G. 3 water-bougets, arg. . . . Ros

Or on fesse G. 3 plates . . . Huntingfield

Quarterly or and G. a border sa. bezanty . . . Rochfort

Rochfort with a garbe in the 2nd quarter, arg. . . Rochfort .

Rochfort with an annulet in the 2nd quarter, arg. Rochfort . . .

Or, a manche G. . . . Hastings

G. a bend ermyne . . . Ry

Rochfort with an eagle displayed in the 2nd Rochfort quarter, arg. . . .

Arg. fretty of 6 pieces G. a canton ermyne . . .

_In Fenestra Borealis Navis_.

G. crosse crucilly fitchy, a lyon rampant, arg. . La Warre . .

Arg. on a bend, G. 3 gryphons heads erased, or . .

_In Campanili_.

Joh'es Staines W. Jo. {192b}

MAREHAM-LE-FEN.

Mareham-le-Fen lies about six miles south from Horncastle, and five miles eastward of Tattershall station, with a population of more than 800.

Letters _via_ Boston arrive by mail cart at 7.30 a.m. This is the seat of a considerable industry, carried on by Mr. t.i.tus Kime, as a grower of greatly improved varities of potatoes, agricultural seed, and, latterly on a large scale, of bulbs of different kinds, in which he seems likely to compete with the Dutch trade.

The church, which is dedicated to St. Helen, is a fine structure of oolite stone, probably one of the largest in the neighbourhood, except the collegiate church of Tattershall. It consists of tower, nave, north and south aisles, south porch and chancel. The body of the church was restored in 1873, and re-opened on June 13th of that year, at a cost of more than 2,000, by J. Banks Stanhope, Esq., Lord of the Manor; the then rector, the Rev. W. Sharpe restoring the chancel, and the parishioners and other friends the tower. The latter consists of three tiers, having a small square window in the south and north walls below, with a two-light floriated window on the west. In the tier above are two-light windows on all four faces. At the summit it has battlements and four tall pinnacles. There are three bells, the date of the largest being 1627. The body of the church is also battlemented, and has pinnacles, the westernmost of these having the figures, within a niche, of St.

George and the dragon.

The south porch has an early English doorway within, the outer one being modern. In the moulding above the inner doorway is a curiously crowned head, probably representing the Empress Helena, the patron saint; other curious devices running down the moulding on each side. To the right of the inner doorway are initials M.S., date 1681. The font has a large octagonal bowl, with heads at the angles, and elaborate trefoil devices on the faces; the shaft is plain, octagonal, the pediment a stone cross.

[Picture: St. Helen's Church, Mareham-Le-Fen]

Both aisles have four lofty bays, with early English columns. In the north aisle is one three-light perpendicular trefoiled window, in its western wall; in the north wall, on each side of the north door, is a three-light perpendicular window, with mullions interlacing; and to the east a four-light round-headed trefoiled window. Over the north door is a tablet, with a Latin inscription, commemorative of the Rev. H.

Sheppard, a former rector, who died 24th Jan., 1764, aged 62. Beneath it is a cherub with outspread wings. In the wall, east of the north door, is a tablet bearing the inscription: "This church was relighted in memory of Francis Thorpe, who lost his life, by an accident, while working in the church near this spot, 22nd Sept., 1892." The south aisle, at the west end, has a three-light broad interlaced window. In the south wall, west of the porch, is a low doorway, now filled in, with step at its base, probably formerly leading to a parvis, or priest's chamber. East of the porch are two round-headed three-light trefoiled perpendicular windows. In the chancel the east window, of coloured gla.s.s, is lofty, with three lights, and six trefoils above. The subjects are divided into upper and lower rows; the upper are the Ascension in the centre, with the Resurrection to the left, and to the right the disciples grouped round the virgin; the lower are the Crucifixion in the centre, Christ bearing His cross to the left, and the entombment to the right. This window was by Lavers, Barrand and Westlake; it was given in memory of the late Mr.

Joseph Corbett, by his son, C. J. Corbett, Architect, of Imber Court, Surrey.

The reredos has three compartments; the central device is a cross, with rays of glory, and the monogram I.H.S.; on the right and left are doubly pointed, crocheted, arches; the device in the northernmost being a crown of thorns, with the three nails, surrounded by a circle; next to it three interlaced circles; on the south side interlaced triangles, and a plain cross. The east wall, up to the height of the reredos, is faced with alabaster.

In the south wall of the chancel is a wide stone seat, and above it a two-light trefoiled window. In the north chancel wall is a trefoiled credence table. There is a tablet to the memory of William Goodenough, formerly rector, Archdeacon of Carlisle (the benefice formerly being in the patronage of the Bishops of Carlisle), who died 13th Dec., 1854; and commemorating his wife Mary Anne, daughter of Dr. Samuel Goodenough, Bishop of Carlisle; she dying 3rd Jan., 1847, aged 75. The memorial was erected by their only surviving child, Mrs. Hawkins.

The choir sittings are of carved modern oak; the pulpit is also of the same, on a stone base, and the lectern. The chancel arch is lofty, the modern side columns having richly carved capitals. Some of the stones of the original arch were found built into the chimney of a cottage near at hand. The sittings in the nave, and the roof timbers, are of pitch pine.

