All Saints Church - Frederick J Robinson

A Prime Minister's Home

After attending All Saints Church this morning on Easter Sunday, I later came across an article when cataloguing Sheila Redshaw's collection of memorabilia.  I thought it would be nice to share this with you:

"Nocton.  A green and pleasant place a few miles south-east of Lincoln, it has a Hall which was the home of a Prime Minister, and a church which is his memorial and his last resting place.  About a mile away, on the edge of Nocton Fen and close to Nocton Wood, where lilies of the valley grow in great profusion, is the site of a priory founded in the time of King Stephen.

This priory, for Austin canons, was founded by Robert D'Arcy, whose father, Norman D'Arcy, a companion of the Conqueror, was first of a family which held this manor for 600 years.  In Charles the Second's time the estate was sold to Lord Stanhope, and then passed to Sir William Ellys, whose monument is in the church.  Later it passed to George Hobart, afterwards third Earl of Buckinghamshire, and the marriage of the fourth Earl's daughter brought it to the rising young politician who as Chancellor of the Exchequer was nicknamed Prosperity Robinson, and as Viscount Goderich succeeded George Canning as Premier.  He died as the Earl of Ripon in 1859, and three years later his widow built Nocton church in his memory.  It took the place of a poor church built by George Hobart, who had pulled down the old one because it was too near the Hall for his liking.

Designed by Sir Gilbert Scott in 14th-century style, and built of Ancaster stone, it is one of the most sumptious modern churches in all Lincolnshire, with a tower and spire 130 feet high, and a porch with niched figures of the Madonna and Child, St Peter, and St Paul, John the Baptist, and John the Evangelist.  The interior is dignified by an arcade on rich clustered columns, but is chiefly notable for the richness of decoration in carving, painting, and windows.  The heads of Peter, Paul, and of Our Lord are in niches on the lovely pulpit of stone and marble, and the alabaster reredos (by Italian craftsmen) shows under three gilded arches Christ carrying the Cross, with an angry man about to strike Him and a Roman sildier on a rearing horse behind; the Crucifixion, with the three women and the disciples; and the Entombment, with Mary Magdelene kneeling.  On each side of the reredos the wall is arcaded, the arches being filled with engraved figures of Apostles, Evangelists, Martyrs and Saints.

Elsewhere the walls are adorned with sacred subjects.  In the chancel are canopied paintings of Apostles and Evangelists, each with his symbol, and over the chancel arch Christ appears in Glory, with a great company of kneeling angels and saints.  More unusual are the paintings on the west wall of the nave - graphic illustrations of the Israelites entering the Promised Land, the Egyptians drowning in the Red Sea, and Noah with his family and the animals going into the Ark two by two, goats, asses, rabbits and snakes among them.

The windows form another fine gallery of pictures.  The east window has a central figure of St Michael with angels and a great multitude of men, women, and children round him; and 24 Elders below, casting their crowns before the Throne.  One of the side windows of the nave has figures of St Hugh of Lincoln and St Theodore, and a second has Oswald and Etheldreda.  A third window, showing St Aidan with the stag and the Venerable Bede writing, is a memorial to a descendent of William Brewster, one of the Pilgrim Fathers, and has smaller scenes depicting sunrise and sunset at sea and the Mayflower sailing the ocean.

The fine west window of the nave, with four scenes showing the gift of Isaac to Sarah, and four more of the gift of Samuel to Hannah, was the work of Clayton and Bell and is a memorial to the Countess of Ripon the builder of this church who died in 1867.

Among the monuments set up in memory of members of her family three are specially notable.  The first is of white marble with an urn to her father, Robert Hobart, the fourth Earl of Buckingham, Secretary of State for the Colonies in the first years of the 19th century and the man after whom the capital of Tasmania is named.  The second is to her uncle, Henry Lewis Hobart, vicar of this church for 33 years and Dean of Windsor as well - a white marble memorial with two kneeling women and cherubs above.  The third is the monument she raised to her husband, the first Earl of Ripon; it is under an arch between chancel and chapel, a stately altar tomb of Carrara marble bearing a figure of the Prime Minister in a long robe, his hands folded, his fine features in repose - a beautiful sculpture by Matthew Noble, the Yorkshireman who gave Liverpool, Manchester and London many fine statues.

The oldest memorial, and the only relic of the old church, is a pompous 17th-century array of marble columns, sculptured urn, helmet, shield, and Latin inscription; it is to Sir William Ellys, who built anew the Hall that Thomas Wymbish had erected in 1530, and which was visited by Hentry VIII and his fifth Queen, Katherine Howard.  Here she came with the ruthless king on a journey which was to end in charges which sent her, still a girl, to join her cousin Anne Boleyn in the chapel of death at the Tower.

Fire destroyed the old Hall in 1834, and the foundation stone of the new (handsome with mullioned windows, tall gables and chimneys, and terrace leading down to a lawn) was laid by Viscount Goderich's 14-year-old son, who was born in the most famous house in England (10 Downing Street) during his father's premiership.  He was to be for forty years associated with Gladstone.  Later in life, when he had become first Marquis of Ripon, and a Roman Catholic, he sold the Nocton estate.  He died in 1909 at his Yorkshire home, Studley Royal, and was buried there in a modern church even more sumptious than the one raised in his father's memory here.

Many fine trees surround the Hall, a veteran among them being a chestnut with a girth of about 35 feet and its great branches borne by a company of props."

Source: The Kings of England - Lincolnshire (1949) - P278/280
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Nocton Hall - Revelations of an Imp - Chapter 11

Lord and Lady Ripon

Frederick John Robinson - Born 1.11.1782 - Died 28.1.1859
Lady Sarah Albinia Hobart - Born 22.2.1793 - Married 1.9.1814 - Died 9.4.1867

Lady Sarah Hobart was born the year before her parents went out to Madras at the time her father took up his appointment as Governor for this state in the south east of India. Madras was an important commercial port with a growing population centred on the East India Company's commercial initiative throughout eastern Asia. Sarah's mother found the heat oppressive and as time passed, her vitality languished. Slowly her health declined. Her thoughts and memories centred on the home of past years in Co. Cork. The cool breezes and refreshing rain of south west Ireland could have lifted her spirits but in Madras she succumbed steadily to the hot humidity. Margaretta desperately fought her private battle with her failing health, to look after her daughter and support her husband, but after three years, all was lost. She died in 1796 after the birth of her baby son John, who passed away just after his mother's death. Robert was left a widower with only Sarah to remind him of his lovely wife. Perhaps in this difficult time, his little daughter, although so young, developed the beginnings of her strong character which was to give her strength in the battle of life ahead.

Two years before her father's fatal accident in St. James's Park, Sarah married Frederick John Robinson on 1st September 1814, the second son of the Earl of Grantham. In 1815 Robert, the fourth Earl, became a proud grandfather when Sarah gave birth to a daughter, Eleanor Henrietta Victoria, on 22nd May. Their second child, a boy, born the following year, lived only two days.

Her husband was member of Parliament for Ripon and Joint Paymaster of the armed forces. Born in February 1782 he was 11 years older than Sarah. In high society and as Chancellor of the Exchequer, he had acquired the nickname of 'Prosperity Robinson'. Educated at Harrow and St. John's, Cambridge, his career in politics as a Tory moved rapidly up the ladder of success. When only 41, he went to No. 11 Downing Street, the post he held for four years. Tragedy once again struck Sarah, in 1826 their eleven years old daughter Eleanor died. On 28th April 1827 he became Viscount Goderich of Nocton. The title of Goderich descending from the Duke of Kent, through Jemima, his aunt, the countess of Grantham. In August of the same year, George IV offered him the Premiership.

