Part 9 (1/2)

At what date this old Hall fell into decay we have no means of knowing.

The turf which now covers its foundations has at some time been levelled, and beyond slight indications of walls in the central of the three enclosures, the moats alone survive to shew its extent. The writer is in possession of an interesting relic, an old pistol of curious workmans.h.i.+p, which was found near the place by Mr. Atkinson, of the farm adjoining, in digging a ditch. The peculiar make of the weapon would seem to indicate that it was of the date of about Charles I.; {129} in which case we may suppose that the Hall was at that time occupied as a residence, and the pistol, being of French manufacture and rather handsomely chased, may have belonged to the wealthy occupant of the mansion; or, perhaps more likely, may have been part of the accoutrements of a cavalier of rank in the Royalist army, which, after their defeat at the battle of Winceby, near Horncastle, Oct. 11, 1643, was dispersed over the whole of this neighbourhood; and a fugitive officer may have sought shelter and hospitality at the High-Hall.

It is not a little remarkable that there should have been these two Halls, so near to each other and within the one parish; but they represent to us the lay, and the ecclesiastical, powers that were.

There were, also, other large, moated, ancient residences in our immediate neighbourhood, but in this chapter I confine myself to the two situated in Woodhall. The others will claim attention hereafter.

CHAPTER IX. ARCHaeOLOGY-_continued_.

It was stated in the preceding chapter, that, besides the two ancient moated mansions in the parish of Woodhall, there described, there are other remains of a like character in our immediate neighbourhood. I will first mention a residence, the site of which I have not been able definitely to fix, but it would probably be somewhere near the Manor House of Woodhall Spa. I have before me a copy of a will preserved at the Probate Office, Lincoln, {131} which begins thus:-”The 6th of Dec., 1608, I, Edmund Sherard of Bracken-End, in the parish of Woodhall, and county of Lincoln, gente., sicke in bodye, but of perfect memorie, do will,” &c. We may pause here to notice that the name ”Bracken-End” would seem to imply that the residence stood at an extreme point of what is now ”Bracken” wood, and, as the position would naturally be viewed in its geographical relation to the centre of the parish, either to the Woodhall by the parish church, or to the manorial High Hall, this point, we may a.s.sume, would be on the far, or south, side of Bracken wood, as the present Manor House is. In a similar manner a row of houses in Kirkstead, from their outlying situation, are called ”Town-end.” In an old doc.u.ment, in Latin (Reg. III., D. & C.D. 153), mention is made of ”Willelmus Howeson de Howeson-end”; and the residence of Lord Braybrooke, in Cambridges.h.i.+re, is named Audley End. There are known to have been a succession of buildings on the site of the present Woodhall Manor House, and we can hardly doubt that the residence here referred to as ”Bracken-end” also stood there.

The will is of further interest as shewing the testator's connection and dealings with members of families of position once, or still, well known in the neighbourhood or county.

His first bequest is (that which is the common lot of us all) ”my bodye to the earth whence it came.” He then goes on to bequeath certain sums ”To Susanna my weif . . . To Elizabeth Sherard my daughter . . . To my sonne Robert . . . To the child my weif is conceaved with . . . The portions to be payde when my son Robert is xxj. years of age, and my daughters' portions when they are xx., or shall marrie. My executur to keepe and maintaine my children,” &c. He then wills that, in accordance with ”an arbitrament between Sir John Meares, of Awbrowy (Aukborough), in the county of Lincoln, knight,” and another, ”with the consent of Willm.

Sherard, of Lope-thorpe, in the parish of North Witham, knight, on the one partie, and I, the said Edmund Sherard, of the other partie . . .

that the said William Sherard shall be accomptable . . . every yeare, of the goods and chattles of John Sherard, late of Lincoln, gent., deceased”

. . . and, ”I desire my said brother William Sherard, knight, . . . that he should discharge the same accordinglie to the benefit of my weif and children. Item, that Robert Thomson, my Father-in-law, shall have all my sheepe in Bracken End, which I bought of him, and owe for only fourty of them; that he shall paye to my wief for them vs. iiijd. (5s. 4d.) apeece.” He then mentions as ”debts dewe”:-”John Ingrum of Bucknall for sheepe of lord Willoughbie xijli.; Edward Skipwith of Ketsby, gent, for lx. sheep xxvvijli.; and if he refuse the sheepe, to pay to my executrix xls., which the Testator payde for sommering them: Edward Skipwith to be accomptable for the wool of the sayde sheepe for this last year, but (_i.e._, except) for vli. he hath payde in parts thereof.” ”The Lord Clinton oweth for 1000 kiddes. Thomas Brownloe, servant of lord Willoughbie of Knaith, oweth for monev lent him, lvs.”-Prob. at Lincoln 9 Jan. 16089.

