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CAMBRIDGE  COUNTY  GEOGRAPHIES 


GOLNSHIRE 


CAMBRIDGE   COUNTY  GEOGRAPHIES 

General  Editor :  F.  H.  H.  GUILLEMARD,  M.A.,  M.D. 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


CAMBRIDGE   UNIVERSITY   PRESS 

FETTER   LANE,    E.G. 
C.   F.   CLAY,   MANAGER 


TOO,  PRINCES   STREET 

Berlin:  A.  ASHER  AND  CO. 

lUtpjifl:    F.  A.  BROCKHAUS 
gorfe:   G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
Calcutta:   MACMILLAN  AND  CO.,  LTD. 


All  rights  reserved 


Gro  v\\  e\Yv^>r  A  ,  V  v-  •  | 

Cambridge   County   Geographies 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


by 


E.    MANSEL   SYMPSON, 

M.A.,    M.D.,    F.S.A. 


With  Maps,  Diagrams  and  Illustrations 


Cambridge  : 
at  the  University   Press  ,• 


"9"3 


TO    MY   WIFE 


Dfl 

t>  70 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

1.  County  and  Shire — The  Word  Lincolnshire        .  i 

2.  General  Characteristics     ...  4 

3.  Size.     Shape.     Boundaries         .          .  . 

4.  Surface  and  General  Features.          .  .10 

5.  Rivers  and  Watersheds   ...  14 

6.  Geology  ......  .26 

7.  Natural  History        ...  .34 

8.  Peregrination  of  the  Coast        .          .          .          .          .41 

9.  Coastal  Gains  and  Losses 47 

10.  Climate    .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .51 

11.  People — Race,  Settlement,  Dialect     .          .          .         -57 

12.  Agriculture — Cultivations,  Stock       ....        64 

13.  Industries  and  Manufactures    .          .          .          .          -73 

14.  Mines  and   Minerals         ......        83 

15.  Fisheries  and  Fishing  Stations  .          .          .          .87 

1 6.  Shipping  and  Trade          ......        90 

17.  History  of  the  County 97 

i  8.  Antiquities — Prehistoric,  Roman,  Saxon    .          .          .112 

19.  Architecture — (a)  Ecclesiastical          .         .          .          .117 

20.  Architecture — (b]   Military         .          .          .          .          .131 

21.  Architecture — (c)   Domestic        .          .          .          .          .138 

22.  Communications:    Past  and  Present  .          .          .      147 

23.  Administration  and  Divisions  .          .          .          .          .154 

24.  The  Roll  of  Honour 158 

25.  The  Chief  Towns  and  Villages  of  Lincolnshire        .      169 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Lincoln  from  the  South-east.     Phot.  S.  Smith   ...          2 
The  Fens  in  Winter.     Phot.  S.  Jepson     .  5 

Iron  Works,  Lincoln         ......  7 

Junction  of  the  Trent,  Ouse,  and  Humber.  Phot.  A.  E. 

Farrants  .........  9 

A  Wold  Farm.  Phot.  E.  Nainby 13 

Tetney  Lock.  Phot.  F.  C.  Cartledge  .  .  .  17 

High  Bridge,  Lincoln.  Phot.  S.  Smith  .  .  .  .21 
The  Welland  at  Spalding.  Phot.  S.  Jepson  .  .  .22 
Torksey  Bridge.  Phot.  S.  Smith  .  .  .  .  .23 
The  Eagre  running  up  the  Trent  at  Gainsborough  .  25 
Bands  of  Gypsum  in  Newton  Cliffs  .  .  .  -27 

Bittern.  Phot.  S.  Smith 37 

Scawby  Gull-Ponds.  Phot.  R.  N.  Lister  .  .  .  -39 
Moorland,  near  Woodhall.  Phot.  Harrison  ...  40 

Skegness.  Phot.  Frith 43 

Sand-hills  and  Foreshore  at  Sutton.     Phot.  A.  James         .        45 
Skating  on  the  Fens.     Phot.  S.  Jepson      .          .          .          -57 
Neolithic  Implement          .          .          .          .          .          .          -59 

Lincolnshire  Red  Shorthorn  Bull.     Phot.  ].  W.  Ruddock        65 
Lincolnshire  Ram.     Phot.  J.  W.  Ruddock         .          .          -67 
Lincolnshire  Shire  Horse  .          .          .          .          .          .68 

The  Woad  Industry:  Balls  drying  in  the  Sheds.  Phot. 

S.  Jepson  .......  .70 

A  Field  of  Tulips  at  Spalding.  Phot.  S.  Jepson  .  .  71 


ILLUSTRATIONS  vii 

PAGE 

Hardwick  Hill .72 

Wildfowling  in  the  Fens.     Phot.  S.  Jepson        .          .          .        76 
Cutting  Reeds  for  Thatching.     Phot.  S.  Jepson          .          .        77 
Iron  Works,  Lincoln        .         .          .          .          .          .          .80 

Iron  Works,  Gainsborough       .          .          .          .          .          .81 

Frodingham  Iron  and  Steel  Works:  Scunthorpe.    Phot.  Frith        84 
Fish-pontoon,  Grimsby.     Phot.  F.  C.  Cartledge          .          .        89 
Grimsby  Docks.     Phot.  C.  S.  Hall    .          .          .          .          .91 

Immingham  Dock,  Grimsby     .          .         .          .          .          .92 

The  Docks,  Boston.     Phot.  Dennis  &  Sons        .          .          -95 
Newport  Arch,  Lincoln.     Phot.  S.   Smith  .          .          .          .        98 

Entrenchment  at  Burnham        .          .          .          .          .          .      101 

Jews'  House,  Lincoln.     Phot.  S.  Smith       .          .          .          .103 

The  Angel  Choir,  Lincoln   Minster.     Phot.   Frith      .          .105 
Bronze  Implements .         .         .          .         .          .          .          .113 

British  Camp  at  Honington.     Phot.  Emary        .          .          .      114 

The  Fossdyke.     Phot.  S.  Smith 116 

Lincoln  Minster:  West  front.  Phot.  S.  Smith  .  .  119 
Parish  Church,  Grantham.  Phot.  Emary  .  .  .171 

Boston  Church.     Phot.  Dennis  &  Sons       .          .          .          -123 

Louth  Church.     Phot.  A.  James 125 

Crowland  Abbey.     Phot.   Frith .          .          .          .          .          .127 

Thornton  Abbey       .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .129 

Lincoln:    the  Castle   Gateway.     Phot.  S.  Smith  .          .      132 

Tattershall  Castle.     Phot.  S.  Smith 135 

St  Mary's  Guild  House,  Lincoln.  Phot.  S.  Smith  .  -139 
Grimsthorpe  Castle.  Phot.  W.  H.  Redstone  &  Sons  .  140 
The  Angel  Hotel,  Grantham.  Phot.  Emary  .  .  .141 
Old  Hall,  Gainsborough.  Phot.  ].  W.  Ruddock  .  .142 
Knaith  Manor  House.  Phot.  W.  K.  Morton  &  Sons  .  144 

Doddington  Hall 146 

Ermine  Street.     Phot.  S.  Smith 148 

Crowland  Abbey  Bridge.     Phot.  Frith       .          .         .          .151 


viii  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

John  Wesley.     Phot.  Emery  Walker          .          .          .          -159 

Sir  Isaac   Newton.     Phot.  Frith 161 

Alfred,  Lord  Tennyson.     Phot.  Emery  Walker          .          -163 
Statue  of  Sir  John  Franklin.     Phot.  W.  K.  Morton  &  Sons      165 
Thomas  Sutton          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .167 

Boston  Grammar  School.     Phot.  Hackford          .          .          .170 
Woolsthorpe  Manor  House       .          .         .          .    .      .          .174 

Grantham:  the  Old  Grammar  School.  Phot  Frith.  .  175 
Lincoln  Minster,  from  the  North-east.  Phot.  S.  Smith  .  179 

Horse  Fair,  Lincoln          . 180 

Somersby  Old  Rectory.  Phot.  Carlton  &  Sons.  .  .185 
St  Mary's  Church  and  Hill,  Stamford.  Phot.  R.  Nichols  186 
The  Church  Walk:  Woodhall  Spa.  Phot.  Harrison  .  190 
Diagrams  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .191 

MAPS 

Lincolnshire,  Physical Front  Cover 

„  Geological Back  Cover 

England  and  Wales,  showing  Annual  Rainfall          .          .        55 

Thanks  are  due  to  Messrs  Clayton  and  Shuttleworth  for  the 
illustration  on  p.  7 ;  to  the  late  Mr  F.  M.  Burton  for  those  on 
pp.  25  and  72;  to  the  Lincoln  Museum  for  those  on  pp.  27,  59 
and  113;  to  Mr  N.  Sutton-Nelthorpe  for  those  on  pp.  39  and  68  ; 
to  Messrs  Ruston  Proctor  and  Co.  and  Messrs  Marshall,  Sons  and 
Co.  for  those  on  pp.  80  and  81  respectively;  to  the  Great  Central 
Railway  Co.  for  that  on  p.  92;  to  the  Rev.  A.  Hunt  for  that  on 
p.  101  ;  to  Mr  Aymer  Vallance  for  that  on  p.  129;  to  the  Rev. 
Canon  Cole  for  that  on  p.  146;  to  Mr  A.  H.  Tod  for  that  on 
p.  167;  to  the  Rev.  G.  E.  Mahon  for  that  on  p.  174  and  to 
Dr  J.  S.  Chater  for  that  on  p.  180. 


i.      County    and    Shire.      The    Word 
Lincolnshire. 

The  word  county  is  derived  from  an  old  French 
word  meaning  a  province  governed  by  a  count  (French), 
or  an  earl  (Saxon)  as  he  was  afterwards  termed,  and  it  is 
applied  generally  to  all  the  provinces  in  England,  parti- 
cularly to  those  which  had  been  separate  kingdoms  in 
Anglo-Saxon  times,  like  Kent. 

The  last  syllable  of  the  word  Lincolnshire  is  of 
Anglo-Saxon  origin,  and  means  a  portion  of  a  state  or 
kingdom — a  part  shorn  or  cut  off — by  this  reminding  us 
that  Lincolnshire  was  once  one  of  the  provinces  of  the 
great  mid-England  kingdom  of  Mercia.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  nearly  all  the  shires  into  which  this  kingdom 
was  divided  have  taken  their  names  from  their  capital 
towns  or  cities,  i.e.  Leicestershire.  Out  of  1 7  shires  thus 
formed  the  only  real  exception  is  Rutland,  for  Cheshire 
is  probably  corrupted  from  Chestershire  and  Shropshire 
from  Scrobbesbury  or  Shrewsbury. 

The  sheriff — the  shire-reeve  or  steward — is  the  king's 
officer  and  his  representative  in  the  shire.  Besides  a  sheriff 
for  the  county,  Lincoln  City  has  one  for  itself,  having 
been  given  the  dignity  of  a  county  in  itself  by  King 

s.  L.  i 


2  LINCOLNSHIRE 

Henry  IV.     The  first  part  of  the  name  of  the  county 
is  of  course  taken  from  the  capital  city  of  Lincolnshire 


Lincoln  from  the  South-east 


—Lincoln.    This  name,  like  the  city  to  which  it  belongs, 
has  a  very  ancient  origin.     By  the  British  the  town  was 


COUNTY  AND   SHIRE  3 

called  Lindon  (Llyn  being  still  the  Welsh  for  a  lake,  and 
dun  or  don  for  a  hill-fort),  meaning  "  the  hill-fort  by  the 
water."  Ptolemy,  writing  about  the  year  A.D.  120,  says 
that  the  two  chief  towns  of  the  Coritani — a  British  tribe 
which  inhabited  the  present  counties  of  Lincolnshire, 
Rutland,  Leicestershire,  and  part  of  Nottinghamshire, 
Warwickshire,  and  Derbyshire — were  Lindum  (a  Latin- 
ized form  of  the  name)  and  Ragae  (Leicester).  After  the 
Roman  conquest  of  this  part  of  Britain  Lindum  became 
a  Roman  fortress  and  later  a  colony,  with  the  title 
Lindum,  or  Lindl  colonla.  By  the  Saxons  it  was  called 
Lindecollinam,  or  Lindocyllanceaster  (ceaster  or  chester 
generally  indicating  Roman  stone  fortifications).  By  the 
Normans  writing  in  Latin  it  was  named  Lincolnia,  but  in 
Norman-French  Nicole  (a  curious  instance  of  the  trans- 
position of  letters)  as  late  as  the  time  of  King  Edward  IV, 
and  the  same  applied  to  the  name  of  the  county,  called  by 
the  Normans  Nicoleshire,  though  Domesday  Book  calls  it 
Lincolescire.  The  division  of  this  country  into  counties 
or  shires  probably  began  before  the  time  of  King  Alfred, 
and  was  completed  when  the  kingdom  of  King  Edgar 
brought  all  divisions  of  the  people  under  one  rule.  Lin- 
colnshire would  thus  be  separated  off  from  Mercia,  which 
got  its  name  from  bordering  on  the  Marches  or  frontiers 
of  Wales. 

Lincolnshire  was,  possibly  from  about  the  same  time, 
subdivided  into  three,  called  The  Parts  of  Lindsey, 
The  Parts  of  Kesteven,  and  The  Parts  of  Holland.  Of 
these  the  first,  Lindsey  (in  Domesday  Book  Lindesie), 
gets  its  name  either  from  Lincoln,  or  as  being  the  eye  or 

1—2 


4  LINCOLNSHIRE 

island  of  the  Lindissi  who  inhabited  it.  It  occupies  about 
the  northern  half  of  the  county,  and  according  to  Domes- 
day Book,  it  again  was  subdivided  into  three  Redings  or 
Ridings  (i.e.  thirdings) — North,  South,  and  West.  The 
second  division,  Kesteven  (in  Domesday  Chetsteven),  takes 
the  south-western  quarter,  and  its  name  is  believed  to  be 
derived  from  Coedstefne,  "  the  wood  jutting  out  into  the 
fen."  The  third,  Holland  (in  Domesday  Hoiland),  takes 
the  remaining  south-eastern  quarter,  and  signifies,  as  does 
its  namesake  across  the  North  Sea,  "  the  hollow  land,"  as 
being  below  the  level  of  the  sea  in  many  parts. 


2.     General  Characteristics. 

Lincolnshire — situated  on  the  east  coast  of  England 
a  little  north  of  its  middle  point — is  a  maritime  county 
with  a  most  important  estuary  on  the  north,  the  Humber, 
wherein  is  her  greatest  port,  Great  Grimsby,  possibly  the 
largest  fishing  port  in  the  world,  and  a  lesser  and  much 
shallower  one  on  the  south,  the  Wash,  where  is  her  lesser 
port,  Boston.  These  two  ports  furnish  practically  all  the 
harbours  she  has  along  her  85  miles  of  coast,  or  117  if 
we  measure  from  the  junction  of  the  Trent,  Ouse,  and 
Humber  to  the  beginning  of  the  Norfolk  coast.  Flat 
and  low  though  that  coast  may  be,  guarded  by  "  a  sand- 
built  ridge  of  heaped  hills  that  mind  the  sea,"  still  there 
is  a  fascination  in  the  great  extent  of  yellow  sands  exposed 
by  her  shallow  seas,  just  as  there  is  a  recompense  for  the 
level  plain  of  marsh  or  fen  in  the  vast  expanse  of  sky 


GENERAL  CHARACTERISTICS  5 

where  dawn  or  sunset  are  seen  at  their  finest.  As  Charles 
Kingsley  says,  speaking  of  these  very  fens,  in  Hereward 
the  Wake,  "They  have  a  beauty  of  their  own,  these  great 
fens,  even  now  when  they  are  dyked  and  drained,  tilled 
and  fenced — a  beauty  as  of  the  sea,  of  boundless  expanse 
and  freedom."  And  after  an  exquisite  appreciation  of 


The  Fens  in  Winter:    Cowbit  Wash,  near  Spalding 

the  fen  in  Norman  times  he  adds,  "  Overhead  the  arch 
of  heaven  spreads  more  ample  than  elsewhere,  as  over 
the  open  sea  ;  and  that  vastness  gave,  and  still  gives, 
such  cloudlands,  such  sunrises,  such  sunsets,  as  can  be 
seen  nowhere  else  within  these  isles."  And  the  views 
are  indeed  marvellous  ;  from  Alkborough  over  the 
junction  of  the  Trent  and  Ouse  to  the  Humber,  from 


6  LINCOLNSHIRE 

the  Wolds  above  Caistor  westwards  towards  Lincoln, 
from  Lincoln  eastwards  to  those  same  Wolds,  or  west- 
wards to  the  hills  of  Nottinghamshire  and  the  mountains 
of  Derbyshire,  or  looking  eastwards  from  the  edge  of  the 
"  high  Wold  "  over  the  great  plain  of  marsh, 

"  That  sweeps  with  all  its  autumn  bowers, 
And  crowded  farms,  and  lessening  towers 
To  mingle  with  the  bounding  main." 

Lincolnshire  is  pre-eminently  an  agricultural  county. 
Camden,  writing  in  1590,  describes  the  county  as  of  "a 
most  mild  climate  fit  for  corn  and  cattle,  adorned  with 
numerous  towns,  and  watered  by  several  rivers."  The 
farms  on  the  Heath,  the  Cliff,  the  Wolds,  and  the  Fens 
are  examples  of  first-rate  cultivation  of  the  soil  in  corn 
and  roots,  while  the  neighbourhood  of  Boston  is  well 
known  for  its  potatoes  and  growth  of  mustard  for  seed, 
and  the  Isle  of  Axholme  for  vegetables.  The  Marsh  fur- 
nishes one  of  the  very  best  grazing  lands  in  the  country. 
The  Lincolnshire  red  shorthorn  forms  a  distinct  and 
valuable  kind  of  cattle,  the  Lincolnshire  sheep  is  of  large 
size  with  a  heavy  fleece,  while  the  reputation  of  its  horses 
at  Horncastle  and  Lincoln  fairs  has  been  excellent  for  many 
years. 

Lincolnshire  is  also  a  great  industrial  county.  The  engi- 
neering works  at  Lincoln,  Gainsborough,  and  Grantham, 
giving  employment  to  many  thousands  of  workmen,  are 
famed  for  all  kinds  of  agricultural  machinery,  as  well  as  for 
that  used  in  milling  and  mining.  At  Scunthorpe  are  large 
and  important  iron  mines  and  smelting  works.  Steam 


GENERAL   CHARACTERISTICS  7 

mills  for  corn  surround  Brayford  Pool  in  Lincoln,  where, 
as  at  Gainsborough,  are  large  cake  mills  and  wood- 
works, while  Sleaford  has  the  largest  malt-houses  in 
the  country. 


Iron  Works,  Lincoln 


3.     Size.     Shape.    Boundaries. 

Lincolnshire  is  the  second  largest  county  in  England, 
its  area  comprising  1,705,293  acres.  It  takes  position 
between  Yorkshire  (with  the  enormous  acreage  of 
3,889,758  acres)  and  Devonshire  (with  an  acreage  of 
1,671,364),  and  it  has  a  population  of  563,960. 


8  LINCOLNSHIRE 

John  Speed,  writing  in  1627,  quaintly  remarks: 
"The  forme  of  this  County  doth  somewhat  resemble  the 
body  of  a  Lute,  whose  East  Coasts  lye  bowe-like  into 
the  German  Ocean."  Fuller,  in  1662,  compares  it  to 
"  a  bended  bow,  the  sea  making  the  back,  the  rivers 
Welland  and  Humber  the  two  horns  thereof,  whilst 
Trent  hangeth  down  like  a  broken  string,  as  being 
somewhat  of  the  shortest."  The  shape  of  Lincolnshire 
might  also  be  likened  to  a  pear,  with  one-third  of  its 
western  side  sliced  off,  and  with  the  tail  turned  up  to 
join  Norfolk  and  form  part  of  the  southern  boundary 
of  the  Wash. 

Measuring  from  the  northernmost  projection  into 
the  Humber  to  the  southernmost  part  of  the  boundary 
at  Stamford  its  length  is  about  75  miles,  and  its  breadth 
from  the  easternmost  point  at  Ingoldmells  on  the  east 
coast  to  the  Nottinghamshire  county  border  at  North 
Scarle  on  the  west  is  about  47  miles. 

Its  boundaries  are  natural  ones  for  the  greater  part. 
It  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  river  Humber;  on 
the  east  by  the  North  Sea;  on  the  south  by  various 
drains  and  the  river  Welland  dividing  it  from  Norfolk, 
Cambridgeshire,  and  Northamptonshire;  and  on  the  west 
by  an  artificial  border-line  between  it  and  Rutland, 
Leicestershire,  and  Nottinghamshire.  Higher  up,  the 
river  Trent  bounds  West  Lindsey,  while  the  Isle  of 
Axholme  is  separated  from  Yorkshire  chiefly  by  an 
artificial  and  exceedingly  irregular  boundary  line.  This 
part  of  the  county  appears,  on  the  map,  as  if  it  must 
have  been  captured  for  Lincolnshire  from  the  old  royal 


I 

&  s 


• 

§   s: 


10  LINCOLNSHIRE 

forest  of  Hatfield  Chase  in  Yorkshire,  as  it  is  on  the 
west  side  of  what,  obviously,  is  the  natural  boundary. 
On  the  other  hand  Nottinghamshire  appears  to  "  cut  a 
monstrous  cantle  out"  of  Lincolnshire  on  the  east  side 
of  the  Trent  between  Newark  and  Newton-on-Trent, 
of  which  the  north-easternmost  point  actually  comes 
within  five  miles  of  Lincoln.  Some  authorities  have 
believed  that  Newark  and  its  wapentake  were  wrenched 
away  from  Lincolnshire  about  the  time  of  King  Alfred, 
and,  in  this  connection,  it  is  interesting  to  notice  the 
fact  that,  in  the  later  years  of  Remigius,  first  Norman 
Bishop  of  Lincoln,  the  Archbishop  of  York  claimed  a 
large  part  of  the  provinces  of  Lindsey,  with  Lincoln, 
Louth,  Stow,  and  Newark,  as  properly  subject  to  his 
sway. 


4.     Surface  and  General  Features. 

The  surface  of  our  county  is  marked  by  two  long 
lines  of  hills,  the  Cliff  (or  Heath)  and  the  Wolds.  There 
is  also  a  vast  tract  of  Fen,  a  word  now  used  to  denote 
land  which  is  or  has  been  overflowed  by  fresh  water,  and 
a  wide  belt  of  Marsh,  a  term  in  Lincolnshire  applied  to 
land  which  has  been  or  is  liable  to  be  overflowed  by 
sea-water. 

The  Cliff,  which  is  of  oolite  limestone,  reaches  from 
Winteringham  on  the  Humber,  in  a  course  almost  due 
south,  to  Grantham  and  the  southern  limits  of  Lincoln- 
shire. It  has  a  general  elevation  of  some  2OO  feet,  and 


SURFACE  AND  GENERAL  FEATURES  11 

has  a  fairly  sharp  escarpment  rising  100  feet  or  more 
above  the  western  plain.  For  most  of  the  distance  this 
western  plain  is  the  valley  of  the  Trent,  which  has  but  low 
banks,  save  those  of  New  Red  Sandstone  at  Gainsborough 
and  Newton,  on  the  eastern  or  right  bank. 

The  Cliff  is  interrupted  by  the  great  gap  at  Lincoln, 
and  again  by  the  lesser  one  at  Ancaster,  where  its  height 
has  risen  to  nearly  400  feet.  It  is  here  called  "the  Heath," 
and  its  western  borders  are  known  as  the  Vale  of  Belvoir. 
Broadening  out  before  reaching  Grantham  it  attains,  near 
Wyville  and  Buckminster,  its  greatest  elevation  of  500 
feet.  The  little  Witham  valley  is  picturesque  and  well 
wooded  by  Easton  and  North  Stoke  Rochford  Parks. 
This  range  of  the  Cliff  is  really  the  edge  of  an  inclined 
tableland  which  slopes  gently  eastward,  in  Lindsey  to 
meet  the  rising  Wolds,  and  in  Kesteven  to  the  Fens,  the 
parts  between  Grantham,  Sleaford,  Bourne  and  Stamford 
being  particularly  well  wooded .  and  picturesque. 

Another  range  of  Cliff  is  found  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Trent  at  Alkborough ;  here  it  is  about  200  feet  high, 
with  woods  sloping  steeply  down  to  the  river.  The 
formation  is  of  the  New  Red  Sandstone.  Much  of  this 
part  of  the  county  was  a  sandy  waste,  given  up  to  rabbit 
warrens.  At  Scawby  gull-ponds  the  scenery  might  pass 
for  Scottish,  from  the  sandy  undulations  round  the  lake 
and  the  abundance  of  pine  trees. 

The  chalk  Wolds  stretch  from  Barton-on-Humber 
and  South  Ferriby  in  a  south-easterly  direction  for  nearly 
50  miles,  with  an  average  width  of  about  eight  miles, 
widening  as  they  proceed,  to  Burgh  and  Spilsby.  The 


12  LINCOLNSHIRE 

highest  point  is  probably  just  above  Normanby,  548  feet, 
though  a  fair  acreage  is  above  the  400  feet  level.  They 
consist  of  great  rolling  downs,  intersected  with  deep 
valleys.  Near  Brocklesby  they  are  well  wooded,  as 
Pelham  Pillar  was  erected  to  record  the  planting  of 
12,552,700  trees  between  the  years  1787  and  1823  by 
the  Lord  Yarborough  of  that  date.  In  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Somersby,  Tennyson's  birth-place,  there  is  a  fair 
amount  of  wooded  country,  and  one  of  the  most  charming 
valleys,  Well  Vale,  is  close  to  Alford.  The  farms  on  the 
Wolds  are  of  great  size  ;  possibly  the  largest  is  at  Withcall, 
which  runs  to  2750  acres. 

Three  miles  south-east  of  Lincoln,  at  the  village  of 
Washingborough,  begin  the  Fens,  marked  by  the  black 
peaty  soil1.  Hence  they  stretch  southwards  and  south- 
eastwards  to  Boston,  Spalding,  and  Cambridge.  A  little 
piece  of  true  unreclaimed  fen  remains  near  Dogdyke, 
but  all  the  rest  are  drained,  almost  too  well,  as  they  are 
sometimes  short  of  water  in  the  summer.  The  numerous 
dykes  take  the  place  of  hedges,  which  are  comparatively 
rare.  Wheat,  beans,  and  roots  all  grow  finely  on  this 
soil,  and  near  Boston  potatoes  and  mustard  grown  for 
seed.  The  names  along  the  Witham  ending  in  ey,  such 
as  Bardn^y  and  Southing,  show  the  islands  which  alone 
could  have  been  inhabited  amidst  the  surrounding  swamp 
in  the  pre-drainage  days. 

The  Marsh  is  a  strip  of  land  between  the  Wolds  and 

1  Occasionally  in  dry  seasons  this  underlying  peat  takes  fire  and  is 
difficult  to  put  out,  as  happened  on  the  edge  of  a  dyke  in  Branston  Fen  in 
August,  1911. 


14  LINCOLNSHIRE 

the  North  Sea.  It  is  alluvial  in  origin,  its  width  varies 
from  six  to  10  miles,  and  it  reaches  from  below  Grimsby 
to  Skegness.  It  is  protected  from  the  sea  only  by  sand- 
dunes,  covered  with  swordgrass  and  the  spiky  sallow-thorn, 
with  its  grey  green  leaves,  and  berries  of  a  warm  orange 
colour  in  autumn.  At  Marsh  Chapel  and  North  Somer- 
cotes,  it  has  been  enlarged  by  the  draining  and  capture 
from  the  sea  of  the  salt  fitties  (this  being  an  old  Norse 
word  for  the  out-marshes  between  the  sea-bank  and  the 
sea).  This  is  Tennyson's 

"  Waste  enormous  marsh 
Where  from  the  frequent  bridge 
The  trenched  waters  run  from  sky  to  sky." 

Much  of  it  is  first-rate  grazing  ground  for  sheep  and 
cattle,  and  rich  crops  of  wheat,  large  eared  and  long 
stemmed,  are  raised. 

The  Isle  of  Axholme,  almost  a  dead  level,  has  been 
carefully  drained,  and  is  enriched  by  warping  (which  will 
be  further  alluded  to  in  a  later  portion  of  this  book).  The 
hills  round  Epworth  contain  gypsum  and  belong  to  the 
New  Red  Sandstone  formation. 


5.     Rivers  and  Watersheds. 

The  rivers  of  this  county,  with  one  exception — the 
Trent — are  small  and  slow.  Macaulay  poured  righteous 
scorn  on  the  line  "  Streams  meander  level  with  their 
fount "  as  an  impossible  feat,  but  the  Witham  comes  a 
little  near  the  poet's  description  between  Lincoln  and 


RIVERS   AND  WATERSHEDS  15 

Boston,  as  the  level  of  Brayford  is  only  16  feet  .above 
the  sea.  In  their  earlier  miles  some  of  the  rivers  are 
lively  streams,  and  afford  good  trout  fishing;  to  their 
more  sluggish  later  portions  come  thousands  weekly, 
for  coarse  fishing,  from  the  large  industrial  cities  of 
Yorkshire.  The  celebrity  of  the  Witham  for  pike  has 
been  hymned  by  Spenser  and  Drayton,  and  there  was  an 
old  and  popular  saying, 

Wytham  eel  and  Ancum  [Ancholme]  pike 
In  all  the  world  there  is  none  syke. 

We  will  begin  with  those  rivers  which  arise  within 
the  county.  There  is  a  watershed  on  the  Cliff,  about 
three  miles  south  of  the  cross-road  between  Gainsborough 
and  Market  Rasen,  and  about  a  mile  eastwards  of  the 
Ermine  Street,  the  great  North  Road  from  Lincoln  to 
the  Humber.  The  river  Ancholme  from  the  village  of 
Spridlington  is  joined  at  Bishop's  Bridge  by  the  little. river 
Rase,  which  rises  in  the  heart  of  the  Wolds  at  Bully 
Hill,  and  runs  west  past  Tealby  and  Bayons  Manor,  the 
handsome  modern  castle  of  the  Tennyson  D'Eyncourts, 
through  the  three  Rasens — Market,  Middle,  and  West — 
to  which  it  gives  its  name.  From  Bishop's  Bridge  the 
Ancholme  proceeds  almost  due  north,  through  low-lying 
fields  called  carrs  (car  —  fen),  to  fall  into  the  Humber  at 
Ferriby  Sluice,  Brigg  (properly  Glanford  Brigg)  being 
the  only  place  of  any  importance  on  its  way.  It  thus 
serves  the  useful  purpose  of  draining  the  valley  between 
the  Cliff  on  the  west  and  the  Wolds  on  the  east.  For 
its  last  1 6  miles  a  new  straight  course  has  been  cut,  called 


16  LINCOLNSHIRE 

the  New  Ancholme  river,  which  for  five  miles  north  of 
Brigg  is  accompanied  by  another  dyke,  the  Weir  Dyke. 
Continual  complaints  of  the  damage  done  to  the  drainage 
of  the  Ancholme  valley  seem  to  have  been  made  from 
the  time  of  King  Edward  I  onwards,  and  in  the  2ist  year 
of  Charles  I's  reign  Sir  John  Monson  undertook  to 
drain  this  area.  This  apparently  was  well  done,  but 
spoilt  during  the  great  civil  war — according  to  the  account 
given  by  Dugdale — by  the  works  being  neglected,  the 
drains  filled  up,  and  the  sluices  damaged.  Improvements 
were  made  in  the  reign  of  King  George  III,  and  others 
about  the  year  1826  and  afterwards. 

Rising  from  one  source  in  Hackthorn  within  a  mile  or 
two  of  that  of  the  Ancholme,  and  from  another  in  Busling- 
thorpe,  the  Langworth  river,  about  nine  miles  long,  runs 
south  past  Snarford,  through  Langworth  (having  got 
accessory  streams  from  Welton  and  Dunholme,  and  from 
Riseholme  and  Sudbrook  lakes,  and  others  from  the 
western  slopes  of  the  Wolds),  past  the  site  of  the  once 
powerful  and  important  Abbey  of  Barlings,  to  join  the 
Witham,  about  seven  miles  east  of  Lincoln,  close  to  a 
pumping  station  called  Short  Ferry.  In  the  village  of 
Ludford,  six  miles  east  of  Market  Rasen,  the  river 
Bain  has  its  source,  and  for  some  13  or  14  miles  runs 
nearly  south  to  Horncastle,  part  of  whose  Roman  name, 
Banova\\umy  came  from  the  stream.  It  passes  en  route 
the  picturesque  villages  of  Burgh  and  Donington,  and  the 
parks  of  Girsby  and  Biscathorpe.  From  Horncastle,  for 
the  10  miles  to  the  Witham,  an  attempt  was  made  at  the 
beginning  of  the  last  century  to  render  it  navigable.  Its 


RIVERS   AND  WATERSHEDS  17 

course  is  south  with  a  slight  curve  to  the  west,  passing 
near  to  Scrivelsby  Court  (the  home  of  the  Champions  of 
England,  the  Dymokes),  Kirkby,  the  woods  of  Tumby, 
the  parish  and  village  of  Coningsby,  with  its  fine  church 
tower,  and  Tattershall  church  and  castle.  The  Bain  falls 
into  the  Witham  at  Dogdyke  (originally  Dock  Dyke). 
The  Horncastle  Canal,  which  leaves  it  at  Tattershall, 
joins  the  Witham  about  two  miles  farther  east.  The 


Tetney  Lock 

other  main  watersheds  of  the  county  are  formed  by  the 
line  of  the  chalk  Wolds  extending  from  the  Humber  at 
Ferriby  south-eastwards  for  50  miles  as  far  as  Spilsby, 
and  by  the  line  of  oolite  limestone  Cliff  running  almost 
due  north  and  south  from  the  Humber  at  Winteringham 
to  below  Grantham. 

The  streams  to  the  north  and  east  of  the  Wolds  are 
not  of  much  importance.  The  river  Lud  (which  gives 

s.  L.  2 


18  LINCOLNSHIRE 

its  name  to  Louth)  rises  in  Withcall,  runs  through  Louth, 
and  by  a  devious  course  past  the  site  of  Louth  Abbey, 
Alvingham,  Conisholme,  and  North  Somercotes,  finds  its 
way  into  the  sea  a  little  north  of  Donna  Hook  coastguard 
station,  at  Grainthorpe  Haven.  About  three  miles  north 
of  this  opening  is  Tetney  Haven,  where  the  Louth 
Navigation  canal — made  in  1763  from  Louth — joins  the 
sea,  having  left  the  river  Lud  at  Alvingham.  Through 
the  marsh  lying  between  the  Wolds  and  the  sea  flow 
various  other  streams  which  generally  have  been  dealt 
with  as  land  drains,  carefully  embanked  and  their  course 
straightened,  as  they  approach  the  coast.  The  river 
Steeping,  at  its  source  called  Lynn,  runs  south-eastwards 
between  two  spurs  of  the  Wolds,  one  ending  at  Spilsby, 
and  the  other  at  Welton-le-Marsh,  and  reaches  the  sea  at 
Gibraltar  Point. 

The  same  line  of  east  to  west  watershed  holds  good, 
as  was  noticed  when  speaking  of  the  Ancholme,  with 
regard  to  the  streams  on  the  western  side  of  the  Cliff 
from  the  Humber  to  Lincoln.  North  of  a  line  from 
Market  Rasen  to  Gainsborough,  these,  like  the  river  Eau 
and  Bottesford  Beck,  run  westwards  into  the  Trent,  or, 
like  Winterton  Beck,  northwards  into  the  Humber.  Below 
this  line,  at  Corringham,  is  the  origin  of  the  little  river 
Till,  which  proceeding  southwards  and  eastwards  joins 
the  Fossdyke  (the  Roman  canal  between  Lincoln  and 
the  Trent)  at  a  point  about  four  miles  west  of  Lincoln, 
where  is  a  farm  with  the  Scandinavian-sounding  name  of 
Odde  or  Hadde. 

The  Witham  is  the  largest  and  most  important  of  the 


RIVERS  AND  WATERSHEDS  19 

purely  Lincolnshire  rivers,  being  about  70  miles  in  length, 
and  draining  on  its  way  to  Lincoln  the  flat  country 
between  the  edge  of  the  Cliff  and  the  Trent,  and  on  its 
way  to  Boston  the  great  expanse  of  fen,  altogether  about 
1070  square  miles,  of  which  414,988  acres  are  highlands, 
and  265,404  fen  land.  Its  course  may  be  compared  to  the 
shape  of  a  horseshoe,  one  end  of  which  is  at  South  Witham, 
10  miles  south  of  Grantham,  whence  it  starts,  the  middle 
of  the  rounded  top  at  Lincoln,  and  the  other  end  at 
Boston,  where  it  joins  the  sea.  After  leaving  South 
Witham,  it  passes  between  Woolsthorpe  (in  whose  manor 
house  Sir  Isaac  Newton  was  born)  and  Colsterworth, 
between  the  two  fine  Elizabethan  houses,  Easton  and 
Stoke  Rochford,  and  past  Great  Ponton,  whose  striking 
west  tower,  built  in  1519,  must  be  well  known  to  the 
passengers  by  the  Great  Northern  line.  After  leaving 
Grantham  it  proceeds  northwards,  skirting  the  pleasant 
woods  of  Belton  and  Syston,  till  it  is  confronted  with  the 
hill  on  which  Hough  stands,  and  whence  the  little  river 
Brant  starts.  Here  it  turns  westwards  to  West  borough, 
near  which  it  is  joined  by  the  Foston  Beck,  coming 
from  Denton  reservoir,  and  at  Long  Bennington  bends 
northwards  again  to  Claypole,  where  a  fourteenth  century 
bridge  was  destroyed  by  a  Rural  District  Council  in 
1905.  Just  by  Hough  may  be  noticed  a  sudden  drop 
in  the  Cliff  of  some  200  feet,  leaving  a  gap  leading 
through  to  Ancaster  and  Sleaford.  It  is  quite  likely  that 
the  original  course  of  the  Witham  here  turned  eastwards 
through  this  gap  and  so  to  the  sea.  Passing  from 
Claypole  by  Barnby,  Norton  Disney  (the  home  of  the 

2 — 2 


20  LINCOLNSHIRE 

St  Vincents)  and  Aubourn  (not  "  the  loveliest  village 
of  the  plain,"  but  still  quite  sufficiently  attractive),  it  is 
joined  by  the  Brant  and  goes  northwards  to  Lincoln, 
where  it  runs  into  Brayford,  the  pool  below  the  hill 
(representing  a  huge  lake  or  morass  of  earlier  times), 
which  is  joined  to  the  Trent  by  the  Fossdyke,  the  canal 
made  by  the  Romans  and  restored  by  Henry  I.  From 
Brayford  it  turns  sharply  to  the  right,  flows  through  the 
city  of  Lincoln,  passing  beneath  the  medieval  High 
Bridge,  with  its  picturesque  half-timbered  houses  on  the 
western  side,  and,  practically  canalised,  runs  for  about 
30  miles  through  the  Fen  to  its  outlet  in  Boston  Deeps, 
passing  the  sites  of  the  once  important  monasteries  of 
Bardney  and  Kirkstead,  the  castle  of  Tattershall,  and 
Boston  with  its  splendid  church  and  noble  tower. 
It  is  joined  on  its  way  by  many  streams,  of  which  one, 
the  Sleaford  river,  runs — as  Kyme  Eau — to  Chapel  Hill. 
Possibly  another  route  for  the  Witham  was  across  from 
Dogdyke  to  Wainfleet ;  but  at  all  events  by  1240  it 
must  have  run  to  Boston,  as  there  are  extant  notices  as 
to  its  banks.  The  tide  flowed  as  far  as  Lincoln,  raising 
the  water  at  Swanpool  two  feet,  till  in  the  year  1500 
Mayhowe  Hake,  an  engineer  of  Gravelines,  was  ordered 
to  make  a  sluice  at  Boston  to  stop  it.  Another  sluice 
was  made  in  1543  at  Langrick,  and  there  are  now  others 
at  Bardney  and  Lincoln. 

