) in order to encourage the trade at home, it was enacted by 29
Charles II., c. 3, that all persons, except those who died of the plague,
should be buried in wool, under a penalty of 5 pounds. {195b} Another
entry states that a collection was made, the amount not known, to afford
relief, after the great fire in London, Sept., 1666.

The rectory, adjoining the church, stands in a large, well wooded garden.
It is a good substantial residence, rebuilt by Archdeacon Goodenough in
1818-19, and much improved in 1855. In the entrance hall are two old
prints of the church and rectory before their restoration, dated 1785.
They were presented to the late rector, Rev. W. Sharpe, by Alfred
Cobbett, Esq., and they are preserved as heirlooms by the rectors for the
time being. The Rev. F. J. Williamson is the present rector, late of
Lydgate. The Bishop of Manchester is patron of the benefice; the
patronage of this, and several other benefices in this neighbourhood,
formerly held by the Bishops of Carlisle, being transferred to the See of
Manchester some years after its creation, in 1848.

The national school, built in 1840, is endowed with nearly an acre of
land, given by Archdeacon Goodenough; it was considerably enlarged by J.
Banks Stanhope, Esq., in 1877. Some of the inhabitants are entitled to
the benefits of the almshouses at Revesby. There is a navigable drain
from the Witham, passing near the village, affording communication with
New Bolingbroke and Boston. A former part of the parish is now included
in the district of Wildmoor Fen.

In Liber Regis this parish is named "Marrow, alias Marym, alias Mareham
in le Fen." It is called in _Domesday Book_ Meringe (or the sea-ing,
_i.e._ sea-meadow). Another form was Marum; the Revesby Charters, Nos.
47 and 48, mention a piece of land, near the boundary of Marum, called
"Mare Furlong," and the grass (Psamma arenaria) which now grows on the
sea banks is commonly called Marrum grass. All these names probably
refer to the marish (Latin, mariscum), or marsh, character of the
locality, caused by its proximity to the sea (le mer), which then came
much nearer than it does now, and frequently flooded the land.

The manor was given by the Conqueror to the powerful Norman, Robert
Despenser, who, as his name implies, was the King's High Steward. He was
the ancestor of the Despensers, Earls of Gloucester, and he held 15
manors in Lincolnshire alone, besides 17 in Leicestershire, and s