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 THE LIBRARY 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 HISTORICAL NOTES 
 ON THE PARISH OF PARTNEY.
 
 PARTNEY VILLAGE.
 
 HISTORICAL NOTES 
 
 ON THE PARISH OF 
 
 PARTNEY, 
 
 LINCOLNSHIRE. 
 
 BY 
 
 GILBERT GEORGE WALKER, 
 
 M.A. OXFORD, 
 
 RECTOR OF PARTNEY WITH DALBY, 
 
 SOMETIME VICAR OF HUTTOFT. 
 
 " I hope you make what enquiries you can and write down what is 
 told you. The little things which distinguish domestic character are 
 soon forgotten : if you delay to enquire you will have no information : 
 if you neglect to write, information will be in vain." — Dr. Johnson 's 
 letter to Bennet Langton, on the death of Peregrine Langton of Partney. 
 
 SPILSBY: 
 W. K. MORTON, FRANKLIN HOUSE, HIGH STREET. 
 
 1898.
 
 SPILSBY : 
 
 \V. K. MORTON, PRINTER, FRANKLIN HOUSE, 
 
 HIGH STREET.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 
 WOULD beg the intending reader of 
 this little book to remember that it has 
 been written by a country parson away 
 from reference libraries, and that his first object in 
 writing has been to rouse some interest amongst his 
 parishioners for the past history of their parish. It 
 is owing to the former of these facts that I have been 
 unable to verify all my quotations, and to the latter 
 that I have drawn my illustrations from neighbouring 
 and familiar places, and have felt it necessary to put 
 in some things about which the reader perhaps feels 
 himself already sufficiently well informed. As a basis 
 for my Notes I took the chapter on Partney in 
 Oldfield's History of Wahifleet, published in 1829, 
 and Bishop Trollope's Paper read before the Lincoln- 
 shire Archaeological Society in 1865. As far as 
 possible I have tested the value of the statements 
 
 1 i n^7R£
 
 vi. Preface. 
 
 made, by reference to the authorities quoted, and 
 amplified what had been written. I have also made 
 use of various scraps of information given in the 
 volumes of Lincolnshire Notes & Queries, and in 
 numerous other books. I believe that in every case 
 I have made an acknowledgment in a footnote. 
 Especially I have to thank personal friends for much 
 valuable help : — my predecessor, the Rev. J. W. 
 Bayldon, M.A., now Rector of Low Toynton near 
 Horncastle, for permission to utilise the information 
 he had gathered about the past history of the parish 
 during his 19 years' residence here ; this he has in the 
 main preserved on blank pages of the parish registers, 
 and future generations of parishioners will never fail 
 to appreciate his most judicious labours in this 
 direction ; — the Rev. A. R. Maddison, M.A., F.S.A., 
 Priest Vicar of Lincoln Cathedral, who supplied me 
 with a list of the early Rectors, and gave me many 
 extracts from Wills and much other valuable in- 
 formation ;— my brother, Mr. T. Hollis Walker, 
 Barrister at law, who has very kindly verified many 
 references for me in the Library of the Inner Temple, 
 without which help my work would have been much 
 more difficult, and frequent journeys to London much 
 more necessary ; — and, most important of all, the
 
 Preface. vii. 
 
 Rev. W. O. Massingberd, M.A., Rector of South 
 Ormsby, who gave me many most useful hints as to 
 sources of information, and communicated to me 
 what I must regard as the most valuable of my facts. 
 To the Secretary of the Lord Bishop of Lincoln, and 
 to the various Incumbents who allowed me to make 
 extracts from the registers under their charge, my 
 sincere thanks are due. From many parishioners 
 and neighbours I have received hints or scraps of 
 information for which I have been most grateful. 
 To make a fuller acknowledgment would cause my 
 preface to be longer than my book. I shall be glad 
 if what I have written below brings out in any way 
 a truer knowledge of Partney in the past and a 
 clearer understanding of its condition in the present. 
 
 G. G. W.
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 TO THE PARISHIONERS OF PARTNEY. 
 
 My dear Parishioners, 
 
 I wish to dedicate to you these Notes on the 
 history of our parish. You will see, when you read 
 them, that they are nothing more than Notes. 
 Anything worthy of the name of a History was 
 outside my aim and beyond my powers. Nor do 
 I claim to give you anything very original or new. 
 I have but put together such notices about Partney 
 as I could glean from various books and documents, 
 while with them I have tried to mould into something 
 like a continuous story the traditions still current 
 amongst us. 
 
 A clergyman must act as an unconscious historian 
 every time he enters a baptism, a marriage, or a 
 burial in the parochial registers. And so one of
 
 Dedication. ix. 
 
 the first things I should always do on entering upon 
 the charge of a parish would be to make myself 
 acquainted with the contents of the Church chest and 
 gladly welcome an3 r information I could get about 
 the life past and present of the place I had come to 
 dwell in. As you seem to understand the character 
 of a man the better if you have learnt something 
 about his parentage and bringing up, so to be not 
 altogether uninformed about the past history of a 
 parish, makes it easier to understand what otherwise 
 were but unmeaning irregularity. To have written 
 out these Notes, therefore, is, I would venture to 
 think, by no means a waste of your Rector's time, 
 because in looking into the past and trying to explain 
 to you something of what he sees therein he has in 
 the truest sense been also educating himself. This is 
 what I hope I may always be doing during the years, 
 be they few or many, in which I may be allowed to 
 subscribe myself 
 
 Your friend and Rector, 
 
 GILBERT G. WALKER. 
 
 Partney, Easier, 1898.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Name i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Church 10 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Rectory 24 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Other Religious Foundations 51 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Landowners and Inhabitants 60 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Market and Fairs 104 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Traditions of the Plague 115 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 A Distinguished Visitor 125
 
 Contents. xi. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Parish Registers, Books, and Papers . . . 13 5 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Some Notes on Dalby 163 
 
 APPENDIX OF DOCUMENTS. 
 
 GENEALOGICAL TABLES. 
 
 Gaunt, Willoughby, Ormsby, Thory, Fulstow, Maddison, 
 Llanden, Bourne. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
 
 BOOKS AND PAPERS CONSULTED. 
 
 INDEX.
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 " Partney Village," from a photograph by Mrs. E. A. B. 
 Sanders. 
 
 "Partney Church," from a photograph. 
 
 " Partney Rectory," from a photograph by Mr. E. 
 Nainby. 
 
 " Dalby Park," from a photograph by Mr. E. Nainby. 
 
 " Dalby Old Church," from an old photograph. 
 
 " Thomas and Matilda Chaucer," from a brass. 
 
 " Consecration of St. Nicholas." 
 
 CORRECTIONS. 
 
 Page 20. For " Hanen " read " Haven." 
 
 23. For " Bessett " read " Bassett." 
 
 26. For " Sommenesland " read " Summonerland." 
 
 34. " Lying in ming." ' Ming ' is the old form of which 
 ' mingle ' is a frequentative. 
 
 38. These marriage licences are taken from Mr. Gibbons' 
 book. 
 
 40. For " 15th" read "17th." 
 
 42. Mr. Booth's preferments also included the Rectory of 
 Belleau and the Vicarage of Wainfieet St. Mary. 
 
 46. For " Whinney " read " Whinnery." 
 
 82. " A sore sparrow hawk " meant a bird of one year old. 
 
 93. For " 12th" read " 13th." 
 
 „ 119. For " Kitsby " read " Ketsby." 
 
 „ 136. Parish Clerks. The immediate predecessor of John 
 Smith was Moses Bailey.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE NAME. 
 
 ^HERE is always an interest attached to 
 ^| the name of a place, and in a special 
 
 way is this the case with Partney. 
 
 Amid a district thickly studded with 
 
 " bys " and " thorpes," bespeaking a Danish settle- 
 ment, it is one of the few that retains an Anglo-Saxon 
 form, and may thus claim for itself the distinction of 
 having a longer continuous history than most of its 
 neighbours. It was during the 5th and 6th centuries 
 of the Christian Era that Angles, Saxons, and Jutes 
 came over from what we now call Schleswig- 
 Holstein * and settled in the land which hitherto 
 they had known as Britain. It would be incorrect 
 to suppose that they conquered the country all at 
 once, rather they kept on fighting their battles 
 against the Welsh, as they called the natives, and 
 gradually so drove them westward that little trace 
 of them was left behind. We still use a few words 
 
 Prof. Freeman's Old English History. 
 B
 
 2 History of Partney. 
 
 of Welsh origin * in our everyday talk — cradle, kiln, 
 pool, dam, daub, mop, pillow, for instance — but our 
 place names are almost all of them of Anglo-Saxon or 
 Danish origin. We speak, indeed, of the Wash f 
 and the Bain, and Marden Hill, and in fact it is 
 the mountains and rivers which are always found 
 to preserve the relics of a race that has passed away. 
 In this part of Lincolnshire our hills generally go by 
 the name of the village to which they belong, and so, 
 too, does our only river, though it is sometimes called 
 the Limb (or Lymm) a name which may possibly 
 have a Welsh origin. I cannot help thinking that if 
 we want to find Welsh names we ought to look 
 amongst the field names of our parishes, changed 
 considerably as they must be from their original form, 
 and so making an explanation all the more difficult. 
 This would possibly be the key, could we but use it 
 aright, which would open out to us the meaning of 
 the Quarrums, the Codgums, the Jups in Spilsby, the 
 Bellums, Quiber Kettles, and Blunkets in Hundleby, 
 and a great many more, quaint words which we use 
 often enough on the farms without thinking of how 
 they may be taking us back a thousand years or 
 more, and forcing us to speak in the tongue of men 
 long gone. J But for the origin of village names we 
 
 * Dr. Morris' Historical English Grammar. 
 
 t Dr. Isaac Taylor's Words and Places. 
 
 \ Mr. C. G. Smith, the translator of Domesday Book for Lincolnshire, 
 finds British [i.e., Welsh) names where others would certainly look for a 
 Scandinavian origin. Thus he takes Dalby to mean (Dhalbuy) a hill 
 altar dwelling, i.e., a Druidical abode.
 
 The Name. 3 
 
 must look rather to the English or Danish invaders. 
 The most common termination for the English names 
 is " ton." It means a place surrounded by a hedge or 
 palisade. Often it was but a solitary farmstead : 
 round this perhaps there grew a village, and the 
 village grew to a town. Then there is " borough " 
 or " bury " : at first the funeral mound or barrow 
 which covered the dead, and then the embanked 
 enclosure which gave shelter to the living. Another 
 suffix is " ham " : not very different in meaning from 
 these two ; while most important of all is "ing," 
 which, however, more usually forms the middle than 
 the last syllable of a name. It has the force of the 
 Scotch Mac, and implies a family settlement. Now, 
 if we look at the villages which actually touch 
 Partney, we find Langton and Halton, but no " ham " 
 or " ing " or " borough." They, too, if ever the3 T 
 existed, have gone the way of their predecessors, the 
 Welsh. Instead, it is — Spilsby with Eresby, Hun- 
 dleby, Ashby, Scremby with Grebby, Skendleby, 
 Dalby with Dexthorpe and Sausthorpe : eight in "by" 
 and two in " thorpe." And if we take yet a wider circle 
 much the same proportion is preserved — Toynton, 
 Fordington, Harrington, Steeping,* and then the rest 
 — Aswardby, Sutterby, Somersby, Enderby, Raithby, 
 
 * We also get this syllable "ing" in Bolingbroke. The common 
 explanation that makes this "the boiling brook" is probably wrong. 
 For one thing, " Bolinbroc " is as old as Domesday Book, and boil — to 
 bubble up — is not (see Prof. Skeat's Dictionary}. Dr. Isaac Taylor 
 connects Bolingbroke with Bollington, Essex ; Bolligneaux and 
 Bollignay, France; and Bolengo, Italy.
 
 4 History of Partney. 
 
 Firsby, Orby, Gunby, Candlesby, Claxby, Ulceby. 
 We are in a district of " bys " and " thorpes," of which 
 the former is by far the more common. These names 
 have been left us by the Danes or Northmen who 
 came over in the 8th century, as the Angles, Jutes, 
 and Saxons had done before them. They established 
 themselves over half England, and besides coming 
 here they founded kingdoms in France, Italy, Scotland 
 and Ireland, and penetrated even into Russia and to 
 Constantinople. By the aid of their place names we 
 can still define with some degree of accuracy the area 
 they ravaged and the district they colonised. The 
 most valuable test word in England is " by," which 
 in France becomes " bceuf." Originally denoting a 
 single farm, it came to mean a village. In parts of 
 England it has almost ousted the Anglo-Saxon 
 " ham " and " ton," and in Lincolnshire alone occurs 
 200 times.* Other common Norse terminations are 
 " thorpe," " toft," and " thwaite." The two former 
 are familiar to us all, but " thwaite," though often 
 occurring in Cumberland, is generally said in books 
 on the subject not to be met with at all in Lincoln- 
 shire, t But it is found once. We have " Thwaite 
 Hall " in the middle of Welton Wood, and we see the 
 appropriateness when we remember that the meaning 
 
 * Dr. I. Taylor (Words and Places) says ioo. Prof. Worsaoe, in 
 An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland and 
 Ire/and, gives the number more correctly as 212 out of a total of 604 
 for the whole of England. 
 
 f So both Taylor and Worsaoe.
 
 The Name. 5 
 
 is " a forest clearing." We shall look for the British 
 or Welsh name, then, as I believe, in the fields. We 
 shall often find the English name in a hamlet or 
 farmstead, or sometimes, vice versa, the English is 
 still the name of the village, and there are Norse 
 hamlets round it. Thus Halton includes Northorpe : 
 Welton includes Hanby, Boothby, and Thwaite. 
 Hidden away in a corner of Scremby is Bassingham, 
 " The home of the Basings," in whose place the Norse 
 warrior, whom his men called Skramr, after the name 
 of a monster giant, has given his name to the village. 
 Another such as he had his home at Skrimthorpe * 
 in Bratoft. And so, too, Spilsby, Hundleby, and 
 Asgarby, speak of a Spillr, a Hundolf, and an Asgeir, 
 who came from over the water and made for them- 
 selves new homes among the pleasant wolds of 
 Lincolnshire. But when they came they found a 
 Partney, an island between two of the branches of 
 the river which then, as now, flowed down the 
 valley. This " ey," or " ea," is a well-known English 
 termination for an island, and while the oarsman on 
 the Thames may still row round Sonning Eye, the 
 Londoner in lower waters finds his Chertsey, Chelsea, 
 and Battersea joined to the mainland by rich pastures, 
 and the river, no longer a broad lagoon dotted with 
 marshy islands, is confined within regular banks. We 
 must think of Partney, then, as once an island. 
 What the first syllable means it is hard to conjecture, 
 
 * The Rev. W. B. Streatfeild, in his Lincolnshire and the Danes, gives 
 a slightly different explanation of the origin of these names.
 
 6 History of Partney. 
 
 and the various spellings * we get do not help us. 
 This much is clear : it is not a Norse word. In our 
 neighbour, Skendleby Holm, we see what the Norse- 
 men called an island in a river. As the second 
 syllable of Partney is so English, no doubt the first 
 is too. To reach us either from Spilsby, Langton, 
 Dalby, or Scremby, the visitor must cross a stream. 
 Once, we know, these were much wider than at 
 present. The engineering skill which has been 
 brought to bear upon the whole system of drainage 
 in the country is quite sufficient to explain the 
 topographical changes without much geological know- 
 ledge or recourse to elaborate theor3 r . Partney, then, 
 was once an island ; indeed, we might say it is an 
 island still, and it is not difficult to see that just as 
 Westminster Abbey was built for security on Thorney 
 Island, so a similar position was chosen for Partney 
 Abbey, and later for Partney Church. The acreage 
 of the parish is small. Even now it is regarded as 
 containing but 920 acres, and many of these, of 
 course, are meadow land, which have been secured 
 in comparatively modern times from the wanderings 
 of the streams. How this particular island came to 
 be called Partney we have no means of knowing. 
 The word is obviously like Bardney, with which, no 
 doubt, it has sometimes been confounded. The 
 
 * Peartaneu, Bede ; Partene, Domesday Book ; Partan ; Parthenay, 
 K. Stephen ; Parteneie, A.D. 1202 ; Peartan ; Peartenei ; Parteneye, 
 Inquisitiones Nonarum ; Partney, as now, Edward III.; Partnay ; 
 Partnye, Will of Sir C. Wray ; Partenay ; Parteney.
 
 The Name. 7 
 
 termination, though comparatively rare, is not unique 
 in the district. We have Kelsey in Great Steeping, 
 and Stickney, Sibsey, Friskney, and Helsey in 
 Mumby are not far off. 
 
 We may note other silent witnesses to the antiquity 
 and former importance of Partney. The official 
 names of the adjoining parishes of Langton and 
 Ashby have " by-Partney " added to them to dis- 
 tinguish them from other places of the same name in 
 different parts of the county, though, of course, the 
 modern postal address is Spilsby. Yet at an 
 Inquisition taken at Lincoln Castle in 1499, Spilsby 
 itself is described as " Spilsby by Partenay." 
 
 Then there are the roads. It is difficult for us to 
 realise that most of the roads we use daily were 
 100 years ago only tracks across open fields, wherein, 
 in bad weather, wheels were wont to stick fast. 
 And, indeed, there are people still living in Partney 
 who have been told by those who had seen it, that in 
 winter time it took two horses to drag a load of half 
 a ton up " Blue Hill," while between the " Mill " and 
 the Sausthorpe corner, a part known appropriately as 
 " the watery lane," a flood in rainy seasons was of 
 common occurrence.* But if we speak of really old 
 
 * The following note, which has somehow escaped destruction, is a 
 good illustration : — 
 
 Dear Sir,— I understand the Watery Lane at Partnej' 
 is very dangerous, which prevents my being at Spilsby 
 to-day. If you or your son will be at the meeting, will 
 you act for me. — Yours most sincerely, 
 Scremby, Feb. ist, iSro. Chas. BRACKENBURY. 
 
 Joseph Brackenbury, Esq r .
 
 8 History of Partney. 
 
 roads we must go back to a time when the com- 
 munication between Spilsby and Partney was not via 
 Blue Hill at all. Starting down the Ashby road this 
 road went down the " Washdyke Lane," and so over 
 the river at a ford, near which a mill formerly stood, 
 the place being still marked by a dilapidated cradle 
 bridge. Travellers came out eventually by " Arden's 
 Lane" (or is it Harding's?) and so to the village 
 green and that part still known as " the town," 
 though there are very few houses there now. A 
 similar road went out from Spilsby by Toynton Park 
 and East Keal Church to Boston. It is very easy to 
 understand that the present road through Eresby and 
 close to the old castle was no public path in the days 
 when Lord Willoughby ruled there in person. But 
 Partney was in more direct communication with the 
 outer world. One of the oldest roads (now a mere 
 footpath) went straight from the part known as the 
 Monk's Close to Monksthorpe in Great Steeping. 
 With Dalby and with Skendleby there was com- 
 munication by ways, still plain to follow, to the left 
 of the present roads, while, most important of all, due 
 east and west through the village (and to the north of 
 the Church) there passed a highway in direct com- 
 munication with the marshes, along which coal could 
 be brought from the sea, and cattle fattened in those 
 marshes be driven for sale to Partney at the 
 September and October fairs. In the place, too, 
 there was a " Hospital," and that, as will be explained 
 in a later chapter, implies visitors and frequented
 
 The Name. g 
 
 roads. And that such an institution was established 
 here at a very early date points to a line of direct 
 communication going past its doors. Further, in our 
 consideration of the comparative value, in ancient and 
 modern times, of some particular bit of road, we must 
 always bear in mind that whereas now our principal 
 highways run north and south, a relic of coaching 
 routes to London, in earlier years they went east and 
 west, connecting the sea with that Great North Road 
 which had been left us by the Romans, to whom, as 
 road makers, none attempted to succeed till com- 
 paratively modern times.* Compared with the 
 evidence of geology or place names, all this 
 testimony — and even that of the fairs themselves — 
 is but of yesterday, but it all helps to show very 
 definitely that right up to the beginning of this 
 century Partney kept a primacy among the villages 
 round. 
 
 * It illustrates the greater importance of the sea as a means of local 
 communication to our forefathers to remember that, even in this 
 century, a clergyman moving from Trusthorpe to Cambridgeshire sent 
 his furniture by sea.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE CHURCH. 
 
 |HE antiquarian and architectural interest 
 
 ^j|: in an English village generally centres 
 round the Parish Church. In the old 
 Church there is a building which probably 
 
 shows signs of having been constructed at different 
 dates and in the varying developments of the 
 Gothic style, while, unless it has been most 
 injudiciously restored, it is certain to contain some 
 features of more than ordinary, if not unique, interest. 
 To the Parish Church a stranger is naturally first 
 taken, as to the one show-place of the village, and the 
 more the incumbent has been able or inclined to 
 study the past history of the building of which he is 
 guardian, the more he is sure to learn about it, making 
 what may at first appear extraneous studies work 
 round to the subject of explaining and illustrating the 
 man) 7 points of interest a village Church is sure to 
 yield. Those Churches, however, which (like East
 
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 The Church. n 
 
 Kirkby) have not yet been restored will probably 
 prove the more fruitful field for the investigator, 
 while Partney, which was almost the first in the 
 neighbourhood to be repaired, resembles rather the 
 picture which reveals all it has to show at the first 
 glance than the work of an old master from which 
 only the study of a lifetime will learn all it has to 
 teach. 
 
 In the notice of Partney in Domesday Book, 
 a.d. 1086, there is no mention of any Church. 
 Although this is by no means proof that no Church 
 was here at that time, yet it is strange that if there 
 was one there should be nothing said about it, since 
 amongst our neighbours Churches are recorded in : — 
 Ashby, Dalby (2 !), Fordington, Candlesby (2), 
 Hundleby, Halton Holgate, East and West Keal, 
 Raithby, Steeping (2), Toynton All Saints' and St. 
 Peter's, Langton, Skendleby and Scremby. There 
 must, however, have been a Church here before the 
 end of the reign of William I., for it is mentioned in 
 a grant of Gilbert de Gaunt to Bardney Abbey, and 
 appears as " The Church of St. Nicholas " in a 
 confirmation of this grant by his great-grandson. 
 
 St. Nicholas* was Bishop of Myra in L) r cia and died 
 Dec. 6, a.d. $26, which day has ever since been kept 
 as his festival. As early as a.d. 560 a Church was 
 dedicated to his honour at Constantinople, and he has 
 always been one of the most popular Saints both in 
 the East and West. Three hundred and seventy-six 
 
 * Dr. Wm. Smith's Dictionary. Corn hill Magazine, May, 1895.
 
 1 2 History of Partney. 
 
 Churches are dedicated to him in England, the largest 
 number to any one Saint. His acts, which may 
 embody some historical elements, are filled with 
 legends and miracles. His parents occupied a good 
 position, and Nicholas, of whose infancy wonderful 
 things are recorded, has become a patron Saint of 
 children, and under his Dutch name of Santa Klaus is 
 still a popular friend in man) 7 a nursery. Among the 
 stories told of him are that as soon as he was born he 
 stood up and gave thanks for the gift of existence, 
 and that even in infancy he always fasted on Fridays. 
 As soon as he grew to man's estate he adopted an 
 ascetic life and went on a journey to Palestine. 
 Then began a series of miracles which have made him 
 a popular Saint amongst sailors and fishermen, and 
 he has taken the place of Poseidon, the Greek 
 Neptune, in this respect, and a temple of this 
 god has actually been converted into a Church of 
 St. Nicholas. In the year 1084 his relics were removed 
 from Myra to Bari in Italy, whence he is commonly 
 known as Nicholas of Bari, The Venetians, however, 
 also claim the possession of his body. In both towns 
 the Church of St. Nicholas, which is supposed to have 
 been erected over the relics, is close to the mouth of 
 the harbour. Similarly, the dedications to the Saint 
 in England are for the most part in the harbours and 
 fishing villages of the south coast. And though of 
 the Lincolnshire Churches so named many are quite 
 inland, it is easy to see the appropriateness of choosing
 
 The Church. 13 
 
 a fisherman's Saint for the dedication of Addlethorpe, 
 East Kirkby, and Partney.* 
 
 The figure of Saint Nicholas is a prominent one in 
 several of the great mediaeval pictures now in our 
 National Gallery, notably in the Blenheim Madonna, 
 purchased at great cost a few years ago. This was 
 painted by Raffael, in 1505, for the Ansidei family at 
 Peaugia, and represents the Virgin and Child seated, 
 with St. John the Baptist on the right and St. Nicholas 
 on the left. The latter is depicted in full episcopal 
 canonicals, holding a book, as becomes the patron of 
 studious youth, and at his feet the three golden balls 
 which are his usual emblem. t No doubt the figure 
 over the south door at Partney is intended to represent 
 him, and another statue probably once stood in the 
 now unoccupied niche on the west front of the tower. 
 
 Another Saint connected with Partney is St. Mary 
 Magdalene, in whose honour a Hospital existed here 
 from the time of Henry I. It has been suggested % 
 that the chantry marked off by a screen in the north 
 aisle is dedicated to her, but I think we get a more 
 correct explanation of this from the will of William 
 Brasse, in 1453, who directed that he should be buried 
 in St. Nicholas' churchyard, Partney, and made 
 
 * As also Deeping, Skirbeck, and Haxey. Compare, too, Great 
 Yarmouth and Aberdeen. 
 
 f See also the Madonna enthroned with St. Peter and St. Nicholas by 
 Benevenuto de Siena (1436- 1518) ; St. Bernadine of Siena with Saints 
 Jerome, Joseph, Francis, and Nicholas, by Alessandro Moretto (1498- 
 1515) ; and Consecration of St. Nicholas, by Paul Veronese (1528-1588). 
 
 \ Bishop Trollope's Paper.
 
 14 History of Partney. 
 
 bequests to the High Altar and to the Altars of the 
 Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Thomas. * 
 
 Our present building, however, cannot be that 
 which Gilbert and Walter de Gaunt knew of. That, 
 probably, was something after the fashion of Sutterby 
 or old Dalby, as some can still remember it — small 
 and low, and containing, as those Churches do or did, 
 some remains of Norman work. At Sutterby we 
 have been content with the insertion of a few later 
 windows, otherwise the Church is not, perhaps, 
 materially different from what it has always been. 
 But just as in 1862 Dalby was rebuilt from the 
 foundations in quite a different style from the old 
 Church, so our ancestors in the 14th century dealt with 
 Partney. It is a tradition in the parish, the truth of 
 which there is no reason to doubt, that the green 
 sandstone required was obtained from a now disused 
 pit on the Dalby road. 
 
 The proportions of the Church are good. Tower, 
 nave, and aisles harmonise well in character, though 
 the good impression which would otherwise be 
 derived from the whole is spoilt by the present 
 disfigurement of a mean chancel. If any Norman or 
 early English work was utilised by the 14th century 
 builders, subsequent repairs and alterations have 
 swept it all away. The Church was begun when 
 what is called the Decorated Style was in vogue, and 
 finished later in the Perpendicular. To this last belong 
 the Tower with its fine arch and west window and the 
 
 * Rev. A. R. Maddison's Lincolnshire Wills.
 
 The Church. 
 
 i^ 
 
 large east window of the chancel, which last can 
 hardly be earlier than 1450.* 
 
 *It is in accordance with the plan of this book that I should explain 
 these terms. 
 
 Name. Date. 
 
 Norman 1066-1150 
 
 Early English 1150-1250 
 
 Decorated 
 
 Tudf 
 
 After this came 
 a revival of the 
 Classical Style. 
 
 And we have 
 now gone back 
 to a revival of 
 Gothic. 
 
 1250-1350 
 
 Perpendicular 1350-1550 
 
 17th Cent. 
 
 19th Cent. 
 
 Characteristics and Exatnples. 
 Round-headed doorways and win- 
 dows, zigzag ornaments (north 
 doorway at Sutterby). 
 
 Narrow-pointed windows, clustered 
 pillars (west windows at Huttoft 
 and Hogsthorpe). 
 
 Tracery in windows, enriched door- 
 ways (windows at Bolingbroke). 
 
 Upright lines in windows, arches and 
 pillars without capitals (tower arch 
 and west window at Partney). 
 Compare also the towers of 
 Spilsby, Halton, Bolingbroke and 
 West Keal. The exact date of 
 the latter may be fixed by the arms 
 blazoned on it. They are those of 
 Edward IU.,and Robert, 4th Lord 
 Willoughby d'Eresby, who died 
 1396. The same arms are carved 
 on a pew in Halton Church. 
 
 Square windows as in north aisle at 
 Bolingbroke. Mostly employed 
 for houses. Harrington Hall a good 
 example. 
 
 St. Paul's Cathedral, London, the 
 most famous example. Compare 
 Scremby and Langton Churches. 
 
 The modern Churches at Saus- 
 thorpe, 1844 ; Firsby, 1S56 ; 
 Dalby, 1862.
 
 1 6 History of Partney. 
 
 The chancel* was rebuilt in 1828. It is meanly 
 constructed of brick and quite out of keeping with 
 the rest of the Church. It is divided from the nave 
 by an oak screen, of which only the lower part now 
 remains. As was common in Churches of this 
 district, t similar screens (called parcloses) probably 
 marked off chantry chapels at the east end of the 
 aisles. All that is now left is the western part in the 
 north aisle. Both portions of screen have been 
 repaired with newer work which has been on the 
 whole well done and helps to keep the old together. 
 
 The font belongs to the 15th century. It is 
 octagonal and tracery is carved on the panels. One 
 panel is plain both on the bowl and the shaft, though 
 these are not now immediately over one another. 
 This seems to imply that the font was originally 
 fastened to a pillar which the plain panel exactly fits. 
 At East Keal the font is still so fixed, at Willoughby 
 it was until a few years ago, at Bratoft there is one 
 plain panel hollowed out in a curious way so as to fit 
 
 * We must remember that the Rector for the time being rebuilt our 
 chancel entirely at his own expense and that these village Churches had 
 to be repaired by a rate levied on the parishioners. The system of 
 public subscriptions for Church restoration, and the raising of money 
 for the purpose by bazaars, concerts, or fetes, was not thought of. The 
 cost sometimes fell heavily on the parish. At Huttoft, for instance, 
 there was a rate of 2/6 in the £ in 1809 for the re-hanging of the 
 Church bells which implied a contribution of some ^"273, though we 
 are inclined now to grumble because four good bells were melted down 
 to make three moderate ones. 
 
 f Compare for good examples, Bratoft, Addlethorpe, and Theddle- 
 thorpe All Saints.
 
 The Church. 17 
 
 perfectly, at Dalby, too, there is one plain side, and 
 at East Kirkby the position is the same as at East 
 Keal, though the font does not actually touch the 
 pillar and is decorated on all its eight sides. By a 
 constitution of Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 in 1236, fonts were required to be covered and locked. 
 This was because it was the custom to consecrate the 
 water for baptism with much ceremony once a year. 
 The marks left in the stone by the wrenching away 
 of the iron fastenings may still be seen at Partney. 
 Though not definitely ordered by the Anglican 
 Canons of either 1571 or 1604 a cover of some sort 
 is seemly, and the articles of enquiry at episcopal 
 visitations generally pre-suppose its use. 
 
 The bells are three in number ; three, as some 
 campanologists have told us, out of a peal of five. 
 They all have inscriptions : (1) " Henry Penn Fusore 
 (i.e., bell founder), Peterborough, 1712" ; (2) "Jesus 
 be our Spede, 1595"; (3) "Katherina vocata sum 
 Rosa Dulcata numdi" — I am called Katherine the 
 sweet rose of the world. This may be regarded as 
 the oldest of the 3 bells.* 
 
 The clock. These bells are also used for striking 
 
 * It is worth recording here that in the modern Church of Holy 
 Trinity, Louth, built A.I). 1866, there is a bell with the inscription 
 " Francis Garthside Rector James Boyes C. W. 1725." 
 
 As Francis Garthside was the name of the Rector here from 1685 to 
 1727, it might be thought that this bell had formerly hung at Partney. 
 There seems no doubt, however, from papers in the Church chest there 
 that it has belonged to Claxby, and was sold when the present Church 
 was built and the bell turret made too small for the old bell. 
 C
 
 1 8 History of Partney. 
 
 the hours and quarters by a clock in the tower. This 
 clock was the workmanship and gift of Sydney 
 Maddison, Esq., of Partney Hall, in 1869. It 
 superseded an old one which had gone for 130 years 
 and required to be wound up daily. It is to this fact, 
 no doubt, that the very much worn condition of the 
 lower steps in the tower is due. 
 
 There are no monuments of special interest. A 
 small brass of the 17th century has been fixed on the 
 north wall, and there are mural tablets to byegone 
 Rectors. The inscriptions are as follows : — 
 
 ( 1 ) Brass ( 1 5 inches by 8 inches) * 
 
 Here lyeth the Body of M rs . Jane 
 Rugely late wife of George 
 Rugely of Partney Gent who 
 Departed this life the 23 rd of 
 March in the yeare of our Lord 
 1670 being aged 56 yeares 
 Cujus anima requiescit in pace. 
 
 (2) Marble tablet on south wall of chancel, fixed 
 in its present position June, 1896. 
 
 Near this place lies the body of Hannah wife 
 of the Rev d . William Tuting, formerly Rector 
 of this Parish. She died in the 27 th year of her 
 age on the 20th of February in the year of 
 our Lord 1 790. 
 The parish register records the burial of this lady 
 " in the Church." 
 
 * At the date of writing Oldfield's Wainfleet. A.D. 1829, it would 
 appear that this brass was .fixed to a stone in the middle aisle.
 
 The Church. 19 
 
 (3) Small marble tablet on south wall of chancel.* 
 
 In memory of James Flanner, M.A., Rector 
 of Partney who died March 6 th 1814 aged 58 
 years. 
 
 (4) Tablet of slate and marble on north wall of 
 chancel. 
 
 In memory of the Rev d . Field Flowers, late 
 of Boston, Rector of this Parish, who died 
 4 th of July 1818 in the 46 th year of his age. 
 Later his son Mr. Frederick Flowers, Police Court 
 Magistrate at Bow Street, London, erected a three- 
 light stained glass window in memory of 
 
 Field Flowers B.A. Rector of Partney who 
 
 died 4 th of July 1818 aged 46 years. 
 
 Mary his wife who died at Devonport 2 Sept. 
 
 1842 aged 66 years. 
 
 Fanny their daughter who died at Lyddington 
 
 6 Sept. 1836 aged 24 years. 
 
 (5) And underneath this there has since been 
 placed a brass. 
 
 In ever loving remembrance of 
 
 Frederick Flowers third son of 
 
 The above Field and Mary Flowers 
 
 He was Recorder of Stamford and for 24 years 
 
 A magistrate of the Bow Street Police Court 
 
 Died at Hornsey 26th January 18S6. 
 
 " The blessing of him that was ready to perish 
 
 came upon him and he caused the widow's 
 
 heart to sing for joy." 
 
 * Oldfield says " over north door of chancel."
 
 20 History of Partney. 
 
 Of more perishable things we have now but little 
 to show, nor have we any means of knowing whether 
 we ever possessed much. Unfortunately, Partney 
 does not appear in the list of parishes in a document 
 of 1566 which mentions such articles of Church 
 furniture as had been used in former years but were 
 then considered by the authorities superstitious or 
 unnecessary.* 
 
 When Mr. Gervase Holies visited Lincolnshire 
 Churches in 1630 he found at Partney a cross 
 inscribed " Orate pro animabus Thomae at Hanen et 
 Marie Uxoris quorum aiebus propicietur Deus Amen." 
 (Pray ye for the souls of Thomas at Haven and Mary 
 his wife, on whose souls may God be gracious, 
 Amen.) Holies also noticed their arms in one of the 
 windows. 
 
 " The old communion plate, viz., a silver chalice, 
 battered very thin, and a pewter flagon and patten, 
 having become unfitted by wear and age for its sacred 
 purpose, new communion plate, consisting of silver 
 patten and chalice and a silver-plated flagon, was 
 obtained by the exertions of Mrs. Bayldon, and used 
 for the first time on Whitsunday, May 16th, 
 1875."— J. W.B. 
 
 The pulpit, which in old directories is described as 
 being " of oak richly carved," has given place to a 
 modern one of stone diapered work. The old one 
 stood near a pillar of the North Nave Arcade. 
 
 * Church Furniture of Lincolnshire, edited by Edward Peacock.
 
