Part 4 (1/2)
The grouping of the subjects and arrangement of the canopies are admirable.
The west window in the same aisle contains a handsome memorial, by Preedy, of the late Vicar, Prebendary Robert Giles. It is of three lights, the subjects being from St. Peter's life: (1) the south light shewing ”The net cast into the sea,” ”Depart from me, &c.”; (2) the central light, Peter's commendation by the Saviour, ”Thou art Peter, &c.”; and (3) the north light, Peter's release from prison, ”Arise up quickly, &c.” The tabernacle and canopy work are good. The cost of this was about 140. Mr. Giles succeeded Prebendary Milner, as Vicar, and died 12 July, 1872.
The two lancet windows in the lower part of the west wall of the tower, which were enlarged at the restoration, are filled with good coloured gla.s.s. They bear no inscriptions but are memorials of deceased younger members of the families of the late Dr. B. J. Boulton, and of the late Mr. Richard Nicholson. The southern one represents ”The Good Shepherd,”
carrying a lamb in his arms; the northern, ”Suffer the little children to come unto me,” shewing the Saviour receiving little children into his arms. Within the tower is also placed a List of Benefactors of the town; also a frame containing the Decalogue, supported by two painted figures, life-size, representing Aaron with his censer, and Moses with his rod; on one side of this is the Lord's Prayer, on the other the Apostles' Creed.
{39a}
The roof of the nave, for some years hidden by a flat whitewashed ceiling, is of Spanish chestnut, with finely carved figures of angels, which support the intermediate princ.i.p.als. In front of the tower arch stands the Font, of caen stone, on octagonal base; the bowl has 8 elaborately carved panels, in three of which are engraved, on scrolls, the words ”One Lord,” ”One Faith,” ”One Baptism.” {39b} The Pulpit, at the north-east corner of the nave, is also of Caen stone, in similar style, with four decorated panels, having, beneath the cornice, the inscription ”He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully;” the book-rest is supported by the figure of an angel, with outspread wings.
The Reading Desk, on the opposite side, consists of open tracery work, carved in modern oak. The Lectern, an eagle of bra.s.s, was presented, in 1901, by the Misses Walter, in memory of their father, Mr. Joseph Walter, for many years church warden. {39c} The seats in the chancel have handsomely carved poppy heads, and are placed east and west, instead of, as formerly, north and south, facing west.
On the south side of the chancel arch, in the west face of the wall, is a small stone, bearing the names of ”Thomas Gibson, Vicar. John Hamerton and John Goake, Churchwardens, 1675.” On the south wall of the chancel south chapel is also an illuminated sheet of iron bearing the following inscription to the same Vicar:-”Sacred to the memory of the Rev. Mr.
Thos. Gibson, A.M., 44 years Vicar of this parish. He lived in such times when Truth to the Church, and Loyalty to the King met with punishment due to the worst of crimes. He was by the rebellious powers carried away prisoner four times from the garrison of Newark for a dissenting teacher, afterwards sequestrated, and his family driven out, by the Earl of Manchester. He survived the Restoration, and was brought back at the head of several hundreds of his friends, and made a Prebendary in the Cathedral Church of Lincoln. As his enemies never forgave his zeal to the Church and Crown, so nothing but the height of Christian charity could forgive the insults he met with from them. He died April 22, 1678.” {40a} Above this is a s.h.i.+eld, containing three storks, proper, on an argent field; and with a stork, as crest.
On the north clerestory wall of the nave are tablets in memory of Jane, wife of Thomas Taylor, to the east; in the centre to Thomas Taylor, Surgeon, and Margaret his wife, to Mary Anne, wife of Thomas Hardy Taylor; and to the west of these, to Anne, wife of Erasmus Middleton, to Erasmus Middleton, and to their daughter, Grace, wife of James Weir, and to James Weir, who died Dec. 15, 1822. On the south clerestory wall, westward, is a tablet to the memory of Thomas Bryan, Hannah his wife, and their son Edward, all interred at Scrivelsby; another, to the east, is in memory of Edward Harrison, M.D., his wife, and his brother, erected by his nephew.
In the north aisle of the chancel is a modern, canvas, lozenge-shaped, framed copy of an older memorial, formerly painted on the south wall, on which are depicted the arms of Sir Ingram Hopton, with this inscription:-”Here lieth the worthy and memorable Knight, Sir Ingram Hopton, who paid his debt to nature, and duty to his King and country, in the attempt of seizing the arch rebel (Cromwell) in the b.l.o.o.d.y skirmish near Winceby, Oct. 6, 1643.” {40b} The motto is Horatian (the first lines from Odes iii., xiv., 1416; the other two from Odes iv., ix., 2930).
Nec tumultum, Nec mori per vim, metuit, tenente Caesare terras.
Paulum sepultae distat inertiae, Celata virtus.
