HORN
Horne (xi cent.); Horn (xiii cent.); Thorn
(xiv cent.); Hernseld als Hornseld, Hornefeld
(xvi cent.); Hornfield (xvii cent.).
The area of this small parish is 946 acres, of which
about half is arable land and the remainder permanent
grass. The soil is sand and limestone on a subsoil of
Inferior Oolite. The average height of the parish is
about 300 ft. above the Ordnance datum. The Great
North Road, leading south-east from Grantham to
Stamford, enters Horn at its extreme north-east
corner, where an outer fringe of Exton Park, Horn
Lane Spinney, ends, and forms the boundary between
this parish and Empingham for some distance. From
the 16th to the early 19th century Redbroke was a
place-name in this parish. (fn. 1)
There is now no village of Horn, but in 1287
Richard son of Richard de Seyton had a manor-house
and in 1378 Sir John Seyton had his capital messuage
here; (fn. 2) there is little doubt, therefore, that there was
a village with, as we know, its church. In 1376 the
principal manor was found to be almost valueless, (fn. 3)
and the place was declared waste and uninhabitable
before the middle of the next century. (fn. 4) Probably the
parish fell a victim to the desire at this date to turn
arable land into pasture, with the consequent depopulation of the district. A great part of the western
side of the parish with the site of the church was included in Exton Park. In 1649 it is said there was no
church or chapel nor inhabitant but a shepherd. (fn. 5) Blore,
writing in 1809, described the parish as almost depopulated, (fn. 6) and in the census of 1921 its population of 26
souls was reckoned in the ecclesiastical parish of Exton.
Bishopric of Durham. Azure a cross or between four lions argent.
Nevill of Raby. Gules a saltire argent.
Manors
Two hides in Horn of which Langfer had
been tenant under Edward the Confessor
were held of the king by the Bishop of
Durham in 1086, (fn. 7) and may perhaps be identified with
the third of a knight's fee in Rutland which formed
part of the Bishop's barony in 1235–36 (fn. 8) and became
known as SEYTON'S MANOR. According to
Blore, the manor of Horn was held of Ralph de Nevill,
Baron of Raby, in the first half of the 14th century, (fn. 9)
and this overlordship had not altogether lapsed in
1445, when some lands in the parish were found to be
under the suzerainty of his descendant the Earl of
Westmorland. (fn. 10) Horn was held in chief in 1509 and
1524, (fn. 11) but was afterwards regarded as part of the
Honour of Huntingdon and descended with the manor
of Exton (q.v.).
A priest was returned in the Domesday Survey with
the Bishop's manor of Horn, (fn. 12) which may indicate
that this was the manor to which the church was
attached. In 1235 John de Amby or Hamby held a
third of a knight's fee in Rutland of the barony of
the Bishop of Durham, which presumably was at
Horn, that being, in 1086, the only land held by the
bishop in what was later the county. (fn. 13) Blore adds
that John de Amby was patron of the church of Horn.
In 1256 the manor, as the inheritance of Alice the wife
of William de Curzun, and possibly heiress of John de
Amby, was conveyed to William de Frankton and his
wife Aline, (fn. 14) who in 1271
granted two messuages, one
apparently the capital messuage of the manor, and
lands and the advowson of
the church to Richard de
Seyton. (fn. 15) Later they conveyed
the manor to Nicholas de
Frankton. (fn. 16) An action was
brought about 1287 for the
ownership of the manor by
Nicholas de Frankton against
Richard son of Richard de
Seyton, (fn. 17) and in 1304 Richard
son of Richard de Seyton claimed the right of
presentation to the church against Alan son of
Nicholas de Frankton. It was decided that the
advowson had been detached from the manor and conveyed to the Seytons, but that the manor belonged to
the Franktons. (fn. 18) In 1305 Alan de Frankton was
returned as owner of one-sixth of a knight's fee in
Horn, (fn. 19) and in 1315–16 a settlement of the manor was
made on him with remainder to Roger de Tolthorp
de Deneford, his wife Elizabeth and the heirs of their
bodies. (fn. 20) Thomas, son and heir of Roger de Deneford, quitclaimed in 1361 the manor of Horn to Sir
Roland Daneys, presumably
the son of Brice Daneys of
Tickencote (fn. 21) and his wife
Elizabeth. (fn. 22) It was held by
Sir Roland's widow until she
died in 1377, when his nephew and heir, John son of his
brother Oliver, succeeded. (fn. 23)
Another John, son and heir
of the last, followed his
father. Robert his son died
without issue, and Horn
descended through his
younger daughter Elizabeth, wife of William Hasilden,
to their son John, (fn. 24) whose son Francis Hasilden in 1509
obtained licence to enter without proof of age on the
'manor of Hernseld alias Hornseld,' (fn. 25) the Hornfield
of the 17th and two following centuries. In 1517 he
sold the manor to Sir John Harington, (fn. 26) who died in
1523 seised of the manor of Horn, formerly belonging
to Francis Hasilden. (fn. 27) Horn has since descended
with the manor of Exton (q.v.).
Seyton. Gules a bend between six martlets argent.
Daneys. Sable three battle-axes argent.
