Samuel Gale’s MS. of Cornu Ulphi, with the Latin translation by
himself, and the copper plate of a Runic inscription relating
to it, which they might print if they thought fit. I gave them
an account of Maurice Johnson’s death, and the eulogium I wrote
of him that morning, in the following terms: On Saturday,
8th February 1755, dyed Maurice Johnson, Esq., of Spalding,
Lincolnshire, Councellor at Law, a fluent orator, and of
eminence in that profession, but to an extravagant acquisition
of riches which he ever had in his power, he preferred the
serene sweets of a country life, learned leisure, study, and
contemplation. He is one of the last of the founders of the
Antiquarian Society, London, begun in the year 1717, the
only survivors being Brown Willis, Esq., and Dr. Stukeley.
What is singular in Mr. Johnson’s praise is that he is the
founder of the Literary Society in Spalding, which memorable
transaction happened on 3rd November 1712. This Society,
through his unwearied endeavors, interest, and applications
of every kind, by his infinite labors in writing, collecting,
methodizing indexes, and the like, has now subsisted in great
reputation for these 40 years, and excited such a spirit of
learning and curiosity in that level part of Lincolnshire,
called South Holland, as probably will never be extinguished.
By this means they have got an excellent library, and all
conveniences for their weekly meeting, have established a most
extensive correspondence even to both Indies; are very exact
in answering all communications; have made vast collections
of MSS. letters, written historys, coins, medals, antiquities
of every denomination; fossils, all kinds of natural and
artificial curiosities, drawings, surveys, prints and the like.
They keep exact minutes of everything that appears before
them, have members in every branch of knowledge, try useful
experiments and improvements tending to the common benefit or
entertainment of mankind. Mr. Johnson was a great lover of
gardening and planting, had an admirable collection of flowers,
flowering shrubs, fruit-trees, exotics, an excellent cabinet
of medals, in which he had great knowledge and judgment. Many
years ago, particularly, he made large collections of memoirs
of the history of Carausius, which he sent to me last summer,
and is still in my custody, as a generous assistance in my work
on that head, together with all his coins of that emperor, and
one coin especially, which he always took to be Carausius’
son, of which I give a sketch. The face is like that of the
young Tetricus, but singular in this, that the legend begins
with Cæsar, the name Silvanvs, or whatever else, obliterated,
which is the more to be regretted. Mr. Beaupré Bell, a young
gentleman of most excellent learning and knowledge in medals,
now dead, to the great loss of science, was confident that the
coin belongs to Carausius’ son. In general, the antiquities
of the great mitred Priory of Spalding, and of this part of
Lincolnshire, are for ever obliged to Mr. Johnson’s care and
diligence, being rescued and preserved from oblivion thereby.
Thus much I thought proper to commemorate concerning the just
eulogium of my friend and countryman.”
FOOTNOTES
[1] _Scenery of England_, p. 85.
[2] Professor Boyd Dawkins, _Early Man in Britain_, p. 224 and ff.
[3] March 1909, by Rev. E. H. Mullins.
[4] Since the above was written, a fine specimen of River Drift Man’s
handiwork has been found by the author in the River Trent Gravels, June
21, 1910.
[5] _Early Man in Britain_, p. 315.
[6] _Nature_ for December 1907, p. 103.
[7] _Early Man in Britain_, by Boyd Dawkins, p. 434.
[8] Kemble’s _Horæ Ferales_, pl. 17.
[9] _Celtic Art_, by Bowdly Allen, p. 77.
[10] Introduction to _The History of Lincolnshire_, “Pike’s Series.”
[11] _Celtic Britain_, pp. 30, 288.
[12] _Vit. Agric._ c. 20.
[13] “Richard of Cirencester” says that there were nine colonies in
Britain, including Chester and Caerleon; and the statement is still often
repeated, though no confidence can be placed in it.
[14] The date is unknown, but the original must be older than the
eighteenth century, as neither T. Sympson nor Stukeley speaks of a double
gate.
[15] Another milestone of his reign has been discovered in Wales, and
his coins are not uncommon; so we have here fresh proof that the Gallic
usurpers in the time of Gallienus were acknowledged in Britain.
[16] His see is given as Colonia “Londinensium,” and the reading
“Lindensium” is the best hitherto suggested for a word that is evidently
corrupt.
