Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood Part 14

A peculiar entry in the parish account book is "Mary Would overseer of ye poore gave up hir accountes" (1707 Ap. 15). We are now, at the beginning of the 20th century, admitting women to a limited number of public offices, yet the people of Roughton were evidently in advance of the times, and forestalled us 180 yeans ago. One or two curious instances of spelling may here be given, showing that the schoolmaster was not then much in evidence:-"1703 Beuerils, &c."; "1705 Bearths, Robert ye son of bniamen hehuhinson (Benjamin Hewinson) and jane his wife was borne ye 15 day of january." "Burial. John Snow, Inn-holder, July 3d., 1765"; "1707 Rebekah Leach was beureid July the 10"; "1708 John Bouth and Doryty his wife"; "Rebekah Langcaster 1725, the douter of Joseph Langcaster." "John Swingo the sun of John Swingo and Ann his wife howous (was) Baptized the 17 of Aprill 1709." This name, in another entry, 1733, is given as Swinsgo; the modern spelling is Swinscoe.

The names of some good families appear, as "An the wife of Will Hennag was buered ye 9 of Feberery, 1729"; "Madame Elizabeth fines was buered May ye 29, 1730"; "George soun of Mr. Clinton Whichcote 1624"; and, later, "Mary the wife of John Gaunt, and Anthony, son of John Gaunt, were buried Dec. 16, 1803." The Hall, not an ancient moated mansion, like so many described in these pages, but yet one of some antiquity, has been occupied at different times, by members of several leading county families, as Fynes, Whichcote, Heneage, Dymoke, Pilkington, and Beaumont.

It has belonged to the Dymokes, as also the patronage of the benefice, although Sir H. M. Hawley is lord of the manor.

In the reign of Elizabeth a family of Eastwoods was located here, as the Records shew that Andrew Eastwood of Roughton was among the gentry who contributed 25 each to the Armada Fund for the defence of England.

{208a} By a Chancery Inquisition, post mortem, 22 Richard II., No. 13, taken at Market Staynton, the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist (1399 A.D.), before William Bolle, escheator, it was shewn that "Ralph de Cromwell, chivaler, held jointly with his wife Matilda, besides other property, the manor of Tumby with appurtenances in Rughton, Wodehall, Langton," etc. And again, in a later Inquisition, post mortem, 13 Henry VII., No. 34, taken at Burwell, it was shewn that "the said Matilda Willughby died seised in fee tail of the manor of Kirkeby upon Bayne, and lands in Roughton, Woodhall, Langton," &c. {208b}

In Domesday Book, the powerful Robert Despenser is named as having in Roughton twelve oxgangs rateable to gelt, with three sokemen, and a half sokeman holding two carucates of land with three draught oxen; also fifteen acres of meadow land, a fishery worth 2s. yearly, and forty acres of woodland, containing pasturage in parts. The name is there given as "Roc-stune," whether from any Druidical boulder, or sacred stone, or landmark, does not appear to be known.

From Roughton, going eastward by a ford on the river Bain, or returning to Horncastle and taking the main road south-eastward, we arrive, a little over two miles distant, at Scrivelsby, a village which is unique in the kingdom, since there is but one King's Champion, and he is "Lord of Scrivelsby." As we approach Scrivelsby {208c} Court, by a road shaded by stately trees of h.o.a.r antiquity, with the well-wooded park on our left, and fields, nicely timbered and interspersed with copses, on our right, we pause, after a slight ascent, at a point where three ways meet.

Before us stands the "Lion gateway," a substantial arched stone structure with sculptured Lion "pa.s.sant" surmounting it; the Royal beast indicating the official hereditary honour of the head of the family as the Sovereign's Champion. On our right, in a humbler position of less prominence, under the shade of trees, and green with age, still survive the parish stocks. Thus the emblems of civil and military power confront each other. The Court itself, standing some 150 yards from this gateway, is approached through another arch in the wall of the Courtyard. The present building is not one of large proportions, the chief part of the old baronial residence having been destroyed by fire about 130 years ago; to replace which modern additions were made, on a smaller scale, early in the 19th century. Of the portion destroyed a chief feature was a very large hall, with wainscoted panels, on which "were depicted the arms and alliances of the family through its numerous and far-traced descents."

