George Weir

“ The spot upon which the contending armies engaged was a gently rising and broadly extended eminence, at a village called Winceby, midway between Horncastle and Bolingbroke. It commands an extensive prospect of the far stretched fen-lands of the county; whilst to the westward is seen those cliffs, on the summit of one of which magnificently rises the cathedral of Lincoln. This the royal army had contemplated as a district, which by victory was either to be restored to the authority of the king ”

“ Horncastle is pleasantly situated at the foot of that bold and even range of hills which, from their openness, have been termed the wolds. It is nearly in the centre of the Lindsey division of the county of Lincoln, and is the chief of a soke of fifteen parishes, to which it gives name.
The principal part of the town is built in an angle formed by the confluence of two rivers, the Bane and the Waring, where an ancient fortification formerly stood, the scite of which is still visible, denoting it to have been a station of importance in early times. ”

“ During this time, the royalists, bold, eager, and trusting that a generous heroism would nerve them for victory, waited only the opportunity for attack. Upon learning the arrival of the Earl of Manchester, they lost no time in drawing out all their military from the several garrisons of Lincoln, Newark, and Gainsborough, still stimulated by an undaunted resolution to find out the enemy and advance to the combat. ”

“ Of those royalists who escaped the slaughter, there were scarce a thousand efficient for the field; and these were destined to sustain another overthrow at the battle of Lincoln close, which completed the warfare in this county. Bolingbroke castle had already yielded; and this with Tattershall, the principal places of defence in this neighbourhood, were soon after devoted to the dismantling policy of the parliament, which doomed them with the noble edifices of the country, to that destruction which left them but ruins in silent and lingering decay. ”

“ No sooner had a detachment from the king’s army, advancing on the western road, been observed at Edlington, reconnoitring the lines of their enemy, than word came to Sir Thomas Fairfax, the commandant of the cavalry at Horncastle, that a surprize was expected. Information was accordingly dispatched to the Earl of Manchester: it found him at East Kirkby hill, with Colonel Cromwell, and the Lord Willoughby of Parham, intently observing the progress which the besiegers made against the castle of Bolingbroke, and assiduously ordering the dispositions of attack. ”

“ Some finding themselves surrounded, out-numbered, and in all the perilous circumstances of desperate warfare, were obliged to supply by politic conduct the helplessness of their condition. These therefore, hastily mounting their horses, agreed with much resolution to break through the opposing ranks, sword in hand, with the words of mutual encouragement, “Come on! come on! all is our own,” thinking that the enemy, by these ambiguous shouts, fearing an ambuscade, would leave to them an easy passage by the sudden confusion of their alarm. ”

“ The prisoners, about one thousand in number, were the wounded on the field, and those parties of the dispersed fugitives, who to avoid the overwhelming carnage of their pursuers had secreted themselves amongst the rugged and winding banks of a neighbouring river: many indeed were taken whilst seeking refuge in the very waters, where some had already perished, bleeding and wearied in their armour, overcome in their inability to recover themselves from the deeper parts of the stream. ”

“ William however strengthening by his interest the rebellion in Normandy which had been raised by Robert, the eldest son of the conqueror, and brother of the king, Henry, to appease his wrath, and obtain his favor, was in the twenty-second year of his reign, induced to restore to him the estates of his mother Lucia, and invest him with the Earldom of Lincoln. About the same time asserting the rights of the Empress Maud, in her contentions with Stephen for the throne, he greatly contributed to her early successes, particularly at the seige of Lincoln. ”

“ But Horncastle, surprized at the approach of numerous hostile forces, had been evacuated by the detachment of horse which possessed it; and the inhabitants, as soon as the town was seized by the troops of the king, having secured the entrances and roads through it, by forming barriers with carts and timber; the cavalry found themselves again obliged to exert their unyielding valor in turning upon their pursuers. Desperately therefore they burst through them with the full energy of their courage, sustaining the loss of some few men, among whom was a cornet ”

“ It consists of a square tower, a nave and chancel, with north and south aisles. Being for the most part built with the soft and imperfectly aggregated sand-stone of the neighbourhood, which yields easily to the moisture of the atmosphere, it has suffered much from the effects of time; and the decayed parts being repaired with brick gives to the building a motley and unprepossessing appearance. ”

“ In Domesday called Aschebi, and in old writings Askeby, is a parish adjoining to the north boundaries of that of Horncastle, from which town the village is about two miles distant. In this parish is the manor of Ashby Thorpe, now the property of Mr. Joseph Rinder; but the possessor of that of Horncastle claims manorial rights over the other parts of the parish. The church consists of a tower, a nave with a north aisle, and a chancel. [44b] The benefice is a curacy in the presentation of the Bishop of Carlisle. ”

“ The rich tracts of open grass land stretching along the banks of the river Bane, and its tributary stream, would be populously occupied by the pastoral inhabitants of this district. Hence it may be presumed, that when the weak efforts of the Coritani for independence had left them vanquished by the victorious arms of the Romans, under Ostorius Scapula, and finally a tributary state by the more efficient achievements of Suetonius Paulinus, this portion of the country was soon secured by fixing on the present scite of Horncastle a military station. ”

“ Besides the liberties of the parks, chases and free warrens, belonging to the castle and manor of Tattershall, it also appears in the several grants of Henry the third, Henry the fourth, Henry the seventh, Henry the eighth, and in the grant of the liberties of Richmond fee, whereof the castle and manor of Tattershall is a part, that to the said castle and manor also belong the liberties of stallage, tolls of markets and fairs, together with the privilege for all tenants and inhabitants of Tattershall to be discharged of any tolls in fairs and markets abroad ”

