The Lost Houses of Lincolnshire - West Willoughby Hall

West Willoughby Hall was was originally built in 18th century in Queen Anne style architecture.  The Rev Charles Wager Allix (1749-1795) bought the West Willoughby Estate in the final years of the 18th century.      

The Rev Allix was coursing (chasing a hare on horseback with dogs) with his servant.  He decided there was time for a ride before dinner.  When they were about a mile from home he started to fall from his horse, his servant caught him and laid him on the ground.  The servant let his horse loose so it could return to the house and his family would know he was in trouble.  At the house no one knew where they were and, eventually the servant left the Rev Allix "senseless and speechless on the ground" and headed to the house on his master's horse to inform the family and bring assistance, then he returned to his master.  The horse smelled the Rex Allix snorted, ran back a few steps, fell on his side and died in less than two hours.  Rev Allix remained unconscious for a week when he passed away.

His son, Charles Allix (1783-1866) developed the farming potential of the estate.  Charles' son, Frederick William Allix, employed Lincoln architect William Watkins to design a new house in place of the original hall.  The new Hall was built in 1873 at a cost of £28,000 using local Ancaster stone.

 It was large and, like most of Watkins' work, elaborate and expansive. Jacobean in style and similar to Dutch and French Renaissance styles. For all its granduer the house was unloved by the Allix family and often tenanted, F W Allix and his wife spent most of their time living in Brussells

F W Allix died in 1894, his wife, Mary Sophia, died in Brussels in 1910.

In 1912 the estate was auctioned to several buyers, except for the house and park. The house was rented then bought by the Rev. H.W.Hitchcock, acting as agent for his eldest brother. 

Practically all of the West Willoughby Estate was sold off in fourteen lots

The house was auctioned in 1928 but withdrawn at £2,750.  

The house remained empty until World War II when it was occupied by the army, the Hall was badly damaged and even used for target practice. 

It lingered on in ruinous state until 1963 when dynamite was used to demolish it. All that remains is a stable block with a datestone of 1876.

The stable block has been renovated and is now (2010) converted to a family home. The extensive grounds have been incorporated as the lawns of the dwelling. The foundations of West Willoughby Hall have been observed by the current occupier (2010) of the stable block during landscaping work that has taken place over the past eleven years. The foundations lie approximately 50 metres to the south-east of the stables. Some former lodges to the hall remain but have been in private ownership for at least thirty years. The front (south) elevation has had an entrance door added beneath a new central Dutch gable which complements the original two. At the rear, large wooden entrance doors have been added to enclose what was previously an open arch, linking the front of the stable building with the rear. {5}

"In 1959 I described Willoughby Hall near Ancaster, Lincolnshire as ‘a tall, gaunt, French-style house of 1873, said to be by Watkins and in ruins’; in 1989 my text was revised to read, “Of the French-style house of 1873 by William Watkins only the stable block of 1876, with shaped gables, remains.’ Today I would further revise my stylistic judgement: I believe Willoughby was a very clever adaptation from local seventeenth-century Northamptonshire and south Lincolnshire models, and that it had also benefited from the Flemish taste of Frederick Allix’s wife Sophia. At the time he was working at Willoughby, Watkins had already built in 1867 the Town Hall at nearby Grantham.

"I had come to Willoughby in the late afternoon from Caythorpe, its walled park and funerary monuments so redolent of the Hussey tenure. Being Lincolnshire, this was RAF country, the domain of ‘Bomber’ Harris. My index card said ‘Mucked up by the RAF — from Cranwell’, but the army were billeted here too. I was puzzled by large numbers at least two feet high painted on the roof and thought of demolition, but learned later that the RAF used the numbers to practise precision bombing in their Mosquitoes. Even from a distance, a spookiness seemed to emanate from the ruin as I approached, a feeling not unlike that which I'd experienced at Bulwell in Nottinghamshire. I knew nothing then of Charles Hitchcock, a lunatic who, cared for by his brother the Reverend Harry, was incarcerated here from 1912 until his death in 1928. It is said that he would appear with a handkerchief on his head, and run away when approached. Another tale is attested to by old Mr Simkins, the Hitchcocks’ gardener. He reported that Charley had the run of the attic floor, and was allowed out into the garden at three o’clock each afternoon, superintended by a maid. Simkins could point to the gabled window on the garden front from which Charley would sing to and stare at the moon — it seems that he would get into a frightful state if there was no moon on a night when he needed its consolation. One such night, he ran up and down the stairs so many times that he finally collapsed exhausted at the bottom. Simkins also claimed that Charley had a passion for Mars bars, which his brother used to supply in bulk. This surprised me, and later enquiries made to the Mars bars people in Slough revealed that the bars had only been marketed from 1932. Maybe Charley’s ghost consumed them? The house was untenanted after Charley’s death in 1928. When the army moved in, a carved French chimney-piece was there one day and gone the next, and according to Simkins, no doubt a local myth-maker, the house was badly haunted. Objects would suddenly break, as if someone had smashed them. ‘A real nasty feeling the place gave,’ he confessed. There were noises in the night, but it was not clear if these were the gasps of soldiers in the embrace of WRACs, or Charley's ghost moaning at the moon.