 The Church. 21 
 
 "25th October, 1810, the 50th anniversary of the 
 Accession of King George III. of Great Britain &c. 
 Mr. Thomas Garfit of Hundleby gave to James 
 Flanner, Rector of this Parish, a Book entitled the 
 Common Prayer &c. illustrated and explained which 
 Book he bequeaths to his successors." — J. F. 
 
 The book is now lost. 
 
 In the churchyard there is the base and broken 
 shaft of a stone cross. The base is ornamented at the 
 four corners with the lion, ox, man, and eagle 
 (emblems of the four evangelists) in much the same 
 design as on the font at Huttoft. On the four sides 
 are plain shields. Up to a few years ago these stones 
 were buried two feet in the ground. The Rev. E. 
 Allanson had them raised to their present position. 
 These crosses are common enough in churchyards of 
 the district. It is only at Somersbv we get one still 
 left in perfection. At Mavis Enderby and Huttoft 
 we can see most happy restorations. 
 
 There is a very ancient oak in the churchyard 
 which at one time extended its branches quite over 
 the road on the south. It is supposed to be a 
 thousand years old, and, though covered with ivy and 
 all its heart decayed away, still puts out some leaves 
 every spring. The younger tree near it was planted 
 in 1824. 
 
 In 1606 the condition of Rectory, Church, and 
 Churchyard was discreditable. Edward Salmon was 
 presented at the Bishop's Visitation "for decay of 
 the Rectory House etc.," and Edward Jackson and
 
 22 History of Partney. 
 
 Edmund Gaule, churchwardens, " for suffering a 
 window in ye said Church to fall downe and not 
 reedifying the same againe but daubeing yt almost 
 wholy with brick and clay and not maintaining ye 
 churchyard fence but suffering swine to come in and 
 roote it uppe." There were also other complaints : 
 Against William Burrill " for killing and dressing 
 butcher meat on the Sabbath Day ; " against John 
 Wood " for keeping 5 or 6 swine continually in ye 
 churchyard there rooting up ye graves of ye deade : 
 also for using himself unreverently towards ye 
 minister and for not coming to Church upon ye 
 5 November haveing due notice thereof given unto 
 him and for ringing his swine in ye time of praiers 
 upon ye said day."* Indeed, it is only in com- 
 paratively recent years that a better state of things 
 has been inaugurated for Partney churchyard. Up to 
 thirty years ago it had been from time immemorial the 
 playground and battlefield of the village, which circum- 
 stance is quite sufficient to account for the complete 
 absence of all ancient tombstones. It extended up to 
 the cottages on the east side, which opened on to it, 
 and to the garden hedges to the north, while it was 
 traversed by footpaths in every direction. By giving 
 up ground for footways on the east and north the 
 Rev. R. Giles got the churchward enclosed on every 
 side and all the footpaths stopped except one. This, 
 though necessary as an approach to the Church, his 
 
 * These extracts, from the Visitation presentments, were given in 
 the Lincoln Diocesan Magazine, iSgi.
 
 The Church. 2$ 
 
 successor, with the consent of the parishioners, was 
 able to close in 1872. 
 
 The Church was restored during the incumbency of 
 the Rev. R. Giles, and re-opened for Divine Service on 
 June 25th, 1863. The nave and aisles were entirely 
 re-built and a new porch erected, after designs by 
 C. Giles, Esq., G. W. Maddison, Esq., J. P., of Partney 
 Hall, defraying the cost of the latter.* It remains 
 for the present generation to repair the tower and 
 re-build the chancel. The former really requires the 
 re-building of the top story, though the whole was 
 thoroughly pointed and the buttresses strengthened 
 in 1884. The chancel was re-seated in oak in 1889, 
 and the small vestry converted into an organ 
 chamber after designs by Wm. Bessett-Smith, Esq., 
 who has also prepared plans for a new chancel. A 
 new vestry was formed by screening off a portion of 
 the north aisle in 1895. It is in completing the work 
 of 1863, and providing those more perishable fittings 
 which reverence demands, that opportunity remains 
 for us to preserve the dignity and increase the 
 usefulness of our Parish Church. 
 
 * At the same time the Church was entirely re-seated with open 
 benches. Previous to this there were no pews at all between the 
 westernmost bays of the nave arcades and the tower. It was all open 
 space, and the font stood in the vacant part of the south aisle. It is 
 worth recording here that there were formerly two other doors to the 
 Church, one in the chancel and another in the north aisle. Both have 
 been done away with in re-building. Their absence, which might 
 seem a peculiarity of original design, only arises from a modern 
 supposed improvement.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE RECTORY. 
 
 HE Benefice of Partney is " a discharged 
 rectory." That is to say, the incumbent 
 is rector and receives the tithes on the 
 whole parish, and has been discharged 
 from the payment of " first fruits and tenths." These 
 latter sums before the Reformation were paid to the 
 Pope. By Henry VIII. they were appropriated to 
 the Crown. Queen Anne restored them to the 
 Church to form a fund for the augmentation of poor 
 livings. At the same time those livings which were 
 already poor were discharged from further liability to 
 contribute, and Partney came under this category. 
 
 As we have no mention of the Church of Partney 
 in Domesday Book, so neither have we of any rector. 
 But both must have been in existence here when 
 Gilbert de Gaunt, in the reign of William I., bestowed 
 upon the Abbey of Bardney " 4 carucates of land
 
 The Rectory. 25 
 
 and 2 bovates in Steeping and in Firsby and the 
 Church of that place, in Skendleby the Church of 
 St. Peter with its land and tithes and the tithe of all 
 my land in that place and in Steeping and in Partney. 
 And in Partney aforesaid the Church with its appur- 
 tenances."* His son Walter, anxious, as he said, to 
 confirm and augment these grants, gave further : " in 
 Partney the hospital of St. Mary Magdalen with all 
 its rights and appurtenances : the Church of the same 
 place and the Chapel of St. Mary in the same place 
 with all its appurtenances : my manor of Steeping 
 with all the liberties pertaining to it in Steeping and 
 Firsby and the Churches of those places with their 
 appurtenances." Gilbert de Gaunt, known as "the 
 good," great grandson of the first Gilbert, confirmed 
 these gifts and speaks of them as " In Partney the 
 Church of St. Nicholas with its appurtenances and 
 the Chapel of St. Mary with its appurtenances and 
 besides these the confraternity and Chapel of St. Mary 
 Magdalen of Partney with its appurtenances and the 
 hospital of that place with its appurtenances." This 
 Gilbert de Gaunt died in 1242. In 1286 Gilbert de 
 Gaunt (5th of his name)f made an exchange of lands 
 in Partney with Bardney Abbey, namely " lands and 
 rents in Partney of the annual value of 60 shillings 
 
 * See Dugdale's Monasticon. Bardney Abbey, which had been founded 
 at a very early period and made the home of the bones of King Oswald 
 in 704, was destroyed by the Danes in 870. It was re-founded by 
 Gilbert de Gaunt and Remigius, Bishop of Lincoln. 
 
 f See genealogical table of this family.
 
 26 History of Partney, 
 
 namely, the services of Walter Monkman in Partney 
 and all the lands which he held of the aforesaid 
 Gilbert in villenage, with all its appurtenances and 
 his cattle amounting to 24 shillings per annum. Also 
 one toft and 3 parts of a bovate of land with all its 
 appurtenances in the said village and elsewhere 
 which is called Sommenesland amounting to 20 
 shillings per annum, and 16 shillings per annum rents 
 to be received at the customary times from 5 tofts, 
 one bovate, and 3rd part of a bovate of land in the 
 village of Partney which Robert de Handebok holds 
 of the said Lord Gilbert by the service of the said 
 Robert or his heirs and the said toft or lands in 
 perpetuity." For this property Bardne)^ Abbey gave 
 up the mill at Bradham in Skendleby, which passed, 
 on the death of Gilbert de Gaunt, to his widow. A 
 charter of Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln (a.d. 1209-1235), 
 recites that Bardney Abbey has " in Partney the 
 Church of St. Nicholas with its appurtenances and 
 the Chapel of St. Mary and tithes on the mill."* 
 
 It was usual, when the endowments of a benefice 
 were in this way handed over to a monastery, for the 
 latter to keep them all as its own income, except a 
 definite charge for the maintenance of a Vicar to take 
 the services. But there was a constant tendency on 
 the part of the monasteries to encroach on the portion 
 assigned to the Vicar, and in the time of Bishop 
 Hugh, alluded to above, matters had reached such a 
 
 * Of course this mill must have been on the older site down the 
 " Washdyke Lane."
 
 The Rectory. 2j 
 
 point that a reformation was imperatively necessary. 
 The Bishop was an able administrator, and faced the 
 question. " One of his greatest works," says the late 
 Archdeacon Perry,* " was a general and formal rescue 
 from monkish greed and selfishness of a portion of 
 the tithes of the Churches, which, b) r one method or 
 another, the religious had appropriated." Gilbert de 
 Gaunt had given Partney, Skendleby, and Steeping 
 to Bardney Abbey, but for some reason, which I am 
 quite unable to explain, Partney remained a rectory, 
 and the rights over it were, at an early period, 
 commuted for a " pension of £i 6s. 8d. yearly." 
 Skendleby and Steeping became vicarages, and the 
 Abbey, while content with a pension from Partney, 
 seems to have taken all the income of Skendleby 
 until Bishop Hugh compelled an arrangement to be 
 made for securing some portion of the endowment to 
 a vicarage. f Similar arrangements were made for 
 Hundleby, Alford, and Huttoft, and many other 
 parishes throughout the diocese. The rapacity of the 
 monks brought, however, its own punishment, and 
 was undoubtedly one of the causes which, in the 
 
 * Liber Hugonis de Wells, with introduction by Archdeacon Perry. 
 
 t The method of procedure is said to have been as follows : " An 
 inquisition was made in the Chapter of the Rural Deans of the value of 
 the rectory and the competent portion to be assigned to vicarages. 
 A return was then made to the Bishop, who was to approve and confirm 
 the Acts of the Chapter if he thought fit : then the allotment was 
 entered in the Bishop's Register. The amount usually assigned to the 
 Vicar was one third of the profits of the benefice derived from the altar 
 dues and tithes, as well as a house and some glebe. He had to bear 
 some part of the burdens incident to ecclesiastical benefices." Under
 
 28 History of Partney. 
 
 reign of Henry VIII. , brought about their complete 
 ruin and the confiscation of their property. But, 
 though a large part of this had been obtained from 
 the endowments originally intended for the parochial 
 clergy, at the dissolution of the monasteries this 
 income, instead of being restored to its original 
 purpose, was, with the exception of a small portion 
 devoted to the foundation of new bishopricks, entirely 
 diverted from religious uses. The Vicar of Skendleby 
 did not get back the " great tithes," as they are called 
 on corn, hay, and wood, and the Rector of Partney 
 had to continue the payment of his " pension." He 
 still pays it, but since Abbots of Bardney have ceased 
 to be, he pays it to the Sovereign.* 
 
 some such procedure the Bishop confirmed an arrangement to the 
 Vicarage of Skendleby. " Yicaria in Ecclesia de Skendleby que est 
 eorundem consistit in omnibus oblacionibus altaris et in tota terra 
 dominica ipsius ecclesiae et in decima totius lanoe et omnium agnorum 
 ad eandum ecclesiam preveniencium. Debet autem Vicarius omnia 
 onera episcopalia illius ecclesia et consueta sustinere praster hospicium 
 achidiaconi quod dicti abbas et conventus procurabunt." The 
 Vicarage of Skendleby, which belongs to the same people (that is, the 
 Abbot and Monastery of Bardney, who are mentioned in the previous 
 entry) consists of all the altar offerings and all the glebe and the tithe 
 of all the wool and lambs pertaining to the said Church. But the Vicar 
 is bound to pay all episcopal charges due and customary, except 
 hospitality for the Archdeacon, which the said abbot and monastery 
 shall provide." — Liber Hugonis de Wells. 
 
 * Similarly the endowments of Huttoft had got into the possession of 
 the priory of Mark by. The property has changed hands several times, 
 but the owner is still responsible for the repairs to the chancel and the 
 payment of £9 per annum to the Vicar. In 1855 this property was 
 sold for ^16,500, but the £9 remains the same. However, if the 
 Vicar of Huttoft felt sometimes inclined to grumble that his £9 had 
 not increased to ^90, which would more adequately represent its
 
 The Rectory. 29 
 
 In or about the year 1290 a valuation of all the 
 benefices of England was drawn up. It is known 
 as the "Taxatio Ecclesiastica of Pope Nicholas."* 
 The following is the statement of the value of 
 Partney : — 
 
 Decanatus de Candleshow : 
 Ecclesia de Parteney praeter pensionem £10 o o 
 Pensio Abbatis de Bardney in eadem £168 
 The total income of the benefice, therefore was 
 ^11 6s. 8d. 
 
 In the 15th year of the reign of Edward III. 
 (1342) a grant was made to the King of the 9th 
 lamb, fleece, and sheaf, for the expenses of his wars in 
 France.t Commissioners were appointed who held an 
 inquiry. "The parishioners found upon oath the 
 value of the 9th of the corn, wool, and lambs ; then 
 the amount of the ancient tax of the Church was 
 stated, and afterwards the causes of the 9th, not 
 amounting to the value of the tax or value of the 
 Church, were assigned, and when the 9th did not 
 exceed the tax it was assigned for cause thereof 
 that within the valuation or tax of the Church 
 there were other articles included besides corn, wool, 
 and lambs, such as glebe of the Church, tythe of hay, 
 and other tythes. And if any abbey or priory or 
 
 present value compared with what it had when the arrangement was 
 originally made, now, as Rector of Partney, he may be thankful that 
 the charge of £\ 6s. 8d. has not increased to £\o. 
 
 * Taxatio Ecclesiastica P. iVic/wlai, Rolls Series. 
 
 f Xonarum Irujuisitiones, Rolls Series.
 
 30 History of Partney. 
 
 other religious corporation had property within any 
 parish, the 9th arising from such property was found 
 and returned." Ralph Taylor, Simon Borel, Alexander 
 Chapman, Roger Dand, Richard Creed, Ralph Akewra, 
 " and others," were jurors for Partney. They found 
 that the Abbott of Bardney received " 2 marks " from 
 the benefice {i.e., £1 6s. 8d) and that the value of 
 the benefice was 17 marks {i.e., £11 6s. 8d., as 
 returned in 1290) "maxima pars valoris ecclesiae 
 praedicatae consistit in dote, feno, lacte, lino, canabo, 
 oblationibus servitise et aliis minutis decimis " (the 
 greatest part of the value of the aforesaid Church 
 consists in glebe, hay, milk, flax, hemp, oblations, and 
 other small tithes). As the 9th was only to be 
 assessed on corn, wool, and lambs it was estimated in 
 the present case at 7 shillings. 
 
 In the 26th year of his reign (1535) Henry VIII. 
 appointed commissioners to enquire into and report 
 on the value of all the benefices in the country. The 
 result of their enquiries is embodied in a book called 
 the Liber Regis (King's Book). William Cole was 
 found to be Rector of Partney and the total value of 
 the Rectory was £1$ 6s. 8d. But the Rector was 
 liable for the annual pension to the Abbey of Bardney 
 of £1 6s. 8d., and also for 9s. iod. to the Archdeacon 
 " for procurations and Synodals," leaving therefore 
 _£n 10s. 2d. on which tenths were payable, these 
 amounting to £1 3s. o^d. 
 
 From a survey of the parish taken in 161 6 it
 
 The Rectory. 31 
 
 appears that the glebe lands amounted to 6 acres, 
 1 rood, 30^ poles. 
 
 In the 5th year of the reign of Queen Anne (1704) 
 on the establishment of the Board of Queen Anne's 
 Bounty, an Act of Parliament was passed for dis- 
 charging small livings from the first fruits and tenths 
 hitherto payable to the Crown.* As the surrender 
 was to benefit the poorer livings, obviously the first 
 thing was to release them from further contribution. 
 Partney came into a list of those in the Diocese of 
 Lincoln of which " the clear improved yearly value " 
 did not exceed .£50, and as such became entitled to 
 the relief. In fact the clear yearly value of Partney 
 at that time was .£44 15s. 9fd.f It was still liable 
 to the payment for procurations and synodals 9s. iod. 
 and the pension to Bardney of £1 6s. 8d. The 
 latter, as has been stated, is still paid to the Crown ; 
 the former has ceased to be a charge. So far as it 
 applies to " Episcopal Procurations " to the amount of 
 4s. 9d., it has been formally remitted (April 3rd, 1879) 
 by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who now 
 manage the estates of the See of Lincoln. 
 
 We get an accurate knowledge of the property of 
 the benefice in the early part of the 18th century 
 from the following paper, undated, now in the 
 Church chest : — 
 
 Extracted from the Register of the Lord Bishop 
 of Lincoln. 
 
 * See Canon Overton's Life in the English Church, /66o-ry/^, p. 229. 
 f Bacon's Thesaurus Ecclesiasticus.
 
 32 History of Partney. 
 
 Lincoln, Lindsey. \ 
 Deanery Candleshoe. ' 
 
 A Terrier of ye glebe lands belonging to ye 
 Rectory of Partney. 
 
 i. One house and onsett . 
 
 2. In the west field, 12 Leas . 
 
 3. The Gateroom 
 
 4. One Lea in Cadington's 
 
 Barrow .... 
 
 5. One Lea in ye Copartners . 
 
 6. Two Leas in ye Parson's 
 
 Infield .... 
 
 7. One Lea in ye Great With- 
 
 wongs belonging to Saus- 
 thorpe Manor 
 
 8. One Lea in Redlands Nook . 
 
 9. One Lea in Skendleby Holm 
 
 10. Two Leas in Dalby Walks . 
 
 11. Wool, lamb, and hay for this 
 
 past yeare, and all tithes 
 in kind . . . . 38 o 
 
 Francis Garthside, Rector. 
 
 ' > Churchwardens. 
 John Wayet, ) 
 
 Francis Garthside was Rector 1685-1 727. 
 
 The parish registers have an entry of the burial of 
 John Peach in 1716. 
 
 No income for many years past has been received 
 from the entries numbered 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10. 
 
 The most interesting point about this return is the 
 
 acres 
 
 roods 
 
 perches 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 36 
 
 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 32 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 15 
 
 I 
 
 
 

 
 The Rectory. 33 
 
 insight it gives us into a very primitive system of 
 agriculture. The Rector's land is all over the parish 
 and some of it outside the parish, while it is for the 
 most part evidently only an unfenced portion of 
 larger fields. This is plainly true of the largest piece 
 " 12 leas in the west field." It is true of two out of 
 the four pieces still recognised as glebe. One cannot 
 help thinking that this reminds us of very primitive 
 rights of pasture and meadow. The earliest type of 
 village community * which scholars have been able 
 to discover, a type, too, that is as plainly visible in 
 India or Fiji as it is in England, implies a collection 
 of homesteads in the village. Possession of one of 
 these carries with it the right to a share in the common 
 field, the common meadow, and the common pasture. 
 But this system also includes allotment of special 
 portions to special servants of the community and 
 the distribution of each man's share in strips all over 
 the land occupied. There would, therefore, be in 
 heathen times a portion for the temples. Later there 
 are Church lands. But this share like the rest is in so 
 many " leas " and scattered all over the parish. The 
 existence of portions outside is a still more compli- 
 cated matter and may take us back to a time before 
 parishes with their clearly-defined boundaries had 
 come into existence. The ownership of such pieces, 
 in what is known as the " open field system," was not 
 at first permanent. It has obvious drawbacks — the 
 
 * See the works on this subject by Seebohm, Gomme, and Sir Henry 
 Maine. 
 D
 
 34 History of Partney. 
 
 waste of time in getting about, the uselessness of 
 clearing a strip which might pass next year to some- 
 one else, and the disputes about headlands and rights 
 of way. It became meaningless and wasteful as the 
 tenants came to occupy their lands in perpetual 
 possession. But there was more likelihood of 
 stereotyping the system, in what is after all only a 
 later development of it, in the case of Church 
 property, and so, as we look at some piece of 
 glebe land " lying in ming," it takes us back in 
 thought to very very early days and very primitive 
 systems both of ownership and cultivation.* 
 
 The total amount given in the Terrier above is 
 7 acres, 2 roods, and 28 perches, of which 6 acres, 
 1 rood, 11 perches, were inside the parish. In 161 6 
 the amount (presumably inside the parish) had been 
 6 acres, 1 rood, 30^ perches. Since the award of 1840 
 it has consisted of : — 
 
 A. R. P. 
 
 Ming Land (No. 6 in the 18th 
 
 
 century return) 
 
 2 36 
 
 Ditto, No. 3 
 
 020 
 
 Garden, No. 1 ... 
 
 1 33 
 
 * In his Agricultural Survey of Lincolnshire, 1798, Arthur Young 
 writes : " Lord Exeter has property on the Lincoln side of Stamford 
 that seems held by some tenure of ancient custom among the farmers, 
 resembling the rundale of Ireland. The tenants divide and plough up 
 commons and then lay them down to become common again : and shift 
 the open fields from hand to hand in such a manner that no man has 
 the same land 2 years together : which has made such confusion that 
 were it not for ancient surveys it would now be impossible to ascertain 
 the property."
 
 Glebe, 
 
 TJic Rectory. 
 No. 2 ... 
 
 A. R. P. 
 
 3 J 20 
 
 
 5 o 9 
 
 35 
 
 And to this was added, in 
 1895, as the new Rectory- 
 premises and paddock . 3010 
 
 The tithes appear to have been commuted some 
 time during Mr. Garthside's incumbency for 1/- per 
 acre, but the acreage of the parish (without some 
 modern drainage) would probably be smaller than at 
 present. The Terrier puts them at .£38 per annum. 
 On 920 acres the}' should have been .£46. In the 
 year 1802 this composition was raised to produce a 
 total higher by £25 per annum than for the previous 
 amount, and in 1808 it was agreed between the 
 Rector and the parishioners that the composition * 
 should be 2/- an acre, which, assuming there were 
 920 acres, would mean an income from this source of 
 £<)2.\ These compositions had been introduced to 
 do away with the unsatisfactory system of paying in 
 
 * The overseer's accounts show that the parish paid for the legal 
 expenses in connection with these agreements, and also for the 
 collection of the tithe. 
 
 -[•This seems lower than the general rate. Arthur Young wrote in 
 1798, "About Spilsby tithes are seldom taken in kind, but the com- 
 positions are high : arable land 5/-, grass 2/6 an acre, some lower, but 
 in general 3/6 or 4/- an acre round." To this he adds "There are in 
 the count) - about GGo pieces of preferment, including perpetual curacies 
 and donatives, which are on an average about £To."
 
 36 History of Partney. 
 
 kind. The farmer sometimes could not lead his corn 
 because the tithe man had not been round to mark 
 the tenth sheaf, and yet it was obviously impossible 
 for the clergyman to get the work done all at once so 
 as to suit all parties. The Commutation Act of 1837 
 came as a great relief to all concerned, and did away 
 with a long-standing grievance. Commissioners were 
 appointed, who fixed the payment permanently in 
 money, which was to fluctuate according to the 
 varying value of certain of the old titheable products. 
 In 1840 the tithes of Partney were permanently 
 commuted at .£211 2s. 6d., the owners of land and 
 the Rector agreeing to this amount, and the same 
 being confirmed by the Commissioners. Since 1878 
 tithe has been going steadily down. In 1896 the 
 .£211 2s. 6d. was only worth ^148 2s. od. 
 
 In 1837 it was ordered " that the tythe be assessed 
 to the poor rate." 
 
 THE RECTORS. 
 
 The rights of Bardney Abbey over Partney 
 included the patronage of the Rectory. 
 
 The following are known to have held the Rectory, 
 presented thereto by the Abbey of Bardney. 
 
 Richard de Halton. 
 
 Perhaps this is the same man that held 
 the Rectory of Hagworthingham (also 
 in the patronage of Bardney Abbey) 
 from April, 1300, to February, 1301.* 
 
 * It is also the name of the Rector of Mavis Enderby, 1281-1297 
 presented thereto by the Malbys family.
 
 The Rectors. yj 
 
 1322 Henry de Wadyngworth. 
 
 A Subsidy Roll of 1327 refers to " Simon 
 
 the Chaplain." 
 .... Walter Toune. 
 
 Died 1378. 
 1378 Hugo de Hanworth, instituted July 30th. 
 .... John Slakke. 
 
 Died 1494. 
 1494 Thomas Clerke, instituted March 24th. 
 1499 John Cole. 
 
 "Ordained presbyter March 31, 1499, 
 
 on the title of his Rectory of Partney." 
 
 Resigned 15 17. 
 1 51 7 William Cole, 
 
 who was Rector in 1535, when King 
 
 Henry VIII. 's Valor Ecclesiasticus was 
 
 drawn up. 
 Bardney Abbey fell with the rest of the monastic 
 institutions of England in 1540, and its rights over 
 Partney passed to the Crown. The patronage seems 
 to have fallen into private hands. 
 
 1557 Thomas Ogle,* instituted February 23rd. 
 
 Presented by John More " for this turn 
 
 only." Resigned in 1566. 
 1566 Peter Key. 
 
 Presented by John Wallgrave, of Part- 
 ney, Gent. 
 
 * Thomas Ogle clericus presentatus per Johannem More ratione 
 concessionis advocationis ejusdem sibi et aliis pro hac vice factae ad 
 ecclesiam de Partney Line. Dio. per mortem ultimi incumbentis 
 vacantem xxiii February 1557 fuit admissus.
 
 38 History of Partney. 
 
 1574 John Englishe, instituted February 21st. 
 
 Presented by John Dyon, Esq., " to 
 whom the right of presentation was 
 granted by John Wallgrave Gent." 
 
 .... Christopher Diggles. 
 
 Non-resident. His successor appears 
 first as his Curate. 
 
 1587 John Deane. 
 
 Referred to in the will of Nicholas 
 Ormsby, 1590, as "Curate," i.e., the 
 person having the Cure of Souls, and is 
 to receive from the testator " my Bible." 
 He signs the transcripts of the parish 
 register from 1 598-1 601 (now at Lin- 
 coln) as " Rector." 
 
 1 60 1 Edward Salmon. 
 
 (?) Presented by Sir William Wray, 
 Knight. August 21, 1601, marriage 
 licence granted to Edward Salmon and 
 Mary Andrew of Bucknall. 
 . 1606 Complained of for allowing the 
 Rectory House to fall into decay. 
 Resigned 1607. 
 
 1607 Robert Moodie (or Moody). 
 
 Presented by Sir William Wray, Knight. 
 Signs the Lincoln transcripts as Rector, 
 1618. Marriage licence granted to 
 Robert Moody, of Partney, and Ann, 
 daughter of William Searles, of Firsby, 
 1 63 1, may refer to a son of his. 
 Buried at Partney, April 4th, 1633.
 
 The Rectors. 39 
 
 .... Stubbe, " Minister " in 1631. 
 
 1633 Richard Johnson. 
 
 William Ablard signs the Lincoln tran- 
 scripts as Curate in 1639. 
 
 1640 Richard Turton. 
 
 1644 Robert Hodson. 
 
 Presented by John Bassett, Esq. 
 
 1662 John Hackley. 
 
 Presented by Montague, 2nd Earl of 
 Lindsey. Buried at Partney, December 
 3rd, 1684. In his will (proved January 
 14th, 1685) he mentions four sons, 
 William, Thomas, John, and Henry, 
 and a daughter Sarah, the last being left 
 residuary legatee. The son Thomas, 
 being then described as " of London," 
 who died Nov. 4th, 171 9, bequeathed 
 .£100 to the poor of the Parish of 
 Partney, " where my Father was 
 Minister." 
 
 .... Bland. 
 
 Mr. Flanner, endeavouring to compile 
 a list of his predecessors, gives this 
 name, and for the date adds " uncertain 
 as the old register was destroyed." 
 
 1685 Francis Garthside. 
 
 Mr. Flanner says " 1709-25," and adds 
 that he was " the last Rector to receive 
 the tithes in kind." He appears to 
 have been also Curate of Willoughby
 
 40 History of Partney. 
 
 and Vicar of Claxby. "Presented by 
 Peregrine, Richard and Charles Bertie, 
 Esq rs ." These were the younger sons 
 of Montague, 2nd Earl of Lindsey, who 
 died in 1666. He left five sons, Robert, 
 who succeeded to the title and estates ; 
 Peregrine, a Captain in the army, who 
 died in 1 700, leaving three daughters ; 
 Richard, also a Captain in the array, 
 who died unmarried in 1685 (and this 
 therefore fixes Mr. Garthside's appoint- 
 ment for that year) ; Vere, who became 
 a Baron of the Exchequer and died 
 unmarried 1680 ; and Charles, M.P. for 
 Stamford, who died in 171 1. A great- 
 grandson of this last succeeded in 1809 
 to the Earldom of Lindsey. 
 
 1727 William Cawthorne, M.A. 
 
 Presented by Peregrine Bertie, 2nd 
 Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, 5th 
 Earl of Lindsey, and 15th Lord 
 Willoughby d'Eresby. Subsequently 
 became Rector of Willoughby, and was 
 buried there in 1753. 
 
 1728 Robert Owen, M.A. 
 
 Presented by the same. Was also 
 Rector of Mablethorpe St. Peter. Re- 
 signed 1732. This latter benefice was 
 consolidated with Theddlethorpe St. 
 Helen in 1745.
 
 The Rectors. 41 
 
 1732 Roger Stevens, B.A., LL.B. 
 
 Presented by the same. Was resident 
 
 J 
 
 Curate of Tydd St. Mary's, 1744-50. 
 His name appears only once in the 
 parish register, July 26th, 1762. The 
 services at Partney were conducted by 
 others : — 
 William Shepherd, also Vicar of Spilsby. 
 Memorandum in the registers there : 
 " He entered minister of the parish, 
 after he had been curate of the same to 
 Mr. Smith 22 years, Michaelmas, 1736." 
 He died at Spilsby, and was buried 
 there 1758. 
 Richard Vesey. He appears to have been 
 also in charge of Dalby, and he was 
 "minister" of Spilsby, 1758-1785. He 
 died in 1785, aged 68, and was buried 
 at Snilsbv. 
 1780 Thomas Beaumont, B.A. 
 
 Presented by Lady Willoughby d'Eresby 
 and her husband Sir Peter Burrell. He 
 was also Rector of Raithby and Curate 
 of Sausthorpe. He died September 
 25, 1 78 1, aged 68.* His name never 
 appears in the Partney registers, and 
 
 * .Mr. Beaumont married at Spilsby, May 3, 1760, Elizabeth (born 
 1737) younger daughter of Samuel Wright of Spilsby and Mary his 
 wife (b. 17 16, d. 1787), daughter of George Wright of Spilsby. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Beaumont are both buried at Spilsby, and there is a 
 mural tablet to their memory in the Church there.
 
 42 History of Partney. 
 
 services seem to have been taken by 
 John Basker, who had been residing in 
 the parish since 1778. 
 
 1782 Thomas Booth, M.A. 
 
 Presented by the same. Vicar of Frisk- 
 ney since 1777, Curate of Ashby 1787— 
 1800, of West Keal 1 790-1 805. Re- 
 signed Partney and became Vicar of 
 Spilsby, 1785. Married, 1777, Mary 
 (b. 1756) eldest daughter of John 
 Wright, Rector of Winceby : followed 
 at Friskney by his son, Edward Booth. 
 Buried at Spilsby Dec. 13, 181 1, aged 64. 
 He very seldom took any duty in 
 Partney, and William Tyler acted as his 
 Curate 1 782-1 787. The latter was also 
 Perpetual Curate of Dalby 1 782-1 808, 
 Holder of the Donative of Haugh * 
 1 795-1 803, Rector of Braytoft 1790- 
 1808, and Rector of Ashby t 1806-1808. 
 It is difficult for us to understand how 
 he performed these multifarious duties, 
 living at the time at Partney, but he 
 has left behind him the reputation of a 
 highly respected man and a popular 
 
 * Haugh became a Perpetual Curacy in 1848. 
 
 f Among memoranda in the Ashby Registers is the following : — " A 
 large and small pew was erected in the Church under the belfry at the 
 expence of the Rev d . William Tyler for the use of his family and 
 servants, October 16, 1806."
 
 The Rectors. 43 
 
 preacher. At Dalby he erected a west 
 gallery to accommodate his hearers, and 
 sometimes in the summer-time he had 
 to come out of Church and preach in 
 the churchyard. Whenever he was 
 officiating at Dalby his own Church 
 was crammed and Partney empty. 
 There is a mural tablet to his memory 
 in Dalby Church, which gives his age 
 at his death July 14th, 1808, as 59 years. 
 
 1785 William Tuting, B.A. 
 
 Presented by the same. He is believed 
 to have been the first resident Rector 
 for many years. His wife died in 1790, 
 aged 2 j years, and was buried "in the 
 Church," where there is a mural tablet 
 to her memory. In 1788 he had be- 
 come Rector of Low Toynton near 
 Horncastle, where he seems to have 
 remained about 10 years. 
 
 1788 James Flanner, M.A. 
 
 Presented by the same. Also Curate 
 of Dalby 1808-18 14, and of West Keal 
 1792-1800. 
 
 The earliest Rector of whom personal 
 recollections have been preserved, "tall, 
 thin, and prematurely old." He died 
 in 18 14, aged 58, and there is a mural 
 tablet to his memory in the chancel.
 
 44 History uf Partney. 
 
 1814 Field Flowers, B.A. Brazenose College, 
 Oxford. 
 
 Presented by the same. Died in 1818, 
 aged 45. Buried with his wife and 
 daughter at the entrance to the chancel. 
 There is a tablet to his memory and 
 also a stained glass window. 
 
 There appears to have been no Rec- 
 tor for over a year ; Thos. Hardwick 
 Rawnsley signs the registers as Curate. 
 
 1820 Thomas Hardwick Rawnsley, M.A. 
 
 Presented by the same. Curate of 
 Dalby 1814-1817/VVest Keal 18 17-18 18, 
 Partney 1 818-1820, Vicar of Spilsby 
 1820-1825. Resigned Partney 1827. 
 Rector of Halton Holgate 1825-1861. 
 Buried at Halton. J.P. for Lindsey. 
 
 From 182 5- 1827 the services appear 
 to have been taken by the Rev. Isaac 
 Russell and the Rev. Thos. Hollway. 
 
 1827 Thomas Hollway, M.A. St. John's College, 
 Cambridge. 
 
 Presented by the same. Vicar of Spilsby 
 1825-1854. Prebendary of Stow Longa 
 in Lincoln Cathedral, 1843. J.P. for 
 Lindsey. Resigned his preferments 
 1854, and retired to Leamington, where 
 he died January 24th, 1879, aged yy. 
 Buried at Gunby. The east window of 
 Spilsby Church has been filled with 
 stained glass to his memory.
 
 The Rectors. 45 
 
 Mr. Hollway employed as Curates in 
 Partney : — 
 
 .... W. Braithwaite, B.A. 
 1838 W. A. Peacock, B.A., Corpus 
 Christi College, Cambridge ; Rec- 
 tor of Ulceby-with-Fordington 
 1848-1877. 
 1844 H. J. Steventon, B.A. 
 1847 F. J. Hopkins, M.A. Sydney 
 Sussex College, Cambridge. Vicar 
 of Caxton St. Ives 1852. 
 1850 T. E. Miller, B.A. 
 1852 Robert Giles, B.A. 
 1854 Robert Giles, M.A., Exeter College, Oxford. 
 Presented by the 21st Lord Willoughby 
 d'Eresby. He restored the Church, 
 enclosed the churchyard, and built the 
 schools. Though he had charge of no 
 other parish he took private pupils and 
 was organising secretary for the S.P.G. 
 for the Archdeaconry of Stow. He 
 therefore employed as Curates : — 
 
 1865 J. H. Edmonds. 
 
 1866 George Moore, B.A. 
 
 1867 G. H. Butt, B.A. 
 
 In 1868 Mr. Giles became Vicar of 
 Horncastle, where he died 1871. 
 1868 Joe Wood Bayldon, M.A., Sydney Sussex 
 College, Cambridge. Presented by the 
 22nd Lord Willoughby d'Eresby. Chap- 
 lain to the Spilsby Union Workhouse,
 
 46 History of Partney. 
 
 1 885-1 888. Became Rector of Low 
 Toynton near Horncastle. 
 1888 Edwin Allanson. 
 
