NORTH PORCH OF
to challenge the statement made in the January number of
Lines. N. £3" Jfj. by the Reviewer of the
excellent " Notes
on
certainly be owned by all who take an interest in the South
Lincolnshire Churches. The Reviewer states, in reference to
the turrets of the north porch, " He does not allude to the
common but untenable notion of these turrets having been
brought from some adjacent manor-house and re-ere
I wish to record in the pages of Lincs. N. fcf j^. that
I am
guilty of holding " the untenable notion that the two turrets
were brought from some adjacent manor-house;" and further,
I wish to state that I believe they did duty at " the castle "
of the powerful family of "Multon," which
was in "their
park at Multon." The site of "
the castle," now called " Hall
Hill," is about !•£ miles S. from
4 from that of Holbeach.
This castle was occupied by the Multon family from
the
middle of the twelfth century until the death of the last male,
Sir John de Multon, when the estates were divided
between
three daughters. The house or castle, after having been
owned and occupied by the Welbys (through marriage
with
the Multon family), was allowed to go to decay in the
fifteenth century. The Public Records show the large estates
the Multon family owned, and the important part they
played
as statesmen and soldiers in the affairs of the nation. The
Spalding register and Cole's MSS. give us great insight into
the troubles the Spalding monks had with their powerful
head tenants at "
was fortified, and only about a year since a worked stone (part
of an embattlement) was dug up from the mound of Hall Hill,
in an excellent state of preservation, this I carefully examined.
I would like to call the Reviewer's attention to (in my opinion)
the following facts: — that the advowson of Holbeach church
formerly belonged to the Multon family ; that a
member of the
Multon family had obtained the market for Holbeach; that the
Welbys, who became possessed of the " Castle at Multon,"
allowed it to go to decay at the period the N. porch was
erected at Holbeach church; that the Welbys took great
interest in Holbeach church ; that members of their
family
were buried in the same ; that Moulton and Spalding were the
only fortified castles in the district; that similar work to the
turrets has recently been found at the site of Moulton Castle ;
that the turrets are certainly not ecclesiastical (though they add
greatly to the beautiful appearance of this splendid church).
I will not give my reasons for thinking the turrets came
from Moulton, but simply ask : what is more natural
than that
the Welbys, who were great supporters of church work
in the
district should, considering how difficult stone was to be obtained
from far offquarries, contribute towards the erection
of the splendid
church and porch the turrets and stone from their ruined
castle at Moulton ? I will conclude by putting before the
readers of Lines. N. &
of two great authorities on
and, I feel the Reviewer will agree with me, their opinions
should carry great weight.
The late Mr. E. Sharpe (when he was making his drawings
for his valuable work, The Lincolnshire Excursion of the
Arch
done duty elsewhere in some domestic building, and when I
told him I believed they came from Moulton Castle, he thought
it probable they might have come from that building.
The late Canon Moore, F.S.A., of Spalding, in 1872,
wrote me: — "
Holbeach. I believe the Littleburys
assisted in building
the church, and as there are indications of elaborate decorations
on the east end of the aisles, my impression is that the altar-
tomb (which I paid for being properly orientated) was
originally
originally at the eastern end of the north aisle, and
perhaps the
Welbys had a similar chapel at the east end of the
south aisle.
I think the mutilated window in the south aisle is the consequence
of some ambitious family wishing to have a recessed
tomb in the wall similar to the arch opposite to it in the north
aisle, and doing it cheap, with unskilful workmen,
let down
the whole window, which they were unable to restore."
In speaking of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, at
Holbeach (which stood where the Chequers
Hotel now stands),
and the turrets of the north porch, Canon Moore wrote: — "
The military ardour of the Knights might suggest the
fortress features, but the ecclesiastics of the mediaeval period
would not yield to such ideas. No ! Those towers have
been in work before, and merely set on the north porch at a
late period."
Canon
the original building and contrasts very strangely .with the
church. It is considerably later in date and has so much the
appearance of a baronial gatehouse that I am inclined to think
it was never designed for an ecclesiastical porch, and very
probably, like the turret stairs on the south side of Spalding
church, has been removed from its original site and put up in
its present position The porch is flanked at the N.E.
and N.W. angles by massive circular towers, one being
a stone stair turret leading to the parvise and roof,
and the
other a groined cell or porter's lodge, the upper
part of one of the towers having been inartistically rebuilt looks
crippled and bad. On examining the steps, some of which
have 14 inches rise, I think it pretty clear this porch has been
in work elsewhere."
Canon Moore and I had discussed the probability of the
turrets being part of Moulton Castle, and I have little doubt if
he had lived a few years longer he would have " bared " the
ruins of Moulton Castle, the site of which he purchased of
Lord Saye and Sele just
prior to his death, which probably
would have settled the origin of the turrets.
Lindum House,
137. ALTAR TO ST. HUGH OF LINCOLN.— The following
passage from Mr. Benjamin Webb's Continental Ecclesiology, 1848,
ought to be reproduced in your pages. The facts contained in
it will be new to some of your readers. The author is
discoursing
of the Certosa near
Galeazzo in 1396. "
The chapels have small oratories in them, and piscina
with shelves. Their altars are rich in marbles and reliefs.
One is dedicated to St. Hugh of
beautiful reliefs of his history, in one of which he is being
buried together with a chalice, and the Host, and an open
book." P. 224.