The base of the tower forms a roomy vestry.

In the churchyard is the lower part of the shaft of a cross, standing on an octagonal base. Opposite the east end of the south aisle is a tombstone in memory of James Roberts, "who sailed round the world in company with Sir Joseph Banks, in the years 176871, on board H.M.S. the Endeavour, Lieut. James Cook, Commander," attending him "also on other voyages." {194a} The tomb of Archdeacon Goodenough is on the north-east side of the church. Within a few feet of the south b.u.t.tress of the tower is a fragment of an old tombstone, shewing part of a foliated cross on both sides, and the monogram I.H.S., in old characters, probably Saxon; Mareham being one of the 222 parishes in the county which had a church in Saxon times {194b}

Gervase Holles (temp. Chas. I.) gives the following arms and inscriptions, as existing in the church in his time. In the east window:

Empaled Arg' a crosse sa.

Arg. on a crosse G. a bezant.

Arg, a crosse sa.

Empaled Quarterly arg. and G., on the 1st and 4th quarters a popinjay vert. membred and beked G.

In the western window on the left of the tower:

Orate pro a'ia Joh'is Tott, Agnet, et Helene, uxorum ejus, & specialiter pro Andrea Tott, Artium Baccalaureo, qui istam fenestram lapidari, necnon vitreari fecit.

Over the b.u.t.tress, on the east side:

Quarterly Ufford and Beke . . . Willoughby

3 crosses portate . . .

2 chevrons between 3 roses . . .

A crosse . . .

A lyon pa.s.sant . . .

"Domus mea domus orationis vocabitur, 1591."

{195a}

The register dates from 1558. An entry records that on 22nd Nov., 1685, a "Briefe was read and published, for Saresden in Oxfordshire, for loss valued at 1,449. Granted June 14th, 1686." Another entry, under date 23rd Nov., 1685, is as follows: "Thomas Eresby of Revvesby maketh oath yt Theodosie, his daughter, who was buried in the churchyard upon Sunday last, was wound and wrapped up in woollen only, according to the late Act of Parliament, in yt case made." In explanation of this it may be stated that in 1677 British and Irish woollens were prohibited in France, which injured the woollen trade very much; and in the next year (1678) in order to encourage the trade at home, it was enacted by 29 Charles II., c. 3, that all persons, except those who died of the plague, should be buried in wool, under a penalty of 5. {195b} Another entry states that a collection was made, the amount not known, to afford relief, after the great fire in London, Sept., 1666.

The rectory, adjoining the church, stands in a large, well wooded garden.

It is a good substantial residence, rebuilt by Archdeacon Goodenough in 181819, and much improved in 1855. In the entrance hall are two old prints of the church and rectory before their restoration, dated 1785.

They were presented to the late rector, Rev. W. Sharpe, by Alfred Cobbett, Esq., and they are preserved as heirlooms by the rectors for the time being. The Rev. F. J. Williamson is the present rector, late of Lydgate. The Bishop of Manchester is patron of the benefice; the patronage of this, and several other benefices in this neighbourhood, formerly held by the Bishops of Carlisle, being transferred to the See of Manchester some years after its creation, in 1848.

The national school, built in 1840, is endowed with nearly an acre of land, given by Archdeacon Goodenough; it was considerably enlarged by J.

Banks Stanhope, Esq., in 1877. Some of the inhabitants are ent.i.tled to the benefits of the almshouses at Revesby. There is a navigable drain from the Witham, pa.s.sing near the village, affording communication with New Bolingbroke and Boston. A former part of the parish is now included in the district of Wildmoor Fen.

In Liber Regis this parish is named "Marrow, alias Marym, alias Mareham in le Fen." It is called in _Domesday Book_ Meringe (or the sea-ing, _i.e._ sea-meadow). Another form was Marum; the Revesby Charters, Nos.

47 and 48, mention a piece of land, near the boundary of Marum, called "Mare Furlong," and the gra.s.s (Psamma arenaria) which now grows on the sea banks is commonly called Marrum gra.s.s. All these names probably refer to the marish (Latin, marisc.u.m), or marsh, character of the locality, caused by its proximity to the sea (le mer), which then came much nearer than it does now, and frequently flooded the land.

The manor was given by the Conqueror to the powerful Norman, Robert Despenser, who, as his name implies, was the King's High Steward. He was the ancestor of the Despensers, Earls of Gloucester, and he held 15 manors in Lincolnshire alone, besides 17 in Leicestershire, and several in other counties. Much of the land of this parish was at a later period given to Revesby Abbey, and at the dissolution of the monasteries some of this was granted by Henry VIII, to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.

{196a} In later times it became, by purchase, the property of Mr. Joseph Banks, M.P. for Grimsby, born in 1681, and eventually came to his distinguished descendant, Sir Joseph Banks; and on his death some of the Mareham land pa.s.sed to the ancestors of the present Sir Henry M. Hawley.

Other proprietors are now Major Gape, Messrs. J. R. Chapman, Joseph Lake, and other smaller owners.