 Presented by the Dowager Lady Ave- 
 land, in her own right 23rd Baroness 
 Willoughby d'Eresby. Also Curate- 
 in -Charge of Dalby : engaged a good 
 deal in Home Mission work, and in 
 1893 went to Australia. 
 Employed as Curates : — 
 
 1891 Robert Whinney, B.A. 
 
 1892 James Swift, B.A. 
 
 1893 C. W. H. Reynolds. 
 
 1894 Gilbert George Walker, M.A., Worcester 
 College, Oxford. 
 
 Presented by the 1st Earl of Ancaster, 
 24th Lord Willoughby d'Eresby. Also 
 Curate-in-Charge of Dalby until, on 
 the death of the Rev. T. Owston, Vicar, 
 that benefice was consolidated with 
 Partney (1895). The patronage of the 
 consolidated benefice is now vested in 
 the Earl of Ancaster two turns and the 
 Bishop of Lincoln one turn. 
 
 OFFICIATING MINISTERS. 
 
 An Act of Parliament was passed in 18 12 to secure 
 regularity and uniformity in the keeping of parish 
 registers, and provided a form for both baptisms and 
 burials, in which (as had already for some time been
 
 Officiating Ministers. 
 
 47 
 
 the case with marriages) the name of the officiating 
 minister was to be inserted. The names of the 
 following clergymen therefore not directly connected 
 with the parish appear in our registers from 1812-1896. 
 
 John Tretwell 
 Francis Mead, D.D. 
 Michael Hare 
 R. Ward 
 J. Brackenbury 
 Henry Brackenbury 
 Isaac Russell 
 
 Rector of Raithby 1 801-1829 
 Rector of Candlesby 18 -1834 
 Curate of Dalby 18 17 
 
 Rector of Scremby 18 17-1862 
 Master of the Spilsby Grammar 
 School 
 
 Henry Dawson 
 
 Field Flowers, junior Vicar of Tealby 1835 
 
 George Orme 
 
 George Street 
 Joseph Walls 
 William Singleton 
 John Banks 
 
 John Cheales 
 Thomas Whitworth 
 John E. Norris 
 T. L. Edwards 
 A. C. Brackenbury 
 R. D. B. Rawnsley 
 William Morley 
 
 L. D. Kennedy 
 
 Rector of Langton 1 800-1 856 
 
 Perpetual Curate of Dalby 
 
 1808-1841 
 Vicar of Skendleby 1841—1866 
 Vicar of Thorpe 1843-1889 
 Rector of Ashby 1842. 
 
 Rector of Halton 1861-18S4 
 Rector of Mavis Enderby 
 
 1834-1869 
 Rector of Thcddlethorpe St. 
 
 Helen's 1861-1S85
 
 4 8 
 
 History of Partney. 
 
 Edward Rawnsley Vicar of Hundleby 1849- 1860 
 John Frederick Bourne 
 
 Thomas Ovvston 
 W. V. Turner 
 Felix Laurent 
 Henry Hansell 
 Henry Watson 
 Arthur Wright 
 J. D. Giles 
 A. R. Maddison 
 H. J. Cheales 
 C. G. Ridlev 
 
 F. H. Swan 
 W. W. Layng 
 T. W. Sale 
 H. Cotton Smith 
 
 Rector of Sutterby, 1848- 1894 
 Vicar of Spilsby 1854-1873 
 Vicar of Saleby 1847-1878 
 Curate of Halton 1855 
 Rector of Langton 18 57-1 872 
 Vicar of Welton 1857-1871 
 Archdeacon of Stow 
 Curate of Croft 186 7-1 8 70 
 Vicar of Skendleby 1 866-1 867 
 Master of the Spilsby Gram- 
 mar School 1 856-1 88 1 
 
 Rector of Aswardby 1 851-1882 
 Vicar of Spilsby 1873-1885 
 Vicar of Skendleby 1873-1884 
 Curate of Spilsby, 1888-1891 
 
 THE RECTORY HOUSE. 
 
 For many years there has been no Rectory House. 
 The will of William Brasse (a.d. 1528) refers to "the 
 Church Howys," and if this means the Rectory the 
 context shows that it stood, as was generally the case 
 in this district, to the north of the Church, and 
 contiguous to the churchyard. In 1606, as we have 
 seen, the then Rector was complained of for " decay 
 of the Rectory House," but whether anything was 
 done in consequence we have no means of knowing. 
 Mr. Moody, Rector, was buried in the churchyard in 
 1633, and had presumably lived in the parish ; and we
 
 The Rectory House. 49 
 
 are drawn to the same conclusion about Mr. Hackley, 
 who was buried in 1684. Mr. Garthside seems to 
 have lived at Willoughby or Claxby, though the 
 "terrier" given above and drawn up in his time 
 mentions on the glebe "a house and onsett" [i.e. out- 
 buildings). In 1740 William Bellamy, of Goulsby, 
 became tenant of " a house and 3 acres of pasture in 
 Partney of the Rev. Mr. Stevens, it being gleab pays 
 the town's charges at £5 10s. od. a year." Indeed, 
 it was not until Mr. Tuting came into residence in 
 1787, two years after his appointment, that a 
 house was wanted again, for Mr. Stevens' deputies, 
 Mr. Shepherd and Mr. Vesey, lived at Spilsby and 
 are both buried there. Mr. Tuting was probably 
 the last Rector to live in the old Rectory, which some 
 persons still living can remember as a house of mud 
 and stud, used as a labourer's cottage and standing in 
 what is still glebe, though let as part of the Hall 
 kitchen garden. Mr. Flanner lived in a house of his 
 own near the old Rectory, but on the west side of the 
 Hall gardens. After his decease it was purchased 
 from his executors by Colonel Maddison, who pulled 
 down the premises and added the land to the Hall 
 grounds. Mr. Tyler, Curate-in-Charge from 1782- 
 1787, occupied the house near Partney Church, 
 wherein Mr. A. Hodgson has lived for many years, 
 and he continued to reside there till his death in 1 808, 
 and while his parochial duties were concerned with 
 Bratoft, Ashby, Dalby, and Haugh. Mr. Flowers 
 
 lived in the house lately purchased for a Rectory, and 
 E
 
 50 History of Partney. 
 
 his widow continued to reside there after his death. 
 Mr. Hollway lived at Hundleby and Spilsby, but his 
 Curates lived in Partney. When Mr. Giles became 
 Rector he purchased the house which had belonged 
 to Mr. Flowers, and on his departure for Horncastle 
 sold it to his successor, Mr. Bayldon, from whom, in 
 1895, ft was purchased by the Ecclesiastical Com- 
 missioners. Though not strictly speaking the Rectory 
 until this latter year, it has been occupied continuously 
 by Rectors of the parish since 1854.* The money 
 for the purchase and repairs was provided by the 
 Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who receive the tithes 
 on Dalby, and as part of the scheme for the improve- 
 ment of the consolidated benefice. 
 
 * The occupants of this house for the last ioo years are believed to 
 have been the following : — Mr. Peregrine Emmitt ; Mr. John Louth ; 
 Mr. Charles Barton ; 1814, Rev. F. Flowers ; 1818, Mrs. Flowers 
 (widow) ; 1831, Mr. Francis Thurkell ; 1835, Dr. Stafford ; Mr. John 
 Heanley; 1852, Rev. R. Giles; 1868, Rev. J. W. Bayldon; 1888, 
 Rev. E. Allanson ; 1893, Rev. C. W. H. Reynolds ; 1894, Rev. G. G. 
 Walker.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OTHER RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 
 
 THE ANGLO-SAXON ABBEY. 
 
 lARTNEY has the honour of being alluded 
 to bv one of the earliest of English 
 ^f historians, the Venerable Bede, who 
 1 died in 735. Twice in his Ecclesiastical 
 History of the Anglo-Saxons he alludes to an Abbey 
 at " Peartenai." We think at once of the easy con- 
 fusion of the two names Partney and Bardney, and it 
 is so much easier to connect the references with the 
 latter, where we know there was an Abbey, than with 
 the former, for which we have no independent records 
 whatever. Bede gives us the names of two Abbots. 
 One of them, Deda, was personally known to him, 
 and gave him some interesting information as to the 
 personal appearance of Paulinus (a companion of 
 Augustine in the conversion of England) which he 
 had obtained from an old man who had himself been 
 baptised by the Bishop. The other was Alcuin,
 
 52 History of Partney. 
 
 whose sister Ethelhilda was an Abbess in the same 
 neighbourhood, and was still living when Bede wrote. 
 One must feel on reading the second of the two 
 passages, which are given in full in the Appendix, 
 that the author at least regarded Bardney and 
 Partney as tw r o separate places. 
 
 THE CELL TO THE ABBEY OF BARDNEY. 
 
 In addition to the right of patronage of the 
 Rectory and the possession of certain lands and rents 
 in the parish, the Abbey of Bardney also had a " cell" 
 here. It is fair to presume that it was in the fields 
 still known as " The Monks." 
 
 The first mention of it is in 1318. Robert de 
 Waynfieet, who had been Abbot since 12S0, was 
 deposed in 1303, but soon after restored. In 13 18 he 
 was again deposed, w r hen " the Church and manor of 
 Steeping, the vill of Partney, together with the cells 
 of Partney and Skendleby, were assigned for his 
 support."* 
 
 A subsidy roll of 1327 mentions among the con- 
 tributors from Partney Simon the Chaplain, who 
 may very likely have been connected with this 
 foundation. 
 
 So, too, may John Richardson, Chaplain, whom 
 " Honestus vir Radulphus Grene de Parteney " pre- 
 
 * So, about 1095, Serlo de Percy retired from the position of Prior of 
 Whitby to the cell of All Saints at York. Whitby was then constituted 
 an Abbey, with William de Percy for its first Abbot. — Atkinson's 
 Memorials of Old Whitby.
 
 Other Religions Foundations. 53 
 
 sented to the Chantry of St. Katherine at Saltfleet in 
 1527. But this is very doubtful, for we hear bad 
 accounts of the Chapel long before that. 
 
 On September 8, 149 1, an inquisition was taken at 
 Partney on the question of the mental condition of a 
 certain Bernard Eland, and to their finding on that 
 matter the jurors added a rider : 
 
 " Also they say that the Abbot of Bardney has of 
 the foundation of the ancestors of the said Lord the 
 King a Chapel in Skendleby and a Chapel in Partney, 
 which are now totally devastated, and the same Abbot 
 and his successors ought to find monks annually to 
 pray and to celebrate the divine services of God there 
 for the good estate of the said lord the king, his 
 ancestors, his heirs and successors for ever, w r hich the 
 Abbot and his predecessors have withdrawn for the 
 space of 30 years or more."* 
 
 THE HOSPITAL. 
 
 Allusion has already been made to the Hospital of 
 St. Mary Magdalen as existing here in the time of 
 Walter de Gaunt (1090-1138). His gifts to Bardney 
 Abbey speak of the Hospital as already existing, but 
 to discover the exact date of its foundation seems 
 hopeless. Of course, we must not understand it to 
 have been a hospital in the modern sense of the term. 
 " The endowed Hospitals of Mediaeval England," says 
 
 *" Chancery Inquisitions Henry VII.," Lincolnshire Architectural 
 Society, p. 75.
 
 54 History of Partney. 
 
 Dr. Creighton,* " were ... a general provision 
 under religious discipline for the infirm and sick poor, 
 for infirm or ailing monks or clergy, and here and 
 there for decayed gentlefolk. The earliest of them 
 that is known, St. Leonard's at York, founded in 956 
 by King Athelstan, and enlarged more especially on 
 its religious side by King Stephen, was a great 
 establishment for the relief of the poor. ... It 
 provided for 206 Bedesmen, and was served by 
 a master and 13 brethren, 4 seculars, 8 sisters, 
 30 choristers, and 6 servitors." It is to this same 
 period, the reign of Stephen, that we owe, if 
 not the actual foundation, yet, at least, the fixing 
 on a more legal and permanent basis of the 
 Hospital at Partney. Philanthropy, like all other 
 things, seems to have its fashion. At one time those 
 who are anxious to devote the wealth they may 
 possess for the best good of their fellow men, found 
 or endow one of the different forms of monastic 
 institutions, Benedictine, Cistercian, Gilbertine, as 
 seems best to commend itself to them. At another 
 it is the Friars who seem to have the best claim, and 
 Dominicans, Franciscans, and Carmelites, who at first 
 repudiated the notion of religious men living as the 
 monks did, soon found themselves as splendidly 
 housed and equally rich. Further down it is 
 education that attracts. Of the twenty-three Colleges 
 and Halls in the University of Oxford, nine were 
 established or re-endowed between the years 1509 
 
 * History of Epidemics in Britain, by C. Creighton, M.A., M.D.
 
 Other Religious Foundations. 55 
 
 and 1624, while our Grammar Schools, in most cases, 
 trace back their endowments to the same period. In 
 King Stephen's time it was the Hospital as a form of 
 charity that most successfully appealed. His Charter* 
 to Partney may be thus translated. " Stephen 
 King of England to the Bishop of Lincoln, to his 
 justices, barons, sheriffs, and all his servants and 
 faithful men French and English greeting : — I would 
 have you know that I have granted and con- 
 firmed to God and to the Hospital of Partney all 
 the lands properties and gifts which the barons, 
 vassals, and nobles of my land who have their lands 
 freehold, have given or shall hereafter give to God 
 and the same Hospital whether in lands or other 
 property or in rents or goods. Wherefore I will and 
 firmly establish it that the aforesaid Hospital and its 
 guardians and all dwelling there and continuing to do 
 so who shall live according to its regulations and 
 those who come thither and stay there a while and 
 return home again shall have my peace and protection 
 that they be in no way disturbed." 
 
 But beyond proving to us definitely the existence 
 of the place this charter gives no information of real 
 value about the Hospital, no names are mentioned as 
 founders and benefactors, and no estates or other 
 property particularised. We do, however, get to 
 know something of the latter details in a document 
 which dates from the reign of King John. The 
 
 * For the original Latin see Appendix.
 
 56 History of Partney. 
 
 following summary of it is given in Volume of 
 Final Concords relating to Lincolnshire.* 
 
 " On the morrow of All Souls 10 John (3 November 
 A.D. 1208). Between Osbert Master of the Hospital 
 of St. Mary Magdalen of Partenay, plaintiff and 
 Henry Bee, tenant of 2 bovates of land and a toft in 
 Greinby and of half a bovate of land in Laisingtorp. 
 The Master acknowledged the said land and toft to 
 be the fee of the said Henry and for this Henry 
 granted to the said Hospital 2 bovates of land and a 
 toft in Laisingtorp. To wit, the bovate and toft 
 which Roger Cook held : half a bovate which 
 Alan the Carpenter held : and half a bovate which 
 Robert the Carpenter held. Except a toft which 
 pertains to that half bovate which Alan the Carpenter 
 held and another toft which pertains to that half 
 bovate which Robert the Carpenter held. So never- 
 theless that the said Master and his successors shall 
 hold the residue of the said 2 bovates of the said 
 Henry and his heirs for ever in pure and perpetual 
 alms free and quit from all secular service and 
 exaction." 
 
 The upshot of this arrangement, then, was that the 
 Master and brethren of the Hospital gave up all claim 
 to a copyhold estate, as we should call it, consisting 
 of a farmstead t and thirty acres of land in Greinby 
 
 * " Lincolnshire Records," Final Concords, Vol. i., p. 82. Edited by 
 Rev. W. O. Massingberd. I have quoted the Latin in full from 
 Dugdale in the Appendix. 
 
 + " It is of importance to remember that the toft was the special site 
 of the ancient dwelling place of whatever grade, short, perhaps, of the
 
 Other Religious Foundations. 57 
 
 and seven acres in Laisirigtorp with their rights of 
 common pasture and wood, on which they were 
 liable to the usual feudal dues, and received in 
 exchange a freehold estate of a farmstead and thirty 
 acres in Laisingtorp, the tenants at the time being 
 Roger Cook, who occupied a farmstead and fifteen 
 acres ; Alan the Carpenter, who occupied a further 
 seven acres ; and Robert the Carpenter, who also 
 occupied the same amount, it being expressly reserved 
 that the farmsteads still belonged to Henry Bee. 
 
 The family of Bee had been connected with 
 this neighbourhood since the latter half of the 12th 
 century, and there is a sepulchral slab to one of them 
 in Halton Church.* There was a Henry Bee at 
 Eresby in 1200. He was followed by a son Walter, 
 and grandson John. The latter obtained a licence to 
 "crenellate " Eresb) r , and died in 1303. He was the 
 first Baron Bee of Eresby, and his daughter Alice 
 took the title and estates into the Willoughby family. 
 
 After this all trace of the Hospital is lost. It had 
 already become part of the property of Bardney 
 Abbey by the grant of Walter de Gaunt before 11 38, 
 and doubtless became merged in the Abbey estates. 
 The foregoing notice from King John's time is suffi- 
 
 manor house itself, whether it might be a cottage or hut, or abode of 
 somewhat greater pretension. But the word site just used must be 
 qualified in this way : the toft was not the mere area occupied by the 
 actual edifice : it was the area within which, with a margin, and possibly 
 a considerable margin, round the edifice, the dwelling actually stood." — 
 Atkinson's Memorials of Old Whitby, p. 172. 
 
 * " Sire Walter Bee jist ici de ki alme Deus ait merci."
 
 58 History of Partney. 
 
 cient to show that at that period its possessions were 
 kept distinct, but there would naturally be a tendency 
 for all properties of the Abbey to be merged in one 
 estate, and the special object of the Hospital's exist- 
 ence was after all only a department of monastic 
 work. In every Abbey or Convent, hospitality was 
 a religious duty, and lands were sometimes left to 
 such institutions, " ad hospitandum pauperes," for the 
 purpose of enabling them to treat poor persons as 
 guests. 
 
 Nor can we be certain about the site of the Part- 
 ney Hospital. The name of Chantry Garth for a 
 field between the Red Lion Inn and the present 
 Rectory seems to point to some religious foundation 
 having existed there. The Hospital may have 
 included the Inn premises, and if so they have been 
 set apart as a place of rest and refreshment for 
 strangers, for as long a period probably as any in 
 England. We must, however, remember that "the 
 real meaning of Garth is fence, whatever the material 
 employed in making it — earth, stones, wood, hedging 
 stuff, or what not — fence and fence only."* Between 
 the paddock now called the Chantry Garth and the 
 premises of the modern Rectory there is an artificial 
 bank of considerable size and so old that a row of 
 large beech trees now grows on the top of it. Strictly 
 speaking, then, this bank is the Chantry Garth. Its 
 work as fence is, in the first place, the protection of 
 the present Rectory garden, and this seems to mean 
 
 * Dr. Atkinson's Memorials of Old Whitby, p. 45.
 
 Other Religions Foundations. 59 
 
 that the Rectory premises are on the site of 
 the old Chantry or Hospital, if they be identical. 
 Further, these premises are at the corner of the 
 meeting of cross roads, and in a natural position for a 
 place of rest and refreshment for wayfarers. Then, 
 again, we find the present house flush with the road 
 — a most unusual position for a house of that size in 
 a country village — while beyond the road is a small 
 strip, not separated from the field of which it now 
 forms a part by any fence, but belonging to the Lord 
 of the Manor. That which is now the main road of 
 entrance into the village from the east is not the old 
 one, which went north of the Church and is now 
 represented by a mere lane. May it not be that, at 
 the suppression of the Hospital, what had been only 
 a private road to it was continued into the village 
 and through the churchyard, and then at subsequent 
 sales of the property the piece to the north of this 
 road, which really belonged to it, became perma- 
 nently detached ?
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 LANDOWNERS AND INHABITANTS. 
 
 --T.TV.-r.--r.-r 
 
 ALTHOUGH this is the most extensive 
 
 part of our subject, we have, after all, 
 but few authorities to apply to, and 
 scant sources for the information we are 
 in search of. Parochial records are seldom anything 
 more than the parish registers, which, in the form of 
 a tattered and almost undecipherable piece of parch- 
 ment, may perhaps go back to 1538. But this 
 obviously can only give us information about the last 
 300 years, and we naturally should wish to carry back 
 our history of the parish to, at least as far as we 
 consider the history of our country to be authentic, 
 say, the Norman Conquest, or 500 years earlier than 
 the institution of parish registers. Our knowledge 
 of things parochial, unless we are fortunate enough 
 to possess from private sources some documents of 
 early date, must be derived from public records which 
 will probably only mention incidentally the particular 
 parish in which we are interested. We naturally
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 61 
 
 begin our account with an extract from Domesday 
 Book. In this most important record * Partney is 
 mentioned twice ; (i) under the lands of Gilbert de 
 Gaunt and (2) under those of Robert Despencer. 
 Gilbert de Gaunt (Ghent or Gant) was one of those 
 valiant Flemings who settled on the east coast of 
 northern Britain in the 1 ith century. He was the son 
 of Baldwin, Earl of Flanders, whose sister William the 
 Conqueror married. He was a brave soldier and a 
 notable man. In the terrible slaughter of the 
 Normans at York in 1069 by the Danes and the 
 remnant of the English, who had taken refuge in the 
 fens of Lincolnshire and Ely, he was one of the few 
 that escaped. By the favour of William he received 
 large estates, and, besides property in other counties, 
 was granted 113 manors in Lincolnshire. He helped 
 to refound Bardney Abbey, which had been destroyed 
 by the Danes, and, as has been already mentioned, 
 endowed it with some of his lands in Partney. He 
 is believed to have died about 1090, and to have been 
 
 * Domesday Book contains the results of a Survey made of the whole 
 of England, with the exception of the four northern counties, in 1085-86. 
 It enumerates the tenants in chief, under tenants, freeholders and serfs, 
 the nature and obligations of their tenure, and their values in King 
 Edward's reign and at the date of the Survey. The returns were 
 transmitted to Winchester, and the name Domesday has been thought 
 to be derived from the Chapel or Domus Dei there in which they were 
 placed. Another explanation would connect it with Doom=a judgment 
 or decision, and finds confirmation of this in its Latin name, Liber 
 Judicalis, It is one of the most valuable records in the world. No 
 other nation possesses such a book. The portion relating to Lincoln- 
 shire was translated and published by Mr. C. C. Smith in 1870.
 
 62 History of Partney. 
 
 buried at Bardney. His property here is thus 
 
 described (of course the original is in Latin) : " In 
 
 Partene soke there are 5 carucates of land rateable to 
 
 gelt. The land is as many carucates. Gilbert de 
 
 Gaunt has there 17 sokemen and 27 bordars with 
 
 5 carucates. There is a market worth 10/- yearly 
 
 and there is a meadow of 100 acres." But, even after 
 
 translation, this extract needs some explanation to 
 
 make it intelligible. The 17 sokemen are tenants 
 
 who came under the jurisdiction of the Baronial 
 
 Court. There were also 2j bordars or smaller tenants, 
 
 who would hold probably not more than 5 acres each. 
 
 These tenants imply 44 households, or a population 
 
 of about 220. A carucate rateable to gelt is the unit 
 
 of assessed arable land. It is the area that one 
 
 plough drawn by four oxen can till annually, the 
 
 word itself being introduced by the Normans. As to 
 
 what the actual quantity was, writers on the subject 
 
 by no means agree, but the weight of evidence seems 
 
 to lie with the idea that it was the same as the 
 
 "hide," 100 acres, that is, the long hundred of old 
 
 English measure, 6 score or 120 acres. Five carucates, 
 
 therefore, and 100 acres of meadow account for some 
 
 700 acres of land in Partney. The market will be 
 
 dealt with better when we come to speak of the fairs 
 
 in a later chapter. The second entry is under the 
 
 lands of Robert Dispensator (Despencer), that is 
 
 steward. He held in Lincolnshire fifteen Lordships, 
 
 among them Guldesmere (now Ingoldmells). As soke 
 
 to this manor, that is, coming under its jurisdiction,
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 63 
 
 there were " In Partenai, Stepinge, Trie,* and Burg 
 2 carucates and a half of land, rateable to gelt. The 
 land is as many carucates. 5 sokemen and 2 villeins 
 have there half a carucate and 30 acres of meadow." 
 As this refers to property in four different parishes, it 
 is impossible to say how much it adds to the acreage 
 or population of Partney. 
 
 We must endeavour first to trace the history of the 
 de Gaunt estate. The original owner, as has been 
 said, died about 1090. He was succeeded by his son 
 Walter, who owned in Candleshoe 48 carucates of 
 land. He died in 11 38, and was followed by his son 
 Gilbert, who died in 1160. This second Gilbert 
 married Rohaise (or Hawise) daughter, and at length 
 heiress, of William de Romara, Earl of Lincoln. 
 Their children were two daughters, Alice and 
 Gunnora. The former married Simon de St. Liz, 
 Earl of Northampton and of Huntingdon, who died 
 without issue in 1184.1 Gunnora married Robert de 
 Valoines, and is generally stated to have also died 
 without issue, and the inheritance appears to have 
 reverted % to a cousin, a third Gilbert, son of Robert 
 half brother of the 2nd Gilbert, and his wife Gunnora 
 
 * There is no doubt but that this means Skegness, though the 
 translator of Domesday Book for Lincolnshire has rendered it Langrick. 
 
 t Henry II. thereupon restored the earldom of Huntingdon to 
 William, King of Scotland, who transferred it to his younger brother 
 David, who had married" Earl Simon's widow. 
 
 \ " Unde hereditas ad Robertum fratrem dicti Gilberti revertebat." 
 — Dugdale quoting " Stemma fundatoris " of Bardney Abbey.
 
 64 History of Partney. 
 
 de Gournay, for about the year 12 13* he was holding 
 4^ carucates of land in Partney out of the 5 mentioned 
 in Domesday, and Eustace de Vesci was his tenant 
 holding under him the 3rd part of a knight's fee. At 
 the same time it was stated that the ancestors of the 
 said Gilbert had given a bovate and a half of land (in 
 puram eleemosinam) to the Hospital at Partney, and 
 William the priest's brother held it by the service of 
 issuing summonses to the tenants of the manorial 
 court.t The estates also include 4^ carucates in Orby 
 and Addlethorpe, and John de Orby held them by 
 performing the office of Constable I to the said Gilbert. 
 This Gilbert joined the discontented Barons against 
 King John, and having been taken prisoner at Lincoln 
 in 12 16 was divested of the title of Earl of Lincoln, 
 which had been given him by Prince Louis of France, 
 then a claimant for the throne of England. He is 
 sometimes known as "the good." He confirmed all 
 the grants which his ancestors had bestowed on 
 Bardney Abbey, including " In Partney the Church 
 of St. Nicholas with its appurtenances and the Chapel 
 of St. Mary with its appurtenances and the Hospital 
 of that place with its appurtenances."§ At his death 
 
 * Testa de Neville, p. 334. 
 
 f No doubt the piece referred to later as Summonerland. 
 
 \ The Constable possessed considerable power within the precincts 
 of the manor, and held trials of criminal charge. As Constables of 
 castles, or castellans, they frequently received prisoners, whom they 
 might, and often did, deal with severely. Magna Charta, in 12 15, 
 conferred a great boon on the people by depriving such persons of the 
 power to try prisoners. 
 
 § Dugdale's Monasticon.
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 65 
 
 in 1242 he was succeeded by his son, a fourth Gilbert, 
 who died in 1274 and was buried at Bridlington. He 
 was followed by his son, a fifth Gilbert, and this 
 brings us down to the times of Edward I. (1272- 
 1307). At the beginning of his reign this king issued 
 his writs " quo warranto,"* requiring every nobleman 
 to produce his title to his estates. Gilbert de Gaunt 
 appeared before the king's justices and claimed 
 (amongst other things) that the manor of Partney 
 was his, and that he was entitled to the profits on 
 the fairs and markets, and in 1276 Henry de Lacy,t 
 who, as we shall presently see, had certain lands in 
 Partney, while claiming for himself the right of free 
 warren over his own and other people's lands in 
 Ingoldmells and elsewhere, acknowledged that Gilbert 
 de Gaunt had similar rights in Partney and Dalby. 
 This Gilbert in 1286 made an exchange with the 
 Abbey of Bardney, giving up certain lands in Partney 
 worth 30/-, and taking the mill at Bradham in 
 Skendleby. He died in 1297, and at an inquisition % 
 held on the Monday after Ascension Day, 1298, he 
 was found by the jurors to have possessed " the manor 
 of Skendleby with its members Thorpe and Partney, 
 held in chief by barony with Folkyngham, Heckyng- 
 ton, Barton and Edenham which manors except 
 Skendleby belong to the King by reversion after the 
 death of the said Gilbert : value ^"43 7s. iod." The 
 
 * Plaata de quo warranto, Edward I., Rolls Series, p. 424. 
 
 t Hundred Rolls, Edward I., p. 369. 
 
 I Chancery fnr/., post mortem, 26 Edward I., No. 38.
 
 66 History of Partney. 
 
 jurors also found " that Roger de Kerdeston, Peter son 
 of Peter de Mauley, and Juliana de Gaunt sister of the 
 said Gilbert were his heirs." His widow was Laura 
 de Balliol, who died in 1309. King Edward gave the 
 de Gaunt Fee to Henry Beaumont. He died in 
 1340,* when "Partenaye" was one of his yz Lord- 
 ships. His grandson Henry died in 1369,+ possessing 
 Partney among his " fceda de Gaunt." Then his son 
 John, who died in 1397,^: held the third part of a fee 
 with the heirs of William Thorpe and Walter 
 Countevill for his tenants, and one fee with Roger 
 Cromwell for tenant. His son Henry, the fifth 
 Baron Beaumont, married Elizabeth, daughter of Lord 
 Willoughby d'Eresby, and when he died in 141 3 he 
 possessed a manor in Partney. But by this time the 
 rights of the Lord of the Manor had become very 
 limited, and his immediate tenants were for all 
 practical purposes owners of the land, only paying 
 some small quit rent. Eustace Fitzjohn, who was 
 killed in n 57, had had confirmed to him part of the 
 fee of Gilbert de Gaunt, including Partney. His son 
 William took the name of Vesci, and in 11 66 held a 
 third part of one fee under Earl Simon de St. Liz. In 
 1 2 1 3 Eustace de Vesci was holding the same amount 
 under Gilbert de Gaunt the third, to whom, as has 
 been said, the de Gaunt inheritance eventually re- 
 verted. Later, Robert de Sausthorpe and Walter de 
 
 * Inquisitiones ', post mortem, Vol. ii., p. 94- 
 t „ „ „ Vol. ii., p. 33S- 
 
 X ,, >, ,, Vol. iii., p. 19S.
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 67 
 
 Gaunceville were tenants, and in 1432 an Inquisition 
 was held at Burgh-le-marsh on " the Saturday before 
 the Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist," and 
 the jurors found that " the Lord of Willoughby holds 
 in Partner one third fee formerly Robert de Partenay 
 of the fee of Gaunt."* Presumably by this Robert de 
 Partenay is meant Robert de Sausthorpe or one of his 
 descendants, and it looks as though the Willoughbys 
 were now holding the one third fee of the Gaunts 
 formerly held by the Vescies. 
 
 But some of the lands and profits of Partney had 
 not passed to the Beaumonts but continued with the 
 Skendleby property, to which the sisters (or their 
 children) of Gilbert de Gaunt the fifth succeeded. 
 These had been Margaret, wife of William de 
 Kerdeston, Xichola, wife of Peter de Mauley, and 
 Juliana, unmarried. This last appears to have joined 
 the Nunnery of Nun Cotham, or at least to have left 
 her property to it. When Bishop John Longlandt 
 (Bishop of Lincoln 1 521-1547) issued in 1532 a set 
 of injunctions to the Nunnery, one of these was : 
 "And such obits and chantries as your house is 
 bound to keep as the chantry of Juliana Gaunt, dame 
 
 * Exchequer Q. /?. Miscellaneous Book, Vol. iv. 
 
 f This nunnery, which was situated in the parish of Keelby near 
 Great Grimsby, was founded in the reign of Henry I. for a prioress and 
 12 nuns. In the " Life of Bishop Longland " by the late Archdeacon 
 Perry, and published in the Lincoln Diocesan Magazine, there is a very 
 interesting account of his visitation of the various monastic institutions 
 of his Diocese. The injunctions to Nun Cotham were given in the 
 number of the Magazine for Sept., 1894.
 
 68 History of Partney. 
 
 Margaret Ousby her kinswoman and other be suffi- 
 ciently and accordingly maintained." When this 
 house was suppressed its property included * from 
 Partney 12s. 4d. for rent of land, and 6s. 8d. for tolls 
 of the fairs. There were also from Skendleby and 
 Partney manorial dues worth 8s. iod., and in 
 Skendleby land worth £\\ 6s. yd. 
 
 Margaret de Kerdeston left a son Roger,t who died 
 1337. He was succeeded by his son William, who 
 was present at the battle of Crecy. He died in 1360, 
 possessing " lands and tenements in Well Park and 
 Partenay/'J He left three children, a son William 
 and two daughters, Margaret, wife of William 
 Tendring, and Maud, wife of Sir John Burghersh. In 
 1392 we find that the latter owned § "Skendleby 
 manor the third part : Partney the 18th part of the 
 profits on the fairs and market and also one rood and 
 the 3rd part of 2 acres of meadow." His son, also a 
 John, married Ismania, daughter of Simon Hanap, 
 and in 142 1, she was declared II to have owned 
 " Skendleby Manor the 3rd part : Partney, part of 
 the profits of the fairs and market under the Castle 
 of Falkingham." This Sir John Burghersh and his 
 
 * Dugdale's Monasticon, Vol. v., p. 678. 
 
 f Kerdeston is the name of a small parish in Norfolk, ecclesiastically 
 united with Reepham. In the church of the latter is a monument to 
 this Roger. 
 
 \ Tnquisitiones \ post mortem, Vol. ii., p. 233. 
 
 § ,. » „ Vol. iii., p. 133. 
 
 II „ » » Vol. iv., p. 56.
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 69 
 
 wife left two daughters, Margaret, who married firstly 
 Sir John Greenville and secondly Sir John Arundel, 
 and Maud, who married Thomas, son of the poet 
 Geoffrey Chaucer, and so connects Partner with a 
 very illustrious name. In 1424 Sir John Arundel de 
 Bidford owned * part of the manor of Skendleby and 
 an annual rent in Partney. In 1435 Thomas Chaucer 
 and Matilda his wife owned f " half the manor of 
 Skendleby, and one eighteenth part of the profits of 
 the fairs and market at Partney and a rent charge of 
 5 '-." This was all they possessed in Lincolnshire. 
 Their only daughter, Alice, married firstly Sir John 
 Philip and secondly William de la Pole, Duke of 
 Suffolk, and in the early part of his reign chief adviser 
 of Henry VI. Things seemed to turn out unhappily 
 during his period of power, and he became very 
 unpopular. Riots occurred in several places, and in 
 1450 he was impeached and banished for five years. 
 This did not satisfy the resentment of his enemies, 
 and on his way to Calais the ship was boarded and 
 he was taken out of it. After a mock trial he was 
 put into a small boat and beheaded. His body was 
 flung on the sea shore near Dover. The King ordered 
 it to be given to his widow, who buried it in the 
 church of Wingfield in Suffolk. 
 
 Meanwhile the Orby family had acquired lands 
 here. Sir John de Orby, who died J in 1296, owned 
 
 * Inquisitions, post mortem, Vol. iv., p. 79- 
 
 t » » » Vol. iv., pp. 1G0, 177. 
 
 „ ,, „ Vol. i., p. 143.
 
 70 History of Partney. 
 
 the manor of Dalby with lands in Partney, Dex- 
 thorpe, and elsewhere. His daughter Alice married 
 Robert de Willoughby, and their great-grandson John, 
 together with Edward Somerville and Alured de 
 Salney, was found to be heir to the John de Orby 
 who died in 1 3 1 6. The three are said to have divided 
 the estates between them. 
 
 The Partney portion of this manor of Dalby can 
 only have been something small. It will be sufficient 
 to trace its history, together with the Dalby lands, in 
 the chapter more especially devoted to the latter. 
 