On these various items we may remark that, from the figures here given, 60 sheep cost 27 pounds, or 9 s.h.i.+llings each, of the money of that date, and for the ”sommering” of them was paid 8d. each. In the first case his father-in-law was only able to pay 5s. 4d. each, because the testator still owed him for 40 of them.

The Lord Clinton named as owing for ”1000 kiddes” would at that time be residing at Tattershall Castle, which was one of his princ.i.p.al residences, Sempringham being another (Camden's ”Britannia,” p. 478). We here have the thoroughly Lincolns.h.i.+re word ”kid” for f.a.ggot. {133} The name ”Lope-thorpe” for the residence of the testator's brother, Sir William Sherard, is a variation from Lobthorpe. A moat and fish ponds still mark the site of Lobthorpe Hall in North Witham, and there are several monuments in the church of Sir Brownlow Sherard and other members of the family. As there is no mention of the burial of this Edmund Sherard, Gent., of Bracken-end, in the Woodhall parish register, he was doubtless also interred at North Witham.

The ”Sir John Meares of Aukborough” mentioned as a party to the ”arbitrament” was a member of a very old Lincolns.h.i.+re family, whose chief seat was Kirton near Boston, Sir John being lord of that manor; and there are several monuments of the family in the church there. Sir Thomas Meares, of Meres, was M.P. for Lincoln in eleven Parliaments, and was knighted at Whitehall in 1660 by Charles II.; and another Thomas Meeres was Member for the county in three Parlaiments temp. Henry VI. The ”Edward Skipwith, of Ketsby, Gent.,” also mentioned, is again a scion of one of our very old county families, their chief seat in this neighbourhood having been South Ormsby, to which Ketsby is attached. The church there has a bra.s.s of Sir William Skipwith, Knight, his wife (who was a Dymoke) and children. Among the ”Lincolns.h.i.+re Gentry” of 1634 named in a list preserved in the library of the Herald's College, are Robert Sherard of Gautby, and John Sherard; Robert Meeres of Kirton, and Anthony Meeres of Bonby; Edward Skipwith of Legbourne, Edward Skipwith of Grantham, and Samuel Skipwith of Utterby.

In the person, then, of this former squire of Bracken-end in Woodhall, we have an individual belonging to a family of knightly rank, his friends being members of some of our oldest county aristocracy, and his transactions connected with such Lords paramount as the Baron Willoughby of Knaith and Lord Clinton of Tattershall. I may add that the family is now represented by Lord Sherard of Leitrim, in the Peerage of Ireland, who is connected by marriage with the Reeves of Leadenham, the Whichcotes, and other good Lincolns.h.i.+re families.

I now proceed to mention a few more of the ancient moated mansions in our neighbourhood. It was mentioned in the last chapter that, besides two portions of the land of the parish of Woodhall being given by Baron Brito, son of Eudo of Tattershall, to the Abbey of Kirkstead, the rectory of that benefice was also in the gift of the Abbot. In like manner the Abbot held lands in Thimbleby, erected a gallows there on which, at different times, several persons were hanged; and he owned the advowson of that benefice; and the present rectory house of that parish, built about 1840, stands on the site of a former residence, which was guarded by a moat. Within this enclosure there is still an ancient well, lined with Spilsby sandstone, of which the church, like most in the neighbourhood, is also built. This well has been said to be ”Roman,”

{134} but, without venturing to give it so early a date, we may, perhaps, safely say that it belonged to the lesser religious house formerly there existing, as a dependency of the Abbey of Kirkstead. There was, however, a Roman well found a few years ago, at Horncastle, within the old Roman castle walls, at the spot where the National Schools now stand.

