 
grandson,  Theophilus,  petitioned  Parliament  for 
a  grant,  as  the  tower  had  been  injured  during 
the  civil  war ;  that  it  continued  in  the  male 
line  of  that  family  till  1693,  when  a  cousin, 
Bridget,  married  Hugh  Fortesque,  an  ancestor 
of  the  present  noble  owner,  the  Earl  Fortescue. 

So  much  for  the  Lords  and  Ladies  of  Tatters- 
hall,  all  of  my  pleasant  duty  that  now  remains  is  to 
give  the  readers  some  ideas  of  the  past  and  present 
state  of  this  once  magnificent  fortalice.  It  was 
built,  as  has  been  stated  above,  by  Ralph,  the  third 
Baron  Cromwell,  at  a  cost,  historians  tell  us, 
of  4,000  marks  (a  mark — 13s.  4d.)  We  can  date 
its  erection,  as  the  late  Mr.  Nicholson^  pointed 
out,  within  a  very  few  years  by  the  heraldry 
which  forms  its  most  prevalent  ornament.  .  There 
are  the  arms  of  Tattershall,  which  might  be 
used  by  any  Lord  of  Tattershall  since  William 
I.  ;  of  Driby,  which  would  date  from  the  reign 

*  In  an  admirable  paper  on  Tattershall,  in  the  Lincolnshire  Topo- 
graphical Society's  volume,  1843,  which  has  furnished  much  of  value 
for  this  article. 


48  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

of  Henry  III.  ;  those  of  Bernack  and  Cromwell 
from  Richard  II.,  but  Cromwell  arid  Tattershall 
impaling  Deincourt  (what  an  Eastern  atrocity 
this  sounds  to  non-heraldic  ears !)  shows  that 
not  until  after  the  Treasurer's  marriage  with 
Margaret  Deincourt  could  the  castle  have  been 
thus  decorated,  and  as  there  were  no  children  of 
that  marriage,  there  could  have  been  no  such 
union  of  arms  after  their  death.  Then  again, 
the  frequent  repetition  of  the  Purse,  the  Badge 
of  Office,  marks  the  period  of  building  as  that 
of  Ralph  being  Lord  Treasurer,  i.e.,  from  1433- 
1443.  It  is  an  interesting  thought  for  Lincoln- 
shire folk  that  very  probably  a  celebrated 
Lincolnshire  man,  William  Patten,  of  Waynflete, 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  was  the  architect  of 
"  these  bricky  towers,"  as  Spenser  terms  the 
Temple  in  the  Strand.  He  was  a  great  architect, 
a  personal  friend  of  Lord  Cromwell's,  and  was 
one  of  his  executors  ;  the  church  of  Tattershall 
being  unfinished  at  Cromwell's  death,  William 
of  Waynflete  helped  to  complete  it,  having  very 
possibly  designed  it  also. 

The  plan  of  a  mediaeval  castle  was,  generally 
speaking,  as  follows.  There  was  an  outer  wall, 
with  a  ditch  surrounding  it,  over  which  a  draw- 


TATTERSHALL.  49 

bridge  would  give  access  to  the  main  entrance. 
Then  separated  from  the  first  wall  by  a  second 
ditch,  would  be  a  second — the  inner  wall.  Both 
walls  would  be  strengthened  by  towers  at 
appropriate  points.  Within  this  inner  ward  (as 
the  space  inside  the  inner  wall  was  termed)  the 
chief  living-rooms,  the  barracks,  so  to  speak, 
would  stand.  Finally  there  would  be  the  donjon, 
or  keep,  the  strongest  of  the  castle-buildings, 
built  very  frequently  on  a  mound, — these  mounds 
being  due  in  many  cases  to  Saxon  engineering 
skill, — and  capable  of  itself  withstanding  for  some 
time  any  hostile  attack,  even  though  the  rest 
of  the  castle  was  in  the  enemy's  hands.  Those 
who  have  seen  Conisboro'  Castle,  in  Yorkshire, 
will  have  a  good  idea  of  a  Norman  keep. 

Tattershall  Castle  was  defended  by  an  in- 
complete outer  moat,  which  starting  at  the 
north-east  angle,  went  along  the  north  and  west 
sides  and  joined  the  river  Bain  :  there  is  still 
some  water  in  portions  of  this  ditch.  The  inner 
moat  was  complete,  and  the  wall  surrounding 
it  is  still  in  fair  condition ;  it  was  supplied  with 
water  by  a  culvert  from  the  outer  rnoat  about 
the  middle  of  the  north  side,  which  is  plainly 
visible,  and  which  was  specially  defended  by 


50  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

a  strong  tower.  Between  the  two  moats  at 
various  parts  of  the  outer  wall  were  some 
guard-houses  (portions  of  which  still  exist),  the 
tower  just  mentioned,  and  on  the  east  side,  where 
there  is  no  outer  moat,  there  was  an  outstanding 
Barbican  (part  of  which  still  remains  as  a  private 
house),  probably  to  defend  the  main  entrance, 
which  was  nearly  in  the  same  line  as  the  present 
pathway.  The  inner  ward  now  is  almost  flat, 
it  unfortunately  was  levelled  early  in  the  present 
century.  However,  from  a  plate,  published  by 
Buck,  in  1727,  which  is  in  the  writer's  possession, 
we  can  gather  that  at  that  date  the  entrance 
gate,  protected  by  a  portcullis  and  with  turrets 
at  the  angles,  the  eastern  portion  of  the  chapel, 
showing  an  apse  with  three  perpendicular 
windows,  and  great  part  of  the  dining-hall,  with  a 
bay  window  (just  as  the  College  Halls  of  Cam- 
bridge have  now),  were  standing.  There  are 
also  some  buildings  visible  in  the  print,  which 
Mr.  Nicholson  thought  to  be  of  Henry  Ill's. 
date,  and  so  to  be  remains  of  the  first  castle 
on  this  site.  Now  we  come  to  the  chief  feature 
of  the  place,  the  so-called  Castle,  which  in  reality 
was  only  the  representative  of  the  keep  of  earlier 
days.  It  is  eighty-seven  feet  long  by  sixty-nine 


TATTERSHALL.  51 

feet  wide,  and  the  parapet  of  its  angle  turrets 
is  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  twelve  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  ground  at  its  base.  Brick  is  the 
main  element  in  its  composition  ;  there  have  been 
varied  patterns  in  brick- work  on  its  walls,  and 
some  of  the  groining  of  brick  in  the  upper 
rooms  is  most  delicately  moulded,  and  may  well 
serve  for  a  lesson  to  us,  even  in  this  nineteenth 
century,  in  artistic  workmanship.  Stone  is  used 
for  the  windows,  the  machicolations,  and  the 
chimney-pieces,  which  are  very  fine,  and  are 
ornamented  with  coats  of  arms,  and  the  Treasurer's 
Badge.  The  coping  of  the  battlements,  as  Bishop 
Trollope  has  pointed  out,  *  is  not  of  stone,  as  it 
appears  to  be,  but  of  excellent  cement.  The  large 
windows,  which  are  quite  as  evident  on  the  west 
or  exposed  side  as  on  that  facing  the  inner  ward, 
show  that  the  great  change  in  warfare  was  in 
process,  that  "  villainous  saltpetre  "  was  changing 
the  type  of  fortification  from  a  massive  tall  keep 
like  Rochester  or  Conisboro'  to  low  walled  earth- 
works such  as  those  which  still  surround  Berwick, 
and  which  were  erected  in  the  time  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.  Also,  these  windows  show  that  the 

*  In  a  paper  on  "  The  Use  and  Abuse  of  Red  Bricks,"  Associated 
Architectural  Societies'  Reports  and  Papers,  1858,  to  which  I  am  glad 
to  confess  considerable  indebtedness. 


52  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

nobleman's  Castle  was  changing  into  the  noble- 
man's Palace,  of  which  again  the  Elizabethan 
buildings  such  as  Longleat,  Hatfield,  or  Haddon 
Hall  are  the  finest  examples.  Access  is  gained 
to  all  the  rooms  above  the  ground-floor  by  a 
spiral  or  newel  staircase  in  the  south-east  turret, 
the  hand-rail,  continuous  and  ingeniously  moulded 
in  stone,  being  noticeable.  There  seem  to  have 
been  no  less  than  forty-eight  separate  apartments, 
four  of  these  being  very  large,  and  occupying  the 
centre  of  the  building,  one  over  another.  That 
on  the  ground-floor  may  possibly  have  been  the 
common  hall  ;  it  is  entered  by  a  door  on  the 
east  side,  has  large  and  beautiful  windows,  and 
a  very  elegant  fireplace.  The  corresponding  room 
on  the  first  floor  may  have  been  the  hall  of 
state.  Over  that  again  were  two  more  large 
rooms,  on  the  second  and  third  stories,  the  latter 
being  far  the  loftiest  of  the  series.  Their  floors 
would  be  of  timber,  overspread  with  plaster, 
and  at  the  top  of  the  third  storey  there  was  a 
lead  roof.  In  the  eastern  wall  on  the  second 
floor  is  a  beautiful  vaulted  gallery,  on  the  third 
floor  this  is  made  into  two  apartments,  which  are 
vaulted  in  brick  in  a  still  richer  style  than  the 
former.  At  the  top,  a  covered-in  gallery,  well 


TATTERSHALL.  53 

supplied  with  loop-holes,  runs  round  partly  over 
the  machicolations  (as  the  holes  under  the 
projecting  parapet  are  called,  through  which 
the  defenders  could  securely  pour  "  boiling  oil 
or  something  humorous  "-—as  the  Savoyard  poet 
sings, — on  their  assailants  when  they  had  reached 
the  foot  of  the  wall  and  were  out  of  reach  of 
ordinary  missiles),  arid  the  walls,  from  turret 
to  turret.  In  each  of  these  turrets  there  are 
fireplaces,  partly  no  doubt  for  the  warders' 
comfort,  but  chiefly  for  the  prompt  supply  of 
material  for  the  warm  welcome  which  has  just 
been  mentioned.  On  the  south  of  the  inner 
court  is  a  large  piece  of  ground,  elevated  and 
surrounded  by  a  stone  wall  except  on  its  eastern 
side,  this  may  have  been  used  for  tilting  and 
other  exercises.  Eastwards  it  joins  a  still  larger 
portion  of  ground  on  the  south  of  the  church, 
probably  the  garden  of  the  castle,  this  is  walled 
in  (with  brick)  and  in  the  spandrils  of  a  doorway 
in  the  south  wall  are  the  arms  of  Tattershall  and 
Cromwell,  and  Deincourt. 

About  four  miles  from  Tattershall  are  the 
remains  of  another  tower — Tower  le  Moor — of 
the  same  date  and  construction  (only  much 
smaller,  it  was  not  more  than  sixty  feet  high,  and 


54  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

only  one  angle  exists ;  more  is  to  be  seen  in 
Buck's  sketch,  about  1727,  also  in  the  writer's 
possession)  as  Tattershall  Castle,  and  probably 
built  by  Lord  Cromwell  as  a  hunting  box. 

A  brief  reference  to  the  once  Collegiate  Church 
of  Holy  Trinity,  Tattershall,  may  well  close  this 
paper.  It  was  chiefly  built  and  endowed  by  the 
same  Robert,  third  Lord  Cromwell,  for  seven 
priests,  six  secular  clerks,  and  six  choristers,  but, 
being  unfinished  at  his  death,  was  completed  by 
Bishop  William  of  Waynflete.  The  church  is 
large,  well  proportioned,  and  with  a  fine  tower. 
It  consists  of  nave,  chancel,  and  transepts.  The 
size  of  the  windows  (as  is  usual  in  the  perpen- 
dicular style)  and  their  unfortunate  freedom  from 
colour  (the  original  stained  glass  was  presented 
to  St.  Martin's,  Stamford,  in  the  middle  of  the 
last  century)  give  a  particularly  light  effect  to 
the  nave,  which  is  rather  enhanced  by  the 
absence  of  any  seats,  the  choir  alone  being  used 
for  service.  In  the  north  transept  are  some  very 
interesting  brasses,  most  of  which  have  been 
removed  from  the  choir  to  their  present  place. 
They  commemorate  Lord  Cromwell  (the  founder) 
and  Margaret  his  wife,  his  nieces  Maude  and 
Joan  Stanhope,  the  first  and  second  Provosts  of 


TATTERSHALL.  55 

the  College,  Warde  and  Moor,  and  William 
Symson,  a  chaplain  to  one  Edward  Hevyn.  They 
are  among  the  finest  specimens  of  their  kind. 

The  choir  is  separated  from  the  rest  of  the 
church  by  a  stone  rood-screen  and  loft,  which  is 
of  the  date  1528.  There  are  traces  of  an  altar 
on  the  west  side  on  the  north  and  south  of  the 
central  doorway,  an  arrangement  similar  to  the 
rood  screens  at  Exeter  and  Norwich,  and 
generally  in  England,  and  one  which  was  very 
prevalent  in  France.  A  full  description  of  this 
screen  illustrated  by  a  plan  and  west  view,  has 
been  given  elsewhere^  by  the  present  writer. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  said  that  a  very 
pleasant  day  may  be  spent  in  seeing  Tattershall 
Castle  and  Church,  then  walking  along  the  side 
of  the  Bain  to  Coningsby,  which  has  a  fine 
church,  and  some  interesting  old  brickwork  in 
several  of  its  houses,  thence  about  four  miles  to 
Kirkstead,  where  the  remains  of  the  abbey  and 
the  chapel  may  be  seen,  and  the  traveller  may 
catch  a  train  there  or  walk  on  to  Woodhall  Spa. 

*  On     Lincolnshire     Rood-screens     and    Rood-lofts.       Associated 
Architectural  Societies'  Volume  for  1890. 


ffiolingbrofce  Castle. 

BY  TOM  ROBINSON,  M.D. 

THE  Castle  of  Bolingbroke  affords  some 
points  of  interest  to  the  archaeologist. 
Its  appearance  at  present  is  not  suggestive  of 
much  information.  The  traveller  who  passes 
along  the  valley  of  Bolingbroke  sees  a  practically 
smooth  expanse,  and  the  only  traces  of  the 
existence  of  what  was  at  one  time  one  of  the 
most  important  fortified  spots  in  the  east  of 
England,  are  the  undulations  of  the  ground  and 
the  depressions  of  the  moats.  Yet  our  fathers 
probably  saw  more  practical  evidence  of  the 
existence  of  a  castellated  structure  that  survived 
till  1815,  the  old  gate-house,  which  contained 
within  itself  the  dungeons  that  have  immured 
the  victims  of  many  generations.  The  best 
description  of  Bolingbroke  Castle  is  the  one 
which  Holies  has  left  in  the  Harleian  MSS., 
British  Museum.  He  has  there  told  us  something 
of  what  must  have  been  the  appearance  of  the 


BOLINGBROKE  CASTLE.  57 

castle.  He  takes  as  an  axiom  the  fact  that  the 
castle  was  built  by  William  de  Romana,  at  a  date 
which  we  may  assume  to  be  about  A.D.  1100.  The 
theory  which  postulates  that  previous  structures 
existed  before  his  time  is  perfectly  open.  We  know 
the  Romans  may  have  had  a  station  at  the  spot. 
The  evidence  which  identifies  the  Roman 
Bana vallum  with  Horncastle  is  extremely  weak. 
We  are  entitled  to  assume  the  existence  of 
Banavallum,  but  it  may  have  been  at  any  spot 
along  the  Bane  river.  It  is  therefore  possible  its 
situation  may  have  been  at  Bolingbroke  or  any- 
where else. 

The  fact  that  the  only  opening  into  the 
depression  in  which  stand  the  ruins  of  the  castle 
and  village  is  towards  the  south  and  west  is  a 
significant  one.  The  original  builder  of  the 
castle  selecting  a  valley  on  the  brook  for  its  site 
is  a  significant  one  also,  but  the  hills,  which  are 
to  the  north  and  east  of  Bolingbroke,  although 
near  enough  to  permit  modern  guns  to  bombard 
and  destroy  the  town,  would  be  far  beyond  the 
reach  of  mere  bows  and  slings.  The  access  by 
water  would  be  easy,  and  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  the  water  courses  get  narrower  and  shallower 
as  time  advances,  whereas,  in  the  time  of  the 


58  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

building  of  Bolingbroke  Castle,  they  would  be 
deep  enough  to  permit  the  free  passage  of  the 
monoxylon,  or  dug-out  canoe  of  the  early  Britons. 
Nor  were  the  boats  of  the  Middle  Ages  in  any 
way  larger  or  more  easy  of  navigation. 

However  inexplicable  the  fact  is  that  a  fortress 
should  have  been  built  in  a  valley,  the  fact  is  so, 
and  mere  ontology  and  speculation  will  not  help 
us.  The  theory  may  be  propounded  that  it  was 
constructed  in  the  face  of  an  enemy,  and  that  it 
marks  the  site  of  an  old  "  zereba."  This 
site,  whether  employed  by  Coritavian,  by  Koman 
or  Saxon,  was  used  by  the  Norman  castle  builder, 
and  we  had,  as  a  result,  an  edifice  which  was  for 
years  a  castle  of  authority  against  the  surround- 
ing population.  Bolingbroke  Castle  was  for 
centuries  one  of  the  most  important  strongholds 
in  the  east  of  England.  Imagination  alone  can 
lead  us  to  conjecture  what  the  old  castle  of 
William  de  Romana  was  like.  It  was  probably 
quadrangular  in  form,  with  four  turrets  and 
battlements  around  protecting  the  inmates.  The 
entrance  was  over  a  drawbridge. 

The  barbican  or  gate-house,  which  acted  as  a  tete 
du  pout  to  the  bridge,  was  the  last  relic  of  the 
castle  to  survive,  was  a  high  structure,  and  a 


BOLINGBROKE  CASTLE.  59 

portcullis  served  as  the  entrance  to  the  enciente. 
Another  portcullis,  analogy  leads  us  to  infer, 
probably  defended  the  castle  gate  inside  the 
moat.  The  sandstone  of  which  the  castle  was 
built  probably  fell  into  ruin  in  the  reign  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  who  erected  some  spacious 
chambers  within  it.  These  rooms  were  used  by 
the  Chancellors  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  and 
the  records  of  the  whole  country  were  kept  in 
them.  The  auditors  of  the  accounts  seem  usually, 
like  the  commissioners  of  Woodstock  in  Scott's 
novel,  to  have  been  disturbed  by  a  ghost  in  the 
likeness  of  a  hare. 

In  the  time  of  Charles  the  First,  the  constable 
of  the  castle  appears  to  have  been  Lord  Castle- 
maine,  who  received  £500  a  year  out  of  a  pension 
of  £1000  a  year  granted  by  the  king  to  his 
infamous  wife.  At  this  time,  the  church 
windows  were  full  of  stained  glass  commemorative 
of  the  counties  of  Lancaster  and  Chester,  and 
the  families  of  Lacy,  Meschines,  Willughby, 
Longespec,  Clifford,  Spenser,  Cantilupe,  Beke, 
Deyncourt,  Rochford,  and  Slight. 

"  The  Knights  are  dust 
Their  swords  are  rust 
Their  souls  are  with  the  Saints  we  trust." 


60  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Cromwell's  soldiers  destroyed  these  windows, 
and  the  fire  from  the  castle  during  the  siege 
damaged  the  church.  Of  the  outward  events 
which  led  to  their  destruction,  it  is  now  my  duty 
to  speak.  Of  the  battle  of  Winceby  (October 
1643),  I  need  say  little,  although  its  results  led 
to  the  termination  of  the  career  of  Bolingbroke 
as  a  stronghold.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  Royalist 
army,  under  the  command  of  Sir  John 
Henderson,  were  totally  defeated,  and  the  castle 
of  Bolingbroke  surrendered  to  the  enemy.  Like 
Tattershall,  the  old  fortress  was  dismantled  and 
became  a  ruin,  which  the  Restoration  did  not 
revive.  To  the  east  of  the  lines  of  former  walls 
which  mark  the  site  of  the  once  proud 
Bolingbroke  Castle,  may  be  seen  traces  of  the 
entrenchments  of  the  Parliamentary  army. 

During  the  time  of  the  Georges,  the  castle 
grew  worse  and  worse,  till  at  last  the  old  barbican 
was  the  only  relic  left.  This  disappeared  in 
1815,  and  so  departed  the  glories  of  Bolingbroke 
Castle. 

"  New  people  fill  the  land  now  they  are  gone, 
New  gods  the  temple,  and  new  kings  the  throne." 

The  records  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  are 
now  in  a  Whitehall  office,  and  one  of  the  most 


BOLINGBROKE  CASTLE.  61 

interesting  ruins  of  antiquity  is  for  ever  lost  to  us. 
Yet  it  is  a  pity  that  no  picture  of  Bolingbroke 
Castle,  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  its  glory,  has 
been  preserved  to  us.  In  fact  it  is  disappoint- 
ing to  the  antiquary  to  be  able  to  glean  so 
little  in  his  attempts  to  preserve  a  true  record  of 
this  birth-place  of  a  king.  And  it  is  also  sur- 
prising to  find  so  little  evidence  of  the  presence 
of  a  castle  on  the  site  where  it  once  stood.  Arid 
we  can  have  little  doubt  that  the  population 
must  have  carried  the  castle  away  for  some 
purpose  such  as  to  build  other  structures  or 
possibly  to  repair  the  road. 


Hncient  Staineb  (Slass,  anb  tbe  (Sreat 
lEarl  Beaumont 

BY    T.    TlNDALL    WlLDRIDGE. 

AN  informing  and  voluminous,  but  utterly 
mistaken  and  unnecessary  work  might  be 
produced  by  taking  any  ancient  stained  glass 
window,  naming  the  costumed  figures  therein 
after  more  or  less  prominent  individuals  of  the  date 
indicated,  and  giving  picturesque  descriptions  of 
their  stirring  times — and  are  not  all  times  stirring 
—with  snatches  of  biography,  and  a  convincing 
array  of  dates. 

It  is  but  to  write,  it  would  seem,  a  sample 
chapter  of  such  a  work,  to  speak  long  upon  the 
two  figures,  in  the  stained  glass  of  St.  Peter's, 
Barton. 

These  figures  bear  about  them  nothing  that 
can  identify  them  as  being  the  portraits  of  any  par- 
ticular individuals  ;  and  to  record  the  conviction 
that  the  one  in  the  palmer's  dress  was  merely 
intended  to  represent  St.  James  the  Great,  and 


ANCIENT  STAINED  GLASS.  63 

that  in  panoply,  St.  George,  is  but  to  echo  the 
suggestion  of  Poulson.  That  industrious  writer 
had  an  aptitude  for  falling  into  error,  in  which 
respect,  it  may  be  noted,  he  was  not  singular ; 
yet,  in  a  simple  question  of  judgment,  he  is  nearly 
as  good  to  follow  as  any  other  antiquary  that  ever 
veiled  charta  pura  with  mole-like  researches, 
especially  when  one  agrees  with  him. 

Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  that  intangible  shade, 
Tradition, — that  haunts  the  congenial  pre- 
cints  of  our  ancient  churches,  filling  in  with  a 
shadowy  yet  confident  finger  the  blanks  in  all 
our  draft-like  records, — gives  names  to  these  two 
figures.  They  are  Beaumonts,  she  says ;  yet 
having  but  a  kaleidoscopic  eye  for  coloured  glass, 
she  shifts  her  story  uncertainly,  variously  styling 
them  in  one  breath,  both  Henry  Lord  Beaumont ; 
and,  in  another,  calls  the  palmer  Henry,  and 
the  warrior,  William. 

Not  often  is  garrulous  old  Tradition  without  a 
basis  of  fact  lor  her  misty  stories ;  it  is  ill  work 
to  flatly  contradict  her,  and,  therefore,  remember- 
ing how  often  a  modicum  of  truth  has  eventually 
appeared  in  her  almost  absurdities,  we,  in  spite  of 
our  better  judgment,  incline  half  an  ear  to  her 
explanation  of  these  figures.  Perhaps,  though 


64 


BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 


really  representations  of  the  saints  named,  they 
were  given  the  faces  of  the  lord  or  successive 
lords  of  the  manor.  Or,  which  is  the  more 
probable,  the  first  Beaumont  of  Barton  perhaps 


FIGURE   IN   ANCIENT   STAINED  GLASS,   BARTON-ON-HUMBER. 

gave  the  window  in  which  they  first  were,  with 
other  portions  of  the  church  ;  which  might  reason- 
ably be  the  case,  for  he  came  into  possession  of  the 
manor  in  1307,  when,  from  the  style  of  the 


ANCIENT  STAINED  GLASS. 


65 


architecture,  it  is  probable  the  building  was  being 
rebuilt,  and  in  a  forward  state.  The  armour  of 
St.  George  bears  out  this  conjecture  exactly 
enough,  being  early  plate-mail,  with  parts  of  the 


FIGURE   IN   ANCIENT  STAINED  GLASS,    BARTON-ON-HUMBER. 

yet  not  entirely  superseded  chain-mail.  It  is  not 
impossible  that  this  Beaumont  entirely  restored 
the  Church. 

A  long-ago  vanished  inscription,  said  to  have 

F 


66  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

been  in  this  church,  ingeniously  set  forth  the 
most  illustrious  marriage  points  in  the  pedigree  of 
the  Beaumonts  thus  : 

"  Rex  Hiersolimus  cum  Bello-monte  locatur, 
Bellus  Mons  etiam  Boghan  consociatur 
Bellus  Mons  iterum  Langicostro  religatur 
Bellus  Mons  etiam  Oxoniae  titulatur." 

This  brilliant  terseness  unfortunately  occasions 
the  need  of  a  few  notes  to  make  it  intelligible. 

The  King  of  Jerusalem  was  Charles,  whose 
second  son,  Lewis,  marrying  Agnes  of  Bello- 
monte,  France,  became  lord  of  that  city,  and  his 
issue  took  the  name,  which  later  melted  into 
Beaumont. 

Boghan  refers  to  Henry  Beaumont,  the  fourth 
in  descent,  who,  marrying  an  heiress  of  Alexander, 
Earl  of  Boghan,  constable  of  Scotland,  eventu- 
ally succeeded  to  his  title,  office,  and  estates. 
He  was  "the  great  Lord  Beaumont,"  being  he  who 
had  the  grant  in  fee  of  the  manor  of  Barton-on- 
Humber,  with  other  manors,  in  1307,  upon  the 
death  of  Lora,  the  widow  of  Gilbert  de  Gant, 
who,  like  Henry  Beaumont  himself,  was  a  relative 
of  the  king,  Edward  II.  De  Gant  seems  to 
have  been  a  grasping  and  tyrannical  land  lord, 
one  instance  being  his  oppressive  and  exorbitant 


ANCIENT  STAINED  GLASS.  67 

tolls  upon  local  trade.  It  is,  perhaps,  indicative 
of  a  new  state  of  things  that  almost  immediately 
after  his  grant  of  the  Manor  of  Barton,  the  king 
granted  to  Henry  de  Bellomonte  a  new  charter 
for  a  weekly  market,  and  a  yearly  fair  of  seven 
days'  duration.  Twelve  years  later,  Henry 
granted  the  manor  to  his  sister  Isabella,  widow 

O  ' 

of  John  de  Vesci,  for  her  life.  Henry  carried  an 
unjust  steward  of  his,  one  Adam  de  Kydale, 
into  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  at  York,  for 
deficiencies  in  his  account  of  the  rents  of  Barton. 
The  amount  of  damages  was  large,  and  suggestive 
of  an  easy-going  character  on  the  part  of  the  lord  of 
the  manor.  Upon  the  whole,  there  is  a  dim  sugges- 
tion of  benignness  and  careless  good-nature  in 
what  we  can  learn  of  Henry,  Lord  Beaumont, 
that  does  something  towards  accounting  for 
Dame  Tradition's  attempt  to  immeinorate  him  as 
the  original  of  the  stained  glass  figures. 

"  Langicostro "  indicates  Eleanor,  daughter  of 
Henry,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  whom  John,  Lord 
Beaumont,  K.G.,  Constable  of  England,  married. 

Similarly  "  Oxonise "  points  to  Margaret, 
daughter  of  John  de  Vere,  Earl  of  Oxford,  who 
was  married  to  Henry,  Lord  Beaumont,  who  died 
in  1413 


68  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

But  our  interest  flags  with  the  death  of  the 

o 

first  Henry,  the  great  lord,  in  1340.  Little  can  be 
said  about  a  William,  Lord  Beaumont,  of  1296, 
in  connection  with  this  glass,  tradition  and  Mr. 
William  Fowler  being  probably  entirely  wrong  in 
attributing  this  painted  figure  of  a  red-cross 
knight  to  him. 

Mr.  Fowler  engraved  both  the  figures  in  1806, 
a  third  their  actual  size,  which  is,  in  height,  about 
two  feet.  These  engravings  Fowler,  as  was 
usual  with  his  publications,  laboriously  coloured 
by  hand. 

The  glass  is  now  in  the  Late  Perpendicular  east 
window,  being  removed  from  a  situation  of  earlier 
date,  as,  say,  the  portion  of  the  church  in  the 
Early  Decorated  style,  added  by  the  great 
Lord  Henry. 


©n  tbe  population  of  lincolnsbire. 

BY  TOM  ROBINSON,  M.D. 

THE  origin  of  a  people  may  be  tested  by  two 
methods,  the  one  anatomical,  the  other 
philological.  Our  Lincolnshire  population  gives 
us  the  means  of  finding  the  full  value  of  this 
argument. 

There  are  two  ways  wherein  we  may  look  at 
the  inhabitants  of  any  nation.  We  may  take 
the  characters  of  the  race  as  we  see  them  or 
as  we  hear  them.  The  first  test  is  the  safest, 
the  second  the  easiest.  It  will  be  my  duty  to 
take  the  second  one  first. 

The  Germans  especially,  amongst  whom  Benfey 
and  Schleicher  are  the  leaders,  adopting  a  method 
which  has  been  since  applied  with  more  or  less 
success  by  Max  Mliller,  group  man  not  only 
for  reasons  of  what  he  is  like,  but  for  what  he 
says,  and  what  others  hear  that  he  says.  They 
take  a  word  like  father.  Assuming  that  f  and 
p  are  interchangeable,  on  a  law  which  Grimm 


70  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

had  defined,  they  trace  it  out  through  the  French 
pere,  the  German  fader,  the  Spanish  and  Italian 
padre,  till  we  get  to  the  Latin  pater  and  the 
Greek  var^p.  From  this  we  make  a  step  at  once 
to  the  Sanskrit.  In  the  word  pitar  we  have  this 
origin.  Now,  when  this  theory  is  applied  on  a 
large  sense,  and  to  large  races  of  men,  it  is  not 
always  successful.  It  is  only  when  it  is  applied 
in  detail  that  we  are  enabled  to  appreciate  its 
powerful  importance  as  a  "  gablick  :'  [crowbar]  (I 
use  a  word  of  my  own  district  of  Lincolnshire), 
which  may  help  us  to  turn  over  some  of  the  hard 
lumps  of  earth  which  bury  the  rich  and  succulent 
roots  of  the  anthropology  of  east  Lincolnshire. 

We  see  in  the  existing  population  of  Lincoln- 
shire much  that  seems  to  give  us  an  index  of 
the  proportion  of  existing  surnames  to  the 
various  members  of  the  dark  or  light-haired 
population  of  the  district.  If  we  take  a  village 
like  East  Kirkby,  select  the  individuals  of  well- 
marked  cranial,  capillary,  and  ocular  character, 
and  arrange  them  according  to  the  surnames 
which  they  bear,  we  see  that  a  rough  index  to 
the  population  may  be  given. 

In  this  investigation  I  have  been  much  assisted 
by  the  prior  investigations  of  Dr.  R.  S.  Charnock, 


POPULATION  OF  LINCOLNSHIRE.  71 

late  President  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of 
London,  whose  "  Ludus  Patronymicus  "  has  been 
for  years  the  text  book  on  the  subject. 

My  friend  Dr.  Carter  Blake,  late  secretary 
to  the  Anthropological  Society  of  London,  has 
also  kindly  aided  me.  We  may  take  the  members 
of  the  families,  Ealand,  Chatterton,  Brooks, 
Hand,  Fowler,  Spring,  Skelton,  Sheriff,  and 
Ironmonger  as  dark-haired  individuals,  where 
names  are  certainly  derived  from  Anglo-Saxon 
origin.  With  these  we  may  associate  the  fair- 
haired  population,  comprising  the  Clarksons, 
Thorn  dykes,  and  Rowsons.  Other  elements  exist, 
Watson  (D)  and  Adlard  (D)  are  German, 
Maughan  (F)  is  Welsh.  Thompson  (F)  Syriac, 
Allbones  (D)  Latin,  and  Dennis  (D)  Greek  = 
Atowo-os  are  probably  mere  Kultur-namen,  after- 
saints  or  martyrs,  and  the  same  applies  to 
Adams  (F)  where  the  Hebrew  root  is  per- 
petuated, doubtless  as  a  Biblical  name.  Orry 
(F)  is  from  a  Keltic  root,  derived  directly  from 
v— 8,  Blakie  (D)  is  Scotch,  Baggallay  (F)  is  Scotch 
or  Gaelic,  and  Panton  (F)  is  French.  Only  Storr 
(D)  is  Scandinavian.  We  see  thus,  taking 
twenty-nine  families  at  random,  that  sixteen 
of  them  are  certainly  of  a  dark  complexion, 


72  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

whilst  only  twelve  are  fair.  What  now  becomes 
of  the  once  prevalent  theory  that  the  population 
of  Lincolnshire  were  particularly  fair-haired  ? 
Against  this,  I  make  the  assertion  confidently 
that  the  majority  of  the  population  within  this 
district  is  especially  dark-haired,  and  that  only 
one  family,  the  Storrs,  can  be  said  to  show  a 
name  which  has  been  derived  from  a  Scandi- 
navian origin.  The  blue-eyed,  fair-haired  brachy- 
cephalic  *  people  that  we  find  in  Holderness  and 
other  localities  in  Yorkshire  are  entirely  absent, 
and  we  do  not  find  their  representatives  at  East 
Kirkby  or  its  vicinity. 

Carefully  going  over  those  names,  the  first 
fact  with  which  we  are  struck  is  the  entire 
absence,  with  one  exception,  of  many  names 
which  are  usually  called  Scandinavian.  We  had 
a  prejudice  to  look  for  Danes,  and  we  do  not 
find  them.  Even  the  neighbouring  population 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Doggerbank,  who  have 
left  traces  of  Flemish  or  Dutch  words  in  the 
vocabulary  of  Lincolnshire  are  entirely  absent. 

*  All  skulls  of  which  the  proportions  of  the  transverse  to  the 
longitudinal  diameter  is  greater  than  eighty  per  cent.,  are  termed 
short-headed,  or  brachycephalic  ;  all  in  which  it  is  less  than  eighty  per 
cent,  long-headed,  or  dolichocephalic.  There  are  many  intermediate 
steps  between  these  two  extremes,  to  which  various  names  have  been 
given. 


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74  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

If  we  turn  to  the  river  names  of  Lincolnshire, 
we  have  evidence  which  is  in  perfect  accordance 
with  this  fact.  I  am  forced  to  go  into  this 
argument  in  some  detail. 

The  population  of  Lincolnshire  is  therefore 
received  by  Dr.  Beddoe  as  a  particularly  fair- 
haired  population.  But  a  writer  in  Lincolnshire 
Notes  and  Queries  brings  arguments  to  prove  that 
a  dark-haired  Celtic  population  exists  in  Lincoln- 
shire. He  does  not  base  this  argument  upon 
the  physical  characters,  but  on  the  river  names. 

We  have  consulted  the  best  etymologists  of 
river  names.  He  has  gone  through  the  works  of 
Fergusson  and  Taylor  with  little  profit.  Keltic 
river  names  are  not  confined  to  the  Isle  of 
Axholme.  Probably  eighty  per  cent,  of  the 
river  names  of  Europe  are  of  Keltic  origin. 
Ax  is  not  found  in  any  Keltic  dictionary  for 
"  water,"  it  comes  from  a  Greek  word  for  water 
through  the  Keltic  word  for  the  same.  It  is  the 
same  word  as  Ex,  Ox,  Ix,  Usk,  Wisk,  Wash, 
Ouse,  and  by  many  more  names,  as  Dr.  Charnock 
had  long  ago  shown. 

In  the  article  in  Lincolnshire  Notes  and 
Queries,  there  is  a  mixture  of  Welsh  and  Gaelic. 
Rhos  in  Welsh  is  a  moor,  waste,  or  coarse  high- 


POPULATION  OF  LINCOLNSHIRE.  75 

land.  The  Gaelic  ros  is  rendered  by  Armstrong 
a  promontory  or  isthmus. 

The  first  syllable  in  Gamsen  might  come  from 
cam,  crooked,  but  without  accounting  for  the 
last  syllable  it  is  no  derivation. 

Ross  is  found  in  other  parts  of  England, 
especially  in  Cornwall,  and  in  Scotland  and 
Ireland. 

The  last  syllable  in  Crowle  is  probably  leg,  as 
in  Acle  and  some  other  names. 

Mawe  is  hardly  from  moel.  Conf-  St.  Mawer, 
i.e.,  St.  Mary's  in  Cornwall,  parish  of  St.  Just. 

When  I  see  that  perhaps  eight  per  cent,  of 
European  river  names  are  of  Keltic  origin,  I 
must  add  that  many  of  the  Keltic  words  are  of 
Greek  or  Latin  origin.  Thus,  according  to  Dr. 
Charnock,  we  have  in  this  way  probably  600  or 
700  names  from  vSo/o,  Trora/zo?,  pew,  a/mriis,  fluvius, 
rivus,  aqua. 

We  have  a  notion  of  what  the  early  British, 
and  consequently  the  inhabitants  of  Lincolnshire, 
must  have  been  like  in  Strabo  (A.D.  1)  ;  he  says, 
"  The  men  are  taller  than  the  Celts  of  Gaul,  their 
hair  is  not  so  yellow,  and  their  limbs  are  more 
loosely  knit.  To  show  how  tall  they  are,  I  may 
say  that  I  saw  myself  some  young  men  at  Home, 


76  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

and  they  were  taller  by  six  inches  than  anyone 
in  the  city,  but  they  were  bandy-legged,  and  had 
a  clumsy  look.':  Here  we  have  the  bandy- 
legged character,  common  to  all  agricultural 
labourers  ;  and  \vhich  would  be  specially  notice- 
able in  Rome.  The  "  six  inches,"  however,  is 
an  obvious  exaggeration.  But  we  have  a  state- 
ment that  the  Britons  were  darker  than  the 
Gauls,  and  darker  than  the  Celts  of  Gaul.  Broca 
has  asserted  that  there  never  have  been  Celts  in 
Great  Britain,  and  that  no  British  people  ever 
call  themselves  Celts ;  they  were  never  so  called 
by  ancient  writers,  and  they  do  not  possess  the 
physical  character  of  the  Celts  of  history.  The 
real  Celts,  he  considers,  are  the  people  of  Central 
France,  who  are  the  decendants  of  the  Celts  of 
Caesar.  The  term  Celt  is  therefore  an  anthro- 
pological term,  incorrectly  used,  and  at  variance 
with  the  signification  given  alike  by  classical 
writers  and  modern  anthropologists. 

Careful  investigation,  village  by  village,  is 
necessary  for  Lincolnshire.  Two  hundred 
observations  alone  are  before  me.  The  names 
of  the  localities  are  not  given,  but  we  are  told 
that  in  Lincolnshire,  the  average  height,  with  or 
without  shoes,  is  inches  68*16,  metres  1732,  are 


POPULATION  OF  LINCOLNSHIRE.  77 

light  eyed,  and  only  36 '0  dark  eyed.  The 
following  facts,  taken  from  Dr.  Beddoe's  "  Races 
of  Britain,"  will  help  us  a  little. 

A  theory  may  be  suggested  that  the  dark 
population  of  Lincolnshire,  if  it  exists,  may  be 
the  remains  of  the  old  Cimbric  element  in  Kent, 
among  the  descendants  of  the  so-called  Jutes. 
We  find,  occasionally,  a  dark-haired  population. 
But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  invaders  of 
England,  "Saxon,  or  Dane,  or  Norman,  etc.," 
did  not  bring  their  women  with  them,  and, 
therefore,  that  the  dark  element  proceeds  from 
one  only  of  the  assumed  race  progenitors.  It  is 
this  dark-haired  population  of  Lincolnshire  that 
I  am  going  to  describe  in  detail. 

Modern  Anthropology  has  grown  out  of  the 
idea  which  made  of  the  whole  of  our  British 
country  a  Saxon  people.  The  speculations  of 
Gustaf  Kombst  are  now  scarcely  tolerated  by 
modern  science;  yet  even  Beddoe  has  pointed 
out  the  difficulty  of  showing  how ,  the  waves  of 
popular  opinion  have  varied,  in  a  passage  on  page 
2G9  of  the  "  Races  of  Britain,"  yet  the  existence 
of  the  dark-haired  population  of  Lincolnshire  is 
entirely  ignored  by  the  anthropologist  of  the 
present  day.  It  is  my  purpose  to  make  these 


78  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

dry  bones  live,  to  show  in  the  existing  population 
of  Lincolnshire  an  element  of  dark-haired  pop- 
ulation that  may  or  not  be  the  relics  of  previously 
existing  Celts,  or  the  descendants  of  the  piebald 
Viking  invaders.  To  demonstrate  these  facts  is 
a  hazardous  task,  when  the  Anthropometrical 
Committee  of  the  British  Association  say  that 
out  of  the  population  of  Lincolnshire,  61*0,  the 
average  height,  including  clothes,  being  in  Ibs. 
162 '9  ;  kilogrammes,  74'0  ;  the  ratio,  Ibs.  weight 
per  inch  of  stature,  weight,  height,  2*390  ;  of  light 
blue,  blue,  dark  blue,  and  grey  eyes,  with  very 
fair,  light  brown,  or  brown  hair,  we  have  34*6  per 
cent.  ;  with  black  or  dark  brown  hair,  2 3 '7  per 
cent.  ;  with  golden  or  red  hair,  2 '8  per  cent.  ; 
the  total  fair  eyes  being  6  TO  per  cent.  ;  of  brown, 
hazel,  or  black  eyes,  with  brown,  dark  brown, 
and  black  hair,  32'8  per  cent.  ;  fair  hair,  I'l  per 
cent.  ;  red  and  dark  hair,  2*3  per  cent.  ;  the  total 
of  dark  eyes  being  36*2  per  cent.  Other  com- 
binations such  as  green,  light  brown  eyes  with 
light  or  dark  hair,  amounted  to  2 '8  per  cent. 

The  locations  that  have  been  selected  for  the 
purpose  of  observation  are  chiefly  market  towns, 
and  the  aboriginal,  or  it  may  be,  autochthonal, 
population  is  almost  entirely  ignored.  Such 


POPULATION  OF  LINCOLNSHIRE.  79 

statistics,  if  taken  village  by  village,  will  be  of 
inestimable  value.  It  is  this  population  which 
forms  the  part  of  England  that  was  most  exposed 
to  continual  attacks.  This  has  made  a  hardy, 
rugged,  and  pure-living  race,  an  industrious  race 
that  may  compete  with  any  on  the  score  of  worth 
and  virtue.  The  precepts  of  the  old  Stoics  are 
exemplified  in  Lincolnshire  by  persons  who  have 
never  heard  of  their  teaching,  but  fulfilled  the 
precepts  which  they  unconsciously  follow.  A 
hardy  peasant  will  expose  himself  to  the  most 
inclement  weather  with  the  slightest  covering. 
His  own  inherent  warmth  protects  him  against 
rheumatism,  fever,  or  the  other  sequelae  of  damp. 
It  is  this  warmth  which  renders  me  proud  to 
acknowledge  my  birth  in  one  of  England's  most 
beautiful  gardens,  where  the  hardy  peasant 

"  O  fortunatos  nimium,  si  sua  bona  norint, 
Agricolas  !" 

derives  the  means  of  his  support  from  one  of  the 
most  generous  soils  of  western  Europe.  The 
Lincolnshire  peasant  who  perpetuates  the  blood 
of  the  old  Coritavi,  inherits  the  proudest 
traditions  of  England. 


Superstitious  Beliefs  ant>  Customs  of 
lincolnabire. 

BY  THE  REV.  WM.  PROCTOR  SWABY,  D.D. 

IF  asked  to  give  an  account  of  Lincolnshire, 
perhaps  nine  people  out  of  ten  would 
describe  it  as  a  county  of  fens  and  fogs,  of 
swampy  marshland  and  ague,  a  county  of  slowly 
moving,  and  slower  thinking,  people,  and,  on  the 
whole,  as  a  part  of  England  almost  entirely 
devoid  of  interest.  Well,  it  is  true,  there  are 
fens,  and  there  are  fogs  occasionally,  there  are 
acres  of  marshland,  and  miles  of  dreary-looking 
u  fitties."  There  are  muddy  lanes,  and  muddier 
stretches  of  samphire-covered  shore.  There  are 
long  lines  of  sandhills  covered  with  prairie-looking 
bents,  and  leagues  of  country  with  no  eminence 
higher  than  a  molehill.  To  the  ordinary  tourist 
there  is  not  much,  perhaps,  that  is  specially 
attractive.  And  yet,  in  charming  bits  of  scenery 
and  glimpses  of  picturesque  beauty,  there  are 
some  parts  of  the  county  which  will  compare 


BELIEFS  AND  CUSTOMS.  81 

favourably  with  any  county  in  England.  In  the 
north-east,  among  the  Wolds  especially,  there 
are  snug  little  hamlets,  nestling  under  the 
shadows  of  the  chalk  hills,  sheltered  by  magni- 
ficent trees,  fringed  by  meadow  and  cornland,  and 
possessing  a  beauty  peculiarly  their  own.  There 
are  isolated  villages,  approached  by  winding 
lanes,  with  their  flower-covered  banks,  and  hedges 
of  hawthorn.  Antiquated-looking  buildings  peep 
out  of  their  woody  surroundings,  grand  old- 
fashioned  farm  houses,  with  their  yards  crowded 
at  times  with  noble-sized  stacks  of  corn,  teams  of 
well-fed  and  well-groomed  horses  slowly  moving 
here  and  there,  on  farms  which  can  boast  a 
thousand  acres  of  tilled  land,  streams  or  "  dikes" 
teeming  with  pike  and  eels,  pastures  dotted  over 
with  sheep  and  cattle,  or  well-tilled  fields  rich 
with  waving  corn.  In  places  such  as  these,  rural 
life  goes  on  and  old-world  customs  are  followed, 
as  they  were  a  century  ago,  unshaken  by  the 
express  speed  of  our  times,  and  affording  an 
agreeable  change  from  the  keen  competition  and 
the  hurry  and  bustle  of  towns. 

Nor  are  the  lowland  parts  of  the  county  with- 
out their  special  beauty  and  their  rich  variety  of 
animal  and  plant  life.  The  county  holds  a  fore- 


82  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

most  place  for  the  magnificence  and  variety  of  its 
ecclesiastical  architecture.  Boston,  Grantham, 
Louth,  and  a  score  of  others,  are  among  the 
finest  churches  in  the  country,  while  for  purity  of 
style,  for  grace  and  dignity  of  outline,  and 
abundant  wealth  of  decoration,  Lincoln  Minster 
holds  a  premier  place.  The  county,  too,  is  not 
the  swampy  bog  which  outsiders  suppose  it  to  be, 
nor  are  the  natives  amphibious.  Thanks  to  the 
excellent  system  of  drainage,  it  is  one  of  the 
driest  and  healthiest  of  English  counties.  The 
death-rate,  as  a  whole,  will  compare  favourably 
with  any  other  part  of  England,  while  the  rainfall 
is  less  by  many  inches  than  the  average  for  the 
whole  country,  and  more  than  fifty  per  cent,  less 
than  Cumberland,  Westmoreland,  and  West 
Lancashire.  The  common  conception  of  Lincoln- 
shire is  not  accurate.  To  him  who  has  the  skill 
to  read,  the  land  and  the  people  are  full  of 
interest.  But  that  is  so  everywhere  and  always. 
It  is  only  those  who  have  eyes  who  can  see. 

As  time  goes  on,  it  will  become  better  known, 
its  beauty  will  be  more  appreciated,  its  geology, 
its  history,  its  people,  and  its  fund  of  quaint 
customs  and  beliefs  will  become  more  familiar, 
and  deemed  of  higher  interest,  and  the  present 


BELIEFS  AND  CUSTOMS.  83 

belief  that  the  sun  can  only  be  seen  at  midday, 
that  saltmarsh  and  bog  make  up  its  acreage,  that 
ague  and  malarial  fever  are  as  common  as  measles, 
that  its  people  are  amphibious,  and  that  there  is 
nothing  attractive  within  its  limits,  will  give 
place  to  a  truer  conception,  and  a  just  estimate 
of  what  is  its  real  beauty  and  worth. 

As  in  all  agricultural  districts,  where  the 
means  of  locomotion  are  comparatively  small,  and 
the  opportunities  of  mind  rubbing  against  mind 
few  and  far  between,  the  people  think  slowly. 
It  does  not  require  a  surgical  operation  to  get  an 
idea  into  a  fenman's  head,  as  it  is  said  to  do  in 
the  case  of  a  Scotchman  with  regard  to  a  joke  ; 
but  a  new  idea  enters  into  his  mind  with  difficulty, 
though,  having  once  seized  upon  it,  you  cannot, 
without  extreme  difficulty,  dispossess  him  of  it. 
The  "oldest  inhabitant"  has  his  " gospel"  of 
beliefs  and  village  traditions,  to  which  he  clings 
tenaciously,  and  which  the  enlightenment  of  the 
nineteenth  century  has  not  yet  been  powerful 
enough  to  remove.  The  power  of  the  "  evil  eye," 
witches  who  turn  themselves  into  hares,  fairies 
who  frequent  the  fields  and  dance  their  midnight 
rounds,  ghosts  who  walk  the  earth  till  cockcrow, 
are  as  real  to  him,  and  perhaps  more  so,  than  the 


84  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

fact  of  the  Reformation  or  the  Battle  of 
Waterloo. 

It  is  a  most  interesting,  but  difficult,  and  often 
a  disappointing  search  after  the  origin  of  many 
of  these  quaint  beliefs,  which  still  exist  in  the 
fens  and  wolds  of  the  county. 

"  Thou  weant  he'  noa  luck  to  daay,  I  knaw," 
says  the  goodwife  to  her  husband  as  he  sets  out 
from  home,  "  cos  I  heard  that  owd  craw  croakin' 
ower  my  left  showder  this  mornin',  and  I  knaw  it 
dussent  croak  like  that  for  nowt." 

Where  could  the  goodwife  learn  that  there  is 
bad  luck  in  the  croak  of  a  crow  ?  For  one  thing, 
she  confounds  the  crow  with  the  raven ;  but  of 
the  raven,  of  her  own  personal  knowledge,  she 
has  nothing  evil  to  tell.  The  fact  is,  that  the  raven 
got  a  bad  name  in  the  far  past,  and  it  clings  to 
him.  His  ancestors  have  held  it  ever  since  the 
flood,  and,  like  the  dog  with  a  bad  name,  no 
subsequent  good  living  can  free  him  from  the 
reproach.  Among  men,  the  antiquity  of  a  name 
is  held  sufficient  to  atone  for  the  bad  deeds  of  its 
founder.  He  may  have  been  guilty  of  the  worst 
of  crimes,  but  if  the  name  has  passed  through 
the  filter  of  a  long  pedigree  all  stain  is  removed, 
and  the  delinquencies  of  all  former  holders  of  the 


BELIEFS  AND  CUSTOMS.  85 

name  are  rather  looked  upon  as  ornaments  than 
otherwise.  It  is  not  so  with  the  raven.  He  can 
trace  his  pedigree  back  to  antediluvian  times,  but 
he  carries  with  him  his  bad  name  still.  In  the 
Mosaic  Law,  he  is  called  unclean  (Lev., 
ix.,  15,  Deut.  xiv.,  14).  The  writer  of  the 
Proverbs  speaks  of  his  bad  habits  (Prov.,  xxx.,  7). 
The  prophet,  when  wishing  to  depict  in  strong 
colours  the  desolation  which  was  coming  upon 
the  land  of  Idumea,  alludes  to  the  solitary  habits 
of  this  weird  bird  (Isa.,  xxxiv.,  11).  The 
Romans  called  him  infausta  comix,  and  because 
he  looked  preternatural!}^  wise,  they  dedicated 
him  to  Apollo,  as  a  bird  of  divination,  and  looked 
upon  him  then,  as  the  Lincolnshire  wife  looks 
upon  him  now,  as  a  messenger  of  bad  luck,  and 
sometimes  a  prognosticator  of  death.  Climatic 
changes  don't  kill  him.  He  braves  alike  the 
bitter  cold  of  the  Arctic  regions,  or  the  fierce 
heat  of  the  torrid  zone.  He  is  as  much  at  home 
in  all  climates  as  the  Wandering  Jew,  and,  like 

O  '  ' 

him,  some  people  believe  he  never  will  die. 

But  where  did  that  ploughman's  wife  learn  all 
this  ?  He  belongs,  we  are  told  by  naturalists,  to 
the  great  and  widespread  and  ancient  family  of 
the  corvidcB,  which  are  nearly  all  omniverous  and 


86  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

voracious  scavengers.  Nothing  comes  amiss  to 
them  in  the  way  of  food.  They  are  all  bold, 
cunning,  inquisitive,  and  terrible  thieves.  There 
is  something  weird  and  wise  in  the  expression  of 
a  raven's  face,  and  a  union  of  mischievous  cunning 
and  malignity  in  the  twinkle  of  his  bright  black 
eye.  His  black-blue  plumage,  the  colour  of  mid- 
night and  death,  his  hoarse  croak,  his  solitary 
habits,  and  his  carrion-loving  tastes  and  bad  deeds 

'  O 

generally  (as  the  shepherd  will  tell  you,  not 
altogether  undeserved),  all  contribute  to  the 
belief  that  he  is  an  uncanny  bird,  and  possesses 
preternatural  knowledge.  But  where  did  the 
hind's  wife  learn  this  ?  To  the  fenman,  in  olden 
days,  the  raven  was  a  bird  of  ill  omen  ;  for  the 
Scandinavian  rover,  who  harried  the  coasts,  with 
whom  cunning  and  cruelty  were  virtues,  he  held, 
in  common  with  all  northern  peoples,  the  raven  as 
a  sacred  bird.  Hugin  and  Munin,  in  northern 
mythology,  were  the  two  sacred  ravens  who  sat 
on  the  shoulders  of  the  god  Odin,  and  whispered 
into  his  ears  all  that  their  keen  eyes  saw.  By  the 
war-loving  Norseman  or  Dane,  whose  floating 
ship  was  his  home,  whose  deck  was  his  bed,  whose 
highest  boast  was  that  he  had  never  spared  in 
fight  man,  woman,  nor  child,  nor  ever  drained  a 


BELIEFS  AND  CUSTOMS.  87 

horn  by  the  light  of  a  cottage  fire,  the  raven, 
cruel,  voracious,  and  blood-loving,  was  deemed  a 
kingly  bird.  Nor  could  the  sight  of  the  battle 
flag,  borne  by  the  plundering  Dane  pirate — on 
which  the  raven  was  displayed  as  late  as  the  year 
1200 — mean  anything  to  the  fenman  in  those  far- 
off  times  but  ill  luck,  plunder,  death.  To  him  the 
raven  would  mean  ill  luck.  But  the  goodwife 
who  warns  her  husband  to-day  knows  nothing  of 
Hugin  or  Munin,  or  Scandinavian  or  Dane ;  no, 
but  from  mouth  to  mouth,  through  century  after 
century,  the  raven's  association  with  questionable 
deeds  has  been  handed  down,  and  as  her  ancestors 
said  ages  ago,  as  her  mother  taught  her,  so  says 
she :  "  There's  nowt  soa  unlucky  as  to  hear  a 
raven  croak,  specially  if  its  ower  the  left 
showder." 

One  other  old  custom,  which  may  have 
travelled  down  from  the  far  past,  used  to  prevail 
in  the  extreme  east  of  the  county,  and  which  may 
do  so  still.  An  old  shepherd  we  knew  used 
always,  after  parturition,  to  throw  the 
"  cleansing "  upon  a  hawthorn  bush.  "  It 
brought  luck,"  he  used  to  say.  The  writer 
does  not  lay  claim  to  knowledge  sufficient  to 
explain  the  reason,  but  may  not  the  fact  that 


88  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

fruit-bearing  trees  were  sacred  to  Freya — the 
goddess  of  love  and  pleasure,  and  whose  blessing 
was  deemed  essential  to  the  well-being  of  the 
offspring  of  animals — have  something  to  do  with 
this  curious  custom  ?  Customs  like  these  are  like 
fossils  in  the  stone,  or  like  the  moat  round  the  old 
castle ;  they  enable  us  to  get  a  glimpse  of  what 
were  the  beliefs  and  life  of  our  fathers  in  the  far 
past. 

Perhaps  no  county  has  a  greater  store  of 
superstitious  beliefs  than  Lincolnshire.  They 
begin  with  a  child's  birth  and  before,  and  follow  it 
through  every  stage  of  life,  until  the  grave  closes 
over  it,  and  after. 

A  child  born  with  a  caul  was  supposed  to  be 
very  lucky,  and  cannot  die  by  drowning,  not  only 
in  Lincolnshire,  though  prevailing  there,  for  in  a 
leading  London  paper  of  a  few  years  ago 
appeared  the  following  advertisement:  "A 
child's  caul  for  sale,  £3  ;  useful  to  sailors."  The 
hands  of  a  child  must  not  be  washed  until  it  has 
been  christened — the  dirt  which  accumulates  is 
supposed  to  be  a  sign  of  future  wealth ;  nor  must 
its  nails  be  cut  with  scissors,  or  knife,  as  that 
would  bring  ill  luck.  If  its  ears  are  large,  it  will 
be  certain  to  have  success  in  life,  unless  the  luck 


BELIEFS  AND  CUSTOMS.  89 

is  marred  by  its  clothes  being  put  on  over  its  head 
instead  of  being  drawn  upwards  over  its  feet ;  and 
if  the  mother  wishes  to  ward  off  evil  from  the 
sleeping  babe,  she  must  never  allow  her  hands  to 
be  idle  while  she  rocks  the  cradle. 

At  the  christening  it  is  necessary  that  a  boy 
should  first  be  placed  in  the  arms  of  the  priest 
(and  in  Durham  and  Northumberland  there  is  at 
times  an  unseemly  wrangle  to  secure  this),  other- 
wise the  girl  will  be  blessed  with  a  beard  and 
hairy  face,  which  should  have  been  the  boy's  chief 
adornment. 

For  the  child  to  sneeze  during  the  ceremony  is 
unlucky,  but  to  cry  is  good,  inasmuch  as  it  is  a 
sure  sign  that  the  old  Adam  is  being  driven  out. 

At  confirmation  the  candidate  must  not  receive 
the  left  hand  of  the  bishop,  for  the  same  reason 
that  the  maid  must  not  take  the  last  piece  of 
cake — the  certainty  of  remaining  a  maid  unto  the 
end  of  her  life.  It  is  doubtless  to  humour  this 
prejudice,  as  well  as  to  conform  to  the  rubric,  that 
the  bishop  places  both  hands  upon  the  head  of 
those  he  confirms. 

As  the  days  pass,  the  young  man  and  woman 
become  inquisitive  as  to  whom  their  future 
husband  or  wife  shall  be. 


90  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

There  are  many  ways  of  learning  this  with 
certainty.  On  New  Year's  Eve,  by  the  light  of 
the  Yule  log,  the  family  Bible,  with  the  front 
door  key  and  a  young  maid's  garter,  are 
requisitioned.  The  key  is  placed  within  the 
leaves  of  the  Bible,  with  the  wards  resting  upon 
the  words  of  the  seventh  verse  of  the  eighth 
chapter  of  the  Song  of  Solomon,  "  Many  waters 
cannot  quench  love,"  etc.  It  is  bound  loosely 
round  with  the  garter,  and  gently  turned  with  the 
wedding-ring  finger,  and  while  the  bystanders 
name  slowly  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  in  order, 
the  holder  reciting  meanwhile  the  verse  on  which 
the  key  rests.  The  Bible  is  nearly  sure  to  fall 
before  the  alphabet  has  been  gone  through,  and 
the  letter  named  last  is  the  initial  letter  of  the 
future  husband's  or  wife's  name.  If  it  should  not 
fall,  there  is  no  hope  but  that  of  life-long  celibacy 
for  the  holder. 

Perhaps  a  surer,  though  a  bolder  way,  is  for 
the  adventurous  youth  or  maid  to  walk  round  the 
church,  at  dead  of  night,  on  St.  Mark's  Eve, 
looking  into  each  window  as  they  pass,  and  in  the 
last  there  will  appear  the  face  of  the  one  they  are 
to  wed. 

Looking  at  the  first   new    moon    of  the   year 


BELIEFS  AND  CUSTOMS.  91 

reflected  by  a  looking-glass  will  give  the 
number  of  years  before  the  wedding  takes 
place. 

It  is  unlucky  to  be  married  on  a  Friday,  or  to 
be  married  in  green,  and  it  forbodes  death  to  some 
one  of  the  wedding  party  if  the  ring  be  dropped 
during  the  ceremony.  The  piece  of  bride  cake 
passed  through  the  bride's  wedding-ring  and 
placed  under  a  maid's  pillow,  will  bring  to  her,  in 
her  dreams,  the  sight  of  her  future  lord ;  and  an 
old  shoe  flung  after  the  bride  will  bring  her  off- 
spring and  good  luck  through  her  married 
life. 

A  stye  on  the  eye  can  be  cured  by  rubbing 
seven  times  with  a  gold  wedding-ring ;  iveris  are 
removed  by  the  touch  of  a  drowned  man's  hand 
seven  times  repeated  ;  three  hairs  from  the  cross 
on  a  donkey's  back  will  cure  the  whooping  cough  ; 
warts  are  cured  by  cutting  a  notch  in  a  stick  and 
burying  it ;  and  the  ill  luck  brought  by  spilling 
the  salt  can  always  be  averted  by  throwing  a 
pinch  over  the  left  shoulder. 

To  kill  a  robin  wantonly,  forebodes  a  broken 
limb  ;  and  to  see  the  moon  reflected  in  a  mirror  is 
a  sign  that  something  will  arise  before  the  day  is 
out  to  make  you  angry. 


92  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

To  seat  a  hen  upon  thirteen  eggs  ensures  a 
healthy  brood ;  but  to  dine  with  thirteen  at  table 
is  unlucky,  and  death  or  sickness  will  come  to 
those  of  the  party  who  first  rise  from  the 
table. 

The  candle  must  never  be  allowed  to  die  out,  or 
it  brings  death  to  some  sailor  out  at  sea  ;  and  for 
the  cook  to  throw  egg  shells,  whole,  behind  the 
fire  will  raise  a  storm  at  sea. 

The  guttering  of  a  candle  is  indicative  of  a 
shroud  ;  but  a  spark  in  the  wick  signifies  a  letter. 
The  advent  of  a  stranger  can  be  known  by  the 
sootflake  which  hangs  upon  the  bar,  by  the  dreg 
in  the  teacup,  by  the  peeping  into  the  window  of 
a  robin,  and  by  several  other  signs. 

Money  must  be  turned  in  the  pocket,  when  the 
note  of  the  cuckoo  is  first  heard,  if  you  would 
have  things  go  well  with  you ;  and  if  the  business 
day  is  to  be  a  profitable  one,  the  first  takings  in  a 
morning  must  be  spit  upon  and  spun. 

The  cinder  which  leaps  out  of  the  fire  should 
be  taken  up,  spit  upon,  and  held  loosely  in  the 
palm.  If  it  crackles,  it  means  your  purse  will  be 
replenished,  but  if  not,  it  indicates  a  shroud. 

No  luck  can  come  to  the  business  you  have  in 
hand  if  the  first  person  you  meet  on  setting  out 


BELIEFS  AND  CUSTOMS.  93 

is  a  woman.  The  evil  can  be  averted,  however, 
if  you  return  to  the  house,  sit  down,  and  start 
afresh.  It  equally  presages  failure  if  you  have 
to  return  for  anything  forgotten.  To  sharpen  a 
knife  after  supper,  is  to  make  the  way  easy  to 
the  burglar  and  cut-throat,  and  to  leave  knives 
crossed  is  to  court  calamity. 

The  booming  sound  of  the  church  bell  foretells 
death  to  someone  in  the  parish,  within  the  week, 
and  the  cold  shudder,  which  at  times  runs 
through  you,  is  a  sign  that  someone  is  treading 
upon  your  grave. 

If  your  right  ear  burn,  someone  is  praising 
you,  but  if  the  left,  some  malicious  tongue  is 
slandering  you. 

The  death  watch  will  give  notice  of  death  to 
a  house,  and  the  howling  of  a  dog  denotes  the 
same. 

It  is  as  unlucky  to  laugh  while  crossing  a 
fairy  ring,  as  it  is  to  hear  the  cock  crow  before 
midnight,  or  to  possess  a  crowing  hen. 

Every  schoolboy  knows  how  the  sight  of  a 
number  of  magpies  can  influence  events,  and  the 
following  lines  remain  longer  in  the  memory  of 
most  boys  than :  u  As  in  prcesenti  perfectum 
format  in  avi  :  " 


94  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

"  One  for  sorrow 
Two  for  mirth 
Three  for  a  wedding 
Four  for  a  birth 
Five  for  heaven 
Six  for  hell 
Seven  you'll  see  the  de'il  himsell." 

The  New  Year  will  be  marked  by  death  or 
ill  luck  if  fire  be  taken  out  of  the  house,  or  if 
nothing  green  be  taken  in,  or  if  the  first-foot  be 
a  woman  or  a  fair  man  instead  of  a  dark  man. 

Second  sight  will  be  given  to  those  who  will 
watch  at  the  church  porch  until  the  clock  strikes 
twelve  on  St.  Mark's  Eve,  April  24th,  and  they 
will  see,  passing  into  the  church,  the  form  of 
everyone  in  the  parish  who,  in  the  coming  year, 
are  doomed  to  die. 

It  is  a  sure  sign,  if  the  limbs  of  a  corpse  remain 
flexible,  that  another  death  will  come  to  the 
house  before  the  year  is  out. 

The  "  layer  out "  in  some  places  ties  the  feet 
of  the  dead,  but  it  is  necessary  that  they  who 
bind,  should,  before  burial,  unloose,  otherwise 
the  dead  will  not  rise  at  the  first  resurrection. 

Feet  first,  the  body  must  be  carried  to  its  last 
resting-place,  and  that  the  dead  may  rest  in 
peace  and  be  ready  to  rise  at  the  Judgment 


BELIEFS  AND  CUSTOMS. 


95 


signal,  we  lay  them  reverently  with  feet  towards 
the  dawn  : 

"  For  awhile  the  tired  body 
Rests  with  feet  towtard  the  dawn, 
Till  there  break  the  last  and  greatest 
Easter  morn." 


Xegent)  of  B^arb's  leap. 

BY  THE  REV.  J.  CONWAY  WALTER. 

ON  the  old  Roman  road,  called  "  Ermine 
Street,"  or  "  The  High  Dyke,"  which 
stretches  in  an  almost  unbroken  line  through  the 
county  of  Lincoln,  from  Stretton  in  Rutland 
(probably  so  called  from  its  position  on  the  old 
"  street,"  Latin  "  stratum,")  to  Winteringham  on 
the  shore  of  the  Hurnber, — and  at  a  distance  of 
some  three  miles  from  Ancaster,  a  Roman  station, 
as  its  name  implies,  and  which  Horsley 
("  Britannia  Romana,"  p.  433)  pronounced  to  be 
the  ancient  Causennae — and  in  the  angle  formed 
by  the  Sleaford  and  Newmark  road,  which  there 
crosses  the  Roman  road — stands  a  solitary  farm- 
house ;  its  solitude  only  relieved  by  two  cottages 
distant  about  one  hundred  yards,  on  the  same 
side  of  the  great  highway,  and,  more  recently 
erected,  a  small  school  building  on  its  opposite 
side. 

Solitary  in  its  position,  its  civil  status  also  was 


THE  LEGEND  OF  B  YARD'S  LEAP.  97 

formerly  isolated,  since  it  belongs  to  what  was 
an  extra-parochial  farm,  at  the  north-west  corner 
of  Ranceby,  sometimes  returned  with  the  parish  of 
Cranwell,  sometimes  with  that  of  Leadenham ; 
but  latterly  (under  the  Act,  20  Victoria,  cap.  16) 
constituted  a  separate  parish  in  its  own  right. 

Close  by  the  entrance  gateway  to  this  farm- 
house, on  the  road  side,  is  a  block  of  stone,  such 
as  not  uncommonly  may  be  seen  near  old  houses 
of  the  kind,  forming  two  steps,  from  which  a  rider 
mounted  his  horse.  This  stone  is  inscribed  with 
the  two  words  "  Byard's  Leap."  They  are  some- 
what enigmatical,  and  we  propose  here  to  put 
forward  an  interpretation  of  them. 

Other  spots  besides  this  have  acquired  some- 
what similar  designations,  owing  to  circumstances 
connected  with  them  "  in  days  of  yore."  Thus  we 
have  in  Middleton  dale,  in  Derbyshire,  "  The 
Lover's  Leap,"  a  high  rock,  from  which  a  love- 
sick maiden,  as  it  is  said,  in  her  despair  on  finding 
her  love  not  requited,  cast  herself  down  into  the 
abyss  below  (circa  1760),  and,  strange  to  say, 
sustained  little  injury.  Again,  a  lofty  precipice 
on  one  of  the  headlands,  called  "  The  Sutors 
of  Cromartie,"  in  Scotland,  has  been  named, 

for    nearly    200    years,     "  The    Caithness   man's 

H 


98  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

leap,"  from  the  fact  of  such  a  person  having 
sprung  over  the  cliffs  to  escape  being  shot,  and 
marvellously  survived  to  tell  his  own  tale,  when 
nearly  ninety  years  of  age.  In  like  manner,  on  the 
famous  St.  Gotthard  route  in  Switzerland,  a  spot 
on  the  river  Reuss,  near  the  village  of  Wyler,  is 
known  as  the  "  Pfaffenn-sprung,"  or  Father's  Leap; 
a  romantic  (or  lawless)  monk  having  once  there 
sprung  over  the  torrent,  bearing  in  his  arms  (in 
spite  of  his  priestly  orders)  a  young  girl  whom  he 
was  carrying  off;  a  feat  which  has  led  to  his 
being,  uncanonically  indeed,  but  scarcely  less 
effectually,  canonized,  or  immortalised,  in  all  the 
guide-books  of  the  country. 

Not  less  singular  are  the  circumstances  which 
are  said  to  have  given  rise  to  the  name  of 
"  Byard's  (or  "  Bayard's  ")  Leap,"  or  the  Leap  of 
the  horse  "  Bayard."  They  are  of  considerable 
interest,  as  affording  a  case  of  (so  called)  witchcraft, 
resting  on  something  like  tangible  and  circum- 
stantial, if  not  absolutely  veritable,  testimony. 

Our  forefathers  at  any  rate  thoroughly  believed 
in  witchcraft  and  all  its  potent  influences.  The 
air  about  them  was  rife  with  marvellous  accounts 
of  it,  inextricably  interwoven  with  the  tissue  of 
their  daily  experiences.  In  the  reign  of  "  good 


TflE  LEGEND  OF  B  YARD'S  LEAP.  99 

Queen  Bess,"  even  a  reverend  Prelate,  Bishop 
Jewel,  when  preaching  before  her  majesty,  could 
declare  from  the  pulpit,  that  in  her  "  Grace's 
realm,  witches  and  sorcerers  had,  of  late  years, 
marvellously  increased,"  and  although  we,  in  the 
closing  years  of  this  19th  century,  plume  ourselves 
upon  being  wiser  than  those  who  have  gone  before 
us,  yet,  as  recently  as  in  the  year  1858,  a 
labourer's  daughter,  in  Essex,  accused  an  old 
woman  of  having  bewitched  her,  and  the  overseers 
of  the  Union  publicly  recognised  her  case  as  one 
of  veritable  sorcery. 

Indeed,  it  is  not  difficult  to  account,  in  some 
degree,  for  this  widespread  belief  existing  in 
former  times.  When  there  were  few,  if  any,  of 
the  books,  such  as  our  educational  system  now 
brings  to  the  humblest  cottage,  wherewith  to 
while  away  the  long  winter  evenings,  the  Tale- 
teller was  in  great  requisition ;  and  the  ofttold 
narrative,  almost  naturally,  would  grow  more  and 
more  marvellous  in  its  details  on  each  repetition  of 
it.  Hogarth's  famous  picture,  of  "  The  Propagation 
of  a  Lie"  was  true  to  nature.  As  some  one  has  said, 
"  the  old  folk  wagged  their  heads,  and  the  young 
their  tongues ; "  till  the  smallest  incidents  were 
magnified  into  mystery ;  and  the  rude  fancy  of 


100  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

the  untutored  swain,  being  allowed  to  run  riot, 
peopled  every  hill  and  hollow,  every  coppice  and 
quarry,  every  waste  or  quagmire,  with  beings  of 
another  mould  than  that  of  ordinary  humanity. 
In  the  soft  soughing  of  the  summer  breeze,  or  in 
the  wild  shriek  of  the  storm-blast,  he  recognised 
the  wail  of  some  spirit  distrest,  or  the  howl  of  a 
doomful  demon ;  and  minds,  feeding  on  their  own 
superstition,  bred  a  prolific  crop  of  horrors  about 
them,  till  witches  and  warlocks  became  a  general 
subject  of  fear  and  fanaticism,  and  nothing  was  too 
extraordinary  to  be  accepted,  with  an  implicit 
faith  worthy  of  a  worse  name  (note  1),  nor  was 
this  state  of  things  confined  to  the  lower  orders. 
Learned  treatises  were  written,  by  Glanville  and 
Sinclair,  to  prove  that  in  the  17th  and  18th 
centuries  witches  still  existed  (note  2). 

A  recent  writer  (note  3)  has  described  some 
parts  of  Lincolnshire  as  "  the  isolated  home  of 
folk-lore,"  where  "  linger  the  tales  of  witchcraft 
and  the  spirit-world  ; "  and  the  neighbourhood  to 
which  our  legend  belongs  has  been  rich  in  sorcery. 
A  remarkable  instance  is  connected  with  Belvoir 
Castle.  The  Earl  and  Countess  of  Rutland,  with 
other  members  of  their  family,  were  believed  to 
be  bewitched  by  an  old  servant,  who  had  been 


THE  LEGEND  OF  BYAR&S  LEAP.  101 

dismissed  from  their  service  for  purloining  victuals. 
Their  eldest  son,  Lord  Ros,  is  said  to  have  been 
"  taken  sick  in  a  strange  manner,  and  died  ;  "  Lord 
Francis,  his  brother,  was  "  severely  tormented  ; " 
Lady  Catherine,  their  sister,  became  subject  to 
fits ;  and  the  Earl  and  Countess  were  so  affected 
that  they  could  have  no  more  children.      And 
not    only    was    this    the    common    bruit    of    the 
vicinity,  but    at    Bottesford,    their   burial    place, 
where  there  is  a  monument  representing  the  Earl 
and    Countess     and     two    children,    who    were 
supposed    to    have    been    bewitched    to    death " 
(note   4),    the   full  particulars  were   given  in  an 
old   book   which  used   formerly  to   be   shewn  to 
visitors  by  the  sexton  at  the  church.     The  two 
daughters  of  the  witch  were  executed  at  Lincoln 
for  witchcraft,  on  March  llth,  1618-19;  and  the 
witch  herself,  after  uttering  an  imprecation  against 
herself,   by   wishing   that  the   bread   and    butter 
which    she    ate    might    choke    her    if    guilty,^ 

*  This  form  of  imprecation  was  of  very  old  date.  The  swallowing 
of  a  piece  of  bread  without  choking  was  an  old  ordeal  to  test  the  guilt 
or  innocence  of  a  party  suspected  of  any  crime.  And  hence,  Du  Cange 
tells  us,  arose  the  expression,  "may  this  piece  of  bread  choke  me,  etc." 
Ingulphus  and  other  old  Chroniclers  state  that  Earl  Godwin, 
being  suspected  by  Edward  the  Confessor  of  having  murdered  his 
brother  Alfred,  and  some  words  to  that  effect  having  fallen  from  the 
King  while  Godwin  was  dining  with  him  at  Winchester,  the  Earl  assert- 
ing his  innocence  said,  "  May  this  bread  which  I  am  about  to  eat  choke 
me  if  I  had  any  hand  in  that,  murder  !  "  He  ate  the  bread,  but,  in 
attempting  to  swallow  it,  was  choked,  and  died  at  the  King's  table. 


102  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

immediately  fell  down  dead,  as  she  was  being 
taken  to  Lincoln  jail,  and  was  buried  at  Ancaster, 
within  three  miles  of  the  scene  of  our  legend. 

