Haugh

Location

There is nothing much at Haugh (pronounced Huff), except the tiny church of St Leonard and a sixteenth century manor house beside it.   In the Middle Ages the manor of Haugh was owned by the de Hagh family, until they died out and it passed to their descendants the Bolle family sometime in the late fifteenth century.  The church, a simple two cell building, with an early Norman chancel arch and mostly 14th and 15th century masonry, is for the most part a mausoleum to these two local families. 



The floor of the chancel is paved with numerous incised slabs to generations of the de Hagh family, from Richard de Hagh who died in the thirteenth century, to John de Hagh who died in 1458.



On the walls are two alabaster monuments to the Bolles.  To the south an alabaster tablet to Charles Bolle who died in 1591 and on the north the grander monument with kneeling effigies of his son Sir John Bolle, and his family. Sir John Bolle, who died in 1606, was something of an adventurer in his life.  He was an army commander in Ireland under the Earl of Essex and was for a time governor of Kinsale. In 1596 he went with Essex to raid the town of Cadiz in Spain and fell in love with a Spanish lady.  For more about his fascinating story see my article over at the other blog.



On one of my most recent visit to the church I was pleased to meet an American member of the Bolle family, a descendant of Sir John, drawn to the blog entry I had written at Vitrearum's Church Art.  It was great to stand there with him among the graves and monuments of his ancestors. 



There are other things of interest beside the Hagh and Bolle monuments.  Among the incised slabs in the chancel is one to a vicar, Robert de Winceby who died in 1426, it is engraved with a chalice and host.  The fifteenth century font is also worth a close examination, as Pevsner notes, its eight sides are decorated with a veritable pattern book of window tracery.  All together this is a very enjoyable building. 



Access: The church is kept open as are all the churches in the South Ormsby group of parishes.  There is ample parking beside the church.

 If you want to see some more photos of Haugh look on the Flickr page