Page:Highways and Byways in Lincolnshire.djvu/203

MAPLETOFT'S INSCRIPTION is, the altar being at the west end. Below the small square bell-cot is a stone bearing this inscription:—

Fui A^o Dni 1398 }
Non Fui 1594 } Domus Dei et Pauperum
Sum 1616 }

Qui hanc Deus hunc destruat.
G.P. 1830.

This means:—

I was in 1398 }
I was not in 1594 } The House of God
I am in 1616 } and of the poor

Whoever destroys this house may God destroy him.

This means that it was founded by De Aston as a chantry and hospital in 1398,^[1] pulled down by Wray in 1594 and rebuilt by Mapletoft in 1661. The mason who carved the date has transposed the two last figures in 1661.

G.P. should be J.P. for John Pretyman, the last "Master."

1. The Hermitage which dated from 1323 was absorbed into the Hospital.