Part 13 (1/2)

Bright Somersby! the sometime summer haunt Of Nors.e.m.e.n and of Dane, whose bards mayhap Foretold-a nest of nightingales would come, And trill their songs in shades of Holy Well; Prophetic bards; for we have lived to see Within your bounds a large-limbed race of men; A long-lived race, and br.i.m.m.i.n.g o'er with song, From lays of ancient Greece, and Roman eld, To songs of Arthur's knights, and England's prime, And modern verse, in graceful sonnet sung.

Each of the brood was clothed upon with song; Yet some had stronger pinions than the rest; And one there was, who for thy fame will long Send pilgrims to thy cross in loving quest.

Mr. Caswell pa.s.sed away in August, 1896, much valued and much missed by many friends who knew his worth.

A trace of the Saxon still survives in the name of a field, to the south of the town, and lately given to the town by the Lord of the Manor, which is called ”The Wong.” This is an old Saxon word for ”meadow.” In the ”Ancient English Romance of Havelok the Dane” (Early English Text Society, London, 1868), we find in line 397, ”Casteles and tunes, wodes and wonges,” _i.e._ castles and villages, woods and fields. In Stamford a back street, formerly in the suburbs, retains the name Wong street. In North Yorks.h.i.+re is a hamlet named Wet-w.a.n.g, and in our own neighbourhood, at Halton Holegate, near Spilsby, there is land called ”The Wongs.”

Horncastle was the Roman station Banovallum, or fortress on the Bane, mentioned by the historian Ravennas. Fragments of the ma.s.sive walls of the old castrum, or fort, can be distinctly traced by those who know where to look for them; but they need looking for, since, for the most part, they are hidden in the back premises of shops or residences, which face the street. Briefly stated, the western wall runs along the western boundary of the churchyard of the Parish Church, and may there be seen, as well as a fragment of it in a yard at the end of the road which pa.s.ses north of the churchyard. It continued northward to within a few yards of the bridge over the northern branch of the ca.n.a.l. The southern wall runs almost parallel with the south branch of the ca.n.a.l, portions being visible at the back of the Grammar School, and at a corner of St. Mary's square close to the churchyard. This runs eastward through various back premises, and may best be seen in a coalyard near the ca.n.a.l. At that point the eastern wall begins, and runs northward, pa.s.sing under some houses, and yards, and under the High street, the most north-easterly point being found in a small yard at the back of the shop of Messrs.

Carlton and Sons, Chemists, adjoining Dog Kennel yard; so called because Lord Fitz-Williams' hounds were kennelled there when he hunted the South Wold country nearly a century ago. The northern wall runs through back premises an the north of the Market place, and at the back of Mr.

Overton's and Mr. Lunn's premises. In the fields on the south-west of the town, and beyond the south branch of the ca.n.a.l was formerly a maze, such as have been found at other Roman stations. {188a} This was named ”Julian's Bower,” and thought by Stukeley to be Roman, but the late Bishop Suffragan, E. Trollope, in a Paper read at Horncastle, June 3rd, 1858, {188b} p.r.o.nounced it to be mediaeval. In the Roman maze the youths played at ”Tory Town;” and as this game was first taught by Ascanius, called also Iulus, the son of aeneas, from him it acquired the name ”Julian.” {188c} At the west end of the town, in the angle between the roads leading to the railway station and Edlington, is a site called Maypole Hill. Here the boys and girls used to march in procession on May day, bearing flowers, ”with wands called May-gads in their hands, enwreathed with cowslips,” and dance around the Maypole; a relic, as some authorities say, of the Roman Festival of the Floralia; {188d} others say it was a practice introduced by the Danish Vikings, with whom the Maypole, often a fixture, represented a sacred tree, around which councils were held and human sacrifices were offered. {188e} These games in Horncastle, Mr. Weir, in his History, {188f} says, were given up about 1780. Several Roman roads converge at Horncastle. The old Roman castle, says Leland, {188g} quoting an old mysterious chronicle, ”Vortimer caused to be beten doune; and never sin was re-fortified; the which castel was first enstrengthened by Hors, Hengist's brother.” The modern name, Horncastle, is the Saxon Hyrn-Ceaster, or ”castle in a corner,” as it is placed in the angle formed by the two streams, the Bain and the Waring.

The word Hyrn, or Hurn, occurs at other places in the county, representing an angle or promontory, as well as a recess or bay.

To come to a later period, it appears, from Domesday Book, that Horncastle, at one time, had been the property of Editha, the wife of Edward the Confessor, but at the date of that Survey it belonged to King William himself. In the reign of Stephen it was the demesne of Adelias de Cundi, daughter and heiress of William de Chesney, Lord of Caenby and Glentham. On her death it reverted to the Crown, and the manor was bestowed by Henry II. on Gerbald de Escald, a Fleming. He was succeeded by his grandson, Gerard de Rhodes, during whose minority it was held, in trust, by Ranulph, Earl of Chester. Gerard was succeeded by his son Ralph de Rhodes, who, in the reign of Henry III., sold the manor to Walter Mauclerke, Bishop of Carlisle, and Treasurer of the Exchequer.

This was afterwards confirmed by the King, who conferred upon the Bishop, by a succession of charters, various privilege's and immunities, which tended to the growth and prosperity of the town. Among other powers bestowed upon the Bishop was the right to seize and try felons, and on the south-east of the parish there is a place, still called ”Hangman's Corner,” where criminals were executed by his order. The bishops long had a palace, their chief Residence, in Horncastle, which was situated at the rear of the Black Horse inn and the premises of Mr. Lunn, grocer. It was demolished in 1770. The manor continued their property till the reign of Ed. VI., when Bishop Aldrich sold it to Edward, Lord Clinton, who, however, was compelled by Queen Mary to re-convey it to the See of Carlisle, and the bishops continued lords of the manor till 1856, when it was transferred to the Bishop of Lincoln with the patronage of the benefice. The lease of this manor was held by Queen Elizabeth and her successor, James I., who a.s.signed it to Sir Henry Clinton. This lease was held for nearly a century by Sir Joseph Banks and his family, ultimately pa.s.sing to James Banks Stanhope, Esq., late of Revesby.

Of the Church not a great deal need be said. It was thoroughly restored in 1864, at a cost of 4,000, and is now in an excellent condition. The east window is almost a copy, on an enlarged scale, of the east window of Haltham church, in this neighbourhood. It exhibits, in stained gla.s.s, events in the life of the Saviour; beneath it is a carved reredos of Caen stone, the central subject of the sculpture being the agony in the garden, with figures of the four Evangelists, two on each side. The organ is a costly and very fine instrument, mainly due to the liberality of the late Henry James Fielding. In the north aisle is a bra.s.s of Sir Lionel Dymoke, in armour, kneeling on a cus.h.i.+on; on either side are two s.h.i.+elds, and beneath, figures of two sons and three daughters. His hands are placed together as in prayer, and from his left elbow issues a scroll, with the inscription, ”Sc'ta trinitas unus deus miserere n.o.b.”

The s.h.i.+elds display the arms of Dymoke, Waterton, Marmyon, Hebden, and Haydon. The antiquarian, Gervase Holles, gives, from the Harleian MSS., several other inscriptions, which no longer exist, but which are found in Weir's ”History of Horncastle.” Near this, attached to the wall above the north-east door, and on each side of the arch between the aisle and chancel, are some rude weapons of war in the shape of long knives, or scythes, supposed to have been used at the Winceby fight, when it is known that the troops of the Royalists were very badly armed. {190} There are several memorial tablets on the walls. In the floor of the south aisle, towards the east end, is the tombstone of Sarah Sellwood, wife of Henry Sellwood, Esq., and mother-in-law of Lord Tennyson, the Poet Laureate. She died Sept. 30th, 1816. The roof is of Spanish chestnut, which was formerly completely hidden by a flat plaster ceiling.

On the north wall of the chancel, over the north-east door, is a tablet to the memory of Sir Ingram Hopton, who, after unhorsing Cromwell, was himself slain at the battle of Winceby, the date of which is there wrongly given as ”October 6th, A.D. 1643,” whereas the fight really took place on October 11th. Cromwell is also there designated as ”the arch rebel,” whereas at that time he was only a colonel; but, to quote two words from the Latin inscription, he was then an instance of ”celata virtus,” his future greatness not yet known; and the epitaph, of course inscribed afterwards, is a slight solecism, and we may here venture to make the remark that this monument is now itself a further instance of ”celata virtus,” for it is placed in a position where no light falls upon it, and the writer actually looked at it recently without recognising what it was. On the wall between nave and chancel, on the south side, is a small stone bearing the names of Thomas Gibson, Vicar; John Hamerton and John Goake, Church-wardens, 1675. Walker, in his ”Sufferings of the Clergy” (1714), gives an account of this Vicar, which is here abridged.

Born at Keswick, educated at Queen's College, Oxford, he was appointed Master of the Free School at Carlisle; thence to that of Newcastle, and preferred by the Bishop of Carlisle to the Vicarage in 1634. In consequence of a sermon preached by him, at the election for convocation, he was seized, in 1643, and carried as a prisoner to Hull. Being released, after four months' detention, and returning to Horncastle, he was charged with teaching ”Ormanism” (Arminianism), and committed to the ”county jayl” at Lincoln, and a Presbyterian minister appointed in his stead at Horncastle. In 1644, Colonel King, the governor of Boston, ordered a party of horse to seize him (he apparently having been released from Lincoln) and to plunder his house, but an old pupil, Lieut.-Colonel John Lillburn, interceded for him with his superior officer, Col. King, and the order was revoked; on Lillburn, however, presently going to London, the order was repeated, and Mr. Gibson was made prisoner, his house plundered, and his saddle horse, draught horses, and oxen, taken from him. He was imprisoned at Boston, then in Lincoln, and in ”Tattors-Hall-Castle, where he had very ill usage for 17 weeks.” He was sequestered from his living, and an ”intruder,” one Obadiah How, put in charge. He was now accused by the Puritans of obeying the orders of the Church, defending episcopacy, refusing ”the covenant,” etc. He retired ”to a mean house,” about a mile from Horncastle (supposed to be at Nether (Low) Toynton), where he and his family ”lived but poorly for two years, teaching a few pupils.” He was then made master of the free school at Newark; two years later removed to the school at Sleaford, being presented by Lady Carr. There he lived until the Restoration, and then resumed his Vicarage at Horncastle, until he died, in 1674, aged 84. ”He was a grave and Venerable Person, of a Sober and Regular conversation, and so studious of peace, that when any Differences arose in his Parish, he never rested till he had Composed them. He had likewise so well Principled his Parish, that of 250 families in it, he left but one of them Dissenters at his Death.” {192a} There is an inscription painted on the south wall of the chancel, with gilt and coloured border, commemorative of this worthy Vicar, which truly states that he ”lived in times when truth to the Church and loyalty to the King met with punishment due only to the worst of crimes.” The church of St. Mary is not named in Domesday Book, and probably at that time no church existed on this site. But in the Record of an Inquisition post mortem, taken at Horncastle, Jan. 21st, 13845, Richard II., it is stated that the King gave to a certain Gilbert, Prior of Wyllesforth, and his successors, two messuages, &c., and the site of the Chapel of St. Lawrence, with appurtenances, in Horncastre, on condition that ”they find a fit chaplain to celebrate ma.s.s in the chapel aforesaid, three days in every week.”

{192b} This chapel probably stood in or near the street running northward out of the Market place, and called St. Lawrence street, near which bodies have been exhumed at different times. When the clump of shops were cleared away in 1892, to make the present Market place, through the liberality of the late Right Hon. Edward Stanhope, several large fragments of Norman pillars were found, which probably once belonged to the old Norman chapel. {193c} St. Lawrence is the Patron Saint of Horncastle; and as he was martyred on a brander, or gridiron, the arms of the town are a Gridiron. The ”canting” device of a castle on a horn has no very ancient authority. 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, and the writer has often a.s.sisted, as a boy, in ringing it at 7 a.m.; but it has been given up of late years, as the governors of the school declined to pay far it.

