Bourne
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commentary© 2007 R.J.PENHEY
The Bourne Archive
John
Moore’s Notes on Bourne Abbey
From “Collections for a
Topographical, Historical and Descriptive Account of the Hundred of Aveland.”
Published at
TO
mrs. POCHIN,
OF
bOURN aBBEY,
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,
“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, and,
could we credit a date on one of the remaining pillars, as early as 161. 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, placed here an abbot and eleven
canons of the Augustine order, in the fourth year of the reign of king Stephen,
(1139) 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, 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 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) 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. 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. 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.
On a slab in the floor of the middle aisle 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 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.
Inscriptions
on the Bells.
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, 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.
On the front of the choir is a table of benefactors to
this parish.
(pp.18 & 19.)
THE Church, dedicated to Saint Simon and Jude, is
a handsome building, and formerly had two large square towers at the west end,
the northernmost of which is now almost demolished.
[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; and on the outside of the
south porch is another piscina.
Entering the
church at this door, on the right hand is a slab 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.