But  to  return  to  "  Byard's  Leap "  : — It  is 
situated  in  the  midst  of  what  was  once  a  lonely 
tract  of  high  land,  almost  a  waste,  extending  for 
many  miles,  and  called  Ancaster  Heath.  Possibly 
its  loneliness  may  have  made  its  sparse  inhabitants 
somewhat  behind  their  age,  and  may  have 
fostered  in  their  benighted  minds  a  brooding- 
spirit,  favourable  to  a  belief  in  the  marvellous. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  the  following  particulars  are 
the  result  of  careful  enquiry,  and  may  be  deemed 
worth  preserving,  in  an  age  when  old-time 
traditions  are  being  rescued  from  the  oblivion 
which  would  otherwise  speedily  engulf  them,  in 
these  days  of  rapid  progress  and  enlightenment. 

The  pedestrian  who  follows  the  footpath  which 
runs  along  the  Eastern  side  of  the  great  Roman 
highway,  will  observe,  at  a  distance  of  some 
fifty  yards  northwards  from  the  farmhouse  of 
Byard's  Leap,  and  near  a  pond  by  the  roadside, 
four  very  large  iron  horse  shoes,  embedded  in 
the  soil.  If  he  measures  the  distance  of  these 
shoes  from  the  pond  he  will  find  that  it  is  twenty 
paces,  or  sixty  feet,  and  sixty  feet  was  the  length 


THE  LEGEND  OF  BYARD'S  LEAP.  103 

of  Byard's  Leap.  We  are  not  aware  that  there 
is  any  case  on  record  of  a  horse  having  leaped 
that  distance ;  about  half  that  extent  being 
usually  considered  the  most  that  a  horse  can 
cover  in  one  bound. *  Consequently  something 
very  unusual  must  have  occurred  to  incite  the 
horse  Bayard  to  make  such  a  spring.  What  that 
occurrence  was,  my  tale  is  supposed  to  unfold. 

Opposite  the  farm  of  "  Bayard's  Leap,"  is  a 
plantation ;  not  a  gloomy  wood,  whose  recesses 
we  might  expect  to  find  the  haunt  of  the  super- 
natural, but  consisting  chiefly  of  trees  of  recent 
growth ;  but  probably  there  formerly  existed  an 
older  growth,  whose  pristine  shades  were  more 
adapted  to  harbour  weird  spirits.  Within  that 
wood,  inhabiting,  as  is  said,  a  cave,  but  more 
likely  a  deserted  quarry  of  the  famed  Ancaster 
stone  of  the  district  (such  places  of  abode  being 
still  used),  there  lived  the  pest  and  terror  of  the 
country  side  in  the  person  of  an  old  woman,  known 
far  and  wide  as,  par  excellence,  the  witch.  How 
long  ago  she  flourished  we  are  not  told ;  but 
inasmuch  as  the  horse  connected  with  our  story 
was  named  Bayard,  and  that  soubriquet  was 

*  We  believe  that  the  greatest  leap  on  record  is  that  of  Chandler,  in 
the  Leamington  steeplechase,  now  several  years  ago  ;  who  cleared  the 
great  distance  of  thirty-three  feet. 


104  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

doubtless  derived  from  the  celebrated  French 
warrior,  Peter  Bayard,  whose  exploits  were 
performed  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  and 
earlier  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  whose 
fame  would  require  some  lapse  of  time  to  reach  a 
locality  so  remote,  we  may  fairly  assume  that  the 
era  of  her  malign  influence  was  not  further 
removed  in  the  past  than  some  300  years  ago. 

A  dangerous  character  was  the  old  beldame  to 
any  who  ventured  to  thwart  her,  or  cross  her 
path.  We  know  not  whether  she  ever  attained 
to  the  distinction  of  having  an  epitaph ;  but 
assuredly  that  would  not  have  ill-suited  her 
(with  the  necessary  change  of  name),  which  is 
inscribed  on  the  tomb  of  another  notorious 
individual,  who  once  over-awed  and  harried  the 
extreme  North  of  the  British  Isle  :— 

"  Rob  Don  here  lyes  lo, 
Was  ill  to  his  friend, 
Waur  to  his  fo, 
But  true  to  his  master 
In  weal  and  wo." 

Her  vindictive  nature  v/as  well  known,  and  her 
many  ways  of  showing  it.  If  the  old 
woman  was  denied  anything  which  she  craved  of 
her  better-to-do  neighbours,  they  were  certain 
speedily  to  suffer  for  it.  Take  a  few  instances  of 


THE  LEGEND  OF  BYARD'S  LEAP.  105 

the  witches  common  mischief-working  powers,  as 
given  by  various  authorities.  At  one  house  she 
asks  for  a  pot  of  ale.  The  ale  is  given  her,  but 
proves  to  be  sour.  She  leaves  the  house 
indulging  in  a  flood  of  imprecations,  and  the  next 
day  the  dairymaid  is  six  long  hours  in  churning 
before  she  can  get  the  butter  to  come,  and  then 
it  will  not  "set."  A  man  shoots  at  a  black  cat, 
which  comes  in  his  way  as  he  is  returning  home 
in  the  evening  from  his  sport.  The  creature 
turns  round  and  spits  at  him  :  and  then  he 
recognizes  the  visage  of  the  old  hag  in  its  face  ; 
and  of  course  it  goes  off  with  a  charmed  life  ;  but 
the  following  night  he  finds  his  horses  in  the 
stable  trembling  and  in  a  cold  sweat,  although 
they  have  done  no  work.  If  the  urchins  in  play 
point  at  her  and  call  her  names,  they  are  sure  to 
go  home  to  their  mothers  crying  with  the  tooth- 
ache, or  otherwise  affected.  One  farmer's  wife 
declares  that  for  a  whole  week  all  her  hen's  eggs 
were  addled,  because  she  had  given  the  old 
woman  buttermilk  when  she  asked  for  milk.  Cows 
drop  their  calves,  sows  farrow  their  litters  before 
their  time.  The  servant  girls,  talking  of  their 
sweethearts'  merits,  late  at  night,  when  they 
ought  to  be  asleep,  see  the  old  woman  grinning 


106  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

at  them  in  jealousy  through  the  chamber 
window.  Being  asked  by  a  nurse-maid  to 
admire  the  babe  she  is  carrying  in  arms,  the  hag 
merely  looks  at  it,  and  forthwith  it  squints  ever 
afterwards.  A  farmer  riding  home  from  market 
in  the  dusk,  and  with  more  sheets  in  the  wind 
than  he  can  well  carry,  declares  that  he  saw  her 
riding  on  a  broomstick  in  front  of  him,  and  that 
when  he  called  to  her  to  get  out  of  his  way,  his 
horse  shied  and  at  once  fell  dead  lame.  These 
and  such  like  are  among  the  minor  samples  of 
her  witchery  (note  5) ;  until,  in  course  of  time, 
suspicion  grows  into  a  general  conviction  that 
the  old  woman  is  a  sore  incubus  to  the  whole 
neighbourhood ;  that  neither  man  nor  beast  is 
secure  from  her  spells ;  and  that  no  one  knows 
that  he  may  not  himself  be  the  next  victim  to 
suffer,  in  some  form,  from  her  blighting  influence. 
The  matter  at  first  is  talked  over,  almost  in 
whispers,  by  the  farm  labourers,  as  they  lounge 
on  the  settle  by  the  fire  in  the  farmer's  kitchen, 
sipping  their  spiced  ale.  And  one,  inspired  with 
a  more  than  usual  amount  of  Dutch  courage, 
suggests  that  it  would  be  for  the  public  good  if 
the  old  woman  could  in  any  lawful  way  be  got 
rid  of.  The  idea  is  broached  more  than  once 


THE  LEGEND  OF  BYAR&S  LEAP.  107 

before  anything  comes  of  it ;  the  main  difficulty 
being,  Who  is  to  bell  the  cat  ?  At  length,  a  child 
having  been  still-born  in  a  cottage  from  which 
the  old  woman  had  been  turned  away  without  re- 
ceiving what  she  asked  for,  the  indignation  ripens, 
and  a  plan  is  proposed,  by  which  it  is  hoped  that 
the  witch's  power  may  be  put  an  end  to,  while  the 
act  shall  seem  to  be  of  her  own  originating.  The 
shepherd  of  the  farm  has  been  on  something  like 
intimate  terms  with  the  old  woman,  occasionally 
paying  her  a  visit,  and,  as  is  surmised,  himself 
having  had  illicit  dealings  with  her,  the  result, 
however,  to  himself  being  that  closer  acquaint- 
ance with  her  has  in  no  wise  enkindled  affection  ; 
and  although  he  is  afraid  to  "  break  "  with  her, 
for  fear  of  the  consequences  of  her  resentment, 
he  would  yet  greatly  rejoice,  as  would  many  others, 
if  he  could  terminate  the  unpleasant  thraldom  of 
her  influence. 

To  attain  this  end,  then,  a  scheme  is  devised 
as  follows,  rude  in  its  conception,  but,  as  the  event 
proves,  sufficient  for  its  purpose.  They  all  make 
up  their  minds,  in  the  homely  phrase  of  the 
locality,  "  to  get  shut  of  her."  By  a  sort  of 
lottery,  the  shepherd  is  selected  for  the  enter- 
prise. He  is  to  lead  out  the  farm  horses  to 


108  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

water  in  the  evening,  at  the  pond  by  the  road- 
side, opposite  to  which  is  the  hag's  den.  He  is 
to  throw  a  stone  into  the  water  as  the  horses  are 
drinking,  and  whichever  horse  then  raises  its 
head  first,  he  is  to  mount.  He  is  to  be  armed 
with  a  two-edged  knife.  He  is  to  call  to  the  old 
woman  to  come  and  mount  behind  him.  He  is 
to  stab  her  when  she  has  done  so,  as  if  in  self- 
defence  on  her  springing  up  behind  him  ;  and  it 
is  hoped  that  in  the  struggle,  she  will  be 
drowned ;  the  not  unfrequent  end  of  witches. 
At  the  appointed  time  he  proceeds  to  carry  out 
these  instructions.  The  horses  are  led  to  the 
water,  the  stone  is  thrown  into  the  pond.  The 
first  horse  that  raises  his  head,  on  hearing  the 
splash,  is  the  blind  Bayard ;  a  providential 
circumstance,  since  it  is  likely  that  any  horse 
which  could  see  would  shrink  from  contact  with 
the  witch.  He  mounts  the  horse  Bayard.  He 
calls  out  to  the  old  woman,  asking  her  to  come 
and  ride  behind  him.  Her  reply  (which  has  been 
preserved)  is,  "  Wait  till  I've  buckled  my  shoes 
and  suckled  the  cubs,  and  I'll  be  with  you."  He 
waits,  and  in  due  time  she  comes  forth.  At  his 
bidding  she  mounts  behind  him.  He  at  once 
plunges  his  knife  into  her  breast.  The  old  hag, 


THE  LEGEND  OF  BYARD'S  LEAP.  109 

in  her  agony,  clutches  at  the  horse's  back  with 
the  long  sharp  nails  of  her  fingers.  The  horse  in 
its  alarm  makes  one  wild,  sudden  bound,  which 
lands  him  full  sixty  feet  from  the  spot.  The 
witch  falls  back  into  the  pond,  and  is  drowned ; 
and  so  her  career  is  ended. 

Tradition  says  that  the  horse  made  a  second 
bound,  equal  in  length  to  the  first,  and  which 
brought  him  to  the  corner  of  the  cottages  which 
stand  further  on  by  the  side  of  the  road ;  but 
only  the  first  is  marked  by  the  four  huge  horse- 
shoes, which  are  carefully  preserved,  in  situ,  as 
described  above,  as  a  standing  evidence  and 
memorial  of  "  Bayard's  Leap  "  (note  6). 

IRotes  to  tbe  "  Xegenfc  of  JSgarb's  Xeap." 

I. — In  a  pamphlet  in  the  writer's  possession, 
entitled  "  Strange  Newes  out  of  Hartfordshire 
and  Kent,"  and  "  Printed  for  R.G.,  in  London, 
1679,"  there  is  (1),  "An  account  of  a  mowing 
devil,  which  cut  down  three  acres  of  oats.  It  fell 
out  that  at  night  the  crop  shew'd  as  if  it  had 
been  all  of  a  flame,  but  next  morning  appear'd  so 
neatly  mow'd  by  the  devil  that  no  mortal  man 
was  able  to  do  the  like,  etc."  (2),  "A  true 
narrative  of  a  young  maid  possest  with  several 


110  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

devils,  one  of  which,  by  the  prayers  of  a  pious 
doctor  who  came  to  visit  her,  was  fetch't  out  of 
her  body,  and,  in  the  likeness  of  a  large  snake, 
twisted  itself  about  the  doctor's  neck  .  .  .  with 
an  account  also 'of  other  devils  which  yet  remained 
in  her,  etc.  .  .  •  .  This  narrative  is  attested  by 
several  persons  of  credit  .  .  .  present  while  the 
accident  happened."  As  we  read  such  state- 
ments, we  can  only  open  our  eyes  with 
amazement,  and  say,  with  Horace,  "  Credat 
Judseus ! "  and  look  for  a  parallel  to  such 
monstrosities,  to  his  laughable  description  of 
Canidia,  "  Brevibus  implicata  viperis  crines."- 
(Epod.  v.,  15). 

II. — We  have,  in  the  text,  quoted  the 
statement  of  Bishop  Jewel  as  to  the  increase  of 
witchcraft  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  It  may 
here  be  added  that  Zachary  Gray,  the  editor  of 
Hudibras,  states  that  he  had  perused  a  list  of 
3000  witches,  which  were  executed  during  "the 
Long  Parliament."  The  penal  statutes  against 
witchcraft  were  repealed  in  1736,  but  the  case  of 
Barker  v.  Wray,  in  Chancery,  August  2nd,  1827, 
shewed  that  popular  belief  in  witchcraft  still 
prevailed ;  and  the  writer  of  this  record  has  him- 
self frequently  seen  an  old  woman  in  Scotland 


THE  LEGEND  OF  BYAR&S  LEAP.  Ill 

who  had  the  reputation  of  being  "  canny,"  and  of 
whom  it  was  commonly  said  that  "  the  blink  of 
her  ill  e'e "  could  produce  disease,  and  even 
death. 

III. — Article  on  the  "  Legends  of  the  Lincoln- 
shire Cars,"  by  Mrs.  Balfour,  in  "  Folk  Lore," 
vol.  ii.,  No.  2,  p.  148. 

IV. — The  inscription  on  the  monument  says 
that  they  were  murdered  by  "  wicked  practice 
and  sorcery."  The  death  of  the  old  woman,  of 
course,  prevented  her  trial  being  proceeded  with, 
but  the  two  daughters  were  expressly  charged 
with  "  murdering  Henry,  Lord  Ros,  by  witch- 
craft, and  torturing  the  Lord  Francis,  his 
brother,  and  Lady  Catharine,  his  sister."  On 
that  charge  they  were  condemned  by  Sir  Henry 
Hobbert,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas, 
and  Sir  Edward  Bromley,  one  of  the  Barons  of 
the  Exchequer,  and  the  accused  confessed  their 
guilt. 

V. — The  instances  of  evil  influence,  here 
brought  together,  are  only  such  as  were  commonly 
attributed  to  witches  in  those  days.  Of  course 
it  would  be  impossible,  at  this  distance  of  time, 
to  enumerate  all  the  performances  of  the  particular 
witch  here  in  question,  or  to  vouch  for  the  literal 


112  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

and  exact  accuracy  of  the  accounts  here  given  ; 
but,  according  to  the  information  gathered  from 
various  sources,  they  may  be  taken  as  re- 
presenting, generally  and  substantially,  the  nature 
of  the  doings  imputed  to  her  at  the  time,  and 
which  still  linger  in  local  traditions. 

VI. — It  should  be  here  stated  that  considerable 
variations  from  the  foregoing  version  of  the 
legend  exist,  as  is  usually  the  case  with  such 
narratives,  in  the  form  of  oral  tradition  still  float- 
ing in  the  neighbourhood.  For  instance,  the 
personalty  of  the  hero  himself  varies  from  that 
of  a  knight-errant  of  the  age  of  chivalry  to  that 
of  an  ordinary  cavalry  soldier  of  a  more  recent 
period.  The  Venerable  Edward  Trollope,  F.S.A., 
Archdeacon  of  Stow  (now  Bishop  Suffragan  of 
Nottingham),  in  a  monograph  on  "  Ancaster 
under  the  Romans,  and  Mediaeval  Ancaster," 
which  appeared  in  The  Reliquary,  for  April  and 
July,  1863,  and  was  subsequently  (1868)  pub- 
lished in  a  separate  form,  describes  the  Knight 
as  setting  out  from  Ancaster  (some  three  miles 
distant  from  Bayard's  Leap),  in  quest  of  the 
witch,  having  made  a  vow  that  he  would  rid  the 
neighbourhood  of  her  pestiferous  influence ; 
watering  his  horses  at  .a  pool,  which  was,  and  is, 


THE  LEGEND  OF  BYAR&S  LEAP.  113 

situated  in  part  of  the  ditch  of  the  old  Roman 
Castrum  of  that  ancient  place,  he  prays  that  the 
horse  best  suited  for  his  purpose  may  give  some 
token  ;  whereupon  the  steed  Bayard  tosses  his 
head,  and  neighs  his  readiness  for  the  enterprise. 
The  knight,  riding  forth,  soon  sees  a  mysterious 
light  proceeding  from  a  deep  recess  in  a  rock ; 
and,  as  he  passes  it,  he  is  attacked  by  a  strange 
wild-looking  creature  with  flaming  eyes,  stream- 
ing locks,  and  talon-like  claws.  In  vain  he 
strikes  about  him  with  his  trusty  sword,  while 
his  weird  antagonist  deals  him  many  a  lusty 
buffet.  At  length,  by  a  tremendous  blow,  he 
succeeds  in  wounding  her,  but  his  weapon  is 
broken  in  the  effort.  The  hag,  maddened  by 
pain,  springs  on  the  horse's  back  behind  him,  and 
buries  her  claws  deep  in  the  flesh  of  man  and 
beast.  They  fly  ;  and  the  knight,  remembering 
the  charm  against  witchcraft,  which  attaches  to  the 
cross,  like  Tam-o-Shanter  making  for  "  the  Key- 
stane  o'  the  brig,"  steers  his  steed  for  the  cross- 
roads ;  and,  as  the  horse  bounds  over  the  point  of 
juncture,  the  witch  relaxes  her  hold,  and  falls 
dead  to  the  ground  ;  the  spot  being  henceforth 
called  "  Bayard's  Leap."  This  version  the 
compiler  of  the  above  "  Legend  "  is  inclined  to 


114  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

reject ;  partly  because  it  does  not  accord  with 
the  words  of  the  witch,  given  by  several  different 
authorities,  "  Wait  till  I've  buckled  my  shoes  and 
suckled  my  cubs  and  I'll  be  with  you,"  an  answer 
which  implies  that  she  was  first  appealed  to,  or 
challenged,  by  some  one  else,  instead  of  being,  as 
this  version  would  make  her,  herself  the 
aggressor ;  but  more  especially  because  (as  stated 
above)  the  name  of  "  Bayard "  would  seem  to 
assign  the  events  to  a  date  considerably  later 
than  the  age  of  knight-errantry.  Almost  equally 
anachronistic,  in  the  other  direction,  is  the  version 
which  ascribes  the  feat  to  a  cavalry  soldier,  who 
encounters  the  witch,  cutting  off  her  left  breast 
with  his  sword ;  whereat  she  springs  upon  his 
charger,  which,  incontinently,  gives  "  three  great 
jumps,"  still  marked  by  stones.  This  variation 
may,  perhaps,  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 
the  old  woman  who  gives  it  had  once  travelled 
so  far  from  her  home  as  the  town  of  Sheffield, 
and  there  had  a  sight  of  some  mounted  yeomanry  ; 
and  the  form  of  the  legend,  as  it  percolated 
through  her  somewhat  obtuse  brain,  would  seem 
to  have  acquired  a  tinge  from  her  own  recollec- 
tions of  that  event,  which  would  probably  be  an 
exceptional  one  in  her  limited  sphere  of  ex- 


THE  LEGEND  OF  BYAR&S  LEAP.  115 

periences.  The  "  three  jumps,"  are  an  instance 
of  the  occurrence  of  the  by  no  means  uncommon 
mystic  number,  three,  found  in  such  uncanny 
narratives  ;  and  which  again  occur  in  another 
variation,  where  the  hero  (whoever  he  was,)  not 
content  with  throwing  the  stone  once  into  the 
pond,  on  finding  that  the  blind  horse  is  the  one 
to  raise  its  head,  made  the  experiment  thrice,  and 
each  time  the  same  blind  horse  responded  by 
tossing  its  head.  Other  various  are  : 

(a.) — (As  in  White's  "  History  of  Lincoln- 
shire," Ed.  1856),  that  the  witch  herself  occupied 
the  solitary  (now  farm)  house  on  the  heath,  and 
that  she  took  a  prodigious  leap,  on  her  horse 
Bayard,  into  a  ravine,  and  so  gave  rise  to  the 
name. 

(b.) — It  is  said  that  the  witch,  when  attack- 
ing the  rider,  assumed  the  form  of  a  lion. 

(c.) — The  horse  is,  by  one  authority,  called 
"  Byron,"  but  this  is  evidently  only  a  corruption 
of  Byard. 

(d.) — It  is  said  that  the  holes,  otherwise  sup- 
posed to  have  been  the  marks  of  Bayard's  feet, 
were  originally  nothing  more  than  the  boundary 
marks  of  four  parishes  ;  while 

(e.) — Some  have  supposed  that  the  spot  was 


116  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

thus  marked  out,  as  a  place  where  jousts  and 
tilting  matches  were  formerly  held. 

The  two  latter  ideas,  however,  would  seem  to 
be  merely  conjectural,  and  are  really  somewhat 
beside  the  purpose ;  since  certain  holes  may  have 
formerly  served  either  or  both  of  these  ends, 
without  in  any  way  affecting  the  legend. 

In  a  letter  to  the  writer,  the  present  owner  of 
"  Bayard's  Leap,"  Colonel  Reeve,  of  Leadenham 
House,  states  that  in  his  "  father's  time,  Bayard's 
jump  was  denoted  by  eight  holes  in  the  ground, 
but  at  length  they  got  worn  out ;  and  finding 
this  to  be  the  case,  he  himself  had  the  present 
large  horse-shoes  made  and  put  into  large  blocks 
of  stone,  to  prevent  their  being  easily  removed." 
He  adds  that  "  the  shoes  weighed  sixty-eight 
pounds,"  or  close  upon  seven  stone. 

On  the  whole,  the  version  here  given,  and 
based  on  information  gathered  on  the  spot, 
seems  the  most  congruous,  so  far  indeed  as 
congruity  can  be  expected  to  exist,  in  a  matter 
of  such  hypothetical  authenticity. 


IRobert  J>e  Brunne,  flfeonfcieb  Cbronicler 
ant>  poet 

BY  FREDERICK  Ross,  F.R.H.S. 

BOURNE  is  a  small  market  town  in  Southern 
Lincolnshire,  whose  history  may  be  traced 
back  to  the  Saxon  times,  and  even,  if  we  may 
conclude  from  the  discovery  of  Roman  coins  and 
a  tesselated  pavement,  from  the  Roman  period. 
Leofric,  Earl  of  Mercia,  had  a  castle  and  estates 
here  which  descended  to  Hereward  the  Wake, 
his  son,  who  formed  the  "camp  of  refuge"  amid 
the  swamps  of  the  isle  of  Ely,  and  for  a  long 
period  set  the  Norman  Conqueror  at  defiance, 
being  the  last  of  the  patriotic  Saxons  whom  he 
reduced  to  subjugation.  He  seems  to  have 
retained  possession  of  his  lands  at  Brunne,  as  it 
was  then  called,  until  his  death  without  issue, 
when  they  lapsed  to  the  crown,  and  were  granted, 
by  William  Rufus,  to  Walter  John  Gilbert  or 
Fitzgislebert,  about  the  year  1138.  In  the 
middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  Gilbert,  son  of 


118  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Jocelyne,  Lord  of  Sempringham,  in  Lincolnshire, 
founded  on  his  manors  a  monastery  of  a  new 
order,  for  both  sexes,  but  in  separate  houses,  that 
of  the  men  being  a  modification  of  the 
Augustinian  canons,  and  that  of  the  women  of 
Cistercian  nuns,  which  was  ratified  and  confirmed 
by  Pope  Eugenius  III.  The  order  spread 
rapidly,  so  that  before  the  dissolution  there  were 
twenty-six  houses  of  the  order  in  England,  of 
which  several  were  in  Lincolnshire.  Of  these  was 
the  Priory  of  Brunne ;  which  was  founded  by 
Baldwin  Fitz  Gilbert  son  of  the  grantee  of  the 
castle.  In  1279,  Baldwin,  Baron  Wake,  had  a 
grant  of  a  Saturday  market  and  an  annual  fair  to 
be  holden  in  his  town,  and  in  the  market-place  is 
an  ancient  town  hall,  said  to  have  been  erected 
by  the  Wakes,  but  was  more  probably  built  by 
the  Cecils,  whose  arms  are  carved  in  basso-relievo 
on  the  front.  The  town  has  suffered  severely  by 
fire,  one  entire  district  having  been  destroyed  in 
1605,  and  another  district  in  1637. 

Bourne  boasts  of  having  been  the  nursery  of 
the  Cecils,  where  William  Cecil,  afterwards  Baron 
Burleigh,  was  born,  in  1520,  at  the  house  of  his 
grandfather,  David  Cecil,  a  family  that  still 
maintains  a  pre-eminence  in  statesmanship.  It 


ROBERT  DE  BRUNNE.  119 

was  also  the  birthplace  of  one  of  whom  there  is 
less  reason  to  be  proud,  the  Rev.  Dr.  William 
Dodd,  author  of  some  esteemed  works,  who  was 
executed  for  forgery  on  the  Earl  of  Chesterfield,  in 
1777.  From  his  assumption  of  the  name  of  "  de 
Brunne  "  this  monkish  chronicler  has  obtained  the 
reputation  of  having  been  a  native  of  Lincoln- 
shire. His  biographers  generally,  and  Lincoln- 
shire writers  as  a  rule,  maintain  that  he  was  born 
at  Bourne,  even  Edward  A.  Freeman,  the  famous 
and  accurate  historian,  in  a  paper,  entitled 
"  Lindum  Colonia,"  read  before  the  Lincolnshire 
Architectural  Society  in  1875,  and  since  printed 
in  his  "  English  Towns  "  (p.  220)  has  fallen  into 
the  same  error,  writing  :  "  And  even  if  I  have 
robbed  the  Bourne  man  of  one  worthy" 
(Hereward)  "  I  have  another  to  give  him  instead. 
It  was  a  Lincolnshire  man,  a  Bourne  man, 
(Robert  de  Brunne)  who  gave  the  English 
language  its  present  shape."  He  may  fairly  be 
claimed  as  a  Lincolnshire  man,  as  he  resided 
there  the  greater  portion  of  his  life,  and  at 
Brunne  wrote  his  chronicles  and  poems,  but  still 
he  was  not  a  native.  His  name  was  Robert 
Mannyng,  and  he  was  born  at  Malton,  in 
Yorkshire,  circa  1270,  and  was  brought  up  and 


120  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

educated  in  the  Gilbertine  monastery  there.  In  a 
neighbouring  village  was  born  Peter  de  Langtoft, 
another  monkish  chronicler,  who  became  a  Canon 
of  Bridlington,  whose  chronicles  he  versified,  and 
whom  he  would  be  acquainted  with  as  a 
neighbour  and  contemporary  for  some  twenty  or 
thirty  years.  Being  an  ardent  devotee  of  the  Gil- 
bertine order,  it  was  natural  that  he  should  desire 
to  imbibe  further  instruction  at  the  fountain  head, 
hence  we  find  that  when  he  had  finished  his 
novitiate  at  Malton,  he  went  to  Sexhill,  where  he 
made  his  profession  and  assumed  the  cowl, 
whence  he  removed  to  Brunne,  where  he  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  life,  and  died  there  at  a  great 
age. 

Hearne  writes : — "The  historians  of  former  times 
were  the  religious,  who  often  lost  their  surnames, 
and  upon  compiling  their  famous  works,  were 
surnamed  anew  from  the  houses  of  which  they 
were  members.  .  .  .  'Tis  impossible  to  give 
a  particular  account  of  the  life  of  Robert  de 
Brunne.  .  .  .  He  was  one  of  those  that  culti- 
vated the  English  tongue,  and  he  gained  a  great 
reputation  upon  that  score.  .  .  .  He  lived  to 
a  great  age,  though  the  year  in  which  he  died 
doth  not  occur.  The  true  name  of  this 


ROBERT  DE  BRUNNE.  121 

great  man  was  Robert  Mannyng,  but  being,  as  I 
believe,  born  at  Malton,  in  Yorkshire,  he  was 
from  hence  frequently  called  Robert  of  Malton. 
.  .  .  He  had  been  at  Brunne  about  fifteen 
years  when  he  began  to  translate  the  '  Manuel  de 
Peches,'  and  'twas  more  than  thirty  after  that 
before  he  finished  his  task  about  Peter  de 
Langtoft.  After  he  became  famous,  he  was 
generally  called  Robert  de  Brunne,  which  was 
occasioned  b}T  his  living  so  long  in  the  Priory." 

Madden  writes  : — "  Not  Canon  of  Brunne,  but 
born  there,  for  he  calls  himself  "of  Brunne,"  soon 
after  1303  and  in  1338.  From  1288  to  1303  he 
was  in  the  priory  of  Sempringham,  then  removed 
to  Brynnwake  (Brunne)  six  miles  distant,  where 
he  wrote  the  prologue  to  his  first  work  :  the 
interval  is  not  accounted  for :  after  this,  till 
1327-38,  when  he  composed  the  translation  of 
Langtoft,  and  during  that  period  was  a  short 
time  in  the  house  of  Sixhills,  the  Prior  of  which, 
Dan  Robert  of  Malton,  caused  the  work  to  be 
undertaken  :  my  interpretation  : — '  My  name  is 
Robert  Manyng,  now  of  Brunne,  but  was  awhile 
at  Sixhills,  where  you  knew  me  as  Dan  Robert  of 
Malton,  where  I  wrote  this  for  felawes'  sake,  with 
which  to  make  merry  with  songs  and  recitations.'" 


122  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

The  conclusion  of  his  prologue  to  Langtoft 
runs  thus  :— 

"  Of  Brunne,  I  am,  if  any  me  blame, 
Robert  Manyng  is  my  name, 
Blessed  be  he  of  God  of  Heuene, 
In  the  third  Edward's  tyme  was  it, 
When  I  ad  wrote  all  this  story  ; 

In  the  house  of  Sixhille  I  was  a  throwe  (a  little  while), 
Dawn  Robert  of  Maltone,  that  ye  know, 
Did  write  it  for  felawes'  sake, 
When  that  they  wold  solace  make." 

Warton,  in  reference  to  this,  observes  : — "  It 
appears  from  hence  that  he  was  born  at  Malton, 
in  Lincolnshire"  but  there  is  no  Malton  in  that 
county. 

He  was  one  of  our  earliest  versifyers  of  the 
chronicles  of  England,  and  of  translations  of 
theological  treatises  into  the  vernacular,  in  a 
style  rugged  and  uncouth,  but  perhaps  best 
adapted  for  this  purpose,  as  he  said,  his  writings 
were  intended  not  for  the  learned,  but  for  the 
"  lewd  "  (the  low  and  illiterate).  Warton  says  : — 
"  He  appears  to  have  possessed  much  more 
industry  than  genius,  and  cannot  at  present  be 
read  with  much  pleasure,  yet  it  must  be 
remembered  that  even  such  a  writer  as  Robert  de 
Brunne,  uncouth  and  unpleasing  as  he  naturally 
seems,  and  chiefly  employed  in  turning  the 


ROBERT  DE  BRUNNE.  123 

theology  of  his  age  into  rhyme,  contributed  to 
form  a  style  ;  to  teach  expression  ;  and  to  polish 
his  native  tongue.  In  the  infancy  of  language 
and  composition  nothing  is  wanted  but  writers. 
At  that  period  even  the  most  artless  have  their 
use." 

The  following  specimen  of  his  style,  from  the 
"  Manuel  des  Peches,"  may  interest  Lincolnshire 
readers  :— 

"  For  lewed  men,  I  undyrtoke 
In  Englyshe  tonge  to  make  this  boke, 
For  many  beyn  of  such  manere, 

That  talys  and  rymys,  will  blethly  (gladly)  here  (hear), 
On  gamys  and  festys  at  the  ale 
Love  men  to  lestene  trotonale  (truth  and  all), 
To  all  Christen  men  under  sunne 
And  to  gode  men  of  Brunne ; 
And  specialli  al  bi  name 
The  felauchippe  of  Symprynghame  ; 
Roberd  of  Brunne  greteth  yow 
In  alle  godenesse  that  may  to  prow  (profit) 
Of  Brynwake,  yn  Kestevene, 
Syxe  mile  besyde  Symprynghame  evene, 
Ydwelled  in  the  priorye, 
Fyfteene  yeres,  in  companye 
In  the  time  of  gode  Dan  Jone 
Of  Camelton,  that  now  is  gone ; 
In  hys  tyme  was  i  ther  ten  yeres, 
And  knewe  and  herd  of  his  maneres ; 
Sythin  with  Dan  Jon  of  Clytone 
Fyve  wyntyr  wythe  hym  gan  I  wone  j 


124  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

"  Dan  Felip  was  mayster  in  that  tyme, 
Than  I  began  this  Englyshe  ryme 
The  Year  of  Grace  fyd  (fell)  than  to  be 
A  thousand  and  thre  hundred  and  thre." 

The  following  is  a  list  of  Manyng's  works  : — 

"  A  Metrical  Chronicle  of  England/'  partly 
compiled  from  Wace  and  Langtoft,  and  partly 
original :  the  first  part  from  .^Eneas  to  the  death 
of  Cadwallader :  the  second  to  the  end  of  the 
reign  of  Edward  the  First.  An  edition  trans- 
cribed from  a  manuscript  in  the  Inner  Temple 
was  published  by  Thomas  Hearne,  in  1725. 

The  first  portion,  which  was  never  printed 
entire,  is  a  translation  of  a  French  Poem  by 
"  Maister  Wace,"  entitled  "  Roman  de  Rois  d' 
Angleterre,"  based  on  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth. 
It  was  commenced  by  Eustace,  one  of  the  oldest 
French  Romance  writers,  under  the  title  of 
"  Brut  d'  Angleterre,"  who  completed  his  part  in 
1155;  and  was  continued  until  the  reign  of 
William  II.,  by  Wace,  chaplain  to  Henry  II., 
with  the  title  of  "  Le  Roman  de  Rou  et  les  Dues 
de  Normandie"  in  1160.  The  second  portion  is  a 
metrical  translation  of  Langtoft's  Chronicle,  with 
some  original  matter. 

"  Meditations  on  the  Supper  of  our  Lord  and 


ROBERT  DE  BRUXNE.  125 

the  Hours  of  the  Passion,"  by  Cardinal  Bonaven- 
ture,  the  Seraphic  Doctor,  drawn  into  English 
verse  by  Robert  Mannyng,  of  Bourne,  edited  from 
the  MSS.  in  the  British  Museum  and  the  Bodleian 
Library,  Oxford  ;  with  Introduction  and  Glossary, 
by  J.  Meadows  Cooper,  F.R.H.S.,  Early  English  Text 
Society,  1875.  Bonaventure's  title  was  "  De  Ccena 
et  Passione  Domini,  et  psenes  S.  Marine  Virginis," 
and  Manny ng's  ran  thus  : — "  Meditacyons  of  the 
Soper  of  our  Lorde  Jhesu  and  eke  of  the  Peynes 
of  hys  sweete  Modyr  Mayden  Marye,  the  whyche 
mad  yn  Latyn  Bonaventurse  Cardynall,"  in  which 
the  translator  took  great  liberties  with  the  text, 
introducing  much  matter  of  his  own. 

"  Her  by  genet  a  treatys  that  ys  yclept  '  Castel 
of  Love  that  Biscop  Grosteyst  made  ywis  for 
lewde  men  by  Love.":  An  edition  of  100  copies 
was  privately  printed,  entitled  "  A  translation  of 
Grosteste's  (Bishop  of  Lincoln)  '  Chateau  d' 
Amour,'  by  J.  O.  Halliwell,  1849." 

"  Robert  de  Brunne's  '  Handlyng  of  Synne ' 
(written  A.D.  1303),  with  the  French  Treatise  on 
which  it  is  founded,  '  Le  Manuel  des  Pechiez,'  by 
William  of  Wadington  ;  now  first  printed  from 
MSS.  in  the  British  Museum  and  Bodleian 
Libraries.  Edited  by  Frederick  J.  Furnival, 


126  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

M.A.,      for      the     Roxburghe      Club,      London, 
1862." 

A  very  free  translation,  with  the  introduction 
of  new  matter.  William  of  Wadington  was  a 
native  of  Waddington,  in  Yorkshire,  and  is  said 
to  have  translated  the  above  work  into  French 
verse  from  a  Latin  Poem,  ascribed  to  St.  Bernard 
and  otherwise  to  Pope  Clement.  It  was,  how- 
ever, his  own  original  composition,  and  was 
paraphrased  by  Bishop  Grosteste,  whose  real 
name  was  Copley,  descended  from  the  Copleys  of 
Batley,  Yorkshire,  whose  paraphrase  was  the 
basis  of  Mannyng's  translation  into  English  verse, 
under  the  title  "  Here  begynneth  the  Boke  that 
men  clepyn  in  Frenshe,  Robert  Grosteste  byshop 
of  Lincolne." 


Wlitcbes  of  Belvoir. 

