Читать книгу Records, Historical and Antiquarian, of Parishes Round Horncastle - J. Conway Walter - Страница 10

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Bolingbroke, to which is now added the epithet “old,” to distinguish it from the modern creation, New Bolingbroke, near Revesby, lies distant about seven miles, in an easterly direction from Horncastle, and about four miles westward from Spilsby, in a kind of cul-de-sac, formed by steep hills on three sides. As to the meaning of the name, whether its commonly accepted derivation from the brook, the spring-head of which, as Camden says (Britannia, p. 471), is in low ground hard by, be correct, we must leave to full-fledged etymologists to decide; but the small streamlet, as it exists at present, in no way answers to the ideal of a bowling brook, sufficient to be a distinguishing feature of the place. We would venture to suggest, as a fair subject for their enquiry, that, as “bullen” is Danish for “swollen,” and “brock” is only another form of “burgh” (and common enough in Scotland), meaning a fort (as we have a few miles away, near Hallington station, Bully-hill, near an ancient encampment), there may have been an older fort, swelling out like an excrescence at the mouth of this valley; and so a “bollen” (or bulging) “broc,” providing a fitting site on which the later castle was also erected. It might, too, seem some confirmation of this, that, in Domesday Book, the name is given as Bolin broc. Be this as it may, however, the place itself is one of unusual interest to the archæologist. It is a town in decadence. Possessed of a market-place, and a number of good houses, some paved streets, a fine church, the site of a castle, and that rare distinction an “Honour,” it is yet but a village, with little to stir its “sleepy hollow” into social life or animation. The visitor may, perhaps, meet there (as the writer has done), one who has retired from her Majesty’s service; who has weilded his cutlass on quarterdeck, or carried his rifle through stockade or over battlement; the said individual may long, on the settle by the snug hostel fire, to fight his battles over again, in converse with some kindred spirit; but there is now no tread of sentinel on castle-wall, no warder now blows his bugle at castle gate. The castle itself is but a phantom of the past, only to be now seen in imagination. He would, perhaps, fain know something of its bygone history; but he finds no one to tell it. Ichabod echoes through the silent streets, and he can only murmur in the words of an ancient lament (for, is it not written in the book of Jasher?) “How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished.” The County Directory tells him (as would also Domesday Book) that Bolingbroke had a weekly market [26a]; from a like authority he may learn that the soke, or Honour, of Bolingbroke embraced nearly 30 parishes, Spilsby amongst them. [26b] Yet he goes to Spilsby on a Monday and finds it crowded with traffickers, while, from week’s end to week’s end, the market place of Bolingbroke does not see a merchant or a huckster. Sooth to say, the secluded nature of the locality, which of old commended it as a fitting position for a strongly-protected castle, embedded in hills, save on one side, served really to isolate it from the outer world, and hindred, and ultimately destroyed, the traffic, which became gradually transferred to other towns more easy of access. And so the once busy market is grass grown, and the buzz of its barter would not awaken a baby. The sole sound, indeed, of any volume, to break the moribund monotony—and this only one of recent creation—is the peal of fine bells with which the church is now furnished, and instead of soliloquising further we will now proceed to describe these, and then unfold the fine features of the church, of which they form so melodious an appurtenance. There are six larger bells and the old sanctus bell. Of the larger bells, one is old, and five were presented in 1897, by Miss Maria Wingate, whose family, formerly resided at Hareby House, which small parish and benefice were annexed to Bolingbroke in 1739. [27] The five new bells were cast by Messrs. Taylor, of Loughborough, a well-known firm of bell-founders. These were consecrated by Bishop King, of Lincoln, soon after they were hung. On one of them, the treble bell, is the inscription, “God save the Queen, a thank-offering in commemoration of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, 1897.” The peculiar appropriateness of this inscription will be the more manifest, when the singular fact is remembered (as will be fully explained hereafter), that, as Duchess of Lancaster, the Queen was Lady of the Manor of Bolingbroke. The old bell bears the date 1604, and has the inscription—

“I, sweetly tolling, men do call,

To taste our meats that feede the soole.”

This old bell is a very fine one, and is named among the “Bells of Lincolnshire.”

Of the church itself, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, it may be said that it has had its peculiar vicissitudes. It was built probably by John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; as the flamboyant style of its architecture indicates a late 14th century erection; and he was granted the manor in that century (1363). Many of our finest churches, such as those of Boston, Grantham, Heckington, &c., were built in that century. This of Bolingbroke is one of the latest of them, corresponding most closely in style and date to the Church of Kyme Priory; but it is certainly not one of the least striking. We now see in it only a portion of the original, namely, the south aisle, porch, and tower. It was occupied as head quarters by the Parliamentary troops in 1643, while they were laying siege to the castle, which was held for the King; and, with their usual puritan hatred of holy places, they destroyed the beautiful stained glass which adorned the windows; while, further, their presence there drew upon the building heavy bombardment by the King’s men, no less destructive to the edifice itself. Since that time, the original south aisle has been used as the main body of the church; and until recently, the arches of the arcade, formerly dividing it from the original nave, were distinctly visible, built up in the (later) north wall; while the tower, originally standing at the west end of the nave, became (in consequence of the destruction of the latter, semi-detached from the later south aisle) church, at its north-west angle. The church was restored in 1889, through the munificence of Mr. C. S. Dickinson, of Lincoln, at a cost of £3,000; the architect being the late Mr. James Fowler; and it was re-opened by the Bishop on Oct. 10th of that year; the old disfiguring galleries having been removed, and new battlements and pinnacles being added to the tower; and a new north aisle being erected, extending eastward from the tower; the original south aisle being still retained as a modern nave, re-seated, and re-furnished in every respect; and a new organ added, with various improvements. As to the result, we cannot do better than quote some of the observations of the late Precentor Venables, made by him on the visit of the Lincolnshire Architectural Society in 1894. [28] He described it as “a building of great stateliness, the proportions being excellent, and in its general design and architectural details, presenting a specimen of the decorated style in its greatest purity and beauty; the windows are almost faultless examples of flowing tracery in its early purity. The east window has five lights, with quatrefoil window in the gable above; the west window four lights; and the side windows three lights each; all excellent. The south porch has a well-proportioned inner door with good moulding; there being an open quatrefoil over the door. In its east corner there is a very sumptuous holy water stoup of unusual design, surmounted by a tall canopy of great richness. There is a statue bracket over the door, and one at the side. The recently opened arcade on the north side of nave is composed of fine equilateral arches, with mouldings continuous from their bases, without the intervention of capitals. On the south wall of the present chancel is a range of three rich, though rather heavy, stone sedilia, with projecting canopies over-braided with wall-flowers, and groined within Traces of canopied niches of similar design to the sedilia, are visible on each side of the east window. The piscina, with projecting basin, is plain.”