Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood Part 7

CHAPTER VIII. THE ARCHaeOLOGY OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.

In entering on this portion of our Records we are pa.s.sing from the Natural to the Artificial, from the operations of the Creator to the works of the creature. A systematic process of enquiry would shew that, as in geology, so here, the subject-matter lies in layers. We have the prehistoric period concerning palaeolithic and neolithic man; then follow the British, the Roman, the Saxon, the Danish, and the Norman strata, or eras; so many have been the elements which have contributed to the moulding of our country and our people, as we find them at the present day. But again, as in geology, so here, we find few traces in our own immediate neighbourhood of the earlier links in this series-the people who preceded the historic Britons. On Twig Moor, near Brigg, in the north of the county, a tract of ground very similar to our own Moor, many flint implements have been found. On an excursion of our "Naturalists'

Union" to that tract, one of the party found "a handful" of stone "knives and finely-chipped arrow heads." {105a} The members of the same Society, visiting Woodhall in 1893, found on the Moor "patches of pale-coloured sand, slightly ferruginous, and having a considerable number of flints,"

but none were found which could be said to shew traces of human use.

This, however, is no reason why the visitor to Woodhall should not search for them. That they exist in our neighbourhood has been proved, since a good specimen of flint axe was found a few years ago by Mr. A. W. Daft, on Highrigge farm, near Stobourne Wood, in Woodhall. It is about five inches in length and 1 inches broad, and, from its high degree of polish, probably was the work of neolithic man. {105b} Another, smaller, flint celt was found in 1895 by Mr. Crooks, of Woodhall Spa, in the parish of Horsington, near Lady-hole bridge, between Stixwould and Tupholme. Its length was 3 inches, by 2 inches in breadth, thickness about inch. More recently one was found in a field on the Stixwould road by his son, about three inches in length and 1 inches broad, thickness inch. In 1904 several finely chipt flint arrow heads, about one inch in length and breadth, were found in the parish of Salmonby, near Horncastle, in a field called "Warlow Camp," doubtless the site of a prehistoric settlement. The present writer has picked up at odd times some half dozen specimens, bearing more or less trace of human manipulation, but none of them so well finished as those referred to. A farmer residing near the Moor, to whom I recently explained what a flint implement was, said he had noticed several stones of that kind, but did not know that they were worth picking up. Two molar teeth of the Elephas primigenius, or extinct mammoth, have been found in a pit at Kirkby-on-Bain, situated between the road and the ca.n.a.l, about a quarter of a mile north-west of the church; {106a} and bones of Bos primigenius and Cervus elaphus were found among gravel and ice-sc.r.a.ped pebbles in a pit, near Langworth bridge (not far from Bardney). The former of these, the gigantic Ox, or Urus, belonged to the palaeolithic age, {106b} when the first race of human beings peopled this land, but was extinct in the neolithic period in this country (though in a later age re-introduced).

The latter, which is our red-deer, survived in a wild state, in our county and neighbourhood, until comparatively modern times. Large vertebrae, apparently of some huge Saurian, have been found, which the writer has seen, in West Ashby; and a large mammoth tooth is preserved among the treasures of the late Mechanics' Inst.i.tute at Horncastle, having been found in the neighbourhood. These are all the pre-historic relics which I can find recorded in our neighbourhood.

Later antiquities, of the British, Roman, and succeeding periods, are, or have been, fairly plentiful; the misfortune being that, as we, as yet, have no County Museum wherein they could be preserved, they have doubtless many of them been lost, or, if kept in private hands, are unrecorded.

When the bed of the Witham, by order of the Royal Commissioners, was cleansed in 1788, a number of swords, spears, arrow heads, etc., were found on the hard clay bottom, which had been covered over, and so preserved, by the acc.u.mulated mud. And in the "Gentleman's Magazine" for that year a list of them was given. The late Sir Joseph Banks, of Revesby Abbey, secured a considerable number of such relics, catalogues of which are given in "Lincolnshire Notes & Queries," Vols. III. and IV.