"Looking back, I don’t believe I have never found a ruin so unpleasant. The back parts had been used as pigsties, and stank from the inevitable muck-heap. In the stables the walls were plastered with army notices. Each stall had housed not horses but soldiers, eating around a table, and the columnar divisions had all been broken up for firewood, as had the balusters of the upper main staircase and the panelling in the dining room. Upstairs, only accessible by sidling along a wall beam over a precipitous drop, the wet rot bulged out of walls like balloons, and the stench of decay was choking. I’m sure Charley had been harmless, but he left a legacy of evil emanations. I felt cold, on this warm summer’s evening"

-- No Voice From the Hall  John Harris

The Stable Block converted to a home

John of Gaunt's Mistress

Katherine de Rouet was born in about 1349 in the County of Hainult, now in Belgium, the daughter of a Flemish Herald, Sir Payne de Rouet.  She was educated at a convent in Romsey, Hampshire and later joined her sister Philippa, who became the wife of Geoffrey Chaucer. 

Katherine married Sir Hugh Swynford of Kettlethorpe and Coleby, Lincolnshire,  a knight in John of Gaunt's service, about 1366.  Sir Hugh died in 1371 in Gironde, Bordeaux.  Katherine and John of Gaunt began their relationship sometime after  Hugh's death. 

John of Gaunt, the 3rd son of King Edward III was born in Ghent in 1340.  He married his first wife, Blanche of Lancaster, his third cousin, in 1359.  Blanche died of bubonic plague in 1368 at Bolingbroke castle.

After the death of John's first wife, Katherine became the lady-in-waiting to Blanche's daughters. She took care of them and managed the estates left to her by her late husband.

John married Infanta Constanza of Castile in 1371 at Roquefort near Bordeaux, assuming the title “King of Spain” in 1372.  In 1387 he tried, with the aid of King Joao I of Portugal, to conqueror Castile to make good his claim, but was unsuccessful.

During John of Gaunt’s marriage to Constanza he fathered four children by Katherine Swynford.  

Their relationship caused a scandal, leading to John being forced to break off their relationship in 1381. Katherine moved to Lincoln and lived in a rented house.  

The Chancery, Katherine's rented house

Despite the formal separation, Katherine maintained a cordial relationship with John and his family. In 1387, she was made a Lady of the Garter by King Richard II

Constanza died in 1394.

John married Katherine Swynford in Lincoln Cathedral in 1396/7.  Their marriage was recognized by a papal bull, legitimising their children, taking the surname of Beaufort, but were prevented from inheriting the throne.  The children were:

• John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (1373-1410)
• Henry Beaufort, Cardinal (c. 1374-1447)
• Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter (1377-1426)
• Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland. (1379-1440)

Henry Beaufort was bishop of Lincoln from 1398 to 1405 and was created Cardinal in 1426.

Although John of Gaunt didn’t inherit the English throne all sovereigns of England and Great Britain from Henry IV are his descendants.

John of Gaunt died in 1399, his estates were declared forfeit by King Richard II as John’s son and heir, Henry Bolingbroke, had been exiled.  

Henry returned to England to depose Richard and reigned as King Henry IV until 1413.

Katherine died on 10th May 1403 and is buried in Lincoln Cathedral.

Katherine Swynford's Tomb in Lincoln Cathedral

Katherine's children with John of Gaunt played significant roles in English history. Their descendants include Henry VII, the first Tudor king, and key figures in the Wars of the Roses

What Happened to Pond Street?

Over the years several streets in Lincoln have had name changes, Clay Lane to West Parade; New Road to Lindum Road; St Giles Gate to Wragby Road are just three. What seems at first like the most insignificant name change was that of Pond Street.

