This manor continued in the possession of the Bishops of Carlisle, until the reign of Edward the sixth, when, under the authority of a licence from the crown, it was sold by Bishop Aldrich to Edward Lord Clinton, who, during the time he held it, compounded with the copyhold tenants, and enfranchised their estates; but after Mary had ascended the throne, he was compelled to re-convey his purchase to the see of Carlisle, {10b} to which, since that time, it has continued to belong. Bishop Aldrich died at this place in March, 1555, the second year of the reign of Queen Mary: from which it appears, that the estate had either been restored previous to his decease; or, in the conditions of the sale, he had reserved to himself the privilege of residing in the manor house. {10c} Queen Elizabeth had a lease of this manor from the then possessing bishop, in which she was succeeded by James the first, who assigned it to Sir Henry Clinton, knight; but owing to a neglect of enrolment, it proved void. {10d} The present lessee is The Right Honorable Sir Joseph Banks, Baronet, by whom, and his ancestors, it has been held about a century. The large tract of fen land, situated between this place and Boston, at a very early period belonged to the lords of this manor, in conjunction with the lords of the manors of Bolingbroke and Scrivelsby; but by the grants which they gave to the neighbouring abbies at Revesby and Kirkstead, their right therein became comparatively small. {11} On the enclosure of these fens, pursuant to Act of Parliament, in 1801, about six hundred acres were annexed to the parish of Horncastle, eighty-one acres of which were allotted to the lord of the manor; the remainder to the owners of common-right houses. The parochial extent of Horncastle, exclusive of the fen allotment, is about one thousand three hundred acres, two hundred and fifty of which are contained in the manorial estates. HORNCASTLE DURING THE CIVIL WARS IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES THE FIRST. NOTWITHSTANDING that in this part was born that individual of the family of Plantagenet, whose assumption of the throne plunged the country, for half a century, into the civil wars which nearly exterminated the ancient nobility; yet had the soil here been unstained by the blood so profusely shed. Partaking, in common with all, the miseries of the land, it seemed peculiarly exempted from beholding those contentions of the houses of York and Lancaster which sprung from the elevation of Henry of Bolingbroke to the sovereignty of England. It was however otherwise when the usurpation of unlimited power on the part of Charles the first had urged a war between the people and the king. As peculiar circumstances of policy and interest had brought the military operations into these parts, it will be necessary in their detail to revert to the conduct of the parties opposed in the opening of the war.