HOLBEACH, a market-town and parish, in the wapentake
of ELLOE, parts of HOLLAND, county of LINCOLN,
12 miles (S.) from Boston, 42 (S.E.) from Lincoln,
and 106 (N. by E.) from London, containing 3621 inhabitants.
Its ancient name was Oldbeche, so called from
having been built near an old beach which the receding
of the waters had left, as it is evident, from the different
embankments constructed between the Foss-dyke and
the Cross Keys Washes, that all the land in the vicinity
of the town has been once covered by the waters of the
German ocean. Foundations of walls and pavements
have been discovered, and several ancient coins, urns,
and seals, dug up at different periods. The town, which
is situated in a low marshy district, is indifferently
built. The market is on Thursday; and fairs are held,
May 17th and September 17th, for horses and cattle.
Holbeach is within the jurisdiction of a court of requests
for the recovery of debts under £5, held under
the authority of an act passed in the 47th of George HI.,
for the hundred of Elloe.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and
diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's books, at
£20. 5. 10., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Lincoln.
The church, dedicated to All Saints, is a noble
edifice, consisting of a nave, a chancel, a porch, and a
square tower, surmounted by an octangular ornamented
spire; the north porch has two circular towers, with
embattled parapets at its extreme angles. In the church
are some interesting monuments, and an altar-piece representing
our Saviour instituting the Last Supper. The
free grammar school was founded in 1669, by George
Farmer, Esq., who endowed it with lands and tenements
which now let for about £ 140 per annum; it was formerly
held in a part of the church, but in 1807 a new
school-room was built, in which about one hundred and
forty scholars are instructed on Dr. Bell's plan. An hospital
for a warden and fifteen poor persons was founded
near the church, about 1351, by Sir John de Kirketon,
Knt, which was suppressed at the Reformation. This
town is celebrated as the birthplace, or residence, of several
eminent literary characters; amongst whom are,
Dr. William Stukeley, the celebrated antiquary; Henry
Rands, otherwise Holbeach, appointed to the bishoprick
of Lincoln in 154?, and one of the compilers of the
Liturgy. Samuel Frotheringham, a member of the Society
of Friends, died here in 1745; he is said to have
been the first in England who invented a clock with
hands, denoting both the true and the apparent time at
all seasons of the year, according to the eccentricity of
the earth's orbit, and the obliquity of the ecliptic.