This parish is situated about 7 miles, in a north-easterly direction from
Horncastle, and about the same distance south-west from Louth. It is
interesting to notice that in the name of this parish we have one of the
few survivals in the county of its former British inhabitants. The old
writer, William Camden, Clarenceaux King of Arms, in his “Remaines
concerning Britain,” p. 116, A.D. 1657, says “Combe, a word in use both
in France and England, for a valley between high hills.” It is, in fact,
the term still common in the south of England for a secluded valley, as
in such names as Pyecombe, in Sussex, a village nestling in a hollow at
the base of the south Downs; Combe Pyne, and Combe Martin, in Devonshire,
and many another similar name, as well as in the old Welsh (or British)
“cwm,” which occurs in many a name in Wales, of places situated in like
hill-locked positions. And this exactly describes the situation of
Oxcombe, a valley almost cup-shaped, surrounded by steep hills, the whole
parish now forming one estate, of something over 1,000 acres in extent,
lying in a ring fence.
In Domesday Book it is also called Oxetune, in which the suffix “tune,”
or “ton,” is the later Saxon for inclosure, implying a secluded
farmstead, where some Saxon Thane’s cattle were housed. In that record
of the Norman Conqueror, of which the date for Lincolnshire is about 1085
A.D., this parish is mentioned twice, once, as connected with the manor
of Fulletby, which was among the lands conferred by William the
Conqueror, on the Bishop of Durham, William de Karilepho, a Norman, who
was a favourite with that king, and was appointed by him Chief Justice of
England; and once among the possessions of the Norman noble, Hugh de
Abrinchis (or Avranches), who was nephew of the Conqueror, and, besides
being endowed by him with the Barony of the whole county of Chester, held
also nearly one hundred and fifty manors in this County and elsewhere.
He was surnamed Lupus or “The Wolf” (as has been stated in other of these
records) from the many deeds of violence, for which he was famed; and for
which he endeavoured to atone in the closing years of his somewhat
lawless life, by becoming a monk in the Abbey of St. Werberg, at Chester,
which he had himself founded.
The part of this manor, held by the Bishop of Durham, was combined with
Fulletby, the adjoining parish westward, and was, under the Bishop,
farmed by socmen, or free tenants. The portion belonging to Lupus was
held by him, as in the soke of Farforth, another adjoining parish
eastward, and was also farmed by socmen.
Hugh de Abrincis left one son, who succeeded to his estates; but, as we
have elsewhere observed, the tenure of land was, in those unsettled
times, very precarious, and we have evidence that lands in Oxcombe, at an
early date, passed into other hands. The land became in part the
property of Bullington Priory, which was an off-shoot of the Gilbertine
Priory, of Sempingham, famous for the severity of its monastic rules.
Bullington Priory was founded by Simon Fitzwilliam, {145a} in the reign
of Stephen, and endowed with various lands in the neighbourhood. These
endowments were augmented by William de Kyme, a member of another
powerful family in the county, who had also lands at Sotby, and
elsewhere; and further additions were made by the Crevecœurs, {145b} a
family of much importance from the time of the Norman Conquest, Sir Hamon
de Crevecœur succeeding to the barony of the Abrincis, located in Kent,
with the title of Barons of Folkstone; while in this immediate
neighbourhood, they held the lands in Somersby and Bag Enderby. A few
old records exist showing ownership in Oxcombe, at an early date, by
several other parties.
By an agreement made under date, 15 June, 1202, between Matilda, wife of
Richard de Ormsby, on the one part, and Walter Futenglaz, tenant of
certain lands in Oxcombe, the said Walter, on his part, acknowledged the
said lands to be the right and inheritance of Matilda; and in return
Matilda granted them to Walter, to hold to him and his heirs, of the said
Matilda, and her heirs for ever, by the service of 12_d._ by the year;
and for this grant, the said Walter gave her ½ mark. (“Final Concords.”)
