At the time of compiling the Domesday survey, it appears that part of this parish, then called Scrivelesbi, was annexed to the Soke of Horncastle, which was then retained by the conqueror. {61a} By the same record, the manor appears to have been then holden by Robert de Spenser, but by what service is not said. How it passed from De Spenser to the family of Marmyon; whether by inheritance, or escheat of the crown, and subsequent grant, cannot now be ascertained. It was however shortly after in the tenure of Robert Marmyon, whose male descendants enjoyed the same until the twentieth year of Edward the first, 1292, when Philip the last Lord Marmyon died seized of this manor, holden by barony, and the service of champion to the kings of England on their coronation day; and seized also of the castle of Tamworth in Warwickshire, held therewith as parcel of his barony, but by the service of knight’s fees, to attend the king in his wars in Wales. {61b} This Philip had only female issue, and between them his great estates here, in Warwickshire, Leicestershire, and elsewhere, were divided. By this partition, the manor and barony of Scrivelsby were allotted to Joan, the youngest daughter, by whose grand-daughter and heir the same passed in marriage to Sir John Dymoke, who, with Margaret his wife, had livery thereof in the twenty-third year of Edward the third. At the coronation of Richard the second, Sir John Dymoke claimed in right of his wife, to perform the office of champion: this right was counterclaimed by Baldwin Freville, who, as lord of Tamworth, also claimed to perform that service; but the commissioners of the court of claims deciding in favor of Sir John Dymoke, he performed that office; and from that period to the present time, nearly five hundred years, their male issue have continued in possession of the same inheritance. The present champion, the Reverend John Dymoke, is the seventeenth of his family, from Sir John Dymoke, who has inherited that high and singular office. {62} The chief part of Scrivelsby Court, the ancient baronial seat, was destroyed by fire, between fifty and sixty years ago. In the part consumed was a very large hall, on the pannels of the wainscottings of which were depicted the various arms and alliances of the family, through all its numerous and far traced descents. The loss has been in some degree compensated for, by the addition which the late proprietor recently made to those parts which escaped the ravages of the fire. [Picture: Ancient Monuments in Scrivelsby Church]