Lincolnshire ( or ; abbreviated Lincs) is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Rutland, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire, and the East Riding of Yorkshire. It also borders Northamptonshire for just 19 metres, England's shortest county boundary. The county town is the city of Lincoln, where the county council has its headquarters.

The ceremonial county of Lincolnshire is composed of the non-metropolitan county of Lincolnshire and the area covered by the unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire and North-East Lincolnshire. The county is the second largest of the English counties and one that is predominantly agricultural in land use.

The county can be broken down into a number of geographical sub-regions including: the Lincolnshire Fens (south Lincolnshire), the Carrs (similar to the Fens but in north Lincolnshire), the Lincolnshire Wolds, and the industrial Humber Estuary and North Sea coast around Grimsby and Scunthorpe.

History

Lincolnshire derived from the merging of the territory of the ancient Kingdom of Lindsey with that controlled by the Danelaw borough of Stamford. For some time the entire county was called 'Lindsey', and it is recorded as such in the Domesday Book. Later, Lindsey was applied to 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 the Parts of Kesteven in the south west, which each had separate Quarter Sessions as their county administrations.

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, including Scunthorpe Municipal Borough and Grimsby County Borough, was incorporated into the newly formed non-metropolitan county of Humberside, along with most of the East Riding of Yorkshire.

A further local government reform in 1996 abolished Humberside, and the land south of the Humber was allocated to the unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. These two areas became part of Lincolnshire for ceremonial purposes such as the Lord-Lieutenancy, but are not covered by the Lincolnshire police and are in the Yorkshire and the Humber region.

The remaining districts of Lincolnshire are Boston, East Lindsey, Lincoln, South Holland, North Kesteven, South Kesteven, and West Lindsey. They are part of the East Midlands region.

A more recent event was the 27 February 2008 Lincolnshire earthquake, reaching between 4.7 and 5.3 on the Richter scale; it was one of the largest earthquakes to affect Britain in recent years.

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Lincolnshire at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Year	Regional Gross Value Added (millions of GB₤)	Agriculture	Industry	Services
1995	5,719	657	1,769	3,292
2000	6,512	452	2,046	4,013
2003	8,419	518	2,518	5,383

Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

includes hunting and forestry

includes energy and construction

includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Agriculture

Lincolnshire is an agricultural area, growing large amounts of wheat, barley, sugar beet, and oilseed rape. In South Lincolnshire, where the soil is particularly rich in nutrients, some of the most common crops include cabbages, cauliflowers, and onions.

Mechanisation around the turn of the 20th century greatly diminished the number of workers required to operate the county's relatively large farms, and the proportion of workers in the agricultural sector dropped substantially during this period. Several major engineering companies developed in Lincoln, Gainsborough and Grantham to support those changes, perhaps most famously Fosters of Lincoln, who built the first tank, and Richard Hornsby & Sons of Grantham. Most such companies are long gone, and Lincolnshire is no longer an engineering centre.

Today, immigrant workers mainly from Portugal and from new member states of the European Union in Central and Eastern Europe comprise a very large component of the seasonal agricultural workforce, particularly in the south of the county where more labour-intensive crops such as small vegetables and cut flowers are typically grown. This seasonal influx of migrant labour occasionally causes tension between the migrant workforce and local people, in a county which is still relatively unaccustomed to the large scale immigration experienced by other parts of the United Kingdom.

Services and Retail

According to an IGGI study in 2000, the town centre were ranked by area thus (including North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire areas):-

• Lincoln
• Grantham
• Grimsby
• Boston and Scunthorpe (equal)
• Spalding
• Stamford
• Skegness
• Louth
• Sleaford
• Gainsborough
• Brigg
• Cleethorpes
• Bourne
• Horncastle and Mablethorpe (equal)

Public services

Education

Lincolnshire is one of the few counties within the UK that still uses the Eleven plus to decide who may attend grammar school. As a result, many towns in Lincolnshire have both a Grammar school and a Secondary Modern school. Lincolnshire's rural character means that some larger villages also have primary schools and are served by buses to nearby high schools.

