f Moorby
benefice belonged to the Bishops of Carlisle. After the creation of the
See of Manchester, the patronage, with that of High Toynton,
Mareham-le-Fen, &c., was transferred to the Bishops of Manchester.

_Domesday Book_, describing the soke of the Manor of Horncastle, says "In
Morebi there are 3 carucates of land (or about 360 acres). There are 6
soc-men, and 10 bordars, who have 4 carucates (or 480 acres). There is a
church and a priest (evidently a resident; of whom, according to Sir
Henry Ellis, there were only 130 in the country), and 240 acres of meadow
and 6 acres of underwood." In the old record, Testa de Nevill (circa
1326-1328), the benefice of "Morby" is said to be "of the gift of the
lord the king," _i.e._ Edward II. or III. The original charters of Henry
III., granting these manors to the Bishops of Carlisle, were confirmed by
Henry VI.; but in course of time they passed to the Brandons, and to
various other proprietors, until the ancestor of Sir Joseph Banks became
lessee of the Manor of Horncastle, and also acquired the Manor of Moorby;
to which James Banks Stanhope, Esq., and the late Right Hon. Edward
Stanhope succeeded; although T. Elsey, the Artindale family, and the
trustees of Bardney school, own portions of the parish.

In the year 1554 (Aug. 6th) Thomas Bewley, Clerk, was admitted to this
benefice by Robert, Bishop of Carlisle, it being "vacant by deprivation."
This was the 2nd year of the reign of Queen Mary, of ill memory.
Doubtless the offence of the ejected predecessor was that he was married,
which was contrary to the papistic ideas, revived in that brief reign.
Numbers of beneficed clergy were deprived at that time for this offence.

A few old records of some interest are preserved connected with Moorby,
of which we give two or three samples here. First we have a family of
the name of Moreby, of whom more than one mention is made. Roger Moreby,
by will dated Saturday after the Feast of St. Botolph, 1394, commends his
soul to St. Mary and all the saints; he requests that his body may be
buried in Croyland parish church; he leaves 40s. to be given to the poor
on the day of his burial, and money to provide torches and wax for the
church, and the altars of St. Katharine, St. John the Baptist, and Holy
Trinity; he bequeaths 10 pounds of silver to his wife, and other items.
Again, by will dated the Feast of St. Thomas the apostle, 1368, Gervase
de Wylleford bequeaths 100s. to John Mor