MEMORIALS OF THE COUNTIES OF ENGLAND
General Editor:
REV. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.S.L., F.R.H.
MEMORIALS OF
OLD LINCOLNSHIRE
[Illustration]
[Illustration: LINCOLN CATHEDRAL, EVENING.
_E. R. Taylor pinx._ _Andre & Sleigh Sc._]
MEMORIALS OF
OLD LINCOLNSHIRE
EDITED BY
E. MANSEL SYMPSON, M.A., M.D.
_Author of “Lincoln” (Ancient Cities)
Co-Editor of “Lincolnshire Notes and Queries”_
WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS
[Illustration]
LONDON
GEORGE ALLEN & SONS, RUSKIN HOUSE
RATHBONE PLACE
1911
[_All Rights Reserved_]
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL BROWNLOW LORD-LIEUTENANT OF LINCOLNSHIRE
THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED BY KIND PERMISSION
PREFACE
Lincolnshire, perhaps, is known most widely as the second largest
county in England, as pre-eminent in agriculture and stock-breeding on
wold, heath, marsh, and fen, as well to the fore in the manufacture of
agricultural and other machinery, as possessing the largest fishing-port
in Europe (Grimsby), and as being associated with “The Handicap.”
But, apart from all these, she can boast of very many attractions for the
traveller and the antiquary. Flat and low though her shores may be, yet
there is a fascination in the great extent of “yellow sands”; and there
is a recompense for the level plain of marsh or fen in the vast expanse
of sky, where “The incomparable pomp of eve, And the cold glories of the
dawn,” are seen at their finest.
And the views are wonderful: from Alkborough, over the junction of
the Trent, the Ouse, and the Humber; from Lincoln, over the plateau
eastwards to the wolds, or westwards over the valley of the Trent to the
Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire hills; or eastwards, from the edge of the
“high wold,” over the great plain
“That sweeps with all its autumn bowers,
And crowded farms and lessening towers,
To mingle with the bounding main.”
The county possesses the birthplaces of Newton, Tennyson, Henry of
Bolingbroke, Archbishop Whitgift, and John Wesley. She has produced
explorers like Franklin, and heroes of romance and reality like Sir John
Bolles (the hero of the Spanish Lady ballad) and Captain John Smith of
Willoughby (who was rescued by Pocahontas). St. Botolph, St. Guthlac,
and St. Gilbert of Sempringham were all Lincolnshire in origin and life,
and the latter founded the only monastic order (that of the Gilbertines)
which originated in this country.
The monastic institutions of this county have had to be passed by in this
volume. Although there are no vast or splendid remains (if Thornton Abbey
gate-house and Crowland be excepted) above ground, still the excavations
of the Rev. C. G. Laing at Bardney Abbey have proved how large and
beautiful one at least of those buildings was.
The city of Lincoln, again, demanding a volume to itself, has not been
dealt with here, save in so far as it appears in Roman times.
The greatest and noblest “memorial” of all is, of course, the mighty
Minster, superb in its architecture and in its situation, with its great
roll of bishops from St. Hugh and Grosseteste to Christopher Wordsworth
and the much beloved, most saintly, Edward King. But this subject could
not be treated of piecemeal, and has been deliberately omitted.
But Lincolnshire is particularly rich in splendid and interesting
churches, and much will be found in this volume to justify these epithets.
Stamford, Boston, and Grantham all have had full justice done to them,
while Tattershall Castle may well serve as a specimen of the best
domestic building of the time of King Henry VI., as Doddington does of
“the spacious times of great Elizabeth.”
The history of the county has been interesting, and at times very
important. The wars of King Stephen, the battle of “Lincoln Fair,” the
Lincolnshire rising in 1470, and the second insurrection in 1536 at the
suppression of the monasteries, have had to be passed over; but the
_pre_-historic facts, those of the Roman rule, and of the great Civil War
will be found.
To the Rev. P. H. Ditchfield, the General Editor of this series, and to
the Rev. G. E. Jeans, whose knowledge of Lincolnshire is unequalled, for
much kind help and advice; to all my contributors, and to all who have
given photographs or illustrations, I desire to tender my most sincere
thanks.
E. MANSEL SYMPSON.
DELORAINE COURT, LINCOLN, _November 1910_.
NOTE.—As the County of Lincoln possesses no heraldic bearings, the Lord
Bishop has kindly permitted the use of the coat-of-arms of the See of
Lincoln to be used on the cover of this volume.
CONTENTS
Prehistoric Lincolnshire By Rev. A. HUNT, M.A. 1
The Romans in Lincolnshire By Rev. E. H. R. TATHAM, M.A. 24
Saxon Churches of Lincolnshire By A. HAMILTON THOMPSON, M.A. 53
Kirkstead Chapel By C. HODGSON FOWLER, F.S.A. 81
South Lincolnshire Churches By W. E. FOSTER, F.S.A. 85
The Church of St. Andrew, Heckington By W. G. WATKINS, A.R.I.B.A. 114
Boston and its Church By G. S. W. JEBB, M.A. 120
The Town and Church of Grantham By A. HAMILTON THOMPSON, M.A. 131
Stamford By V. B. CROWTHER-BEYNON, 162
M.A., F.S.A.
Tattershall Castle and Church By the EDITOR 179
The Sepulchral Brasses of Lincolnshire By REV. G. E. JEANS, 198
M.A., F.S.A.
Mediæval Rood-Screens and Rood-Lofts
in Lincolnshire Churches By the EDITOR 206
Lincolnshire and the Great Civil War By Rev. E. H. R. TATHAM, M.A. 249
Doddington Hall By Rev. R. E. G. COLE, M.A. 280
Lincolnshire Families By Rev. CANON MADDISON, 309
M.A., F.S.A.
