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.

620 THIE FENS.
apple-trees, of vines, and of beautiful buildings, which it is so wonderful to see
the ground amidst those fens to bear."
In 1178, the old sea-bank broke, and the whole fen was deluged by the sea.,
As this was only about twenty years before WILLIAM OF MALMSBURY wrote in
glowing terms of the Fens, it is evident that this accident and his description
relate to different portions of them.
In 1210 (12 John), an inquisition was held between the men of Holland, of
the Marsh of Sibsey, in the West Fen, on the one part, and Walter de Coventry,
steward of the Earl of Chester, on the other. The said steward finally conceded to the said men of Holland all the right which they held in the said
marsh in the time of William de Romara.2 About the same time, there was a
suit between Gerard de Rhodes and Robert de Marmion seeking, and the men
of St. Botolph holding, the common marsh of Wildmore, which belonged to the
village of Coningsby as tenants, and claimed the right to fodder, and mow and
collect reeds thereon, paying ld. annually to the said Gerard and Robert. It
was decided that the said Gerard and Robert should hold the said marsh, subject only to the rights so claimed by the men of St. Botolph.3 In 1222, the
Abbot of Kirkstead was possessed of the whole of Wildmore, excepting the
inclosures of Morehouses, which were a vachary to Revesby, and a right of
turburage, pasturage, &c., reserved to Ranulph de Rhodes and his tenants, in
the soke of Horncastle.4 The Abbot of Kirkstead held this property by the
gift of Robert Marmion of Scrivelsby, confirmed by the charter of Henry II.
Hence the Abbots of Kirkstead were styled Lords of Wildmore.5
In 1240, the Haute Huntre (Holland) Fen was ordered to be divided into
townships, a proof of good drainage at that time. The marsh of Stevening, the
marsh of Hale, the river of Kyme to Dockedyke, and the water Wimna (the
river Witham) to certain lands of Boston, are mentioned as part of the boundaries of the said fen.6
In 1270, the monks of Kirkstead are said " to possess in Wildmore four vaccaries in pure eleemosynary, by the gift of King Henry, King John, and Robert
Marmion."7
At the commencement of the reign of Edward I. (1272), the Abbot of Kirkstead proved, in answer to allegations brought against him, that he had the
privilege of hunting, fowling, and fishing, as well as of taking waif and stray
over the whole of Wildmore Fen. This privilege he proved by charter.8
In 1281, Holland Fen was inundated; and, in 1288, great part of Boston
was drowned. About this time, the great level of the Lincolnshire Fens was
the grand theatre of monachism. It had formerly been the seat of the original
fastnesses of the ancient Britons against their Roman invaders. Nearly all the
smaller monasteries in Lincolnshire were founded in the twelfth century.
In 1316 (9 Edward II.), the King's justices sat at Boston to make inquiry
into the state of the drainage and other matters relating to the Fens of Holland
and Kesteven, when it was presented, that through neglect of the Prior of
Haverholm the whole marsh of Holland and Kesteven was overflown and
drowned.9
In 1328, the Abbot of Kirkstead paid a fine of 51. to the King, " for pardon
for acquiring the marsh which Ranulphus de Rhodes held in Wildmore Fen,
without license from the King."l~
STUKELEY'S Paleog. Sacra, p. 2. 6 DUGDALE on Embankment, p. 199.
2 Abbreviatio Placitorum, vol. i. p. 68. Assize at 7 Testa de Nevill, p. 335.
Lincoln. 3 Ibid. p. 79. 8 tlundred Rolls, p. 365.
4 Harll. MSS. 4127, pp. 10 and 11. 9 DUGDALE'S Embankment, p. 200.
s Placit. de quo Warranto, p. 430. o Abbrev. Rot. Orig., vol. i. p. 274.