The history and antiquities of Boston, and the villages of Skirbeck, Fishtoft, Freiston, Butterwick, Benington, Leverton, Leake, and Wrangle; comprising the hundred of Skirbeck, in the county of Lincoln. Including also a history of the East, West, and Wildmore fens, and copious notices of the Holland or Haut-Huntre fen ... sketches of the geology, natural history, botany, and agriculture of the district; a very extensive collection of archaisms and provincial words, local dialect, phrases, proverbs, omens, superstitions, etc. By Pishey Thompson. Illustrated with one hundred engravings.

A.D. 1523 TO A.D. 1642. 501
manor of Copeldyke, in socage, annual payment 6s. 8d.1 A subsidy was granted
in 1544, to which fourteen persons paid 111. 8s. 8d., among which occur the
names of Dowse, Mawer, Turpin, Sibsey, Gibson, and Morfoot.2 Another subsidy was assessed, in 1547, upon both lands and goods. Nine persons paid
71. 15s. 10d. upon goods, and five persons 11. 6s. 3d. upon land; and Stephen
Hethenes, vicar, paid 11. 5s. for his vicarage, together 101. 7s. 2d.3 A subsidy
was levied, in 1591, upon all persons having land worth 100s. per annum, or
goods worth 81. or upwards. To this subsidy Walter Cheney and Richard
Dowse were each assessed 81., and Peter Mawer and Simon Clarke 51. each for
their land, and John Gibson 91., and William Clay, Michael Benn, and Thomas
Rumforth, each 81. for their goods. The whole assessment being 591., very
little more than half what Fishtoft was assessed at under the same subsidy.4
To a subsidy, levied 35 Elizabeth (1593), the parish of Freiston paid 211. 16s. 8d.,5
being nearly twice the amount paid by any other parish in the hundred, except
Boston.
In 1597, there was a subsidy granted to Queen Elizabeth upon both land and
goods. Twenty persons in Freiston were assessed 101., and paid a tax of
131. 9s. 3d. upon their goods, and six persons assessed 181. 10s., and paid a tax
of 31. 14s. upon their land, the whole tax upon the parish was 171. 3s. 3d.,6 being
2s. 8d. in the pound upon the goods, and 4s. in the pound upon the land. The
names of Sibsey, Pysshie, Morfoot, Elsam, Taylor, Lawis, Pinchbeck, Clay,
Leake, Dowse, Clarke, Mawer, and Mason, occur in the list. Richard Dowse,
gentleman, and Simon Clarke, appear to have been the greatest land proprietors at the time. The parish paid 61. 17s. to a subsidy in 1610,7 this
amount was less than that paid by Leake. The rule by which the various
parishes were assessed appears to have been a very arbitrary one; at least, it
was irregular in its results. An old record is mentioned in the Journal of the
Corporation in 1618, which shows that, in 1372, the whole of the town of Boston
was assessed to the county rates in the hundred of Skirbeck, and was not rated
more than Freiston or Leake.8 A subsidy was levied in 1624, to which Freiston
paid 91. 19s. 4d.,9 this subsidy is stated to have been at the same rates upon
lands and goods as the one levied in 1597, and yet it raised only three-fifths of
the amount! There is no clue to the cause of these irregularities. In 1629,
another subsidy was raised-the rate not stated-to which Freiston paid
191. 13s. 4d.~0 In 1637, a warrant was issued under the privy seal, to permit
Lady Mary Herbert, a minor, to " suffer a recovery or recoveries of lands in
the hamlet of Freiston, next to Boston, in Lincolnshire.""
In 1642, a tax was levied throughout the kingdom for raising the last moiety
of 400,0001., granted to his majesty for the necessary defence of the kingdom.
To this tax the hundred of Skirbeck, including the town of Boston, paid
3611. 16s. Id.; Freiston paid 431. 17s. Among the persons taxed to raise this
latter amount was the Duke of Richmond, for lands rated at 631. 6s. 8d. per
annum. Sir Arthur Ingram, " for part of the parsonage of Freiston belonging
to the Abbey," was taxed 51. 18s. Id., his assessment being 651. 16s. 8d. per
annum. The Countess of Lindsey, Sir Edward Waldegrave, Thomas Coppledyke, Esq., and the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, are taxed various
amounts for lands which they respectively held in the parish. The rate being
20d. in the pound upon the amount assessed. Among the parties assessed occur
1 Harleian MSS. No. 4135. Kesteven one-third, and Holland one-sixth. —Cor2 Subsidy Rolls. 3 Ibid. poration Records.
4 Harleian MSS. 366, p. 191. 9 Subsidy Rolls. lo Ibid.
5 Subsidy Rolls. 6 Ibid.bid. Iid. 1 Inrolled among the land pleas, 12 Charles T.
8 In 1372, Lindsey paid one half the county rate, roll 47, p. 144.-Court of Common Pleas.