In Lord Liverpool's administration of 15 years from 1812-1827, Frederick constantly held a senior cabinet post. It was, therefore, natural that the King, on George Canning's death, would call on Frederick to lead the government. Within six months, Goderich realised he could not command the full loyalty of his cabinet. The King's statements were an added embarrassment. Instead of giving the Prime Minister his full support, his remarks were publicly critical of the Tory party. The Duke of Wellington was at hand. A father figure of the nation, and who better than this famous soldier to take the Tory leadership into his safe keeping. Goderich recommended Wellington to the King as his successor. The Duke continued to lead the Tory party for the next three years. The most notable achievement and a unique first which will be remembered for all time, during the Premiership of Goderich was when Sarah, having conceived in No. 11, gave birth to their third child in No. 10 Downing Street on the 4th October. The nation rejoiced with the Prime Minister and his wife on the arrival of George Frederick Samuel Robinson who was to become one of our country's greats.

After the Viscount's resignation from office, he was created Earl of Ripon on 13th April 1833. He served in Sir Robert Peel's cabinet on the return of the Tory party to power and continued in politics until 1847 when he withdrew from public life during the Whig Premiership of Lord John Russell.

Sarah and Frederick had a devoted love for Nocton which she had inherited on her father's death as his only surviving child. The management of the estate and welfare of the villagers in Nocton and Dunston created several problems. The first being the little Church built by her grandfather. St. Peter's in Nocton required major modifications and maintenance. The Robinsons ordered the work to go ahead and was paid for by the villagers and tenants with a large donation from the Hall.

Secondly, the Fen, always a farming problem, had further drainage difficulties. The old wind engine was replaced with a steam engine costing £4,000, against strong opposition from different authorities who doubted the Witham banks would withstand the force of water ejected by a more efficient method of drainage.

Nocton's Mill, between the village and the Sleaford Road, was burnt down in 1833. A further fire in the village alerted the Earl's steward who then doubted whether these disasters were the result of accidents. The Earl ordered a fire engine of the latest design to safeguard the estate property in the future.

The House of Commons was burnt down in the disastrous fire of 16.10.1834. The same year, on 15th July at 9 o'clock on a Tuesday evening, Richard Semper with other estate craftsmen were walking up from Nocton Fen when, in the failing light, they saw flames licking out from under the eves on the Hall roof. Nocton Hall was ablaze. Not a single man on the estate failed to turn up and lend a helping hand in a vain battle to save this magnificent building.

The new fire engine proved useless. The fire spread as lead and straw in the roof formed a volatile mix to accelerate the spread of flames. It was soon clear that nothing could save the Hall and every attempt must be made to get out the contents. A salvage operation was immediately mounted and with considerable risk, the fire fighters carried out the major part of the Hall's furnishings including pictures, tables and a chest which contained the toys of Lady Eleanor, the only daughter of the Earl and Countess, who had died so young only a few years before. All the books, a quantity of wine, bed linen and blankets were passed by a human chain away from destruction. 150 years later, the same blankets saved from the fire are still in use. What a testimony to the quality of Lincolnshire longwool ewe that after so long, the wool can still provide comfort to human beings!

Was the Nocton Hall fire an isolated disaster? Was there somebody who was hell bent on the destruction of the House of Commons as well as Nocton Hall?

The Tory party had passed the Poor Law Amendment Act, a measure to tighten up Government expenditure which even in 1834 was necessary to balance the nation's budget. In Dorset, a quiet country area of southern England, the farm workers were striving for an improvement in their way of life, but the now famous group 'The Tolpuddle Martyrs' were harshly victimised to discourage a working class revolt that might get out of hand. Could these events have a connection with the Nocton Fire?

In politics an individual in high office and a faithful servant of our country can become the target of vengeance for a vindictive 'nut case'. Such a person may be prepared to destroy the structural heritage of a democratic nation, in a mean effort to satisfy a personal hatred. Such an imaginative obsession grips the mind of a man or woman and there is no easy way of knowing when a government action can trigger a human reaction that ends in disaster to both property and person that are hurtful and callous.

The Nocton Hall fire was extinguished 15 hours after the flames had been seen and only a small part of the north wing remained intact. This part was later joined to the new Hall as a lasting memory of the original Manor building which dated back to the early centuries. It was also an ancestral link between two historical families in the Earl's heritage.

A certain Metcalf Robinson, created Baronet in 1661, united D'Arcy to Robinson on his marriage to the daughter of Sir William D'Arcy of Witton Castle, Co. Durham. Nocton had completed the link to join the ancestry of the D'Arcys with the present owners.

Sarah felt the loss of her home deeply, so with their young son, only 7 years old, they all moved to a house on the Branston estate to remain near the burnt out home. Plans were slowly formulated for the restoration of their property. Priceless antique furniture had been scorched or severely damaged - pictures destroyed or stained. The salvage work was enormous, but everybody, including tenants on the estate, set to with total dedication to restore the contents of the Hall.

The Noble family, with their special skills in woodwork, took on the repairs to the furniture which had been distributed in vacant dry barns until required for skilled surgery by cannibalising undamaged wood from burnt furniture and repairing the slightly damaged pieces.

A full inventory was completed and the responsibility of restoration designated to specialists in the village and in Lincoln who would undertake the repairs.

Sarah was a born administrator and only a few weeks after the fire, the estate knew it was only a matter of time before a new Hall would again stand in the park to house the contents now scattered around the barns on the estate. Henry Lewis, Sarah's uncle and Vicar of Nocton, lent his full weight to encourage and rebuild the family home. What an inspiration the Dean's sympathy and deep understanding were to everybody and not least, to his dear niece who had now suffered so much with the death of two children and the loss of her family home.

Sir George Gilbert Scott, the famous Victorian architect, one of Sarah's close friends, graciously offered his services free and acted as an adviser to William Sherbourne of Dorking, the son of an estate carpenter, in designing the present Hall.

There were still problems to overcome before the new Hall could be built, but the tenants offered as an inducement to get the work underway, the haulage of all materials as well as assistance in the actual construction of the new building. The greater part of the stone for the Hall came from the estate quarry close to the Lincoln-Sleaford Road, but the principals were of a harder and more durable quality from a stone supply near Ancaster. On 26th October 1841, just seven years after the destructive fire, Frederick and Sarah's son, George, at the age of 14, laid the foundation stone on the north side bearing the inscription of essential facts relating to past history. The new Hall, seen in all its glory, is a fitting tribute to George Gilbert Scott. His countryhouse masterpiece.

In gratitude for help and sympathy given from the estate and tenants after the loss of the Hall, Lord and Lady Ripon set about rebuilding almost the entire village of Nocton. In 1862, the Countess pulled down the 18th century Church of St. Peter. It was far from compatible with the new Hall and in token of Sir George Gilbert Scott's past generosity, she commissioned him to design and supervise the construction of the new All Saints. This beautiful village Church in a unique country setting is now regarded as one of the finest modern churches, not only in Lincolnshire, but in Great Britain. The steeple towering into the heavens acclaims its presence to those who wish to visit such a marvellous and sacred holy building. When you walk down the footpath to All Saints, a feeling of awe lifts one's eye to the heavens. The spire points your vision to the sky and on entry to the Church, a feeling of peace descends to give fulfilment to your soul.

All Saints was consecrated by Bishop Jackson 16th December 1862 and Lady Ripon, through her resolve, had made a consecrated home the last resting place for her husband who died on 28th January 1859 a fitting Church for a Prime Minister.