 At this point it will be best to return to the fortunes 
 of the smaller property, mentioned in Domesday 
 Book, as belonging to Robert Despencer. The some- 
 what vexed question as to his identity with the 
 ancestor of the Marmions,* and the difficulty of 
 understanding who his descendants really were, need 
 not concern us here. There is no doubt but that 
 before the year 11 00 his brother Urso d'Abitot, 
 Sheriff of Worcester, was holding this property, and 
 he exchanged it with Robert de Lacy for land at 
 Wacton in Hereford. The following charter t con- 
 firms this exchange. "Willelmus Rex Anglige Roberto 
 
 * See Canon Lodge's History of Scrivehby. 
 
 t Duchy of Lancaster Royal Charters, No. I. "William King of 
 England to Robert (Blouet) Bishop of Lincoln (1093-1123) Osbert 
 Sheriff of Lincoln and to his barons and faithful men French and 
 English greeting. I would have you know that I allow the exchange 
 which Urso d'Abitot and Robert de Lacy have made concerning 
 Ingoldmells and Wacton. Witnesses Robert Bishop of Lincoln and 
 R. Fitzhamon at Brigstock."
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. Ji 
 
 Episcopo Lincolniensi Osberto Vicecomiti Lincolniae 
 et baronibus suis et fidelibus Francis et Angiitis 
 satutem. Sciatis quod concedo excambium quod 
 fecerit Urso d'Abitot et Robertus d'Lacio de Ingold- 
 mera et Wicchona. Testibus Roberto Episcopo 
 Lincolniensi et R. Fitzhamon apud Brigstock." 
 
 The lands of the de Lacys were, however, forfeited 
 by rebellion, when they took the side of Duke Robert 
 against his brother Henry I., and about 1114 
 were held by Hugh de Vallo (de Valoines or de 
 la Val) whose lands in Candleshoe in 110S had 
 amounted to 4 carucates and 6 borates. Ilbert de 
 Lacy is said to have re-obtained from Stephen the 
 Barony of Pontefract, which had been held by his 
 father Robert, who made the exchange with Urso 
 d'Abitot, and by his grandfather Ilbert, to whom the 
 Barony had been originally granted by William the 
 Conqueror. The Ingoldmells manor seems, however, 
 to have remained sometime longer with the de la Vals, 
 probably until after the death of Guy de la Val in 
 1 1 99. In 1 1 66 this Guy held 20 of the 60 Knights' 
 fees of the Honour of Pontefract, Henry de Lacy 
 holding the other 40, and he presented on one occasion 
 to the Rectory of Skegness, as Lord of the Manor of 
 Ingoldmells. In the reign of Henry II. there was 
 also a Roger de Valoines, who left two sons, Geoffrey, 
 who died about 1184, and Philip, who died about 
 1 195, leaving a daughter Gunnora, wife to Robert 
 Fitz waiter, leader of the Barons against King John. 
 In 1209 what is called an Assize Mort d' Ancestor was
 
 7 2 History of Partney, 
 
 held * to enquire if Geoffrey de Valoines, uncle of 
 Gunnora, wife of Robert Fitzwalter, possessed the 
 manor of Partney at his death, which land Philip de 
 Valoines was then holding. An attorney appeared 
 for the latter to protest against his being regarded as 
 holding the whole of the manor of Partney with its 
 appurtenances, and so being liable to all the charges 
 upon it, because Earl David (of Huntingdon) held 
 part, namely, the moiety of the market. 
 
 Meanwhile the second Ilbert de Lacy was succeeded 
 by his brother Robert, who died in 1193, when his 
 nephew John Fitz Eustace became his heir and took 
 the name of Lacy. He was followed by his son 
 Roger, who died in 1206, and about the year 121 3 
 his widow Matilda t was found to hold 2 carucates 
 
 * Abbreviatio Placitorum : John ; Rolls Series, p. 59- "Assize came 
 to recognise if Geoffrey de Valoines uncle of Gunnora wife of Robert 
 Fitzwalter was possessed in demesne &c. as of the manor of Partenay, on 
 the day of his death, which land Philip de Valoines now holds. His 
 attorney says that the assize ought not to go against him because he 
 does not himself holdall the manor of Partenay with its appurtenances, 
 because Earl David holds part namely the moiety of the market." 
 
 The explanation must be looked for in the fact that he had succeeded 
 to some of the titles and presumably some of the rights of Simon de 
 St. Liz, Earl of Northampton and Huntingdon, especially as husband 
 of his widow. 
 
 •\ Testa de Neville, p. 334. "Domina Matilda de Lacy tenet de 
 domino Rege in Ingoldvoles et in Schekenessa et in Steeping et in 
 Burgh et in Ptenay iii carucates dimidium bovati minus sed nescimus 
 per quod servitium." 
 
 Testa de Neville, p. 329. " Walterus de Marescale tenet Villam de 
 Ingoldmells, Plena)', Burgh, Stepinge, Skeggness de domino Rege in 
 capite de honore de Pumfrays sed nescit pro quanto defendit ilium 
 versum dominum regem." It is obvious that these notices refer to 
 exactly the same property as had been Robert Despencer's at the time 
 of the Domesday Survey.
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 73 
 
 and 7^ bovates in Ingoldmells, Skegness, Steeping, 
 Burgh, and Partney. Henry III. bestowed upon her 
 son John de Lacy the earldom of Lincoln, which 
 Louis of France, as has been said, had bestowed on 
 Gilbert de Gaunt, and after his death in 1240 his 
 widow Margaret de Ouincey held this fee as dower 
 and took it to her second husband, Walter de 
 Mareschal. He succeeded his brother Gilbert as Earl 
 of Pembroke in 1241, and died in 1245. The manor 
 of Ingoldmells passed eventually with other Lacy 
 property to the Dukes of Lancaster * and so to the 
 Crown. It was sold by King Charles I. to the 
 Corporation of the City of London, and in 1658 was 
 purchased by Sir Drayner Massingberd of South 
 Ormsby, to whose descendants it still belongs. t 
 
 But some, if not all, of the Partney lands of 
 the manor had been alienated before these changes 
 of ownership took place. In 1296 it was found that 
 there was ^"84 12s. 8id. owing to the Earl of 
 Lincoln, and of this amount " Richard formerly 
 Reeve owes 39s. iM., and it is put in respite until 
 discussion is held touching a certain farm {i.e. annual 
 rent) of ^2 pence which the Lord John Bee holds in 
 Partenay for which he is charged in the sum of the 
 
 * John de Lacy and Margaret de Ouincey (afterwards wife of Walter 
 Mareschal) had a son, Edmund de Lacy, who died in 1 1 57, and was 
 succeeded by his son Henry de Lacy 3rd Earl of Lincoln of this 
 family. He died in 1 3 1 2, leaving only a daughter Alice, who 
 married Thomas Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, son of Edmund, second 
 son of I Icmy II I. 
 
 f History 0/ Ormsby, by Rev. W. O. Massingberd, ]>. 161.
 
 74 History of Partncy. 
 
 farms."* Afterwards the Lord John Bee showed the 
 feoffment (enfranchisement) of the Earl, by which 
 the Earl grants to the same John and his heirs the 
 rent of the said 32 pence. "Therefore from hence- 
 forth let it be deleted from the account." John Bee 
 died in 1303, and shortly before his death t acknow- 
 ledged his lands in Partney, Ashby, Fulletby, &c, 
 part of the manor of Eresby to be the right of Robert 
 de Willoughby, son of his daughter Alice and Sir 
 William Willoughby her husband. This Robert was 
 found at his death % in 13 16 to have "certain lands 
 and tenements in Partnev and Tovnton of the Earl 
 of Lincoln." John de Willoughby was his son 
 and heir. The quotation given above shows how 
 shadowy had become any claims of the earl over this 
 particular property, and henceforth we may regard 
 the Despencer lands in Partney as merged in those 
 of the Lords Willoughby de Eresby. 
 
 We may consider this John de Willoughby as 
 founder of the fortunes of his family. In right of his 
 great-grandmother he succeeded to a portion of the 
 estates of John de Orby, and in right of his grand- 
 mother to those of John Lord Bee of Eresby and his 
 more wealthy brother Anthony Bee, Bishop of 
 Durham. The original holding in Partney was very 
 small. Robert de Willoughby, son of Alice de Bee, 
 
 * Duchy of Lancaster Ministers' Accounts, 23 and 24 Edward I. 
 
 j Harleian Charters, 45 H. 18. 
 
 \ Chancery Inquisitions, post mortem, 10 Edward II., No. 78.
 
 Landozvners and Inhabitants. 75 
 
 dying in 1316 was found* to have held but "9^ acres 
 of meadow, part of the tolls of the fairs, and 7s. 3d. 
 annual rent." Presumably this included the " $2 
 pence" about which enquiry had been made in 1296. 
 In 13 13 Robert de Willoughby had been summoned 
 by writ t to a seat in Parliament, and since his time 
 there has always been a Barony of Willoughby 
 d'Eresby, though sometimes merged in higher titles, 
 among the Peers of England. John, the second lord, 
 fought at Crecy in 1346, and endowed the chantry of 
 the Holy Trinity at Spilsby. He died in 1348, and 
 is commemorated in the first of the series % of 
 Willoughby monuments in Spilsby Church. 
 
 His son John was accounted one of the most 
 distinguished Knights of his time. He fought at 
 Poictiers in 1356, and died in 1372. There is a very 
 beautiful tomb to his memory in Spilsby Church. At 
 his death § he was found to have owned a manor at 
 Partney as part of his manor of West Keal. He was 
 succeeded by his son Robert, whose arms are on the 
 tower of West Keal Church, and who may therefore 
 be presumed to have had considerable share in the 
 building of it. He died in 1396, and is commemorated 
 
 * Inqmsitiones, post mortem, Vol. i., p. 246. 
 
 f A Barony " by writ " descends to heirs general, and in these cases 
 we sometimes get a lady who is a peeress in her own right. This has 
 happened four times in the history of the Willoughby peerage. A 
 Barony "by patent" descends only to heirs male or such special 
 persons as may be mentioned in the patent. 
 
 J For a fuller account of these members of the Willoughby family 
 and the monuments see the Rev. H. C. Smith's History of Spilsby. 
 
 \ Inquisitiones, post mortem, Vol. ii., p. 324.
 
 76 History of Partney. 
 
 by a monument of alabaster at Spilsby, while to one 
 of his wives there is a very interesting brass. His 
 son William, to whose memory there is also a brass 
 in Spilsby Church, died in 14 10, possessed* of the 
 manors of Orby and Partney, and divers holdings 
 formerly part of the de Gaunt fee.t His second wife 
 was Joan, daughter of Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, 
 and widow of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, 
 the son of Edward III. After Lord Willoughby's 
 death she married Henry, Lord Scrope, attainted and 
 beheaded in 141 5, and then a fourth husband, Henry 
 Bromflete, Lord Vesey, who died in 1468. She died 
 in 1434, and both then and in 14 10, the date of Lord 
 Willoughby's death, was declared to have held the 
 manor of Partney. It seems that this was part of her 
 jointure as Lord Willoughby's widow. The next and 
 sixth Lord Willoughby was Robert, first summoned 
 to Parliament in 141 1. He was one of the most 
 
 * Inquisitiones , post mortem, Vol. iii., p. 329. 
 
 f Inquisition taken at Spilsby on Wednesday next after the feast of 
 S. Hilary, II Henry IV., before William Driby, Escheator. "The 
 jurors say that William de Wilughby Chevalier late Lord of Eresby 
 held on the day he died, jointly with Joan Duchess of York his wife, the 
 manors of Orby and Parteney with appurtenances to them and the 
 heirs of the same William, of the gift and feofment of Albinus de 
 Enderby, and that the manor of Orby worth ^40 yearly is held of the 
 Dean and Chapter of Lincoln and that the manor of Partney is held of 
 the Bishop of Lincoln by what service they know not and is worth 
 beyond reprises 10 marks : and the}' say that the said Joan survives 
 and that the said William died at Eggefield in Norfolk on Wednesday 
 next before the feast of S l . Andrew the Apostle 11 Henry IV. and that 
 Robert de Wilughby, son of the said William is his next heir." 
 — Chancery Inq., p.m., II Henry IV., No. 29.
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 77 
 
 famous soldiers of the age, and fought with Henry V. 
 at Harfleur and Agincourt. Henry, Lord Beaumont, 
 who died in 141 3* had left an infant son only four 
 years of age, and in 1431 Lord Willoughby was 
 advanced to the dignity of Earl of Vendome and 
 Beaumont. This seems to imply that he received 
 either then or previously that de Gaunt fee which 
 had been given by Edward I. to the Beaumonts, but 
 which after this appears no more among their 
 possessions. 
 
 He died in 1452, possessed of the manor of West 
 Keal, of which, as we have seen, certain lands in 
 Partney were "parcel," and by his will,f which he 
 made in 1440, he bequeathed to his wife Matilda his 
 " manors of Hanby, Foulestow, Arske, Partney 
 Thorpe and Partney Fotheringhay."t Though twice 
 married he left no son, and his only daughter married 
 Sir Richard Welles, who became Lord Willoughby 
 d'Eresby in her right. § 
 
 * See also page 66 supra. 
 
 t See Gibbons' Early Lincoln Wills. 
 
 J We shall probably find the explanation of this name in the fact of 
 the possession of property in Partney by Simon de St. Liz, Earl of 
 Northampton, and date the existence of the two manors to the division 
 of the inheritance of Gilbert de Gaunt between two daughters in 1160. 
 
 § It was a recognised principle of the feudal system that the husband 
 who possessed lands in right of his wife was bound to render the 
 services by which the lands were held. Numerous instances therefore 
 occur of husbands sitting in Parliament "jure uxoris." The custom 
 ceased when feudal tenures became obsolete, and in the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth the claim of Richard Bertie to the title of Lord Willoughby 
 d'Eresby in right of his wife was neither recognised nor acted upon. 
 — Sir Harris Nicholas' Historic Peerage.
 
 7$ History of Partncy. 
 
 The Welles family had for some generations been 
 holding property here. In 1297 Adam de Welles of 
 Hellow (Belleau) held * a moiety of the manor of 
 Partney, and his grandson, also Adam, who died t in 
 1345, possessed divers lands and tenements in this 
 and other places. In 1422 John de Welles, grand- 
 father of Richard, who married the W'illoughby heiress, 
 owned % " the third part of the manor of Skendleby 
 and the profits on the markets at Partney." His 
 widow, Margaret, who died in 1426, was still receiving 
 the latter.§ Richard, Lord Welles and W r illoughby, 
 and Robert his son headed a rebellion in 1469 against 
 Edward IV., and lost in consequence both life and 
 property. Both Skendleby and Partney appear in 
 the list of manors they had formerly possessed.il We 
 get some idea of the extent of their property in the 
 parish from an account 11 of the belongings of John 
 Affordby of Bilsby, who died in 1493 and was found 
 to have held " 30 acres of land and 300 acres of 
 pasture in Partenay of Richard Wells Knight Lord of 
 Willoughby." 
 
 * Escheat Rolls, p. 147. 
 
 \ Inquisitiones, post mortem, Vol. ii., p. 124. 
 
 \ „ ,, ,. Vol. iv., p. 6j. 
 
 § „ „ „ Vol. iv., p. 101. 
 
 A comparison of these quantities with those traced for the Kerdeston 
 share of Gilbert de Gaunt's Skendleby and Partney property would 
 seem to point to this Welles estate having formerly been that of 
 Nichola de Mauley. 
 
 || Inquisitiones, post mortem, Vol. iv. 
 
 11 Lincolnshire Notes and Queries, Vol. iv., p. 109.
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 79 
 
 Joan, the only daughter of Richard, Lord Welles, 
 had married Richard Hastings, who was summoned to 
 Parliament as Lord Welles in 1482 and had special 
 livery of all the lands formerly belonging to Lord 
 Welles. He died without issue in 1503 and his wife 
 in 1505, when both title and estates reverted to a 
 younger branch.* This was represented by William 
 Willoughby, a great-grandson of Thomas, younger 
 brother of Robert, the sixth Baron. This Lord 
 Willoughby was high in favour with Henry VI L, who 
 gave him Grimsthorpe and Edenham out of the 
 confiscated estates of Lord Lovel, and the former 
 gradually took the place hitherto held by Eresby as 
 the chief residence of the family. Lord Willoughby 
 married Mary de Salinas, one of the Spanish atten- 
 dants of Catherine of Aragon. He died in 1527 and 
 was buried at Mettingham in Suffolk. t His property 
 included the manors of Partney Thorpe and Partne) r 
 Fotheringhay, to which his only daughter Catherine 
 succeeded. She was married first to Charles Brandon, 
 Duke of Suffolk, and secondly to Richard Bertie, Esq. 
 The latter and the Duchess are both buried at Spilsby, 
 
 * In the Church of Ashby juxta Partney are some fragments of a tomb 
 apparently of this couple. Four shields remain : (i) a lion rampant 
 double queued — Welles ; (2) a maunch — Hastings ; (3) Hastings 
 quartering Ufford impaling Bee ; (4) WelLes quartering Ufford 
 quartering Bee. 
 
 t An old manor of the Uffords. He directed in his will, May 4th, 
 1526, " My body to be buried in the Collegiate Church of Spillesb}'. 
 Also I will that a tomb be erected for me and my wife in the College of 
 Spillesby." These directions were not carried out.— Rev. H. C. 
 Smith's History 0/ Spilsby, p. 138.
 
 8o History of Partney. 
 
 where there is a very large monument completely 
 blocking up what was formerly the chancel arch of 
 the Church. Her two sons by Charles Brandon 
 having both died of the " sweating sickness " on July 
 1 6th, 1 55 1, the Willoughby estates of the Duchess 
 passed to her son by Richard Bertie. This was 
 Peregrine Bertie, twelfth Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, 
 a very distinguished man in the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth. He died at Berwick-on-Tweed in 1661, 
 and, in accordance with his special directions, his body 
 was brought to Spilsby for burial.* The last of the 
 series of the Spilsby monuments gives a life-size effigy 
 of him. His son Robert, at a survey taken of 
 Partney in i6i6,f owned 212 acres of land in the 
 parish. He was created Earl of Lindsey and was 
 killed at the battle of Edgehill in 1642. It is not 
 necessary to trace further the history of this family, 
 which has continued to hold the largest estate in the 
 parish ever since, and in 1840 was found \>y the tithe 
 commissioners to possess 499 acres. 
 
 It remains to make a few notes on smaller holdings. 
 Various religious establishments formerly had property 
 here. 
 
 The first Gilbert de Gaunt had endowed Bardney 
 Abbey with lands in Partney, and his successors had 
 confirmed the gifts, one of them, as we have seen, 
 increasing the Abbey's possessions here by an ex- 
 change. At the dissolution of the monasteries its 
 
 o 
 
 * Five Generations of a Loyal House, by Lad}- Georgina Bertie, 
 f Quoted in Oldfield's Wainfleet, p. 233.
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 81 
 
 total income was £366 per annum, and this included 
 "Firma Maneria de Parteney £7 os. od.," and 
 " Pencio Rectoris de Parteney £1 6s. 8d."* 
 
 The property of Nun Cotham has already been 
 mentioned.t Revesby owned land worth 8 - per 
 annum, chargeable with the payment of 2s. 2d. to 
 Bardney.J 
 
 In 1 1 75 Herbert de Orby and Agnes his wife 
 founded a priory for Norbertian or Premonstratensian 
 Canons at Hagnaby, near Alford. Remembering the 
 family connection with these villages one would 
 suppose it was part of the original endowment that 
 the priory was found at the dissolution to be holding 
 lands in Dalby worth 4- per annum, and divers 
 messuages and lands in Dalby, Partney, and Alford 
 valued at £\ 6s. 8d.§ 
 
 It is well nigh impossible to give a connected 
 history of the smaller properties in the parish, 
 representing, no doubt, in many cases the sokemen 
 and bordars of the Domesday Survey. Little more 
 can be done than mention, in order of time, such 
 holdings as we have any record of. 
 1 202. A " final concord " was made between Richard, 
 son of Walter, plaintiff, and Ralph Clerk, 
 tenant of a bovate of land in Parteneie. 
 
 * Dugdale's Monastkon, Vol. i., p. 64. 
 
 t See p. 67. 
 
 \ Dugdale's Monastkon, Vol. v., p. 456. 
 
 § Oldfield's Wainfleet y "Addenda," p. 19. 
 G
 
 82 History of Partney. 
 
 Richard quitclaimed all right to Ralph, and 
 for this Ralph gave him ios.* 
 
 1307. John de Rigges, of Partenay, sold 1 toft 
 5 acres of land, 2 acres of meadow and 3 acres 
 of pasture, with appurtenances, to Gilbert 
 de la Chambre of Sutton, and Agnes his wife. 
 The property was settled on the said Agnes 
 for life, and at her decease a moiety, with its 
 appurtenances, in the west field (in campo 
 occidentali) was to belong to her daughter 
 Emma, and, in default of issue, on her death 
 to Simon Burel ; the other moiety, with 
 appurtenances, in the east and south field (in 
 campo orientali et australi) was to belong to 
 Joan, daughter of the said Agnes, and, in 
 default of issue, to Simon Burel.t 
 
 1 3 14. Benedict le Tayllur and Agnes his wife 
 quitclaimed all rights in a messuage, with 
 appurtenances, in Partney, to Cristiana, wife 
 of Robert le Tayllur, " who gives them one 
 sore sparrow hawk. "J 
 
 1 31 9. Simon Newcomen of Wrangle, and Margaret 
 his wife remise and quitclaim to Geoffrey de 
 Wynceby a messuage in Parteneye.§ 
 
 1327. A 20th was granted King Edward III. by 
 Parliament, and collected from the following 
 persons in Partney II : — 
 
 * Feet of Fines, Lincoln : from Rev. W. O. Massingberd. 
 
 T n n " »i n n 
 
 + 
 
 + l( II '<! 11 » II 
 
 J 1! II 1) II 11 1! 
 
 || Lay Subsidy Rolls, Public Record Office.
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 
 
 83 
 
 xii d . 
 
 xx tl . 
 
 iiii s . 
 
 xix (l . 
 
 xii d . 
 
 xviii d . 
 
 xii d . 
 
 xii a . 
 
 ii s . ii d . 
 
 xix d . 
 
 ii s . ix d . 
 
 xviiid. 
 
 vi s . 
 
 13 
 
 55 
 
 1342. 
 
 William Taylur 
 
 Gilbert de Handebec 
 
 Hugh Ruffin 
 
 William Doo 
 
 Ralph ad fontem 
 
 Simon the Chaplain 
 
 A de S t0 . Botolpho . 
 
 John Taylur 
 
 Thomas Syward 
 
 Simon Borel 
 
 Alexander the merchant 
 
 Alexander de Partenay 
 
 William de Caton . 
 
 William de Rokeland 
 
 Walter Barker 
 
 Richard Dand 
 
 Alan Bone 
 
 Ralph Taylur 
 
 Alan de Glorston . 
 
 Sum of the Township 
 Robert, son of John Rigges, of Partenay, and 
 Elizabeth his wife sold one messuage, with 
 appurtenances, in Partenay, to Richard and 
 Matilda Crede for 100 shillings of silver.* 
 An enquiry was held as to the 9ths from 
 benefices granted to the King for the expenses 
 of his French wars. The information as to 
 Partney Rectory was obtained on the sworn 
 testimony of Ralph Taliour, Simon Borel, 
 
 111 s 
 
 11 s . 
 . iii d . 
 
 iii s . 
 
 ii s . 
 xii d . 
 
 ;a 
 
 vm 
 
 xxxviii s . viii' 
 
 * Feet of Fines, Lincoln.
 
 84 History of Partney. 
 
 Alexander Chapman, Roger Dand, Richard 
 Creed, and Ralph Akewra.* 
 1343. William Holcote possessed 4 acres of land 
 here.t 
 
 1348. Philip de Frestone of Raithby, and Agnes 
 his wife gave Alexander, son of Michael de 
 Partenay, and to Alan Warde and his wife 
 £20 for acknowledgment of their right to a 
 moiety of one messuage in Partenay.J 
 
 1420. Licence for an oratory was granted to William 
 West and Agnes his wife for 5 years.§ 
 
 1453. William Brasse, whose bequests to Partney 
 Church have been already referred to, left his 
 wife Alice for life or widowhood lands in 
 Partney, Hundleby, Orby and Skendleby 
 Thorpe, with remainder to his daughter Joan 
 for life, and then to his son Robert. || 
 
 1489. John Cracroft of Hogsthorpe, bequeathed to 
 his son Richard " lands in Partney which I 
 had by feoffment of John Walton and William 
 Sandon."1l 
 
 1489. Richard Langer and Alice his wife sold a 
 house and 46 acres of land, 2 acres of meadow 
 
 * Inquisitiones Nonarum, Rolls Series. 
 ■f Inquisitiones, post mortem, Vol. ii., p. 107. 
 \ Harleian Charters, 50 E. 22. 
 § From the Rev. A. R. Maddison. 
 
 H
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 85 
 
 and 14 acres of pasture in Scremby, Grebby, 
 and Partney to John Holden for ^"40.* 
 
 1 49 1. At an inquisition held in Partney the following 
 inhabitants served on the jury : Hugh Palmer, 
 Robert Webster, Thomas Legh, John Tiler, 
 William Taliour, Robert Jackson, John Arne, 
 and Thomas Lolles.f 
 
 1493. An inquisition found that John Affordby of 
 Billesby, who had died in 1493, had held 
 " 30 acres of land and 300 acres of pasture in 
 Partenay of Richard Welles Knight Lord of 
 Willoughby . . . one messuage 60 acres 
 of land in Spilsby by Partenay of Ivo 
 Sandon."£ 
 
 1495. An inquisition was held at Partney touching 
 the lands of John Fulstowe, deceased. He 
 was found to have held a toft and an oxgang 
 in this parish together with lands in Toynton, 
 East Keal, Dalby, Skegness, Hogsthorpe and 
 Ingoldmells. John Langton of Langton, was 
 one of his executors. By will he had devised 
 this property, after the death of his wife 
 Margaret, to a younger son, Richard. John 
 Fulstowe died February 3rd, 1483, and his 
 widow January 2nd, 1490. § 
 
 * Lincolnshire Notes and Queries, Vol. iv., p. 22. 
 
 f Chancery Inquisitiones, post mortem, published by the Lincolnshire 
 Architectural and Archaeological Society, p. 74. 
 % Lincolnshire Notes and Queries, Vol. iv., p. 109. 
 § ,, » .- Vol. iii., p. 139.
 
 86 History of Partney. 
 
 1506. An inquisition was held at Boston touching 
 the property of William Coteler. The jurors 
 declared that he " was seised in his demesne 
 as of fee of one messuage with lands adjacent 
 in the vill and territory of Partnay &c. &c. 
 . . . and farther the jurors say that the 
 aforesaid messuage with appurtenances in 
 Partenay is held of the lord de Welles by a 
 rent of 3 - and suit of Court and it is worth by 
 the year beyond reprises 43s. iod." William 
 Coteler died October 12th, 1505 ; his son 
 George, born in 1493, was his heir.* 
 
 1507. Trustees of William Gibthorpe, deceased, son 
 Thomas Gibthorpe, were found to hold lands 
 in Thorpe next Wainfleet, Halton, Partney, 
 &c. One cottage in Partney is held of the 
 Abbot of Revesby and is worth 4 - yearly. 
 Cecilia, widow of William Gibthorpe, survives 
 and has a son William, 7 years old and more.f 
 
 1520. Thomas Thorpe (who was the son of Thomas 
 Thorpe of Wispington) died possessed of a 
 toft and 30 acres of land in Partney valued at 
 26J8, held of the Lord of the Manor by a 
 payment of 2/-, and also of 8 acres in Frieston 
 and 50 acres in Thorpe. He had married 
 Alice, daughter of Thomas Massingberd, and 
 
 * Chancery Inquisitiones, post mortem, published by the Lincolnshire 
 Architectural and Archaeological Society, p. 51. 
 
 fDo., p. 56.
 
 Landowners and InJiabitants. 87 
 
 left one son, John. By his will* he directed 
 that he should be buried in the Church of 
 St. James at Frieston. "To my wife Alice 
 2 Kye. To my son John household stuff. 
 To my wife Alice 8 silver spoons. My 
 land in Frieston and Partney to my son 
 John directly after my decease and my land 
 in Thorpe after my wife decease which is her 
 jointure." 
 1528. We get the will t of Thomas Warde of Part- 
 ney (a name we had already met with in 
 1348), one of the most interesting of all the 
 documents yet published in connection with 
 the parish. The testator left two houses under 
 one roof standing at the " east church style." 
 These houses abut on the churchyard on the 
 west and on the south, and "off the hyeway 
 off the Xorte of the Church Howvs and off the 
 east of the Lorde of Skendleby." They were 
 to go to his wife " Betteris " for life, then to 
 his son William for life, and then to " Partney 
 Chyrch charging the Chyrchwardens of Part- 
 ney to kepe every year an obiit for my soul 
 gyffing the parson for messe and dirige viijd to 
 xiij pore men of the parish xiijd and to the 
 ringers viijd." The boundaries of this property 
 are so carefully defined that we ought to be 
 
 * See Rev. A. R. Maddison's Lincoln Wills, p. I, and Rev. W. O. 
 Massingberd's History of Ormsov, p. 130. 
 
 f Rev. A. R. .Maddison's Lincoln Wills, Vol. i., p. 5.
 
 88 History of Partncy. 
 
 able to identify it. It was to the east of the 
 Parish Church, and was bounded on both west 
 and south by the churchyard. No house could 
 now stand with these boundaries, but this may 
 very well be evidence that the churchyard has 
 been much curtailed and that it did once 
 extend so that it could be said to be the 
 boundary of a properiy on the south as well 
 as the west. The finding of numerous human 
 remains on the site of premises now standing 
 to the south-east of the Church would seem to 
 imply, as has been already suggested, that our 
 churchyard was once much larger than it is 
 now, and, indeed, that not less than half of it 
 has in some unaccountable way been lost. 
 The " hyeway," it will be noticed, is to the 
 north of the Church. The modern road is to 
 the south, and the older one to the north is 
 regarded as only a back lane. This road, too, 
 was north of the " Church Howys," pre- 
 sumably the Rectory, the original site of 
 which has been already discussed. This des- 
 cription fits exacth' a small piece of land 
 known as "Paradise," and it is further 
 confirmation that this paid a small charge 
 
 * In Pellicia's Polity of the Christian Church, translated by the 
 Rev. J. C. Bellett, there occurs (p. 149) the following: "The open 
 space in front of the Church, through which you approached the central 
 door of the Church, was called . . in the Middle Ages, Paradise." 
 At Revesby Abbey there was exactly such a piece of land. — Lincolnshire 
 Notes and Queries, Vol. iii., p. 132.
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 89 
 
 annually to the "Lord of the manor of 
 Skendleby." The name Paradise seems ap- 
 propriate for land, the income of which was 
 to be devoted to the observance of Divine 
 Service for the repose of certain souls resting 
 there. 
 
 This Paradise land became the property of 
 the parish of Partney, and under the old Poor 
 Law was managed by the overseers. It was 
 subject to a rent-charge to the Lord of the 
 Manor of Skendleby. 
 
 1527. John Richardson Chaplain was presented by 
 " honestus vir Radulphus Grene de Parteney " 
 to the Chantry of St. Catherine in the chapel 
 of Saltfleet Haven, the right of presentation 
 having been granted by the patron, Lord 
 Willoughby d'Eresby. In 1536 this Ralph a 
 Grene, yeoman (i.e., Ralph at the Green) 
 was sworn in on the King's Commission oi 
 the peace just before the outbreak of the 
 Pilgrimage of Grace. Betrvce Green, whose 
 will was proved October 8th, 1545, was 
 presumably his widow. She directed that 
 she should be buried in Partney Church, 
 and bequeathed to Mr. Andrew Asserby 
 (i.e., Affordby) " one grey mare and her foal."* 
 
 1 56 1 . A list of Lincolnshire Freeholders gives among 
 those for the Wapentake of Candleshoet: — 
 
 * From Rev. A. R. Maddison. 
 
 f Lansdowne MSS., fol. 54-62, published in "Old Lincolnshire, 
 Vol. i., No. 5.
 
 90 History of Partney. 
 
 John Walgrave de Partney gen. 
 John Dicconson de Partney yeo. 
 John Grene de Partney yeo. 
 
 1582. Proceedings were taken in the Court of Chan- 
 cery in which Richard White and Betteris his 
 wife claimed some property in Partney against 
 Clement Atkins and Isaac Lingard, " late the 
 estate of Thomas Fisher deceased, the plaintiff 
 Betteris' first husband." * 
 
 1566. At the dissolution of Bardney Abbey the 
 patronage of the benefice, and perhaps also 
 other Abbey property in the parish, seems to 
 have been acquired by John Wallgrave. He 
 presented in 1566, and made over the patron- 
 age to John Dyon, who presented in 1574. 
 At that time he was Lord of a manor here, as 
 is shown by the following inquisition : — 
 " William Manby t Esq r . was seised of one 
 cottage in Partney held of John Walgrave as 
 of his manor of Partney and it is worth 
 3s. 4d. yearly. He died March 8th 1573 and 
 Francis Manby Esq 1 ', is his son and next heir 
 and $6 years of age and more. "% The 
 following notices refer to this family : — 
 
 1599. April 19th a marriage licence was granted to 
 Thomas Walgrave of Partney and Helen 
 
 * Proceedings in Chancery : Elizabeth, Vol. iii., p. 313, No. 27. 
 
 •j- This is apparently William Manby of Worlaby, who married Alice, 
 daughter of Thomas Gibthorpe, and may very possibly refer to the 
 Gibthorpe property alluded to above. 
 
 \ Chancery fnq.,post mortem, 15 Elizabeth, No. 97.
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 91 
 
 Puttrell of Dalby, the ceremony to take place 
 in Dalby Church. 
 
 1613. Emmanuel Walgrave of Partney, gent., aged 
 23, obtained a licence to marry Margaret 
 Palmer of Louth, spinster, aged 19, daughter 
 of William Palmer, late of Louth, gent., 
 deceased, the ceremony to take place at 
 Cockerington St. Mary. To these licences * 
 we may add another: in 1620, to Matthias 
 Whiting of Croft, aged 22, and Jane Walgrave 
 of Great Steeping, aged 18. In 1614 John, 
 son of Emmanuel Walgrave, was baptised at 
 Partney. 
 
 1592. Death of Sir Christopher Wray,t Lord Chief 
 Justice of England, being at the time in 
 possession of a manor here worth £52 per 
 annum. He was born at Bedale in Yorkshire, 
 and served as M.P. for Borough Bridge in all 
 the Parliaments of Queen Mary, and was 
 chosen Speaker of the House of Commons in 
 1 57 1. Soon after he was made a Justice of 
 the Court of Common Pleas, and in 1574 
 Lord Chief Justice of England. He resided 
 at Glentworth, where the ruins of a house, 
 inhabited by himself and four generations of 
 his descendants, may still be seen. His 
 Lincolnshire properties were all gained by 
 purchase in his lifetime ; Glentworth, where 
 
 * Gibbons' Lincoln Marriage Licences. 
 
 j History of the Wrays of Glentworth, by Charles Dalton.
 
 92 History of Partney. 
 
 he built his house, in 1566. The following 
 references to Partney occur in his will : 
 " Also I will that my wife shall have duringe 
 her liffe 2 bucks and 2 does in parke at 
 Glentworthe and 3 geldings grase their and if 
 my sonne or his heirs or assign shall not 
 p'mytt or suffer my saide wiffe to have them 
 I will that she shall have in recompence 
 theirof £6 13s. 4d. yearlye rent charge out 
 of my lands in Ptney . . . Item I give to 
 Leonard Wray my nephewe ^"10 yearlye 
 rent charge out of my lands in Partnye . . . 
 Item I give to Richard Hale my servante 
 . . . £10 out of my lands and tenements in 
 Partnye . . . Item I gyve to John Tyndale 
 my servante one annual rent charge of £6 
 yearly out of my land in Parteneye. ..." 
 These charges, it will easily be seen, dispose 
 of the whole £32 the value of the Lord Chief 
 Justice's property in Partney. 
 
 1603. Jan. 23rd, Thomas Newcomen and Elling 
 Ryder were married. April 6th, 1633, Burial 
 of Ellen Nucom, widow. 
 
 161 6. A survey* taken of the parish gives the 
 owners of land as follows : — • 
 
 A. R. p. 
 
 Lord Willoughby . . 212 2 14 
 Sir William Wray . . 212 2 6 
 Andrew Ormsbie . . 185 3 24 
 
 * From Oldfield's Wainfleet, p. 233.
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 
 
 
 A. 
 
 R. P. 
 
 William Thorie 
 
 80 
 
 3 39 
 
 William Moody 
 
 29 
 
 3 3° 
 
 Sir Valentine Brown 
 
 26 
 
 39 
 
 John Wood 
 
 21 
 
 1 2S 
 
 Small freeholders . 
 