Pond Street,  parallel to West Parade and Newland Street West, joining both roads via Rudgard Lane, was built between the early 1870s and the late 1880s.  The fronts of the numbers 21 to 31 are built of brick but the back walls are of stone.  Windows in the stone wall have been replaced, but there are still some "original" windows of pointed arch design in the stonework. It may be that the builder re-used stone from a demolished building.

Why was the name of the street changed?  I have been unable to find a definite reason for the change of name, but it may be due to World War I.

Two soldiers living on Pond Street were killed during the war:

• George Christian, died 28th April 1917 age 19 , 8th Battalion
• Walter Henry Christian, 12th October 1918, age 22, 5th Battalion

George and Walter were sons of Charles (died 1912, age 44) and Hephzibah Christian, of 32, Pond St.  Leaving Hephzibah with one son, Leslie.  I believe the street name was changed to commemorate the sacrifice they made for King and Country.

The street was renamed St Faith Street about 1929, St Faith's Church stands behind the recently built houses at the end of the street (that may also the reason for the renaming).  There were 4 houses between number 11 and 13 which retained the name Pond Cottages, these have been demolished, together with numbers 7-17 (odd numbers only), and the area is now a green space.

Mr Arscott and the Baptist Sunday School

This is an architectural gem that thousands of people pass every week and most wouldn't notice it.  The former Baptist Sunday School was built by W Mortimer & Son of Lincoln in 1897, the ground floor shop was rented to tenants.

It was built with heavy clay Gault brick, very popular in the Victorian period.   Stone dressings enhance the Flanders Gothic Revival style.   Above the right door is a crested date stone inscribed "Baptist Sunday Schools 1897", although much of the wording has been eroded by time and weather.

After providing religious education for local children for over 70 years the first floor was converted into offices in about 1980.

c. 1905

R M Wright & Co were the first tenants of the shop, no 29 & 31, but in about 1905 William Arscott started his tailor's business there.  Willam was born in Wellington, Somerset. He moved to Lincoln in 1884 to take up a position as tailor's foreman.  William died in 1919 and Joseph Armscott carried on the business until at least 1942, although no 29 was by this time a ladies' hairdresser and a registry office for servants.

Fortunately it retains many of the architectural features that were built into it by our Victorian predecessors.  The building is Grade II listed so it should be preserved for many years to come.

 

How to Confuse the Visitor to Lincoln

 The wise Elders of earlier centuries of the City of Lincoln chose a unique way to name the streets of the city.

Castle Hill

Take, for instance, Castle Hill: Castle Hill is between Lincoln's castle and cathedral but try as I might I am unable to find much of an incline between those two buildings.  It's true that it stands at the top of the well-named Steep Hill and there is a slight slope from south to north, but a hill it is not.  It is often named by locals as Castle Square.

Staying on the subject of hills, what about Lindum Road, now that is a hill, unusually for Lincolnshire, quite a steep hill, 1 in 9 (or in modern terminology 11%), I believe.  Lindum Road perpetuates the lie that started when it was named New Road.

Yarborough Road is of a similar incline to Lindum Road, it would be a hill in many other cities.  Leading off Yarborough is Carline Road which is probably the second steepest hill in Lincoln.

A busy Cornhill

I nearly forgot the Cornhill, standing east of the High Street.  There may have been a hill of corn there (pre-EU) but a more accurate name would be Corn Square.

Moving to the south of the city Canwick Road heads south from Pelham Bridge (yes it is a bridge) and out into the country.  But as it leaves the city it climbs a steep hill but it is still called Canwick Road.

If we head south west from Canwick Road we come to Cross O' Cliff Hill - and it is a hill, obviously misnamed in a moment of forgetfulness.

Imagine someone on a cycling holiday, Lincolnshire is considered (wrongly) as being flat, and they would think they could get south to north through Lincoln without climbing a hill!

There are more examples of the special naming of roads in Lincoln and maybe in other parts of the country.

I think it's true to say the residents of Lincoln are more honest and call roads that give the impression of hills, hill: e.g. Lindum Hill, Yarborough Hill, etc.

Cold Harbours

 I have discovered 17 places in Lincolnshire named "Cold Harbour", many of them are names of farms, houses or just a patch of land. I have seen many suggestions for the name, the most common is 'a place where a Roman building once stood'.

Unfortunately it is not as exciting as that; if we remove the 'H' from the second word we get Arbour, which some keen gardeners build to make a pleasant shelter to sit beneath on a warm sunny day.

