Greetham is distant about 3½ miles from Horncastle, in an easterly
direction, lying just beyond the parish of High Toynton, south of
Fulletby, west of Ashby Puerorum and north of Winceby. The village is
chiefly situated on a cross-road running north and south (and probably
Roman) which unites the road from Horncastle to Tetford with that from
Horncastle to Hagworthingham and Spilsby. The nearest money order and
telegraph office is at Horncastle, whence the letters arrive at 9.20.
a.m. The population of this village is now just over 130; but, as Isaac
Taylor says (“Words and Places,” p. 1), “local names are records of the
past,” and Greetham, as its name implies, was at one time a place of
considerably more importance than at present. The Saxons named it
Greetham, or the great village; which, as Mr. Streatfeild suggests
(“Lincolnshire and the Danes,” p. 18), the Normans translated into
“Grandham,” or “Granham,” as we find it in the Conqueror’s survey in
Domesday Book; and which was sometimes further curtailed into “Graham,”
as we find a field in High Toynton described as the “24 acres towards
Graham.” (Feet of Fines, Lincoln, 9, Henry III., No. 52, A.D. 1224–25,
quoted “Linc. N. & Q,” vol. iii., pp. 245–6). And not only was Greetham
(or Grandham) held in demesne, _i.e._, as a manor, but, like the
neighbouring Bolingbroke, being connected with Royalty, it became also
designated an “Honour.”
In a Chancery Inquisition post mortem (21 Henry VII., No. 122) taken
after the death of Henry Dawson, it is stated that “4 messuages, &c., in
Tetney are held of the Lord the King, as of his Honour of Bullingbroke”;
and in almost similar terms, in a Chancery Inquisition post mortem, of
the same King, No. 124, taken after the death of William Quadring, Esq.,
it is stated that he “held a messuage in Irby, of the Lord the King, as
of his Manor of Greetham, parcel of his Duchy of Lancaster.” In Domesday
Book it is stated that certain lands in the Manor of Bilsby, near Alford,
are “held of the Manor of Grandham”; Greetham apparently not in either of
these cases being regarded as an Honour. But in an Inquisition post
mortem, of John Asfordby, A.D. 1499, it is stated that the manor of this
same Bilsby, with Westhalgarth, is “held of the Lord the King, as of the
Honour of Greetham.” But, even as early as Domesday (1080), lands are
enumerated as belonging to “Grandham,” lying in Langtune (by Spilsby),
Hacberdineham (Hagworthingham), Salmundby, Tedforde, Brinkhill, Wingsby,
and Clachesby Pluckacre, in all amounting to 33 carucates, or close upon
4,000 acres (3960). And, to shew the wealth of the manor at that date,
compared with some others in the neighbourhood, while Scrivelsby is given
in Domesday as of the value of £14, and Horncastle at £44, Bolingbroke is
put at £40, but Greetham at £60, and it is further tallaged, _i.e._,
taxed at £70. It was the “caput Honoris,” or head, of the Lincolnshire
Barony of Hugh de Abrincis, or Avranches, the Conqueror’s nephew,
surnamed Lupus, or The Wolf, from his many deeds of violence. He was
Earl of Chester, having the whole of Cheshire assigned to him, except a
small portion belonging to the Bishop; and his royal uncle further
granted to him, nine manors in Berkshire, seven in Yorkshire, ten in
Dorset, thirty-two in Suffolk, and twelve in Norfolk, twenty-two in
Leicester, and about a score in Lincolnshire, besides smaller numbers in
other counties, and sokes and berewicks beyond counting. Earl Lupus in
his later years, attempted to atone for the irregularities of his early
life, by becoming monk in his own Abbey of St. Werburg, at Chester.
Later, the estates which he held, reverted to the crown, and were, in
part, granted to the Earl of Lincoln, who was created Duke of Lancaster.
His daughter and heiress, married the 4th son of King Edwd. III., who
also, through his wife, became Duke of Lancaster, and was father of Henry
of Bolinbroke, afterwards Henry IV. After various vicissitudes, the
Honour and much of the very extensive soke of Bolingbroke, became merged
in the Crown; and, in part, still remains the property of the Sovereign,
the King having among his titles still the Palatine Dukedom of Lancaster.
