n Over Tynton," which they "hold
of the said Bishop." These were scions of the wealthy family of the
Thimblebyies, Lords of Poolham, and other estates. One of them married a
daughter and co-heir of Sir William Fflete, Knt.; another married a
daughter of Sir Walter Tailboys; this Sir Walter being the son of Henry
Tailboys and his wife, Alianora, daughter and heir of Gilbert Burdon and
his wife, Elizabeth, sister and heir of Gilbert Umfraville, Earl of
Angus.

By a Close Roll, 20 Henry VII. (part 2 [No. 367] No. 33), it appears that
Sir Thomas Dymmok, Knight, had recently purchased lands in Over Tynton,
Nether Tynton, Maring next Horncastle, and other parishes; which he
granted to his son Leo, and his heirs for ever.

Further, by a Chancery Inquisition post mortem, 24 Henry VII., No. 61, it
is found that Humphrey Conyngesby, Sergeant at Law, and others instituted
a suit on behalf of William Stavely, and others, by which he recovered to
them the Manor of (apparently Upper) Taunton, the advowson of the church
of Nether Taunton, about 2,700 acres of various land, and the rent of 4.5
quarters of salt in Over Taunton, Nether Taunton, Tetford, and other
parishes.

The Manor, with that of Horncastle, continued for a long period in the
hands of the Bishops of Carlisle; who were patrons of the benefice until
the creation of a bishopric of Manchester, in 1848, when their patronage
in this neighbourhood was transferred to that See. The Manor, however,
with that of Horncastle, had previously passed to Sir Joseph Banks, and
came eventually to his successors, the Stanhopes. The benefice, until
late years, was a very poor one, being a perpetual curacy, annexed to
Mareham-on-the-Hill; their joint annual value being 160 pounds, without a
residence. But when the episcopal property (the Bishop being Rector) was
transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, they, with the aid of
Queen Anne's Bounty, raised the joint benefices to 300 pounds a year; and
in 1869 erected a good residence at Toynton, now occupied by the Vicar,
the Rev. W. Shaw.

The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, was formerly a very mean
structure, dating from the 18th century (1772), in the worst of styles,
with wooden-framed windows, of large square panes of glass, and having a
flat whitewashed ceiling. The timbers of this had become so decayed that
a former curate-in-charge, mounting to the false roof, to examine them,
fell through, among the square pe