Scrivelsby is a village and

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

in the

East Lindsey East Lindsey is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Lincolnshire, England. Its council is based in Horncastle and the largest town is Skegness. Other towns include Alford, Lincolnshire, Alford, Burgh le Marsh, Coningsby, L ...

district of the County of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England. It is situated south of

Horncastle Horncastle is a market town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, England. It is east of Lincoln. Its population was 6,815 at the 2011 census and estimated at 7,123 in 2019. A section of the ancient Roman walls rema ...

and is on the B1183 road east from the A153 road. It is administered by the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Mareham on the Hill. Historically the manor was

held Held may refer to: Places * Held Glacier People Arts and media * Adolph Held (1885–1969), U.S. newspaper editor, banker, labor activist *Al Held (1928–2005), U.S. abstract expressionist painter. *Alexander Held (born 1958), German television ...

by grand serjeanty, a form of feudal tenure which required the performance of a ceremonial service rather than a money payment – in this case as the King's Champion.

History

The manor of Scrivelsby is listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as "Scrivelesbi" and was

in chief from the king. It then comprised 89 households, 16 villagers, 11 smallholders and 30 freemen, with 8.5

ploughland The carucate or carrucate ( or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms of tax assessment. ...

s, a meadow of , woodland of , a mill and a church. In 1086 the manor was held by ''Robert Dispensator'' (Latin) ("Robert the Bursar"). Robert was succeeded by his brother Urse d'Abetot, Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, p.671 "Dymoke of Scrivelsby"

feudal baron A feudal baron is a vassal holding a heritable fief called a ''barony'', comprising a specific portion of land, granted by an overlord in return for allegiance and service. Following the end of European feudalism, feudal baronies have largely be ...

of Salwarpe in Worcestershire. Shortly thereafter the manor was in the possession of Roger Marmion (d.1129), of Tamworth Castle, then in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, 1st

of Tamworth, and

lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage o ...

of Fountenay in Normandy, it is believed due to his having married the daughter and heiress of Urse d'Abetot. Robert Marmion held the manor of Scrivelsby by grand serjeanty on condition that he should perform the duty of King's Champion. The Marmions had historically been Champions to the Dukes of Normandy and King Henry I wanted to re-establish that relationship for his English crown.

Lords of the Manor

The Marmion family died out in the male line in 1291, on the death of Philip Marmion, 5th

of Tamworth, who left four daughters and co-heiresses. His fourth daughter Joan Marmion (d.1341), whose quarter share of her paternal inheritance included the manor of Scrivelsby, married Sir Thomas de Ludlow, by whom she had a son John de Ludlow, who died without issue, and a daughter or great-granddaughter Margaret de Ludlow, who married Sir John Dymoke, who thereby inherited the manor of Scrivelsby and the feudal duty of acting as King's Champion. There had however been some confusion as to the identity of the King's Champion, as that feudal duty had appeared to descend with the tenure of Tamworth Castle, which was inherited by Mazera Marmion, Joan Marmion's elder sister and co-heiress, who married Ralph de Cromwell, by whom she had a daughter Joan de Cromwell, married to Alexander de Freville (d.1327/8). Alexander de Freville held Tamworth Castle by the service of "coming to the king's coronation armed ''cap-a-pie'' (head to foot) with royal arms delivered by the king seated upon the king's chief charger offering himself to make proof for the king against all opposing his coronation".Burke, 1937, p.671 Due to the uncertainty then surrounding the identity of the King's Champion, the ceremony was dispensed with for the coronation of King Edward III in 1328. However, it was soon resolved that the rightful Champion was the holder of Scrivelsby, and not the de Freville family of Tamworth. The Dymoke family survives today, still possessed of the manor of Scrivelsby and living at Scrivelsby Court, the (nominal) lord of the manor in 2022 being Henry Francis Marmion Dymoke (born 1984), 35th lord of the manor of Scrivelsby and 9th of Tetford. The duty of the King's Champion was to ride fully armed into the

coronation A coronation ceremony marks the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power using a crown. In addition to the crowning, this ceremony may include the presentation of other items of regalia, and other rituals such as the taking of special v ...

