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The Medieval Parsonage House, Coningsby, Lincolnshire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

M. W. Barley ,
A. Rogers  and
P. Strange
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Summary

This house is shown, from both structural and documentary evidence, to have been built c. 1345 by William Hillary, a rector with Staffordshire connections. Of his work enough remains to show that it was of aisled design, with an open service bay at the lower end; the two-bay hall had a base-cruck truss. The surviving woodwork is of very high quality. The two-storey cross wing, later than the hall and originally timber-framed, is cased in brick, and this brickwork is ascribed, on both docu mentary and archaeological evidence, to yohn Croxby, rector 1460–92 and namesake of the first clerk of works of Tattershall Castle.

The later alterations to the house are worked out from structural and documentary evidence (terriers, probate inventories); later rectors, including two minor Georgian poets, are described. The paper is illustrated by plans, sections, reconstructions and photographs. It concludes with a distribution map of base-cruck halls and comments on the social context of this type of construction. Dr. Rogers has contributed the historical evidence in this paper; the other authors are responsible for the account of the structure.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , September 1969 , pp. 346 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1969

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References

page 346 note 2 Transfers of land were frequent; see transcript of medieval feet of fines, Foster Library, Lincoln-shire Archives Office (LAO), Annual Report, vi (1955), 37Google Scholar.

page 346 note 3 Feudal Aids, iii, 342; Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1452–61, p. 161.

page 346 note 4 Thirsk, J., English Peasant Farming (1957), pp. 10, 93Google Scholar.

page 346 note 5 Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1452–61, p. 104; Ass. Arch. Soc. Reports and Papers, xxxvi (1921-1922), 281–3Google Scholar; xxxvii, 288–9, 292; Foster, C. W. (ed.), Lincoln Wills (L.R.S. xxiv, 19), pp. 4–5, 152, 193–4Google Scholar.

page 347 note 1 Known locally as Kirkby yellow bricks—made either at Kirkby on Bain or East Kirkby.

page 347 note 2 This Victorian range is not occupied and has not been planned in detail.

page 347 note 3 The only piece of arcade plate now in situ runs from E to F; it has a mortice for a brace down to the base cruck at E, but none to any truss between E and F.

page 349 note 1 As are the similar spandrels in the trusses of the hall roof at Stokesay Castle; Cordingley, R. A., ‘Stokesay Castle, Shropshire’, Art Bulletin, xlv (1963), 95, fig. 2Google Scholar.

page 352 note 1 Simpson, W. Douglas (ed.), The Building Accounts of Tattershall Castle, 1434–1472 (L.R.S., lv 1960), pp. xxvii, xxxi, 1, 6, etcGoogle Scholar.

page 354 note 1 We are indebted to Mr. Laurence Keen, director of excavations in 1967–8, for the opportunity to see the excavations, and for the liberty to draw this conclusion from his unpublished work, We are also indebted to Dr. R. J. Firman of the Geology Department of the University of Nottingham for examining the bricks at Tattershall and Coningsby. Grange Farm, Coningsby, built c. 1700, is probably also built of Tattershall bricks, but it would not be surprising if robbing went on for a long time. The other old brick house in Coningsby, called ‘The Elizabethan House’ and c. 1600, is certainly not of Tattershall bricks.

page 355 note 1 Smith, J. T., Arch. Journ. cxii (1955), 90Google Scholar and cxv (1958), 140, fig. 22. The following have generously contributed items to the list and to the elucidation of particular examples: N. W. Alcock, G. W. Beresford, F. W. B. Charles, J. M. Fletcher, Mrs. B. Hutton, S. R. Jones, R. T. Mason, T. H. Rickman, S. E. Rigold, P. Smith, J. T. Smith, C. Taylor, J. W. Tonkin, and L. Walrond.

page 357 note 1 Pantin, W. A., ‘Medieval Priests’ Houses in S.W. England’, Med. Arch, i (1957), 118–19, 139Google Scholar.

page 357 note 2 Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1343–45, p. 463.