Transport

Being on the economic periphery of England, Lincolnshire's transport links are poorly developed compared with many other parts of the United Kingdom. The road network within the county is dominated by single carriageway A roads and local roads (B roads) as opposed to motorways and dual carriageways – the administrative county of Lincolnshire is one of the few UK counties without a motorway, and until a few years ago, it was said that there was only about 35 km (22 miles) of dual carriageway in the whole of Lincolnshire. The M180 motorway passes through North Lincolnshire, splitting into two dual-carriageway trunk roads to the Humber Bridge and Grimsby, and the A46 is now dual carriageway between Newark and Lincoln.

The low population density of the county means that the number of railway stations and train services is very low in comparison to the county's large area. Many of the county's railway stations were permanently closed following the Beeching Report of 1963. The most notable re-opening has been the line and two stations between Lincoln and Sleaford which re-opened within months of the Beeching closure. Most other closed lines within the county were long ago lifted and much of the trackbed has returned to agricultural use.

A daily through train service operated between Cleethorpes and London King’s Cross via Grimsby, Market Rasen and Lincoln until the late 1980s. The Humberlincs Executive as the service was known was operated by a HST125 unit but was discontinued following the electrification of the East Coast Main Line. Passengers now have to change trains at Newark when travelling to and from London. However, the East Coast Main Line passes through the county and one can catch direct trains to the capital from Grantham. Train operator East Midlands Trains reintroduced a direct Lincoln-London service in December 2008. Running Monday to Saturday, it is essentially a stopping service. The extended route via Newark Castle station, Nottingham station, East Midlands Parkway and London St Pancras takes almost 3 hours. Changing trains at Newark Northgate for a train to Kings Cross can take under two hours. A proposed 2 hourly service promised by National Express East Coast (who lost the franchise on 13 November 2009) between Lincoln and Kings Cross has yet to start running, though was promised to start running by 2010 at the latest.Most rail services are currently provided by East Midland Trains and Northern Rail. National Express East Coast and Cross Country Trains have services which pas through the county, stopping at Grantham and Stamford respectively.

The only airport in Lincolnshire is Humberside Airport, near Brigg. While small, it serves all of Lincolnshire. Robin Hood Airport near Doncaster and Leeds Bradford International Airport in Leeds are within travelling distance of much of Lincolnshire and provide a wider range of flights.

The county's biggest bus companies are Stagecoach Grimsby-Cleethorpes (formerly Grimsby-Cleethorpes Transport) and Stagecoach in Lincolnshire, the new name for the Lincolnshire Road Car. Several other small companies also operate. Perhaps the best known of these is the Delaine company.

A Sustrans cycle route runs from Lincoln to Boston in the South of the county.

Health care

The United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust is one of the largest trusts in the country, employing almost 4,000 staff and with an annual budget of over £200 million.

Lincolnshire shares the problems of elsewhere in the country when it comes to finding an NHS dentist, with waiting lists of eight months not uncommon.

Some of the larger hospitals in the county include:

• Grimsby's Diana Princess of Wales Hospital
• Boston Pilgrim Hospital
• Lincoln County Hospital

Since April 1994, Lincolnshire has had an Air Ambulance service [8525] which was extended to also cover Nottinghamshire in 1997.The air ambulance is stationed at RAF Waddington near Lincoln and can reach emergencies in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire within 25 minutes. From any accident in Lincolnshire an A&E hospital is only 10 minutes away by helicopter.

Drainage

Separately to the commercial water companies the low-lying parts of the county are drained by various Internal Drainage Boards, such as the Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board, Lindsey Marsh Drainage Board, or the Welland and Deepings Internal Drainage Board . The history of the IDBs is not well known, but is fascinating,

Politics

Parliamentary

General Election 2005 : Lincolnshire
Conservative	Labour	Liberal Democrats	UKIP	BNP	Green	Others	English Democrats	Turnout
172,332	165,328	79,532	22,817	2,363	1,081	1,011	774	445,238

Overall Number of seats as of 2008
Labour	Conservative	Liberal Democrats	UKIP	BNP	Green	Others	English Democrats
6	5	0	0	0	0	0	0

The Conservative Party actually won 6 seats in the 2005 General Election and Labour won 5, but in 2007 the Grantham and Stamford MP, Quentin Davies, defected from Conservative to Labour thus changing the majority party in Lincolnshire to Labour.