 43 
 
 27^ 
 
 Copartners of Partney 
 
 26 
 
 1 15* 
 
 Copartners of Skendleby 
 
 2 5 
 
 2 28 
 5° 
 
 The Glebe 
 
 6 
 
 1 3°2 
 
 The Town 
 
 5 
 
 22^ 
 
 
 876 
 
 3 
 
 The earlier historv of the Willoughbv estate has 
 been already given. The Lord Willoughby of 1616 
 was Robert, twelfth holder of the Barony. He was 
 created Earl of Lindsey in 1625, and died of his 
 wounds received at Edgehill in 1642. Clarendon, in 
 his History of the Great Rebellion, speaks very 
 highly of him. It will be noticed that his estate in 
 Partney is rather smaller than that which John 
 Affordby held of Richard Lord Welles and Willough- 
 by d'Eresby. 
 
 Sir William Wray was the only son of the Lord 
 Chief Justice. He was born in 1555, became M.P. 
 for Grimsby, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. 
 In 161 1 he was made one of the new order of 
 Baronets. He resided principally at Ashby near 
 Grimsby on a property which came to him with his 
 second wife. He died in 161 7 and was buried under 
 a sumptuous marble monument in the Parish Church
 
 94 History of Partney. 
 
 there.* He presented to the benefice of Partney in 
 1607, and this seems to point to the Wra3 r property 
 here being the same as that of John Walgrave. 
 
 Andrew Ormsbie was the grandson of the John 
 Dicconson whose name appears as a freeholder in 
 1 56 1. His name also occurs in a list of Lincolnshire 
 gentry as " of Partney " in 1634, and he was buried 
 at Partney January 1st, 1641.T 
 
 The Thory % family was of considerable antiquity 
 as tenants of land under the manor of Ingoldmells, 
 and we shall probably be right in regarding Thomas 
 Thory's land in Partney as part of the de Lacy fee, 
 of which the history has been sketched (pp. 70 to 74). 
 Thomas Thory of Boston, and William Thory of 
 Ingoldmells, appear among the Lincolnshire gentry 
 entitle to bear arms in 1634, anc ^ the family had lived 
 in those two places for many generations. Thomas 
 Thory was mayor of Boston § in 1566, and John 
 Thory in 1616 and again in 1630. Thomas Thory 
 in 1662 was one of the commissioners for the re- 
 modelling of the Corporation of Boston, which in the 
 
 * He had 19 children, of whom the eldest became the second Baronet 
 and the third married Elizabeth Lady Norreys. Their only daughter, 
 Bridget, became the second wife of Montague Bertie, second Earl of 
 Lindsey. The second Baronet, Sir John, died in 1655, and was 
 succeeded in the title by three of his sons, viz., Sir John, who died in 
 1664, Sir Christopher, who died in the following month, and Sir Bethel, 
 who died in 1672. The Glentworth estates passed to a daughter of 
 the first, who had married the Hon. Nicholas Saunderson. — History of 
 the Wrays of G/entworth, by Charles Dalton. 
 
 t See Appendix. 
 
 % Variously spelt : Thory, Thorie. 
 
 § Thompson's History of Boston.
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 95 
 
 late troubles had shown itself on the side of the 
 Parliament. About the same time Boston gave 
 " a free and voluntary gift " to the King amounting to 
 ^182, to which " Thomas Thory Esq." subscribed £^. 
 William Thory, of Partney, by his will,* dated 
 April 25th, 1643, directed that he should be buried at 
 Partney, and bequeathed to his son Thomas his lands 
 in Addlethorpe, Ingoldmells, Burgh and Winthorpe ; 
 to his wife Bridget (daughter of Thomas Massingberd 
 of Gunby) his lands in Partney, Dalby, and Skendleby 
 for life. The son, Thomas Thory of Partney, died 
 "about Easter, 1645," leaving one daughter, Bridget.! 
 His widow married George Rugeley, and dying in 
 1673 is commemorated by a small brass in Partney 
 Church. In 1648 "Captain George Ridgley" pre- 
 sented the following petition % to " the Right Hon- 
 ourable the Commissioners sitting at Goldsmiths' 
 Hall " for the purpose of imposing fines and making 
 other regulations with regard to the property of the 
 defeated royalists : " That your petitioner hath 
 faithfully served the Parliament since the late unhappy 
 differences and is still in the Parliament's service. 
 That he hath lately married with Jane the late 
 widow and relict of Thomas Thory gent deceased a 
 delinquent. That your petitioner in right of his said 
 wife is to receive the rents and profits of the lands in 
 the particulars annexed mentioned as guardian to 
 
 * Rev. A. R. Maddison's Lincolnshire Wills. 
 
 t See Appendix. 
 
 \ Royalist Composition Papers, Public Record Office.
 
 g6 History of Partney. 
 
 Bridget sole daughter and heire to the said Thomas 
 Thorie during her minoritie she being aged about 
 12 years. Your petitioner therefore humbly prays 
 that he may be admitted to a moderate composition 
 for the rents and profits of the said estate during the 
 minoritie of the said Bridget." 
 
 The " particulars annexed " contain no mention of 
 any lands in Partney. The estate was in Ingoldmells, 
 Burgh, Addlethorpe and Winthorpe, and of the 
 yearly value of ^"ioo. Another handwriting has 
 altered this to £ji 9s. 8d. B}^ the custom of the 
 manor the widow took one third for life for dower. 
 On November 6th, 1648, the composition was fixed 
 at £iS6, but on paying one half he may produce his 
 proof of his wife's third issuing there out. On April 
 20th, 1649, the fine was reduced to ,£90. 
 
 Bridget Thory married John Rugeley of Halton 
 Holegate, and died in 1658, aged 21. She is com- 
 memorated by a brass in Halton Church. 
 
 The royalist politics of the Thory family come 
 out in the next generation. During the struggle 
 between King and Parliament, Drayner Massingberd, 
 a cousin of Thomas Thory, had taken the side of the 
 latter. He was, however, knighted in 1661, and 
 continued to live at South Ormsby, where he had 
 purchased an estate in 1638. Some people apparently 
 did not quite trust him, and there still remains in his 
 handwriting a list of arms " taken away by Lieutenant 
 Francis of Horncastle, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Ely of 
 Utterby, Mr. Thory Todd of Partney, &c, by
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 97 
 
 warrant from the Earle of Lindsey and Sir Charles 
 Dymock July 17th 1683." The arms were given in 
 charge to Mr. Thory Todd, and though Sir Drayner 
 wrote to the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Lindsey, 
 he evidently got no redress.* 
 
 Later, some members of the Thory family were 
 living at Skendleby, and a tombstone in the Church 
 there mentions John Thory, who died in 1719, 
 Bridget his wife, who died the same year, and John 
 their son, who died in 1740. Their eldest daughter, 
 Martha, married John Moody of Scremby, and died 
 in 1742, aged 54, and another daughter, Ann, married 
 Hussey Chapman of Skegness, and died in 1755, 
 aged 66. 
 
 The transcripts of the Partney Registers at Lincoln 
 have the baptism of " Jetruda," daughter of Ralph and, 
 Elizabeth Rugeley, i69i,andin those still left to us 
 we have the burials of "Elizabeth wife of Radulph 
 Rugeley gent," 1706, and of Radulph Rugeley 
 himself, 1720. 
 
 The will t of Easter Cooke, widow, of Partney, 
 proved May 12th, 1680, mentions her " unkle 
 Rugeley." She was an Eland by birth, and married 
 at Cawkwell 13th January, 1639-40, Willoughby 
 Guevara of Stenigot. She married — Cooke of 
 Partney for her second husband. Her daughter, Ann 
 Guevara, married first Jeremiah Blow, and second 
 Thomas Buddevant of Partney. 
 
 * Rev. W. O. Massingberd's History of South Ormsby, pp. 166, 169. 
 fRev. A. R. Maddison's Wills. 
 H
 
 98 History of Par tney. 
 
 If William Moody was of Scremby his property 
 here is probably that referred to as sold to John 
 Holden in 1489. 
 
 Sir Valentine Browne * lived at Croft, where he 
 had purchased an estate between 1562 and 1577. 
 His first wife was Alice, daughter of Robert Alexan- 
 der of London, by whom he had one son, a second 
 Sir Valentine, who married Elizabeth Monson of 
 North Carlton. They had a large family, of whom 
 the second son, John, appears to have succeeded to 
 the Croft estates. He sold them to Sir Thomas 
 Massingberd of Bratoft,t who in 161 9 bequeathed 
 them to one of his grandsons The eldest, a third 
 Sir Valentine, is the proprietor of this Partney Survey. 
 He had married Amy Fulstow, and was buried at 
 Croft, April 29th, 1626. It is presumably in her right 
 that he was owning lands in Partney, and they would 
 be the same as those given above in the Fulstow 
 Inquisition of 1495. Dame Amy Browne was buried 
 at Croft, May 3rd, 16324 
 
 We use the expression copartners nowadays to 
 describe a body of men formed by common contract. 
 In the above list the word must be taken to imply a 
 partnership which pre-supposed a common descent, 
 even if such did not actually exist. The whole 
 subject of village ownership by the community is a 
 most intricate one and too extensive even to be 
 
 * See Oldfield's Wainfleet. 
 
 \ Rev. W. O. Massingberd's History of South Ormsby, p. 143. 
 
 \ Lincolnshire Notes and Queries, Vol. v., p. 30. See Appendix.
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 99 
 
 glanced at here. But we may take it that in the 
 ownership of 26 acres in Partney by the Copartners 
 of the Parish, and another 25 acres by the Copartners 
 of Skendleby, we have an interesting relic of a 
 system that goes back to the beginnings of man's 
 history.* 
 
 In 1822 a marriage licence was granted to Reuben 
 Fen of Horncastle, skinner, aged 24, and Ellen 
 Kittlepenny of Partney, spinster, aged 21. Their 
 parents are dead : and in 1625 to Thomes Skittle- 
 penny of Partney, blacksmith, aged 30, and Ann 
 Gaule of the same, spinster, aged 20. t 
 
 The evidence of the Parish Registers points to 
 persons of the following names as residents here at 
 the end of the 17th century: — Andrews, Blavdes, 
 Bowring, Bucknall, Butler, Burr, Burton, Calvert, 
 Cartwright, Chantry, Chapman, Draper, Ethrington, 
 Fairbanks, Fox, Freshney, Green, Grummitt, Harry- 
 man, Hoyle, Johnson, Kirk, Millner, Peach, Rugely, 
 Sleight, Smith, Wells. 
 
 Anthony a Wood, in his Athence 0.xonie?ises, gives 
 a long account of Henry Stubbe, of which the follow- 
 ing is a summary: — Henry Stubbe "the most noted 
 person of his age that these late times have produced 
 received his first breath in an obscure village called 
 Partney, near Spilsby in Lincolnshire, on the 28th of 
 Feb., 1 63 1 (so I have been informed by letters from 
 his mother), at which place his father, who was a 
 
 * Sir H. Maine's Village Communities ; Gomme's Village Community. 
 \ Gibbons' Lincoln Marriage Licences.
 
 ioo History of Partney. 
 
 minister, then lived, but being anabaptistically 
 inclined was forced to leave it." The family accord- 
 ingly moved to Ireland, but returned to England in 
 1 64 1. Henry Stubbe was sent to Westminster 
 School, and passed from thence to Christchurch, 
 Oxford. After taking his degree he went to Scotland, 
 and served the Parliament there 1653-5. Returning 
 to Oxford he became assistant keeper of the Bodleian 
 Library, but was removed in consequence of a book 
 he had written. He went to Stratford on Avon, and 
 later to Warwick and Bath, where he practised as a 
 physician. At the Restoration he submitted to the 
 Church of England, and developed a great hatred of 
 Presbyterianism. He was one of the most noted 
 Greek and Latin scholars of his time, an able mathe- 
 matician, and very eloquent. He had a prodigious 
 memory, wrote numerous books and pamphlets, and 
 was accounted a very good physician. He was 
 accidentally drowned while riding through the river 
 two miles from Bath, and was buried in the Abbey 
 Church there, 1676. 
 
 From the survey of 161 6 we must pass over 200 
 years and come to the list of owners as given in the 
 tithe award of the Commissioners of 1840. They are 
 as follows : — 
 
 
 A. 
 
 R. P. 
 
 Lord Willoughby d'Eresby 
 
 499 
 
 2 31 
 
 G. W. Maddison, Esq. 
 
 79 
 
 3 13 
 
 Trustees of Beverley Minster 
 
 50 
 
 2 4 
 
 Thomas Bishop, Esq. 
 
 43 
 
 2 18 
 
 John Baker 
 
 . 28 
 
 1
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants. 101 
 
 A. 
 
 John Heanley . 
 
 . 
 
 25. 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 Mary Gilliatt . 
 
 . 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 Rev. Francis Swan . 
 
 . 
 
 21 
 
 2 
 
 24 
 
 Laurence Kendall 
 
 . 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 The Glebe 
 
 . 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 29 
 
 The Overseers . 
 
 . 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 Governors of Bethlehem Hos- 
 
 
 
 
 pital .... 
 
 • 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 28 small freeholders with 
 
 less 
 
 
 
 
 than 20 acres each . 
 
 , 
 
 112 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 919 2 14 
 
 It will be noticed that very few of the names, and 
 none of the quantities, are the same in this table as 
 in the former one. Lord Willoughby d'Eresby (who 
 had also obtained the advowson of the Rectory) has 
 absorbed the Wray estate. Mr. Maddison, a new 
 proprietor, has become the second largest owner and 
 taken the lands probably that once belonged to the 
 Ormsbys. The trustees of Beverley Minster, as 
 Lords of the Manor of Dalby, represent, possibly 
 with additions, certain of the lands of John de Orby, 
 who died in 1296. Mr. Bishop owned that part of 
 the parish known as " the Model Farm," Mr. John 
 Heanlev the present rectory, the Rev. Francis Swan 
 certain fields adjoining Sausthorpe, and Mary Gilliatt 
 a part near the mill. 
 
 George Wilson Maddison, Esq., LP., of Partney 
 Hall, was the only son of Colonel George Maddison* 
 
 * See Appendix.
 
 102 History of Partney. 
 
 who purchased the Partney property in 1812. 
 Colonel George Maddison was the second son of 
 Lieutenant-Colonel George Maddison of Stainton 
 Vale and Mary Baugh his wife. He was born 
 in 1762, entered the army in 1779 and retired 
 in 1809, having served in Ceylon, Cape of Good 
 Hope, and the Walcheren campaign. He died in 
 18 1 6, and is buried at Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire. 
 His wife, Mary, daughter of the Rev. Henry Alington 
 of Swinhope, died at Partney in 1850, and is buried 
 at Halton Holegate. Mr. G. W. Maddison, besides 
 inheriting the Partney property of his father, 
 succeeded also his uncle, Colonel Thomas Maddison, 
 in lands at Great Steeping. He married Frances 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Alan Bellingham of Castle 
 Bellingham, Ireland, who died at Partney, April 29th, 
 1886. Mr. Maddison died at Partney, June 10th, 
 1888, and was buried beside his wife in Partney 
 churchyard. His two elder sons having predeceased 
 him, he was succeeded in the Partney and Great 
 Steeping estates by his third son, Henry. 
 
 The following is a list of the owners of property in 
 the parish at the present time (acres only given) :— 
 
 Lord Willoughby d'Eresby 
 
 477 
 
 Trustees of Beverley Minster . 
 
 50 
 
 Stainton' s Trustees . 
 
 50 
 
 Benjamin Robinson . 
 
 43 
 
 George Walker .... 
 
 40 
 
 Thompson's Trustees 
 
 • 32 
 
 Rev. C. T. Swan 
 
 21
 
 Landowners and Inhabitants 
 
 103 
 
 R. Holderness .... 
 
 21 
 
 E. B. Kendall .... 
 
 20 
 
 Henry Maddison 
 
 17 
 
 The Glebe .... 
 
 8 
 
 The Overseers 
 
 4 
 
 Governors of Bethlehem Hospital 
 
 2 
 
 The remainder, 28 small freeholders 
 
 ■ 135 
 
 
 920 acres 
 
 ■Jf
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE MARKET AND FAIRS. 
 
 UCH fame as Partney still has amongst 
 its immediate neighbours, or, indeed, in 
 the county and even beyond it, is due 
 to the fairs. The market has long since 
 disappeared. As we have seen, when Domesday 
 Survey was taken there was a market here " worth 
 10/- yearly." Markets do not occur very frequently 
 in that famous document, and it evidently does not 
 give a complete list of them no more than it does of 
 the Churches. There are in the County of Lincoln 
 at present the following " market towns " : — Lincoln, 
 Alford, Barton, Boston, Bourne, Brigg, Burgh, Cais- 
 tor, Crowland, Donington, Ep worth, Falkingham, 
 Gainsborough, Grantham, Grimsby, Holbeach, Horn- 
 castle, Kirton Lindsey, Long Sutton, Louth, Market 
 Deeping, Market Rasen, Sleaford, Spalding, Spilsby, 
 Stamford, Wainfleet, and Winterton. The Domesday 
 list can only be made out as follows : —
 
 The Market and Fairs. 105 
 
 PLACE. VALUE. 
 
 Chirchetone (Kirton Lindsey) . . not given. 
 
 Ludes (Louth) 29s. od. 
 
 Bolingbroc (Bolingbroke) "a new market" not given. 
 Spallinge (Spalding) .... 40s. 
 
 Bertone (Barton) " and a ferry " . . £\ os. od. 
 Partene (Partney) . . . £0 10s. od. 
 
 The list * is obviously incomplete, for even Lincoln 
 and Stamford do not appear in it. It shows, however, 
 quite plainly that in this district there were two 
 market towns ; Bolingbroke, which had recently 
 obtained the privilege, and Partney, which, to judge 
 from the recorded value, must have been smaller 
 than either Louth or Spalding. Spilsby obtained its 
 charter in 1302.1 Both Partney and Bolingbroke 
 have long since ceased to have a market day. 
 Spilsby was to be on Monday, but the older markets 
 were very often on Sunday. Gilbert de Gaunt's 
 claim under Edward I.'s writ de quo Warranto 
 included : 
 
 " Clamat et in manerio suo de Parteney mercatum 
 qualibet septima per diem Sabbati et duas ferias 
 ibidem videlicet unam in die Purificationis Beatae 
 
 * A popular account of Domesday Book, by W. de Grey Birch. 
 
 Domesday Book of Lincolnshire, translated by C. G. Smith. 
 
 As illustrating the confusion which may very easily arise between 
 Bardney and Partney, it may be noticed that while the latter of these 
 writers (p. 124) thinks " Soke of Bardney " has been written by mistake 
 for Partney, the former, giving a list of the market towns of the county, 
 supposes Partene to mean Bardney, which it certainly does not. 
 
 f Given in full in Rev. II. C. Smith's History of Spilsby.
 
 io6 History of Partney. 
 
 Mariae tam et aliam in die Nativitatis Beatae 
 Marias tam et ea qua? ad mercatum et feriam 
 pertinent."* 
 Partney market continued to exist after this. In 
 1392 Sir John de Burghersh owned in Partney 
 "decima octava pars profic' tolnet' nundinarum 
 ibidem " (the eighteenth part of the profits on the 
 market there), and the same item appears among the 
 possessions of his widow. In 1422 " Partney 
 nundinae " (Partney market) came under the 
 property of Sir John de Welles, and four years later 
 belonged to his widow.t In 1437 1 "Matilda quae 
 fuit uxor Thomae Chaucer" held in Partney "mediatas 
 i8 mo partis profic' tolnet' nundin' tenend' ibidem 
 singulis annis in vigiliis et diebus Sanctae Marias 
 Magdalenae, Assumptionis et Nativitatis Beatae Mariae 
 Virginis " (a share of the eighteenth part of the profit 
 of the tolls of the market held at Partney every year 
 on the eve and on the day of the Feast of St. Mary 
 Magdalen and of the Assumption and of the Nativity 
 of the Blessed Virgin Mary). In this entry the market 
 seems absorbed in the fairs. Such is also the case in 
 " Calendar of Pleadings in the Duchy of Lancaster " § 
 i 
 
 * Placita de quo Warranto, Edward I., p. 424. " He also claims in his 
 manor of Partney a market every week on the Sabbath day and two 
 fairs there viz., one on the feast of the purification of the Blessed 
 Virgin Mary and the other on the feast of her Nativity and all that 
 belongs to the market and fair." 
 
 ■\ Inquisitiones,post mortem, Vol. iii., p. 133. 
 
 X „ n ,1 Vol. iv., p. 56. 
 
 § Calendar 0/ Pleadings in the Duchy of Lancaster, Rolls series.
 
 The Market and Fairs. 107 
 
 in the time of Edward VI., when the inhabitants of 
 Wainfleet, as plaintiffs, brought an action against 
 "Thomas Blackburn, Bailiff of Spylysby, and others," 
 claiming "exemption from tolls, piccage and stallage of 
 markets and fairs at Partney." Our knowledge, then, 
 of Partney market may be thus summed up. King 
 William's Commissioners found one existing here in 
 1086. Profits derived from it formed part of the 
 property of the de Gaunt fee. These continued, even 
 after the establishment of Spilsby market in 1302, of 
 sufficient importance to be worth writing down in a 
 list of people's possessions. But it gradually declined 
 in importance before its neighbour on the hill, and 
 has long since disappeared altogether.* 
 The fairs are still four in number : — 
 August 1 st. "The fat lamb Fair." 
 August 25th. 
 September 18th and 19th. "The Great 
 
 September Fair." 
 The Wednesday and Thursday after Old 
 Michaelmas Day. " The onion Fair." 
 It will be interesting to compare these dates with 
 the Saints' Days mentioned above. In 1278 there 
 was an allusion to two : The Feast of the Purification 
 and the Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. 
 
 * So, too, have Bolingbroke and Candlesby. For the latter place 
 John de Orby obtained a charter in 1342. The situation had at least 
 this much to commend it, that it is on the road between Partney and 
 the Marsh and might have been expected to interfere as much with 
 sales here as the establishment of a stock market at Burgh has 
 undoubtedly done in recent years.
 
 io8 History of Partney. 
 
 The former of these, or Candlemas Day, is February 
 2nd. There is no trace of any existence of a Partney 
 Fair * at that time of the year. Candlemas markets 
 in the neighbouring towns are still the recognised 
 time for the farmer making his arrangements with his 
 " confined men." The Feast of the Nativity of the 
 Virgin Mary was kept on September 8th, and is 
 known to have been observed as far back as the 7th 
 century. But the mention of Old Michaelmas Day 
 above reminds us that in these old fairs the force of 
 custom was too strong for the legislature to overcome, 
 and though an Act of Parliament decreed, in 1752, 
 that the English Calendar should be brought into 
 more scientific correctness with the actual course of 
 the sun, it could not break completely through the 
 older way of computing time, and so long-established 
 an institution as Partney Fair was just one of those 
 things which adhered to the "old style/'t and we 
 
 * A Spring Fair was desired by some in Partney a few years ago, 
 but it was to have come before the Lincoln Fair of the last week in 
 April. The present system of feeding sheep on turnips for the winter 
 would not need a fair so soon as February. It may, however, have 
 fitted in with the agricultural condition of the country before the 
 introduction of winter roots (time of James I.) effected so great an 
 alteration in the keeping of stock. 
 
 fThe solar year contains 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 47 J seconds : 
 that is to say, it takes the earth that time to move from one point in its 
 course round the sun and then return to the same again. If, therefore, 
 the year be regarded as containing only 365 days, the accumulation of 
 the odd hours and minutes will in time be very considerable. This 
 error was perfectly well understood by very early astronomers and 
 Julius Ctesar, to correct it, ordered that while three years should contain 
 365 days each, the fourth should have an intercalary or additional day. 
 This is called the Julian Calendar, and is still followed in Russia. But
 
 The Market and Fairs. 109 
 
 must remember this in comparing the mediaeval and 
 modern dates. The fair, then, which was held on 
 "the eve and the day of the Feast of St. Mary 
 Magdalen," is that now held on August 1st. The 
 Feast of St. Mary Magdalen is recorded in our Church 
 Calendar for July 22nd ; eleven days added brings us 
 to August 2nd. It will be noticed it was a two days' 
 fair. It is now held on one day only, August 1st, 
 which is "the eve of the Feast of St. Mary 
 Magdalen " (old style). The same thing has happened 
 with regard to the two fairs which came on Feasts of 
 the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Assumption was kept 
 on August 15th; eleven days added brings us to 
 
 it is plain that this gives a little too much. The error was not quite 
 six hours a year, and if the observance of the oldest method would 
 have resulted eventually in it being called summer when the days were 
 shortest because the calendar was six months beforehand, the observ- 
 ance of the Julian rule would have at last brought about the same 
 condition of affairs because the calendar was six months behindhand. 
 Of course, as the error was so very much less, it would have taken 
 longer to produce the anomally. In 1582 Pope Gregory introduced a 
 new method of computation, and caused ten days (the amount to which 
 the error had then reached) to be omitted in October, making the 15th 
 succeed the 4th, and to prevent its recurrence ordered that for the 
 future in every 400 years three of the leap years should not have the 
 extra day, viz., those in which the numbers expressing the century are 
 not divisible by 4. This Gregorian Calendar or New Style, as it is 
 called, was not introduced into England until 1752, and under date 
 Sept. 28th of that year the keeper of the Partney register has entered 
 a brief note " New Stile." The error then amounted to eleven days. 
 Ouarter days for public funds (and for many other payments) still 
 remain at the old dates. Thus in some parts of the country where the 
 yearly hirings took place at Martinmas, Nov. nth, they are now made 
 to date from Nov. 22nd. When the change was made in 1752 the 
 farmer would not pay a year's wages for 354 days' work, and the 
 servants were kept on to what was thereafter to be called Nov. 22nd.
 
 i io History of Partney. 
 
 August 26th. August 25th, therefore, on which the 
 present fair is held, is " the eve of the Feast of the 
 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary." The 
 Nativity was kept on September 8th ; eleven days 
 added brings to the 19th, and so the Great September 
 Fair is still held on the " eve and on the day of the 
 Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary." 
 I have found no allusions to the October fair, but it 
 puts itself in the same category, and is always 
 described as being held on " the Wednesday and 
 Thursdav after Old Michaelmas Dav," i.e.. after 
 October nth. It has, however, been altered in 
 recent years. It used to be held always on October 
 1 8th and 19th, and so clashed sometimes with Caistor, 
 which falls on " the Friday and Saturday after Old 
 Michaelmas Day." It will be noticed that while 
 these fairs are held on Church Feasts, there is no 
 mention of St. Nicholas, to whom the Parish Church 
 is dedicated, probably because his day, December 6th, 
 would be quite unsuitable for the purpose. Both 
 St. Mary the Virgin and St. Mary Magdalen were 
 commemorated in Chapels in the parish. 
 
 The records of the possession of income from tolls 
 of the fairs give us no idea as to what that income 
 actually amounted to. Tolls, as distinct from pay- 
 ments for pen ground, were paid within the memory 
 of persons still living, but for many years cattle have 
 been allowed to stand in the streets without any 
 payment except that of a penny a head for sheep that 
 use the pens.
 
 The Market and Fairs. in 
 
 In 1816 there was an examination of Robert Gilliat 
 under the old laws of parochial settlement, and he 
 stated that he had hired " the tolls of the fairs held 
 at Partney of John Thompson and George Gilbert 
 (they being tenants to Garmston Chapman, gentle- 
 man) at the annual rent of £20." 
 
 In 1827 Mr. Chapman's assessment included £16 
 for pen round and tolls. 
 
 In 1828 the following persons were assessed 
 "for pen round": — J. H. Bourne, W. Holderness, 
 J. Andrew (and tolls), H. Brown, Mary Flowers, 
 John Lowis, Mrs. Litchford, Elizabeth Wright, 
 T. Smith, D. Holderness, Thomas Cash, F. Bonnett, 
 J. Barker, Edward Hodgson, Thomas Stainton. 
 
 The amount of Stock brought to Partney Fair in 
 olden times was very great, and the number of 
 visitors, some of whom would have driven over from 
 Lincoln, taxed all the resources of the place. Very 
 frequently not a bed was to be had in the whole 
 parish, and accommodation had to be sought outside 
 it. The stall holders were obliged to sleep with their 
 goods, which at least had the advantage of placing 
 them very near their work on the following morning. 
 But, though still an institution of some importance, 
 Partney Fair shows but a shadow of its former 
 greatness. The "Fat Lamb Fair" of August 1st is 
 generally well attended, because it is supposed to 
 rather regulate prices for the season. People will 
 very often come to it, as, of course, they do also to 
 the other fairs, though they are not actually buyers
 
 ii2 History of Partney. 
 
 and sellers. The " Great September Fair " has, in 
 one department, decidedly increased in importance. 
 To that fair several of the more noted ram breeders 
 send their stock, and the price of 50 guineas for the 
 best is often reached. All the fairs begin very early 
 in the morning, and a buyer who comes upon the 
 scene at 6 a.m. may find, if trade is brisk, that only 
 the culls are left for him to buy. The second day of 
 the September and October Fairs is devoted to 
 " Beast." Of these, as of the sheep, large numbers 
 may still sometimes be seen at Partney. The sheep 
 are penned all along the street, and in two or three 
 paddocks. The beasts stand in the streets, and have 
 been known, within living memory, to stretch for 
 more than a mile along the Scremby road. The 
 October Fair was famous for the sale of many things 
 besides cattle. One part of the village was crowded 
 with butchers' stalls for the sale of meat ; another 
 with the produce of the farm gardens and orchards 
 that had been accumulated in the early autumn, 
 onions, apples, walnuts ; in another supplies of 
 clothing, cloth for the farmers' and labourers' wives to 
 make up, and boots and shoes. The evening of the 
 last day was devoted to pleasure. All those things 
 which seem, even yet, to the countryman to be so 
 amusing, the penny peep shows, the gingerbread 
 stalls, the monstrosities, the mountebanks and the 
 juggling, came to delight him and, if possible, entice 
 away in a few hours the money saved in a twelve- 
 month. Matters generally ended in a free fight.
 
 The Market and Fairs. 113 
 
 For one thing, as I have been told, " Spilsby came 
 clown to buffet Partney, and Partney stood up to 
 buffet Spilsby." Here, no doubt, we have a relic of 
 a very primitive state of things. It is a well-known 
 fact that sometimes we find the greatest antipathy 
 existing between the inhabitants of two neighbouring 
 places, and an enquiry generally reveals a race dis- 
 tinction and carries the origin of the quarrel back to the 
 beginnings of history. So it may very well be in this 
 case. Happily the rivalry seems now to have ended 
 in a lasting peace. The descendants of really old 
 parochial families may be counted on the fingers of 
 one hand. But this yearly "buffeting" seems to 
 point to that difference which, it is easily seen, must 
 have existed between the men of Spilsby and the men 
 of Partney, between a Danish and an Old English 
 settlement, yes, and far further back even than that, 
 f between the dwellers on the hills and the dwellers in 
 the plain. And the visitors, who came down to play 
 and went back having both received and given broken 
 heads, were preserving for us a trace, not only of 
 primitive savagery, but of primitive distinction of 
 race. 
 
 In every way Partney Fair is very different from 
 what it was a hundred or even fifty years ago. The 
 booths and stalls have declined to the number of one, 
 one behind which the same stall keeper has stood for 
 sixty years and offered his fruit and cakes and famous 
 gingerbread for old acquaintance sake. But he grows 
 old, and Partney Fair grows old too. The march of 
 1
 
 H4 History of Partney. 
 
 modern progress is leaving it behind. The railways, 
 by the facilities they have given for travelling, have 
 made it no longer necessary that all the cattle of a 
 district should be herded together for twenty-four 
 hours so that buyers may come and purchase. 
 Nowadays a very large proportion of a farmer's stock 
 changes hands without being taken to fair or market 
 at all. So far as these are necessary, they seem most 
 in demand as fat stock markets, with sales by auction, 
 and meetings at shorter intervals than the one or two 
 annual gatherings of the old fairs. Nor is it so 
 necessary to attend the fairs to learn the prices of 
 things, valuable as the actual experience of the 
 higgling of the market must always be. Newspapers 
 of all sorts, daily, weekly, local, agricultural, will 
 gather for a man much of the information he could in 
 olden time have obtained only for himself. Partney 
 is off any line of railway, but the fairs seem to suit a 
 certain class of buyers and sellers, and so long as they 
 do so will continue to occupy, locally at least, a not 
 unimportant place in the agricultural world.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TRADITIONS OF THE PLAGUE. 
 
 •«*.* 
 
 N the gable end of an old house opposite 
 the Church is a stone inscribed : — 
 O LORD BE THOV MY 
 KEEPER MERCIE AND 
 PEACE BE IN THIS PLACE 
 A.D. 1616. 
 and cut out of what was originally the border a later 
 hand seems to have added — IC — RBIN 1722. 
 
 It is a common tradition in the parish that this 
 house was the only one which escaped a visitation of 
 the plague after the great plague of London in 1666, 
 from the mortality of which the place has never 
 recovered, and in consequence of which the market 
 was transferred to Spilsby. To this it is sometimes 
 added " and the dead were buried under the mounds 
 called Round Hills, near Langton Grange." There 
 is probably some underlying element of truth in a 
 tradition so universally accepted in the neighbour-
 
 1 1 6 History of Partney. 
 
 hood, but in the details as usually given there are 
 manifest inaccuracies, (i) The date on the stone is 
 1616, and we have no evidence at all of any serious 
 epidemic then. In fact, of the period from 161 1 to 
 1625 Dr. Creighton, in his History of Epidemics in 
 Britain* writes : " Almost an absolutely clear inter- 
 val for London, there are few accounts of plague 
 from the provinces." (2) But neither have we satisfac- 
 tory proof of a plague in these parts in 1666. True, 
 1665 was the year of the great Plague of London, 
 of whose ravages the writings of Evelyn and Defoe 
 have made us familiar, but the other parts of the 
 country affected were mostly near London, and the 
 spread of the infection to Eyam in Derbyshire has 
 always been represented as unique. (3) The inscrip- 
 tion on the stone is in words hardly likely to be 
 chosen as a thanksgiving for a signal deliverance. t 
 
 (4) The market, from whatever cause it has disap- 
 peared, cannot have been transferred to Spilsby in the 
 17th century, because that place had already enjoyed 
 the privilege of a market every Monday since 1302. 
 
 (5) No reason is suggested for what is a most 
 unlikely thing in itself, the carrying of the plague- 
 stricken dead to a spot three miles away, nor is it 
 
 * History of Epidemics in Britain, p. 501, Dr. Creighton. 
 
 -f-Dr. Creighton says (p. 313) that previous to 1543 a wisp of straw 
 was used to mark an infected house in those unhappily frequent out- 
 breaks of plague, or sweating sickness, which carried off so many 
 English lives in the 15th and 16th centuries. Later, in London at 
 least, it was directed that the mark be a St. Anthony's Cross, that is, a 
 headless cross painted blue, which was afterwards changed to red, and 
 over or under it the words, " Lord, have mercy upon us."
 
 Traditions of the Plague. 117 
 
 noticed that it is inconsistent with the alternative 
 tradition of burials all over the parish. 
 