[17] _Roman Roads in Britain_, p. 384.
[18] It is once called in the _Itinerary_ “Isubrigantum.”
[19] Herodian, iii. c. 14.
[20] _The Fenland, Past and Present._ By S. H. Miller and S. B. J.
Skertchly, p. 181.
[21] Skertchly, _op. cit._, p. 142, and Miller, p. 28 and pp. 43-54.
[22] W. H. Wheeler, _Fens of South Lincolnshire_, p. 7.
[23] Miller, _op. cit._, p. 47.
[24] Of the name of “Cold Harbour,” which is generally associated with
ruined buildings near Roman roads, there are at least ten instances in
the county, and probably more. Five of these are in or near the Wolds of
East Lindsey.
[25] The statue, altar, and milliary can still be seen at Ancaster
Vicarage.
[26] This view has survived the discredit now attaching to the forged
_Itinerary_ of “Richard of Cirencester,” in which alone is found the
positive statement that this province was beyond the Humber.
[27] So it is termed by Mr. Codrington in his _Roman Roads in Britain_,
p. 225.
[28] Mr. R. Brown, jun., F.S.A., in his _Earlier History of
Barton-on-Humber_, vol. i. p. 12, supposes that this road kept to the
heights, leaving Yarborough to the east, and ended at South Ferriby. But
if the Barton earthwork be really Roman, as Yarborough unquestionably is,
a road connecting both with Caistor seems not unlikely.
[29] Geoffrey gives its British name as “Caer Corrie”—strangely corrupted
by Camden into “Caer Egarry.” The name suggests a connection with the
Coritani; but it occurs only in this mass of fantastic legend.
[30] E. A. Freeman, _English Towns and Districts_, 1883, pp. 210, 211.
[31] The Church of St. Peter “ad Fontem,” which Picot, son of Coleswegen,
gave to St. Mary’s Abbey at York (see notice of grant _ap._ Dugdale,
_Mon. Angl._, ed. Caley, &c., 1846, vol. iii. p. 549), was in the eastern
suburb of the city. Here, then, we must place that “wasta terra” which
King William gave to Coleswegen, and the two churches which Coleswegen
endowed there (_Domesday Book_, Lincolnshire _fac-simile_, f. 2_b_).
[32] See plan of Barton-on-Humber and conjectural elevation of the
original building, _ap._ Baldwin Brown, _Arts in Early England_, 1903,
vol. ii. p. 210. An account of Broughton, with views of the tower arch,
follows, pp. 211 _sqq._
[33] The wooden stair at Brigstock has been replaced by a ladder, but
the holes for the stair-logs remain in the inner wall of the turret. The
stone stair at Broughton has been supposed to be an afterthought of the
builders, but the present writer is very doubtful about this.
[34] An illustration and description of this tower will be found in
_Assoc. Archit. Societies’ Reports_, vol. xxix., 1907, p. 70, at the end
of an article in which the present writer has collected the results of
his observation of towers in the neighbourhood of Grimsby and Caistor.
[35] The present belfry stage of the tower is of the fifteenth century,
and is built on piers and arches placed against the inner face of the
older tower walls. For plan of the older tower, see Baldwin Brown, _op.
cit._, ii. 240.
[36] Twenty-six is the exact number of towers which may be said to be
unquestionable members of the group. But the number may be raised by the
inclusion of a few more possible examples.
[37] The roof-line, visible on the eastern wall of the tower, is that of
the mediæval church before the addition of the clerestory.
[38] Hough-on-the-Hill, as noted later, is the only example in which the
details of the quoining really approximate to those at Barton; but at
Hough there is no strip-work.
[39] A kindred example of strip-framing finished off in this way is the
north doorway at Laughton-en-le-Morthen, near Rotherham. At Skipwith,
near Selby, the tower arch has strip-framing. Both these churches lie
within the area to which the Lincolnshire group may be said to belong.
The present writer has dealt briefly with the Yorkshire churches in this
area in an article on “The Village Churches of Yorkshire,” in _Memorials
of Old Yorkshire_.
[40] Historical evidence which points to this conclusion has been
summarised by Dr. Mansel Sympson (“Where was Sidnaceaster?”—_Assoc.