{209a} The chief features of interest now remaining within are some of the suits of armour worn by Champions, and a collection of "Champion Cups." The collection of armour was much finer a few years ago, but, on the extinction of the line of the late Sir Henry Dymoke, most of these were dispersed by sale, and the Cups were bequeathed to the Queen, although Her Majesty, through the intermediation of the late Right Honourable E. Stanhope, most graciously restored them to the father of the present Champion. On the wall of the "Lion gateway," to the right of the arch, is a rebus, or "canting" device, formed of a rude representation of a tree dividing in a Y shape referring to an old-time emblem of the family. As the Plantagenets had their "planta genista,"

the broom; so the Dymokes would seem to have had their "oak." {209b} The descent of the early Dymokes may be briefly given thus:-Scrivelsby, forming part of the Soke of Horncastle, of which the Conqueror held the manor, was given by William to Robert Dispenser, his steward, whom we have several times named in connection with other neighbouring parishes.

From him it pa.s.sed, by some process unknown, to the Marmions. The last Lord Marmyon died in 1292, and the Lincolnshire portion of his estates,-for Sir Walter Scott describes him as

"Lord of Fontenay, Of Lutterworth and Scrivelsbay, Of Tamworth tower and town."-

pa.s.sed to his younger daughter, Joan, whose granddaughter, Margaret de Ludlow, married, in the reign of Edward III., Sir John Dymoke, who acted as Champion at the coronation of Richard II., and from that time, more than 500 years, the Dymokes have acted in that capacity for their respective Sovereigns, down to the last century, the ceremony, however, having been dispensed with, to the regret of many, on the accessions of William IV., Queen Victoria, and our present Most Gracious Majesty King Edward VII.

As this, formerly, State ceremony was so imposing, and of such antiquity, it deserves more than a pa.s.sing notice. We here give a description of it, as observed at the coronation of Queen Mary, from the account of Planche, in the Royal Records. "At the close of the second course of the Coronation Banquet, the Champion, Sir Edward Dymoke, entered Westminster Hall, riding on a roan destrier (war horse) trapped in cloth of gold, with a mace in one hand and a gauntlet in the other. He was escorted to the upper end of the hall by the Lord High Constable, and the Earl Marshall, and the Herald of the Queen with a trumpet; and after he had made obeisance to the Queen's highness, he turned him a little aside, and with a loud voice made proclamation, 'If there be any manner of man, of what estate, degree, or condition soever he be, that will say, and maintain, that our Sovereign Lady Queen Mary, this day here present, is not the rightful, and undoubted, heretrix to the Imperial Crown of this realm of England, and that of right she ought not to be crowned Queen, I say he lieth as a false traitor, and that I am ready the same to maintain with him, whilst I have breath in my body, either now at this time, or at any other time, whensoever it shall please the Queen's highness to appoint; and thereupon the same I cast him my gage.' Then he cast the gauntlet from him, the which no man would take up, till that a herald took it up and gave it to him again. Then he proceeded to another place, and did in this manner, in three several places in the said Hall. Then he came to the upper end, and the Queen drank to him; and after sent to him the cup, which he had for his fee, and likewise the harness and trappings, and all the harness which he did himself wear, and then he returned to the place from whence he came, and was gone." On the last occasion, when this ceremony was observed, viz., at the coronation of George IV., the rightful champion being in Holy Orders, his son Henry, afterwards Sir H. Dymoke, Bart., was allowed to act for his father, who was the eighteenth of the hereditary champions of his family. Sir Walter Scott was present, and, writing to a friend, says, "Young Dymoke is a fine-looking youth, but bearing perhaps a little too much the appearance of a maiden knight to be a challenger of the world." But he adds, with the eye of an antiquary, "His armour was in good taste, except that his shield was out of all propriety, being a round 'Rondache,' or Highland target, impossible to use on horseback, instead of being a three-cornered, or leather, shield, which, in the time of the Tilt, was suspended round the neck. However, on the whole . . . the Lord of Scrivelsby looked and behaved extremely well." {211}

One _contre-temps_, however, occurred on this occasion, which Sir Walter, perhaps, thought it polite, or politic, not to mention; others have not had the same scruples, and hence an incident is recorded which may have had something to do with the future omission of the ceremony. The Duke of Wellington, as Lord High Constable, had to ride by the Champion's side, with the Deputy Earl Marshal on the other side. It was part of the observance that, in withdrawing from the Sovereign's presence, the riders should back their horses, keeping their heads towards the King. The Duke, in his anxiety that all should go without a hitch, had hired a horse from Astley's circus, which had been specially trained for that part of the ceremony; but, unfortunately, the intelligent animal chose the wrong stage in the ceremony for the performance, and most conscientiously and obstinately persisted in turning tail and backing _towards_ the King instead of from him, and was with difficulty slewed round by the attendants. {212a}

It were much to be desired that this picturesque and interesting relic of feudal custom's might be restored. The present may be an age of new-born energies, and even revolutionary ideas, but the spirit of "Reverentia Cani" is by no means extinguished, and the interest in old inst.i.tutions seems ever widening and deepening in the general sentiment.