Similarly, the Abbot of Kirkstead was patron of the benefice of Wispington, another neighbouring parish, by the gift (about 1400) of another and later descendant of Eudo of Tattershall, who owned a moiety of this parish, the Bishop of Durham holding the other moiety; and, accordingly, here again there are extensive moats, ponds, and mounds, indicating a former large, and strongly protected, residence. Portions of this still form parts of a farmhouse (Mr. Evison's), and the farm buildings on the same premises, as well as of those now occupied by Mr.

Gaunt, whose very name carries us back to the days of the great Norman magnate, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, scarcely less powerful than his ancestor, Gilbert de Gaunt, to whom the Conqueror gave no less than 113 manors; but to John belonged the peculiar distinction of being father of Henry IV., the only sovereign born in our county. This mansion was for some generations the property of a family of substance, named Phillips. The head of this family, in the reign of Elizabeth, is mentioned among those patriotic individuals who subscribed his 25 towards the cost of the Fleet which was intended to repel the Spanish Armada. One of this family, Phillips Glover, who was sheriff for the county in 1727, had a daughter Laura, who married Mr. Robert Vyner, of Eathorpe, Warwicks.h.i.+re, whose family are now amongst our greatest landowners, and draw an almost princely revenue from the Liverpool docks.

We now pa.s.s on to another neighbouring moated mansion. About 2 miles from Woodhall Spa to the east, and only separated from Woodhall parish by a green lane, is White-Hall wood; on the opposite, northern, side of this lane being the High-Hall wood, already mentioned. Both these woods take their names from the old residences contiguous to them. The visitor to Woodhall Spa, if a pedestrian, leaving the road from Woodhall Spa to Horncastle, in that part of it called ”Short lane,” because it is so long; after pa.s.sing the two small woods, called Roughton Scrubs, on his right hand, and just before reaching the slight ascent near Martin bridge, may take to a cart-track, on the left or north side of the road, through a wood, crossing the railway, which here runs almost close to the road; pursuing this track through the wood some 200 yards, and then, turning slightly to the left in a north-westerly direction through two small gra.s.s fields, he will find, in an angle on the north side of the wood, a moated enclosure, between 75 and 80 yards square, shewing slight irregularities of the ground, on its northern side, indicating the site of a former building. Outside the moat are traces of another enclosure; a large depression shews where there was probably a ”stew pond” for carp and tench; and the channel of a d.y.k.e is seen running north-west till it joins a small ditch, which may probably, at one time, have been a feeder to one of two streams already mentioned as being near the High Hall remains, and named ”Odd's beck.” I may say here, once for all, that the moats and ponds of these large establishments were a matter of considerable importance and care. They were protected from injury by the Acts, 3 Ed. I. and 5 Eliz., c. 21 (Treatise on Old Game Laws, 1725).

”The fish-stews were scientifically cultivated, and so arranged that they could be drained at will. When the water was run off from one, the fish were transferred to the next. Oats, barley, and rye gra.s.s were then grown in it; when these were reaped it was re-stocked with fish. The ponds were thus sweetened and a supply of food introduced; suitable weeds were also grown on the margin, and each pond, or moat, was treated in the same way in rotation.”-”Nature and Woodcraft,” by J. Watson.

Nothing now exists of this former mansion above ground, but the moats and mounds cover an area of more than two acres, shewing that it was a large residence. It is in Martin parish. Within the writer's recollection there were marigolds and other flowers still growing about the spot, survivals from the quondam hall garth, or garden. This was the home of a branch of the Fynes, or Fiennes Clinton, family, whose head, Edward, Lord Clinton and Saye, Lord High Admiral of England, was created Earl of Lincoln by Queen Elizabeth in 1572; the present head of the family being the Duke of Newcastle, whose creation dates from 1756.