Parliamentary Constituencies
Constituency	District	MP	Party
Boston and Skegness	Boston, East Lindsey	Mark Simmonds	Conservative
Brigg and Goole	North Lincolnshire (plus part in East Riding of Yorkshire)	Ian Cawsey	Labour
Cleethorpes	North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire	Shona McIsaac	Labour
Gainsborough	West Lindsey, East Lindsey	Edward Leigh	Conservative
Grantham and Stamford	South Kesteven	Quentin Davies	Labour
Great Grimsby	North East Lincolnshire	Austin Mitchell	Labour
Lincoln	Lincoln, North Kesteven	Gillian Merron	Labour
Louth and Horncastle	East Lindsey	Peter Tapsell	Conservative
Scunthorpe	North Lincolnshire	Elliot Morley	Labour
Sleaford and North Hykeham	North Kesteven, South Kesteven	Douglas Hogg	Conservative
South Holland and The Deepings	South Holland, South Kesteven	John Henry Hayes	Conservative

Lincolnshire County Council

The Conservative Party comfortably controls the County Council, following the 2009 local elections in which they increased their majority to 43 seats. The Labour Party lost a total of 15 seats including 7 in the City of Lincoln, whilst the Liberal Democrats lost three. The Lincolnshire Independents Party gained a total of four seats and came second in numerous wards. The collective group of the Lincolnshire Independents, the Boston Bypass Party and other independent councillors form the opposition for the four year term.

Overall Number of County Council seats as of 2009
Conservative	Liberal Democrats	Labour	Lincolnshire Independents	Other Independents	Boston Bypass Party
60	5	4	4	3	1

Towns and villages

The non-metropolitan county of Lincolnshire is characterised by the absence of any major urban area. The principal settlements and their populations are: Lincoln (101,000) , Boston (34,606), Grantham (33,243),Gainsborough (20,110), Skegness (18,910), Spalding (18,731), Stamford (17,492), Louth (17,000), Bourne (11,933), Mablethorpe (11,700), Sleaford (10,388),Holbeach (9,448), Deeping St. James (6,923), Market Deeping (6,200), Horncastle (6,090), Long Sutton (5,037), Sutton Bridge (3,936), Woodhall Spa (3,657), Crowland (3,607), Coningsby (3,238), Market Rasen (3,230), Heckington (3,069), Alford (2,700), Caistor (2,601), and Spilsby (2,336). Other places of interest include Ancaster, Corby Glen, Belmont, Donington, Billingborough, Ingoldmells, Chapel St Leonards, Sutton-on-Sea, Wainfleet All Saints and Donna Nook. Many of the towns in the county continue to hold a weekly market, a centuries-old tradition reinvigorated recently by the growth of farmers' markets.

Most of the urbanised area of Lincolnshire is on the Humber estuary, where two unitary authorities are located:

• North East Lincolnshire, where the two towns of Great Grimsby (90,703) and Cleethorpes (34,907) have become one large conurbation, and between them have a population of over 120,000: the largest single settlement in the whole of the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire. The next largest town is Immingham (12,200) followed by Waltham (6,425) and Humberston (5,375).
• North Lincolnshire has the larger area of the two unitary authority areas and it includes Scunthorpe (75,514) (including Bottesford). The next largest town is Barton-upon-Humber (9,334), followed by Brigg (5,076), Winterton (4,729), Crowle (4,090), Epworth (3,734), Kirton in Lindsey (2,964) and Barrow upon Humber (2,745).

For a full list of Lincolnshire towns and villages see the List of places in Lincolnshire page.