Spalding Gentlemen’s Society By MARTEN PERRY, M.D. 319
INDEX 341
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Lincoln from the South-East (Evening) _Frontispiece_
(_From a water-colour drawing by E. R. Taylor_)
FACING PAGE
St. Peter’s Church, Barton-on-Humber (from S.W.) 54
(_From a photograph by C. C. Hodges_)
St. Mary’s Church, Stow (Interior, looking S.E.) 58
(_From a photograph by C. C. Hodges_)
St. Margaret’s Church, Marton (Tower before restoration) 78
(_From a photograph by C. C. Hodges_)
All Saints’ Church, Holbeach (Nave, looking W.) 86
(_From a photograph by T. M. Foster_)
St. Mary and St. Nicholas Church, Spalding (Nave, looking N.E.) 86
(_From a photograph by T. M. Foster_)
All Saints’ Church, Moulton (Nave, looking E.) 100
(_From a photograph by T. M. Foster_)
All Saints’ Church, Moulton (South Aisle, looking N.W.) 100
(_From a photograph by T. M. Foster_)
St. Andrew’s Church, Heckington (Plan) 116
(_From a drawing by W. G. Watkins_)
St. Andrew’s Church, Heckington (South Transept and Porch) 118
(_From a photograph by H. W. Hitchcock_)
St. Andrew’s Church, Heckington (from the E.) 120
(_From a photograph by H. W. Hitchcock_)
St. Botolph’s Church, Boston 126
(_From a photograph by G. Hadley & Son_)
Angel Hotel, Grantham 138
(_From a photograph by G. W. Wilson_)
St. Wulfran’s Church, Grantham (Plan) 146
(_Drawn by H. Thompson_)
St. Wulfran’s Church, Grantham (North Porch) 150
(_From a photograph by Emary_)
Stamford (from the Meadows) 164
(_From a photograph by Nicholls_)
Stamford, St. Mary’s Church and Hill 170
(_From a photograph by Nicholls_)
Stamford, Screen in Browne’s Hospital 172
(_From a photograph by Nicholls_)
Tattershall Castle (from the S.W.) 188
(_From a photograph by G. Hadley & Son_)
Tattershall, Holy Trinity Church (from S.E.) 196
(_From a photograph by G. Hadley & Son_)
Brass of Matilda, Lady Willoughby de Eresby 200
(_From a photograph by F. E. Harrison from rubbing by W. Scorer_)
Brass of John and Alice Lyndewode 204
(_From a photograph by F. E. Harrison from rubbing by W. Scorer_)
Crowland Abbey, Rood-Screen from the East 218
(_From a photograph by Aymer Vallance_)
Lincoln Minster, Pulpitum from the East 222
(_From a photograph by G. Hadley & Son_)
Holy Trinity Church, Tattershall, Pulpitum from the East 228
(_From a photograph by G. Hadley & Son_)
St. Denis’ Church, Sleaford, Rood-Screen 231
(_From a drawing by the late Herbert Kirk_)
St. Edith’s Church, Cotes-by-Stow, Rood-Screen and Loft from the
Nave 236
(_From a photograph by G. Hadley & Son_)
St. Mary’s Church, Winthorpe, Rood-Screen and Chantry Screen 238
(_From a photograph by Aymer Vallance_)
St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church, Middle Rasen, Rood-Screen 246
(_From a photograph by G. Hadley & Son_)
Doddington Hall (from S.E.) 284
(_From a photograph given by R. E. G. Cole_)
Doddington Hall, Long Gallery 300
(_From a photograph by W. J. Smith_)
Doddington Hall, Dining-Room 306
(_From a photograph by W. J. Smith_)
ERRATA
Page 106, line 4, _for_ “Norman capital” _read_ “Norman pier.”
” 108, paragraph 6, should read—“This church probably had its origin
from the Abbey of Castle Acre—aided by the laity.”
” 109, line 1, _for_ “St. Mary Magdalene’s, Gedney,” _read_ “St.
Mary’s, Gedney.”
” 180, line 28, _for_ “1220” _read_ “1201.”
PREHISTORIC LINCOLNSHIRE
BY THE REV. ALFRED HUNT, M.A.
That part of England which we now know as Lincolnshire passed through
great changes in its surface before the advent of mankind.
The rocks which lie beneath the surface soil in this county are all made
by deposit, for several thousand feet in thickness, and are what are
called stratified rocks. They indicate the fact that in past periods
of time Lincolnshire was all under a great sea. Occasionally in the
limestone rocks are found small branches or pieces of trees, as well as
great quantities of fossils of many kinds. The fact that oak and silver
birch twigs are found inside the limestone shows that trees were growing
elsewhere when the rocks were being laid down by the action of water in
Lincolnshire.
Beneath the limestone are found thick beds of red sandstone, while still
deeper down, over 3000 feet below the surface, lie beds of coal in the
north-western part of the county—indicating vast changes in the land
since what is now coal was first formed.
After the deposit or formation of these thick beds of rock, the land
seems to have been raised above the surface of the sea, to be in turn
covered with vast sheets of ice, called glaciers.
These glaciers extended all over Lincolnshire and up into North Britain
above Aberdeen in the one case, and joined another vast glacier
stretching right across what is now called the North Sea to land which is
known to-day as Norway.
These glaciers carried on their surface blocks of rock of many kinds,
some of an igneous nature, and as the glaciers moved slowly the fragments
of rock were carried many miles from their original source. As the ice
melted, these blocks of rock fell to the ground, and are now found all
over Lincolnshire.
The time when these glaciers of Britain melted away is given by Lord
Avebury[1] as about fifty thousand years ago, but they “may have lingered
among the mountains, and occupied some of the valleys down to a much more
recent period.”
The deepest borings in Lincolnshire have not yet reached the fiery or
igneous rocks _in situ_, except in the Isle of Axholme; therefore those
fragments of igneous rocks found on the surface, or in the soil, or
in glacial clays, indicate that they have been transported from their
original source, which, in certain instances, is as far distant as Norway.