The fortunes of Greetham were more varied. It is impossible, from the
sources of information available for these notes to give all the
successive steps in the tenure of this manor, and of its numerous and
valuable appurtenances; or to give the connection, if any, between
successive owners. Fixity of tenure was by no means a feature of those
times, the power of the Sovereign was almost absolute, and demesnes were
seized by him, forfeited, retained, granted anew, or disposed of for
money, according to the royal caprice, or the exigencies of his purse, in
a most arbitrary fashion. To show the precarious nature of tenures held
“in capite,” or “in chief” from the Sovereign, we will mention one or two
cases, taken haphazard:—Edmund of Woodstock, 2nd son of Edwd. I., was
beheaded by Edward III., in the 4th year of his reign. He had been
granted the manor of Greetham only 3 years before (Dugdale’s “Baronage,”
vol. ii., p. 93). At a previous period, Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln,
died seised of the manor of Greetham. In the ordinary course of events,
the manor would have remained a possession of his daughter, Alice,
countess of Lincoln. Yet a Lancaster Record (class xxv. R. 8), shows
that Alice granted the manor to Hugh Dispenser, 16 Ed. II., and, he being
a favourite of that King, we can hardly doubt that the grant was a forced
one. The historian Speed informs us that, the Earl of Lancaster being
attainted, the elder Dispenser obtained a grant of some of the Lancaster
property in Lincolnshire. But in 1327, the younger Dispenser, the Hugh
above-named, the favourite of the King (Edward II.), fell into disfavour,
and a commission was appointed to enquire what goods and chattels he
possessed at the time of his banishment, in his manors of Greetham,
Thorley, Wainfleet and Brattleby. He also held at that time, as shown by
other records, lands in Thornton, Roughton, Wilksby, Wood Enderby,
Partney, Mareham-le-Fen, &c., and a manor in Scrivelsby. But he, in his
turn being banished, the attainder of the Earl of Lancaster was revoked,
and the property once more reverted to the Lancaster family, in the
person of his brother and successor, Henry of Lancaster.
Truly the history of many a noble family of those times was a moving and
vivid commentary on the words of Holy Writ, “Put not your confidence in
Princes!”
In a list of military tenures (temp. Henry II.), while Norman d’Arcy, the
Earl of Britanny, Alan de Percy, Stephen of Albemarle, and several
others, are named as holding various of the manors in the neighbourhood,
the Duke of Lancaster is given as “Lord” of Greetham, Winceby and
Hameringham (“Old Lincolnshire,” by G. H. Burton, 1885, vol. i. pp.
214–215). These, as we have seen, had been very extensively added to,
and further additions are named in various records, some of which we will
here give, as they show the importance of Greetham. We should, however,
observe that because a great Baron held the manor of a demesne, it did
not at all follow that he owned the whole parish. This applies to
Greetham, as follows:—In an Assize Roll, at Lincoln, of 9 Edward I. (A.D.
1280), a certain Robert de Kyrketon, and his wife Beatrix, demand (and
their claim is admitted), certain rents of lands in “Askeby next Gretham
(_i.e._, Ashby Puerorum), Stavenesby (_i.e._, Stainsby), Bag-endreby and
Little Gretham,” at a time when the Earl of Lancaster was lord of the
manor. An Inquisition of the Earls of Kent (2nd son of Edwd. I.,
beheaded. 4 Edward III. and at that time, as we have already stated,
holding the manor of Greetham), shows that lands in Huttoft,
Theddlethorpe, Wainfleet and Thoresby, as well as in Bratoft and
Mablethorpe (the two latter also given in Domesday), were held under the
manor of Greetham in addition to those already named in the more
immediate neighbourhood, of Bratoft and Mablethorpe, appurtenances of
Greetham at the time of Domesday (1080) and continued to be so as late as
1552 (“Linc. N. & Q.” vol. iv. p. 122).
We will now look at the evidence of Greetham being an “Honour” as well as
a manor. The two properties of Bolingbroke and Greetham, eventually,
after various changes, passed under the same ownership; both forming
parts of the Duchy of Lancaster. The Honour of Bolingbroke, was also
called the Honour of Richmond, from the Earl and Countess of that name,
the parents of the future Henry IV. of England, the only Sovereign of
England born in Lincolnshire. The manor of Greetham is sometimes called
the “Honour of Lancaster,” _par excellence_, but it is quite clear that
Greetham is then intended, and though united, even under one common
management, they were legally regarded and treated as distinct “Honours.”
In a bailiff’s account of Rents of Assize, and of Court Perquisites (now
in the possession of John Sykes, Esq., F.S.A., of Doncaster, quoted
“Linc. N. & Q.” iii. p. 82), it is specified, that beside the Bolingbroke
Rents, there “is nothing, because the others are given in the accounts of
the Honour of Lancaster,” _i.e._ of Greetham; and the same distinction is
observed in the “Perquisites of Courts,” where we find, “13s. 6d. from
two views and Courts of the Honour of Bolingbroke, and one view and Court
of Honour of Lancaster” (Greetham). Although the two accounts were thus
kept distinct, the Court Rolls of the year (10 Richard II), show that the
Court of both Honours were at that time “holden together by order of
Thomas Hungerforde, Knight, Chief Steward.” In the earlier of these
Records, Greetham was necessarily described merely as a manor, because it
was not yet connected with royalty, and therefore was not then an Honour.