BY  T.  BROADBENT  TROWSDALE. 

case  of  the  '''Witches  of  Belvoir,"  one 
-A-  of  the  most  celebrated  in  the  annals  of 
English  witchcraft,  has  an  intimate  connection 
with  the  county  of  Lincoln.  The  trial  and 
execution  of  the  wretched  women  who  "  wrought 
annoy  "  to  the  family  of  the  Earl  of  Rutland, 
in  the  early  years  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
took  place  in  the  city  of  Lincoln.  Joan  Flower, 
the  principal  actor  in  this  dark  drama  of  deceit, 
was  overtaken  by  death  on  her  way  to  the  trial, 
and  was  buried  at  Ancaster ;  and  Belvoir  Castle, 
the  scene  of  the  accomplishment  of  the  "  black 
arts  "  of  these  sworn  agents  of  the  evil  one,  which 
may  in  truth  be  spoken  of  as  "  deeds  without  a 
name,"  stands  on  the  very  border  of  Lincolnshire. 
In  the  church  of  Bottesford,  in  the  north- 
eastern corner  of  Leicestershire,  is  the  sepulchral 
chapel  of  the  Rutland  family,  and  among  the 
stately  tombs  is  that  of  Francis  Manners,  Earl  of 


128  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Rutland,  his  Countess,  and  their  two  sons,  Henry 
and  Francis,  which  attracts  more  than  ordinary 
interest,  from  the  story  attached  to  it  in  the 
church  books.  An  extract  therefrom,  with  the 
spelling  modernised,  is  given  in  Burke's  "Anec- 
dotes of  the  Aristocracy."  When  the  Right  Hon. 
Sir  Francis  Manners  succeeded  his  brother  Roger 
in  the  earldom  of  Rutland,  and  acquired  possession 
of  Belvoir  Castle,  and  of  the  estates  belonging  to 
the  earldom,  he  took  such  honourable  measures 
in  the  course  of  his  life,  that  he  neither  discharged 
servants  nor  denied  the  access  of  the  poor ;  but, 
making  strangers  welcome,  he  did  all  the  good 
offices  of  a  noble  lord,  by  which  he  obtained  the 
love  and  goodwill  of  the  country,  his  noble 
.Countess  being  of  the  same  generous  and 
honourable  disposition.  So  that  Belvoir  Castle 
thus  became  a  continual  place  of  entertainment, 
especially  to  neighbours,  where  "  Joan  Flower" 
and  her  daughter  were  not  only  relieved  at  the 
first,  but  Joan  was  also  admitted  charwoman,  and 
her  daughter  Margaret  as  a  continual  dweller  in 
the  Castle,  looking  to  the  poultry  abroad,  and 
the  wash-house  at  home  ;  and  thus  they  continued 
until  found  guilty  of  some  misdemeanour,  which 
was  discovered  to  the  lady.  The  first  complaint 


THE   WITCHES  OF  BELVOIR.  129 

against  the  mother  was  that  she  was  a  very 
malicious  woman,  full  of  oaths  and  irreligious 
imprecations,  and  as  far  as  appeared,  a  plain 
Atheist ;  as  for  Margaret,  she  was  frequently 
accused  of  going  from  the  Castle,  and  carrying 
provisions  away  in  unreasonable  quantities,  and 
returning  at  such  unseasonable  hours  that  they 
could  riot  but  conjecture  at  some  mischief 
amongst  them,  and  that  their  extraordinary 
expenses  tendered  both  to  rob  their  lady,  and 
served  also  to  maintain  some  debauched  and  idle 
company  which  frequented  Joan  Flower's  house. 
This  state  of  things  went  on  for  some  considerable 
time,  when  the  Countess  of  Rutland  having  dis- 
covered other  indecencies  in  the  life  of  her  servant 
Margaret,  at  length  discharged  her  from  the 
Castle,  but  in  a  kindly  manner  ;  giving  her  at  her 
dismissal,  as  the  Church  record  tells  us,  "  forty 
shillings,  a  bolster,  and  a  mattress  of  wool."  The 
Flower  family  appear  to  have  been  of  a  very 
revengeful  disposition ;  and  we  are  informed  that 
after  a  while  the  Earl's  household  became  sen- 
sible of  their  malicious  and  wicked  influence. 
"  First,"  proceeds  the  story,  "  the  Earl's  eldest 
son,  Henry,  Lord  Ross,  was  taken  sick  after  a 

strange  manner,  and  in  a  little  time  died  ;  and  after 

K 


130  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Francis,  Lord  Ross,  was  severely  tortured  and 
tormented  by  them  with  a  strange  sickness, 
which  caused  his  death.  Also,  and  presently 
after,  the  Lady  Catherine  was  set  upon  by  their 
devilish  practices,  and  very  frequently  in  danger 
of  her  life  in  strange  and  unusual  fits  ;  and  as 
they  confessed,  both  the  Earl  and  Countess  were 
so  bewitched  that  they  should  have  no  more 
children.  In  a  little  while  after,  they  were  appre- 
hended and  carried  into  Lincoln  gaol,  after  due 
examination  before  sufficient  justices."  Joan 
Flower,  before  her  conviction,  called  for  bread 
and  butter,  and  solemnly  wished  that  it  might  choke 
her  if  she  was  guilty  of  the  crime  of  which  she 
was  accused.  This,  we  would  here  observe,  was 
one  of  the  tests  generally  applied  in  former  times 
to  persons  charged  with  witchcraft.  It  was 
alleged  that  anyone  who  had  entered  into  a 
compact  with  the  fiends,  lost,  from  the  date  upon 
which  they  bartered  their  souls  in  return  for 
their  initiation  into  the  art  and  rites  of  witchery, 
the  power  of  swallowing  bread  with  freedom. 
This  belief  was  grounded  upon  the  supposition 
that  bread,  having  been  consecrated,  and  being 
one  of  the  articles  of  the  sacrament,  could  not  be 
retained  in  the  body  of  an  agent  of  the  evil  one. 


THE  WITCHES  OF  BELVOIR.  131 

The  test  appears  to  have  been,  to  return  to  our 
story,  fatal  in  the  case  of  Joan  Flower,  for  "  upon 
mumbling  of  it,  she  never  spoke  more,  but  fell 
down  and  died,  as  she  was  carried  to  Lincoln 
gaol,  being  extremely  tormented  both  in  body  and 
soul,  and  was  buried  at  Ancaster."  The  examina- 
tion of  Margaret  Flower,  which  took  place  on 
the  twenty-second  of  January,  1618,  we  shall 
re -produce  as  given  by  Burke  from  the  account 
in  the  Bottesford  Church  books. 

"  She  confessed  that  about  four  years  since  her 
mother  sent  her  for  the  right-hand  glove  of 
Henry,  Lord  Ross,  and,  afterwards,  her  mother 
bid  her  go  again  to  the  Castle  of  Belvoir,  and 
bring  down  the  (other  ?)  glove,  or  some  other 
thing  of  Henry,  Lord  Ross ;  and  when  she  asked 
her  for  what,  her  mother  answered,  '  To  hurt  my 
Lord  Ross/  Upon  which  she  brought  down  the 
glove,  and  gave  it  to  her  mother,  who  stroked 
Rutterkin  (her  cat,  the  imp)  with  it,  after  it  was 
dipped  in  hot  water,  and  so  pricked  it  often ; 
after  which,  Henry,  Lord  Ross,  fell  sick,  and, 
soon  after,  died.  She  further  said  that,  finding 
a  glove  about  two  or  three  years  since  of  Francis, 
Lord  Ross,  she  gave  it  to  her  mother,  who  put  it 
into  hot  water,  and  afterwards  took  it  out,  and 


132  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

rubbed  it  on  Rutterkin  (the  imp),  and  bid  him  go 
upwards,  and  said,  '  a  mischief  light  on  him,  but 
he  will  mend  again.'  She  further  confessed  that 
her  mother  and  her  [self]  and  her  sister  agreed 
together  to  bewitch  the  Earl  and  his  lady,  that 
they  might  have  no  more  children ;  and,  being 
asked  the  cause  of  this  their  malice  and  ill-will, 
she  said  that,  about  four  years  since,  the  Countess, 
taking  a  dislike  to  her,  gave  her  forty  shillings,  a 
bolster,  and  a  mattress,  and  bid  her  be  at  home, 
and  come  no  more  to  dwell  at  the  Castle  ;  which 
she  not  only  took  ill,  but  grudged  it  in  her  heart 
very  much,  swearing  to  be  revenged  upon  her ; 
on  which  her  mother  took  wool  out  of  the 
mattress,  and  a  pair  of  gloves,  which  were  given 
her  by  a  Mr.  Yovason,  and  put  them  into  warm 
water,  mingling  them  with  some  blood,  and 
stirring  it  together ;  then  she  took  them  out  of 
the  water,  and  rubbed^  them  on  the  belly  of 
Rutterkin,  saying,  '  the  lord  and  lady  would  have 
children,  but  it  would  be  long  first.'  She  further 
confessed  that,  by  her  mother's  command,  she 
brought  to  her  a  piece  of  the  handkerchief  of  the 
Lady  Catharine,  the  Earl's  daughter,  and  her 
mother  put  it  into  hot  water,  and  then,  taking  it 
out,  rubbed  it  upon  Rutterkin,  bidding  him,  '  fly 


THE  WITCHES  OF  BELVOIR.  133 

and  go;'  whereupon,  Rutterkin  whined,  and  cried 
'  mew,'  upon  which,  the  said  Rutterkin  had  no 
more  power  of  the  Lady  Catharine  to  hurt  her. 

"  Margaret  Flower  and  Phillis  Flower,  the 
daughters  of  Jane  [Joan]  Flower,  were  executed 
at  Lincoln  for  witchcraft,  March  twelfth,  1618. 

"  Whoever  reads  this  history,  should  consider 
the  ignorance  and  dark  superstition  of  those 
times,  but  certainly  these  women  were  vile, 
abandoned  wretches,  to  pretend  to  do  such 
wicked  things. 

"  '  Seek  ye  not  unto  them  that  have  familiar 
spirits,  nor  wizards,  nor  unto  witches,  that  peep 
and  that  mutter  :  should  not  a  people  seek  unto 
their  God  ?'— Isaiah  viii.  19." 

So,  with  a  quotation  from  Holy  writ,  en- 
deavouring, according  to  the  time-honoured  rule, 
to  point  the  moral  of  the  tale,  ends  the  Bottesford 
record  of  the  "  Witches  of  Belvoir." 

But  the  story,  as  given  in  the  book  of  the 
sepulchral  Chapel  of  the  illustrious  Manners 
family,  leaves  out  some  interesting  particulars. 
These  are  supplied  by  a  contemporary  pamphlet, 
reprinted  in  Nichols's  "  Leicestershire."  Associ- 
ated with  the  Flowers  in  their  horrible  practices 
were  three  other  women  of  the  like  grade,  of  life— 


134  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Anne  Baker,  of  Bottesford ;  Joan  Willimot,  of 
Goodby ;  and  Ellen  Greene,  of  Stathorne,  all  in 
the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  Belvoir  Castle. 
The  confessions  of  these  women  were  much  to  the 
same  purpose  as  that  of  Margaret  Flower.  Each 
had  her  own  familiar  spirit  to  assist  her  in 
working  out  her  malignant  designs  against  her 
neighbours.  That  of  Joan  Willimot  was  called 
"  Pretty."  It  was  blown  into  her  mouth  by  her 
master,  William  Berry,  in  the  form  of  a  fairy, 
and  immediately  after  came  forth  again  and  stood 
on  the  floor  in  the  shape  of  a  woman,  to  whom 
she  forthwith  promised  that  her  soul  should  be 
enlisted  in  the  infernal  service.  On  one  occasion, 
in  Joan  Flowers'  house,  she  saw  two  spirits,  one 
like  an  owl,  the  other  like  a  rat,  one  of  which 
sucked  her  under  the  ear.  This  woman,  however, 
protested  that,  for  her  own  part,  she  only 
employed  her  spirit  for  inquiring  after  the  health 
of  persons  whom  she  had  undertaken  to  cure. 
Greene  confessed  to  having  had  a  meeting  with 
Willimot  in  the  woods,  when  the  latter  called 
two  spirits  into  their  company,  one  like  a  kitten, 
the  other  like  a  mole,  which,  on  her  being  left 
alone,  mounted  on  her  shoulders,  and  sucked  her 
under  the  ears.  She  had  then  sent  them  to 


THE  WITCHES  OF  EELVOIH.  135 

bewitch  a  man  and  a  woman  who  had  reviled  her, 
and  who,  accordingly,  died  within  a  fortnight. 
Anne  Baker  seems  to  have  been  more  of  a 
visionary  than  the  rest.  She  once  saw  a  hand, 
and  heard  a  voice  from  the  air ;  she  had  been 
visited  with  a  flash  of  fire ;  all  of  them  ordinary 
occurrences  in  the  annals  of  hallucination.  She 
also  had  a  spirit,  but,  as  she  alleged,  a  beneficent 
one,  in  the  form  of  a  white  dog. 

The  examination  of  the   Belvoir   witches  was 
conducted    before     Sir    Henry    Hobbert,    Chief 
Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  at  Lincoln,  and  the 
wretched  women  were  condemned   to  death   on 
their  own  confession. 

The  implicit  belief  in  the  impossible  powers 
with  which  witches  were  for  so  many  centuries 
universally  accredited,  and  of  which  the  above 
case  furnishes  a  striking  illustration,  affords  a 
forcible  proof  of  the  amazing  and  lasting  power  of 
superstition  over  the  human  mind. 


Gbornton 

BY  FREDERICK  Ross,  F.R.H.S. 

r  I  ^HE  traveller  journeying  from  New  Holland 
•A-  to  Grimsby,  by. the  Manchester,  Sheffield, 
and  Lincolnshire  Railway,  will  notice,  about  three 
miles  down,  across  a  couple  of  fields,  a  fine  and 
venerable  Gothic  gateway,  formerly  the  entrance 
to  Thornton  Abbey,  a  bringing  together  face  to 
face  of  the  art  and  science  of  the  twelfth  century 
with  that  of  the  nineteenth.  The  worthy  old 
fathers  who  dwelt,  and  prayed,  and  fasted,  and 
droned  away  their  lives  within  the  walls  of  that 
building  dreamt  not  in  their  wildest  imaginings 
of  travelling  at  the  rate  of  fifty  miles  an  hour. 
They  would  have  attributed  it  to  witchcraft  or 
enchantment,  and  would  probably  have  burnt 
George  Stephenson,  had  he  sprung  up  in  their 
time ;  they,  honest  souls,  were  content  to  plod 
along  their  execrable  way-tracks,  with  their 
bullock  vans,  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  an  hour. 
Still,  though  they  had  no  notion  of  steam  as  a 


THORNTON  ABBEY.  137 

propelling  power,  and  knew  little  or  nothing  of 
modern  science,  they  had  a  marvellous  intuitive 
perception  of  the  beautiful  in  art,  and  evolved 
the  noble  Gothic  order  of  architecture,  with  all 
its  sacred  symbolism,  examples  of  which  are  so 
profusely  scattered  over  our  land,  either  complete 
or  in  ruin,  the  remains  of  the  ere  while  magnificent 
Thornton  Abbey,  standing  as  a  representative  of 
the  old  monk's  taste  and  skill  on  the  southern 
shore  of  the  Humber. 

The  country  in  which  the  Abbey  is  situated  is 
historic  ground.  The  river  Humber,  flowing 
nearbye,  has  afforded  a  passage  into  the  interior 
for  many  a  hostile  fleet,  mainly  of  Danes  and 
Norsemen,  and  many  a  battle  has  been  fought  on 
these  shores  between  the  Saxons  and  the  Danes, 
resulting  eventually  in  the  latter  gaining  the 
supremacy  in  Lincolnshire,  and  settling  there  in 
vast  numbers,  which  is  evidenced  by  the  great 
number  of  villages  in  the  district  which  were  re- 
named by  them,  with  the  Danish  terminal  by. 
The  famous  and  decisive  battle  of  Brunanburh, 
the  site  of  which  is  not  known,  and  has  been  the 
cause  of  much  controversy,  is  said  in  Ethelward's 
Chronicle  to  have  taken  place  at  Brunandene, 
which  the  editor  pronounces  to  be  Brumford,  or 


138  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Burnham,  in  the  parish  of  Thornton  Curteis,  a 
palpable  mistake,  as  the  battle  was  fought 
unquestionably  to  the  north  of  the  Humber. 
Westward  of  the  village  of  Thornton  is 
a  large  entrenchment,  called  Yarborough 
Camp,  supposed  to  be  of  Roman  origin, 
great  numbers  of  Roman  coins  having 
been  found  there.  At  Barrows,  three  or  four 
miles  distant,  once  the  seat  of  the  ancient  family 
of  Tyrwhit,  is  a  marsh,  with  an  earthwork,  called 
the  Castle,  where  tradition  tells  that  it  was 
constructed  by  Humber  when  he  invaded  Britain, 
in  the  time  of  Brut  the  Trojan  ;  Dr.  Stukeby, 
however,  after  examining  it  thought  it  to  have  been 
a  British  Druidical  Temple,  which  opinion  is 
corroborated  by  the  existence  of  several  British 
Tumuli  in  close  proximity.  Wulfere,  King  of 
Mercia,  gave  to  St.  Chad,  Bishop  of  Lichfield, 
in  the  seventh  century,  land  whereon  to  found  a 
monastery  at  Barwe,  "which  Bede  saith  re- 
mained in  his  time."  From  this  circumstance, 
a  district  near  the  church  is  still  called 
St.  Chads. 

At  Goxhill,  another  neighbouring  village, 
was  a  Cistercian  Nunnery,  founded  by  William 
de  Alta  Ripa,  about  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 


THORNTON  ABBEY.  139 

century.  It  was  at  Thornton,  too,  that  the 
lady,  Mrs  Skinner,  dwelt  whose  daughter  was 
drowned  in  crossing  the  Humber  from  Hull  in  a 
storm,  along  with  the  Eev.  Andrew  Marvell, 
Vicar  of  Hull,  and  father  of  Andrew  Marvell,  the 
patriot,  to  whom  she  had  been  paying  a  visit,  and 
who  (Mrs  Skinner)  a  lady  of  property,  being 
thus  rendered  childless,  sent  for  young  Marvell 
from  Cambridge,  and  made  him  her  heir. 

The  founder  of  the  Abbey  was  William  le 
Gros,  Earl  of  Albemarle,  Lord  of  the  Seigniory 
of  Holderness,  and  in  right  of  his  wife,  Lord  of 
the  Honour  and  Castle  of  Skipton  in  Craven. 
His  territorial  possessions,  paternal  and  jure 
uxoris,  in  Yorkshire,  Lincolnshire,  Cumberland, 
and  other  counties,  were  on  a  most  extensive 
scale,  rendering  him  one  of  the  most  powerful 
and  wealthy  of  the  northern  nobles.  He  was 
born  in  1119,  and  succeeded  his  father,  Stephen,  in 
the  Earldom,  who  was  concerned  in  conspiracies 
against  Henry  I.,  in  which  he  disappeared;  but 
the  date  is  riot  known.  He  (William)  held  a 
chief  command  at  the  battle  of  the  Standard, 
1138,  when  David  of  Scotland  was  defeated,  and 
adhered  to  Stephen  in  his  contest  with  the 
Empress  Maud,  fighting  under  him  at  the  Battle 


140  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

of  Lincoln,  1140-1,  where  the  King  was  defeated 
and  captured,  the  Earl  narrowly  escaping  the 
same  fate.  He  rebuilt  the  Castle  of  Scarborough, 
of  which  place  he  was  Governor,  on  the  ruined 
site  of  an  ancient  fortress,  and,  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  II. ,  was  appointed  seneschal  of  Normandy, 
and  being  a  potent  and  able  man  was  entrusted 
with  many  important  Offices  of  State,  married 
Cecily,  daughter  of  William  Fitz  Duncan,  nephew 
to  Malcolm,  King  of  Scotland,  by  Alice,  daughter 
of  Robert  de  Romile,  Lord  of  Skipton,  by  whom 
he  had  issue  : — 

Hawyse,  his  heiress,  who  married  William  de 
Mandeville  and  two  others,  who  afterwards 
became  successively,  Earls  of  Albemarles,  j.u. 

Amicia,  who  married  one  Aston  or  Eston, 
from  whom  descended  John  de  Eston,  who 
claimed  the  Earldom  of  Albemarle  on  the  death 
of  Aveline  de  Fortibus,  sixth  Edward  I. 

The  Earl  died  after  an  active  and  vigorous  life, 
in  1179,  and  was  buried  with  great  honour  and 
respect  in  his  Abbey  of  Thornton. 

William  le  Gros  was  as  distinguished  for  his 
foundation  of  monasteries  and  benefactions  to  the 
church  as  he  was  for  his  military  enterprises,  and 
skill  in  warfare — "  De  prima  fundatione  ejusdem 


THORNTON  ABBEY.  141 

et  arbitibus  abbatuno,  ex  chronicis  abbatie  de 
Thorneton  Curteis,  penes  Gervasium  Holies  de 
Grimesby,  in  Com.  Line.  Armigerum,  Anno 
1640. 

"  Proedictus  comes  fundator  existit  quatuor 
monasteriorum  ;  primum  monasterium  S.  Martin 
de  Anyco  prope  Albemarlium  ordinis  Clunia- 
censis. 

"  Secundum  monasterium,   beatse  de  Thorneton 

ordinis  St  Augustini  Line.  Diocesis. 

"  Tertium  monasterium  beatae  Marise  de 
Melsa  ordinis  Cisterciensis,  in  com,  Eboracii 
fundatur  enim  Anno  Dom.  1150  in  die 
circumcisionis  Domini,  anno  xi  post  fundationem 
monasterii  beatse  Marise  de  Thorneton." 

The  last-mentioned  Abbey  of  Meaux,  near 
Beverley,  was  founded  in  absolution  of  a  vow  to 
go  on  a  crusade  to  the  Holy  Land,  the  Earl 
having  become  so  corpulent  as  to  render  him 
incapacitated  for  undertaking  the  fatigues  of  the 
journey  and  the  perils  of  the  warfare. 

The  monastery  of  Thornton  was  built  circa 
1139,  as  a  Priory  of  Augustinian  canons,  or,  as 
they  were  usually  termed,  Black  Canons. 

The  order  of  St.  Augustine,  Bishop  of  Hippo, 
originated  in  the  eighth  century,  as  a  medium 


142  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

between  Secular  Priests  and  the  Benedictine 
monks,  the  rules  being  that  all  property  should 
be  in  common ;  labour  from  morning  to  sext ; 
reading  from  sext  till  nones ;  and  work  from 
refection  to  vespers  ;  with  regular  attendance  at 
Divine  Service.  Psalms  to  be  sung  at  the  hours 
and  readings  after  vespers.  Times  of  fasting  and 
abstinence  ;  punishments  for  certain  offences,  such 
as  idle  talk  and  gossiping,  fixing  their  eyes  upon 
women ;  pilfering  food ;  harsh  expressions  to 
each  other ;  disobedience  to  superiors,  etc.  In 
the  twelfth  century,  Pope  Nicholas  II.  introduced 
a  stricter  rule,  which  gave  rise  to  the  distinction 
of  Regular  and  Secular  Canons,  the  former  being 
those  who  lived  in  common  in  the  monasteries, 
and  the  latter  those  who  officiated  in  Cathedral 
and  Collegiate  churches. 

The  Priory  was  gradually  built,  the  more 
important  portions  the  earlier,  and  when  it  was 
rendered  habitable  and  accommodation  provided  for 
the  purpose  of  Divine  worship,  it  was  consecrated 
and  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  and  a 
seal  made,  of  which  an  imperfect  impression  may  be 
seen  in  the  Chapter  House  of  Westminster 
Abbey — the  Blessed  Virgin,  superbly  crowned, 
having  in  one  hand  a  lily,  in  the  other  a  cross, 


THORNTON  ABBEY. 


143 


and  the  Divine  Infant  seated  on  her  lap  :  with 
what  remains  of  the  legend — ".  .  .  gillvm.  see. 
Marie,  de  Thorneton." 

A  colony  of  monks,  with  brother  Richard  at 
their  head,  migrated  hither,  from  Kirkham,  near 
Malton,  Yorkshire,  who  took  possession  of  the 
cells,  and  Richard  was  elected  their  first  Prior. 


THORNTON   ABBEY. 


From  the  first  it  received  some  very  liberal 
donations  from  other  benefactors,  and  in  con- 
sequence it  was  converted,  in  1148,  from  a 
Priory  into  an  Abbey  ;  which  benefactions  were 
enumerated  in  the  "  Carta  Regis  Ricardi  Primi, 
Donatorum  et  Concessiones,  recitans  et  con- 
firmans," 


144  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  Abbots  :— 

1.  Eichard,  elected  Prior  1140;  Abbot,  1148, 
by  Bull  of  Pope  Eugenius  III.  ;  died  1152. 

2.  Philip,  1152;  c,  1175. 

3.  Thomas,    1175;   died    1184,  on   his  road  to 
Rome,  relative  to  an  appeal  respecting  the  church 
of  Barrow. 

4.  John  Benton,  1184-1203. 

5.  Jordan  de  Villa,  1203-1223. 

6.  Richard  de  Villa,  1223-1233. 

7.  Geoffrey  Holme,  1233-1245. 

8.  Robert,  1245  ;   died  1257. 

9.  William  Lincoln,  1257-1273. 

10.  William  Hotoft  or  Waller,  resigned  1290. 

11.  Thomas   de   Ponte,    otherwise    Thomas    de 
Glaunteford  Bridge,  1290  ;  resigned  1323. 

12.  William     de     Grysby,   1323 — cession     22d 
Edward  III. 

13.  Robert  de  Derlyncton,  occurs  13th  and  22d 
Edward  III. 

14.  Thomas     de    Gretham,    Royal     assent    to 
election  38th  Edward  III.,  occurs  17th  Richard 
II. 

15.  William  de  Multon,  17th  Richard  II. 

16.  Geoffrey  Burton,  died  1st  Henry  VI. 

17.  John  Hoton,  elected  1439. 


THORNTON  ABBEY.  145 

18.  William  Multon,  elected  1443. 

19.  William  Medley,  occurs  1473. 

20.  John  Beverley,  occurs  1492  and  1495. 

21.  John  Louth,  occurs  1499  and  1517. 

22.  John  More,  occurs  1522  and  1535,  the  last 
Prior,  who  surrendered  the  Abbey  at  the  dis- 
solution. 

Judging  from  what  is  left  in  the  ruins,  the 
Abbey  must  have  been  a  magnificent  aggregation 
of  buildings.  It  appears  to  have  been  arranged 
in  the  form  of  an  extensive  quadrangle,  sur- 
rounded by  a  deep  moat  and  a  high  rampart, 
with  the  walls  castellated  and  crenellated  for 
defence  against  the  pirates  of  the  Humber.  The 
gateway  which  still  remains,  with  massive  door 
and  portcullis,  was  approached  by  a  drawbridge 
over  the  moat,  between  two  flanking,  loopholed 
walls  and  with  two  round  towers  for  military 
purposes.  The  grand  entrance-arch  is  sur- 
mounted by  a  parapet  and  a  room  for  the 
gatekeeper  or  watchman.  The  western  face  has 
six  embattled  turrets,  with  three  statues,  between 
the  two  middle  ones — the  centre  a  crowned  figure 
of  a  King,  with  a  mitred  Bishop  on  one  hand  and 
a  Knight  in  armour  on  the  other,  each  figure 
standing  under  an  enriched  canopy.  Above  are 


146  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

figures  in  the  attitude  of  prayer,  representative 
probably  of  monks,  and  there  are  other  niches 
which  at  one  time  have  contained  statues.  In 
the  interior  are  numerous  rooms,  cells,  and 
passages,  including  the  grand  banqueting  room, 
with  the  stone-work  of  its  bay-window  still  entire, 
and  a  finely  groined  roof  ornamented  with  richly 
carved  groupings  of  flowers  and  fruit,  and  half 
length  human  figures  with  distorted  countenances, 
supposed  to  represent  beings  undergoing  the 
penal  purgation  of  purgatory.  Eastward  of  the 
gateway  have  been  excavated  the  remains  of  the 
church,  which  has  evidently  been  a  noble 
structure ;  the  chapter  house,  still  tolerably 
complete,  was  octangular,  and  richly  decorated, 
with,  running  round  it,  beneath  its  beautiful 
windows,  an  arcade  of  pointed  arches,  with 
cinque-foiled  heads  and  tre-foiled  pendants  in  the 
centre.  The  Abbot's  house  on  the  south  is  now 
occupied  as  a  farm-house.  In  making  the 
excavations  was  found  a  tomb  inscribed,  "  Roberti 
et  Julia,  1443,"  and  in  a  wall  was  found  a 
skeleton,  with  a  table,  a  book,  and  a  candlestick, 
supposed  to  be  the  remains  of  Thomas  de  Gretham, 
the  fourteenth  Abbot,  who  was  immured  (buried 
alive  within  a  wall)  for  some  crime  or  breach  of 


THORNTON  ABBEY.  147 

monastic  rule.  The  Annals  of  the  Abbey  are 
somewhat  scanty,  there  being  but  little  known  of 
its  ecclesiastical  or  domestic  history.  The 
following  are  a  few  details  from  the  Abbey 
chronicle  :— 
"Anno. 

1142.  Fundatur  noster    dedit  nobis  villam  de 

Grysby. 

1143.  Fundator  noster  dedit  nobis  Villam  de 

Adelfby. 
1147.  Bernardus,  son    of    Scamni,    with    son 

Hugo,  who  was  made  Canon,  gave  us 

xxxiv.  acres  of  land. 
1149.  Herbertus  de  St.  Quintino  gave  all   his 

land   at    Stayntun  and  2  bovates  of 

land  in  Barrow. 
„       Radolphus  de  Halton  gave  one  caracute 

of  land  in  Halton,  etc. 
,,     Our  founder  gave  Villam   of  Frothyng- 

ham,    for    the    soul   of    his    brother 

Ingelcanni. 
1180.   Obiit      prseclarus      comes     et     eximius 

monasteriorum    fundator,    Willielmus 

Grose  xiii  Kal.  Septembris. 
1217.  Perqui visit    confirmatione     Ecclesiarum 

de  Humbleton,  Garton,  et  Frothy ng- 


148  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

11  ham    et    patronatus    Ecclesiarum    de 
Karlton    et    Kelstron    ab    Honorio, 
Papa  III. 
1225.  Perquivisit     generale      privelegum      ab 

Honorio,  Papa  III. 

1228.   Perquivisit    confirmationern  de  Ecclesia 
de  Barow  a  Gregorio,   Papa,   Nono, 
anno,  Pontificatus  sui  secundo. 
1262.  Perquivisit      confirmationem       Ecclesia 
de      Gouxyll      ab      Urbano      Papa 
Quarto. 
1292.  Emptum  erat  Manerium  de  Halton,  ab 

Henrico  Lacy,  pro  mille  libris." 
King  Henry  VIII.,  about  the  time  that  he  was 
commencing  the  suppression  and  plunder  of  the 
monasteries,  paid  a  visit  to  Hull  with  his  Queen, 
Katherine  Howard,  and  a  train  of  courtiers, 
where  he  voted  at  the  Mayor  choosing,  caused 
the  erection  of  new  defences,  and  promoted  other 
works  for  the  improvement  of  the  town,  and 
after  a  stay  of  five  days,  crossed  the  Humber  to 
Barrow-Haven,  and  went  hence  to  Thornton 
Abbey,  a  procession  of  the  whole  fraternity 
meeting  him  on  the  road,  and  conducting  him, 
with  expressions  and  marks  of  welcome  to  the 
Abbey,  where  he  was  entertained  with  a  stately 


THORNTON  ABBEY.  149 

and  costly  reception  and  magnificent  banqueting. 
This  was  probably  a  politic  act  on  the  part  of  the 
fraternity,  in  order  to  curry  favour  with  the 
King,  who,  they  saw,  was  then  appropriating  to  his 
own  purposes  the  revenues  and  lands  of  the 
monastic  houses,  and  in  the  issue  it  proved 
successful,  as  after  the  surrender  of  the  house, 
with  its  revenue  of  somewhat  over  £700  per 
annum,  equal  to  twenty  times  its  value  of  present 
money,  mindful,  perchance,  of  his  sumptuous 
entertainment  and  the  courtly  attentions  of  the 
Abbot  and  brethren,  instead  of  altogether 
suppressing  the  Abbey,  he  converted  it  into  a 
collegiate  establishment  to  the  honour  of  the 
Holy  and  Undivided  Trinity,  with  a  dean  and 
nineteen  prebendaries,  and  applied  the  greater 
part  of  the  Abbey  lands  for  its  endowment.  It 
had  not  however  a  long  period  of  existence,  being 
dissolved  on  the  first  of  the  following  reign 
(1546-67),  and  the  site  granted  in  exchange 
to  the  Bishopric  of  Lincoln. 

From  the  Pension  Book  in  the  Augmentation 
Office  we  find  that  the  following  pensions  were 
"  assigned  by  the  King's  commissioners  to  the  late 
Chanons,  to  be  paid  vnto  them  duringe  their 
Ly  ves  at  the  ffeasts  of  th'  annu'  ciacion  of  'or  Lady 


150  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

and    Seynte   Mychaell   th'    Archangell   by  evin 
porcions." 

"  To  Sr  Edmond  Sotheby  viijli. 

To  Sr  William  Shawe  vi.  li.  xiijs.  iiijd. 

To  Sr  Thomas  Appulton  „        „        „ 

To  Sr  Christophr  Smythe        -  „        „        „ 

To  Sr  John  Williamson  al's  Storre  „        „        „ 

To  Sr  Stephen  Thompson        -  „        „        „ 

Summa  Totall  xlj.    vj.   viijd. 

PHYLYP  PARYS. 
Jo.  TREGONELL. 
Jo.  HUGHES." 


Battle  of  Xincoln* 

BY  EDWARD  LAMPLOUGH. 

WHEN  the  long  reign  of  Henry  I.  came  to 
a  conclusion  in  the  December  of  1135, 
the  crown  was  bequeathed  to  his  daughter, 
Matilda,  the  ex-Empress  of  Germany,  and  at 
that  time  the  wife  of  Geoffrey  Plantagenet, 
Count  of  Anjou. 

Stephen,  Count  of  Blois,  the  son  of  the  Con- 
queror's daughter  Adela,  was  the  first  prince  of 
the  royal  blood.  He  was  an  ambitious  and 
gallant  noble,  well  fitted  by  character  and  ability 
to  succeed  to  his  uncle's  crown.  In  the  absence 
of  Matilda  he  seduced  the  barons,  and  usurped 
the  throne,  thereby  plunging  the  land  into  a 
civil  war,  endured  from  the  year  1136  until  peace 
was  finally  concluded  by  the  treaty  of  Win- 
chester, in  1153,  when  the  throne  was  secured 
to  Stephen  for  the  remainder  of  his  life,  the 
succession  being  vested  in  Henry  Plantagenet, 
Matilda's  eldest  son. 


152  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

The  cause  of  the  ex-Empress  was  first  espoused 
by  her  uncle,  David,  King  of  Scotland,  but  her 
half-brother,  Robert,  Earl  of  Gloucester,  was  her 
chief  captain  and  counsellor,  his  devotion  to 
Matilda  being  only  equalled  by  his  hostility 
towards  Stephen. 

The  most  remarkable  event  of  the  war  was  the 
defeat  of  King  David  by  the  northern  barons, 
seconded  by  the  native  archers  of  Yorkshire  and 
Lincolnshire,  at  the  battle  of  Northallerton,  or 
"  the  Standard,"  as  it  was  popularly  termed. 

In  1140,  Stephen  entered  Lincolnshire  with 
the  intention  of  reducing  Lincoln  Castle,  recently 
surprised  by  Ralph  de  Gernons,  Earl  of  Chester, 
who,  with  his  wife  and  his  half-brother,  William 
de  Roumara,  proposed  to  maintain  his  quarters 
in  the  fortress  during  the  approaching  festival 
of  Christmas. 

Many  of  the  citizens  of  Lincoln  loyally  adhered 
to  the  gallant  Stephen,  and  news  of  the  disaster 
was  speedily  dispatched  to  him,  and  as  promptly 
responded  to  by  his  appearance  before  the  fortress 
at  the  head  of  a  numerous  and  well-appointed 
army. 

The  Earl  of  Chester,  thus  taken  at  a  dis- 
advantage, was  extremely  apprehensive  for  the 


THE  BATTLE  OF  LINCOLN.  153 

safety  of  his  castle,  and  the  welfare  of  his  wife 
and  friends,  for  he  doubted  whether  the  defences 
could  be  maintained  against  the  repeated  attacks 
of  the  active  and  determined  monarch.  In  this 
strait  he  sallied  forth,  under  cover  of  night, 
passed  through  the  lines  of  the  beleaguring  army, 
repaired  to  the  Earl  of  Gloucester,  and  apprised 
him  of  the  perilous  position  of  the  castle  and  its 
garrison. 

Ralph  de  Gernons  had  espoused  the  Earl  of 
Gloucester's  daughter,  and  her  perilous  position 
no  doubt  influenced  the  nobleman  in  adventuring 
his  life  for  the  relief  of  the  fortress.  The  force 
that  could  be  assembled  at  so  short  a  notice, 
and  during  the  winter  season,  was  necessarily 
small,  but  the  two  earls  acted  with  the  energy 
and  promptitude  demanded  by  so  important  a 
crisis,  and  mustering  their  vassals  and  friends, 
and  a  body  of  auxiliary  Welshmen,  they  marched 
upon  Lincoln. 

Stephen  trusted  too  confidently  to  the  natural 
defences  of  his  position,  which  was  flanked  by  a 
rivulet  and  morass,  but  the  army  of  relief  passed 
these  obstacles  without  loss  or  disorder,  and 
offered  battle  to  the  better  appointed  and  more 
numerous  army  of  the  King. 


154  SYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Gloucester  and  Stephen  confronted  each  other 
with  their  infantry  in  the  centre,  and  the  men- 
at-arms  on  the  wings.  Gloucester  stationed  the 
naked  Welshmen  at  the  extremity  of  the  line 
of  battle,  and  took  up  his  position  at  the  head 
of  his  infantry ;  Chester  commanding  on  one 
wing,  which  consisted  of  his  own  vassals ;  while 
the  other  wing  was  under  the  command  of  the 
refugee  barons,  the  bitter  enemies  of  King 
Stephen. 

Although  surprised  by  the  celerity  and  vigour 
of  Gloucester's  movements,  Stephen  doubted  not 
the  issue  of  the  impending  conflict,  and  assumed 
the  command  of  the  centre  ;  the  Earl  of  Albemarle 
and  William  d'Ypres  commanding  the  Breton  and 
Flemish  horse,  composing  one  of  the  wings,  while 
the  other  wing,  consisting  of  English  and  Breton 
horse,  was  led  by  Count  Alain  of  Dinan,  Walleran 
de  Mellent,  Hugh  Bigod,  Earl  of  Norfolk,  Simon 
de  Seules,  Earl  of  Northampton,  and  William  de 
Warrenne,  Earl  of  Surrey. 

The  first  blow  was  struck  by  William  d'Ypres, 
who  charged,  and  dispersed  the  unfortunate 
Welsh  auxiliaries,  whose  exposed  position,  and 
lack  of  defensive  armour,  rendered  them  an  easy 
prey  to  their  enemies.  While  William  d'Ypres 


THE  BATTLE  OF  LINCOLN.  155 

was  urging  the  pursuit  with  more  zeal  than 
discretion,  he  exposed  his  disordered  ranks  to 
the  attack,  and  was  taken  in  flank  by  the  Earl 
of  Chester,  who  charged  through  his  squadrons, 
and  drove  them  in  irretrievable  confusion  from 
the  field. 

The  English  refugees,  casting  their  lances  away, 
spurred,  sword-in-hand,  upon  Stephen's  remaining 
wing ;  but  these  cavaliers,  influenced  by  either 
cowardice  or  treachery,  declined  the  combat,  and 
fled  in  confusion  from  the  field,  leaving  Stephen 
at  the  head  of  his  exposed  infantry,  to  be  sur- 
rounded, slain,  and  captured. 