 It seems most likely that three things have got 
 connected together— the mounds, the plague, and 
 the inscription — which have really nothing to do 
 with one another. The mounds are early tumuli, of 
 which there are several examples in the neighbour- 
 hood, and if their other name of Spellow Hills may 
 be taken as a guide, they perhaps mark the resting- 
 place of the man who gave his name to Spilsby. 
 The stone is an example of that placing of texts or 
 pious inscriptions on houses, which is significant of 
 the Puritan movement. The later date at the 
 bottom may very well be that of the year in which 
 it was placed in its present position in the house. 
 It is remarkable that, whereas nowadays most 
 Partney people connect the stone with a visitation of 
 plague, the author of a History of Lincolnshire, 
 published by John Saunders in 1834, found that some 
 persons in the parish ascribed it to " only a whim of 
 the architect." The plague, and consequent loss 
 both of population and market, will fit in much 
 better with the earlier and more terrible visitation 
 known as the Black Death, 1348-9. The history of 
 this, the most universal and the most serious epidemic 
 the world has ever suffered from, has lately been 
 written by the Benedictine Father Gasquet,* and the 
 course of it in the Diocese of Norwich has also been 
 
 * The Great Pestilence, by Francis Aidan Gasquet, D.D., O.S.B. 
 London : Simpkin, Marshall & Co. 1893. Pp. 219.
 
 n8 History of Par tney. 
 
 graphically described by Dr. Jessopp.* So far as 
 the former could discover, it first appeared in Dorset- 
 shire in the autumn of 1348, after a very wet summer, 
 and before the end of that 3 T ear it had spread itself 
 far and wide in the western counties of England. 
 In January, 1349, it was at its worst, and indeed 
 hardly abated until the following June. It had 
 already reached London, and during its prevalence a 
 new cemetery, where subsequently the Charter house 
 stood, was provided when the churchyards were no 
 longer sufficient to receive the dead. The disease 
 then spread up to the southern, eastern, and midland 
 counties, and was at its worst there from Ma) T to 
 September, 1349. Some idea of its violence in the 
 Diocese of Norwich may be obtained from the fact 
 that whereas the average number of institutions of 
 clergy to vacant benefices for the previous five years 
 had been yj, in 1349 it was 800. Many places in 
 the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk have never 
 recovered from the losses of that disastrous year. 
 Norwich itself lost and has never regained the 
 position of second city in the kingdom. London 
 soon recovered : York was not much injured : Lin- 
 coln was reported 50 years afterwards as "in the 
 great part empty and uninhabited." All over the 
 country there is evidence of a mortality equally great 
 both among clergy and people, and there seems no 
 reason to doubt but that half the population of 
 England perished. Neither Father Gasquet nor 
 
 * The Coming of the Friars, by Rev. Dr. Jessopp, pp. 166-261.
 
 Traditions of the Plague. 1 1 9 
 
 Dr. Jessopp describes the course of the plague in 
 Lincolnshire,* but the former, after writing of its 
 spreading from the continent to the southern coast of 
 England and so up to the midlands, adds : " In 
 Nottinghamshire the proportion of deaths among the 
 beneficed clergy is found, as in other cases, to be fully 
 one-half of the total number. Out of 126 benefices in 
 the county, the incumbents died in 65. Eastwards 
 again the count) 7 of Lincoln lies between Nottingham- 
 shire and the sea. At an early period Pope Clement 
 VI. granted to the priests and people of the city and 
 diocese of Lincoln great indigencies in the hour of 
 death since on their behalf a petition had been made 
 to him which declared that the deadly pestilence 
 had commenced in the city and diocese." There is 
 no doubt but that the mortality in Lincolnshire was 
 as great as elsewhere. We have also direct local 
 testimony from the Chronicle of Louth Park Abbey \ 
 supposed to have been written about 1452 : " In the 
 3 T ear of our Lord God 1349, the hand of the only 
 Omnipotent God struck the human race with a 
 certain deadly blow, which beginning in the southern 
 regions passed on to the northern, and invaded all the 
 
 * No one has as yet worked out the figures of the Lincoln Episcopal 
 registers in this careful manner, but there is no doubt but that they 
 would yield similar results. There are, for example, two institutions 
 each for the year 1349 to Kitsby, Tetford, Fulletby, Ingoldmells, and 
 Langton near Horncastle. The Rectors of Langton-by-Partney, 
 Driby, Brinkhill, Aswardby, Calceby, Bag Enderby, and Salmonby, 
 died. 
 
 t Chronicle of Louth Park Abbey, translated by the Rev. A. R. 
 Maddison for the Lincolnshire Record Society, 1 8 y 1 , pp. 38, 39.
 
 120 History of Partncy. 
 
 kingdoms of the world. This stroke alike prostrated 
 Christians, Jews, and Saracens. It annihilated at 
 once the confessor and the penitent. This scourge 
 in many places left less than a fifth part of the 
 population surviving. It struck terror into the heart 
 of the whole world. So great a pestilence before 
 this time had never been seen, or heard of, or 
 written of; for it is believed that not even so vast 
 a multitude of people were swept away by the flood 
 which happened in the days of Noah. The number 
 of the dead who were buried before the midday meal 
 was greater than those who were interred after it. 
 In the year many Monks of Louth Park died, 
 among them died Walter of Louth, Lord Abbot, on 
 July 13th." 
 
 " The great mortality came to an end everywhere 
 in England by Michaelmas, 1349. The pestilence 
 had lasted some 14 months from its first appearance 
 on the Dorset coast in the beginning of August, 1348 
 until its subsidence in the Northern Counties in the 
 autumn of 1349. It came to an end, as all devastat- 
 ing epidemics do, through having spent all its force, 
 exhausted its pabulum, run through all susceptible 
 subjects."* Such a calamity as the Black Death was 
 overwhelming. Historians have written upon its far- 
 reaching effects on the ecclesiastical, the political, 
 and the social condition of the country, in all of 
 
 *Dr. Creighton's Epidemics in Britain, p. 177. Compare also the 
 following : Chronicle of a Monk of Thornton ; Lord F. Campbell's 
 Charters, British Museum, xxi. 4, " A great and wonderful mortality 
 of men in Lindsey from Easter to Michaelmas 1349."
 
 Traditions of the Plague. 121 
 
 which its consequences were most important. We 
 have seen that it reached Lincoln and Louth. It 
 may, very likely, have reached Partney, and its 
 ravages there may quite possibly have been more 
 terrible than on the neighbouring hills. We are told, 
 too, that it followed upon a wet summer, and Part- 
 ney, which lies low, would, in the days of inadequate 
 drainage, feel the effects of such weather to a marked 
 degree. Of course there have been many serious 
 epidemics in England since the Great Pestilence. It 
 was followed by others * down to a " pestis quinta " 
 in 1 39 1. There was a very serious outbreak in 1479. 
 Then all through the 16th century there was the 
 "Sweating Sickness," which in its course in 1551 
 deprived the Duchess of Suffolk (Lady Willoughby 
 d'Eresby) of both her sons. In 1585 the plague was 
 very bad at Boston and the neighbourhood. The 
 burials of the parish of Leake reached 104, the usual 
 number being 20. t After 161 1 came a period of 
 general good health which lasted for 14 years, when 
 outbreaks became frequent again. One of the worst 
 fell upon the town of Louth, of which the sole par- 
 ticulars are " that the plague from April to the end of 
 November 1631 swept away 754 persons, of whom 
 nearly 500 died in luly and August." % In this same 
 
 * Compare the Chronicle of a Monk of Thornton, "Item, a third 
 mortality in the Diocese of Lincoln in the vill of Skendleby and other 
 places, 1369." Quoted by Rev. W. O. Massingberd in his History of 
 the Manor of Driby. 
 
 f Thompson's History of Boston, p. 579. 
 
 \ Dr. Creighton.
 
 122 History of Partney. 
 
 year a large number of deaths are marked in the 
 Willoughby registers " de peste " ; the mortality 
 there was apparently at its highest in May and June. 
 
 Any one of these may have been the plague that 
 ruined Partney, but it is not too much to say that 
 the great plague of London of 1665 is the least likely 
 of them all. We may indeed perhaps be still feeling 
 the effects of the pestilence of 1349, as Dr. Jessopp 
 tells us many places in Norfolk and Suffolk do. Nor 
 is it at all improbable that a place which then lost 
 half its population should decline in importance 
 before the growing popularity of a neighbour built 
 on what we must regard as the more healthy site, 
 and having 40 years previously obtained, through 
 the influence of the then Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, 
 the right to hold a weekly market. There never 
 can have been enough trade in the district for two 
 market towns side by side. From the 14th century 
 onward it became simply a case of " the survival of 
 the fittest." * 
 
 It may be that the past greatness of Partney is 
 only a dream, but at least it is corroborated by the 
 numerous traces of buildings found in various parts 
 
 * If the plague be responsible for the change in the relative positions 
 of Partney and Spilsby as town and village, it must have been a much 
 more severe outbreak than any modern epidemic. In 1759 there was a 
 good deal of small pox in the neighbourhood. In the Spilsby registers 
 40 burials are marked with those ominous words, in Partney only 3 : 
 but this made no appreciable difference in the popularity of the two 
 places both for residence and for trade.
 
 Traditions of the Plague. 123 
 
 of the parish ; in what is now the Fair Close ; in the 
 Allotments on the Monks' road ; in the Top Greens 
 behind the Red Lion Inn ; while a greater popula- 
 tion, if not some serious mortality in the past, seems 
 to be attested by the not infrequent digging up of 
 human remains. At various alterations to the " Red 
 Lion" premises, bones have been disturbed. In 
 1 8 18 the making of a pit unearthed nine skulls. In 
 1826 the building of a new wing brought over thirty 
 to the light of day. Even a few years ago, when it 
 was necessary to dig a deep hole in the adjoining 
 blacksmith's shop, the digger upturned three skulls. 
 As has been already suggested, these buildings may 
 have got on to the site of the Hospital, but it seems 
 more likely that the) 7 are simply encroachments on 
 the churchyard. It is very small, and, inclusive of 
 the outside footpaths, its size was given in the award 
 of 1840 as 2 roods 20 poles. It is doubtful if all the 
 remains discovered in proximity to but outside its 
 present boundary would, if we may suppose they 
 really mean a larger churchyard, give us one as large, 
 say, as Bolingbroke, which is also in the centre of 
 the village. If it be asked when or why that which 
 was once part of God's Acre has become lost to it, 
 no answer can be given. Such encroachment is 
 unhappily common enough. The churchyards of 
 Fordington and Dexthorpe are quite lost. Our own 
 generation is witnessing the gradual disappearance of 
 that of Well. Up to 30 years ago no fence marked 
 off Dalby from the Park ; and though the loss of
 
 124 History of Partney. 
 
 quite half the churchyard at Partney causes us 
 sorrow, it is, alas ! no occasion for surprise.* 
 
 * Dr. Atkinson, in his Memorials of Old Whitby, p. 195, gives a 
 similar experience : " An additional space was required for the parish 
 of Danby. It was obtained, added to the graveyard, on which it 
 abutted on the east end, and consecrated in the year i860. No long 
 time elapsed before, in the process of grave-digging, it was discovered 
 that the newly-added piece had already at some by no means distant 
 time been used for the same purpose. Yet the bit that was added was 
 taken from a field which had been one of the fields of the Church 
 Home Farm, time out of mind. . . . In Domesday times there was 
 a church at Seaton ... I wanted to discover its precise site. I 
 knew that stone coffins at least 3 in number had been dug up in one 
 of the fields . . . But the site of the Church, and even of the 
 graveyard, had been lost sight of, and the most exact information I 
 could obtain was, ' It was somewhere about yon place on yon hillside.'" 
 Very similar information is all that is forthcoming about Fordington 
 and Dexthorpe, though 1 have been told that somewhere in the former 
 parish a stone coffin was at one time used as a pump trough.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A DISTINGUISHED VISITOR. 
 
 OME time in 1764 there came a distin- 
 guished visitor to Partney.* He walked 
 over from Langton Hall, where he was 
 staying as the friend and guest of the 
 old squire's son. And one wonders if the good 
 people of Partney could at all understand the char- 
 acter — as, no doubt, they would but little appreciate 
 the appearance — of Samuel Johnson, t to whom the 
 literary world of the day looked up with something 
 like adoration, and whose opinion on any matter of 
 literary taste no man even ventured to call in ques- 
 tion. In our day the great lexicographer has been 
 dethroned from his unquestioned literary superiority, 
 
 * See Boswell's Life of Johnson ; Dr. Birkbeck Hill's Johnson ami his 
 friends. 
 
 ■j- Samuel Johnson, born 1709, died 1784, is better known to us by 
 his title of " Doctor " — LL.D. — which the University of Dublin 
 bestowed upon him, 1765. The University of Oxford, which he had 
 left without taking a degree, made him M.A., 1755, m recognition of 
 the completion of his Dictionary, and D.C.L. in 1775.
 
 126 History of Partney. 
 
 but we shall never cease to respect the man for his 
 indomitable perseverance, his wide learning, and his 
 kind heart ; and it casts something of the shadow of 
 romance over us, that Peregrine Langton and his 
 house at Partney will live for ever in the pages of 
 the immortal Boswell. It was the old house 
 opposite the Church, with the engraven stone in its 
 eastern gable, that entertained this famous guest. 
 You may sit in the same drawing-room, with its half- 
 panelled walls, and look out into the same old- 
 fashioned garden ; and, if you are very imaginative, 
 you can conjure up before you that scene which 
 Johnson seems to speak of, on " the summer morn- 
 ing " : the courtly old Peregrine Langton,* who did 
 so much on ^200 a year, and his maiden sister as 
 thrifty as he was ; the neice who lived with them 
 and was, one would hope, the brightness of the 
 household ; and the somewhat dreamy Bennet, 
 with his gold snuff-box beside him, and his long legs 
 tied into a knot that he might take up as little space 
 as possible ; all of them — though they had never 
 known poverty, and their pedigree went back to 
 Norman times — listening with deepest deference to 
 the son of a poor Lichfield bookseller, one of whose 
 earliest literary ventures had been forced upon him 
 that so he might pay the expenses of his mother's 
 funeral. It is unfortunate for us that Boswell (John- 
 
 * Peregrine Langton of Partney was younger son of George Langton 
 of Langton, who died in 1727, aged 80, and brother of Bennet Langton, 
 who died in 1769, aged 83. He was thus uncle of the younger Bennet, 
 Johnson's friend. He died in 1766, and was buried at Sausthorpe.
 
 A Distinguished Visitor. 12J 
 
 son's biographer) did not come with him on the 
 occasion of his visit to Lincolnshire, and was, there- 
 fore, for this part of his story dependent on what he 
 heard from others. We should so much have liked 
 to have been told something of the route that was 
 taken, and of the names and personalities of the 
 people met. A few scraps only have been preserved. 
 Before his visit to Langton, it was suggested to 
 Johnson tha^t, if he would take Holy orders, 
 Mr. Langton, senior, had a Rectory — presumably 
 Langton — to give him. He declined the offer, partly 
 from conscientious motives and partly because his love 
 of London life was so strong. What a difference it 
 would have made to the literary life of England in 
 the eighteenth century if Samuel Johnson had been 
 Rector of Langton.* The visit to Lincolnshire con- 
 firmed him in his opinion that he could not have 
 been satisfied with a country living, for, talking of a 
 respectable clergyman there, he observed, " this man 
 fills up the duties of his life well. I approve of him, 
 but could not imitate him." Johnson was before all 
 things a lover of London, and of Fleet Street in 
 particular. It was for the world of English literature 
 a happy decision, and for the village of Langton 
 
 * In 1761 the Rev. Mr. Temple was Rector of Langton ; in 1763 
 the Rev. Mr. Tonge ; in 1764 the Rev. Dr. Uvedale. The latter 
 married Diana, daughter of Bennet Langton, senior. In 1773 their 
 daughter, Diana, was baptised at Sausthorpe, and in 1777 their son 
 Washbourne, at Partney. Dr. Uvedale died in 1799, and his widow in 
 1809. More recent Rectors of Langton have been : George Street 
 from 1800 to 1856, and Henry Watson from 1857 to 1872.
 
 128 History of Partney. 
 
 probably not an unhappy one, that led him to 
 decline a country Rectory. The London that he 
 knew and loved has been so much altered that his 
 old haunts have quite disappeared. Of the old Hall 
 at Langton,* where he stayed, but a few stones are 
 left to mark the site. So Peregrine Langton's house 
 at Partney is one of the few places still remaining 
 which connects us with one of the most striking 
 characters of the last century and with a man who 
 occupies a unique position in English literature. He 
 was a strange mixture of the wise and the frivolous, 
 the agreeable and the ill-tempered. He quarrelled 
 at one time very foolishly with Langton, but in his 
 last illness was much comforted by the society of 
 this one of his earliest and closest friends. Some 
 years afterwards, Langton, walking with a friend to 
 the top of a hill in the parish, traditionally believed 
 to be that known as the Sheepwalks, told the story 
 of how Johnson, taken to the same spot, declared he 
 had not had a roll for a long time, and deliberately 
 
 *The oldest known Langton Hall was in the field to the S.E. of the 
 Church, the site being marked by extensive mounds and remains of a 
 moat. To this succeeded an Elizabethan mansion to the N.E. of the 
 Church and near the present School-house, which was the one visited 
 by Dr. Johnson. It is sometimes supposed to have been the original 
 of "Locksley Hall," which is hardly likely as it was pulled down 
 (about 1817) in consequence of an outbreak of typhoid fever before 
 Alfred Tennyson (born 1809) was in his teens. In place of it the 
 grandfather of the present proprietor built an Italian villa on the hill 
 side, which, showing signs of subsidence, had to be pulled down in a 
 few years (about 1845). A farmhouse served for a Hall for a time, 
 and then the present mansion was built by B. R. Langton Esq., 
 in 1866.
 
 A Distinguished Visitor. 129 
 
 emptying his pockets of keys and purse and knife 
 could not be dissuaded from lying down parallel with 
 the edge of the hill and turning over and over till he 
 came to the bottom. 
 
 Many of the letters preserved by Boswell contain 
 allusions to the Langton family, and one of them must 
 be given here. It is dated May 10th, 1766, and was 
 written to Bennet Langton on receipt of the news 
 from him of his uncle's death. 
 
 " In supposing that I should be more than com- 
 monly affected by the death of Peregrine Langton 
 you were not mistaken : he was one of those whom 
 I loved at once by instinct and by reason. I have 
 seldom indulged more hope of anything than of being 
 able to improve our acquaintance to friendship. 
 Many a time have I placed myself again at Langton, 
 and imagined the pleasure with which I should walk 
 to Partney in a summer morning, but this is no longer 
 possible. We must now endeavour to preserve what 
 is left us, his example of piety and economy. I hope 
 vou make what enquiries you can and write down 
 what is told you. The little things which distinguish 
 domestic character are soon forgotten : if you delay 
 to enquire you will have no information : if you neg- 
 lect to write information will be in vain. His art of 
 life certainly deserves to be known and studied. He 
 lived in plenty and elegance upon an income which 
 to many would appear indigent and to most scanty. 
 How he lived, therefore, every man has an interest 
 in knowing. His death I hope was peaceful : it was 
 surely happy." 
 
 K
 
 130 History of Partney. 
 
 " Mr. Langton," says Boswell, " did not disregard 
 this counsel, but wrote the following account which 
 he has been pleased to communicate to me." 
 
 No apology is needed for producing this account 
 in full in these notes on Partney. 
 
 " The circumstances of Mr. Peregrine Langton were 
 these. He had an annuity for life of .£200 per 
 annum. He resided in a village in Lincolnshire : 
 the rent of his house with 2 or 3 small fields was 
 £28 : the county he lived in was not more than 
 moderately cheap : his family consisted of a sister, 
 who paid him ^18 annually for her board, and a 
 niece. The servants were 2 maids and 2 men in 
 livery. His common way of living, at his table, was 
 3 or 4 dishes : the appurtenances to his table were 
 neat and handsome : he frequently entertained com- 
 pany at dinner, and then his table was well served 
 with as many dishes as were usual at the tables of 
 the other gentlemen in the neighbourhood. His 
 own appearance as to clothes was genteelly neat and 
 plain. He had always a postchaise and kept three 
 horses. Such, with the resources I have mentioned, 
 was his way of living, which he did not suffer to 
 employ his whole income : for he had always a sum 
 of money lying by him for any extraordinary ex- 
 penses that might arise. Some money he put into 
 the stocks : at his death the sum he had there 
 amounted to .£150. He purchased out of his income 
 his household furniture and linen, of which latter he 
 had a very ample store : and, as I am assured by
 
 A Distinguished Visitor. 131 
 
 those that had very good means of knowing, not less 
 than a tenth part of his income was set apart for 
 charity : at the time of his death the sum of £25 was 
 found with directions to be employed in such uses. 
 He had laid down a plan of living proportioned to 
 his income and did not practice any extraordinary 
 degree of parsimony, but endeavoured that in his 
 family there should be plenty without waste. As an 
 instance that this was his endeavour it may be worth 
 while to mention a method he took in regulating a 
 proper allowance of malt liquor to be drunk in his 
 family, that there might not be a deficiency or any 
 intemperate profusion. On a complaint made that 
 his allowance of a hogshead in a month was not 
 enough for his own family, he ordered the quantity 
 of a hogshead to be put into bottles, had it locked up 
 from the servants and distributed out every day 
 8 quarts, which is the quantity each day at one hogs- 
 head in a month : and told his servants that if that 
 did not suffice he would allow them more : but by 
 this method it appeared at once that the allowance 
 was much more than sufficient for his small family : 
 and this proved a clear conviction that could not be 
 answered and saved all future dispute. He was, in 
 general, very diligently and punctually attended and 
 obeyed by his servants : he was very considerate as 
 to the injunctions he gave and explained them 
 distinctly : and at their first coming to his service 
 steadily exacted a close compliance with them 
 without any remission : and the servants, finding
 
 132 History of Partncy. 
 
 this to be the case, soon grew habitually accustomed 
 
 to the practice of their business, and then very little 
 
 further attention was necessary. On extraordinary 
 
 instances of good behaviour or diligent service he 
 
 was not wanting in particular encouragements and 
 
 presents above their wages : it is remarkable that he 
 
 would permit their relations to visit them and stay at 
 
 his house 2 or 3 days at a time. The wonder, with 
 
 most that hear an account of his economy, will be, 
 
 how he was able, with such an income, to do so 
 
 much, especially when it is considered that he paid 
 
 for everything he had. He had no land except the 
 
 2 or 3 small fields which I have said he rented : and 
 
 instead of gaining anything by their produce I have 
 
 reason to think he lost by them : however, the) 7 
 
 furnished him with no further assistance towards his 
 
 housekeeping than grass for his horses (not hay, 
 
 for that I know he bought) and for 2 cows. Every 
 
 Monday morning he settled his family accounts, and 
 
 so kept up a constant attention to the confining his 
 
 expenses within his income, and to do it more exactly 
 
 compared those expenses with a computation he had 
 
 made, how much that income would afford him every 
 
 week and day of the year. One of his economical 
 
 practices was, as soon as any repair was wanting in 
 
 or about the house, to have it immediately performed. 
 
 When he had money to spare, he chose to lay in a 
 
 provision of linen or clothes or any other necessaries : 
 
 as then he said he could afford it, which he might 
 
 not be so well able to do when the actual want
 
 A Distinguished Visitor. 133 
 
 came : in consequence of which method he had a 
 considerable supply of necessary articles lying by him 
 beside what was in use. But the main particular 
 that seems to have enabled him to do so much with 
 his income was that he paid for everything as soon 
 as he had it, except alone what were current accounts, 
 such as rent for his house and servants' wages : and 
 these he paid at the stated times with the utmost 
 exactness. He gave notice to the tradesmen of the 
 neighbouring market towns that they should no 
 longer have his custom if they let any of his servants 
 have anything without their paying for it. Thus he 
 put it out of his power to commit those imprudences 
 to which those are liable that defer their payments 
 by using their money some other way than where it 
 ought to go. And whatever money he had by him, 
 he knew that it was not demanded elsewhere, but 
 that he might safely employ it as he pleased. His 
 example was confined by the sequestered place of his 
 abode to the observation of few, though his prudence 
 and virtue would have made it valuable to all who 
 could have known it. These few particulars which I 
 know myself and have obtained from those who lived 
 with him may afford instruction and be an incentive 
 to that wise art of living which he successfully 
 practised." 
 
 It was, indeed, a piece of wonderful management : 
 seven grown-up persons, and three horses and two 
 cows kept in plenty on a total income of .£218 a 
 year !
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PARISH REGISTERS, BOOKS, AND PAPERS. 
 
 J^HE oldest Register* now remaining in 
 ^| the Church chest at Partney begins in 
 1699 and ends 1812. It consists of 19 
 parchment leaves, two of which are 
 blank, i7^in. by 7m., which were neatly bound 
 together in 181 3. The heading of the first page is, 
 " Registrum Baptizatorum, Nuptorum et Sepultorum 
 in Parochia de Partney Anno Dni 1699." The entries 
 are made in Latin down to the end of the year 1731, 
 and the uniformity of handwriting seems to imply 
 that the Book was made up not oftener than once a 
 year. From time to time we find "generosus" (of 
 gentle birth) added to names presumably those of 
 leading inhabitants, and when the use of Latin is 
 given up the prefix " Mr." seems to be reserved for 
 
 * Parish Registers were ordered to be kept in England in 1538. It 
 will be at once seen how much has been lost at Partney, though it 
 should be remembered by parishioners and others in need of the 
 information that there are transcripts in the Diocesan Registry at 
 Lincoln of the ioo years previous to 1699.
 
 Parish Registers, Books, and Papers. 135 
 
 those of more importance than the rest. Some of the 
 entries of more general interest are given here : — 
 
 1702 Burial : " Maria uxor Johannis Peach, 
 generosi." 
 
 171 6 „ " Johannis Peach, gen." 
 
 1706 „ " Elizabetha uxor Radulphi Ruge- 
 
 ley, gen." 
 
 1720 „ " Radulphus Rugeley, generosus." 
 
 After this there are numerous entries of members 
 
 of the Harrison and May families, some of whom 
 
 appear in the old account books as the largest 
 
 ratepayers. 
 
 1 71 9 Burial: " Matheas Harrison." 
 
 1727 „ " Alicia Harrison, vidua." 
 
 1739 „ John Harrison. 
 
 1762 „ Mary Harrison, widow. 
 
 1798 „ Mr. John Harrison,* grazier, 
 aged 66. 
 
 181 1 „ Mrs. Harrison, widow, aged 85. 
 
 1744 „ Trotha, wife of Mr. Humphrey 
 May. 
 
 1 749 „ Elizabeth, wife of Samuel May. 
 
 1769 „ Samuel May, aged 74. 
 
 1779 „ Mr. Humphrey May, aged 90. 
 
 1803 „ Humphrey May, grazier, aged 78. 
 
 1805 „ Mrs. Mary May, aged 81. t 
 
 * He had been baptised at Partney in 1732, and married in 1762 
 Susannah Bowen of Langton. 
 
 f 1762 Marriage of Humphrey May and Mary Mitchell, both of 
 Partney. This is the only occasion on which the signature of the 
 Rev. R. Stevens, Rector, appears in the parish books.
 
 136 History of Partney. 
 
 Other miscellaneous entries are : 
 
 1724 Robertus Thorp, sepultus, aged 90. 
 1729 Josephus Donaby, sepultus, aged 93. 
 1750 Mr. Robert Cook buried. 
 
 1758 Mr. Thomas Ware, butcher and grazier, 
 buried, aged J2. 
 
 1759 Three deaths from smallpox. 
 1 76 1 Two ditto. 
 
 1 76 1 Mr. John Chamberlain buried, aged 62. 
 
 1765 Mr. John Bowring buried, aged 70. 
 
 1767 Burial : Lawrence Draper, farmer, aged 52. 
 
 1772 „ Mrs. Elizabeth Jennings, widow, 
 
 aged 86. 
 
 1773 „ Mary Jobson, a widow, aged 93. 
 
 1775 „ Mrs. Susanna Rickerby, widow, 
 
 aged 61. (Apparently inside the 
 Church. There is a large slab 
 inscribed with her name on the 
 floor of the south aisle). 
 
 1776 „ John Robinson, parish clerk,* 
 
 aged 67. 
 From 1775 to 1780 the Rev. Robert Uvedale, D.D., 
 sometime Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, 
 Rector of Langton, was living here, probably in the 
 house formerly occupied by Peregrine Langton. He 
 married Diana, daughter of Bennet Langton, senior. 
 In the Surveyor's accounts for 1775 Dr. Uvedale was 
 assessed at 2/- for keeping "a chaise." There is a 
 
 * His successors appear to have been : — John Smith ; Calvert ; 
 
 William Stainton, buried 1858 ; Thomas Basker, buried 1867 ; Joseph 
 Graves ; Robert Bond.
 
 Parish Registers, Books, and Papers. 137 
 
 mural tablet to the memory of himself and his wife in 
 Langton Church. The Uvedales had been for many 
 generations freeholders in Scremby. 
 
 1777 Baptism of Washbourne Uvedale. 
 
 In the same year " the Rev. Mr. John Basker " 
 had a child baptised. Neither of these clergymen 
 seems to have been responsible for the services at 
 Partney Church, which, judging from the registers, 
 were taken by Richard Vesey. 
 
 1778 Three deaths from smallpox. 
 
 1785 Jan. 7th. "Received of the Rev. Mr. 
 . ,Tyler the sum of 2 shillings being all 
 then due to the tax on births and 
 burials. Thos. Barr." 
 The following extract from Mr. R. E. C. Waters' 
 Book 071 Parish Registers will best explain this : "The 
 Stamp Act of 1783 for the first time imposed a duty 
 of 3d. upon every entry in the parish register. . . . 
 The new tax fell lightly on the rich and pressed 
 heavily on the poor, placing the clergyman in the 
 invidious light of a tax-gatherer ; and as the poor 
 were often unable or unwilling to pay the tax, the 
 clergy had a direct inducement to retain their good- 
 will by keeping the registers defective. The Act 
 extended to Scotland, and excited there an outburst 
 of popular indignation . . and as the statute 
 virtually bestowed a premium on negligence and 
 omissions, whole parishes, and even counties, dis- 
 continued the practice of registration. The obnoxious 
 statute was repealed in 1794."
 
 138 History of Partney. 
 
 1790 Burial: "Hannah, wife of the Rev. W. 
 Tilting, aged 27, buried in the 
 Church." 
 
 1790 „ July nth. Edward Burr, an out- 
 pensioner of Chelsea Hospital. 
 
 1798 William Emmitt Baines, "Baptised by 
 Mr. Harley, March 18th." 
 
 1799 Burial : "Mr. Ellis Key, gent.," aged 38. 
 
 (He had lived in the house now 
 known as the Grange since 1790. 
 The brick and stone altar tomb 
 in the churchyard is his).* 
 1801 April. Marriage of " Matthew Flinders, 
 Commander in His Majesty's Royal 
 Navy, and Ann Chappelle of this parish." 
 Matthew Flinders,t an eminent navigator, was 
 born at Donington near Boston, March 16th, 1774. 
 He entered the Navy in 1790, and in 1801 was 
 appointed to command an expedition of discovery in 
 the South Seas, where he had already gained con- 
 siderable experience. On this occasion John Franklin 
 went with him as a midshipman. After exploring a 
 considerable part of the coast of Australia the ship 
 was wrecked. Flinders, returning home to England 
 in another vessel, was obliged to put in at Mauritius, 
 then a French possession. He was detained by the 
 governor for seven years and not released till 18 10. 
 
 * His successors in this house appear to have been : — Robert Rinder, 
 buried January 26th, 18 14 ; Mary Rinder, widow ; Thomas Wright 
 Tonge ; Mrs. Cheales ; Charles Burgess. 
 
 f See Dictionary of National Biography.
 
 Parish Registers, Books, and Papers. 139 
 
 He prepared for the press a narrative of his voyages, 
 but died July 19th. 18 14, before it was published. 
 1802 A general inoculation this year. 
 
 Raised the composition for tithes £2$ 
 per annum. 
 1808. Oct. nth. To receive 2 shillings an 
 acre from Lady Day as composition for 
 tithes for 7 years. 
 181 1 Mr. John Barron from Spilsby buried. 
 
 Burials Book beginning 181 3 and still in use. 
 
 1814 March 10th. James Flanner, M.A., Rec- 
 tor of Partney twenty-three years, aged 
 58. T. H. Rawnsley, officiating minister. 
 1 8 18. July 8th. Field Flowers, Rector of this 
 parish, aged 46. Dr. Mead, off. minister. 
 [Rector of Candlesby]. 
 This was in a vault at the chancel steps ; his 
 widow and a daughter were subsequently buried 
 there. 
 
 1836 Sept. 10th. Fanny Flowers, aged 2^. 
 1842 Sept. 13th. Mary Flowers, aged 66 : she 
 
 had died at Stoke in Devonshire. 
 
 1826 March 24th. Frances Burr, Partney, 
 
 aged 98 years. 
 
 "This age was a conjecture. Mrs. Burr was 
 
 probably more. Being then 20 or 22 years old she 
 
 was present with her first husband, — Currey, a 
 
 soldier, at the battle of Fontenoy, 1745. Her second 
 
 husband, Edward Burr, also a soldier, was about 45
 
 140 History of Partney. 
 
 when Fontenoy was fought, as appears from a sworn 
 statement of his respecting his settlement. This 
 second marriage took place at Partney, August 9th, 
 1770."— J. W. B. 
 
 1842 Elizabeth, wife of T. W. Tonge, aged 79. 
 i860 Ten burials marked " scarlet fever." 
 1872 Robert Rowland Litchford, aged 85. 
 1886. Jan. 30th. Frederick Flowers, Recorder 
 of Stamford, 1862-4. Magistrate at Bow 
 Street, 1864-86. His widow was buried 
 beside him, July 21st, 1894. 
 1886 May 3rd. Frances Elizabeth Maddison. 
 
 1886 July 27th. William Thurlby, Church- 
 warden, aged 45. 
 
 1887 No adult died at Partney, an unpre- 
 cedented circumstance. 
 
 1888 June 13th. George Wilson Maddison, J. P. 
 
 ACCOUNT BOOKS. 
 
 The oldest account book remaining is the 
 "Surveyor's Bill" of 1767. The principal ratepayers 
 at that time were : — 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 John Harrison 
 
 . 
 
 139 
 
 
 
 
 
 Humphrey May, junior 
 
 • 
 
 90 
 
 
 
 
 
 Thomas Gill 
 
 . 
 
 59 
 
 
 
 
 
 Joseph Burton 
 
 . 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 770 these had changed a little 
 
 : — 
 
 
 
 John Harrison 
 
 . 
 
 148 
 
 
 
 
 
 George Cartwright 
 
 . 
 
 66 
 
 
 
 
 
 Joseph Burton 
 
 . 
 
 67 
 
 
 

 
 85 io o 
 
 75 o 
 
 65 o o 
 
 97 r 5 o 
 
 Account Books. 141 
 
 £ s. d. 
 Thomas Gill . . . 59 o o 
 
 Humphrey May . . 4100 
 
 In 1 771 Peregrine Emmitt is assessed at .£263, 
 which includes, apparently, the sum charged for so 
 many years to John Harrison. 
 
 In 1785 the principal ratepayers were : — 
 
 £ s. d. 
 Peregrine Emmitt . . 223 o 
 James Hairby 
 George Cartwright 
 Joseph Burton 
 Messrs. Wright & Watson 
 
 In 1790 Peregrine Emmitt had become still more 
 important, and was assessed at ^336. He was a 
 very famous farmer in his time, bought and sold an 
 enormous quantity of stock and occupied a very large 
 acreage in other parishes besides Partney. In those 
 days all the meat sold in London had to walk there, 
 and it was an important question for buvers which 
 class of animal could travel best to Smithfield. 
 Mr. Emmitt always rode to London to superintend 
 the sale of the stock he had bought in the Partney 
 neighbourhood, and returned home with the money 
 in his pocket. Many stories are still remembered of 
 his narrow escapes from highwaymen. He lived at 
 Partney, in the house now known as the rectory, but 
 died at Sausthorpe, where he owned a considerable 
 property, in 1826, aged 94. He is buried in the 
 churchyard there. Having no children of his own
 
 142 
 
 History of Partney. 
 
 he left his large fortune to the children of Mr. William 
 Banes, who had married his sister, on condition that 
 they took the name and arms of Emmitt. 
 
 From 1791 to 1812 John Johnson, "Doctor of 
 Physick," was living here in the house now known as 
 " the Hall." 
 
 In 1835 the principal ratepayers were : — 
 
 
 £ s. 
 
 d. 
 
 J. H. Bourne 
 
 • " • 3i 15 
 
 
 
 Joseph Burton 
 
 68 15 
 
 
 
 Mrs. Emmitt 
 
 35 10 
 
 
 
 Wm. Holderness 
 
 46 10 
 
 
 
 Joseph Lyall 
 
 51 
 
 
 
 G. W. Maddison 
 
 152 10 
 
 
 
 Jno. Stainton 
 
 80 10 
 
 
 
 G. and J. Wilson 
 
 . 219 5 
 
 
 
 T. W. Tonge 
 
 37 
 
 
 
 At this time some 
 
 description of properties is 
 
 generally given, and so 
 
 we learn that 
 
 
 Joseph Burton occupied a farm house 
 
 
 Joseph Clake 
 
 „ a victualling house 
 
 Cornelius Goodwin 
 
 „ the mill 
 
 
 Joseph Lyall 
 
 „ a malt kiln 
 
 
 Wm. North 
 
 „ a tan yard 
 
 
 Wm. Mawer 
 
 „ a shop 
 
 
 Mrs. Redmore 
 
 )> » 
 
 
 Joseph Smith 
 
 » >> 
 
 
 William Thompson 
 
 „ a public house 
 malt kiln 
 
 ; and 
 
 G. & J. Wilson 
 
 ,, a farm house 

 
 Vestry Books. 143 
 
 This last was no doubt an old house, since pulled 
 down to give place to a smaller and more modern 
 one which goes with Lord Willoughby's land. 
 Judging from the Parish Books the successive tenants 
 of this the most important farm in the parish have 
 been : — 
 
 Matthew Harrison. 
 