In one of the Parish Registers appears the following entry:-”On the Vth daie of October one thousand six hundred & three, in the first yeare of our Souvraine Lord King James was holden in Horncastle Church a solemn fast from eight in the morning until foure a clock in the afternoone by five preachers, vidiz. Mr. Hollinhedge, vicar of Horncastle, Mr. Turner of Edlington, Mr. Downe of Lusbye, Mr. Phillipe of Salmonbye, Mr. Tanzey of Hagworthingha', occasioned by a general and most feareful plague yt yeare in sundrie places of this land, but especially upon the cytie of London. Pr. me Clementen Whitelock.” A Record at the Rolls Court states that Horncastle Church was resorted to by a robber for the purpose of Sanctuary, as follows:-”22 August 1229. The King (at Windsor) commands the Sheriff of Lincolns.h.i.+re (Radulphus filius Reginald) to send two coroners of the county to see that a robber who keeps himself in the Church of Horncastle, abjures the kingdom.” {193} Among some MS. Records in the possession of Mr. John Overton, I find it stated that in December, 1812, the vestry room was broken open and robbed of all the money, and other valuables; and that 50 reward was offered by the Vestry for the discovery of the culprits.

Although the Manor of Horncastle was at more than one period Royal property, it has only once, so far as we know, been visited by Royalty.

Leland states that ”in the year of our Lord 1406, on the 12th of September, on Sat.u.r.day at 6 o'clock, Henry (IV.) by the grace of G.o.d, King of England, came from the town of Horncastle, to the Abbey of Bardney, with a great and honourable company on horseback”; and that ”the Abbot and Convent of the aforesaid Monastery went out to meet him in procession at the outer gates.” {194a} We have no further known record of this visit; but as Henry IV. was the son of John of Gaunt, and born at Bolingbroke, we may a.s.sume that he pa.s.sed through Horncastle on his way from Bolingbroke to the palace of his father at Lincoln, and that John of Gaunt's stables, still standing at the present day in the High street of that city, sheltered the steeds of the company at the end of their journey. Doubtless he adjourned a night, if not more, at Horncastle, and the loyal old town, probably headed by the Champion Dymoke of the day, would give him as hearty a welcome as that which awaited him from the abbot and monks at Bardney.

Two or three more short remarks may be made about Horncastle. When Sir Ingram Hopton, whose tablet we have mentioned as being in the church, was slain at Winceby, the body, by Cromwell's order, was brought to Horncastle for burial. It was placed in the house, or, rather, a previous house on the same site, in West Street, now named Cromwell House; and it is said, on what authority we do not know, that Cromwell himself came to Horncastle, that he might personally instruct the churchwarden, Mr. Hamerton, that the opponent, whom he p.r.o.nounced to be ”a brave gentleman,” should be properly honoured in his obsequies. {194b}

A house at the south-west corner of the market place, where Mr. R. W.

c.l.i.therow, solicitor, now lives, was formerly a public-house, but was burnt down and the present one erected. At this house, then occupied by Mr. Sellwood, solicitor, Sir John Franklin visited, and was entertained at a public dinner, a few days before he set out, in 1844, on his final Arctic expedition; and the writer remembers his father going to attend this dinner.

We have said that, 100 years ago, almost every house was thatched. A record in Mr. Overton's possession states that the two first slate-roofed houses in the town were one built by Mr. Storr, a gardener, afterwards occupied by Mrs. L'Oste, widow of the Rev. C. L'Oste, rector of Langton, and now occupied by Dr. Howes; and the house of Mr. t.i.tus Overton, now occupied by Mr. John Overton, being erected in 1793.