The  leonine  courage  of  Stephen  was  brilliantly 
displayed  in  the  ensuing  conflict.  Although 
victory  was  hopeless,  he  conducted  the  defence 
with  great  skill,  and  by  his  heroism  and  general- 
ship, delayed  the  moment  of  defeat.  At  length, 
he  fought  almost  alone,  his  soldiers  being 
scattered  or  captured,  and  his  enemies  hemming 
him  in  on  every  side,  yet,  despite  their  personal 
enmity,  showing  a  disposition  rather  to  capture 
than  to  slay  the  king.  In  the  heat  of  the  melee, 
his  battle-axe  was  shivered  and  cast  aside  ;  his 
sword  was  next  broken,  and,  whilst  defending 
himself  with  his  truncheon,  he  was  struck  by  a 


156  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

stone  and  felled  to  the  ground.  As  he  struggled 
to  his  knees,  William  de  Kaines  threw  himself 
upon  him,  and  held  him  by  his  helmet,  with  his 
sword  presented  in  readiness  to  deal  the  mortal 
thrust,  declaring  that  he  would  proceed  to  the 
last  extremity  if  the  king  attempted  to  continue 
the  struggle  ;  whereupon  Stephen  consented  to 
yield  himself  a  prisoner  to  the  Earl  of  Gloucester, 
who  was  accordingly  sent  for,  and  received  the 
king's  submission,  four  gallant  gentlemen  who 
had  shared  in  the  last  valiant  conflict  yielding  up 
their  weapons  at  the  same  time. 

Thus  the  Anglo-Saxon  chronicle  : 

"  The  Earl  held  Lincoln  against  the  king,  and 
seized  all  that  belonged  to  the  king  there,  and 
the  king  went  thither  and  besieged  him  and  his 
brother  William  de  Roman  in  the  castle ;  and 
the  Earl  stole  out,  and  went  for  Robert,  Earl  of 
Gloucester,  and  brought  him  thither  with  a  large 
army ;  and  they  fought  furiously  against  their 
lord  on  Candlemas  Day,  and  they  took  him 
captive,  for  his  men  betrayed  him  and  fled,  and 
they  led  him  to  Bristol,  and  there  they  put  him 
into  prison  and  close  confinement." 

Only  one  hundred  men  of  the  royal  army  fell 
to  the  sword  and  spear  of  the  enemy,  and  there 


THE  BATTLE  OF  LINCOLN.  157 

appears   to   be  just   cause   for   the    suspicion  of 
treachery. 

Wendoer,  in  his  "  Flowers  of  History,"  has  the 
following-  account  of  the  battle  : 

o 

"  Meanwhile,  King  Stephen  heard  mass  with 
much  devotion,  and  when,  in  the  course  of  the 
ceremony,  he  put  into  the  hands  of  Bishop 
Alexander  the  royal  wax  taper  as  the  usual 
offering  to  God,  it  was  suddenly  broken  and  ex- 
tinguished, which  foreboded  sorrow  to  the  king ; 
the  eucharist  also  fell  upon  the  altar,  together 
with  Christ's  body,  by  reason  of  the  string  break- 
ing, and  this  was  an  omen  of  the  king's  ruin. 
Stephen,  on  foot,  disposed  his  troops  with  much 
care,  and  industriously  arranged  around  himself 
all  his  men  in  armour,  without  their  horses  ;  but 
he  arranged  all  his  Earls,  with  their  horses,  to 
fight  in  two  bodies.  The  army  of  the  rebel  earls 
was  very  small,  whilst  that  of  the  king  was 
numerous,  and  united  under  one  standard.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  battle,  the  exiles,  who 
were  in  the  van,  charged  the  king's  army,  in 
which  were  Earl  Allan,  Robert,  Earl  de  Mellent, 
Hugh  Bigod,  the  Earl  of  East  Anglia,  Earl 
Simon,  and  the  Earl  of  Warenne,  with  such  fury 
that  some  of  them  were  slain,  some  taken 


158  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

prisoners,  and  the  rest  fled.  The  division  com- 
manded by  the  Earl  of  Albemarle  and  William 
of  Ypres,  charged  the  Welsh,  who  advanced  on 
the  flank,  and  routed  them ;  but  the  Earl  of 
Chester  attacked  this  body,  and  defeated  them 
like  the  rest.  Thus  all  the  king's  knights  fled. 
William  of  Ypres,  a  man  of  the  rank  of  an  Earl, 
and  the  others  who  could  not  flee,  were  all  taken 
and  thrown  into  prison.  A  remarkable  circum- 
stance here  happened :  King  Stephen,  like  a 
roaring  lion,  alone  remained  in  the  field  ;  no  one 
dared  to  encounter  him  ;  gnashing  with  his  teeth, 
and  foaming  like  a  mountain  boar,  he  repulsed, 
with  his  battle-axe,  the  troops  that  assailed  him, 
and  gained  immortal  honour  by  the  destruction 
which  he  wrought  on  the  chief  of  his  enemies. 
If  there  had  been  a  hundred  like  him,  he  would 
not  have  been  taken  captive,  since  even  he  alone 
was  with  difficulty  overcome  by  a  host  of  foes. 
He  was  taken  prisoner  on  the  day  of  the  puri- 
fication of  the  blessed  Virgin,  and  led  before  the 
empress,  by  whom  he  was  imprisoned  in  Bristol 
Castle." 

Apparently,  the  battle  of  Lincoln  placed  the 
crown  upon  the  brow  of  the  ex-empress,  but  she 
had  no  hold  upon  the  affection  of  the  people,  who 


THE  BATTLE  OF  LINCOLN.  159 

admired  the  courage  and  generosity  of  Stephen, 
and,  by  her  want  of  tact,  she  mortally  offended  the 
Londoners,  who,  rising  in  sudden  revolt,  chased 
her  out  of  the  city.  Stephen's  adherents  again 
making  head,  gained  some  advantages,  and 
effected  the  capture  of  the  Earl  of  Gloucester, 
who  was  ultimately  exchanged  for  Stephen,  and 
the  war  dragged  on  with  varying  successes  until 
the  final  pacification  by  the  treaty  of  Winchester, 
A.D.  1153. 

The  chronicle  gives  a  pathetic  account  of  the 
afflictions  of  the  English  during  those  long  years 
of  internecine  strife,  a  portion  of  which  may  be 
appropriately  quoted  here  : 

"  Then  was  corn  dear,  and  flesh,  and  cheese, 
and  butter,  for  there  was  none  in  the  land, — 
wretched  men  starved  with  hunger, — some  lived 
on  alms  who  had  been  erewhile  rich ;  some  fled 
the  country, — never  was  there  more  misery,  and 
never  acted  heathens  worse  than  these.  At 
length  they  spared  neither  church  nor  church- 
yards, but  they  took  all  that  was  valuable  therein, 
and  then  burned  the  church  and  all  together. 
Neither  did  they  spare  the  lands  of  bishops,  nor 
of  abbots,  nor  of  priests  ;  but  they  robbed  the 
monks  and  the  clergy,  and  every  man  plundered 


160  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

his  neighbour  as  much  as  he   could.     If  two  or 

o 

three  men  came  riding  to  a  town,  all  the  township 
fled  before  them,  and  thought  that  they  were 
robbers.  The  bishops  and  clergy  were  ever 
cursing  them,  but  this  to  them  was  nothing,  for 
they  were  all  accursed,  and  forsworn  and  repro- 
bate. The  earth  bore  no  corn,  you  might  as  well 
have  tilled  the  sea,  for  the  land  was  all  ruined  by 
such  deeds,  and  it  was  said  openly  that  Christ 
and  his  saints  slept." 


'Xlncoln  fair." 

BY  EDWARD  LAMPLOUGH. 

WHEN  King  John  ended  his  days  at 
Newark,  in  the  October  of  1215,  the 
crown  descended  to  his  son  Henry,  a  child  aged 
ten  years,  who  was  crowned  at  Gloucester,  in  the 
presence  of  the  few  barons  who  remained  loyal  to 
the  Plantagenets.  The  papal-legate  exacted  from 
the  young  prince  the  act  of  homage  to  the  holy 
see,  and  the  nobles  having  sworn  fealty  to  the 
boy  king,  he  was  placed  in  the  charge  of  Earl 
Pembroke,  the  regent  of  the  Kingdom. 

The  loyal  barons  were  few,  and  the  numerous 
mercenaries  who  had  been  introduced  into  the 
kingdom  by  John  were  not  likely  to  maintain 
their  fidelity  in  the  face  of  possible  reverses,  and 
inducements  that  might  be  held  out  to  them  by 
the  Anglo-French  party. 

The  confederate  barons,  in  their  desperate 
attempts  to  make  head  against  the  mercenary 

armies  of  King  John,  had  offered  the  crown  to 

M 


162  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Prince  Louis  of  France,  who  had  espoused  a  niece 
of  the  late  King,  but  was  by  no  means  acceptable 
to  the  Commons  of  England.  Louis  had  ac- 
cordingly entered  the  Kingdom  with  a  considerable 
army,  but  had  not  performed  any  brilliant  exploit 
in  arms,  and  had  alienated  the  respect  of  the 
revolted  barons  by  his  contempt  of  their  services, 
and  his  partiality  for  his  French  followers.  The 
papal-legate  had  increased  the  difficulties  of 
Prince  Louis'  position  by  pronouncing  the  ban 
of  excommunication  against  him  and  his 
adherents. 

With  moderation  and  tact  that  redounded  to  his 
honour,  Pembroke  proclaimed  Henry's  coronation, 
and  invited  the  revolted  barons  to  return  to  their 
allegiance  to  the  Plantagenets,  under  the  pledge 
of  a  general  amnesty  for  all  past  offences. 

The  haughty  nobles  were  unwilling,  however, 
to  abandon  the  French  Prince,  and  continued  the 
war,  which  assumed  a  more  favourable  aspect  for 
the  patriotic  party,  for  such  were  the  Royalists  at 
this  later  stage  of  the  struggle. 

The  young  Henry  was  extremely  fortunate  in 
being  served  by  two  such  faithful  and  talented 
officers  as  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  and  Hubert  de 
Burgh,  the  latter  of  whom,  in  his  capacity  of 


"LINCOLN  FAIR."  163 

governor  of  Dover  Castle,  successfully  resisted 
all  the  military,  and  other  less  honourable  arts,  of 
Prince  Louis  to  induce  the  surrender  of  that 
important  fortress. 

After  the  coronation  some  negotiations  took 
place,  and  Louis  accepted  a  brief  truce,  which  he 
employed  in  visiting  his  father,  no  doubt  to 
obtain  further  counsel  to  assist  him  in  carrying 
out  his  difficult  enterprise. 

Pembroke  improved  this  opportunity  of 
negotiating  with  the  revolted  barons,  and  won 
over  his  son,  William  Mareschal,  and  some  others 
to  the  Royal  cause.  The  Cinque  Ports  returned 
to  their  obedience,  and  sent  out  a  fleet  to 
encounter  Louis  on  his  return.  The  English 
sailors  acquitted  themselves  so  manfully  that 
several  of  the  French,  ships  were  destroyed,  an 
injury  which  Louis  avenged  by  laying  Sandwich 
in  ashes. 

The  most  important  conflict  of  this  desultory 
struggle  occurred,  however,  on  the  soil  of  Lincoln- 
shire, and  was  occasioned  by  an  expedition  of  the 
Earl  of  Chester  into  Leicestershire,  for  the 
purpose  of  attempting  the  reduction  of  Montsorrel, 
which  was  garrisoned  by  a  party  of  French  troops 
under  Henri  de  Braibrac. 


164  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

The  Count  de  Perche,  one  of  the  most  famous 
of  the  French  captains,  was  despatched  to  the 
relief  of  the  threatened  fortress,  with  20,000  men. 
On  his  march  he  committed  many  excesses, 
burning  churches  and  monasteries,  and  dealing 
the  utmost  severities  of  war  upon  the  unhappy 
people.  The  Earl  of  Chester  was  compelled  to 
beat  a  retreat  before  this  overwhelming  army, 
whereon  the  French  commander  marched  upon 
Lincoln,  which  was  favourable  to  his  cause,  and 
threw  open  its  gates  on  his  approach. 

Lincoln  Castle  was,  however,  held  by  Nichola, 
widow  of  Gerard  de  Comville,  the  hereditary 
custodian  of  the  fortress ;  and  this  loyal  lady  bade 
defiance  to  the  haughty  Marshal  of  France,  and 
stoutly  held  him  at  bay,  although  the  Frenchmen 
closely  invested  the  castle,  and  amused  themselves 
by  pillaging  the  cathedral. 

The  castle  was  in  danger  of  falling  into  the 
Count's  hands,  the  garrison  being  reduced  to 
great  extremities ;  and  the  Regent  was  so  con- 
cerned by  its  perilous  position  that  he  made  a 
desperate  attempt  to  effect  its  relief,  although  he 
could  not  bring  into  the  field  so  numerous  and 
well-appointed  an  army  as  that  of  the  French 
commander.  He  succeeded  in  drawing  together 


"LINCOLN  FAIR:'  165 

a  force  of  mounted  yeomen,  a  considerable 
body  of  infantry,  250  crossbowmen,  and  400 
knights. 

Intent  upon  inflicting  a  sudden  blow  upon  the 
enemy,  Pembroke  conducted  his  operations  with 
secrecy  and  promptitude,  and  had  reached 
Newark,  within  twelve  miles  of  the  enemy's 
position,  before  the  Count  of  Perche  was  advised 
of  his  peril. 

A  council  of  war  was  immediately  held,  and 
many  of  the  barons  were  for  marching  out  of 
Lincoln,  and  giving  the  Regent  battle  in  the  open 
plain,  where  their  numerous  cavalry  would  be 
able  to  act  with  the  greatest  advantage.  The 
majority  were  disposed  to  regard  the  reduction 
of  the  castle  as  being  of  primary  importance,  and 
advised  the  prince  to  maintain  the  city  against 
Pembroke,  at  the  same  time  continuing  the  siege 
of  the  castle  ;  indeed  the  Count  of  Perche  could 
scarcely  realize  the  fact  that  Pembroke  had  the 
audacity  to  assail  him  at  close  quarters,  within 
the  walls,  so  confident  was  he,  not  only  in  his 
own  generalship  and  in  the  superiority  of 
numbers,  but  also  in  the  quality  and  discipline  of 
his  soldiers.  The  presumption  of  the  French 
leader  was  opposed  to  his  past  experience,  and 


166  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

drew  upon  him  a  swift  and  fatal  rebuke,  on  that 
long  remembered  19th  of  May,  A.D.  1217. 

Every  preparation  was  made  to  defend  the 
city  against  Pembroke's  assaults,  and  the  walls 
were  strongly  manned.  Unopposed,  the  royal 
army  marched  to  the  attack,  and  Pembroke  pro- 
ceeded to  secure  the  fortress  by  throwing  into  it 
the  250  crossbow  men,  under  the  command  of 
Fulk  de  Breant ;  a  postern-gate,  which  opened 
to  the  plain,  enabled  this  first  step  towards 
victory  to  be  carried  out  without  difficulty  or 
resistance.  Fulk  de  Breant  at  once  proceeded  to 
conduct  a  sally  against  the  enemy,  his  advance 
being  covered  by  the  archers,  who  shot  their 
arrows  thick  and  fast  from  the  ramparts.  The 
attack  was  furious  and  determined,  and  was 
seconded  by  Pembroke,  who  was  hotly  engaged 
in  the  storming  of  one  of  the  city  gates. 

Embarrassed  by  the  difficulties  of  their  position, 
and  not  having  room  to  use  their  numbers  to 
advantage,  the  French  suffered  severely  from  the 
double  attack,  and  Pembroke  bursting  into  the 
city,  charged  them  furiously  on  all  sides.  The 
French  were  confused  and  hampered  in  the 
narrow  streets  and  lanes,  where  they  could  not 
make  head,  or  •  find  room  to  charge,  while  they 


"LINCOLN  FAIR:'  IGT 

were  assailed  by  the  archers,  who,  in  comparative 
safety,  shot  down  their  horses,  and  with  their 
keen  bolts  wounded  and  slew  the  riders.  Thus 
the  confusion  increased,  and  the  loss  of  life 
waxed  very  heavy.  Baffled  and  disheartened, 
the  troops  of  Louis  maintained  the  conflict  for 
sometime,  the  Count  of  Perche  manfully  exert- 
ing himself  to  restore  the  battle,  and  retrieve  his 
fault ;  but  the  gallant  Royalists  acquitted  them- 
selves with  temper  and  spirit,  beat  down  the 
French  on  all  sides,  and  slew  the  Count  of  Perche, 
who  declined  the  proffered  quarter,  "  in  mere 
pride  and  petulance,  swearing  he  would  not 
surrender  to  any  English  traitor."  Other  good 
knights  were  wiser  ;  Gilbert  de  Ghent,  Robert 
Fitz- Walter,  the  Earls  of  Winchester  and  Here- 
ford, surrended  their  swords,  together  with  400 
knights,  and  a  multitude  of  esquires,  men-at- 
arms,  and  infantry. 

The  national  animus  was  unsparingly  exhibited 
to  the  French  soldiery,  who  were  put  to  the 
sword  with  merciless  severity,  nor  was  the 
disloyal  adherence  of  the  burghers  of  Lincoln  to 
the  cause  of  Prince  Louis  allowed  to  pass 
unpunished.  The  city  was  pillaged  with  un- 
sparing severity,  and  the  soldiery  obtained  so 


168  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

rich  a  booty  that  they  distinguished  the  deed  of 
spoliation  and  revenge  by  the  title  of  "  Lincoln 
Fair." 

The  priestly  adherents  of  Louis  who  were 
stationed  in  Lincoln  were  treated,  by  the  legate's 
commands,  with  the  severities  due  to  excommuni- 
cated offenders.  The  ban  that  condemned  the 
disloyal  to  punishment,  formed  a  striking  contrast 
to  the  favours  conferred  upon  the  loyal  troops, 
the  legate  having  confessed  and  absolved  the 
leaders,  and  encouraged  the  valour  of  all,  by 
declaring  Paradise  open  to  those  who  fell  while 
combating  in  the  interests  of  the  tiara  and  the 
crown,  on  that  auspicious  day. 

In  describing  military  achievements  during  the 
middle  ages,  the  loss  of  the  soldiery  is  not  always 
enumerated,  so  little  were  they  regarded  in 
comparison  with  the  nobles,  and  this  peculiarity 
appears  to  have  led  to  the  following  misapprehen- 
sion, with  its  amusing  reflections,  quoted  from 
Hume  and  Smollett's  history  : 

"  Lincoln  was  delivered  over  to  be  pillaged  ;  the 
French  army  was  totally  routed ;  the  Count  of 
Perche,  with  only  two  persons  more,  was  killed ; 
but  many  of  the  chief  commanders,  and  about 
400  knights,  were  made  prisoners  by  the  English. 


"LINCOLN  FAIR:'  169 

So  little  blood  was  shed  in  this  important  action, 
which  decided  the  fate  of  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful kingdoms  in  Europe,  and  such  wretched 
soldiers  were  those  ancient  barons,  who  yet  were 
unacquainted  with  everything  but  arms." 

The  defeat  of  a  French  fleet  of  reinforcements 
so  severely  crippled  Prince  Louis'  movements 
that  he  was  under  the  necessity  of  treating  with 
Pembroke.  He  was,  apparently,  glad  to  escape 
from  the  critical  position  in  which  he  found 
himself,  but  retired  with  what  dignity  he  might, 
under  cover  of  an  affected  interest  in  the  fortunes 
of  his  adherents,  and  those  of  the  nation,  for  he 
stipulated  for  "  an  indemnity  to  the  adherents 
who  remained  faithful  to  him,  a  restitution  of 
their  honours  and  fortunes,  as  well  as  the  enjoy- 
ment of  those  liberties  which  had  been  granted 
in  the  late  Charter  to  the  rest  of  the  nation." 

Such  were  the  happy  results  following  that 
famous  "  Lincoln  Fair,"  an  event  to  be  remem- 
bered with  interest  by  all  patriotic  students  of 
our  national  evolution. 


Hlforfc  f  igbt. 

BY  THE  REV.  GEO.  S.  TYACK,  B.A. 

ONE  could  scarcely  find  a  country  town 
whose  aspect  is  more  peaceful — an 
enemy  of  the  place,  if  it  has  one,  might  say 
more  sleepy — than  the  little  town  of  Alford. 
Its  grey  church  tower  looks  down  year  after 
year  upon  its  wide  market-place  and  clean  broad 
streets,  and  sees  little  change  as  time  rolls  on  ; 
and  the  rooks,  cawing  on  their  homeward  way  to 
the  dark  woods  of  Well,  but  seldom  carry  home 
tidings  of  any  new  encroachment  by  the  habita- 
tions of  men  upon  their  ancestral  "  hunting- 
grounds."  The  very  railway  has  been  kept  at  a 
full  arm's  length,  and  when  recently  a  line  of 
tramcars,  with  reckless  daring,  strove  to  desecrate 
the  decorous  streets  of  Alford  with  clang  of  bell 
and  hiss  of  steam,  a  few  short  years  sufficed  to 
still  the  noisy  emblem  of  progress,  and  to  leave 
the  highways  once  more  in  the  dignified  monotony 
of  unbroken  peace. 


ALFORD  FIGHT.  171 

But  in  the  turbulent  days  when  King  and 
Commons  argued  out  their  differences  with  crash 
of  arms,  Alford  felt  the  shock  of  the  con- 
stitutional earthquake,  and  showed  herself  no  less 
able  to  bear  her  part  than  other  more  important 
places.  Indeed,  the  condition  of  things  in  the 
little  town  was  such  at  that  time  as  to  suggest 
that  anything  but  peace  reigned  in  the  district, 
and  that  bickerings  in  the  market  and  brawlings 
in  the  streets  must  then  have  been  no  infrequent 
sights  and  sounds.  For  in  the  centre  of  the  town, 
under  the  very  shadow  of  the  church,  lived  Sir 
William  Hanby,  of  Hanby  Hall,  a  staunch 
adherent  of  Church  and  King,  whose  opinions, 
doubtless,  were  of  no  little  weight  with  many  of 
his  poorer  fellow-townsmen.  But  his  rule  was 
not  undisputed,  for  in  Well  Vale  dwelt  Sir 
Lionel  Weldon,  who  had  thrown  in  his  lot  with 
the  Puritans,  and  had  his  following  also,  no  doubt, 
among  his  neighbours. 

The  turmoil  of  the  town  reached  a  crisis  in 
June  and  July,  1645.  On  the  morning  of  the 
27th  June,  the  Royalist  leader,  Cavendish, 
marched  into  the  town  with  a  strong  force ;  the 
movement  was  part  of  an  attempt  then  being 
made  by  the  King's  troops  at  Newark 


172  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

and  Nottingham  to  force  a  passage  to  Boston, 
one  of  the  Parliamentary  strongholds ;  but  a 
minor  motive  is  said  to  have  been  the  hope  of 
capturing  the  said  Sir  Lionel  Weldon,  a  hope  in 
which  they  had  been  specially  encouraged  by  Sir 
William  Hariby. 

Hanby  Hall  was  made  the  Royalist  head- 
quarters, and  the  troops  lay  encamped  on  the 
south  side  of  the  town,  one  wing  at  Bilsby,  the 
other  at  Holy  Well  Farm.  The  low  ground 
round  the  latter  position  was  at  that  time  but  ill- 
drained,  and  the  marsh  proved  fatal  to  many  in 
the  subsequent  attempt  to  retreat. 

Every  effort  to  seize  the  person  of  Sir  Lionel 
proved  ineffectual,  and  the  Parliamentary  forces, 
hastily  gathered  under  Sir  Drawer  Massingberd, 
though  too  feeble  to  attempt  an  attack,  succeeded 
in  keeping  the  Royalists  in  check  until  further 
help  arrived.  Late  in  the  day,  on  July  1st,  the 
Earl  of  Manchester  came  up  with  a  considerable 
force  of  Parliamentarians,  and  encamped  in 
Bilsby  Field,  while  news  was  brought  that 
cavalry  and  artillery  were  advancing  from  Burgh 
to  aid  the  same  cause. 

No  movement  was  made  that  day,  the  Puritan 
troops  being  wearied  with  forced  marches,  and 


ALFORD  FIGHT.  173 

the  Royalist  leader  being  temporarily  absent. 
On  the  following  day,  July  2nd,  however,  the 
fight  began  betimes  ;  the  right  wing  of  the  Royal 
army  was  vigorously  assailed  by  the  troopers  of 
Moody  of  Scremby,  and  Payne  of  Burgh,  and 
completely  routed ;  numbers  perished  in  the 
swamp,  and  the  scattered  remnant  was  met  at 
Willoughby  by  Rossiter,  advancing  from  Burgh, 
and  practically  annihilated.  The  battle  was  not 
so  easily  won  in  the  rest  of  the  field,  but  at  last 
the  whole  position  was  carried  by  the  Earl  of 
Manchester's  forces,  the  Royalists  being 
scattered  with  great  slaughter. 

Cavendish  got  safely  away,  but  Sir  William 
Hanby  was  among  the  slain,  and  his  Hall  was 
partially  destroyed.  The  fragment  of  a  regiment 
serving  under  Colonel  Penruddock  took  refuge 
in  the  parish  church,  and  here,  as  in  so  many 
other  instances,  the  Puritans  sullied  their  victory 
by  the  exhibition  of  their  barbarity ;  not  only 
did  the  sacred  walls  prove  no  City  of  Refuge  for 
the  vanquished,  but  the  completed  victory  was 
signalised  by  the  destruction  of  almost  everything 
which  they  contained.  Of  this  desecration,  a 
relic  is  still  to  be  seen :  the  tracery  of  the 
north  and  south  windows  of  the  Sacrarium 


174  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

of  the  church  is  filled  with  some  fragments  of 
old  glass,  that  by  their  richness  of  tone  put  to 
shame  the  modern  glass  beside  them,  and  more 
than  that,  prove  to  us  how  beautiful  must  hav.e 
been  "  the  dim  religious  light  "  within  those  walls 
before  the  passions  of  men  brought  the  hot 
breath  of  war  upon  the  place,  to  blight  the 
beauty  both  of  men  and  things. 


BY  C.  H.  CROWDER. 

THE  ancient  ferry  at  Barton,  once  the  only 
practicable  passage  across  the  Humber, 
must  have  an  interesting  record  could  the  almost 
impenetrable  veil  of  the  past  be  drawn  aside. 
Domesday  Book  says  that  when  William  the 
Conqueror  sat  on  his  uneasy  throne,  the  town 
had  a  mayor  and  aldermen,  arid  also,  what  few 
towns  could  at  that  period  boast  of,  a  church,  a 
priest,  two  mills,  and  a  Ferry  on  the  Humber— 
indeed,  the  Ferry  is  mentioned  in  still  earlier 
records,  as  is  manifest  by  a  dispute  respecting  the 
tolls  in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor.  In 
very  remote  times  the  Ermine  Street  of  the  all- 
pervading  Romans  ran  down  to  the  Humber-side 
at  Barton,  the  ferry  giving  passage  to  their  con- 
quering legions.  Coming  down  to  a  later  period, 
King  Edward  I.  (the  "  Hammer  of  the  Scotch,") 
accompanied  by  his  recently-wedded  Queen, 
Margaret,  and  his  eldest  son,  Prince  Edward, 


176  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

with  a  gallant  array  of  nobles,  knights,  and  men- 
at-arms,  crossed  the  Humber  (April,  A.D.  1300)  at 
Barton,  landing  at  Hessle,  the  King  being  on  his 
way  to  Scotland,  the  thinly-scattered,  though 
brave  and  rugged,  defenders  of  which  gallant 
country  could  not  save  it  from  devastation  by  their 
more  powerful  neighbour.  The  passage  across 
the  Humber  occupied  two  days,  an  item  of  the 
expenses  stating :  "  Galfrid  de  Selby  and  other 
sailors  of  the  eleven  barges  and  boats  for  carrying 
the  King's  military  equipment  and  household 
from  Barton  to  Hessle,  across  the  Humber, 
occupying  two  days,  by  the  hands  of  the  same 
sailors  at  Hessle,  27th  May,  13s."  Doubtless  the 
abbots  and  monks  of  the  famous  Abbey  of 
Thornton,  when  travelling  to  or  from  the  sacred 
shrines  of  York  or  Beverley,  as  well  as  many  a 
cavalcade  of  pilgrims,  would  pass  and  repass  at 
this  ancient  ferry.  A  gloomier  episode  in  its 
history  is  perhaps  worth  noting.  It  being  at  that 
early  day  the  only  passage  from  the  south  to  the 
Sanctuary  of  St.  John  of  Beverley,  the  man- 
slayer  (whether  by  accident  or  design)  would  make 
for  the  old  ferry,  and  would,  to  escape  the 
vengeance  of  his  pursuers,  seek  sanctuary  and 
safety  within  the  sacred  bounds,  A  case  of  this 


BARTON-ON-HUMBER  FERRY. 


177 


kind  is  chronicled,  where  "  one  Elias  de  la  Hill,  of 
Barton,  struck  Richard  de  la  Hill,  of  the  same 
place,"  finding  refuge  within  the  holy  precincts  of 
the  Beverley  Saint. 

In  the  first  week  of  July,  1G43,  Lord 
(Ferdinando)  Fairfax  was  in  full  retreat  from 
Leeds  to  Hull,  being  pursued  by  the  Royalists 
under  the  Earl  of  Newcastle  ;  the  old  lord 
crossed  the  Ouse  at  Selby,  his  gallant  son,  Sir 
Thomas  (afterwards,  as  Lord  Fairfax,  the  famous 
Parliamentary  leader),  taking  the  post  of  danger 
in  the  rear.  On  the  point  of  embarking  their 
cavalry,  the  Royalist  horse  were  upon  them. 
The  father  crossed  with  the  main  body  in  safety, 
but  the  son,  Sir  Thomas,  became  separated, 
having  received  a  bullet  through  the  wrist.  He 
would  have  fallen  from  his  horse  through  loss  of 
blood,  had  not  some  of  his  troopers  caught  him 
as  he  fell,  and  laid  him  on  the  grass.  He  shortly 
recovered  from  the  temporary  faintness,  and 
remounted,  making  the  best  of  his  way  along  the 
right  bank,  at  length  crossing  the  Trent.  Ac- 
companying his  flight,  seated  on  a  horse  before 
her  nurse,  was  his  "  little  daughter  Moll/''  at  that 
time  about  five  years  of  age.  These  defenceless 
companions  added  greatly  to  Fairfax's  anxiety, 


178  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

for  they  were  nearly  dead  with  fatigue  and 
terror.  After  their  perilous  passage  of  the 
Trent,  he  sent  the  swooning  child  for  shelter  to 
a  farm  house,  and  rode  on  to  Barton,  which  place 
he  reached  after  being  forty  hours  in  the  saddle. 
Here  he  hoped  to  obtain  some  much-needed  rest, 
and  succour  for  his  wound  ;  but  in  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  after  his  arrival  the  Royalist  horse  attacked 
the  place  of  his  retreat,  so  he  hurried  aboard  a 
friendly  ship,  and  reached  the  garrison  of  Hull, 
with  his  clothes  torn  to  pieces  and  covered  with 
blood.  He  did  not  forget  his  "  little  daughter 
Moll "  and  her  nurse,  for  a  vessel  was  speedily  sent 
to  rescue  them.  The  daughter  happily  joined  her 
father  on  the  following  day,  and  lived  eventually 
to  be  Duchess  of  Buckingham. 

The  Haven  formerly  ran  up  to  Finkle  Lane, 
which  is  now  a  considerable  distance  from  the 
water,  and  where,  within  living  memory,  stood 
the  old  ferry  boat  house,  known  by  the  sign  of 
"  The  Maiden,'!  an  ancient  framework  building  of 
lath  and  plaster  (see  the  illustration).  The  sketch 
was  taken  in  1795,  and  it  would  be  at  this  spot 
(at  the  junction  of  Finkle  Lane  and  Newport,  or 
Newport  Street,  or  about  the  site),  that  most  of 
the  foregoing  events  took  place.  The  last 


BARTON-ON-HUMBER  FERRY.  179 

occupier  of  the  interesting  old  edifice,  which  was 
demolished  during  the  second  decade  of  this 
century,  was  a  Mr.  Richard  Willford,  a  fresh- 
looking,  venerable,  white-haired  man,  the  great- 
grandfather of  Mr.  Ball,  the  publisher  of  the 
"  History  of  Barton,"  from  which  the  illustration 
is  taken.  In  Mr.  Willford's  day,  the  house  con- 
tained some  fine  old  carved  furniture,  and  the 
view  from  its  windows  was  (with  the  exception  of 
a  barn-like  building,  used  at  times  for  public 
meetings)  uninterrupted  over  the  open  fields 
down  to  the  Humber,  which,  long  years  before, 
had  retreated  to  its  present  bounds. 

The  Humber  must  have  once  flowed  higher 
than  at  present,  as  a  paddock  in  the  East  Acridge 
was  called  Shrimpholme,  and  here  fishermen  used 
to  dry  their  nets.  A  field  also  in  this  vicinity 
bore  the  name  of  Sedge  Close,  showing  its 
original  proximity  to  water.  Some  years  ago  a 
large  mound  of  earth  was  removed  from  the  same 
locality.  It  had  evidently  been  a  sea  or  river 
embankment,  as  large  quantities  of  marine  shells 
were  discovered  during  the  excavations. 

The  old  building  now  known  as  the  "  Water- 
side Inn,"  standing  in  close  proximity  to 
the  landing-place  on  the  Humber,  although 


180  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

possessing  no  architectural  beauty,  has  in- 
teresting memories,  as  throughout  the  pack-horse 
and  coaching  times,  anterior  to  railroads,  all  ranks 
and  conditions  of  men  have  sheltered  beneath  its 
roof. 

The  celebrated  Daniel  Defoe,  the  writer  of 
Robinson  Crusoe,  crossed  from  Barton  to  Hull  in 
the  year  1748,  and  his  experience  would  appear 
not  to  have  been  a  pleasant  one,  old  Humber 
probably  being  in  one  of  its  tempestuous  moods, 
stirring  up  Daniel's  bile,  for  he  vents  his  ill-humour 
as  follows  : — "  There  are  seven  good  towns  on  the 
sea  coast,  but  I  include  not  Barton,  which  stands 
on  the  Humber,  as  one  of  them,  being  a  straggling 
mean  town,  noted  for  nothing  but  an  oldfashioned, 
dangerous  passage ;  a  ferry  over  the  Humber  to 
Hull,  where,  in  an  open  boat,  in  which  we  had 
about  fifteen  horses  and  ten  or  twelve  cows 
mingled  with  about  seventeen  or  eighteen 
passengers,  we  were  about  four  hours  tossed  about 
on  the  Humber  before  we  could  get  into  the 
harbour  at  Hull."  Nearly  a  hundred  years 
earlier  (August  19th,  1654)  the  learned  and  pious 
John  Evelyn,  had  a  similar  stormy  voyage,  for  he 
says  :  "  We  passe  the  Humber,  an  arme  of  the 
sea  of  about  two  leagues  breadth.  The  weather 


BARTON-ON-UUMBER  FERRY.  181 

was  bad,  but  we  cross'd  it  in  a  good  barg  to 
Barton,  the  first  towne  in  that  part  of 
Lincolnshire." 

In  1779,  a  breathless  horseman,  mounted  on  an 
equally  breathless  steed,  startled  the  king's  quiet 
lieges  at  Barton  by  riding  madly  through  the 
town  towards  the  Waterside,  when  his  horse 
dropped  lifeless  beneath  him.  Without  noticing 


OLD    FERRY-BOAT   HOUSE,    BARTON-ON-HUMBER. 

the  poor  animal  he  rushed  to  the  ferry  and 
demanded  instant  passage  ;  the  ferrymen  said  it 
was  impossible,  it  being  what  they  termed  "  dead 
low  water."  The  stranger  thereupon  drew  a 
pistol,  and  threatened  the  poor  men's  lives  if  they 
did  not  comply  with  what  appeared  to  them  so 
unreasonable  an  order.  They  thereupon  procured 


182  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

a  large  washing-tub,  and  slid  the  impetuous  rider, 
whose  uniform  betokened  a  man  in  authority,  down 
the  mud,  or  warp,  to  the  water's  edge,  and  quickly 
put  him  over  the  Humber,  landing  him  at  Dairy- 
coates,  where  he  again,  in  the  same  unceremonious 
manner,  seized  a  horse  from  a  plough,  and 
galloped  posthaste  towards  Hull.  It  afterwards 
turned  out  that  he  was  a  King's  Messenger,  with 
instructions  to  the  governor  of  the  citadel  to  put 
that  place  in  a  state  of  defence,  in  anticipation  of 
a  visit  from  that  daring  sea-rover,  Paul  Jones, 
who,  with  his  victorious  squadron,  was  then 
hovering  off  the  mouth  of  the  Humber. 

Another  famous  character,  Charles  Dibdin,  the 
seamen's  poet,  writing  in  1788,  says  : — "  On  the 
fourth  of  November,  falling  on  a  Sunday,  and 
being  exactly  ninety-nine  years  since  the  memor- 
able Revolution,  the  wind  being  almost  due  north, 
very  strong  and  squally,  accompanied  with  a 
severe  and  incessant  rain,  I  set  sail  from  Hull  to 
Barton.  Nor  is  all  this  preparation  unworthy 
the  occasion.  I  am  sure  I  shall  endure  nothing 
in  my  voyage  to  India  that  will  exceed  what  I 
thus  experienced,  for  if  it  did  we  should  be  past 
all  endurance."  After  an  amusing  account  of  the 
"  middle  passage,"  he  concludes — "  After  our  poor 


BARTON-ON-HUMBER  FERRY.  183 

sloop  had  been  buffeted  three  hours  and  forty 
minutes,  during  which  she  above  a  hundred  times 
as  fairly  dived  as  ever  did  a  duck,  our  sailors  were 
so  kind  as  to  run  us  aground  at  the  mouth  of 
Barton  Harbour."  Truly  "  Rude  Boreas  "  should 
have  behaved  better  to  the  great  Sea-Songster. 

In  1802,  a  Mr.  Shaw  rode  from  Barton  Water- 
side to  London,  172  miles,  in  ten  hours  and  thirty- 
three  minutes.  This  must  have  been  accomplished 
by  a  relay  of  horses,  and  good  ones  too. 

