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last Rector;" or in the Nona Villarum, which was made in 1340. Wroot was just without the boundaries of the Chase; and close by, on the western side, there yet stands a Mere Stone, called God's Cross. Most probably the conversion of the country into a Royal Chase, and a station of the keeper of the game being fixed at Lindholme, brought some of the inferior officers to live here, and thus the place became inhabited.

When the country was dry and covered with forest trees, this most probably was an open glade, irrigated on both sides by two streamlets, some traces of which still remain, and which have been dignified by the name of the river Torn. When the country became flooded, and the water extended itself over sixty thousand acres of land, it must have been an holme or island, to which there would be an easy communication by boats from the surrounding country; but when the water was partially drained, and the land left fenny, moorish, and swampy, then Wroot became the most inaccessible of all places, and acquired the name of Wroot,—Out of England.

I should conjecture that, about this time,that is immediately after the drainage, the road to Finningley was formed over the Carr side. It was made of trees laid close together, as is the practice in many parts of North America; with this difference only, that the trees, instead of being cut down, were dug up out of the adjoining peat moors.

This rising ground is composed of a bank or bed of gravel, and the soil, under the modern system of cultivation, produces plentiful crops of turnips, barley, oats, wheat, and rye. On the north-east side is a deep vein of soil, of many feet in thickness, which has never yet been dug through, and is similar to the rich surface loams in Haxey and Epworth fields, brought by the gyrations of the same waters which deposited the gravel bank.

It appears from the Calendarium Inquisitionum post mortem, A. D. 1411, that Hugo de Waterton, Chevalier, is stated to have been Lord of the Manor, which he obtained, with other possessions in the manor of Epworth, by marriage, with Ellen, daughter of Robert Mowbray.

When Waterton's property was confiscated by King Henry the Eighth, this manor, with his other possessions, came to the Crown. King Charles

the

the First sold it to C. Vermuyden; and it has since passed into the family of Harvey. There was formerly a manor house adjoining the village, and some land, which still bears the name of the Koning's Garth.

THE CHURCH

WAS rebuilt in the year 1794, on the old site, and about the same dimensions. The antient fabric, like the present, consisted only of a nave and a chancel. The walls were composed of boulder stones, such as are found on the spot; and had been set in mortar, of such hardness and durability, that it was found easier to break the stones than to separate them from the cement. The new building being of brick coigned with stone, the old boulders were purchased to pave Epworth streets. A tablet in the Church informs us that this re-edification was defrayed partly by a parish rate, and partly by the following donations.

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The late Rector had the good taste to take care that all the antient sepulchral memorials were preserved. Within the chancel rails is an antient grave stone, having a floral cross carved upon it, which was originally the lid of an antient stone coffin, and which is one of the earliest specimens of monuments which have been preserved, since the Conquest, in this country. On

the

the north side of the chancel is a brass plate, bearing the following inscription. "Sarah, late wife of Henry Clifford, M. A. Prebend of Lincoln, and Rector of this Church, died the First of September, 1714, in the year of her age 68. Acts 9th, 36th verse. This woman was full of good works and alms deeds which she did."

On the south side of the chancel is another brass plate, on which are engraved the arms of Smyth, and the following inscription.

NEAR THIS PLACE LIE THE REMAINS OF
FRANCIS SMYTH, SON OF BARNES AND
FRANCES SMYTH, LATE RECTOR OF PANTON,
LINCOLNSHIRE, DEPARTED THE 4TH OF
OCTOBER, 1765, AGED 55 YEARS.

ALSO MARY WHITELAMB, WIFE OF THE
LATE RECTOR OF WROOT.

In the body of the Church there is a handsome marble tablet.

SACRED

TO THE MEMORY

OF JOHN SPILSBURY, ESQ.
FORMERLY A CAPTAIN

IN HIS MAJESTY'S TWELFTH
REGIMENT OF FOOT,

AND AFTERWARDS OF THE
INDEPENDANTS.

