jurisdiction of the convent of Croyland, the abbot of which,
from the earliest times, was lord of the principal manor. It
was proved at a trial before the Bishop of Lincoln in 1447,
the abbot “held the principal demesne rights in Whaplode, and
had there besides the fee of the church markets, fairs, wastes
and warren, right of pillory, as also the assize of bread and
beer,” though it is recorded that the abbot’s rights were
disputed, and that Ralph Mershe (abbot from 1253-1281), at
great expense, and after long suits at law, gained the manor
of Gedney and the _church_ at Whaplode. This seems strange,
as every record from the earliest times connects the abbot of
Croyland with the patronage of Whaplode Church, and that the
convent used to supply chaplains to do duty. In addition to the
Croyland records, there are the public records, for we find
that the abbot, in Henry III.’s reign, in 1245, had a grant
of a weekly market on Saturday, and a fair on the Assumption
of the Blessed Virgin and six days afterwards, and that this
grant was confirmed by Edward I.; besides which we have the
ecclesiastical documents in the Bishop’s Register at Lincoln,
showing that the abbot presented to the church in 1239, 1246,
1250, 1251. The abbot won the day, and Croyland abbots held the
presentation to the living until the Dissolution in the reign
of Henry VIII.”
[Illustration: MOULTON CHURCH SOUTH AISLE, LOOKING NORTH-WEST.
MOULTON CHURCH NAVE, LOOKING EAST.]
The monks of Croyland were the builders of Whaplode’s two churches,
though doubtless largely aided by the laity, as we have seen was the case
at Moulton. Unfortunately the records of Croyland do not give the same
amount of information in reference to the building of their churches as
do those of Spalding Priory in reference to theirs.
There is no trace of the building of any earlier church at Whaplode than
the present one, and we are unaware of any remains of earlier work being
found when the church was restored, about the middle of last century.
The earliest part of the present church is the chancel arch and the four
eastmost compartments of the nave, which were built about 1125, in the
Norman style of architecture. It is greatly to the credit of King William
I. and the invaders and their descendants, that no sooner had they got
this island into a settled state than they began building cathedrals,
monasteries, and parish churches all over the kingdom. Croyland was the
first to inaugurate the church-building move in this district, and if
they had completed the church as evidently originally designed by the
Norman architect, it would have been a very fine specimen of the period.
Before the work was resumed at Whaplode, in the Transitional Period,
the masons had been busy at work on the present churches of Moulton and
Sutton St. Mary. The monks of Croyland, about forty or fifty years after
they had built the Norman portion of the nave, erected the westernmost
portion in the Transitional style (1145-1190), and which made the nave
110 feet long and 19 feet wide, the longest and narrowest nave in the
Elloc division of Lincolnshire.
The Norman chancel arch is only 13 feet wide and very low, which gives
the east end of the nave a very heavy appearance.
The smallness of the Norman arch seems to have claimed the attention of
the architects at a very early date. They cut away the large semicircular
shafts which carried the soffit of the arch and worked in a Transitional
corbel to make the opening wider.
One cannot but think that the Norman columns of the nave were intended to
carry a far heavier structure than was ever placed on them, and that the
architects altered their plans even before the arches had been erected.
The clerestory is partly Norman, and the rest, with the west front,
Transitional.
The west front has been terribly mutilated, but happily sufficient
remains to guide the architect to its perfect restoration; fortunately
it has not been so badly ill-treated as the chancel, which is a standing
disgrace, and is as bad a form of Churchwarden’s style as can well be
conceived. There is even here, however, enough of the original work left
to guide the architect in its restoration, if only funds were forthcoming
from the rectors, who are trustees of a public school.
One regrets it is not possible in an article of this nature to enter into
the details of the Norman-Transitional work at Whaplode, or compare it
with the work of the same period in the churches at Sutton St. Mary and
Moulton. To the student a visit to the three churches is very instructive.
As at Moulton Church, where the tower with its spire wins the admiration
of all visitors, so does the tower of Whaplode. It is curiously placed,
and with what object one is at a loss to understand.
