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DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FRANK BAKER COLLECTION OF WESLEYANA AND BRITISH METHODISM Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Duke University Libraries https://archive.org/details/noticesoflincoln01hall WEST DOORWAY Clee Church. Notices of Lincolnshire i \ BEING AN HISTORICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF SOME VILLAGES IN THE gHinettnt of Jmfcsetj, BY JOHN GEORGE HALL. “A book’s a book, altho' there’s nothing in ,t.” HULL : Printed by the “Eastern Morning News” Co., Ltd., Wliltefriargate. 1 H 9 0 . - % *«.S3 U- nihJ CORRECTIONS. Page 24—8th line, Beatrix Ilaulay. „ 88—12th line, read Himene for Nimene. ,, 123—7th line, 1522 for 1512. PREFACE. The following pages are dedicated to those who are kind enough to take the trouble to read them. The observations on some of the subjects it contains may not find acceptance with all, but that does not matter much, as I do not pretend to Infallibility. If the reader derives half as much satisfaction in the perusal of these pages as the writer has in visiting the villages mentioned, then I shall he amply repaid for the work done. To the various Clergyman of these several parishes I tender my sincere thanks for their uniform courtesy and kindness, and tor the help afforded me from their Parish Registers, &c.,&c. The following Works have been consulted :— Andrews’ History of Winterton. Abraham De la Fryme (Surtees Society). The Architectural Society's Papers. The Lincoln Volume of the Archaeological Institute. Dugdale, Fuller, Leland. National Records, Post Mortems, Pipe Rolls, &c White’s Gazetter, Isaac Taylor's Words and Places. Vols. of the Gentleman’s Magazines, die., die. J. G. H. Gkbat Union Street, Hull, 1890. GOXHILL. The earliest record we have of Goxhill (or, as it was then called, “Golse”)—is in the Doomsday Survey thus :— Jr Golse, Anti had one carucate of land to he taxed. Land, to, t\v®'ploughs. Huger a vassal of the bishops has there two ploughs, and eight villanes and eight sokenien with one plough, and eighty acres of meadow, value in King Edward’s time thirty-two shillings, now- forty shillings. Xallaged at ten shillings. In the reign of Edward I., the Earl of Albemarle (l ord of Holclerness) ancl (he Bishop of Lincoln (the Bishop of Bayeux and the Trusbuts) had possession of it, and it was afterwards held—probably as a knight’s fee— by Robert de lloos, and others of his family, until the time of Henry V., when William Lord Rons died, seized on the manor held by the Countess of (Stafford. In the. reign of Edward I., Simon de Vere also held a fee of the Earl of Albemarle, and another under the Bishop of Lincoln. De Vere is traditionally said to have left a large estate to the poor, which they did not long enjoy. The manor of Goxhill be¬ longs to Mr Bradley, of Castieford, but the land is chiefly owned by Mr Thorold, Mr Hildyard, Mr J. Turner, Mr W. Brookes, the Corporation of the Trinity House, and by several resident families. About a mile to the east of the church, near the hamlet of Littleworth, are the remains of what is generally called Goxhill Priory, said to have been founded by William de Alta Ripa for Cistercian Nuns about 1185. But, although this has been A Goxhill. copied from one history to another, it is doubtful whether this place ever was a monastic establishment. No mention is made of it in Speed or Dugdale in connection with the dissolution of the religious houses. Probably the mistake has arisen in this way. Speed mentions in his list, “ The Nunnery, of Gokewell.” This is situated in the parish of Broughton, near Brigg, and it is said to have been founded by Alta de Ripa, and granted at tiie dissolution to one of the Tyrwitts. At the recent visit of the Lincoln and Notts Archeological Society, the Goxhill ruin was examined, and a paper read upon the subject by Mr R. H. Taylor. The conclusion come to by that gentleman was that it was neither a chantry chapel, a parochial chapel, nor an oratory. The real question which puzzled archaeologists is whether the chapel was an appendage of Thornton Abbey, or a private chapel of the Lord of the Manor of Goxhill. Mr Taylor thought there was much evidence that it was a private chapel. One of the strongest points in support of this view was the will of Sir Phillip de Spencer, in 1401. Sir Phillip,who acquired the Goxhill property by marriage, was a younger son of the favourite of Edward LI., and was executed. The conclu¬ sion Mr Taylor came to, after considering the facts relating to it, was that the building was erected by the Abbey authorities, and conveyed to one of the family of the Spencers. Canon Venables, too, had no doubt that it was a manorial chapel. L visited it a shore time ago, and examined it. It is a building about 40ft. high, built of tine square-hewn stone. It is of three bays, and in the upper storey the windows have been large, but Goxhill. 