Part 24 (2/2)

As 12 days elapsed between death and burial it is probable that he died abroad. The manor and whole parish, except the glebe, still belongs to the Rolleston family; the benefice being in the patronage of the Earl of Ancaster.

In the floor of the chancel are two memorial slabs, one of the Rev. R.

Spranger, D.C.L., late Rector of Low Toynton and Creeton, who enlarged the rectory house, and was a munificent benefactor to the neighbourhood.

Among other good deeds he built the bridge over the river Waring, on the road from Low Toynton to Horncastle. {186} He was a member of a family of some distinction; had a residence in London, as well as his rectory here; he was popularly said to drive the handsomest pair of horses in London; and there exists a portrait in oil of an ancestor, Chancellor Spranger, in one of the great galleries in Florence. Dr. Spranger was an intimate friend of J. Keble, the author of _The Christian Year_, and his son the Rev. Robert J. Spranger, Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, spent the greater part of his life in Mr. Keble's parish, Hursley, Hants, as a voluntary a.s.sistant in his clerical work.

The companion slab marks the last resting place of another rector, the Rev. J. Hutchinson, who died in 1788. His history is singular. Although well educated, he enlisted as a private in the army for foreign service; a commission however was subsequently obtained for him by his friends.

He presently became attached to a lady who refused to marry a soldier.

He then determined to take holy orders. Chance threw him in the way of a party of gentlemen at Manchester, one of them being the agent of Lord Willoughby. The latter stated that he had it in power, at that moment, to bestow a benefice, and that he would give it to anyone who could solve for him a particular problem. Mr. Hutchinson succeeded in doing this, and was eventually appointed Rector of Low Toynton. He held it, however, only 18 months, dying at an early age. Whether he married the lady is not stated.

In the List of Inst.i.tutions to Benefices, preserved at Lincoln, it is recorded that in 1562 Michael West, Clerk, was appointed Rector of Nether Toynton and Vicar of Upper Toynton, by Richard Bertie, Esq., ancestor of the Earl of Ancaster. This must have been by some private arrangement with the Bishop of Carlisle, who was patron of High Toynton; the Berties (as the Willoughbies are now) being only patrons of Low Toynton. From Liber Regis we learn that the Earl of Lindsey appointed to the benefice in 1692, the Duke of Ancaster in 1778, Sir Peter Burrell and Lady Willoughby d' Eresby in 1783.

The register dates from 1585. Under date 1717, Feb. 2nd, occurs the following entry: ”Robert w.i.l.l.y, of Upper Toynton, did penance in the parish church of Lower Toynton, for the heinous and great sin of adultery.” A note in the baptismal register states that on July 18th, 1818, Bishop George (Tomline) confirmed at Horncastle 683 candidates, among them being five from Low Toynton. Confirmations were not held so frequently then as they now are. In this parish Mr. Thomas Gibson, Vicar of Horncastle, when turned out of his preferment by the Puritans, lived for some ”two years but poorly, teaching a few pupils.”

Little is known of the early history of this parish or of its proprietors. In a Chancery Inquisition post mortem, 11 Henry VII., No.

123, taken at Partney, after the death of Isabella, wife of Richard Sapcote, Knight, the said Isabella is declared by the jurors to have died seized of the Manor of Nether Toynton, and of the advowson; and Joan, wife of William Nevill, of Rolleston, Notts., and others are declared to be daughters and heirs of the said Isabella; she herself being kinswoman and heir of William Plesington, son of Henry Plesington, Knight. {187a}

In a list of Lincolns.h.i.+re names contained in the visitation of 16656, by William Dugdale, Esq., are Agnes Goodrick, daughter of Robert Goodrick, of Toynton, and Bridget and Elizabeth Rolston, daughters of Edward Rolston, of Toynton. {187b}

[Picture: St. Peter's Church, Low Toynton]

By a Chancery Inquisition of 38 Henry VIII. (1546), it was found that Thomas Dymoke, Esq., was seized of land in Over Toynton, Nether Toynton, Maring-upon the-Hill, and other parishes; and by an Inquisition of 36 Elizabeth, it was found that Robert Dymock, Esq., was seized of the Manors of ffuletby and Belchforde, and lands in Horncastle, Nether Tointon and Upper Tointon, and several other parishes. He died without issue 13th Sept., 1594, and his only sister, Anne, widow of Charles Bolle, of Haugh, succeeded to his property in Nether Toynton and elsewhere; and thus the connection of the Dymokes with Low Toynton ceased. {187c}

There is rather a curious feature in the following record. By a Chancery Inquisition post mortem, 24 Henry VII., No. 61, it is found that Humphrey Conyngsby, Sergeant at Law, and others, inst.i.tuted a suit on behalf of William Stavely, and others, by which he recovered to them, among other properties, ”the advowson of Nether Taunton, and the rent of 4 quarters of salt, in Nether Taunton, Over Taunton, and other parishes.”