Mr. Sharpe, writing on the tower, states—
“The very striking south-west tower, standing in an unusual
position on the south side of the eastmost compartment of the
south aisle, must have been commenced immediately after the
completion of the nave. In its four stages in height, of which
the three lowest belong to the original design, though carried
out in a manner which leads us to conclude that the first
stage, which carries a zigzag in its pointed arcade, was the
only one completed before the close of the Transitional Period,
the arcades of the two upper stages exhibiting an almost pure
Lancet treatment in their details.
“The fourth stage, with its embattled parapet, added in the
Curvilinear Period, gives an appropriate finish to this elegant
design.”
Richard de Gravesend, Bishop of Lincoln, gave the following charter to
Croyland in the year 1268:—
“To all faithful Christians by whom this writing may be read,
Richard, by Divine permission Bishop of Lincoln, sendeth
health in the Lord. We will that you should by this present
writing know; that, whereas our beloved children in Christ,
the religious persons, the Abbot and Convent of Croyland, have
long since obtained the grateful consent and assent of our
predecessor, the blessed Hugh, of famous and revered memory, as
also of his Holiness Honorius, some time chief bishop of the
Roman Church, likewise confirming the same of the church of
Whaplode, whereof they were and are the patrons, to have it to
their own proper use in manner as in this instrument is more
fully contained.
“We, at their devout and frequent petitions that we would
favourably, more graciously in the premises, grant them our
assent and consent to the permission and favour done them by
our said predecessor, the consideration of their order inducing
thereto, having due regard to the special devotion of the said
religious persons, and their sincere love in the Lord towards
our venerable church at Lincoln, and the Bishop thereof, being
more readily inclined to grant their petitions and requests,
as therefore in the monastery of Croyland the weightiness of
religion and observance of their order for the sake of sanctity
and principally in favour of hospitality, which are known to
flourish in that monastery, and which do and ought to render
it esteemed by all men, remembering that favour should not
be denied to such requesting it, of the assent and grateful
consent concerning of our beloved children in Christ of William
Lessington, in respect of Divine Piety, and especially for
enlarging the duty of Divine worship therein, have given,
granted, and by this our present Charter have confirmed, to
the monastery of Croyland, and to the monks there together
serving God, the church of Quaplode (Whaplode), in which they
obtain the right of patronage, to be possessed to and for
their own proper uses for ever, the rent and profits of which
church they may indeed convert to their use, and without any
impediment; for the future have power lawfully so to convert
the same, a competent portion thereof being still reserved
for the vicar perpetually serving the same church, wherein we
likewise ordain and establish the Vicarage out of the profits
of the said church for the support of him and his ministers,
and the charges thereof as we have thought fit by our episcopal
authority, thus to distinguish the portions of the said abbot
and convent and the vicar before mentioned by them to us and
our successors to be presented whenever the said vicarage shall
happen to be vacant, that they, the said abbot and convent, may
have the whole tithe of sheaves of the said church of Whaplode,
with all demesne lands, and its rights and appendants to the
said church any way belonging, and all the tithe of flax and
hemp purely and absolutely. Moreover, that they may have and
quietly take or receive the whole tithe of wool and lambs
arising from the whole parish (to wit) as consisting in fleeces
of wool and bodies of lambs, but that the vicar for the time
being successively to us and our successor to be presented by
the said abbot and convent to the vicarage aforesaid shall,
by reason thereof, by this our ordinances for ever hereafter
take and have the whole altarage absolutely and indisputably,
in whatever name conceived, and in whatsoever it doth and may
consist. The tithes of sheaves, flax, hemp, wool, and lambs,
and also the whole demesne land with its rights and appendants,
as is before said (only excepted), the said vicar shall have
and take the whole tithe of hay of the whole parish entirely
and without any diminution, and without impediments of the said
abbot and convent. He shall, moreover, have the redemption of
wool and of lambs wheresoever in the parish from the number
of five and so counting downwards, to wit where according to
the custom of the place to the tenth of the fleeces and of the
lambs it cannot by any means amount to every kind of tithe as
well as of wool as of lambs beyond the number of five, arising
by counting upwards to the aforesaid custom, remaining wholly
in the power of the before-named abbot and convent, as is
before mentioned.
