A History of Horncastle Part 3

In 1620 the head of the Fitz-William family was created an Irish Peer; in 1742 the 3rd Baron was made Baron Milton in the peerage of Great Britain; and, 4 years later, Earl Fitz-William. In 1782, on the death of his uncle, the last Marquis of Rockingham, the Earl of that day succeeded to the Yorkshire and Northamptonshire estates of the Wentworths, and in 1807 they took the name of Wentworth as an affix. In the early part of the 19th century the name became again connected with Horncastle, when Earl Fitz-William, grandfather of the present Earl, hunted the local pack of foxhounds, which were kept in Horncastle, in what is still called Dog-kennel Yard, at the back of St. Lawrence Street. An old friend, formerly practicing as a Doctor in Horncastle, but lately deceased, has told the writer that he remembered seeing the Earl's hounds breaking cover from Whitehall Wood, in the parish of Martin.

There is one more Carlisle doc.u.ment deserving of quotation as it is of a peculiar nature. A Patent Roll of the reign of Elizabeth, {29i} A.D.

1577, records that a "pardon" was granted to "Sir Thomas Cecil, Knt., for acquiring the manor of Langton (by Horncastle) with appurtenances, and 30 messuages, 20 cottages, 40 tofts, 4 dove-cotes, 40 gardens, 30 orchards, 1,400 acres of (cultivated) land, 100 acres of wood, 100 acres of furze and heath, 200 acres of marsh, 40s. of rent, and common pasture, with appurtenances, in Horncastle, Thimbleby, Martin, Thornton and Woodhall, from Philip Tylney, Esq., by fine levied without licence." This was a somewhat extensive acquisition. We have already recorded a more than questionable transaction in the transfer of land by Richard Thymelby and Robert Savile, A.D. 1564, and this transaction of Sir Thomas Cecil, 13 years later, seems also to have been in some way irregular, since it needed the royal "pardon."

There is nothing to show who this Philip Tylney was, who acted on this occasion as vendor, but Sir Thomas Cecil was the son of the great Lord Treasurer Burghley, who was Secretary of State under Edward VI., and for 40 years guided the Councils of Queen Elizabeth. Sir Thomas himself was a high official under Elizabeth and King James I.; he was knighted in 1575, received the Order of the Garter in 1601; under James I. he was made Privy Councillor, and having succeeded his father as Baron Burghley, was created by James Earl of Exeter. His brother Sir Robert also held high office and was made in 1603 Baron Cecil, in 1604 Viscount Cranbourne, in 1605 Earl of Salisbury. Thomas Cecil died Feb. 7, 1622, aged 80, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. He married 1st Dorothy, daughter of John Nevil, Lord Latimer, and 2nd, Frances, daughter of Lord Chandos. He was, doubtless, a man of large ideas and great ambition, his royal mistress was herself Lady of the manor of Horncastle, and Horncastle having thus been brought under his notice, he may have been too grasping in compa.s.sing his purposes. The Revesby Charters {30a} show that he purchased that estate in 1575.

We may add that the Cecils were descended from an ancient family located in Wales soon after the Norman Conquest, and acquired large possessions in the reign of King Rufus; the 14th in descent was David Cecil of Stamford, Sergeant at Arms to King Henry VIII., he was grandfather to the 1st Lord Burghley. {30b} The present representatives of this old family are the Marquis of Exeter of Burghley House, Stamford, and the Marquis of Salisbury of Hatfield House, Herts.

We have now reached the end of a somewhat lengthy series of owners formerly connected with Horncastle, its manor, and its soke, bringing us down to the early part of the 17th century, and we think that few towns, of its size, could show such a record of distinguished names. The information available as to more recent periods is more meagre. The Bishops of Carlisle continued to hold the manor down to the year 1856, and various parties held leases of it under them, they themselves residing here from time to time, {30c} until the episcopal palace was demolished in 1770, when the present Manor House was erected on its site.

