BoAr: Bourne Abbey:
http://boar.org.uk/abiwxo3Moore’sAbbey.htm Latest edit 11 Jan 2009
Web page & commentary© 2007
R.J.PENHEY
The Bourne Archive
John Moore’s Notes on Bourne Abbey (1809)
from “Collections for a Topographical,
Historical and Descriptive Account of the Hundred of Aveland.”
Published at
This document is one of
several dealing with Bourne
Abbey.
It was transcribed from a
book lent by the Willoughby Memorial Library, to the trustees of which I offer
my thanks.
It is
presented here as an historical document so the credibility of what it says
should be assessed. The reliability of old essays on history is usually best on
points to do with the writer’s own time.
Collections for a Topographical, Historical, and Descriptive Account of
the Hundred of Aveland. by
John Moore.
TO
mrs. POCHIN, 1
OF
bOURN aBBEY, 2
THIS VOLUME
OF
HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS,
IS
RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,
AS A
MEMORIAL OF
GRATITUDE
FOR
MANY ACTS OF KINDNESS
CONFERRED ON
HER OBLIGED HUMBLE SERVANT,
jOHN MOORE.
February,
1809.
In
his preface,3
“It may, perhaps, be expected (as is generally
customary with authors) for me to assign my reasons for publishing the
subsequent account. My first is the desire of seeing a history of the place of
my nativity laid before the public, on which account I have made it my chief
study to render the account of Bourn, correct and satisfactory.”
This, combined with the date of publication, his
interest and what he calls “antiquarian researches” and a graffito on the
outside of the east wall of the Abbey chancel (“I Moore, Bourne Lincolnshire
1807”) seems to indicate that if not directly involved, he was taking an
interest in the antiquarian aspect of the Abbey, in 1807, at the time of the
rebuilding of the chancel. It will have been the influence of someone like him,
which saved the fragments of twelfth century masonry, now found near the south
door.
The Abbey. (pp. 11 to 14.)
[The section begins with a poem.]
An abbey was founded here prior to the conquest, 4 and, could we credit a date on one of the
remaining pillars, as early as 161. 5
But as the first monastery of stone was that founded at Weremouth, A. D. 671,
the date here placed can have no reference to the original erection of
this. To specify the exact time of foundation of Bourne abbey, cannot be done,
though it certainly was built by the Saxons about the end of the eighth, or
beginning of the ninth century. Baldwin, son of Baldwin Fitzgilbert, 6 placed here an abbot and eleven canons of the
Augustine order, in the fourth year of the reign of king Stephen, (1139) 7 and endowed it with the churches of Helpringham,
Morton, East-Deeping, West-Deeping, Barholme, Stowe, Thrapston, Bitchfield,
&c. with all their rights and appurtenances, besides divers other lands and
gifts, which were confirmed by king Stephen, A. D. 1139.
By a mandate from Edward II. directed to Mathew Burn, or Brunne,*
it was provided, that he should have custody or guardianship of this abbey, and
in case of vacation, should elect and confirm new abbots.
At the dissolution of religious houses
by Henry VIII. A. D. 1540, the yearly revenues belonging to this
abbey, were valued, according to Dugdale, at
£167:14:6: Leland makes it £200. The scite was granted to sir
Richard Cotton.
In this abbey lie the remains of that great and
renowned Saxon chieftain, Hereward, 8 once
lord of this place, and Earl of
[There follows, a poem.]
The ruins of the Abbey, though but small, proclaim its
former magnificence. They remind us of the pomp and grandeur of its ancient
possessors, now gone down to the dust; they shew us the decay to which
sublunary objects 9 are destined, in spite
of every effort to rescue them from the all-devouring gulph of oblivion.
The abbey, or more properly the scite of it , (as but a small fragment of the ancient building is now
remaining) 10 was lately in the possession of Thomas
Trollope, Bart. who left it to his nephew George
Pochin, esq. by whom the present handsome edifice was erected, A. D. 1764.
11 In the cellar of the present building, is a
subterraneous passage under the bed of the river, which is supposed to have
communicated with the castle. 12 At this
time, (1809) the abbey is the property of Mrs. Pochin, widow of the above
George Pochin, esq.
* This mandate bears date
February 12, A. D. 1324. Matthew was escheator to the king for the counties of
The Church (pp. 7 & 8.)