In  coaching  days,  the  Royal  mail  usu  ally 
arrived  at  the  Waterside  about  eleven  p.m.  ; 
according  to  the  state  of  wind  and  tide,  travellers 
might  have  to  wait  at  the  inn,  eight,  ten,  or  even 
twelve  hours  before  they  could  cross  the  Humber  ; 
The  huge  kitchen  fire  of  the  inn  was  never 
allowed  to  go  out,  day  or  night,  from  year's  end 
to  year's  end,  except  for  necessary  repairs. 
Passengers  on  very  urgent  business  might  cross 
the  Humber  (weather  permitting)  at  a  charge  of 
7s.  6d.  each.  The  mails  for  the  town  of  Barton 
were  in  charge  of  an  odd  character,  whose  sobriquet 
was  Skitter  Jack.  This  free  and  easy  individual, 
on  hot  summer  days,  might  frequently  be  seen 
fast  asleep  on  a  gravel  heap,  on  the  road  '  twixt 
the  Waterside  Inn  and  the  George  Inn  (the  then 


184  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Post-office),  with  His  Majesty's  mail-bags  under 
his  head ! 

Although  many  a  year  has  elapsed  since  any 
Royal  or  historic  event  (save  perhaps  the  short 
visit  of  H.RH.  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh  on 
coast-guard  duty  in  the  autumn  of  1880)  has 
enlivened  the  Ancient  Way  (via  regia)  to  the 
equally  ancient  Ferry,  yet,  up  to  recent  times 
was  it  re-animated  many  times  a  day  by  the  passing 
to  and  fro  of  Royal  mail  and  other  coaches,  but 
all- victorious  steam  at  length  changed  Barton  as 
it  has  changed  the  whole  world  beside,  and  the  Old 
Waterside  and  Ferry,  though  very  interesting  in 
the  past,  are  very  commonplace  and  quiet  in  the 
present. 


(Sreat  Brass  Welkin  of  Boston, 

BY  WILLIAM  STEVENSON. 

IF  we  refer  to  Thompson's  History  of  this 
ancient  borough  (p.  310),  we  shall  find  that 
Lord  Clynton,  in  A.D.  1580,  desired  to  borrow 
from  the  corporation  of  Boston  their  "  great 
brasse  wellkyn,"  and  that  his  desire  was  granted. 
We  do  not  know  when  the  corporation  first 
became  possessed  of  this  mysterious  article  :  but 
they  held  it  for  seventy-seven  years  after  the 
above  date,  when,  finding  it  no  longer  useful 
to  them,  they  ordered  it  to  be  sold.  Thirty- 
seven  years  later,  viz.,  in  1694,  we  find  they  had 
again  pressing  need  for  it,  and  a  new  one  was 
brought  from  Nottingham  at  a  cost  of  £10  ;  this 
in  its  turn  was  held  by  the  corporation  for  sixty- 
three  years,  when  it  was  disposed  of. 

The  question  for  all  students  of  Bygone  Lin- 
colnshire is,  what  was  this  "  wellkyn,"  "  wilking/' 
or  "welkyn?" 

Mr.  Thompson  says  :  "  We  have  sought  much 


186  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

for,  and  have  made  many  enquiries  respecting 
the  meaning  of  this  word,"  but  Mr.  Thompson 
failed,  as  we  are  afraid  every  student  of  the  old 
county  lore  will  fail,  to  find  its  meaning,  for  it  is 

a  philological  mystery  ;  as  an  important  article  in 

i 

metal  there  is  no  parallel  entry,  to  our  knowledge, 
in  any  records  of  this  or  other  counties.  It 
does  not  appear  in  any  of  our  dictionaries.  J.  O. 
Halliwell,  in  his  "Dictionary  of  Archaic  and 
Provincial  Words,"  is  silent.  The  same  silence 
obtains  with  Professor  Skeat,  in  his  "  Etymological 
Dictionary  of  the  English  Language,"  ditto, 
ditto  in  "  J.  Jameson's "  great  work,  "  The 
Dictionary  of  the  Scotch  Language,"  Atkinson's 
"  Glossary  of  Cleveland,"  and  Rev.  W.  Carr's 
"  Dialect  of  Craven."  If  such  great  authorities 
are  silent  on  this  detail,  where  shall  we  look 
for  information  ? 

One  thing  is  certain,  that  from  1580  down  to 
1757,  a  period  of  177  years,  this  article  in  the 
possession  of  the  corporation  of  Boston  was  well- 
known  in  the  town  by  this  name,  and  presumably 
long  before. 

If  we  turn  to  Nottingham,  a  town  rich  in  its 
records,  the  earliest  portion  of  which  has  recently 
been  published  by  the  corporation,  we  find  that, 


THE  BRASS  WELKYN  OF  BOSTON.  187 

at  the  close  of  the  middle  ages,  it  was  a  celebrated 
place  for  the  casting  of  brass  and  metals,  and 
that  a  large  business  was  done  in  the  founding 
of  bells  and  brass  pots  for  domestic  purposes  ;  but 
no  mention  of  "  welkyns "  is  made  or  found  in 
these  records. 

Mr.  Thompson  ventures  upon  the  following 
opinion  of  the  meaning  of  this  strange  and 
remarkable  word :  "  Whatever  the  wellkyn  of 
1580  was,  we  think  the  wilking  of  1694  was  an 
apparatus  for  driving  piles,  in  which  the  weight 
being  drawn  up  to  a  considerable  height,  and 
then  let  fall  upon  the  head  of  the  pile,  was  called 
the  wilkin.  It  was  so  designated  when  such 
an  apparatus  was  used  in  driving  the  piles  for 
the  iron  bridge  in  1804." 

We  have  sought  for  confirmation  of  this  state- 
ment, but  we  fail  to  find  any. 

The  pile-driving  apparatus  of  this  century  is 
provided  with  an  iron  weight,  variently  called  a 
"  ram "  or  "  monkey."  The  casting  of  iron  in 
moulds  does  not  reach  back  beyond  the  last 
century,  it  hence  follows  that  the  "  rams "  or 
"  monkeys  "  of  old  times  must  have  been  of  wood, 
stone,  or  brass.  Wood,  no  doubt,  from  its  light- 
ness, was  not  applicable,  and  stone,  from  its 


188  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

brittleness,  would  be  discarded,  so  it  is  possible 
that  in  some  special  instances  brass  might  be 
resorted  to. 

Taking  Mr.  Thompson's  view,  it  would  appear 
that  a  considerable  amount  of  piling  was  resorted 
to  in  the  early  history  of  Boston,  such  as  the 
banking  of  the  river,  the  forming  of  staiths, 
wharves,  or  landing  stages,  in  which  case  the  cor- 
poration would  have  a  special  use  for  pile-driving 
appliances,  and  might  indulge  in  the  cost  of  a 
great  brass  "  ram." 

The  primary  etymology  of  the  word  "  welkin  " 
is  the  clouds  or  the  firmament,  from  whence  it 
was  applied  to  anything  large  or  bulky,  in  which 
sense  it  is  still  used  in  Lincolnshire  and  many 
other  counties,  as  applied  to  a  large  or  bulky 
man — "a  great  welkin  fellow."  Its  application 
to  a  metal  ram  was,  if  Mr.  Thompson's  view  is 
correct,  exclusively  confined  to  Boston. 

It  may  be  worthy  of  note  that  the  ancient 
pile-driving  apparatus  was  a  sliding  weight, 
suspended  on  a  strong  rope,  such  rope  passing 
over  a  wheel  at  the  top  of  the  frame,  and  hanging 
down  the  inside,  where  the  lower  end  had 
numerous  smaller  ropes  attached  thereto,  after 
the  manner  of  a  cat-o'-nine-tails,  each  rope  being 


THE  BRASS   WELKYN  OF  BOSTON.  189 

in  charge  of  a  labouring  man.  The  weight  of  the 
ram  regulated  the  number  of  men,  which  usually 
ranged  from  twelve  to  twenty.  The  weight  or 
ram  was  raised  by  the  united  action  of  these 
men  pulling  the  ropes,  the  operation  being 
accompanied  by  a  song.  This  primitive  appliance 
may  still  be  found  in  Holland,  and  the  writer  has 
seen  it  in  operation  in  the  City  of  Stockholm. 
We  regret  we  have  not  been  able  to  confirm 

o 

the  view  formed  by  Mr.  Thompson,  prior  to  1858, 
on  this  "great  brass  welkyn."  It  follows,  on 
the  other  hand,  that  we  have  not  been  able  to 
refute  it,  and  hence  we  must  confine  ourselves  to 
reflecting  the  above  faint  light  upon  the  subject, 
and  leave  the  solution  of  the  problem  to 
posterity. 


i\  William  2>o&&,  tbe  Iforger, 

BY  JOHN  T.  PAGE. 

THE  eighteenth  century  was  a  fitting  time 
for  the  advent  of  such  a  man  as  William 
Dodd.  At  hardly  any  other  period  of  the  history 
of  the  Church  could  his  connection  with  her  in 
the  holy  office  of  clergyman  have  been  main- 
tained. A  century  afterwards,  we  can  only  look 
back  and  wonder  that  such  a  career  could  have 
been  possible  for  one  who  had  so  little  claim  to 
either  veneration  or  respect.  Not  only  was  his 
general  character  open  to  severe  censure,  but  it  is 
not  too  much  to  assert  that  his  moral  nature  was 
rotten  to  the  core.  It  is  said,  on  good  authority, 
that  Bishop  Newton  actually  expressed  regret 
that  he  should  have  been  hanged  "  for  the  least  of 
all  his  offences."  From  first  to  last  he  was 
continuously  artificial,  and  even  in  the  most 
critical  and  supreme  moments  of  his  life — except 
in  the  last  dread  ordeal,  when,  as  he  himself 
asserted,  all  was  real — he  never  seems  to  have 
thrown  away  the  chance  of  a  well-timed  pose. 


DR.    WILLIAM  DODD. 


191 


William  Dodd  was  born  at  Bourne,  in  Lincoln- 
shire, on  the  29th  of  May,  1729.  His  father 
was  the  Rev.  William  Dodd,  vicar  of  Bourne. 
Besides  the  notorious  William,  there  was  one 
other  son,  named  Richard,  who  also  became  a 
clergyman,  but  as  he  aspired  to  nothing  more 
remarkable  than  working  hard  in  a  country 
parish  all  his  life-time,  his  biography  has  never 
been  written.  The  natures  of  the  two  brothers 
were  widely  different,  and  it  was  probably  from 
this  cause  that  they  held  very  little  inter- 
course with  each  other  in  after-life.  The  "  dear 
pale  face"  of  an  affectionate  father  watched 
assiduously  over  the  early  years  of  the  two  boys. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen  William  left  home  and 
was  entered  at  Cambridge,  where  he  matriculated 
a  Sizar  of  Clare  Hall,  on  the  22nd  March,  1746. 
This  precocious  youth  undoubtedly  worked  hard 
while  at  college,  for  it  is  on  record  that  he 
attracted  notice  by  his  diligence  and  success.  In 
1749,  he  took  the  degree  of  B.A.  with  reputation, 
but  ten  years  elapsed  before  he  blossomed  into 
the  usual  M.A.  Already  he  had  begun  to  write 
pamphlets,  and  also  to  develop  an  ever-increasing 
taste  for  a  gay  life.  The  calls  of  duty  and 
pleasure  for  a  time  received  equal  attention,  but 


192  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

he  gradually  lost  his  equilibrium,  and  one  day  his 
University  career  came  to  a  precipitate  end. 

We  next  hear  of  him  in  London,  where,  for 
a  time,  he  gained  some  sort  of  a  livelihood  as  a 
literary  hack,  spending  his  leisure  in  amusement 
and  conviviality.  Having  formed  the  acquaint- 
ance of  a  verger's  daughter,  Mary  Perkins  by 
name,  he  became  a  married  man  on  the  15th 
April,  1751,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-two. 
Strangely  enough,  this  match  turned  out  to  be 
a  very  suitable  one,  for,  though  his  wife  possessed 
no  fortune,  she  was  "  largely  endowed  with 
personal  attractions,"  and,  somehow,  managed 
to  adapt  herself  easily  to  the  strange  circum- 
stances and  positions  in  which  she  was  afterwards 
placed. 

In  1752,  appeared  Dodd's  "  Beauties  of 
Shakespeare,"  a  book  which  passed  through 
many  editions,  and  which  still,  occasionally,  finds  a 
sale.  In  the  preface  to  this  book,  he  took  the 
opportunity  of  pompously  forswearing  the  com- 
pany of  "  Shakespeare  and  the  critics,"  and  then 
gracefully  advanced  towards  "better  and  more 
important  things,"  and  the  Priest's  Orders 
which  awaited  him.  On  the  19th  of  October, 
1753,  he  was  ordained  Deacon  by  the  Bishop  of 


DR.    WILLIAM  DODD.  193 

Ely,  at  Caius  College,  and  settled  down  as 
Curate  to  the  Vicar  of  West  Ham. 

The  Reverend  William  Dodd  for  a  time  worked 
zealously  in  this  new  sphere  of  life,  and  won  the 
esteem  of  many  with  whom  his  duties  brought 
him  into  contact.  In  after  years,  he  always 
looked  back  with  pleasure  to  the  happy  days 
spent  at  West  Ham.  Two  vacant  lectureships 
now  fell  into  his  hands,  and,  on  the  opening  of 
the  Magdalen  Hospital,  on  the  10th  of  August, 
1758,  Dodd,  who  had  taken  a  great  interest  in 
the  undertaking,  was  chosen  to  preach  the 
inaugural  sermon  in  Charlotte  Street  Chapel, 
Bloomsbury.  He  soon  slipped  into  the 
chaplaincy  of  this  popular  Charity  in  an 
honorary  capacity,  but,  in  1763,  he  was  officially 
appointed  to  the  post  at  a  salary  of  a  hundred 
guineas  per  annum.  His  sermons  at  the  Mag- 
dalen speedily  became  the  sensation  of  the  day, 
and  every  Sunday,  crowds  of  fashionable  ladies 
journeyed  from  the  West  End  to  hear  the  hand- 
some young  clergyman,  who  so  gracefully  played 
upon  their  feelings. 

Young  William  Dodd  was  now  well  on  his  way 
to  fame  and  fortune.  In  the  year  of  his  appoint- 
ment to  the  Magdalen  Chaplaincy,  he  received 


194  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

the  more  important  appointment  of  King's 
Chaplain,  was  chosen  by  the  celebrated  Earl  of 
Chesterfield  as  tutor  to  his  son,  and  he  also 
published  his  "  Reflections  on  Death."  The  series 
of  papers  which  went  to  make  up  this  book 
had  already  appeared  in  the  pages  of  the 
"  Christian  Magazine,"  a  periodical  in  which 
Dodd  took  a  lively  interest,  and  in  connection 
with  which  he  gradually  worked  himself  up  to 
the  post  of  editor. 

All  this  time,  he  was  making  desperate  efforts 
to  secure  promotion  in  the  church.  In  1766,  he 
proceeded  to  Cambridge,  and,  on  his  return,  had 
developed  into  a  full-blown  Doctor  of  Laws. 
Shortly  afterwards  he  threw  up  his  humble 
curacy  and  lectureships,  and  launched  out  into 
an  extravagant  life  in  London.  Not  only  did  he 
take  a  residence  in  the  West  End,  but  also  pro- 
vided himself  with  a  country  house  at  Baling. 
About  this  time,  his  wife  won  a  prize  of  £1000 
in  a  State  Lottery,  and  this  money  Dr.  Dodd 
at  once  laid  out  in  building  a  chapel  of  ease  in 
Pimlico,  which  he  named  Charlotte  Chapel,  after 
the  Queen.  Here  he  quickly  gathered  a  fashion- 
able congregation  around  him,  but  his  bid  for 
Royal  patronage  was  unavailing.  He  was  also 


DR.    WILLIAM  DODD.  195 

pecuniarily  interested  in  Charlotte  Chapel, 
Bloomsbury,  where  he  occasionally  preached,  but 
he  rarely  missed  his  Sunday  morning  sermon  at 
the  Magdalen. 

It  was  not  until  1772  that  Dr.  Dodd  obtained 
his  first  cure  of  souls,  when  he  was  presented  to 
the  rectory  of  Hockliffe,  in  Bedfordshire,  to 
which  was  shortly  afterwards  added  the  Vicarage 
of  Chalgrove.  He  was  now  in  the  zenith  of  his 
fame  as  a  popular  preacher. 

In  February,  1774,  by  the  translation  of 
Bishop  Moss  to  the  See  of  Bath  and  Wells,  the 
valuable  living  of  St.  George's,  Hanover  Square, 
became  vacant,  and  Dodd  set  about  the  execution 
of  a  foolish  and  mad -brained  scheme  to  secure  the 
presentation  for  himself.  An  anonymous  letter 
was,  at  his  instigation,  addressed  to  Lady  Apsley, 
offering  £3000  down  if  a  gentleman,  to  be  after- 
wards named,  received  the  appointment.  With 
very  little  trouble  the  letter  was  traced  to  Dr. 
Dodd,  and  the  king,  in  a  fit  of  indignation,  at 
once  erased  his  name  from  his  list  of  Chaplains. 
A  storm  of  invective,  satire,  and  abuse  followed, 
in  the  midst  of  which  the  wily  Doctor  left  the 

country.     But  the   worst   was   to    come.     Foote 

• 

was,  at  this   time,  engaged   in   writing   his  farce 


196  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

entitled  "  The  Cozeners/'  and,  therein,  he  straight- 
way introduced  a  certain  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Simony. 
Though  "  Dr.  Simony "  does  not  appear 
personally  in  the  play,  his  wife  describes  him  to 
the  letter,  and  boasts  of  the  fact  that  he  was  no 
schismatic,  but  believed  in  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles,  and  "  would  if  there  were  nine  times  as 
many."  The  portrait  was  unmistakable,  and  the 
pit  roared  itself  hoarse  at  the  stinging  satire. 

In  the  meantime,  Dodd  was  safe  in  Geneva, 
where  his  former  pupil,  now  Lord  Chesterfield, 
received  him  cordially,  and  as  a  mark  of  his 
affection  presented  him  to  a  vacant  living  at 
Winge,  in  Bucks.  After  the  "  Simony  "  scandal 
had,  to  a  large  extent,  blown  over,  the  Doctor 
returned  home,  and  forthwith  plunged  once  more 
into  the  turbid  waters  of  London  society.  Deeper 
and  deeper  still  he  sank,  until  his  embarrass- 
ments threatened  completely  to  overwhelm 
him. 

On  the  2nd  of  February,  1777,  Dr.  Dodd 
preached  as  usual  at  the  Magdalen,  and  two  days 
after  took  his  last  leap  in  the  dark  by  forging  the 
signature  of  his  patron,  the  Earl  of  Chesterfield, 
to  a  bond  for  £4200.  In  order  to  a  speedy 
negotiation,  the  Earl's  signature  was  attested  by 


DR.    WILLIAM  DODD.  197 

Dodd  himself,  and  the  signature  of  a  broker 
named  Robertson  was  also  appended  as  a  witness. 
The  sum  of  £4000  was  now  paid  over  for  the 
bond,  and  later  on  the  document  was  brought 
under  the  notice  of  Lord  Chesterfield.  It  was, 
of  course,  repudiated  by  his  lordship,  and  the 
principals  were  at  once  placed  under  arrest. 
Dodd  now  realised  his  critical  position,  but  when 
he  had  restored  nearly  the  whole  of  the  money 
he  began  to  feel  himself  comparatively  safe.  The 
case  was,  however,  by  a  curious  combination  of 
circumstances,  forced  into  prominence,  and  the 
hapless  Doctor  found  himself  committed  to  the 
Cornpter  to  await  his  trial. 

The  story  was  by  this  time  all  over  London, 
and  newspaper  men  and  ballad-mongers  gloated 
over  the  details. 

On  the  19th  of  February,  Dr.  Dodd  appeared 
at  the  bar  of  the  Old  Bailey,  and,  after  an 
exhaustive  consideration  of  his  case,  the  jury, 
while  strongly  recommending  him  to  mercy,  were 
constrained  to  bring  in  a  verdict  of  "  Guilty." 
He  lay  in  Newgate  until  the  26th  of  May,  when 
he  was  brought  forth  to  receive  sentence,  after 
which  he  was  again  conveyed  back  to  prison. 
Here  he  was  shown  every  indulgence — a  private 


198  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

room  was  placed  at  his  disposal,  books  and  other 
comforts  were  amply  provided,  and  friends  came 
and  went  all  day  long.  It  was  only  after  eight 
o'clock  at  night  that  he  was  left  alone,  and  then 
he  worked  assiduously  at  his  "  Prison  Thoughts," 
a  book  still  read  by  some  with  a  morbid 
interest. 

Meanwhile,  great  exertions  were  being  made  to 
save  his  life.  It  is  in  connection  with  these  that 
the  burly  form  of  Dr.  Johnson  appears  upon  the 
miserable  scene,  which,  for  a  time,  is  brightened 
by  his  presence.  His  reverent  heart  was  deeply 
moved  as  he  contemplated  the  fact  that  a  man 
who  bore  office  in  the  Church  was  in  danger  of 
suffering  an  ignominious  death.  He  threw  the 
whole  weight  of  his  great  name  and  influence  into 
the  scale  on  the  side  of  mercy,  and  no  amount  of 
labour  and  time  seemed  too  much  for  him  to 
spend  in  trying  to  obtain  a  mitigation  of  the 
sentence.  He  prepared  several  petitions,  wrote 
speeches  for  Dodd  to  deliver  in  court,  and  actually 
composed  a  sermon  which  the  wretched  man 
preached  to  the  prisoners  in  Newgate  a  short 
time  before  his  execution.. 

The  case  of  "  the  Unfortunate  Dr.  Dodd  "  now 
excited   universal   interest.     Society    was   stirred 


DR.    WILLIAM  DODD. 


199 


to  its  lowest  depths,  and  everybody  signed 
petitions  praying  for  his  respite.  One  petition 
alone  contained  23,000  signatures,  and  was  over 
thirty-seven  yards  long ;  another  was  presented 
by  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Common  Council  in  a 
body. 

All,  however,  was  of  no  avail,  for  on  the  1 5th 
of  June  the  Privy  Council  met,  and,  after  due 
deliberation,  virtually  decreed  that  Dodd  must 
die.  Accordingly,  a  warrant  was  made  out  for 
him  to  be  publicly  hanged  on  the  27th.  The  few 
remaining  days  of  his  life  can  only  be  likened  to 
a  miserable  orgie.  Friends  were  coming  and 
going  all  the  time,  and  while  some  held  out  hopes 
of  escape,  or  even  rescue,  others  less  sanguine 
wept  with  him  over  his  sad  fate.  Looking  back 
to  these  critical  moments  in  Dr.  Dodd's  life,  we 
behold  him  in  turn  firm,  penitent,  unmanned, 
ostentatiously  pious,  and  hideously  unreal.  On 
the  last  day  of  his  life  he  wrote  a  drivelling  letter 
to  his  friend  and  amanuensis,  Weedon  Butler, 
whose  faith  in  him  never  wavered ;  and  he  also 
penned  a  reply  to  an  earnest  and  manly  exhorta- 
tion which  he  had  received  from  Dr.  Johnson. 
All  through  the  day  he  was  kept  in  a  continuous 
fever  of  alternate  hope  and  despair  by  the 


200  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

injudicious  utterances  of  his  friends.  When  at 
last  they  left  him,  he  fell  into  a  peaceful  sleep, 
only,  alas,  to  wake  and  realise  that  Friday,  June 
the  27th,  1777,  had  arrived  at  last,  and  now  had 
come  the  time  when  he  must  die. 

Outside  the  prison  walls,  all  London  was 
stirring  early,  and  tens  of  thousands  from  the 
country  had  arrived  to  see  the  end.  From 
Newgate  to  Tyburn,  the  crowd  was  so  dense  that 
order  was  with  difficulty  kept.  As  early  as 
seven  o'clock  the  bell  of  St.  Sepulchre's  had 
commenced  tolling,  but  nine  o'clock  had  struck 
ere  the  procession  started  along  its  three  mile 
course.  Dodd  was  seated  in  a  mourning  coach, 
drawn  by  four  horses,  and  for  more  than  two 
hours  his  corpse-like  face  was  framed  in  the  coach 
window. 

At  Tyburn,  nothing  but  a  vast  sea  of  heads 
was  visible.  Every  coign  of  vantage  was 
occupied,  and  many  descriptions  of  the  scene 
have  been  published  by  spectators.  Dodd  was 
accompanied  by  a  companion  in  misery,  a  youth 
of  eighteen  years,  named  Harris,  whose  crime 
was  that  of  robbing  a  man  of  a  little  less  than 
thirty  shillings.  This  poor  boy  was  quickly 
dispatched,  and  then,  in  the  midst  of  a  heavy 


DR,    WILLIAM  DODD.  201 

shower  of  rain,  the  doctor  was  placed  upon  the 
cart.  He  is  described  as  appearing  "  stupid  from 
despair,"  and  with  face  turned  downwards  praying 
all  the  time.  The  final  preparations  took  up- 
wards of  an  hour  to  complete,  and  this  made  the 
crowd  somewhat  impatient.  At  length  every- 
thing was  ready,  the  rope  adjusted,  his  broad- 
brimmed  hat  and  wig  exchanged  for  a  night-cap, 
and  all  his  leave-takings  over.  His  last  act  was 
to  place  money  in  the  hands  of  the  executioner, 
and  then  to  whisper  earnestly  in  his  ear.  What 
he  said  was  never  known.  The  cart  on  which 
he  stood  moved  from  under  his  feet,  and  in  a 
couple  of  minutes  all  was  over. 

After  hanging  the  usual  time,  the  body  was  cut 
down  and  handed  to  the  waiting  friends.  A  hot 
bath  had  been  prepared  in  a  house  not  far  away, 
and  here  John  Hunter  was  in  attendance  to  try 
his  hand  at  restoring  life.  Owing,  however,  to  the 
bigness  of  the  crowd,  precious  minutes,  and  even 
hours,  were  lost  before  the  body  arrived, 
and  by  this  time  all  hope  of  revivification  was 
gone. 

The  same  night,  Dodd's  faithful  friend,  Weedon 
Butler,  had  the  body  taken  down  to  Cowley,  in 
Middlesex,  for  interment,  and  there,  on  the  north 


202 


BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 


side  of  the  church,  he  was  laid  to  rest.  Unlike 
his  ostentatious  life,  the  gravestone  erected  to  his 
memory  is  simple  in  the  extreme.  It  merely 
contains  the  following  laconic  inscription  : 

"REV.  WILLIAM  DODD 
BORN  MARCH  29,  1729 

DIED  JUNE  27,  1777 
IN  THE  49TH  YEAR  OF  HIS  AGE." 


Hn  jeigbteentb  Century  poet 

BY  THE  REV.  ALAN  CHEALES,  M.A. 

LINCOLNSHIRE  is  a  great  county.  But 
like  the  plant  which  takes  a  hundred 
years  to  each  blossom,  it  has  been  somewhat  slow 
in  maturing  its  poets.  Our  generation  has  seen  a 
magnificent  outburst,  a  double-headed  plant  of 
poesy,  at  once  the  sweetest  woman  singer  of  the 
century,  and  a  Poet-Laureate.  Who  can  read 
Boston's  tragedy,  "  The  Brides  of  Mavis 
Enderby,"  without  tears  in  the  voice  ? 

"A  sweeter  woman  ne'er  drew  breath 
Than  my  son's  wife  Elizabeth,"— 

while,  at  the  same  time,  Jean  Ingelow,  in  her 
prose  writings,  more  especially,  "  Off  the  Skelligs," 
and  "  Fated  to  be  Free,"  has  given  urbi  et  orbi, 
to  county  and  country,  the  most  fascinating  of 
novels. 

As  to  our  Poet-Laureate,  the  first   who  ever 
won  a  peerage,  though  by  no  means  the  first  peer 


204  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

who  has  been  a  poet,  neither  again  happily 
can  he  be  spoken  of  in  the  past,  although 
"  Tennyson  country "  is  now  classic  ground.  I 
know  it  well.  A  portion  of  his  " Brook"  runs 
through  one  of  my  fields.  That  "  Vision  of 
Fair  Women,"  "  Bare  Pale  Margaret,"  "  Spiritual 
Adeline,"  "  Airy  Fairy  Lilian,"  I  know  them  once 
intimately  !  Very  exquisitely  true  to  life,  as  well 
as  perfect  poetry,  is  the  portrait  of  each. 

But  these  are  present  poets,  happily  still  alive 
amongst  us,  and  our  editor  sternly  warns  me 
back  into  Bygones. 

I  have  to  tell  of  a  now  forgotten,  yet  much 
admired  in  his  own  day,  Lincolnshire  poet ;  with 
whose  life  is  interwoven  more  romance  and  tragedy 
than  is  easily  realized.  Fact,  in  fact,  is  mostly 
stranger  than  fiction. 

I  speak  of  Dr.  John  Langhorne,  who  lived 
from  1735  to  1779.  Langhorne's  "Plutarch"  is  a 
well-known  standard  work,  a  most  able  translation 
by  Dr.  Langhorne  and  his  brother.  I  desire  to 
call  attention  rather  to  "  Langhorne's  poerns." 
John  Langhorne  was  a  man  of  strong  and  deep 
feelings.  Brought  up  by  a  mother,  widowed 
when  he  was  four  years  old,  he  always  exhibits 
for  her  the  most  tender  affection. 


AN  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  POET.  205 

MONODY,  1759. 
"  For  her  I  mourn 

Now  the  cold  tenant  of  the  thoughtless  urn — 

For  her  bewail  these  strains  of  woe, 

For  her  these  filial  sorrows  flow ; 
Source  of  my  life  that  lead  my  tender  years, 

With  all  a  parent's  pious  fears, 
That  marked  my  infant-thought,  and  taught  my 

mind  to  grow." 

At  the  time  of  his  great  trouble,  when  the  fair- 
seeing  temple  of  conjugal  happiness  after  one 
single  year  had  fallen  shattered  about  him ;  it  is 
to  his  brother  he  turns  for  fresh  exertion  and 
comforl 


"  Come  then,  thou  partner  of  my  life  and  name, 
From  one  dear  source,  whom  Nature  forme    the  same, 
Allied  more  nearly  in  each  nobler  part, 
And  more  the  friend,  than  brother,  of  my  heart ! " 

Like  many  other  of  our  poets,  John  Langhorne 
at  first  found  the  battle  of  life  hard.  He  was 
glad  to  take  a  tutorship,  in  1759,  in  the  family  of 
Robert  Cracroft,  Esq.,  of  Hackthorn ;  not  the 
least  known  or  well-descended  of  "  Lincolnshire 
families."  There  he  met  his  fate. 

We  find  some  pleasing  lines  addressed  to  R. 
W.  Cracroft,  one  of  his  pupils,  but  no  less 
than  six  odes  are  addressed  to  Miss  Cracroft. 

Mr.  Chalmers  says:  "  While  employed  in  the 


206  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

education  of  the  sons  of  Mr.  Cracroft,  he  became 
enamoured  of  the  amiable  disposition  and  personal 
charms  of  Miss  Anne  Cracroft.  He  had  given 
her  some  instructions  in  the  Italian  language, 
and  was  often  delighted  by  her  skill  in  music, 
for  which  he  had  a  very  correct  ear.  A  mutual 
attachment  was  the  consequence,  which  Mr. 
Langhorne  was  eager  to  terminate  in  marriage. 

o  o  o 

But  the  lady,  who  knew  that  a  match  so  dispro- 
portioned  as  to  fortune,  would  be  opposed  by 
her  family,  gave  him  a  denial  as  firm  and  as 
gentle  as  her  good  sense  and  secret  attachment 
would  permit.  For  this,  however,  Mr.  Langhorne 
was  not  prepared,  and  immediately  left  his  situa- 
tion, in  the  hope  of  recovering  a  more  tranquil 
tone  of  mind  in  distant  scenes  and  different 
employment.  In  1767,  after  a  courtship  of  five 
years,  Dr.  Langhorne  obtained  the  hand  of  Miss 
Cracroft,  to  whom  he  had  ever  been  tenderly 
attached ;  and  with  whom  he  had  kept  up  a 
correspondence  since  his  departure  from  Hack- 
thorn.  By  what  means  her  family  was  reconciled 
to  the  match,  we  are  not  told  ;  but  some  fortune 
accompanied  it,  as  the  living  of  Blagden,  in 
Somersetshire,  was  purchased  for  him,  and  there 
he  went  immediately  to  reside.  His  happiness, 


AN  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  POET.  207 

however,  with  this   lady,  was   of  short  duration, 
as  she  died  in  childbirth  of  a  son,  1768." 

However  long  he  might  have  lived,  those  ten 
years  were  virtually  his  life.  In  them  we  find 
his  highest  inspirations. 

1761. 
WRAPPED  ROUND  A  NOSEGAY  OF  VIOLETS. 

"  Dear  object  of  my  late  and  early  prayer  ! 
Source  of  my  joy  !  and  solace  of  my  care  ! 
Whom  gentle  friendship  such  a  charm  can  give, 
As  makes  me  wish,  and  tells  me  how  to  live, 
To  thee  the  Muse  with  grateful  hand  would  bring 
These  first  fair  children  of  the  doubtful  spring. 
O  may  they,  fearless  of  a  varying  sky, 
Bloom  on  thy  breast,  and  smile  beneath  thine  eye  ! 
In  fairer  lights  their  vivid  blue  display, 
And  sweeter  breathe  their  little  lives  away  ! " 

1763. 
"  O  born  at  once  to  bless  me  and  to  save, 

Exalt  my  life  and  dignify  my  lay  ! 
Thou  too  shall  triumph  o'er  the  mouldering  grave, 
And  on  thy  brow  shall  bloom  the  deathless  bay. 

';  O  most  beloved  !  the  fairest  and  the  best 

Of  all  her  works  !  still  may  thy  love  find 
Fair  Nature's  frankness  in  thy  gentle  breast ; 
Like  her  be  various,  but  like  her  be  kind. 

"  Then  when  the  Spring  of  smiling  youth  is  o'er, 

When  Summer's  glories  yield  to  Autumn's  sway ; 
When  golden  Autumn  sinks  in  Winter  hoar, 
And  life  declining  yields  its  last  weak  ray ; 


208  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

"  In  thy  loved  arms  my  fainting  age  shall  close, 

On  thee  my  fond  eye  bend  its  trembling  light, 
Remembrance  sweet  shall  soothe  my  last  repose, 
And  my  soul  bless  thee  in  eternal  night." 

1765. 

SONNET  IN  THE  MANNER  OF  PETRACH. 
"  On  thy  fair  morn,  O  hope-inspiring  May  ! 
The  sweetest  twins  that  ever  Nature  bare, 
Where  Hackthorn's  vale  her  field-flower-garland  wove, 
Young  Love  and  Fancy  met  the  genial  day. 
And  all  as  on  the  thyme-green  bank  I  lay, 
A  nymph  of  gentlest  mien  their  train  before, 
Came  with  a  smile  ;  and,  '  Swain,'  she  cried,  '  no  more 
To  pensive  sorrow  tune  thy  hopeless  lay. 
Friends  of  thy  heart,  see  Love  and  Fancy  bring 
Each  joy  that  youth's  enchanted  bosom  warms ; 
Delight  that  rifles  all  the  fragrant  spring ! 
Fair  handed  Hope,  that  paints  unfading  charms  ! 
And  dove-like  Faith,  that  waves  her  silver  wing :  — 
These,  swain,  are  thine,  for  Nancy  meets  thy  arms  ! " 

And  after  all  the  long  waiting,  and  then  hope, 
and  then  joyful  anticipation, — Oh  !  the  pity  of 
it !  They  had  just  one  year  of  wedded  life  together. 

MONODY,  1769. 

"  She  comes — ye  flowers,  your  fairest  blooms  unfold, 
Ye  waving  groves,  your  plaintive  sighs  forbear, 
Breathe  all  your  fragrance  to  the  amorous  air 
Ye  smiling  shrubs,  whose  heads  are  clothed  with  gold  ! 
She  comes,  by  truth,  by  fair  affection  led, 
The  long  loved  mistress  of  my  faithful  heart ! 
The  mistress  of  my  soul,  no  more  to  part, 


AN  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  POET.  209 

"  And  all  my  hopes,  and  all  my  vows  are  sped  ! 
Vain,  vain  delusions  !  dreams  for  ever  fled  ! 
Ere  twice  the  spring  had  waked  the  genial  hour, 
The  lovely  parent  bore  one  beauteous  flower, 
And  drooped  her  gentle  head, 
And  sunk,  for  ever  sunk,  into  her  silent  bed." 

It  was  during  this  short  interval  that  he 
addressed  the  "  Precepts  of  Conjugal  Happi- 
ness "  to  her  sister,  Miss  Maria  Cracroft,  then 
also  wedded,  and  to  a  Mr.  Nelthorpe. 

"Friend,  sister,  partner  of  the  gentle  heart 
Where  my  soul  lives,  and  holds  her  dearest  part ; 
While  love's  soft  raptures  these  gay  hours  employ, 
And  time  puts  on  the  yellow  robe  of  joy, 
Will  you,  Maria,  mark  with  patient  ear 
The  moral  Muse,  nor  deem  her  song  severe  ? 

Love,  like  the  flower  that  courts  the  sun's  kind  ray, 

Will  flourish  only  in  the  smiles  of  day ; 

Distrust's  cold  air  the  generous  plant  annoys, 

And  one  chill  blast  of  dire  contempt  destroys. 

O  shun,  my  friend,  avoid  that  dangerous  coast 

Where  peace  expires,  and  fair  affection's  lost ; 

By  wit,  by  grief,  by  anger  urged,  forbear 

The  speech  contemptuous,  and  the  scornful  air. 

True,  tender  love  one  even  tenor  keeps 

In  reason's  flame,  and  burns  when  passion  sleeps. 

Pure  in  its  source,  and  temperate  in  its  sway, 

Still  flows  the  same,  nor  finds  its  urn  decay. 

O  bliss  beyond  what  lonely  life  can  know, 

The  soul-felt  sympathy  of  joy  and  woe  ! 

P 


210  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

"  That  magic  charm  which  makes  e'en  sorrow  dear, 
And  turns  to  pleasure  the  partaken  tear  ! 
Long,  beauteous  friend,  to  you  may  heaven  impart 
The  soft  endearments  of  the  social  heart ! 
And  oh,  forgive  the  zeal  your  peace  inspires, 
To  teach  that  prudence  which  itself  admires." 

It  is  pleasing  to  learn  "  To  this  lady  Dr. 
Langhorne  committed  the  charge  of  his  infant 
child,  who  has  lived  to  acknowledge  his  friend- 
ship, and  to  discharge  the  duties  of  an  affectionate 
son,  by  the  late  memoir  of  his  father  prefixed  to 
an  elegant  edition  of  his  poems." 

Mr  Langhorne's  poem,  entitled  "  Genius  and 
Valour,"  obtained  for  him,  in  1766,  a  long 
and  flattering  letter  from  Dr.  Robertson,  the 
celebrated  historian,  and  Principal  of  the 
University  of  Edinburgh,  requesting  him  to 
accept  a  diploma  for  the  degree  of  doctor  in 
divinity. 

