Baumber, or Bamburgh, lies on the old Roman road, from Horncastle to
Lincoln, about 4 miles to the north-west from the former place, and
half-a-mile from the point where another Roman road furcates northward
for Caistor; it is thus somewhat interestingly connected with the three
ancient Roman stations, Lindum, Banovallum, and Caistor (Castrum). Its
own name, in the older form, Bam-burg doubtless means the “Burg,” or
fort, on the Bain; as it stands on high ground above the valley of the
Bain, and commands what would formerly be a ford of that river at
Hemingby, through which there passes a branch line of road, running due
east from Baumber, and stretching into the wold hills, being doubtless
also a Roman structure.
Baumber has had some interesting associations in the past. In Domesday
Book it is reckoned among the possessions of the Norman Ivo Tayle-bois,
nephew of William the Conqueror, Earl of Anjou, and chief of the Angevin
auxiliaries of William’s army. Through his wife, the Lady Lucia, the
Saxon heiress of Earl Alf-gar, who was given to him in marriage by the
Conqueror, he acquired very large possessions in Lincolnshire and
elsewhere. He was of a very tyrannical disposition; his chief residence
being near Croyland Abbey. The Historian Ingulphus records of him, that
he “tortured, harrassed, annoyed, and imprisoned their people”; that “he
chased their cattle with his dogs, driving them into the marsh pools,
where they were drowned; cut off their ears, or their tails; broke their
backs, or their legs; and made them useless.” When the world was
relieved of him by an early death, he was not mourned by his Saxon wife,
or anyone else. Another historian, Peter de Blois, says, “Hardly had one
month elapsed after his death, when the Lady Lucia married that
illustrious young man, Roger de Romara, and entirely lost all
recollection of Ivo Tayle-bois”; and he bursts into a volley of
imprecations, to this effect:—“What does it now profit thee, O Ivo! ever
most blood-thirsty, thus to have risen against the Lord? Unto the earth
hast thou fallen, numbered with the dead; in a moment of time thou hast
descended to hell, a successor of the old Adam, a frail potsherd, a heap
of ashes, a hide of carrion, a vessel of putrefaction, the food of worms,
the laughing-stock of those who survive, the refuse of the inhabitants of
heaven, the avowed enemy of the servants of God; and now, as we have
reason to suppose, an alien and exile from the congregations of saints,
and for thine innumerable misdeeds, worthy to be sent into outer
darkness.” {19}
Such was one of the proprietors of Baumber, but he was not the only one;
as Domesday mentions another, and larger, and more worthy, land owner in
the person of Gilbert de Gaunt, who succeeded, “by right,” or, more
strictly speaking, by confiscation, to all the property of the Saxon
Tonna; while another Saxon, Ulf, had also an estate in the parish. This
Gilbert de Gaunt founded Bardney Abbey; and, when he died, was buried
there.
The Lady Lucia was Countess of Chester and Lincoln; and at a later
period, Baumber, including the hamlet of Sturton Parva, would seem to
have been mainly divided between the family of the Earls of Lincoln, more
recently created Dukes of Newcastle, and the wealthy family of the
Dightons. Both had residences in or near this parish. A daughter of
Thomas Dighton, and his heiress married Edward Clinton, second son of the
first Earl of Lincoln of that line (temp. Elizabeth), and on failure of
issue to the elder brother, this Edward succeeded to the Earldom. Many
generations of the Clintons were buried here; but towards the end of the
18th century, the Clinton property was sold by the third Duke to Mr.
Thomas Livesey, of Blackburn, Lancashire, {20} whose son, the late Joseph
Livesey, Esq. erected a large mansion in 1810, which again was almost
rebuilt, and considerably enlarged in 1873–5. A large part of the parish
now belongs to the Vyner family of Gautby. The Baumber register dates
from 1691. One entry is “June 20th, 1730, the Corpse of the Right
Honourable, the Right Noble, Lord George Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, was
interred.”
The Church is dedicated to St. Swithun. The west door is a good specimen
of Norman work, with dog-tooth pattern running round the semi-circular
arch, in bass relief; the capital of its south pillar has a head, with
serpents whispering into each ear. The north capital is a conventional
acanthus. The inner eastern door of the tower is also Norman, but plain.
The Nave has north and south aisles of three bays; the eastern-most
column of the north arcade, under the removable flooring of the Vicar’s
seat, has the original round Norman plinth, the only one preserved. The
Church of stone was cased in brick, in the early part of the eighteenth
century (1736), when the present large, perpendicular windows were placed
in the north and south walls, three in each. Placed against the west
wall, south of the west entrance, is a large slab, commemorating John
Ealand, who died in 1463, and his wives Alice and Elizabeth. This was
formerly in the floor of the north aisle. Above is a tablet in memory of
members of the family of J. Bainbridge Smith, D.D., formerly Vicar, as
well as Rector of Sotby, and of Martin, and Headmaster of the Horncastle
Grammar School. The Font is octagonal and massive, but plain. There is
a handsome oak lectern with eagle on swivels, the gift of Mrs. Taylor
Sharpe, of Baumber Park, in memory of her eldest son, who died in 1891.
The pose of the eagle is very natural.
In the south aisle, and over the west entrance are hatchments of the
Clintons.
In the chancel, the east window is blocked up; there are two windows in
the north wall, one in the south wall, the second having been removed
when a vestry was erected, and it now forms the vestry window. On each
side, east of the chancel arch, are remains of massive early English
pillars. South of communion table are three plain sedilia of wood.
North of the table, a blue slate slab in the floor, with the Clinton
arms, covers the vault, in which sixteen of the Clinton family are
interred. Another slab close by, commemorates “Francis Clinton, alias
Fynes, Esq., grandson of Henry Lord Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, who
departed this life, February 5th, A.D. 1681.” On the south, a slab
commemorates his wife, “who died, February 15th, A.D. 1679.” A communion
chair, of very solid construction, was carved out of a beam formerly in
Tattershall Castle. There are some remains of a former rood screen,
“Arch. Journ.,” 1890, p. 206.
Mr. Weir, in his History of Lincolnshire (vol. I., p. 299, Ed., 1828),
says that portions of the former residence of the Earls of Lincoln were
at that date still standing, near the modern mansion of the Liveseys.
Then the latter was re-constructed in 1873–5, the furniture and other
arrangements, were of a very costly character. The present writer, with
an acquaintance of the family, had the privilege of being shewn over the
whole house, by the lady of the house, shortly after its completion. It
might be called a repertoire of valuable works of art and vertu, in
furniture, books, paintings, stuffed birds, and animals, among the latter
being the famous lion “Nero,” from the Zoo. The owner, being devoted to
engineering and mechanical operations, had one room, of which the walls
were covered with clocks, of endless kinds, with various elaborate
mechanism, such as cocks crowing, horns blowing, etc., etc., for chiming
the hours. All these came to the hammer in 1891. Even the economy of
the farm yard was elaborate. To give one instance:—At the back of the
cattle sheds, ran a tramway of small trucks; doors opened at the back of
the crib of each stall, and the trucks conveyed the exact modicum of
provender, and it was injected into each separate crib, periodically, for
the animals which were there fed. The lake in the park was formed from a
small stream running through the grounds, it is well stocked with fish of
various kinds, especially affording sport to the troller by the abundance
of fine pike. It was originally stocked, as tradition avers, from the
Moat of Langton Rectory, now no longer existing, but formerly of
considerable size, and connected with a large pond, where fish of many
kinds abounded. The vicarage is a substantial residence, with good
garden, erected in 1857, on a site presented by Robert Vyner, Esq.