Tourism

The majority of tourism in Lincolnshire relies on the coastal resorts and towns which lie to the east of the Lincolnshire Wolds. Skegness is a popular UK seaside destination and attracts many visitors. Along with the neighbouring resorts of Ingoldmells, Chapel St Leonards and Mablethorpe, it offers many amusements, leisure activities and beaches. Caravan sites on the Lincolnshire coast are very popular. The market towns of the Lincolnshire Wolds are also attractive, with several having historic links. The wolds are quite popular for cycling and walking, with regular events such as the Lincolnshire Wolds Walking Festival.

Nature is an attraction for many tourists: the south-east of the county is mainly fenland that attracts many species of birds, as do the nature reserves at Gibraltar Point, Saltfleetby and Theddlethorpe.The reserve at Donna Nook also has a native seal colony popular with nature lovers.

Lincolnshire offers shopping facilities in Grimsby and Lincoln, with Lincoln having seen significant development. The Springfields Outlet Shopping Centre in Spalding has been extended to include new shops and a hotel. Lincoln has the attraction of a historic quarter based around Steep Hill and the 800 year old Lincoln Cathedral, as well as a trendier area around the University and at the Brayford Waterfront.

Culture

Lincolnshire is a rural area where the pace of life is generally much slower than in much of the United Kingdom. Sunday is still largely a day of rest, with only shops in Lincoln, larger market towns, and resorts and industrial towns of the North Sea coast generally remaining open. Some towns and villages in the county still observe half-day closing on Thursdays. Due to the large distances between the towns, many villages have remained very self-contained: most still have shops, pubs, local halls and local chapels and churches, offering a variety of social activities for residents. Fishing (in the extensive river and drainage system in the fens) and shooting are popular activities.

Lincolnshire's unofficial county anthem is the Lincolnshire Poacher.

A Lincolnshire tradition is that front doors are used for only three things: a new baby, a bride, and a coffin. This tradition is often referred to by the witches in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.

People

Lincolnshire is relatively unusual in the composition of its population, being one of the least ethnically diverse counties of the United Kingdom (98.5% of the population describe themselves as "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 immigration of retired people from other parts of the United Kingdom, particularly those from the southern counties of England attracted by the generally lower property prices and the slower and more relaxed pace of life. The relatively high proportion of elderly and retired people is reflected in many of the services, activities and events. Sleaford is considered one of the fastest growing towns in the East Midlands, with many professional people moving there to benefit from (relatively) low house prices, average crime rate and the selective education offered.

Those born in Lincolnshire are sometimes given the nickname of Yellowbellies (often spelt "Yeller Bellies", to reflect the pronunciation of the phrase by the typical Lincolnshire farmer). The origin of this term is debated, but is most commonly believed to derive from the uniforms of the 10th Regiment of Foot (later the Lincolnshire Regiment) who wore a very bright yellow waistcoat for identification on the battle field. For this reason, the coat of arms of Lincolnshire County Council is supported by two officers of the regiment.

Famous people

Lincolnshire has several famous figures associated with it, notably

• Composer William Byrd
• Scientist Sir Isaac Newton
• Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin
• Plant Collector Joseph Banks
• Mathematician George Boole
• Chronometer innovator John Harrison
• Antiquarian William Stukeley
• Poet Alfred Lord Tennyson
• Founders of the Methodist movement John Wesley and Charles Wesley.

Present day figures include

• Actors Thomas Turgoose & Jim Broadbent
• Actresses Patricia Hodge & Liz Smith
• Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
• Actress and comedienne Jennifer Saunders
• Songwriters - Bernie Taupin & Rod Temperton
• Military historian and author Bruce Barrymore Halpenny.
• Actor and comedian Robert Webb.
• Actress Sheridan Smith

Language

The accent and dialect words of Lincolnshire are little known outside the county, especially compared with more familiar accents, e.g. Geordie and Cockney. The effects of modern media, education, and immigration to the county have substantially diluted the traditional accent, and many dialect words have been lost over recent years. However, the accent exists, and a native 'Yeller Belly' will still pick out a Lincolnshire speaker, possibly even being able to distinguish where in the county the speaker is from. The northern residents of Lindsey tend towards the Yorkshire dialect, with the accent of the south-east of the county (Holland and the Fens) being more similar to that of East Anglia.

In common with most other Northern and Midlands dialects in England, "flat" a is preferred, i.e. over , and also in words like water, pronounced watter (though such a pronunciation is rarely heard nowadays). Similarly, is usually replaced by . Features rather more confined to Lincolnshire include:

• Elaboration of standard English or into a complex triphthong approximating, and often transcribed -air- or -yair-. For example: "mate" ; "beast" ; "tates" (potatoes) .
• An equivalent elaboration of standard English - commonly in Northern England - into -ooa-. For example "boat" .
• Insertion of an extra schwa into the standard English diphthong . For example, the town of Louth is pronounced (Low-uth) by its inhabitants.
• Vocabulary: "duck" as a term of endearment or informal address, "mardy" meaning upset or angry, "mowt" (pronounced like mout) for might,"while" as a substitute for standard English "until", "frit" meaning frightened, and the inimitable salutation "now then!?" (hello), sometimes written nairn to reflect pronunciation, but often drawn out into a sing-song nyEEEAaairn-myeeeaaairt!!! in the mouth of the more rural and traditional speaker.
• In the north east of the county, around Grimsby and Immingham, the nurse-square merger can be heard, as is also the case along the east coast of Yorkshire and coincidentally also in Liverpool. Words that take in RP take in these areas.

Lincolnshire has its own dialect 'champion', a farmer from the village of Minting called Farmer Wink (real name Robert Carlton), who has produced videos about rural life, narrated in his broad Lincolnshire accent, and who has a regular slot on BBC Radio Lincolnshire. A resident of Woodhall Spa, ironically one of the Lincolnshire settlements least aligned to the county's architectural style, has published a dictionary of words once prevalent in parts of the county. [8526]

Food

Lincolnshire has a number of local dishes:

• Stuffed chine – this is salted neck-chine of a pig taken from between the shoulder blades, salted for up to ten months and stuffed with parsley stuffing (other ingredients are normally kept secret), and served cold. It is considered by many in the county to be an acquired taste.
• haslet – a type of pork loaf, also flavoured with sage (pronounced HAYSS-let in Lincolnshire but HAZ-let in many other parts of the country).
• 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. Traditional Lincolnshire sausages are made entirely from minced pork, stale bread crumb (rusk is used nowadays) pepper, sage and salt. The skins should be natural casings which are made from the intestines of either sheep or pig.
• Pork pies – the same pork butchers will take a pride in their unique recipe for pork pies.
• Plum bread – as with plum pudding, plum refers to dried fruit, namely currants, raisins and sultanas, sometimes soaked in tea.
• Grantham Gingerbread – a hard white ginger biscuit.
• Batemans ales – a beer brewed in Wainfleet and served in many pubs in the county and further afield.
• There are several small breweries, such as Newby Wyke Brewery (behind the Willoughby Arms in Little Bytham).
• Grimsby is renowned for its fishing industry, and historically Grimsby Fish has carried a premium price. Since the decline of the fishing industry following entry to the European Economic Community in the 1970s this is no longer the case, with the majority of fish sold at the town's fish market being brought overland from other ports. However Grimsby Fish is still a recognised product, one associated with a particular area that specialises in and has expertise in a particular trade (cf Sheffield steel and Nottingham lace).

Events

Every year the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society, founded in 1869, stages the Lincolnshire Agricultural Show. It is held on the Wednesday and Thursday of the last whole week of June at its Showground at Grange de Lings, a few miles north of Lincoln on the A15. The show was first held here in 1958. First held around the year 1884, it is one of the largest agricultural shows in the country, and is attended by around 100,000 people over its two days. The Showground is in regular use throughout the year for a wide range of other events and functions.

