the river. It was intended originally as a place of defence, and was progressively raised to great height and extent. In the civil wars it was however dilapidated. Till very lately, the principal gateway was remaining; the part at present left standing, is a square tower of brick, flanked by four octangular embattled turrets, which are crowned with spires, covered with lead. It is above two hundred feet in height, and divided into four stories. The main walls were carried to the top of the fourth story, where a capacious machicolation enclosed the tower, on which there is a parapet wall of great thickness, with arches. This was to protect the persons employed over the machicolations. Upon these arches is a second platform and parapet, containing embrasures; above which the spired turrets rise to a cousiderable height. The 'tower is constructed upon ponderous groined arches, which support the ground floor. In this there is a large open fire-place, adorned with sculptured foliage and emblematic devices; such as the treasury bags and shields of the Cromwell arms, with the motto, "n'aime je droit," &c. Similar ornaments are at Colyweston Hall, in Northamptonshire, which was a house begun by the treasurer, and afterwards finished by Margaret Countess of Richmond. On the second floor is another fire-place, decorated in a similar manner; and over these was a third story, with a flat roof. In the east wall are some narrow galleries, curiously arched, through which there were communications froin the grand stairs, in the south east turret, to the principal apartments.

The church, built in the form of a cross, stands near the outer moat, and is a beautiful and spacious edifice. Few churches, perhaps, have suffered more dilapidations than this. It consisted of a nave, having five large arches on a side, and eight clerestory windows, placed in pairs; a transept, and a magnificent choir. The windows of the latter were glazed with beautiful stained glass, which was removed by a late Earl of Exeter to the chapel of Burleigh, on condition that he replaced it with

plain

* Mr. Gough says, "The late Mr. Banks, of Revesby, was employed by Lord Exeter to get the glass; the townspeople threatened to rise and ob

struet

plain glass, which could have been done for the sum of forty pounds; but this being neglected, the inside has suffered greatly from the weather: although the walls, roof, and pavement, remain entire. The ruined screen and stalls of wood, richly carved, are almost rotten; behind it is a stone screen, in the niches of which have been painted figures of saints. The body of the church and transepts had their windows richly adorned with the legendary histories of St. Catherine, St. Guthlac, and other saints. "In one of the windows the Passion, in another Hell Torments, with divers creatures bound together with a chain; among thein one with a crown, another with a mitre, the devil tormenting them, and below, "Sic affliguntur penis qui prava sequuntur.” The history of Hermogenes, that raised up the devils; and of St. Guthlac, the saint of the fens; and of Catherine, who cast them into the sea, that Harmogenes and Philetus raised; and the history of Cosdre, with his decollation*." A few fine fragments remain at present in some of the windows of the transept, while others have been blocked up. Before the altar lay two rich brass figures of Ralph Lord Cromwell, who died in 1455, and of Margaret his wife, who died in 1453. This Ralph Cromwell, in the seventeenth year of King Henry the Sixth, obtained a licence to make the church of Tattershall collegiate, for seven priests, six secular clerks, and six choristers. It was dedicated to the Holy Trinity, the Blessed Virgin, St. Peter, and St. John the Baptist and Evangelist. He also founded, near the church-yard, an hospital for thirteen poor men and women, for the good estate of King Henry the Sixth, and the said Sir Ralph, during life, and after

wards

struct him; but he was a day before them. The glass being taken down hastily, for fear of the parishioners, no plan for its re-arrangement could be observed. Part of it was put up in the chapel at Burleigh; part given to Lord Warwick, to ornament his castle; and part remains unpacked." Sepulchral Monuments, Part II. p. 174.

* MS. of church notes before quoted, in the Harleian Collection.

wards for the health of their souls, and the souls of their parents, friends, and benefactors; but chiefly for the soul of Lady Maud Cromwell, sometime lady of Tattershall, his grandmother. The whole of the foundation was valued, in the twenty-sixth of Henry the Eighth, at 3481. 5s. 11d. per annum. The collegiate revenues were granted to Charles Duke of Suffolk. The hospital still remains, with a small endowment. The number of houses in this parish appears, by the returns made to parliament, to have been 101, and inhabitants 496.