The  Glen  is  about  3 1  miles  long  and  rises  at  Somerby, 
near  Grantham.  Passing  southwards  it  skirts  Bourne  and 
passes  through  Deeping  Fen,  through  Pinchbeck,  north  of 
Spalding  and  Surfleet,  to  join  the  Welland  at  the  Reservoir. 


High  Bridge,  Lincoln 


22 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


The  Welland  enters  Lincolnshire  at  Stamford,  runs 
through  Market  Deeping  between  Peakirk  (where  St 
Guthlac's  sister  had  a  cell)  and  Deeping  St  James,  and 
thence  past  Crowland  Abbey  and  Spalding,  to  fall  into 
the  Wash  at  Fossdyke. 

The   river   Nene   only   belongs   to   this   county  from 


The  Welland  at  Spalding 

Tydd  St  Mary's  to  its  entry  into  the  Wash,  having  passed 
under  Sutton  bridge.  The  scene  of  King  John's  disaster 
with  his  baggage  is  between  the  bridge  and  the  Wash. 

The  Trent  is,  of  course,  far  the  most  important  river 
which  is  connected  with  the  county  and  does  not  rise  in 
it.  Its  source  is  on  the  northern  border  of  Staffordshire, 
whence  it  flows  by  Derbyshire,  Leicestershire,  and 


RIVERS   AND   WATERSHEDS  23 

Nottinghamshire  to  our  western  border.  Its  course  is 
almost  directly  northwards  from  Newark,  and  it  begins 
to  form  the  western  boundary  of  Lincolnshire  just  south 
of  Dunham  Bridge  and  Newton.  The  cliffs  here,  of 
New  Red  Sandstone,  are  very  picturesque,  and  much 
picnicking  goes  on  during  the  summer.  Some  four  or 


Torksey  Bridge 

five  miles  further  down  the  river  is  Torksey,  the  ancient 
Tiovulfingcester,  where  the  Fossdyke  joins  the  Trent. 
Further  still  on  the  right  is  Marton,  with  the  Roman 
road,  Tillbridge  Lane,  and  Littleborough,  the  Roman 
Segelocum,  on  the  left.  Some  picturesque  windings  lead 
past  Knaith,  the  birthplace  of  Thomas  Sutton,  founder  of 
the  Charterhouse,  and  Lea,  the  home  of  our  distinguished 


24  LINCOLNSHIRE 

antiquary,  the  late  Sir  Charles  Anderson,  to  Gainsborough 
(the  St  Ogg's  of  The  Mill  on  the  Floss).  Here  the  right 
bank  is  high  and  wooded,  and  has  a  Danish  encampment 
on  it.  A  little  below  Stockwith,  where  the  river  Idle 
falls  into  the  Trent,  the  county  boundary  line  leaves  the 
Trent  in  order  to  include  the  Isle  of  Axholme,  and  goes 
westwards  as  far  as  Wroot  and  then  northwards  and  back 
to  the  Trent  just  at  its  junction  with  the  Ouse  to  form 
the  Humber,  so  that  the  rest  of  the  river's  course  is  within 
the  county.  At  Owston  (anciently  Kinnaird's)  Ferry  is 
the  site  of  the  castle  of  the  powerful  Mowbrays,  Dukes  of 
Norfolk.  At  Althorpe  and  Gunness  the  Trent  is  crossed  by 
the  railway  line  from  Grimsby  to  Doncaster,  and  another 
— the  New  Idle — river  runs  into  it.  After  passing  Am- 
cotts  (of  which  the  Amcotts  family  are  still  lords  of  the 
manor),  the  hills  now  rise  some  200  feet  and  come  closer 
to  the  river,  and  from  Burton  Stather  (the  latter  word, 
of  Scandinavian  origin  meaning  a  landing  stage)  to  Alk- 
borough  the  Cliff  is  steep  and  well  wooded.  At  Trent 
Falls  the  river  finally  joins  the  Ouse,  and  the  two  form 
the  Humber. 

There  are  good  reasons  for  thinking  that  the  course  of 
the  river  just  described,  from  close  to  Newark  to  the 
Humber,  was  not  the  original  course  in  pre-Glacial  times. 
A  direct  prolongation  of  its  course  from  Newark  would 
point  to  the  great  gap  in  the  cliff  at  Lincoln,  through 
which  the  Witham  now  flows.  Again,  along  this  track 
gravels  are  found,  distinctly  of  river  origin,  and  derived 
from  the  pebble  beds  beyond  Newark  on  the  west.  Also, 
a  more  powerful  agent  than  the  river  Witham  is  or  ever 


26  LINCOLNSHIRE 

has  been,  must  be  sought  for  to  make  such  a  gap,  and  the 
Trent,  with  its  hill  source  and  rush  of  many  tributaries, 
seems  the  only  likely  river  near  and  powerful  enough  to 
have  done  the  work.  The  Trent  is  navigable  for  vessels 
drawing  2O  feet  of  water  as  far  as  Gainsborough,  and  at 
certain  seasons  there  is  a  tidal  wave,  called  in  Lincolnshire 
the  Eagre  (a  Saxon  word),  which  runs  up  some  14  miles 
past  that  town. 

6.     Geology. 

If  we  turn  to  the  geological  map  at  the  end  of  this 
volume  we  find  that  the  various  strata  occurring  in 
Lincolnshire  run  in  a  line  roughly  from  north  to  south. 
This  is  what  in  geology  is  termed  their  "strike."  Their 
"  dip "  or  slope  is  towards  the  east,  each  stratum  being 
overlaid  in  turn  by  the  newer  one,  so  that  the  oldest  rocks 
are  on  the  western  side  of  the  county.  In  Lincolnshire, 
on  the  surface,  there  are  no  traces  of  any  rocks  older 
than  the  Secondary  or  Mesozoic  Group,  except  in  the 
form  of  erratic  blocks  or  boulders  of  granite  brought  by 
glacial  action  from  Scandinavia  or  the  mountains  of  the 
Lake  district.  On  the  west  of  the  county  a  patch  in 
the  Isle  of  Axholme,  and  a  long  strip  running  north  and 
south  from  near  the  Humber  to  Newark  and  Nottingham, 
represents  the  New  Red  Sandstone  or  Keuper  marl.  This 
layer  of  rock  has  been  laid  down  by  successive  deposits 
in  a  vast  inland  sea  which  gradually  became  salt,  like  the 
Dead  Sea  in  the  Holy  Land.  Gypsum  or  sulphate  of 
lime  was  also  deposited  in  this  bed,  and  it  unfortunately 


O 


28  LINCOLNSHIRE 

was  found  to  impregnate  the  water  from  a  very  deep 
boring  (2200  feet)  at  Lincoln  so  strongly  as  to  render  it 
unfit  for  ordinary  use.  This  boring  passed  through  23  feet 
of  surface  beds  of  soil,  peat,  sand,  and  gravel,  641  feet 
of  lias,  plentiful  in  fossils,  52  feet  of  Rhaetic  beds  also 
fossiliferous,  868  feet  of  Keuper  marl,  grey,  green,  red,  and 
purple  with  bands  of  gypsum  (such  as  are  seen  in  Newton 
Cliffs  in  the  illustration  on  p.  27)  and  638  feet  of  the 
New  Red  Sandstone,  into  the  pebble  beds.  The  deposit 
of  salt  and  brine  whence  the  celebrated  Woodhall  water 
comes  was  probably  produced  in  a  similar  way.  This 
Keuper  marl  has  not  much  in  the  way  of  fossils  till 
the  next  layer  is  met — that  of  the  Rhaetic  bed  (so-called 
from  the  Rhaetian  Alps  of  Bavaria).  This  is  full  of 
fossils,  especially  remains  of  fish.  Evidently  an  invasion  of 
this  inland  sea  by  salt  water  caused  the  death  of  all  the 
fish.  After  this  seems  to  have  occurred  a  sinking  of 
the  land,  whereby  groups  of  islands  were  formed,  round 
which  the  beds  of  the  Lias  and  Oolite  series  of  rocks 
(called  Jurassic  from  occurring  in  the  Jura  mountains) 
were  deposited.  The  lowest  layer,  called  the  Lias,  is 
a  thick  bed  of  shale,  clay,  and  limestone.  There  is 
evidence  of  much  life  in  the  fossil  remains  found  in  this 
bed.  From  the  clay  pits  on  Lincoln  hill  have  been  taken 
bones  of  huge  fish-lizards,  20  to  30  feet  long,  such  as  the 
Ichthyosaurus,  with  eyes  14  inches  in  diameter  and  a  long 
tail;  and  the  Plesiosaurus,  with  a  very  long  neck  and 
small  head  and  teeth  like  a  crocodile;  and  flying  reptiles 
also.  The  Lower  Lias  in  this  county  extends  as  a  narrow 
band  from  the  extreme  south,  about  Sedgebrook,  to  the 


GEOLOGY  29 

Humber,  narrowing  and  thinning  as  it  passes  north  along 
the  edge  of  the  Cliff,  and  forming  about  the  eastern 
two-thirds  of  the  valley  of  the  Trent.  Along  this  route 
is  a  belt  of  ferruginous  limestone  containing  hydrated 
peroxide  of  iron,  which  is  extensively  mined  at  Scun- 
thorpe,  where  the  bed  is  27  feet  thick.  A  still  narrower 
belt  on  the  eastern  edge  of  the  foregoing  is  that  of  the 
Marlstone,  Middle  Lias  or  Rockbed,  which  at  Cay- 
thorpe  (where  its  breadth  is  at  its  greatest)  is  extensively 
worked  for  iron  ore.  It  forms  a  slighter  escarpment  west 
of  the  Cliff  at  Harlaxton,  Gonerby,  Fulbeck,  and  Well- 
born, which  dies  down  further  north. 

The  Upper  Lias  from  the  valley  of  the  Witham  to 
the  Humber  is  a  thick  bed  of  stiff  dark  blue  clay,  which 
forms  the  Cliff,  and  is  much  used  at  Lincoln  for  brick- 
making.  Ammonites  and  belemnites  are  frequent,  as  well 
as  septaria,  which  are  large  nodules  or  spheroidal  masses 
of  calcareous  marl,  with  crystalline  divisions  inside. 

Capping  the  Cliff,  and  varying  in  breadth  from  10  miles 
in  the  south  of  Lincolnshire  to  a  couple  of  miles  at  the 
Humber,  is  a  band  of  the  next  layer,  the  Inferior  Oolite 
(a  word  meaning  eggstone,  as  the  rock  is  composed  of 
minute  grains  resembling  the  roe  of  a  fish).  The 
lowest  division  of  this  is  termed  the  Northampton 
Sand,  and  lies  from  10  to  15  feet  below  the  surface  of 
the  soil.  Near  Lincoln,  on  the  east  side,  it  is  12  feet 
thick,  and  is  extensively  worked  for  siliceous  ironstone, 
which  is  sent  to  Scunthorpe  to  be  mixed  with  the  iron- 
stone there  and  smelted.  Above  this  is  the  well-known 
building  stone  the  Lincolnshire  limestone,  which  hardens 


NAMES  o* 
SYSTEMS 


Recent 
Pleistocene 


Pliocene 
Miocene 
Eocene 

Cretaceous 
Jurassic 

Triassic 

Permian 
Carboniferous 

Devonian 

Silurian 

Ordovician 
Cambrian 
Pre-  Cambrian 


SUBDIVISIONS 

Metal  Age  Deposits 
Neolithic 
Palaeolithic       ,, 
Glacial 

Cromer  Series 
Weybourne  Crag 
Chillesford  and  Norwich  Crags 
Red  and  Walton  Crags 
Coralline  Crag 

Absent  from  Britain 

Fluviomarine  Beds  of  Hampshire 

Bagshot  Beds 

London  Clay 

Oldhaven  Beds,  Woolwich  and  Reading 

Thanet  Sands  [Groups 

Chalk 

Upper  Greensand  and  Gault 

Lower  Greensand 

Weald  Clay 

Hastings  Sands 

Purbeck  Beds 

Portland  Beds 

Kimmeridge  Clay 

Corallian  Beds 

Oxford  Clay  and  Kellaways  Rock 

Corn brash 

Forest  Marble 

Great  Oolite  with  Stonesfield  Slate 

Inferior  Oolite 

Lias — Upper,  Middle,  and  Lower 

Rhaetic 
Keuper  Marls 
Keuper  Sandstone 
Upper  Bunter  Sandstone 
Bunter  Pebble  Beds 
Lower  Bunter  Sandstone 

Magnesian   Limestone  and  Sandstone 

Marl  Slate 

Lower  Permian  Sandstone 

Coal  Measures 
Millstone  Grit 
Mountain  Limestone 
Basal  Carboniferous  Rocks 

!r  )    Devonian  and  Old  Red  Sand- 
Lower  /         stone 

i  Ludlow  Beds 
\  Wenlock  Beds 
I  Llandovery  Beds 

{Caradoc  Beds 
Llandeilo  Beds 
Arenig  Beds 

(Tremadoc  Slates 
Lingula  Flags 
Menevian  Beds 
Harlech  Grits  and  Llanberis  Slates 

No  definite  classification  vet  made 


CHAKACTERS  OF  ROCKS 


Superficial  Deposits 


Sands  chiefly 


Clays  and  Sands  chiefly 


Chalk  at  top 
Sandstones,   Mud  and 
Clays  below 


Shales,  Sandstones  and 
Oolitic  Limestones 


Red  Sandstones  and 
Marls,  Gypsum  and  Salt 


!    Red  Sandstones  and 
|   Magnesian  Limestone 

Sandstones,  Shales  and 
Coals  at  top 
Sandstones  in  middle 
Limestone  and  Shales  below 

Red  Sandstones, 
Shales,  Slates  and  Lime- 
stones 

Sandstones,  Shales  and 
Thin  Limestones 

Shales,  Slates, 
Sandstones  and 
Thin  Limestones 


Slates  and 
Sandstones 


Sandstones, 
Slates  and 
Volcanic  Rocks 


GEOLOGY  31 

well   on  exposure  after   quarrying.     Near   Ancaster  and 
Wilsford  are  the  chief  quarries. 

The  Middle  Oolite  consists  of  a  great  thickness  of 
clays,  of  which  one  kind  is  much  used  at  Bytham  in  the 
manufacture  of  "  clinker "  bricks.  Above  this  is  the 
layer  called  the  Cornbrash  (so  called  from  forming  rather 
easily  broken  up  soil,  good  for  corn  growing),  a  pasty 
fine-grained  limestone,  running  in  a  thin  line  from  Brigg 
to  Stamford,  with  very  irregular  distribution  in  the  south. 
Above  this  again  is  the  Oxford  Clay,  varying  between 
500  and  300  feet  thick,  filling  up  the  western  valley 
between  the  Cliff  and  the  Wolds,  and  between  the  Heath 
and  the  river  Witham.  Overlying  this  is  the  Kimmeridge 
Clay,  which  forms  a  large  patch  on  the  western  edge 
of  the  Wold,  from  the  valley  of  the  Ancholme  down 
to  Dogdyke  and  Spilsby,  edging  round  to  within  some 
10  miles  of  Skegness,  while  below  Lincoln  it  forms 
a  belt  some  eight  miles  broad  along  the  eastern  slope 
of  the  Cliff,  narrowing  somewhat  to  its  end  in  the 
valley  of  the  river  Glen. 

Of  the  rocks  forming  the  Cretaceous  group,  it  may 
be  stated  at  once  that  they  were  laid  down  in  great 
ocean  depths,  for  we  know  that  the  Atlantic  is  now 
doing  exactly  the  same  thing,  laying  down  a  layer  of 
chalk  (mainly  composed  of  Foraminifera — microscopic 
animals  and  plants)  on  the  sea  floor.  As  time  went  on, 
and  the  sea  added  to  the  deposits  of  chalk,  all  Lincolnshire 
was  buried  under  their  weight.  Later,  as  the  land  rose 
again,  the  chalk  was  brought  to  the  surface  and  was 
extensively  eroded  by  atmospheric  agencies:  it  is  now 


32  LINCOLNSHIRE 

1300  feet  thick,  and  it  had  originally  another  1000  feet 
above  that. 

The  Wolds,  a  range  of  chalk  hills,  represent  this 
formation  in  Lincolnshire,  and  stretch  from  the  Humber, 
near  Barton,  south-east  to  West  Keal  and  Burgh.  They 
are  a  continuation  of  the  Yorkshire  Wolds  interrupted 
by  the  Humber,  and  are  continued  into  Norfolk  at 
Hunstanton,  interrupted  by  the  Wash.  A  red  band  of 
chalk  very  noticeable  in  the  Hunstanton  cliffs  is  also  to 
be  seen  along  the  line  of  the  Wolds,  from  Welton-in- 
the-Marsh  to  South  Grimsby,  and  north  of  Caistor. 

A  band  of  Lower  Greensand,  broadening  out  twice 
into  a  width  of  five  or  six  miles,  fringes  the  western  side, 
and  this  is  accompanied  by  a  parallel  though  thinner  band 
of  Upper  Greensand,  bordered  on  the  east  by  chalk  some 
three  or  four  times  the  width. 

At  Tealby  in  the  middle  of  the  Wolds  are  ferruginous 
sands  2O  feet  thick,  devoid  of  fossils,  and  near  Caistor  a 
bed  of  ironstone  ore  has  been  worked  since  1868.  Below 
these  are  beds  of  clay  and  limestone  50  feet  deep,  with 
many  fossils,  especially  the  fine  large  fan-shell  Pecten 
cinctus,  9  to  12  inches  in  diameter,  the  same  species  as 
that  found  in  the  Speeton  Clays  in  Flamborough  Head. 
These  all  belong  to  the  Lower  Greensand,  which  is  also 
called  the  Neocomian,  from  the  Latin  name  for  Neuchatel, 
where  there  are  good  examples  of  this  series. 

The  remaining  portions  of  the  county — the  belt 
of  marsh  between  the  Wolds  and  the  sea,  and  around 
Boston,  the  great  mass  of  Holland — partly  owe  their  origin 
and  condition  to  glacial  action.  In  the  later  period  of 


GEOLOGY  33 

geological  history,  the  Glacial  period  or  Ice  Age,  it  is 
believed  that  England  lay  under  a  great  sheet  of  ice 
much  as  Greenland  does  now,  and  that  glaciers  passing 
from  the  high  lands  in  the  north-west  of  Scotland  and  the 
mountains  of  the  Lake  district  travelled  south-eastwards 
across  Lincolnshire.  Also  from  Scandinavia  a  great 
glacier  proceeded  south  and  joined  the  Scotch  and  English 
glaciers  on  the  east  coast.  Of  this  glacial  action,  the 
cliffs  of  Yorkshire  and  the  coast  of  Lincolnshire  are  the 
result;  for  they  are  composed  of  drift  or  boulder  clays — 
the  debris  of  the  glaciers  which,  passing  over  the  surface 
of  the  country,  wore  it  down,  and  produced  a  mass  of 
mud  and  pebbles — with  boulders  of  Norwegian  granite 
and  other  rocks  from  the  north-east,  and  of  Shap  granite 
from  the  Shap  Fells  in  Westmorland  from  the  north-west. 
For  instance,  near  Barton-on-Humber  has  been  found  a 
large  boulder  of  Shap  granite,  and  another  one  near  Ferriby 
in  the  boulder  clay,  where  there  is  a  small  moraine. 
A  Norwegian  granite  boulder  was  found  near  Thorpe 
Hall  just  outside  Louth,  and  the  "Bluestone"  boulder  of 
some  four  or  five  tons  weight  in  Mercer  Row,  Louth, 
had  probably  a  Scotch  origin.  From  our  county  also 
the  stream  of  glacier  action  would  sometimes  proceed,  as 
near  Melton  in  Leicestershire  is  a  block  of  Lincolnshire 
oolite  some  300  yards  long  by  100  yards  wide.  The 
moraines  of  the  Norwegian  glaciers  still  exist  as  a  line  of 
gravel  hills  from  Flamborough  Head  into  Lincolnshire, 
crossing  the  Humber  at  Paull. 

Finally  come  the  Fen  beds,  due  to  the  action  of  rivers 
in  bringing  down  mud  and  sand  from  the  interior  of  the 

s.  L.  3 


34  LINCOLNSHIRE 

country,  which  are  deposited  along  their  course,  especially 
at  their  outlets.  These  beds  are  composed  of  mud,  silt, 
and  peat,  and  all  along  the  coast  from  the  Humber  to  the 
Wash  are  remains  of  a  submerged  forest.  Practically  all 
Holland  is  typical  fen.  A  boring  near  Boston  pierced 
through  24  feet  of  silt,  161  feet  of  boulder  clay,  and  400 
feet  of  Oolitic  clays.  The  forest  bed  is  about  2^  feet  deep, 
and  rests  on  about  a  foot  of  whitish  clay  and  sand.  It 
crops  up  in  several  places  along  the  coast  at  low  water 
mark,  and  is  composed  of  stumps  and  roots  of  oak,  beech, 
elm,  birch,  holly,  yew,  hazel,  elder,  and  willows.  A 
particularly  good  example  of  this  is  at  Trusthorpe,  where 
it  is  noted  that  the  sea  made  a  great  breach  in  1777  (the 
forest  was  destroyed  centuries  before  that),  and  where  the 
original  church  and  a  great  part  of  its  parish  are  said 
to  lie  beneath  the  waves.  In  the  fens  where  the  forest 
has  been  uncovered,  the  trunks  of  the  trees  all  slope  to 
the  north-east,  a  clear  proof  that  in  their  lifetime,  as  at  the 
present  day,  the  most  prevalent  wind  was  that  from  the 
south-west. 

Finally,  the  "blow-wells"  deserve  notice;  they  are 
powerful  springs,  rising  from  the  chalk  through  the  drift 
and  alluvial  deposits,  and  are  found  between  Grimsby 
and  Sutton-on-Sea. 

7.     Natural  History. 

All  our  existing  animals,  insects,  and  plants  probably 
only  date  from  after  the  time  when  Britain  was  over- 
spread with  a  vast  and  thick  sheet  of  ice.  It  is  very 


NATURAL  HISTORY  35 

doubtful  if  any  species  can  have  survived  the  intense 
cold  of  that  period.  Later,  when  England  was  still 
joined  to  the  continent  at  Dover  and  Calais,  and  across 
from  Lincolnshire,  Norfolk,  and  Yorkshire  to  Holland 
and  Belgium,  there  must  have  been  a  re-colonisation  of 
our  land  by  animals  and  plants,  though  the  latter  do  not 
depend  only  on  land  for  their  distribution,  their  seeds 
being  often  carried  by  birds  to  far  distant  shores.  The 
number  of  kinds  of  animals  in  this  island  is  less  than  that 
found  on  the  continent,  and  in  Ireland  still  less,  showing 
that  the  channel  between  Britain  and  the  continent  was 
formed  before  the  immigration  was  complete,  and  that 
Ireland  being  further  off  naturally  fared  worse. 

Dealing  with  mammals  first,  of  which  there  are  some 
50  species,  there  have  been  found  in  Lincolnshire  antlers 
of  the  red  deer1  and  bones  of  Bos  longifrons,  of  wild  horse, 
wolf,  wild  boar,  and  beaver.  Other  animals  have  become 
extinct  within  living  memory,  such  as  the  wild  cat,  of 
which  the  last  specimen  was  shot  in  Bullington  Wood 
near  Wragby  in  1883.  The  pine-marten  is  now  very  rare, 
but  weasels  and  stoats  are  common,  and  the  polecat  haunts 
the  marshes  along  the  east  coast.  The  otter  is  much  in 
evidence,  and  the  badger  (or  brock)  is  more  abundant  in 
Lincolnshire  than  in  any  other  midland  county.  Bats  of 
three  kinds  are  plentiful,  as  are  hedgehogs,  moles,  and 
three  kinds  of  shrews;  squirrels  abound  in  this  county. 
The  dormouse  is  recorded  to  inhabit  the  woods  of  south- 
west Lincolnshire,  the  harvest  mouse  is  very  rare,  the  field 

1  Antlers  were  dug  up  in  making  the  lake  at  Hartsholme,  near  Lincoln, 
and  in  the  peat  at  Barton  and  New  Holland  on  the  Trent. 

3—2 


36  LINCOLNSHIRE 

mouse  very  abundant.  Rabbits  are  exceedingly  plentiful, 
especially  on  the  sandy  moors  of  the  north,  and  hares  are 
still  very  numerous  and  of  large  size  on  the  Wolds,  and 
on  the  Cliff  to  the  south  of  Lincoln.  Fallow  deer  are 
kept  in  some  half-dozen  parks  in  the  county,  and  the 
herd  of  red  deer  in  Grimsthorpe  Park  are  believed  to  be 
the  descendants  and  last  remnant  of  the  herds  which 
inhabited  the  great  forest  of  Kesteven. 

Along  the  coast  and  on  the  sandbanks  of  the  Wash 
are  multitudes  of  the  common  seal,  and  the  grey  seal 
has  been  noticed  also.  Specimens  of  some  eight  kinds 
of  whale  have  been  stranded  or  captured  along  the  coast, 
the  porpoise  is  common,  and  the  bottle-nosed  dolphin 
rather  less  so. 

With  the  great  change  in  the  Fens  and  altered  conditions 
of  the  waterways,  various  birds  have  practically  disappeared 
from  the  county,  such  as  the  avocets  and  ruffs.  Grouse 
and  blackcock,  both  of  which  latter  birds  used  to  be  shot 
not  very  many  years  ago,  are  also  gone.  As  a  large 
arable  county,  it  naturally  breeds  many  partridges,  mainly 
English,  but  with  a  sprinkling  of  the  French  or  red-legged 
species;  and,  as  a  great  sporting  county,  it  rears  very  large 
numbers  of  pheasants,  of  which  there  are  still  some  wild 
ones,  free  from  imported  strain.  Snipe  and  woodcock 
are  fairly  abundant  in  winter,  with  a  quantity  of  golden 
plover  in  the  north  of  Lincolnshire,  and  the  common 
peewit  or  lapwing  all  over  it.  On  the  salt  marshes,  as 
by  Saltfleet,  are  generally  to  be  found  hundreds  of  knot, 
curlew,  dunlin,  ringed  plover,  redshanks,  etc.,  with  wild 
geese  occasionally  coming  over. 


NATURAL  HISTORY  37 

At  Scawby  and  Manton  the  black-headed  gull 
(Larus  ridibundus)  breeds  in  thousands,  while  heronries 
are  met  with  here  and  there,  as  at  Evedon,  and  in  one  or 
two  places  along  the  Witham.  The  bittern  has  vanished, 
one  of  the  last  having  been  shot  on  the  Holmes  Common 


Bittern 

close  to  Lincoln  in  1845.  The  barn,  long-eared,  and 
brown  owls  frequently  breed  in  the  county,  as  did  the 
short-eared  owl  till  some  25  years  ago.  The  harriers 
(marsh  and  hen)  ceased  to  breed  in  Lincolnshire  some 
50  or  60  years  ago.  About  1885  the  buzzard  ceased  to 


38  LINCOLNSHIRE 

nest  here,  though  formerly  common.  Sparrow-hawks 
are  quite  common,  and  are  judiciously  kept  under  by 
the  gamekeeper.  The  last  kite's  nest  known  was  noted 
in  Bullington  Wood  near  Wragby  in  1870.  The  hobby 
is  a  summer  visitor,  the  merlin  a  winter  one  along  the 
coast  line.  The  kestrel  still  is  common,  and  till  1893 
a  pair  nested  on  the  western  towers  of  Lincoln  Minster. 
The  nightingale  is  often  heard  as  far  north  as  Horncastle 
and  also,  though  rarely,  round  Lincoln. 

Of  the  reptiles  the  most  interesting  specimen  is 
probably  the  natterjack  toad  (Bufo  calamltd]  which  has 
been  found  on  the  sandhills  near  Mablethorpe. 

The  county  is  full  of  interest  for  the  entomologist, 
though  here  again  the  drainage  of  the  fens  and  an  in- 
creased arable  area  have  driven  away  many  interesting 
kinds.  Among  the  butterflies  the  chequered  skipper,  the 
brown  hairstreak,  the  purple  emperor,  the  greasy  fritillary, 
and  the  marbled  white  are  all  notable. 

At  the  time  of  Domesday  Book  there  were  about 
34,000  acres  of  woodland,  now  there  are  some  10,000 
acres  more.  The  great  forest  of  Kesteven  was  partially 
disafforested  on  its  Boston  side  by  King  John  in  1204, 
and  the  rest  was  thrown  open  in  1230.  The  submerged 
forests  along  the  coast,  and  the  remains  of  forests  found 
in  the  peat  of  the  fens,  testify  to  the  former  covering 
with  wood  of  large  tracts  of  this  county.  In  the  parks, 
such  as  Grimsthorpe  and  Haverholme,  are  oaks,  horn- 
beams, and  hawthorns  of  considerable  age ;  there  is  much 
ash  on  the  Wolds,  and  Scotch  firs  have  been  planted  more 
than  100  years  ago  at  Fillingham  and  Burton.  Those  at 


NATURAL  HISTORY 


39 


Scawby  on  the  sandy  borders  of  the  gull-ponds  give  a 
distinctly  Scotch  effect  to  the  scene.  The  largest  willow 
in  England  is  in  Haverholme  Park  and  has  a  girth  of 
25  feet  at  five  feet  from  the  ground.  There  is  a  large 
oak  at  Well,  and  another  at  Woodthorpe  (both  near 
Alford)  whose  trunk  is  four  yards  in  diameter.  The 
common  oak  of  the  county  is  Quercus  pedunculata,  which 


Scawby  Gull-Ponds 

Mr  E.  W.  Peacock  has  found  to  be  the  species  occurring 
in  the  submerged  forests  and  those  covered  in  peat. 

The  botany  of  Lincolnshire,  as  mentioned  by  Dr 
F.  A.  Lees,  is  remarkable  for  presenting  us  with  various 
kinds  and  species  of  plants  which  generally  live  on  different 
soil,  and  at  different  altitudes,  meeting  here.  This  is  due 
probably  to  the  geographical  position  of  the  county,  and 
to  the  absence  of  any  mountainous  features.  The  list  of 


40 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


Lincolnshire  plants  numbers  nearly  2000.  The  sandhills 
along  the  coast  still  retain  their  covering  of  swordgrass 
and  sea-buckthorn  or  sallowthorn  (Hippophae  rhamnoides\ 
the  first  name  due  to  the  gleaming  scales  beneath  its  leaves, 
known  here  since  1670,  and  remarkable  for  its  glaucous 
leaves,  orange  berries,  and  sharp  spikes.  The  salt  marsh 
has  sea-orach,  and  below  high  water  level  the  glasswort 


Moorland,  near  Woodhall 

(Salicornia\  and  that  most  attractive  food  for  wildfowl, 
the  glasswrack  (Zostera  marina).  The  land  round  Wood- 
hall  is  still  gorgeous  in  autumn  with  purple  heather  ;  the 
common  heath,  the  cross-leaved  kind,  and  ling  being  not 
at  all  rare.  Of  insectivorous  plants  can  still  be  found  two 
sorts  of  the  sundew  and  the  common  butterwort.  The 
rarer  Alpine  clubmoss  (Selaginella\  the  marsh  mountain 


NATURAL  HISTORY  41 

ferns,  the  beautiful  grass  of  Parnassus,  the  marsh  gentian, 
and  the  bog  pimpernel  are  all  noted  as  inhabitants  of 
this  county.  At  Halton  Holgate  is  much  of  the  hoary 
cinquefoil.  The  woody  nightshade,  henbane,  and  dwale 
or  deadly  nightshade,  are  all  natives  of  the  county.  The 
latter  is  mentioned  by  Gerarde  (16.36)  as  growing  plenti- 
fully in  Holland  in  Lincolnshire,  though  it  is  not  so 
common  now.  In  May  the  woods  are  carpeted  with 
bluebells  (wild  hyacinth),  and  the  lily  of  the  valley 
flourishes  greatly  in  the  woods  near  Lincoln.  The 
network  of  rivers,  canals,  and  land  drains  has  been 
choked  in  past  times  by  the  imported  water-weed  from 
America,  the  Anacharh  alsinastrum.  Lastly  it  may  be 
mentioned  that  one  species  of  plant,  Sellnum  curvtfolium, 
is  only  known  to  exist  in  this  county  and  in  the  Isle 
of  Ely. 

8.     Peregrination  of  the  Coast. 

As  has  been  already  stated,  there  are  only  two  estuaries 
in  or  near  her  coast  by  which  the  rivers  of  Lincolnshire 
enter  the  sea — that  of  the  Humber,  which  receives  the 
Trent ;  and  that  of  the  Wash,  which  receives  the  Witham, 
Welland,  and  Nene.  Moreover,  the  coast  itself  is  very 
low  and  flat,  the  land  near  the  edge  of  the  sea  being  only 
from  4  to  20  feet  above  sea-level  ;  the  low-water  line  is 
distant,  and  the  five-fathom  limit  generally  well  out  to 
sea.  Therefore,  between  the  Humber  and  the  Wash 
there  are  no  harbours  or  ports,  and  therefore  also  there 
are  no  large  sea-side  towns. 


42  LINCOLNSHIRE 

We  may  conveniently  begin  our  peregrination  of  the 
coast  at  the  extreme  north-west  corner  of  the  county, 
where  the  Trent  joins  with  the  Yorkshire  Ouse  to  form 
the  Humber.  This  river  is  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
wide  at  the  junction,  and  the  range  of  hills  on  which 
Alkborough  is  situated  comes  very  near  to  the  edge  of 
the  river.  This  edge,  passing  Whitton  on  the  way,  runs 
east  north-east  for  four  miles  to  Whitton  Ness,  the  most 
northerly  point  of  the  county,  then  makes  a  curve  south- 
eastwards  past  Winteringham,  Read's  Island,  and  the  flat 
lands  through  which  the  Ancholme  runs,  to  South  Ferriby, 
where  the  north-western  extremity  of  the  Wolds  termi- 
nates almost  on  the  water's  edge.  Probably  Read's  Island 
owes  its  origin  to  the  alluvial  matter  brought  down  by 
the  Ancholme.  Close  to  Winteringham  Haven  was  the 
north  end  of  the  Roman  road,  the  Ermine  Street.  North- 
easterly again  the  coast  trends,  past  the  rather  important 
town  of  Barton,  which  has  two  fine  churches,  and  is 
connected  by  a  railway  with  New  Holland,  whence  there 
is  a  steam  ferry  to  Hull,  almost  opposite.  It  is  three 
miles  from  here  to  Skitter  Ness,  whence  the  coast  runs 
south-easterly  for  12  miles  to  Grimsby,  about  half-way 
being  the  great  new  dock  at  Immingham,  where  the 
five-fathom  line  approaches  very  close  to  the  shore,  which 
was  one  reason,  no  doubt,  for  the  selection  of  this  site  for 
the  dock. 

Leaving  Grimsby,  which  is  dealt  with  as  a  fishing  and 
general  port  in  other  chapters,  an  almost  continuous  line  of 
houses  leads  to  the  popular  watering-place  of  Cleethorpes, 
which  has  a  large  tract  of  sand,  a  long  pier,  bracing  air,  and 


PEREGRINATION  OF  THE   COAST        43 

many  other  attractions  for  the  Midland  excursionist,  and 
on  Bank  Holidays  some  100,000  people  are  often  brought 
to  it  by  train.  Hence  the  coast  runs  still  south-eastwards. 
Wider  and  wider  get  the  sands  exposed  at  low  water  as 
Tetney  Haven  and  Grainthorpe  Haven  are  reached,  while 
at  Donna  Nook  the  five-fathom  line  has  gone  nearly  six 
miles  out  to  sea  to  the  Sand  Haile  and  the  Rosse  Spit 


A 
% 


.Hi 

f-1!S:^**  UL  ,4 


Skegness 

Buoys.  Quite  possibly  this  may  indicate  land  which  has 
been  overwhelmed  by  the  sea  at  some  past  epoch,  or  on 
the  other  hand  it  may  be  due  to  the  alluvial  matter 
brought  down  by  the  Humber  being  deposited  here.  The 
edge  of  the  coast  from  Grimsby  to  Skegness  is  composed 
of  sand-hills,  sometimes,  as  near  Theddlethorpe,  low,  but 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide,  sometimes,  as  near  Mablethorpe, 


44  LINCOLNSHIRE 

60  or  70  feet  high  but  of  narrow  width.  They  are 
covered  with  sea-buckthorn  and  grass,  and  are  a  great 
nursery  for  rabbits.  On  the  shore  between  Donna  Nook 
and  Theddlethorpe  are  patches  of  higher  sand,  covered 
with  glasswort  (samphire)  and  intersected  with  many 
channels,  much  frequented  by  various  kinds  of  sea-birds. 
At  the  Manor  House  at  Saltfleet,  Oliver  Cromwell  is 
traditionally  supposed  to  have  slept  on  September  26, 
1643,  a  few  days  before  the  battle  of  Winceby.  On 
these  extensive  sands  at  low  tide  mirages  are  frequently 
seen. 