We have already stated that Queen Elizabeth leased the manor from the Bishop of Carlisle of that date, she was succeeded in the lease by King James I., who transferred it to Sir Henry Clinton, but owing to a legal error in that transaction, it proved void. One of the said Bishops in the next reign was Dr. Robert Snowden, whose family were located in this neighbourhood, his son being Vicar of Horncastle. Abigail Snowden married Edward, son of Sir Edward Dymoke, Knt., in 1654, and Jane Snowden married Charles Dymoke, Esq., of Scrivelsby Court; the former belonged to the, so called, Tetford branch of the Dymokes, who have of late years also succeeded to the Scrivelsby property. Bishop Robert Snowden granted a lease of the Horncastle manor to his kinsman, Rutland Snowden, and his a.s.signees for three lives; but this would appear to have been afterwards cancelled, owing to the "delinquency" of the first grantee. {31a} The name of this Rutland Snowden appears in the list of Lincolnshire Gentry who were ent.i.tled to bear arms, at the Herald's Visitation of 1634. {31b}

A break in the continuity of the sub-tenure of the manor here occurs, but not of long duration. The family of Banks are next found holding the lease, under the said bishops; the most distinguished of them being Sir Joseph Banks, the eminent naturalist, and patron of science in almost every form; who visited Newfoundland in pursuit of his favourite study; accompanied Captain Cook in his voyage to the South Seas; visited Iceland with Dr. Solander, the pupil of Linnaeus; made large natural history and antiquarian collections; {31c} became President of the Royal Society; and was largely instrumental in forming the schemes for the drainage and inclosure of the fens; and other works of public utility. His family acquired the Revesby Abbey estates in 1714, and were closely connected with Horncastle for more than a century, as he died in 1820.

One of his ancestors, also Joseph, was M.P. for Grimsby and Totnes; another, also Joseph, had a daughter, Eleonora, who married the Honble.

Henry Grenville, and was mother of the Countess Stanhope. Through this last connection, on the demise of Sir Joseph, the leased manor pa.s.sed, as the nearest male relative, to Col. the Honble. James Hamilton Stanhope, who served in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo. He died three years later, in 1823, and was succeeded by the late James Banks Stanhope, Esq., then a minor, and afterwards M.P. for North Lincolnshire; who, some years ago, transferred all his manorial rights to the Right Honble. Edward Stanhope, 2nd son of the 5th Earl Stanhope, and M.P. for the Horncastle Division. He died 22 December, 1898, and his widow, the Honble. Mrs.

Stanhope of Revesby Abbey, became Lady of the Manor; this, on her decease in 1907 reverting to the family of the Earl Stanhope, of Chevening Park, Sevenoaks, Kent, in the person of his son, the Honble. Richard Stanhope, now residing at Revesby Abbey.

In 1856 the manoral rights of the Bishops of Carlisle were transferred to the See of Lincoln, and the Bishop of Lincoln is now _ex officio_ Patron of the Benefice. The head of the Stanhope family is still the chief owner of property in Horncastle; other owners being the Vicar with 92 acres, the representatives of the late Sigismund Trafford Southwell with 67 acres, representatives of the late W. B. Walter (now Majer Traves) with 58 acres; while Coningtons, c.l.i.therows, Rev. Richard Ward, and about 100 other proprietors hold smaller portions. We have mentioned the influence of Sir Joseph Banks in the drainage and enclosure of the fens, and on the completion of that important work in Wildmore Fen, in 1813, some 600 acres were added to the soke of Horncastle, about 80 acres being a.s.signed to the manor, while the glebe of the Vicar was increased so that it now comprises 370 acres.