Historically a Cold Arbour is a clump of trees, a ruined building or a depression in the land where travellers could get some shelter from the weather.

The image below is a map showing the location (blue tag) of a cold arbour at the junction of the High Dyke and A52 near Grantham. It's interesting that the public house was called the Blue Harbour, possibly owned by the same Lord of the Manor who owned the "Blue" inns in Grantham.  See https://itsaboutlincoln.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-blue-inns-and-sign.html

Lincoln's Libraries

Prior to The Public Libraries Act of 1850 libraries were only available to subscribers, often in stationery and book shops.

The Public Libraries Act was eventually adopted by Lincoln Corporation on 21st January 1892.  The Corporation formed a Library Authority for 3 years from 9 May 1894.  To help with the costs of setting up the library  Sir Charles Seely, MP gave £1,200., The Corporation, £200 and William Crosfield, MP, £100.

The Buttermarket is the stone fronted building on the right

The City Assembly Rooms, above the Buttermarket as St Peter at Arches was converted to the library at a cost of £1,272 17s. under the supervision of the City Surveyor, Mr R A MacBrair.

Lincoln's Public Library opened on 9th May 1895 with 7,000 books and news and reading rooms with about 100 newspapers and periodicals.

By this time the Mechanics' Institute had moved from Greyfriars to Guild Court, Danesgate Terrace where they provided about 20,000 books but many of these were only available to subscribers.

Within 15 years the library had outgrown the former Assembly Rooms and a committee was formed with the aim of building a new Public Library.  Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-American industrialist, gave the City a grant of £10,000 toward the cost of building the new library.  Sir Reginald Bloomfield was appointed to design  the new library, he also designed the Usher Gallery

The new Library, on Free School Lane, was opened on 24th February 1914.

Lincoln Central Library on Free School Lane

By the 1990s the library had again outgrown its location and it was decided to rebuild the library, retaining the Bloomfield designed front part of the building.  Melvyn Bragg officially opened the new library on 30th October 1996.

The library continues to serve the people of Lincoln and district, as a source of information for the researcher and entertainment for the reader of novels.  Whereas, years ago you would see older people in the Reading Rooms with newspapers and magazines now you will see younger people on computers updating their Facebook status.

Who knows what the future may bring?

 

The Inventor "Blackmailed by the Government"

41 to 55 Westgate

I have walked passed this row of fairly unremarkable houses many times, but today I noticed something remarkable: no UPVC!!  Each house still has its original doors and windows painted black with white frames.  Although there is some deterioration of the bricks, the houses are generally in good condition.  We all crave increased comfort and lower bills so most older houses have had windows and doors unsympathetically replaced – not these houses though.  The reason for such for this may be that the houses stand in front of Lincoln Castle and planning permission for such modernisation is not granted but I prefer to believe that the owners like to keep their houses totally original.

These are the only residential houses still standing on the south side of Westgate, number

Detail showing numbers 47 to 53

11 to 35 disappeared beneath a car park over 80 years ago.

Whilst researching these houses, I searched in the 1911 census and it seems that certain members of the population were as unhappy with the Government as many of us are now. Frank Aspland Cooper put his occupation as “Inventor blackmailed by the government”, Industry “ruination”, Employer status “sufferer”, born in Cincinnati, USA.
He published a book, “Occupation Charges” in 1887, it may be worth a read.  Mr Cooper lived at number 43, the second house from the left.  He lived there until his death in 1932 at the age of 78

The census form can be viewed here: https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBC%2F1911%2FRG14%2F19748%2F0619&parentid=GBC%2F1911%2FRG14%2F19748%2F0619%2F1

This is a list of householders of the above houses in 1913:

Previously published  September 15, 2012

When Lincoln's Greatest Roman Treasure was Almost Lost

 

From the original blogpost 31 May 2012

Newport Arch was the north gate of the upper Roman town of Lindum Colonia.  It is now the only Roman arch in the country still open to traffic.  It is the entrance to Lincoln's historic centre that includes most of Roman and Medieval Lincoln.

Newport Arch probably got its name in the medieval period, many houses were demolished for the building of Lincoln castle in the late 11^th century and the displaced residents moved to an area north of what is now known as Newport.  At the time it was open country but soon grew and eventually had its own market.

Built in the 3rd century, Ermine Street passed through it to link Lincoln to another major Roman provincial centre, York.  The arch was enlarged when the city became capital of the province Flavie Caesariensis in the 4th century.  The remains we see today are of the inner arch and a footway on the east side of the arch, the outer arch was demolished in the late 18^th century.  The arch was much higher in Roman times, approximately 2.4 metres of it are below today’s ground level.