We now find another ancient name connected with this parish. The Newcomens (originally Le Newcomen, or the newcomer) of Saltfleetby, were one of our oldest Lincolns.h.i.+re families. They are named in Yorke's ”Union of Honour,” and their pedigrees given in four Lincolns.h.i.+re Visitations. The number of branches into which the race spread is remarkable. {188a} Andrew Newcomen lived in the time of Richard I., resident at Saltfleetby, where the headquarters of the family continued for many generations. Robert Newcomen (1304) married Alice, daughter of Sir William Somercotes, Knight. His son, also Robert, married Margaret, daughter of Sir William Hardingshall, Knight. Another Robert (1452) married Joane, daughter of Robert Craycroft, of Craycroft Hall. A daughter Katharine, of Brian Newcomen, married (1559) George Bolle, of Haugh, a family already mentioned as, a few years later, connected with Low Toynton. In 1540 we find Richard Newcomen residing at Nether Toynton. By his will, dated 3rd Sept., 1540, he requests that he may be buried in the church of St. Peter, Nether Toynton. He appoints the right wors.h.i.+pful Edward Dymoke, supervisor. His grandson, Samuel Newcomen, of Nether Toynton, married Frances, daughter of Thomas Ma.s.singberd, of Braytoft Hall, M.P. for Calais (1552). This branch of the family seems to have died out in the person of Thomas Newcomen (1592); {188b} but other branches spread over the neighbourhood, and were established at Bag Enderby, East Kirkby, Withern, and other places, and flourished throughout the 17th century. Another Newcomen early in the 18th century married a daughter of Sir Robert Barkham, Bart.

A renewal of connection with Low Toynton was made when the widow of Nicholas Newcomen married, circa 1700, the Honble. Charles Bertie, son of Robert, 4th Earl of Lindsey, patron of the benefice of Nether Toynton.

Arthur Bocher, Esq., of Low Toynton, was in the Lincolns.h.i.+re Rebellion of 1536, being brother-in-law of Thomas Moygne, one of the leaders in the movement.

Thus the parish of Low Toynton has had residents, proprietors, and rectors, to whom its present inhabitants may look back with some degree of pride and pleasure, although ”their place now knoweth them no more.”

ROUGHTON.

This village stands on the west bank of the river Bain, about 4 miles to the south of Horncastle. It is bounded on the north by Thornton and Martin, on the east by Haltham and Dalderby, on the south by Kirkby-on-Bain, and on the west by Kirkstead, Kirkby, and Woodhall. The area is 1020 acres, rateable value 945, population 137, entirely agricultural. The soil is loam, on kimeridge clay, with ”Bain terrace”

gravel deposits.

The nearest railway stations are at Horncastle and Woodhall Spa, each about four miles distant. There is an award and map of Haltham and Roughton in the parish, and a copy at the County Council office, Lincoln.

Three roads meet in the middle of the village, one from Horncastle, one to Woodhall Spa and Kirkstead, one to Kirkby-on-Bain, Coningsby and Tattershall.

Sir Henry Hawley, Bart., of Tumby Lawn, in the adjoining parish of Kirkby, is Lord of the Manor, but Lady Hartwell (daughter of the late Sir Henry Dymoke, the King's Champion), and the executors of the Clinton family (now Clinton Baker) and the Rector own most of the soil; there being a few small proprietors. Roughton Hall, the property of Lady Hartwell, is occupied by F. G. Hayward, Esq.

The register dates from 1564. Peculiar entries are those of 43 burials for the years 16312, including those of the Rector and his two daughters, who died within a few days of each other; this was from the visitation called ”The Plague,” or the ”Black Death.” For some years before 1657 only civil marriages were valid in law, and Judge Filkin is named in the register as marrying the Rector of Roughton, John Barcroft, to Ann Coulen. In 1707 Mary Would is named as overseer of the parish, it being very unusual at that period for women to hold office. Another entry, in the overseer's book, needs an explanation. ”Simon Grant, for 1 day's work of bages, 2s. 6d.;” and again, ”Simon flint, for 1 day's work of bages, 2s. 6d.” ”Bage” was the turf, cut for burning; in this case being cut from the ”church moor,” for the church fire. It was severe labour, often producing rupture of the labourer's body, hence the high pay.

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