A third hide in Horn was found amongst the lands
of the Countess Judith in 1086 (fn. 28) and formed part of
the Honour of Huntingdon. In 1241, on the partition
of the inheritance of John le Scot, the overlordship of
this hide, which became known as GRIMBALD'S
MANOR, went to Ada, fourth daughter of Judith's
great-grandson, David Earl of Huntingdon, and wife
of Sir Henry Hastings, from whom it descended to
their grandson Sir John de Hastings. He died seised
in 1313 (fn. 29) and was succeeded by his son of the same
name, overlord of six bovates in Horn in 1315. (fn. 30)
The tenant under the Lady Judith in 1086 was
Grimbald, and the descent of this mesne lordship
followed that of Tickencote (q.v.) until the 13th
century, when in 1241 Robert Grimbald held two
knights' fees in Horn, Thistleton and Tickencote.
There was much subinfeudation during the Barons'
Wars of the 13th century, and the Grimbalds seem
to have granted their manor of Horn to the family of
Dive or Dyve. John de Dive in 1242–3 held lands in
Lincolnshire of Ernald de Boys, who held of Robert
Grimbald, and Robert held of the Honour of Huntingdon. (fn. 31) William de Dive died in 1262, leaving a son
and heir John, (fn. 32) who died in 1293. John's heirs were
his sisters, Joan, wife of Ralph de Trehampton, and
Elizabeth, then the wife of John Daubeney. (fn. 33) The
purparty of Joan, as would appear from a later lawsuit, included two-thirds of the manor of Horn (fn. 34)
which before 1295 must have passed to the Normanvilles. Thomas de Normanville died seised of 5
bovates of land in demesne and 7 bovates in villeinage
in Horn, in that year held of Margaret de Normanville, daughter of Thomas de Normanville of Empingham (q.v.), who married William de Basing. (fn. 35) Thomas
was succeeded by his son Edmund, a minor, who held
a sixth part of a knight's fee in Horn in 1305. (fn. 36) He
died before 1316, when Margaret and her husband
had succeeded to the property. William died in that
year seised of 6 bovates of land in Horn held of Sir
John de Hastings, and left a son and heir Thomas,
aged 15 years. (fn. 37) The other purparty of John de
Dive's property, which went to his sister Elizabeth,
then the wife of John Daubeney, had been settled on
her daughter Maud, by her first husband Lambert
Bussey (Bussi, Busshy), on her marriage with William
de Holland. William and Maud died without issue, (fn. 38)
and on Elizabeth's death in 1293 her share in the
manor of Horn went to her son Hugh de Bussey. (fn. 39)
Hugh died in 1306, leaving a son John, (fn. 40) who in 1330
brought an action against Margaret, widow of William
de Basing, for the manor of Horn, when it was decided
by the court that John de Bussey was entitled to a
third of the manor. (fn. 41) It seems probable that as a
result of this decision Margaret bought out John's
interest, as we have no further reference to the
Busseys in connection with Horn.
The manor continued to be the property of the
Basings and passed with Empingham (q.v.) until
George Mackworth seems to have sold it to Everard
Digby, who in 1510 conveyed it to Sir John
Harington, (fn. 42) when, like the other manor in this
parish, it followed the descent of Exton.
In 1086 there were four mills in Horn, three being
on the land of the Bishop of Durham, the fourth on
the Countess Judith's hide. (fn. 43)
Church
The church of Horn dedicated to ALL
SAINTS (fn. 44) fell into ruin probably in the
15th century. It was taxed in 1428, (fn. 45)
but in 1539 it was described as once a church, but now
devastated and only valued at 2 marks. (fn. 46) Its site is
uncertain, but it is believed to be in Exton Park,
where, near a thorn tree, the rector was inducted in
1809. Blore, writing in 1811, states that 'not a
single fragment now remains of the edifice.' (fn. 47)
Advowson
A priest was returned with the
demesne land of the Bishop of
Durham at Horn in 1086. (fn. 48) The
patronage apparently followed the descent of this fee.
Sir John de Amby was patron in 1234–35, (fn. 49) and the
advowson afterwards came to John de Curzun and
his wife Alice, in right of Alice, who presented their
clerk to the church before enfeoffing William de
Frankton of the whole property in 1256. (fn. 50) William
granted the advowson to Richard de Seyton in 1271, (fn. 51)
and it remained with his son Richard until the death,
in or before 1304, of his clerk, Roger de Maydenewell,
when Alan de Frankton, lord of the manor, claimed
the next presentation. In the suit which followed
Richard produced the charter whereby William de
Frankton had enfeoffed the elder Richard de Seyton
of the advowson with one messuage and 7⅓ acres of
land in Horn. The right of presentation was thereupon restored to Richard, on the ground that the
advowson had been separated from the manor long
before it had belonged to Alan's father, Nicholas de
Frankton. (fn. 52) A later member of the Seyton family,
Sir John de Seyton of Maidwell, was patron in 1352 and
reckoned the advowson amongst his possessions in
this parish twenty-six years later. (fn. 53) In 1539 it was
the property of Sir John Harington, who had bought
it from Everard Digby in 1510, since which year it
has followed the descent of the manor of Exton (q.v.).
The rectory of Horn is said to have belonged from
time immemorial to the owners of the manor which
was of the fee of the Bishop of Durham. (fn. 54) There was
a rector here as late as 1578, when the parish was
united to Greetham. (fn. 55)
There are no charities in this parish.