 1 71 9 John Harrison, senior. 
 
 1739 Mrs. Harrison. 
 
 1762 John Harrison, junr. 
 
 1779 Peregrine Emmitt. 
 
 1798 Thomas Garflt. 
 
 181 1 Charles Barton. 
 
 181 5 Garmston Chapman. 
 
 1828 Gildon and John Wilson. 
 
 1859 William Starmer. 
 
 1868 Harwood Mackinder. 
 
 VESTRY BOOKS. 
 
 The oldest Vestry Book was purchased in 1821, 
 and the more interesting records in it are those which 
 refer to the administration of the " poor law." The 
 first entry is a copy of the summons for a parish 
 meeting called to discuss the question whether 
 Partney should join with Dalby and Ashby for the 
 building of a workhouse. The meeting was duly 
 held, and it was agreed that it was expedient to 
 build such a workhouse. A committee was ap- 
 pointed consisting of two gentlemen from each of 
 the three parishes. At a second meeting it was 
 agreed that the workhouse be built by contract, and
 
 144 History of Partney. 
 
 then — we hear no more about it. Four years after- 
 wards it was agreed that the parish should join 
 Tetford workhouse, but nothing came of that either. 
 It was usual each year to appoint a select vestry 
 of from 13 to 17 persons to conduct the affairs of the 
 parish, and they seem to have met once a fortnight. 
 Indeed, under " the old poor law " they generally 
 had something to do, and it is but seldom the book 
 is marked " no business." The reason of this was 
 that the parish attended to the relief of its own poor. 
 Such poor as were in it were relieved by local rates 
 solely, the overseer was the relieving officer, the 
 doctor was paid by bill. Then, it being purely a 
 matter of internal management who should be 
 relieved, it was to the interest of the parishioners 
 that no one should come in from elsewhere, "intrude" 
 as it was called, who was at all likely to become 
 chargeable on the rates. No sooner was it known 
 that a new labourer or small tradesman had settled, 
 it might be even without wife or family, in the place, 
 than the overseer procured from the officials of the 
 parish the newcomer had just left a certificate that he 
 had a legal "settlement" with them. Similarly no 
 such person could leave Partney without a certificate. 
 There are in the parish chest copies of three kinds of 
 documents : certificates from the churchwardens and 
 overseers of some parish that they owned so and so 
 as legally settled among them ; formal demands to the 
 Partney officials to receive some one who had come 
 upon the rates elsewhere without losing his Partney 
 settlement ; and examinations sworn before magis-
 
 Vestry Books. 145 
 
 trates of a man's past life and movements to determine 
 what parish he had still a claim upon. So completely 
 have these things passed out of our life that a speci- 
 men of each of the three forms may very well be 
 appended here : — 
 
 " We . . . and . . . Churchwardens and 
 Overseers of the parish of . . . do hereby own 
 and acknowledge . . . his wife and child to be 
 inhabitants legally settled in the parish of . . . 
 aforesaid. In witness whereof we have hereunto set 
 our hands and seals this . . . "; and this part of 
 the document having been duly signed in the presence 
 of witnesses, there follows : " To the Churchwardens 
 and Overseers of the poor of the Parish of Partney. 
 We whose names are hereunto subscribed, 2 of his 
 Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the parts of 
 Lindsey do allow of the above written Certificate. 
 And we do also certify that . . . the witness 
 who attested the Execution of the said Certificate has 
 made oath before us that he did see the Church- 
 wardens and Overseers whose names and seals are 
 here subscribed and set, severally sign and seal the 
 said Certificate and that the names of the said . . . 
 whose names are above subscribed as witnesses to 
 the execution of the said Certificate are of their own 
 proper handwriting. Dated . . . Then follow 
 
 the magistrates' signatures. 
 
 " The examination of .... of Partney, 
 Labourer, touching the place of his last settlement, 
 taken on complaint of the Churchwardens and Over- 
 ly
 
 146 History of Partney. 
 
 seers of the Poor of the Parish of Partney aforesaid 
 upon oath before us, two of His Majesty's Justices of 
 the Peace for the said parts this . . . day of . . . 
 Who saith that 6 years old May day last he hired a 
 cottage in Partney of . . . at a rent of . . . 
 where he now resides and that he hath not since 
 done any act to gain a settlement elsewhere." 
 
 " Who saith that he is 43 years of age : that he 
 was born at . . . but does not know, nor was 
 ever informed by any person whatsoever the place of 
 his father's settlement. That he was brought up by 
 his cousin . . . of . . . till he was about 
 13 years of age, but was never hired for a year to his 
 said cousin at any time during that term. Then that 
 he worked in several parishes and places for about 
 2 years but was never hired servant for a year in any 
 one place during that time. That when he was 
 15 years of age he was pressed on board his Majesty's 
 service and continued therein 5 years when he 
 enlisted himself as a Volunteer into his Majesty's 
 19th Reg 4 , of Foot and continued therein 16 years 
 when he was discharged from the said Reg*. And 
 he farther saith that he never rented £iq a year, 
 served any parish office, paid any parish rates, nor 
 did any act to gain a settlement in his own right in 
 any manner howsoever." 
 
 " Upon complaint of the Churchwardens and 
 Overseers of the Poor of the parish of . . . unto 
 us whose names are hereunto set being two of his 
 Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the parts of
 
 Vestry Books. 147 
 
 Lindsey that . . . and his wife have lately come 
 to inhabit the parish of . . . not having gained 
 a legal settlement there and that the said .... 
 and his wife have now become chargeable to the 
 parish of . . . We the said Justices upon due 
 proof made thereof &c. do adjudge that the lawful 
 settlement of . . . and his wife is in the Parish 
 of Partney and we do therefore require you the 
 Chwardens and Overseers of the parish of . . . 
 to convey the said . . . and his wife from and 
 out of your parish of ... to the said parish of 
 Partney ." mluf 
 
 It is difficult for us to realise that these things 
 were clone up to 50 years ago and that the isolation 
 of country people was thus further and wilfully 
 aggravated by checks put upon the free employment 
 of labour. The system produced its own crop of 
 lawsuits and its own technical terms. Parishes were 
 known as "open" and " close." The latter were 
 those of which all the land belonged to one or two 
 proprietors, who thus, to make sure of no one coming 
 on the rates, simply abstained from building cottages, 
 and compelled those who worked on their land to 
 find houseroom in some " open " parish that would 
 take them in. Partney was an " open " parish. It 
 belonged to several proprietors, amongst them many 
 small freeholders. Such persons were not deterred 
 even by threatened high rates from building a very 
 inferior class of cottage which could be let f r a g iod 
 rent. The existence of this state of things is the
 
 148 History of Partney. 
 
 explanation of much of the social life of Partney as 
 we see it at the present day. Our decline in 
 population is largely due to the fact that our larger 
 population was on a fictitious basis. It was large 
 simply because labourers, while finding work in the 
 " close " parishes of Langton, Sausthorpe and Dalby, 
 had to find houses in the " open " parish of Partney. 
 The doing away of this distinction has naturally been 
 followed by a decline. We still see the relic of the 
 system in the inferior class of cottage squeezed on to 
 some small bit of ground which now, happily, the 
 law would prevent from becoming ever again the 
 home of a large family. Nay rather, the improvement 
 in the purchasing power of his money, the raising of 
 his standard of comfort, his greater self-respect and 
 independence, would prevent the labourer of to-day 
 from entertaining the thought of taking his wife and 
 children to occupy the quarters that had been deemed 
 good enough for his grandfather. 
 
 A great alteration has come over the position and 
 duties of the Overseer. Under the old system the 
 claims upon him were of the most varied and curious 
 kind. He it was who superintended the weekly 
 " collection " to some one who had " come upon the 
 parish." He it was who did all the work of dis- 
 bursement the " select vestry " might order : 
 
 60 pecks of potatoes towards feeding B's pig : 
 £2 to C towards paying his Michaelmas rent : 
 Such medicine and advice for D as he (the 
 overseer) might choose to order :
 
 Vestry Books. 149 
 
 Two shirts and a pair of shoes for E : 
 
 A washwoman one day a week to help F : 
 
 A pig to be bought : 
 
 A boy to be apprenticed : 
 
 A general vaccination of paupers : 
 
 A prosecution of G " for selling the parish 
 
 shovel :" 
 A pair of boots for H " if he provide himself 
 
 with a strong jacket :" 
 Coals, clothes and rent to almost anyone who 
 choose to ask it, though the vestry struck some- 
 times, as when " M's wife applied for relief but 
 thought her not a proper object, her husband 
 earning 18/- a week," or when "W's allowance 
 on the road was taken off on account of 
 drunkenness." 
 Then there was the examination of a newcomer as 
 to his " settlement," and perhaps the overseer must 
 see about getting him out of the parish again, not 
 because he was a bad character, but simply if he was 
 likely to become chargeable. In 1829 the vestry 
 heard that a boy " lame and infirm " was going to be 
 apprenticed to a tailor in the parish, and rather than 
 have him they went before the magistrates about it 
 and got him sent home again. 
 
 But Partney knew that if it did not want unsatis- 
 factory residents it could not always be rid of them 
 by moving them into another parish, so it did not 
 hesitate sometimes to help them to America, where 
 there would be no question asked as to " settlement."
 
 150 History of Partney. 
 
 The Vestry took quite an interest in the ailments 
 of its pensioners. " An operation being required for 
 A. B., Mr. C, the surgeon, undertakes to free the 
 parish of all expense on payment of 2 guineas :" 
 " C. D. to consult Mr. C. on account of his deafness, 
 and if an operation be necessary the same to be done 
 at the parish expense :" " E. F. earnestly requested 
 to have a bottle of Sibley's Solar Tincture which the 
 overseer is to buy for him." 
 
 Like everything else the old system could give 
 good reason for its existence and trace its origin to, 
 and development from, an entirely different state of 
 things. Worked as it was in the first 30 years of 
 this century, it was rapidly demoralising the labouring 
 classes and increasing the poverty and wretchedness 
 it professed to relieve. That the present system 
 (the New Poor Law of 1834) is not perfect not even 
 its most ardent admirer would contend, but that on 
 the whole the changes have been wise and just few 
 who know anything at all about the matter will be 
 prepared to deny. We need not suppose that the 
 administration of the old law was better or worse in 
 Partney than elsewhere. It was just the system 
 itself that was at fault, and to the system we owe 
 some of the most serious moral and social evils, 
 which to a thoughtful person must ever be cause for 
 anxiety and regret. 
 
 Under the jurisdiction of the Vestry came also the 
 ordering of repairs and improvements to the fabric of 
 the Parish Church.
 
 Vestry Books. 151 
 
 Notices of the meetings were given out in Church 
 " immediately after Divine Service," and the meetings 
 were held in Church, though often adjourned else- 
 where. The expenses were provided for by a rate 
 varying in amount from two to six pence. 
 
 1827 A meeting was held to take into consideration 
 " the order of the Archdeacon of Lincoln at 
 his visitation held at Spilsby." It was ordered 
 that an estimate be made " of the repairs and 
 alterations of the pews as soon as possible." 
 Later it was arranged that these repairs be 
 taken in hand under the direction of 
 Mr. Edward Rainey of Spilsby, at a cost 
 of £38. 
 
 1828 The Vestry was summoned to take into con- 
 sideration terms for purchasing an organ for 
 the Parish Church, and was naturally very 
 indignant when nobody appeared with a 
 definite proposition. 
 
 1842 Repairs to the roof of the south aisle necessi- 
 tated the levying of a double rate. 
 
 1845 Repairs to the porch required a rate of 5 pence. 
 
 1847 A salarv of £3 10s. od. was allowed to the 
 parish clerk. 
 
 1854 The Vestry took into consideration the best- 
 way to repair the Parish Church. 
 
 1 861 It was reported to the Vestry that the sum of 
 .£1,000 would be required to repair the Parish 
 Church. It was agreed to ask for a loan of 
 £300 from the Commissioners empowered to
 
 152 History of Partney. 
 
 make advances for public works. This was 
 altered next year to .£200, being part of .£240 
 estimated to be the cost of rebuilding the 
 south aisle. 
 
 1864 The salary of the parish clerk was raised from 
 £3 1 os. od. to £\ 1 os. od., and the payment 
 made to him for winding the clock increased 
 from 10/- to £1. 
 
 1865 The Vestry, taking into consideration the 
 dilapidated state of the tower, requested the 
 Rector that the bells be not raised except for 
 special occasions.* 
 
 1872 Resolved that on and after April 6th a lock be 
 placed on each of the gates leading into the 
 churchyard, so that the pathway leading 
 through the churchyard may be disused as a 
 public path on all days except Sundays. 
 In confirmation of the orders of the Vestry we 
 have the Overseer's book for 1805. 
 
 Generally the amounts cover the same ground year 
 after year : payment of the weekly " collections," 
 relief to distressed " travellers," coals and clothes for 
 paupers, repairs to the poorhouses, and funeral 
 expenses and the doctor's bill. 
 
 Four times a year there was a payment of " county 
 stock," some £20 or £30 per annum, being the 
 parochial contribution to the county government : 
 
 Three guineas (and sometimes five) to the overseer 
 for " standing office :" 
 
 * The tower was repaired and strengthened in 1884.
 
 Vestrv Books. i 
 
 03 
 
 Postage of letters, an important item when to send 
 a letter into Warwickshire cost 8 id., and even to 
 Alford 4d : 
 
 Legal expenses, sometimes very heavy, on disputed 
 questions of settlement : 
 
 For many years a "contribution towards Northolme 
 poor," and payment to " the Overseers of Barton 
 for the militiaman's children." 
 
 There were a few charges of a different kind : the 
 payment to the Lord of the Manor of £i is. od. 
 a year " for waste land," and fees at the " Court leet"; 
 payments, for "Paradise Land," apparently at the 
 rate of is. 6d. a vear, to Lord YVillou^hbv, and is. to 
 the Lord of the Manor of Skendleby. In 1812 the 
 former had got sadly in arrear, and there is the item 
 "paid Lord Gwydir \2\ years' rent 12s. 6d." In 
 1826 the Overseer paid "the Rev. E. Brackenbury 
 2\ years' rent for land called Paradise not to be paid 
 in future without further consideration." It continued 
 to be paid though fallen into arrears, "1835 paid to 
 Major Brackenbury for 7^ years 7s. 6d." 
 
 Some of the items are curious : — 
 
 181 1 "Paid for 10 men's dinners the day the 
 jurey went round the sewers 17s. od." 
 
 Paid for getting coals into the Church 8s. reminds 
 us that part of the Church was used as " the Town's 
 Coal House," whence the allowances to paupers were 
 from time to time weighed out. Perhaps this came 
 to an end in 1820, when there was the payment of 
 £7 9s. od. for a coalhouse, and the whole system
 
 154 History of Partney. 
 
 was altered in 1827, when the coalhouse was ordered 
 to be pulled clown. 
 
 1826 Paid J. A. £1 4 s. 6d. "Dog Watching." 
 This, as appears from the vestry book, was in con- 
 sequence of serious depredations by some unknown 
 dog on the farmers' sheep. It will be noted that 
 that which caused direct injury to a few of the rate- 
 payers was remedied at the expense of all. 
 
 1833 Paid for a horse and gig to Grimsby 
 £1 is. od. 
 
 PARISH OFFICERS. 
 
 Space will not permit that a complete list of all 
 holders of parish offices should be given. As it was 
 the custom for a man to serve in some or all of the 
 capacities, constable, surveyor of highways, assessor 
 of taxes, overseer and churchwarden, and the same 
 name would occur in these different offices for 
 different years, it will be sufficient to give a list of 
 the Churchwardens compiled from the vestry books 
 since 1821, prefixing such names as we have notice 
 of at an earlier date. 
 1587 John Ormsby. 
 1590 John Walgrave. 
 1594 Thomas Walgrave. 
 1602 William Moody. 
 1606 Edward Jackson and Edmund Gaule. 
 1 608 Thomas Walgrave. 
 1626 William Thory. 
 1 7 15 (?) John Peach and John Wayet.
 
 
 Parish Off 
 
 'cers. 155 
 
 1821 
 
 Wm. Holderness 
 
 G. W. Maddison. 
 
 1822-3 
 
 >} 
 
 Richard Goodwin. 
 
 1824 
 
 V 
 
 T. W. Tonge. 
 
 1825 
 
 G. W. Maddison 
 
 „ and to 1829. 
 
 1829 
 
 Wm. Holderness 
 
 >> 
 
 1830 
 
 Wm. Mawer 
 
 ii 
 
 1831 
 
 Wm. Holderness 
 
 „ and to 1835. 
 
 1835 
 
 )> 
 
 G. W. Maddison. 
 
 1836-7 
 
 George Holderness 
 
 T. W. Tonge. 
 
 1838 
 
 G. W. Maddison 
 
 „ and to 1 84 1. 
 
 1841 
 
 George Holderness 
 
 „ and to 1845. 
 
 1845-6 
 
 » 
 
 Wm. Thompson. 
 
 1847-8 
 
 John Hale 
 
 >> 
 
 1849 
 
 it 
 
 Thomas Andrews 
 
 1850 
 
 u 
 
 Samuel Burton, and 
 to 1857. 
 
 1857 
 
 Thomas Andrews 
 
 William Sharp. 
 
 1858-9 
 
 11 
 
 Henry Bonnett. 
 
 i860 
 
 jy 
 
 Wm. Starmer. 
 
 1861 
 
 Wm. Thompson 
 
 )> 
 
 1862 
 
 >> 
 
 W. S. Mawer. 
 
 1865 
 
 11 
 
 John Mawer, and to 
 
 1869. 
 
 1869 
 
 >> 
 
 Samuel Warren, and 
 to 1873. 
 
 1873 
 
 >) 
 
 Kirkman Andrews, to 
 1876. 
 
 1876 
 
 }> 
 
 Adam Hodgson. 
 
 1877-8 
 
 „ (alone). 
 
 
 1879 
 
 Henry Thompson (alone).
 
 156 History of Partney. 
 
 1880 William Thurlby (alone) till his death, 1886. 
 1887 Adam Hodgson, to 1890. 
 1890 Prestwood Parker Hodgson, who at present 
 holds the office. 
 
 PAROCHIAL CHARITIES. 
 
 Hackley's Charity. — On a board in the Church is 
 the following : — 
 
 The gift of Mr. Thos. Hackley of London, who 
 died November 4th, 171 9. "I give and bequeath 
 to the Parish of Partney in Lincolnshire where my 
 Father was minister one hundred Pounds for ever to 
 be put out to Interest on a mortgage or upon such 
 security as the minister and churchwardens of the 
 said parish with John Anderson Sen r . Barber Surgeon 
 of the parish of Spilsby in the county aforesaid shall 
 approve of. And the interest thereof and that shall 
 arise hereby I give and bequeath to the poor of the 
 said Parish to be distributed yearly the Sunday before 
 Christmas at the discretion of the Minister and 
 Churchwardens of the Parish of Partney and the said 
 John Anderson : and I do desire the said John 
 Anderson to be overseer thereof and after the decease 
 of the said John Anderson Sen 1- . I appoint his son 
 overseer." 
 
 No notice of the above occurs in the vestry book 
 beyond the warning in 1829 that pauper boys making 
 bonfires on November 5th would have no share in it 
 at Christmas time. 
 
 The money is at present invested in a close 
 of pasture land at Burgh-le-Marsh, and produces
 
 Parochial Charities. 157 
 
 £\ 1 os. od. per annum, which is distributed by the 
 Rector and Churchwarden on the Sunday before 
 Christmas. 
 
 The old vestry book begins with an account of 
 " land belonging to the poor of the Parish of 
 Partney." It is as follows : — 
 
 s. d. 
 Late Andrews Town's piece occupied 
 
 by 6 tenants . . . .60 
 Church Gatestead . . . .16 
 To be paid out of Sweet Bits to 
 
 Parish Clerk for dog whipping . 2 6 
 Ox close 16 
 
 11 
 
 1838 It was unanimously agreed and ordered that 
 the several gardens, now occupied by parish 
 paupers, called or known by the name of 
 Andrews Garth or Andrews Garden be im- 
 mediately sold for defraying the expenses of 
 building the Union Workhouse and furnishing 
 the same. 
 
 1862 It was agreed that the Guardians of the Poor 
 of the Spilsby Union should sell " 4 poor- 
 houses with the land upon which they stand." 
 No further steps appear to be taken on this 
 matter until 1870 when the resolution was 
 re-affirmed and acted upon. 
 
 This refers to the Church Gatestead or 
 Paradise Land.
 
 158 History of Partney. 
 
 The poor of the parish, in addition to Hackley's 
 Charity, receive now the rents of : — 
 
 A field of 3 acres, producing about £6. 
 A piece of garden ground „ .„ £2. 
 
 The payment for dog-whipping from a piece of 
 land near the mill has lapsed for several years. 
 
 CURIOUS NAMES. 
 
 The following curious or unusual names occur in 
 the parish registers and other documents contained 
 in the Church chest : — 
 
 Amata, Artindale (for a daughter), Asaph, Avice or 
 Avis, Azubah, Betteris, Christiana, Demaris, Elleanora, 
 Euphane, Jairus, Judith, Jenetta or Jaunetta, Mallisa, 
 Mehetabel, Petronella, Prudence, Sendoniah and 
 Saintdonia, Saint Patrick, Shadrach, Theodosia and 
 Theodoshea, Trotha, Thirza and Teresa, Zaccheus. 
 
 FIELD NAMES. 
 
 Andrews Garth, Andrews Acre, Balm Close, 
 Cadington's Barrow, Chantry Garth, East Field, 
 West Field, Fair Close, Fair Park, Fair Hill, High 
 Greens or Top Greens, Low Greens, High and Low 
 Toft Fen, Harding's Close, Harding's Lane (or 
 Arden's), Haycrofts, Kent's Close, Lambriggs, Monks' 
 Close, High Monks, Low Monks, Monks' Lane, 
 Ox Close, Paradise Land, Redlands, Rout Yard, 
 Rowlands, Stirbecks, Sweet Bits, Watery Lane, 
 Great Withwongs. 
 
 THE SCHOOL. 
 
 From the Chapter Acts of Lincoln Cathedral it 
 appears that in June, 1329, licence was granted to
 
 The School. 159 
 
 certain Clerks to Grammar Schools in the Diocese, 
 among them John de Upton to Partney. The other 
 places mentioned are Barton, Grimsby, Horncastle, 
 Boston and Grantham.* 
 
 After this we have no notices of attempts at 
 education for the parish until we come to modern 
 times. The Rev. T. E. Miller, who came here as 
 Curate in 1850, seems to have been the first to make 
 an effort, and he held a night school in the large 
 room of the Red Lion inn. Mr. Giles, who succeeded 
 him, tried a day school on his own premises, and 
 some of the older parishioners got all their schooling 
 in what is now the rectory coach house. 
 
 The present schoolhouse was built in 1857, on a 
 site granted by Lord Willoughby d'Eresby for the 
 purpose. Under the trust deed the management is 
 vested in "the principal officiating minister of the 
 parish," and four other persons continuing to sub- 
 scribe £1 per annum to the school funds and signing 
 a declaration of membership of the Church of 
 England. In case of vacancies subscribers of 10/- per 
 annum elect. 
 
 The School is affiliated to the " National Society," 
 and complies with those regulations of the Acts of 
 Parliament which constitute it "a. public elementary 
 
 * Communicated by the Rev A. R. Maddison to Lines. N. & 0. 
 Vol. v., No. 33. He adds: "The fact of Partney being associated 
 with places like Boston and Grantham only affords additional proof of 
 its consequence in mediaeval times. The decline of its prosperity may 
 possibly have been owing to the Black Death which depopulated 
 England a few years after."
 
 1 60 History of Partney. 
 
 school." The following have acted as masters : — 
 
 .... T. Timms. 
 
 1867 Sidney John Harris. 
 
 1870 Hugh R. Mcintosh. 
 
 1872 Joseph Watson. 
 
 1877 John H. Fell. 
 
 1882 Chas. H. Carpenter. 
 
 1889 W. T. Smith. 
 
 1890 William Musgrave. 
 1894 Harry Flint. 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 It is the universal tradition in the parish that 
 Partney once had a much larger population than any 
 recorded in modern times. A few facts may perhaps 
 point to this conclusion, but on the whole such 
 evidence as we have is rather against it. 
 
 We must not rely upon the returns of sokemen 
 and bordars in Domesday Book as being an absolutely 
 complete account of the population and proving that 
 Partney contained no more than 300 souls, but at 
 least a comparison of the returns affecting this parish 
 with those for its neighbours gives no foundation 
 for any idea that in 1086 Partney was especially 
 populous. 
 
 When we come to the return of 1327 we find that 
 there were 19 persons assessed to the total sum of 
 38s. 8d. At the same time Ashby-by-Partney, 
 always supposed to have been a small place, con- 
 tributed 30s., Orby 40s., and South Ormsby 43s. rod.
 
 Population. 
 
 161 
 
 from 29 persons. This again seems to show that 
 there was no difference in favour of Partney as 
 regards wealth and population compared with these 
 last. 
 
 The number of families in Partney was given in 
 the reign of Queen Elizabeth as 51.* This would 
 mean a population of barely 300. At the same time 
 the number of families in neighbouring parishes was 
 as follows : — 
 
 Skendleby 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 Scremby-with-Grebby 
 
 
 
 2 3 
 
 Huttoft. . 
 
 
 
 80 
 
 Alford 
 
 
 
 101 
 
 Langton-by-Partney 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 Bolingbroke 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 Halton 
 
 
 
 63 
 
 Spilsby 
 
 
 (no 
 
 return) 
 
 Again nothing remarkable about Partney. 
 
 Since a more careful and exact census has been 
 attempted in this century the following have been 
 the returns here : — 
 
 1801 . . 261 
 
 1811 
 
 296 
 
 1821 
 
 293 
 
 1831 
 
 389 
 
 1841 
 
 468 
 
 1851 
 
 489 
 
 1861 
 
 487 
 
 1871 
 
 495 
 
 See Lincolnshire Notes and Queries, Vol. v., p. 8. 
 M
 
 i6: 
 
 History of Partney. 
 
 1881 
 1891 
 
 442 
 345 
 
 Since this last date the population has declined 
 considerably. It is now in 1898 about what it was 
 in 1 80 1.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SOME NOTES ON DALBY. 
 
 ^iHE parish of Dalby is larger in acreage 
 ^j|: than Partney — 13 15 as compared with 
 920 — but its population appears to have 
 always been smaller. In 1891 it was 
 107. For civil purposes the parish includes Dex- 
 thorpe with a population of 28, but ecclesiastically 
 this, which was formerly a separate benefice, has 
 been united with Well. The rectoty of Well, with 
 Dexthorpe, has since been consolidated with the 
 vicarage of Claxby. 
 
 The notice of the parish in Domesday Book * is 
 under the lands of Earl Hugh. " In Sutterby, Dalby 
 and Dexthorpe there are 1 5 carucates of land rateable 
 to gelt, the land is 16 carucates. 47 sokemen and 
 18 villeins and 11 bordars have there 11 carucates. 
 In Dalby the Earl has one carucate in demesne and 
 2 churches and 80 acres of meadow." Earl Hugh de 
 Albrincis, or Avranches, called Hugh Lupus or Hugh 
 the Wolf, received from William I. the Earldom of 
 Chester. He died in 1101 and was succeeded by his 
 
 * Domesday Book for Lincolnshire, p. 78.
 
 1 6 4 II is to ry of Pa rtney. 
 
 only son. This second Earl was drowned in "the 
 White Ship" with Prince William, son of Henry I., 
 and many of the nobility, in 1119. The property 
 was then divided, and Dalby was part of the portion 
 that fell to the Earl of Albemarle. The heiress of 
 this family, Avelina de Fortibus, married Edmund, 
 Earl of Lancaster, younger son of Henry III., and 
 her possessions, though she died without issue in 
 1273, passed to the holders of that dignity. 
 
 In 1296 John de Orby was found to have been 
 tenant of the Manor of Dalby with lands in Dex- 
 thorpe, Partney, Wainfleet, Ulceby, and elsewhere,* 
 owing " 3 fees by suit of court of Greetham " to the 
 Earl of Lancaster. 
 
 In 1353 William de Irby of Fordington and 
 Florence his wife sold to Thomas Walshe of Alford 
 for 100 marks of silver a messuage, 3 tofts, 5 acres of 
 meadow, 3 acres of pasture and one penny rent and 
 the moiety of a messuage and one carucate in Dalby, 
 Dexthorpe, Partney, and Langton. 
 
 In 1576 the Manor of Dalby, formerly of John de 
 Orby, Knight, late of William Brereton, Knight, 
 " was held by William Brereton, Esq., of the Queen 
 as of her Duchy of Lancaster by the service of half 
 the fee of a Knight." The manor included lands in 
 Dalby, Dexthorpe, Partney, Wayn fleet, Ulceby, &c.t 
 He was also holding it in 1595, and Henry Smalney 
 was his tenant.J 
 
 * Inquisitiones post mortem. Vol. i., p. 143. 
 
 f Duchy of Lancaster Records, Class xxv., Bundle P., No. 29. 
 
 \ Calendar of Pleadings in Duchy of Lancaster, p. 331.
 
 Some Notes on Dalby. 165 
 
 At the beginning of the next century we find 
 members of the Llanden family here. William 
 Llanden died in 1621, and there is a small monument 
 to him in the Church. It shows a lady and gentleman 
 kneeling facing one another, and has the following 
 inscription : — " Neere this place lyeth the bodies of 
 William Llanden Esq 1 ' and Alice his wife who lived 
 together neere 40 yeeres. They had issue 4 sonnes 
 and 4 daughters vizt William Thomas Benedict and 
 Philip Ellen and Katherine who died very young 
 Ann and Katherine now livinge. Twoe of the sayde 
 sonnes out of their filial love vizt William Llanden 
 the eldest Esq r and Sir Philip Llanden Knighte caused 
 this monument to be erected at their owne propper 
 coste in memory of their saide parents which changed 
 mortality for immortality in the yeare of grace 1621." 
 The whole is surmounted by a shield " Gules a lion 
 rampant or, a canton ermine and erminois." Below 
 is another with the same arms impaling "Argent fretty 
 sable in a canton gules a rose of the first." William 
 Llanden the younger appears among the Justices of 
 the Peace for Lindsey in 1626,* and also in the list 
 of gentry entitled to bear arms at the Herald's 
 Visitation, 1634.* His brother Sir Philip's name is 
 also in this last, and he is described as of Hundleby. 
 From the Royalist Composition Papers in the Record 
 Office it appears that William Llanden took the 
 King's side in the great Civil War, and so earned for 
 
 * Lincolnshire Notes and Queries, Vol. iv., p. 183. 
 t » >. » Vol. ii, p. 71.
 
 1 66 History of Partney. 
 
 himself from the victorious Parliament the name of 
 "delinquent." He died in 1653, leaving a widow- 
 Margaret, formerly Abbot of London, and his nephew 
 Edward was his heir. 
 
 Sir Philip erected a tablet in the Church to his 
 " first wife." The inscription is as follows : — " Here 
 resteth the body of Julyan second daughter to James 
 Maynwaring of Croxston in the County of Chester 
 Esq r and first wife to Sir Philip Llanden now Knight 
 with whom having lived not full three years she left 
 this earthly tabernacle to live with her immortal 
 spouse Christ Jesus upon y e nth of June 161 7. She 
 had by said husband 2 sonnes who both lye buryed 
 beside her." 
 
 The Ann and Katherine of the first tablet seem to 
 
 be referred to in the following marriage licences : * 
 
 "Aug. 2^, 1616, Christopher Hastings of Croft 
 
 set 30 and Katherine Llanden late of Dalbie 
 
 now of Langton nigh Partney aet 20. Her 
 
 parents consent. Sept. 25, 1624, Wm. New- 
 
 stede of South Somercotes and Katherine 
 
 Hastings of Bilsby widow. 
 
 "Nov. 30, 1616, Robert Hastings of Bilsby set 
 
 ^6 and Anne Llanden of Dalbie. 'Postea 
 
 revocata h?ec licentia quia Dalbie est infra 
 
 jurisdictionem Decani et Capituli Lincoln.' ' 
 
 Pecuniary troubles had, however, overtaken the 
 
 family before the " delinquencies." On May 7th, 1 65 1 , 
 
 Wm. and Edward Llanden put in their petition (now 
 
 * Gibbons' Lincoln Marriage Licences.
 
 Some Notes on Da I by. 167 
 
 unfortunately lost) to the Commissioners appointed 
 to settle the fines and compositions on the estates of 
 the defeated Royalists. At the same time the 
 executors of Sir Thomas Glenham, as executor of 
 Paul Viscount Bayning, begged enquiry into the cause 
 of sequestration of a debt of .£1,600 due to the latter 
 " from Wm. Llanden on Dalby Manor long before 
 Llanden's delinquency." Later, Roger Farnoles said 
 that Dalby Manor was leased to him and Lord 
 Bayning for £1,000 by William Llanden, who left 
 £"2,000 to Sir T. Glenham, and that he became tenant 
 in 1650 to Lord Bayning. In 1653 Edward Llanden 
 begged examination of his title to Dalby and Dex- 
 thorpe settled on him by his uncle in 1633, "but the 
 premises are still detained in sequestration for the 
 delinquency of Wm. Llanden." On September 7th, 
 1653, Margaret, widow of the late Wm. Llanden, 
 pleaded that her late husband on their marriage in 
 1642 settled Dalby Manor House and other lands on 
 her after his death. On November 16th Edward 
 Llanden's claim was allowed and the estate dis- 
 charged, but further enquiries were to be made about 
 the debt of Sir Thomas Glenham. 
 
 In 1746 Dexthorpe, together with some 300 acres 
 in Dalby, and the manorial rights were purchased by 
 the trustees of Beverley Minster, to whom they still 
 belong. The estate also includes some land in 
 Partney. For many years the owners of the Dalby 
 lands had no very clearly defined boundaries, but an 
 arrangement was eventually come to whereby the
 
 1 68 History of Partney. 
 
 Beverley Minster trustees took Dexthorpe and the 
 southern portion and the Bournes the centre. 
 
 The Rev. Titus Bourne* (born 1671) came to 
 Dalby about 1 720. He was the only son of Timothy, 
 son of John Bourne of Wyersdale. He lived at Orby 
 and Sausthorpe and finally purchased Dalby, and was 
 also Curate of the parish. He died August 31st, 
 1734, and is buried in the churchyard. His wife was 
 Catherine Wilby of Wrangle, born 1683, died at 
 Dalby, 1743. To them succeeded a son, John 
 Bourne, born 1711, died 1761, buried at Dalby. He 
 married Elizabeth Dobbs of Bucknall (born 171 6, 
 died 1808), and had a family of three sons and one 
 daughter. The eldest, John Bourne, born 1739, 
 succeeded to Dalby and died there 1788. He 
 was twice married, (1) to Sarah Fowler of South 
 Ormsby, and (2) to Elizabeth Fowler of Skendleby 
 Thorpe. By the first he had a family of five sons 
 and three daughters, and by the second two sons. 
 His eldest son, John Bourne, born 1768, a captain in 
 the North Lincoln Militia, succeeded to Dalby and 
 died there 1850. He was twice married, (1) to his 
 cousin Mary Mather, who died 1803, leaving a 
 daughter, and (2) to Mary, sister of the Right Hon. 
 Charles Tennyson d'Eyncourt. 
 
 The house in which these four generations of 
 Bournes had lived was burnt down in 1836. It had 
 taken the place of an earlier hall which occupied a 
 
 * I am indebted for many of these particulars about the Bournes to 
 the Rev. H. J. Bloom. See Appendix.
 
 Some Notes on Da /by. 169 
 
 commanding site on which is now the Shepherd's 
 Cottage. The greater part of the Bourne property in 
 Dalby was purchased in 1856 by J. W. Preston, Esq., 
 who built the present house, almost on the site of 
 the burnt .mansion. In 1898 this property was sold 
 to B. C. Garfit, Esq. 
 