They consist of arms and utensils of our British, Roman, Saxon, and Danish ancestors. Among the more interesting of these was a whittle, or "anelace," exactly resembling one described by Greene as part of Chaucer's dress. {107} In connection with Woodhall were the following:-A sword, probably Saxon, brought up from the Witham bed near "Kirkstead Wath," entangled in the p.r.o.ngs of an eel-stang. The pommel and guard are tinned, as we now tin the inside of kitchen utensils; an art which we should not have known that our forefathers at that period possessed but for such discoveries as this. The polish still remained on parts of the blade "admirably brilliant." It bore the inscription + Benvenutus + on one side, and on the other + me fecit +, in Saxon characters; the name shewing that the maker was an Italian, the crosses probably implying that he (or the owner, if made to order) was a Christian; while from the Saxon lettering we should infer that the Italian sword-cutler exercised his craft in the north of Europe. Another sword, with bra.s.s scabbard, of elegant workmanship and richly gilt, was found near Bardney. Several more swords, with Saxon and Roman inscriptions, were also found near Bardney.

A dagger was brought up by an eel-stang near "Kirkstead Wath," the handle, of elm, being in fairly good preservation, the only instance of wood thus surviving. {108a} Several others, one of superior work with an ivory handle, were found in the Witham near Bardney.

A spear head of bone, of British structure, was found in Stixwould in an ancient sewer, which was being cleansed. Sir J. Banks says that "it does credit to the skill of the person who made it." {108b} Several more of these were found at Bardney and other parts of the Witham; and again at "Kirksted Wath" the eel-stang brought up an iron specimen, which from its appearance would seem to have been broken in action.

A large barbed arrow head was found near Bardney, with an orifice large enough to receive a broom handle. {108c}

A Roman lituus, or clarion, was found near Tattershall Ferry. Though imperfect, both ends being broken off, it is interesting as being probably the only one in existence. This instrument is represented among trophies on the base of Trojan's column in Rome, and appears on some Roman coins. {108d} A description is given in the "Archaeologia" of the Society of Antiquaries (Vol. XIV.) of an iron candlestick, of curious construction, being one of six which were found in the Witham by Kirkstead. We may well imagine that they, at one time, served to light the refectory of the Abbey, where the monks of old dispensed hospitality to the poor and needy, or to the wayfaring stranger. Perhaps the most interesting relic of all is a British shield, of finely-wrought metal, originally gilt, with a boss of carnelian, and ornamented with elaborate devices, shewing that those primitive people, though living a rude life, had attained to a very considerable degree of skill in working metals.

It is described in the "Archaeologica" (Vol. XXIII.); and an engraving is given of it in "Fenland" by Skertchly and Miller (p. 463). It was formerly in the Meyrick collection.

The above are a selection of the most interesting objects yielded up to us chiefly by the Witham; there have been many more, but of less importance. Several Roman urns in different places have been exhumed.

The parish of Thornton runs down to Kirkstead station, pa.s.sing almost within a stone's throw of the Victoria Hotel; and in Thornton a small Roman vase was discovered when the railroad was made, in 1854. The present writer has seen it, but it has, unfortunately, disappeared. An engraving and description of it are given in the "Linc. Architectural Society's Journal," Vol. IV., Part II., p. 200. It was nine inches in height, of rather rough construction, and with a rude ornamentation. Two Roman urns, or, according to another account, six ("Lincolnshire N. & Q."

Vol. III., p. 154), were also found at the north-east corner of a field, on the road leading from Stixwould to Bucknall, about 3 miles from Woodhall. They were of the kind technically termed "smoke burnt." The soil at the spot was a clay of so tenacious a character that several horse-shoes, some of them of a very old and curious make, have been found in the former quagmire. Several large Roman urns have been found in, or near, Horncastle, and are preserved among the treasures of the late Mechanics' Inst.i.tute, having been presented to the town by the sole surviving trustee, Mr. Joseph Willson, to form, with other objects, the nucleus of a local museum at some future time. Engravings of these also are given, with a Paper by Rev. E. Trollope, the late Bishop Suffragan of Nottingham, in the abovementioned Journal, at p. 210.