Archit. Soc. Reports_, vol. xxviii., 1905, pp. 87 _sqq._). A charter
of Edward the Confessor, preserved at Peterborough, which contains the
grant of the church, &c., at Fiskerton to the Abbey of Peterborough, is
witnessed by several bishops and nobles, including Wulfwig, Bishop of
Lindsey, who signs himself “Lincolie episcopus.” The charter, however,
appears to be a copy of the original, in which “Lincolie” may have been
written by error for “Lindisse.” But, if “Lincolie” is right, the use
of the title by a bishop whose see was at Dorchester-on-Thames points
to the fact that he looked on Lincoln as his true episcopal city.
And the conviction of the present writer, on other grounds, is that
“Sidnaceaster,” whose site was unknown even to writers of the Norman
period, is simply a careless MS. corruption of “Lindaceaster,” or some
allied Saxon form of “Lindum Colonia.”
[41] The old archdeaconry of Stow comprised the deaneries (now subdivided
to some degree) of Aslackhoe, Corringham, Lawres, and Manlake—in fact,
the original district of Lindsey, east of Trent and west of Ancholme.
[42] The dedicatory inscription on the tower of St. Mary-le-Wigford,
while clearly pointing to its English origin, must not be taken as
indicative of any positive date.
[43] Baldwin Brown, _op. cit._, vol. ii. chap. ii.
[44] See the article on this subject by Dr. J. H. Round, _Feudal
England_, pp. 317 _sqq._ How far the influence of Normans in England
before the Conquest may have affected work in masonry is a point which
may be left to the judgment of the individual reader. The foreigners who
threw up their own characteristic earthworks at the “Pentecost’s Castle”
and “Richard’s Castle” of the Chronicle cannot be certainly credited with
any influence outside their own branch of work; and the appearance of
“Norman” technique at Westminster does not imply its general acceptance
in the provinces.
[45] There is a concise account of the lords of Grantham in the Rev. B.
Street’s _Historical Notes on Grantham and on Grantham Church_. To this
book the writer is indebted for much of the historical matter of the
present chapter, but has carefully checked it by his own research, adding
where necessary references not noticed or imperfectly given by Street and
his eighteenth-century predecessor, Edmund Turnor, author of the _History
of Grantham_. Much research into the mediæval history of the town is
still necessary.
[46] _Rotuli Hundredorum_ (Record Commission), vol. ii. pp. 259, 288. The
jurors, who suffered from bad memories, called the original grantee Ralph
instead of William.
[47] See Street, _Notes on Grantham_, pp. 30, 31. The facts and dates
given there are not wholly consonant with history, and the names and
relationships of the owners of the manor are entirely wrong, Ranulf de
Blundeville, Earl of Chester, being confused with Ranulf de Glanville,
and the descendants of his sister Mabel with those of his sister Maud.
[48] Patent Rolls, 37-8 Henry III., pt. i., m. 8 (1253-4, 14 February,
Bazas): grant to Edward of Stamford and Graham [Grantham] with its honour
(cf. ibid., m. 3, 1254, 14 April, Meilhan); ibid., pt. ii., m. 8 (1254,
26 August, Bordeaux): notification supplementary to assignment in dower
to Eleanor. They had been assigned to her 1254, 20 July, at St. Macaire
(ibid., m. 10).
[49] See Close Rolls, 18 Edw. II., m. 12 (1324-5, 18 March, Westminster):
order to deliver goods of Aymer de Valence to his executors, towns of
Stamford and Graham [Grantham], &c., excepted; ibid., 19 Edw. II., m. 31
(1325, 28 July): escheat of manor.
[50] Patent Rolls, 19 Edw. II., pt. ii., m. 8 (1326, 17 May): grant;
Close Rolls, 19 Edw. II., m. 4 (1326, 29 May): order to deliver; ibid.,
m. 3_d_ (1326, 7 May): enrolment of release on quit-claim.
[51] Patent Rolls, 12 Edw. III., pt. ii., m. 22 (1338, 20 June).
[52] The date is given on the strength of Street’s notes; but Street adds
that the grant was made on the marriage of Edmund with Isabel of Castile,
which did not take place till 1372. Possibly the grant was made in 1373.