As a curiosity I will give here a bill, sent in by Sir Edward Dymoke to Sir William Cecil (he spells it "Syscell") for the cost of some of the articles necessary to him as Champion at the coronation of Mary, which he seems to have had a difficulty in getting paid, although he was, by custom, ent.i.tled to them.

Stuff yt Phyllyp Lenthall have delyvered to Sir Edward Dymocke.

Item for a showrde (_a_) and gerdyll (_b_), and scabbart (_c_) of velvet . . . xls

Item for ij pardeynzyns (_d_) gylte (_e_) . . . xls

Item for a poll (_f_) ax . . . xxs

Item for a chasynge (_g_) staff . . . vis viiid

Item for a gylte payre of spowres (_h_) . . . xvis

Sm total VI .. IIs .. VIIId. {212b}

It may strike us as singular that so high an official as the King's Champion should perpetrate such spelling as the above; but those were days in which many a baron bold found it easier to inscribe his name on the scroll of fame, by dint of his trusty sword, than by the clerkly crowquill.

The church of Scrivelsby was thoroughly restored in 1861, and further improvements made in 1876, the previous structure being a poor one. Sir Henry added, at his own cost, a spire. The most interesting features of the former building were carefully retained. There is an aumbrey, in a curious position, near the north-west door. The font is octagonal, on pedestal, apparently modern, the faces having poppy head and other simple devices. There is a tomb, of Lewis Dymoke, under the reading desk, in the nave; in the north aisle, having Early English columns of three bays, and eastward two bays with Norman columns, there are rec.u.mbent figures of a knight and lady (supposed to be Sir Philip Marmion and wife), the male figure with shield, delapidated, the female entire. At the east end of the same aisle is the tomb of Sir Robert Dymoke, "upon whose soule Almightie G.o.d have m'ie. Amen." There is a good rood screen in the chancel. In 1899 a beautiful window was given, of coloured gla.s.s, by Mrs. Dymoke, of the Court, in memory of her husband, Francis Scaman Dymoke, the Hon. the Queen's Champion. The subjects ill.u.s.trated are (1) Our Lord preaching the sermon on the Mount, and (2) in the act of blessing little children, under the former of which are the words "Blessed are the pure in heart," and under the latter "Suffer little children to come unto me." In the chancel is also a rich mural monument to Lewis Dymoke, "who performed the service at the coronation of George I. and George II. He was the youngest son of Sir Charles Dymoke and Eleanor eldest daughter of the first Lord Rockingham." There are two other tablets, on the north and south walls, of Dymokes, and others in the floor; also a tablet to John Tyrwhitt, Esq., of Pentre Park, and his wife Sophia, a Dymoke; and another of the Rev. I. Bradshaw Tyrwhitt, of Wilksby. In the churchyard are also tombs of Dymokes, one a ma.s.sive structure opposite the east window, containing the remains of the late Sir Henry Dymoke, Bart., and Emma his wife. There are also many tombstones of the Gilliat family. Some years ago, when repairs were being made in the church, the flooring was removed, and a skeleton was discovered without a head, a block of clay lying in place of the skull.

This was supposed to be the remains of Sir Thomas Dymoke, who, with his relative, Lord Welles, was beheaded by Edward IV., in London, at the time of the Battle of "Loosecoat field," near Stamford, 1470, when the fugitive rebels threw off their coats to expedite their flight.

Among the privileges of the Champion family was the right to hold a market and fair at Scrivelsby, first granted, 42 and 43 Henry III., to Philip de Marmyon, to which he proved his claim in the 9th year of Edwd.

I.; also the right of free warren over the Manor of Scrivelsby, and to erect a gallows for the punishment of felons at Scrivelsby. Where the gallows were erected is not known.