At Ashby Puerorum, so called because certain lands in the parish go to pay for the choristers of Lincoln Cathedral, in the year 1794, a labourer, cutting a ditch, discovered, three feet below the surface, a Roman sepulture, a stone chest squared and dressed with much care, in which was deposited an urn of strong gla.s.s of greenish hue. The chest was of freestone, such as is common on Lincoln heath. The urn, of elegant shape, contained human bones nearly reduced to ashes, and among them a small lacrimatory of very thin green gla.s.s. {110a}

On the Mareham road, on the south side of Horncastle, beyond the Black Swan inn, was a Roman burial ground, and several cinerary urns and some coffins have been discovered there. One stone coffin now stands in the back premises of Mr. James Isle, near to the corner where the Spilsby and Boston roads meet. In connection with this subject, I may here mention the most recent archaeological "find" in Horncastle. While digging gravel in a pit recently opened in a garden at the back of Queen Street, not far from the Mareham Road, in 1897, the pick of the labourer struck against a hard substance, about two feet below the surface, which, on examination, proved to be an ancient coffin. It was constructed, except the lid, of one sheet of lead, slit at the corners to allow its being doubled up to form the sides and ends. The coffin was 5ft. 2in. in length, and within were the remains of a skeleton, p.r.o.nounced by experts to be that of a female. A few days later a second lead coffin was found, similar to the former, except that it was 5ft. 7in. long, and the skeleton was p.r.o.nounced to be that of a man. Both coffins lay east and west. The present writer was asked to investigate the matter. On enquiry, it was found that, about 24 years before, three lead coffins had been found within 100 yards of the same spot; they were sold for old lead and melted down. {110b} As Horncastle was the old Roman station Banovallum, the question arose whether these coffins were Roman, or of later, date. The orientation of both implied that they were Christian. After much interesting correspondence, the writer obtained the information from an antiquary of note, that if the lead was pure it would be of post-Roman date, if it contained an admixture of tin it would most probably be Roman. a.n.a.lysis of the lead was made by a professional, which gave "percentage of tin 1.65 to 97.08 of lead, 1.3 of oxygen, which implied that the persons buried were Romans, as well as Christians. A peculiar feature in these burials was that there were lumps of lime about the skeletons. I find, however, that some years ago a lead coffin was discovered near the Roman road, which pa.s.ses through the parish of Bow, containing a skeleton with lime. {111} From its position near the Roman road we should infer that this was a Roman burial, and the presence of lime confirms the origin of the Horncastle coffins. The lime was probably used as a preservative. One of the coffins was sold for a collection in Manchester, the other was bought by public subscription, to be preserved for a future local museum. In the same gravel pit, a few days after the finding of the coffins, the labourer's tool struck against another object, which proved to be an earthenware vessel, probably a Roman urn, but it was so shattered that he threw the fragments away, and they could not be recovered. It was described as being about 10 inches high, of a brown colour, and bearing traces of a pattern running round it.

Several old coins have been found in Horncastle, and some at Tattershall.

As to the latter place, Allen, in his "History," vol. ii., p. 72, and Weir ("Historical Account of Lincolnshire," vol. i., p. 302), say that several Roman coins have been found, but they do not specify what they were. There were two so-called "Roman camps" in what is called Tattershall Park, this being supposed to be the Roman station Durobrivis.

But, alas! "Jam seges est, ubi Troja fuit": the plough has eliminated the camps from the field of view. Roman coins would be a natural result of a Roman station. It should not, however, be forgotten that Gough, Camden, and other authorities p.r.o.nounce these camps to have been of British origin. The earlier Britons used mainly a bra.s.s coinage, or iron bars (utuntur aut aere, aut taleis ferreis, says Caesar, _Bell. Gall._, v. 12); so that there should not be much difficulty in deciding whether the coins were those of British or Roman occupants. Taught by the Romans, the later Britons probably coined considerably. The oldest specimens known to be coined at Lincoln bear the name of King Arthur. Camden and Speed give several. At Horncastle, the oldest coin found was British, having on one side, amid mystic circles, the figure of a "horse rampant,"

indicative of the reverence in which the horse was held by the Druids.

