Trinity was restored in 1904, among other ancient monuments, was found the slab of the tomb of Ralph Ranulph, which is still preserved in the church, along with sculptures commemorative of St. Benedict, St. Martin of Tours, Prior Helias, and others.[1]
Ranulph, by charter of that date, endowed the abbey with two-thirds of the tithes of Ashby; which was further confirmed by charters of 1100, 1125, and 1179. This Ranulph Paganall was Sheriff of Yorkshire. The last known representative of his family was William Paganall, summoned to Parliament as a Baron in the reign of Edward III. Dugdale states[2] that the Priory of the Holy Trinity was made, by its founder, a dependency or cell of the greater monastery (marmonstier) of the above, St. Martin in Touraine; and by the Inquisition, taken at York, 34 Ed. I., it was found that he claimed no portion of the temporalities of the Priory, beyond the right to place an official there, during the vacancy of the priorate, as temporary custodian. The name Paganall became in later times softened into Paynell; they were at one time Lords of Bampton.
At a later period the manor of Ashby, probably with that of Horncastle, belonged to Gerard de Rhodes and his descendant, Ralph; since in a Charter Roll of 14 Henry III. (pt. i, M. 12), we find that King's confirmation of a grant, made by the said Ralph, to Walter, Bishop of Carlisle, of "the manor of Horncastle, with the soke, and the advowsons of the churches, and all other things pertaining to the same in all places," evidently including the churches of the hamlets as well as that of the town. Among the witnesses to this are Gervase, Archdeacon of Carlisle; and Henry de Capella; the latter name being noticeable because, as will be seen below, Ashby was called "Capella."[3]
The Abbey of Kirkstead had a grange in Ashby, which after the dissolution of the monasteries, was granted in the 5th year of Edward VI., to William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Lord High Treasurer of England; this is now part of the Ashby Thorpe estate.[4] In 1820 this was the property of Mr. Joseph Rinder. It is now partly owned by the Booth family, and partly by the Smedley trustees.
The parish is still divided into Far Thorpe, Church Thorpe, and Middle Thorpe. Far Thorpe included the farms held by the late Mr. Griffin and Mr. Addison. Mr. Wattam's house, which is moated, was the old Midthorpe Hall. As being a hamlet of Horncastle, the benefice was formerly called Ashby "Capella," or the Ashby Chapelry; and like Horncastle, Wood Enderby, High Toynton, and Mareham is given in "Liber Regis" as in the patronage of the Bishop of Carlisle. Until recently it was a perpetual curacy, in value about £50 a year; but about 30 years ago, on the enfranchisement of certain episcopal lands, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners endowed it to the extent of £300 a year, and built a substantial vicarage. The patronage is now with the Lord Chancellor by exchange with Kirk Oswald, Cumberland.
The church, All Saints, is of considerable size, being one of the largest village churches in the neighbourhood, mainly in the Perpendicular style, and substantially built, consisting of tower, nave, and chancel, the two latter of the same elevation throughout. The tower has three old bells, and a peal of eight tubular bells. Gervase Holles gives the inscriptions on the bells as being:
