- This article is about the English administrative county. For the Illinois village, see Lincolnshire, Illinois; for the Kentucky city, see Lincolnshire, Kentucky.
| Lincolnshire
|
|
| Geography
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| Status: | Ceremonial & (smaller) Administrative County
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| Region: | East Midlands, except North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire which are in Yorkshire and the Humber
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Area:
- Total
- Admin. council
- Admin. area | Ranked 2nd
6,959 km²
Ranked 4th
5,921 km²
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| Admin HQ: | Lincoln
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| ISO 3166-2: | GB-LIN
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| ONS code: | 32
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| NUTS 3: | UKF30
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| Demographics
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Population:
- Total (2002 est.)
- Density
- Admin. council
- Admin. pop. | Ranked 19th
969,569
139 / km²
Ranked 15th
657,843
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| Ethnicity: | 98.5% White
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| Politics
|
Lincolnshire County Council
http://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/
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| Executive: | Conservative
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| Members of Parliament
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| Ian Cawsey, Quentin Davies, John Hayes, Douglas Hogg, Edward Leigh, Shona McIsaac, Gillian Merron, Austin Mitchell, Elliot Morley, Mark Simmonds, Peter Tapsell
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| Districts
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- Lincoln
- North Kesteven
- South Kesteven
- South Holland
- Boston
- East Lindsey
- West Lindsey
- North Lincolnshire (Unitary)
- North East Lincolnshire (Unitary)
|
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs) is a county in the East Midlands of England, traditionally the second largest after Yorkshire. It borders onto Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Rutland, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire and (for just 19 metres, England's shortest county boundary) with Northamptonshire. Its county town is the ancient city of Lincoln.
Geography
Main article: Geography of Lincolnshire
The ceremonial county of Lincolnshire (composed of the 'administrative' counties of Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire and North-East Lincolnshire) is the second largest of the English counties and one that is predominantly agricultural in character.
For the purposes of a general geographical classification the county can be broken down into a number of sub-regions including: the Lincolnshire Fens, the Lincolnshire Wolds, and the industrial Humber Estuary and North Sea coast around Grimsby and Scunthorpe.
Towns and villages
The county of Lincolnshire appears to be experiencing a resurrection of old village and hamlet placenames and, in some instances, the creation of new placenames. This makes the compilation of a definitive list of Lincolnshire villages an especially open-ended task.
For a full list of Lincolnshire towns and villages see the List of places in Lincolnshire page.
Transport network
Being on the economic periphery of England, Lincolnshire's transport links are less well developed than many other parts of the United Kingdom. The road network within the county is dominated by single carriageway trunk roads (A roads) and minor roads (B roads) rather than motorways or dual carriageways - the administrative county of Lincolnshire is one of the small number of UK counties without a motorway (the M180, the principal link between South Yorkshire and the North Sea coast, runs exclusively within the boundaries of North East Lincolnshire). Following a north-south axis the most important route into and out of the county is the A1 (formerly the Great North Road) linking the county with London and south-east England as well as the important population centres of northern England and Scotland. The three main points where traffic enters the county from the A1 are Stamford, Grantham and Newark (A46). The volume of traffic on the A46 along with the extremely high accident rate forced the County Council to transform the road to a dual carriageway along its entire 20km (13 mile) length with this much needed upgrade being finally completed in 2004. Up until a few years ago, it was said that there was only approximately 35kms (22 miles) of dual carriageway in the whole of Lincolnshire
Partly because of its fast and flat (but deceptively undulating) roads, Lincolnshire has one of the worst road accident records of the UK counties (as measured in terms of road fatalities per head of population). In a national effort to cut the number of speed-related deaths and injuries, the county's residents became early 'guinea pigs' in a programme to roll-out speed cameras across the country and (much to the annoyance of many of its residents) Lincolnshire now has over 50 speed cameras installed on its road network.
The low population density of the county means that the number of railway stations and train services is rather low considering the county's large physical size. A large number of the county's railway stations were permanently closed following the Beeching Report of 1963. Lincoln retained its direct train service to London until the late 1980s, but it is now necessary to change trains in Newark, Nottinghamshire. However, the East Coast Main Line passes through the county and so it is still possible to catch direct trains to the capital from Grantham.