But in later documents it is frequently referred to as such; for
instance, in a Chancery Inquisition post mortem taken at Alford, 22 July
A.D. 1506 (21 Henry VII. No. 121), we find it stated that “Thomas Rygge
Gentylman, held certain lands, with their appurtenances, in Westyrkele
and Langton, of the lord the King, of his Honour of Greteham” (“Journal
of Architect. Society,” 1895, pp. 42–3). It is further stated that “John
Afforby held the manor of Bilsby, of the Lord the King, as of the Honor
of Gretham, of his Duchy of Lancaster” (quoted “Lincs. N. & Q.” iv. p.
108).
Besides the places already named as belonging to the demesne, or soke, of
Greetham, I find “Lecheburne” (_i.e._ Legbourne), Swaby, Elgelo (_i.e._,
Belleau), Claythorpe, Totele (_i.e._, Tothill), Withern, Haugh, Calceby,
Dalby, Dexthorpe, and many more.
Enough has, however, been said to shew the extent of the soke, or
jurisdiction, of the lords of Greetham, and its rank as an “Honour”
connected at different periods with royalty.
Its subsequent history, down to the present century, is almost a blank.
The Manor, although still, in our Directories (see Weir, Kelly, etc.),
styled “a parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster,” has dwindled much in
importance; and the inhabitants are apparently becoming fewer. In 1821
they numbered 148, in 1843 they were 152, in 1883 they were 147, in 1891
they had dropped to 131. The total acreage is 1250. A few stray
notices, connected with by-gone Greetham, are the following:—In Gibbon’s
“Early Lincoln Wills” (p. 67), Richard de Ravenser, Archdeacon of
Lincoln, by Will, dated “15 May, 1385,” bequeaths a legacy to Walter de
Gretham. Who the latter was, we have no means of learning. The
Ravensers were of a good family. In Maddison’s “Wills of Lincolnshire”
(1500–1600), p. 26, No. 68, we find that Richard Newcomen, of Nether
Toynton, by will, dated “3 Sep., 1540, left xx pence to the poor of
Greetham.” The Newcomens were among our oldest families, originally
seated at Saltfleetby, where their names appear in the registers, for
many generations. One of them, John Newcomen, “of Sallaby,” was involved
in the Lincolnshire Rebellion of 1536, along with Monsons, Massingberds,
Heneages, Maddisons, and many other members of leading families. This
Richard, above-named, settled at Low Toynton early in the 16th century,
and his grandson Samuel, “of Nether Toynton,” married Frances, daughter
of Thomas Massingberd, of Bratoft Hall, Esq., M.P. Several of them are
mentioned in the Herald’s “Lists of Gentry” in 1634 and 1666, as residing
at Hagnaby, Withern, Bag Enderby, &c. They have now disappeared from
Saltfleetby and “their place knoweth them no more.” Their pedigree is
given in the “Architectural Society’s Journal” for 1897. Another old
record (from the same source) is “John Dighton of Minting, by Will dated
17 December, 1606, leaves to Thomas Page of Greetham vj £.” Who Thomas
Page was is unknown; but the Dightons were a well known family, of
mercantile origin at Lincoln; the founder having served as Mayor and
Sheriff; one of them, Thomas resided at Waddingworth, another at Minting;
the chief member, Robert, owned and occupied the Hall at Stourton Magna,
of which traces still remain in mounds and moats. He also was involved
in the Lincolnshire rebellion. A daughter of Dighton of Stourton married
Edward Clinton, Esq., of Baumber, who afterwards became Earl of Lincoln,
and his descendants Dukes of Newcastle, whose burial place, for some
generations, was at Baumber. “The fashion of the world changeth” the
Dightons are gone, the Clintons, renovated in blood, remain.
A tradition remains to this day, that Thomas Wentworth, Earl of
Stratford, in the reign of Charles I., and one of his Sovereign’s most
faithful adherents, owned the manor of Greetham. I cannot find any
positive proof of this; but it seems not at all unlikely, since a lease
dated 14 Nov., 1685, was granted to Sir William Wentworth, Knight, of
Ashby Puerorum, who was a son of Sir William Wentworth, who fell at
Marston Moor, fighting for Charles I; and from him descended the first
Earl of Stafford, of the second creation. {69} It is proved by the award
that Thomas, Earl of Stafford was Lord of the Manor in 1785.
