Читать книгу Records, Historical and Antiquarian, of Parishes Round Horncastle онлайн

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The Lodge was subsequently bought by a Mr. Betts, but, through mortgages, it became the inheritance of a Miss Cunliffe, from whom Mr. Heywood recently bought it. This gentleman has made considerable improvements and additions to the residence, and one or two interesting discoveries have been made. In sinking a well there was found, at a depth of 20ft., an old key; also, as workmen were trying to trace a drain under the lawn, one of them dropped into a hollow below, where arches were found, apparently of ancient vaults. [12c] The monks of old knew what was meant by a good cellar, and these probably formed a part of the original monastic institution.

I now proceed to a description of the church of Ashby in the words of the late learned Precentor Venables, who gave it, on the visit of the Architectural Society in 1894 (which I conducted). “The chancel was restored in 1869 by the Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln. The rest was restored in 1877. The fabric consists of nave, north aisle chancel, porch, and western tower, having 2 bells. The main building is of the Early English style. A lancet window still remains in the south wall, and at the west end of the aisle. The other windows of the nave are mostly Perpendicular. On the south side of the chancel is a two-light square-headed window of the Decorated period. The arcade has two chamfered arches, on low cylindrical piers. The tower is low, of Perpendicular style, the green sandstone, picturesquely patched with brick, giving a mellowed tint to the whole. The west doorway is well proportioned, and the three-light Perpendicular window above it, and the tower arch are plain, but good. The font is plain octagonal. On the south wall is a brass to Richard Littlebury, of Stainsby, who died A.D. 1521, also his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edmund Jenny, died in 1523, and their ten children. [13] Haines says that this brass was not cut till 1560, at the same time with another of a knight in armour, without inscription, probably one of the six sons. In the pavement is a very fine incised slab of blue marble, representing a priest in Eucharistic vestments, with chalice on his breast. The head, hands, chalice, and other portions were of brass, but have disappeared.” An interesting discovery was made in this parish rather more than 100 years ago, a description of which I here give in the words of Saunders (“Hist. County Lincoln,” vol. ii., p. 170, 1), who gives particulars more fully than any other authority I have been able to consult. “On the 26th of October, 1794, a labourer, cutting a ditch (the actual site is not given) discovered at a depth of three feet below the surface a Roman sepulchre, consisting of a stone chest, in which was deposited an urn of strong glass, well manufactured, but of a greenish hue; the chest was of freestone, such as is found in abundance on Lincoln heath. When found the urn was perfect and had not suffered any of that decay which generally renders the surface of Roman glass of a pearly or opaline hue, for the surface was as smooth as if it had newly come from the fire. This receptacle was nearly filled with small pieces of bone, many of which, from the effects of ignition, were white through their whole substance; and among the fragments was a small lacrymatory of very thin, and very green, glass, which had probably been broken through the curiosity of the finder, as he acknowledged his having poured out the contents upon the grass in the hope of finding money, before he took it to his employer. The circumstances attending this sepulchre clearly prove it to have been Roman. It is, however, singular that the place chosen was not, as was customary with that people, near to a highway, and that it does not appear to have been the burial place of a family, since, although the trench was dug quite across the field, no traces of a body having been buried in any other part of it were observed. . . . No traces of the Romans have been observed here . . . except that some coins of brass or copper were dug up in an orchard at Stainsby, said to have been Roman, but as they were not preserved this must remain doubtful. . . . The locality, however, is so adapted, for various reasons, to the Roman villa, that Sir Joseph Banks, in an article communicated to ‘Archæologia,’ vol. xii., p. 36, thought it ‘not improbable that such a residence might some day be discovered, the Roman town of Banovallum being so near, with a number of Roman roads branching through the country.’”