We next get a connection of this parish with the Priories of Sempringham
and Bullington, already referred to. By an agreement, dated 20 April,
1203, between Roger, Prior of Sempringham, and William de Oxecumbe,
touching lands in the parish, the said William “warranted to the said
prior and his successors, the charters which the same prior had of
William, father of the said William, and all the said lands; and he
granted them to hold to the said prior and his successors, and to the
church of the blessed Mary of Bulinton, and to the Nuns and the Brethren
serving God there, in pure and perpetual alms, free of all secular
service and exaction.” And for this grant and warrant, the prior gave
the said William 2 marks.
Another document introduces a member of an important family holding
considerable possessions in Yorkshire and elsewhere. It is an agreement,
dated 26 April, 1214, between Robert de Malo Lacu and Emma his wife, on
the one part, and Robert de Oxecumbe and others, among them being Walter
Bec, on the other part, concerning the right to certain lands which
Walter Bec “acknowledges to be the right of the said Robert de Malo Lacu,
and Emma, his wife,” &c. In return for which they grant to the said
Walter, 12 oxgangs of land, here and elsewhere, “to have and to hold to
him and his heirs for ever, doing the service of five parts of a knight’s
fee.” This Walter Bec would appear to have been a member of the wealthy
family who are mentioned in the Records of Spilsby and Lusby, as holding
large property in those parishes and elsewhere, and as being ancestors of
the Lords of Willoughby. The de Malo Lacu family, otherwise de Mauley
were powerful Normans; the head of the race, Peter de Malo Lacu being
born at Poictou in France. He, coming over to England in the reign of
Henry III., built the castle of Mountgrace, in the East Riding of
Yorkshire. Camden, states that there were eight Peters in succession who
held these estates, the last of them leaving two daughters, one of whom
married Bigot, a member of the family of the Earl Marechal, of England;
the other married a member of the knightly family of Salvain, and the de
Mauley estates were divided between these two families. The arms of the
Lords de Malo Lacu were a bend, sable, on an escutcheon, or. (“Hist. of
Meux Abbey,” quoted Camden’s “Britannia,” pp. 751, &c.)
By deed, dated 25 November, 1218, in a dispute between the same Matilda,
wife of Richard Ormesby, and William, Prior of Bolinton, concerning the
advowson of the church of Oxecumb, the said Prior recognised the advowson
to be the right of Matilda, and for himself and his successors
surrendered it to the said Matilda and her heirs for ever, an unusual act
of grace, as it was rarely that any property passing into the possession
of a religious house left their grasp again, until the time came when
they had finally and for ever to disgorge their acquisitions, not seldom
questionably obtained. On 12 May, 1240, in a dispute between Robert, son
of Osbert, and Matilda de Marton, concerning land in Oxecumbe, Matilda
admitted the said land to be the right of Robert, “to have and to hold to
him and his heirs for ever, he rendering 4_s._ by the year, and doing
foreign service.” Truly, it would seem, from these various disputes all
occurring within less than the first half of the 13th century, {147}
there must have been something in the atmosphere of Oxcombe which
rendered its people peculiarly litigious. Could the confined position,
we are almost inclined to ask, have narrowed their ideas, and, shut out
as they were from the larger world beyond, the “combe,” have given them
an undue sense of their own importance?
A gap now occurs of many years before we find further records of this
little lordship.
Among the Chancery Inquisitions in the reign of Richard III. and Henry
VII., is one (No. 246), held at Lincoln Castle, 28 January, 1504–5, by
which it appears that Thomas Welby, a member of another prominent
Lincolnshire family, who held the manor of Halstede, in Stixwould, in
this neighbourhood, and manors or lands in nearly 30 other parishes in
various parts of the county, had lands in Oxcomb, and the adjoining
Ruckland. He, by charter, granted these possessions to Edward Burgh,
knight, George Taylbois, knight, and others, to administer his will, on
behalf of his son and heir, Thomas Welby, then of the age of 16.