Mablethorpe  is  a  rising  watering-place ;  Trusthorpe, 
a  mile  or  two  south,  is  very  much  smaller,  but  not 
less  popular,  and  Sutton  perhaps  outrivals  Mablethorpe 
in  size  and  popularity.  Tennyson  spent  much  time  at 
Mablethorpe  in  the  earlier  years  of  his  life.  "At  high  tide 
the  sea  comes  right  up  to  the  bank  with  splendid  menacing 
waves,  which  furnished  him,  five  and  thirty  years  after  he 
had  left  Lincolnshire  for  ever,  with  the  famous  simile  in 
The  Last  Tournament : — 

...as  the  crest  of  some  slow-arching  wave, 
Heard  in  dead  night  along  that  table  shore, 
Drops  flat,  and  after  the  great  waters  break 
Whitening  for  half  a  league,  and  thin  themselves, 
Far  over  sands  marbled  with  moon  and  cloud, 
From  less  and  less  to  nothing. 

This  accurately  describes  the  flat  Lincolnshire  coast  with 
its  interminable  rollers,  breaking  on  the  endless  sands, 
than  which  waves  the  poet  always  said  that  he  had  never 
anywhere  seen  grander,  and  the  clap  of  the  wave  as  it  fell 


46  LINCOLNSHIRE 

on  the  hard  sand  could  be  heard  across  that  flat  country 
for  miles1." 

At  Sutton  was  the  destined  termination  of  the 
Lancashire,  Derbyshire,  and  East  Coast  Railway,  which 
never  got  farther  east  than  Lincoln,  and  which  has  now 
been  absorbed  by  the  Great  Central  Railway.  Huttoft 
is  picturesquely  situated  on  a  piece  of  rising  ground, 
and  between  it  and  the  shore  is  the  site  of  a  proposed 
"  Garden  City,"  Woldsea.  Chapel  St  Leonards  is  a 
favourite  place  for  families  to  stay  at,  and  at  present  it 
is  far  from  the  usual  haunts  of  trippers.  Ingoldmells 
Point  is  the  most  easterly  part  of  the  county  and  the  five- 
fathom  line  is  some  five  miles  out  to  sea.  At  Winthorpe 
the  Roman  Bank  is  close  to  the  edge  of  the  shore. 
From  Ingoldmells  the  coast-line  runs  south,  with  a 
slight  inclination  westwards,  past  Skegness  to  Gibraltar 
Point. 

Probably  a  Roman  fort  was  situated  close  to  Skegness 
(part  of  this  land  was  called  Chesterland  or  Castelland  in 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries)  which  with  Bran- 
caster  on  the  Norfolk  coast  opposite  would  defend  the 
Wash.  Skegness  owes  much  of  its  development  to  the 
Earls  of  Scarbrough ;  it  is  an  excellent  sea-side  resort  (out 
of  the  tripper's  season),  with  as  fine  air  as  can  possibly 
be  found,  and  first-rate  golf  links  at  Seacroft.  It  is  the 
resort  of  excursionists,  very  many  thousands  of  whom  are 
taken  there  annually.  Just  below  Gibraltar  Point  the 
Wainfleet  Haven  or  Steeping  River  runs  into  the  sea, 

1   Mr  Willingham  Rawnsley,  in  Tennyson  and  his  Friends,  Macmillan  & 
Co.,  1911. 


PEREGRINATION  OF  THE   COAST        47 

Wainfleet  itself  being  a  pleasant  little  town  about  two 
miles  from  the  edge  of  the  marsh.  William  of  Wayn- 
flete's  School — reminding  one  of  Tattershall  Castle — still 
exists.  Here  begin  the  great  Wainfleet  Sands  which  a,t 
low-water  stretch  seawards  for  nearly  four  miles,  and  are 
separated  from  a  patch  of  sand  called  the  Long  Sands  in 
the  middle  of  the  Wash  by  less  shallow  water  called 
Boston  Deeps.  From  Gibraltar  Point,  interrupted  only 
by  the  outlet  of  Boston  Haven,  the  coast-line  runs  south- 
westwards  to  the  bridge  over  the  junction  of  the  river 
Welland  with  the  Wash  at  Fossdyke.  A  large  semi- 
circular bend,  with  the  convexity  northwards,  extends 
thence  to  the  outfall  by  Sutton  Bridge  of  the  River 
Nene.  This  land,  and  that  on  the  east  of  the  Nene 
called  Wingland,  has  all  been  reclaimed  from  the  sea. 
At  Sutton  Bridge  is  an  unfortunately  ruined  dock, 
constructed  by  the  Great  Northern  Railway. 

9.     Coastal  Gains  and  Losses. 

In  past  times  a  considerable  loss  of  land  has  occurred 
on  the  Lincolnshire  coast.  Grimsby  old  harbour,  it  is 
true,  has  been  filled  up  with  silt,  but  a  few  miles  further 
south  part  of  the  parish  of  Clee  has  disappeared.  Itterby 
has  vanished,  and  the  signal-house  south  of  Cleethorpes 
has  been  three  times  set  back  out  of  reach  of  the  sea. 
Saltfleet  and  Mablethorpe  St  Peter's  have  lost  their 
churches  and  some  portion  of  their  land.  There  has 
been  encroachment  also  at  Ingoldmells.  Leland  says  of 
fc  Skegnesse,  a  four  or  five  miles  of  Wilegripe  " — a  pert 


48  LINCOLNSHIRE 

which  has  disappeared — "  sumtym  a  great  haven  towne, 
the  old  towne  clean  consumed  and  eten  by  the  sea."  All 
along  the  coast  from  the  Humber  to  the  Wash  can  be 
seen  at  low  tide  the  remains  of  a  submerged  forest ;  this 
is  especially  well  seen  at  Trusthorpe,  where  the  trees  are 
of  birch,  fir,  and  oak.  Along  this  coast  the  normal 
direction  of  travel  of  beach  material  is  from  north  to 
south.  The  gains  are  chiefly  due  to  the  material  brought 
to  the  sea  by  the  rivers.  Thus  at  Trent  Falls  in  the  upper 
Humber  there  were  260  grains  of  "warp"  (i.e.  silt)  in  the 
gallon,  while  near  Grimsby  there  were  only  30  grains 
per  gallon  at  low  water.  In  the  Wash  warp  begins  to 
be  deposited  at  5-5  feet  above  ordnance  datum,  samphire 
or  glasswort  (Salicornia)  in  another  two  feet,  grass  in  a 
further  two  feet.  New  marsh  is  formed  at  icr68  feet, 
and  old  high  marsh  at  13*15  feet,  about  the  level  of 
ordinary  spring  tide.  Another  valuable  plant  for  helping 
the  reclamation  of  salt  marshes  is  the  so-called  "  rice 
grass  "  (Spartina  strlcta\  which  grows  below  high- water 
mark. 

Accretion  is  predominant  in  the  Wash.  Erosion 
in  recent  years  (between  1883  and  1905)  has  caused  a 
loss  to  Lincolnshire  of  400  acres,  but  there  has  been  a 
gain  in  the  same  time  of  no  less  than  9106  acres,  partly 
no  doubt  from  the  material  oft  the  Yorkshire  coast,  but 
mainly  from  that  discharged  into  estuaries  by  the  rivers. 
In  South  Holland  about  25,000  acres  were  reclaimed 
north  of  the  Roman  Banks  by  the  year  1632  in  the 
parishes  reaching  from  Moulton  to  Tydd  St  Mary's. 
And  in  the  middle  of  last  century  some  600  acres  of 


COASTAL   GAINS  AND   LOSSES  49 

salt  "  fitties  "  (an  old  Norse  word  for  the  outmarsh  lying 
between  the  sea-bank  and  the  sea)  were  reclaimed  in  the 
parishes  of  Grainthorpe  and  Marsh  Chapel.  It  has  been 
calculated  that  since  the  Norman  Conquest  some  330,000 
acres  in  Lincolnshire  have  been  reclaimed  from  the  sea 
or  from  the  waters  of  the  fen.  On  the  banks  of  the 
Trent,  particularly  in  the  Isle  of  Axholme,  a  special 
method  of  fertilising  the  land  is  in  vogue  called  warping. 
Silt-laden  tidal  water  is  let  in  through  sluices  and  drains, 
and  allowed  to  stand  on  the  land  chosen  for  the  purpose, 
the  water  being  gradually  drawn  off  with  the  fall  of  the 
tide.  This  is  continued  for  some  three  or  four  years,  and 
a  thick  layer  of  rich  alluvial  deposit  is  secured,  making 
what  was  previously  poor  soil  into  almost  the  richest  in 
England. 

The  protection  of  the  coast  of  Lincolnshire  is  accom- 
plished in  various  ways.  Along  the  south  shore  of  the 
Humber  a  substantial  bank  stretches  between  Barton  and 
Grimsby.  At  Cleethorpes  a  sea  wall  and  embankment 
more  than  a  mile  long  have  been  erected.  A  low  range 
of  sand-hills  with  a  clay  foundation  forms  the  coast  pro- 
tection as  far  as  Skegness.  This  range  has  been  artificially 
heightened  and  broadened  with  clay  and  faggoting,  and 
fronted  with  thorn  bushes  in  some  places  to  accumulate 
the  sand,  as  at  Trusthorpe,  while  exposed  parts  are  faced 
with  a  massive  timber  defence.  Wooden  groynes  also 
have  been  of  much  service  in  protecting  the  coast 
between  Mablethorpe  and  Sutton. 

The  coast,  with  its  very  shallow  sea,  is  naturally  a 
dangerous  one,  and  the  banks  well  out  are  carefully 

s.  L.  4 


50  LINCOLNSHIRE 

buoyed  and  lighted,  as  is  the  entrance  to  Boston  Deeps 
from  the  sea,  for  the  Wash  is  difficult  to  navigate,  owing 
to  the  many  sandbanks  and  their  frequent  alteration  in 
form  and  size.  The  New  Cut  to  Boston  has  fixed  lights.^ 
and  there  are  22  lights  up  to  the  Dock  entrance.  Skegness 
Pier  head  has  two  fixed  white  lights.  There  are  also 
light-vessels  off  the  Dudgeon,  Inner  and  Outer  Dowsing 
shoals,  with  revolving  light  and  foghorn,  and  on  the 
last-named  a  submarine  bell. 

Off  Spurnhead  is  a  light-vessel  with  a  revolving  light, 
visible  for  u  miles.  At  Spurnhead,  a  point  of  special 
importance  to  navigation,  there  are  two  lights  in  the  light- 
house, the  upper  one  visible  17  miles,  flashing  white  for 
i-|  seconds,  and  being  obscured  for  181  seconds.  The 
lower  light  is  fixed,  and  visible  for  13  miles,  showing 
white  over  the  Skegness  Shoal,  and  to  the  east  red  over 
the  Sand  Haile  Buoy.  This  expanse  of  sand  will  be 
noted  on  the  map  as  taking  the  five-fathom  limit  more 
than  five  miles  out  to  sea  to  the  Rosse  Spit  Buoy,  east 
and  south  of  the  entrance  to  the  Humber.  The  Humber 
is  of  course  well  buoyed,  with  a  lightship  on  the  Bull 
Sand  (almost  in  the  middle  of  the  Channel),  revolving 
white  and  red  every  10  seconds  alternately,  visible 
1 1  miles.  There  are  also  many  other  lights  of  lesser 
importance  along  our  coast. 

There  are  lifeboats  stationed  at  Grimsby,  Donna 
Nook,  Mablethorpe,  Sutton,  and  Skegness. 


CLIMATE  51 


10.     Climate. 

The  climate  of  a  country  or  district  is,  briefly,  the 
average  weather  of  that  country  or  district,  and  it  depends 
upon  the  latitude,  the  temperature,  the  direction  and 
strength  of  the  winds,  the  rainfall,  the  character  of  the 
soil,  the  height  above  sea-level,  and  the  nearness  of 
the  district  to  the  sea. 

The  differences  in  the  climates  of  the  world  depend 
mainly  upon  latitude,  but  a  scarcely  less  important 
factor  is  nearness  to  the  sea.  Along  any  great  climatic 
belt  there  will  be  found  variations  in  proportion  to  this 
nearness,  the  extremes  being  "  continental  "  climates 
in  the  centres  of  continents  far  from  the  oceans,  and 
"insular"  climates  in  small  tracts  surrounded  by  sea. 
Continental  climates  show  great  differences  in  seasonal 
temperatures,  the  winters  tending  to  be  unusually  cold 
and  the  summers  unusually  warm,  while  the  climate  of 
insular  tracts  is  characterised  by  equableness  and  also  by 
greater  dampness.  Great  Britain  possesses,  by  reason  of 
its  position,  a  temperate  insular  climate,  but  its  average 
annual  temperature  is  much  higher  than  could  be  expected 
from  its  latitude.  The  prevalent  south-westerly  winds 
cause  a  drift  of  the  surface-waters  of  the  Atlantic  towards 
our  shores,  and  this  warm  water  current,  which  we  know 
as  the  Gulf  Stream,  is  the  chief  cause  of  the  mildness  of 
our  winters. 

Most  of  our  weather  comes  to  us  from  the  Atlantic. 
It  would  be  impossible  here  within  the  limits  of  a  short 

4—2 


52  LINCOLNSHIRE 

chapter  to  discuss  fully  the  causes  which  affect  or  control 
weather  changes.  It  must  suffice  to  say  that  the  conditions 
are  in  the  main  either  cyclonic  or  anticyclonic,  which 
terms  may  be  best  explained,  perhaps,  by  comparing  the 
air  currents  to  a  stream  of  water.  In  a  stream  a  chain 
of  eddies  may  often  be  seen  fringing  the  more  steadily- 
moving  central  water.  Regarding  the  general  north- 
easterly moving  air  from  the  Atlantic  as  such  a  stream, 
a  chain  of  eddies  may  be  developed  in  a  belt  parallel  with 
its  general  direction.  This  belt  of  eddies  or  cyclones,  as 
they  are  termed,  tends  to  shift  its  position,  sometimes 
passing  over  our  islands,  sometimes  to  the  north  or  south 
of  them,  and  it  is  to  this  shifting  that  most  of  our  weather 
changes  are  due.  Cyclonic  conditions  are  associated  with 
a  greater  or  less  amount  of  atmospheric  disturbance  ; 
anticyclonic  with  calms. 

The  prevalent  Atlantic  winds  largely  affect  our  island 
in  another  way,  namely  in  its  rainfall.  The  air,  heavily 
laden  with  moisture  from  its  passage  over  the  ocean, 
meets  with  elevated  land-tracts  directly  it  reaches  our 
shores — the  moorland  of  Devon  and  Cornwall,  the  Welsh 
mountains,  or  the  fells  of  Cumberland  and  Westmorland 
— and,  blowing  up  the  rising  land-surface,  gets  cooled  and 
parts  with  this  moisture  as  rain.  To  how  great  an  extent 
this  occurs  is  best  seen  by  reference  to  the  accompanying 
map  of  the  annual  rainfall  of  England,  where  it  will  at 
once  be  noticed  that  the  heaviest  fall  is  in  the  west,  and 
that  it  decreases  with  remarkable  regularity  until  the  least 
fall  is  reached  on  our  eastern  shores. 

The  above  causes,  then,  are  those  mainly  concerned 


CLIMATE  53 

in  influencing  the  weather,  but  there  are  other  and  more 
local  factors  which  often  affect  greatly  the  climate  of  a 
place,  such,  for  example,  as  configuration,  position,  and 
soil.  The  shelter  of  a  range  of  hills,  a  southern  aspect, 
a  sandy  soil,  will  thus  produce  conditions  which  may 
differ  greatly  from  those  of  a  place — perhaps  at  no  great 
distance — situated  on  a  wind-swept  northern  slope  with 
a  cold  clay  soil. 

The  character  of  the  climate  of  a  country  or  district 
influences,  as  everyone  knows,  both  the  cultivation  of  the 
soil  and  the  products  which  it  yields,  and  thus  indirectly 
as  well  as  directly  exercises  a  profound  effect  upon  Man. 
The  banana-nourished  dweller  in  a  tropical  island  who 
"  has  but  to  tickle  the  earth  with  a  hoe  for  it  to  laugh  a 
harvest "  is  of  different  fibre  morally  and  physically  from 
the  inhabitant  of  northern  climes  who  wins  a  scanty 
subsistence  from  the  land  at  the  expense  of  unremitting 
toil.  These  are  extremes  ;  but  even  within  the  limits  of 
a  county,  perhaps,  similar  if  smaller  differences  may  be 
noted,  and  the  man  of  the  plain  or  the  valley  is  often 
distinct  in  type  from  his  fellow  of  the  hills. 

Very  minute  records  of  the  climate  of  our  island  are 
kept  at  numerous  stations  throughout  the  country,  relating 
to  the  temperature,  rainfall,  force  and  direction  of  the 
wind,  hours  of  sunshine,  cloud  conditions,  and  so  forth, 
and  are  duly  collected,  tabulated,  and  averaged  by  the 
Meteorological  Society.  From  these  we  are  able  to 
compare  and  contrast  the  climatic  differences  in  various 
parts. 

Speed  (1627)  says  of  this  county,  "The  Ayre  upon 


54  LINCOLNSHIRE 

the  East  and  South  part  is  both  thicke  and  foggy,  by 
reason  of  the  Fennes  and  unsolute  grounds,  but  there- 
withall  very  moderate  and  pleasing.  Her  graduation 
being  removed  from  the  Equator  to  the  degree  of  53, 
and  the  Windes  that  are  sent  of  her  still  working  Seas, 
doe  disperse  those  vapours  from  all  power  of  hurt." 

The  average  number  of  hours  of  bright  sunshine  in 
the  year  for  the  North  Eastern  Division  of  England  from 
1871-1905  was  between  noo  and  1400.  In  1911,  a 
very  bright  year,  the  number  of  hours  of  bright  sunshine 
at  Skegness  was  no  less  than  1832  (the  value  for  the 
district  being  1597),  and  Rauceby  had  1701.  On  the 
map  recording  sunshine  in  this  year  a  small  patch  on  the 
south  bank  of  the  Humber  is  marked  as  having  1400  hours, 
a  third  of  the  county  1700,  and  the  rest  up  to  2000  hours. 

In  the  annexed  map,  which  shows  the  average  annual 
rainfall,  almost  the  whole  of  Lincolnshire  is  in  the  area 
marked  "  under  25  "  (meaning  less  than  25  inches  fall  of  rain 
in  the  course  of  the  year).  The  exception  is  a  patch  along 
the  summit  of  the  Wolds  running  north-west  to  south-east, 
which  comes  into  the  higher  rainfall  division  of  "25— 30." 
At  Teal  by  on  the  Wolds  the  average  annual  rainfall,  for 
example,  was  27-35  inches,  while  at  Lincoln  only  23-34 
inches  of  rain  fell  on  150  days,  the  average  annual  rainfall 
for  Lincoln  for  the  past  10  years  being  23-27  inches.  At 
Fulbeck  on  the  under  edge  of  the  Cliff  on  178  days  there 
were  23*67  inches,  and  at  Rauceby  a  little  eastward  of 
the  last  station,  there  were  25^66  inches.  These  should 
be  compared  with  the  average  annual  rainfall  for  Great 
Britain,  which  is  32  inches. 


ENGLAND  &  WALES 

ANNUAL  RAINFALL 

Statute  Miles 


GEORGE  PHIUP&  SON  LT. 


(The  figures  give  the  approximate  annual  rainfall  in  inches?) 


56  LINCOLNSHIRE 

The  number  of  wet  days  in  each  month  varies  from 
ii  to  17,  and  the  wettest  months  are  undoubtedly  those 
of  July  (2-37  to  2'6o  inches),  September  (2-01  to  2'68 
inches),  August  (2-57  to  3-22  inches),  and  October  (2-47 
to  3-30  inches). 

The  mean  annual  temperature  for  the  county  varies 
from  47°  F.  at  Tealby  (251  feet  above  sea-level)  to  48°  F. 
at  Lincoln  (station  58  feet  above  sea-level),  thus  being  very 
much  the  same  as  the  average  temperature  for  England, 
i.e.  48°.  The  most  prevalent  winds  are  south-west,  and 
it  is  very  interesting  to  note  that  the  trees  in  the  Fens 
now  lean  towards  the  north-east,  just  as  their  predecessors 
did  hundreds  of  years  ago  before  they  were  invaded  and 
swamped  by  peat.  Owing  to  the  fact  of  these  winds 
having  swept  across  the  Devon  and  Somerset  moors  and 
the  Welsh  mountains  and  a  great  expanse  of  land  before 
reaching  this  county,  they  do  not  bring  much  rain  ;  and 
the  same  applies  to  snow,  which  rarely  falls  very  heavily, 
except  on  the  Wolds  in  a  specially  severe  winter.  The 
hardest  and  longest  frosts  occur  with  these  winds. 

In  the  early  months  of  the  year  there  is  a  great 
prevalence  of  easterly  winds,  and  these,  coming  straight 
from  the  North  Sea,  bring  a  large  amount  of  moisture 
with  them,  giving  rise  to  grey  skies,  and  when  the  wind 
is  south-easterly,  to  heavy  and  persistent  rain.  Frequently, 
in  the  evening,  a  long  line  of  cloud  may  be  seen,  lying 
a  little  above  the  summits  of  the  Wolds,  showing  that 
some  condensation  is  taking  place  from  the  air  saturated 
with  moisture.  And,  frequently,  30  or  40  miles  inland, 
when  an  east  wind  is  blowing,  it  carries  a  strong  smell 


CLIMATE 


57 


of  sea-water  with  it.  Sea-mists  are  not  uncommon ; 
particularly  on  or  after  very  bright  hot  days.  And, 
by  contrast,  never  is  the  sky  more  blue,  or  the 
distances  more  distinct,  than  on  a  day  of  clear  bright  east 
wind.  Very  few  sea-side  resorts  of  the  British  Isles 
can  surpass  those  of  the  Lincolnshire  coast  in  the 
splendidly  bracing  quality  of  the  air. 


Skating  on  the  Fens 


ii.    People — Race,  Settlements,  Dialect. 

We  have  no  written  record  of  the  history  of  our  land 
carrying  us  beyond  the  Roman  invasion  in  B.C.  55,  but 
we  know  that  Man  inhabited  it  for  ages  before  this  date. 
The  art  of  writing  being  then  unknown,  the  people  of 


58  LINCOLNSHIRE 

those  days  could  leave  us  no  account  of  their  lives  and 
occupations,  and  hence  we  term  these  times  the  Prehistoric 
period.  But  other  things  besides  books  can  tell  a  story, 
and  there  has  survived  from  their  time  a  vast  quantity  of 
objects  (which  are  daily  being  revealed  by  the  plough  of 
the  farmer  or  the  spade  of  the  antiquary),  such  as  the 
weapons  and  domestic  implements  they  used,  the  huts 
and  tombs  and  monuments  they  built,  and  the  bones  of 
the  animals  they  lived  on,  which  enable  us  to  get  a  fairly 
accurate  idea  of  the  life  of  those  days. 

So  infinitely  remote  are  the  times  in  which  the  earliest 
forerunners  of  our  race  flourished,  that  scientists  have  not 
ventured  to  date  either  their  advent  or  how  long  each 
division  in  which  they  have  arranged  them  lasted.  It 
must  therefore  be  understood  that  these  divisions  or 
Ages — of  which  we  are  now  going  to  speak — have  been 
adopted  for  convenience  sake  rather  than  with  any  aim 
at  accuracy. 

The  periods  have  been  named  from  the  material  of 
which  the  weapons  and  implements  were  at  that  time 
fashioned — the  Palaeolithic  or  Old  Stone  Age  ;  the 
Neolithic  or  Later  Stone  Age  ;  the  Bronze  Age  ;  and 
the  Iron  Age.  But  just  as  we  find  stone  axes  in  use  at 
the  present  day  among  savage  tribes  in  remote  islands,  so 
it  must  be  remembered  the  weapons  of  one  material  were 
often  in  use  in  the  next  Age,  or  possibly  even  in  a  later 
one,  that  the  Ages,  in  short,  overlapped. 

Let  us  now  examine  these  periods  more  closely. 
First,  the  Palaeolithic  or  Old  Stone  Age.  Man  was  now 
in  his  most  primitive  condition.  He  probably  did  not 


PEOPLE— RACE,  SETTLEMENTS,  DIALECT   59 

till  the  land  or  cultivate  any  kind  of  plant  or  keep  any 
domestic  animals.  He  lived  on  wild  plants  and  roots  and 
such  wild  animals  as  he  could  kill,  the  reindeer  being  then 
abundant  in  this  country.  He  was  largely  a  cave-dweller 
and  probably  used  skins  exclusively  for  clothing.  He 
erected  no  monuments  to  his  dead  and  built  no  huts.  He 
could,  however,  shape  flint  implements  with  very  great 
dexterity,  though  he  had  as  yet  not  learnt  either  to  grind 
or  polish  them.  There  is  still  some  difference  of  opinion 
among  authorities,  but  most  agree  that,  though  this  may 


-li  •  i       .. 

Neolithic  Implement 

not  have  been  the  case  in  other  countries,  there  was  in 
our  own  land  a  vast  gap  of  time  between  the  people  of 
this  and  the  succeeding  period.  Palaeolithic  man,  who 
inhabited  either  scantily  or  not  at  all  the  parts  north  of 
England  and  made  his  chief  home  in  the  more  southern 
districts,  disappeared  altogether  from  the  country,  which 
was  later  re-peopled  by  Neolithic  man. 

Neolithic  man  was  in  every  way  in  a  much  more 
advanced  state  of  civilisation  than  his  precursor.  He 
tilled  the  land,  bred  stock,  wore  garments,  built  huts, 


60  LINCOLNSHIRE 

made  rude  pottery,  and  erected  remarkable  monuments. 
He  had,  nevertheless,  not  yet  discovered  the  use  of  the 
metals,  and  his  implements  and  weapons  were  still  made 
of  stone  or  bone,  though  the  former  were  often  beautifully 
shaped  and  polished. 

Between  the  Later  Stone  Age  and  the  Bronze  Age 
there  was  no  gap,  the  one  merging  imperceptibly  into  the 
other.  The  discovery  of  the  method  of  smelting  the  ores 
of  copper  and  tin,  and  of  mixing  them,  was  doubtless  a 
slow  affair,  and  the  bronze  weapons  must  have  been  ages 
in  supplanting  those  of  stone,  for  lack  of  intercommuni- 
cation at  that  time  presented  enormous  difficulties  to  the 
spread  of  knowledge.  Bronze  Age  man,  in  addition  to 
fashioning  beautiful  weapons  and  implements,  made  good 
pottery,  and  buried  his  dead  in  circular  barrows. 

In  due  course  of  time  man  learnt  how  to  smelt  the 
ores  of  iron,  and  the  Age  of  Bronze  passed  slowly  into 
the  Iron  Age,  which  brings  us  into  the  period  of  written 
history,  for  the  Romans  found  the  inhabitants  of  Britain 
using  implements  of  iron. 

We  may  now  pause  for  a  moment  to  consider  who 
these  people  were  who  inhabited  our  land  in  these  far-off 
ages.  Of  Palaeolithic  man  we  can  say  nothing.  His 
successors,  the  people  of  the  Later  Stone  Age,  are  believed 
to  have  been  largely  of  Iberian  stock — people,  that  is,  from 
south-western  Europe — who  brought  with  them  their 
knowledge  of  such  primitive  arts  and  crafts  as  were  then 
discovered.  How  long  they  remained  in  undisturbed 
possession  of  our  land  we  do  not  know,  but  they  were 
later  conquered  or  driven  westward  by  a  very  different 


PEOPLE— RACE,  SETTLEMENTS,  DIALECT  61 

race  of  Celtic  origin — the  Goidels  or  Gaels,  a  tall,  light- 
haired  people,  workers  in  bronze,  whose  descendants 
and  language  are  to  be  found  to-day  in  many  parts  of 
Scotland,  Ireland,  and  the  Isle  of  Man.  Another  Celtic 
people  poured  into  the  country  about  the  fourth  century 
B.C. — the  Brythons  or  Britons,  who  in  turn  dispossessed 
the  Gael,  at  all  events  so  far  as  England  and  Wales  are 
concerned.  The  Brythons  were  the  first  users  of  iron  in 
our  country. 

The  Romans,  who  first  reached  our  shores  in  B.C.  55, 
held  the  land  till  about  A.D.  410  ;  but  in  spite  of  the 
length  of  their  domination  they  do  not  seem  to  have 
left  much  mark  on  the  people.  After  their  departure, 
treading  close  on  their  heels,  came  the  Saxons,  Jutes, 
and  Angles.  But  with  these,  and  with  the  incursions  of 
the  Danes  and  Irish,  we  have  left  the  uncertain  region  of 
the  Prehistoric  Age  for  the  surer  ground  of  History. 

Of  the  Celtic  population  of  this  county  at  the  time 
of  the  Roman  invasion  but  few  traces  are  left,  thus 
contrasting  greatly  with  what  has  happened  in  counties 
such  as  Somerset,  Cornwall  and  the  wilder  parts  of 
Wales,  and  the  Lake  district,  where  the  Brythons  (hence 
the  name  Britain)  fled  before  the  Roman  advance  and 
later  from  the  Saxons.  These  Celts,  belonging  to  the 
tribe  of  Coritani,  have  left  little  impression  on  the 
names  of  places  (Lincoln  itself  being  an  exception),  and 
probably  none  on  the  actual  people  of  Lincolnshire. 
On  the  other  hand  the  Saxon  invasion  and  settlement 
must  have  been  complete  early  in  the  sixth  century. 
With  respect  to  the  Danish  invasions  in  the  ninth  and 


62  LINCOLNSHIRE 

tenth  centuries  the  case  was  otherwise,  and  the  lion  and 
the  lamb  would  lie  down  at  length  peaceably,  as  after 
all  they  were  essentially  of  the  same  racial  stock.  This 
can  be  seen  by  frequent  intermingling  of  names.  The 
Danish  settlements  and  their  advance  in  Lincolnshire 
may  be  traced  in  four  special  directions  on  the  map  by 
means  of  the  Scandinavian  names  of  towns  or  villages. 
No  less  than  195  of  these  names  end  in  by  (originally  = 
a  single  dwelling-house),  while  76  end  in  thorpe,  which 
represented  a  collection  of  houses,  or  village.  One 
advance  was  certainly  made  from  near  Grimsby  west- 
wards and  southwards,  and  another  from  the  Trent 
eastwards,  and  the  two  streams  would  meet  somewhere 
about  Caistor.  Again,  on  the  coast  from  Saltfleetby  to 
Skegness  the  names  of  Scandinavian  origin  are  thickly 
spread,  and  so  on  to  the  Wolds  around  Spilsby  and  Alford 
and  Horncastle.  Moreover,  the  stream  of  invaders  and 
settlers  must  have  come  up  the  Fossdyke  from  Gains- 
borough to  Lincoln. 

There  is  no  great  distinction  nowadays  to  be  found 
between  the  two  races  of  Saxons  and  Danes  in  Lincoln- 
shire. In  a  list  of  citizens  at  Lincoln  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  Old  Norse  and  Saxon  names  are  fairly  equally 
represented.  The  country  folk  are  generally  speaking 
fair-haired,  and,  like  David,  ruddy  of  countenance.  The 
ordinary  language  in  the  county  is  much  the  same  as 
on  the  east  coast  and  the  south  of  Scotland,  and  is  Saxon, 
added  to  and  modified,  but  not  supplanted,  by  Norse  or 
Danish.  There  is  a  distinct  difference  between  the  dialects 
of  the  parts  of  the  county  divided  by  the  Witham, 


PEOPLE— RACE,  SETTLEMENTS,  DIALECT  63 

between  north  Lincolnshire,  which  was  the  home  of 
the  Lindiswaras,  and  south  Lincolnshire,  where  the 
Gyrwas  dwelt.  Of  the  northern  dialect  (which  approxi- 
mates fairly  closely  to  that  of  its  neighbour  Yorkshire) 
Tennyson's  Northern  Farmer  and  other  poems  in  dialect 
will  serve  as  excellent  examples.  Probably  many  of  the 
local  pronunciations  of  words  are  original  and  right,  in 
reality.  For  instance,  road  (where  the  vowels  do  not 
make  a  diphthong)  is  pronounced  as  a  dissyllable,  ro-ad, 
instead  of  as  in  our  modern  parlance  "  rode,"  leaving  out 
the  a  altogether.  One  exception  possibly  from  what 
has  been  said  above  as  to  the  disappearance  of  all  Celtic 
traces  in  the  county,  may  be  found  in  the  way  in  which 
the  shepherds,  or  at  all  events  some  of  them,  number 
their  flock.  This  notation,  pethera,  pimp,  dik,  bumpit,  yan 
a  bumpit  (4,  5,  10,  15,  16),  is  strikingly  like  that  in  the 
Celtic  system,  and  that  in  use  in  modern  Welsh,  the 
Welsh  equivalents  being  pedwar,  pump,  deg,  pymtheg, 
unarbymtheg.  Both  systems  start  again  at  15,  and  do 
not  go  further  than  20,  when  a  "  score  "  was  cut  on  the 
tally,  and  the  counting  commenced  over  again1. 

There  are  still  some  enduring  traces  of  Huguenots  in 
the  county.  From  both  France  and  Flanders  there  was 
a  stream  of  immigration  into  England  after  the  massacre 
on  St  Bartholomew's  day,  1572,  and  more  especially  after 
the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  in  1685.  The 
Flemish,  being  trained  to  drainage  working,  helped 
Vermuyden  in  draining  the  Fens.  In  1626,  for  the 

1  An    almost    identical    notation    occurs    in    parts    of    Cumberland    and 
Westmorland — Ed. 


64  LINCOLNSHIRE 

use  of  those  foreigners  working  on  Hatfield  Chase,  a 
chapel  was  built  at  Sandtoft  near  Belton,  in  the  Isle 
of  Axholme,  wherein  services  were  held  alternately  in 
French  and  Dutch.  Thence,  in  the  troublous  times  of 
the  Great  Civil  War,  many  of  these  settlers  were  driven 
away,  and  made  for  Thorney.  One  family  has  been 
traced  from  Hatfield  Chase  to  Thorney,  whence  it 
spread  to  Fleet,  Crowland,  Brothertoft,  Swineshead,  and 
Sutterton,  and  probably  many  others  are  in  the  same 
category. 

12.     Agriculture — Cultivations,  Stock. 

Lincolnshire  is  pre-eminently  an  agricultural  county, 
and  a  great  proportion  of  its  large  area  is  devoted  to  the 
production  of  various  crops.  In  1911  out  of  its  total 
of  1,705,293  acres,  arable  land  accounted  for  no  less 
than  1,003,743  acres,  while  permanent  pasture  occupied 
517,925  acres.  The  county  possesses  a  larger  acreage  of 
barley  than  any  other  in  the  kingdom,  and  produces  rather 
more  than  two  bushels  per  acre  above  the  average.  Her 
wheat  acreage  also  is  the  largest  in  England,  yielding  nearly 
six  bushels  per  acre  above  the  average.  For  acreage  of 
oats  she  ranks  between  Yorkshire  and  Devon,  with  eight 
bushels  per  acre  over  the  average.  Her  acreage  of  peas 
is  the  largest  in  England,  that  of  beans  between  Suffolk 
and  Essex,  with  over  seven  bushels  to  the  acre  over  the 
average.  The  Lincolnshire  potato-growing  area  is 
2O,ooo  acres  larger  than  that  of  Yorkshire,  the  next  on 
the  list ;  and  she  ranks  third  among  the  counties  for 


S.  L. 


66  LINCOLNSHIRE 

turnips  and  swedes.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  the 
ten  years  1895-1904  the  Lincoln  corn-market  was  first  in 
the  list  for  oats  three  times,  and  for  barley  once,  Norwich 
being  generally  the  first  corn-market  in  the  kingdom, 
with  London  and  Peterborough  coming  next.  In  1910 
Lincoln  ranked  sixth  on  the  list  for  wheat,  second  for 
barley  (about  100,000  quarters  behind  Norwich,  and 
about  the  same  in  front  of  Berwick),  and  sixth  for  oats, 
Stamford  being  third.  About  three  thousand  acres  are 
allotted  to  orchards,  and  about  two  thousand  acres  to 
small  fruit,  especially  strawberries,  currants,  and  goose- 
berries. There  are  nearly  five  thousand  small  holdings 
from  one  to  five  acres  each,  and  about  ten  thousand 
between  five  and  fifty  acres.  Along  the  roads  leading 
from  Lincoln  to  Branston,  Navenby,  and  Low  Brace- 
bridge,  can  still  be  seen  small  one-storied  houses  which 
have  each  had  about  a  rood  of  ground  attached  to  them. 
These  were  early  precursors  of  "  Three  acres  and  a 
cow,"  and  were  built  by  Fergus  O'Connor,  the  Chartist. 
Lincolnshire  has  a  great  reputation  for  breeding  and 
raising  stock,  and  takes  third  place  (after  Yorkshire  and 
Devon)  among  the  counties  of  England  in  the  number  of 
cattle  she  possesses.  A  special  breed  (constituting  about 
90  per  cent,  of  the  cattle  bred  in  the  county) — the  Lin- 
colnshire Red  Shorthorn — is  becoming  well-known;  it  is 
of  a  well-defined  type,  with  much  wealth  and  evenness 
of  flesh,  and  with  great  milking  qualities.  As  regards 
sheep  her  position  is  the  same,  ranking  after  Yorkshire 
and  Northumberland.  The  typical  Lincolnshire  sheep 
is  the  largest  and  heaviest  of  its  kind  in  the  kingdom,  has 


AGRICULTURE 


67 


a  good  growth  of  bright  fleece,  is  of  great  hardiness  of 
constitution,  and  is  much  used  for  crossing  with  other 
varieties,  such  as  the  Leicester.  It  is  also  in  great 
request  for  exportation  to  Argentina,  Australia,  and 


Lincolnshire  Ram 

New  Zealand,  where  it  is  crossed  with  the  Merino. 
Consequently  immense  prices  have  been  paid — as  much 
as  1000  guineas — for  Lincolnshire  rams.  There  are 
large  sheep-fairs  held  annually  at  Lincoln  and  Corby, 

5—2 


68 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


but  the  numbers  are  very  much  smaller  than  in  years 
gone  by.  At  Sleaford  wool-fair  in  1911,  no  less  than 
15,000  fleeces  were  for  sale.  For  pigs  the  county 
takes  fourth  place,  the  majority  being  of  the  Large 


Lincolnshire  Shire  Horse 


White  breed,  which  attain  a  very  great  size,  50  stone 
being  a  not  infrequent  weight;  but  a  native  kind,  the 
Lincolnshire  curly-coated,  is  rapidly  advancing  into 
favour. 


