Page:A History of Horncastle from the Earliest Period to the Present Time.djvu/156

 columns of polished granite, supporting the superstructure, and these also have eight trefoil dormers, simpler than those below, each finished with a finial of gun metal. Above these are eight gun metal columns, having trefoiled heads, with foliated finials and moulded cornice; and on these rests the spirette, constructed of oak and covered with lead, with eight other dormers, which complete the whole. The total cost was £552 12s. 3d., raised by subscriptions, a small balance being handed over to the public Dispensary.

The Clerical Club was founded in 1822; a room was rented on the premises of Mr. James Babington, Bookseller, in the High Street (now occupied



by Mr. J. S. Balding, Butcher), where the members met for discussion, and gradually established a good library.

The first members enrolled were the Rev. the Hon. the King's Champion, John Dymoke, Rector of Scrivelsby; the Revs. J. B. Smith, Head Master of the Grammar School; C. N. L'Oste, Rector of Claxby; Francis Rockliffe, Rector of Fulletby; Robert Spranger, D.D., Rector of Low Toynton (and of Grosvenor Street, Grosvenor Square, London); John Mounsey, Rector of Gautby; Thomas Roe, Rector of Kirkby-on-Bain; E. Brackenbury, Rector of Aswardby; W. Dodson, Rector of Well; F. Swan, Rector of Sausthorpe; and others holding benefices scattered over a wide area, but several of them living in Horncastle.