Since the melting of the most recent glacier, other great changes
have taken place in the surface of the land, owing to elevations and
depressions, and the action of rain, frost, and denudation over wide
areas.
A vast forest (now submerged) formerly existed right along the edge of
the east coast of Lincolnshire; at specially low tides it is seen exposed
at Chapel St. Leonards, Ingoldmells, and other places on the East Coast.
When the Romans came to Britain, and began their conquest or occupation
of Lincolnshire, A.D. 50, they found extensive portions in the south-east
of the county covered by great meres stretching many miles in extent.
In the south-western part of the county were extensive forests; in the
north-western part of the county was the island, now called the Isle of
Axholme; but during the Roman occupation, and for centuries afterwards,
were vast sheets of fresh water, with here and there an island or islet
standing out above the surrounding meres. On the eastern side of the
county, along the sea-board, the Romans built extensive banks or sea
walls.
Prior to the Roman occupation of Lincolnshire, a race or different races
of people lived in the land we now know as the county of Lincolnshire;
and it is of this period that we write regarding the earliest known races
of mankind in the county.
The different races of mankind in the Prehistoric Ages or Periods have
been tabulated as—
1. The Eolithic Man, or Dawn of the Stone Age.
2. The Paleolithic Man, or the Old Stone Age, subdivided by
Professor Dawkins as (_a_) The River Drift Man and (_b_)
Cave Man.[2]
3. The Neolithic Man, or New Stone Age.
4. The Pygmy Man.
5. The Bronze Age, subdivided as Early and Late Bronze Periods.
6. The Prehistoric Iron Age.
7. The Iron Age of the Roman Period.
We will deal with each of these races separately as they concern
Lincolnshire.
THE EOLITHIC PERIOD
Of this period no traces of the work of mankind have been found in the
county of Lincolnshire.
It is a period which some experts strongly affirm show traces of the work
of man in other more southern parts of Britain; so far as our experience
by definite research has extended, we are not satisfied with the evidence
offered, and prefer to keep an open mind.
THE PALEOLITHIC PERIOD, OR OLD STONE AGE
Many thousands of specimens of man’s work in this period or age have been
found in Southern England—that is, as we define it south of a line drawn
from the Severn to the Wash—but none of these old rough stone weapons
have been found _in situ_ in Lincolnshire. From the facts presented by
geology and a careful study of the county, it would appear that, while
Paleolithic Man existed in the south of England, north of an imaginary
line from the Wash to the Severn no traces of mankind have been found
relating to the Paleolithic Period. It is probable that the great
glaciers covered what is now known as Lincolnshire and Northern Britain
in that period, and formed an inaccessible barrier to the progress of
mankind.
THE RIVER DRIFT PERIOD AND THE PERIOD OF CAVE MAN
In these ages or periods, mankind found a home in the caves of North
Yorkshire, at Kirkdale and on both sides of Cresswell Craggs, the
boundary line between Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Quite recently[3]
discoveries have been made at Upper Langwith, also on the borders of
the two counties, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, showing unmistakable
signs of Cave Man dwellings and handiwork. While these places are not
far geographically from Lincolnshire, yet, to be accurate, no trace of
Cave Man or River Drift Man has been found in what is now the county of
Lincolnshire.[4]
THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD
It is in this period we first find traces of mankind in Lincolnshire.
Various burial places and many finds of implements show how widely
Neolithic Man spread over and occupied the county.
These implements are described as stone axes, spear-heads, lance-heads,
arrow-heads, scrapers, gouges, chisels, pot-boilers, knives, borers,
graving tools, hammer stones, whetstones, polishers, sink stones, anvil
stones. A list of the places where these “finds” have been recorded is as
follows:—
*Alkborough.
Barlings.
*Billinghay.
Branston.
Brigg.
Broughton.
*Burwell.
*Bully Hill.
Caythorpe.
Claxby, near Alford (flint flakes).
Cold Harbour.
*Cold Hanworth.
Crowle.
Coningsby Warren.
Coxey Hills, near Louth.
Doddington.
Donington-on-Bain.
Elkington, South.
Fiskerton.
Fotherby.
Friskney.
Ferriby, South.
Gonerby.
Gonerby, Little.
*Haxey.
Healing (arrow-head).
Horncastle.
Hubbard’s Hills, Louth.
Irby.
*Isle of Axholme.
Keal, West (arrow-heads).
Kelstern.
Kirkstead (axe-head).
Kirton-in-Lindsey.
*Legbourn.
*Lincoln.
*Lynwode.
*Mablethorpe.
Maidenwell.
Manton.
Messingham.
Newport, Lincoln.
Nocton (axe-head).
Ponton, Great.
Potterhanworth.
Reepham.
*Ruckland.
*Salmonby.
Saxilby.
*Scawby.
*Scunthorpe (arrow-heads).
Sleaford.
Spalding (spear-head).
Stewton.
*Stow.
Tathwell.
Tetford (arrow-heads).
Welton, by Lincoln (whetstone).
Wragby.
Woodhall.
*Witham River.
Those marked with an asterisk (*) are to be seen in the County Museum at
Lincoln.
Many of these implements are excellent specimens of the art and skill of
the Neolithic workers in stone. For the purpose for which they were made,
they seem to have served well.
The axe-heads have been (in some cases) made to be used with wood handles
formed out of the branches of trees. In the course of ages the handles
have perished, but the stone implement remains.
Often people unacquainted with the subject of stone implements ask, “How
do these stone implements differ from stone forms of natural shape?”
There are several points for students to notice about “Worked Stone
Implements.” The points to be noticed with the Old Stone or Paleolithic
Implements are as follows:—
1. The Flat Top, where the blow was struck to separate the
implement from the flint nodule.