There  are  portions  of  this  latter  poem  which 
might  be  read  with  advantage  by  some  in  the 
present  day. 

"  In  nervous  strains  Dunbar's  bold  music  flows, 
And  Time  yet  spares  the  Thistle  and  the  Rose. 
O  while  his  course  the  hoary  warrior  steers 
Through  the  long  course  of  life-dissolving  years, 
Through  all  the  evils  of  each  changeful  age, 
Hate,  envy,  faction,  jealousy,  and  rage, 


AN  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  POET.  211 

"  Ne'er  may  his  scythe  these  Sacred  Plants  divide, 
These  Plants  by  heaven  in  native  union  tied  ! 
Still  may  the  Flower  its  social  sweets  disclose, 
The  hardy  Thistle  still  defend  the  Rose  !" 

In  the  quaint  stiff  epigrams  of  those  days  Dr. 
Langhorne  thus  composed  his  much-loved 
partner's  epitaph  : 

"  With  Sappho's  taste,  with  Arria's  tender  heart, 
Lucretia's  honour,  and  Cecilia's  art, 
That  such  a  woman  died  surprise  can't  give, 
'Tis  only  strange  that  such  a  one  should  live." 

Dr.  Langhorne  married  again  in  1776,  again 
lost  his  wife  in  childbirth,  and  died  himself  in 
1779,  in  the  forty-fifth  year  of  his  age. 


(Sreat  Ibawtborn  Gree  of  fftebtoft 

BY  WILLIAM  STEVENSON. 

^THOMPSON,  in  his  "  History  of  Boston" 
-*-  (page  493),  gives  an  engraving  of  this 
tree,  and  notes  that  it  was  mentioned  in  the 
Fishtoft  Acre  Books,  i.e.,  Field  Books,  in  A.D. 
1662  and  1709,  and  that  it  "  is  traditionally 
stated  to  have  been  a  stake,  driven  into  the  body 
of  a  female  suicide,  who  was  buried  at  the  cross 
roads,  as  was  the  custom  at  one  period." 

There  is  no  base  to  this  tradition,  for  the 
punishment  of  suicides  after  death  by  burying 
them  at  the  cross  roads,  in  quicklime,  and  driving 
stakes  through  their  bodies  does  not  date  back  to 
the  first  historical  mention  of  this  tree,  besides 
which,  the  stake  would  never  be  left  above  ground 
to  sprout,  but  would  be  driven  close  down  to  the 
body. 

The  hawthorn  tree  is  indigenous  to  this 
country,  and,  in  the  opinion  of  natives  of  the 
north  of  Europe,  where  it  will  not  grow,  it,  along 


THE  HA  W THORN  TREE  OF  FISUTOFT.        213 

with  the  winn,  gorse,  or  furze,  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  flowering  bushes  we  possess.  Prior  to 
the  great  enclosures,  about  a  century  ago,  of  the 
open  lands  in  this  county,  hawthorn  trees  were 
dotted  over  the  grazing  lands,  as  may  still  be 
seen  in  the  old  deer  parks  of  our  nobility,  and 
the  one  at  Fishtofts  is,  no  doubt,  a  solitary 
survival  or  representative  of  this  old  order  of 
things. 

o 

As  a  quick  hedge,  the  hawthorn  has  been  used 
in  this  country  in  partitioning  the  toft-steads  or 
home-crofts  from  the  open  fields  or  unenclosed 
lands,  for  over  a  thousand  years,  and  it  derives 
its  name,  haw,  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  haiv,  a 
yard  or  enclosure.  Chaucer  uses  c/mrche-hawe, 
for  churchyard.  The  haivthom  is  thus  the 
enclosure-thorn,  a  name  drawn  from  the  popular 
use  to  which  it  was  in  early  times  applied. 

It  is  generally  thought  that  in  primitive  times 
the  eastern  counties  were  largely  covered  with 
this  thorn,  and  it  is  certain  that  the  frequent 
mention  of  thorn  in  place-names  lends  support  to 
this  view,  instance  Thorne,  in  Hatfield  Chase, 
near  Doncaster,  Thornton  Abbey,  in  our  county, 
Thorngumbald,  Whitethornsea  (now  Withernsea), 
Whitethornwick  (now  Withernwick)  in  Holder- 


214  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

ness,  and  Thorney  or  Thorneye,  Thorn  Island,  in 
the  south. 

The  ancient  state  of  the  country  suggested  by 
this  hawthorn  tree  at  Fishtoft  is  pictured  by 
Shakespeare  in  Henry  VI.  : 

"  Gives  not  the  hawthorn  bush  a  sweeter  shade 
To  shepherds  looking  on  their  silly  sheep, 
Than  doth  a  rich  embroidered  canopy 
To  kings  who  fear  their  subjects'  treachery?" 

But  no  poet  has  conceived  a  more  beautiful 
picture  of  the  rural  hawthorn  than  Goldsmith  in 
his  "  Deserted  Village  :  " 

"  The  hawthorn  bush,  with  seats  beneath  the  shade, 
For  talking  age  and  whispering  lovers  made." 


Spal&tng  (Sentlemen's  Society 

BY  MARTEN  PERRY,  M.D.,  PRESIDENT. 

THE  -foundation  of  this,  the  oldest 
antiquarian  society  in  the  kingdom,  is 
entirely  due  to  the  energy,  tact,  and  persever- 
ance of  Maurice  Johnson,  Barrister  of  Law,  of 
the  Inner  Temple,  whose  residence  was 
Ayscoughfee  Hall,  in  Spalding. 

When  a  young  man,  in  London,  he  was,  as  he 
expresses  it,  "  by  Mr.  Gay,  the  poet,  brought 
acquainted  with  Pope,  Addison,  Sir  Richard 
Steel,  and  others,  who  were  in  the  habit  of 
meeting  at  Button's  Coffee  House,  in  Covent 
Garden,  where  the  Tatler,  edited  by  Steel,  was 
read  as  it  came  out."  Here  Johnson,  Browne 
Willis,  Roger  and  Samuel  Gale,  Stukeley,  and 
Rymer,  endeavoured  to  found  (or  re-found)  the 
London  Society  of  Antiquaries,  and  Johnson  was 
selected  for  its  first  librarian.  This  society  was 
not  floated  until  the  year  1717,  when  a  president 
and  officers  were  elected. 


216  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Meanwhile,  Johnson  had  removed  to  his  native 
town,  and  at  once — in  1709 — though  himself 
only  just  arrived  at  manhood,  and  all  his  advisers 
and  encouragers  were  at  a  distance.  "  set  himself 

O  ' 

to  work  to  institute  a  literary  society  in  the 
Lincolnshire  Fens  amongst  a  company  unac- 
customed to  such  a  mode  of  spending  an 
evening."  He  took  in  the  Tatler,  and  com- 
municated its  contents  to  his  acquaintances,  who 
met  weekly  at  a  coffee  house  in  the  Abbey  Yard. 
"  These  papers  being  universally  approved  as 
both  instructive  and  entertaining  they  ordered 
'em  to  be  sent  down  thither,  when  they  were  read 
every  Post-day  generally  aloud  to  the  whole 
company  who  could  sit  and  talk  over  the  subject 
afterwards.  This  insensibly  drew  the  men  of 
Sense  and  Letters  into  a  sociable  way  of  con- 
versing and  continued  ye  next  yeare  1710  until 
the  publisher  desisted  to  their  great  regret, 
whose  thoughts  being  by  this  means  bent 
towards  their  own  improvement  in  knowledge 
they  again  in  like  manner  heard  some  of  the 
Tatlers  read  over  and  now  and  then  a  Poem, 
Letter  or  Essay  upon  some  subject  in  polite 
literature  and  it  being  hapily  suggested  that  as 
they  take  care  to  have  those  papers  kept  together 


SPALDING  GENTLEMEN'S  SOCIETY.         217 

it  would  be  well  worth  their  while  to  take  into 
consideracon  the  state  of  the  Parochial  Library 
where  there  were  some  valuable  Editions  of  the 
best  authors  in  no  very  good  condicon  and  they 
did  accordingly  agree  to  contribute  towards  the 
repairing  the  old  and  adding  new  books  to  it,  but 
being  by  ye  two  worst  enemies  to  understanding, 
Ignorance  and  Indolence  prevented  doing  much 
for  it.  They  turned  their  beneficial  intrution 
towards  the  royal  and  ffree  Grammar  School  in 
which  there  was  at  that  time  a  large  but  Empty 
Desk  capable  of  being  made  a  press  or  Class  on 
wch  ye  One  only  solitary  Volume  then  belonging 
to  the  School  lay  (viz  :)  Langius  Polyanthsea 
bestow'd  upon  it  by  Sir  John  Oldfield  Bart,  some 
years  before  and  to  this  These  Gentlemen  did  now 
voluntarily  add  several  other  Authors  in 
Gramatical,  Critical  or  Classick  learning,  wch 
was  to  ye  great  pleasure  and  convenience  of  the 
worthy  Master." 

In  March,  1711,  the  Spectator  came  out,  and 
was  duly  read  here  as  the  Tatler  had  been,  and 
the  next  year  these  gentlemen  formed  themselves 
into  a  voluntary  society  for  the  "  Supporting 
mutual  benevolence  and  their  improvement  in  the 
liberal  sciences  and  polite  learning."  The  Rev. 


218  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Stephen  Lyon,  minister  of  Spalding,  was  elected 
president  for  the  first  month.  He  was  succeeded 
by  William  Ambler,  Esq.,  Rev.  -  -  Wareing,  and 
Maurice  Johnson,  Esq.,  father  of  the  founder. 
In  April  Mr.  Lyon  was  again  elected.  Finding 
inconvenience  arise  from  the  frequent  changes,  it 
was  then  decided  that  the  president  should  con- 
tinue in  office  until  the  society  thought  fit  to 
choose  another  quamdiu  se  bene  gesserit. 

This  year  the  society  took  in  the  Lay  Monk 
and  Memoirs  of  Literature.  Afterwards,  such 
portions  as  were  not  political  in  the  Freethinker 
and  the  Spyes  were  read.  Papers,  essays,  letters, 
and  exhibits  now  became  abundant,  and  the 
society  added  annually  to  its  list  of  regular  and 
honorary  members  some  of  the  most  learned  men 
of  the  day.  We  find  the  names  of  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  the  Earl  of  Oxford, 
the  two  Gales,  Dr.  Stukeley,  the  poets  Gay  and 
Pope,  the  painters  Vertue  and  Collins,  Beaupre 
Bell,  Dr.  Jurin,  Dr.  Massey,  Archdeacon  Neve, 
Joseph  Banks  (the  father  of  Sir  Joseph  Banks), 
Samuel  Wesley,  Dr.  Bentley  (master  of  the 
Grammar  School  at  Spalding,  who  was  quickly  pre- 
ferred thence  to  the  mastership  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge),  William  Bogdani,  Samuel  Buck  (the 


SPALDING  GENTLEMEN'S  SOCIETY.         219 

engraver),  Lord  Coloraine  (Pres.  Soc.  Antiq.), 
Dr.  Dodd,  Emanuel  Mendez  du  Costa,  Dosithseus 
(Archimandrite,  abbot  of  the  Monastery  of 
Pantocratoras,  on  Mount  Athos),  Martin  Folkes, 
Captain  John  Perry  (engineer  to  Czar  Peter  the 
Great),  Archdeacon  Sharp,  Rev.  Richard 
Southgate,  Thomas  Sympson  (of  Lincoln), 
Chancellor  Taylor,  Browne  Willis,  John  Grundy 
(engineer),  and  many  others  of  note  far  too 
numerous  to  catalogue. 

Up  to  the  present  time,  the  various  acts  and 
regulations  of  the  society  had  been  recorded  by 
Maurice  Johnson,  who,  for  many  years,  acted  as 
secretary,  on  sheets  of  paper,  which,  at  a  sub- 
sequent date,  were  bound  together,  and  entitled 
the  First  Volume  of  Minutes,  or  the  "  Institution 
Book."  The  first  entry  of  original  research  is 
entered  on  November  10th,  1712.  It  is  a  sketch 
of  "  the  forme  of  a  Tomb  in  the  cemetery  of  the 
Cathedral  Church  in  Peterborough,  in  the  county 
of  Northton,  on  the  South  Side,  near  the  Choir." 

At  the  next  meeting,  held  on  November  17th, 
Mr.  Maurice  Johnson,  Junr.,  communicated  to 
the  society,  "  two  copies  of  verses  from  the  Rev. 
Francis  Curtis,  the  one  an  Epistle  from  a  gentle- 
man at  Eaton  to  his  friend  at  Cambridge,  in 


220  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Latin  Hexametre  and  Pentametre.  The  other, 
in  English,  upon  D.  of  Maryborough's  goeing  for 
Germany,  where  he  commanded  the  allyd  army 
agt  the  French  and  their  allies."  He  also 
gave  a  list  of  materials  for  painting  in  miniature, 
etc.,  collected  from  the  directions  of  Albert 
Durer  and  others,  with  the  method  of  preparing 
them. 

The  next  week's  proceedings  were  very  interest- 
ing. A  Spalding  halfpenny  of  1667,  showing 
a  view  of  the  old  Town  Hall,  was  exhibited  by 
the  secretary.  Rev.  Mr.  Wareing  gave  a 
description  of  a  journey  to  Bath,  and  of  the 
antiquities  and  natural  curiosities  of  the  City  of 
Bath,  in  several  Latin  Epistles,  attended  with 
drawings.  Next  follows  the  exhibition  of  an 
impression  in  wax  of  a  brass  seal  of  Elizabeth 
Lady,  Duchess  of  Sevierki,  in  Poland.  This 
shows  the  figure  of  a  lady  seated  on  a  side  saddle, 
with  hawk  perched  on  left  hand,  and  a  lure  in 
her  right  hand.  This  was  succeeded  by  a  disserta- 
tion on  hawking,  on  ladies'  habits,  and  on  side 
saddles,  with  reference  to  their  introduction  into 
England,  in  1382,  by  Queen  Ann,  daughter  of 
Charles  II.  of  Bohemia  and  Emperor  of 
Germany,  the  wife  of  King  Richard  II.  Lastly, 


SPALDING  GENTLEMEN'S  SOCIETY.          221 

we  have  "  Inscriptum  Picturse  Reverend! 
Martyrologistse,  and  S.  T.  P.  Dni  Johannis 
Foxij,  Anno  Domini  1509,  ^Etatis  70,  penes 
Johan.  Toley  Armiger,  apud  Boston,  ubi  Idem 
doctiss,  Autor  natus  fuit." 

To  pursue  the  minutes  further  would  be 
tedious,  suffice  it  therefore  to  say,  that  they 
contain  copies  of  ancient  documents,  many  of 
which  refer  to  the  Priory  of  Spalding,  and  to 
many  other  religious  houses  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, notes  on  Literary  Subjects,  on  Natural 
History,  on  Events  of  the  Day,  Poetry, 
etc. 

The  importance  of  the  society  being  now 
firmly  established,  it  became  necessary  that  the 
meetings  should  be  held  in  a  more  private  room, 
and,  after  having  "  flitted  "  to  the  Parsonage,  a 
room  was  secured  in  the  "  Markettstead,"  to 
which  the  name  of  " Assembly  Room"  was 
given. 

In  1717,  the  society  having  purchased  the 
books  of  the  deceased  Mr.  Wareing,  distributed 
them  between  the  Church  Library,  the  Grammar 
School  Library,  and  their  own  Library. 

It  is  evident  that  the  society  was  now  in  a 
most  flourishing  condition,  and  had  attained  a 


BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

position  seldom  if  ever  equalled  by  any  similar 
society  in  a  provincial  town,  but  then,  as  now, 
extraneous  assistance  was  necessary  to  sustain 
the  interest  of  its  members,  and  to  maintain  its 
prosperity.  Papers  were  contributed,  books 
given,  interesting  letters  written,  and  curiosities 
exhibited  by  many  who  were  not  resident  in  our 
neighbourhood,  and  we  still  keep,  with  religious 
care,  an  immense  amount  of  correspondence 
with  such  men  as  the  Gales,  Stukeley,  Earl  of 
Oxford,  Beaupre  Bell,  and  others.  But  let  it 
never  be  forgotten,  that  Maurice  Johnson  con- 
tinued to  the  end  of  his  life,  in  1755,  to  be  the 
mainstay  of  the  society.  As  long  as  he  lived 
the  society  prospered.  Most  interesting  items 
occur  in  the  minute  books,  which  were  written 
principally  by  him,  and  illustrated  profusely  by 
his  hand ;  he  added  some  of  its  most  valuable 
books  to  the  library,  and  considerably  enriched 
its  museum.  Alas !  shortly  after  his  death,  a 
change  comes  over  the  scene  ;  the  society  con- 
tinued to  meet  weekly,  and  accounts  of  its  weekly 
and  yearly  receipts  and  expenditure  were  duly 
kept,  but  the  minute-book  ceased  to  be  used ; 
little  or  nothing  was  added  to  the  library ;  the 
Physic  garden  given  up ;  and  the  museum  went 


SPALDING  GENTLEMEN'S  SOCIETY. 


223 


to  decay,  until  at  length  nearly  every  specimen 
was  cleared  out ! 

After  the  lapse  of  seventy  years,  Dr.  Moore 
having  been  elected  president  in  1828,  again 
resumed  the  use  of  the  minute-book,  and  a  few 
interesting  essays  were,  at  long  intervals,  entered 
therein.  Dr.  Cammack  and  Canon  Moore 
followed  in  his  footsteps,  but  the  society  was 
evidently  all  but  moribund.  No  meeting  is 
recorded,  nor  can  any  member  call  to  mind  any 
meeting  held  from  April  26th,  1875,  until  after 
Canon  Moore's  death,  in  May,  1889.  At  that 
time  its  library,  museum,  and  furniture,  were  in 
a  most  filthy  state,  from  the  accumulation  of 
dust,  and  it  was  but  rarely  that  a  member 
ventured  into  the  room  to  consult  a  book, 
studying  therein  being  an  act  of  most  severe 
penance.  Still,  in  fulfilment  of  Gale's  prophecy, 
the  library  remained  "  a  glorious  monument  of 
the  public  spirit  and  learning  of  its  founder,  and 
the  record  of  a  noble  attempt,  which,  otherwise, 
could  scarcely  be  credited  by  posterity." 

On  July  15th,  1889,  a  meeting  of  the  remaining 
members  was  held,  and  it  was  decided  that  an 
earnest  effort  should  be  made  to  revivify  the 
society.  Dr.  Perry  was  elected  president,  and 


224  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

a  committee  appointed  to  consider  the  rules  of 
the  society,  and  report  thereon.  The  president 
also  exhibited  some  Roman  gold  coins  which  had 
recently  come  into  his  possession  ;  Mr.  Everard 
Green,  F.S.A.,  presented  pedigrees  of  various 
families;  and  Canon  Marsden,  who  had  been 
elected  a  member  so  long  ago  as  1828,  presented 
"  Philomorus "  to  the  society.  Mr.  White,  of 
Grantham,  read  a  memoir  on  the  late  Canon 
Moore. 

At  the  next  meeting,  which  was  held  September 
30th  following,  a  fresh  set  of  rules,  which  had 
been  drawn  up  by  a  committee,  were  approved. 
Mr.  H.  S.  Maples  was  elected  treasurer. 
The  Rev.  T.  A.  Stoodley,  Head  Master  of 
the  Grammar  School,  having  been  elected  a 
member,  was  appointed  librarian,  and  undertook 
to  re-catalogue  the  books.  Mr.  W.  E.  Foster, 
F.S.A.,  presented  papers  on  Here  ward  the 
Fenman,  on  Elloe  Stone,  and  on  Whaplode 
Church.  Canon  Moore's  executors  presented 
papers  on  Croyland  Abbey  and  Bridge,  and  on 
S.  Guthlac's  Stone ;  and  the  president  read  a 
paper  on  the  origin  of  coinage.  Since  then  the 
society  itself  has  purchased  several  books,  others 
have  been  given  by  the  members,  donations  to 


SPALDING  GENTLEMEN'S  SOCIETY. 


225 


a  small  extent  have  been  made  to  the  museum, 
and  several  very  interesting  and  instructive 
papers  read,  and  articles  of  antiquity  exhibited. 
To  the  list  of  regular  members  twenty-seven 
names  have  been  added,  and  fourteen  honorary 
members  have  been  elected. 


Sir  30aac  IRewton. 

BY  JOHN  W.  ODLING. 

ON  the  roll  of  illustrious  sons  whom  "  Bygone 
Lincolnshire  "  may  specially  claim  as  her 
own,  the  name  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  admittedly 

stands  pre-eminent. 

During  that  eventful  period,  the  seven- 
teenth century,  when  the  great  heart  of  the 
nation  was  throbbing  with  pulsations  which 
threatened  to  disorganize  the  entire  system  of 
social  and  political  economy, — when  the  long 
line  of  English  monarchy  was  snapped  asunder, 

—when  religious  controversy  ran  high,  and  when 
rich  and  poor  alike  quailed  with  terror  at  the 
presence  of  the  fatal  plague  daily  sweeping  its 
victims  from  the  stage  of  action ;  then,  in  the 
solitude  of  his  laboratory  undisturbed  by  human 
passion  or  fear,  was  to  be  found  the  young 
philosopher,  whose  unswerving  devotion  to  truth, 
and  patient  investigation  of  natural  phenomena, 
have  not  only  immortalized  his  name,  but  also 


SIR  ISAAC  NEWTON.  227 

opened  up  for  succeeding  generations  hitherto 
undiscovered  paths  for  the  unlimited  advance- 
ment of  scientific  knowledge  and  research. 

The  honour  of  the  birthplace  of  this  genius 
belongs  to  Woolsthorpe,  a  hamlet  in  the  parish 
of  Colsterworth,  about  six  miles  south  of  the 
town  of  Grantham,  in  the  county  of  Lincoln. 
Here,  in  the  Manor  House,  on  the  morning  of  the 
25th  December,  1642  (o.s.),  the  infant,  afterwards 
to  become  universally  celebrated,  first  saw  the 
light.  At  his  birth  he  was  so  diminutive 
and  feeble  that  his  life  was  despaired  of;  but 
in  this  frail  newborn  babe  powers  lay  hidden 
which  the  world  sorely  needed,  and  the 
life  so  precious  was  providentially  preserved. 

The  manor  of  Woolsthorpe  was  sold  in  1623 
by  one  Robert  Underwood  to  Robert  Newton, 
Sir  Isaac's  grandfather.  On  the  death  of  Robert 
Newton,  in  1641,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
Isaac,  who,  however,  survived  him  only  a  year, 
his  death  occurring  about  three  months  prior 
to  the  birth  of  his  illustrious  child.  The  parish 
register  contains  the  following  entries  : 

"  1642.  Isaac  Newton  buried  Octr.  6." 

"Isaac  sonne  of  Isaac  and  Hanna  Newton  baptized  Jan.  1." 

The  education  of  this  fatherless  boy  was  begun 


228  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

at  day  schools  in  the  adjacent  hamlets  of 
Skillington  and  Stoke,  but  when  twelve  years 
of  age  he  entered  the  free  public  school  at 
Grrantham,  founded  in  1528,  and  boarded  in  that 
town  with  a  Mr.  Clarke,  an  apothecary. 

As  a  lad,  Newton  was  exceedingly  industrious, 
though  he  took  but  little  part  in  the  games  and 
amusements  of  his  school-fellowTs,  preferring  to  use 
his  little  tools  in  the  manufacture  of  various 
articles,  an  experience  which,  doubtless,  was  of 
much  value  in  later  years.  His  mind  was  much 
occupied  with  mechanical  inventions.  He  con- 
structed working  models  of  machines,  a  wind- 
mill after  the  plan  of  one  being  erected  a£  the 
time  in  the  neighbourhood,  a  water-clock  which 
kept  fairly  accurate  time,  and  a  mechanical 
carriage.  He  also  invented  paper  lanterns,  and 
attached  these  to  kites,  by  which  the  supersti- 
tious country  folk  were  not  a  little  terrified.  His 
careful  observation  led  him  to  drive  pegs  into  the 
walls  and  roofs  of  buildings,  indicating  the  position 
of  the  sun  at  various  times  of  the  day. 

One  of  his  earliest  scientific  experiments  was 
made  on  the  occasion  of  the  historical  storm 
which  prevailed  at  the  death  of  the  Protector 
Cromwell  (3rd  September,  1658).  With  a  view 


SIR  ISAAC  NEWTON.  229 

to  determine  the  force  of  the  gale,  he  jumped  in 
opposite  directions,  both  against  and  with  the 
wind,  marking  and  measuring  the  respective 
distances.  This  experiment  he  repeated  on  a 
subsequent  calm  day,  and  was  thus  able  to  form 
some  conception  of  the  force  of  the  wind. 

The  following  incident  of  his  schooldays  is 
recorded.  Having  received  a  kick  from  a  boy 
who  stood  higher  in  the  class,  Newton,  although 
less  robust,  challenged  him  to  fight.  In  the 
result  Newton  gained  the  victory,  but  he 
aspired  to  the  moral  as  well  as  to  the  physical 
superiority.  He  therefore  exerted  himself  to 
attain  a  higher  place  in  school  than  his  opponent. 
This  he  soon  succeeded  in  doing,  and  continued 
to  rise  until  he  held  the  first  position. 

Woolsthorpe  Manor  House  was  rebuilt  between 
the  years  1645  and  1656  by  Isaac's  stepfather, 
the  Rev.  Barnabas  Smith,  Hector  of  North 
Witham.  Dr.  Stukeley,  who  visited  the  house 
on  13th  October,  1721,  while  Sir  Isaac  was  yet 
alive,  described  it  thus  :  "  It  is  built  of  stone, 
as  is  the  way  of  the  country  hereabouts,  and  a 
reasonable  good  one."  When  it  was  undergoing 
repairs  in  1798,  a  tablet  of  white  marble  was 
erected,  bearing  an  inscription  as  follows  : 


230  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

11  Sir  Isaac  Newton  son  of  Isaac  Newton,  Lord  of  the 
Manor  of  Woolsthorpe,  was  born  in  this  room  on  the  25th 
December,  1642." 

The  house  at  Grantham,  in  which  young  Isaac 
lodged  while  in  attendance  at  school  was  also 
rebuilt  about  1711.  This  contained  many  highly 
interesting  sketches,  drawings,  and  diagrams, 
executed  by  him,  in  charcoal,  on  the  walls. 

His  mother  having  become  a  widow  for 
the  second  time,  Isaac  was  recalled  from 
school  to  engage  in  the  practical  duties  of  farm- 
ing. To  these  he  was  apparently  unable  to 
devote  himself,  and  on  every  possible  occasion 
he  stole  away  to  his  books,  and  applied  himself 
to  study,  to  the  utter  neglect  of  his  commercial 
transactions. 

Astonished  at  his  passion  for  learning,  his 
mother  and  uncle  very  wisely  arranged  for  his 
return  to  school,  preparatory  to  more  advanced 
academical  study.  Subsequently  his  uncle,  him- 
self a  graduate  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
made  the  needful  arrangements  for  Isaac  to  enter 
the  same  college,  and,  in  1661,  he  was  admitted 
as  Sub-Sizar. 

He  attained  his  B.A.  in  1665,  and 
that  year  and  the  following  one  were,  perhaps, 


SIR  ISAAC  NEWTON. 


231 


the  most  notable  in  his  history.  It  was  just  at 
this  period  that  he  discovered,  and  commenced 
his  work  on,  the  method  of  Fluxions  ;•  that, 
driven  home  by  the  Plague,  which  closed  the 
Universities  for  a  while,  his  attention  was  first,  or 
at  least  more  particularly  directed  to  the  law  of 
gravitation ;  and  that,  having  procured  a  glass 
prism,  "  to  try  therewith,  the  phenomena  of 
colours,"  he  made  those  experiments  and  arrived 
at  those  conclusions  which  attracted  the  notice  of 
learned  men  to  his  genius.  Certain  it  is  that  at 
this  period  of  his  life  his  mind  was  intensely 
active,  and  his  attention  wholly  concentrated  on, 
and  absorbed  in,  his  investigations. 

The  vigour  of  his  intellect  may  be  judged  by 
the  fact  that  he  needed  only  to  look  at  Euclid 
at  once  to  grasp  and  thoroughly  comprehend  the 
various  problems  propounded.  In  order  to 
prepare  himself  for  the  lectures  which  he 
attended,  his  habit  was  to  read  the  text  books  in 
advance,  and  when  the  time  arrived  he  frequently 
knew  more  of  the  subject  than  his  tutors.  It  is 
related  of  him  that,  in  later  years,  he  received 
the  famous  problem  intended  to  puzzle  European 
mathematicians,  at  five  o'clock  in  the  day,  after 
having  completed  his  business  labours,  and, 


232  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

although  much  tired,  he  nevertheless  solved  the 
problem  the  same  night. 

The  years  1667 and  1668  found  him  Minor  Fellow 
and  M.A.  respectively,  while  in  1669  he  was 
elected  to  the  Lucasian  Professorship,  vacated  by 
the  resignation  of  his  former  instructor,  Dr. 
Barrow,  whose  work  on  Optics,  published  in  the 
same  year,  was  revised  and  corrected  by  Newton, 
though  he  was  but  twenty-seven  years  of  age, 
and  twelve  years  Dr.  Barrow's  junior. 

From  this  time  onward  to  1695,  he  was  seldom 
absent  from  Cambridge,  and  he  pursued  his 
experiments  with  unbounded  diligence.  Every 
hour  was  fully  occupied,  for  he  was  exceedingly 
jealous  of  his  time.  Except  when  fulfilling  public 
or  social  duties,  he  was  seldom  to  be  found  with- 
out a  book  before  him  or  a  pen  in  hand.  His 
hour  for  retiring  was  irregular,  ofttimes 
three  or  four  in  the  morning,  in  some  instances 
five  or  six  o'clock ;  yet  he  most  scrupulously  kept 
the  rules  of  the  College,  and  was  ready  to  begin 
his  day's  work  at  the  appointed  hour,  with 
apparently  no  ill  consequences  from  the  shortness 
of  his  rest. 

Newton  early  devoted  close  attention  to  the 
study  of  Optics,  and  applied  himself  to  the 


SHt  ISAAC  NEWTON.  233 

practical  grinding  of  glasses,  with  a  view  to  the 
improvement  of  instruments  then  in  use.  While 
engaged  in  this  study,  he  was  led  to  the  discovery 
of  the  decomposition  of  light  and  the  re- 
frangibility  of  its  component  rays.  Piercing 
a  hole  in  the  window7  shutter  he  admitted  into  the 
darkened  room  a  single  beam  of  light,  which, 
falling  on  a  prism,  displayed  the  seven  colours  of 
the  prismatic  spectrum.  By  re-uniting  the 
separated  rays  he  again  produced  white  light. 
For  a  special  reason,  he  deferred,  until  1704,  the 
publication  of  his  work  entitled  "  Opticks,  or  a 
Treatise  on  the  Reflexions,  Refractions,  In- 
flexions, and  Colours  of  Light."  For  many  long 
years  the  merit  of  this  extraordinary  work  was 
not  fully  appreciated. 

Owing  to  his  natural  modesty,  and  to  the  dis- 
tressing controversies  which  followed  the 
announcement  of  his  discoveries,  he  was  exceed- 
ingly slow  to  declare  the  result  of  his  investigations. 
The  delay  thus  occasioned  very  largely  contributed 
to  the  later  disputes  in  which  other  men  sought  to 
secure  for  themselves  the  merit  of  his  labours. 

The  crowning  event  of  Newton's  life  was  his 
discovery  of  the  law  of  universal  gravity,  for 
while  others  had  been  on  the  verge  of  ascertain- 


234  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

ing  this  profound  truth,  Newton   produced   his 
demonstration  of  its  existence. 

Seneca  (A.D.  38)  spoke  about  the  moon  attract- 
ing the  waters,  and  in  Gary's  translation  of  Dante's 
Inferno  the  following  passage  occurs  : 

"  Thou  wast  on  the  other  side,  so  long  as  I 
Descended ;  when  I  turn'd,  thou  did'st  o'erpass 
That  point,  to  which  from  every  part  is  dragg'd 
All  heavy  substance." 

Shakespeare  wrote  (Troilus  and  Cressida, 
Act  iv.,  Scene  2)  : 

"  But  the  strong  base  and  building  of  my  love 
Is  as  the  very  centre  of  the  earth, 
Drawing  all  things  to  it." 

Copernicus,  Tycho,  Kepler,  Galileo  and  many 
others  had  each  and  all  successively  made  valuable 
additions  to  ascertained  truth  on  the  subject,  and 
had  thus  prepared  the  way  ;  but  up  to  the  time  of 
Newton's  discovery  the  mightiest  problem  of  all 
remained  unsolved,  the  key  to  unlock  Nature's 
mysteries  was  still  missing,  the  light  was  only 
feeble  and  glimmering  as  the  dawn.  But  the  day 
was  at  hand : 

"  Nature  and  all  her  works  lay  hid  in  night, 
God  said  *  Let  Newton  be,' — and  all  was  light." 

The  grand  principle  of  universal  gravitation, 


236  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

"that  every  particle  of  matter  in  the  universe  is 
attracted  by  or  gravitates  to  every  other  particle 
of  matter,  with  a  force  inversely  proportional  to 
the  squares  of  their  distances,"  finds  its  ex- 
emplification in  the  Principia  (Philosophies 
Naturalis  Principia  Mathematica),  the  three 
books  of  which  were  written  by  Newton,  in  1685, 
1686,  and  the  early  part  of  1687,  and  published 
about  midsummer  of  the  latter  year. 

"  If  I  have  seen  further  than  other  men," 
Newton  in  his  modesty  declares,  "it  is  because  I 
have  stood  upon  the  shoulders  of  giants." 

In  1672,  now  thirty  years  of  age,  he  was 
chosen  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  about 
which  time  his  reflecting  telescope  (the  work  of 
his  own  hand,  be  it  observed,)  was  presented  to 
the  society,  and  shown  also  to  the  king.  This 
telescope  greatly  increased  the  power  of  observ- 
ing distant  objects,  but  some  years  elapsed  before 
its  principle  became  practically  available  for 
astronomical  purposes. 

It  is  well  worthy  of  note  in  passing  that 
Newton's  most  brilliant  achievements,  his  method 
of  fluxions,  and  his  theories  of  light  and  gravita- 
tion, were  conceived  before  he  completed  his 
twenty-fourth  year  !  We  marvel,  and  rightly  so, 


SIR  ISAAC  NEWTON. 


237 


at  the  genius  and  wisdom  of  those  who,  even  after 
a  mature  experience  of  forty  or  fifty  years,  attain 
world-wide  renown,  but  with  how  much  greater 
wonder  and  admiration  shall  we  regard  a  mere 
stripling  in  age  who  proves  himself  to  be  a  very 
prince  amongst  philosophers,  and  in  the  very 
front  rank  of  distinguished  mathematicians  ! 

When  James  II.,  in  his  vain  attempt  to  re- 
establish the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  attacked 
the  privileges  of  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
Newton  was  selected  as  one  of  the  delegates  to 
defend  them.  He  was  afterwards  chosen  a 
member  of  the  Convention  Parliament. 

Endeavours  were  made  by  friends  to  secure 
some  public  position  for  Newton,  but  for  a  time 
these  were  unsuccessful.  In  1696,  however, 
when  the  coinage  was  to  be  recalled,  he  was 
appointed  Warden  of  the  Mint,  through  the 
influence  of  Mr.  Charles  Montague,  afterwards 
Earl  of  Halifax.  From  1699  he  fulfilled  the 
higher  duties  of  Master  of  the  Mint,  receiving  a 
salary  of  from  £1200  to  £1500  a  year.  In  these 
positions,  his  knowledge  of  chemistry  and 
metallurgy,  as  profound  as  his  knowledge  of 
mathematics,  proved  of  immense  service  to  the 
State. 


238  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

In  1703,  Newton  was  elected  President  of  the 
Royal  Society,  and  he  continued  to  hold  that 
high  and  enviable  position  to  the  end  of  his  days, 
being  the  first  who  was  re-elected  without 
interval,  and  whose  presidency  extended  over  so 
long  a  period.  It  may  be  remarked  that  his 
latest  visit  from  home  was  paid  on  the  2nd 
March,  1727,  to  fulfil  an  engagement  to  preside 
over  the  Royal  Society. 

After  his  removal  from  Cambridge  to  London, 
he  resided  first  in  Jermyn  Street,  St.  James's, 
and  then  at  a  house,  now  numbered  thirty-five,  in 
St.  Martin's  Street,  Leicester  Square.  To  the 
latter  came  many  distinguished  visitors,  including 
the  Princess  of  Wales,  afterwards  Queen-Consort 
of  George  II.,  who  rejoiced  in  the  opportunity 
of  conversing  with  so  learned  a  man,  able  to 
answer  her  enquiries  and  to  solve  her  difficulties. 

Although  Newton  had  acquired  considerable 
reputation  in  previous  reigns,  the  honour  of  con- 
ferring a  knighthood  upon  this  inimitable  man 
was  reserved  for  Queen  Anne.  On  the  occasion 
of  a  Royal  visit  to  Cambridge,  in  1705,  Isaac 
Newton  received  this  dignity  "in  the  Court  held 
at  the  Lodge  of  Trinity,"  the  residence  of  Dr. 
Bentley,  the  Master  of  Trinity,  who  "looked  on 


SIR  ISAAC  NEWTON. 


239 


rejoicing  in  the  honour  done  to  his  illustrious 
friend." 

During  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  Sir  Isaac's 
time  was  principally  occupied  in  reading  religious 
books.  He  exhibited  the  traits  of  a  true 
Christian  life,  devoutness,  faith,  generosity  and 
purity  of  character.  He  was  attached  to  the 
Church  of  England,  and  held  very  firmly 
the  main  doctrines  of  Protestant  religious 
belief. 

Until  his  eightieth  year  he  enjoyed  excellent 
health,  but  afterwards  was  a  great  sufferer 
from  a  calculous  disorder.  No  murmur, 
however,  escaped  his  lips,  and  he  maintained  to 
the  end  that  patience  and  sweetness  of  soul 
which  had  characterized  his  whole  life.  Up 
to  the  18th  March  he  was  able  to  read 
without  the  use  of  spectacles,  and  to  converse 
freely  with  his  friends,  but  on  the  morning  of 
the  20th  March,  1727,  between  one  and  two 
o'clock,  at  Obeli's  Buildings,  Kensington,  whither 
he  had  shortly  before  removed  to  secure  the 
purer  air,  his  spirit  passed  away. 