{112a} Stukeley says, in his Diary, "a coign I got of Carausius found at Hornecastle. It had been silvered over. The legend of the reverse is obscure. It seems to be a figure, sitting on a coat of armour, or trophy, with a garland in her left hand, and (legend) Victorii Aug."

{112b} Silver coins of Vespasian, Lucius Septimius Severus, Alexander Severus, and Volusia.n.u.s, a large bra.s.s coin of Trajan, middle bra.s.s of Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Trajan, Hadrian, Domitian, Antoninus Pius, Faustina the elder, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Lucius Verus, and Faustina the younger, and several more. {112c} In December, 1898, a coin was found by a son of Mr. W. K. Morton, bookseller, while playing in the garden at Onslow House, which proved to be one of the Emperor Constantine.

In deepening the bed of the river Bain to form the ca.n.a.l, in 1802, an ornamental bra.s.s spur, part of a bra.s.s crucifix, and a dagger, were found together, at a short distance from the north basin of the ca.n.a.l; and the writer once found, some quarter of a mile out of Horncastle, on Langton hill, the rowell of a spur, with very long spikes, probably at one time belonging to a cavalier at the battle of Winceby. He has also in his possession a pair of bra.s.s spurs, found not far from Winceby, ma.s.sive and heavy, the spikes of the rowell being an inch in length.

Let us now return to Woodhall Spa; and on the way pause for a moment on the moor. We have already mentioned a curious character, by name Dawson, but more commonly called "Tab-s.h.a.g," who, within the memory of the writer and many more, lived as a kind of squatter, in his sod-built hut, close to "The Tower." A sort of living fossil was this individual, short in stature, dark in complexion, and with a piercing, almost uncanny, eye; roughly clad, and looking as though he were something of a stranger to soap and water. "What's in a name?" said love-sick Juliet. Yet the name which clung to this eccentric person probably had its significance. In one of the "Magic Songs" of the Finns (given in "Folklore," vol. i., No.

iii., p. 827) a sort of demon is described as "Old s.h.a.ggy," "the horror of the land," "reared on a heather clump," "living on the lee side of a stone," corresponding much to the home and haunts of our Tab-s.h.a.g.

Brogden {113} says "s.h.a.g-foal" means "a hobgoblin supposed to haunt certain places," and a writer in the "Archaeological Review" (for January, 1890) says that "s.h.a.g" is an old term for an elf, or Brownie, or "goblin dwarf." He adds, "The Hog-boy, or Howe-boy, of the Orkneys, in Lincolnshire is p.r.o.nounced s.h.a.g-boy." An old lady, born at the beginning of the eighteenth century, is quoted, in "The Cornhill Magazine" (August, 1882) as saying she had often heard of fairies and s.h.a.g boys, but had never seen one herself, "though la.s.ses were often skeart (_i.e._, scared, frightened) at them." And the weird-looking figure of Tab-s.h.a.g, living in the peculiar way he did, in a kind of "brock," or "how," of his own construction, was not altogether unlike that of one of the "How folk,"

the "little people," believed in by our superst.i.tious forefathers, and whose memory is perpetuated in the Folk's glove (digitalis) of our heath; as he squatted on his "faerie-knowe" on the lee side of the old Tower, or roamed over the dreary moor at nightfall to startle the belated wayfarer.

What may have been the meaning of the other element in his soubriquet is not so easy to say. There is a Cornish (and probably British) word "Tab," which means turf ("Archaeol. Journ." vol. ii., No. 3, p. 199), and that would suit this dweller on the heath; but it is more likely that "Tab" had a reference to the cat, "Tabby" being the term for a brindled cat. And Bishop Harsnet, in his curious book on "The Superst.i.tions of the Day" (1605), says a witch, or elf, "can take the form of hare, mouse, or cat."