AND AFTER 30 YEARS
HONOURABLE SERVICE,
RETIRED TO THIS PARISH,
AND

DEPARTED THIS LIFE

ON THE

EIGHTH DAY OF FEBRUARY, 1834,

AGED 89 YEARS.

HE WAS

HE WAS ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN
VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD,

AND PARTICULARLY UNDER

GENERAL ELLIOT,

AT THE MEMORABLE SIEGE

OF GIBRALTAR,

AND EVER MAINTAINED

THE REPUTATION OF

A BRAVE AND ATTENTIVE OFFICER,

AND A KIND

AND HUMANE MAN.

Captain Spilsbury had also a gravestone put down in the church-yard, with the same inscription as that on the tablet in the Church, having also the following names, with blanks for the dates, Martha Sarah Frances......

On a small stone, about two feet long and one broad, "IN MEMORY OF JOHN WHITELAMB, RECTOR OF THIS PARISH 35 YEARS, BURIED 29TH JULY, 1769, aged 62 YEARS. WORTHY OF IMITATION. This at the cost of Francis Wood, Esq. 1772."

If Francis Wood, Esq. on visiting the church-yard of Wroot, found the grave of one whom he respected unmarked by any monumental inscription, ordering a head stone to be erected, was, no doubt, an action very commendable; but to do it in so shabby a manner, both as to materials and execution, I do not think is worthy of imitation. He most probably gave orders to some ignorant person, who carried them into execution according to his own miserable ideas. This, I think, is evident from the last part of the inscription, which no well educated gentleman could have written.

John Whitelamb was the son of parents in very low circumstances. He was educated at the charity school in Wroot, superintended by the Rev. John Romley, who probably recommended him to Mr. Wesley's notice, at that time Rector of the parish. Mr. Wesley took him into his own house, and he became his amanuensis in the place of Romley. He designed the plates for Mr. Wesley's Dissertations on the Book of Job; and engraved

several

several of them with his own hand. Under the care of this kind friend, he obtained a sufficient knowledge of Latin and Greek to enter the University; and, chiefly at the expence of the Wesley family, he was maintained at Lincoln College, Oxford. He suffered, however, great privations in order to acquire a sufficiency of learning to pass through the University and obtain orders. It is in reference to this that Mrs. Wesley calls him "poor starve. ling Johnny ;" and so low were his circumstances that he could not purchase a gown when he was ordained. After he had taken orders, Mr. Wesley gave him the curacy of Wroot; and, on his marrying Miss Mary Wesley, he petitioned the Lord Chancellor to appoint Whitelamb to the Rectory, on his resigning it for that purpose.

This petition to the Lord Chancellor, York, after stating what Wesley had already done for Whitelamb, and of his marriage with Wesley's daugh ter, and his performing the duty of Curate at Wroot, concludes with saying, "I would gladly give them a little glebe land at Wroot, where I am sure they will not want springs of water. But they love the place, though I can get nobody else to reside upon it. If I do not flatter myself he is indeed a valuable person; of uncommon brightness, learning, piety, and indefatigable industry; always loyal to the King, zealous for the Church, and friendly to the dissenting brethren: and for the truth of this character, I will be answerable to God and man. If, therefore, your Lordship will grant me the favour, to let me resign the living unto him, and please to confer it on him, I shall always remain," &c. &c.

Whitelamb was instituted in the following year. Afterwards he fell into doubts concerning the truth of the Divine Revelation; and at last became a deist, as appears from a note by Mr. John Wesley, on a letter written by Whitelamb, and printed in the first Volume of the Arminian Magazine. "To be frank, I cannot but look upon your doctrines as of ill consequence: consequence, I say, for take them nakedly in themselves, nothing seems more innocent, nay good and holy. Suppose that we grant that, in you and the rest of the leaders, who are men of sense and discernment, what is called the seal and testimony of the spirit is something real, yet I have great rea

son

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