There is a local joke that Lincolnshire is the only county where most people's second car is a Massey Fergusson (a make of tractor).
History
Main article: History of Lincolnshire.
Lincolnshire derived from the merging of the territory of the ancient Kingdom of Lindsey with that controlled by the Danelaw borough Stamford. For some time the entire county was called 'Lindsey', and it is recorded as such in the Domesday Book. Later, Lindsey was applied only the northern core, around Lincoln, and emerged as one of the three Parts of Lincolnshire, along with the Parts of Holland in the south-east and Kesteven in the south west.
In 1888 when county councils were set up, Lindsey, Holland and Kesteven each received their own separate one. These survived until 1974, when Holland, Kesteven, and most of Lindsey were unified into Lincolnshire, and the northern part, with Scunthorpe and Grimsby, going to the newly formed administrative county of Humberside, along with most of the East Riding of Yorkshire.
A further local government reform in 1996 abolished Humberside, and the parts south of the Humber became the unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. These areas became part of Lincolnshire for ceremonial purposes such as the Lord-Lieutenancy, but are not covered by the Lincolnshire police. These two authorities are in the Yorkshire and the Humber region.
The remaining districts of Lincolnshire are Boston, East Lindsey, Lincoln, South Holland, South Kesteven, North Kesteven and West Lindsey. They are part of the East Midlands region.
People
Lincolnshire is relatively unusual in terms of the composition of its population, being one of the least ethnically diverse counties of the United Kingdom (98.5 percent of the population is white). Over recent years inward migration by people from ethnic minority communities has increased (particularly to population centres such as Lincoln) but the absolute number of non-white Lincolnshire residents remains very low.
Recently, the county has also witnessed a growing trend towards an in-migration of retired persons from other parts of the United Kingdom, particularly those from the southern counties of England attracted by the generally lower property prices and generally slower and more relaxed pace of life.
Skegness was recent voted the most popular place in Britain to retire to, with Spalding and Mablethorpe also recommended, by a recent study.[1]
Those born in Lincolnshire are sometimes given the slighly comic nickname of 'Yellow Bellies' (often spelt 'Yeller Bellies', to reflect the pronunciation of the phrase by the 'typical Lincolnshire farmer'). The origins of this phrase are much speculated upon but remain unclear.
Culture
Lincolnshire is rural area where the pace of life is slow. Sunday is still largely a day of rest, with generally only shops in Lincoln (and some of the larger market towns) and on the North Sea coast remaining open. There is a relatively high proportion of elderly and retired people, and this is reflected in the many of the services, activities, and events. An example of this is the relatively large number of garden centres and plant nurseries, although this is also partially attributable to the due to the longstanding agricultural heritage of the county.
Unoffical Anthem
The unofficial anthem of the county is the traditional folksong, 'The Lincolnshire Poacher', which dates from around 1776. A version of the song was the theme to BBC Radio Lincolnshire for many years.
Food
Lincolnshire has a number of interesting local dishes:
- stuffed chine - this is roasted and sliced belly of pork, stuffed with a strong sage, or parsley stuffing (other ingredients are normally kept secret). Served cold, it's considered by many in the county to be an acquired taste
- haslet - a type of pork loaf, also flavoured with sage
- Lincolnshire pork sausages - most butchers in Lincolnshire have their own secret recipe for these and a competition is held each year to judge the best sausages in the county
- Batemans ales - a beer brewed in Wainfleet and served in many pubs in the county and further afield
Notable Events
Every year the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society stages the Lincolnshire Agricultural Show on the last whole week of June at its showground at Grange de Lings . First held in 1869, it is one of the largest agricultural shows in the country, and is attended by around 100,000 people over its two day opening.
Since World War II, RAF Waddington has been home to the Waddington International Air Show , which usually takes place on the last weekend in June. The two day event attracts around 100,000 people each year.
Education
Lincolnshire is one of the few counties within the UK that still uses the Eleven plus to decide who is able to attend Grammar school. Skegness Grammar School is notable as the first school in Great Britain to apply for, and to receive, grant-maintained status.
Places of interest
External Links