2. The Bulb of Percussion caused by the blow.
3. The Conchoidal Fracture or shell-like flake.
4. The Flaking off at the back.
5. The Dorsal Ridge or Ridges.
6. The Secondary Working, round the edges.
7. The Patina or Skin, the result of exposure to the weather.
In the characteristics of the New Stone Implements, or Neolithic Stones,
which are found in Lincolnshire, the points to be noticed are—
1. The Definite Shaping of the Stone.
2. The Worked Edges of the Implement.
3. The Piercing or Socketing of the Stone.
4. The Patination of the Implement.
THE NEOLITHIC BOATS
Several boats made out of the trunks of trees have been found in the
county—
Two at Lincoln.
One at Scotter.
Two at Castlethorpe, near Brigg.
One of the two boats found at Castlethorpe was an exceptionally fine
specimen of the Neolithic boat craft. In length it was 45 feet, and 5½
feet wide inside, made out of an oak tree trunk. Within the boat was
found a very fine polished stone axe-head.
The interior of the boat showed that it had probably been charred, and
scraped or chopped out with a stone hatchet.
The boat is now transferred from Brigg to the Hull Museum.
POTTERY OF THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD
Very little pottery of this period has been found in the county.
One very good specimen of a jar or vase, broken in pieces, was found
by Mr. S. Maudson Grant on the sea-coast, outside the Roman Bank at
Ingoldmells.
This specimen is now deposited in the Lincoln Museum.
NEOLITHIC BURIAL PLACES
The burial places of early man in Lincolnshire must have been very
numerous, judging from the remains we still have surviving to this day.
These people were buried in barrows or large mounds of earth, which are
called “Tumuli.”
In Lincolnshire the barrows are of two classes, called Long Barrows and
Round Barrows.
The Long Barrow is the oldest form of interment, and belonged to the
race of people called Dolicho-cephalic, or long-headed people. Sir John
Lubbock says: “The Long Barrows are like the Gang-graben of Scandinavia,
in which the dead are buried and not burnt.”
It is in the _Long_ Barrows that we find this Neolithic race of people
buried their dead in Lincolnshire.
One of the Long Barrows still exists at Swinhope, near Grimsby, and there
are others in different parts of the county.
In a map of Lincolnshire, published about 1570, by Saxton, the position
of some of the barrows was indicated. From that map we have compiled the
following list, but the list includes both kinds of barrow, long and
round—there being no indication on the map to distinguish the one form of
barrow from the other:—
Aukborough, 2.
Ashby.
Barkstone.
Barnetby.
Barrow, 2.
Barton.
Belton.
Binbrook.
Bonby.
Boothby Graffoe.
Bottesford, 2.
Blyborough.
Branston, 3.
Braceby.
Burton-upon-Stather, 2.
Caburn.
Carlton, North.
Caythorpe.
Clixby.
Coleby.
Coleby, near West Halton, 4.
Cranwell.
Croxby.
Croxton.
Cuxwold, 2.
Dunston, 2.
Ferriby, 2.
Fillingham.
Frodingham, 2.
Fulbeck.
Glentworth.
Grange de Lings, 2.
Grantham, 2.
Harmston.
Hatcliffe, 2.
Haydour.
Hemswell, 2.
Horkstow, 2.
Howsham.
Hybaldstow, 2.
Ingham.
Kirmond le Mire.
Limber, 2.
Londonthorpe, 2.
Manby.
Manton, 2.
Mere Hospital, 2.
Messingham.
Metheringham.
Navenby, 2.
Nettleham.
Normanby.
Normanton.
Rauceby, 2.
Redbourne.
Riby.
Riseholme.
Rothwell.
Ropsley.
Rowston.
Saxby.
Scampton.
Scawby.
Scopwick.
Scotter, 2.
Scotton, 2.
Searby.
Southorp.
Spridlington.
Stainton le Vale.
Thoresway, 2.
Thornton, 3.
Ulceby.
Waddington, 2.
Walesby.
Walcot.
Welby.
Welton.
Welton le Wold, 2.
Willoughton.
Wootton.
Worlaby, 3.
Wrawby.
Wyham.
The custom of raising a mound over the place where the dead are buried is
very ancient, widespread, and continuous to the present day: examples are
to be seen in Egypt, India, America, and Britain. In its simple form it
is seen in the village churchyard, in its greatest development it is seen
in the magnificent pyramids of Egypt.
In the Long Barrows no metal implements are found unless they have been
used for what are called “secondary interments.”
The date of these Long Barrows is variously stated; Canon Greenwell says,
“probably 1000 B.C., but may be much earlier”; others say they were
probably made 3000 B.C. or 5000 years ago. The definite date cannot be
given, but only probabilities stated.
It is in this Neolithic Age that the bodies of the dead were placed in a
cist or stone box; that is, large stones were placed round the body, and
on these upright stones was fixed a covering stone.
One such system of burial was found at Rothwell, near Caistor, and
another at Dunholme.
In nearly every case of burial of this kind, which is called
_Inhumation_, the body has been placed facing the sun in a contracted
position; that is, with the knees drawn up to the chin and lying on
its side. Some specialists think this position indicates the sleeping
attitude, others think it points to the fact that as the child entered
into life in a contracted position, so the dead body was similarly placed
for departure from life, with the possibility of entering into a new life
after death.
Frequently by the side of the dead body were placed the weapons that he
used when living—axe-heads, arrow-heads, knives, and spear-heads.
LIFE OF THE NEOLITHIC PEOPLE
Naturally we may ask how did these people live? The answer undoubtedly is
by hunting, fishing, and fowling. They appear to have had large flocks of
sheep, goats, and cattle, and possessed dug-out canoes or boats.
Their dwelling places were probably hut circles, but no remains of these
have so far been found in the county of Lincolnshire.
Their care of the dead would lead us to suppose that, by comparison with
similar practices in other parts of the world, they believed in a future
state or future life.