We conclude this chapter with another record of the past, which should not be omitted. It is somewhat remarkable that although Horncastle has been connected with so many personages of distinction as proprietors, and for about 600 years (as already shewn) with royalty itself, as an appanage of the crown, it has only once been visited by royalty in person. History tells {32a} that "on Sep. 12, 1406, Henry IV. made a royal procession" from this town (probably coming hither from Bolingbroke Castle, his birthplace), "with a great and honourable company, to the Abbey of Bardney, where the Abbot and monks came out, in ecclesiastical state, to meet him," and he was royally entertained by them. We may perhaps a.s.sume that as his father, John of Gaunt, had a palace at Lincoln, {32b} he was on his way thither, where also his half brother, Henry Beaufort, had been Bishop, but was promoted two years before this to the See of Winchester.

The nearest approach to another royal visit was that of the Protector, Oliver Cromwell, which however was of a private character. Although historians do not generally relate it, it is locally understood that, after the Battle of Winceby, on Oct. 11, 1643, Cromwell personally came to Horncastle to see that proper honours were paid, by the churchwarden, Mr. Hamerton, to the body of Sir Ingram Hopton, slain on that eventful day in single combat with Cromwell himself, who p.r.o.nounced him to be "a brave gentleman," he having, indeed, first unhorsed Cromwell. This visit would seem to be further proved by the fact that a man, named John Barber, died in Horncastle, aged 95, A.D. 1855 (or 1856), whose grandfather remembered Cromwell, on that occasion, sleeping in the house now called Cromwell House, in West Street (or rather an older house on the same site); while in the parish register of West Barkwith there is an entry of the burial of Nicholas Vickers, in 1719, with the additional note that he "guided Cromwell over Market Rasen Moor," in his journey northward after the battle. He may well, therefore, have taken Horncastle on his way.

CHAPTER III.

Having, so far, dealt with the more or less conjectural, prehistoric period of Horncastle's existence in Chapter I, and with the Manor and its ownership in Chapter II, we now proceed to give an account of the town's inst.i.tutions, its buildings, and so forth. Among these the Parish Church, naturally, claims precedence.

ST. MARY'S CHURCH.

This is probably not the original parish church. There is no mention of a church in _Domesday Book_, and although this is not quite conclusive evidence, it is likely that no church existed at that date (circa 1085 A.D.); but in Testa de Nevill (temp. Richard I.) we find "Ecclesia de Horncastre," named with those of (West) Ashby, High Toynton, Mareham (-on-the-Hill), and (Wood) Enderby, as being in the gift of the King; {33a} while at an Inquisition post mortem, taken at Horncastle, 8 Richard II., No. 99, {33b} the Jurors say that "the Lord King Edward (I.), son of King Henry (III.), gave to Gilbert, Prior of the alien Priory of Wyllesforth, and his successors, 2 messuages, and 6 oxgangs (90 acres) of land, and the site of the Chapel of St. Laurence, with the appurtenances, in Horncastre," on condition that they find a fit chaplain to celebrate ma.s.s in the said chapel three days in every week "for the souls of the progenitors of the said King, and his successors, for ever." This chapel probably stood near the street running northwards from the Market Place, now called St. Lawrence Street, though, a few years ago, it was commonly called "Pudding Lane." It is said to have formerly been a main street and at the head of it stood the Market Cross. Bodies have at various times been found interred near this street, indicating the vicinity of a place of worship, and, when a block of houses were removed in 1892, by the Right Honble. E. Stanhope, Lord of the Manor, to enlarge the Market Place, several fragments of Norman pillars were found, which, doubtless, once belonged to the Norman Chapel of St. Lawrence. {34}