There  are  numerous  memorials  which  per- 
petuate the  name  of  this  unsurpassed  genius. 
Among  these  may  be  mentioned  a  tablet  in 


240  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

the     Parish    Church    of     Colsterworth    in    this 
county  : 

"  SIR  ISAAC  NEWTON 

who  first  demonstrated  the  laws  by  which 
the  Almighty  made  and  governs  the  universe, 
was  born  at  Woolsthorpe  in  this  parish 

on  Christmas  day  1642 
and  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey  1727. 

Three  generations  of  the  Newtons 

Lords  of  the  Manor  of  Woolsthorpe,  are  buried 

near  this  place." 

Another  county  memorial  is  a  bronze  statue, 
by  Theed,  erected  at  Grantham,  to  commemorate 
Newton's  association  with  that  town,  during  the 
period  of  his  early  education.  The  cost,  £1600, 
was  obtained  by  public  subscriptions.  The  un- 
veiling of  this  statue  took  place  on  21st 
September,  1858,  when  Lord  Brougham  dis- 
coursed on  the  life  and  works  of  Newton. 

In  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  is  a  marble 
statue,  by  Louis  Francis  Roubilliac,  which  was 
set  up  on  14th  July,  1755,  the  pedestal  of  which 
contains  merely  the  words  : 

"  NEWTON. 
Qui  genus  humanum  ingenio  superavit." 

The  noble  monument  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
erected  in  1731,  occupies  a  most  conspicuous 


SIX  ISAAC  NEWTON,  241 

position, — a  spot  which  had  been  eagerly  but 
vainly  sought  after  by  the  nobility.  It  stands, 
an  inspiration  to  every  beholder,  on  the  left  hand 
side  of  the  entrance  from  the  Nave  to  the  Choir, 
and  is  visible  from  all  parts  of  the  Nave. 

Well  may  Sir  David  Brewster,  in  his  Memoirs 
of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  say  :  "  What  a  glorious 
privilege  was  it  to  have  been  the  author  of  the 
Principia !  There  was  but  one  earth  upon  whose 
form  and  tides  and  movements  the  philosopher 
could  exercise  his  genius ;  one  moon,  whose 
perturbations  and  inequalities  and  actions  he 
could  study ;  one  sun,  whose  controlling  force 
and  apparent  motions  he  could  calculate  and 
determine ;  one  system  of  planets  whose  mutual 
disturbances  could  tax  his  highest  reason  ;  one 
system  of  comets,  whose  eccentric  paths  he  could 
explore  and  rectify ;  and  one  universe  of  stars, 
to  whose  binary  and  multiple  combinations  he 
could  extend  the  law  of  terrestrial  gravity.  To 
have  been  the  chosen  sage  summoned  to  the 
study  of  that  earth,  these  systems,  and  that 
universe ;  the  favoured  law-giver  to  worlds 
unnumbered  ;  the  High  Priest  in  the  temple  of 
boundless  space,  was  a  privilege  that  could  be 

granted  but  to  one  member  of  the  human  family ; 

R 


242  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

and  to  have  executed  the  task,  was  an  achieve- 
ment, which,  in  its  magnitude,  can  be  measured 
only  by  the  infinite  in  the  space,  and,  in  the 
duration  of  its  triumphs,  by  the  infinite  in  time. 
That  Sage,  that  Law-giver,  that  High  Priest 
was  NEWTON." 


Xincolnsbire  a  Century  Hgo. 

IT  has  always  been  a  pleasure  to  me  to  dwell 
on  old  times,  and  to  compare  them  with  the 
present,  and  much  may  be  gleaned  from  the  tales 
of  old  working-men.  They  will  tell  you  wrhat 
they  have  heard  with  their  ears,  and  what  their 
fathers  have  heard  before  them  for  a  number  of 
generations.  Tradition  may  not  be  very  reliable 
in  all  cases,  but  it  is  a  side-light  to  history,  and 
may  be  relied  on  when  it  goes  no  further  back 
than  100  years.  Some  thirty-five  years  since,  I 
used  frequently  to  listen  to  the  tales  of  an  old 
Lincolnshire  man,  and  will  try  to  give  the  pith  of 
what  he  said  in  something  like  the  way  in  which 
he  said  it. 

I  was  born  in  the  Isle  of  Axholme,  in  the 
year  1789,  but  as  I  lived  in  another  part  of 
North  Lincolnshire  during  my  boyhood,  what  I 
tell  you  now  will  apply  partly  to  one  side  of  the 
Trent,  partly  to  the  other,  but  chiefly  to  the 
whole  of  North  Lincolnshire.  My  father  was  a 


244  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

farmer.  He  owned  and  cultivated  about  five 
acres  of  land.  He  rented  about  120  acres  close 
to  his  own  ;  but  he  did  not  cultivate  half  of  it- 
more  than  half  (now  warped,  and  ranking  with  the 
richest  land  in  England)  was  over-run  with  whins 
and  brambles,  or  covered  a  good  part  of  the  year 
with  water.  We  were  seldom  without  gipsies  on 
this  waste  land — it  was  a  favourite  spot  for  them, 
and  there  were  more  gipsies  then  than  now.  I 
remember  when  quite  a  child  hearing  the  tales  of 
a  gipsy,  said  to  be  100  years  old.  She  could  tell 
about  every  building  which  had  been  erected  in 
the  district  during  her  life  ;  and,  to  tell  the  truth, 
it  would  be  no  hard  matter  to  remember  every- 
thing, as  North  Lincolnshire  appears  to  have  been 
almost  stationary  during  the  eighteenth  century. 
My  father  was  in  fairly  good  circumstances, 
having  had  a  little  money  from  his  father  and  100 
guineas  (all  ''spade  ace")  with  his  wife.  But  he 
had  a  large  family  of  sons — I  was  the  second  son 

—and  we  were  not  very  smoothly  reared.  We 
did  not  live  as  you  children  live  now.  For  break- 
fast we  seldom  had  anything  besides  boiled  milk 
and  bread,  when  wheat  was  fairly  cheap — when 
wheat  was  dear  we  had  porridge  instead.  We 

were   never   without  bacon   for   dinner,    and    we 


LINCOLNSHIRE  A  CENTURY  AGO.  245 

seldom  had  any  other  kind  of  animal  food.  Some 
farmers  would  kill  a  beast  or  two  just  before 
Christmas  each  year,  and  put  the  beef  in  salt. 
But  we  had  none  of  this  hung  beef.  It  was  the 
custom  for  farmers  to  eat  very  little  except  what 
their  farms  produced,  and  my  father  always  held 
that  pig  feeding  was  more  profitable  than  the 
feeding  of  beasts.  At  night  we  had  the  same 
fare  as  for  breakfast.  Except  mother,  none  of  us 
ever  drank  tea — father  scouted  the  idea  of  tea- 
drinking,  it  was  only  fit  for  women.  Father  used 
a  little  tobacco,  and  we  often  had  ale  of  our  own 
brewing,  but  oftener  we  were  without.  Mother 
churned  and  baked  on  the  same  day — once  a 
week.  We  children  had  a  treat  on  that  day. 
We  had  each  a  large  cake  made  of  leavened 
dough,  with  a  little  lard  or  bacon  fat  put  in 
before  baking.  When  taken  out  of  the  oven  a 
hole  was  made  in  the  middle  of  each  cake,  and 
was  filled  with  butter.  We  pulled  the  cakes  to 
pieces  with  our  fingers,  and  drank  buttermilk 
(whey)  with  them.  The  baking  was  done  very 
differently  then  to  now.  The  present  sort  of 
ovens  must  have  been  introduced  before  1800,  but 
they  were  not  common.  The  oven  then  in  use 
was  a  kind  of  bell,  which  was  placed  on  a  stone 


246  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

made  hot  and  then  covered  with  ashes.  Cakes 
were  often  baked  in  ashes  without  even  the 
covering  of  a  bell,  and  were  much  esteemed  by 
some  people.  Potatoes  were  extensively  grown, 
and  were  always  sound,  and  formed  a  staple 
article  of  food  for  winter.  Swedish  turnips  were 
unknown,  and,  as  the  white  variety  would  not 
keep  well,  cattle  food  was  always  scarce  in  spring. 
Even  gardens  were  not  so  rich  in  the  choice  and 
variety  of  vegetables  as  now.  Rhubarb,  celery, 
all  the  fancy  peas,  and  many  other  things  were 
unknown  then. 

As  to  fruit  culture,  I  think  we  were  about  as 
forward  then  as  we  are  now.  None  of  the  new 
sorts  of  apples,  pears,  etc.,  seem  to  be  an  advance 
on  the  good  old  sorts — sorts  which  grew  on  the 
old  trees  when  I  was  a  boy.  As  we  had  a  good 
orchard,  we  were  seldom  without  apple  pies  and 
raw  fruits  of  various  sorts.  These  improved  our 
living  very  much  ;  but  it  was  hard  living  then, 
when  wheat  happened  to  be  badly  sprouted  and 
scarce  fit  to  grind.  But  ive  had  plenty  of  food  at 
all  times,  and,  as  we  had  to  work  hard,  we  were 
not  too  particular  about  our  food.  But  the 
condition  of  farm  labourers'  children  was  very 
different  to  ours.  They  have  often  been  an 


LINCOLNSHIRE  A  CENTURY  AGO.  247 

entire  winter  without  bread.  The  winter  of  1800 
was  very  bad.  Many  a  farmer  had  his  wheat 
and  sheep  stolen,  although  the  laws  were  so 
severe.  I  remember  one  grainery  was  broken 
open  by  the  labourers,  and  corn  distributed  to 
every  family  in  the  village.  The  affair  was 
passed  over,  as  it  was  felt  that  whole  families 
were  starving.  The  poor  children  were  sent  to 
work  as  soon  as  they  could  walk,  and  when  they 
were  tired  out  they  were  beaten  by  their  parents 
(not  hard-hearted  ones,  perhaps),  and  made  to  do 
more. 

A  man  I  now  know,  living  in  another  part 
of  the  county,  told  me  that  he  had  worked  nearly 
ever  since  he  was  born — -that  he  earned  and  paid 
for  his  first  breeches,  and  that  it  was  done  at  the 
expense  of  his  food.  His  mother  gave  him 
nothing  but  bread  for  his  dinners,  and  a  penny 
per  day  to  buy  treacle  at  the  village  shop.  But 
he  was  content  to  eat  his  bread  without  treacle, 
or  anything  except  water,  and  the  pence  saved 
bought  the  breeches.  The  lines  by  Elizabeth 
Barrett  Browning,  with  respect  to  child  labour 
of  another  sort,  might  well  be  applied  to  the  farm 
labourers'  children  of  North  Lincolnshire  a 
hundred  years  ago  : — 


248  BYGONE  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

"  Do  ye  hear  the  children  weeping,  O  my  brothers, 

Ere  the  sorrow  comes  with  years  ? 
They  are  leaning  their  young  heads  against  their  mothers, 

And  that  cannot  stop  their  tears. 
The  young  lambs  are  bleating  in  the  meadows, 

The  young  birds  are  chirping  in  the  nest, 
The  young  fawns  are  playing  with  the  shadows, 

The  young  flowers  are  blowing  towards  the  west ; 
But  the  young,  young  children,  0  my  brothers, 

They  are  weeping  bitterly  ! 
They  are  weeping  in  the  play-time  of  the  others, 

In  the  country  of  the  free." 

These  "  good  old  times  "  have  gone — never,  I 
trust,  to  return  ;  but  children  brought  up  in  this 
way  often  turned  out  well,  and  did  wonders  in 
after  life. 


Albemarle,  William  le  Gros,  Earl 

of,  139 

Alford  Fight,  170 
Ancient  Stained  Glass,  the  Great 

Earl  Beaumont,  62 

Barrows,  British  remains  at,  138 
Barton-on-Humber    Ferry,    175 ; 
in  the  Conqueror's  time,  175; 
Edward  I.  at,  175;   Haven, 
The,  178 ;    Ride,  a    famous, 
183;    "Skitter  Jack,"    183; 
"  Waterside  Inn,"  the,  179 
Battle    of    Lincoln,     The,     151  ; 
Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  quot- 
ed, 156;  Wendover's  "Flowers 
of  History,"  157 
Beaumont,  Henry,  Lord,  66 
Brunanburh,  Battle  of,  re.,  137 
Bolingbroke     Castle,     56 ;      dis- 
mantled, 60 
Bourne,  117 

Byard's  Leap,  The  Legend  of,  96; 
The  Scene  of,  102-3;  The 
Legend,  103-9;  Notes  to 
various  renderings,  112-116 

Caithness  Man's  Leap,  The,  97 
Castles,     British,     or    Defensive 

Works,     26;     Roman,     28; 

Saxon,  28  ;  Norman,  29 
Cecils,  The,  118 
Chester,  Ralph  de  Gernons,  Earl 

of,  152 
"  Coaching  days"  at  Barton,  183 

Danes  in  Lincolnshire,  The,  137 
Defoe,  Daniel,  at  Barton,  180 
Dibdin,      Charles,     crosses     the 
Humber,  182 


Dodd,  The  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.,  the 
Forger,  119, 190;  Early  history 
of,  191  ;  at  the  Magdalen, 
193  ;  "  Dr.  Simony,"  195-96  ; 
Forgery,  The,  197;  Dr. 
Johnson's  exertions,  198 ; 
Last  days,  199  ;  Last  scene, 
201 

England  during  Stephen's  reign, 

159 
Evelyn,  John,  at  Barton,  180 

Fairfaxes,  Retreat  to  Hull,  177 
Father's  Leap,  The,  98 
Fortifications,  Change  in,  51 

Hanby,  Sir  William,  171-73 
Hawthorn  Tree  of  Fishtoft,  The 

Great,   212;    Prevalence    of, 

213 
Henry    VIII.    plunders    Lincoln 

Cathedral,  23 
Here  ward  the  Wake,  117 
Humber,  The,  at  Barton,  179 
Hume  and  Smollett  quoted,  168 

John  of  Gaunt's  Palace,  Relic  of, 

31 
Joust  of  Lincoln,  The,  35-36 

Langhorne,  Dr.  John,  204; 
Monody  on  his  mother's 
death,  205  ;  tutor  with  Robt. 
Cracroft,  205  ;  his  courtship, 
206  ;  Poems  to  Miss  Cracroft, 
207-8;  "  Precepts  of  Conjugal 
Happiness,"  209  ;  "  Genius 
and  Valour,"  210  ;  Epitaph, 
211 


250 


INDEX. 


Langtoft,  Peter  de,  120 

"Lewis  "  or  "Lincoln  Fair,"  38-39 

Lincoln,  Early  history,  1-3 ; 
Remi,  Bishop  of,  3-9; 
Alexander,  Bishop  of,  9 ; 
Bek,  Thomas,  Bishop  of,  21  ; 
Bloet,  Robert,  Bishop  of,  9 ; 
Groteste,  Robert,  Bishop  of, 
17 ;  Hugh  of  Grenoble,  Bishop 
of,  10  ;  Sutton,  Oliver,  Bishop 
of,  19-21  ;  Castle,  25  ;  Castle, 
Historical  Notes,  35-39  ; 
Castle  Stormed  by  the  Earl 
of  Manchester,  39  ;  Cathedral, 
1  ;  Cathedral,  Foundation  of, 
3 ;  Cathedral,  Endowment,  5 ; 
Fair,  161 ;  Fair,  City  pillaged, 
167 

Lincolnshire  a  Century  Ago,  243 

Louis,  Prince,   162 

Lover's  Leap,  The,  97 

Marvell,  The  Rev.  Andrew,  139 

Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  226;  Birth- 
place, 227  ;  Boyhood,  228 ; 
Cambridge,  at,  230 ;  Dis- 
coveries, 233 ;  Honours  to, 
237  ;  Death,  239  ;  Eulogy  by 
Sir  David  Brewster,  241 

Nicholaa  de  Camvile,  36-37,  164 

On  the  Population  of  Lincoln- 
shire, 69  ;  Origin,  Methods 
of  testing,  69  ;  Early  Inhabi- 
tants of  Britain,  75 ;  Eye 
Colours,  73  ;  Character  of  the 
Peasantry,  79 ;  Complexion 
in  evidence,  71 

Ordeal,  or  Imprecation,  re  Bread, 
101 

Paul  Jones,  Warning  re,  182 
Pembroke,  Earl  of,  162-66 
Perche,  Count  de,  164-67 
Poet,    An    Eighteenth   Century, 

203  ;       Present      Poets      on 

Lincolnshire,  203-4 


Robert  de  Brunne,  117  ;  List  of 
his  Works,  124 

Sanctuary,  A  Fugitive  for,  177 

Spalding  Gentlemen's  Society, 
215  ;  Foundation,  215  ; 
Minutes,  219 

Stephen,  King,  151 

St.  Peter's  Church,  Barton,  62; 
Lost  Inscription,  66  ;  Figures 
in  Stained  Glass,  62 

Superstitious  Beliefs  and  Customs 
of  Lincolnshire,  80  ;  Lincoln- 
shire, Descriptive  of,  80  ; 
Craws,  84  ;  Ravens,  84  ; 
Type  of  the  Dane,  86  ; 
Freya,  88  ;  Caul,  88  ; 
Christening,  89 ;  Confirma- 
tion, 89 ;  Future  Husband, 
89-90 ;  Marriage,  91  ;  Cures, 
91  ;  Robin,  91  ;  111  Luck,  92- 
94  ;  Good  Luck,  93-94. 

Swineherd  of  Stow,  The,  13 

Tattershall,  its  Lords,  its  Castle, 
and  its  Church,  43 ;  Lords, 
44-47;  Castle,  47;  Church,  54 

Thornton  Abbey,  136 ;  Rules, 
142  ;  Seal,  142  ;  Abbots,  List 
of,  144;  Building  Described, 
145  ;  Chronicle,  Extracts 
from,  147;  Henry  VIII.  at', 
148  ;  Dissolution  of,  and 
Pensions,  149 

Tower  le  Moor,  53 

Weldon,  Sir  Lionel,  171-72 
Welkyn,    The    Great    Brass,    of 

Boston,  185 

William  of  Wadington,  126 
Witchcraft  in  1858,  99  ;  at  Belvoir 
Castle,  100;  Spells,  etc.,  105- 
106  ;  Curious  Notes  on,  109 
Witches  of  Belvoir,  The,  127 

Yarborough  Camp,  138 
York    Claims    Jurisdiction    over 
Lincoln,  8-9 


list  of  Subscribers. 

Abbott,  Rev.  1).  W.,  Rectory,  Thorpe-on-the-Hill,  Lincoln. 
Allenby,  Major  S.  H.,  The  Elms,  Lymingtori,  Hants. 
Allnutt,  Rev.  W.  B.,  Covenham,  St.  Bartholomew,  Louth. 
Anningson,  Thirkill,  111,  Cleethorpe  Road,  Grimsby  (2  copies). 
Ash.  E.  Oliver,  M.D.,  Donnington-on-Bain. 
Ashwin,  Rev.  F.,  Quadring  Vicarage,  Spalding. 
Atkinson,  Miss,  The  Vicarage,  Caistor. 
Ayre,  Rev.  L.  R.,  Holy  Trinity  Vicarage,  Ulverston. 

Bartholomew,  S.  G.,  18,  Barton  Road,  Lincoln. 

Battle,  W.  H.,  F.R.C.S.,  G,  Harley  Street,  London,  W. 

Baxter,    Rev.    Thos.    P.    N.,    M.A.,   B.D.,    Hawerby   Rectory,    Great 

Grimsby. 

Beeson,  Bennett,  Grantley  House,  Grantham. 
Bealby,  J.  T. ,  339,  High  Street,  Edinburgh. 
Berridge,  Mrs.,  Thurnby,  Skegness. 
Bogie,  J.  R. ,  Hundleby,  near  Spilsby. 
Bohn,  George,  Tranby  Park,  Hull. 
Bools,  W.  E.,  7,  Cornhill,  London,  E.G. 
Bothamley,  C.  H.,  Yorkshire  College,  Leeds. 

Boyd,  W. ,  4,  Cowper  Mansions,  Cadogan  Gardens,  London,  S.\V. 
Boyer,  Charles  F. ,  Gosberton  Hall,  Spalding. 
Bradley,  F.  L. ,  Bel  Air,  Alderley  Edge,  Cheshire. 
Brailsford,  Joseph,  Endcliffe,  Sheffield. 
Bramley,  Rev.  H.  R.,  3,  Lindum  Terrace,  Lincoln. 
Brierley,  Rev.  Philip  H. ,  Vicarage,  Brigg. 
Bromley,  Chas. ,  Belle  Vue  House,  Goole. 
Bolton,  H.,  Bookseller,  Savile  Street,  Hull  (4  copies). 
Boulton,  Babington,  The  Bank  House,  Bishop  Auckland. 
Boulton,  Hy.,  7,  St.  Mary's  Square,  Horncastle. 
Brown,  Miss,  Eastgate  School,  Lincoln. 
Brown,  W.  C.,  Appleby,  Doncaster. 
Brown,  William,  Lock  Hill  Chambers,  Great  Grimsby. 
Browne,  Rev.  N.  L.,  Barkstone-le-Willows,  Grantham,  Line. 
Burton,  F.  M..  Highfield,  Gainsborough. 
Burtonshaw,  Wm.,  Crowle,  Doncaster. 

Carter,  F.  R.,  Savile  House,  Potternewton,  Leeds. 
Carter,  Reginald,  35,  Queen  Victoria  Street,  London,  E.C. 
Castle,  Spencer,  34,  De  Vere  Gardens,  Kensington. 
Caswell,  C.  J.,  Horncastle. 
Chambers,  Harry  W. ,  26,  Bank  Street,  Sheffield. 


252  LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS. 

Chawner,  Mrs.,  Freshford  Villa,  Clifton  Wood,  Bristol. 

Cheales,  Rev.  Alan,  Brockham  Vicarage,  Reigate  (4  copies). 

Chesterfield  Free  Library,  per  D.  Gorman. 

Chorlton,  Thos.,  32,  Brazenose  Street,  Manchester. 

Clapton,  Edward,  M.D.  ,  22,  St.  Thomas  Street,  London,  S.E. 

Collett,  Rev.  E.,  M.A.,  12,  Lime  Grove,  Long  Eaton,  Derbyshire. 

Conington,  Mrs.,  Hagvvorthingham,  Spilsby. 

Cowburn,  Rev.  Robt.,  Moorby  Rectory,  Boston. 

Crampton,  W.  T.,  Parcmont,  Roundhay,  Leeds. 

Crow,  Benj.,  Mechanics'  Institute,  Louth. 

Craven,  B.,  6,  Shelburne  Road,  Holloway,  London,  N. 

Curtis,  Rev.  Edward,  Little  Bytham  Rectory,  Grantham. 

Cusins,  Rev.  F.  T.,  North  Hykeham  Vicarage,  Lincoln. 

Custance,  Rev.  A.  C.,  Binbrook  Rectory,  Market  Rasen. 

Dixon,  James,  County  Buildings,  Hull. 

Doubleday,  Wm.  E.,  IA.,  Greville  Place,  London,  N.W. 

Dowse,  Francis,  Godalming,  Surrey. 

Dowson,  Mrs.  E.,  Stanmore  House,  Wey bridge,  Surrey. 

Dredge,  J. ,  Ingle  Vicarage,  Buckland  Brewer,  Bideford,  Devon.' 

Eddie,  Mrs.,  Wootton,  Ulceby. 

Elvin,  Chas.  Norton,  Eckling  Grange,  East  Dereham. 

Embleton,  Thos.  W.,  The  Cedars,  Methley,  Leeds. 

Fane,  H.  P. ,  Fulbeck  Hall,  Grantham. 

Farebrother,  F.  E.,  2,  Craig's  Court,  Charing  Cross,  London,  S.W. 

Farrah,  John,  Low  Harrogate. 

Faunthorpe,  Rev.  J.  P. ,  Principal,  Whitelands  College,  Chelsea. 

Featherston,  R.,  Telegraph  Superintendent,  Grimsby. 

Fewster,  C.  E. ,  Elboeck,  Princess  Avenue,  Hull. 

Finlay,  Wm.,  Stamford,  Spalding  and  Boston  Bank,  Bourne. 

Foljambe,  Cecil  G.  Savile,  M.P.,  Cochglode,  Allerton,  Newark. 

Forster,  Thomas,  101,  High  Street,  Colchester  (2  copies). 

Forster,  W.  E.,  F.S.A.,  Lindum  House,  Aldershot. 

Fotherby,  Henry  J.,  M.D.,  Woodthorpe  Cote,  Reigate. 

Fowler,  Jas.,  Louth. 

Freshney,  Rev.  F. ,  Withcall  Rectory,  Louth. 

Frith,  Rev.  W.  A. ,  Welby  Rectory,  Grantham. 

Galloway,  F.  C.,  Castle  View,  Biskey  Howe  Terrace,  Bowness. 

George,  Rev.  J.,  Deeping  St.  James,  Market  Deeping. 

Gilliat,  Rev.  E.,  Harrow-on-the-Hill. 

Goold,  Rev.  W. ,  Somerby  Rectory,  Brigg. 

Goulding,  R.  W. ,  Bookseller,  Louth. 

Graves,  Rev.  Michael  Borlase,  Marlow,  Bucks. 

Guest,  W.  H.,  57,  King  Street,  Manchester. 

Gutch,  Mrs. ,  Holgate  Lodge,  York. 

Hainsworth,  Lewis,  120,  Bowling  Old  Lane,  Bradford. 
Hall,  Rev.  F.  D. ,  Manby  Rectory,  near  Louth. 
Hall,  T.  M.,  Lincoln  and  Lindsey  Banking  Co.,  Horncastle. 
Handson,  Miss  M.A.,  13,  Upper  Berkeley  Street,  Portman  Square, 
London,  W. 


LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS.  253 

Harrison,  Arthur,  37,  North  Parade,  Grantham. 

Heath,  Rev.  Joseph,  Wigtoft  Vicarage,  Boston. 

Hebb,  William,  Waynflete,  Ross,  Herefordshire. 

Herringshaw,  A.,  76,  High  Street,  Lincoln. 

Hett,  Frank  C.,  St.  Helen's,  Brigg,  Lincolnshire. 

Hildyard,  G.  G. ,  Tinwell  Road,  Stamford. 

Hill,  Samuel  W.,  4,  Bedford  Row,  London,  W.C. 

Hodgson,  Rev.  E.  E.,  Kyme  Vicarage,  Lincoln. 

Hollis,  Rev.  R.,  Whaplode  Drove,  Wisbeach  (2  copies). 

Holmes,  Rev.  Joseph,  Swirieshead  Vicarage,  Boston. 

Hopkin,  John,  8,  Flottergate,  Grimsby. 

Horncastle,  Hy.,  115,  Anerley  Road,  Anerley,  London,  S.E. 

Horobin,  Thomas  Crewe,  C.A.,  Crowle. 

Howard,  Dr.,  Altofts,  Normanton. 

Huddleston,  Anthony,  Fernleigh,  Cambridge  Road,  Huddersfield. 

Hudson,  Rev.  J.  Clare,  Thornton  Vicarage,  Horncastle.' 

Hull,  Blundell  Street  Reading  Room,  per  Mr.  Isaacs. 

Hull  Church  Institute,  per  Mr.  Bailey. 

Hull  Literary  Club,  per  Mr.  William  Andrews. 

Irving,  George,  Estate  Office,  N.E.R.  Co.,  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
Isitt,  J.  T. ,  Hillfoot  Lodge,  Grantham. 

Jacobson,  Thomas  E.,  Sleaford. 

Jalland,  Robert,  Horncastle. 

James,  Philip,  Postmaster,  Brough,  East  Yorks. 

Jeans,  Rev.  G.  E.,  Shorwell  Vicarage,  Isle  of  Wight. 

Kelsey,  S.,  Morton,  Gainsborough. 

Kingston,  Samuel,  F.S.I.,  Auctioneer,  Spalding  (2  copies). 

Laking,  C.,  Hornsea. 

Lambden,  Miss,  Old  Vicarage,  Burgh. 

Laurence,  Walesby,  Rectory,  Market  Rasen. 

Lee,  R.  Fred,  Gonerby  House,  Grantham. 

Lincoln,  Right  Rev.  Lord  Bishop  of  (Dr.  King),  The  Palace,  Lincoln. 

Lincoln,  Very  Rev.  the  Dean  of  (Dr.  Butler). 

Lincoln  Co-operative  Society,  Silver  Street. 

Lincoln  Mechanics'  Institute,  per  J.  H.  H.  Perkyns. 

Lloyd,  Rev.  J.  G. ,  Bosherston  Rectory,  Pembroke. 

Locock,  Major  E.,  South  Elkington,  Louth. 

Loft,  Rev.  J.  E.  Wallis,  Swallow  Rectory,  Caistor. 

London  National  Liberal  Club,  Arthur  W.  Hutton,  Librarian. 

Love,  Rev.  J.  Garlon,  S.  Agnes  Vicarage,  Liverpool. 

Macdonald,  Rev.  G.  W.,  M.A.,  St.  Mark's  Vicarage,  Holbeach 

Macdoriald,  Dr.  John,  Woolsthorpe,  Grantham. 

Mackinder,  Herbert,  Mere  Hall,  Lincoln. 

Maddison,  Rev.  A.  R. ,  Vicar's  Court,  Lincoln. 

Maddison,  Ernest,  Hagworthingham,  Lincolnshire. 

Markham,  Geo.,  The  Hubits,  St.  Martin's,  Guernsey. 

Marsden,  W.  J.,  Gainsborough. 

Mason,  Jas.  Eardley,  The  Sycamores,  Alford. 

M'Cormick,  Rev.  Frederic  H.  J.,  F.S.A.  Scot.,  St.  George's,  Derby 


254  LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS. 

Melville-Leslie,  A.  H.,  D'Isney  Place,  Lincoln. 

Michelson,  Henry,  1,  Broad  Street,  Stamford. 

Mills,  Robert  M.,  Bourne. 

Mills,  W.  H.,  County  Alderman,  Spalding  (2  copies). 

Milson,  Richard  Henry,  M.D.,  88,  Finchley  Road,  South  Hampstead, 

N.W. 

Mitchell,  Thomas  J.,  Stamford,  Spalding,  and  Boston  Bank,  Bourne. 
Moor,  Rev.  C.,  The  Vicarage,  Barton -on-Humber. 
Moor,  Win. ,  1 ,  Cavendish  Street,  Great  Grimsby. 
Morton,  Dr.  J.,  Eastgate  House,  Guildford. 
Munkman,  J.  H.,  16,  Commercial  Street,  Leeds. 

Nelson,  Miss,  Biscathorpe  House,  Louth. 

Newcastle  Public  Library,  per  W.  J.  Haggerston,  Chief  Librarian. 

Newcomb,  J.  M.,  Bookseller,  Boston  (2  copies). 

Parker,  John,  Ingleby,  Lincoln. 

Patchett,  John,  Mildred  House,  Undercliffe  Lane,  Bradford,  Yorks. 

Pearson,  Rev.  W.  J.,  Ardwick  Lodge,  Beverley  Road,  Hull. 

Peet,  Henry,  97,  Mount  Pleasant,  Liverpool. 

Phillips,  Joseph,  Stamford. 

Phillips,  Moro,  Westgate  House,  Chichester  (2  copies). 

Pickering,  Alfred,  19  and  20,  Aldgate,  London. 

Pheasant,  Charles,  Crowle. 

Pocklington-Coltman,  Mrs.,  Hagnaby  Priory,  Spilsby. 

Pretty,  William,  St.  Thomas  Road,  Spalding. 

Pretyman,  Ernest  G.,  Orwell  Park,  Ipswich. 

Price,  C.,  Esq.,  Westward  Ho,  N.  Devon. 

Proctor,  G'.  T.,  Bruce  Grove,  Tottenham,  Middlesex. 

Pyke,  Charles,  Swaton,  Folkingham. 

Quirk,  John  J. ,  Leigh,  Lancashire. 

Randall,  Joseph,  Bank  Chambers,  George  Street,  Sheffield  (2  copies). 

Rawnsley,  W.  F. ,  Park  Hill,  Lyndhurst,  Hants. 

Reeve,  Captain  N.  H. ,  Ashby  Hall,  Lincoln. 

Roberts,  D.,  Scrafield  House,  near  Horncastle. 

Roberts,  W.  B. ,  Manor  House,  Hampton-on-Thames. 

Robinson,  Tom,  M.D.,  9,  Princes  Street,  Cavendish  Square,  N. 

Ross,    Frederick,    F.R.H.S.,     137,    Huddleston    Road,    Tufnel    Park, 

London. 

Rowles,  J.  L.,  National  School,  Cleethorpes. 
Roy,  W.  Gascoigne,  Byams,  Marchwood,  Hants. 
Royce,    Rev.    David,    Nether    Swell    Vicarage,    Stow-on-the-Wold, 

Gloucestershire. 

Rushworth,  J.,  Allbrighton,  Wolverhampton. 
Ruston,  J.,  Monk's  Manor,  Lincoln. 

Sammons,  Rev.  R.  T.,  Saxilby  Vicarage,  Lincoln. 

Saunders,  Rev.  J.  C.  K. ,  Brookside,  Market  Rasen. 

Sauvage,  Henry,  41,  Virginia  Road,  Leeds. 

Scorer,  A.  E.,  9,  New  Inn,  London. 

Scupham,  Henry,  Market  Rasen. 

Sealey,  Rev.  S.  B. ,  Gosberton  Vicarage,  Spalding. 


LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS.  255 

Selby,  Capt.  F.  T.,  14,  High  Street,  Spalding. 

Sharp,  Rev.  J.  P. ,  Edenham  Vicarage,  Bourne. 

Shelley,  Rev.  J.  B.,  West  Butterwick  Vicarage,  Doncaster. 

Shillaker,  T.  G.,  3,  Stanley  Gardens,  Willesden  Green,  N.W. 

Sibthorpe,  Coningsby  C. ,  Sudbrooke  Holme,  Lincoln. 

Simpson,  Miss  Helen,  41,  High  Street,  Stamford. 

Simpson,  Henry,  41,  High  Street,  Stamford 

Smith,  Mrs.  Ben,  Horbling  House,  Folkingham  (2  copies). 

Smith,  Major  Edward,  J.P.,  7,  Nevern   Square,   South   Kensington, 

S.W. 

Smith,  George,  Horbling,  Folkingham. 
Smith,  George,  21,  Great  Percy  Street,  Clerkenwell. 
Smith,  Mark,  Louth. 

Snaith,  James  Frederick,  Ancaster  House,  Southsea,  Hants. 
Sneath,  J.  S.,  32,  Tentercroft  Street,  Lincoln. 
Sorfleet,  John,  23  and  25,  Gresham  Street,  London,  E.G. 
Southwell,  J.  G. ,  National  School,  Horncastle. 
Sowby,  T.  H. ,  Grainthorpe,  Great  Grimsby. 
Sowter,  G.  S.,  Brigg. 
Spence,  J.,  Junr.,  Beckingham,  Newark. 
Spencer,  VV.  B.,  1,  Colehern  Terrace,  Earl's  Court,  S.W. 
Spurrier,  Henry,  Roughton  Rectory,  Horncastle. 
Stamp,  George,  Ash  Lea,  Great  Grimsby. 
Stanley,  Mrs.,  The  Red  House,  Goleby. 

Stephen,  Mrs.  Reginald,  Wootton  Cottage,  Eastgate,  Lincoln. 
Stephenson,  John,  Borough  Treasurer,  Town  Hall,  Grimsby. 
Stiirmer,  Rev.  Von  H.  E.,  Scotton  Rectory,  Kirton  Lindsey. 
Summers,  M.  C.,  Heckington,  S.O.  Line. 
Sutton,  E.,  S.  Botolphs,  Lincoln. 

Sutton,  Frederick,  Willingham  by  Stow,  Gainsborough. 
Swaby,  William  Proctor,  D.D.,  Millfield,  Sunderland. 
Sympson,  E.   Mansell,   M.A.,  M.D.    (Cantab),  2  and  3,  James  Street, 
Lincoln. 

Taylor,  Herbert  B.,  31,  Crutchet  Friars,  London,  E.C. 

Taylor,  Rev.  R.  V.,  Melbecks,  Richmond. 

Tennyson,  Lord  Alfred,  Poet-Laureate,  Freshwater,  Isle  of  Wight. 

Tewson,  Edward,  80,  Cheapside,  London,  E.C. 

Thompson,  John,  J.P.  ,  Peterborough. 

Thorold,  Sir  John,  Syston  Park,  Grantham. 

Thorpe,  R.  A. ,  Lindum,  St.  Alban's  Road,  Watford. 

Tinkler,  Rev.  John,  M.A.,  Rose  Cottage,  Caunton,  Newark,  Notts. 

Tomlinson,  Henry  J.,  Whitecross  House,  Barton-on-Humber. 

Towler,  Isaac  W.,  11,  Trollope  Street,  Lincoln. 

Triffitt,  Josiah,  High  Street,  Holbeach. 

Trollope-Swan,  Mrs.  C. ,  Sausthorpe  Hall,  Spilsby. 

Troyte-Bullock,  Mrs.,  North  Coker  House,  Yeovil,  Somerset. 

Try  on,  Rev.  A.  W. ,  Middle  Rasen  Vicarage,  Market  Rasen. 

Tupholme,  Frank,  1,  Coleherne  Terrace,  Earl's  Court,  S.W. 

Tyack,  Rev.  George  S.,  Crowle,  Doncaster. 

Venables,  Rev.  Canon,  The  Precentory,  Lincoln. 

Vere,  George,  Louth. 

Vincent,  William  Clarke,  Boston  Lodge,  Boston  Spa,  Yorks, 


256 


LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS. 


Wallis,  Frank  W.,  112,  Hanley  Road,  Stroud  Green,  London,  N. 
Wallis,  William  Emerson,  78,  Cornhill,  London,  E.G. 
Watkinson,  W.  H.,  89,  Stirling  Street,  Grimsby. 
VVelby,  Rev.  G.  E.,  Barrowby  Rectory,  Grantham  (2  copies).         ' 
White,  Rev.  J.  H. ,  Brateleby  Rectory,  Lincoln. 
Wilkinson,  W.  A.,  13,  Bowlalley  Lane,  Hull. 
Wilkinson,  Miss,  2,  Parkside,  Cambridge. 
Wilson,  Edward  S.,  Melton,  Brough,  East  Yorks. 
Winckley,  William,  F.S.A.,  Flambards,  Harrow-on-the-Hill. 
Wingate-Saul,  W.W.,  M.D.,  Fenton-Cawthorne  House,  Lancaster. 
Winn,  Miss,  Appleby  Hall,  Doncaster  (2  copies). 
Wood,  E.  Bentley,  Gothic  House,  Stamford. 
Wood,  R.  H.,  F.S.A.,  Penrhos  House,  Rugby. 

Wright-Taylor,  R.,  M.A.,  L.L.M.,  F.S.A.,  Baysgarth  Park,   Barton-on- 
Humber. 


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