Tabby is really a corruption of Tibby, and that is from Tybalt, the name of puss in the old Beast Epic of the middle ages. Ben Johnson uses "tiberts" for cats; and Mercutio, in "Romeo and Juliet" (Act. iii., sc.

1) addresses Tybalt, when wishing to annoy him, as "Tybalt, you rat catcher . . . King of cats" (Folk-etymology).

This prowler on the heath might well be likened to p.u.s.s.y prowling after mice, or higher game. {114a} But elfs and bogies have now vanished from our sylvan glades, as the will o' the wisp has from the fens and marshes, where the present writer has seen it. Drainage, and schools, and newspapers have banished alike such phenomena, and the belief in them; and Tab-s.h.a.g, like many another equally harmless, and equally perhaps misunderstood, creature, will soon be forgotten.

One more antiquarian discovery may here be noticed. Much interest was excited by an ancient canoe which was unearthed near Brigg, in North Lincolnshire, in the year 1886, while some excavators were working on the east side of the river Ancholme. It was constructed out of a single tree, which must have been a very large oak. It was 48ft. in length; its width 5ft. at the widest part, and 4ft. at the narrowest. It had three transverse stays, also cut out of the solid. It was distant from the present river about 40 yards, lying due east and west, on what must have been a sloping beach. It was completely buried in a bed of alluvial clay; one end being 5ft. below the surface, and the other 9ft. below. It is fully described in an article, written by T. Tindall Wildridge, in "Bygone Lincolnshire" (1st series). The writer gives other instances of similar discoveries-in the Medway in 1720, in the Rother (Kent) in 1822, on the Clyde, etc.; various such boats, indeed, have been found on the Clyde, and, in one case, what is further interesting, the boat had within it a beautifully-finished stone celt, thus connecting it with the race of, probably, the later stone period. Several finds of this kind have occurred in our own river, the Witham, or near it.

In digging for the foundations of a house in the upper part of the High Street, Lincoln, some 80 or 90 years ago, a boat was discovered fastened by a chain to a post, {114b} the spot being several yards higher than the present level of the Witham; thus showing that, when the Witham was a tidal river, it rose at times considerably higher than it does now.

In 1816 an ancient canoe was found, {115a} some 8 feet below the surface, in cutting a drain, parallel to the Witham, about two miles below Lincoln. This, like the Brigg boat, was hollowed out of a single oak, 38ft. long, and 3ft. at the widest part. Another was found in 1818, in cutting a drain not far from the last, but was unfortunately destroyed by the workmen before they knew what it was. Its length was about the same as that of the previous boat, but it was 4ft. wide. Two more similar canoes-"dugouts," as they were technically termed-were found about the same time in drain-cutting, in the same vicinity; and one of these was presented to the British Museum. {115b} The Fen men used to call their boats "shouts," from the Dutch "schuyt," a wherry. They propelled them along the drains by a long pole, called a "poy." It would be too much to say that all these vessels belonged to pre-historic man, because of the presence in one case of a flint implement, connecting it with the neolithic period. Such boats have probably been used by all nations, at early stages of their existence. The Greek writer Hippocrates, about 400 B.C., mentions the "monoxyle," or one-tree boat; one has been found in the Tunhovd Fyord in Norway. The Russians of the 9th century, in the neighbourhood of Novgorod, used them, laden with slaves for the market.

The Goths of the 3rd century, as stated by Strabo, swept the Black Sea with them; and Professor Righ says that they have been used until comparatively modern times in Scandinavia; but at any rate these found in our fens belong to a period, apparently, when the fens were not yet formed, or, at most, were forming.-_Article on the Brigg Boat in_ "_Byegone Lincolnshire_."

