LUDDINGTON. S the most northern parish in the Isle of Axholme, and when the Maredyke formed a channel for the waters of the Don to flow into the Trent, this parish would form a complete river island*, having the Maredyke on the south, the Trent on the east, and the Don on the north and west, and is nothing more than an alluvial deposit, sometimes covering a bed of morass of peat, and sometimes a bed of sand. These situations, however, seem to have had peculiar attractions for the aboriginal tribes of a savage people; and, at the time of the Conquest, we find three places mentioned in the survey as having been located on this Ultima Thule of the Isle. "In Luddington, Gerulthorpe, and Moræ, and Watretone, six carucates and a half to be taxed. Land to two ploughs. Four carucates and a half of this land are in the soke of Croule. Twelve sokemen have now there two ploughs. Fulchere had there one carucate of land, with a hall; now it is waste. Ulfenise had there a carucate of land, In King soke of Belton. Gilbert claims it, Geoffrey has it, and it is waste. Edward's time ten shillings, now three shillings. A marsh ten miles long and three miles broad belongs to this island." I think it probable that Moræ was not a vil, but a piece of marshy ground, * The parish has always extended a little beyond the ancient channel of the Maredyke, probably because, in times of which we have no historical notices, this channel might have been a little more to the south. ground, which, in a deed to be mentioned hereafter, is termed the Morefield at Waterton. The marsh ten miles long and three miles broad can be no other than that tract of land now called Marshland, in Yorkshire; but why it should be stated as belonging to this island, which at that time constituted the parish of Luddington, I am not able to say. The valuation of the ninth sheaf, the ninth lamb, and the ninth fleece, shews, however, that the produce of this sequestered spot was of considerable value, being only three pounds less than Haxey, and seven pounds more than Croule. Luddington-£xvii. Taken on the oaths of Robert de Lydington, William the son of Ramenus de Walton, William the son of John of Gerulthorpe, Allan the son of Roger of Luddyngton. The Maredyke was the scene of some of the first attempts at the rendering the country habitable by means of drainage, which were undertaken by the Abbot of Selby, for which, and other such beneficent improvements, the great religious houses were so justly celebrated. For we learn, from the researches of Mr. Peck, in the Patent Rolls, that, in the reign of Henry the Fifth," William Ludyngton, Thomas Egmanton, and John Dowinay, Robert Waterton, and Edward Fitz William, being constituted Commissioners for the review and repair of the banks and sewers in the soke of Crulle, and this Isle of Axholme, and betwixt Bekerdyke on each side, sate at Croule, upon the Monday next after the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, in the year above-said; before whom the jury then presented that one Geoffrey Gaddesby, late Abbot of Selby, did cause a strong sluse of wood to be made upon the river of Trent, at the head of a certain sewer called the Maredyke, of a sufficient height and breadth for the defence of the tides coming from the sea; and likewise against the fresh water descending from the west part of the before-mentioned sluse to the said sewer, into the same river of Trent, and thence into Humbre; and performed the same upon his free good will and charity, for the use of the country. Which said sluse certain unknown persons, inhabitants of the lordship of Hayfield, pulled down in in the time of John de Shirebourne, late Abbot of that place, and next successor of the said Geoffrey. "And whereas the said John de Shirebourne did new make the same sluse of stone, sufficient as he thought for defence of the sea tides, and likewise of the said fresh water, the jurors said they were not strong enough for that purpose, being too high and too broad; and that it would be expedient for the advantage of the country, that the then Abbot, if he pleased, would, in the places where these stone sluses were made, cause certain sluses of strong timber to be set up, consisting of two fludgates, each fludgate containing in itself four feet in breadth and six feet in heighth; and also a certain bridge upon the said sluses, in length and breadth sufficient for a cart and other carriages which in future might pass that way; and being so made, and having stood firm for the space of one whole year, against the force of those tides, by the view of Richard de Amcotts and Robert Lyulf of Waterton, elected and sworn by the before specified Commissioners, or some others to be chosen by them, that the said Abbot of Selby, Richard de Amcotts, and others, the freeholders of Crulle, Amcotts, Waterton, Garlethorpe, Luddington, and Eltoft, in this county of Lincoln: as also the said towns in common, should, in respect to their lands and tenements lying within that soke, be obliged of right to keep them in repair. And they further said, that it would be very necessary that the before-mentioned Abbot, if he pleased, should cause to be there made, without the said sluse, towards the river of Trent, at the Feast of Easter then next ensuing, one demmyng for that present. And they also said, that, for the future, the said freeholders, as also the said towns, and every of them, might clense and scour the said sewer, called Maredyke, according to the proportion belonging to each of them therein, from the said sluse, to the bridge of Luddington, called Lane End Brigg. Whereupon the Shireeve was commanded to summon the said Abbot, Richard de Amcotts, and the rest, to appear before the above specified Commissioners, at Crulle aforesaid, on Tuesday next before the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin then next ensuing. At which day they all came accordingly, and could not gainsay what had been so presented by the jurors." After After Cornelius Vermuyden had turned the waters of the Don into another channel, this outlet for them was no longer wanted, and consequently it bcing unnecessary to maintain these works of drainage, not a vestige of them now remains; but the old channel of the Dyke, though now partially warped up, may still be traced all the way, from the point where it left the Don until it reached the Trent. When this took place, the parish of Luddington lost its character of a separate small island, and became joined to the other part of Lincolnshire west of Trent, and the West Riding of Yorkshire. The same process which formed what I shall term the island of the parish of Luddington, has been going on in more modern times a little to the north and east. A deposit of silt gradually accumulated, until it became dry at high water, and was soon covered with a coarse herbage. A house was then built upon it, and a bank formed to keep out an occasional high blown spring tide. Cultivation began, and it was called the Trent Island, as may be seen in any map made within the last twenty years. This caused the Trent to have two channels, by which its water flowed into the Humber, though the western one was very much smaller than the other. Another effort of human industry has now joined this island to the mainland, by means of staithes and embankments; the smaller channel is warped up, and the extent of the parish of Luddington thus much increased upon the eastern side. The Church is a very ancient structure, the arches on the north side of the nave being circular, belonging to that period of architecture which immediately followed the Conquest, and is generally termed Norman Saxon. It is built in the form of a cross, the tower being on the south side. This was formerly surmounted with a wooden steeple, but was replaced by a tower, built of brick, in the year 1820. The nave is lighted by a clear story of three windows on each side; but in the north aisle, which is very low, there are no windows whatever. The situation of this Church is somewhat singular. It stands on a dry sand hill, in the midst of what must have been, in former times, a marsh, between between the villages of Luddington and Garthorpe; and a bank has been thrown up, which still forms the Church road from the last mentioned place. The Rectory of this parish was appropriated to the Abbey of Selby, and a Vicarage endowed as early as 1262, which was then valued at £9. 3s. Od. ; at which period" David the Abbot paid to Simon Barton, archdeacon of Stow, a pension of one mark, besides procurations and synodals, which in 1272 the Archdeacon quit-claimed, reserving the procurations and synodals*." From the same authority, we learn that there was a manse or vicarage at that early period. In the time of Henry the Eighth this Vicarage had somewhat declined in value, the entry in the Valor Ecclesiasticus being as follows: Luddington, Dms. Thomas Guy, vicar, idm. ultim. x. p. Inde pars xma. L. S. d. viii. 0. o. xvi. Thomas Guy, presented by Richard Burdett, per concessionem Abb. Selby, 1533. Robert Clarke, presented by Elizabeth Metham, per concessionem Abb. of Selby, 1576. |