ghts to his
cousin, the late Right Honble. Edward Stanhope, whose widow became lady
of the manor and at whose death, in 1907, the lordship reverted to the
Honble. Richard Stanhope, son of the present Earl Stanhope. Mr. Banks
Stanhope died January 18th, 1904, aged 82, having been a generous
benefactor to Horncastle and the neighbourhood.

We have here given a very condensed account of the ownership of this
manor from the reign of Edward the Confessor to the present time, a
period of nearly 840 years. Having had access to the episcopal archives
of Carlisle, so long connected with Horncastle, we are able to confirm
several of the above details from documents still existing, which we now
proceed to do.

It has been stated that the manor of Horncastle was conferred upon Queen
Editha by her husband, Edward the Confessor. In confirmation of this we
find the following: In the reign of Charles I. the Vicar of Horncastle,
Thomas Gibson, presented a petition claiming tithe for certain mills
called "Hall Mills," with a close adjoining called "Mill Holmes," as
belonging to the glebe. The tenant, William Davidson, resisted, arguing
that he had paid no tithes to the previous vicar, Robert Holingshed, that
the mills were erected before the conquest and were part of the jointure
of Queen Editha, as stated in _Domesday Book_, and were therefore part of
the manor, not of the vicar's glebe. The result is not recorded, but
doubtless the tenant was right. {13a} The passage here quoted from
_Domesday Book_ is the following: "In Horncastre Queen Editha had 3
carucates of land, free of gelt. This land is now 4 carucates. The King
has there 2 carucates in demesne (_i.e._ as his manor), with 29 villeins
and 12 bordars, who have (among them) 3 carucates. There are 2 mills
worth 26s. yearly, and 100 acres of meadow. In King Edward's time the
annual value was 20 pounds, now it is 44 pounds." {13b} These two mills
and the meadow were doubtless those in dispute between the vicar and
tenant in the reign of Charles I., the date of _Domesday_ being about
1085, or 540 years earlier. They were plainly part of the royal manor
and not at all connected with the glebe.

All this, however, proves that the manor of Horncastle belonged to King
Edward the Confessor before the conquest, and 360 acres of it were
assigned to his consort, Queen Editha. The expansion of the 3 carucates
into 4, mentioned in _Domesday Book_, was probably (as in many other