The date of St. Mary's Church, as indicated by the oldest part of it, the lower portion of the tower, is early in the 13th century. "It is a good example of a town church of the second cla.s.s (as said the late Precentor Venables, who was a good judge) in no way, indeed, rivalling such churches as those of Boston, Louth, Spalding or Grantham; nay even many a Lincolnshire village has a finer edifice, but the general effect, after various improvements, is, to say the least, pleasing, and it has its interesting features. The plan of the church (he says) is normal; it consists of nave, with north and south aisles; chancel, with south aisle and north chantry, the modern vestry being eastward of this; a plain low tower, crowned with wooden spirelet and covered with lead. Taking these in detail: the tower has two lancet windows in the lower part of the west wall, above these a small debased window, and again, above this, a two-light window of the Decorated style, similar windows on the north and south sides, and at the top an embattled Perpendicular parapet. The tower opens on the nave with a lofty arch, having pilaster b.u.t.tresses, which terminate above the uppermost of two strings; the base is raised above the nave by three steps, the font being on a projection of the first step. This lower portion of the tower is the oldest part of the church, dating from the Early English period. The chamber where the bells are hung is, by the modern arrangement, above this lower compartment, and is approached by a winding staircase built on the outside of the southern wall, a slight disfigurement."

There are six bells, with the following inscriptions:-

(1) Lectum fuge. Discute somnum. G. S. T. W. H. Penn, Fusor, 1717.

(2) In templo venerare Deum. H. Penn nos fudit. Cornucastri.

(3) Supplicem Deus audit. Daniel Hedderley cast me. 1727.

(4) Tho. Osborn fecit. Downham, Norfolk. 1801. Tho. Bryan and D. Brown, Churchwardens.

(5) Dum spiras, spera. H. Penn, Fusor, 1717. Tho. et Sam. Hamerton Aeditivi.

(6) Exeat e busto. Auspice Christo. Tho. Loddington, LL.D., Vicar H P.

1717.

Near the south Priest's door, in the chancel, a bell, about 1 ft. in height, stands on the floor, unused; this was the bell of a former clock in the tower. The "Pancake Bell" is rung on Shrove Tuesday, at 10 a.m.; the Curfew at 8 p.m., from Oct. 11 to April 6, except Sat.u.r.days, at 7 p.m., and omitting from St. Thomas's Day to Plough Monday. The "Grammar School Bell" used to be rung daily, Sundays excepted, at 7 a.m., but of late years this has been discontinued, the Governors refusing to pay for it.

The fabric of the nave is of the Decorated style, though modern in date, with Perpendicular clerestory, having five three-light windows, on the north and south sides. The arcades are of four bays, with chamfered equilateral arches, springing from shafted piers; the capitals of the two central ones being ornamented with foliage of a decorated character; the others being plain. Each aisle has three three-light windows, of decorated style, in the side wall, and a fourth at the west end; these are modern, the north aisle having been re-built in 1820 and the south aisle in 1821. There are north and south porches.

The chancel arch is modern, the carving of its caps being very delicate.

On the north side the outline of the doorway, formerly leading to the rood loft, is still visible, and below, on the west side of the chancel wall, is a well-carved statue bracket of floriated character, which was transferred from the chancel, and on the south side a still older one, much plainer.

[Picture: St. Mary's Church]

The east window of the chancel is said to be an enlarged copy of the east window of the neighbouring Haltham Church. It has five lights, with flamboyant tracery above, and is filled with rich coloured gla.s.s, by Heaton, Butler & Bayne; the subjects being, on the north side, above "The Annunciation," below "The Nativity;" 2nd light, above "The Adoration,"

below "The Flight into Egypt;" central light, above "The Crucifixion,"

below "The Entombment;" next light, on south, above "Women at the Sepulchre;" below "Feed my Lambs;" southernmost light, above "The Ascension," below "Pentecost." In the upper tracery are "Censing Angels"

and "Instruments of the Pa.s.sion." This window cost about 280 and is dedicated to the memory of the late Vicar, Prebendary W. H. Milner, who was largely instrumental in the restoration of the church, in 1861, and died Oct. 3, 1868. In that restoration the architect was the late Mr.

Ewan Christian, and the contractors for the work Messrs. Lea & Ashton of Retford. The cost of the restoration of the chancel was defrayed by J.