Who were the Neolithic people?
This question has been asked by many, and the answer given by Professor
Boyd Dawkins[5] and others is that they were Iberians, and are
represented at the present time by the surviving Basque peoples of the
Western Pyrenees, on the borders of Spain and France.
“By a chain of reasoning, purely zoological, we arrive at the important
conclusion that the Neolithic inhabitants of the British Isles belong to
the same non-Aryan section of mankind as the Basques, and that in ancient
times they were spread through Spain as far south as the Pillars of
Hercules, and as far to the north-east as Germany and Denmark.”
THE PYGMY RACE OF MAN IN LINCOLNSHIRE
One of the most recent discoveries regarding Prehistoric Man in
Lincolnshire is the finding of some thousands of diminutive flint
implements at Scunthorpe, Manton Common, and Scotton, in North
Lincolnshire. At the suggestion of the writer of this article, Mr. E. E.
Brown made a careful search at Scunthorpe in A.D. 1900, and found some
thirty or forty specimens.
Since then the Rev. Reginald Gatty, the Rev. Alfred Hunt, and others have
found hundreds of specimens at Scunthorpe.
The Pygmy Flints are of various forms and sizes. Similar forms and
shapes have been found in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, Suffolk,
Sussex, and elsewhere in England. On the Continent similar forms of Pygmy
Flints have been found in Belgium, France, and Germany. They have also
been found in Egypt, Palestine, North and Central Africa, and in great
numbers on the Vindhya Mountains, India.
The bodies or bones of these Pygmy people have been found at Sohâgi Ghât,
on the Vindhya Mountains, in Germany, and at Bungay, Suffolk, quite
recently, by Mr. H. A. Dutt, of Lowestoft.[6]
The Pygmy Flints all show points characteristic of the work of man:—
1. The Bulb of Percussion.
2. The Conchoidal Fractures running down the flint.
3. The Dorsal Ridges on the back of the flint.
4. The Secondary Working along one edge.
5. The Patina or Skin, the result of weathering.
Their shapes have been described as—
Crescent-shaped.
Triangular or Scalene.
Arrow-head.
Round-headed and pointed.
Chisel-shaped.
Trapezoid or Rhomboidal.
Flint knives with serrated edges.
They are figured in the _British Museum Handbook to the Stone Age_, on p.
110, Fig. 132.
They are beautifully made, and show extraordinary keen sight in those
who made them—frequently one side only shows secondary working, and the
chipping is so finely done that often twenty and thirty different chips
have been made on a fine thin edge of flint in the length of half an inch.
The question has been asked, how may we know Pygmy Flints are the work of
mankind? Practically by the same method that we know other flint or stone
implements are the handiwork of man. Examine these Pygmy Flints closely,
and you will be able to trace—
1. The Bulb of Percussion, showing where the blow was struck to
separate the flake from the flint nodule.
2. The Conchoidal Fracture running down the length of the flint.
3. The Dorsal Ridges on the back of the flint.
4. The Secondary Working along one edge.
5. The Patina or Skin, the result of weathering or exposure.
These distinct characteristics prove these flints are no haphazard
flakings from a flint core.
When you can pick up these Pygmy Flints, and show all these
peculiarities, you are able to convince reasonable men that they are the
work of a race of people, who, with keen vision and clever handiwork,
were able to make tools which have outlived their own age and race by
many thousands of years.
SIMILARITY IN DESIGN
One point of great interest in these widely scattered Pygmy Flints is the
great similarity in design. So much is this similarity carried out that,
if you place a Scunthorpe specimen beside one found on the Vindhya Hills
in India, it is almost impossible to say which is from the one place and
which is from the other.
This similarity in design has led many specialists to think that the
Pygmy Flints of Scunthorpe are the work of a migrating people, who passed
over from India through Asia and Europe to Britain. Amongst those who
accept this theory are Dr. Gatty and Vincent A. Smith, M.A., of the
Indian Civil Service, one of the greatest specialists we have on this
subject.
WHAT WAS THE USE OF THESE PYGMY FLINTS?
Various conjectures have been made as to the use of these small flint
implements. They must have been made for human daily use and need.
_Arrow Points_ are easily accounted for as used in hunting—being, it
is supposed, fastened to wood shafts; which is still the practice of
Australian savages.
_Fishing Hooks_ is another very natural suggestion for some of the forms;
when fixed with sinew or gut, the triangular form makes a specially
suitable hook to catch in the throat of fish.
_Knives_ is undoubtedly another use to which some specimens are adapted;
the clear cut edge would, even after the lapse of thousands of years, cut
flesh of animals at the present time.
_Boring Tools_, for making holes to sew skins together for clothing
purposes, is also a natural theory for other specimens of these Pygmy
Flints.
_Chisels_ for scraping and shaping wood handles or hafts of their tools
is also another suggestion, which is highly probable from the shape of
the flints with a square cutting edge.
_Skin Scrapers_ is still another use for which some specimens of the
implements may have been made by these people who lived by the chase;
while it is also possible that other shapes were mounted in wood frames
and used as saws, sickles, and harpoons, as shown in _British Museum
Handbook_, Fig. 118.
Some of them may have been used for tattooing, as has been suggested, but
certainly not a great proportion of the many thousands that have been
found.
BY WHAT CLASS OF PEOPLE WERE THESE IMPLEMENTS MADE?
To begin with, these small implements were made by people with _keen
vision_, the minute character of their work being more easily seen and
appreciated under a magnifying glass than with the naked eye of an
ordinary observer.
They were also _clever designers_, as the persistent shapes of these
implements show. It is not to an ordinary person an easy matter to chip
out a piece of flint in the shape of these samples; the same figures or
shapes are repeated in hundreds of instances.
Again, they were _careful workers_, as is seen by the way in which these
flint implements are made. To-day men would have to exercise almost the
care of a jeweller if they wished to make implements equal in shape and
accuracy to those found on the Scunthorpe Floor, made by these Pygmy
workers.
