Part 25 (1/2)

There is a charity named the ”Chamerlayne Dole,” of 10s., given yearly to the poor, left by Martha Chamerlayn in 1702. It is a charge upon a cottage and garden owned by Mr. T. Jackson, of Horncastle.

The National School was established about 1860, in a building erected in 1834 as a Wesleyan Chapel. It was enlarged in 1872 and 1879. It is supported by a voluntary rate.

The Church, St. Margaret's, is of no architectural beauty, being built of brick and sandstone. It consists of nave and chancel, with castellated tower, having one bell, also castellated parapets at the north and south corners of the east chancel wall. The font is Norman, circular, with circular pediment, having an old oak octagonal cover, cupola shaped, plain except slight carving round the rim. The fabric was newly roofed in 1870, when it was fitted with good open benches, the chancel paved with encaustic tiles, and the windows partly filled with stained gla.s.s; there are fragments of a former carved rood screen, the pulpit being of plain old oak.

In the chancel is a lengthy inscription, commemorative of Norreys Fynes; Esq., of Whitehall, in the adjoining parish of Martin. He was grandson of Sir Henry Clinton, 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 was a non-juror. He died January 10th, 17356, aged 74. There is a murial tablet to the memory of the Rev. Arthur Rockliffe, who died in 1798; another to Charles Pilkington, Esq., who died in 1798, and Abigail, his wife, who died in 1817.

The benefice is a discharged rectory, united to that of Haltham in 1741, and now held by the Rev. H. Spurrier, the patron being his son the Rev.

H. C. M. Spurrier. The two benefices together are valued at 450 a year.

There is a good rectory house. The church plate is modern. The village feast was discontinued about 50 years ago.

Peculiar field names are the Low Ings, Bottom Slabs, Carr Bottom, Church Moor, Honey Hole, Wong, Well-syke, Long Sand, Madam Clay, Sewer Close.

{190a}

As to the early history of Roughton, _Domesday Book_ gives it among the possessions of William the Conqueror, and also as belonging to Robert Despenser, his powerful steward, who probably held it under the king. A Chancery Inquisition post mortem, 22 Richard II., No. 13, A.D. 1399, shows that Ralph de Cromwell, jointly with his wife Matilda, held the adjoining Manor of Tumby, with appurtenances in Roughton and elsewhere.

While another Inquisition of 13 Henry VII., No. 34, shows that the said Matilda died, ”seised in fee tail of the same lands.” {190b}

In the reign of Elizabeth a family of Eastwoods resided here, since the name of Andrew Eastwood, of Roughton, appears in the list (published by T. C. n.o.ble) of those gentry who contributed 25 to the Armada Fund.

Other doc.u.ments shew that at different periods the hall has been occupied by members of various county families, as Fynes (already named), Wichcote, Heneage, Dymoke, Pilkington, and Beaumont.

The register has the following entries, probably written by an illiterate parish clerk, ”An the wife of Will. Hennag, was buered ye 9 of Feberery, 1729.” ”Madame Elizabeth fines was buered May ye 29, 1730.”

Gervase Holles gives the following arms as existing in the church in his day.

_Fenestra Australis Cancelli_.

G. 3 lyons pa.s.sant gardant, or . . . England

Verry a fesse G. fretty, or . . . Marmyon

Argent, a plaine crosse B. . . .

Or, a lyon rampant purpure. . . . Lacy

Chequy or and G., a chiefe ermyne . . . Tateshall

_In Campanili_.

Arg. a sword sheathed proper, a buckler appt., with girdle wrapped, hilte pomel, and neuf or. . . {190c}

HALTHAM.

This village is distant from Horncastle between four and five miles in a southerly direction, lying on the east side of the river Bain. It is bounded on the north by Dalderby and Scrivelsby, on the south by Kirkby and its hamlet of Fulsby, on the east by Scrivelsby, Wood Enderby and Wilksby, and on the west by Roughton. The area is 2380 acres, rateable value 1198. The soil is loam, with kimeridge clay below, and gravel deposits. Population 121, mainly agricultural.

The main roads lead to Dalderby, Scrivelsby, and Horncastle, to Kirkby, Mareham-le-Fen, Coningsby, and Tattershall, and to Wood Enderby, Wilksby, and Revesby. The nearest railway station is at Horncastle.

The Lord of the Manor was formerly the Champion Dymoke of Scrivelsby Court, but the late Rev. John Dymoke sold his estate in this parish, and the manor is now the property of Sir H. M. Hawley, Bart., of Tumby Lawn, in the adjoining parish of Kirkby; W. H. Trafford, Esq., owning the remainder, except 150 acres of glebe.