(“Architect. Soc. Journal,” 1895, p. 68.)
After the dissolution of the monasteries, in the following reign, the
lands connected with the priories of Sempringham and Bullington, in
Oxcombe, would pass into other hands, and accordingly we find new names
among the owners. By will, dated 14 June, 1535, John Gedney, of Bag
Enderby, Esquire, leaves lands in Bag Enderby, Oxcombe, Winceby, Langton,
and Somersby, to his sons John and Andrew, a witness to the will being
George Musgrave, parson of Oxcombe. Oxcombe evidently fell to the share
of the latter of these two sons, since a few years later, Andrew Gedney
of Bag Enderby {148} (in 1562) presented Robert Brown to the benefice of
Oxcombe, vacated by the death of Roger Barry, (“Architect. S. Journal,”
1897, p. 8.)
The tenure of the Gedneys, however, in due course went “the way of all
flesh.” They had apparently inherited considerable property from the old
family of the Crevecœurs, already mentioned. They had made good
connections, this Andrew himself having married Dorothy, daughter of Sir
William Skipwith, of South Ormsby, but they probably got into
difficulties at the time of “the Lincolnshire Rising” in 1536, in which
Andrew was involved. In 1579, Andrew Gedney sold Oxcombe Grange to John
Copledyke, who obtained Queen Elizabeth’s pardon for making the purchase
without her license, which was then required by law, as a royal
prerogative and source of revenue; and the following is the next notice
we find of the family:—By will, dated 1 April, 1613, Richard Gedney, of
Bag Enderby, Esq., leaves 10_s_. to the poor of Oxcombe; but William
Morton, of Oxcombe, and Thomas Cheales of Hagworthingham, are requested
to manage his manor of Oxcombe, and pay his debts out of it. This was
the beginning of the end, and the Gedneys in due course disappeared from
the landed gentry of Lincolnshire. The name, for a time, revived in the
second half of the 19th century, in the person of a relative of the
present writer, who owned Candlesby Hall, but it was only “a flash in the
pan,” and they are gone.
Another name now comes to the fore. Henry VIII. granted extensive lands,
which had been connected with the rich monasteries, to Charles Brandon,
Duke of Suffolk, who was grandson of William Brandon, standard bearer to
Henry VII., who was slain at the battle of Bosworth. The Duke died
leaving two sons by his 4th wife, Catherine, who was daughter and heiress
of the Lord Willoughby d’ Eresby of that day. (Dugdale “Baronage,” ii.,
300.) These both died of “the sweating sickness,” while quite young, and
thereupon the descendants of Sir William Brandon’s daughters were
declared to be the heirs. One of these, Eleanor, married John Glemham,
of Glemham Parva, Co. Suffolk. Their descendants, by marriage, or
otherwise, acquired the manors of Burwell, Calceby and Mareham-le-Fen,
and at later periods, lands in Goulceby, Donnington-on-Bain, Belchford,
Walmsgate, Fairforth, and several other parishes, and in 1641, Sir Thomas
Glemham sold most of these to Matthew Lister, Esq., of St. Martins-in-the
Fields, Co. Middlesex; among the lands then disposed of, Oxcombe is named
with the above neighbouring parishes, though we do not find it specified
before. It is supposed that Sir Thomas, who was a warm supporter of the
unfortunate King Charles I., effected this sale in order to aid his
sovereign. Be that as it may, Oxcombe passed from the Glemhams to the
Listers. For nearly 200 years this family continued to hold the bulk of
this property, but, in their turn, the Listers also fell upon evil times,
and their estates gradually came under the hammer. The patronage of the
benefice was vested in the Langtons, of Langton-by-Spilsby, in 1677,
1717, and 1762 (Liber Regis), and, according to Noble’s “Gazetteer,” also
as late as 1833, and they were probably owners in part, of the soil. In
1799, John Grant died lord of the manor, and three members of his family
held it in succession. In 1842, the benefice was held jointly with that
of Belchford, by the Rev. Egremont Richardson, B. Grant, Esq., being
patron. Since then it has been held singly by three successive
incumbents, the Rev. John Chalmers, the Rev. Goulding Saunders, and the
Rev. James Clarke, but since 1898 the two have been again held together
by the Rev. R. H. Domenichetti. In 1863, David Briggs, Esq., was lord of
the manor. On his death, in 1876, it was bought by T. Ross, Esq., who
died in 1885, when it was again sold to the late Spedding Whitworth,
Esq., of Wath-upon-Dearne, Co. Yorke, whose son, Harrie Whitworth, is the
present owner. The whole parish is now occupied and farmed by Mr. Henry
Meanwell, who resides in the manor house, a substantial residence, built
in Elizabethan style, in 1845–6, surrounded by extensive grounds,
well-kept, and a well-wooded park of some 50 acres.