They knew how to _make_ a _fire_, as many fragments of charcoal have been
found on the floors of their dwelling places.
As regards _their clothing_, I am inclined to the idea that they clothed
themselves but slightly, and what clothing they had was made of the skins
of animals taken in the chase.
PYGMY SITES, STATIONS, OR DWELLING PLACES
One very interesting feature regarding Pygmy stations, sites, or dwelling
places where these Flints are found is their close association with a
_Peat Floor_. Monsieur de Pierpoint says: “He collected some thousands
of Pygmy Flints on the high plateaux above the Meuse. Formerly a thick
forest covered these mountains, and in that district the small flints
are mostly found near springs and away from the east winds.” Both at
Scunthorpe and on the hills of the Pennine Range, it is on or in the Peat
that these diminutive Flints are discovered. Dr. Colley March found them
in a bed of Peat 6 feet deep, in certain cases 10 feet deep, and at an
altitude of 1350 feet above sea-level. Dr. Gatty found them at Scunthorpe
on the top of the Peat and below the wind-blown sand 200 feet above
sea-level.
It was on the Peat that I and my friends, the Rev. R. N. Matthews, of
Tetney, in the year 1900, and the Rev. Samuel Wild, of Dunholme, found
numerous examples as recently as the spring of 1907. Dr. Gatty found
as many as 200 implements on the floor of one habitation. These facts
lead me to the belief that the natural conditions or surroundings of
Scunthorpe have completely changed since the time of the deposit of these
implements.
I believe that the natural conditions at Scunthorpe were very much like
the conditions at the Ituri Forest of North Africa at the present day,
where we see a Peat deposit in progress; that the Pygmies lived in a
warmer atmosphere at Scunthorpe than now exists in England; and that
these people lived in communities in small huts, such as may be seen now
among these living survivals of Pygmy people. They were in fact _Forest
Dwellers_.
No pottery has been found with the Pygmy Flints in Lincolnshire, but a
class of rude hand-made pottery has been found with the Indian Pygmy
Flints, and entire skeletons of the Pygmy people have been found both
in India and Germany. In India they dwelt in caves and rock shelters,
but at Scunthorpe we have no trace of caves or rock shelters; therefore
hut circles seem to be the only alternative to fall back upon as their
dwelling places in Lincolnshire.
TO WHAT PERIOD IN THE STONE AGE MUST WE ATTRIBUTE THE PYGMY RACE OF
MANKIND?
Here we have a problem that puzzles many at the present time. Mr. Read,
of the British Museum, suggests a Neolithic Age or Bronze Period, while
Mr. Vincent Smith does not agree with that, but inclines to the belief
that they are to be placed at the end of the Paleolithic Age. Dr. Colley
March calls it the Early Neolithic Floor of East Lancashire.
One thing is certain, we do not find any smooth or polished stone
implements on the Pygmy Floor. Another thing is equally true, we do not
find Pygmy Flints associated with Bronze or Copper implements, so that
they were not metal workers.
The suggestion has been thrown out that the Pygmies were a weak race
who were overcome by Neolithic Man. This may be true, but we have the
authority of Herodotus, 2000 years ago, and modern travellers like Dr.
Wollaston of 1907, pointing out that the Pygmies were, and are at the
present time, rather a fighting race of people. After considering all the
evidence obtainable, I am inclined to think that the Pygmy Race must be
placed in the Messeolithic or Middle Stone Age.
It is true that at one period “there were giants on the earth in those
days,” so also it is true that there were dwarfs on the earth in other
days. Was this race the Iberic race?
It is ably argued by Mr. W. J. Knowles, Vice-President of the Royal
Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, that Neolithic Man is the descendant
of Paleolithic Man.
The question before ethnologists to-day is: How was this transition
effected? Was it through a Messeolithic Age?
Because there are no references to the Pygmy Flint Age in the standard
books of thirty years ago on Prehistoric Man, such as those of Boyd
Dawkins, Canon Greenwell, Sir John Evans and Mr. Mortimer of Driffield,
some few people are prepared to question the reality of what are called
Pygmy Flints.
To begin with, each of these authors referred to have within the last
few years become thorough believers in Pygmy Flints as the product of
mankind. This is shown by their speeches at the recent meetings of the
British Association at York and elsewhere.
Then let the doubtful person concerning Pygmy Flints turn to recent works
on Prehistoric Man, such as Mr. Charles H. Read’s _Handbook or Guide to
the Stone Age_, in the British Museum, published 1902, to Prof. Windle’s
book on _Remains of Prehistoric Age in England_, published 1904, to the
articles by Vincent A. Smith, late of India Civil Service, to Dr. Gatty,
and other works, he will then, I think, if open to conviction, be ready
to admit there is more evidence for a Pygmy race than he anticipated.
HISTORICAL REFERENCE TO THE PYGMY RACES OF MANKIND
If we go back to the ancients, we have the authority of Herodotus, Book
II., Chapter 33, page 51, that “the Nasamonians were captured and carried
off by the Pygmy Tribe and led across extensive marshes, and finally came
to a town where all the men were the height of their conductors and black
complexioned under the middle height.”
Homer’s _Iliad_, Book III., line 9, refers to Pygmy nations.
Aristotle calls them Troglodytal—which would seem to indicate that they
were Cave Dwellers in that age. Homer and Aristotle both place them near
the sources of the Nile.
Pliny, Book VI., 19, and Philostratus, _Vit. Apoll._, Tz. III., 47, and
others, place them in India, where, in modern days, many thousands of
Pygmy Flints have been found.
The representation of Pygmy people is frequently met with on Greek vases
and Egyptian pottery.
After two thousand years of literary silence about Pygmy people, modern
travellers like Captain Harrison have brought over from the Ituri Forest
Pygmy people, and exhibited them in all parts of England.
