John Ferne de Perewyck William Ferne de Temple Belwood, Ann, daughter and heiress of John Sheffield de Beltoft, brother to Robert Sheffield, of Butterwick, Knight Sir John Ferne, Knight, one of the Queen's Councillors, William Ferne, Esq. Eliz. John Ferne, Eliz. fil. Jon. Needham of Little Symondley, in Hartford, Esq. nupt. 23 Eliz. 10. Brampton, ob. s. p. Anne Thomas Ferne= Elizabeth Thos. Micklewaite de Hessle, HIRST HIRST PRIORY. NOT far from Mosewood, and at the northern side of the parish of Belton, stands Hirst Priory, the seat of Cornelius Hartshorn Stovin, Esq. This house "was originally founded by Nigel d' Albini, and granted by him to the Canons of St. Oswald, at Nostel, with the grove, the moors, and commons about Hyrst, and also the waters as far as the river Don, with four sextaries of malt, four of wheat, and four of fine flour, and five hundred eels yearly, with privilege to grind their corn at his mills on the Trent tollfree, and common every where in the woods, plains, and waters. Roger, his son, for the good of his father's soul, his mother Gundreda, and his own, grants all the grove, which is called Hyrst and Hyrtesic, and the mears of Hyrtesic and Riceberg, as it lies between the grove of Hyrst and East Moors, between the place of Hyrst and Eppen, and all the grove ditch unto Don; and thirty shillings out of his farm at Belton, and four sextaries of malt, and a thousand eels out of Don and Idle, which Luenus of Belton, and Reginald, his brother, holds of me. Also six oxgangs of land in Little Shesheshell, with privilege of common in all woods and waters. "After the dissolution of the religious houses this place was granted, with all the privileges it ever had, to John Earl of Warren, who disposed of it to William Breton, of London; Breton sold it to Alexander Bannister, of Epworth, from whom it was purchased by Sir Peter Ewer. Thomas Brewer was the next owner, who settled it upon his daughter and her heirs male, upon her marriage with John Taylor, of Newland, in Yorkshire, near Rawcliffe; in whose family it continued until Richard Taylor sold it to Jonathan Stovin, of Tetley, in the parish of Crowle*," of which antient and honourable family I shall give a further account in the history and topography of that parish. From an original document in the possession of Cornelius Hartshorn Stovin, Esq. The The present house stands on the site of the old Priory. The moat is still perfect on the north-east and west, and inclosed about half an acre of ground. An old barbary tree marks the place where the chapel stood; and at a short distance is the holy pond, which seems to have been a well dug to some small spring, which was descended by a few steps, of these there are some remains. The following engraving represents the antient inclosure, and is taken from a very curious and antient map now in possession of Mr. Stovin; and the drawing of the original Priory is from the same document. The Affidavit Land SANDTOFT SANDTOFT. ROGER DE MOWBRAY, in the reign of Henry the Third, granted certain lands and fisheries at Sandtoft, and at Henes in the parish of Crowle, to the Abbey of St. Mary's, at York, for the sustentation of a recluse. In this deed Sandtoft is termed an island, which was formed by the river Idle dividing into two streams near its junction with the Don; and when the waters of these rivers meandered through the Level, and overflowed their banks without restraint, few places could be more inaccessible and secluded than the three situations of Wroot, Lindholme, and Sandtoft. Mowbray also gave to the same House six skeps of barley, to be delivered annually, at the Feast of All Saints, by his tenants at Appewit. He also gave them the privilege of having fifteen pigs on Ross, and pasture for ten cows, and to take as much dead wood to burn as they pleased, and green to build with. And lastly, he bestowed upon the Monk at Sandtoft one mastiff to take care of his house and his croft, and whatever he could obtain out of the surrounding marsh ; and one-twentieth part of his victuals, whenever he (Mowbray) was resident in the Isle. When the adjoining country in Yorkshire had become a Royal Chase Sandtoft was one of the stations of the keepers of the game; and there was a ferry over the Idle, from Hatfield and Thorne, about a mile and a half from which that river fell into the Don. Cornelius Vermuyden fixed upon it as the most central situation to found a Church, for the French and Dutch Protestants who had come over to farm the lands which the Participants had drained, according to the privilege given him in the original grant from the Crown*. The Church was built by one Isaac Bedloe, a merchant, who many * "An whereas the said Cornelius Vermuyden, out of a singular devotion of mind and piety, proposed many years afterwards never received the money stipulated to be paid for it. De la Prymne informs us that it was situated on the north side of the present highway, which leads from Sandtoft to Bears Wood Green, “near opposite to Mr. Reading's last new built house." Sir PhilipVernatti, Henry Kinston, Luke Valkenburgh, Mathew Valkenburgh, John Corsellis, and Michael Corsellis went before a notary, and in the name of the whole body of Participants, declared their consent that a salary of from seventy to eighty pounds should be raised annually, for the support of a Minister to officiate in the French and Dutch languages, by assessments on the estates, by six of the chief proprietors; and it was added for the satisfaction of those who might settle upon the lands, "no rent should be taken till an able Minister was settled." The first Minister was Mons. Berchet, the second Mons. Deckeshuel, the third Mons. Delapris, the fourth Mons. Delaport, the fifth Samuel Lamber, and the sixth and last Mons. Le Vanely. Around the Church there soon arose a little town, consisting of about two hundred houses, which were inhabited by the French and Walloon Protestants, who had fled out of their native country for fear of the Inquisition. Great numbers were married, baptised, and buried here, as appears from the Registers, part of which have been preserved by Mr. Stovin. The first en try proposed and intended to erect and constitute one or more Chapel or Chapels, within the said limits of the said demesne or manors, in places most convenient, and the same to maintain at their own costs and charges, Ministers able there to celebrate divine things to the glory of Almighty God, and humbly beseeching our royal licence and assent to the finishing of this work. We highly favouring the said pious and laudable intentions of the said Cornelius Vermuyden, and being willing that they should obtain a happy effect, by our special favour having given and granted to the said Cornelius Vermuyden, his heirs and assigns full license that he or they at any convenient time and place or places, within the limits of the said demesne or manor, with the consent of the Ordinary of that place, may have power to found, erect, and build one or more Chapels, and to put in and allow and maintain one or more Ministers to read and celebrate divine things there, to the praise and honour of Almighty God, either in the English or Dutch language, according to the form of the established religion in this our Kingdom of England." * Stovin's MSS. |