The Countess outlived Frederick by eight years. Beloved Sarah, to whom Nocton owes so much, died on 9th April 1867. Not only was the Poor House rebuilt by her generosity, but many of the present homes in the village. Their construction in Nocton stone was always in character. The rows of houses and cottages blended with the surrounds, giving the village a gentle appearance when softened with views of hardwood trees standing proudly at the sides of the roadways.

Towards the Church and old school, Lady Ripon left ample space for lawns broken by footpaths leading to the houses and school. Steddles were placed at regular intervals to protect the grass from wagons rutting the lawn with their wheels and confine transport to the roadway which leads down to the Church and vicarage.

According to the season of the year, much of the churchyard and surrounds glory in large carpets of snowdrops, followed as the year unfolds by a massive display of wild daffodils. In the eye of a small child seen looking at nature's spring beauty, enhanced by the care of man, gives this part of Nocton Village a glimpse of their 'Garden of Eden'.

The Countess regarded the village with the same critical eye that influenced her work in developing the natural charm of the park and flower borders surrounding the Hall. She set the highest standard with the result that everybody tended and cared for their own gardens with equal enthusiasm. An air of friendly competition prevailed that made Nocton one of the most lovely villages in Lincolnshire. Today, this spirit lives on and the gardens are just as beautiful.

When Lady Sarah Ripon died, the estate lost a gallant and courageous friend. In her will, she placed on record her love for her home and people who had stood affectionately and firmly with her in times of adversity. She declared her interest in the future, now in the hands of her son George.
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All Saints Church, Nocton (Part 2)

The New Church

The most impressive memorial to 'Prosperity' Robinson and Lady Sarah, however, is the present church of All Saints. Its Georgian predecessor (see Early History) had never been a satisfactory building, and though only 40 years old when the couple inherited the estate, was already decaying rapidly. By 1845 its western wall was dangerously cracked, a pewter bowl (still used for baptisms) was being used as a font - the mediaeval font having been exiled to the churchyard - and there was a bookshelf above the altar. Since it only seated 200 people (plus 40 children in the gallery) it was also too small for a parish whose population numbered 510 in 1851. But perhaps this scarcely mattered, since the average Sunday congregation in that year totalled only about 100 adults. The explanation, according to Vicar Edward Wilson, was that; 'The parish being nine miles long, several families who are from three to five miles from the parish church rarely or never attend it, but go elsewhere'.

All Saints Church, Nocton [North side] - 30 Jun 2009

copyright Geoff Hall

Lord Ripon had intended to replace the old church with a new and more suitable building: but before he could do so, he died aged 76 in January 1859. His widow Lady Sarah therefore undertook the work, as a memorial to her deeply loved husband and a shrine for his tomb. By this time imitations of mediaeval Gothic architecture had come to be regarded as the only acceptable style for new churches, especially among the 'High Church' party to which Lady Sarah belonged. She thus employed the most respected and respectable of Victorian 'Gothic Revival' architects to design her church: this was Sir George Gilbert Scott, who had begun his career as a builder of Elizabethan-style workhouses and lunatic asylums, but had turned to churches (his first was St. Nicholas, Newport, Lincoln) and undergone a 'conversion' to Gothic Revivalism.

At Nocton, Scott chose to imitate the 'Early Decorated' style of c.1300, then regarded as the 'best' period of Gothic architecture. Built with no expense spared, the church was probably begun in 1860, being consecrated on December the 16th, 1862 and dedicated to All Saints: this was a new dedication, for previous Nocton churches had been dedicated to St. Peter. It was chosen in honour of Lord Ripon, whose birthday was November the first, or All Saints Day.

All Saints church, however, was not quite complete when Lady Sarah died in April 1867. A south aisle and south porch had been included in the original design, and these were added in 1872 by her son the Marquess of Ripon 'as a tribute of reverential affection to his mother'.

The Marquess, a deeply religious man as well as a successful Liberal politician, was at this time a leading Freemason: but two years later he suddenly announced his conversion to Roman Catholicism, though he apparently returned to the Anglican church before his death in 1909. He is buried in the magnificent Victorian church of Studley Royal, near Fountains Abbey, North Yorkshire. This 'sister church' to All Saints was built by the Marquess in 1871-8, as a memorial to his brother-in-law Frederick Vyner, who was murdered by Greek brigands. It is well worth a visit, as is the sombre and indeed rather sinister church of Christ the Consoler at Skelton-cum-Newby, North Yorkshire, also built during the 1870s in memory of Frederick Vyner.

The Marquess sold the Nocton estate in 1889, but before he did so he financed the finishing touches to the furnishings of All Saints. These provoked many admiring comments, which sum up the spirit behind the building of Nocton's church, and indeed of the Victorian Gothic Revival it so admirably typifies. 'We cannot take our leave of Nocton', enthused the Lincoln Diocesan Architectural Society in 1872, 'without referring to the unstinting munificence which is evident in every part and detail, both of the church itself, and of its furniture. Nothing has been neglected or regarded as too insignificant to deserve reverential care. Would that there were more parish churches in our great diocese where the ruling principle was as markedly the determination not to give the Lord of that which doth cost them nothing'.

A walk round the church

All Saints church was commissioned by Sarah Albinia, Countess of Ripon; designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in imitation of the 'Early Decorated' style of c.1300; and built by Mr. W. Hudleston. It consists of a tower and spire, nave, and chancel with attached 'mortuary chapel' and vestry, all built between 1860 and 1863; and a south aisle and south porch, added in 1872. The entire church is constructed in best-quality Ancaster stone from mid-Lincolnshire, and roofed with brindled tiles from Broseley in Shropshire.

The exterior

The church is usually approached from the north, via the spacious churchyard. This gives a good view of the nave and the lower chancel, whose windows (like many others in the church) are filled with 'plate tracery' imitating the style of c.1300. The tower, whose lowest stage forms an entrance porch, rises into an octagonal belfry, topped by a fine spire reaching a height of 120 feet. The belfry houses a peal of six bells, given by Lady Sarah in 1865: they were cast by Messrs. Mears at the Whitechapel Foundry. Their weights and inscriptions are as follows:
1. BLESSING. 4 cwt.; 2. HONOUR. 4 cwt, 1 qrt, 20 lbs.; 3. GLORY. 4 cwt, 3 qrs, 27 lbs.; 4. POWER. 5 cwt, 1 qrs, 24 lbs.; 5. BE UNTO HIM THAT SITTETH ON THE THRONE, 6 cwt, 2 qrs, 19 lbs.; 6. AND UNTO THE LAMB FOREVER, 8 cwt, 1 qrs, 11 lbs. Total weight 1 ton, 13 cwt, 3 qrs, 17 lbs.

The inscription comes from the last words of Handel's 'Messiah', and is an adaption of Revelations 7:12. Round the corner from the tower is the west window, its two pointed arches topped by a roundel, and then the south side of the church. This south side is quite different in appearance from its northern counterpart. Above the nave south aisle (added in 1872) is the clerestory (or 'clear storey') of repeated 'blank arches', containing four small windows which give extra light to the interior. Then comes the protruding vestry with its chimney, and the 'mortuary chapel' housing the tombs of the Earl of Ripon and his family.

In the churchyard near the porch lies the ancient parish font of Nocton, sole surviving relic of the mediaeval church of St. Peter demolished in 1773: an octagonal bowl resting on 'ballflower' ornaments, it probably dates from the 14th century. The fine vaulted porch itself was added in 1872. Its buttresses display statues of four saints: on the western buttress is St. John the Baptist in his camel-skin cloak; St. Peter, with his keys, stands left of the door; St. Paul, with his sword, on the right; and St. John the Evangelist on the eastern buttress. On the porch gable is an image of the Virgin and Child, and the inner door is flanked by pillars displaying some of the 'fine and rich carving' much praised when the church was built.