SMALL DARK-COLOURED PEOPLE UNDER THE MIDDLE HEIGHT
Major Powell Cotton, in the year 1907, gives his experience of life
among the Pygmies of the Congo Forest, and describes them as “small
dark-coloured people under the middle height.”
Dr. A. F. R. Wollaston, also in 1907, returned to civilisation through
the Congo Forest and the volcanic region of Mfumbiro, and says the tops
of the extinct volcanoes are covered with dense bamboo and inhabited by a
Pygmy race.
In Central Mexico we have relics of a Pygmy people, the dried head of one
being offered in Mr. Steven’s London auction room this year (1907).
The last surviving Aztecs, a very diminutive people, we remember to have
seen exhibited in Manchester thirty years ago.
All these instances point to diminutive or Pygmy races of men scattered
over the world.
As the literature on this subject is so limited, we venture to name the
authorities quoted:—
Herodotus.
Pliny.
Homer.
Philostratus.
Aristotle.
British Museum, _Guide to Stone Age_, by C. H. Read, Esq.
Dr. Colley March, of Rochdale.
W. H. Sutcliffe, Esq., of Littleborough, Lancashire.
The Rev. Reginald A. Gatty, LL.B., of Hooton Roberts, Doncaster.
Dr. Sturge, formerly of Nice, now of Mildenhall, Cambridge.
The late A. C. Carlleyle, Esq., of the Archæological Survey of India.
M. de Pierpoint, of Brussels.
M. Thieullen, of Paris.
Sir John Evans.
Professor Boyd Dawkins.
Professor Windle, of Birmingham.
Major Powell Cotton.
Dr. A. F. R. Wollaston.
Vincent A. Smith, Esq., M.A.
THE BRONZE AGE IN LINCOLNSHIRE
The earliest appearance of bronze in Britain is put down at 2000 B.C.
As we have already stated this period is divided into Early and Late
Periods by specialists.
Specimens of both periods have been found in many parts of the county,
and so far as we have been able to trace them, we have compiled the
following list of places where they have been discovered:—
Anwick.
Barton-on-Humber.
Billinghay.
Boston, B.M.
*Branston, B.M.
Brigg.
Broughton.
Burringham.
Caythorpe.
Caenby.
Crosby.
Crowle.
Crowland.
Elsham.
Fleet.
Flixborough.
Fiskerton.
Gainsborough.
Halton, West, B.M.
*Haxey, B.M.
Horncastle, B.M.
Kelsey, South.
Kyme, South.
Langton.
Leasingham.
*Lincoln.
*Nettleham.
Newport, Lincoln.
Owersby, North.
*Reepham.
Roxby, B.M.
Scothorne.
Scunthorpe, B.M.
Sleaford.
Toynton, B.M.
Washingborough.
Winghale, B.M.
Winterton.
Winteringham.
Wrawby.
*Witham River.
Those marked with an asterisk (*) are to be seen in the County Museum
at Lincoln. Those marked B.M. are in the British Museum.
The objects found include swords, celts (socketed and unsocketed),
arrow-heads, spear-heads, palstaves, adzes, knives, daggers, circular
shields, armlets, bracelets, bridle bits, trumpet, horse trappings
(probably a peytrel at Caenby).
These show progress in the art of man from rude plane castings to what
may be called high art in decoration, as shown in the very elaborate
shield from the river Witham, and now in the British Museum, figured in
their catalogue to the Early Iron Age on page 90.
It is to this period that we must attribute many of the very fine pieces
of pottery belonging to Mr. H. Preston, now deposited at the Lincoln
Museum. It consists of cinerary urns, drinking cups, food vessels,
incense cups, and other forms of vessels.
The places where this early class of pottery has been found in the
county, so far as we have been able to compile it, is as follows:—
*Billinghay.
Caythorpe.
Denton.
Donnington.
*Dunston.
Ferriby, South.
Heighington.
Horncastle.
Kirton in Lindsey.
Lincoln.
Manton.
Normanton.
*Potterhanworth.
Scotter.
Willingham, North.
Woolsthorpe.
Those marked with an asterisk (*) are to be seen in the County Museum
at Lincoln.
All this pottery is made of burnt clay in an open fire.
CLOTHING OF THE PEOPLE IN THE BRONZE AGE
In the one instance where a body has been found with clothing at Haxey in
the Isle of Axholme, it was that of a woman dressed in skins with sandals
on her feet. Cæsar’s statement in Book V., paragraph 147, describes the
Celts or Britons as wearing skins on their bodies for clothing, and the
parts of the body not covered with skins being painted in order to render
themselves more terrible in battle.
BRONZE AGE BURIALS
We have already referred to two classes of barrows or burial places. One
is described as a long barrow, the other as a round barrow.
It is in this latter class of burial place that the people of the Bronze
Age buried their dead.
The round barrows belong to another race of people who existed in
Lincolnshire, and are described as Brachy-cephalic or round-headed people.
In these burial places bronze implements have sometimes been found, and
occasionally stone implements, showing that the Stone Age overlapped or
ran into the Bronze Period.
Incompleteness of the circle in the barrow points to design.
An alphabetical list of the places where in recent times the round barrow
existed is as follows:—
Barrow.
Bardney.
Brigg.
Burgh.
Burgh-on-Bain.
Burnham.
Bully Hills, 6.
Claxby by Alford.
Cockerington.
Cleasham.
Donington-on-Bain.
Falkingham.
Gainsborough.
Halton, West.
Haugham.
Horncastle.
Ingoldsby.
Kelstern.
Langton by Spilsby, 3.
Revesby.
Riseholme.
Spellow Hills.
Temple Bruer, 2.
Wainfleet, 2.
Walcot.
Well near Alford, 3.
Welton in the Marsh.
Wold Newton, 20 urns.
The barrow was considered to be the habitation of the spirits of the dead.