3 are now built up. This storey formed the chapel. It is now used as a granary. Beneath, on the ground floor, are several vaulted >’001118 and passages, now used as a dairy and kitchen, and other offices for a farm bailiff. There is a circular turret and steps to the top at the west end. The moat, which has at one time surrounded it, still exists, on the east side. In “Early Lincoln Wills,” lately pub¬ lished by Sir Gibbons, a will in Bishop Beaufort’s Register thus refers to this chapel :— “ Piiiu.ip i.k Despenseii, Knight. Dated at GOl'X- ilILL, 1 August, 1401. (Fo 3S.)” After giving instructions as to burial and various bequests of books to relatives, the following items occur :— “ To Gouxhill Parish Church ununi frontal* de armis meis et armis, Dom deCobham, &c. “ Bequests for masses in Gouxhill Church, and in the chapels in my manors of Gouxhill and Gedney. “ Executors.— My son James Roos, John de la Liuml, Henry Cusas, vicar of Gouxhall, and John Uurdetand Ralph de Gonxlnll, my chaplains. “ Supervisor.—My son John le Despenser. “ My lands in Ii<>lderncss, and rents in Halton t«* my son Robert for life.*’ Between the chapel and the village, in the fields south of the church, are the marks of extensive foundations and the remains of a moat—the site probably of the mansion of the De Spensers--and at the east end of the church is an old build ingot tlie Elizabethan period, now a farm¬ house. The village is pleasantly-situated 011 a slight eminence, and is of consider able size. On the highest part of the village is the Parish Church. It is a line structure, and is dedicated to All Saints’. It consists of a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, a tower at the west end and both north and south porches. The whole of the nave and 4 Goxhill ;iisles are of the Perpendicular period, while the chancel is Early English. The arcades are tine specimens of their period. There are eight clerestory windows of three lights on eacli side of the nave. The arches rest on four octagonal columns; the chancel arch is lofty ancl of tine proportions, a similar arch dividing the tower from the nave. The north aisle is lighted by six windows of three lights each ; the south aisle by the same number of a like kind. The chancel is lighted on the north side by a window of three lights of the lancet shape, and one of two lights. The east window is of four lights. On tiie south side are two windows of two lights each, and the remains of an arch now blocked up. There is also a double piscina and aumbry in the south wall; also a recess on the opposite side of the chancel. The nave and aisles are seated with open seats of pine. In the chancel are four oak stalls. On the floor of the chancel, close to the north wall, is the effigy of a crusader in chain armour, the head resting on a pillow, the legs crossed, and the right hand grasping a half-drawn sword. Tradition says it is that of Walter de Vere, who was Lord of Goxhill in the time of Edward II. The interior of the church is spacious, the admeasurement being— nave, 54ft. long by 51ft. wide. Including the aisles, the length of the chancel is 40ft. by 20ft. Through the kindness of the vicar (the Tiev J. Seed, M.A.), I was permitted to in¬ spect the registers. The earliest entries are in the year 1543. In that year the following occurs:— ‘‘1543, ISth Octr., Thomas, ye son of Henry Walker, Baptized. Goxhill. 1543, 25th Octr., Isabel, ye danghtr of George Cook, Baptized. Burying*. 1545, George, ye son of Margaret Burall, Buried." There .ire no entries of special note, but the fact is shown that, in certain years, the mortality was very high—much above the average, This was caused, probably, by scarcity of food, or the prevalence of some contagious disease. The church con¬ tains a number of monumental inscrip¬ tions. Among them is the following on a blue flagstone on the south side of the chancel : — *• Here lyetli tile body of the I.ady Eliza Wentworth, daughter ami coheir or Thomas Savile, ot Wakefield, Esq.,relict < f Sir Win. Wentworth, Kt.,*Jml brother to the Earl of Strafford, who, having lived the best example of piety and charity, dyed lamented by all lovers of vertvs, ye 9th of Novemb, 1666, in ye 66th year of her age.” On a coarse grit stone adjoining : — “ Here lyetli the bodies of John and Robert S Hides, Son of Mr Robert Sarnies, and Anne his wife.

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