AGRICULTURE  69 

As  becomes  a  county  wherein  two  famous  horse-fairs, 
Lincoln  and  Horncastle,  are  held,  Lincolnshire  has  a 
great  repute  for  breeding  horses  for  riding,  driving,  and 
for  heavy  work;  she  ranks  second  to  Yorkshire  for  the 
number  of  her  horses.  The  shire  horse  has  been  a 
Lincolnshire  production  for  generations  past.  It  is  in- 
teresting to  note — as  showing  how  customs  change — that 
in  1566  it  was  observed  that  in  Lincolnshire  there  were 
"few  draught  horses;  the  carriage  of  that  county  standeth 
most  by  oxen."  Hence  comes  one  of  Shakespeare's  two 
allusions  to  the  county  in  Mr  Justice  Shallow's  enquiry 
"  How  a  good  yoke  of  bullocks  at  Stamford  Fair  ?"* 

Of  special  cultivations,  there  is  now  nothing  very 
particular  to  chronicle.  As  we  shall  see  in  the  next 
chapter,  in  old  days,  before  the  drainage  of  the  fens, 
very  many  geese  of  excellent  quality  were  bred  there. 
On  the  Heath  were  very  large  warrens  of  silver- 
grey  rabbits  (some  still  exist  near  Santon,  close  to 
Frodingham)  whose  skins  were  very  marketable.  Some 
300  or  400  acres  of  fen  were  also  devoted  to  the  produce 
of  cranberries.  Mustard  is  extensively  grown  for  seed 
about  Holbeach  and  Spalding,  and  the  Isle  of  Axholme 
is  well  known  for  its  vegetables,  such  as  celery.  Fields 
may  also  be  seen  of  white  poppies  for  "  poppy-heads " 
and  for  the  production  of  opium.  Flax  also  is  cultivated 
round  Epworth  and  Crowle.  A  favourite  Lincolnshire 
vegetable,  Good  King  Henry  or  mercury,  is  extensively 

1  The  other  being  "as  melancholy  as the  drone  of  a  Lincolnshire 

bagpipe,"  both  from  the  play  of  Henry  IV.      Pepys  was  entertained  in  1667 
to  drink  and  the  bagpipes  by  Sir  Freshville  Holies,  a  Lincolnshire  M.P. 


70 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


grown  and  used  as  a  rather  coarse  spinach,  and  the 
glasswort  of  the  coasts  (Saltcornia)  is  used  for  pickling. 
Around  Boston  some  woad  (hath  tinctorid]  is  to  be  seen, 
and  there  were  two  woad-growers  registered  in  the 
Lincolnshire  Directory  for  1909.  The  blue  dye  is  obtained 
from  the  root-leaves,  which  are  crushed  in  a  mill  by 
rude  conical  crushers  dragged  round  by  horses,  and  the 


The  Woad  Industry  :    Balls  drying  in  the  Sheds 

pulp  thus  made  is  worked  up  into  balls  and  laid  out  for 
some  weeks  to  dry.  These  are  then  thrown  in  a  heap 
in  the  dark,  mixed  with  water,  and  fermented,  being  left 
for  a  considerable  time  before  being  packed  into  casks  for 
sale.  This  dye  is  now  always  used  with  indigo. 

Near  Boston  also,  in  the  last  few  years,  flower  farms, 
producing  narcissus  and  tulips,  have  come  into  vogue. 


AGRICULTURE 


71 


In  the  Isle  of  Axholme,  round  Haxey  in  particular, 
and  on  the  higher  levels,  the  land  is  cut  up  into  parallel 
strips  called  selions,  about  a  rod  wide  and  half  an  acre  in 
extent.  As  these  belong  frequently  to  different  owners 
(one  man  for  instance  owned  40  acres  in  too  different 
plots  in  one  village),  they  are  diversified  in  crops. 


A  Field  of  Tulips  at  Spalding 

On  the  Heath  or  Cliff,  which  extends  nearly  from  the 
Humber  to  south  of  Grantham,  the  soil  is  thin  and  near 
the  oolite  rock.  The  fields  are  large,  often  walled  in,  and 
the  older  farm  buildings  generally  of  stone.  The  rotation 
of  crops  is  carried  out  with  marrowfat  peas,  wheat,  roots 
and  barley,  which  is  of  the  best  quality.  Carrots  are 
much  grown,  especially  where  the  soil  is  sandy. 


AGRICULTURE  73 

On  the  Wolds  also  the  soil  is  very  thin,  hardly  more 
than  a  foot  deep  above  the  chalk.  The  farms  are  large, 
running  from  300  to  1500  acres,  the  largest  of  all  being 
at  Withcall.  A  four-course  rotation  of  crops  is  strictly 
carried  out,  wheat  (or  oats  rather  commonly  of  late  years), 
turnips,  barley  (with  seeds  sown  in  it),  and  wheat,  or  oats 
again. 

Much  of  the  north  Marsh  is  under  permanent  grass, 
and  is  some  of  the  most  valuable  grazing  ground  in  the 
kingdom.  Further  south  a  good  deal  of  the  land  is 
now  tilled,  and  produces  mustard,  potatoes,  and  corn. 
The  growth  of  straw  and  yield  of  grain  are  very  large 
indeed. 

The  Fens  are  now  so  well  drained  that  they  are 
rather  short  of  water  in  a  dry  summer.  Most  of  the 
land  is  under  arable  culture,  the  corn  crops  being  mainly 
wheat  or  oats,  occasionally  barley,  or  beans  or  peas. 
Turnips,  mangolds,  potatoes,  and  carrots  are  the  chief 
root  crops. 


13.     Industries  and  Manufactures. 

In  the  centuries  immediately  succeeding  the  Norman 
Conquest  the  chief  industry  of  Lincolnshire  was  the 
preparation  of  wool,  as  far  as  regards  the  dwellers  on 
the  Cliff,  Heath,  and  Wold.  It  was  no  doubt  due  to  the 
export  of  wool  that  the  port  of  Lincoln  ranked  fourth 
among  the  ports  of  the  kingdom  in  the  sixth  year  of 
King  John  (1204),  while  Boston  ranked  second,  Grimsby 


74  LINCOLNSHIRE 

tenth,  Barton  eleventh,  and  Immingham  twelfth.  In 
1291  Lincoln  was  made  a  "staple"  town,  wherein  the 
wool  was  sold,  weighed,  and  certified,  and  then  sent  down 
the  river  Witham  to  Boston.  In  1361,  however,  the 
latter  port  had  the  "staple"  transferred  to  it,  to  its  great 
advantage,  and  to  the  great  discontent  of  Lincoln,  whose 
inhabitants  vainly  petitioned  to  have  it  restored.  Nearly 
a  hundred  years  before,  Boston  had  stood  at  the  head  of 
the  Customs  returns  for  several  years  (1278-1290).  In 
spite  of  the  complaints  of  Lincoln's  decaying  trade,  it 
must  have  been  fairly  prosperous,  since  it  is  estimated  to 
have  had  a  population  of  5000  in  1377,  when  it  was  the 
sixth  largest  town  in  the  kingdom,  and  in  1503  it  was  by 
assessment  actually  fourth  in  the  list.  It  had  had  a  guild 
of  weavers  for  centuries,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century  Lincoln  was  celebrated  for  its  manufacture  of 
scarlet  cloth.  Later,  the  colour  always  associated  with 
Lincoln  was  green,  as  is  mentioned  in  Spenser's  Faery 
Queene,  Drayton's  Polyolbion,  and  the  ballads  of  Robin 
Hood,  but  few  clothiers  seem  to  have  been  in  the  city  in 
the  earlier  years  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  weaving 
trade  probably  went  abroad  during  the  stormy  times 
of  King  John  and  Henry  III,  and  never  came  back  to 
Lincolnshire  again,  though  the  actual  wool  export  trade 
must  have  lasted  on  well  into  the  times  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  as  the  fine  manor  house  at  Bassingthorpe 
testifies,  being  built  by  a  merchant  of  the  staple,  Thomas 
Coney,  who  had  1000  sheep  in  1569. 

Later  efforts  to  stimulate  the  working-up  of  the  wool 
in  the  county  do  not  seem  to  have  met  with  much  success. 


INDUSTRIES  AND  MANUFACTURES      75 

Several  attempts  were  made  at  Lincoln  both  to  establish 
knitting  and  spinning  schools,  and  also  clothworking  in 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  but  they  all 
came  to  nothing.  In  1561  Thomas  Trollope  proposed  to 
Cecil,  Queen  Elizabeth's  powerful  minister,  to  set  up 
mills  at  Stamford  for  the  beating  of  hemp  and  the 
manufacture  of  linen  and  canvas  cloth,  but  they  met 
the  same  fate  as  those  dealing  with  wool.  At  Belton 
House  there  is  still  some  excellent  tapestry  made  at 
Stamford  in  the  eighteenth  century.  In  1787  an  Annual 
County  Ball  was  established  for  the  encouragement  of 
native  woollen  manufactures,  for  the  first  two  years  being 
held  at  Alford,  but  ever  since  at  Lincoln.  From  its 
origin  it  is  still  often  called  the  "Stuff  Ball."  The  ladies 
used  to  wear  stuff  gowns  and  the  gentlemen  stuff  coats, 
waistcoats,  and  breeches,  according  to  the  late  Sir  Charles 
Anderson,  who  adds  that  stuff  was  little  worn  after  1820. 
From  the  custom  of  the  Lady  Patroness  choosing  the 
colour  or  colours  of  the  ball,  it  is  also  sometimes  called 
the  "Lincoln  Colour  Ball." 

In  the  Fens,  before  they  were  drained,  one  great 
source  of  income  was  from  the  very  abundant  supply  of 
wild  fowl.  For  these  decoys  were  used,  of  which  there  is 
still  one  left  at  Ashby  near  Burringham  on  the  Trent. 
In  35  seasons  at  this  decoy  the  total  catch  was  nearly 
100,000  wild  fowl,  of  which  nearly  half  was  contributed 
by  mallard  and  teal1.  A  great  number  of  wild  fowl 
are  still  taken  in  nets  along  the  sand-flats  on  the  Wash. 

1   Victoria  County  History  of  Lincolnshire,  vol.  11,  article  Wildfowling,  from 
which  all  that  follows  on  this  subject  is  taken. 


76 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


Both  Fuller  and  Camden  wrote  enthusiastically  of  the 
wealth  of  wild  fowl  in  Lincolnshire,  and  Pennant  in  1768 
refers  to  this  county  as  "  the  great  magazine  of  wild  fowl 
in  this  kingdom."  Another  source  of  profit  to  the  "Fen 
Slodgers,"  as  the  men  were  called,  was  from  the  reeds  and 
rushes,  which  were  gathered  for  thatching  before  tiles 


Wildfowling  in  the  Fens 

and  slates  came  into  ordinary  use.  Camden  says  that 
a  well-harvested  stack  of  reeds  was  worth  from  £200  to 
.£300.  Dr  Johnson  was  told  that  a  roof  thatched  with 
Lincolnshire  reeds  would  last  70  years.  It  is  easy  to 
understand  why  the  fenmen  were  so  keenly  and  so 
tenaciously  determined  to  resist  the  drainage  of  the 
Fens. 


Cutting  Reeds  for  Thatching 


78  LINCOLNSHIRE 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that,  in  1585,  an  order  was 
made  for  "  xij  or  xvj  Stiltmen  in  the  countie  of  Lincolne 
furnished  with  either  of  them  two  paire  of  the  highest  of 
Stiltes  and  the  longest  poles  that  are  or  maie  be  used  with 
the  said  stiltes  to  be  sent  over  into  the  Low  Contryes  to 
the  Erie  of  Leicester." 

Geese,  as  already  stated,  were  in  past  years  kept  in 
enormous  numbers  in  the  Fens,  both  for  their  feathers, 
which  provided  the  penman's  quill  before  Birmingham  had 
popularised  the  substitute  of  steel,  and  for  stuffing  beds, 
as  well  as  for  food.  There  are  still  many  kept  in  the 
districts  around  Spalding. 

As  would  be  expected  in  an  agricultural  county,  there 
are  large  crushing-mills  for  linseed  and  for  other  kinds 
of  cake  for  feeding  stock.  These  are  at  Lincoln  and 
Gainsborough,  and  there  are  manure  works  at  Lincoln 
and  Saxilby.  Flour-mills  driven  by  steam  are  fairly 
common  in  most  of  the  large  towns,  and  have  superseded 
windmills,  which  are  disappearing  fast,  and  are  not 
replaced.  Forty  years  ago  there  was  a  row  of  seven  or 
eight  along  the  cliff  between  Lincoln  and  Burton,  now 
two  only  are  left.  In  a  barley-producing  county  malting 
is  naturally  a  very  prominent  industry,  and  the  enormous 
new  malt-kilns  and  houses  at  Sleaford  are  probably  far 
the  largest  in  the  country. 

In  Saxon  times,  certainly  after  the  days  of  King 
Edwy,  there  wras  a  mint  in  Lincoln  which  struck  coins 
there  of  all  the  succeeding  kings  up  to  the  Norman 
Conquest.  When  Domesday  Book  was  compiled  the 
Lincoln  mint  paid  ^75  to  the  king,  a  larger  sum  than 


INDUSTRIES  AND   MANUFACTURES      79 

was  paid  by  any  other  mint  in  the  country.  After  the 
Conquest,  coins  struck  at  Lincoln  are  known  of  all  the 
kings  (Kings  Richard  I  and  John  being  excepted)  down 
to  King  Edward  I. 

This  city  also  was  one  of  the  provincial  assay  towns, 
as  was  ordained  by  a  statute  of  the  year  1423  (the  second 
year  of  King  Henry  VI)  that  each  of  the  towns  mentioned 
should  have  divers  "  touches,"  i.e.  marks,  and  further  that 
no  goldsmith  should  work  silver  of  worse  alloy  than  the 
sterling,  and  should  put  his  mark  upon  it  before  he  "  set 
to  sell,"  under  the  same  penalties  as  those  obtaining  in 
London.  No  mark  is  known  peculiar  to  Lincoln.  But 
there  is  a  mark — a  capital  I  on  a  capital  M  in  a  florid  type 
of  shield,  almost  invariably  alone — which  has  been  found 
on  fifty  communion  cups  which,  except  in  one  instance,  are 
all  in  this  county.  It  is  almost  certainly  a  Lincoln  maker's 
private  mark.  These  cups  have  paten  covers,  and  on  the 
paten  foot  is  frequently  inscribed  the  date,  i.e.  1569  in 
19  instances,  1570  in  two,  and  1571  in  one  case.  Other 
cups  unmarked,  but  of  the  same  date  and  style,  may 
safely  be  attributed  to  the  same  maker,  whose  name, 
unfortunately,  is  not  known. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  agricultural-implement  works  were  started  in 
Lincoln.  From  small  beginnings  these  works  have  grown 
and  prospered  exceedingly,  their  buildings  and  shops 
covering  many  acres  and  giving  employment  to  some 
thousands  of  workmen.  They  produce  portable  and 
fixed  engines,  boilers,  traction  engines,  road  rollers,  pumps, 
threshing-machines,  hay  and  straw  elevators,  maize- 


80 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


shellers  and  chaff-cutters,  oil  engines,  gas  engines,  steam 
navvies,  engines  for  mining  and  electrical  purposes,  and 
steam  wagons.  In  some  of  these  works  all  the  machinery 
is  electrically  driven,  and  in  all  the  best  and  latest  develop- 
ments in  tools,  workshops,  etc.,  are  found.  Plough-works, 
malleable-iron  works,  and  wire-works  also  produce  a  large 


Iron  Works,   Lincoln 

output,  and  employ  many  men.  At  Grantham  also  are 
large  iron-works  making  much  the  same  class  of  machinery, 
with  a  particular  leaning  to  oil  and  gas  engines.  At 
Gainsborough  are  large  foundries  and  iron-works,  with 
like  products  in  agricultural  and  other  machinery.  The 
smelting  industry,  which  has  attained  such  large  dimen- 
sions at  Scunthorpe,  will  be  noticed  in  the  next  chapter. 


S.  L. 


82  LINCOLNSHIRE 

At  Brant  Broughton  much  excellent  work  has  been  done 
recently  in  wrought  iron,  artistically  handled. 

At  both  Gainsborough  and  Lincoln  are  large  wood 
works,  and,  as  will  be  seen  later,  wood  holds  an  important 
position  in  the  import  trade  of  the  Lincolnshire  ports. 
A  comparatively  new  industry  which  employs  many 
hands,  chiefly  women  and  girls,  in  Boston,  Lincoln,  and 
other  towns  of  this  county,  is  pea-picking,  in  which  the 
peas  are  sorted  out  in  sizes  and  qualities  and  packed  for 
sale  in  boxes.  Another  large  industry  is  that  of  the 
feather  factories,  wherein  the  feathers  supplied  by  farmers 
and  poultry  dealers  are  sorted  by  machinery  and  then 
purified  by  steam,  the  residue  going  to  form  a  valuable 
manure. 

Of  places  in  the  county  that  have  given  name  to  any 
product  there  are  only  four — Lincoln,  as  mentioned  above, 
Grantham  (for  gingerbreads),  Boston,  and  Torksey.  Boston 
seems  to  have  been  known  in  Elizabethan  times  for  its 
drinking-vessels,  as  Bishop  Hall  in  his  Satires  refers  to  the 
"  palish  oat  frothing  in  Boston  clay1." 

At  Torksey2  a  china  manufactory  was  established  in 
1803  by  William  Billingsley,  with  his  son-in-law,  George 
Walker.  Billingsley  had  previously  been  many  years  at 
Derby  working  for  Duesbury,  the  proprietor  of  the  old 
Derby  works.  The  business  at  Torksey  only  lasted  five 
years.  Billingsley  was  an  admirable  flower  and  landscape 
painter  on  china. 

1  Victoria  County  History  of  Lincolnshire,  vol.  n,  article  Industries,  p.  388. 

2  Associated   Architect.    Societies'    Report,   vol.   xxm,    pp.    153 — 15^>    Dr 
O'Neill. 


INDUSTRIES  AND  MANUFACTURES      83 

In  the  early  days  of  lawn  tennis,  a  considerable  industry 
was  established  in  Horncastle  for  the  manufacture  of  the 
racquets  used  in  the  game.  But  this  has  died  out  in  the 
last  20  years. 


14.     Mines  and  Minerals. 

The  first  place  among  Lincolnshire  mines  must  be 
given  to  Scunthorpe  and  Frodingham  in  the  north  of  the 
county.  The  fact  that  the  ironstone  there  was  sufficiently 
rich  to  make  it  worth  smelting  was  only  realised  about 
the  year  1855,  when  the  late  Lord  St  Oswald  (then  Mr 
Rowland  Winn)  first  opened  quarries.  The  ore  was  at 
that  time  taken  to  the  river  Trent,  and  shipped  to 
iron-works  in  Yorkshire.  The  first  blast  furnace  in  the 
district  was  erected  about  1864,  and  others  followed 
shortly  afterwards.  There  are  now  five  firms  who  smelt 
iron  on  the  spot,  and  in  addition  to  the  ore  used  by  them, 
a  very  large  quantity  is  sent  to  iron-works  in  Yorkshire 
and  Derbyshire.  The  area  in  which  ironstone  is  being 
dug  extends  from  Ashby  on  the  south  to  Thealby  on  the 
north,  a  distance  of  about  seven  miles — its  widest  part 
measuring  about  a  mile  and  a  half — and  it  includes 
portions  of  the  parishes  of  Ashby,  Brumby,  Frodingham, 
Scunthorpe,  Flixborough,  Normanby,  and  Burton.  The 
ore  is  a  fossil-bearing  limestone  in  the  Lower  Lias  and 
contains  the  iron  in  the  form  of  hydrated  peroxide.  The 
bed,  where  it  attains  its  full  thickness,  is  about  30  feet 
deep  ;  it  has  a  slight  north-easterly  dip,  and  the  quarries 

6—3 


84 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


are  all  situated  on  its  outcrop,  so  that  the  available  thick- 
ness diminishes  from  east  to  west,  according  to  the  degree 
of  denudation  to  which  it  has  been  subject.  Towards 
the  east  the  bed  dips  under  the  scarp  of  the  hill ;  but  it 
was  reached  in  shafts  and  borings  near  Appleby  station  at 
a  depth  of  300  feet,  still  being  nearly  30  feet  thick.  The 
stone  is  all  got  in  open  quarries.  It  is  covered  with  blown 


Frodingham  Iron  and  Steel  Works :    Scunthorpe 

sand  varying  in  depth  from  a  few  inches  to  about  30  feet, 
containing  in  places  beds  of  peat.  This  is  removed  by 
digging  and  burrowing,  or  in  some  cases  by  mechanical 
means.  The  ironstone  is  got  by  drilling  and  blasting. 
The  percentage  of  metallic  iron  varies  in  the  different 
bands  that  make  up  the  full  thickness  of  the  bed  ; 
some  of  the  richest  yield  upwards  of  30  per  cent,  and 


MINES  AND  MINERALS  85 

some  are  too  poor  to  treat.  It  has  been  calculated  that 
on  an  average  two  tons  of  coal  produce  one  ton  of  metal. 
The  stone  contains  in  itself  sufficient  lime  to  act  as  a  flux, 
and  a  siliceous  component  is  furnished  by  the  ironstone 
of  the  Northampton  Sands,  quarried  at  Greetwell  by 
Lincoln. 

The  ore  is  smelted  in  large  blast  furnaces,  and  the 
result  is  mostly  disposed  of  in  the  form  of  pig  iron.  But, 
a  few  years  ago,  one  firm  at  Frodingham  built  steel  works 
and  rolling  mills,  using  the  Siemens-Martin  method.  The 
Lincolnshire  steel  is  of  very  high  quality,  suitable  for 
rolling  into  thin  sheets  or  drawing  into  wire.  Some 
extensive  new  works  wherein  both  iron  and  steel  will  be 
made  are  nearing  completion  at  Flixborough. 

At  Caythorpe  are  considerable  open  workings  of  the 
Middle  Lias  (Marlstone)  ironstone. 

At  Greetwell  and  Monks  Abbey,  just  east  of  Lincoln, 
as  already  mentioned,  is  quarried  the  siliceous  ironstone 
found  in  the  lowest  layer  of  the  Lower  Oolite,  known  as 
the  Northampton  Sands.  The  ironstone  is  worked  partly 
in  the  open  when  there  is  little  soil  above,  but  chiefly 
by  galleries  driven  into  the  Cliff,  with  narrow-gauge  rails 
and  trucks,  on  which  horse-traction  is  being  superseded 
by  small  locomotives.  The  ore  is  reddish  brown  at  the 
outcrop  and  gets  bluer  in  colour  the  deeper  the  tunnel 
goes  in.  The  yield  of  metal  is  from  28  to  40  per  cent. 
The  soil  is  replaced  in  the  open  workings,  and  has 
been  covered  with  allotments,  etc. ;  in  the  other  workings 
the  galleries  have  fallen  in  and  produced  a  very  irregular 
surface. 


86  LINCOLNSHIRE 

Near  Claxby  and  Nettleton  the  Middle  Neocomian 
layer  of  ironstone,  about  six  feet  six  inches  thick,  has 
been  worked  by  galleries  driven  into  the  side  of  the  hill. 
The  workings  began  in  1868.  The  ore  is  almost  entirely 
made  up  of  small  and  beautifully  polished  oolitic  grains 
of  hydrated  peroxide  of  iron.  It  is  a  calcareous  ore, 
yielding  from  28  to  33  per  cent,  of  metallic  iron,  and 
is  useful  for  mixing  with  the  clayey  ores  of  the  coal- 
measures.  From  the  presence  of  slag  with  charcoal  and 
bits  of  pottery  it  is  evident  that  this  bed  of  ore  was  known 
to  and  worked  by  the  Romans  during  their  possession  of 
this  country. 

The  county  is  not  rich  in  other  minerals,  coal  not  yet 
having  been  tapped  to  any  practical  result.  The  chief 
building  stone  is  the  Lincolnshire  Limestone,  an  oolitic 
rock  worked  near  Ancaster  and  Wilsford,  at  Haydor,  and 
near  Grantham,  of  which  many  churches  and  houses  in 
Kesteven  are  built,  including  Lincoln  Minster.  It  hardens 
on  exposure  and  forms  a  most  excellent  building  stone. 
Many  churches  on  the  Wolds  and  in  the  Marsh  are  built 
of  the  beautiful  local  grey-green  sandstone  (of  the  Lower 
Neocomian  series),  which  unfortunately  is  rather  perish- 
able. In  some  instances  the  white  chalk  is  used  for 
building,  as  at  Legbourne  Church,  where  the  smooth 
white  surface  suggests  at  a  distance  unglazed  white  tiles. 
The  clay  on  Lincoln  hill  and  below  the  Cliff  is  extensively 
used  for  brick-making,  and  at  Little  Bytham  are  works 
for  making  so-called  "clinker"  bricks,  which  are  specially 
hard  and  used  as  fire-bricks. 


FISHERIES    AND   FISHING    STATIONS      87 
15.     Fisheries  and  Fishing  Stations. 

There  are  several  different  methods  adopted  for 
catching  sea-fish.  Among  the  most  important  is  that 
of  trawling,  in  which  a  triangular  net  with  a  bag  is 
towed  along  the  sea-bottom.  This,  therefore,  can  only 
be  done  when  the  sea-floor  is  fairly  smooth  and  sandy 
and  without  rocks.  By  this  method  the  bottom-feeding 
fish  are  caught.  Steam  trawlers  are  gradually  superseding 
the  sailing  vessels.  In  winter  the  east  coast  trawlers — 
with  which  we  are  chiefly  concerned — fish  the  Dogger 
Bank,  which  lies  in  the  North  Sea  about  midway  between 
the  coast  of  Yorkshire,  Durham,  and  Northumberland,  and 
that  of  Denmark,  and  each  vessel  takes  its  own  catch  into 
port,  having  a  well  on  board  wherein  the  fish  can  be  kept 
alive,  while  in  harbour  special  boxes  are  placed  in  the 
water  for  the  same  purpose.  In  the  months  of  February 
and  March  cod  are  very  plentiful  along  the  coast  north 
of  the  Humber,  and  from  150  to  200  boxes  of  haddock 
are  often  landed  at  Grimsby  by  a  steam  trawler  after  a 
week's  fishing  on  the  Dogger  Bank.  In  summer  they 
fish  along  the  Danish,  German,  and  Dutch  coasts  in 
fleets,  wherefrom  a  steamer  takes  the  catch  to  port. 
The  fish  caught  are  chiefly  flat-fish,  halibut,  turbot,  brill, 
soles,  and  plaice,  and  those  possessing  the  quaint  names  of 
witches  and  megrims,  with  some  cod,  haddock,  whiting, 
hake,  gurnard,  and  red  mullet.  Of  late  years,  trawlers 
have  gone  farther  a-sea  for  their  quarry  ;  to  Iceland, 
where  are  large  plaice  and  haddock,  and  south  to  Vigo 
Bay,  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  where  hake  are  plentiful. 


88  LINCOLNSHIRE 

The  second  kind  of  sea-fishing  is  by  lines  and  hooks, 
and  is  carried  on  over  much  the  same  area  as  the  former, 
especially  over  the  Dogger  Bank  and  Cromer  Knoll,  but  fish 
are  caught  by  this  method  at  any  depth,  so  that  the  state  of 
the  sea-floor,  whether  rocky  or  sandy,  is  of  no  consequence. 
Mussels  and  whelks  are  extensively  used  for  bait,  the  lines 
are  some  eight  miles  long  with  4580  hooks  on  each,  and 
are  shot  across  the  tide.  Cod  and  haddock  are  the  main 
catch.  The  Faroe,  Shetland,  and  Iceland  fishing-grounds 
are  worked  by  large  steamers  from  Grimsby,  which  bring 
back  enormous  numbers  of  halibut,-  with  ling,  cod,  coal- 
fish,  and  skate.  Fishing  by  head-lines,  with  generally  two 
hooks,  is  familiar  to  every  visitor  to  our  coast,  and  is 
practised  near  the  shore. 

The  third  kind  of  fishing  is  by  drift-nets,  which  are 
hung  suspended  vertically  across  the  tide,  and  through  the 
meshes  of  which  the  fish  (herrings  on  the  north-eastern 
coasts,  pilchards  round  Cornwall)  get  their  heads,  but 
cannot  get  them  back,  owing  to  the  gills. 

Grimsby,  from  a  small  town  with  9000  inhabitants 
in  1860,  has  sprung  into  the  foremost  position  in  Europe 
and  probably  the  world,  as  a  fishing  port.  She  had  in  the 
1911  census  a  population  of  74,663,  a  magnificent  fleet 
of  564  steam  fishing  vessels  (with  tonnage  41,648),  which 
is  more  than  one-third  of  the  entire  number  of  vessels  in 
the  United  Kingdom.  The  fish-market  is  two  miles  long, 
and  in  1910  there  were  landed  at  Grimsby  no  less  than 
3,491,000  cwts.  of  wet  fish,  valued  at  ^2,528,000,  as 
well  as  £6000  worth  of  crabs,  oysters,  and  other  shellfish. 
In  the  preservation  of  all  this  fish  much  ice  is  necessary, 


FISHERIES  AND  FISHING  STATIONS      89 

and  hence  there  is  a  very  large  ice  factory  in  the  town. 
An  effort  is  being  made  (1911)  to  make  this  port  also 
one  of  the  most  important  in  the  kingdom  for  curing  and 
pickling  herrings,  as  is  done  at  Yarmouth  and  elsewhere. 
One  of  the  earliest  notices  of  Boston  as  a  fishing  port 
occurs  in  the  year  1325,  when  orders  were  sent  to  buy 
and  provide  for  the  King's  use  in  the  markets  of  St  Botolph, 


Fish-pontoon,   Grimsby 


ten  thousands  of  stockfish  and  styfish.  In  1907  there  were 
at  Boston  95  fishing  vessels,  which  employed  433  men 
and  boys,  and  in  1910,  88,075  cwts.  of  wet  fish,  valued 
at  £66,242,  and  £7835  worth  of  shellfish  were  landed 
at  this  port. 

Oysters  used  to  be  very  abundant  near  Saltfleet,  and 
they  are  still  numerous  near  Cleethorpes,  where  they 
grow  to  a  large  size.  Under  Boston  jurisdiction  in  the 


90  LINCOLNSHIRE 

Wash  are  some  six  to  eight  square  miles  of  mussel  "scalps." 
A  good  deal  of  shrimping  is  done  along  the  Lincolnshire 
coast,  and  smelts  were  caught  in  large  numbers,  as 
also  were  grey  mullet,  near  Wainfleet  Haven,  but  the 
fishermen  complain  that  these  have  decreased  in  late  years, 
and  the  fishing  is  now  chiefly  for  flounders  and  dabs. 
One  enemy  of  fish,  the  seal,  has  recognised  this  part  of 
the  coast  as  an  excellent  feeding  place,  and  although  several 
have  been  killed  and  captured,  the  fishermen  have  had 
to  leave  this  locality  to  the  seals.  In  1912  there  was  a 
colony  of  500  seals  in  the  Wash,  doing  great  damage  to 
the  fisheries  and  the  Eastern  Sea  Fisheries  Association 
offered  55.  for  each  seal  killed.  These,  of  course,  are  of 
little  commercial  value  either  for  skin  or  oil.  In  the  north 
of  the  county  the  gate-posts  at  the  entrance  to  a  farm 
are  occasionally  formed  by  huge  whale  jaws,  testifying  to 
the  prevalence  of  whale-fishing  years  ago,  before  the 
whales  were  nearly  exterminated. 


16.     Shipping  and  Trade. 

The  principal  port  in  Lincolnshire,  as  has  been  in- 
dicated in  the  preceding  chapter,  is  that  of  Great  Grimsby. 
Situated  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Humber,  not  far  from 
its  entrance  into  the  North  Sea,  Grimsby  is  exceedingly 
well  placed  for  the  promotion  of  river,  coast,  and  foreign 
trade.  Its  jurisdiction  extends  from  Skitter  Ness  in 
Goxhill  parish,  on  the  north-west  almost  opposite  Hull, 
to  Trusthorpe  drain  on  the  south,  where  that  of  Boston 


SHIPPING  AND  TRADE 


91 


begins.  The  port  has  undergone  several  vicissitudes. 
In  the  reign  of  King  Edward  III,  it  supplied  n  ships 
and  170  seamen  for  the  siege  of  Calais.  With  the 
gradual  silting-up  of  the  harbour  its  shipping  trade 
declined  (in  1588,  probably  there  was  not  a  ship  above 
100  tons  at  Grimsby),  until  the  latter  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  when  steps  were  taken  to  improve  the  harbour. 


Grimsby  Docks 

A  dock  of  about  14  acres  was  finished  in  1800,  when 
the  population  (in  the  following  year)  was  only  1524  in 
number.  With  the  advent  of  the  Manchester,  Sheffield, 
and  Lincolnshire  Railway — now  the  Great  Central  Rail- 
way— on  the  scene  in  1848,  the  new  era  of  commercial 
prosperity  opened  for  Grimsby.  The  Royal  Dock,  of 
25  acres,  had  its  first  stone  laid  by  the  Prince  Consort 
in  1849,  and  received  its  name  when  Queen  Victoria 


92 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


visited  the  town  in  1854.  There  is  also  the  Alexandra 
Dock  (48  acres,  partly  including  the  old  dock),  a  uniting 
dock  between  them,  an  old  fish  dock  of  13^  acres,  and 
a  new  one  of  9^  acres.  The  dock  gates  and  locks  are 
moved  by  hydraulic  power,  derived  from  a  stately  tower 
335  feet  high.  A  new  dock  at  Immingham,  six  miles 
higher  up  the  river,  where  the  five-fathom  line  comes 


Immingham  Dock,  Grimsby 

(Showing  Coal  Hoists) 

very  near  to  the  shore,  is  rapidly  approaching  completion, 
and  will  be  one  of  the  largest,  if  not  the  largest,  on  the 
east  coast.  It  is  a  deep-water  dock,  in  a  land-locked 
harbour,  with  a  deep-water  channel,  and  consists  of  a 
square  basin  1100  feet  square,  with  two  arms  1250  feet 
long  and  375  feet  wide,  making  a  total  water  area  of 
55!  acres. 


SHIPPING  AND  TRADE  93 

Grimsby  has  also  ship-building  and  engineering  works 
and  a  very  large  trade  altogether  apart  from  fish  and  their 
belongings.  In  1910,  she  exported  1,611,220  tons  of 
coal,  her  steam  fishing  fleet  shipped  833,420  toris,  and 
other  vessels  270,025  tons,  making  a  grand  total  of  coal 
passed  through  the  port  of  2,714,665  tons.  In  the  same 
year  she  imported  305,478  loads  of  timber  and  wood 
goods  valued  at  £776,857,  butter  to  the  value  of 
£3,124,154,  corn,  grain,  etc.  £120,114,  eggs  £311,878, 
and  bacon  £422,597.  In  the  same  year  the  total  value  of 
her  imports  (£12,615,959)  and  her  exports  (£18,958,924) 
was  no  less  than  £31,574,883. 

Boston  attained  to  a  much  greater  position  in  medieval 
times  than  Grimsby,  owing  doubtless  to  its  being  the  port 
at  the  entrance  of  the  Witham  into  the  Wash,  whereby  a 
very  large  trade  in  wool  was  carried  on.  In  1204,  of  the 
tax  on  the  fifteenth  part  of  land  and  goods  of  the  merchants 
at  this  port,  Boston  paid  £780,  coming  second  in  the 
kingdom  to  London  with  £836.  In  1279  the  Hanseatic 
merchants  were  trading  here,  and  merchants  from  Ypres, 
Cologne,  Caen,  and  Ostend  had  houses  in  the  town. 
The  reputation  of  its  great  fair  was  widespread.  The 
canons  of  Bridlington  Priory,  for  example,  regularly 
attended  this  fair  to  buy  their  wine,  groceries,  clothes, 
etc.,  as  did  those  of  Fountains  Abbey.  In  1336,  a  grant 
of  protection  was  given  to  a  number  of  German  mer- 
chants and  14  ships  to  attend  the  fair.  When  King  John 
of  France  was  confined  in  Somerton  Castle,  he  procured 
spices  from  Boston,  and  rented  a  cellar  of  wine  from 
William  Spaign  (the  name  still  exists  in  Spain  Lane)  in 


94  LINCOLNSHIRE 

the  town.  In  1359,  to  King  Edward  Ill's  fleet  of  710 
ships,  with  14,151  men,  Boston  contributed  17  ships  and 
361  mariners.  In  1361  the  staple  of  wool  was  removed 
to  Boston,  and  no  doubt  contributed  very  largely  to  the 
commercial  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  port.  In  1575, 
the  authorities  received  praise  for  having  captured  some 
pirates,  who  were  handed  over  to  be  dealt  with  by  Lord 
Clinton,  vice-admiral  of  the  court.  The  port  seems 
nearly  to  have  been  brought  to  ruin  in  Elizabethan  days, 
probably  by  the  silting  up  of  the  Witham  and  the  shifting 
sands  of  the  Wash.  The  dissolution  of  the  monasteries 
also,  and  some  quarrels  between  the  Esterlings  and  the 
townsfolk,  helped  in  the  decay  of  commerce.  In  1751, 
owing  possibly  to  the  diversion  of  some  fen  drains  from 
the  Witham,  a  small  sloop  of  40  to  50  tons  and  drawing 
six  feet  of  water,  could  only  sail  to  and  from  the  town  at 
spring  tides. 

Early  in  the  nineteenth  century  things  were  better, 
coals  came  by  the  Witham,  grain  was  sent  to  London, 
and  there  was  some  trade  with  the  Baltic.  In  1812, 
Boston  had  177  vessels,  one  of  412  tons,  and  in  that 
year  and  the  preceding  one,  one-third  of  the  oats  received 
in  London  was  shipped  from  Boston.  A  new  dock, 
825  feet  long  by  450  feet  wide,  was  made  in  1882,  a 
new  channel  was  cut  from  Lynn  Well  to  Boston  Deeps, 
the  bed  of  the  Witham  was  deepened  in  1896,  and  a  new 
channel  made  to  deep  water.  In  dealing  with  a  sluggish 
river  like  the  Witham,  there  is  always  a  difficulty  with 
regard  to  locks  and  the  proper  scouring  of  the  outfall. 
Without  locks  it  is  almost  impossible  to  keep  sufficient 


PQ 


96  LINCOLNSHIRE 

water  in  the  river  for  the  necessary  traffic,  while  the 
presence  of  a  lock  at  the  outfall  means  a  considerable 
silting  up  of  the  channel  on  the  seaward  side  of  the 
lock,  and  an  inefficient  scouring  of  the  channel.  The 
jurisdiction  of  the  Port  of  Boston  extends  from  Trus- 
thorpe  drain  on  the  north  to  Fleet  Haven  outfall  or 
Sutton  Corner  in  the  south-east.  Her  trade  consists  of 
imports  of  timber  from  the  Baltic,  and  of  grain,  cotton, 
and  linseed  from  the  Mediterranean,  the  Black  Sea,  and 
America.  There  is  a  regular  line  of  steamers  to  Hamburg 
twice  a  week. 