Near the south entrance stands an octangular font, very
antique, having the following inscription round it:
sup ome nom chr
est nom qde. 13
On a slab in the floor of the middle aisle 14 are the remains of an inscription, which, from
the legible part, appears to have been in memory of some of the Abbots, as the
word abbat 15 which concludes the first line, is very fresh ; but the rest is obliterated. There are also
fragments of inscription in Roman characters on several pieces of slabs near
the north transept. 16
Inscriptions
on the Bells. 17
1st. Surge. Age. [Arise, get moving] William Dodd Vicar 1729.
2d. Laudo. Deum. Verum, [I praise the
true God] 1729.
3d. It.
Clamor. Ad. Cælos. Henricus.
4th.
5th. Plebem. Voco. Congrego. Clerum. Henricus.
6th. Defunctos. Plango. Vivos. Moneo. [I toll for the dead,
the living I remind.] Ino. Hardwick.
Lyon Faulkner. Ino. Ley,
Churchwardens, 1729.
On a small bell called the Sanctus Bell, 18 hanging in
the north window of the steeple, is the date 1634, and on one of the pinnacles are
the initials
I.H. R.A. R.H.
I.L. Chvrch
Wardens, 1637
The meaning of this I am unable to comprehend, as we
have no account of the steeple being rebuilt at this period, though it certainly
was not originally of the form it now is. Perhaps they may have been put here,
on some slight alteration or repair. 19
On the front of the choir is a table of benefactors to
this parish. 20
(pp.18 & 19.)
THE Church, dedicated to Saint Simon and Jude, 21 is a handsome building, and formerly had two
large square towers at the west end, the northernmost of which is now almost
demolished. 22
[There follows a poem by Cottle]
IN its present state, the church consists of a lofty
chancel, 23 a nave, with side aisles, and
a short transept on each side.
THE nave is separated from the aisles by circular plain
arches, springing from large columns, exhibiting a specimen of the early Norman
style.
“At the west end is a piscina 24 and pointed arcades, over which are two lancet windows and a large
window having four mullions, with tracery.
At the east end is another large window similar to
the above; 25 and on the
outside of the south porch is another piscina.
Entering the church at this door, on the
right hand is a slab 26 with an inscription to the
MEMORY
of the
Rev. William Dodd,
Vicar of Bourne.
He died August 6th, Aged 54.
Also
She died May 23d, 1755, aged 55.”
Near the west entrance, on a blue slab,
Edmund Son of
T. and D.
Rawnsley, died Novr.
22,
1788, in the fourth Year of
His Age.
Also Jane
Ruth and Jane their
Daughters died
Infants.
Also Mary Ann
Died an
infant, 1799.
On the floor of the north side aisle is a black slab
with this inscription :
In memory of
John Caldecot,
who died the 7th
of April, 1755,
Aged 67 years.
On a slab in the middle isle,
In memory of
Alice Hyde, the wife
of John Hyde.
She died July ye 26, 1737,
Aged 32. 27
Commentary.
1. ^ Eleanor
Pochin, lady of the manor of Bourne Abbots. She lived at Bourne Abbey (Abbey
House) adjacent to the
2. Now
demolished but referred to as Abbey
House. In the early nineteenth century, it was usually called Bourne Abbey
or occasionally,
4. The
presence of a pre-Conquest abbey in Bourne is sometimes asserted but the idea
seems unsupported. There may have been an abbey in Bourne but it was not
Arrouaisian since the order itself developed only around 1100. The first hermit
settled in 1090 and the first abbot of the mother house was elected in 1121.
See the Augustinian
Canons web site. In any event, it is highly unlikely that in Bourne, such
an institution was on the present site. The twelfth century abbey was sited as
a result of external circumstances which had to be considered at that time. It
lay on the through route (now the A15) so that the Arrouaisian canons could
fulfil their mission of service to travellers. The claustral buildings were
fenced around by the course of the river, which had just been placed in its
present position on the top of a slight ridge. It was thus entirely artificial,
its course arising from the design of the defences of the castle and from an improvement
in the efficiency of the use of its latent power in driving the mills. There is
very little sign of Anglian occupation of this part of the modern town. Apart
from some Roman occupation on the Abbey Lawn, to the east and mills in the natural
valley, a little to the south, occupation near the modern town centre began in
earnest, in the twelfth century. (RJP3)
5. ^ While
we can take
6. The
man concerned was Baldwin, son of Gilbert de Clare, whose family can be traced
back into
7. The
usually quoted date is 1138.