page 357 note 3 Sir Henry Hillary married Joan, daughter and coheiress of Sir Philip Marmyon and widow of Sir Thomas Ludlow; Lodge, S., Scrivelsby, Home of the Champions (1893), pp. 41–2Google Scholar. By virtue of this marriage, he claimed to act as King's Champion at the coronation of Edward III, but the ceremony was dispensed with; Complete Peerage, G. E. Cokayne, viii, 513–14. He held estates in Staffordshire, where he was keeper of Kinver forest, 1326, and at Middleton, Warwickshire; V.C.H. Staffs. ii, 344; V.C.H. Warws. iv, 157; William Salt Society, o.s., xi (1890), 11; xiii (1892), 171. The estates which he held in Leicestershire (Hoby, Harston, and Knipton, together with Denton, Lines.) were held with Maud his second wife and may represent her interests; Calendar of Inquisitions post mortem, ix, 223–5. He died in 1350, leaving as his heir Sir” Edward Hillary; but he had earlier settled Denton on Henry, his son by Maud, and on Henry's brothers and sisters, John, William, Joan, and Katherine; and Henry and William were in possession after his death; LAO, Feet of Fines (Foster Library), C462, 527. This William was apparently the rector of Coningsby. Richard Hillary resigned the rectory of Coningsby in 1335, being appointed by the abbot of Ramsey to the living of Therfield, Hertfordshire; he also held Wymondham and other livings; LAO, Reg. IV, fols. 5gd, 384; Cal. I.P.M. loc. cit. In his place, William Hillary was presented to Coningsby as an acolyte; Emden, A. B., Biographical Register to University of Oxford to 1500 (1957-1959)Google Scholarsub. nom. Hillary; LAO, Reg. IV, fol. 61; Reg. X, fol. 74d.

page 358 note 1 L.R.S. i, 138–9. There is a copy of this in- scription, taken by Bishop Sanderson before its destruction, in LAO, Mon. 7/43/232; I am most grateful for the help received in this matter and in other respects from Mrs. J. Varley and Mr. C. M. Lloyd of the Lincolnshire Archives Office.

page 358 note 2 The arms of Marmyon and Dymmok refer to the lords of Scrivelsby; this family held the advow- son in 1460, but in 1470 the estate was forfeited and granted to Robert Radclyffe. TheBourghchierswho succeeded the Cromwells in Tattershallin 1455 had died by 1471 and the estates passed temporarily to Robert Radclyffe. The Lords Welles and Willoughby, neighbours and kinsmen of the Dymmoks, forfeited their estates by their treason in 1470. William Coote of Coningsby and Threekingham, esquire, was a lawyer who served first Ralph Lord Cromwell and later Queen Margaret; he fell out of favour with the new regime in 1461, but was still alive up to 1472; see Rogers, A., ‘Lincolnshire Parliamentary Electors’, Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, iii (1969)Google Scholar. Thus the glass would have been erected only between 1460 and 1470.

page 358 note 3 LAO, Reg. XX, fol. 133d; XXI, fol. 3; XXII, fol. 151; PD. 1492/22; L.R.S. i, 137; Calendar of Papal Letters, xiii, part ii, p. 490; Emden, Oxford, sub. nom. Croxby; Emden, Biographical Register to University of Cambridge (1963) sub. nom. Croxby. He is not to be confused with John Crosby, treasurer of Lincoln Cathedral and master of the fabric there, who died in 1477.

page 359 note 1 LAO, Inv.44/505; L.R.S. xxiii, pp.4, 77, 93, 373. Taylor's probate inventory survives, but the rooms of his house are not listed. Only a chamber and a hall (with a fire) are mentioned in the inventory, and the value of his goods was given as only £18. 2s. 4d.; LAO, Inv. 1583/620. The first William Skelton held the advowson at his death, and George Skelton, who succeeded him, bought the next presentation from Sir Edward Dymmok in 1608; LAO, Inv. 96/296; PD. 1622/61, 1636/19. Welby continued as curate under Skelton.

page 359 note 2 William Skelton was a Cambridge graduate, ordained deacon in Norwich diocese, and priested i n Chichester diocese; L.R.S. xxiii, 77; Venn, J., Alumni Cantabrigienses, part I, iv, 83Google Scholar. For the local Skeltons, see LAO, Foster Library, Feet of Fines. Despite his Norfolk links, there seems to be no connection with the family of the poet, John Skelton, for which see Review of English Studies, ii (1935), 406–20Google Scholar; Nelson, W., John Skelton, Laureate (1964)Google Scholar; Edwards, H. L. R., John Skelton (1949)Google Scholar.