“ By the record called Domesday, compiled towards the latter end of the reign of William the Conqueror, it appears that the manor of Horncastle, previous to the close of the Saxon government, belonged to Editha the queen of Edward the Confessor; but at the time of making that survey it formed, together with the soke, part of the possessions of the king. ”

“ Liz, Earl of Huntingdon, who is said to have enjoyed, during her life time, the Earldom of Lincoln, and with it this lordship. Alice as well as her sister Gunnora dying without issue, their uncle Robert de Gaunt, though unallied by blood, became their heir, and possessed himself of these estates. Gilbert his son succeeded him; but joining the cause of the barons against King John, and afterwards against his son and successor, Henry the third, he was defeated at Lincoln, taken prisoner, and these estates conferred upon Ranulph de Meschines, surnamed de Blundeville, Earl of Chester ”

“ By letters patent, dated the fifth of September, 1551, Edward the sixth granted the castle with the manor, in fee, to Edward Lord Clinton and Saye, afterwards Earl of Lincoln. The Earl dying in 1584, was succeeded by his son Henry, who died in 1616, leaving issue a son and heir Thomas, who survived his father only two years, and was followed by his son Theophilus, who died in 1667. The next possessor was Edward, who was the grandson of Theophilus, and who died at Tattershall in 1692 ”

“ Of the urns found, only two are known to exist in the neighbourhood; one being in the collection of Sir Joseph Banks, at Revesby Abbey, the other in the possession of Mr. Crowder, an inhabitant of the town.
It is much to be regretted for the advancement of researches into local antiquities that the chief part of the urns, coins, fibulæ, and other Roman vestiges discovered at Horncastle, have been sold to strangers who have visited the town, or to dealers elsewhere. ”

“ The few portions of the original architecture which have escaped the silent ravages of years, and the hands of the innovator, bespeak the building of no higher antiquity than the period of Henry the seventh. The aisle on the north side of the chancel is ornamented with embattlements, on which quatrefoils and blank shields are sculptured. It was probably used as a chantry, one of the windows of the aisle having formerly contained an inscription justifying such a supposition. ”

“ The Lord Treasurer, in pursuance of this licence, began to convert the parish church into a college; but it appears that he died before it was finished, as, by his will, dated a short time previous to his decease, he bequeathed his body to be buried in the collegiate church of Tattershall, until the whole fabrick should be rebuilt, and then to be removed into the midst of the choir. ”

“ It is very pleasantly situated about two miles northward of Horncastle, near to the road leading from that place to Lincoln.
The manorial estates comprising the chief part of the parish, are the property of Richard Samuel Short, Esquire, a descendant of a female branch of the family of that name, which he adopted on coming into possession of the estates. The manor house, the seat of the proprietor, though not of regular architecture, acquires an agreeable effect from the grove in which it is situated. ”

“ Kirkstead, anciently called Cristed, is situated on the east bank of the Witham, in the hundred of Gartree, and is about three miles distant from Tattershall, and eight from Horncastle. Formerly it was a hamlet of Kirkby super Bane, but for many years it has been considered as a separate parish.
The manor, with that of Tattershall, was among the several estates given by the conqueror to Eudo, one of his Norman followers. His son Hugh fitz Eudo, called the Breton, founded a Cistertian Abbey here in 1139, and endowed it with his possessions in this place. ”

“ Ranulph de Blundeville dying without issue, his sisters became his co-heiresses; but he had during his life time assigned by charter to one of them, named Hawise, the Earldom of Lincoln, and with it this manor and castle. ”

“ The Roman fortress was at that time either destroyed, or in a very dilapidated state; for Horsa, the Saxon general and brother of Hengist is stated to have enstrengthened the fortress of Horncastle. This fortification however did not continue long; for Horsa being defeated in an engagement with the Britons, under the command of Raengeires, at the neighbouring village of Tetford, Vortimer king of the Britons caused it to be beaten down and rendered defenceless. ”

“ In the mean time the Earl of Manchester, with Lord Willoughby and some other officers, had with the like object hastened to Horncastle, previously appointing that at that place the forces should be immediately collected; where being drawn together, the most effective resolutions p. 16might be taken for ensuring a victory, or lessening the calamities of a defeat.
It was not until the dusk of the evening that the royal army, under Sir John Henderson, moved rapidly on to the station of their enemy. They had judged that the dubious light would serve to conceal their true numbers ”

“ At Bolingbroke, Manchester designed to wait for the enemy; but Cromwell, actuated by prudence, urged the delaying of the battle, since the troops, upon whose prowess and exertion success depended, were wearied, and little able to sustain the ardour of the fight. [18] The royal army were however too eager to secure the promises of a victory, to permit their adversaries to renew their strength by avoiding the contest. ”

“ Joan Lady Cromwell was one of the daughters of Sir Richard Stanhope, and niece and co-heiress of the Lord Treasurer Cromwell. She married Humphry Bourchier, third Son of the Earl of Essex, who was created Lord Cromwell, in the first year of Edward the fourth. ”

“ The trophies which the conquerors obtained in the fight of Winceby field, were arms for fifteen hundred men, and thirty-five standards. [22b]
Returning from the pursuit, the exhausted cavalry rested for the night in the villages around Horncastle. The infantry occupied quarters in the town, where they found two hundred horses left by their fugitive enemy. Of the wounded, the Earl of Manchester ordered especial care to be taken, whilst the dead were hastily consigned to the nearest graves. ”

“ It does not appear into whose hands the Tattershall estate fell after the death of the Lord Treasurer Cromwell, until the year 1487, when Henry the seventh granted the manor to his mother, Margaret, Countess of Richmond, and in the following year entailed it on the Duke of Richmond. The Duke dying without issue, Henry the eighth in 1520, granted it to Charles Duke of Suffolk, by letters patent, which were confirmed by Edward the sixth, in the year 1547. ”