Banks Stanhope, Esq., as Lord of the Manor and Lay Rector, the rest being done by subscriptions amounting to about 4,000.

The present organ was originally designed by Mr. John Tunstall, and built by Messrs. Gray & Davidson, of London, at a cost of about 400. As re-constructed by Mr. Nicholson, of Lincoln, it contains 3 manuals, a fine pedal organ with 45 stops, and more than 2,500 pipes. It cost more than 2,000, 1,350 of which was contributed by the late Henry James Fielding, Esq., of Handel House, Horncastle. At a later date a trumpet was added, costing 120, the result being probably as fine an instrument as any in the county. For many years the organist was Mr. William Wakelin, whose musical talent was universally acknowledged; on his unfortunate sudden death, on March 1st, 1908, he was succeeded by Mr.

Hughes, recently a.s.sistant Organist of Ely Cathedral.

Beneath the east window is a handsome carved Reredos of Caen stone, somewhat heavy in style, having five panels, two on each side containing figures of the four evangelists, the central subject being "The Agony in the Garden." In this the figure of the Saviour is exquisitely designed; below are the three sleeping disciples, while above are two ministering angels, one holding a crown of thorns, the other the "cup of bitterness."

The panels have richly crocketed canopies, the central one being surmounted by a floriated cross. They are filled with diaper work, and the supporting pilasters are of various-coloured Irish marbles. The whole was designed by C. E. Giles, Esq., cousin of the late Vicar, Prebendary Robert Giles.

In the jamb, south of the Communion Table, is a Piscina; in the north wall a square aumbrey and a curious iron-barred opening, which was probably a Hagioscope for the Chantry behind. The present Vestry in the north-east corner is modern, built on the site where there was formerly a coalhouse, and, at a later date, a shed for the town fire-engine.

The Chancel has an arcade of three bays on the south side, filled with good 14th century carved oak screen work, separating it from the south-side chapel, said to have been anciently called "The Corpus Christi Chapel," and has two bays on the north, the easternmost being occupied by the organ, separating it from St. Catherine's Chantry; {36} the other having similar screen work. In the south wall of the chancel are a Priest's door and three four-light Perpendicular windows, with a fourth in the east wall. Gervase Holles states that he saw in this south-east window figures of St. Ninian, with lock and chain, and of Saints Crispinus and Crispinia.n.u.s with their shoe-making tools. {37a} It is probable, therefore, that the old gla.s.s of the window was supplied by a shoemaker's guild. The window is now filled with good coloured gla.s.s by Heaton, Butler & Bayne, dedicated to the memory of the late Vicar, Rev.

Arthur Scrivenor, who died 27 August, 1882, aged 51 years. It is of peculiar design, the subjects being chosen to represent his life of self-denying labour. There are four lights with eight subjects taken from St. Matthew's Gospel, arranged in two tiers, as follows-(1) "Come ye blessed of my Father;" (2) "I was an hungred and ye gave me meat;" (3) "I was thirsty and ye gave me drink;" (4) "I was a stranger, and ye took me in;" (5) "Naked, and ye clothed me;" (6) "I was sick, and ye visited me;"

(7) "I was in prison, and ye came unto me;" (8) "These shall go into life eternal." There are eight compartments in the upper tracery, containing the emblems of the four evangelists, and two angels, and the Alpha and Omega.

In the north chancel wall are a Priest's door, two five-light windows, and one of three lights, with, at the east end, a two-light window, all modern. Here, externally, the parapet of St. Catherine's Chantry is embattled and enriched with panel work, and rises above the level of the rest of the wall. The clerestory of the chancel has six three-light windows on the south side, and five on the north. The easternmost on the north was inserted and made larger than the others in 1861, and, at a later date, was filled with good coloured gla.s.s by Heaton, Butler & Bayne, as a public memorial "To the glory of G.o.d, and in memory of Barnard James Boulton, M.D., who died March 15 1875." He was an active member of the restoration committee in 1861. The subjects are, in the western light, "The cleansing of the leper" in the centre, "Letting down the paralytic through the roof," in the eastern light, "The healing of blind Bartimaeus."