The interior

The interior of All Saints also provoked tremendous enthusiasm from the Victorians, and what now makes it especially interesting is that it remains almost completely unchanged since the day it was finished. Particularly attractive is the original decorative colour scheme; its dominant shades of maroon and red-brown are used for walls and wall-paintings, roofs, and even the heating radiators.

The nave

The nave is unusually lofty by comparison with its height and width. The fine timbered - roof of its main aisle takes the form of a trefoil or clover-leaf,and like the sloping roof of the south aisle is stencilled with a pattern of flowers. Such clover-leaf roofs are rare in English churches, and Scott probably borrowed the idea from one of the European buildings he often visited. From there, too, he derived the rectangular abaci of the clustered pillars of the south aisle - that is, the flat sections at the top of the pillars, between the band of intricate carving and the base of the arches. These were the one feature of All Saints criticized by the Victorians, who preferred English-style round abaci, and thought Scott's design 'foreign-looking'.

Immediately to the right of the entrance door is the marble monument of Dean Henry Hobart (see above, History), a typical early Victorian composition by G.P. White. Oddly enough, it does not show the Dean himself, but portrays his sorrowing wife (d.1867) and his daughter, the 'Miss Hobart' who designed All Saints' east window. To the left of the door, on the west wall of the south aisle, stands the late Georgian memorial of Henry's brother Robert, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire d.1816 (see above, History), carved by William Bacon and transferred here from the Georgian church.

The west wall of the nave itself displays some of the best of the red-outline wall-paintings which are among All Saints' most delightful features: taken together, they form the most complete scheme of Victorian figure painting in any Lincolnshire church. To the left of the central war memorial is a charming Noah's Ark scene, including rabbits and some unusually amiable-looking snakes: to the right, the Israelites are seen landing after their miraculous Red Sea crossing, while Moses summons up the waves to drown their Egyptian pursuers. Above, flanking the window, are four saints, not all of them officially canonised. On the left stands Bishop Remigius, founder of Lincoln Cathedral; then comes St. Guthlacof Croyland, Saxon founder of the Fenland abbey; then St. Mary Magdalen; and on the right - most surprisingly - 'Little St. Hugh' of Lincoln, with cross and martyr's palm. Not to be confused with the sainted Bishop Hugh of Lincoln, this child was alleged to have been ritually crucified by Jews in 1255, a wicked slander which provoked a wholesale attack on the Jews of Lincoln. Venerated as a martyr, his body was later enshrined in Lincoln Cathedral, but the tales about him had long since been discredited when All Saints was built. This painting, indeed, is almost certainly the only post-Reformation representation of 'Little Saint Hugh' in an English church: how it came to be included in Nocton's decorative scheme is a mystery.

The west window in this wall is filled with Victorian stained glass by the firm of Clayton and Bell, commemorating the Countess of Ripon who built the church. It depicts the Old Testament figures Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Hannah and Samuel, with scenes from their lives. Below and to the right stands the elaborate Victorian font of 1862, carved in Caen stone from Normandy with pillars of green Irish marble.

To see a piece of equally opulent display, though of a quite different style and period, pass through the nearby doors into the tower. There stands the towering monument of Sir William Ellys (d.1680), brought from the mediaeval church. Sir William was the great-uncle of the builder of Nocton Old Hall (see above, History) who erected this monument. Its Latin epitaph records that he died a bachelor at the age of 77, and that he was a Justice of the Common Pleas: but it does not mention that he had been a zealous Parliamentarian and Oliver Cromwell's Solicitor-General, achievements best forgotten by the time his memorial was set up during Charles II's reign.

The north wall of the nave is stencilled with pretty red-brown 'diaperwork', and its window display stained glass of early twentieth century date. That nearest the west commemorates Edward Howard, a churchwarden who died in 1922: it depicts Bishop St. Hugh of Lincoln, holding a model of Lincoln Minster, and St. Theodore, an early Archbishop of Canterbury, holding a model of Canterbury Cathedral. Below them are excellent pictures of Nocton's Georgian church (left) and Nocton Old Hall. The middle window is also interesting, though its subjects might not now be thought suitable for a church. It remembers L.B. Wray, killed while serving with the Tank Corps during the Battle of Cambrai in 1917, the first occasion when tanks were used in significant numbers. Below figures of Saints Oswald and Etheldreda, it therefore depicts an early tank and a machine gun, and in the topmost light is the Tank Corps badge. Between this window and the next is a tablet to a steward of the Nocton estate, and then comes a window to Evangeline Dennis: proudly proclaiming her descent from one of the Pilgrim. Fathers, it shows the Mayflower sailing westwards, beneath figures of St. Aldan and the Venerable Beds.

Nearby stands the pulpit, a multicoloured Victorian extravaganza in Caen and Ancaster stone, with pillars of red Mansfield stone and green marble, a fine brass rail, and roundels depicting Christ, St. Peter and St. John. Above it is the chancel arch, surmounted by a great wall-painting of Christ in Glory, flanked by a concourse of angels, saints and prophets: among those on the left is King David with his harp, and on the right stands a very Victorian St. George, with armour and red cross banner. The arch itself has some splendid floral carving on its capitals.

Before passing through it, however, it is worth crossing to the south aisle. The easternmost window here commemorates Mary, daughter of vicar Edward Wilson: it thus depicts two Maries, the Virgin and St. Mary Magdalen, while in the bottom left hand corner are the heraldic arms of the Marquess of Ripon, including the stags of the Robinson family, the galley of their Campbell relations and the six-pointed star of the Hobarts of Nocton. Further west hangs the fine banner of the 'Loyal Ripon Lodge' of the Independent Order of Odd-fellows, the 'village club and friendly society' which provided Nocton folk with assistance before the days of state pensions and national insurance. Appropriately, then, the banner depicts the story of the Good Samaritan.

The chancel

No expense was spared in decorating and furnishing the nave of All Saints: but the chancel was made more sumptuous and gorgeous yet, as befitted the most sacred part of the church. Along its north wall are ranged painted Apostles and (nearest the altar) Gospel-writers in the familiar red-brown colour scheme, interspersed with two stained glass -windows depicting (left) Old and (right) New Testament subjects relating to the Communion service. The paintings continue round onto the east wall, to show the Resurrection (left) and Ascension (right) of Christ, flanking the great east window above the altar. This window was designed by an amateur artist, Miss Hobart, daughter of the old Dean. It depicts the Multitude of All Saints gathered around Michael the Archangel, while beneath white-robed Elders cast their crowns before the Throne of God. Victorian commentators praised its 'freshness', but even they had to admit that its pale colouring was rather wishy-washy.

The same could certainly not be said of the 'reredos' or altar piece carved by Italian artists and given by the Marquess of Ripon. The focus of the chancel and indeed of the whole church, it centres upon a triptych of marble panels representing the Road to Calvary, the Crucifixion, and the Entombment of Christ. These are enshrined beneath gilded canopies with marble shafts, and on either side are canopied alabaster panels inscribed with serried ranks of kneeling saints and patriarchs. There can be no doubt at all that Lord Ripon thought the altar the most important item in the church, and the Communion service performed there its most important ceremony.