“Whereupon we strictly forbid any deceit or fraud to be by any
one done under pain of the greater sentence; but we ordain
that the before-named abbot and convent do provide for the
Vicars for the place and time successively to be instituted a
competent mansion in a convenient place at first by them the
said abbot and convent, to be erected and competently built for
the first Vicar who shall be instituted next after the cession
or decease of Simon, now Vicar of the church of Whaplode,
thenceforward to be repaired or new built on the same spot as
by accidental cause, necessity, or age requiring it ought to be.
“We moreover ordain that the first and every Vicar by the
bishop to be instituted after the cession or decease of the
said Simon for the time being do sustain and allow ordinary
episcopal and archidiaconal charges due and accustomed, and
that they take care of and keep in repair and find books,
vestments, and other necessary ecclesiastical ornaments, and
repair the chancel of the church when it wants repairs at their
costs, and also provide and sustain all ministers necessary for
serving the vicarage before treated.
“Now we will and ordain that this our ordinance have force
for ever in all and singular the above said articles, saving
in all things the episcopal customs and dignity of the church
of Lincoln, that therefore full credit may be given to this
our present ordinance, and that a perpetual security may be
provided for the said abbot and convent and the vicars for the
time to come. We have caused this instrument to be corroborated
with the sanction of our seal. Done in the month of January
in the year of our Lord Christ’s incarnation 1268, and the
eleventh year of our consecration.”
The original Norman chancel was destroyed about the year 1320, when a new
chancel was built, of which little now remains, worked into the present
one, and one bay of the north wall, with a pillar, a part of the east-end
wall, and the jambs of the arch at the east end of the north aisle.
The Transitional aisles were taken down, and the present ones, with the
north transept, were erected about 1420. At the same time the clerestory
was heightened, and the present windows were inserted. Fortunately the
builders did not destroy the Transitional work.
When the wider aisles of Whaplode were erected, the builders, as at
Moulton, preserved the original Transitional south doorway and re-erected
it, and also the west doorway, which was erected in 1180, and is, with
the two doorways at Moulton, the oldest in the district.
The north and south porches are post-Reformation.
The roof of the nave, now being repaired, is a good example of the
Rectilinear Period.
The font is a creditable imitation of a Norman one, but is of
post-Reformation work.
The area of this church is so great that only the eastern portions of the
nave (the Norman portion) and aisles are fitted with open seats; the rest
of the church is entirely open, which gives it a cathedral appearance.
There is a fine seventeenth-century monument to Sir Antony Irby and his
wife, ancestors of the Right Hon. Lord Boston. There were formerly three
chapels in the church. Colonel Holles, when he visited the church about
1641, found memorials to the families of Fitzwalter, Littlebury, Rye,
Beke, Quaplod, Venables, Kyrketon, Haultoft, Walpole, Pulvertoft, Welby,
Ogle, and others.
ALL SAINTS’, HOLBEACH
Of this large and beautiful church little need be written. It is a
fine Curvilinear building, though merging into Rectilinear in the
tower and spire. It belongs to the latter part of the period, and is
the only church in the neighbourhood which is built in one style of
architecture. The work of erecting the edifice was practically continuous
from beginning to finish. It was built in the reigns of Edward III. and
Richard II., probably between 1340 and 1380.
The present church is not the first church at Holbeach—one would be
inclined to believe it was the third; the first would be a small Saxon
church, and the second a small Norman one, but a more substantial
structure than the first.
With regard to the earlier church or churches at Holbeach, we have
considerable documentary evidence, although we find few if any of their
remains in the present church, unless the Norman capital which lies on
the floor at the south-east corner of the nave, and some few of the very
numerous corbel heads at the terminations of the hood-moulds of the
clerestory windows, which are grotesque and rude enough to have been the
production of Norman workmen, formed parts of the earlier Norman church.
There is no mention of a church at Holbeach in the Domesday Survey, but
Pope Alexander in 1177 addressed a deed to Spalding Abbey confirming the
possessions of the Priory (in this district), and amongst them we find it
held “the Church of Holbeach with all pertaining unto it.”
Again, in 1189, we find Thomas de Multon, Lord of Holbeach, and others,
who conspired against the Abbot of Croyland, meeting in the Church of
Holbeach.
In 1194, on the morrow of the Holy Trinity, a settlement was arrived
at between Fulco d’Oiri, who claimed the advowson of the Church of All
Saints, Holbeach, and the Chapel of St. Peter in Holbeach; and he made
over the advowson to Conan, fil Elie de Holbeche, and his heirs for 21s.
rent in Holbeche, and for one “calcaria de aurata” (a pair of gilt spurs)
at Easter for all services.
