Page:A History of Horncastle from the Earliest Period to the Present Time.djvu/209

190 Church Moor, Honey Hole, Wong, Well-syke, Long Sand, Madam Clay, Sewer Close.

As to the early history of Roughton, Domesday Book gives it among the possessions of William the Conqueror, and also as belonging to Robert Despenser, his powerful steward, who probably held it under the king. A Chancery Inquisition post mortem, 22 Richard II., No. 13, A.D. 1399, shows that Ralph de Cromwell, jointly with his wife Matilda, held the adjoining Manor of Tumby, with appurtenances in Roughton and elsewhere. While another Inquisition of 13 Henry VII., No. 34, shows that the said Matilda died, "seised in fee tail of the same lands."

In the reign of Elizabeth a family of Eastwoods resided here, since the name of Andrew Eastwood, of Roughton, appears in the list (published by T. C. Noble) of those gentry who contributed £25 to the Armada Fund. Other documents shew that at different periods the hall has been occupied by members of various county families, as Fynes (already named), Wichcote, Heneage, Dymoke, Pilkington, and Beaumont.

The register has the following entries, probably written by an illiterate parish clerk, "An the wife of Will. Hennag, was buered ye 9 of Feberery, 1729." "Madame Elizabeth fines was buered May ye 29, 1730."

Gervase Holles gives the following arms as existing in the church in his day.

This village is distant from Horncastle between four and five miles in a southerly direction, lying on the east side of the river Bain. It is bounded on the north by Dalderby and Scrivelsby, on the south by Kirkby and its hamlet of Fulsby, on the east by Scrivelsby, Wood Enderby and Wilksby, and on the west by Roughton. The area is 2380 acres, rateable value £1198 The soil is loam, with kimeridge clay below, and gravel deposits. Population 121, mainly agricultural.

The main roads lead to Dalderby, Scrivelsby, and Horncastle, to Kirkby, Mareham-le-Fen, Coningsby, and Tattershall, and to Wood Enderby, Wilksby, and Revesby. The nearest railway station is at Horncastle.

The Lord of the Manor was formerly the Champion Dymoke of Scrivelsby Court, but the late Rev. John Dymoke sold his estate in this parish, and the