James Conway Walter

“ There is nothing to show who this Philip Tylney was, who acted on this occasion as vendor, but Sir Thomas Cecil was the son of the great Lord Treasurer Burghley, who was Secretary of State under Edward VI., and for 40 years guided the Councils of Queen Elizabeth. Sir Thomas himself was a high official under Elizabeth and King James I.; he was knighted in 1575, received the Order of the Garter in 16ot; under James I. he was made Privy Councillor, and having succeeded his father as Baron Burghley, was created by James Earl of Exeter. ”

“ We have now reached the end of a somewhat lengthy series of owners formerly connected with Horncastle, its manor, and its soke, bringing us down to the early part of the 17th century, and we think that few towns, of its size, could show such a record of distinguished names. ”

“ For again we find a document [45] of the reign of the latter, in which the Bishop of Carlisle complains to Sir Francis Walsingham, the Queen's Commissioner, of a "book of Horncastle," which the Earl of Lincoln (the new title of Lord Clinton and Saye) had sent to him "to be sealed," because (he says) the earl, by the words of the grant, had taken from him "lands and tithes of the yearly value of £28 6s. 8d.," the exact sum, be it observed, above specified as the rent to be paid by Lord Clinton and Saye to the bishop, Robert Aldrich. ”

“ We have now reached another stage in the tenure of this manor and find ourselves once more at the point where the present chapter opened. Hitherto the manor had been held "in capite" (or "in chief") of the king by lay lords, or, in the two cases of Queen Editha and Adelias de Condi, by a lady; but in this reign Walter Mauclerk, the third Bishop of Carlisle, purchased the manor from Ralph de Rhodes. ”

“ He died 22 December, 1898, and his widow, the Honble. Mrs. Stanhope of Revesby Abbey, became Lady of the Manor; this, on her decease in 1907 reverting to the family of the Earl Stanhope, of Chevening Park, Sevenoaks, Kent, in the person of his son, the Honble. Richard Stanhope, now residing at Revesby Abbey.
In 1856 the manoral rights of the Bishops of Carlisle were transferred to the See of Lincoln, and the Bishop of Lincoln is now ex officio Patron of the Benefice. The head of the Stanhope family is still the chief owner of property in Horncastle ”

“ We have already stated that Queen Elizabeth leased the manor from the Bishop of Carlisle of that date, she was succeeded in the lease by King James I., who transferred it to Sir Henry Clinton, but owing to a legal error in that transaction, it proved void. One of the said Bishops in the next reign was Dr. Robert Snowden, whose family were located in this neighbourhood, his son being Vicar of Horncastle. Abigail Snowden married Edward, son of Sir Edward Dymoke, Knt., in 1654, and Jane Snowden married Charles Dymoke, Esq., of Scrivelsby Court ”

“ A Chancery Inquisition [63] taken at Horncastle, 24 Sept., 1612, shews that "John Kent, of Langton, was seized in his manor of Horncastell, with the appurtenances, called Parish-fee, and certain messuages, cottages, land and meadows in Horncastell (and elsewhere) , lately purchased of Robert Savile and Richard Thymelby," and "held under the Bishop of Carlisle by fealty," ... that "the said John Kent died 19 Sept., 1611, and that William Kent, his son, is next heir." ”

“ Of this, he asserts, "the see of Carlisle is seized and the earl is not in legal possession by his lease now 'in esse.'" [46] He wages his suit "the more boldly, because of the extraordinary charges he has been at, from the lamentable scarcity in the country, the great multitude of poor people, and other charges before he came had made him a poor man, and yet he must go on with it ... the number of them which want food to keep their lives in their bodies is so pitiful. ”

“ He was succeeded by his grandson and heir, Gerard de Rhodes, [5] whose son, Ralph de Rhodes, sold it to Walter Mauclerk, [6] Bishop of Carlisle, and Treasurer of the Exchequer under Henry III. In the reign of Richard II. Roger la Scrope and Margaret his wife, with Robert Tibetot and son, his wife, as descendants of Gerbald de Escald, [7] put in a claim for the manor and obtained letters patent, by which the episcopal possessor was bound to do them homage, but this was only for a brief period, and they then disappear from the scene. ”

