SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF AGED 37 YEARS AND 8 MONTHS. SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF ANN, THE WIFE OF THOMAS LIGHTFOOT, BORN THE FOURTH OF SEPTEMBER, 1749, DIED JULY 5, 1821, AGED 71. I HEARD A VOICE FROM HEAVEN, SAYING UNTO ME, WRITE, REV. CHAP. 14, v. 13. These memorials to the memory of his parents were erected by Thomas Lightfoot, Esq. their Son, who greatly honoured and highly respected them. After the dissolution of the religious houses the rectorial tithes were disposed of to laymen, and are now the property of R. P. Johnson, Esq. Temple, as the heir of Robert Popplewell. The Vicarage passed into the family of Ashbourne, who built the house in 1710, then into that of Egremont, who sold it lately to Mr. Duncombe, of Lincoln's Inn Fields. The following is a list of the Vicars, as far as can be ascertained from the records at Lincoln. This parish has the benefit of three Charities, one for the use of the poor, and two for the purposes of education. Thomas Walkwood surrendered five acres and twenty perches of land, lying in Ealand and Croule field, with a messuage wherein he then dwelt, with the orchards, stables, and buildings thereto belonging, situated in the north end of Croule, with the appurtenances, to the Minister and Churchwardens of Croule for the time being, and their successors, for the use of the poor for ever. Likewise, the same Thomas Walkwood surrendered two acres one rood twenty perches of land, lying in Croule Field; the yearly rent of the said land to be disposed of by the Minister and Churchwardens of Crcule, for the time being, and by their successors, for the teaching and well educating of certain poor children of the said parish for ever, according to the discretion of the said Minister and Churchwardens. Richard 7 Richard Brewer, of Gainsbrough, by his will bearing date 1687, left a messuage and farm house in Croule, with the arable land, meadow, and pasture, known by the name of the Town End Farm, to the Churchwardens, and their successors for ever; the rents thereof to be employed for the learning of twenty poor children there, to read English, and to buy books for their use. Walkwood's estate is now let for £15 per annum, and Brewer's for £44. In the year 1813, Croule obtained the benefit of an Act of Inclosure, in which the error of leaving the arable fields open was avoided. By this act, all encroachments on the commons and waste lands, which had been made for twenty years, were to remain. So much of the Yorkshire common allotted to the Lord of the Manor of Hatfield as should be equal, in the judgment of the Commissioners, to fifteen acres of the average value thereof, in lieu of his manorial rights in that part of the lordship. And the Lord of the Manor of Croule was to have one-twentieth part of all the residue of the commons, in lieu of his right. An allotment of lands was set out for the Rectorial and Vicarial tithes. On the Lincolnshire copyhold moors, each Copyholder, after the Lord of the Manor had received his twentieth part, had an allotment according to their respective rights and interests therein. The same method was pursued in the open fields. The commons and waste grounds in the several townships of Croule, Eastoft, and Eland, were to be allotted in severalty as follows: two-thirds to the Lord of the Manor, the Impropriator of the great tithes, the Vicar, and to the other Proprietors of messuages, cottages, and frontsteads, excepting certain lands and grounds commonly known by the name of the fishing grounds, and the Participants' scotted lands; and the other third amongst the proprietors of open field lands or ings; but owners of estates at Eastoft are to have no share in the allotments of Croule and Ealand commons. The celebrated warping clause, which required another act to enable the Commissioners to cut drains to the Trent at Keadby, as I have before stated in the introductory chapter to this work, has produced the most beneficial effects on the low grounds in this district. About 1500 acres have been warped, at the expence of £25 per acre; and when the whole whole is completed, above 2000 acres will have been brought into cultivation. A small decoy yet lingers on part of the common, which remains uncovered with warp, where a few wild fowl are occasionally taken, just sufficient to remind the modern sportsman what a diversion the antient fowler found in these extensive and wild resorts of the feathered race; and which now, by the ingenuity and labour of man, have been converted into a fertile and valuable soil, producing most abundant crops of grain, potatoes, and other vegetables. So different is the country now from what it was even in the latter part of the last century, when "the great bulk of the inhabitants knew no other kind of bread than that composed of horse beans and coarse flour*." "Agricolæ prisci fortes parvoque beati." In the reign of Richard the Second, the antient Market and Fairs were removed from Garthorpe to this place, on the petition of the Abbot of Selby. One of the Keepers of the Game of the Hatfield Chase had a station at Croule. Croule presents the appearance of a very long straggling village rather than a town, though it contains a few houses of the better class. The streets and open Market Place are unpaved, and the shops are such as may be found in every other country village. There is a Society of Baptists, 'similar to that at West Butterwick. They have a small Chapel and burial ground, which contains a few sepulchral memorials of the family of Hind. * Wainwright. EASTOFT. EASTOFT, IS a small Village, situated on the southern branch of the Don, about three miles north of Croule. It contains nothing remarkable, except the remains of the old channel of the river, which now exhibits the appearance of a lorg narrow pond. Formerly the keepers of the game had a station here also. King Henry the Third gave the Abbot of Selby free warren in this part of the Manor, with the proviso, of its not being within the limits of the forest. There is a Hall here, the property of James Lister, to whom it descended from his father, George Stovin. To the latter it was left by Thomas Lister, of Girsby house, his first cousin, on condition of his taking the name and bearing the arms of Lister only. Thomas Lister was descended from Sir John Lister, a merchant at Hull, who acquired a large fortune, and left a numerous family, from which the present Lord Ribblesdale is descended. About a mile from the town of Croule, where the canal from Keadby to Stainforth crosses the Belton road, is Croule Wharf, in antient times called the *This family was residing at Hull in the reign of Charles the First, as appears from the following curious letter, from William Lister to his brother Samuel, now in the possession of James Lister, Esq. of Ousefleet Grange, to whose kindness the reader is indebted for its insertion here. "On Friday last the Duke of York, the Palsgrave, the Earl of Newport, my Lord Willoughby, Sir Thomas Glenham, Colonel Vavasour, and some five or six cavaliers, came to Hull. The Governor hearing, by Alderman Watkinson, that night of their coming, went out to meet them as far as Newland, and was taken into their coach. They supped at Alderman Watkinson's, and the Governor invited them to breakfast next day, being St. George's Day; and the Mayor to a banquet. In the morning they went to the South-end, and were on the float, and were shooting off the ordnance there, observing the grazing of the bullets. From thence they intended to take boat, and view the castle and block houses, when a letter was brought by Sir Lewis Dives, to say that the King intended to dine with him, |