The altar itself (sadly damaged in a fire) stands raised on marbled steps. Before it, just within the elaborate brass altar rails, are perhaps the most amazing of All Saints' furnishings: a pair of gargantuan seven-branched candlesticks, almost twelve feet high and decked with brass angels. Yet amid all this splendour, it is comforting to note that practicalities are not entirely forgotten. For near the chancel north wall stands a heating radiator, discreetly painted maroon to merge with its surroundings.

The South Chapel

Though the altar is the focus of All Saints, the principal motive for building the church stands not far away - namely the tomb of the Earl of Ripon, alias 'Prosperity Robinson', and his Countess Sarah Albinia. Only the Earl, however, is portrayed on the tomb, which was designed by Scott, while the marble effigy was carved by Matthew Noble. Extraordinarily lifelike, it depicts the side-whiskered Lord Ripon in his Parliament robes, lying peacefully as if asleep.

The tomb is set just within the south or "mortuary chapel". Round its walls the scheme of wall-paintings continues with pictures of Saints Peter and Paul, Christ's Entry into Jerusalem (a particularly fine painting), and Christ instructing his Disciples to 'Suffer Little Children' to come to Him. This last is sadly appropriate, for many of those commemorated here died at tragically early ages. Among them is Eleanor, daughter of the Earl and Countess, whose memorial (surmounted by a lily for purity) is set down on the chapel south wall. She died aged 11 in 1826, 'being then the only child of her parents and one of great promise': with her is commemorated her baby brother Hobart Frederick, who died at the age of two days.

The east window of the chapel, designed by Miss Hobart, also remembers tragedies within the family of Nocton's squires. It commemorates and portrays her two sisters, likewise daughters of Dean Hobart: Albinia Mary, who died aged 16; and Maria, who died aged 30, shown holding the baby who soon afterwards followed her to the grave. Within the vestry, however, is a rather more cheerful remembrance of childhood, clearly visible through the iron screen. This is the memorial of Katherine 'Nanny' Field, Dean Hobart's beloved nurse: it was erected by the Dean himself, 'For time could not efface the earliest impressions of his youth !!'.

PostscriptThough All Saints is such a fine and beautiful example of a Victorian estate Church, it is no mere museum. It remains a living place of worship, part of the group parish of Nocton, Dunston and Potterhanworth, and services are held here regularly. You are most welcome to attend them.

This guide draws heavily on a more detailed work: ‘Some Notes for a History of Nocton’, written by Kate Norgate and MH Footman in 1900. Though long out of print, copies can be consulted in the Local History room of Lincoln Reference Library. I should also like to extend grateful thanks to Canon Rodger, Vicar of Nocton; to Mrs. Redshaw of Nocton and to Miss Hilary Healey for assistance in compiling this guide.

Charles Kightly, Diocesan Tourism Consultant: May 1991

Website for All Saints, Nocton: http://www.allsaintsnocton.org.uk/index.htm

All Saints Church, Nocton (Part 1)

Early history

Drafted by Charles Kightly (May 1991)

All Saints Church, Nocton [South side] - 30 Jun 2009 

copyright Geoff Hall

Built as 'a monument of affection, erected by a Noble widow in memory of a Noble husband', All Saints at Nocton is perhaps the best and least altered example of a Victorian Gothic church in Lincolnshire. Present-day Nocton is likewise essentially a Victorian planned estate village, the creation of the Hobart and Robinson families of Nocton Hall.

A church and a village, however, existed at Nocton many centuries before Victoria's reign. The original settlement may date from Prehistoric or Roman times: for the Roman Carr Dyke (which linked the river Witham to the Welland and formed part of an ancient fen drainage system), cuts through the middle of the parish, dividing Nocton Fen from the higher land on which the village stands. Two dug-out canoes, probably Bronze Age, were discovered when the Dyke was dredged in 1790. Certainly there was an Anglo-Saxon settlement at Nocton, whose name (spelled 'Nochetune' in 1086) may be derived from the Anglo-Saxon words 'hnoc tun', meaning 'village of the wether sheep'. (A wether is a castrated ram, often kept in ancient times as a flock leader).

When Domesday Book was compiled in 1086, Nocton's population numbered some 38 families, and the village already possessed a priest and a church. (No trace of this Saxon church survives, but it probably stood immediately south-west of Nocton Hall). By this time the manor of Nocton belonged to Norman d'Arcy, one of the companions of William the Conqueror: his descendants would continue to own it for nearly another six centuries, until 1660.

Another important influence on the mediaeval village was Nocton Park Priory, founded by Norman's son Robert d'Arcy in the mid-12th century for the 'Black Canons' of the Augustinian order, so called from the colour of their robes. The Priory stood by the Carr Dyke about a mile east of the village, on a site now known as Abbey Hill. Only earthworks now survive there to mark its position, but in the 18th century the foundations of the Priory church and cloister could still be traced. The canons also owned the parish churches of Nocton and Dunston and land in many surrounding villages, but the Priory was never very large or wealthy, being overshadowed by the more important monasteries of Bardney and Kirkstead. Only four canons were still living there when it was finally suppressed in 1536, during the early stages of Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries.

On the 13th of October 1541 King Henry VIII himself visited Nocton with his flighty fifth wife Katherine Howard, staying overnight with the young squire Thomas Wymbishe on their return from a royal progress through Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. He is said to have planted an ancient chestnut tree in the Hall grounds. (Not long afterwards Queen Katherine lost her head, partly because of her infidelities during this very progress). The manor house where the royal couple stayed has long since disappeared, along with its successor on the site of the Priory, and by the 1670s ownership of Nocton had passed from the descendants of Norman d'Arcy to the Ellys family.

The first of the family to live at Nocton was the Puritan judge and M.P. Sir William Ellys, whose splendid monument (brought from the old church) can still be seen in the tower of All Saints. Though he held high office as solicitor-general to Oliver Cromwell, he afterwards managed to make his peace with Charles II, and died a wealthy old bachelor in 1680, leaving Nocton to his great-nephew Sir William Ellys, baronet (1653-1727). It was this second Sir William who, in about 1690, built 'the magnificent seat of Nocton Hall', on the site of the present Hall. His mansion (later known as 'the Old Hall') burnt down in 1834, but a fragment of its separate banquetting hall (c.1680 ?) still survives, forming the wall of a house about 100 yards north of the church. Old engravings show that the Old Hall was a large E-plan building, with five turrets topped by cupolas.

Later residents of the Old Hall included the rakish Sir Francis Dashwood. second husband of Sir William's daughter-in-law: nationally notorious as the founder of the 'Hellfire Club', Sir Francis was better-known locally as the public-spirited builder of Dunston Pillar, whose remains still stand by the main A15 road some four miles west of Nocton. Originally 92 feet high, equipped with refreshment rooms, and topped by a lantern, it was designed as a 'land-lighthouse' to guide benighted travellers across the highwayman-haunted wilds of Nocton Heath.

The Hobarts

From the Dashwoods, Nocton passed (in about 1767) to the scarcely less flamboyant George Hobart (1731-1804), later (1793) third Earl of Buckinghamshire. A distant cousin of the Ellys family, Hobart was 'exceedingly fond of dramatics, and was for a time a conductor of the operatic entertainments in London': indeed, he celebrated his arrival at Nocton Hall with 'a grand masquerade', and frequently performed plays there in subsequent years. His wife Albinia Bertie of Branston (1738-1816), was a compulsive gambler and devotee of the game of 'faro'. "When she won, she went abroad in her sedan chair, attended by gorgeous lackeys, to scatter largess among the poor': but when she lost, the Nocton estate had to be temporarily mortgaged (1786) to pay her gambling debts.