The connection of this great family with our neighbourhood came about in this wise. The line of Lord Treasurer Cromwell having become extinct, Henry VII., in 1487, granted the manor and other estates to his mother, Margaret, Countess of Richmond, and in the following year entailed them on the Duke of Richmond. The Duke died without issue; and Henry VIII., in 1520, granted them to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. On the death of the two infant sons of the Duke, surviving their father only a short time, the estates again reverted to the Sovereign; and in 1551 Edwd. VI.

granted them to Edward Lord Clinton and Saye, afterwards, as we have said, Earl of Lincoln. These estates included that of the dissolved Abbey of Kirkstead, and other properties in this neighbourhood; and among them the White Hall and its appurtenances. When the earldom of Lincoln, through a marriage, became absorbed in the Dukedom of Newcastle, several of these estates remained with junior branches of the Clinton, or Fiennes, family. Of the particular branch residing at White Hall, probably the most distinguished member was one whose monumental tablet is still in Roughton church; the ministrations of which church they would seem, judging by entries in the registers, to have attended, in preference to the church of Martin, in which parish the estate was situated. The lengthy inscription on this tablet is as follows:-”Here lies the body of Norreys Fynes, Esq., Grandson to Sir Henry Clinton, commonly called Fynes, eldest son of Henry Earl of Lincoln, by his Second Wife, Daughter of Sir Richard Morrison, and Mother of Francis Lord Norreys, afterwards Earl of Berks.h.i.+re. He had by his much-beloved and only Wife Elizabeth, who lies by him, Twelve children, of which Four Sons and Two Daughters were living at his decease, which happened on the 10th of January 17356 in the 75th year of his age. From the Revolution he always liv'd a Non-juror, {137} which rendered him incapable of any other Publick Employment (tho' by his Great Ability and Known Courage equal to the most Difficult and Dangerous) than that of being Steward to two great Familys, wherein he distinguish'd himself during his service of 40 year a most Faithful and Prudent manager, of a most Virtuous and Religious Life.

His paternal estate he left without any addition to his son Kendal his next heir. His eldest son Charles was buried here the 26th August 1722, aged 36 years, whose Pleasant Disposition adorn'd by many virtues which he acquired by his Studys in Oxford made his death much lamented by all his Acquaintance.” Possibly, as being a Non-juror, he may have thought it best not to attend public wors.h.i.+p in his own parish church at Martin, and so have gone, with his family, to the church of Roughton, where, as an ”outener,” he would be asked no questions. I find in connection with his family the following notices in the Roughton Registers, the spelling of which would certainly shew that the writer was not a ”Beauclerk”:-”1722 Mr. Charles fines burried Augst ye 26. 1722”; ”Madame Elizabeth fines was buered May ye 29, 1730” This was the ”only and much loved wife” of Norreys Fynes, and the t.i.tle ”Madame” was a recognition of her superior rank. ”Norreys Fynes Esq. was buried ye 10th January 1736/7” This entry was evidently so correctly made by the Rector himself; as also was probably the next one, ”Dormer Fynes ye sonn of Kendall Fynes Esq. and Frances his wife was baptized Nov. 10. 1737.”

”Cendal (Kendal) fins, the son of Norreys fins was buried June the twenty foorst, 1740.” (Note the Lincolns.h.i.+re p.r.o.nunciation ”foorst”). ”Francis Fynes, widow of Kendall Fynes buried May 13. 1752.”

I mentioned in a previous chapter the very bad condition of the roads about here; and there is a still lingering tradition that the last of the Fynes residing at White Hall used to drive about in a waggon drawn by bullocks. This estate, with some other land, of which the writer has been ”shooting tenant” for more than a score of years, is still in the hands of ”the Fiennes Clinton Trustees”; but there are Fynes, still in the flesh, living in our midst at Woodhall, who, though treading a humbler walk in life, are not altogether unworthy of their high ancestry.

{138}

There is another old moated residence, of considerable historic interest, which next claims our attention. Within a mile westward of the Wood Hall, by the church, and closely contiguous to the north-west boundary of the Woodhall estate, stands Poolham Hall, an old-fas.h.i.+oned, but comfortable and substantially-built, stucco-coated and slated farmhouse.

It now, along with the small manor, belongs to Dr. Byron, residing in London, who bought it a few years ago from Mr. Christopher Turnor, of Stoke Rochford and Panton Hall, in this county. At the back of the Hall, at the south-west corner of what is now the kitchen garden, and close to the enclosing moat, are the remains of a small chapel, consisting of an end wall and part of a side wall, each with a narrow window; there are fragments of larger stones bearing traces of sculpture, and, within recollection, there was also a tombstone with the date 1527, and a font.

{139} The house was, doubtless, formerly much larger than it is now.