We now come to a case nearer home. The visitor who takes a stroll from the cross roads by St. Andrew's Church, along the Tattershall road, shortly after crossing the pellucid sewer, will see a large pond on his right, close to a farm yard; and on the other side, eastward, are two ponds, about 80 yards from the road. All these ponds are pits dug for clay, which was put on the somewhat light land to strengthen it. The present course of the sewer, now running in a straight line due east and west, from Kirkby lane to the Witham, is artificial. It formerly pursued a tortuous course, and, on reaching the Tattershall road, flowed southward along the west side of that road, past what is now the Abbey Lodge public-house, dividing into more than one channel on its way to the Witham. This change was made soon after the Kirkstead estate pa.s.sed, by purchase, from the Ellison family to that of the present proprietor, in the year 1839, when great improvements were made in the farms; the woods, {116} which then reached from the Moor ground to the Tattershall road, were cleared away, and much land brought into cultivation which had hitherto been waste, or forest. In digging for clay some 150 yards eastward from the road, and about the same distance, or a little more, south of the present course of the sewer, the labourers came upon the skeleton of a boat several feet below the surface. I am not able to discover whether it was a so-called "dug-out," formed from one trunk, or constructed, as modern boats are, of several planks. Probably it would be the latter. But its position several feet below the surface would seem to imply considerable antiquity; while its mere existence would seem to indicate that either the sewer was formerly a larger stream than it is now, to float such a boat, or that the waters of the Witham, when unconfined by such a bank as the present, extended to this point inland.

A circ.u.mstance which confirms the supposition of the sewer being larger is the fact that about this same place it is known that there was a mill-dam, and doubtless the stream turned the mill-wheel. The boat in question may not, therefore, like some of those previously mentioned, have belonged to pre-historic man; and yet it might well lay claim to an antiquity sufficiently h.o.a.r to make it a relic of some interest. But, though so long preserved beneath the surface, once above ground, it soon perished, and even the memory of it only remains with a few.

The visitor to Woodhall, who has antiquarian proclivities, may well spend an enjoyable day at Lincoln, not only for the sake of seeing the Cathedral, which is unsurpa.s.sed by any in the kingdom, or, rather, as has been said by no less an authority than Ruskin, "worth any two others"; or of visiting the Castle, founded by the Conqueror; but there are many other objects of much interest. One of the most important discoveries of recent years is the remains of a Roman basilica, found beneath the house of Mr. Allis, builder, in Bailgate, where a small fee is charged for admission. This has been p.r.o.nounced by an authority, the late Precentor Venables, to have been "the finest Roman building in the kingdom." Its length was 250 feet, width 70 feet, and it had stately pillars rising to a height of 30 feet. Beyond this is the fine old Newport Arch, the only Roman city gate in the kingdom. "The n.o.blest remnant of this sort in Britain," says Leland. He will do well to furnish himself with the "Pocket Guide to Lincoln," by the late Sir Charles Anderson, one of our greatest authorities, and "A Walk through Lincoln," by the late learned Precentor Venables, a compendium rich in historic lore. Either of these will prove a valuable Vade mec.u.m, but the former, perhaps, more for the study, to be perused before his visit; the latter a manual for the street.

It may be added that, within quite recent years, the visitor to Lincoln found himself at once, on landing from the train, in an atmosphere of antiquity, for, on emerging from the station of the G. N. Railway, he would see over the door of a shop, full of modern utensils, facing the gate of the station yard, the name "Burrus," Cooper, a genuine Roman patronymic, the bearer of which we may well suppose to have been a lineal descendant of some early Roman colonist, settled at Lindum Colonia, "a citizen of no mean city," for Precentor Venables reminds us ("A Walk through Lincoln," p. 9) it is one (with Colchester and Cologne) of the only three cities which still preserve, embedded in their names, the traces of their ancient distinction as Roman colonies.

By way of whetting the appet.i.te for further enquiry, I give here a succinct catena of historic items, shewing the many interesting memories which cl.u.s.ter round our ancient cathedral city.

