Lincolnshire

I

Introduction

Lincolnshire (abbreviation Lincs), county, eastern England, bordered on the north by North Lincolnshire and North-East Lincolnshire, on the east and south-east by the North Sea and its inlet The Wash, to the south by Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, and Norfolk, to the south-west by Leicestershire and Rutland, and to the west by Nottinghamshire. Until 1974 Lincolnshire comprised three separate administrative areas: Lindsey, Holland, and Kesteven. In the local government reorganization of that year, the county lost a small area in the north, including the ports of Grimsby and Immingham, to the newly created county of Humberside. Humberside was abolished on April 1, 1996, as a result of local government reforms implemented that year, and replaced by four all-purpose, unitary authorities, of which two comprised the area of Lincolnshire lost in 1974: North Lincolnshire and North-East Lincolnshire. For ceremonial and related occasions these two unitary authorities form part of Lincolnshire. Lincolnshire is the fourth-largest English county, with a land area of 5,885 sq km (2,272 sq mi).

Mainly low-lying, with a long stretch of sandy beaches and dunes along its east coast, the region was from earliest times open to invasion from the continent. The Dutch influence, which dates back to the great era of land drainage in the 17th century, is noticeable both in the county's architecture and in the extensive bulbfields around Spalding—an area which is sometimes called “little Holland”. The county is renowned for its picturesque, peaceful villages, for its wealth of churches and mills, for its varied wildlife, and, above all, for its horticultural and agricultural products. Triple-towered Lincoln Cathedral, described by the 19th-century writer and critic John Ruskin as “the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles”, occupies a superb site on a hill above the city and the River Witham.

II

Land and Resources

Lincolnshire has surprising contrasts of scenery. The Fens occupy most of the south. Drained and reclaimed from the 17th century, the Fens is an almost treeless region, criss-crossed by drains and dykes. There are two upland areas: a limestone escarpment, the Lincolnshire Edge, running north-south across the west of the county; and the rolling chalk Lincolnshire Wolds in the east, which rise to just over 150 m (500 ft). In between lies a low region of clay soils. The south-western area is well wooded and drained by the rivers Welland, Glen, Eden, and Slea. Along the eastern coast are dunes and sandy beaches. Wildfowl and birds find sanctuary here, and there are nature reserves at Gibraltar Point and Saltfleetby. Lincolnshire's main river is the Witham, 130 km (80 mi) long, which flows in a northerly direction to Grantham and Lincoln, where it cuts through the Lincolnshire Edge, then continues sluggishly east and south-east through the Fens to drain into The Wash.

Regional resources include the famous Ancaster building stone used in the building of so many Lincolnshire churches, and often ferried by barge through the Fens to Norfolk and Suffolk. Ironstone was quarried at Caythorpe nearby. Other local building stones are oolite (limestone), quarried at Clipsham, just over the Leicestershire border, and the well-known Barnack limestone, which comes from south of Stamford, just into Cambridgeshire. Lincolnshire's greatest resource, however, is its amazingly fertile soil, on which its thriving market gardening and horticultural industry has been founded.

Lincolnshire has a moderate temperate climate, but is subject to strong winds. Average annual rainfall is in the region of 635-760 mm (25-30 in).

III

Population and Administration

The population of Lincolnshire was estimated in 2001 at 646,646. The principal towns are Lincoln (2001, 85,616), the seat of local government and an important market town; Grantham (1991, 33,243), Boston (2001, 55,739), and Spalding (1991, 18,731).

Lincolnshire has a county council and seven district councils: Boston, East Lindsey, Lincoln, North Kesteven, South Holland, South Kesteven, and West Lindsey. The county’s administrative structure was not changed as a result of the restructuring of local government in the 1990s. A Crown Court sits at Lincoln, which is also the headquarters of the Lincolnshire Police.

IV

Education and Culture

The University of Lincoln is in Lincoln (and Hull, outside of the county). Pilgrim College, an outpost of the University of Nottingham, is at Boston. Notable schools include Stamford School, founded in 1532; Boston Grammar School (1567); and Stamford High School for Girls (1876). The Royal Air Force (RAF) College at Cranwell was founded in 1920 for the training of officers.

Principal events in the county calendar are the Spalding Flower Festival in May; the Lincolnshire Show in June; the season of plays by William Shakespeare performed between June and August in the open air at Tolethorpe Hall, Little Casterton, and the Burghley Horse Trials in September.

Lincoln City FC, based at the Sincil Bank stadium in the county town, is the region’s only professional football club.