“ A few particulars of this family may not be without interest. The earliest named are Richard de Bavent in 1160, [70] and Eudo de Bavent in 1161, [71] as holding the manor of Mareham-le-Fen, in the extreme south of the Horncastle soke, under Henry II., "by service of falconry." [72] Eudo (about 1200) gave "to God, the Cathedral, and Chapter of Lincoln," his lands in the north fen of Bilsby. [73] The family seem to have gradually increased their possessions in this neighbourhood. In 1290, under Edward I., we find Jollan de Bavent holding lands in Billesby and Winceby, as well as Mareham. ”

“ The saints, we trust.
Another family of distinction connected with Horncastle was that of the Angevines. Among the Carlisle documents is one [77] shewing that a trial was held at Horncastle (A.D. 1489-90) , in which Sir Robert Dymoke, Knt., and William Angevin, Esq., recovered possession of 400 acres of land, with tofts and appurtenances, in Horncastle and its soke, from John Hodgisson and his wife, John Cracroft, Gervase Clifton (of Clifton) and others. ”

“ These were formerly the well-known local troops called "trainbands." The paper contains, further, accounts of payments for "towne common armour, jerkyns, swords, daggers, corslettes, 1 caline (piece of ordnance) , conduct money (i.e. hire money) , pioneers, victuals," &c. Accounts rendered by Thomas Hamerton, Arthur Patchytt, Thomas Raythbeake (all formerly well known names in the town) , and others.
The head of the Carsey family was the owner of the Revesby Abbey Estate, and as such was lesse of the manor of Horncastle under the Bishop of Carlisle. ”

“ A Patent Roll of the reign of Elizabeth, [93] A.D. 1577, records that a "pardon" was granted to "Sir Thomas Cecil, Knt., for acquiring the manor of Langton (by Horncastle) with appurtenances, and 30 messuages, 20 cottages, 40 tofts, 4 dove-cotes, 40 gardens, 30 orchards, 1,400 acres of (cultivated) land, 100 acres of wood, 100 acres of furze and heath, 200 acres of marsh, 40s. of rent, and common pasture, with appurtenances, in Horncastle, Thimbleby, Martin, Thornton and Woodhall, from Philip Tylney, Esq., by fine levied without licence." ”

“ The extensive woods in the soke of Horncastle abounded in game, as we have already shown by the tolls charged on roebuck, hares, &c., brought into the town. The punishment for killing a wild boar, without the king's licence, was the loss of both eyes. These feræ naturæ became extinct about A.D. 1620. ↑ These and other privileges granted to the Bishop are first specified in a Cartulary Roll, 14-15 Henry III. ”

“ There is, however, evidence to show that she had other possessions of considerable value apparently in her own right in Nottinghamshire and Kent, as well as Lincolnshire. [15] She is described by the old chronicler, Geoffrey Gairmar, [16] as a great patroness of learning and literature. ”

“ He may well, therefore, have taken Horncastle on his way.
↑ Dr. Mansell Creighton, late Bishop of London. Essays, edited by Louisa Creighton, 1904, pp. 278-9. ↑ The palace of the Bishop was on the site of the present Manor House. ↑ Dugdale, vol ii, p. 336. Monast. Angl., vol. ii, p. 646. ↑ Hundred Rolls, Lincoln, No. 14, m. 1. ↑ Hundred Rolls, Lincoln, No 14, m. 1, 3 Edward I, 1274-5. ↑ This sale was confirmed by the King, as shewn by a Charter Roll, 14 Henry III., pt. i, m. 12 ↑ Patent Roll, 14 Richard II., pt. i, m. 3. A.D. 1390. ↑ Patent Roll, 6 Edward VI., pt. iii, m. 1. ”