Lincoln was the British Caer-Lind-coit, the "Fortress (or City) of River and Wood," these being the chief features of the position; the river, a sacred British stream, which carved out for itself its channel through "the Lincoln Gap"; and the woods (Welsh, or British, 'coed,' a wood) which stretched far away for miles around it; of the remains of which De la Prime says, "infinite millions of roots and bodies of trees have been found, of 30 yards length and above, and have been sold to make masts and keels for ships . . . as black as ebony, and very durable." {118a} Then, as the city took the last element of its name from its woods (coeds), so the people who dwelt around were called Coitani, or woodmen {118b}; corresponding to the name given to the dwellers in the fens, Gir-vii, or men of the cars. Lincoln was the royal city of the Coitani.

During the Roman occupation the Britons were christianized. After the Romans left the country, the people having, through the long period of peace, almost lost the art of war, the British chief Vortigern called in the Saxons from the continent to aid him against the inroads of the Picts and Scots; and Hengist and Horsa, Saxon chiefs, came with a large following and settled in the country (circa A.D. 450). Vortigern, with their a.s.sistance, repelled those northern marauders, and himself married Rowena, daughter of Hengist, giving to Hengist, in return for his aid, considerable lands-"multos agros," says Matthew of Westminster {118c}-in Lindsey.

But these so-called friends soon proved to be enemies, and, in 462, seized London, York, and Lincoln. Vortimer, son of Vortigern, died and was buried at Lincoln. Vortigern himself retired into Wales, and was burnt in his castle there, in 485.

Matthew of Westminster records that King Arthur of "the round table"

pursued a Saxon army as far as Lincoln, having defeated them, with a loss of 6,000 men, in a wood near Barlings.

The Saxons, being ultimately victorious, re-introduced Paganism, the names of their G.o.ds still surviving in our day-names, Tuesday (Tuisco), Wednesday (Woden), Thursday (Thor), Friday (Friga), Sat.u.r.day (Seater).

Among the kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy, Mercia was the largest and most important division, {118d} founded by the chief Crida in A.D. 584, and Lincoln is said to have been its capital city.

Paulinus preached Christianity among the Saxons (circa A.D. 630), and converted Blecca, the governor of Lincoln, where a stone church was built, said by some to have been the first stone church in the kingdom, {119a} that at Glas...o...b..ry being made of wattles. The Venerable Bede says it was of excellent workmanship. {119b} Two churches in Lincoln have claimed to represent this ancient fabric.

At a later period the Humber formed a highway for the marauding Danes, who overran the country, and, if in nothing else, have left their traces in every village-name ending in "by." In their time Lincoln was the first city of the Pentapolis, or Quinque Burgi, of Fifburg, a league of the five confederate towns, Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, and Stamford. Before the Norman Conquest Lincoln was the fourth city in the kingdom, and during the 11th and 12th centuries it was one of the greatest trading towns in the kingdom. The castle was founded by the Conqueror, A.D. 1086, being one of four which he erected at York, Nottingham, Hastings and here; and 166 "mansions" were destroyed to provide s.p.a.ce for it. {119c}

The Empress Maud, in 1140, took up her residence in Lincoln, and strongly fortified the castle. It was besieged by Stephen, who was defeated and made prisoner at the battle of Lincoln. A prophecy had long been current to this effect,-

"The first crowned head that enters Lincoln's walls, His reign proves stormy, and his kingdom falls."

On Stephen's restoration he visited Lincoln in triumph, wearing his crown; but subsequent events verified the prediction.

At Lincoln, in 1200, William the Lion, of Scotland, did homage to King John of England.

On the death of Queen Eleanor, the beloved wife of Edward I., at Harby, a small hamlet of North Clifton, Notts, the embalmed body was taken to Westminster for burial, but the viscera were brought to Lincoln and interred in the Cathedral, A.D. 1290.

In 1301 Edward I. held a Parliament in Lincoln, to decide on sending letters to Rome to Pope Boniface VIII., a.s.serting England's independence of the Pope.

In 1305 Edward I. kept his court in Lincoln a whole winter, and held another Parliament, in which he confirmed the Magna Charta of King John.