Smaller local agricultural shows, such as the Deeping Show or the Heckington Show can still be found. Corby Glen sheep fair has been held every year since 1238.

Each year RAF Waddington is the home to the RAF Waddington Air Show. The two day event attracts around 40,000 people and usually takes place during the last weekend of June.


On the Monday before Easter, an unusual auction takes place in Bourne to let the grazing rights of the Whitebread Meadow. Bidding takes place while two boys race toward the Queen's Bridge in Eastgate, the end of which dash is equivalent to the falling of the gavel. The whole affair dates back to the 1742 will of William Clay.

The Haxey Hood village competition takes place every January, as it has for over 700 years.

Stamford Mid-Lent fair sees showmen converge on the town the week after Mothering Sunday, with rides and sideshows filling Broad Street, the Sheepmarket and the Meadows for a week. Stalls selling Grantham gingerbread and nougat are a traditional feature. The following week sees them in Grantham, on the way North for the Summer. Roger Tuby brings a small funfair to Bourne and then to Spalding in Spring and returns in Autumn at the end of the season.

The villages of Tetford and Salmonby hold an annual Scarecrow Festival in May every year.

The Belchford Downhill Challenge which is held every two years: soapbox racers race down the hill at up to 30 km/h. The turnout has been up to 1,000.

In recent years Lincoln Christmas Market, a street market throughout historic area of the city, has been held at the start of December. Around the same time Christmas lights are turned on in Bourne, Sleaford, Skegness, and other towns.

Throughout the summer the Stamford Shakespeare Company presents the Bard's plays in the open air theatre at Tolethorpe Hall, which is actually in Rutland.

The Spalding Flower Parade is held in late spring every year. Colourful floats decorated with tulip heads compete for a cup. The tradition was started in 1959, and draws coach tours from across Britain. There was talk of 2008 being the last parade, but a smaller event planned for 2009 may set the pattern for future years.

Sport

The main sports played in the county are football, cricket and rugby union. Lincolnshire does not have high sporting profile, mainly due to the lack of facilities. Probably the most well known sporting venue in Lincolnshire is Cadwell Park near Louth, where a round of the British Motorbike Championship is held on the last Monday of August every year.

• Three teams from Lincolnshire play in the Football League: Scunthorpe United play in The Championship whilst Lincoln City and Grimsby Town play in League Two. In non-league football the highest ranked team from Lincolnshire is Gainsborough Trinity who play in the Blue Square North Division.
• In cricket Lincolnshire are a minor county and play in the Minor Counties Championship.
• There is no major rugby union team from Lincolnshire; however the sport is played in many schools throughout the county.
• Lincolnshire is home to only one racecourse, at Market Rasen.
• Cadwell Park is the only motor racing course in Lincolnshire. There is a speedway track in Scunthorpe, home of the Scorpions, and stock-car racing at a stadium at Orby, near Skegness.

Symbols

The unofficial anthem of the county is the traditional folk song, 'The Lincolnshire Poacher', which dates from around 1776. A version of the song was the theme to BBC Radio Lincolnshire for many years.

According to a 2002 marketing campaign by the charity Plantlife, the county flower of Lincolnshire is the Common Dog-violet.

In August 2005, BBC Radio Lincolnshire and Lincolnshire Life magazine launched a vote for a flag to represent the county. Six competing designs were voted upon by locals. The winning submission was unveiled in October 2005 - see here. Lincoln has its own flag - St George's flag with a Fleur-de-Lys.

The Lincoln Imp has symbolised Cathedral, City, and county for many years. In 2006 it was replaced as the 'brand' of Lincolnshire County Council by the stylised version seen on the header here which has lost even the unique pose of the carving.

Press

The county is home to three daily newspapers. The Lincolnshire Echo is published from Lincoln and covers the majority of the county, reaching as far north as Louth.

The Grimsby Telegraph, as the name suggests, is published in the town and its circulation area ostensibly covers North East Lincolnshire, although it reaches as far south as Louth and Alford. Its sister title is the Scunthorpe Telegraph and covers North Lincolnshire. All three are ultimately owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust.

