above-named Bishop and another of the Conqueror’s favourites, not seldom named in these records, viz., Eudo, son of Spirewic, Lord of Tattershall, who claimed, over the Bishop, the lion’s share, namely, two thirds of the parish. How long the Bishops of Durham continued in possession does not appear, but in the “Lindsey Survey” (circa A.D., 1114) Ranulph, Bishop of that See, had 9 carucates of land (or 1080 acres) in Wispington, Kirkby, and two other parishes; and, according to the old record, “Testa de Nevill” (p. 335), the Bishop of that day still held the same (circa 1214, A.D.); while in the 46th year of the reign of Edwd. III. (A.D. 1373), on the death of John Willoughby of Eresby, it is stated that he held all his manors, among which Wispington is named, “of the Bishop of Durham, by the service of being his steward, and carrying to the table the messes of meat, on the day of his consecration, and on the feasts of Christmas and Whitsuntide,” so that, at that date, the Bishop would seem to have been still the superior Lord of Wispington, as of the other connected Manors. (“Fragmenta Antiquitatis”; quoted “Linc. N. & Q.,” July 1896, p. 38). After this period the ownership is not quite clear. But this we can state. We have seen that Eudo, son of Spirewic, owned two thirds of Wispington, by gift from the Conqueror. His son, Hugh Fitz Eudo, commonly called Brito, founded Kirkstead Abbey, in 1137, A.D., and that religious house, at a later period, became possessed of land in Wispington, and the benefice thereof. But meanwhile the ownership changed more than once. From the Lansdowne M.S. (207 e., f. 455) in the British Museum, we find that Walter Bek, {233} who had come from Flanders, late in the 12 century, married Agnes, daughter of Pinso, and became, through his wife, Lord of Spilsby, Eresby, Lusby, Wispington, and other parishes; so that Eudo, and his later representatives, seem to have passed from the scene, and the successors of his quondam companion in arms, Pinso, to have taken their place. By a Court Roll (9. Richard I., A.D., 1198), it appears that Philip, son of Robert, “put in a plea against Henry Bek, for a Knight’s fee,” _i.e._, a certain portion of land “in Tattershall, Wispington, and Kirkby.” (“Architect S. Journ,” xxiv. pt. i. p. 39). We further find, from “Testa de Nevill,” (p. 335, “Wapentake of Horncastle,”) that Simon de Driby, held, “of the Fee of Tattershall,” (circa A.D. 1215), lands in Kirkby, Waddingworth, Wispington, and other places under Robert of Tattershall; the Wispington portion, therefore, was probably that formerly held by Eudo. When Walter Bek’s sons succeeded to his property, the eldest, Henry, received as his portion the manors of Spilsby, Scrivelsby, Wispington, etc. (Harleian MS., 3720, f. 23.)