The Church, dedicated to All Saints, is a small brick structure,
adjoining, to the east, the manor house grounds. It was restored in
1884, by T. Ross, Esq., the then owner of the manor, in the decorated
style. It consists of nave, and chancel, with apsidal east end. Over
the west door rises an octagonal turret of stone, containing one small
bell. The pulpit and sittings are of good old oak, with nicely carved
poppy heads. Near the pulpit is an old-fashioned square family pew. The
north and south walls of the nave have each a couple of two-light
trefoiled windows. The font is octagonal, the faces trefoiled, with
plain shields in each face, the shaft octagonal, standing on a pediment
of two steps. The chancel arch is peculiar as being remarkably low.
There are good carved oak altar rails, and a modern east window of three
lights. On the south wall of the chancel is a tablet in memory of John
Grant, the former lord of the manor, who died in 1799. The inscription
formerly stated that he had made “£100,000 by farming, which had never
been done before,” but this latter part is now erased. On the north wall
is a tablet to Thomas Grant, who died in 1810; also to William Grant, who
died in 1817. In the churchyard is a Grant altar tomb and vault; also
two tombs of grey granite, in memory of Thomas Ross, and his wife Anne;
also a tomb of David Briggs, Esq., former owner of the manor, who died,
April 1st, 1876, and two others of Benjamin Briggs, and another David
Briggs.
This sequestered place is approached by a road, worn, probably by usage
through long ages, to a depth of several feet below the ordinary level of
the ground, the high banks on each side of it being covered with
neatly-trimmed shrubbery, and the whole has the appearance of a
well-cared-for estate, all the buildings being substantial and in
excellent order. Some of the fields still retain names which tell of
by-gone ages. To the north are fields named “Scotland Deepdales,” and
“Scotland Walk,” which may possibly refer to the old parochial taxation,
“Scot and Lot” (Saxon, sceat and lot), which was levied upon all subjects
according to their ability, for the poor, church expenses, village
watchman, &c., the right of voting for members of parliament and other
officials, being vested in those who paid “scot and lot.” One field is
named “Mill Walk,” indicating where the manorial lord once had that
valuable source of revenue, the mill, at which all the bordars and
villeins were bound to have their corn ground. One part of the ground is
named “Groves’ Walk,” a plantation so-called from a poacher, Groves, who
was shot in a night skirmish many years ago. In a wood in the Farford
direction, adders are said to have been numerous. There is an extensive
pasture named the “Intake,” probably recording its first inclosure from
the common land. Two arable fields are called the “Near” and “Far”
“Gaire”; gaire, garing, or geira, being a very ancient term for a section
of land ploughed in a different direction from the rest, as these are
still at the present time. While ploughing a part of this manor in the
year 1818, a labourer found a small silver casket, containing 46_s._ of
the early part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, which were scarcely
injured by the lapse of time. (“Hist. Linc.,” by J. Saunders, vol. ii.,
p. 177.)
Altogether, this parish of some 5 houses, and less than 40 inhabitants,
forms a very interesting little estate.