Sir Edward Dymoke, Sheriff of Lincolnshire 27 Henry VIII., and also 1 Ed.

VI. and 2 and 3 Philip and Mary, married Anne, sister and coheir to Gilbert, Lord Taillebois of Kyme; by which alliance the castle and manors of North and South Kyme came to the Dymoke family, and members of the family resided there until it was sold, about 1730, to the Duke of Newcastle. This Sir Edward had issue Sir Robert Sir Charles, and a daughter Elizabeth, who married Henry Ascough, a member of a very old and distinguished family. Sir Robert Dymoke, Champion to James I., married well, the daughter of Edward Clinton, Lord Clinton and Saye, afterwards created Earl of Lincoln and a K.G. Her mother had been the widow of Gilbert, Lord Taillebois, previously a mistress of Hen. VII., by whom she had a son, created Duke of Richmond.

Charles Dymoke, who died, unmarried, at Oxford in 1644, was a zealous supporter of his unfortunate Sovereign, Charles I., and by his Will bequeathed 2,000 (a large sum in those days) to relieve his necessities.

Sir Edward Dymoke, at the time of the Commonwealth, being, from his office and his loyalty, obnoxious to the Republican party, was fined, for his "delinquency," 200 a year, and yet was obliged to pay the further, then enormous, sum of 4,633.

His son, Sir Charles, was highly esteemed for his loyalty, and was put down among those who were to be created by Charles II. "Knights of the Royal Oak," in grateful remembrance of the King being saved in an oak at Boscobel in Staffordshire, resting on the lap of Colonel Careless, afterwards Carlos.

The Dymokes' estates were greatly reduced by sale in the year 1871, when most, if not all, the lands not entailed were disposed of. Within the writer's memory the Dymokes shot over lands extending from their own door (with the exception of the Ostler ground) to Kirkstead wharf.

We must here, however, pa.s.s on our way from Scrivelsby, although we shall meet with Dymokes again in the next parish.

Taking an accommodation road {215} which branches off westward from the main road opposite the Lion gate, and going through some fields, past the modern rectory, a substantial residence, we emerge, by an old cottage, whose roof, covered with ancient drab-coloured slates or slabs, reaches, on one side, to the ground, upon another main road leading to Boston.

Pursuing this about a mile and a half, and pa.s.sing a disused churchyard, with two or three gravestones and no church, at Dalderby, we reach the village of Haltham. Here we have a church of considerable interest.

Taking the exterior first, we find a remarkable semi-circular tympanum over the door, within the porch on the south. It has a kind of Maltese cross within a circle, with a second circle running through the limbs of the cross. Below this is a small round object, with an oblong on each side of it; and below them, to the east, is an oval figure like a buckle, while below, to the west, is a square, having three-quarter circles at its corners, and semi-circles in the middle of its sides, which form the extremities of a cross, and between the limbs and the sides of the square are roundels. Below this is a curious lobated object, with what may be called a fish placed perpendicularly on it; east of the circle containing the Maltese cross are four rows of inverted triangles, of different lengths; below them, within a circle, is a curious figure, made of twelve unequal curved lines, arranged in four groups of threes, and forming a triple Fylfot or Swastica. Touching the east side of this circle is another, which cuts into the border of the base of the tympanum at its eastern corner, containing a cross within a square similar to that on the west side. This very curious tympanum is Early Norman, or possibly Saxon. {216} There is a priest's door in the south wall of the chancel.

There was once a north door in the nave, now bricked up. There was a large western door, round arched, with triple moulding, now also bricked up. Over this door are two stone gurgoyles, one above the other, let into recesses in the west wall, which is mainly of brick. The length of the nave, externally, is 150ft.; and its breadth, with the porch, is 150ft. The length of the chancel is 30ft. The east window is a fine, decorated, flamboyant specimen, its date being about 1350, which has been copied on a larger scale, in St. Mary's Church, Horncastle.

Taking the interior, the sittings are all of very old oak, many of them with rudely carved poppy heads. There are very fine, heavy, old oak, carved canopies over two long pews in the north aisle for the Champion Dymokes and their servants. These, probably, were taken from a former rood screen. There is now a low screen, fragmentary, in the chancel, and an oak pulpit, old but plain. There is a piscina, with two fronts, in the south wall of the chancel, and a series of three sedilia and an aumbrey in the north wall; also carved brackets on each side of the east window. The font stands in the north-east corner of the north aisle, on a very broad base which serves as a seat. The north aisle has three bays with round arches, and two eastward with pointed arches. The windows throughout are perpendicular, but either square-topped or debased, except the fine east window, and one in the south wall of nave, of two lights.