page 359 note 3 For inventories and terriers, see Appendix.

page 359 note 4 L.R.S.xxiii, p. cxiii. His brother Samuel, rector of Sempringham, was one of the Pilgrim Fathers 1628, and pastor of the first Congregational Chapel in Massachusetts; Venn, Alumni Cantab., loc. cit.

page 360 note 1 LAO, Inv. 162/361. Skelton was engaged in rebuilding Coningsby chancel at the time of his death; he had taken the lead off it and sold it for £36. 10s. and had paid £15 for 9,500 tiles for the chancel. The chancel was repaired again in 1742; LAO, Fac. Bk. I fol. 39; Fac. 2/14.

page 360 note 2 LAO, PD. 1662/112; 1664/28.

page 360 note 3 His eldest son (another William) inherited a house in Coningsby which had clearly been purchased for this purpose, and to which the late rector's widow retired. LAO, LCC Wills, 1679/280. Immediately, there was some dispute over the succession, John Mazey twice trying to obtain the living unsuccessfully. By 1684 Richard Kelham had been appointed; LAO, PD. 1680/75; 1682/51; 1684/49.

page 360 note 4 LAO, Kelham Papers, 1/3/3, 4; 1/4/2; 3/5/9/3; see LAO Report, xviii, 29. He had held a number of livings briefly before he was appointed to Coningsby—the vicarage of Rauceby(1674–80), the rectory of Billinghay (1680–2), and the rectories of Roughton and Haltham-on-Bain (1682–4).

page 360 note 5 He held the rectory of Lusby (1717–20) and at the same time the curacy of Wood Enderby at a salary of £30 p.a., but he surrendered both of these on succeeding to Coningsby. One correspondent says he bought the living: ‘Old Kelham had it from the Champion on very honourable terms, but his son had it from Mr. Cotesworth on very dishonour-able ones—the common story is that he bought a horse of Mr. C. for which he gave £200, some say £500.’ LAO, Monson, 7/13/249.

page 360 note 6 L.R.S. iv, 35, 45, 85.

page 360 note 7 LAO, Anc. V/D/151. In 1729, when accused by Mr. Banks of not paying his land tax, it was said ‘Soe Rich a man as you ought not to be spared’; ibid. 15g.

page 361 note 1 It survives in two places: LAO, Anc. V/D/15 and in 3 Anc. 7/1–12. See LAO Report, viii, 23.

page 361 note 2 LAO, Anc. V/D\15g, h, i, t, bb.

page 361 note 3 LAO, Kelham papers, 3/5/3.

page 361 note 4 LAO, Reg. xxxviii, fols. 57, 220. See D.N.B. sub. nom.

page 361 note 5 LAO, Anc. V/D/15q, r, t, aa. The letter in LAO, Monson, 7/13/249, is more outspoken—he lay drunk for three weeks before his induction and was only cured by his mistress coming to Coningsby —Mrs. Crisp—‘a ladie, that as I understand, he is to marry’.

page 361 note 6 LAO, Anc. V/D/151. Henry Shepherd, after Eusden's death, said that Eusden had obtained the living at the insistence of the two brothers of his mistress, who were angry at his excuses that he could not marry her because of his poverty; they informed him that the value of the living did not exceed £60 and accordingly leased the tithes from him for that sum, although Kelham had regularly let them for £140 p.a. Mrs. Crisp's father (a clergyman) also moved into the parsonage. LAO, Monson, 7/13/249; Anc. V/D/151.

page 361 note 7 Killed, so his detractor alleged, by his mistress who denied him any strong drink at all, so that he developed ‘a great thirst’ which he satisfied on water and small beer, which gave him dropsy; LAO, 3 Anc. 7/4/4.

page 362 note 1 LAO, Monson, 7/13/249; Anc. V/D/15j, 12m.