We pass on to the present century. About the year 1830, John Fardell,
Esq., of Lincoln (who represented that City in Parliament for a brief
period, being unseated on petition) became owner, by purchase, of the
Manor of Greetham, the rest of the parish, except the Rectory farm of 48
acres, being purchased by the late Mr. Robert Dennis, who built in 1830,
a commodious residence, Greetham House, where his two daughters now
reside. The manor, and about half the parish, was sold by the Fardell
Trustees to F. Wormall, Esq., whose present representative is his
grand-daughter, Lady Garden of Templemore Abbey, co. Tipperary; whose
father was Colonel Valentine Baker, one of a family distinguished as
sportsmen, travellers, and soldiers. We have said that the road, or
street, on which the village houses cluster, was probably originally
Roman; and some years ago, the neck of a Roman urn was found near it.
Along this road, to the North is a quarry in which many ammonites and
other fossils are found, in the gravel lying above the white clay. The
age of “Praise God Barebones” and his Puritanical allies, has long since
passed away; but something of the Puritan Spirit seems to survive in the
names of the villagers, given in the registers, which date from 1653. My
informant had herself known, within recent years, the names Mordecai,
Naomi, Keziah, Solomon, and Bridget shortened into Briggy. There are
also some curious field names. A boggy field is called the “Waddles”; a
similar field in the almost adjoining parish of Salmonby is called
“Wallows,” both probably referring to a slough of mire, and the awkward
ducklike gait involved in traversing it. A grass field is named
“Thunker,” as locally pronounced, which may embody the Norse Thing-garth,
or Council enclosure of the great hamlet. Another meadow is named
“Kirtle,” probably the Kirk-dale; while two fields, one ploughed and the
other meadow, are called “the Gousles,” which Mr. Streatfeild
(“Lincolnshire and the Danes,” p. 174.) considers to mean the first
slopes of the Wolds. “Gaut,” or “gout” (go-out) means an outlet from a
drain; and throughout the whole range of the Wolds, there are numerous
springs, issuing from their base, not uncommonly possessing medicinal
properties. Greetham is situated on the first spur or projection, of the
Wolds in this locality, and these gousles may have been the goutsleys, or
meadows, in which were the sources of local springs.
N.B.—In East Kirkby, at the foot of the Wolds, is a field named
Goutscroft.
There is also a field, named “Cross Close,” from which the poor receive a
yearly dole of 10s., bequeathed by Elizabeth Somersby, in 1733. Here is
a name which would seem to embody ancient history. We can picture to
ourselves, the Saxon “rude forefathers of the (great) hamlet,” gathered
round that sacred symbol, the village cross, before a church existed, to
listen to the itinerant man of God, awakening in their hearts a simple
faith in a welcome Saviour. These fields all, or most, of them lie in
the western part of the parish, the property of the Misses Dennis.
Of the Church, dedicated to All Saints, little can be said. It is a poor
fabric, of Spilsby sandstone, with square wood-framed windows, one in
each side and end. A “three-decker” pulpit, reading desk, and clerk’s
seat, square pews, a west singing gallery, a very meagre rood screen of
apparently modern poor carving, all painted wainscot colour. The roof a
flat, white-washed ceiling inside, is covered externally over the nave
with lead, which, from the decay of the supporting timbers is now almost
flat, and probably not in a very safe condition. The chancel roof is
slated and pointed. The font is plain octagonal, with octagonal shaft,
and square basin, within the bowl being a pewter christening basin, with
date “1821.” The single bell hangs in a shabby bell turret, surmounted
by a cross. A slab records the death of a former Rector, the Rev. Thomas
Jesset, in 1837. The inscriptions on the grave-stones in the churchyard
would imply that the inhabitants are long-lived, and the place healthy,
as it should be, from its elevated and well-drained position. The Rector
has a good residence, built in 1852.
ADDENDUM.—The above remarks on the Church were written in the year 1900.
We have much pleasure in adding, in the year 1903, that the present
Rector, the Rev. T. Hoole, has succeeded in effecting a thorough
restoration of the old fabric, at a cost of about £1,650, towards which
sum, the Misses Dennis, of Greetham House, contributed £500 each. The
Architect was Mr. Hodgson Fowler, of Durham; the contractors for the work
were Messrs. Bowman & Co., of Stamford. The only features of interest in
the former mean structure were a 13th century cross, and doorway, and the
south respond of the chancel arch. The restored fabric has been
constructed in harmony with this respond. It is throughout of a simple,
but effective, late 15th century design. The chancel, vestry,
bell-turret, and porch are new, and the screen has been restored; the
nave has new windows, a well-repaired roof, and new flooring, all the
internal fittings being of oak.
In the course of the work, other features of interest were discovered,
namely, the responds of a south aisle, a north door, and a Norman
entrance into a former tower. All these were effectively utilised by the
architect, with his accustomed skill, and now the Church, though small,
is large enough for the parish, and a worthy edifice for divine worship,
a result which must be gratifying to all concerned.