Ranby is situated on the old Roman road to Caistor, northward, rather
more than 7 miles from Horncastle. The vicar, the Rev. G. S. Lee,
resides at Benniworth, rather more than 3 miles distant, of which he is
rector. Letters, _via_ Lincoln, arrive at 10.30. Ranby is probably a
contraction of Ravenby; as we have near Louth, two parishes, Ravendale,
east and west, and the hamlet of Raventhorpe, in the north of the county,
in the parish of Appleby, near Brigg. Ravendale is contracted into the
patronymic Randell; and so Ravenby becomes Ranby.
Ranby Hall, the seat of the Otter family, who have been located here and
at Clayworth, Notts., more than a century, is a handsome residence in
well-wooded grounds. One of the family was Bishop of Chichester, and
another Archdeacon of Chichester.
In Domesday Book, the manor of Ranby is reckoned among the possessions of
Odo, Bishop of Baieux, who was half-brother of William the Conqueror, and
Earl of Kent. He became Bishop in 1049, and died at Palermo, on his way
to the Holy Land, in 1097. Besides being Earl of Kent, he was Count
Palatine and Justiciary of England. His abilities and his influence were
so great that writers of the day described him as being, “totius Angliæ,
Vice-dominus sub rege.” He was, however, too arrogant, and aspiring to
the Papacy, he was about to leave England for Rome, taking with him the
wealth he had amassed, when he was apprehended by King William, and sent
to prison in Normandy. On the death of the Conqueror, he was liberated
by William Rufus, but never acquired his former power, and being
concerned in a conspiracy, had to abjure the realm. He held at one time
76 lordships in Lincolnshire, besides many in other counties. Another
Norman, Ralph de St. Valery, a town in Picardy, also had a grant of land
in Ranby, to the extent of 360 acres with 14 socmen holding 7 oxgangs,
and 2 bordars with 240 acres between them. A Saxon thane, Godric, had
some 604 acres. The church had a resident priest, owning a mill, worth
10_s._ 8_d._ a year, and 270 acres of meadow. At a later date, Ranby was
an appanage of Tupholme Abbey. {156a}
The Church, dedicated to St. German, stands on an elevation, and would be
a conspicuous object for several miles, but that it is embowered in lofty
trees. {156b} It was restored in 1839 at the expense of Miss Alice
Otter, who also presented three bells; and it was further improved in
1862, when the tower was incased with new stone, and the chancel
re-built. The old chancel arch was at that time removed, and now forms
the arch under the tower, the stone having been re-chiselled. The tower
is massive, with four pinnacles, having two-light flamboyant windows in
each face, and small lancet windows below them, in the west and south
sides. In the north wall of the nave, there is one two-light flamboyant
window, and in the south wall, two similar ones. A small north transept
forms a vestry, in the west wall of which are preserved some small arches
from an earlier fabric, and in its north wall is a two-light flamboyant
window. In the north chancel wall there is a small one-light window.
The east window has three lights with three trefoils above, and in the
south chancel wall there is a two-light window with trefoil above. All
the chancel windows have coloured glass. The south window is a memorial
of Francis Otter, of Clayworth. The subject of the east window is the
Ascension. The pillars of the new chancel arch have richly-carved
capitals. The sittings are of plain oak. The font is octagonal, with
plain shields and other devices on the faces. There is a Walesby tablet
on the south wall of the nave, and large Walesby monuments in the
churchyard. Weir, in his “History of Lincolnshire,” mentions a large
ancient tumulus as being near the church. {157a}