Aylesby Manor. 465 



martello outposts all along the Wash, from Sutton to 

 Fishtoft, where John Conington of Boston, one of the 

 very foremost classical scholars of the century, has 

 just been laid to rest at only 44. It has needed cun- 

 ning chartsmen to map out the shifting channels amid 

 all that treacherous sand ; and we marvel as we read the 

 sea-lore, which tells how " if it be night, you should keep 

 Lynn Well Light E.N.E. until Hunstanton Light ap- 

 pears a deep red, and then anchor in 7 or 8 fathoms," 

 et cetera. Drains and sluices have done a wondrous 

 work on that once dreary level, and made it a land of 

 rich farms and pleasantly-shaded gardens instead of a 



heifers in the herd, to which this tribe has principally contributed 

 females. (8) Kirklevington is represented by the Water Witches, whose 

 dam Water Witch by Fourth Duke of Northumberland was bought at 

 Rev. T. Gator's sale. She had seven females, which have swelled to 

 forty. Baron Warlaby crossed best with this Waterloo tribe, as Van- 

 guard was too big for them. Warrior's Plume by Breast Plate is quite 

 a crack amongst them. (9) Mr. Robson of Cadeby> near Louth, 

 furnished a tribe from Moon Beam and Gold Beam. They are all G's 

 and M's, but the G's are the best of the two. 



The flock consists of 1200 breeding ewes, of which 500 are pure 

 Leicesters, kept entirely at Aylesby. No lean stock is sent to market, 

 the whole of the lambs being fed on the farms, as well as some lean 

 ones in addition, which are bought in the autumn to make up for losses, 

 &c. At Riby the proportion of gimmers annually introduced into the 

 flock is fully one-third ; but at Aylesby it is less, as fine breeding ewes 

 are kept on to an indefinite age. 



In 1848 Mr. Torr succeeded the younger Philip Skipworth (whose 

 father gave 600 guineas for a ram from Leicestershire) in the occupation 

 of Aylesby, and bought the pure Leicestershire flock of 400 ewes for 

 1500?. Since then the tups used have been almost entirely hired from 

 Burgess and Sanday ; one or two others, however, have been obtained 

 from Buckley and Stone. All the new blood has, therefore, been 

 obtained from the purest flocks of Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. 



The letting-books of the last twenty years show how much, and how 

 widely, Aylesby blood is appreciated. A very large number of rams 

 have gone to Ireland, some to France, Australia, and California, and a 

 few even to Jamaica and St. Helena ; while Mr. Torr numbers amongst 

 his home customers residents in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and most of 

 the English counties. 



After Mr. Torr's death the flock and the herd were sold by auction 

 at Aylesby Manor in September, 1875 the ewes averaged just five 

 guineas, and the 17 rams I7/. Js. 6d., but the herd met with an ex- 

 traordinary sale, upwards of three thousand people were present, and 

 the 84 head averaged 5io/. 19*. ; the flock and the herd realising 

 together 44,395^ n j - *>d. HH 