In  1909,  369  steam  and  sailing  vessels  of  177,630 
tons  entered  the  port,  383  vessels  of  176,062  tons  cleared, 
and  53  sail  and  steam  vessels  belonged  to  the  port  with  a 
tonnage  of  3684.  The  Deep  Sea  Trawling  and  Steam 
Trawling  Companies  do  a  large  trade  in  fish.  Boston's 
exports  of  coal,  coke,  and  other  fuel  were  180,415  tons. 
Her  imports  amounted  to  the  value  of  £891,126,  con- 
sisting of  barley  £88,343,  maize  £93,655,  refined  sugar 
£360,627,  and  timber  £98,175. 

Little  need  be  said  of  the  former  ports  of  this  county. 
Lincoln  was  among  the  most  considerable  ports  in  the 
time  of  King  John,  and  its  decline  was  no  doubt  due 
chiefly  to  the  removal  of  the  staple  therefrom  to  Boston, 
and  to  the  state  of  the  river  Witham.  Huttoft  appa- 
rently had  some  trade  once,  now  there  is  practically  no 
estuary1.  A  list  of  Lincolnshire  ports  in  1342  gives 
Lincoln,  Boston,  Saltney,  Saltfleetby,  Wainfleet,  Barton- 

1    Leland  says  "  at   Huttoft  marsch  cum  shippes  yn  from  divers  places 
and  discharge." 


SHIPPING  AND  TRADE  97 

on-Humber  (whence  there  used  to  be  a  ferry  to  Hull, 
before  New  Holland  was  made  the  ferry  station  by 
the  M.  S.  &  L.  railway),  Grimsby,  Burton-on-Stather, 
Whitton,  South  Ferriby,  Stroyten,  North  Coates, 
Swynhumber,  Tetney,  Wrangle,  Surfleet,  Spalding, 
Torksey,  Gainsborough,  and  Kinnard's  Ferry.  Of  these 
Torksey,  situated  at  the  junction  of  the  Fossdyke  with 
the  Trent,  has  been  of  considerable  importance  both  as 
a  stronghold  and  a  port  in  Roman  and  medieval  times. 
Gainsborough  still  does  a  considerable  trade  by  water. 
Spalding  is  included  in  the  Boston  trade.  Skegness, 
according  to  Leland,  in  the  time  of  King  Henry  VIII, 
had  been  "at  sumtyme  a  great  haven  towne...a  Haven 
and  a  Towne  waulled,  having  also  a  Castelle." 


17.     History  of  the  County. 

The  first  notice  of  this  part  of  our  country  is  that  of 
Claudius  Ptolemaeus  about  the  year  120  A.D.,  in  which 
he  mentions  the  British  tribe  of  Coritavi  or  Coritani. 
This  tribe  inhabited  the  site  of  the  existing  counties  of 
Lincoln,  Rutland,  Leicester,  part  of  Nottingham,  War- 
wick, and  Derby,  and  had  as  its  chief  towns,  Lindum 
(Lincoln),  and  Ratae  (Leicester).  Under  the  Roman 
domination  Lincoln  was  first  a  fortress,  and  then  a  colony. 
Several  tombstones  have  been  found  there  to  soldiers  of 
the  Ninth  or  Spanish  Legion,  and  Lincoln  can  still  show 
a  Roman  City  gate  (Newport  Arch),  part  of  her  Roman 
walls  and  the  ditch  surrounding  them,  and  other  remains. 

s.  L.  7 


98 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


The  Roman  roads  and  canals  are  mentioned  in  other 
chapters,  and  the  Roman  villas,  discovered  at  positions 
far  from  any  military  protection,  give  an  idea  of  the  peace 
which  must  have  prevailed  under  the  Roman  rule.  The 
Roman  banks  which  protected  the  land  from  the  sea  are 
still  to  be  seen.  These  banks  and  the  necessary  dykes 


Newport  Arch,  Lincoln 

were  neglected  when  the  last  legion  departed  in  426,  and 
once  more  large  tracts  of  Fen  were  left  to  be  covered  by 
floods. 

To  resist  the  invading  Picts  and  Scots,  King  Vortigern 
is  said  to  have  invoked  the  aid  of  Saxons,  Jutes,  and  Angles 
(the  last-named  settled  in  Mercia,  of  which  Lincolnshire 
was  a  part).  Meeting  the  northern  invaders  at  Stamford 


HISTORY  OF  THE   COUNTY  99 

he  defeated  them  with  much  slaughter,  being  assisted  by 
the  Saxon  forces  under  the  command  of  Hengist  and 
Horsa.  At  Caistor,  King  Vortigern  is  supposed  to  have 
met  Hengist's  daughter,  Rowena,  who  afterwards  married 
him.  She  is  related  to  have  poisoned  her  stepson 
Vortimer,  who  died  in  475  and  was  buried  at  Lincoln. 
In  this  year  Hengist  ravaged  the  country,  and  captured 
London,  Lincoln,  and  Winchester,  which  were  regained 
by  the  British  under  Ambrosius  in  487. 

With  the  Saxon  invasion  Paganism  replaced  Christ- 
ianity. Two  hundred  years  later,  the  Venerable  Bede 
recounts  the  re-introduction  of  Christianity.  In  the 
year  628  he  says  "  Paulinus  also  preached  the  Word  to 
the  Province  of  Lindsey...and  he  first  converted  the 
Governor  of  the  City  of  Lincoln,  whose  name  was 
Blecca,  with  his  whole  family."  In  678,  Egfrid,  King 
of  Northumbria,  captured  Lindsey  from  Wulfhere,  King 
of  Mercia,  and  had  Eadhed  ordained  the  first  Bishop  of 
Lindsey.  In  Doomsday  Book  are  named  over  200 
churches  as  in  existence  in  Lincolnshire  at  the  time  of 
the  Norman  Conquest,  which  testifies  to  the  widespread 
establishment  of  Christianity  in  these  parts. 

But  another  Pagan  invasion,  that  of  the  Danes,  was 
to  sweep  over  the  country  towards  the  end  of  the  eighth 
century,  and  Lincolnshire  was  particularly  exposed  to 
their  attack,  from  the  facility  with  which  they  could  land 
on  the  coast,  or  sail  up  the  Humber  to  Gainsborough  and 
Torksey,  and  thence  along  the  Fossdyke  to  Lincoln. 
Direct  evidence  of  these  incursions  and  settlements  is 
furnished  by  the  names  of  places  such  as  Mablethorpe, 

7—2 


100  LINCOLNSHIRE 

Trusthorpe,  and  Saltfleet^y  along  the  coast,  and  Saxi%, 
Kettletborpe  and  Skellingtborpe  along  the  Fossdyke. 
Lincoln  also  was  one  of  the  five  towns  which  were  under 
the  Danelagh  (Leicester,  Nottingham,  Derby,  and  Stam- 
ford were  the  others,  to  which  Chester  and  York  were 
added  later).  This  grouping  of  towns  replaced  the 
kingdom  of  Mercia,  and  Lincoln  seems  to  have  represented 
the  Lindiswaras  (dwellers  in  Lindsey  on  the  higher  land) 
as  Stamford  did  the  Gyrwas  (who  lived  in  the  Fens). 
Each  town  was  ruled  by  its  own  Earl  with  his  separate 
host,  twelve  lawmen  administered  Danish  law,  and  a 
Common  Court  of  Justice  existed  for  the  whole  con- 
federacy. 

In  869  the  army  of  the  Pagans  (i.e.  of  the  Danes) 
under  Hubba  and  Hingvar  having  made  some  stay  at 
York,  at  the  close  of  the  winter  passed  over  by  ship  into 
Lindsey,  and  landing  at  Humberstone  (possibly  Hubba 
stone)  ravaged  the  whole  country.  Ingulph,  whose 
authority  is  of  no  great  weight,  describes  a  battle  fought 
on  St  Maurice's  day  (Sept.  22)  870,  at  Stow  Green  near 
Threekingham,  in  which  the  Danes  were  beaten  with 
great  slaughter.  At  Threekingham,  near  the  church, 
there  is  still  a  large  mound  in  which  some  of  the  slain 
were  buried,  and  a  piece  of  land  in  the  parish  is  called 
Danes  Field  or  Danes  Hill  to  this  day.  In  873,  when 
the  Danish  forces  wintered  at  Torksey,  peace  was  made 
with  them.  In  911  Mercia  was  infested  with  Danes, 
and  in  937  occurred  the  battle  of  Brunanburgh,  one 
of  the  greatest  in  the  long  struggle  between  Saxons  and 
Danes.  Possibly  Burnham  near  Thornton  Curtis  in 


HISTORY  OF  THE  COUNTY 


101 


North  Lincolnshire  was  the  site  of  this  battle,  wherein 
King  Athelstan  with  his  brother  Edmund  Atheling  gained 
a  very  decisive  victory  over  Constantine  King  of  the  Scots, 
with  whom  were  many  Danes  under  Anlaf.  The  Danish 
King  Sweyn  died  at  Gainsborough  in  1014. 


Entrenchment  at  Burnham 


In  1068  William  the  Conqueror  visited  Lincoln  and 
ordered  the  erection  of  the  castle.  He  distributed  lord- 
ships freely  among  his  followers,  this  county  being  divided 
up  between  twenty-three  Normans,  of  whom  Gilbert  de 


102  LINCOLNSHIRE 

Gant,  Odo  Bishop  of  Bayeux,  and  Alan  Earl  of  Richmond, 
took  the  lion's  share.  In  the  next  year  Earls  Edwin 
and  Morcar,  with  two  hundred  and  forty  ships,  landed  on 
behalf  of  Edgar  Atheling  on  the  Lincolnshire  side  of  the 
Humber  and  were  almost  all  captured  by  a  strong  force 
of  the  king's  friends  from  Lincoln.  The  Empress  Maud, 
coming  to  England  in  1140  and  asserting  her  claim  to 
the  Crown  against  King  Stephen,  took  up  her  residence 
at  Lincoln,  which  was  well  provisioned  and  fortified. 
The  city  (and  probably  the  castle)  was  soon  besieged  and 
taken  by  King  Stephen,  but  the  Empress  had  managed 
to  escape  previously.  Next  year  Ranulf  Earl  of  Chester 
and  his  half-brother  William  de  Roumare,  whom  King 
Stephen  had  created  Earl  of  Lincoln,  captured  the  castle 
by  an  ingenious  trick,  and  were  besieged  by  Stephen,  who 
regained  the  city.  Earl  Ranulf,  escaping,  brought  back 
Robert  Earl  of  Gloucester  and  a  large  army  to  raise  the 
siege.  A  battle  ensued  on  the  north-western  slopes  of 
the  city,  and  partly  through  treachery  ended  in  the 
complete  defeat  of  Stephen,  who  had  fought  most 
gallantly.  From  the  comparative  ease  with  which  this 
battle  was  won,  it  got  the  name  of  "  The  Joust  of 
Lincoln."  Stephen,  having  been  exchanged  for  the  Earl 
of  Gloucester,  again  besieged  the  castle,  of  which  he 
obtained  possession  in  1146.  Later,  it  was  once  more 
attacked  unsuccessfully  by  Earl  Ranulf.  The  Empress 
Maud's  son,  King  Henry,  was  crowned  again  in  1158, 
in  Lincoln,  but  in  a  suburb  without  the  walls.  Here, 
too,  in  November  1200,  King  John  met  William, 
King  of  Scotland,  who  swore  fealty  and  did  homage  to 


HISTORY  OF  THE   COUNTY 


103 


him.  On  November  23,  the  body  of  St  Hugh,  Bishop 
of  Lincoln,  was  received  at  Lincoln  by  King  John  and 
three  archbishops  and  thirteen  bishops,  and  buried  in  the 
Cathedral  on  November  26.  In  1216  came  the  closing 


Jews'  House,  Lincoln 

scene  of  John's  restless  and  evil  life,  when  he  left  Kings 
Lynn  with  a  powerful  army  and  lost  all  his  baggage  in 
crossing  the  river  Nene,  a  part  of  the  Wash1,  he  himself 

1  This  was  close  to  Sutton  Bridge,  a  large  tract  of  land  having  been 
reclaimed  from  the  sea  since  that  date. 


104  LINCOLNSHIRE 

with  the  army  only  just  escaping.  October  13  he  was  at 
Swineshead  Abbey,  the  next  day  he  proceeded  to  Sleaford 
Castle,  and  thence  to  Newark  Castle,  where  he  died  on 
October  18.  A  long  siege  of  Lincoln  Castle  had  been 
carried  on  by  the  Barons  who  were  on  the  side  of  the 
French  Prince  Louis.  This  was  relieved  on  May  19, 
1217,  by  an  army  under  the  command  of  William,  Earl 
Marshal  (attended  by  the  Papal  Legate),  who  threw  Fulk 
de  Breaute"  with  crossbowmen  into  the  castle,  and  forced 
open  the  west  gate  of  the  city.  After  much  hand-to- 
hand  fighting,  the  party  of  the  Barons  and  the  French 
was  decisively  beaten,  their  leader  the  Comte  de  Perche 
slain,  and  the  city  and  close  given  up  to  plunder.  Owing 
to  the  great  amount  of  booty  gained  the  battle  was 
nick-named  "  Lincoln  Fair." 

In  1255  tne  Jews  of  Lincoln  were  accused  of 
having  crucified  a  Christian  boy  called  Hugh,  and  King 
Henry  III  and  his  Queen  were  at  Lincoln  to  investigate 
the  case.  In  1265  the  first  writs  of  general  summons  to 
Parliament  were  issued,  and  Lincoln,  London,  and  York 
were  the  only  cities  expressly  named  to  send  up  two 
burgesses.  On  October  6,  1280,  the  beautiful  Angel  Choir 
of  the  Minster  received  the  body  of  St  Hugh,  translated 
there  with  much  state  ceremony.  On  December  2, 
1290,  King  Edward  I  was  in  Lincoln  for  the  burial 
of  the  viscera  of  his  dearly  loved  Queen  Eleanor,  who 
had  died  at  Harby.  The  first  of  the  Eleanor  Crosses 
stood  just  outside  the  city  south  gate.  An  important 
Parliament  was  held  in  Lincoln  in  1301,  which  dealt 
with  the  pretensions  of  the  Pope  to  dispose  of  the 


The  Angel  Choir,  Lincoln  Minster 


106  LINCOLNSHIRE 

kingdom  of  Scotland.  Parliaments  were  also  held  at 
Lincoln  in  1304,  two  in  1316,  and  one  in  1327,  and  it 
has  been  thought  that  the  oak  seat  of  state  now  in  the 
Chapter  House  at  Lincoln  was  made  for  the  king's  use  at 
one  of  these  Parliaments.  A  Parliament  was  summoned 
to  meet  at  Stamford  in  1309,  where  also  Councils  were 
held  in  1326,  1337,  and  1392. 

Education  was  not  neglected  in  medieval  Lincoln- 
shire, for  it  appears  that  there  were  at  least  eleven  schools 
in  the  county  existing  in  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  besides  the  grammar  schools  at  Lincoln,  which 
date  from  1090.  And  several  of  Lincolnshire's  sons, 
whether  by  birth  or  adoption,  had  great  influence  in,  or 
were  great  benefactors  to,  both  our  ancient  universities  of 
Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Robert  Grosseteste  (Bishop  of 
Lincoln  1235-1253),  was  one  of  the  foremost  teachers 
of  his  time,  a  great  scholastic  and  ecclesiastical  reformer, 
and  Chancellor  of  Oxford  ;  Richard  Fleming  (Bishop  of 
Lincoln  1420—1431),  founded  Lincoln  College,  Oxford, 
in  1427,  which  was  refounded  by  Archbishop  Rotherham 
(Bishop  of  Lincoln  1471-1480),  who  was  also  Chancellor 
of  Cambridge,  and  a  great  benefactor  to  the  library  of 
that  University  and  to  King's  and  St  Catharine's  colleges; 
William  Alnwick  (Bishop  of  Lincoln  1436-1449),  was 
another  great  benefactor  to  King's  College.  In  1457 
William  of  Waynflete,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  founded 
Magdalen  College,  Oxford  ;  he  also  built  and  endowed 
a  school  at  his  birthplace,  Wainfleet.  In  1512,  William 
Smith  (Bishop  of  Lincoln  1496-1514),  rebuilt  and  practi- 
cally refounded  Brasenose  College,  Oxford  ;  and  in  1516, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  COUNTY  107 

Richard  Fox,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  who  was  born  at 
Ropsley  near  Grantham,  founded  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Oxford.  At  one  time  it  was  not  beyond  the  bounds  of 
possibility  that  Lincolnshire  might  have  rejoiced  in  a 
University  of  its  own,  as  in  1333  there  was  a  large 
secession  of  masters  and  students  from  Oxford  to 
Stamford,  and  this  attempt  was  not  ended  till  two  years 
later,  after  the  aid  of  the  Queen  and  the  Bishop  of 
Lincoln  had  been  obtained,  and  after  three  royal  monitions 
and  the  seizure  of  the  seceders'  goods. 

With  the  Wars  of  the  Roses  Lincolnshire  was  not, 
fortunately,  much  concerned.  In  1470,  however,  a 
Lincolnshire  man,  Sir  Robert  Wells,  eldest  son  of  Richard 
Lord  Wells  and  Willoughby,  was  persuaded  by  the  King- 
maker, the  Earl  of  Warwick,  to  raise  a  large  force  of  men 
for  the  Lancastrian  cause.  Apparently  he  drove  Lord 
Burgh  out  of  his  house  at  Gainsborough  and  burnt  it, 
and  with  some  30,000  men  proclaimed  King  Henry. 
But  King  Edward  IV  managed  to  get  Lord  Wells  and 
his  son-in-law  Sir  Thomas  Dymoke  into  his  power,  and 
set  out  for  Stamford  with  them  and  a  strong  force.  He 
also  made  Lord  Wells  order  his  son  to  desist  from  his 
undertaking,  but  as  this  order  was  set  at  nought,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  behead  Lord  Wells  and  Sir  Thomas  Dymoke, 
and  marched  against  the  Lancastrian  army.  So  savage 
were  the  commanders  of  this  latter  force  (Sir  Robert  Wells 
and  Sir  Thomas  de  la  Launde)  with  King  Edward's  action 
that  they  would  not  wait  for  the  arrival  of  the  Earl  of 
Warwick,  but  commenced  the  battle  at  Hornefield  near 
Empingham  on  March  12.  Over  10,000  men  were  slain, 


108  LINCOLNSHIRE 

the  Lancastrians  were  defeated  and  both  their  leaders  were 
taken  prisoners. 

In  1536  occurred  the  Lincolnshire  portion  of  the 
rebellion  against  King  Henry  VIII,  called  the  Pilgrimage 
of  Grace.  There  were  several  causes  for  this  outbreak, 
the  suppression  of  the  smaller  monastic  houses  being 
among  the  most  powerful.  On  October  i,  Nicholas 
Melton,  shoemaker  (known  consequently  as  Captain 
Cobbler),  and  others,  took  possession  of  Louth  Church,  so 
as  to  stop  the  jewels  of  the  church  (as  they  said)  being 
given  up  to  the  king.  In  the  course  of  a  few  days  risings 
of  the  same  description  took  place  at  Horncastle,  Caistor, 
and  elsewhere  in  Lindsey.  By  October  6  some  25,000 
men  were  encamped  round  or  in  Lincoln,  and  a  letter 
was  sent  to  the  king.  His  answer  was  read  to  some  300 
of  the  troops  in  the  Chapter  House  where  the  gentlemen 
were  collected  and  where  they  were  nearly  massacred, 
only  managing  to  escape  out  of  the  south  door  of  the 
Chapter  House.  After  some  discussion,  and  a  diplomatic 
address  from  a  Herald,  the  forces  dispersed.  About 
twenty  persons  suffered  for  this  rising,  Moigne  (Recorder 
of  Lincoln),  the  Abbot  of  Kirkstead,  the  Abbot  of 
Barlings,  and  eleven  more,  were  tried  by  a  commission 
in  March  1537,  and  hanged  or  gibbeted  in  various 
towns  of  the  county,  Lord  Hussey  being  executed  at 
Lincoln. 

In  the  great  Civil  War  between  King  Charles  I  and 
his  Parliament,  Lincolnshire  held  an  important  position 
midway  between  the  Royalists  of  Yorkshire  and  Notting- 
hamshire, and  the  Puritans  of  East  Anglia,  and  on  her 


HISTORY  OF  THE  COUNTY  109 

heath  or  wold  Cromwell  found  a  training-ground  for 
his  Ironsides.  One  of  the  first  overt  acts  was  that  of 
Lord  Willoughby  of  Parham  (one  of  a  younger  branch 
of  the  Willoughby  d'Eresby  family),  in  calling  out  the 
militia  in  June,  1642.  This  was  followed  by  a  brisk 
correspondence  with  the  king,  who  spent  two  nights  in 
Lincoln  and  was  received  with  much  loyalty.  It  was 
perhaps  on  this  occasion  that  he  presented  the  third  sword 
to  the  city.  He  once  more  passed  through  Lincoln  on 
August  20  on  his  way  to  Nottingham,  where  he  raised 
his  standard  two  days  later.  In  1643  Lord  Willoughby 
was  made  by  Parliament  Sergeant-Major-General  for  the 
county.  In  April  of  that  year  Crowland  stood  a  siege 
of  about  a  fortnight,  Oliver  Cromwell  being  one  of  the 
capturing  commanders.  Next  year,  having  been  recaptured 
in  the  interval,  it  stood  a  siege  by  the  Parliamentarians  of 
two  months'  duration. 

One  of  the  greatest  thorns  in  the  side  of  the  Parliament 
in  this  district  was  Newark,  which  was  successfully  held 
for  the  king  till  he  surrendered  to  the  Scottish  army. 
He  spent  his  last  day  as  a  free  man  at  Barn  Hill 
House,  Stamford,  before  going  on  to  Southwell,  May  3, 
1644.  In  February  1643,  a  combined  force  from 
Derbyshire,  Nottinghamshire,  and  Lincolnshire,  attacked 
Newark,  but  were  repulsed,  owing,  it  was  said,  to  the 
half-hearted  conduct  of  the  Lincolnshire  commander. 
As  a  retort,  Colonel  Cavendish,  a  young  and  brilliant 
cavalry  leader,  captured  Grantham  on  March  22,  and 
took  Stamford,  defeating  Cromwell.  Again  Cavendish 
was  victorious  at  the  battle  of  Ancaster,  and  in  a  third 


110  LINCOLNSHIRE 

skirmish  the  Royalists  also  won,  but  in  a  fourth,  on  the 
road  from  Grantham  to  Newark,  Cromwell  defeated 
Cavendish.  As  a  result  of  this,  Grantham  and  Lincoln 
must  have  become  Parliamentarian,  as  the  latter  place  had 
its  castle  and  walls  put  into  a  state  of  defence  by  order 
of  Parliament.  An  abortive  attempt  to  seize  Lincoln 
for  the  king,  promoted  by  the  Hothams  of  Hull,  took 
place  on  Sunday,  July  2.  Gainsborough,  with  its  com- 
mander the  Earl  of  Kingston,  was  surprised  on  July  20 
by  Lord  Willoughby,  and  the  Earl,  being  sent  as  a 
prisoner  down  the  Trent  to  Hull,  was  killed  by  a  cannon 
ball  fired  at  the  pinnace  by  the  Royalists  on  the  banks. 
On  July  28  Cromwell,  fresh  from  the  capture  of  Stamford 
and  Burghley  House,  met  Cavendish  at  Lea,  near  Gains- 
borough, where  the  latter  was  defeated  and  killed.  Then 
Cromwell  had  to  retire  before  the  advance  of  the  whole 
army  of  the  Earl  of  Newcastle,  and  Lord  Willoughby 
surrendered  Gainsborough,  left  Lincoln  (as  he  considered 
the  fortifications  were  too  slight  to  be  any  protection) 
and  retired  to  Boston.  But  by  the  commencement  of 
October,  Fairfax's  cavalry  had  been  transported  from 
Hull  into  Lincolnshire,  and  were  joined  by  troops  under 
Lord  Willoughby,  Cromwell,  and  the  Earl  of  Manchester. 
On  October  n,  at  Winceby,  five  miles  south-east  of 
Horncastle,  these  forces  met  the  Royalist  troops,  who 
intended  to  raise  the  siege  of  Bolingbroke  Castle  close  by, 
and  decisively  routed  them.  "  Slash  Lane,"  between 
Winceby  and  the  high  road,  still  commemorates  the 
slaughter  which  took  place.  On  October  24  Lord 
Manchester  captured  Lincoln,  but  next  year  Prince 


HISTORY  OF  THE  COUNTY  111 

Rupert's  brilliantly  successful  attack,  March  22,  1644, 
on  the  forces  besieging  Newark,  led  to  the  evacuation  of 
Lincoln  and  Sleaford,  and  to  the  dismantling  of  the  de- 
fences of  Gainsborough. 

But  the  whirligig  of  time  soon  brought  its  revenge, 
and  on  May  3,  1644,  the  Parliamentary  forces  under 
Lord  Manchester  attacked  the  lower  part  of  the  City  of 
Lincoln  and  carried  it,  and  after  waiting  a  day,  as  there 
was  a  great  rainfall  which  made  the  slopes  very  slippery, 
captured  the  castle  and  upper  town  by  storm  on  May  5 
with  surprisingly  little  loss. 

In  1648,  orders  were  sent  to  put  Tattershall  Castle  and 
Belvoir  Castle  into  defensible  condition,  as  these  were  the 
only  two  places  capable  of  defence  in  or  near  this  county. 
This  was  done  to  protect  them  against  raids  from  Ponte- 
fract  Castle,  which  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Royalists. 
In  Lincoln  the  only  stronghold  was  the  Bishop's  Palace, 
which  on  June  30  was  attacked,  captured,  and  burnt  by 
the  Royalists,  under  Sir  Philip  Monckton.  This  force 
left  Lincoln  and  a  few  days  later  was  followed  by  Colonel 
Rossiter  with  a  powerful  detachment,  who  gained  a  com- 
plete victory  over  them  at  Willoughby,  near  Nottingham. 

Since  the  Civil  War  there  has  been  little  in  the  way 
of  history  to  record  in  connection  with  our  county. 


112  LINCOLNSHIRE 

18.      Antiquities — Prehistoric,    Roman, 
Saxon. 

In  Lincolnshire  there  have  been  found,  as  yet,  no 
traces  of  the  earliest  races  of  mankind  on  this  island, 
and  the  stone  axes,  knives,  spear-heads,  arrow-heads,  and 
the  like  that  we  do  find  all  belong  to  the  Neolithic,  or 
New  Stone  Age.  The  people  of  this  date  are  known 
as  dolicho-cephalic  (i.e.  long-headed)  and  were  buried  in 
long  mounds  or  barrows,  of  which  there  are  examples 
at  Swinhope  and  elsewhere  in  the  county.  Five  boats, 
in  each  case  made  out  of  a  single  tree-trunk,  have  been 
dug  up,  two  at  Lincoln,  one  at  Scotter,  and  two  at 
Castlethorpe  near  Brigg.  Two  very  early  boats  or  canoes 
were  discovered  in  Nocton  parish  in  181 1,  but  it  is  difficult 
to  assign  a  date  to  these  objects.  Around  Scunthorpe, 
on  the  peat  moors,  have  been  found  quantities  of  small, 
beautifully-made  flint  implements. 

Of  Bronze  Age  man  there  are  many  relics,  such  as 
swords,  celts,  spear-heads,  daggers,  shields,  and  pottery  of 
good  design.  The  people  of  this  age  were  brachy-cephalic 
(i.e.  round-headed)  and  were  interred,  generally  after  being 
burnt,  in  barrows  of  a  round  shape,  of  which  examples  in 
Lincolnshire  are  numerous. 

Many  of  the  more  important  earthworks  in  the 
county  probably  belong  to  this  age.  Such  is  the  camp 
above  Honington,  which  has  a  triple  rampart  and  two 
ditches;  the  circular  encampment  at  Ingoldsby;  the  huge 
earthworks  called  the  Moats  at  Irby-on-Humber;  the 
camp  at  Kyme,  with  a  double  rampart;  the  circular 


Bronze  Implements 

(Found  at  Caythorpe  in   1884) 


S.  L. 


114  LINCOLNSHIRE 

mound  at  Kingerby  (wherein  three  British  skeletons 
were  found)  enclosed  by  a  ditch  with  a  square  embank- 
ment outside  it;  the  Castle  Hills,  Gainsborough, afterwards 
used  by  the  Danes  if  not  due  entirely  to  them ;  the  great 
earthworks  at  Withern ;  and  the  great  mound  at  Hoe  Hill, 
near  Fulletby.  At  Tetford  Lock  are  some  hut-circles. 


British  Camp  at  Honington 

Of  the  Iron  Age,  traces  are  found  in  the  pre-Roman 
smelting  works  at  Manton,  and  in  many  swords,  spear- 
heads, and  shields,  found  in  the  Witham.  A  beautiful 
Romano-British  shield  also  found  in  that  river  should  be 
mentioned. 

Of  the  Roman  occupation  of  Lincolnshire  there 
are  many  remains.  Lincoln,  once  a  Roman  colony,  as 


ANTIQUITIES  115 

already  stated,  retains  portions  of  its  Roman  ditch, 
rampart,  and  wall,  the  only  existing  Roman  city  gate, 
Newport  Arch,  and  the  lower  part  of  a  long  colonnade 
in  Bailgate.  Here  also  a  Roman  milestone  of  the  date 
of  Victorinus  was  found,  and  hypocausts  or  heating 
apparatus,  altars,  tombstones  (chiefly  to  soldiers  of  the 
Ninth,  the  Spanish  Legion),  tesselated  pavements,  etc. 
Other  Roman  stations  in  the  county  were  at  Horncastle 
(Banovallum  on  the  river  Bane),  where  the  Roman  ditch 
and  part  of  the  wall  are  evident,  also  at  Caistor  and 
Ancaster,  with  the  ditch  well  shown,  where  an  altar  for 
incense,  a  milestone,  a  group  of  Deae  Matres,  and 
Romano-British  graves  have  been  found.  South  Ormsby 
was  a  watch  or  outpost  camp,  between  Burgh  and 
Caistor;  Yarborough  camp  was  near  Melton  Ross,  and 
Alkborough  overlooked  the  junction  of  the  Trent,  Ouse, 
and  Humber.  Many  tesselated  pavements  have  been  dis- 
covered, as  at  Roxby,  Scawby,  Winterton,  and  Horkstow, 
in  the  north  of  the  county,  Scampton  (a  few  miles  north 
of  Lincoln),  and  Little  Ponton,  near  Grantham.  These, 
belonging  to  private  houses,  show  the  state  of  security  of 
the  country  during  the  Romano-British  period. 

The  chief  Roman  roads,  which  are  mainly  in  use 
now,  are  the  Ermine  Street,  which  beginning  at  Pevensey 
enters  Lincolnshire  at  Stamford,  skirts  Grantham,  and 
passes  through  Ancaster  to  Lincoln,  where  it  joins  the 
Fosseway.  From  Lincoln  the  Ermine  Street  runs  almost 
due  north  to  the  Humber,  and  is  in  full  use  for  the  first 
17  miles.  Four  miles  north  of  Lincoln  a  branch  road, 
called  Till  Bridge  Lane,  leaves  it  on  the  west  and  runs 

8—2 


116  LINCOLNSHIRE 

to  the  ford  at  Littleborough  on  Trent  (Agelocum  or 
Segelocum).  The  Fosseway  extends  from  the  south  of 
Devon  to  Newark,  and  enters  our  county  just  beyond 
Brough.  It  forms  the  county  boundary  here  for  about 
a  mile.  Another  Roman  road  enters  the  county  at  West 
Deeping  and  runs  fairly  straight  to  Sleaford,  while  another 
connects  Lincoln  with  Horncastle. 


The  Fossdyke 

Evidence  of  Roman  engineering  also  remains  in  the 
Fossdyke,  a  canal  joining  the  Trent  at  Torksey  with 
the  River  Witham  at  Lincoln ;  and  the  Cardyke,  which 
beginning  near  Peterborough,  runs  northwards,  skirting 
the  junction  of  the  higher  ground  and  the  fen,  to 
Washingborough,  three  miles  from  Lincoln,  where  it 
joins  the  Witham.  The  Roman  banks,  placed  so  as  to 


ANTIQUITIES  117 

resist  the  encroachments  of  the  sea  in  the  south-east  of 
the  county,  have  already  been  mentioned. 

Of  both  Saxon  and  Danish  antiquities  there  is  not 
much  to  record,  save  in  the  way  of  churches,  parts  of 
which,  especially  in  towns,  mark  the  work  of  the  former 
people.  Both  races  have  left  their  mark  more  on  the 
speech  of  the  people  and  the  names  of  places.  The 
fortifications  called  the  Mainwarings,  with  a  double  fosse, 
near  Swineshead,  have  been  attributed  to  the  Danes,  and 
no  doubt  they  occupied  several  of  the  earthworks,  such  as 
the  Castle  Hills,  Gainsborough,  already  mentioned.  The 
existence  of  coins  minted  in  Lincoln  in  the  reigns  of 
King  Alfred  and  (missing  out  the  reigns  of  Edward  the 
Elder,  Athelstan,  Edmund,  Edred,  and  Edwy)  all  the 
succeeding  monarchs  to  the  Norman  Conquest,  is  a  proof 
of  the  importance  of  the  city  in  Saxon  and  Danish  times. 

19.    Architecture — (a)  Ecclesiastical. 

The  material  used  for  building  churches  in  Lincoln- 
shire was  almost  invariably  stone.  Near  Lincoln  and 
southwards  on  the  Cliff  this  was  the  local  oolite  lime- 
stone, of  which  the  most  famous  quarries  were  at 
Ancaster  and  Wilsford ;  further  south  and  south-west 
much  of  the  stone  came  from  Barnack  in  Northampton- 
shire ;  on  the  Wolds  and  in  the  Marsh,  a  green  sandstone 
was  in  use,  not  very  durable,  but  weathering  delightfully 
from  an  artistic  point  of  view.  In  some  cases,  as  at 
Legbourne,  the  white  chalk  itself  is  used,  giving,  as  already 
mentioned,  a  curious  effect  as  of  unglazed  white  tiles. 


118  LINCOLNSHIRE 

The  first  churches  of  which  we  have  any  remains  in 
this  county  are  of  Saxon  building.  Their  builders  had 
but  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  construction  in  stone, 
and  imitated  rudely  the  Roman  buildings  which  existed 
in  England.  A  very  early  plan  of  a  Saxon  church  had 
a  central  tower,  with  a  chancel  on  the  east  and  possibly 
a  baptistery  on  the  west  side,  as  at  Barton  (St  Peter's), 
Broughton,  and  Hough  on  the  Hill.  Later,  the  usual 
plan  was  a  square  and  tall  western  tower,  with  a  midwall 
shaft  in  the  belfry  windows  (of  these  there  are  over 
30  instances  in  this  county)  and  a  tiny  chancel,  opening 
by  a  very  narrow  arch  into  the  nave.  The  walls  were 
rather  thin  and  roughly  built,  the  corners  of  the  nave  had 
"  long  and  short  work  "  (i.e.  large  stones  set  alternately 
vertically  and  horizontally  as  in  the  nave  of  St  Mary 
le  Wigford  in  Lincoln,  and  those  of  the  parish  churches 
of  Bracebridge,  Cranwell,  and  Ropsley),  there  were  no 
buttresses,  but  occasionally  the  wall  or  tower  was  orna- 
mented with  strip  panelling,  as  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
tower  at  St  Peter's,  Barton,  and  in  the  western  tower  arch 
of  Stow. 

With  the  Norman  Conquest  came  in  a  new  style 
from  the  continent,  the  Romanesque  or  "  Norman." 
It  was  a  massive  style,  with  very  thick  walls,  round- 
headed  arches  for  doorways,  windows,  and  arcades>  sturdy 
pillars,  with  large  capitals,  semi-circular  vaulting,  fiat 
roofs,  and  square  towers  with  low  pyramidal  tops. 

The  middle  portion  of  the  west  front  of  the  Minster 
at  Lincoln  is  a  good  example  of  Norman  work,  while 
the  beautiful  doorways,  highly  ornamented,  and  the  lower 


Lincoln  Minster:   West  front 


120  LINCOLNSHIRE 

half  of  the  two  western  towers,  are  good  specimens  of 
later  work  of  this  period.  The  nave  and  chancel  (later) 
of  Stow  are  Norman,  Clee  church  has  an  early  Norman 
arcade  on  the  north  side  of  the  nave,  and  a  later  one  on 
the  south  side ;  at  Whaplode  the  chancel  arch  and  eastern 
bays  of  the  nave  are  good  Norman  work,  the  three  western 
ones  being  Transitional  (between  Norman  and  the  next 
period). 

For  about  70  years,  from  1180  to  1250,  a  further 
development  of  architecture  took  place.  It  was  charac- 
terised by  much  thinner  walls,  high-pitched  roofs,  pointed 
arches  and  vaulting,  which  instead  of  having  the  weight 
supported  by  thick  walls,  has  it  spread  scientifically  over 
large  buttresses  on  the  aisle  walls,  and  flying  buttresses  to 
the  clerestory  walls.  This  is  the  first  period  of  "Gothic" 
called  First  Pointed  or  Early  English.  Other  features 
are  piers  of  grouped  slender  pillars,  often  of  marble  (at 
Lincoln  Minster  much  Purbeck  marble  was  used),  con- 
ventional foliage  round  the  capitals,  long  narrow  lancet- 
headed  windows,  and  rich  deep  mouldings  round  doors 
and  windows.  Of  this  period  St  Hugh's  Choir  and  the 
great  transepts  in  Lincoln  Minster  are  early  examples, 
built  before  1200,  when  St  Hugh  died.  The  nave  is 
also  a  superb  work  of  about  30  years  later,  and  in  light- 
ness of  design  and  elegance  of  proportion  it  is  very  hard 
to  equal.  Kirkstead  Chapel,  Bottesford  (near  Brigg), 
Grimsby  parish  church,  and  St  Mary's  Weston  are  almost 
entirely  Early  English,  as  is  the  beautiful  west  front  of 
Crowland  Abbey,  which  resembles  the  west  front  of 
Wells  Cathedral.  In  this  period  the  towers  were  first 


Parish  Church,   Grantham 


122  LINCOLNSHIRE 

made  to  carry  spires,  as  at  Frampton,  Rauceby,  and 
Sleaford,  and  the  tower  and  spire  (of  timber,  lead-covered) 
of  Long  Sutton  is  an  admirable  specimen. 

