Читать книгу Records, Historical and Antiquarian, of Parishes Round Horncastle - J. Conway Walter - Страница 8

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Baumber, or Bamburgh, lies on the old Roman road, from Horncastle to Lincoln, about 4 miles to the north-west from the former place, and half-a-mile from the point where another Roman road furcates northward for Caistor; it is thus somewhat interestingly connected with the three ancient Roman stations, Lindum, Banovallum, and Caistor (Castrum). Its own name, in the older form, Bam-burg doubtless means the “Burg,” or fort, on the Bain; as it stands on high ground above the valley of the Bain, and commands what would formerly be a ford of that river at Hemingby, through which there passes a branch line of road, running due east from Baumber, and stretching into the wold hills, being doubtless also a Roman structure.

Baumber has had some interesting associations in the past. In Domesday Book it is reckoned among the possessions of the Norman Ivo Tayle-bois, nephew of William the Conqueror, Earl of Anjou, and chief of the Angevin auxiliaries of William’s army. Through his wife, the Lady Lucia, the Saxon heiress of Earl Alf-gar, who was given to him in marriage by the Conqueror, he acquired very large possessions in Lincolnshire and elsewhere. He was of a very tyrannical disposition; his chief residence being near Croyland Abbey. The Historian Ingulphus records of him, that he “tortured, harrassed, annoyed, and imprisoned their people”; that “he chased their cattle with his dogs, driving them into the marsh pools, where they were drowned; cut off their ears, or their tails; broke their backs, or their legs; and made them useless.” When the world was relieved of him by an early death, he was not mourned by his Saxon wife, or anyone else. Another historian, Peter de Blois, says, “Hardly had one month elapsed after his death, when the Lady Lucia married that illustrious young man, Roger de Romara, and entirely lost all recollection of Ivo Tayle-bois”; and he bursts into a volley of imprecations, to this effect:—“What does it now profit thee, O Ivo! ever most blood-thirsty, thus to have risen against the Lord? Unto the earth hast thou fallen, numbered with the dead; in a moment of time thou hast descended to hell, a successor of the old Adam, a frail potsherd, a heap of ashes, a hide of carrion, a vessel of putrefaction, the food of worms, the laughing-stock of those who survive, the refuse of the inhabitants of heaven, the avowed enemy of the servants of God; and now, as we have reason to suppose, an alien and exile from the congregations of saints, and for thine innumerable misdeeds, worthy to be sent into outer darkness.” [19]

Such was one of the proprietors of Baumber, but he was not the only one; as Domesday mentions another, and larger, and more worthy, land owner in the person of Gilbert de Gaunt, who succeeded, “by right,” or, more strictly speaking, by confiscation, to all the property of the Saxon Tonna; while another Saxon, Ulf, had also an estate in the parish. This Gilbert de Gaunt founded Bardney Abbey; and, when he died, was buried there.

The Lady Lucia was Countess of Chester and Lincoln; and at a later period, Baumber, including the hamlet of Sturton Parva, would seem to have been mainly divided between the family of the Earls of Lincoln, more recently created Dukes of Newcastle, and the wealthy family of the Dightons. Both had residences in or near this parish. A daughter of Thomas Dighton, and his heiress married Edward Clinton, second son of the first Earl of Lincoln of that line (temp. Elizabeth), and on failure of issue to the elder brother, this Edward succeeded to the Earldom. Many generations of the Clintons were buried here; but towards the end of the 18th century, the Clinton property was sold by the third Duke to Mr. Thomas Livesey, of Blackburn, Lancashire, [20] whose son, the late Joseph Livesey, Esq. erected a large mansion in 1810, which again was almost rebuilt, and considerably enlarged in 1873–5. A large part of the parish now belongs to the Vyner family of Gautby. The Baumber register dates from 1691. One entry is “June 20th, 1730, the Corpse of the Right Honourable, the Right Noble, Lord George Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, was interred.”

The Church is dedicated to St. Swithun. The west door is a good specimen of Norman work, with dog-tooth pattern running round the semi-circular arch, in bass relief; the capital of its south pillar has a head, with serpents whispering into each ear. The north capital is a conventional acanthus. The inner eastern door of the tower is also Norman, but plain. The Nave has north and south aisles of three bays; the eastern-most column of the north arcade, under the removable flooring of the Vicar’s seat, has the original round Norman plinth, the only one preserved. The Church of stone was cased in brick, in the early part of the eighteenth century (1736), when the present large, perpendicular windows were placed in the north and south walls, three in each. Placed against the west wall, south of the west entrance, is a large slab, commemorating John Ealand, who died in 1463, and his wives Alice and Elizabeth. This was formerly in the floor of the north aisle. Above is a tablet in memory of members of the family of J. Bainbridge Smith, D.D., formerly Vicar, as well as Rector of Sotby, and of Martin, and Headmaster of the Horncastle Grammar School. The Font is octagonal and massive, but plain. There is a handsome oak lectern with eagle on swivels, the gift of Mrs. Taylor Sharpe, of Baumber Park, in memory of her eldest son, who died in 1891. The pose of the eagle is very natural.

In the south aisle, and over the west entrance are hatchments of the Clintons.

In the chancel, the east window is blocked up; there are two windows in the north wall, one in the south wall, the second having been removed when a vestry was erected, and it now forms the vestry window. On each side, east of the chancel arch, are remains of massive early English pillars. South of communion table are three plain sedilia of wood. North of the table, a blue slate slab in the floor, with the Clinton arms, covers the vault, in which sixteen of the Clinton family are interred. Another slab close by, commemorates “Francis Clinton, alias Fynes, Esq., grandson of Henry Lord Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, who departed this life, February 5th, A.D. 1681.” On the south, a slab commemorates his wife, “who died, February 15th, A.D. 1679.” A communion chair, of very solid construction, was carved out of a beam formerly in Tattershall Castle. There are some remains of a former rood screen, “Arch. Journ.,” 1890, p. 206.

Mr. Weir, in his History of Lincolnshire (vol. I., p. 299, Ed., 1828), says that portions of the former residence of the Earls of Lincoln were at that date still standing, near the modern mansion of the Liveseys. Then the latter was re-constructed in 1873–5, the furniture and other arrangements, were of a very costly character. The present writer, with an acquaintance of the family, had the privilege of being shewn over the whole house, by the lady of the house, shortly after its completion. It might be called a repertoire of valuable works of art and vertu, in furniture, books, paintings, stuffed birds, and animals, among the latter being the famous lion “Nero,” from the Zoo. The owner, being devoted to engineering and mechanical operations, had one room, of which the walls were covered with clocks, of endless kinds, with various elaborate mechanism, such as cocks crowing, horns blowing, etc., etc., for chiming the hours. All these came to the hammer in 1891. Even the economy of the farm yard was elaborate. To give one instance:—At the back of the cattle sheds, ran a tramway of small trucks; doors opened at the back of the crib of each stall, and the trucks conveyed the exact modicum of provender, and it was injected into each separate crib, periodically, for the animals which were there fed. The lake in the park was formed from a small stream running through the grounds, it is well stocked with fish of various kinds, especially affording sport to the troller by the abundance of fine pike. It was originally stocked, as tradition avers, from the Moat of Langton Rectory, now no longer existing, but formerly of considerable size, and connected with a large pond, where fish of many kinds abounded. The vicarage is a substantial residence, with good garden, erected in 1857, on a site presented by Robert Vyner, Esq.