[53] In 1402 Edmund, Duke of York, was said to hold Grantham immediately
of the King, warrant unknown (Subs. Rolls, box 106, No. 105, &c., ap.
_Inquisitions and Assessments relating to Feudal Aids_, vol. iii., 1904,
p. 252).
[54] Patent Rolls, 1 Edw. IV., pt. iv., m. 1 (1461, 1 June).
[55] It may be noted that the authority for the existence of this cross
is no earlier than Weever’s _Ancient Funerall Monuments_ (1631). There is
some reason for supposing that the funeral procession travelled by way
of Newark and the old road, known as Sewstern Lane, and did not touch
Grantham. The cross destroyed at Grantham in the seventeenth century, and
known as the Queen’s Cross, was not necessarily an “Eleanor” cross.
[56] Charter Rolls, 11 Henry III., pt. i., m. 20 (1226-7, 17 March,
Westminster): grant to abbey and convent of lands which they hold in
the town of Graham, and manses and land which Colegrim granted. For
privileges claimed by the abbey see _Placita de Quo Warranto_ (Record
Commission), p. 394, col. 2.
[57] This was a chapel to the parish church of St. Wulfran, mentioned in
the interesting _inspeximus_ and confirmation of the agreement between
the Abbot and Convent of Vaudey and Roger de Wolsthorp and Richard de
Saltby (1349, 16 October; Pat. Rolls, 23 Edw. III., pt. iii., m. 22) as
the Chapel of St. Peter in the south street (_in australi vico_) of the
town.
[58] There is a document relating to the Friars Minors of Grantham, Close
Rolls, 19 Edw. II., m. 11 (1325-6, 6 March, Leicester).
[59] Grantham lay on the way to Boston, the great port for the export of
wool. Allusions to the connection with Boston are common: see, _e.g._,
Patent Rolls, 42 Henry III., m. 9_d_, where the mayor and bailiffs of
various Lincolnshire towns, including (the bailiff of) “Graham,” are
ordered to provide carts at the King’s cost to carry the King’s wines
from Boston Fair to Chester. It will be remembered how at a later date
local merchants, members of the Staple of Calais, built their houses in
villages near the town.
[60] This was Mr. Street’s idea, and it seems fairly probable.
[61] It is mentioned in the grant to Prince Edward from Bazas (see note
1, p. 134), and is said to be mentioned in the grant to Edmund of Langley.
[62] _e.g._ on 30th and 31st August 1291 (Pat. Rolls, 19 Edw. I., mm. 7,
6).
[63] Street, _Notes_, pp. 121, 122, quotes the earliest minutes of this
ceremony from the Corporation Records (21 October 1634).
[64] The Abbot and Convent of St. Mary at York presented to Belton; the
Abbot and Convent of Croyland to Sapperton.
[65] _Rot. Hund._, Edw. I., vol. i. p. 290, col. 2.
[66] The institution of Bononius, on the presentation of William de
Yngoldesby, canon of Salisbury, to the vicarage of the prebend of [North]
Grantham, occurs in Bishop Hugh of Wells’ roll for Lincoln Archdeaconry,
m. 3. The last entry but one on the same membrane is the institution of
Richard de Newerc, chaplain, on the presentation of Geoffrey de Boclond,
canon of the south prebend of Grantham, to the vicarage of that prebend.
Brief definitions of the vicarages follow each entry: the vicarage of
South Grantham is said to consist in a moiety of the altarage of Grantham
and Gonerby, and in all the fruits of the altars of Horton (Houghton)
and Bresteby (Braceby). Each vicar had to pay a pension of 100 shillings
yearly to his prebendary.
[67] A very full account of Grantham Church, by the late Bishop (then
Archdeacon) Trollope, compiled for the Lincoln Diocesan Architectural
Society’s meeting at Grantham in 1867, is printed in _Assoc. Arch. Soc.
Reports_, vol. xi. pp. 1-12. Sir Gilbert Scott’s brief summary of its
architectural history will be found in the same publication, vol. xiii.
pp. 28-35. Turnor’s _History of Grantham_ and Street’s _Notes_ contain
accounts of the building; and a small pamphlet by the Rev. D. Woodroffe,
called _Half-an-Hour in Grantham Church_, may also be mentioned. The
present writer, while mentioning these, has been led in some instances by
his own study of the building to somewhat different conclusions.