The advowson of Holbeach, prior to the Bishop of Lincoln acquiring the
same, had belonged to the Multon family, a member of whom in King Henry
III.’s reign had a grant of a weekly market and also fairs at Holbeach.
The various legal suits brought to recover the advowson of Holbeach
are most interesting reading, and are given in Macdonald’s _History of
Holbeach_, a work well worth consulting.
In 1332, however, the church had a new patron—Henry, Bishop of Lincoln.
By deed dated at Stone, in the county of Northampton, “on the nearest
Wednesday after the feast of St. Martin,” the Bishop, in the sixth year
of the reign of Edward III. (1332), William de Harcourt, Knt., for the
sum of £500, made over to Henry, by divine permission Bishop of Lincoln,
the advowson of the Church of Holbeach; and in the Lincoln Register there
is a charter given in 1332 by William de Harcourt, Knight, appointing two
attorneys to put the Bishop in possession of Holbeach Church.
The Pope in 1334 despatched a papal bull to the Bishops of Hereford, Ely,
and Durham, directing that the Church of Holbeach, the patronage of which
the Bishop of Lincoln had lately acquired, should be appropriated to the
see of Lincoln.
On 5th February 1334, 7 Edward III. (dated at Nettleham), the Bishop of
Lincoln granted a charter to Dominus Thomas de ... appointing him his
(the Bishop’s) attorney to receive seisin of the Church at Holbeach.
In 1335 a licence was granted to William de Goseberkyrk, the newly
appointed Vicar of Holbeach, to hear confessions in reserved cases.
It appears that almost directly the Bishop of Lincoln obtained possession
of the advowson, and had placed his nominee into the vicarage, he at once
set about building the present church at Holbeach, which then excelled
the two neighbouring churches of Moulton and Whaplode. This doubtless led
the monks of Spalding and Croyland to enlarge their respective churches,
and rekindled the church-building energy of the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries.
The visitor will not fail to notice the north porch. In appearance it is
more in keeping for a baronial castle than a church porch. It is no part
of the original design or building, and was added years afterwards. It
was flanked at the north-east and south-east angles with massive circular
towers, one of which leads to the parvise above, and the other appears to
have been used as a cell or porter’s lodge.
Previously to being erected at Holbeach it had, we believe, formed part
of the manorial castle of the Multon family at Moulton. A mere glance
at the structure will show it was never designed for an ecclesiastical
building. It was probably removed from Moulton when the castle fell into
decay in the fifteenth century. The Multon family had died out for want
of males, and their property had been divided among co-heiresses.
The south porch and door are part of the original building; the door is a
beautiful example of the woodwork of the period. The font is also a good
example of the period.
The church has been well restored in recent years, and several painted
glass windows have been inserted. The work of restoration commenced when
the late Rev. Arthur Brook was the vicar, and has been continued in
the time of the present vicar, the Rev. Canon Hemmans. The church well
deserves a visit.
There is a fine altar tomb to the memory of Sir Humphrey Littlebury,
and when about the year 1640 Colonel Holles visited the church he
found armorial bearings and inscriptions to members of the families of
Littlebury, Kirketon, Calow, Welby, Leyke, and others.
There are chimes in the tower, erected in 1776 by Edward Arnold of St.
Neots, and a fine ring of eight bells.
ST. MARY MAGDALENE, FLEET
This church was built in the Curvilinear Period; it is chiefly notable
for its detached south-west tower with spire, which, though of no great
size, are well-proportioned and of good design. The spire is perfectly
plain. There are some well-carved corbel heads serving as supports to the
timbers of the roof.
This church has its origin from the laity, most probably from members of
the Multon family, who were lords of the manor, or from the Fitzwalters
and Haringtons, who divided the Multon family properties through marrying
the co-heiresses of that family.
The church has been wisely and well restored.
ST. MARY MAGDALENE’S, GEDNEY
This church, like Holbeach, is a beautiful fabric, and many think the
clerestory is the finest in the district. The history of the church is
written in stone—the tower gives it.
