2-979-087 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Halstead Hall, near Horncastle, 1857. Possible arson attack. 'About an hour before midnight on Sunday, the 7th of December last, the inhabitants of the village of Stixwould were aroused from sleep by an alarm of fire. The stackyard at Halstead, about three-quarters of a mile from the village, was enveloped in flame, and the produce of more than one hundred acres of valuable corn [ie wheat] was, in a very brief period, completely destroyed...As the wind was almost a hurricane from S.W., and the yard had been fired right in the wind's eye, it was impossible to save more than the two cornstacks, and the fine old barn and outbuildings, which are not shown in the Sketch [of the house before the fire]. A reward of £100 has been offered for the discovery of the incendiary. Hitherto no clue has been found, although Mr. Hitchins, the able Coroner for this part of Lincolnshire, held an inquest, and made a most searching investigation. About thirty years since a burglary with violence was committed at Halstead, which was then in the occupation of Mr. W. Elsey. Three of the offenders were executed, and two transported. Halstead appears in former times to have been a much larger house. It was the residence of the family of Townshend'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.