[68] The carving is allied to that of the capitals in the Castle Hall at
Oakham and in Twyford Church, Leicestershire, but is somewhat smaller in
scale and less bold in outline. The foliage of some of the capitals was
much mutilated by the introduction of galleries in the eighteenth century.
[69] No doubt the builders intended to rebuild the nave arcades in
conformity with this new spacing. The design, however, was abandoned.
[70] The study of Newark Church is a necessary complement to the study
of Grantham. From what happened there in and after 1313, probably as a
result of the great extension at Grantham, we may gather that, as an
initial part of such an extension, the lower courses of the new walls
were first built, and that then the masons, beginning at the east end
of one aisle, worked westwards, and left the other aisle, in which they
worked eastwards, to the last. This would account for some differences in
the masonry of the upper and lower parts of the walls of the south aisle.
[71] The top stage of the tower was probably added as an afterthought,
and not designed until the stage below had been completed.
[72] A mill-stone was placed on the top, and the new vane mortised into
it.
[73] The chantry returns of Edward VI.’s commissioners (Roll 33, Nos.
91-96) enumerate the chantries of the Holy Trinity, founded by John de
Orston; Corpus Christi, by the same John and others; St. Mary, by William
Gunthorp and others; St. John Baptist, by Richard Saltbie and others;
St. Peter, by Robert Stonesbie; and Curteys’ Chantry, by the executors
of Richard Curteis for two priests. No. 97 is a return relating to the
endowment known as the “Deacon’s Land”; and No. 113 is the certificate
of the Guild of the Name of Jesus, which held its services in Grantham
Church. These chantries, with the exception of “Curteys Chantry,” were
all of fourteenth century origin; and their foundation took place between
1346 and 1362. The early history of the Guild is obscure, until the
endowment of a chaplain by the will of Robert Pacie of Barkston in 1494.
Seven returns of Grantham guilds, in pursuance of the Act of 12 Richard
II. (1388) appear among the Chancery Guild Certificates (Nos. 109-115).
[74] For the reference, see note 1, p. 136. The document deals with the
endowment and appointment of three chaplains, one at the altar in the
rood-loft; another in St. Peter’s Chapel in the South Street; and a third
in the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr in the churchyard. Their duties
are carefully detailed; and the Abbot and Convent of Vaudey, in return
for benefits conferred on them by the founders of the chantries (Roger de
Wolsthorp and Richard de Saltby), charge themselves with the maintenance
of the chaplains. St. Peter’s Chapel, mentioned here, was, as already
noted, distinct from the parish church; and the chantry of St. Peter (see
note 1, p. 149) may have been endowed in this building, and not in St.
Wulfran’s. It is possible that the Haryngtons, whose tomb is in the south
aisle, west of the doorway, may have been founders or co-founders of a
chantry there, the position of the chapel of which may be indicated by
the bell-cot at the west end of the aisle. The licence for the foundation
of the chantries at the Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi altars bears date
18 August 1392; and on the same date William Gunthorp and others had
licence to alienate land, &c., in augmentation of the chantries of St.
John Baptist and St. Mary (Patent Rolls, 16 Rich. II., part i., mm. 13,
12).
[75] Evidence of the existence of relics of St. Wulfran here is given by
a churchwarden’s minute in 1565: “Item, a sylver and copper shryne called
seint Wulfrane shryne was sold, and bought with the pryce thereof a
silver pott full gilt and an ewer of sylver for the mystification of the
holye and most sacred supper of owre lorde Jhesus Christ, called the holy
comunyon” (Peacock, _Monuments of Superstition_, p. 88, quoted in Bishop
Trollope’s account, _u.s._).
[76] Colonel Welby suggests that the niches, of which traces remain in
the east wall of the outer part of the north porch, were intended for a
holy-water stoup and almsbox at the foot of the stair. They have also
been supposed to indicate the presence of an altar in this part of the
porch; but this is less probable.