Perhaps because of such goings-on, the Hobarts thought the ancient parish church of St. Peter 'too inconveniently close to their mansion'. Though they had no legal right to do so, they therefore demolished it in 1773. Only the Ellys monument and a mediaeval font in All Saints' churchyard now survive from the old church, but the site of its churchyard is marked by a rise in the ground south-west of the present Hall, covering the remains of over 20 generations of Nocton parishioners.

To replace it, the Hobarts built an entirely new Georgian church much further from the Hall, on the site of the present church. Later described as 'a small mean structure', it was consecrated in 1775, and old pictures (there is a drawing in All Saints, and a representation in the north-west window of the nave) show that it was built in the currently fashionable Classical style, with a small bell-turret. The interior was filled with unvarnished deal box-pews, and had a raised gallery at the east end.

The third Earl also drastically 'improved' the Nocton estate, draining its fens and enclosing its common land. Most of his time, however, was spent in 'smart London society', his two sons Robert and Henry being left at Nocton in the care of Katherine ('Nanny') Field, the steward's wife. A touching memorial to her can be seen in All Saints' vestry: it was erected by Henry Hobart 'in full recollection of her Kindness, Care and watchful Attention over him during the first ten years of his life'.

This 'Honourable and Very Reverend Henry Hobart' (1774-1846), whose own much more elaborate monument stands near All Saints' entrance door, was the third Earl's younger son. Appointed Vicar of Nocton in 1815, in the following year he also became Dean of Windsor. He was thus in effect a personal chaplain to the Royal Family, and in his later years this 'strange old gentleman' grossly but quite unintentionally offended the young Queen Victoria: for on the birth of her eldest son (the future King Edward VII) he attempted to congratulate her on 'thus saving us from the incredible curse of a female succession'.

Robert Hobart, the Dean's elder brother, succeeded his father as 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire in 1804: his marble monument stands at the west end of All Saints' nave. It records his career as an eminent politician and colonial administrator, and in particular his negotiation of a new charter (depicted on the monument) for the East India Company. He is now much better known, however, for his associations with Hobart, capital of Tasmania, founded during his time as Colonial Secretary and named after him.

In 1810 the 4th Earl renovated Dunston Pillar, replacing its crowning lantern with a colossal statue of King George III: a mason named John Willson fell off the pillar to his death while fixing it in position, and is buried in Harmston churchyard beneath the tombstone epitaph: 'He who erected the noble King, is here now laid by Death's sharp sting'.

King George himself was less than delighted to hear that his statue had been set up in such a desolate spot. 'Ah, Lincolnshire', he remarked in disgust, 'all flats, fogs and fens!'. The statue was removed when Dunston Pillar was shortened by the R.A.F. during the second World War: its head and shoulders can now be seen in the grounds of Lincoln Castle.

'Prosperity Robinson' and Lady Sarah

Earl Robert died in 1816 without male heirs, whereupon his title passed to a nephew. But the Nocton estate passed to his only daughter Lady Sarah Albinia Hobart (1793-1867), who had recently married the Honourable Frederick John Robinson (1782-1859), then M.P. for Ripon, later Viscount Goderich of Nocton (1827), and eventually first Earl of Ripon (1833).

Robinson's career as a politician left something to be desired, 'he being not endowed with either capacity or experience....besides being disqualified for vigorous measures by the remissness and timidity of his character". His failings as Chancellor of the Exchequer (1823-7) gained him the mocking nickname' Prosperity Robinson', and though he managed to remain Prime Minister for five chaotic months between August 1827 and January 1828, he was 'singular among Prime Ministers in being the only one who never faced Parliament in that capacity, his Cabinet having been formed so weakly or managed so clumsily that it fell to pieces before the accustomed time of trial arrived'. In short, he was 'perhaps the weakest Premier to whom a Sovereign of England ever intrusted the seals of office.

All the same, Lord Ripon was respected as 'a fair and candid man', and he and Lady Sarah were certainly good friends to Nocton. The village's present attractive appearance, indeed, is largely due to the generosity of this couple and their son the Marquess of Ripon (1827-1909). Between them they built the Almshouses (1833), the School (1869), and the cottages known as the Old Row (1841), the Ripon Row (1870s) and the Ten Row (1878), all in a distinctive 'Gothic Revival' style.

The Ripons also built the present Nocton Hall, now a Residential Home and hospital. Despite the valiant efforts of a brand-new village fire-engine, Sir William Ellys's Old Hall burnt to the ground on July the 15th, 1834, blazing for nearly fifteen hours. At the 'earnest petition' of the villagers who volunteered to cart building materials at their own expense - its replacement was begun in October 1841, the architect being William Shearburn of Dorking, a Nocton-born 'local boy made good' who was the son of the estate joiner, Joseph Shearburn. Old Joseph himself oversaw the building work, which took ten years and cost between £40,000 and £50,000. Much of the walling stone was quarried nearby on Dunston Heath.

Nocton Hall - and the accidental Prime Minister

'Prosperity' Robinson

(This extract is taken from: The Journal)

'Prosperity' Robinson was a moderniser who formed a government and became a father while in Downing Street… he was challenged by a prickly Cabinet and troubles in Ireland… and he was targeted by direct action demonstrations reminiscent of earlier unrest in France. There resembles end between any latter-day politician and Frederick ‘Prosperity’ Robinson. No landslide leader, he was more the Accidental Prime Minister. Yet he still remains the only Lincolnshire man ever to hold that post.

Frederick John Robinson

History has not been kind to Robinson. Go to Nocton today and the local booklet informs you he was perhaps the weakest Premier of all time and his nickname ‘Prosperity’ a mockery of his failings as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Visit Lincolnshire’s libraries or check their catalogues via the Internet and it seems that only one author has attempted a biography, and he was an American in 1966. It is true that some episodes in Robinson’s life seem like a script from TV’s Blackadder. His ‘all-but-crazy wife’ disrupted his career with many bouts of hypochondria but her good points included a hefty inheritance (including Nocton).

He had to buy his first seat in the Commons (Carlow near Dublin) but later supported electoral reform on the grounds that "it would be very advantageous to Birmingham to be represented in Parliament". And if his chaotic premiership did not win him enduring fame, it at least secured him a £3,000 pension and a peerage.

But it was a different story in the dark days of 1809 when the wars against Napoleon were not going well and the young Robinson, a Cambridge graduate and Lincoln’s Inn barrister, now MP for Ripon, earned a junior government post after staunch public support for the Duke of Wellington.

In 1812 Robinson began a rise through the Board of Trade which led him on to the Chancellorship of the Exchequer (1823-27). Here he cut back on more than 300 prohibitive tariffs, made the tax system more efficient, took tentative steps towards freer trade, and promoted Anglo-American co-operation (despite two wars in 40 years).

He helped turn post-war slump into pre-Victorian ‘prosperity’ through a natural optimism and a deep belief in the strength of what people were coming to understand as the ‘British economy’. Personally popular on all sides of the House, with a voice described as having a ‘singing’ quality and turns of phrase later on show as president of the Royal Literary Society, he must have made budget talks entertaining affairs.

For instance, a prediction of rapid economic growth to him was: ‘We have seen the opening of a brilliant dawn, and we may anticipate without hesitation the steady and glowing splendour of a meridian sky.’ Robinson could not have known it, but he was at his peak. Within months, an 1825 version of Black Wednesday plunged many banks and businesses into a credit crisis. His explanations of the inevitability of business cycles and the self-destructive effects of panic were in vain. Many found it easier to blame ‘Prosperity’ for the slump.