In the nave the second window from the west end of the south clerestory is a memorial of the late Mr. W Rayson, builder, filled with good coloured gla.s.s. In the south aisle of the nave, the easternmost window is a good specimen of coloured gla.s.s by Heaton, Butler & Bayne, erected by public subscription in January, 1901, "To the glory of G.o.d, and in grateful commemoration of the 18 years' ministry of Canon E. F.

Quarrington," who resigned the Vicarage in 1900. The cost of this window was about 80, the subject is "The Sermon on the Mount." The Saviour is represented as addressing the people, grouped around Him, of all cla.s.ses, soldiers, Pharisees, disciples, travellers, young men, women, and children, with the city in the background. In the tracery above are angels, with rich ruby wings, in att.i.tudes of adoration.

The window next to this is filled with coloured gla.s.s, by Clayton & Bell, to the memory of Mrs. Salome Fox. In the upper tracery are the Alpha and Omega, with the date of erection "Anno Dm'ni MDCCCXCVII." In the central light below is the risen Saviour, seated on a throne, holding the emblem of sovereignty, with the inscription over His shoulders "Because I live ye shall live also." In each side light are three angels in adoration.

An inscription runs across the three lights, "I am he that liveth and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore." Beneath are three square compartments, representing (1) three women, (2) three soldiers, (3) the apostles SS. John and Peter at the sepulchre, with the inscription "Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?" and again, below all, "To the glory of G.o.d, and in loving memory of Salome Fox, who died June 26, 1883, aged 65." This cost about 85.

The window at the west end of this aisle, by Heaton, Butler & Bayne, was filled with coloured gla.s.s, by the late Mr. Henry Boulton, in memory of his first wife, being partly paid for by a surplus of 40 remaining from what was collected for the chancel east window, and the rest (about 40 more) by Mr. Boulton himself. The subject is the Saviour's baptism in the Jordan.

In the north aisle of the nave, the easternmost window was erected in 1902, at a cost of 98, from a bequest of the late Mr. Charles Dee, as a memorial of his friend the late Mr. Robert c.l.i.therow. The subject is "The good Samaritan," who, in the central light, is relieving the wounded wayfarer; while, in the side lights, the Priest and Levite are represented as pa.s.sing him by. In the two upper quatrefoils are angels holding scrolls, with the inscriptions (1) "Let your light so shine before men," (2) "That they may see your good works." An inscription runs across the three lights, "Blessed is he that provideth for the sick and needy, the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble;" and, below all, "To the glory of G.o.d, and in memory of Robert c.l.i.therow, a truly Christian gentleman, by his faithful servant." {38} The artists were Messrs. Clayton & Bell.

The next window to this, also by Messrs. Clayton & Bell, is considered the best specimen of coloured gla.s.s in the church. It was erected by public subscription, largely through the exertions of the late Mrs.

Terrot, then of Wispington Vicarage, near Horncastle, her husband, the Rev. Charles Pratt Terrot, a clever artist and learned antiquary, supplying the design. It is inscribed "To the glory of G.o.d, and in memory of Frederick Harwood, formerly churchwarden, who died March 12, 1874, aged 51 years." Mr. Harwood was an indefatigable church worker, and died suddenly, after attending a Lent service, when he occupied his usual seat, near this window. It is of three lights, the subjects being six, (1) the centre light ill.u.s.trates "Charity;" a female figure above, holding one child in her arms and leading others; while below is "Joseph in Egypt, receiving his father, Jacob." (2) The west light ill.u.s.trates "Faith," a female above, holding a cross and bible, and below "Abraham offering his son Isaac." (3) The east light ill.u.s.trates "Hope," a female above, leaning upon an anchor, and below "Daniel in the den of lions."