8. The
date of decease of Hereward is not recorded but a likely time is around 1110. The
original, English version of the Gesta
Herwardi seems to have been written as a response to his death. That was
done before the fire at Peterborough Abbey in 1116 in which the manuscript was
damaged. He was born around 1037 so the death will not have been many decades
later than 1100.
9. ‘Sublunary
objects’ are literally, things under the moon. What is meant is ‘everything on
Earth’.
10. ^ In
this instance, by ‘the abbey’, he means the claustral buildings of the abbey,
in which the
11. This
is Abbey House.
12. The
tunnel tradition probably arises from after-dinner yarns at the house. It would
not be at all easy to achieve a watertight passage through the quite long
distance involved and under at least two wet moats. The most convincing guess
is that the story arose from
the culvert under Church Walk, which led the river from the
outermost moat of the castle, under the road, to be continued by a ditch
closely around the claustral buildings. The eighteenth century house appears to
have been built right up to the ditch so that when an extension was needed, it
was slightly re-routed on a parallel course, under the new building, in such a
way that the southern wall of the extension could be built on the site of the original
ditch. The culvert was continued across part of the garden since the ditch was
no longer on its boundary. At this stage, it debouched alongside what was
known, later at least, as ‘the
13. The
text includes marks indicating where parts of the words are omitted but the
means of replicating those here are not available. nomen quod super omne nomen christus est - The name which is above every
name is Christ.
14. Aisle
means ‘wing’ so strictly, the aisles are the lean-to buildings each side of the
nave. Nowadays, the word is frequently used to mean a passageway between seats
and the like. We may imagine that this use arose with the cinema but here the
word is used in such a way well before that was invented. OED quotes a
examples from the eighteenth century; but those are written as ‘isle’.
15. ^ This
fragment might be part of a Latin reference to the manor of Bourne Abbots. The
canons would have been commemorated in the chancel, if anywhere but the chancel
is likely to have been used as a source of paving stones once it had gone to
ruin.
16. Roman
style inscriptions are by no means guaranteed to be of Roman age. In the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, anyone pretending to being cultured would
show off his Classical learning.
17. It
is clear from the uniformity of the date that there was a thorough renovation
in the bell department during the incumbency of William Dodd. The fifteenth
century top of the tower seems clearly to have been designed to accommodate
bells. It would be interesting to learn whether the old bells had been removed
at some stage between then and 1729. The fusor,
Henry Penn was the bell founder, the man who cast the bell. I have added translations by my Latin is none too good. If you know
better, please let me know - rjp@boar.org.uk
.
18. Until
the ringing of church bells was stopped in 1939, for the duration of the war,
this was sounded each evening as the curfew bell.
19. The
inscription is on the inward-facing side of the western parapet of the tower.
20. ^ This
is a typical eighteenth century feature of a parish church. At that stage, the
church was used as a means of social administration. It was where most of the
parish could be expected to attend once a week so notices of non-church parish
business were given there. The list of bequests would serve two purposes: to
encourage others among the more wealthy to support
social welfare and to remind people of what was available, so reducing the risk
that the trustees of a charity might forget to pay out. The list mentioned by
21. This
dedication was quoted at around this period. The dedication is now regarded as
being to SS Peter and Paul but it seems that this latter
was originally the dedication of the monastic abbey as opposed to the parish
church.
22. It
is more likely that building work came to a stop and this tower was never
completed. The bottom storey is now incorporated into the church but its roof
is a nineteenth century addition. In
23. ‘Lofty
chancel’ is exactly the phrase used by Cooke in about
1808. The chancel was built in 1807 and clearly ‘lofty’ was the buzzword
attached to it.
24. These
are not strictly piscinas but holy water stoups. They were at the door so that
arriving worshipers could ritually clean or bless themselves. A piscina was
placed by an altar so that ritual vessels could be cleaned. That water was
carefully drained securely so that it could not be put to improper use by
others. Both stoups are more weathered than they were two hundred years ago and
each has the front of its bowl knocked out, obviously for the prevention of its
further use.
25. ^ This
and
26. The
inscription recorded by
27. ^ The
Hyde family was the most prominent one in Langtoft. In the mid eighteenth
century, one of its members, Humphrey, became vicar of Bourne and in 1796, his
daughter, Catherine, married James Digby of the Red Hall. (Birkbeck p. 57) This event
gave rise to much modernization of the hall and its immediate surroundings. The
Gothick lodge on the
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