Then, as bad luck would have it, Robinson had the best opportunity of his career at the worst possible time. Amid family turmoil and cabinet calamity and still in the shadow of ‘recession’, was asked to form ghost of a government.

Robinson had been rocked by the death of a second child (both buried at Nocton) and the illness of his wife. He was talking of retiring when, in 1827, Prime Minister George canning died and crusty King George IV asked for an effort for the faction-ridden ministry going. For five months the new Premier’s persuasiveness kept a prickly cabinet in being.

The final wobble of the Cabinet was caused by the sinking of the Turkish fleet at Navarinoo Bay late in 1827. It is remembered as the key to Greek independence, but it was a shock to Robinson because the local British commander had gone beyond his brief. The one lighter moment of the premiership was the successful delivery of baby George Samuel at Downing Street on September 3rd 1827 (the baby’s middle name was a reference to the Bible’s Book of Samuel, which told of birth after hope had been abandoned).

If Robinson had been the nonentity portrayed to later generations, his political career would have been over in 1828. Yet for eight of the next 18 years he held further Cabinet posts, helping to modernise the political landscape of Britain.

He voted for Irish election reform (Catholic Emancipation) and was in the cabinets that delivered the Great Reform Act (ending ‘rotten borough’ seats), the abolition of slavery, and the end of the Corn Laws (‘the taxes on food’).

He urged Sir Robert Peel to bring back permanently an emergency wartime money-raiser called the Income Tax. His economic wisdom continued to be valued, as was his businesslike approach to ministerial tasks and his early use – now standard practice – of delegation.

Once again at the Board of Trade, he entrusted tasks to an eager ‘apprentice’ – William Ewart Gladstone. When not busy in Westminster or exercising political influence in lincolnshire from Nocton, Robinson spent time visiting relatives on the family’s Yorkshire estates (including Fountain’s Abbey) or taking the air at Brighton.

With his marriage in 1814, Robinson had acquired family ties that kept the gossips busy. Lady Sarah’s mother had been addicted to card game gambling (once mortgaging the Nocton estate to survive). Her father was the 3rd Earl of Buckinghamshire, a musician and opera conductor and, in his wilder days, father of an illegitimate son at the age of 17. Although he could not inherit, the son grew up on the family estates and in later life became, as Henry Ellis, MP for Boston and candidate for Lincoln. His sponsor was none other than ‘brother in law’ Robinson.

Lady Sarah herself often feared she was dying and was at times erratic in the care of her children. But, despite their problems, the Robinsons were a devoted couple. Nocton was a main family base. Their Downing Street son was educated there and he later continued to improve the Estate while pursuing a political career of his own.

The family’s efforts at Nocton are still very evident today, where their almshouses, school and cottage rows can still be seen. Disaster had struck in July 1834 when a 15-hour blaze destroyed the old hall, taking many of the Robinson papers with it. The village’s new fire engine was unable to save the building.

Robinson’s response was to plan a new hall and, over the next 10 years, an impressive replacement was created at a cost of £50,000. The Robinsons stayed at a remodelled Steard’s House on the estate while the work was going on. The grandest idea of all was a new church, but before he could start it Robinson died from a heart condition and influenza in 1859, aged 76.

Lady Sarah took over the project in his memory and there the church of All Saints stands today. Built from Ancaster stone in the medieval style, it features the couple’s tomb under a marble effigy of the ex-Premier, side-whiskered, in his parliamentary robes, and ‘lying peacefully as if asleep’.

The architect of the church was Sir George Gilbert Scott (whose first work has been St Nicholas’ in Newport, Lincoln). Links between Nocton and Ripon continued to grow. When a Cabinet reshuffle advanced him in the peerage once again in 1833, Robinson took the title of 1st Earl of Ripon.

His son inherited more estates there from his uncle, and a sister church to Nocton was built. Robinson’s son eventually became the 1st Marquess of Ripon. The family’s link with the Nocton estate ended with its sale in 1889. In later times parts of it became a military hospital and a nursing and residential home.

Why was ‘Prosperity’ Robinson’s career dealt with so harshly by history? It seems that, before becoming the Accidental Prime Minister he was already qualified to be the World’s Most Unlikeliest Politician. Part of his popularity among friends and opponents was his honesty in acknowledging both sides of an argument.

He displayed patience and persuasiveness to a fault. One critic said: ‘He tried honestly, but unavailingly, to let wrong die out without daring to call right into existence.’ His very discretion counted against him. Even without the hall fire there would probably have been no memoirs of letters justifying his decisions or rubbishing his rivals.

Another misfortune was to live in an age of political giants – a normal size seemed small by comparison. No political life would be complete without a whiff of scandal, which for Robinson came in1815 when his government post involving the Corn Laws made him a target of French Revolutionary-style public anger over food prices.

Blockading crowds were cleared away from Parliament by troops but some went on to the Robinson home nearby, failing to find him but wrecking windows and railings and terrorising staff. When the demonstrators returned the next day, armed servants and troops were inside, shots rang out and a midshipman and widow died. There were inquests and a trial, but no convictions.

What orders had Robinson given to his servants? Had he helped to arm them? Did he influence the outcome of the case? If Robinson’s circle knew the answers they weren’t saying. And if Robinson did leave any records, they would have been among the ashes of Nocton old hall.

Nocton Hall - falls at hands of arsonists

Historic Hall gutted by fire

(This extract was taken from: The Lincolnshire Echo - Monday, October 25th, 2004 - Lincolnshire Echo Picture references: 4-6920-20 and 4-6920-5)

The burnt out shell of the Grade II Listed Nocton Hall - 25 Mar 2005

[copyright Geoff Hall]

Arsonists have today been blamed for a fire which destroyed a 160-year-old building. Fire ravaged Nocton Hall just days before council officers were due to take action against its owners, who had been accused of letting the hall fall into disrepair.

Police are now investigating exactly how the fire at the Grade II listed building began. Meanwhile, people living in Nocton Village, east of Lincoln, said the hall had become a target for vandals and the blaze was 'inevitable'.

More than 75 firefighters battled the blaze for three hours after it broke out at around 11.45pm on Saturday night. Crews were still at the scene until Sunday afternoon. Firefighter John Taylor said the fire had destroyed almost all of the hall. "We were faced with the building well alight, it was a well-developed fire when we arrived at 11.45pm", he said. “We had ten crews here at the height of the incident. It was under control by 2.30am and we are now in the early stages of investigating how it started. The roof has collapsed and the building is dangerous”.

Residents from the Cottage Residential Home, opposite the hall, were evacuated in the early hours. Most of the 24 residents were taken by ambulance to Lincoln County Hospital. Deputy manager of the home, Natasha Doughty, said the evacuation had left some residents shaken up. "We were half way through evacuating people when at around 3.30am the fire brigade gave us the all clear, so only 13 residents had gone," she said. "We had to take the residents in ambulances past the fire because it was the only way out. The hall has been a target for vandals for a long time".

The stone hall was built in 1841 and Frederick Robinson – the only Lincolnshire man ever to be elected Prime Minister – once lived there. The Victorian building was once used as part of the RAF hospital. More recently it was a residential home.

Last year the current owners, Leda Properties, were granted planning permission to turn it into a private home. But the hall had become derelict and on September 28th Leda were served with an urgent works notice by North Kesteven District Council. The order required Oxfordshire-based Leda to maintain the property and keep it secure. But no work had been carried out before the deadline of October 15th and council contractors had begun the work themselves – and were planning to send the bill to Leda.