Having completed our perambulations of the town, let us betake ourselves once more to the country. We remount the hill, which we descended on leaving Thimbleby for Horncastle, but by a different road, viz., one running due west. Half way up the ascent of this, the westernmost spur of the chalky Wolds, we have two roads, either of which would bring us to Woodhall Spa, almost equi-distant by either; but that is not, as yet, our destination. We continue the ascent, due westward. The summit reached, we have a wide prospect before us. To the left, on a clear day, Boston Stump is visible, the Tower on the Moor rises above the woods, beyond that Tattershall castle and church; in the dim distance the graceful spire of Heckington points, like a needle, to the sky. Straight in front of us woods on woods band and bar the prospect, relieved by the spires of Old Woodhall and Horsington. To the right, the horizon is crowned by the almost pyramidal shape of Lincoln Minster, the seeing eye also detecting the lesser pyramid of the Chapter House, other spires, with the factory chimneys of the now busy city, more than its old prosperity being revived. Further to the right the plantations of Fillingham Castle, some miles beyond Lincoln, on the ”Spital road,” fringe the view. Truly, it is a wide-ranging outlook, embracing little short of 30 miles, with many a village and hamlet, buried and unseen, in its entourage of wood.

Immediately in the near front is Langton mill, a conspicuous object, which I have distinguished from the top of Lincoln Minster itself.

Half-a-mile farther lies the village of Langton, one of three of the same name in the neighbourhood-one near Spilsby, one near Wragby, and this ”by Horncastle.” As to the meaning of the name Langton, Dr. Oliver refers the first syllable to the British ”Lan” (Welsh Llan), meaning ”place of wors.h.i.+p,” and so corresponding to Kirkby, or Kirkstead. In this particular case, however, the ordinary meaning of ”Lang,” or ”long,”

would be specially applicable, since the village has evidently at one time been larger than at present, and the parish extended, some six miles, to the Witham, until, quite recently, the distant portion was included in Woodhall Spa. Here again we had, until recent years, in the rectory, another moated residence, standing almost on an island, being surrounded by water except for the s.p.a.ce of the churchyard and the width of a drive to the house. The moat was drained for sanitary reasons about 50 yeans ago, to the regret of many, since, as has been mentioned in a previous chapter (Chapter VI.), it contained an abundance of large pike, and other fish, from which the lake at Sturton Hall was stocked. The Queen was the lady of the manor until, in 1860, much Crown property was sold in this neighbourhood, and the manor and most of the land in the parish, except the glebe, was bought by the Coates family, who have a substantial residence here.

In three fields at the west end of the village are traces of ponds, mounds, and hollows, indicating large buildings existing at one time.

And we have sundry records of men of rank who have owned land, and probably resided, in the parish. Dugdale {196a} tells us that this ”town” was given by the Conqueror to the then powerful Bishop of Durham, whose name was William de Karilepho. He was Chief Justice of England.

This gift the Conqueror may be said to have ”confirmed with an oath,” for the charter, conveying the land, sets forth that they ”shall be preserved inviolable for ever,” and concludes with an anathema on whosoever shall profane the charter, or change anything therein, unless for the better:-”by the authority of the Prince of Apostles, I deprive them of the society of the Lord, the aforesaid Pope Gregory, and the Church; and reserve them by the judgment of G.o.d, to be punished by everlasting fire with the devil and his angels. Amen.” This fearful threat of Divine vengeance, however, seems to have lost its terror after a lapse of time of no very great length, since, according to the historian Banks, {196b} in the 9th year of Edward I. Philip de Marmion held the manor.

There was formerly not only Langton, but an outlying Langton-thorpe, and this is probably referred to in Domesday Book as the ”Berewick” of Langton, for it is there stated that Robert Dispenser held in this Berewick {197a} of Langton one carucate in demesne, eight soke men (tenants) with half a carucate, and four villeins with two carucates, and twenty-four acres of meadow, and two hundred and eighty acres of wood containing pasturage.