HORNCASTLE SOKE consists of the following parishes, Ashby West, Coningsby, Haltham upon Bain, Horncastle, Marcharm-le-Fen, Mareham on the Hill, Moorby, Boughton, Thimbleby, Toynton High, Toynton Low, Wilksby, and WoodEnderby.

HORNCASTLE,

A market-town, is situated upon an angular piece of land, formed by a small rivulet, named Waring, and the river Bain. The latter is navigable from the Witham to this place. The name of the town is derived from horn, or hyrn, in Saxon, signifying an angle or corner, and a castle or fortification. Traces of the latter are yet visible, and the whole formerly occupied an area of nearly twenty acres. The foundations shew that it was in the form of a parallelogram, and inclosed a great part of the present town. Numbers of Roman coins have been found here, and, in digging, several bodies have frequently been discovered. Lately there existed, near the river, one of these intricate circles called

Julian's

Julian's Bower. These circumstances, and its situation on a lingula, or tongue of land, induced Stukeley to consider it a Roman station; and to place here the BANNOVALLUM of the Geographer Ravennas. Camden observes, that anciently this castle was part of the estate of Adeliza de Candia, and was levelled to the ground in the reign of Stephen. Afterwards the manor became the Barony of Gerard de Rhodes. It was also a soke, containing thirteen lordships, of royal demesne; till King Richard the Second bestowed it on the Bishop of Carlisle, for his habitation and maintenance, when he was driven from his seat of Rose Castle by the Scots. But it appears, from other authorities, to have formed, at an earlier period, part of the possessions of that See; for in the Court rolls it is stated, that the bishop, in the seventeenth year of Henry the Third, fined for this manor in fee; but not to alienate without licence. It still belongs to the bishopric of Carlisle.

The town was incorporated in the time of Elizabeth, with privilege of holding a weekly market on Saturdays, and one annual fair on St. Lawrence's day. A considerable trade in leather is carried on here; the place being principally occupied by tanners. The returns, under the late act, make the number of houses 403, which are occupied by 2,015 inhabitants.

HILL WAPENTAKE contains the parishes of Ashby-Puerorum, Aswardby, Brinkhill, Claxby-Pluck-Acre, Enderby Bag, Fulletby, Greetham, Hagworthingham, Hammeringham, Harrington, Langton, Ormsby South, Oxcomb, Salmonby, Sausthorpe, Scrayfield, Somersby, Tetford, Walmsgate, Winceby, and Worldby.

At BRINKHILL, in a strata of blue clay, are found numerous veins of a barren marcasite, which the people ignorantly suppose,

VOL. IX.

Z z

from

from its appearance, must contain gold. Under this impression, Mr. Gough says, "some of it was sent to London about forty years ago." Quantities of it may be seen, after rains, in a small rill, which runs through the place.

LANGTON, long the possession of the family of the Langtons, who derive their name from this parish, is famous for having been the birth-place of three distinguished characters. The first, Stephen Langton was created a cardinal, and promoted to the archbishopric of Canterbury by Pope Innocent the Third. This circumstance produced the rupture between that pontiff and King John, and led to the compulsive conduct of the barons, which so happily terminated in obtaining, for the people of England, that revered bulwark of their liberties, “ MAGNA CHARTA.” Dr. William Langton, President of Magdalene College, Oxford, in the time of James the First, was born here, and died in 1626; and the late Bennett Langton, Esq. whose name is associated with that of Dr. Johnson, both by epistolary and literary productions. The present Mr. Langton inhabits a good stone mansion, which was built about the time of Elizabeth, or in the early part of James the First's reign. The principal front faces the south, over the entrance of which appear the family arms. On a hill, at a small distance from the village, near the turnpike road, are three barrows, known by the name of the Spellow Hills, i. e. Hills of the Slain. They are probably Saxon, from the name, and are situated on a hill of chalk, of which they are composed; but the field being under a constant state of tillage, has tended to alter their original form.

1

In SOUTH ORMSBY are the remains of an ancient encampment, covering nearly three acres of ground. It is situated on the brow of a steep hill, which forms an oblique side. The other side is straight, and the ends square. Within the area are three small artificial mounts. Mr. Drake supposes this to have been a

Roman