Close to this, and above the arch leading into the nave, are a number of scythes, some with straight wooden handles, attached to the wall, which are said to have been used at the Winceby fight. {41a}
On the wall of the north aisle, nearest the archway into the chancel, on a small slab of Purbeck marble, is a bra.s.s of Sir Lionel Dymoke, kneeling on a cus.h.i.+on; on either side were formerly small s.h.i.+elds displaying the arms of Dymoke, Waterton, Marmyon, Hebden and Haydon; {41b} and on small bra.s.ses were the figures of two sons and three daughters. Parts of these are now lost. The figure of Sir Lionel is in the att.i.tude of prayer, from his left elbow issues a scroll with the inscription ”S'cta Trinitas, unus Deus, miserere n.o.b.” Beneath is another inscription, ”In Honore s'cte et individue trinitatis. Orate pro a'i'a Leonis Dymoke, milit' q'
obijt xvij die me'se Augusti, A D'ni M cccccxix. Cuj' a'i'e p' piciet, de.' Amen.” Below this monument, in the pavement, is a bra.s.s, now mutilated, of the same Sir Lionel Dymoke, wrapped in a shroud, with two scrolls issuing from the head, the lettering of which is now effaced.
Beneath is an inscription also now obliterated, but which Mr. Weir gives as follows:-
Leonis fossa nunc haec Dymoke capit ossa.
Miles erat Regis, cui parce Deus prece Matris, Es testis Christe, quod non jacet hic lapis iste, Corpus ut ornetur, sed spiritus ut memoretur.
Hinc tu qui transis, senex, medius, puer, an sis, Pro me funde preces, quia sic mihi sit venie spes.
The actual suit of armour worn by this Sir Lionel Dymoke was formerly in the church, since in the evidence taken after the ”Lincolns.h.i.+re Rising,”
in 1536, it was shewn that ”one Philip Trotter, of Horncastle,” took it from the church, and himself wore it, while carrying the standard at the head of the insurgents (State Papers Domestic, Henry VIII., vol. xi, No.
967) {42a}
[Picture: Bra.s.s of Sir Lionel Dymoke, in St. Mary's Church]
In the Harleian MS. in the British Museum, among his ”Lincolns.h.i.+re Church Notes,” Gervase Holles (circa 1640) mentions several other arms and inscriptions, as then existing, which are now lost. {42b}
In the pavement of the former vestry, in the south chancel aisle, is a slab with the inscription running round it, ”Here lyethe the boyddes of Thomas Raithbeck & Arne his wyf, ye founders of the Beid hous. Departed thys world, in ye fayth of Christ, ye last day of October, in ye yere of our Lord, MDLXXV.” In the pavement at the east end of the south aisle of nave is a slab bearing the names of William Hamerton and his wife Elizabeth, and westward of this another slab, in memory of ”Sarah Sellwood, wife of Henry Sellwood, Esq., {42c} who died Sep 30, 1816, aged 28 years.” The late Poet Laureate, Alfred, afterwards Lord Tennyson, married Mr. Sellwood's daughter Emily Sarah, the marriage being solemnised at s.h.i.+plake after the family had left Horncastle. The Laureate's elder brother, Charles Tennyson, married another daughter, Louisa, afterwards taking the additional name of Turner. He held the vicarage of Grasby near Caistor.
Other monuments are, on the wall of the south aisle, a tablet inscribed ”To the memory of Elizabeth Kelham, only surviving child of Richard Kelham, Rector of Coningsby. She was pious, virtuous, and charitable, and died 26 Feb., 1780, aged 58. Reader, imitate her example. Erected by Robert Kelham, her nephew, as a grateful acknowledgment of her regard towards him.” On the north wall of the chancel is a marble tablet in memory of ”George Heald, Armiger, e Consultis Domini Regis, in Curia Cancellaria. Obiit 18 May, 1834.” Inscriptions below are to his wife and daughter. Another tablet, of black marble, records the death of Elizabeth, first wife of the Rev. John Fretwell, Curate, Dec. 4, 1784, and of his son, Matthew Harold, Sept. 11, 1786. {44a} Another tablet is in memory of ”Clement Madeley, DD., 42 years Vicar, who died Good-Friday, 1845, aged 73;” also of his wife Martha, who died 1807, and of his son Houghton, who died 1838, erected by his daughter, M. A. Dymoke, {44b} wife of Rev. John Dymoke, Champion.
In a gla.s.s covered case in the north aisle of the chancel are three volumes of Foxe's _Book of Martyrs_, 1632 edition, these were formerly chained to a desk, and parts of the chains remain. They were given by Nicolas s.h.i.+pley, gentleman, in 1696, who also presented a bra.s.s chandelier of 24 sockets; he was among the benefactors to the poor of the town. The present gla.s.s case and desk on which the case rests, were given by the late Vicar, the Rev. A. Scrivenor. Along with these vols.
are ”The History of the Old and New Testaments, gathered out of sacred scripture and writings of the fathers, a translation from the work of the Sieur de Royaumont, by several hands. London, printed for R. Blome, I.
Sprint, John Nicholson and John Pero, 1701.” There are some good old engravings of ”The Work of Creation,” ”The Temptation and Fall of Man,”
”The Expulsion from Paradise,” ”The Murder of Abel,” ”Ishmael Banished,”
&c. The first of these is dedicated to ”Her sacred Majesty, Mary, by the grace of G.o.d, Queen of England, Scotland, France, Ireland, &c., by Her Majesty's most obedient servant Richard Blome.” The next is dedicated to ”Her sacred Majesty Katherine, Queen Dowager of England,” by the same; another is dedicated to ”Her Royal Highness Ann, Princess of Denmark;”
and other plates are dedicated to various Lincolns.h.i.+re worthies, some of these are rather damaged, and the fine old bible is imperfect.