There is an incised slab to one of the Dymokes. The bell chamber is closed by ancient boarding adorned with the Commandments in old characters, and very curious Royal arms of Charles I. There are three bells, and a very curious old ladder, constructed of rude beams, leading up to the belfry. Miss Spurrier, the Rector's daughter, a.s.sisted by the coachman, have improved the church by renovating the screen. This lady has also carved a cover for the font in very delicate pattern, the ironwork being done by the village blacksmith, Mr. Priestley.

In the village is an old hostel, partly of the Tudor style, with pointed gable ends, projecting upper story, and constructed, externally, of brick and woodwork.

In the parish register, at the bottom of the page containing the entries for the year 1584, by way of accounting for the number of funerals (51), is the following note: "This yeare plague in Haltham." Although Haltham and Roughton are ecclesiastically united, and, in position, contiguous, there were, in that year, no extra deaths in Roughton; while in the year 16312 there were 43 burials at Roughton, and no increase of mortality at Haltham. The only peculiar record which I can find in connection with Haltham is a "Feet of Fines, Lincoln, 9 Henry III., No. 52," too long to be quoted in full, which contains an agreement between Henry del Ortiay and Sabina his wife on the one hand, and Ralph de Rhodes on the other hand, tenant of lands with appurtenances, in Horncastre, Upper Tynton, Cuningbye, Holtham, &c., whereby the said Henry and his wife recognise the said lands &c. to be the right of Ralph; he on his part granting to Henry and Sabina other land with appurtenances, in Upper Tynton; certain of the lands being designated Pese-w.a.n.g, Leir-me-w.a.n.g, Whete-w.a.n.g, and Krunce Wong, with Hethotenacre (Heath of ten acre), s.e.xacre, and other names. These names ill.u.s.trate what was said on a previous page regarding the field named "the Wong," at Horncastle. A very curious feature of the agreement is that the said Henry and Sabina are "to have and to hold"

these lands "of the aforesaid Ralph and his heirs forever, rendering therefor, by the year, one pair of gilt spurs, or 6d., at Easter, for all service and exaction." {217}

Having thus made our halt at Haltham, we bid adieu to the place, and push on southward. Pa.s.sing Tumby Lawn, the residence of Sir H. M. Hawley, surrounded by leafy groves, within whose shade (teste scriptore) Philomel doth pour forth (malgre the poets) _his_ flood of song, while a whole coterie of other birds in "amorous descant" join; and sheltered from the east by the extensive woods of Haltham, Fulsby, and Tumby, remains of the whilom "Tumby Chase," we find ourselves, at the end of some three and a half miles, entering the main street of Coningsby. Here again, we might ask, with love-sick Juliet, "What's in a name?" But, in sooth, a name may be an epitome of history. There is an old proverb that "knowledge is power," and we might say, the name of Coningsby is a territorial exemplification and perpetuation of this adage. In the language once spoken in these parts, {218} the conning, cunning man and the king were one and the same; the king _was_ king because he was the conner, the thinker, and so overtopped his fellows in cunning. He embodied in his own person the moral of every age of progress, that brute force must yield the palm to skill and judgment. Mob-rule may for a while s.n.a.t.c.h at, and hold, the mastery; but 'tis the man who has the cunning to bide his time, and then seize the opportunity, who will be borne in triumph on the shoulders of those who once hustled and jostled him. Within some miles northward of where I am writing lies Kingthorpe, "the king's village"; and at just about the same distance southward lies Coningsby, with precisely the same meaning. Both names imply the presence at one time of a king; who he may have been we do not know, but he put down his foot there, and the stamp remains. There was once a castellated residence here, the home of the Coningsby family; and one of them, Thomas, was created Earl of Coningsby, but, dying without issue, the t.i.tle became extinct in 1729. I may here mention that the tomb of the last Countess of Coningsby is in the north chantry chapel of Heydour church (between Sleaford and Grantham); it is a marble monument by Rijsbrach. There is also a slab to the last Viscount, 1733, who is traditionally said to have been taken from his cradle by a pet monkey, and dropped by it, in the terror of pursuit, from the roof of the house on to the stone pavement below, and so killed. The position of this old Coningsby mansion is not precisely known; but in a field on the south side of the main street there is an ancient dove-cot, and some fine trees, such as one might expect about a baronial residence. The Coningsbys moved from Coningsby to Hampton Court in Herefordshire more than two centuries ago. {219a} There was a very fine collection of pictures at this place, a list of which was given in the "Gentleman's Magazine" of April 26, 1826. Among these was a painting of the old mansion of Coningsby. Hampton Court is now the residence of John Arkwright, Esq., and is situated between Hereford and Leominster. But "vixere fortes ante Agamemnona," and there were men of mark at Coningsby long before those who took its name as their patronymic. In Domesday Book we find that Sortibrand, the son of Ulf, the Saxon, who was one of the Lagmen of Lincoln, and had "sac and soc {219b} over three mansions in that city," as successor to his father (loco Ulf patris sui), held a berewick (a corn farm) in Coningsby.

