Court Rolls of the Manor of Ingoldmells in the County of Lincoln

COURT 1%oLLs OF THE MANOR OF INGOLDMELLS COURT ROLLS MANOR OF INGOLDMELLS IN THE 27L!* .1 COUNTY OF LINCOLN%L+xb(‘ TRANSLATEI) BY W. O. MASSINGBERD, M.A. ‘A HISTORY OF ORMSBY’ ‘§§riz1teh by SPOTTISWOODE & CO. LTD., NEW-STREET SQUARE, LONDON 1902 TO CHARLES FRANCIS MASSINGBERD-MUNDY LORD OF THE MANOR or INGOLDMELLS-CUM-ADDLETHORPE PREFACE HAVING,through the kindness of the lord of the manor, been afforded the opportunity of transcribing and studying at my leisure the court rolls of a Lincolnshire manor, which form an unusually complete series, and seem to me of special interest, I have thought it worth Whileto print the results in the interests Ofcounty history, and I am even ambitious enough to hope that my abstracts may be found to have a still wider historical value. I am consciousthat the rolls deserve to be edited by an expert, but, as that is impossible, I trust that the deficiencies of an editor who has done his best will be pardoned. A somewhat longer Introduction and some more notes might have been given, but I have largely exceeded my space already, and -have felt ~ that for historical purposes it was better to curtail my own remarks than to diminish the extracts from the rolls. I cannot mark out on a map the boundaries of the ancient manor of Ingoldmells, and I should certainly get very wrong if I attempted to mark out the boundaries of the modern manor of Ingoldmells-cum-Addlethorpe. I show’in the Introduction that the manor extended over part of six parishes, and for the Information of those who do not know the county well I must explain that Ingoldmells and Skegness have a coast—lineof 9011116sixmiles a little to the north of the Wash, a narrow strip Ofland in Skegness separating Winthorpe from the seashore and causing Ingoldmells and Skegness to adjoin on the sea 003815Side,though Winthorpe comes up to the Roman Bank. Very possibly this strip was considerably wider before the ‘A, fifteenth century, when Weread of lands being ‘inundated by the 383-.’ Addlethorpe adjoins Ingoldmells on the west, Burgh ;’, (of: ;.y5-ox. L-'Ji‘:~ Vi INGOLDMELLS COURT ROLLS is further inland, and Partney and Great Steeping are on the extreme west of Candleshoe Wapentake, in what is called the Wold Division. The sand hills, or meales, may still be seen, and it is important for their consolidation and maintenance that the thorns and synes which grow upon them should be pre served. As regards the syncs Mr. Woodruffe Peacock tells me that there are two species of grasses called by this name— Ammophilct arundinacecc, which is properly called ‘synes,’ and Ely/musMenarius. There are ‘ Syne Hills ’ at Huttoft and North Somercotes, and a ‘ Syne Hill House ’ at Skegness. I know that experts prefer to have the original Latin text rather than a more or less imperfect translation, and I quite acknowledge that they have good reasons for their preference, but to give both text and translation was in this case out of the question. I have given what may be considered by scholars a bald translation, as thus experts will, I hope, be able to judge how the original text runs, and for the same reason I have left some paragraphs as they are, though I know quite well that they are not good English. The 194 rolls, of which I give extracts, were found by Mr. Richard Cheales in Ingoldmells Church in 1684, having, according to a statement of Sir Drayner Massing herd, been kept private in the county by the tenants, and never returned into the Duchy Office,because they show the fines to be uncertain, Whilethe rolls in the Duchy Ofiice mention the fines to be 23. an acre. The rolls then in the Duchy Oflice are now at the Public Record Office, and are temp. Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Elizabeth. There are also rolls temp. Eliza beth and James I. at Ormsby Hall, and from the time of the purchase of the manor in 1658 there is an unbroken series of rolls in books. I had hoped to be able to give in an appendix some rather long eXtI'aCtSfrom the Ministers’ Accounts &c. at the Public Record Office relating to the manor of Ingoldmells, but have been obliged to refrain. These accounts of the rents and issues of the manor make clear the customs of the manor concerning theacquisition of land by villeins, and mark the progress of l their prosperity. It seems that the old rent paid by villeins for I 1 bond land was 4:7,.per acre, and that on alienation an additional l l PREFACE vii rent of 8d. per acre became payable, and that a rent of 2d. per acre was paid for free land purchased by villeins besides the fines on surrender and admittance. They also give