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. {7a}
When this manor was separated from the crown does not appear; but in the
reign of Stephen it was the demesne of Alice or Adelias de Cundi, who
resided at her castle here, which leaves it to be concluded that she held
it by inheritance from her father. {7b} As she took part against the
king in his contention with the Empress Maud, he seized her lands, but
restored them again on condition that she should demolish her castle, the
means which had served to render her political alliance formidable to his
interest. {7c} What may have been the extent and nature of the structure
possessed as the mansion of Adelias is not now discoverable, no traces
being to be found; but its strength most probably consisted in a
restoration of the walls of the Roman fortress, which encircling some
convenient and less durable edifice, gave to the place of her residence
the security of a castle.
The restitution, by Stephen, of these lands to Adelias de Cundi, seems to
have been only for life, as her heir did not succeed thereto; for this
manor came again to the crown, and was afterwards given by Henry the
second to Gerbald le Escald, a Fleming, who held it for one knight’s fee.
{8a} Gerbald le Escald, was succeeded by his grandson and heir Gerrard
de Rhodes; but for a short time after his death, Ranulph Earl of Chester
appears to have held it, probably in trust for Gerrard de Rhodes, during
his minority. Gerrard was succeeded by his son and heir Ralph de Rhodes,
who in the reign of Henry the third, sold this manor to Walter Mauclerke,
the third Bishop of Carlisle, who also held the office of Treasurer of
the Exchequer. In conformity with the spirit of the times in which this
sale was effected, the bishop and his successors were to hold the estate
by the performance of suit and service to Ralph de Rhodes and his heirs.
In the fourteenth year of the same reign, the transfer to Walter
Mauclerke was confirmed by the king, who in the same year also granted to
him three several charters, conferring those immunities upon the manor
and soke, which served to raise the town of Horncastle from the
dependence of a village, to become in some degree the mart of the
surrounding country.
The first of these charters gave to the bishop free warren over this
manor and the soke: the second the liberty of holding an annual fair at
this place, which was to commence two days before the eve of the feast of
St. Barnabas, and to continue eight days: the third had for its objects
the empowering of the bishop to try felons, {8b} and to hold a court
leet; also the exemption of the inhabitants of the manor, and the soke
from toll, and several other payments and services, beside protecting
them from arrest by the sheriff’s and king’s officers. An additional
charter was granted in the following year enabling the bishop to hold a
weekly market here every Wednesday; and also another annual fair to
commence on the eve of the feast of St. Lawrence, and to continue seven
days. {8c} The custom of holding a fair on the anniversary of this
festival appears to have prevailed at an earlier period, it being alluded
to in the grant of the former fair.
In the same reign, Gerrard, the son and heir of Ralph de Rhodes, appears
to have preferred his claim to this manor, which had been sold by his
father; {9a} perhaps in consequence of some omission in the performance
of those services by which the estate was to be held. His claim does not
appear to have been successful; for in the seventeenth year of the same
king, the bishop fined to hold this manor in fee, but not to alienate
without licence. {9b}
Walter Mauclerke resigned the see of Carlisle in 1246, and as this manor
devolved to his ecclesiastical successors, it may be inferred that it had
been purchased to increase the revenues of the bishoprick, and not to be
appropriated as his private property. The privileges of such essential
interest to the estate, which had already been conferred by the preceding
charters, were in part strengthened by fresh acknowledgements to the
Bishops of Carlisle, in the reigns of the two succeeding kings; Edward
the first confirming the grant of free warren, {9c} and Edward the second
that which exempts the inhabitants of the manor and soke from certain
payments and services. {9d}
At the period of Richard the second, Roger le Scrop and Margaret his
wife, with Robert Tibetot and Eve his wife, heirs and descendants of
Gerbald le Escald, appear to have advanced a claim to this manor, and to
have succeeded in obtaining letters patent, confirming to them homage and
service from the ecclesiastical possessor. {9e} At that time also, when
the border contests had laid waste the see of Carlisle, and divested the
bishops of their seat of Rose Castle in Cumberland, they were
necessitated to take up their residence at Horncastle, which continued
for some time to be their principal place of abode. {9f}
In the twenty-fifth year of Henry the sixth, that monarch confirmed the
several charters granted to the bishops as lords of this manor, by Henry
the third, and also conferred on them numerous other privileges. {10a}
This manor continued in the possession of the Bishops of Carlisle, until
the reign of Edward the sixth, when, under the authority of a licence
from the crown, it was sold by Bishop Aldrich to Edward Lord Clinton,
who, during the time he held it, compounded with the copyhold tenants,
and enfranchised their estates; but after Mary had ascended the throne,
he was compelled to re-convey his purchase to the see of Carlisle, {10b}
to which, since that time, it has continued to belong. Bishop Aldrich
died at this place in March, 1555, the second year of the reign of Queen
Mary: from which it appears, that the estate had either been restored
previous to his decease; or, in the conditions of the sale, he had
reserved to himself the privilege of residing in the manor house. {10c}
Queen Elizabeth had a lease of this manor from the then possessing
bishop, in which she was succeeded by James the first, who assigned it to
Sir Henry Clinton, knight; but owing to a neglect of enrolment, it proved
void. {10d} The present lessee is The Right Honorable Sir Joseph Banks,
Baronet, by whom, and his ancestors, it has been held about a century.
The large tract of fen land, situated between this place and Boston, at a
very early period belonged to the lords of this manor, in conjunction
with the lords of the manors of Bolingbroke and Scrivelsby; but by the
grants which they gave to the neighbouring abbies at Revesby and
Kirkstead, their right therein became comparatively small. {11} On the
enclosure of these fens, pursuant to Act of Parliament, in 1801, about
six hundred acres were annexed to the parish of Horncastle, eighty-one
acres of which were allotted to the lord of the manor; the remainder to
the owners of common-right houses.
The parochial extent of Horncastle, exclusive of the fen allotment, is
about one thousand three hundred acres, two hundred and fifty of which
are contained in the manorial estates.