After  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  the 
Decorated  Period  began  and  windows  became  broader, 
divided  up  by  bars  of  stone  called  mullions,  with  their 
heads  ornamented  by  patterns  of  tracery.  The  gradual 
introduction  of  this  can  be  well  seen  in  the  grouping  of 
two  window  openings  under  one  arch,  when  the  space 
between  all  three  arches  is  perforated,  as  in  the  triforium 
of  St  Hugh's  Choir  at  Lincoln.  The  most  perfect  and 
sumptuous  example  of  this  Early  Decorated  or  Geometrical 
Gothic  is  the  Angel  Choir  of  Lincoln  Minster  (see  p.  105). 
The  north  aisle  of  Grantham  Church  is  also  of  this  period, 
and  probably  owes  much  to  the  Angel  Choir  at  Lincoln. 
By  1300  was  finished  one  of  the  great  architectural 
glories  of  the  county,  the  tower  and  spire  of  Grantham, 
281  feet  high.  Not  many  years  afterwards,  the  Broad 
and  Rood  Tower  of  Lincoln  Minster,  with  its  timber 
and  lead  spire  (rising  altogether  to  a  height  of  525  feet — 
excepting  Old  St  Paul's,  quite  the  loftiest  spire  in  Europe 
at  that  time)  was  completed. 

Several  of  the  finest  churches  in  the  county,  especially 
round  Sleaford,  belong  to  the  later  Decorated  Period,  and 
of  these  perhaps  Heckington  is  the  typical  queen.  The 
window  tracery  is  more  elaborate,  a  favourite  pattern 
very  prevalent  in  this  county  being  reticulated  or  like 
network ;  the  mouldings  are  rich,  the  vaultings  more 
intricate,  and  pinnacles  and  spires  are  adorned  with 
crockets  and  finials  of  well-wrought  foliage.  The  foliage, 


ARCHITECTURE— ECCLESIASTICAL     123 

of  internal  work,  often  closely  resembles  natural  leaves, 
such  as  vine,  oak,  and  sometimes  holly,  as  can  be  seen  in 
the  South  Choir  aisle  of  Lincoln  Minster,  and  on  the 
shrine  of  Little  St  Hugh.  The  grand  parish  church 


Boston  Church 

of  Boston  is  chiefly  of  this  date,  while  Ewerby  (with 
a  fine  broach  spire),  Helpringham,  Silk  Willoughby, 
Croft,  Welbourn,  and  Winthorpe  may  serve  as  admirable 
and  diversified  examples. 

In   1349  came  the  widespread  destruction  of  life  by 


124  LINCOLNSHIRE 

the  plague  called  the  Black  Death,  and  church  and  all 
other  building  was  stopped  for  half  a  century  or  more. 

The  next  period  of  Architecture,  the  Perpendicular,  is 
entirely  English  and  is  not  found  abroad.  It  is  characterised 
by  much  flattened  arches,  elaborate  vaulting  (the  so-called 
fan-vaulting  is  not  infrequent  in  flat  roofs),  and  the 
prevalence  of  vertical  lines  in  the  tracery  of  windows 
and  panelled  ornament,  which  has  given  the  period  its 
name.  Several  grand  churches  in  the  Marsh  were  built 
at  this  time,  as  Grimoldby,  Marsh  Chapel,  Theddlethorpe 
All  Saints,  Tattershall  Collegiate  Church,  and  Sedgebrook. 
Towers  without  spires  now  became  frequent,  the  superb 
"Stump"  (as  it  is  locally  named,  from  being  spireless)  of 
Boston,  293  feet  high,  Great  Ponton,  of  a  kind  more 
frequent  in  Somerset,  and  several  in  marsh-land  being 
instances.  Claypole,  Donington,  Leadenham,  and  Stam- 
ford All  Saints  have  good  Perpendicular  spires,  while 
Louth  has  a  tower  and  spire  300  feet  high,  only  second 
to  that  of  Grantham.  This  spire  cost  £305.  Js.  bd. 
It  was  begun  in  1501  and  finished  14  years  later,  the 
weather-cock  being  made  out  of  a  copper  basin  taken 
two  years  previously  from  the  Scottish  king  by  the  men 
of  Lincoln  at  Flodden  Field. 

Not  much  church-building  took  place  for  many  years 
after  the  Reformation,  but  of  the  so-called  "  Classical " 
architecture  there  is  the  admirable  Minster  library  and 
colonnade  in  the  north  side  of  the  cloisters,  built  by 
Sir  Christopher  Wren  in  1674.  The  parish  church  at 
Gainsborough  (except  the  tower)  was  rebuilt  in  1745; 
St  Peter-at-Arches,  Lincoln,  a  typical  "  City "  church, 


Louth  Church 


126  LINCOLNSHIRE 

in  1724,  by  Abraham  Hay  ward ;  and  the  diminutive 
church  at  Cherry  Willingham  about  1770. 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  last  century  began  the 
Gothic  revival ;  very  many  of  the  churches  of  the  county 
have  been  restored,  and  a  considerable  number  rebuilt, 
and  among  the  finest  of  the  new  ones  may  be  mentioned 
those  of  Nocton  and  Fulney,  St  Swithin's  Lincoln, 
Morton,  and  Revesby. 

There  is  evidence  of  the  former  existence  of  no  less 
than  1 24  Religious  Houses,  Monasteries,  Priories,  Friaries, 
and  Hospitals  in  Lincolnshire.  At  the  time  of  the  re- 
introduction  of  Christianity  into  this  county  in  the  Saxon 
era,  monasteries  were  established  as  outposts  to  assist  the 
missionary  work.  Only  two  of  these,  out  of  several 
in  this  county,  were  re-established  after  the  Danish 
invasion  and  the  Norman  conquest.  The  Benedictine 
Abbey  of  Bardney,  10  miles  from  Lincoln,  founded  by 
King  Ethelred  and  Queen  Osthryd  of  Mercia  in  697, 
was  rebuilt  in  Norman  times,  and  its  ground  plan,  with 
bases  of  pillars  of  excellent  Norman  and  Early  English 
work,  and  many  beautiful  memorial  slabs,  has  recently 
been  laid  bare.  Crowland  Abbey,  also  Benedictine,  was 
founded  in  honour  of  St  Guthlac  about  the  year  714,  by 
Ethelbald,  King  of  Mercia1.  The  splendid  west  front, 
dating  from  1171,  the  north  aisle  of  the  nave  (used  as 
the  parish  church),  a  Perpendicular  tower,  with  part 
of  the  nave,  a  grand  Norman  arch  over  the  western 

1  After  its  destruction  by  the  Danes  it  is  interesting  to  note  a  gift  to 
the  Abbey  from  King  Canute  of  1 2  polar  bear  skins  for  the  altars,  to  keep 
the  priests'  feet  warm. 


Crowland  Abbey 


128  LINCOLNSHIRE 

crossing,  and  a  stone  screen  underneath  it,  remain.  It 
was  far  the  wealthiest  house  in  the  county,  being  worth 
£1093.  155.  io%d.  a  year  at  the  time  of  its  suppression 
by  King  Henry  VIII.  In  1114  was  founded  another 
Benedictine  Priory  at  Frieston.  Many  of  these  houses 
were  founded  by  the  great  noblemen  or  landowners,  and 
endowed  with  the  tithes  and  presentations  of  rectories  in 
the  county  and  elsewhere.  When  the  religious  houses 
were  dissolved  by  King  Henry  VIII  and  their  income, 
lands,  and  buildings  were  given  to  his  favourite  courtiers,  a 
small  part  only  being  devoted  to  education,  the  parish  often 
retained  the  part  of  the  monastic  church  wherein  it  had 
been  wont  to  worship,  as  in  the  case  of  the  north  aisle  at 
Crowland  and  the  nave  at  Frieston. 

At  Stamford  there  still  remain  the  west  front  and 
five  arches  of  good  Norman  work  of  the  nave  of  the 
church  of  St  Leonard's  Priory.  After  Crowland  the 
most  remarkable  remains  of  monastic  buildings  are  the 
ruins  of  the  fine  Perpendicular  gatehouse  of  Thornton 
Abbey,  which  belonged  to  the  Austin  canons  and  was 
founded  in  1139.  Both  Crowland  and  Thornton  were 
presided  over  by  mitred  abbots,  who  consequently  had 
seats  in  the  House  of  Lords.  For  a  brief  space  after  the 
dissolution  of  the  Abbey  a  college  existed  at  Thornton, 
founded  by  King  Henry  VIII.  The  parish  church  at 
South  Kyme  preserves  the  south  aisle  of  another  house 
of  Austin  canons,  while  the  parish  church  of  Bourne  is 
the  nave  of  the  church  of  Bourne  Abbey,  which  belonged 
to  a  reformed  branch  of  the  Austin  canons. 

The    parish    church    of    Sempringham    is    the   north 


Thornton  Abbey 


S.  L. 


130  LINCOLNSHIRE 

aisle  and  part  of  the  nave  of  the  Abbey  founded  by  St  Gilbert 
of  Sempringham  in  1139.  This  order,  the  Gilbertine, 
was  the  only  order  founded  in  England  and  consisted  of 
Augustinian  monks  and  Cistercian  nuns,  with  lay  brothers 
and  sisters,  kept  strictly  apart  though  living  under  the 
same  roof.  In  their  churches  a  wall  ran  from  east  to 
west  completely  dividing  the  monks  and  lay  brothers 
from  the  nuns  and  lay  sisters.  There  were  10  houses  of 
this  order  in  the  county.  The  Knight  Templars  had 
five  preceptories  in  Lincolnshire.  Of  these  a  fine  tower 
at  Temple  Bruer  is  alone  left.  After  their  downfall  their 
property  passed  to  the  Knights  Hospitallers,  or  Knights 
of  St  John,  who  had  three  other  houses  as  well. 

The  church  of  the  Grey  Friars  at  Lincoln,  built  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  still  exists,  with  a  later  vaulted  under- 
croft inserted,  and  after  having  been  used  as  a  grammar 
school  for  some  centuries,  has  now  been  taken  over  by 
the  Corporation  as  a  museum.  A  small  portion  of  the 
hospital  of  St  Giles  at  Lincoln  is  also  existing.  The 
picturesque  building  of  Cantilupe  College,  founded  in 
1367  for  the  warden  and  seven  chaplains  to  commemorate 
the  souls  of  the  founder  and  his  wife  in  Lincoln  Minster, 
is  just  south  of  the  great  south  door.  Of  Tattershall 
College,  founded  by  Ralph  Lord  Cromwell,  only  the 
splendid  Perpendicular  church  is  left. 

The  beautiful  fifteenth  century  churchyard  cross  at 
Somersby  ought  to  be  mentioned,  and  the  fine  series  of 
sepulchral  monuments  to  the  St  Paul  family  at  Snarford, 
the  Willoughbys  at  Spilsby  and  Edenham,  the  Monsons 
at  South  Carlton,  and  the  Heneages  at  Hainton.  At  the 


ARCHITECTURE— ECCLESIASTICAL      131 

east  end  of  the  Minster  there  are  interesting  monuments 
to  the  Burghersh  and  Wymbush  families,  and  a  repro- 
duction of  Queen  Eleanor's  original  altar  tomb  and 
effigy. 


20.     Architecture — (6)  Military. 

In  various  parts  of  the  county  there  are  remains  of 
entrenched  camps,  which  may  date  from  British,  from 
Roman,  from  Saxon,  or  even  from  prehistoric  times. 
But  the  building  of  castles  began  practically  with  the 
reign  of  William  the  Conqueror,  who  ordered  the  erection 
of  a  great  number  throughout  the  land  and  began  that  at 
Lincoln  after  his  visit  in  1068.  It  may  therefore  be  taken 
as  a  fair  example  of  the  plan  and  arrangements  of  a  castle 
in  the  late  eleventh  and  early  part  of  the  twelfth  centuries. 
It  occupies  most  of  the  area  of  the  south-west  quarter  of 
the  first  Roman  city,  on  the  top  of  the  hill,  where  most 
probably  the  original  British  city  of  Lindum  stood,  and  is 
roughly  quadrangular,  the  south  and  west  walls  being  on 
the  lines  of  the  Roman  walls.  It  is  guarded  by  a  broad 
and  deep  dry  ditch  (for  it  is  situated  really  on  the  lime- 
stone rock),  and  by  a  massive  bank  of  earth,  50  to 
80  yards  broad  and  from  20  to  30  feet  high,  sloping 
steeply  externally.  On  the  middle  line  of  these  mounds 
are  strong  walls,  8  to  10  feet  thick  and  from  30  to 
40  feet  high,  which  date  probably  from  before  the  time 
of  King  Stephen.  Originally,  no  doubt,  the  mounds 
were  topped  by  a  palisade.  The  main  entrance  to  the 

9—2 


Lincoln:    the  Castle  Gateway 


ARCHITECTURE— MILITARY  133 

castle  is  by  the  eastern  gate,  which  is  Norman,  but  has 
had  a  later  (Edwardian)  arch  and  towers  affixed  to  it, 
and  had  a  little  outwork  or  barbican,  now  destroyed. 
On  the  north-east  angle  is  a  low  tower,  vaulted  in  two 
stories,  called  Cobb  Hall,  from  being  the  place  for 
floggings.  It  possibly  was  built  by  John  of  Gaunt,  who 
was  custodian  of  this  castle.  A  second  Norman  tower- 
gateway,  with  its  barbican  partly  existing,  breaks  the  long 
line  of  the  western  wall  at  its  northern  end.  There  are 
two  great  artificial  mounds  on  the  south  side  of  the  castle 
(as  a  rule  there  was  only  one),  one  possibly  being  British. 
The  larger  one  is  about  50  feet  high  and  100  feet  in 
diameter  at  its  summit.  The  keep  of  Norman  masonry 
which  stands  on  it  is  only  a  shell,  many-sided,  the  wall 
about  8  feet  thick  and  20  feet  high.  The  other  mound, 
of  the  same  height  but  half  the  diameter,  supports  the 
Observatory  Tower,  so  called  from  the  modern  round 
turret  surmounting  it  which  was  built  as  an  observatory. 
This  tower  must  have  been  of  importance,  as  it  commands 
the  main  street  coming  up  the  Steep  Hill  into  Bailgate. 
In  spite  of  the  long  stretch  of  wall  and  the  few  towers 
thereon,  the  castle  proved  in  the  course  of  its  history  to 
be  a  hard  nut  to  crack,  having  only  twice  been  fairly 
captured  in  the  course  of  many  sieges  and  attacks. 

Eight  miles  south  of  Lincoln  is  Somerton  Castle, 
which  was  built  in  1281  by  Anthony  Bek,  Bishop  of 
Durham.  It  comprised  within  its  walls  a  quadrangular 
area  330  feet  long  from  north  to  south  by  181  feet  from 
east  to  west.  At  each  angle  was  a  large  circular  tower. 
The  south,-eastern  tower,  45  feet  high,  still  exists  in  a 


134  LINCOLNSHIRE 

fairly  good  condition,  and  an  Elizabethan  manor  house  joins 
on  to  it.  The  castle  was  further  defended  by  two  moats. 
The  most  interesting  piece  of  history  in  connection  with 
the  castle  is  the  fact  that  from  July  1359  to  March  1360 
it  was  the  residence  of  King  John  (le  Bon)  of  France  and 
his  son,  Prince  Philip,  that  monarch  having  been  defeated 
and  captured  by  the  Black  Prince  at  Poitiers  in  1356. 

About  20  miles  south-east  of  Lincoln,  close  to  the 
river  Witham,  is  Tattershall  Castle.  It  exemplifies  well 
the  change  that  was  gradually  coming  over  the  country 
with  the  introduction  of  gunpowder,  that  the  nobleman's 
castle  was  more  and  more  becoming  the  nobleman's 
palace,  for  in  this  case  the  windows  of  the  exposed  side 
of  the  keep  are  just  as  large,  as  decorated,  and  as  beautiful 
as  on  the  less  exposed  sides.  The  original  castle  was 
built  after  the  year  1230.  Nothing  except  the  large 
outer  moat  and  the  earthworks  inside  it  remain.  The 
existing  portion  of  the  castle  represents  the  keep  of  earlier 
days  and  is  a  large  quadrangular  tower  112  feet  in  height 
built  of  small  red  bricks,  with  patterns  externally  in 
blue-black  brick,  probably  all  of  local  manufacture.  The 
windows,  battlements,  and  fireplaces  are  of  stone,  almost 
certainly  from  the  Ancaster  quarries.  The  fireplaces,  which 
after  having  been  torn  out  and  sold  are  now  replaced,  are 
very  beautiful  and  heraldically  interesting.  The  builder 
of  this  splendid  specimen  of  brickwork  was  Ralph,  third 
Baron  Cromwell,  who  was  King  Henry  VI's  Lord 
Treasurer  from  1433  to  1443,  Master  of  the  Royal 
Mews,  and  Royal  Falconer.  There  is,  however,  but 
little  history  connected  with  the  castle.  It  sustained 


Tattershall  Castle 


136  LINCOLNSHIRE 

some  damage  in  the  great  Civil  War,  after  the  battle 
of  Winceby  most  likely,  when  the  Royalists  were  badly 
beaten.  It  was  the  only  fortified  place  in  the  county 
which  was  garrisoned  by  the  Parliament  in  1648,  when 
Lincolnshire  was  attacked  by  Royalists  from  Pontefract, 
all  other  defensible  places  having  had  their  walls,  towers, 
and  ramparts  "slighted."  Its  last  inhabitant  was  in  the 
early  years  of  the  last  century — a  pensioner  who  lived 
in  the  gallery  in  the  eastern  wall  to  be  ready  to  light 
a  beacon  in  the  south-east  tower  in  case  of  invasion. 

Kyme  Tower,  between  Sleaford  and  the  Witham, 
is  all  that  remains  of  an  important  castle  built  by  the 
Umfravilles,  Earls  of  Angus.  It  consists  of  three  stories 
with  a  turret  stair,  and  is  groined  at  the  top  with  fan 
tracery,  springing  from  a  central  pillar.  It  probably  was 
only  used  as  a  place  of  safe  retreat,  not  for  living  in,  as 
there  are  no  traces  of  fireplace  or  floors  or  chimneys 
throughout  the  building. 

Of  other  castles,  strong  and  famous  in  their  day,  only 
the  mounds  and  ditches  remain.  Such  is  the  case  with 
Sleaford,  built  by  Bishop  Alexander  of  Lincoln  about  the 
year  1130.  Here  King  John  spent  the  night  of  the  I4th 
October,  1216,  on  his  last  journey  from  Kings  Lynn 
across  the  Wash,  when  his  baggage  was  lost.  Next  day 
he  rode  through  Hough  to  Newark,  and  died  there  on 
the  i8th  of  that  month.  Bishop  Fleming  died  here  in 
1431.  Probably  the  great  Civil  War  would  be  responsible 
for  its  having  been  "slighted,"  as  it  was  termed,  i.e.  made 
almost  impossible  of  defence. 

Folkingham,  once  the  property  of  Gilbert  de  Gaunt, 


ARCHITECTURE— MILITARY  137 

who  rebuilt  Bardney  Abbey,  and  later  of  the  powerful 
Beaumont  family,  shows  only  a  mound  (on  which  a 
gaol,  now  closed,  stands)  and  a  fairly  well  marked  inner 
moat.  In  Leland's  time  the  castle  was  ruinous,  so  the 
Cromwellian  cannon  and  the  orders  of  Parliament  may 
not  have  had  much  to  do  with  its  downfall. 

Just  where  the  Lincolnshire  wolds  sink  into  the  great 
plain  of  marsh  and  fen,  close  to  Spilsby,  a  few  mounds 
alone  represent  the  site  of  Bolingbroke  Castle,  the 
birthplace  of  the  son  of  John  of  Gaunt  and  the  Duchess 
Blanche  of  Lancaster,  afterwards  King  Henry  IV,  on 
April  3,  1366.  It  was  built  by  William  de  Roumare, 
first  Norman  Earl  of  Lincoln,  about  the  middle  of  the 
twelfth  century.  It  is  described  by  Gervase  Holies, 
before  the  great  Civil  War,  as  built  of  soft  wold 
sandstone  in  a  square,  with  four  strong  forts  (at  the 
corners  probably),  containing  many  rooms,  and  occupying 
about  an  acre  and  a  half  of  ground.  Queen  Elizabeth 
also  added  some  rooms.  The  castle  stood  a  siege  of  a 
few  days  by  the  Earl  of  Manchester  and  the  Parliamentary 
army  in  October,  1643,  but  after  their  complete  victory 
at  Winceby  fight  it  was  deserted.  The  perishable  nature 
of  the  sandstone,  and  possibly  some  "  slighting  "  after  its 
capture,  have  left  now  not  one  stone  upon  another,  the 
gate  having  fallen  down  in  May,  1815. 

At  Castle  Carlton  are  three  great  artificial  mounds 
covered  with  trees,  near  the  church,  which  with  their 
moats  occupy  a  space  of  nearly  five  acres.  On  the  south 
and  east  of  the  village  is  a  rampart,  12  feet  wide  and 
5  feet  high,  and  about  a  mile  in  length.  These  moated 


138  LINCOLNSHIRE 

mounds  are  all  that  is  left  of  the  once  very  strong  and 
important  castle  which  was  built  by  Sir  Hugh  Bardolph 
in  1295-1302. 

The  same  fate  has  overtaken  the  once  strong  castle 
of  Bourne  (connected  with  the  Wake  family),  and  Castle 
Bytham,  the  fortress  of  the  Earls  of  Albemarle. 


21.     Architecture— (c]  Domestic. 

Of  buildings  of  Norman  date  other  than  churches  and 
castles  but  few  have  lasted  to  these  latter  days  ;  but  there 
are  four  of  these  in  Lincolnshire  which  demand  attention. 
The  manor  house  at  Boothby  Pagnell  is  of  late  Norman 
date,  has  a  vaulted  undercroft,  an  external  staircase,  and 
a  very  early  fireplace.  The  two  Jews'  Houses  at  Lincoln 
(see  p.  1 03)  of  about  the  same  date  are  probably  the  oldest 
inhabited  houses  in  England ;  both  are  two-storied,  have 
chimney-shafts  corbelled  out  over  a  round-arched  door, 
and  have  round-headed  windows.  St  Mary's  Guild  House, 
also  in  Lincoln,  has  a  fine  semicircular-headed  entrance 
arch,  and  a  rich  cornice  of  foliage  runs  along  the  street 
front.  Within  the  court  is  a  good  Transition  Norman 
house,  with  two-light  windows  and  a  plain  Norman 
fireplace.  The  houses  of  the  Priest  Vicars  of  Lincoln 
Minster  were  built  between  1280  and  1398  in  collegiate 
fashion  round  a  court.  Several  of  the  houses  have 
disappeared,  as  has  the  common  dining-hall ;  in  the 
south  house  are  some  beautiful  decorated  windows. 
The  Chancery,  Lincoln,  was  built  about  1316,  and 
the  picturesque  red-brick  front  and  stone  oriel  window 


ARCHITECTURE— DOMESTIC 


139 


were  added  in  the  time  of  Bishop  Russell  (1480-94). 
The  finest  country  house  in  Lincolnshire  undoubtedly  is 
Grimsthorpe  Castle,  belonging  to  the  Earl  of  Ancaster. 
At  the  south-east  corner  remains  one  of  the  original 
towers  of  late  twelfth  century  date;  the  east,  south,  and 
west  fronts  were  built  by  Charles  Brandon,  Duke  of 


St  Mary's  Guild  House,   Lincoln 

Suffolk,  to  receive  his  brother-in-law  King  Henry  VIII 
in  1541  ;  while  Sir  John  Vanbrugh  erected  the  stately 
but  rather  heavy  north  front  in  1722.  The  Angel 
Hotel  in  Grantham  is  one  of  the  very  few  medieval 
hostelries  in  existence,  the  entrance  gateway  dating  from 
the  fourteenth  century — the  corbel  ends  of  the  weather 


140 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


moulding  being  the  heads  of  King  Edward  III  and  Queen 
Philippa.  The  rest  of  the  front  of  the  house  is  about  a 
century  later.  King  Richard  III  signed  the  death-warrant 
for  the  execution  of  Buckingham  here  in  1483. 

The  Rectory  of  Market  Deeping  still  contains  part  of 
the  refectory  of  a  Priory  which  belonged  to  Crowland 
Abbey  :  it  has  a  fine  timbered  roof  and  a  beautiful 


Grimsthorpe  Castle 

window  of  fourteenth  century  date.  Wainfleet  School, 
a  good  example  of  brickwork,  was  built  by  the  Bishop  of 
Winchester  (William  of  Waynflete)  in  1484,  and  greatly 
resembles  the  much  earlier  brickwork  of  Tattershall  Castle 
already  described.  The  Old  Hall  at  Gainsborough  was 
probably  built  in  the  reign  of  King  Edward  IV,  as  the 
Banqueting  Hall  with  the  other  timber  work  is  of  that 


ARCHITECTURE— DOMESTIC  143 

date,  as  well  as  its  butteries  and  kitchen,  though  the  oriel 
window,  tower,  .and  gallery  were  added  in  the  reign  of 
King  Henry  VII.  Some  remains  of  mural  paintings 
perhaps  owe  their  existence  to  King  Henry  VIIFs  visit  in 
1541,  when  he  stayed  here  with  Thomas,  Lord  Burgh. 
Ayscoughfee  Hall,  Spalding  (the  residence  of  Maurice 
Johnson,  now  the  Museum)  is  supposed  to  have  been 
built  about  1420,  but  it  has  been  greatly  altered. 

The  Stone  Bow,  Lincoln,  is  a  good  example  of  a 
fifteenth  century  city  gate.  The  Guildhall  is  the  couple 
of  rooms  above  the  arches,  with  a  fine  open-timbered  roof. 
Browne's  Hospital,  Stamford,  the  finest  of  several  Hospitals 
or  Calltses^  as  they  are  called,  from  having  been  built  by 
Calais  merchants  of  the  Staple,  was  founded  about  1480. 
The  half-timbered  manor  house  of  Knaith,  where  Thomas 
Sutton  was  born,  was  built  by  the  Willoughby  family  of 
Parham  in  the  early  sixteenth  century,  and  the  stone 
manor  house  at  Great  Ponton  and  the  fine  house  at 
Irnham  were  erected  about  the  same  date. 

Scrivelsby  Court,  the  home  of  the  Dymokes,  the 
King's  Champions,  now  much  modernised  in  Tudor 
Gothic,  was  probably  a  good  medieval  house  before  the 
fire  in  1761  and  has  an  ancient  entrance  gateway. 
Thorpe  Hall,  built  in  1584  by  Sir  John  Bolle,  is  an 
interesting  Elizabethan  house.  The  ruined  manor  house 
of  the  Jermyns  at  Torksey,  those  at  Bassingthorpe  and 
North  Carlton,  the  Red  Hall  of  the  Digbys  at  Bourne 
(now  the  station-master's  house),  and  the  splendid  house  at 
Doddington  (p.  146),  built  in  1600,  with  its  spacious  win- 
dows, flat  cornice,  and  turreted  gazebos  (much  resembling 


ARCHITECTURE— DOMESTIC  145 

Hatfield  House),  all  date  from  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 
Of  later  houses  Harrington  Hall,  originally  Tudor,  was 
rebuilt  in  1678  ;  Belton  House,  built  by  Wren  in 
1659,  was  added  to  by  Wyatt  in  1775;  Uffington  House 
was  erected  in  1688;  Summer  Castle  by  Sir  Cecil  Wray 
in  1760;  Norton  Place  by  Carr,  an  architect  of  York, 
who  also  enlarged  Panton  Hall,  which  was  built  in  1724 
from  designs  of  Hawksmoor,  the  architect  of  Queen's 
College,  Oxford.  Haverholme  Priory  is  a  stately  house 
chiefly  of  Tudor  Gothic,  erected  in  the  eighteenth  and 
nineteenth  centuries  on  the  site  of  the  Gilbertine 
monastery,  of  which  some  slight  remains  still  exist. 

Brocklesby  Park  is  the  most  important  house  in  the 
county  next  to  Grimsthorpe  Castle.  It  dates  from  the 
eighteenth  century,  with  large  additions  at  the  beginning 
and  end  of  the  last  century.  Langton  Hall  by  Spilsby, 
where  lived  Bennet  Langton,  Dr  Johnson's  friend,  built 
in  1866  in  Elizabethan  style,  is  the  fifth  in  the  same 
park. 

In  the  villages  on  or  near  the  Cliff,  where  stone  was 
easy  to  be  obtained,  there  occur  smaller  stone  houses, 
with  high  gables  and  mullioned  windows,  either  dating 
from  the  sixteenth  and  early  seventeenth  centuries  or,  as 
in  the  Cotswolds,  perpetuating  almost  to  our  own  time 
the  ancient,  excellent  fashion  of  building.  Such  houses 
can  be  found  in  Navenby,  Leadenham,  Caythorpe,  and 
Brant  Broughton.  Many  of  the  villages  are  mainly 
composed  of  stone  cottages,  originally  perhaps  of  timber 
and  plaster,  of  which  a  few  remain  here  and  there  with 
their  picturesque  thatched  roofs,  though  in  some  cases 

s.  L.  10 


ARCHITECTURE— DOMESTIC  1 47 

these  roofs  are  being  replaced  by  that  modern  abomination, 
galvanised  iron.  But  the  greater  number  of  cottages  in 
the  county  are  of  brick,  chiefly  red;  the  yellowish  white, 
so  common  in  Cambridge,  being  fortunately  not  much 
made  in  Lincolnshire. 


22.  Communications:  Past  and  Present. 

The  Roman  roads  have  been  already  considered  in  the 
chapter  on  Antiquities,  so  it  may  suffice  to  say  that  they 
generally  run  in  this  county  at  a  distance  from,  and 
apparently  independent  of,  the  villages  along  their  track. 
This  may  be  due  either  to  these  villages  having  been  built 
in  the  wooded  districts  purposely  away  from  the  roads  for 
security  (if  they  date  from  later  than  Roman  times)  or  to 
the  directness  of  the  Roman  roads,  which  merely  joined 
the  various  stations  together  for  military  purposes.  In 
Robert  Morden's  map  of  the  county,  published  in  Thomas 
Cox's  History  of  Lincolnshire  in  the  years  1720  to  1731, 
three  roads  are  marked  which  enter  the  county  from  the 
south: — (i)  the  present  Great  North  Road  from  London 
and  Stamford  passing  by  South  Witham  to  Grantham 
(this  is  part  of  the  Ermine  Street)  and  thence  to  Newark; 
(2)  another  road  from  London  entering  the  county  at 
Market  Deeping,  thence  by  Bourne  and  Folkingham  to 
Sleaford  (also  a  Roman  road  thus  far)  and  from  Sleaford 
by  Leasingham  past  Dunston  Pillar  to  Lincoln ;  lastly  (3) 
a  road  from  Stilton  entering  the  county  at  Crowland,  and 
running  through  Cowbit,  Spalding,  Gosberton,  and  Kirton 

10 — 2 


Ermine  Street 

( The  Roman  Road  leading  north  from  Lincoln) 


COMMUNICATIONS  149 

to  Boston.  The  Fosseway  from  Newark  to  Lincoln 
is  also  well  marked.  From  Lincoln  the  Ermine  Street 
goes  as  far  as  Hibaldstow  and  then  becomes  the  existing 
road  to  Brigg  and  Barton-on-Humber,  whence  the  map 
quaintly  directs  "  to  Flamborough  "  !  Another  Roman 
road  leads  eastwards  through  Welton,Snarford,and  Market 
Rasen  to  Grimsby. 

In  the  earlier  maps  of  the  county  such  as  that  by 
J.  Hondius  in  1610,  and  that  by  Blaeu  in  1645-50,  no 
roads,  unfortunately,  are  marked.  The  hill  at  Lincoln 
in  coaching  days  must  have  been  always  difficult  and 
dangerous.  In  a  map  dated  1819  and  corrected  to  1848, 
the  steep  ascent  from  Hungate  through  Michaelgate  to 
the  South  Roman  gate  is  marked  "  old  coach  road,"  and 
was  probably  preferable  to  that  going  straight  up  the 
Steep  Hill.  A  hundred  years  ago  there  was  one  mail 
coach  from  London  which  arrived  in  Lincoln  every  after- 
noon between  four  and  five  o'clock  and  set  off  for  Barton 
about  three-quarters  of  an  hour  after  its  arrival.  There 
was  also  a  light  coach  which  passed  through  Lincoln 
morning  and  evening  from  and  to  London  and  Barton. 
A  coach  also  started  every  morning  at  nine  o'clock  for 
Newark  and  Nottingham,  and  another  left  Nottingham 
every  morning  and  arrived  at  Lincoln  about  half-past  five 
the  same  day.  Waggons  for  the  conveyance  of  goods 
from  Lincoln  to  London  started  every  Monday  and  Friday 
and  arrived  there  in  four  days,  a  distance  of  134  miles, 
and  returned  in  the  course  of  a  few  days,  "  so  that,"  in 
the  proud  words  of  a  contemporary  guide  book,  "there 
is  a  regular  communication  between  this  place  and  the 


150  LINCOLNSHIRE 

capital."  Two  waggons  seem  to  have  carried  goods  to 
Brigg  and  Barton,  but  how  frequently  does  not  appear, 
and  the  Sheffield  carriers  arrived  at  the  Old  Crown  every 
Thursday  evening  and  set  off  again  on  Friday  forenoon. 
A  waggon  from  Louth  also  arrived  at  the  Crown  on 
Thursday  evening  and  left  again  next  forenoon. 

This  stands  out  in  wonderful  contrast  to  the  present 
conditions,  when  there  are  34  trains  to  London  from 
Lincoln,  and  26  trains  from  London  to  Lincoln  in  the 
day. 

Owing  probably  to  its  geographical  situation,  Lincoln- 
shire is  not  much  affected  by  the  main  lines  of  the 
principal  railway  systems  of  this  country.  That  of  the 
Great  Northern  Railway  enters  it  at  Tallington,  crosses 
a  little  tongue  of  Rutland  at  Essendine  (whence  is  a 
branch  line  to  Stamford)  and  running  north-west  to 
Grantham  attains  its  highest  elevation  (370  feet)  on  the 
east  coast  route  between  London  and  Berwick  as  it  passes 
through  Stoke  Rochford.  The  105^  miles  from  London 
to  Grantham,  often  a  non-stop  run,  is  timed  to  take  under 
two  hours.  From  Grantham  the  line  runs  to  Barkston, 
and  leaves  the  county  between  Claypole  and  Balderton,  just 
before  reaching  Newark.  Communication  with  Lincoln 
is  secured  by  a  branch  line  from  Barkston,  linking  up  the 
villages  just  on  or  west  of  the  Cliff;  and  from  Honington 
another  branch  line  passes  through  the  gap  in  the  Cliff  at 
Ancaster  to  Sleaford  and  Boston.  At  an  early  date  in  the 
construction  of  railways  it  seemed  possible  that  Stamford 
might  be  the  site  of  the  Great  Northern  Railway's  chief 
repairing  and  building  works,  combining  the  junctions 


152  LINCOLNSHIRE 

of  Peterborough  and  Doncaster.  Fortunately  for  the 
antiquarian  and  picturesque  interest  of  the  town,  this  did 
not  take  place.  An  important  cross-country  line  owned 
jointly  by  the  Great  Northern  and  Midland  runs  from 
Melton  Mowbray  to  Bourne,  Spalding,  Holbeach,  and 
Kings  Lynn.  The  Great  Eastern  may  be  said  to  have 
one  main  line  through  Lincoln,  as  it  comes  north  from 
London  through  Cambridge,  Ely,  March,  Spalding,  and 
Sleaford,  and  runs  from  Lincoln  to  Gainsborough,  Don- 
caster,  and  York.  Boat  trains  from  the  north  and  the 
west  also  pass  on  this  route  to  Harwich  for  the  continent. 

The  Great  Central  Railway  (in  its  earlier  days  the 
Manchester,  Sheffield,  and  Lincolnshire)  connects  Don- 
caster  with  Crowle,  Scunthorpe,  Barton-on-Humber, 
New  Holland  (for  the  ferry  to  Hull),  and  Grimsby,  and 
has  lines  from  Lincoln  and  Gainsborough  to  the  same 
places.  It  has  also  taken  over  the  line  of  the  incorrectly 
named  Lancashire,  Derbyshire,  and  East  Coast  Railway, 
which  runs  from  Chesterfield  through  important  collieries 
and  the  "Dukeries"  to  Lincoln.  It  does  not  exist  in 
Lancashire  and  never  got  to  the  east  coast,  where  at 
Sutton  it  was  proposed  to  construct  a  dock. 

From  Grimsby  and  Cleethorpes  the  Great  Northern 
Railway  runs  to  Peterborough  through  Louth,  Alford, 
Boston,  and  Spalding.  There  is  also  a  branch  line  to 
the  coast  by  Theddlethorpe,  Mablethorpe,  Sutton,  and 
Willoughby;  a  short  line  to  Spilsby,  and  another  to 
Skegness;  while  Boston  is  connected  with  Lincoln  by  a 
line  following  the  course  of  the  Witham. 

The  record  of  the  canal   system   of  Lincolnshire  is 


COMMUNICATIONS  153 

rather  a  melancholy  one.  From  the  junction  of  the 
Witham  with  the  once  great  Mere  at  Lincoln,  now 
shrunk  to  small  proportions  and  called  Brayford  (Broad 
ford  ?),  the  Romans  constructed  a  canal — the  Fossdyke 
— westwards  to  the  Trent  at  Torksey.  King  Henry  I  is 
recorded  by  Hovenden  to  have  made  a  long  canal  from 
Torksey  to  Lincoln  by  digging  (though  it  is  almost  certain 
that  he  merely  cleared  out  a  pre-existing  dyke,  as  the 
presence  along  its  course  of  so  many  villages  with 
Scandinavian  names  testifies).  By  turning  into  it  the 
water  from  the  river  Trent  he  made  a  passage  for  shipping. 
This  canal  was  presented  by  King  James  I  to  the  City 
of  Lincoln,  who  granted  it  on  a  long  lease  in  1740  to 
Mr  Richard  Ellison.  It  is  now  under  the  control  of  the 
Great  Northern  Railway,  and  a  fair  amount  of  traffic  is 
carried  on  by  barges  between  Gainsborough  and  Lincoln, 
and  on  the  Witham  to  Boston. 

The  Cardyke  (car  =  fen)  has  been  already  mentioned 
when  dealing  with  the  drainage  of  the  county.  It 
reached  for  57  miles  from  the  river  Nene  to  the  river 
Witham,  though  not  navigable,  and  is  still  useful  as  a 
land-drain  in  several  portions  of  its  course.  The  Louth 
Canal,  the  New  Cut  for  the  Ancholme  river,  and  the 
Horncastle  Canal  have  been  already  noticed.  Owing  to 
the  railways  obtaining  the  command  of  most  of  these 
canals,  so  as  to  be  able  to  extinguish  all  competition, 
the  traffic  on  them  has  become  quite  insignificant,  and 
some  of  them  are  now  not  navigable.  It  might  have 
been  possible,  it  seems,  to  have  made  them  of  great  use 
for  the  carriage  of  heavy  goods,  such  as  coal,  etc.,  and 


154  LINCOLNSHIRE 

so  saved  the  railways  loss  of  time  and  overcrowding  of 
their  lines.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  with  the  advent 
of  motor  power  the  canals  may  again  come  into  use. 