Like the other similar residences which I have described, Poolham Hall has close by it a running stream, called Monk's d.y.k.e, which unites with some of the other becks already named, and ultimately flows into the Witham. The chief interest in this old place lies in the distant past; it has gone through a varied series of vicissitudes, and witnessed some stirring scenes. Weir, in his ”History of Horncastle” (ed. 1820, p. 58), under the head of Edlington, says briefly of Poolham, ”anciently called Polum, it formed part of the Barony of Gilbert de Gaunt, until about the 35th year of Edward I., when Robert de Barkeworth died seised of it; and it appears to have been the residence of Walter de Barkeworth, who died in 1374, and was buried in the cloister of Lincoln Cathedral. Afterwards it was the residence of the family of Thimbleby, a branch of the Thimblebys of Irnham, who probably built the present house about the time of Henry VIII. In the reign of Elizabeth the Saviles of Howley possessed it; and in 1600 Sir John Savile, Knight, sold it to George Bolles, citizen of London, whose descendant, Sir John Bolles, Baronet, conveyed it to Sir Edmund Turnor, Knight, of Stoke Rochford.” Of the above families, I have not been able to find very much about the Barkworths, who took their name doubtless from East Barkwith, where they had property. But Gocelyn de Barkworth, and after him William de Barkworth, are named in an a.s.size Roll (4 Ed. II., 1311) as having possessions in Tetford. In 3 Ed. III. (A.D. 1329), William de Barkworth and his wife ”fflorianora” were plaintiffs in a land dispute with Robert de Hanay and Alice his wife; whereby ”1 messuage, 1 carucate of land, 9 acres of meadow, 1 acre of 'more,' and the moiety of 1 messuage and 1 mill, with appurtenances in Normanby, Claxby, and Ussylby, were quitclaimed to William and fflorianora, and fflorianora's heirs.” I may add, as to the item here named ”1 mill,” that a mill in those days was a property of some value; all the dependents of the lord of the manor were obliged to have their corn, for man or beast, ground in it; and no other mill was allowed in the neighbourhood where one was already established. It is recorded by Beckman that ”a certain Abbot wished to erect a mill, which was objected to by a neighbouring proprietor, who contended that the wind of the whole district belonged to him. The monks complained to the bishop, who gave them permission to build, affirming that the wind of the whole diocese was episcopal property.” (Oliver's ”Rel., Houses,” p. 76 note 9.) In 1351 William de Barkworth, ”lord of Polume,” presented to the moiety of the chapelry (of Poolham); and in 1369 Thomas de Thymelby presented to it. And from this time the Thimblebyes take the place of the Barkworths. These Thimblebyes, whose name is variously spelt Thimelby, Thymbylbye, and even (as in Domesday Book) Stimblebi, and Stinblebi, were a numerous and influential race. Their chief residence was Irnham Park, near Grantham, which was acquired about 1510 by Richard Thimbleby, on his marriage with the heiress of G.o.dfrey Hilton, whose ancestor, Sir Geoffrey Hilton, Knight, had obtained it in 1419, by his marriage with an heiress of the Luterels, several of whom were called to Parliament, as Barons, in the 13th century. This was one of fifteen manors given by William the Conqueror to Ralph Paganel; and with the heiress of his family it pa.s.sed, by marriage, to Sir Andrew Luterel, Knight. The Thymblebyes would seem to have taken their patronymic from the village of that name (part of which now forms a portion of the Woodhall Spa parish), as the earlier members of the family we find designated as Thomas de Thymelby. Nicholas de Thymelby, and so forth.

Besides land in Thimbleby they owned many other estates. For instance, in the Court of Wards Inquisitions (3, 4, and 5 Edward VI., vol. v., 91), we find that Matthew Thimbleby ”of Polom,” who married Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Hussey, about 1521, died ”seised of the manors of Polome, Farfford, Ruckelyond, Somersby, Parish-fee, in Horncastle, Edlynton, Thymylby, and Tydd St. Mary; also of lands in Horsyngton, Styxwolde, Blankney, Buckland (_i.e._ Woodhall), and Flette: and of the advowsons of Tetforde, Farefford, Rucklonde, and Somersbye.” This Matthew Thimbleby's wealthy ”gra.s.s widow” married again, Sir Robert Savile, Knight, who (according to Chancery Inquisition, post mortem, 28 Eliz., 1st part, No.