When the powerful favourite of the Conqueror, Robert Despenser, laid claim to a fishery and certain land in Coningsby, the Jurymen of the Wapentake of Horncastle decided that his claim was good, because Achi, his Saxon predecessor, had held the same in the time of Edward the Confessor. Moreover, the said Robert Despenser already held in Coningsby a berewick-"bere" (barley) land-of nine oxgangs, or some 225 acres, of meadow and wood, besides land in a score more parishes. And, again, from the same source we learn that a n.o.ble Fleming, Drogo de Bruere, who fought under the Conqueror at the battle of Hastings, and was rewarded by the gift of the whole of Holderness in Yorkshire, and other manors in Lincolnshire and elsewhere, also held land in Coningsby. Of this n.o.ble, Camden relates that the Conqueror valued his services so highly that he bestowed his own niece upon him in marriage; but that he destroyed her by poison, and then fled the country, all attempts to discover him having failed down to the time of the Domesday Survey being taken. {220a}

In the List of the Gentry of Lincolnshire, made on the Herald's Visitation of the county in 1634, and still preserved at the Herald's College, are the names of John Carter and Clinton Whichcote, of Coningsby. {220b}

In a Chancery Inquisition, post mortem, taken 31st May, 10 Henry VII., No. 72 (1495), it was found that Robert Taillebois, Knight, and John Gygour, Clerk, Warden of the College of Tatteshale, were "seized in their demesne as of fee of the manors of South Kyme, North Kyme, Conyngsby, Dokd.y.k.e, Byllingay," and other properties. {220c} While, as an evidence of the trade of Coningsby, in a list of "Lincolnshire Town and Traders'

Tokens," made by the late Mr. C. J. Caswell, of Horncastle, there occurs one of a Coningsby tradesman, bearing on the obverse side, "John Lupton-The Baker's Arms," and on the reverse side, "Of Cunsby, 1663-J. A.

L." {220d} Mr. Caswell adds a note that "where three initials are given, as in this case, the issuer's wife is included, sometimes joined in a true lover's knot. Mr. John Lupton (in the present day) is a well-known and respected farmer of Pinchbeck West. His daughter married T. A.

Roberts, Esq., M.R.C.S., late of Coningsby."

I have already, in connection with Haltham, quoted an old Record, Feet of Fines, 9 Henry III., No. 52, which gives an agreement between Henry del Ortiay and Sabina his wife, as plaintiffs, on the one part, and Ralph de Rhodes on the other part, holding lands in Coningsby, Haltham, Marynge (Mareham), and other places; by which they recognise these lands as his by right, and, in return, he a.s.signs certain land to them in Upper Tynton, to have and to hold for ever, by the tenure of a pair of gilt spurs, given annually. This brings this powerful baron into connection with Coningsby. {221a} While further, in a Feet of Fines, 19 Henry VII.

