Part 16 (1/2)
The Public.
The procession marched from the Bull Ring to the Railway Station, where the elders of the party on the platform, and the children, with their banners, ranged on the opposite side, awaited the arrival of the train bringing the G.N.R. Directors, and as it drew up the bands played ”See the Conquering Hero comes.”
The procession, augmented by the directors, then re-formed, and marched through the town; in the Bull Ring the National Anthem was sung. A large marquee was erected in the grounds of Mr. R. C Armstrong (now Mrs.
Howland's garden), adjoining South Street, in which the contractors, Messrs. Smith & Knight, provided for the directors and shareholders, and other guests, in all over 200, a splendid dinner, served in excellent style, by Messrs. Wilson and Serpell, of the Bull Hotel. The Honble. Sir H. Dymoke presided, as Chairman of the Horncastle and Kirkstead Railway Co.; being supported on his right by Mr. Hussey Packe and Mr. C. Chaplin, Directors of the G.N.R., Major Amcotts and Sir M. J. Cholmeley, and on his left by J. Banks Stanhope, Esq., M.P., Director of the Horncastle Railway, and Rev. W. H. Milner, Vicar. Congratulatory speeches were made, and the day closed with a fine display of fireworks.
Opened under such favourable auspices, and supplying a felt need, the railway has continued to be a success; improvements have been made, from time to time, in the stations at Horncastle and Woodhall Spa. The line continues to be a single one, but it is sufficient for the local requirements, and the shares, as before mentioned, at the present time (1907) find a ready sale at an advance of about 50 per cent. on their original price. We might add that if the railway could be continued to Spilsby, and then connected with the different lines running to the Skegness, Mablethorpe and other health resorts on the coast, its utility, and doubtless its paying value, would be largely increased, as it would shorten the distance by many miles.
CHAPTER X.
WORKHOUSE OR UNION.
We now notice the chief of those public inst.i.tutions, and the buildings connected therewith, which have been established in the town, within more recent times, for its welfare, or its adornment; in order to bring its corporate efficiency into more complete accord with the advanced requirements of what may be called modern munic.i.p.al life. Among these the foremost place, from its general importance, is naturally due to the Union, or Workhouse; and here it is necessary to make some preliminary remarks.
The workhouse, or union, for a large district is a comparatively recent creation. ”The poor” we have had ”always with” us, but they have not always been dealt with as they now are. By statute 23 Edward III.
(1349), it was enacted that ”none should give alms to a beggar who was able to work.” By common law the really deserving poor were to be a.s.sisted ”by parsons and paris.h.i.+oners, so that none should die for default of sustenance.” By Act, 15 Richard II. (1392), impropriators (_i.e._ laymen holding church property) were bound to contribute a certain yearly sum to the poor of the parish, but no compulsory law was pa.s.sed till 27 Henry VIII. (1536). The present poor law system dates from 43 Eliz. (1601); successive amendment acts being pa.s.sed from 1836 to 1847, and again in 1861; and a further relief act in 1862.
At first parishes regulated their own methods and amounts of relief. For a long period, indeed, the labouring cla.s.s were subject to strict legal rules, both as to service, and in their individual movements. It was quite an innovation when, in 23 Henry VI. (1445), a servant was permitted to change masters after giving due notice; and when moving, or, as it is locally called, ”flitting,” from one parish to another, for employment, he had to produce a certificate of settlement from his last abode. In such matters the overseers were paramount, until their powers were transferred to the newly const.i.tuted guardians of the poor, by Act of Parliament, in 1839. {133}
The ”workhouse” preceded the ”union,” which latter term was adopted when parishes, throughout a large district, were _united_ for the purposes of poor relief. {134a} In some cases a country parish had its own workhouse. For instance, old parish books of Thimbleby, {134b} show that in 1819 20 was spent upon the village workhouse, which was insured for 200.
Among some old churchwardens' records, in the possession of Mr. John Overton, of Horncastle (members of whose family have frequently held that office), it is mentioned that early in the 18th century a ”public oven”
was erected in the town to enable the poor to cook their meals, or to bake the ”black bread,” then in common use, {134c} more conveniently than they could at home. {134d} At a later date (1780) a spinning school was established by public rate, to help the poor to earn a livelihood by a home industry. {134e}
An important advance was made in poor relief, in 1735, when, as the same records state, ”on April 17 a committee was appointed, {134f} in Horncastle, to build a workhouse,” and on May 7th in the following year a brief note gives the cost of the building as being 175 13s. 4d. This was situated on the east side of St. Mary's Square, separated by a few yards from the Grammar School, the site being now (1908) occupied by a common lodging house. It continued to be the public workhouse for over 100 years; and that the poor, who needed relief, were generally expected to enter as inmates, is shewn by another brief note, in the same records, to the following effect: ”May 2nd, 1781. Out payments discontinued, except in sickness.”
It was not till 1838 that the present workhouse, in Foundry Street, was built, from the designs of Mr.-afterwards Sir-Gilbert Scott, being one of his earliest undertakings {134g} It is a commodious structure, capable of accommodating 260 inmates; and, with grounds attached, covers an area of between four and five acres. It is now known as ”The Union,” and the union district embraces 69 parishes, represented by 76 guardians, to whom, as already stated, the former duties of the overseers were transferred in 1839.
The Rev. Canon A. E. Moore is the present Chaplain.
THE COURT HOUSE.
The majesty of the law has not always been so worthily domiciled in Horncastle as during the last forty years. In Stukeley's map of the town, dated 1722, the Sessions House is placed at the south-east corner of the ”Mercat Place,” where there now (1908) stands a small refreshment house. The cells for prisoners probably formed the bas.e.m.e.nt of this building, as there is no known record of their being confined elsewhere, until the year 1821, when what was called the ”Round House” was built, at the north-east corner of the Market Place, opposite the present Lord Nelson Inn. This was a small circular building, having two cells, with a colonnade running round it, which formed a shelter for market women selling b.u.t.ter, eggs, &c. The foundations of this structure were so shallow that it is on record that a prisoner, in the course of one night, scratched a pa.s.sage under the wall and effected his escape. {135} This prison was demolished in 1853, when the present police station was built, facing the Wong, at a cost of 500, having four cells, for 12 prisoners, and a residence for a superintendent and constable.
[Picture: The Court House]
Some years later fresh premises were rented for the magistrates, on the south side of the High Street, adjoining the George Hotel, now extinct, though then a leading establishment. That site is now occupied by the Lincoln and Lindsey Bank.
In 1843 the magistrates' office was transferred to what is now 19, Bull Ring, part of the shop of Messrs. Robinson, Drapers. All these premises proving inadequate for their purpose, the present Court House was built in 1865, on the site of the former parish stocks, the site, a slight rising ground, being called ”Stocks' Hill,” at a cost of 3,000. The architect was Mr. C. Reeves, of London, the builder Mr. Huddleston, of Lincoln. The furniture was supplied by Messrs. Pike & Wright, of Horncastle; gas fittings by Mr. Murrell, of Chelsea.
In this handsome building, of white brick, there is accommodation for many branches of public, local and county business. As a possession the Court House is the property of the Board of Works, in London, the county authorities paying to them a rent of 10, for the use of it by the magistrates.
THE STANHOPE MEMORIAL.
This handsome structure was erected under the following circ.u.mstances.