Planning and building control officers were today at the scene assessing the damage. District council spokesman Julie Wetton said: “Our planning officers visited the site to check whether work had started and it had not. We confirmed with the owner’s agent that nothing was in place to start work. "We were instructing our contractors to go in and do the work and recoup the costs from the owner. But events have now taken over us".

Villager Elsie Horton had worked the neighbouring RAF hospital. She was sad to see a piece of the village’s history destroyed: "I heard the commotion and looked outside to see the ambulances coming", she said. "Then my neighbour told me what had happened. I worked at the hospital most of my life and when that closed I cleaned Nocton Hall. It’s part of my life, I just can’t believe it. It’s Nocton’s history, now it’s gone and it’s very sad".

Peter and Liz Murray live opposite the hall and say the loss of the building would be devastating for the village. Mr Murray took photographs of the hall as it was engulfed by flames. "Peter was woken by the sound of the roof collapsing at about 1am," said Mrs Murray, a consultant oncologist at Lincoln County Hospital. "Then our neighbours called and told us what had happened. They had been woken by the fire engines taking water out of the beck that runs through the grounds. The hall was the heart of Nocton and people will be devastated by this".

Leda Properties bought Nocton Hall in 2000 when it was a residential home after the former owner went bankrupt. Leda also own the RAF hospital site behind the hall. Villagers say the fire was inevitable after the hall had been left to fall into disrepair and had become an easy target for vandals. They say the hall had been looted of anything of value. Mrs Horton said: "For the past few years it has just been left vacant. Vandals have been in and smashed the windows and doors. People have been complaining that it has not been secure".

Mrs Murray said that she had called the police last Tuesday evening after she heard people ransacking the building. "We heard sounds of breaking wood and people smashing their way into the hall," she said. "There was lots of shouting, the glass had been smashed and door panels kicked through. We moved here 9 years ago when the hall was a residential home. "The grounds were beautiful and it was a lovely site to be in. Over the past few years it has fallen to rack and ruin. It has been vandalised and stripped of anything of value, the fireplaces and the mahogany staircases – all stolen".

Footnote:Leda Properties Ltd: Registered Office: Marcham Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 1TZ. Trading at: 144 High St, Sutton Courtenay, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 4AX. Company No: 01257376. Incorporated: 06/05/1976.
Nature of Business: 5030 - Sale of Motor Vehicle Parts etc; 0111 - Grow Cereals and other crops; 7020 - Letting of Own Property.

Leda Properties contracted SLR Consulting Ltd (www.slrconsulting.co.uk) to carry out a landscape and visual appraisal of the 70 acre site at Nocton, near Lincoln, and to provide concepts for a residential master plan. The site is adjacent to the grounds of Nocton Hall, which forms part of the conservation area. The development site itself is a disused RAF Hospital and SLR has also audited this site for potential environmental liabilities. [Outlook Leaflet - Summer 2002]

Nocton Hall - 'Prosperity' Robinson

Rt Hon FJ Robinson MP

Lady Sarah married the Rt Hon Frederick John Robinson on September 1st 1814. He was the second son of Lord Grantham and educated at Harrow and St John’s College, Cambridge.

The public career of 'Prosperity Robinson is well known. Initially MP for Ripon and Joint Paymaster of the Forces, he was Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1823 –1827. He became Viscount Goderich of Nocton on April 28th 1827 and was Prime Minister from August 1827 to January 1828. He later inherited the title of Earl of Ripon (1833) and as a member of Sir Robert Peel’s cabinet, moved the second reading in the House of Lords of the Bill for the Repeal of the Corn Laws on May 25th 1846.

One of the things at Nocton to claim the attention of the Robinsons, was the premature decay that had overtaken the church, built only 40 years before. The Minutes of the vestry meetings between 1818 – 1821 record many repairs and improvements. Mr Robinson seems to have borne two-thirds of the expense while the balance was defrayed by a rate. About the same time, the Lady Sarah arranged for all the village children to attend the school – where Justina Brackenbury (then Mrs Edward Seeley), had succeeded to her father – on payment of a penny a week, Lady Sarah paying the difference herself.

The first ordnance survey map of Nocton was published in 1824. About this time the old road to Dunston by Burton Plantation was closed and the present Bridle Path provided in its place. On the ordnance map the carriage drive from Nocton Hall to Dunston Pillar is clearly defined.

In 1832, the Nocton, Potterhanworth and Branston Commissioners contracted a steam-engine to try and improve the workings of the scoop-wheel. An old wind-engine had been used initially to lift the waters from the Fen, but was found to be inadequate. They obtained an Act of Parliament giving them further powers of taxation, successfully opposing an application of the Witham Drainage Commissioners for an injunction to restrain the use of steam. The appellants alleged that the greater quantity of water to be thrown into the river with greater velocity would imperil the safety of the banks.

On Thursday June 12th 1834, the steam engine of 40 horse power which cost £4,000 was put in motion in the presence of a vast number of persons. It’s operations were soon impeded for want of water, as it made light work of clearing out the quantity which had been accumulated for the experiment.

Fire damages Windmills and Old Hall

In 1827 the old windmill was taken down and a new one erected on Mill Corner, but this was burnt down in October 1833. The third mill was erected on the same site and pulled down in 1904.

Windmill - corner of Main St and Old Sleaford Rd

Following the destruction of the mill and another by fire, the Earl of Ripon – as the Lord of Nocton had become – ordered a fire engine of the latest design. This had only just arrived from London when, on Tuesday July 15th 1834 a more serious fire broke out at the Hall.

Lord and Lady Ripon had arranged to come from Carlton Gardens on the Thursday as they were expecting a visit from the Bishop of Lincoln, but about nine o’clock on the Tuesday evening as Richard Semper and other labourers were coming from the Fen, they saw flames bursting from the roof of the Hall.

The alarm was given and the new fire engine brought out, all to no purpose. The lead roof was lined with reeds which burnt fiercely and the molten lead descended on all sides. The water from the engine produced no sensible effect and the servants turned their attention to rescuing what furniture they could. Among the salvage was a chest from the library ticketed ‘to be saved first in case of fire’. It proved to contain the playthings and other relics of little Eleanor Robinson the only daughter of the house, a promising child who had died in 1826 at the age of eleven.

Sketch of the ruins of Nocton Hall - AWN Pugin

When the flames were finally extinguished about noon the following day, only a low fragment of the outer walls remained. The damage was estimated at £25,000.

The 'Poor' House

In 1833 the Poor House was built at the east end of Wellhead Lane and after passing from this use, was used as the village Post Office for many years.

The Old Post Office

Old Ten Row

In 1840 the Old Ten Row was built and in 1841 (7 years after the destruction of the old Hall) Lord and Lady Ripon received a petition from the tenants begging them to rebuild the Hall and offering – as an inducement – to do all the carting of the materials.

Old Ten Row

Rebuilding the Hall

William Shearbourne of Dorking (son of Joseph Shearbourne, the Estate carpenter), was engaged as architect and instructed to prepare plans somewhat on the lines of Longhills House near Branston where Lord and Lady Ripon often stayed since the destruction of the old Hall.

On October 26th 1841 the foundation stone was laid by Viscount Goderick, the son of the Earl and Countess, who was only fourteen years old having been born at 10 Downing Street while his father was Prime Minister. The wall facings were of local stone from Dunston and the mouldings and dressings were of Ancaster stone. After the stone laying ceremony all the estate tenants were entertained to dinner in the school and all the old women of Nocton and Dunston were regaled with a tea party.

Lord Ripon withdrew from public life and died at his other residence on Putney Heath on January 28th 1859. He was buried at Nocton on February 4th 1859.

Foundation stone on Nocton Hall