23.     Administration  and  Divisions. 

The  general  business  of  our  country  is  watched  over 
and  administered  by  the  Houses  of  Parliament.  In  the 
Upper  House  a  county  such  as  Lincolnshire  is  represented 
by  the  Peers  who  have  estates  in  the  county,  and  the 
Lord  Bishop  of  the  Diocese,  if  it  has  come  to  his  turn  to 
take  his  seat  in  that  House,  while  to  the  Lower  House 
she  sends  1 1  representatives,  being  one  each  for  the  City 
of  Lincoln,  the  towns  of  Boston,  Grantham,  and  Grimsby, 
and  the  county  divisions  of  Brigg,  Gainsborough,  Horn- 
castle,  Louth,  Sleaford,  Spalding,  and  Stamford.  The 
domestic  affairs  of  the  county  are  administered  by  three 
great  local  bodies,  called  County  Councils,  of  which 
there  is  one  for  each  Part  of  Lincolnshire,  which  also 
possesses  its  own  treasurer,  magistrates,  Quarter  Sessions 
and  Clerk  of  the  Peace  (who  is  also  Clerk  of  the  County 
Council).  The  Lindsey  County  Council  consists  of  a 
chairman,  vice-chairman,  1 6  aldermen  and  48  members, 
and  meets  at  Lincoln.  The  Kesteven  County  Council 
consists  of  a  chairman,  vice-chairman,  16  aldermen  and 
48  members,  and  meets  at  Grantham  and  Sleaford 
alternately.  The  Holland  County  Council  consists  of  a 
chairman,  vice-chairman,  16  aldermen  and  42  members, 
and  meets  alternately  at  Boston  and  Spalding.  The 


ADMINISTRATION  AND  DIVISIONS     155 

Councils  manage  the  administrative  business  of  the 
county  by  a  Standing  Joint  Committee,  which  among 
other  duties  has  the  appointment  of  Clerk  of  the 
Peace  and  the  control  of  the  police.  There  are  about 
300  county  policemen,  under  the  charge  of  a  Chief 
Constable.  Before  this  system  was  established  each  of 
the  smaller  divisions  of  the  county  had  its  own  High 
Constable,  who  was  responsible  for  the  policing  of  his 
own  area1. 

There  is  a  large  prison  at  Lincoln,  mainly  for  the 
county  of  Lincolnshire,  which  is  managed  entirely  by  the 
Prison  Commission  of  the  Home  Office,  under  the  Home 
Secretary,  but  a  Visiting  Committee  from  the  county  and 
from  Lincoln  attends  once  a  month  to  investigate  com- 
plaints and  to  deal  with  any  specially  refractory  prisoner. 

There  are  also  Urban  and  Rural  District  Councils, 
and  Parish  Councils.  All  this  is  not  unlike  the  form  of 
government  in  Saxon  times,  when  there  was  a  king  and  a 
sort  of  Parliament,  the  Witenagemot,  and  lesser  councils 
for  the  counties  and  various  divisions  down  to  the  villages. 
The  name  applied  to  the  larger  divisions  is  in  Lincolnshire 
(as  in  Yorkshire  and  Nottinghamshire)  wapentake  (i.e.  "a 
weapon  touching,"  in  acknowledgment  of  fealty,  and  hence 
the  district  affected  by  the  ceremony)  and  many  of  them 
bear  evidence  of  their  Scandinavian  parentage.  Lindsey  has 
13  wapentakes,  2  hundreds  (the  Saxon  and  more  common 

1  Probably  a  vestige  of  this  is  found  in  the  existence  of  this  office  at 
Lincoln,  where  the  Sheriff,  after  his  term  of  office  has  expired  becomes  the 
High  Constable  for  the  following  year,  but  his  only  duty  is  to  determine 
the  date  of  the  Statutes  or  Hiring  Fair. 


156  LINCOLNSHIRE 

equivalent,  meaning  the  area  containing  100  families), 
and  2  sokes  (literally  "  a  seeking  into,"  hence  the  precinct 
within  which  the  right  of  hearing  suits  existed).  Kesteven 
has  9  wapentakes  and  I  soke,  while  Holland  has  3  wapen- 
takes. 

At  the  official  head  of  the  county  comes  the  Lord- 
Lieutenant,  who  is  usually  a  nobleman  or  great  landowner 
appointed  by  the  Crown,  and  who  was,  in  past  times, 
responsible  for  the  troops  of  Militia,  etc.,  within  his  sphere 
of  action.  Under  him  are  several  Deputy-Lieutenants 
who  will  probably  take  much  more  active  interest  in  the 
Territorial  forces  than  has  been  the  case  for  many  years 
past.  The  representative  of  the  King  and  his  officer  in 
the  county  is  the  High  Sheriff,  whose  name  is  pricked  by 
the  King  every  November  out  of  a  list  furnished  by 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  The  Assizes  are  held 
three  times  a  year  at  Lincoln  for  the  City  and  County, 
and  Lincoln,  Grantham,  and  Grimsby  have  each  a  special 
judicial  officer,  the  Recorder,  a  barrister  of  eminence,  who 
holds  Sessions  to  try  prisoners  sent  to  him  by  the  magis- 
trates four  times  a  year.  There  are  also  Quarter  Sessions 
for  the  three  Parts  of  the  county,  and  Petty  Sessions  are 
held  frequently  in  various  places  for  the  County  and 
City  Justices  of  the  Peace  to  try  all  offenders  against 
the  law. 

Lincoln  City  must  have  long  experienced  a  kind  of 
domestic  Home  Rule,  for  when  she  was  a  Roman  colony 
there  was  much  of  local  rule,  and  still  more  when,  as  a 
member  of  the  Danelagh  (with  Stamford),  she  had  her 
own  Earl  with  his  separate  "  host,"  while  twelve  lawmen 


ADMINISTRATION  AND  DIVISIONS     157 

administered  Danish  law  and  a  common  Justice  Court 
existed  for  the  whole  confederacy.  From  King  Richard  I 
came  the  right  to  elect  the  City's  Provost  (there  were  two 
allowed  in  1227)  and  a  Mayor  was  evidently  elected — the 
Provosts  becoming  Bailiffs  early  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
The  first  date  relating  to  a  Mayor  of  the  City  is  1210. 
King  Henry  IV  gave  the  city  the  privilege  of  electing 
twd  Sheriffs  in  the  place  of  the  Bailiffs,  as  he  had  granted 
Lincoln  the  privilege  of  being  styled  "  The  County  of 
the  City  of  Lincoln."  It  is  now  governed  by  a  mayor, 
6  aldermen  and  18  councillors,  and  has  its  own  sheriff 
and  coroner,  the  latter  a  very  ancient  officer  whose  duty 
it  is  to  investigate  into  the  cause  of  all  doubtful  or 
suspicious  deaths. 

Boston  was  incorporated  by  King  Henry  VIII, 
Grantham  by  King  Edward  IV,  Grimsby  by  King  John, 
Louth  by  King  Edward  VI,  and  Stamford  by  King 
Edward  IV.  Louth  and  Grimsby  also  possess  the  addi- 
tional office  of  High  Stewards. 

There  are  18  Poor  Law  Unions,  under  Boards  of 
Guardians,  to  manage  the  workhouses  and  relieve  the 
poor  by  specially  appointed  officers.  The  Registration 
County  of  Lincolnshire  does  not  coincide  with  the 
Geographical  County,  as  it  includes  several  parishes  from 
neighbouring  counties,  and  has  several  of  its  own  parishes 
allotted  to  other  counties. 

The  ecclesiastical  government  of  Lincolnshire  is  in 
the  hands  of  the  Lord  Bishop  of  the  Diocese,  who  is 
assisted  by  two  Archdeacons,  of  Lincoln  and  of  Stow, 
who  each  supervise  21  associations  of  parishes  over  which 


158  LINCOLNSHIRE 

a  Rural  Dean  presides.  In  many  cases  the  names  of  these 
Rural  Deaneries  and  their  areas  are  almost  identical  with 
the  secular  divisions  (wapentakes  and  hundreds)  already 
mentioned,  but  the  ecclesiastical  names  have  frequently 
kept  nearer  to  the  original  forms.  There  are  582  parishes 
in  the  diocese,  but  in  a  number  of  instances  two  or  more 
are  joined  together,  either  from  the  loss  of  one  church,  as 
at  Mablethorpe,  Claxby-Pluckacre,  and  Fordington,  or  on 
account  of  the  smallness  of  the  stipends  attached. 

24.     The  Roll  of  Honour. 

"This  Shire  triumpheth,"  remarks  John  Speed,  "in 
the  birth  of  King  Henry  the  fourth,  at  Bullingbrooke 
borne."  He  was  son  of  John  of  Gaunt,  "Time-honoured 
Lancaster,"  who  lived  in  Lincoln,  where  a  small  part  of 
his  palace  still  exists,  and  whose  third  wife  and  daughter, 
Katherine  Swynford  and  Joan  Countess  of  Westmorland, 
are  buried  in  the  Minster.  He  goes  on  to  say  with  less 
accuracy,  "  but  may  as  justly  lament  for  the  death  of 
King  John,  herein  poysoned  by  a  monk  of  Swynsted 
Abbey "  (as  noted  above  King  John  died  at  Newark 
Castle)  ;  "  and  of  Queene  Eleanor,  wife  to  King  Edward 
the  first,  the  mirrour  of  wedlocke  and  loue  to  the 
Commons,  who  at  Harby1  ended  her  life." 

Of  early  Saints  Lincolnshire  can  claim  two  as  belong- 
ing to  her  perhaps  by  birth,  certainly  by  life — St  Botolph, 
who  died  about  680,  and  whose  memory  survives  in 
Boston — Botolph's  town,  and  St  Guthlac,  who  died  in 

1  Just  outside  the  Lincolnshire  border,  in  Nottinghamshire. 


John  Wesley 


160  LINCOLNSHIRE 

713,  and  in  whose  honour  Crowland  Abbey  was  founded. 
In  later  times  St  Gilbert  of  Sempringham  (1083-1 189  ?), 
Lincolnshire  born  and  bred,  founded  the  only  monastic 
order — that  of  the  Gilbertines — which  originated  in  this 
country.  Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  many 
founders  of  Colleges,  so  that  out  of  the  great  roll  of 
Bishops  of  Lincoln  room  can  be  found  here  only  for  St 
Hugh  (1186-1200);  Sanderson,  whose  life  was  delight- 
fully written  by  his  friend,  Izaak  Walton;  and  in  these 
later  years  Christopher  Wordsworth,  scholar  and  divine, 
and  the  greatly  beloved  and  saintly  Edward  King. 
Archbishop  Whitgift  (1530-1604)  was  born  in  this 
county,  at  Grimsby,  and  Daniel  Waterland,  theologian 
(1683-1740),  at  Walesby,  of  which  place  Robert  Burton, 
author  of  The  Anatomy  of  Melancholy  was  once  rector. 
William  Paley,  author  of  the  famous  View  of  the  Evidences 
of  Christianity,  probably  wrote  his  Natural  Theology  when 
Sub-Dean  of  Lincoln. 

John  Cotton,  nonconformist  divine,  was  Vicar  of 
Boston  for  several  years  before  leaving  for  Trimountain, 
Massachusetts,  afterwards  called  Boston.  And  the  Lin- 
colnshire Boston  was  the  native  place  of  John  Foxe 
(1516-1587)  the  martyrologist.  In  1703  there  was  born 
in  Epworth  Rectory  one  who  made  a  vast  change  in  the 
religious  world,  especially  of  that  portion,  unlike  himself, 
outside  the  Church  of  England.  This  was  John  Wesley. 
His  brother  Charles,  the  divine  and  hymn-writer,  was 
born  there  in  1707.  One  of  Lincolnshire's  proudest 
boasts  should  be  that  the  great  genius,  Sir  Isaac  Newton, 
was  born  at  Woolsthorpe  (in  1642)  and  educated  at  the 


ROLL  OF  HONOUR 


161 


neighbouring  grammar  school  of  Grantham,  where  there 
is  a  statue  of  him  by  Theed.     Another  mathematician, 


Sir  Isaac  Newton 
(From  the  statue  by  Ronbiliac  in  the  chapel  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge] 

George  Boole,  author  of  The  Laws  of  Thought  (i  8 1 5-1 864), 
was  born  in  Lincoln. 


s.  L. 


1 1 


162  LINCOLNSHIRE 

On  August  6,  1809,  tne  Poet>  Alfred  Tennyson,  was 
born  in  Somersby  Rectory.  He  was  educated  at  Louth 
grammar  school.  His  earlier  work  reveals  much  of  the 
influence  on  his  receptive  mind  of  the  varying  moods  of 
river  and  marsh  and  fen.  His  statue  by  G.  F.  Watts  is 
on  the  north-east  side  of  the  Minster  Green  at  Lincoln. 
His  elder  brothers,  Frederick  (author  of  Days  and  Hours) 
and  Charles,  who  took  the  additional  name  of  Turner, 
were  also  poets.  Boston  was  unusually  favoured  in  the 
early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  as  James  Westland 
Marston,  poet,  dramatist,  and  critic,  and  father  of  the 
blind  poet,  Philip  Bourke  Marston,  was  born  there  in 
1819;  Jean  Ingelow,  the  poetess,  in  1820;  John 
Conington,  the  famous  classical  scholar  in  1825;  and 
Herbert  Ingram,  the  founder  of  the  Illustrated  London 
News  in  1811.  Thomas  Cooper,  the  chartist  (author  of 
The  Purgatory  of  Suicides],  lived  for  the  later  part  of  his 
life  at  Lincoln,  where  he  died  in  1892.  Mrs  Centlivre, 
actress  and  dramatist  (1667-1723),  was  born  at  Holbeach, 
while  Thomas  Hey  wood,  dramatist  and  poet  (died  1650  ?), 
avers  himself  a  Lincolnshire  man  in  his  commendatory 
verses  to  James  Yorke's  Union  of  Honour,  a  book  of 
heraldic  use,  by  a  Lincoln  blacksmith.  Robert  Mannyng, 
or  Robert  de  Brunne  (1288-1338  ?),  poet,  was  born  at 
Bourne;  Henry,  Archdeacon  of  Huntingdon,  the  historian 
(1084-1 155),  was  buried  at  Lincoln;  and  to  turn  to  lighter 
literature,  John  Sheffield,  ist  Duke  of  Buckinghamshire, 
the  friend  of  Dryden  and  Pope,  had  his  seat  at  Normanby, 
the  home  of  Sir  Berkeley  Sheffield.  Bulwer  Lytton,  who 
was  M.P.  for  Lincoln,  is  reported  to  have  written  A  Strange 


Alfred,  Lord  Tennyson 


II — 2 


164  LINCOLNSHIRE 

Story  in  the  grounds  of  the  old  Palace,  and  the  scene  of 
the  story  is  laid  in  Lincoln. 

Among  antiquaries  respect  will  always  be  paid  to 
the  names  of  Maurice  Johnson  (1688-1755),  founder  of 
the  Gentlemen's  Society  (the  oldest  antiquarian  society 
in  England)  at  Spalding,  his  birth-place;  of  William 
Stukeley  (1687-1765),  author  of  Itlnerarium  Cur'wsum\ 
of  Sir  Charles  Anderson  of  Lea  (1804-1891),  author  of 
the  charming  Lincoln  Pocket  Guide  ;  of  Edward  Trollope 
(1817-1893),  Bishop  of  Nottingham;  and  of  Edmund 
Venables  (1819-1895),  Precentor  of  Lincoln.  To  both 
these  latter  Lincoln  and  Lincolnshire  archaeology  owes 
very  much. 

Of  explorers  this  county  has  produced  many  of 
marked  distinction,  beginning  with  a  typical  "scout," 
Captain  John  Smith  of  Willoughby  (1580-1631)  one 
of  the  Virginian  colonists,  who  was  rescued  from  the 
Indians  by  their  Princess  Pocahontas;  the  traveller,  Fynes 
Moryson  (1566-1617),  of  Cadeby  (?)  ;  Sir  Joseph  Banks 
(1743-1820),  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  naturalists 
and  President  of  the  Royal  Society,  who  lived  at  Revesby 
and  was  companion  of  Cook  in  his  voyage  in  the 
Endeavour  round  the  world  ;  Matthew  Flinders  of 
Donington  (1774-1814),  explorer  of  Australasia;  and, 
best  known  of  all,  Sir  John  Franklin  (1786-1847), 
"  heroic  sailor  soul,"  the  Arctic  explorer,  whose  statue 
is  in  Spilsby  market  place. 

Among  famous  soldiers1  may  be  mentioned  Sir  John 

1  The   history  of  Hereward   the  Wake    and  his  connection  with  this 
county  is,  unfortunately,  almost  entirely  legendary. 


Statue  of  Sir  John  Franklin 
(///  Spilsby  market-place] 


166  LINCOLNSHIRE 

Bolle  of  Haugh  (where  he  is  buried)  and  Thorpe  Hall, 
the  hero  of  the  Spanish  Lady's  ballad  j  Bartholomew, 
Lord  Burghersh  (died  1369),  who  fought  at  Crecy,  and 
whose  praise  as  a  brave  and  gallant  knight  is  enshrined 
in  Froissart ;  Peregrine  Bertie,  nth  Lord  Willoughby 
de  Eresby  (1555-1601),  the  hero  of  the  ballad,  The 
bravest  man  in  battel  was  brave  Lord  Willoughby  ;  and 
Francis  Willoughby,  5th  Lord  Willoughby  of  Parham 
(1613-1666),  a  great  Parliamentary  general  who  after- 
wards returned  to  his  allegiance  to  his  King. 

At  the  manor  house  at  Knaith  near  Gainsborough 
was  born  in  1532  Thomas  Sutton,  a  member  of  a 
prominent  Lincolnshire  family,  who  after  service  in  the 
army  as  Surveyor  of  Ordnance,  amassed  great  wealth  and 
founded  the  Charterhouse  Hospital  and  School  in  1611, 
in  which  year  he  died.  A  portrait  of  him  hangs  in  the 
Guildhall  at  Lincoln.  The  greatest  name  among  Lincoln- 
shire statesmen  is  that  of  William  Cecil,  Lord  Burghley 
(1520-1598),  born  at  Bourne,  Queen  Elizabeth's  chief 
minister.  Sir  John  Cust  (1718-1770)  and  Sir  Robert 
Sheffield  (in  1510  and  1512)  were  Speakers  of  the  House 
of  Commons. 

In  the  world  of  commerce  it  is  interesting  to 
note  that  our  county  supplied  no  less  than  nine 
Lord  Mayors  of  London  between  the  years  1470  and 
1632. 

For  many  centuries  Scrivelsby  has  been  associated  with 
the  family  of  Dymoke.  Sir  John  Dymoke  by  his  marriage 
with  the  heiress  of  the  Marmions  succeeded  to  the  manor 
and  was  made  King's  Champion  at  the  coronation  of 


Thomas  Button 


168  LINCOLNSHIRE 

Richard  II.,  an  office  ever  after  retained  by  the  family, 
though  no  longer  exercised. 

Of  artists  the  county  certainly  has  had  few  :  William 
Hilton  (1786-1839),  Royal  Academician  and  historical 
painter,  was  born  in  the  gatehouse  of  the  Vicar's  Court 
at  Lincoln,  the  son  of  a  portrait  painter  of  that  city. 
His  sister  married  Peter  de  Wint,  who  has  shown  his  love 
for  the  city  and  county  in  many  beautiful  water-colours. 
A  monument  to  the  two  painters  is  in  Lincoln  Cathedral. 
The  splendid  illustrations  of  Roman  tesselated  pavements 
produced  by  William  Fowler  (1761-1832)  must  not  be 
left  without  mention. 

In  the  medical  world  Francis  Willis  (1718-1807) 
attended  King  George  III  in  his  attacks  of  mental 
derangement,  and  John  Conolly  (1794-1866),  born  at 
Market  Rasen,  and  Edward  Parker  Charlesworth  (1783- 
1853)  were  a^so  distinguished  for  their  treatment  of 
insanity,  the  method  of  non-restraint  being  introduced 
by  the  latter,  whose  statue  stands  just  south  of  The 
Lawn — a  private  asylum  at  Lincoln. 

One  of  the  most  distinguished  musicians  of  the  six- 
teenth century  was  William  Byrd,  organist  of  Lincoln 
Minster  from  1563-1572  ;  and  John  Reading,  the  com- 
poser of  Adeste  fideles  (O  come,  all  ye  faithful),  was 
Master  of  the  choristers  there  in  1702. 


25.     THE   CHIEF   TOWNS   AND   VILLAGES 
OF  LINCOLNSHIRE. 

(The  figures  in  brackets  after  each  name  give  the  population  in 
1911,  and  those  at  the  end  of  each  section  refer  to  the 
pages  in  the  text.) 

Alford  (2394),  a  market  town  at  the  junction  of  the  Wold 
with  the  Marsh,  with  a  fine  church  of  Decorated  date  and 
handsome  chancel  screen,  (pp.  12,  39,  62,  75,  152.) 

Algarkirk  (485),  6|  miles  south-south-west  of  Boston, 
has  a  very  fine  cruciform  church  chiefly  of  Early  English  and 
Decorated  date.  Woad  is  grown  in  this  parish. 

Ancaster  (536),  8  miles  north-east  of  Grantham,  was  a 
Roman  station  on  the  Ermine  Street  (probably  Causennae),  the 
fosse  or  ditch  is  clearly  traceable.  Quarries  for  Ancaster  stone  are 
worked  in  this  parish  and  in  the  neighbouring  one  of  Wilsford, 
where  is  a  picturesque  manor  house  built  by  Sir  Charles  Cotterell, 
a  scholarly  courtier  of  Charles  II.  (pp.  n,  19,  31,  86,  109,  115, 


Bardney  (1302),  a  thriving  town  9  miles  east  of  Lincoln, 
originated  with  the  famous  abbey  dedicated  to  St  Oswald,  of 
which  the  ground  plan  has  been  worked  out.  Aethelred  resigning 
his  crown  became  abbot  here,  and  a  mound  still  called  King's 
Hill  may  be  his  burial  place.  There  is  a  junction  here  connecting 
the  Lincoln  and  Boston  line  with  Louth.  (pp.  12,  137.) 

Barrow-on-Humber    (2734),    includes    New    Holland, 

whence  there  is  a  steam  ferry  to  Hull.     A  Saxon  monastery  was 

founded  here  by  St  Chad,  and  there  is  a  large  series  of  earthworks, 

The  Castles."     At  the  neighbouring  hamlet  of  Burnham  to  the 

south  was  possibly  the  site  of  the  Battle  of  Brunanburgh  in  937. 


170 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


Barton- on -H umber  (6673),  6  miles  south-west  of  Hull, 
a  prosperous  market  town  and  small  port,  which  had  a  market 
and  ferry  at  the  time  of  Domesday  survey,  with  a  Saxon  church 
(St  Peter)  having  a  very  early  tower  and  handsome  Decorated 
nave  and  chancel,  and  a  second  fine  Early  English  church 
(St  Mary's),  almost  entirely  in  that  style.  The  chief  trades  of 
the  town  are  malting,  and  brick,  tile,  and  cement  making,  (pp. 
IIJ  32,  33,  35,  42,  49,  74,  9^,  n8,  149,  150,  152.) 

Baumber  (354),  a  little  village  4  miles  north-west  ot 
Horncastle,  chiefly  notable  for  its  training  stables;  Galopin, 
winner  of  the  Derby  in  1875,  was  bred  here. 


Boston  Grammar  School 

Billingborough  (964),  a  large  village  3  miles  east  ot 
Folkingham,  with  fine  church  mainly  Decorated,  a  Tudor  Hall, 
and  abundant  springs. 

Billinghay  (1288),  a  large  village  83  miles  north-east  of 
Sleatbrd,  includes  Dogdyke  eastwards  on  the  Witham,  where  is 
a  piece  of  genuine  untouched  ^Fen,  and  Walcot,  westwards,  with 
the  well-known  Catley  Abbey  springs  of  natural  seltzer-water. 


CHIEF  TOWNS  AND  VILLAGES        171 

Boston  (16,673)  (St  Botolph's  town),  has  a  very  ancient 
history;  its  importance  as  a  port  and  fishing-centre  has  already 
been  described.  Many  of  the  "Pilgrim  Fathers"  hailed  from  this 
place,  and  re-christened  the  town  of  Trimountain  after  it.  The 
church  (St  Botolph's)  is  a  little  less  in  area  than  St  Nicholas, 
Yarmouth,  and  is  a  splendid  specimen  of  a  first  rank  parish 
church.  It  is  almost  entirely  of  Decorated  date,  except  the  grand 
Perpendicular  lantern  tower,  272  feet  high,  known  locally  as 
Boston  Stump.  There  is  a  picturesque  half-timbered  house, 
Shodfriar's  Hall,  a  fifteenth  century  red  brick  Guildhall,  and 
a  sixteenth  century  Grammar  School,  also  in  red  brick.  The 
neighbouring  church  of  Skirbeck  has  a  grand  Early  English 
nave.  (pp.  4,  6,  12,  15,  19,  20,  32,  34,  38,  47,  50,  70,  73,  74, 
82,  89,  90,  93,  94-97,  no,  123,  124,  150,  152,  153,  154,  157, 
158,  160,  162.) 

Bourne  (4343)  is  a  nice  market  town  95  miles  west  or 
Spalding,  with  a  powerful  spring,  from  which  it  gets  its  name. 
The  parish  church  is  the  nave  of  the  monastic  one,  with  late 
Norman  arcades.  Bourne  was  the  seat  of  the  Wake  family, 
though  the  connection  with  Hereward  is  very  obscure.  The 
castle  and  station-master's  house  have  been  previously  mentioned, 
(pp.  n,  20,  128,  138,  143,  147,  152.) 

Brant  Broughton  (531),  a  village  3  miles  west  of 
Leadenham,  has  one  of  the  most  perfect  parish  churches  in  the 
county,  both  outside  and  inside.  It  is  chiefly  of  the  Decorated 
period,  though  the  nave,  aisle,  arcade,  and  chancel  arch  are  Early 
English.  The  interior  decoration,  stained  glass,  screen-work,  font 
and  cover,  and  iron-work,  is  all  of  a  very  high  order  of  merit. 
Here  Bishop  Warburton  was  rector  and  wrote  his  Divine  Legation 
of  Moses,  (pp.  82,  145.) 

Brigg  or  Glanford  Brigg  (3343),  a  thriving  market  town 
23  miles  north  of  Lincoln  on  the  Ancholme,  over  which  is  the 


172  LINCOLNSHIRE 

bridge  which  gives  the  place  its  most  used  name.  On  the  site 
of  the  -gasworks  was  discovered  a  prehistoric  boat,  48  feet  long, 
cut  out  of  the  trunk  of  an  oak.  (pp.  15,  16,  31,  112,  120,  149, 
'50,  154-) 

Burgh  (937),  a  small  market  town  6  miles  east  of  Spilsby, 
on  an  outlying  hill  in  the  Marsh,  was  a  Roman  station;  has  a  fine 
Perpendicular  church,  and  a  Missionary  College  founded  thirty 
years  ago.  (pp.  u,  16,  32,  115.) 

Caistor  (1544),  a  small  market  town  7^  miles  east-south- 
east of  Brigg,  was  a  Roman  station,  and  possesses  part  of  its 
walls  and  ditch.  It  is  situated  on  a  western  spur  of  the  Wolds. 
The  church  tower  is  probably  Norman,  the  nave  Early  English. 
A  gadwhip  is  kept  here,  to  which  a  purse  was  attached  containing 
30  silver  pennies  and  four  pieces  of  wych  elm,  and  on  Palm  Sunday 
was  cracked  by  a  man  from  Broughton  during  the  reading  of  the 
first  lesson.  He  knelt  before  the  officiating  minister  when  he 
began  to  read  the  second  lesson,  waved  it  three  times  over  the 
minister's  head,  and  held  it  over  him  till  the  lesson  was  finished, 
and  then  deposited  it  in  the  seat  of  the  Lord  of  the  Manor  of 
Hundon.  Lands  in  Broughton  (near  Caistor)  were  held  by  this 
ceremony,  which  has  been  discontinued  for  70  years,  (pp.  6,  32, 
62,  99,  108,  115.) 

Cleethorpes  (21,417).  This  favourite  watering-place  is 
situated  about  3  miles  south-east  of  Grimsby  (with  which  it  is 
practically  continuous),  on  the  south  shore  of  the  Humber  and 
facing  the  North  Sea.  It  is  frequented  by  many  thousands  of 
visitors,  for  day  trips  or  longer,  during  the  summer.  About 
a  mile  inland  is  the  church  of  Old  Clee,  which  has  a  Saxon 
tower,  Norman  nave,  and  Transitional  Norman  north  transept. 
A  tablet  records  the  dedication  of  the  church  (perhaps  the  chancel 
and  transepts)  by  St  Hugh,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  in  1 192.  (pp.  42, 
47,49,  89,  152.) 


CHIEF  TOWNS  AND  VILLAGES        173 

Crowle  (2853),  a  small  market  town  in  the  Isle  of  Axholme 
on  the  Yorkshire  border  with  a  station  on  the  light  railway  from 
Haxey  to  Goole.  The  church,  dedicated  to  St  Oswald,  has  the 
stem  of  a  Saxon  cross  with  runic  inscription  in  the  arch  of  the 
tower,  which  is  Norman  with  Perpendicular  top.  It  has  also  a 
fine  Norman  doorway,  (pp.  69,  152.) 

Epworth  (1836)  is  a  market  town  in  the  Isle  of  Axholme 
about  6  miles  south  of  Crowle,  and  has  a  good  church  with 
a  fine  Perpendicular  tower.  In  the  old  Rectory  (which  was 
burnt  by  the  parishioners  in  1709)  John  Wesley  was  born  in 
1703  and  Charles  Wesley  in  1708.  Samuel  Wesley,  their  father, 
was  rector  of  Epworth  for  39  years,  and  is  buried  in  a  tomb  in 
the  churchyard  on  the  south  side,  from  which  his  son  John  used 
to  preach,  (pp.  14,  69,  160.) 

Frieston  (1024)  is  a  large  village  3  miles  east  of  Boston. 
The  parish  church  is  the  nave  of  the  Priory  Church,  of 
Transition  Norman ;  with  fine  tower,  clerestory,  and  aisle  of 
Perpendicular  date.  The  beautiful  font  cover  is  of  the  same 
date.  (p.  128.) 

Friskney  (1373)  is  a  large  village  on  the  coast,  14  miles 
north-east  of  Boston,  with  a  fine  (mainly  Perpendicular)  church, 
which  is  especially  remarkable  for  its  wall  paintings  of  early 
fifteenth  century  date. 

Fulbeck  (611),  9  miles  north  of  Grantham,  is  situated  on 
a  well-wooded  lower  rise  of  ground  between  the  Cliff  and  the 
plain  and  is  perhaps  the  most  delightful  village  in  the  county. 
The  Hall  has  been  a  seat  of  the  Fane  family  for  nearly  300  years. 
(PP-  29,  54.) 

Gainsborough  (20,587)  is  a  large  market  town  on  the  banks 
of  the  Trent,  15^  miles  north-west  of  Lincoln.  Here,  in  868, 
King  Alfred  is  recorded  to  have  married  Ealswitha,  daughter  of 
Ethelred,  chief  of  the  Gaini  (whence  the  town  gets  its  name). 


174 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


The  earthworks  occupied  by  the  Danes,  the  interesting  Old 
Hall,  the  history  of  the  place  during  the  great  Civil  War,  the 
malting,  seed  crushing,  and  agricultural  implement  works,  have 
all  been  alluded  to  earlier  in  this  book.  George  Eliot  describes 
the  town  under  the  name  of  St  Ogg's  in  the  Mill  on  the  Floss, 
and  the  Bazaar  took  place  in  the  Old  Hall.  The  "  eagre  "  or 
bore  on  the  river  reaches  a  little  above  Gainsborough,  as  do  the 
ordinary  tides  in  the  Trent,  the  Spring  tides  reach  about  10  miles 
further  up  the  river,  to  Newton,  where  the  picturesque  red  cliffs 


Woolsthorpe  Manor  House 

(the  birthplace  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton] 

are  much  visited  by  picnic  parties  in  the  summer,  (pp.  6,  7,  11, 
15,  18,  24,  26,  62,  78,  80,  82,  97,  99,  101,  107,  no,  iii,  114, 
117,  124,  140,  152,  153,  154,  166.) 

Great  Gonerby  (1296),  two  and  a  half  miles  north-north- 
west of  Grantham,  was  well-known  as  affording  the  steepest  hill 
on  the  Great  North  Road,  and  as  such  is  mentioned  in  Scott's 
Heart  of  Midlothian  (chap.  29).  (p.  29.) 


CHIEF  TOWNS  AND  VILLAGES        175 

Grantham  (20,070),  a  large  and  increasing  market  town,  and 
a   parliamentary  and  municipal    borough,  is    situated    24    miles 


Grantham:   the  Old  Grammar  School 

south    of   Lincoln    and    105^    from   London.     It   is   notable   for 
its  splendid  church  with  the  finest  spire  in  the  county,  and  the 


176  LINCOLNSHIRE 

Angel  Hotel,  one  of  the  three  remaining  medieval  hostelries  in 
the  country,  which  with  the  large  agricultural  implement  and 
other  engineering  works,  have  been  already  mentioned.  Sir  Isaac 
Newton  was  born  at  the  neighbouring  manor  house  of  Woolsthorpe 
and  educated  at  the  Grantham  Grammar  School,  (pp.  6,  10,  n, 
T7,  J9»  71,  80,  82,  86,  109,  no,  115,  121,  122,  124,  139,  147, 
MO,  i54,  156,  157,  161.) 

Great  Grimsby  (76,659)  has  been  already  dealt  with  as 
far  as  its  gigantic  fishing  interests  and  the  port  generally  are 
concerned.  The  name  is  traditionally  derived  from  that  of  a 
fisherman  "Grim,"  who  (according  to  the  poem  of  Havelock  the 
Dane)  rescued  a  Danish  chief's  son  Havelock  from  drowning 
and  was  rewarded  by  a  gift  of  this  Danish  port.  It  is  a  Borough 
by  prescription.  King  Richard  I  held  a  parliament  here,  and 
King  John  visited  the  town  twice,  and  gave  its  first  charter.  One 
only  is  left  of  two  fine  churches  (St  Mary's  fell  into  ruins  in  the 
sixteenth  century),  St  James,  the  parish  church,  which  belonged 
to  Wellow  Abbey.  Of  early  thirteenth  century  date  are  nave, 
south  door,  porch,  transept  and  part  of  the  chancel — the  tower  was 
rebuilt  in  1365.  The  Town  Hall,  opened  in  1863,  is  of  white 
brick  and  stone  in  Italian  style;  the  Corn  Exchange  in  red  brick 
dates  from  1854.  A  fine  bronze  statue  of  the  Prince  Consort 
stands  opposite  the  Royal  Hotel.  Archbishop  Whitgift  and 
Gervase  Holies,  author  of  valuable  notes  on  Lincolnshire 
churches  in  the  seventeenth  century,  were  natives  of  Grimsby. 
(pp.  4,  14,  24,  34,  42,  43,  47-50,  62,  73,  87,  88,  90-93,  97,  120, 
!49»  M2,  M4,  156,  157,  160.) 

Haxey  (2035),  a  small  town  3  miles  south  of  Epworth, 
7  miles  north-west  of  Gainsborough,  on  the  G.N.  line  from 
Lincoln  to  Doncaster,  and  on  the  light  railway  to  Goole.  It  was 
the  capital  town  of  the  Isle  of  Axholme.  The  church  is  hand- 
some externally,  of  Perpendicular  date  with  a  good  tower,  "  which 
has  a  ring  of  six  bells  with  chimes  of  exceptional  sweetness" 


CHIEF  TOWNS  AND  VILLAGES        177 

(Jeans).  Here  on  January  6th  occurs  a  kind  of  football  match, 
called  "throwing  the  Haxey  hood,"  a  piece  of  sacking  closely 
tied  up  serving  for  the  hood,  while  12  "Boggins"  and  a  Fool" 
(who  proclaims  the  amount  of  refreshment  offered  by  the  various 
public-houses  of  the  town  to  the  man  who  conveys  the  hood 
thither)  try  and  keep  the  hood  from  leaving  a  field,  the  rest  of 
the  players  striving  to  capture  it.  (p.  71.) 

Heckington  (1666),  a  large  village  5  miles  south-east 
of  Sleaford  with  a  magnificent  Decorated  church  which  has  a 
beautiful  Easter  sepulchre  and  sedilia,  in  the  chancel  made  by  the 
same  workmen  as  the  Easter  sepulchres  at  Navenby,  Hawton 
near  Newark,  and  the  Minster  chancel  screen,  (p.  122.) 

Holbeach  (5052),  a  small  town  8  miles  east  of  Spalding, 
with  an  enormous  parish,  containing  21,000  acres  of  land,  and 
14,000  of  water.  Henry  Rands,  Bishop  of  Lincoln  (1547-1551), 
who  alienated  most  of  the  episcopal  manors  to  the  king,  and 
Stukeley  the  antiquary,  were  natives  of  this  place.  The  church  is 
large  and  dignified,  of  the  latest  Decorated  date,  with  a  spire 
1 80  feet  high;  the  north  porch  has  curious  circular  battlemented 
turrets,  like  those  at  the  east  end  of  the  Lady  Chapel  at  Grantham 
Church,  (pp.  69,  152,  162.) 

Horncastle  (3900)  is  a  market  town  at  the  foot  of  the 
Wolds,  21  miles  east  of  Lincoln,  on  an  angle  of  land  between 
the  rivers  Waring  and  Bain  (the  latter  giving  rise  to  the  Roman 
name,  Banovallum),  hence  the  more  modern  name.  Portions  of 
the  Roman  walls  still  exist.  There  is  a  good  trade  carried  on 
in  corn,  coal,  malting  and  brewing,  and  the  largest  horse  fair  in 
the  kingdom.  The  manor  was  possessed  for  some  centuries  by 
the  Bishops  of  Carlisle,  as  a  safe  retreat  from  the  incursions  of 
the  Scots.  The  church  is  fine,  with  some  Early  English  portions, 
but  the  nave  and  aisles  are  of  Decorated  date,  and  the  chancel 
Perpendicular.  A  monument  to  Sir  Lionel  Dymoke,  King's 
S.  L.  I2 


178  LINCOLNSHIRE 

Champion  in  1519,  another  to  Sir  Ingram  Hopton,  who  nearly 
captured  Cromwell  at  Winceby  fight,  in  1643,  and  a  number 
of  scythe  heads,  most  probably  used  in  the  Lincolnshire  rising 
in  1536,  deserve  notice,  (pp.  6,  16,  17,  38,  62,  69,  83,  108, 
115,  116,  153,  154.) 