us some insight into the economic history of a Lincolnshire manor. The process of subinfeudation enabled great barons to keep up great retinues, and ride out to war at the head of goodly companies of knights and followers, but little did they foreseethe enormous loss to their successors. What would have been the value of the estates of the Earls of Lincoln had the Domesday estates of Ivo Tailboys, Hugh Earl of Chester, and Ilbert de Lacy been kept in hand, instead of being granted out to tenants to be held by knight service, one hardly dare think, but happily the danger to the country of such estates was averted, and we have only to consider the actual facts as they concern one of the manors which were kept. In 1086 the annual value of the manor of Ingoldmells was 10l., an increase of 2l. upon the value temp. Edward the Confessor. In 1295 the rents of the free and bond tenants were 51l. 17s. 1d., inclusive of NZ. of tallage, but exclusive of fines, perquisites of courts &c. amounting to 18l. 11s. 8d,, and some small rents for the N. and S. warrens, &c. In 1347 the same rents were 61L 9s. 4d., and in 1421-2 they Were 71l. 10s. 3d. So far the customs of the manor with regard to the new rents forlands purchased by villeins had provided an increase of revenue. But in 1485, 21. 7s. 4d. has to be deducted for lost rents, chieflyper fluwum mwris,from a total of 72l. 6s. 8d., so that there is a slight decrease, and when the manor was sold in 1628 by Charles I. the reserved rent, which corresponded to the sum of the freehold and copyhold rents then payable, was only 73l. 17s. 2d., and this was reduced in 1665-6 to 655., because part of the land chargeable was ‘swallowed up by the S833 It is therefore clear that at Ingoldmells the tenants aPP1‘0priatedvirtually the whole of the increase in the value of the land, and one sees how hopeless in the face of growing expenses it was for lords of manors to keep up their position unless they could acquire actual possession of the lands over which they had the lordship. Thus a struggle went on for years. Many county families disappeared, others by some means 01‘other purchased the freehold lands, and by a system of leases viii INGOLDMELLSoounr ROLLS acquired the bond lands of their manors, and so got together the large and compact estates which we now see in these days when a manor without copyhold lands is worth nothing. One word more. It must not be supposed that th6 Ingoldmells villein is quite a fair example Of the Vmeins of Lincolnshire. He had had his services commuted at an exceptionably early period, and probably had other advantages over his neighbours. The Court Rolls for the manors OfSutton and Bolingbroke seem to show that the other villeins Of the Duchy of Lancaster fared tolerably well, though they owed some labour services, and the survey of the Bishop’s manor of Stow in 1288, and early Lincolnshire Inquisitions post mortem Show no great hardships, but the Chronicle of Peterborough, and Spalding Priory surveys in the Cole MSS. show exactions that were decidedly more onerous, and papers found by Mr. Cole, of Doddington, in the Swinderby parish chest show that the Knights of St. John exacted on the death of their bond tenants at Eagle, N. Scarle, and Swinderby, one—thirdof their goods, and were entitled to a.third of the full price paid for any land sold. W. O. M. ORMSBYRumour: August 1902. INTRODUCTION History of the Mcmor I BEGINmy short account of the manor of Ingoldmells, or, a'S‘1i‘:is now called, Ingoldmells—cum—Addlethorpe, by trans cnbmg two entries from Domesday Book, which I translate. ‘Land of Robert Le Despenser [Robertus Dispensator]. ‘Manor. In Herdertorp Wiiielac had 3 carucates of land for geld. There is land for 3 ploughs. There Robert has ploughs in demesne, and 32 sokemen with a moiety ofthis land and 12 villeins with six ploughs. There are there two churches, and 400 acres of meadow. In King Edward’s time it was Worth 85-,now it is worth 101. There is soke in Guldelsmere. ‘soke. In Partenai, and Stepinge, and Trio, and Burg ere Were 2%carucates of land for geld. There is land for as many Ploughs. There 5 sokemen and 2 villeins have half a plough: and 30 acres of meadow.’ 1 I Suggest that ‘Herdertorp’ is the same place as ‘Ardu tlllletorlhllater ‘Arde1thorp,’i.e. Addlethorpe. We find ‘Hardel OFP for Addlethorpe in 1205, and again in the 15th ;’:ntury._ I suggest further that Ingoldmells and Addlethorpe inegescribed under this name of ‘Herdertorp,’ or ‘ Herdetorp,’ Ad Omesday Book, and that the manor of Ingo1dmells—cum— Cl-lethorpewith its soke is described in the above entries.

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