THORNTON CURTIS
is a parish and scattered village with
a station called Thornton Abbey station,
1 ½ miles east from the village,
on the Brocklesby and Hull branch of the
Great Central (late M. S. and L.) railway
and is 5 miles south-east from Barton-on-Humber
and 4 south from New Holland, in the North
Lindsey division of the county, parts
of Lindsey, northern division of Yarborough
wapentake, Glanford Brigg union, petty
sessional division and county court district
of Barton-on-Humber, rural deanery of
Yarborough No. 1 archdeaconry of Stow
and diocese of Lincoln. The church of
St. Lawrence is a building of stone, in
the early English style, consisting of
chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and
an embattled western tower with eight
pinnacles and containing 5 bells: there
is an Early Norman font, square in plan,
the bowl, which is curiously carved, resting
on a large central shaft, with a smaller
one at each angle; the whole surface is
enriched with sculpture in low relief;
the oaken pulpit and communion table are
of the 17th century: there is a singular
monument near the south porch to Mr. Skinner,
ob. 1626, and near to it is a very ancient
and rude female bust: the church was restored
in 1883-4, at a cost of over £3,000:
an organ was erected in 1889 at a cost
of £300: there are sittings for
300 person. The register dates from the
year 1568. The living is a vicarage, net
yearly value £152, including 108
acres of glebe, with residence, in the
gift of Lord St. Oswald, and held since
1885 by the Rev. Charles Bailey Goodacre
B.A. of Hatfield Hall, Durham. Here is
a Wesleyan chapel, erected in 1850. About
a mile and a half east of the village
are the ruins of the Abbey of St. Mary,
founded by William-le-Gros, Earl of Albemarle,
on the festival of St. Hilary, January
13, A.D. 1139, and in the following year,
on the same day of the same festival,
the founder brought hither an establishment
of twelve Augustinian, or Black Canons,
from Kirkham Priory; one of the number
being then constituted prior: in 1148
the monastery was raised by Pope Eugenius
III to abbatial rank, and in 1517 became
a mitred abbey: in 1541 it was dissolved
and refounded by Henry VIII as a college
for a dean and twenty prebendaries, in
honour of the Holy Trinity; it was visited
by the king in person in the same year,
when he stayed several days: this new
foundation, however, lasted only till
1547, when the site was granted to Henry
Holbeach, Bishop of Lincoln, the clear
yearly income being estimated at £594:
the remains of the Abbey church are insignificant,
the only existing portions being the end
of the south transept and a fragment of
the adjoining chapter house: within the
area of the nave and the north transept
are a number of stone coffins and incised
slabs, and outside the east wall of the
choir a slab with a very rich cross and
marginal inscription to John Girdyk, 1363,
and Johan, his wife: the ruins are generally
of the Early Decorated period, the chapter
house dating from 1282-1308, choir 1315,
and the presbytery 1443-73: the remains
of the Abbot's house is now a farm: the
entrance gatehouse is one of the finest
existing specimens in England of the Early
Perpendicular style, and was built about
1382, the general plan being that of a
parallelogram of two storeys, with octagonal
towers at the angles and on either side
of the entrance; the front is enriched
with several canopied niches, from some
of which the figures have disappeared;
the three largest, however, remain, and
are in a perfect state, the centre figure
representing the Virgin Mary, to whom
the abbey was dedicated, and over her
head may be discerned a very rare and
remarkable representation of the Holy
Trinity; the Father is crowned, and holds
in his hand the orb, the emblem of kingly
power; the Son wears the crown of thorns,
and they are both in the act of sending
down the Holy ghost, in the form of a
dove, upon the Blessed Virgin; to the
left of the Virgin is the figure of an
abbot holding a book and a pastoral staff;
the figure to the right of the Virgin
probably represents William-le-Gros, the
founder: the roof of the gateway is handsomely
groined, and there are some remains of
the original oaken doors: the second storey
is reached by a winding newel staircase,
which has an elegant stone roof, with
eight cusped ribs springing from corbels
and meeting in the centre: the whole area
of the abbey, surrounded by a wall and
moat, was 100 acres. The principal landowners
are the Earl of Yarborough P.C. the representatives
of the late John Ferraby esq. and William
Maw esq. The soil is light loam; subsoil,
clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley
and potatoes. The population in 1891,
including the hamlet of Burnham, 2 miles
west, was 489. The area is 4,932 acres;
rateable value, £6,332.
Top