[77] The foundation-wall of the screen was discovered in the nineteenth
century across the entrance to the chancel. No similar walls existed
across the aisles. This points to the probability that the screen was
built after the cessation of work in the south aisle of the nave, and
before the building of the south chapel of the chancel (_i.e._ between
1320 and 1360). No screen could thus be continued across the south
aisle, as the wall came in the way; and a light wooden screen would be
sufficient for the single bay of the north aisle east of the nave. At
the same time the evidence of the wide eastern bay of the nave points to
some enlargement or rebuilding of the screen, or at any rate to a desire
to free the rood and its beam of the eastern wall of the nave, against
which they had not improbably been placed up to this time. The dislike of
chancel arches in districts where elaborate screens are common will be
remembered.
[78] A paper by Precentor Venables (_Assoc. Arch. Soc. Reports_, vol.
xiii. pp. 46 _sqq._) summarises the history of the controversy, and
explains the part which Bishop Williams took in it more satisfactorily
than other accounts within the writer’s knowledge.
[79] This, in 1662, was filled with armorial glass, as we learn from
Gervase Holles’ notes on the heraldry of Grantham Church, in the Harleian
MSS.
[80] A memorandum relating to the erection of the organ and position of
the altar in 1640, containing a copy of a petition to Parliament from the
Corporation against Puritan objections, is printed from the Corporation
Records at the end of Precentor Venables’ article (see note 1, above).
[81] There is an interesting account of the history and contents of
the library, by the late Canon Hector Nelson, in the _Lincoln Diocesan
Magazine_ for December 1893 and March and April 1894. Canon Nelson is
responsible for the catalogue of the library.
[82] Particularly to the Rev. S. C. Tickell, author of a _Guide to
Old Stamford_ (1907), and Henry Walker, author of _Stamford with its
Surroundings_ (Homeland Handbooks), 1908.
[83] Having been granted as a _barony_ to the Abbot of Peterborough.
[84] The conjectural identification, which appears in several accounts,
of Causennæ or Gausennæ with Great Casterton (a village two miles north
of Stamford and the site of a Roman camp) will not bear the test of
comparison with the distances given in the Fifth Antonine Itinerary.
[85] Mackenzie Walcot, _Memorials of Stamford_, p. 2.
[86] There is some little uncertainty whether the “Stanforth” mentioned
by Wessington can be positively identified with the Lincolnshire
Stamford. Cf. _Vict. Cty. Hist. of Lincs._, vol. ii.
[87] Cf. _Vict. Hist. Northants_, vol. i. p. 256.
[88] Peck.
[89] E. W. Lovegrove, M.A., in the chapter on “The Churches of Stamford,”
in the “Homeland” _Handbook to Stamford_, by H. Walker (1908), from whose
admirable notes on the architecture of Stamford much of the present
account has been taken.
[90] For this information the writer is indebted to the Rev. E. A. Irons,
rector of North Luffenham, who has long made a special study of the
records of the diocese and district.
[91] An interesting account of this fight, and the circumstances which
led up to and followed it, is to be found in an article entitled “An
Unnoticed Battle” in _Rutland Magazine_, vol. i. p. 186 _et seq._
[92] Lincolnshire Topographical Society, 1843.
[93] Chequée _or_ and _gu._, over all a bend _erm._
[94] _Sa._ semée with cinquefoils _arg._, a lion rampant _arg._
[95] _Lincoln Cathedral Statutes_, vol. ii. p. 447.
[96] According to Gough (Camden’s _Britannia_) the stained glass of the
church was taken out in 1737 to save the vicar wearing spectacles!
[97] _Chancel Screens_, A. Welby Pugin, p. 14.
[98] Pugin, p. 22.
[99] See plan and view in Gally Knight.
[100] Published by J. D. of Kidwelly, MDCLXXII.
[101] _York Fabric Rolls_ (Surtees Society), p. 300-1.
[102] _Archæological Journal_, vol. xlv. p. 429.
[103] In the _Lincoln Diocesan Magazine_, 1895.
[104] In this respect resembling Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s third husband,
who “lith y grave under the rode-beme,” and an Alderman H. Philyp, who
wished “to be buried in the Church of Seynt Petres, in the Baylly of
Oxford, under the Rode.”—A. Gibbons, _Early Lincoln Wills_, pp. 87-8.
[105] Aymer Vallance, “Rood-Screen of Moulton Church,” _Archæological
Journal_, vol. lxvi. p. 264.