A powerful family of the Angevines lived here at a later period. There is, extant among the Records of Lincoln, {197b} the Will of Robert Angevine, Gent., of Langton by Horncastle, dated 25th April, 1545, in which he requests that he may be buried in the church of St. Margaret; he bequeaths to his daughters, Millesancte, Grace, Jane, and Mary, ”vli.

apiece,” the money to come out of Burnsall, Hebden, Conyseat, and Norton, in Yorks.h.i.+re; to his wife Margaret ”xli. a year for life out of the said lands”; and to his son William lands in Hameringham. The family acquired their name thus:-Ivo Tailbois was at the head of the Aungevine troops of auxiliaries which William the Conqueror brought over with him from Normandy; and this name, in time, took the various forms of Aungelyne, Aungeby, and Angevine. There were Angevines at Whaplode, in the south-east of the county, in the 12th century. There was a branch of them at Theddlethorpe, and at Saltfleetby, in the 14th century. The one at Langton had a brother at West Ashby. They appear in the Visitation of 1562 among the leading families of the county gentry; but in 1592 the name does not appear, and they dwindled away, and at the time of the Commonwealth are nowhere found. The old families of Scroope and of Langton are also said to have resided here. A member of the family of the Dightons, who owned Stourton, Waddingworth, and other properties in this neighbourhood, if not actually residing in Langton (although he probably did), had an interest in the place, as, in a Will, still at Lincoln, dated 15th July, 1557, having requested that he might ”be buried in the quire where I die”; among other bequests, he leaves a sum of money ”to the poore of Langton by Horncastle.” {198}

From 1653 to 1656 Justice Filkin resided at Langton, and before him persons of Horncastle and the neighbourhood were frequently married, the law at that time recognising only civil marriages.

The church of Langton (St. Margaret's) is a small edifice, and, until recently, was in a very poor condition, with no pretension to architectural beauty in any of its features. It had been rebuilt in the 18th century, at the very worst period for such work, and so badly done that it was almost a ruin when the writer, as rector, undertook its restoration. Though still small, it now has several interesting features. The pulpit, reading desk and lectern have been carved by the Rector, in old oak, in Jacobean style, in memory of his father, who was rector 49 years. In the chancel there is an Aumbrey containing an ancient stoup of Barnack stone, said to have formerly been the holy water vessel of Spalding Priory. On the Communion table is a curious old alms dish of ”lateen” metal; the device in the centre is the temptation by the devil of our first parents; an inscription in old Dutch runs round,-Vreest Goedt honderhovedt syn geboedt; or, Fear G.o.d, keep his commandments. The font bowl is Early Norman, of Barnack stone, discovered by the Rector among rubbish in some back premises in Horncastle, and supposed to have been the font of the Early Norman church of St. Lawrence, once existing there; the pedestal and base are fragments from the ruins of Kirkstead. In a recess, or aumbrey, behind the west door, is a very interesting relic, found, a few years ago, in the moat of the old hall at Poolham, which we described in the previous chapter. We there mentioned the remains of an oratory, or chapel, still standing in the south-west corner of the kitchen garden at the old Hall. Some men were employed in cleaning out the mud from the encircling moat, the season being a very dry one, and the moat almost empty of water. This had not been done for many years, if ever before, and the mud was some feet thick. Below the above-named chapel ruins an object was thrown up among the mud, which the men took to be a broken seed vessel formerly belonging to a birdcage, but as it was curiously marked, one of them took it home, and asked the writer to go and look at it. He did so, and, seeing its antiquity, he obtained it for a trifle, and communicated with the Society of Antiquaries, and other authorities, about it, with the result that it was p.r.o.nounced to be a mediaeval chrismatory. It was made of coa.r.s.e tarra-cotta of a greyish buff colour, ornamented with patterns of squares, diamonds and crosses, with a fleur-de-lys in the centre of one side, emblematic of the Trinity. It contained in the body two square wells about an inch deep, which were originally covered with arched roofs, but one of these had been broken off. At each end was a spout from the cellar. Its total length was 7 inches; its height, including the roof, 4 inches; breadth, 3 inches. The use of the chrismatory was this:-When a child was to be baptised, as it was brought into the church it was sprinkled with salt, and at baptism it was anointed with oil; and the two cellars were intended respectively to hold the salt and oil.

This object has been exhibited on various public occasions, and has excited much interest, as it is considered to be quite unique. The church was at one time considerably larger, as, at the restoration in 1891, the foundations of a north aisle were found, as well as of a tower.