banquet at

Westminster Hall Westminster Hall is a medieval great hall which is part of the Palace of Westminster in London, England. It was erected in 1097 for William II (William Rufus), at which point it was the largest hall in Europe. The building has had various functio ...

and challenge anyone who doubted the new monarch's right to the throne. The Champion then threw down his gauntlet to signal that he would fight to the death anyone who might dare to do so. This action was performed three times and if no challenge was received the king was presented with a gold cup of wine from which he drank a toast to the Champion, who in turn took the cup, drank the remnant and shouted "Long live your Majesties". Although feudal tenure was abolished in England by the

Tenures Abolition Act 1660 The Tenures Abolition Act 1660 ( 12 Cha. 2. c. 24), sometimes known as the Statute of Tenures, was an act of the Parliament of England which changed the nature of several types of feudal land tenure in England. The long title of the act was ' ...

, which thus abolished tenures by grand serjeanty, the traditional custom of the lord of the manor of Scrivelsby acting as King's Champion continued until the coronation of King

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

in 1821, after which it was discontinued.

Landmarks

The

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

, Scrivelsby Court, was burnt out in 1761, and was demolished between 1955 and 1957. However the gatehouse was retained and restored in 1959. The west front is predominantly 15- and 16th-century, with the rest, being Georgian and later. It is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The Lion Gateway was built around 1530 and was rebuilt in 1833. It is Grade II* listed. The park was designed by

Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great designer of the classic phase of the English landscape garden, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown. His style is thought of as the precursor of the more intric ...

before 1791. Repton also added two octagonal lodges to the side of the Lion Gate. Pevsner, Nikolaus; Harris, John; ''The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire'' pp. 354-356; Penguin, (1964); revised by Nicholas Antram (1989), Yale University Press. The church of St Benedict originates from the 13th century, with 15th-century additions. It was completely restored in 1860 by Sir Henry Dymoke (who added a small tower with spire), in greenstone, and in

Perpendicular In geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at right angles, i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees or π/2 radians. The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', � ...

and Early English style. A

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

east window by

Thomas Willement Thomas Willement (18 July 1786 – 10 March 1871) was an English stained glass artist and writer, called "the father of Victorian stained glass", active from 1811 to 1865. Life Willement was born at St Marylebone, London, the son of Thomas Wi ...

was part of the 1860 rebuild. Within the church is a 1776 chalice by John Swift with an 1805

paten A paten or diskos is a small plate used for the celebration of the Eucharist (as in a mass). It is generally used during the liturgy itself, while the reserved sacrament are stored in the tabernacle in a ciborium. Western usage In many Wes ...

by Samuel and George Whitworth. There are

monuments A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

to the Dymoke family and one, c.1300 of a Knight and Lady, probably to the earlier Marmian family.Cox, J. Charles (1916) ''Lincolnshire'' pp. 262-264; Methuen & Co. Ltd. The churchyard contains a war grave of a

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Artillery, Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse ...

soldier of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Today

Today Scriveslby is a country estate with deer park, still under the Dymoke family, and an event site for country fairs. In May 2012 it was announced that the estate would be part of Horncastle's events for the Queen's

Diamond Jubilee A diamond jubilee celebrates the 60th anniversary of a significant event related to a person (e.g. accession to the throne or wedding, among others) or the 60th anniversary of an institution's founding. The term is also used for 75th annivers ...

, with a

beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

lit as part of a sequence of National beacons."Horncastle's official Diamond Jubilee beacon takes shape in Scrivelsby Park"
This is Lincolnshire, 14 May 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2012

References

External links

"Horncastle Worthies: Dymokes - Royal Champions"
Horncastle Civic Society. Retrieved 22 May 2012
"Scrivelsby"
''

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