Kirton- in -Holland  (2444)  a  large  village  4  miles  south- 
south-west  of  Boston,  has  a  fine  church  which  was  barbarously 
treated  in  1804,  when  its  central  tower  and  a  fine  transept  were 
pulled  down,  and  the  chancel  shortened.  The  present  west  tower 
was  then  built.  The  nave  is  Early  English,  with  clerestory  of 
good  Perpendicular  work,  and  a  fine  roof. 

Kirton-in-Lindsey  (1602),  a  market  town  and  large 
parish,  1 8  miles  north  of  Lincoln,  has  a  large  church  with  Early 
English  tower,  and  north  arcade  of  the  nave.  This  place  was 
given  by  King  William  the  Conqueror  to  Bishop  Remigius 
towards  endowing  his  new  Cathedral  at  Lincoln,  and  remained 
attached  to  the  sub-dean's  office  for  many  years  as  a  "Peculiar." 
(p.  147.) 

Langton-by-Spilsby  (168)  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  the 
fact  that  the  manor  and  advowson  and  the  estate  have  been  in 
the  possession  of  the  same  family  (Langton)  since  the  thirteenth 
century.  The  Hall  has  been  rebuilt  about  four  times.  Bennet 
Langton  was  visited  here  by  Dr  Johnson,  (p.  145.) 

Lincoln  (57,285),  a  city  and  county  by  itself,  returning  one 
member  to  Parliament,  occupies  the  brow  of  a  cliff  210  feet  high, 
and  extends  downwards  across  the  river  Witham  for  two  miles. 
It  is  the  episcopal  see  of  the  diocese  of  Lincoln,  and  is  governed 
(as  it  has  been  since  1210)  by  a  mayor  and  corporation.  Its 
early  history,  its  extensive  Roman  remains,  and  its  later  history 
have  been  already  dealt  with,  as  have  been  also  its  trade,  the 
Jews'  Houses,  St  Mary's  Guild,  and  the  Castle.  The  Cathedral 
or  Minster,  as  it  is  usually  called,  was  first  built  by  the  first 


CHIEF  TOWNS  AND  VILLAGES        179 

Norman  Bishop  Remigius,  and  completed  in  1092.  The  west 
front  of  this  church  and  one  bay  of  its  nave  alone  remain. 
The  three  splendid  Norman  doorways  and  the  lower  part  of  the 
western  towers  and  the  gables  are  later  additions.  The  saintly 
Bishop  St  Hugh  of  Lincoln  (1186-1200)  began  rebuilding  in 
Gothic  style,  and  much  of  the  present  ritual  choir  and  western 
transepts  was  completed  before  his  death.  The  rest  of  the 


Lincoln  Minster,  from  the  North-east 

transepts  with  part  of  the  central  towers,  the  nave  (a  superb  work 
of  great  lightness  and  elegance)  and  the  Chapter  House  were 
built  in  the  time  of  Bishops  William  of  Blois  and  Hugh  of 
Wells.  The  great  west  screen,  with  the  central  (Broad  or  Rood) 
tower  is  due  to  Bishop  Grosseteste,  the  greatest  of  Lincoln's 
Bishops.  The  extreme  popularity  and  sanctity  of  St  Hugh's 
shrine  led  to  the  pulling  down  of  the  apsidal  end  of  his  choir, 

12 — 2 


180 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


and  to  the  replacing  it  by  a  most  sumptuous  and  splendid  work 
of  Early  Decorated  date  which  was  consecrated  in  1280,  when 
St  Hugh's  remains  were  translated  to  a  new  shrine.  This  was 
called,  from  the  artistic  sculpture  in  the  spandrels,  the  Angel 
Choir.  The  south  porch  is  almost  unique  in  the  country,  with 
lavish  figure  sculptures.  The  cloisters  were  built  by  Bishop  Oliver 
Sutton  (1280-1300),  and  are  elegant  specimens  of  Decorated  date. 


Horse  Fair,  Lincoln 


The  great  central  tower  was  completed  in  1311,  when  with  its 
spire  it  was  about  the  highest  in  Europe,  reaching  a  height  of 
525  feet.  The  beautiful  chancel  screen,  with  its  exquisite  side 
doors  (like  the  king's  door  at  Trondhjem  Cathedral),  was  made 
about  the  same  time.  About  1380  the  tabernacled  stalls  of  the 
choir,  according  to  Pugin  "  by  far  the  finest  in  England,"  were 
put  in.  The  upper  part  of  the  western  towers  (Perpendicular 


CHIEF  TOWNS  AND  VILLAGES        181 

in  style,  but  blending  wonderfully  well  with  the  Norman  under- 
structure)  dates  from  1390.  After  the  Restoration,  Sir  Christopher 
Wren  completed  the  north  side  of  the  cloisters  with  an  arcade 
and  built  a  library  over  it. 

A  fine  statue  of  Tennyson  by  G.  F.  Watts  stands  on  the  north- 
east Minster  green.  St  Mary-le-Wigford,  St  Peter-at-Gowts, 
and  St  Benedict  have  all  pre-Norman  or  early  Norman  towers; 
St  Swithin's  is  the  finest  new  church  in  the  city.  There  are  plenty 
of  recreation  grounds  around  the  city,  the  Arboretum  above 
Monks  Road,  a  well-kept  People's  Park,  Monks  Abbey,  and  the 
South  Park  on  the  slope  of  Canwick  and  Crosscliflf  Hills.  Horse- 
racing  is  mentioned  in  the  Corporation  records  in  1597.  King 
James  attended  races  here  in  1617.  The  Lincolnshire  Handicap, 
the  first  great  flat  race  of  the  year,  was  first  run  in  1849.  (PP- 
1-3,  6,  7,  10,  ii,  12,  14,  15,  16,  18-21,  24,  29,  31,  35-38,  41, 
46,  54,  56,  61,  62,  66,  67,  69,  73,  74,  75,  78,  79,  82,  85,  86, 
96>  97,  99-in,  112-126,  130-139,  143,  147-158,  1 60,  162, 
168.) 

Louth  (9880),  a  municipal  borough  and  market  town, 
deriving  its  name  from  the  river  Ludd,  is  situated  in  a  valley 
on  the  east  side  of  the  Wolds,  about  15  miles  south  of  Grimsby. 
It  is  a  handsome,  well  built,  and  prosperous  town,  and  a  great 
agricultural  centre.  The  main  feature  of  the  town  is  the  large 
and  splendid  church  of  Perpendicular  date,  with  its  grand  tower 
and  spire,  rising  to  a  height  of  300  feet.  Close  to  Louth  on  the 
Lincoln  road  is  Thorpe  Hall,  built  in  1584  by  Sir  John  Bolle, 
the  hero  of  the  Spanish  Lady's  ballad,  who  is  buried  at  Haugh. 
The  grammar  school  had  the  distinction  of  educating  all  the 
Tennyson  brothers,  Hobart  Pasha,  and  Governor  Eyre  of 
Jamaica.  Louth  Park  Abbey  ruins  are  about  i^  miles  away; 
it  was  a  large  Cistercian  foundation,  originating  in  a  colony  of 
monks  who  left  Haverholme  Priory,  (pp.  10,  18,  33,  124,  150, 


182  LINCOLNSHIRE 

Mablethorpe  (1232)  is  a  pleasantly  situated  watering-place 
on  the  coast  8  miles  north-east  from  Alford,  with  many  resident 
visitors,  and  crowds  of  trippers  in  the  season.  The  sands  are 
excellent  and  very  extensive  at  low  tides.  Mirages  are  not 
uncommon.  Tennyson,  who  frequently  visited  the  place  in  his 
early  years,  used  to  say  that  nowhere,  except  on  the  west  coast  of 
Ireland,  had  he  seen  such  length  of  wave,  and  many  allusions  to 
this  coast  and  the  neighbourhood  will  be  found  in  his  poems, 
(pp.  38,  43,  44,  49,  50,  99,  152,  158.) 

Marsh- Chapel  (551)  is  a  large  parish  si  miles  south- 
east of  Grimsby,  with  a  spacious  Perpendicular  church,  perhaps 
the  finest  in  the  Marshes,  with  a  good  tower  and  a  fine  rood 
screen,  (pp.  14,  49,  124.) 

Moulton  (2226),  a  large  parish  4  miles  east  of  Spalding, 
has  one  of  the  grand  series  of  churches  on  the  road  between 
Spalding  and  Sutton  Bridge  which  belonged  to  Spalding  Priory. 
It  was  built  about  1180,  the  nave  showing  very  Early  English 
work  of  six  bays,  the  clerestories  are  Transitional  Norman,  and 
there  is  a  Perpendicular  chancel,  and  a  fine  early  Perpendicular 
tower  and  spire  about  1 6.0  feet  high.  Half  a  mile  north-east  is 
the  Elloe  stone,  which  marks  the  place  of  assembly  for  the 
wapentake. 

Pinchbeck  (2836),  a  large  village  of  over  13,000  acres, 
2  miles  north  of  Spalding,  with  a  large  and  fine  church  with 
Early  English  arcade  of  five  bays  in  the  nave,  Perpendicular 
clerestory  roof  and  west  tower,  and  late  Decorated  chancel.  The 
name  Pinchbeck  for  an  alloy  of  copper  and  zinc  came  from 
Christopher  Pinchbeck,  its  discoverer,  but  whether  he  had  any 
connection  with  the  village  does  not  appear,  (p.  20.) 

Market  Rasen  (2296),  is  a  market  town  14  miles  north- 
east from  Lincoln.  Two  other  villages  of  the  same  name  are 
close  by,  Middle  Rasen  and  West  Rasen,  both  with  interesting 


CHIEF  TOWNS  AND  VILLAGES        183 

churches.     The  name  comes  from  the  little  river  Rase.     (pp.  15, 
16,  18,  149,  168.) 

Ruskington  (1214),  a  large  village  about  three  and  a  half 
miles  north  of  Sleaford,  has  large  building  works,  and  a  good 
Early  English  church. 

Sedgebrook  (168),  a  small  village  4  miles  north-west 
from  Grantham,  has  a  rather  remarkable  late  Perpendicular 
church,  with  the  rood  loft  carried  across  the  aisles.  The  chapel 
on  the  south  of  the  chancel  was  built  by  Sir  John  Markham,  a 
Justice  of  King's  Bench,  called  "the  upright  Judge"  because  he 
was  dismissed  from  office  by  King  Edward  IV  after  displaying 
conspicuous  fairness  in  dealing  with  the  trial  of  Sir  Thomas 
Coke,  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  (pp.  28,  124.) 

Skegness  (3775)  is  a  rapidly  developing  watering-place 
on  the  coast,  4  miles  east  of  Burgh,  and  5  miles  north-east 
of  Wainfleet.  It  has  very  good  accommodation  for  visitors,  who 
are  very  numerous  in  the  summer  months.  The  sands  and 
bathing  are  good,  there  are  a  fine  pier  and  cricket  ground,  and 
there  are  first  class  golf  links  at  Seacroft,  on  the  sand-hills  south 
of  the  town.  The  air  is  wonderfully  pure  and  bracing.  The 
railway  communication  is  through  the  Great  Northern  branch 
from  Firsby,  either  from  Boston  or  Louth,  but  a  connecting  line 
is  being  made  with  the  Great  Northern  Railway  line  from  Lincoln, 
(pp.  14,  31,  43,  46,  47,  49,  50,  54,  62,  97,  152.) 

Sleaford  (3808)  is  a  thriving  and  improving  market  town, 
of  much  importance  as  an  agricultural  centre,  situated  about 
half  way  between  Spalding  and  Lincoln  on  the  little  river  Slea. 
The  railway  communications  are  excellent.  The  church  is  one 
of  the  first  class,  has  a  very  early  spire,  a  handsome  Perpendicular 
nave  (externally  Decorated)  and  a  Perpendicular  chancel  with  the 
finest  oak  rood  screen  in  the  county.  The  Castle  only  remains  in 
the  shape  of  mounds.  The  large  makings  have  been  already 


184  LINCOLNSHIRE 

mentioned,      (pp.  7,  n,  19,  20,  68,  104,  in,  116,  122,  136,  147, 
150,  152,  154.) 

Somersby  (47),  6  miles  north-east  of  Horncastle,  was  the 
birthplace  of  Alfred  Tennyson  in  1 809.  The  old  Rectory  is  much 
the  same  internally  and  externally  as  in  the  days  of  the  Tennysons, 
with  the  quaint  Gothic  dining-room  built  by  Dr  Tennyson,  who 
himself  carved  the  mantelpiece.  His  grave  is  in  the  churchyard. 
The  church  is  a  simple  little  one  of  the  local  sandstone,  which  has 
been  put  in  good  repair,  and  a  bust  (by  Woolner)  of  the  poet 
placed  in  the  chancel  in  memory  of  his  centenary  in  1909.  There 
is  a  beautiful  fifteenth  century  churchyard  cross,  (pp.  12,  130, 
162.) 

Spalding  (10,308)  is  a  large  market  town  and  port, 
14  miles  south-south-west  of  Boston,  on  the  river  Welland,  which 
is  navigable  for  vessels  of  120  tons,  carrying  on  a  trade  of  coal, 
oil-cake,  and  timber.  It  is  also  a  valuable  agricultural  centre, 
and  for  distributing  fruit  and  vegetables.  Scarcely  any  remains 
exist  of  the  important  Priory  which  was  the  richest  in  the 
county,  after  Crowland,  at  the  dissolution.  The  church  is 
mainly  Early  Decorated,  but  has  had  additional  aisles  added  to 
the  nave,  and  a  south-east  chapel.  The  rood  screen  is  fine  and 
very  lofty.  Ayscoughfee  Hall,  now  town  property,  was  originally 
of  fifteenth  century  date ;  it  has  been  much  modernised,  but  has 
fine  Tudor  gardens.  Maurice  Johnson  lived  here,  the  founder 
in  1710  of  the  Spalding  Gentlemen's  Society,  which  still  exists 
and  has  established  itself  in  a  new  house,  (pp.  12,  20,  22,  69, 
97,  143,  147,  152,  154,  164.) 

Spilsby  (1464)  is  a  pleasant  market  town  10  miles  east-south- 
east of  Horncastle  at  the  southern  extremity  of  the  Wolds,  on  a 
branch  of  the  Great  Northern  Railway  from  Firsby.  The 
church  is  chiefly  interesting  for  the  series  of  monuments  of  the 
Willoughby  de  Eresby  family,  who  took  their  title  from  Willoughby 


0)       5: 

I  £ 

GO 


12—5 


186 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


near  Alford,  and  Eresby,  where  was  a  Hall,  about  three-quarters 
of  a  mile  south  of  Spilsby.  A  bronze  statue  of  the  Arctic  explorer, 
Sir  John  Franklin,  who  was  born  here,  is  in  the  market  place, 
(pp.  n,  17,  18,  31,  62,  130,  137,  152,  164,  165.) 


St  Mary's  Church  and  Hill,   Stamford 

Stamford  (9647),  a  most  charming  municipal  borough, 
situated  on  the  extreme  southern  border  of  the  county  on  the 
Welland,  and  with  one  parish,  St  Martin's,  in  Northamptonshire 
(as  is  Burghley  House,  the  magnificent  seat  of  the  Marquis  of 
Exeter,  built  by  Lord  High  Treasurer  Burghley).  It  has  an 
ancient  history,  and  was  one  of  the  Danelagh  towns,  representing 


CHIEF  TOWNS  AND  VILLAGES        187 

the  Gyrwas  or  dwellers  in  the  Fens.  It  has  several  fine  and 
interesting  churches,  among  them  St  Mary's  with  an  Early  English 
tower  and  spire  and  All  Saints  with  a  Perpendicular  spire  and 
excellent  brasses.  Browne's  Hospital  has  been  already  noticed,  and 
the  gate  of  Brasenose  College  (the  nose  has  gone  to  its  namesake 
at  Oxford)  still  remains  as  a  reminder  of  the  University  that  might 
have  been  at  Stamford,  (pp.  8,  11,  22,  31,  66,  69,  75,  98,  100, 
107,  109,  115,  124,  128,  143,  147,  150,  154,  156,  157.) 

StOW  (309),  six  miles  south-east  of  Gainsborough,  is  notable 
for  its  large  cruciform  church,  and  is  supposed  to  owe  its  name  to 
St  Etheldreda  having  made  a  stay  (or  stow)  here,  where  her  staff 
budded  in  the  night.  Parts  of  the  piers  of  the  central  tower  are 
probably  earlier  than  1020,  when  the  church  was  rebuilt  by 
Bishop  Eadnoth;  the  nave  and  upper  part  of  the  transepts  were 
due  to  Remigius,  and  the  chancel  and  fine  western  doorway  to 
Bishop  Alexander.  Here  was  a  manor  house  of  the  Bishops  of 
Lincoln,  and  here  St  Hugh's  favourite  swan  lived,  (pp.  10,  118, 
120,  157.) 

Sutton-on-Sea  (835)  is  another  of  the  pleasant  sea-side 
resorts  of  this  county  about  3  miles  south  of  Mablethorpe,  and 
with  much  the  same  attractions,  (pp.  34,  44-46,  49,  50,  152.) 

Swineshead  (i  899),  a  large  village  about  6  miles  south-west 
of  Boston,  has  a  grand  church,  with  Decorated  and  Perpendicular 
tower,  Decorated  nave  and  clerestory  and  south  aisle.  A  mile 
away  is  the  site  of  Swineshead  Abbey,  occupied  by  a  farmhouse, 
where  King  John  lay  the  night  after  the  disastrous  crossing  of  the 
Wash,  and  where  lie  was  possibly  poisoned  by  the  monks,  (pp. 
64,  104,  117.) 

Tattershall  (415),  on  the  river  Bain  11  miles  north-west 
of  Boston,  has  the  splendid  castle  already  described  and  a  spacious 
Perpendicular  cruciform  church  with  western  tower,  built  of  stone 
by  Ralph,  Lord  Cromwell,  left  unfinished  at  his  death  in  1455, 


188  LINCOLNSHIRE 

and  finished  by  William  of  Waynflete,  Bishop  of  Winchester. 
The  stone  pulpitum  or  screen  dividing  the  chancel  from  the 
transepts  has  had  two  altars  on  its  western  face,  and  has  two 
stone  book-rests  on  the  projection  over  the  door  into  the  chancel, 
for  the  books  of  the  Gospel  and  Epistle,  which  used  to  be  read 
therefrom.  There  are  very  fine  brasses  commemorating  the 
founder  and  others  in  the  north  transept.  The  market  was 
gained  for  the  town  at  the  price  of  a  well-trained  goshawk  in  the 
reign  of  King  John,  and  the  market  cross  bears  the  shields  of 
Tattershall,  Cromwell,  and  Deincourt,  and  was  erected  about  the 
same  time  as  the  castle.  No  market  is  now  held,  but  there  is  a 
cattle  and  sheep  fair  in  September,  (pp.  17,  20,47,  Iri>  I24> 
130,  134-) 

Torksey  (183),  7  miles  south  of  Gainsborough,  was  once  an 
important  port  at  the  junction  of  the  Fossdyke  and  the  Trent, 
and  the  probable  scene  of  the  baptism  by  Paulinus.  The  so-called 
"castle,"  built  in  the  late  sixteenth  century,  was  the  Hall  of  the 
Jermyn  family,  and  being  occupied  by  the  Parliamentarians  was 
captured  and  burnt  by  the  Royalists  from  Newark.  Torksey  has 
given  its  name  to  china  and  pottery  made  here.  (pp.  82,  97,  99, 
100,  116,  143,  153.) 

Wainfleet- All- Saints  (1258),  a  market  town  and  port 
15  miles  north-east  of  Boston,  on  the  Steeping  river  and  Wainfleet 
Haven,  which  reaches  the  sea  at  Gibraltar  Point,  5  miles  away. 
It  is  chiefly  notable  as  the  birthplace  of  William  Patten  (or 
Barbour),  best  known  as  William  of  Waynflete,  who  was  Provost 
of  Eton,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  and  Founder  of  Magdalen  College, 
Oxford,  in  whose  chapel  is  the  tomb  of  his  father,  which  used  to 
be  here.  The  Bishop  also  built  the  existing  school  at  Wainfleet 
of  red  brick,  much  resembling  Tattershall  Castle  in  appearance, 
but  about  forty  years  later  in  date.  (pp.  47,  96,  106,  140.) 

Wliaplode  (2270)  is  a  large  village  on  the  Holbeach  to 
Spalding  road,  on  which  some  of  the  finest  churches  of  the  county 


CHIEF  TOWNS  AND  VILLAGES         189 

are  situated,  that  of  Whaplode  being  among  the  first  rank.  There 
are  seven  bays  in  the  nave,  the  four  eastern  ones  and  the  chancel 
arch  well-developed  Norman,  the  three  western  Transitional,  the 
tower  (on  the  site  of  the  south  transept),  lowest  stage  Transitional, 
second  and  third  Early  English,  fourth  Early  Decorated,  (p.  i  20.) 

Wlnteringham  (606),  once  a  market  and  corporate  town, 
seven  and  a  half  miles  west  of  Barton-on-Humber,  is  close  to  the 
north  ending  of  the  Ermine  Street,  at  Flashmire  (Ad  A  bum). 
Kirke  White,  the  poet,  was  for  a  time  a  pupil  here  at  the  old 
Rectory.  Here  St  Etheldreda  is  supposed  to  have  landed,  when 
she  was  fleeing  from  her  second  husband,  en  route  for  Ely,  and 
at  West  Halton  close  by,  where  she  stopped  some  time,  she  is 
said  to  have  founded  a  church  which  is  dedicated  to  her.  The 
church  has  Transitional  Norman  piers  in  the  nave,  with  semi- 
circular arches  on  the  south  and  pointed  ones  on  the  north,  an 
Early  English  chancel,  and  a  Perpendicular  tower,  (pp.  10,  17, 
40 

Winterton  (1426),  a  small  market  town  on  the  Ermine 
Street  two  and  a  half  miles  south  of  Winteringham.  Both  towns 
derived  their  names  from  the  tribe  of  Winterings.  An  eagle 
of  a  Roman  Legion  was  found  here,  and  close  by  several  Roman 
pavements,  which  were  figured  by  William  Fowler,  who  lived  here. 
There  is  a  fine  cruciform  church,  with  a  pre-Norman  tower,  its 
upper  portion  Early  English,  an  Early  English  nave,  and  a 
Decorated  chancel.  The  altar-piece  is  by  Raphael  Mengs. 
(P-  H5-) 

Woodhall  Spa  (1484)  is  an  inland  watering-place  3  miles 
south-west  of  Horncastle,  of  considerable  and  fast  rising  importance 
in  the  treatment  of  gout,  rheumatism,  and  scrofula,  due  to  the 
exceeding  richness  of  the  natural  mineral  water  in  salts  of  Iodine 
and  Bromine.  The  spring  was  accidentally  discovered  about 
100  years  ago  in  the  course  of  an  unsuccessful  boring  1000  feet 


190 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


deep  for  coal.  The  water  flows  through  a  soft  spongy  rock  at 
a  depth  of  540  feet,  and  yields  from  16,000  to  20,000  gallons 
a  day.  There  is  a  spacious  pump  room  and  bath  establishment 
of  the  most  modern  character.  Woodhall  is  situated  on  a  sandy 


The  Church  Walk:    Woodhall  Spa 

and  gravelly  soil,  and  is  in  the  midst  of  extensive  woods.  It  is 
sheltered  on  the  north  and  east  by  the  Wolds,  and  within  easy 
reach  are  Tattershall  Castle,  Scrivelsby,  Somersby,  Revesby 
Abbey,  and  Kirkstead.  (pp.  28,  40.) 


DIAGRAMS 


191 


England  &  Wales 
37,337,630  acres 

Lincolnshire 


Fig.  i.     Area  of  Lincolnshire  (1,705,293  acres)  compared 
with  that  of  England^and  Wales 


England  &  Wales 
36,075,269 


Lincolnshire 


r 


Fig.  2.     Population  of  Lincolnshire  (563,960)  compared 
with  that  of  England  and  Wales  in  1911 


England  and  Wales  618        Lincolnshire  212  Lancashire  2550 

Fig.  3.     Comparative  Density  of  Population  to  the 
square  mile  in  1911 

(Each  dot  represents   10  persons) 


192 


LINCOLNSHIRE 


Corn  Crops 
560,835    acres 


Fig.  4.     Proportionate  area  under  Corn  Crops  compared  with 
that  of  other  Cultivated  Land  in  Lincolnshire  in  191 1 


Fig.  5      Proportionate  area  of  chief  Corn  Crops  in 
Lincolnshire  in  1911 


DIAGRAMS 


193 


podlands|*M|5 


Fig.  6.     Proportionate  area  of  land  in  Lincolnshire 
in  IQII 


Fig.  7.     Proportionate  numbers  of  Horses,  Cattle,   Sheep, 
and  Pigs  in  Lincolnshire  in  1911 


PRINTED   BY   JOHN    CLAY,    M.A. 
AT   THE    UNIVERSITY    PRESS 


GEOGRAPHICAL  PUBLICATIONS 

OF   THE 

CAMBRIDGE    UNIVERSITY    PRESS 

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topographical  maps,  as  it  is  felt  that  students  should  always  use  a  good  atlas 
with  the  text-books.  Photographic  illustrations  showing  important  typical 
scenery  will  also  be  freely  used,  for  it  is  now  generally  recognised  that  this 
feature,  though  somewhat  novel  in  English  text-books,  is  of  considerable  and 
increasing  importance. 

The  books,  written  by  practical  teachers,  will  be  found  of  value  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  various  University  and  Government  examinations  in  general  and 
for  Local  examinations  in  particular ;  and  for  this  purpose  each  volume  will 
contain  a  useful  selection  of  exercises  and  questions  based  on  the  text  or  from 
those  set  at  various  competitive  examinations. 

Junior :  By  A.  JORDAN,   M.Sc.  [In  the  press 

Intermediate :    By  A.  J.   DICKS,  B.A.,  B?Sc.     Price  $s. 

\_Now  ready 

This  text  book  of  Geography  aims  at  presenting  the  main  features  of  the 
subject  in  a  manner  suitable  for  pupils  in  the  middle  forms  of  secondary 
schools,  the  ground  covered  being  approximately  that  required  for  the 
University  Junior  Local  Examinations. 

"In  this  text-book  information  is  up-to-date,  superfluous  details  are  omitted, 
cause  and  effect  are  duly  explained,  and  the  whole  is  presented  in  a  bright  and 
readable  style.  The  numerous  illustrations  are  an  attractive  feature,  and  useful 
exercises  are  added  at  the  end  of  the  text." — Athenaeum 

"From  every  point  of  view  it  forms  an  admirable  text-book.... The  matter 
is  well  selected,  carefully  paragraphed,  and  thoroughly  interesting ;  the 
illustrations  and  maps  are  excellent.... The  whole  book  is  stimulating  and 
suggestive." — Educational  Neivs 

"  There  is  a  wealth  of  illustrations,  maps  and  diagrams,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  book,  a  particularly  useful  set  of  questions  and  exercises.  The  author's 
style  is  clear  and  easy,  sufficient  statistics  are  given,  and  the  historical  develop- 
ment of  the  races  is  not  neglected." — The  A.M.  A. 

Senior :         By  G.  F.   BOSWORTH,   F.R.G.S.        [In  preparation 


CAMBRIDGE  COUNTY  GEOGRAPHIES 

General  Editor:  F.  H.  H.  GUILLEMARD,  M.D. 
Crown  8vo.     Price  is.  6d.  each. 


Each  volume  gives  an  account  of  the  history,  antiquities,  architecture, 
natural  history,  industries,  and  physical,  geological,  and  general  characteristics 
of  the  county.  Each  book  contains  two  coloured  maps  and  a  large  number 
of  illustrations. 


Berkshire.     By  H.  W.  MONCKTON, 

F.IfcS.,  F.G.S. 

Breconshire.     By  C.  J.  EVANS 
Buckinghamshire.     By  A.  MORLEY 

DAVIES,  D.Sc.,  F.G.S. 
Cambridgeshire.     By  T.  MCKENNY 

HUGHES,    M.A.,    F.R.S.,    and 

MARY  CAROLINE  HUGHES 
The  volume  on  Cambridgeshire  is 
also  published  in  limp  lambskin,  gilt 
top,  is.  6d.  net 
Carnarvonshire.     By  J.  E.   LLOYD, 

M.A. 

Cheshire.     By  T.  A.  COWARD 
Cornwall.     By  S.  BARING-GOULD 
Cumberland.   ByJ.  E.  MARR,  Sc.D., 

F.R.S. 
Derbyshire.      By    H.    H.    ARNOLD 

BEMROSE,  Sc.D.,  F.G.S. 
Devonshire.     By  F.  A.  KNIGHT 
Dorset.     By  A.  L.  SALMON 
Essex.  By  G.  F.  BOSWORTH,  F.R.G.S. 
Gloucestershire.     By  H.  A.  EVANS, 

M.A. 

Herefordshire.     By  A.  G.  BRADLEY 
Hertfordshire.     By  R.  LYDEKKER 
Huntingdonshire.  By  the  Rev.  W.  M. 

NOBLE 


Isle  of  Man.    By  the  Rev.  J .  QUINE, 

M.A. 

Kent.     By  G.  F.  BOSWORTH 
Lancashire,  North.     By  J.  E.  MARR 
London,  East.     By  G.  F.  BOSWORTH 
London,  West.  By  G.  F.  BOSWORTH 
Middlesex.     By  G.  F.  BOSWORTH 
Monmouthshire.      By    A.     EVANS, 

M.A. 

Norfolk.     By  W.  A.  DUTT 
Northamptonshire.       By     M.      W. 

BROWN,  M.A. 
Nottinghamshire.     By  H.  H.  SWIN- 

NERTON,  D.Sc.,  F.Z.S.,  F.G.S. 
Oxfordshire.  By  P.  H.  DITCHFIELD, 

M.A.,  F.S.A. 

Radnorshire.     By  LEWIS  DAVIES 
Rutland.     By  G.  PHILLIPS 
Somersetshire.     By  F.  A.  KNIGHT 
Suffolk.     By  W.  A.  DUTT 
Surrey.     By  G.  F.  BOSWORTH 
Sussex.     By  G.  F.  BOSWORTH 
Westmorland.     By  J.  E.  MARR 
Wiltshire.     By  A.  G.  BRADLEY 
Worcestershire.     By   L.  J.   WILLS, 

M.A.,  F.G.S. 


Scotland  :     General  Editor,  W.  MURISON,  M.A. 


Aberdeenshire.  By  A.  MACKIE,  M.A. 
Ayrshire.  By  JOHN  FOSTER,  M.A. 
Dumfriesshire.*  By  the  Rev.  J.  K. 

HEWISON,  D.D. 
Fifeshire.      By   E.   S.    VALENTINE, 

M.A. 

Forfarshire.     By  E.  S.  VALENTINE 
Lanarkshire.      By  F.  MORT,    M.A. 

B.Sc.,  F.G.S. 


Linlithgowshire.     By  T.  S.  MUIR, 

F.R.S.G.S. 
Midlothian.     By     A.     MCCALLUM, 

M.A.,  LL.B. 
Perthshire.     By    PETER    MACNAIR, 

F.R.S.E.,  F.G.S. 
Renfrewshire.     By  F.  MORT. 


Volumes  on  the  remaining  counties  of  England,  Scotland  and  Wales,  are 
in  an  active  state  of  preparation.  Arrangements  have  also  been  made  for  a 
series  of  Irish  Geographies. 


£lementary  Commercial  Geography.     By  H.  R.  MILL, 
D.Sc.,  LL.D.     Extra  fcap.  8vo.     is.  6d. 

Extract  from  Preface  (1906) 

The  book  has  been  revised  throughout  by  the  aid  of  the  latest  official 
publications  and  largely  re-written  after  visiting  most  of  the  countries  of  Europe, 
North  America,  and  South  and  East  Africa.  The  statistics  are  designed  to 
show  the  changes  now  in  progress  in  the  staple  trade  of  countries  as  well  as  the 
actual  volume  of  trade. 


An    Atlas   of  Commercial   Geography.     Illustrating   the 

General  Facts  of  Physical,  Political,  Economic,  and  Statistical  Geography, 
on  which  International  Commerce  depends.  By  John  G.  BARTHOLOMEW, 
F.R.S.E.,  F.R.G.S.,  etc.  With  introductory  notes  by  H.  R.  MILL,  D.Sc. 
LL.D.  . 


Physical  Geography  for  South  African  Schools.     By 

ALEX.  L.  Du  TOIT,  B.A.,  F.G.S.     Crown  8vo.     With  66  illustrations 
and  a  Physical  Map  of  South  Africa  (folding).     4$.  6d.  net. 

"This  volume  covers  the  amount  of  physical  geography  required  from 
pupils  in  secondary  schools,  but  its  outstanding  feature  is  the  selection  of  types 
and  examples  from  the  region  of  South  Africa.  Illustrations,  Diagrams,  and 
general  arrangement  are  excellent."  —  Athenaeum 

"This  book  is  an  interesting  attempt,  and  a  successful  one,  to  discuss 
physical  geography  generally  on  the  basis  of  a  particular  region,  so  far  as 
that  region  supplies  illustrations.  The  book  is  written  in  a  particularly  clear 
and  interesting  style,  and  ought  to  be  attractive  to  advanced  students  not  only 
in  South  Africa."  —  Geographical  Journal 

Map   Projections.      By   ARTHUR   R.    HINKS,    M.A.,   Chief 

Assistant,  Cambridge  Observatory.     With  frontispiece  and  19  text  figures. 
Demy  8vo.     $s,  net. 

"There  are  many  people  who,  without  being  profound  mathematicians, 
have  to  make  maps.  There  are  more  still  who  have  to  use  them,  and  it  is  the 
needs  of  these  two  classes  that  Mr  Arthur  R.  Hinks  has  chiefly  considered.... 
As  a  thoroughly  practical  manual  of  its  subject,  the  book  should  be  of  great 
service  to  all  who  are  concerned  with  the  making  and  use  of  maps.  It  is  clear, 
compact,  and  well  ordered."  —  Scotsman 

Maps  and  Survey.     By  the  same  author.          [In  the  Press 

Lessons  on  Soil.  By  E.  J.  RUSSELL,  D.Sc.  (Lend.).  Crown 
8vo.  With  58  illustrations  and  text  figures,  is.  6d.  Cambridge  Nature 
Study  Series. 

"In  method  and  in  form  nothing  has  been  published  that  is  so  well 
calculated  to  promote  an  intelligent  interest  in  a  child's  mind  concerning 
natural  processes  and  phenomena."  —  Pall  Mall  Gazette. 


CAMBRIDGE   GEOGRAPHICAL   SERIES 

General  Editor  :  F.  H.  H.  GUILLEMARD,  M.D. 
The  Geography  of  Disease.     By  FRANK  G.  CLEMOW,  M.D. 

Edin.,  D.P.H.  Camb.     With  12  maps  and  charts.     Crown  8vo.     15^. 
"The  book  is  well  written,  and  contains  a  great  deal  of  very  interesting 
matter ;  it  thoroughly  deserves  the  attention  of  the  medical  profession  and  of 
those  interested  in  public-health  administration." — Athenaeum 

A  History  of  Geographical  Discovery  in  the  Seven- 
teenth and  Eighteenth  Centuries.     By  E.  HEAWOOD,  M.A.,  Librarian 
to  the  Royal  Geographical  Society.     Crown  8vo.     With  59  illustrations. 
its.  6d.  net. 
"Mr   Heawood  writes  brilliantly  and  with   authority.     Seldom    can  the 

misused    word     '  fascinating '    be    applied    to    a    book    with    equal    justice. 

Invaluable  as  history,  with  a  wealth  of  excellent  maps  and  plans,  it  will  prove 

for  the  imaginative  reader  the  equal  of  the  greatest  romances  of  literature." — 

Westminster  Gazette 

Ethnology,    By   A.    H.    KEANE,    F.R.G.S.      With    numerous 

illustrations.     Second  Edition.     Crown  8vo.     los.  6d. 

Man,   Past  and   Present.     By   A.    H.    KEANE,    F.R.G.S. 

Crown  8vo.     With  15  illustrations,     iis. 

"  It  is  a  thoroughly  good  book,  clear,  compact,  up  to  date,  and  packed 
with  facts." — Saturday  Review 

The  Lands  of  the  Eastern  Caliphate,  Mesopotamia, 
Persia  and  Central  Asia,  from  the  Moslem  conquest  to  the  time  of 
Timur.     By  GUY  LE  STRANGE.     Crown  8vo.     With  10  maps.     15^. 
"This  very  serviceable,  sound,  and  thorough  piece  of  work." — English 

Historical  Review 

A  Geographical  History  of  Mammals.    By  R.  LYDEKKER, 

B.A.,  F.R.S.  Crown  8vo.  With  Illustrations  and  a  Map.  los.  6d. 
"  Mr  Lydekker's  volume  forms  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  '  Cambridge 
Geographical  Series,'  and  the  general  editor  has  done  wisely  in  securing  such 
a  well-written  essay  on  this  branch  of  his  subject  from  a  palaeontological  point 
of  view.... Altogether,  it  contains  a  large  mass  of  information  reduced  into  a 
small  compass,  and  will  meet,  we  are  sure,  with  generous  appreciation  from  all 
students  of  distribution." — Nature 

Outlines  of  Military  Geography.    By  T.  MILLER  MAGUIRE, 

LL.D.     Crown  8vo.     With  27  maps  and  illustrations.     IQS.  6J. 
"We  can  strongly  recommend  Dr  Maguire's  excellent  treatise  to  our  readers 
of  all  callings — sailor,  soldier,  or  civilian." — Pall  Mall  Gazette 

A  History  of  Ancient  Geography.     By  the  Rev.  H.  F. 

TOZER,  M.A.  Crown  8vo.  With  10  Maps.  IQS.  6d. 
"  The  latest  volume  of  the  Cambridge  Geographical  Series  goes  far  to  fill  a 
serious  gap  in  geographical  literature.  The  need  for  a  concise  and  interesting 
history  of  Geography  in  English  has  often  been  expressed,  and  now  so  far  as 
the  period  covered  by  his  work  is  concerned,  Mr  Tozer  has  earned  the  thanks 
of  all  concerned  in  geographical  education." — Geographical  Journal 

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