(1503), on the Octave of Holy Trinity, an agreement is given between Sir Edward Ponyngs, Knt., Sir Thomas Fenys (Fynes?), Knt., Sir John Peeche, Knt., John Mordaunt, and others, plaintiffs, on the one part, and Sir George Nevyll, of Burgavenny, Knight, and Joan his wife, deforciants, whereby George and Joan recognise certain lands in Conysby, Halton, Belcheford, and elsewhere, to be the right of John Mordaunt, for which the plaintiffs gave them l,000. {221b} Here we have another proprietor, John Mordaunt, brought into connection with Coningsby, and that he was a man of substance was shewn by the fact that this recognition of his property was not confined to Coningsby, but extended to the manor of Estwardesbersoke, etc., in Notts.; the manors of Halton, Aukebarow, and Burton Stather; lands in Winterton, Theylby, Hybalstede, Barnaby, Eyrby, Crosby, Gunnall, Donyngton, etc. Further, by Feet of Fynes, 21 Henry VII. (1505), an agreement is given between Richard, Bishop of Winchester, Sir Giles Daubeney, of Daubeney, Knight; Sir T. Lovell, Sir R. Emson, Sir James Hobart, _Humphrey Conyngesby_, one of the King's Sergeants at Law, and others, as plaintiffs, and Robert Ratclyfe de Fitzwater, and Margaret Ratclyfe, widow of Sir John Ratclyfe de Fitzwater, deforciants; whereby Robert and Margaret recognise the castle of Egremound, and various other manors and properties, to be the right of the Bishop.

Further, it is known that the manor of Coningsby was formerly held by the Marmyons, and they and their descendants, the Dymokes, were largely commemorated in stained-gla.s.s windows once existing in the church; and a tombstone records the "Hic jacet" of Anna, daughter of Thomas Dymoke, and his wife "que obijt A Dni 1462." The manorial rights ultimately pa.s.sed to the Heathcotes, and are now the property of the head of that family, the Earl of Ancaster.

Let us now look at the church; and, taking the exterior first, we are struck by the fine tower, which is visible for many miles round. It is of the Perpendicular order, very plain; indeed, almost without ornament, except for the roses on the cuspings of the upper window; but it is of solid, good ashlar work, well supported by b.u.t.tresses, and its outline relieved by several set-offs. It is pierced, below, by an arched pa.s.sage, through which there is a public thoroughfare, existing from time immemorial, {222} the supposition being, that the monks of Croyland and other southern monasteries, on their way to Kirkstead, and their more northern brethren, "baited" at the rectory hard by, where there are still traces of a large refectory in the presence of an arch of wide span, which runs through the oldest part of the house, from top to bottom. In the east and west walls, on either side of this tower arch, is a s.e.x-foiled, circular window; that on the east being in the west wall of the nave, and filled with coloured gla.s.s; that on the west, being in the outside wall of the tower, has never been glazed. In the south-eastern wall of the porch is a stoup, which formerly was open both within the porch and outside, though now it is closed outside. Built into the west wall of the south aisle, probably at the restoration in 1872, is a block of stone, carved with a closed hand, having a finely-laced cuff. This is, doubtless, an importation from elsewhere. Near the top of the wall of a cupola-shaped south finial of the rood-loft turret, is an old sun-dial. Taking now the interior, we find a ma.s.sive heavy roof, of beams somewhat rudely hewn, with traces of former colouring still perceptible. The four western bays of the arcade are Early English, with low arches rising from octagonal piers; the easternmost bay seems to have been an addition at a later date; some of the piers, two on the north and one on the south, have been heightened, and the arches are higher and wider. The moulding between two of the north arches terminates in a head, on each side of which an evil spirit is whispering. Another terminal is the head of a woman wearing the "branks," or scold's bridle.

{223} The clerestory windows were spoilt at the restoration, when their height had to be reduced. Externally their original design remains-two lancet windows over each arch; but internally the lancets have been cut short and converted into triangular lights with curved sides. On the south side of the chancel arch is a rood-loft staircase turret, of which both the upper and lower doorways remain. The chancel east end is apsidal, modern, and out of keeping with the rest of the structure.

There are three two-light windows in the three faces of the apse. In one of these the present rector, Canon Arthur Wright, has placed a two-light memorial window, to his deceased wife, of some beauty. South of the Communion table, attached to the wall as a credence table, is an Early English capital, with piscina behind. The windows in the north aisle are decorated with reticulated tracery. Those of the south aisle are Perpendicular, with segmented heads. The windows throughout the church, and extending even to the rectory house, were, at a former period, unusually rich in stained gla.s.s,

With varied hues all richly dight, In radiance and collateral light, Of knight's and baron's heraldic scroll, And prayers invoked for manie a soule.

The marvel is, what has become of it, since there is no record of any act of spoliation such as is known to have been committed in the neighbouring church of Tattershall. We give here extracts from Gervase Holles' "Notes on Churches," descriptive of these windows, etc., from the Harleyan MSS., No. 6,829, as they are given in Weir's "History," pp. 5052, ed. 1820.