In the Bronze Age often the body was burnt wholly or in parts. Sometimes
the ashes were collected and placed in an urn. This burning of the body
seems to have been one of their sacred rites of burial. In nearly every
case where the body has been burnt, holes seem to have been bored or
drilled into the ground underneath the body. Sometimes these were stake
holes, but the wood has perished. In these barrows was buried the chief
of the clan or tribe.
A plate picture of the different kinds of skulls of the Dolicho-cephalic
and the Brachy-cephalic people appears in the _British Museum Handbook to
the Antiquities of the Bronze Age_, page 20.
It is considered very probable that the round-headed people were the
conquerors of the long-headed race.
ENTRENCHMENTS OF THE IRON AGE
It is to this age we must refer the making of the lines of entrenchments
in various parts of the county at Honington, Ingoldsby, Kingerby, Hoe
Hill, Fulletby, and other places.
The Bronze Age people are generally called Celts, and have been
subdivided by Professor Rhys as Goidelic and Brythonic races—the older
race being the Goidels and the later race Brythons.
“Both races spoke a language that belonged to the Aryan or
Indo-European family, but had certain peculiarities that point
to racial divergence.”—C. H. READ.
It is to the Bronze Age Professor Boyd Dawkins would attribute the
erection of the great stone circles, such as Stonehenge, Avebury,
and other places, but of these stone circles no remnants exist in
Lincolnshire.
THE PREHISTORIC IRON AGE, 400 B.C.
Traces of the occupation of Lincolnshire in this period are to be found
in the pre-Roman smelting furnaces for iron in various parts of the
county at Manton and elsewhere.
Certain iron spear-heads, daggers,[7] sheaths,[8] and swords[9] of bronze
from the river Witham are also attributed to this period. The art of
enamelling the surface of metal appears in the Prehistoric Iron Age, and
its chief centre seems to have been the British Isles.
The shield found in the river Witham is put down to this period in
the _British Museum Handbook_, pages 87 to 92. It is one of the most
beautiful specimens of inlaid work yet discovered.
“With the introduction of iron a change in the burial customs
took place in Britain. Cremation was carried on, but the dead
were frequently interred at full length in a stone chamber, or
shallow pit, along with various articles used in daily life.”
Doubtless there are many “finds” of stone and bronze and iron implements
from Lincolnshire in private collections that are not described in any
book or catalogue extant.
It is only by personal knowledge, and by contributing that knowledge
to a common centre, that anything like a correct record can be made
for the benefit of students and futurity of the Prehistoric Period in
Lincolnshire.
With the coming of the Romans, B.C. 55 and 47 A.D., we enter on the
Historic Iron Age, which is outside the scope of this article. As regards
the Roman occupation of Lincoln, A.D. 50, we have written elsewhere.[10]
THE ROMANS IN LINCOLNSHIRE
BY THE REV. E. H. R. TATHAM, M.A.
Roman Lincolnshire has no written history. There is not a line in any
extant ancient writer describing the progress of a Roman army within its
limits. Yet that wonderful people have left indelible marks of their
presence in the county, not merely, as elsewhere, in a few fortifications
connected by military roads, but in the systematic reclamation of a whole
district. The details remaining to us of their conquest of the island
apply principally to the south-east, the north, and the north-west. And
yet the marshy plain of the Lincolnshire coast must have been then, as it
proved in later times, an ideal refuge for native tribes at last driven
to bay. Bounded on the east by the sea and on the south by impassable
fens—subject in parts to submersion by the sea—the county was only
accessible to a southern invader on its south-west side, through the
forest which then covered Kesteven. But the Roman conqueror was seldom
daunted by natural obstacles; and some further explanation is needed of
the fact that, in the earlier stages of the conquest, his efforts seem
constantly deflected to the west. Some have fancied that the Romans
recognised their most implacable enemies in the Druids, and that these
priestly fanatics retreated westward before them until they were finally
exterminated by Paulinus in their stronghold of Mona (Anglesey). A
simpler hypothesis is that, like the Regni in Sussex and the Brigantes in
Yorkshire, the inhabitants of our county at first propitiated the enemy
by alliance and by giving hostages for good conduct.
The tribe which, according to Ptolemy (about A.D. 120), then occupied the
counties of Lincoln, Leicester, and Nottingham, was the Coritani. If, as
some have supposed, this tribe was a branch of the Eceni, it would almost
certainly have been involved in the rebellion of Boudicca (A.D. 61).
Yet for at least ten years we hear of no further expedition undertaken
in this direction. If, on the other hand, the tribe was subject to or
allied with its powerful northern neighbour, the Brigantes, it may
possibly have been included in the compact which, before the year A.D.
50, was made by that tribe with the invader. Professor Rhys conjectures,
rather hesitatingly,[11] that the Coritani may have been a remnant of the
pre-Celtic population, and that their submission may have synchronised
with the conquest of the warlike tribes of the southern midlands, to whom
they had been subject.
Anyhow there is no positive indication that before A.D. 70 the Roman
forces had penetrated into the eastern counties beyond the southern shore
of the Wash. Some have fancied that the Coritani were subdued by Ostorius
(A.D. 50-55), or Paulinus (A.D. 57-62). But the line of advance taken by
both generals was to the north-west, along Watling Street, rather than
due north; and Ostorius in particular is said to have established a chain
of fortified camps—doubtless to secure his communications—from the Nene
to the Severn. But when Petilius Cerealis assumed the command in the year
A.D. 71, the peace with the Brigantes was broken, and Tacitus represents
that the ensuing campaigns, of which he only says that “there were many
battles and some not bloodless,” lasted the four years of this command.
As his father-in-law, Agricola, was then in command of the Twentieth
Legion, Tacitus must have known the facts, and may have reserved a full
account of them for his _Histories_, but the portion of the work which
deals with this war has not survived.