More about the design of the gateway was discovered in 1954 when the north-west bastion, a semi-circular  structure, was excavated, the remains of which are still visible.  There would have been another bastion on the north-east side of the gateway, the remains of that are now below the adjoining cottage.

The modern age has brought damage from motor vehicles, the worst of which happened in 1964 when a lorry carrying peas severely damaged the upper part of the arch.  This resulted in its dismantling and rebuilding.  To see an image of the accident please click here.

Lincoln’s Stonebow now stands on the site of the Roman south gate of the lower city

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The Cross on the Hill

 The first of the twelve Eleanor Cross’s stood on Swine Green at the junction of High Street and St Catherines, not far from the present St Catherine’s Priory Centre and the foot of Cross o’ Cliff Hill.  At the top  of the hill  stood another cross, this cross marked the boundary of the southern limits of the City of Lincoln.  By 1600 this cross had been removed “by some evil-disposed person”. The Corporation ordered that a stone should be erected in its place as a landmark.

It was at this spot that the dignitaries of the  Corporation met distinguished visitors arriving from the South.  In 1445, the Mayor, the Sheriffs and aldermen, on bended knees, here received Henry VI and his young bride, Margaret of Anjou.

Mayoral Party, led by trumpeters and javelin men, leaving the Guildhall

Here 172 years later, on March 17th, 1617, the civic authorities all “in long cloth clothes of purple in grain”, the Sheriffs with white staves of office, the others carrying javelins fringed with red and white, waited to meet James I, who had been hunting along the Heath on his way from Grantham; it appears that the king took a different route and missed the civic party.

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When Lincoln Was Numbered

19 to 23 Minster Yard are known as the Number Houses, so-called because they are thought to be the first numbered houses in Lincoln; but why start at 19?

Standing at the north-west corner of Lincoln Cathedral, which they complement.  The houses were built in the early to mid 18th century with 19th century modifications and are, as you would expect, Grade II and Grade II* listed.

Over the years many of the houses have been updated but still retain their character.  The curve of bay windows and the regularity of the Georgian windows place these houses among the finest in the city.    

When house numbering first began, under the Postage Act of 1765, buildings were often numbered in sequence, 1 to x on the left-hand side from a main road, and x+1 (opposite x) to the last number on the other side - a clockwise sequence (Lincoln's High Street retains this numbering sequence).  Later buildings on the left would usually be odd numbers and the opposite side would be even. 

At first sight, nothing remarkable about this mid-19th century row of terraced houses built for the better-off professional classes, in need of tender loving care and blighted by poorly designed double-glazed windows and the ubiquitous wheelie bin.

These seemingly two double-fronted houses are. in fact, four single-fronted houses.  The plaque to the left of the right-hand door shows number 67, and it can be seen from the wheelie bins that the houses are numbered 65 to 71.

This is the artificial stone lintel above the right-hand door:

From this lintel, it can be clearly seen that the houses were previously numbered from 43 to 46.  All the houses were unoccupied in the 1861 census, so they must have been newly built, or in the course of being built at that time.

In 1871 number 43 was still unoccupied, but the others were lived in:

• 44 - John Heywood, age 42, a cashier at an engineering works.  Under where born: "travelling on the continent", his son, Edward, was born at Heywood, Lancashire. 
• 45 - Elizabeth Bullivant, 65, living on her own means, born in Aisthorpe.  
• 46 - George Williamson, 48, Manager Steam Engineer, born Gainsborough.

Sometime between 1891 and 1894, the houses were renumbered to the current sequence.

In the case of Monks Road buildings were numbered sequentially on what would be the right, and when the numbering changed number 1 was still on the right.  I believe the reason for this is that the first houses were built on the south side of the road as Monks Leys Common was on the north side.

When these four houses were built, behind them would be many of the major engineering works of the City, but in front would be a pleasant view of the countryside leading up the hill. To the left would be the recently opened cattle market with a great view of the Cathedral above it.

Many other roads, including High Street, have been re-numbered.

Monks Road Numbering 1894 - New Numbers

Monks Road Numbering 1894 - Old Numbers

Over 100 more posts @  https://itsaboutlincoln.blogspot.com/p/index-to-blogposts.html

Over 100 more posts @  https://itsaboutlincoln.blogspot.com/p/index-to-blogposts.html