“Of the original building,” writes Mr. Sharpe, “nothing but the
lower part of the west tower now remains. It is not improbable,
however, that the pair of double lancet openings, now forming a
lower storey of the present cell chamber, was the belfry-stage
of the original tower; and that three different roofs, of
which the weatherings still remain on its east wall, have at
different times abutted against it. If this be so, the history
of this church and its three principal changes of form are
written on this wall. The first roof, the ridge of which was
below the sill of these lancet windows, covered a low church
of the Lancet or Transitional Period. The second roof was
that of the more pretentious Curvilinear nave, when the whole
church received a new character, a lofty ground storey and
spacious side aisles. The third roof, rising high up into these
lancet windows, marks the epoch when the handsome Rectilinear
clerestory was added and the tower raised another stage, in
preparation for a lofty spire that was never executed.”
In the Curvilinear Period the spacious chancel, with its large plain
three-light windows, was erected. The ground storey of the nave and the
side aisles were shortly afterwards built. The south doorway is of good
workmanship for a village church of this period. The twelve three-light
clerestory windows are of the Rectilinear Period, as are also the
battlemented parapet and pinnacles, also the upper storey of the tower.
The south porch and parvise are of this period, as is also the nave roof
and the small square-headed window—low side window in the south wall of
the chancel.
On the south door, which is a fine specimen of the period, is this
inscription—
PAX XTI SIT HUIC DOMUI ET
OMNIBUS HABITANTIBUS IN EA
HIC REQUIES NOSTRA.
The east window of the north aisle contains old stained glass. The church
is now undergoing restoration, but as there are some of the original
oaken open benches still in the church, the restorers should have no
difficulty in putting in suitable woodwork.
Dr. Stukeley, the Holbeach antiquary of the eighteenth century, states:
“This church was built by the abbots of Croyland, who had a stately house
on the north side of it and vast possessions in the parish. The upper
part of the tower is of the same date as the church, but built upon older
work; both were no doubt built by the abbots—assisted by charitable
donations. In the chancel window is a religious in his habits.”
In the account of Holbeach Church we saw how Fulko de Oiri in 1194 parted
with the advowson of Holbeach, and there is little doubt that he had the
advowson of the church at Gedney, though Croyland had a manor in that
parish.
As stated in the account of Whaplode Church (1253-1281), Ralph Mershe,
the Abbot of Croyland, at great expense and after long suits at law,
gained the _manor_ of Gedney and the church at Whaplode, but it does not
follow he had, at the time, the advowson of Gedney—on the contrary, the
following pedigrees from the Plea Roll of 7 Edw. III. and 8 Edw. III.
clearly show he had not:—
PLEA ROLLS (_De Banco_, Easter, 7 Edw. III.).
Lincoln—
James de Ros sues the Abbot of Croyland for the advowson of the
Church of Gedeneye (Gedney).
Falk de Oyry, _temp._ Henry III.
|
Emecina.
|
Giles de Gousille, 35 Henry III.
|
Peter.
|
Ralph.
|
Ralph.
|
Margaret = Philip le Despenser.
In the following year, in the suit in _Coram Rege_, Hilary, 8 Edw. III.:—
Lincoln—
The King sues James de Roos for the next presentation to the
Church of Gedeneye, which he claimed as guardian of Ralph de
Goushill.
Fulk D’Oyry, _temp._ Henry III.
|
Emytine.
|
Giles de Goushill, 35 Henry III.
|
Peter.
|
Ralph.
|
Ralph under age in charge of the King.
There is in the Lincoln Will Registry the will of a Philip Goushill of
Gedney, dated in the year 1401.
Eleanor de Clare, who was the granddaughter of Edward I. by his wife
Eleanor of Castile, married Ralph le Despenser, who was hung in 1326, and
their fourth son Philip, who died in 1313, married Margaret, daughter
and heiress of Ralph le Goushill; and when Colonel Holles visited Gedney
Church about 1640 he found the arms and monuments to the families of
Despensers, Roos, Clare, D’Oyry, Goushill, Welbys, and others.
Doubtless Stukeley is correct in stating the Curvilinear church of Gedney
was built under the direction and influence of Croyland, aided by the
laity; but one should be disposed to consider the earlier churches were
not built by the monks of Croyland. However, it is too long a subject to
discuss in this article.
SUTTON ST. MARY