page 362 note 2 Immediately after Eusden was dead, letters were addressed to Cotesworth and later t o his successor in the advowson, Sir Gilbert Heathcote, on behalf of candidates for the vacant living—men of ‘more compilable temper’; and it is significant that one of Eusden's successors, Samuel Kirkshaw, was bound in a sum of £2,000 to resign the living i f required to do so; LAO, Anc. V/D/15, 12,0, p; 3 Anc. 7/4/4; 3 Anc. 7/4/5.

page 362 note 3 Kirkshaw lived at Tattershall, where he was vicar, 1735–51. He sold the stained glass from Tattershall church to St. Martin's, Stamford, and did extensive ‘restorations’ at Coningsby church. For his election as vicar of Leeds, 1751, see Whitaker, T. D., Loidis and Elmete (1816), pp. 44–8Google Scholar(I must thank Canon N. W. Hagger, former rector of Coningsby, for this reference). Coningsby was served by the curate, William Gibson, who continued to serve under Dyer although he became vicar of Tattershall in 1751; Willmott, R. A., Poetical Works of Mark Akenside and John Dyer (1855), p. xciiiGoogle Scholar. See Williams, R., Poet, Painter and Parson (New York, 1956), p. 126Google Scholar; D.N.B. sub. nom.

page 362 note 4 In 1755 he added to this the living of nearby Kirkby-on-Bain. In one letter Dyer speaks of ‘the charge of an old house, half of which I am going to pull down’; Monthly Review, xlviii (1733), 35–6Google Scholar. Johnson (Lives of English Poets, ii, Everyman edn., 1925, p. 3r8) takes this to refer to Coningsby, but it is clear from the context (as Nichols saw) that t i refers to Kirkby-on-Bain. Whether Dyer did any work at Kirkby is not clear; the present rectory at Kirkby dates from the early nineteenth century.

page 362 note 5 His correspondence is in J. Duncombe, Letters by Several Eminent Persons Deceased, including … John Hughes, Esq. (often known as Hughes’ Letters), vol. iii (1773). Other letters are scattered and some information is given by later writers, authority for which cannot now be traced. See, for example, Nichols, J., History of Leicester-shire (1807), iv, 80Google Scholar, which is a copy of the anonymous article in Westminster Magazine, xi (March 1783), 127–8.Google Scholar(I suspect that Nichols was the author of this article on Dyer.) See Parker, E., Study of John Dyer, B.Litt. thesis, Bodleian Library (1938)Google Scholar and correspondence now in the possession of Canon N. W. Hagger.

page 363 note 1 Westminster Magazine, xi, 128; R. A. Willmot, op. cit., p. xviii; R. Williams, loc. cit. The study was described in 1783 as'a little room with white walls, ascended to by two steps’. This is almost certainly the room which has been adapted into the present entrance hall. The steps remain, but the west wall window is now hidden by the Victorian extension. The north wall has been much altered. The alterna- tives to this are less likely. The present study has a window in the north wall and no window openings i n the west wall, while the room above the present study, although it has a west window and a false north window, has no steps.

page 363 note 2 Westminster Magazine, loc. cit.; the account of Gough's visit to Coningsby cannot be traced.

page 363 note 3 He served the curacy of Tattershall as well; his total salary for both duties was £70; LAO, Spec. 4, sub Coningsby.

page 363 note 4 Lincoln City Library, Local Collection, UP 127.

page 363 note 5 White's Directory of Lincolnshire (1856), sub. nom. The living was valued at £644 in 1842; White's Directory of Lincolnshire, 1842; V.C.H. Lincs, ii, 7 5–6.

page 363 note 6 LAO, Visit., 1872. Garfitt was suspended by the bishop for irregular living, and a good deal of work was done to the church during his suspension; the work on the rectory seems to have been done at the same time. The extension was clearly done by 1886, for it appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey 25 in. map of the area.

page 364 note 3 LAO, MGA, 821, 951, 1139, 1198, 1476 (1915–56). The literary connections of the building continued, for Canon Arthur Wright, rector from 1873 to 1913, was related to Alfred Lord Tennyson, and there are strong traditions of visits paid by the poet to Coningsby. Letters concerning the Wrights’ occupation of the house are in the possession of Mr. T. R. Leach of Dunholme, Lincoln.