it
was sold to one Duncombe, of whom it was purchased in 1688 by Sir Edmund
Turnor, of Stoke Rochford, Knight; in whose family it still continues.
Other proprietors are Richard Ward, Esq., and Dr. Parkinson.

In _Domesday Book_ there is mention of "a church and priest," the latter,
therefore, being doubtless resident in the parish; although for many
years there has been no residence for an incumbent. In 1830 the benefice
was held, with High Toynton, by the Rev. E. R. H. G. Palmer, a relative
of Viscount Halifax, who resided in Horncastle; in 1863 by the Rev. Isaac
Hall, who did the same; and it was not till 1869 that a residence was
erected at High Toynton for the united benefices.

Of the church, All Saints, we can only say that it stands in a good
position, on high ground; that its walls are substantial, but that its
style is of the meanest; it having been rebuilt in the early part of the
19th century (1813); and beyond a piscina, now in the north wall, it has
no features of interest; having wooden-framed windows, square painted
pews, walls whitewashed within and without, and a flat ceiling. It
greatly needs renovation, being now almost a solitary representative, in
the neighbourhood, of that very worst period of architectural decadence.
With fairly good sandstone in the present walls, and probably more in the
foundations of an earlier church, to be exhumed, and an abundance _in
situ_ not far away, restoration, or even re-erection, might be effected,
at a moderate outlay.

The one bell hangs in a shabby bell turret. While repairs were being
carried out in 1813 two nobles of Edward IV., two angels of Henry VII.,
and several silver coins of different reigns, contained in a leathern
purse, were found concealed in the wall. {185a}

LOW TOYNTON.

Low Toynton lies about a mile from Horncastle to the north-east. It is
approached through rich meadows, watered by the river Waring. {185b} The
Rector is the Rev. J. W. Bayldon, M.A., of Sidney Sussex College,
Cambridge. Overseers, G. E. Read and W. Scholey. Letters _via_
Horncastle arrive at 8.30.

The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is a small structure with no
pretention to architectural beauty, and almost entirely covered with ivy.
It was rebuilt in 1811, a period when architectural taste was at its
lowest ebb, and barbarisms in stone, brick, and mortar were very
generally perpetrated. It was re-seated in 1863, during the incumbency
of the Rev. E. M. Chap