 Domesday Book mentions two Churches in Dalby. 
 It has generally been supposed that one of these was 
 in a neighbouring parish, most likely Dexthorpe. 
 The old Church of Dalby, which was demolished in 
 1862, contained a Xorman Chancel arch. A new 
 Church, after designs by James Fowler, Esq., Louth, 
 was begun in June of the same year and opened for 
 Divine Service by the Lord Bishop of Lincoln, 
 October 14th, 1862. The old one had become very 
 dilapidated. It was covered with thatch, and the 
 Church accounts show that this was a constant source 
 of expense. In 1863 the churchyard, which had 
 hitherto been unfenced, was separated off from the 
 rest of the park. The modern Church is serviceable 
 and good, but besides the Llanden tablets contains 
 no features of interest. The bell came from the old 
 one, for which it was purchased in 1848. The plate 
 is of solid silver and very handsome. The flagon, 
 chalice, and paten are all inscribed "Dalby Church 
 Lincolnshire 1772." 
 
 The benefice of Dalby is a Perpetual Curacy. The 
 tithes formed part of the endowment of the prebendal 
 stall of Carlton cum Dalby in Lincoln Cathedral, and 
 appear to have done so as far back as the reign of
 
 170 History of Partney. 
 
 Edward III.* They were commuted in 1840 for 
 /230 us. 5d., and, together with the rent of a small 
 piece of glebe, are now received by the Ecclesiastical 
 Commissioners, subject to an annual payment of £30 
 to the " Curate." Since the consolidation of the 
 benefice with Partney the Commissioners have 
 augmented this by a further payment of £41 per 
 annum, and provided a rectory house. In 1521 
 William Fleshemonger held this prebend, and it was 
 then worth £14. Since 1874 it has been held, simply 
 as an honorary dignity, by the Rev. H. S. Disbrowe, 
 B.A., Rector of Benington near Boston. 
 
 Curates of Dalby in recent years have been :— 
 
 Titus Bourne, died 1734, aged 63. 
 
 1754 Richard Vesey, died 1785, aged 68. 
 1777 John Basker. 
 
 1782 William Tyler, died 1808, aged 59. 
 1808 John Banks, B.D. 
 
 He does not seem to have taken any 
 duty till 1825. His deputies were : — 
 1808 James Flanner, Rector of 
 
 Partney, died 18 14. 
 1 8 14 T. H. Rawnsley. 
 1 8 17 Michael Hare. 
 
 1822 Wm. Haye Hett. 
 
 1823 Henry Brackenbury, Rector 
 of Scremby. 
 
 * " Dalby non est taxata quia est portio prebendalis Ecclesiae de 
 Carleton Kyme in ecclesia Beatse Mariae Uax."—InquUitiones 
 A'onarum, A.D. 1342.
 
 Some A r otes on Da I by. 171 
 
 At the end of his life he again employed 
 deputies : — 
 
 1837 John Tumman. 
 
 1839 William Bowerbank. 
 
 1 84 1 John Cheales, Vicar of Sken- 
 dleby. 
 1842 Thomas Owston, who, however, did not 
 take any duty until September, 1848, 
 when he became Rector of Sutterby, 
 Mr. Cheales continuing to officiate at 
 Dalby. Died 1894, buried at Sutterby. 
 Failing health compelled him to have 
 assistance in the later years of his life. 
 
 1887 R. Hurman, Curate of Spilsby. 
 
 1888 E. Allanson, Rector of Part- 
 ney. 
 
 1893 C. W. H. Reynolds, Curate of 
 Partney. 
 
 1894 G. G. Walker, Rector of Part- 
 ney.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the Anglo-Saxons, Book ii., 
 
 Chapter xvi. 
 
 " A certain Abbot and priest of the monastery of Peartaneu, 
 a man of singular veracity, whose name was Deda, in relation to 
 the faith of this province told me that one of the oldest persons 
 had informed him, that he himself had been baptised at noon- 
 day by the Bishop Paulinus, in the presence of King Edwin, 
 with a great number of the people, in the river Trent, near the 
 city, which in the English tongue is called Tiovulfingacestir 
 (Southwell) : and he was wont to describe the person of this 
 same Paulinus, that he was tall of stature, a little stooping, his 
 hair black, his visage meagre, his nose slender and aquiline, his 
 aspect both venerable and majestic." — Bonn's Translation, p. 100. 
 
 The same : Book iii., Chapter xi. 
 
 " There is a noble monastery in the province of Lindsey 
 called Beardeneu * (Bardney) which that Queen (Osthrida of 
 Mercia) much loved and conferred upon it many honours and 
 ornaments. It was here that she was desirous to lay the 
 venerable bones of her uncle (Oswald of Northumbria). When 
 the wagon in which those bones were carried arrived towards 
 evening at the aforesaid monastery they that were in it refused 
 
 * Bishop Tanner, in his " Notitia Monastica," places the foundation of Bardney Abbey 
 before a.d. 697 because this Queen Osthrida was murdered in that year.
 
 
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 Appendix. 173 
 
 to admit them because though they knew him to be a holy man, 
 yet, as he was originally of another province and had reigned over 
 them as a foreign King, they retained their ancient aversion to 
 him even after death. Thus it came to pass that the relics were 
 left in the open air all that night, with only a large tent spread 
 over them : but the appearance of a heavenly miracle showed 
 with how much reverence they ought to be received by all the 
 faithful : for during that whole night a pillar of light reaching 
 from the wagon up to heaven was seen by almost all the 
 inhabitants of the province of Lindsey. Hereupon in the 
 morning the brethren who had refused it the day before began 
 themselves earnestly to pray that those holy relics, so beloved 
 by God, might be deposited among them. Accordingly the 
 bones being washed were put into a shrine . . . Lastly 
 when the aforesaid Queen afterwards made some stay in that 
 monastery, there came to visit her a certain venerable abbess, 
 who is still living, called Ethelhilda, the sister of the holy men 
 Ethelwind and Aldwin the first of whom was Bishop in the 
 province of Lindsey the other abbot of the monastery of 
 Peartaneu, not far from which was the monastery of Ethelhilda." 
 — Bonn's Translation, page 126.
 
 174 History of Partney. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 B. 
 
 From Dugdale's Monasticon, Vol. i., page 630. 
 
 " Carta Stephani Regis de Parthenay." 
 
 " Stephanus Rex Anglian Episcopo Lincolniensi justiciariis 
 Baronibus Vicecomitibus et omnibus ministris et fidelibus suis 
 Francis et Anglis de Line : salutem. Scietis me concessisse et 
 confirmasse Deo et Hospitali de Partenay omnes terras et res 
 et donationes quas barones et vavassores et probiliores 
 (? nobiliores) terras mere qui terras suas libere habent dederunt 
 vel daturi sunt Deo et eidem Hospitali tarn in terris quam in 
 aliis possessionibus vel redditibus vel catellis. Ouare volo et 
 prascipio firmiter quod praefatum hospitale et custodes ejus et 
 omnes illic habitantes et ibidem manentes qui secundum . . . 
 vixerint et illic venientes et ibidem morantes et inredeuntes 
 habeant meam pacem firmam ita ne in aliquo disturbentur." 
 
 The same : page 631. 
 
 " Hasc est finalis concordia facta in curia domini regis apud 
 Line : in crastinum animarum anno regni regis Johannis decimo 
 coram Girardo de Caunvill Willielmo de Huntingfield et 
 justiciariis itinerantibus et alliis baronibus domini regis tunc ibi 
 prassentibus inter Osbertum magistrum hospitalis S. Marias 
 Magdalenas de Parthenay petentem et Henricum Bee tenentem 
 de duabus bovatis terras et uno tofto cum pertinentibus in Gremy 
 et de dimidio bovatas terras cum pertinentibus in Laisingtorp. 
 Unde recognit . . . Simon fuit inter eos in eadem curia 
 utrum prasdictas duas bovatas et unum toftum cum pertinentibus 
 in Gremby et dimidiam bovatam terras cum pertinentibus in 
 Laisingtorp essent libera eleemosina pertinens ad Hospitalem 
 S. Marias Magdalenas de Parthenay an laicum feudum ipsius 
 Henrici. Scilicet quod prasdictus magister recognovit totam 
 prasdictam terrain et toftum cum pertinentibus esse laicum
 
 Appendix. 
 
 175 
 
 feudum ipsius Henrici et ea remisit et quietum clamat de se et 
 successoribus suis pnedicto Henrico et hajredibus suis in 
 perpetuum. Et pro hac recognitione et quieta clamatione et 
 fine et Concordia pnedictus Henricus dedit et concessit prasdicto 
 magistro et successoribus suis et hospitali S. Marias Magdalena? 
 de Parthenay duas bovatas terras et unum toftum cum perti- 
 nentibus in Laisingtorp scilicet unam bovatam terrae et unum 
 toftum cum pertinentibus quod Rogerus Cocus tenuit et 
 dimidiam bovatam terra? cum pertinentibus quam Alanus 
 Carpenter tenuit et dimidiam bovatam terrae cum pertinentibus 
 quam Robertus Carpenter tenuit praster unum toftum quod 
 pertinet ad illam dimidiam bovatam terras quam Robertus 
 Carpenter tenuit quag remanent ipsi Henrico et hairedibus suis 
 quietis de prasdicto magistro et successoribus suis in perpetuum 
 ita quod prasdictus magister et successores sui tenebunt 
 residuum prasdictarum duarum bovatarum terra? cum per- 
 tinentibus de ipso Henrico in puram et perpetuam eleemosinam 
 liberum et quietum ab omni seculari servitio et exactione."
 
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 1 7 8 
 
 History of Partney. 
 
 Thomas Chaucer, 
 died 1434. 
 
 Matilda Chaucer, 
 died 1436. 
 
 In Ewelme Church, Oxford. 
 
 (Reproduced by kind permission of the proprietors of the English 
 
 Illustrated Magazine ) .
 
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 1 88 History of Partney. 
 
 ARMORIAL BEARINGS OF FAMILIES CONNECTED 
 WITH PARTNEY AND DALBY. 
 
 de Gaunt : Barry of 6, or and azure, a bend gules. 
 
 de Kerdeston : Gules, a saltire engrailed argent. 
 
 Bardney Abbey : Sable, a crozier between 2 crowns towards the 
 
 chief, being run through an armulet towards the top, and a 
 
 snake enwrapped at the bottom, argent. Also : a cross 
 
 patee between 4 lions ; the arms of Oswald, King of 
 
 Northumbria, in whose honour the Abbey was dedicated. 
 Orby : Ermine, 5 chevronelles gules on a canton of the second 
 
 a lion passant. 
 Bee : Gules, a cross scarcely argent. 
 Willoughby : Or, fretty azure. 
 Welles : Or, a lion rampant double queued sable. 
 Bertie : Or, 3 battering rams proper, armed and ringed gules in 
 
 pale barways. 
 Walgrave : Party per pale argent and gules. 
 Wray : Azure, on a chief or 3 martlets gules. Crest : on a 
 
 wreath an ostrich holding a horseshoe. Motto : Et juste et 
 
 Vray. 
 Browne : Argent, 3 martlets in pale sable between 2 flanches 
 
 of the second, each charged with a lion passant gardant of 
 
 the first, armed and langued gules. Crest : on a wreath a 
 
 dragon's head couped erect argent. Motto : Loyal en tout. 
 Ormsby : Gules, a bend between 6 crosses crosslets or, a mullet 
 
 for a difference. 
 Thory : Argent, on a bend sable 3 maunches of the first. 
 Maddison : Argent, 2 battle-axes in saltire sable. Crest : a cubit 
 
 arm in armour proper grasping a battle-axe argent. 
 
 Motto : Vas timido. 
 Llanden : Gules, a lion rampant or, a canton ermine and 
 
 erminois. 
 Bourne : Argent, a chevron cottised gules between 3 lions 
 
 rampant sable.
 
 Appendix. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
 A. 
 
 St. Nicholas, see pages 12 and 13. 
 
 189 
 
 ■«*.f 
 
 THE CONSECRATION OF ST. NICHOLAS. 
 
 From a boss in the crypt of the Church of St. Nicholas, 
 
 Aberdeen. 
 
 (By kind permission of the Rev. Dr. Cooper J. 
 
 B. 
 
 The following " fine " was accidentally ommitted from its 
 
 proper place on page 82. 
 
 1240 August 26th. Simon Est tenant of 3 parts of a bovate 
 of land in Partenay owned the said land except an acre 
 of meadow which Simon de Dauby holds to be the right 
 of Robert son of Baldrick and for this Robert granted 
 to Simon all the said land. To have and to hold all his 
 life, of the said Robert and his heirs, rendering 3s. 4d. 
 by the year and doing foreign service. And after the 
 decease of Simon the said land except the said acre of 
 meadow shall revert to Robert and his heirs for ever. — 
 Lincoln Final Concords, p. 322.
 
 190 History of Partney. 
 
 C. 
 
 Pp. 8 and 158, Field Names. " Hardings " is, I have no 
 doubt, the correct spelling ; not Arden's. This was the last of 
 the open fields in Partney. The present road was not made 
 and fenced until after the opening of Firsby Station, the traffic 
 to and from which required it. Previously there were gates 
 across the lane and the Hardings, some 15 acres of meadow, 
 might be grazed bv anyone from Michaelmas to Lady Day. 
 
 D. 
 
 " April 2, 1722. They began to try for coals by boring on 
 the west side of Blue Hill near the road to Partney, and bored 
 27 yards. N.B. — It is the general opinion that it was mis- 
 managed bv the ignorance of the undertaker." — Spilsby Parish 
 
 Register. 
 
 E. 
 
 " A fossil tooth weighing two pounds three ounces was dug 
 up in the gravel pits near Partney Mill, February 14th, 1822. 
 It was embedded in the gravel about 12 feet below the surface 
 of the ground, and is supposed to have been one of the grinders 
 of a hippopotamus, elephant, or some other animal of large 
 size."— Oldfield's Wainflcct, Appendix, p. 20. The tooth is now 
 in the possession of Henry Maddison, Esq., at Partney Hall. 
 Many similar remains have been found in these pits from time 
 
 to time. 
 
 F. 
 
 In 1838 the land in the parish was cultivated as follows : — 
 
 A. R. p. 
 Pasture .... 643 o 35 
 
 Arable .... 262 1 22 
 
 Wood .... 8 2 36 
 
 9i4 1 *3 
 Glebe .... 5 2 29 
 
 920 o 2
 
 Appendix. 1 9 1 
 
 G. 
 
 "Friday, August 6th, 1880. From about 3 to 4 o'clock in 
 the afternoon, tremendously heavy rain — -accompanied with 
 lichtnincr and thunder — fell in Partner and Dalbv. It was said 
 that a waterspout burst on the hillside between Dalby and 
 Skendlebv ; but be that as it may, by half-past 4 the brook 
 between Partney and Dalby was so swollen by the great and 
 sudden downpour that it flooded the road between Partney and 
 Dalby to a great width and depth ; also the road leading to the 
 Grange, and that to the Monks' Lane, rendering them all 
 impassable : such a thing as the oldest inhabitant had never 
 seen nor even heard of. Mrs. Rymer, who lived near the 
 Grange, was to have been buried at half-past three, but the 
 corpse could not be got to the Church until 7, and then it was 
 brought through the water in a cart." — J. W. B. 
 
 H. 
 
 The Rout Yard. — Partney School is said to be on the site 
 of the old rout yard. The following account of its customs was 
 given me by a very old man at Huttoft in 1892, since deceased. 
 " The Pinder, on finding a stray animal, put it into the pound or 
 pinfold, where he kept it for 3 sunsets and 3 sunrisings. If un- 
 claimed he then took it to the rout yard, the keeper of which 
 paid him for his labour and out-of-pocket expenses. In the 
 rout yard the animal might remain for a year and a day. If 
 then unclaimed it was sold to pay expenses. The rout yard at 
 Huttoft was a paddock with frontage to the road, and while 
 there the animal was marked with a large red cross on both 
 haunches. The owner of that particular paddock could not 
 refuse to take the animal in : he paid the Pinder and recovered 
 his expenses from the owner when found." : 
 
 * See also " Lincolnshire Notes & Queries,' Vol. i., p. 189.
 
 192 
 
 History of Partney. 
 J. 
 
 It is a tradition in the parish that a squire of Dalby was once 
 buried at midnight to avoid, in some way not explained, certain 
 claims of his creditors on his estate. This is the only memory 
 of William or Edward Llanden that I have found preserved. 
 
 K. 
 
 Built into one of the south buttresses of Dalby Church is an 
 ancient stone with the following inscription : — 
 
 WILLIAM CALDER . . . HERE LYETH 
 INTUMBED NOW OF LATE WHO 
 YELDED UP HIS CORPES TO DEATH 
 BY HIS APPOINTED FAIT APRILL 
 7 THIS GRAVE HE HAD OF RIGHT 
 AN DO 1625.
 
 Appendix. 1 93 
 
 SOME BOOKS AND PAPERS CONSULTED. 
 
 Etymological Dictionary of the English Language : Professor 
 
 Skeat, 1888. 
 History of the County of Lincoln : Saunders, 1834. 
 Wainfleet and the Wapentake of Candleshoe : E. Oldfield, 1829. 
 Lincolnshire Archaeological and Architectural Society : 
 
 Various Papers. 
 Lincolnshire Notes & Queries. 
 
 Lincolnshire and the Danes : Rev. G. S. Streatfeild, 1884. 
 Words & Places : Rev. Dr. Isaac Taylor, 1875. 
 Glossary of Architecture : J. H. Parker, 1845. 
 Lincolnshire Church Furniture : E. Peacock, 1866. 
 Church Bells of Lincolnshire : North. Church Fonts : Simpson . 
 Parish Registers in England : R. E. G. Waters, 1883. 
 Taxatio Ecclesiastica Papas Nicholai. Nonarum Inquisitiones. 
 Valor Ecclesiasticus, Henrici VIII. Rolls Series. 
 Liber Regis : Bacon. 
 
 Liber Antiquus Hugonis Welles : Archdeacon Perry. 
 Monasticon : Dugdale. Notitia Monastica : Tanner. 
 Mitred Abbeys : Browne Willis. 
 Lincolnshire Monasteries : Rev. Dr. Oliver, 1846. 
 Ecclesiastical History of the Anglo-Saxons : Bede. 
 Fasti Saxonici : W. de Grey Birch. 
 Domesday Book of Lincolnshire : C. G. Smith, 1870. 
 Domesday Book, popular account of: W. de Grey Birch. 
 Placita de quo Warranto. Testa de Nevill. Rolls Series. 
 Hundred Rolls. Inquisitiones post mortem. Rolls Series. 
 Harleian Charters. Lay Subsidy Rolls. 
 Proceedings in Chancery, reign of Queen Elizabeth. 
 Calendar to Pleadings in the Duchy of Lancaster. Rolls Series. 
 Royalist Composition Papers. 
 Notes on Lincolnshire Churches : Gervase Holies. 
 Lincolnshire Wills : Rev. A. R. Maddison. 
 Lincolnshire Final Concords : Boyd & Massingberd, 1896. 
 Lincoln Marriage Licences : Gibbons. 
 O
 
 194 History of Partney. 
 
 Early Lincoln Wills : Gibbons. 
 
 Union of Honour : Yorke. 
 
 Visitation of the County of Lincoln 1562-4 and 1592 : 
 
 W. C. Metcalfe. 
 Peerage : Burke. Extinct Peerage : Burke. 
 Historic Peerage : Sir H. Nicholas. 
 Peerage of England : Arthur Collins, I779- 
 Memorials of Old Whitby : Rev, Canon Atkinson. 
 Forty Years in a Moorland Parish : Rev. Canon Atkinson. 
 History of Boston : P. Thompson, 1856. 
 History of Spilsby : Rev. H. C. Smith, 1892. 
 History of Ormsby : Rev. W. O. Massingberd. 
 History of Scrivelsby : Rev. Canon Lodge, 1894. 
 Five Generations of a Loyal House : Lady G. Bertie, 1845. 
 History of the Wrays of Glentworth : Chas. Dalton. 
 The English Manor : Dr. C. Maclean Andrews. 
 Village Community : works by Sir H. Maine, Seebohn, and 
 
 Gomme. 
 Agricultural Survey of Lincolnshire : A. Young, 1798. 
 
 Life -of Johnson : Boswell. 
 
 Dr. Johnson and his Friends : Dr. G. Birkbeck Hill. 
 
 Epidemics in Britain : Dr. C. Creighton. 
 
 The Great Pestilence : Rev. Dr. Gasquet. 
 
 The Coming of the Friars : Rev. Dr. Jessopp. 
 
 Chronicle of Louth Park Abbey : Lincolnshire Record Society. 
 
 St. Leonard's Hospital, York : Rev. Canon Raine. 
 
 Athena? Oxonienses : Anthony a Wood. 
 
 00
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ° means also referred to in the Genealogical Tables. 
 
 Abbey at Partney, 6, 51, 172. 
 Abitot, Urso d', 70. 
 Ablard, 39. 
 
 Addlethorpe, 13, 16, 64. 
 Affordby, 78, 85, 89. 
 Aldwin, 51, 172. 
 Alford, 27, 81, 161, 164. 
 Allanson, 21, 46, 171. 
 Ancaster, 40, 46. ° 
 Anderson, 156. 
 Arundel, 69." 
 Ashby-by-Partney, 3, 7, 11,42, 
 
 47, 79, 160. 
 Ashby near Grimsby, 93. 
 
 Banks, 47. 
 
 Bardney, 6, 24, 25, 30, 36, 37, 
 
 52, 61, 81, 172. 
 Basker, 42, 137. 
 Bassett, 39. 
 Bassingham, 5. 
 Bayldon, 20, 45, 50. 
 Beaumont, Henry de, 66, 77. 
 
 „ Thomas, 41. 
 
 Bee, 56, 57, 73, 74, 174-° 
 Bede, 50, 172. 
 
 Belleau, 78. 
 
 Bells of Partney, 17, 152. 
 
 „ of Dalby, 169. 
 Bertie, 79. 
 
 Beverley Minster, 100, 167. 
 Bishop, Thomas, 100. 
 Blackburn, 107. 
 Black Death, 117, 120. 
 Bland, 39. 
 Blue Hill, 7. 
 Bolingbroke, 3, 15, 105, 107, 
 
 123, 161. 
 Booth, 42. 
 Borel, 30, 82, 83. 
 "Borough," 3. 
 Boston, 94, 121. 
 Boswell, 125. 
 Bourne, 168. ° 
 Brackenbury, 7, 153, 170. 
 Bradham, 26, 65. 
 Braithwaithe, 45. 
 Brasse, 13, 84. 
 Brasses, 18, 19. 
 Bratoft, 16. 
 Brereton, 164. 
 Browne, 93, 98.*
 
 196 
 
 History of Partney. 
 
 Burghersh, 68, 106.* 
 Burgh-le-Marsh, 73, 107, 156. 
 Burr, 139. 
 Burrell, 41.* 
 Butt, 45. 
 "By," 1,4. 
 
 Candlesby, 4, 11, 107. 
 Candleshoe, 29, 90. 
 Carpenter, 57, 17 5- 
 Cawthorne, 40. 
 Cell to Bardney, 52. 
 Chantry, 13, 58. 
 Charities, 156. 
 Chaucer, 69, 106. 
 Cheales, 47, 171. 
 Chester, Earl of, 163. 
 Churchwardens, 154. 
 Churchyard, 21, 123. 
 Claxby, 4, 17, 4°. 
 Clerke, Ralph, 81. 
 
 „ Thomas, 37. 
 Clerks, List of Parish, 136. 
 Clock, 18. 
 Cole, 30, 37, 38. 
 Constable, 64. 
 Cook, 56, 175- 
 Cooke, 97. 
 
 Co-partners, 32, 93, 98. 
 Corporation of Boston, 95. 
 „ „ London, 73- 
 
 Coteler, 86. 
 Counteville, 66. 
 Cracroft, 84. 
 Cromwell, 66. 
 
 Dalby, 11, 14, 15, 42, 43, 44, 
 
 46, 65, 81, 123, 169. 
 Danes, 2, 4,5. 
 Deane, 38. 
 Deda, 50, 172. 
 Dela Val, yi.* 
 Despencer, 61, 70. 
 Dexthorpe, 3, 123, 124, 163, 167. 
 Dicconson, 90. 
 Diggles, 38. 
 Disbrowe, 170. 
 Dog Watching, 154. 
 „ Whipping, 157. 
 Domesday Book, 11, 24, 61, 
 
 163. 
 Dyon, 38, 90. 
 
 Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 
 
 31, 50, 170. 
 Edenham, 65, 79. 
 Edmonds, 45. 
 Emmitt, 50, 141. 
 Englishe, 38. 
 Eresby, 3, 8, 57. 
 "Ey," 5 - 
 
 Falkingham, 65, 68. 
 
 Field Names, 2, 158. 
 
 Final Concords, 56, 82. 
 
 Firsby, 4, 15, 25. 
 
 Fitzwalter, 71. 
 
 Flanner, 19, 21, 39, 43, 139. 
 
 Fleshemonger, 170. 
 
 Flinders, 138. 
 
 Flowers, 19, 44, 50, 139, 140.
 
 Fonts, t6, 17. 
 Fordington, 3, 11, 
 
 164. 
 Freestone, 84. 
 Friskney, 7, 42. 
 Fulstovv, 85, 98. 
 
 Garfit, 21, 169. 
 Garthside, 17, 35, 39. 
 Gaunceville, 67. 
 
 Index. 
 
 Gwydir, 153* 
 
 197 
 
 123, 124, 
 
 Hackley, 39, 156. 
 
 Hagnaby Priory, 81. 
 
 Halton Holgate, 3, 5, 11, 15, 
 
 44, 57, 9 6 , IQ 2, 161. 
 Halton, Richard de, 36. 
 
 "Ham," 3, 4. 
 Hanworth, 37. 
 Hardings, 8, 158, 190, 
 
 Gaunt, Gilbert de, i., 24, 61, 63. ! Harrington, 3, 15. 
 
 "•,63-° 
 ,, „ i"-, 25, 63.* 
 
 «fc#„ iv -, 6 5-° 
 
 v., 25, 65. 
 „ Alice de, 63. ° 
 „ Gunnora de, 63. ° 
 ,, Juliana de, 66.° 
 „ Laura de, 66.° 
 „ Margaret de, 67. 
 „ Robert de, 63. 
 „ Walter de, 53, 67 ° 
 
 Gibthorp, 86, 90. 
 
 Giles, 22, 45, 50, 159. 
 
 Glenham, 167. 
 
 Gothic Architecture, Styles of, 
 
 15- 
 Grebby, 3. 
 Greenville, 69. 
 Greetham, 164. 
 Greinby, 56, 177. 
 Grene, 52, 89, 90. 
 Grimsthorpe, 79. 
 Guevara, 97. 
 Gunby, 4, 44- 
 
 Harrison, 135. 
 Hastings, 166. 
 
 „ Richard Lord, 79. 
 Haugh, 42. 
 Heanley, 101. 
 Hodgson, 49, 156. 
 Hodson, 39. 
 Hogsthorpe, 14. 
 Holcote, 84. 
 Holden, 85. 
 Holies, 20. 
 Holhvay, 44, 50. 
 " Holm," 6. 
 Hopkins, 45. 
 Hospital, 8, 53, 64, 174. 
 Hundleby, 11, 23, 27. 
 Huntingdon, Earl of, 63, 72. ° 
 Huttoft, 15, 16, 21, 27, 28, 161. 
 
 "Ing,"3. 
 
 Ingoldmells, 62, 65, 71, 73. 
 
 Irby, 164. 
 
 Johnson, R, 39.
 
 198 
 
 History of Partncy. 
 
 Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 125. 
 
 Keal, East, 11, 16. 
 
 ,, West, 11, 15, 42, 43, 44, 
 
 75- 
 Kerdeston, 66, 67.° 
 
 Key, 37. 
 
 Kirkby, East, 11, 13. 
 
 Lacy, 65, 70, 71, 72. 
 Laisingtorp, 57, 178. 
 Lancaster, Dukes of, 73, 164. 
 Langer, 84. 
 Langton, 3, 7, 15, 128. 
 
 „ Bennett, senr., 127, 
 
 136. 
 „ Bennett, junr., 126, 
 
 129. 
 „ John, 85. 
 „ Peregrine, 126, 129, 
 130. 
 
 "Lea," 33. 
 
 Leake, 121. 
 
 Lincoln, Bishops of, 26, 46, 67, 
 169. 
 Earls of, 63, 64, 73, 
 
 97- 
 Lindsey, Earls of, 40, 80. ° 
 Llanden, 165. ° 
 Louth, 17, 105, 121. 
 „ Park Abbey, 119. 
 
 Mablethorpe St. Peter, 40. 
 
 Mackinder, 143. 
 
 Maddison, 18,48, 101, 102, 103. ° 
 
 Maddison, G. W., 23, 100, 102, 
 
 140, 155.* 
 Manby, 90. 
 Mark by, 28. 
 Marshall, 73. 
 Massingberd, 86, 95, 98. 
 
 „ Sir Drayner, 73, 96. 
 Mauley, Peter de, 66, 67.* 
 Mavis Enderby, 3, 21, 36, 47. 
 Mawer, 142, 157. 
 May, 135. 
 Mettingham, 79. 
 Miller, 45, 159. 
 "Ming," 34. 
 Moore, 45. 
 More, 37. 
 Moody, 38, 93. 
 Mural Tablets, 18. 
 
 Names of fields, 2, 158. 
 
 ,, unusual, 158. 
 Newcomen, 82, 92. 
 Norfolk, 118. 
 
 Northampton, Earl of, 63, 66.° 
 Northmen, 4, 6. 
 Nun Cotham, 67. 
 
 Ogle, 37. 
 
 Old Style, 108. 
 
 Orby, 4, 64, 76. 
 
 ,, Alice de, 70.* 
 
 „ Herbert de, 81. 
 
 „ John de, 64, 69, 164. 
 Ormsby, 38, 92, 154.* 
 „ South, 96, 160.
 
 Index. 
 
 199 
 
 Osbert, 56, 174. 
 Overseers, 35, 144, 148. 
 Owen, 40. 
 Owston, 46, 171. 
 
 Paradise Land, 88, 153, 157. 
 Parish Clerks, 136. 
 
 „ Registers, 134. 
 Partney Church, 10, 14. 
 Fair, 107. 
 
 „ Hall, 101, 142. 
 Hospital, 53, 174. 
 
 „ Market, 105. 
 
 ,, Spellings of, 6. 
 
 „ Alexander de, 84. 
 
 „ Robert de, 67. 
 Peach, 32, 135. 
 Peacock, 45. 
 Plagues, 117, 120. 
 Plate, Church, at Partney, 20. 
 
 „ „ at Dalby, 169. 
 
 Pole, Wm. de la, 69. ° 
 Population returns, 161. 
 Prebend of Carlton cum Dalby, 
 
 169. 
 Preston, 169. 
 Pulpit, 20. 
 
 Queen Anne's Bounty, 31. 
 Quincey, Margaret de, 73. 
 
 Raithby, 3, 11, 41. 
 Rawnsley, 44, 170. 
 Rectors, 36. 
 
 Rectory House, 48. 
 Revesby Abbey, 81, 86. 
 Reynolds, 46, 50, 171. 
 Richardson, 52, 89. 
 Rigges, 82, 83. 
 Roads, 7, 9, 59- 
 Royalists, 95, 165. 
 Rugeley, 18, 95, 97, 99, i?5-° 
 Russell, 44, 47. 
 
 Saint Mary the Virgin, 14, 106, 
 108, 109. 
 „ Magdalen, 13, 25, 
 106, 109. 
 
 „ Nicholas, 11, 12, 13, 189. 
 
 „ Thomas, 14. 
 Salmon, 21, 38. 
 Saltfleet, 53, 89. 
 Sandon, 84, 85. 
 Sausthorpe, 3, 15, 41, 66. 
 School, 158. 
 
 Scremby, 3, 5, 11, 137, 161. 
 Scroope, 76. 
 Select Vestry, 144. 
 Settlement, Old laws of, 145. 
 Shepherd, 41. 
 
 Simon the Chaplain, 37, 52, 83. 
 Skegness, 63, 71, 73. 
 Skendleby, 3, 6, 11, 65, 68, 79, 
 
 121, 161. 
 Skrimthorpe, 5. 
 Skittlepenny, 99. 
 Slakke, 37. 
 Small Pox, 122, 136. 
 Smalney, 164. 
 Somersbv, 21.
 
 200 
 
 History of Partney. 
 
 Spilsby, 2, 3, 5, 7, 41, 44, 76, 
 
 80, 113, 117, 122. 
 Stamp Act, 137. 
 Starmer, 143, 155. 
 Steeping, 7, 8, 11, 25, 52. 
 Steventon, 45. 
 Stevens, 41, 49, 135. 
 Stubbe, 39, 99. 
 
 Suffolk, Charles, Duke of, 79. ° 
 „ William, Duke of, 69.* 
 Summonerland, 26, 64. 
 Sutterby, 3, 14, 15, 162, 171. 
 Swan, 101, 102. 
 Sweating Sickness, 80, 121. 
 Swift, 46. 
 
 Tayllur, 82, 83. 
 
 Tendring, 68.* 
 
 Theddlethorpe, 16, 40, 47. 
 
 Thompson, 155. 
 
 Thorp, 66, 86. 
 
 " Thorpe," 1, 4. 
 
 Thory, 93, 97, i54- e 
 
 Thwaite, 4. 
 
 Tithes, 35, 170. 
 
 Todd, 96. 
 
 " Toft," 4- 
 
 Tolls, 72, no. 
 
 "Ton," 3, 4- 
 
 Toune, 37. 
 
 Toynton by Spilsby, 3, 8, 74. 
 
 „ by Horncastle, 43, 46. 
 Turton, 39. 
 
 Tuting, 18, 43, 49, 138. 
 Tyler, 42, 49. 
 
 Ulceby, 4, 164. 
 Upton, 159. 
 Uvedale, 127, 136. 
 
 Valoines, 71.* 
 
 Vesci, Eustace de, 64, 66. 
 
 Vesey, Henry, Lord, 76. 
 
 „ Richard, 41, 137, 170. 
 Village Community, 33. 
 
 Wacton, 70. 
 Wadyngworth, 37. 
 Wainfleet, 164. 
 
 „ Robert de, 52. 
 
 Walgrave, 37, 9°; 1 54- 
 Walker, 46, 50, 102, 171. 
 Walshe, 164. 
 Warde, 84, 87. 
 Watery Lane, 7, 158. 
 Well, 68, 123, 163. 
 Welles, 78, 106. 
 Welsh Words, 2. 
 West, 84. 
 Whinnery, 46. 
 White, 90. 
 Whiting, 91. 
 Willoughby, 39, 40, 122. 
 Willoughby d'Eresby.* 
 
 1st Lord, 74, 75, 122. 
 
 2nd „ 74, 75- 
 
 3rd „ 75- 
 
 4th „ 15, 75- 
 
 5th „ 76. 
 
 6th „ (Earl of Ven- 
 dome), 76, 77-
 
 Index. 
 
 201 
 
 Willoughby d'Eresby.* 
 
 7th Lord (Lord Welles), 
 
 77, 78. 
 8th „ (Lord Welles),78. 
 9th „ (Lord Hastings), 
 
 79- 
 ioth „ 79, 89. 
 nth ,, (Duchess of 
 
 Suffolk), 79, 
 
 1 2th 
 13th 
 
 14th 
 
 15th 
 
 16th 
 
 17th 
 
 121. 
 
 80. 
 
 (Earl of Lindsey) 
 
 80, 93. 
 (Earl of Lindsey) 
 
 39. 40, 94- 
 (Earl of Lindsey) 
 
 97- 
 (Duke of Ancas- J Young, 34 
 
 ter) 
 (Duke of Ancas- 
 
 ter), 40, 41. 
 
 Willoughby d'Eresby.* 
 
 1 8th Lord (Duke of Ancas- 
 
 ter). 
 19th ,, (Duke of Ancas- 
 
 ter). 
 20th „ (Lady Gwydir), 
 
 41, 44, 153- 
 21st „ 45, 100, 159. 
 22nd „ 45. 
 23rd „ (Lady Aveland), 
 
 46. 
 24th ,, (Earl of Ancaster) 
 46, 102. 
 Winthorpe, 95, 96. 
 Wray, 38, 91, 93. 
 Wynceby, 82.
 
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