There are also a number of weekly papers serving individual towns published in the county by Johnston Press. One of these, the Stamford Mercury claims to be Britain's oldest newspaper, although it is now a typical local weekly and no longer covers stories from the whole East Midlands as the archived copies did.

Television

With the exception of a small area to the south-west of the county, Lincolnshire is served from the Belmont transmitter, receiving programmes from ITV1 Yorkshire and BBC One Yorkshire and Lincolnshire regions.

The BBC has, since 2003, provided the area with its twelfth regional service: BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, carrying a local "Look North" news programme from the main studio in Hull, with input from other studios in Lincoln and Grimsby.

ITV provides coverage through its evening news programme Calendar. Until late 2008 the station provided a separate edition for the Belmont transmitter (although it was still broadcast from Leeds). From January 2009 the area is now covered by a programme that covers the entire ITV Yorkshire region.

From 1959 to July 1974 ITV programmes were provided by Anglia Television (although some coverage could be received from the Manchester-based Granada and ABC Weekend). Based in Norwich the company had news offices in Grimsby . Following a transmitter change ITV services were provided by Yorkshire Television. This company kept open the offices in Grimsby and opened further facilities in Lincoln, although both of these closed in the mid-1990s.

South-West Lincolnshire receives BBC East Midlands and ITV Central which are broadcast from the Waltham on The Wolds Transmitting Station. Although subject to co-channel interference from the Waltham transmitter, a small number of households in the southern tip of the county are able to receive regional programming from BBC East and ITV Anglia.

Radio

The area is covered by several local radio stations including:

• BBC Radio Lincolnshire Can be heard throughout historic Lincolnshire although its broadcast remit is the present county of Lincolnshire
• BBC Radio Humberside The counties of northern Lincolnshire that were formerly known as South Humberside
• Boundary Sound Newark
• Compass FM Grimsby, Cleethorpes and Immingham
• Hereward FM Peterborough
• Lincs FM Historic Lincolnshire
• Priory FM Grantham
• Siren FM Lincoln
• Endeavour FM (formerly Stump Radio) Boston
• Endeavour Online Boston
• Tulip Radio Spalding and South Holland
• Viking FM Northern Lincolnshire and the East Yorkshire, formerly the constituent areas of Humberside

Places of interest

• Alford Manor House
• Alford Windmill
• Alkborough Turf Maze
• Ayscoughfee Hall
• Baldocks Mill
• Belmont Mast (tallest construction in the European Union)
• Belton House
• Bolingbroke Castle
• Boston Stump
• Bourne Abbey
• Boultham Park
• Branston Hall
• Burghley House
• Church Farm Museum, Skegness
• Crowland Abbey
• Cogglesford Mill
• Dambusters Inn and Heritage Centre
• Doddington Hall
• Donna Nook
• Dunston Pillar
• East Lighthouse, Sutton Bridge
• Ellis Mill (Windmill)
• Fantasy Island, Ingoldmells
• Gainsborough Old Hall
• Gainsthorpe Deserted Medieval Village
• Gibraltar Point
• Gordon Boswell Romany Museum
• Grantham Museum
• Grimsby Dock Tower
• Grimsthorpe Castle
• Gunby Hall
• Hartsholme Country Park
• Harlaxton Manor
• Heckington Windmill
• Kesteven Forest

• Lincoln Castle
• Lincoln Cathedral
• Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre
• Lincolnshire Wolds Railway
• Maud Foster Windmill, Skirbeck, Boston
• Metheringham Windmill
• Mount Pleasant Mill, Kirton in Lindsey
• Mrs Smith's Cottage, Navenby
• National Fishing Heritage Centre
• Natureland Seal Sanctuary
• Normanby Hall
• Pelham's Pillar
• Pinchbeck Engine and museum of Land Drainage
• Pleasure Island, Cleethorpes
• River Ancholme
• Snipe Dales
• St. James Church, Louth
• St. Peter's Church, Barton upon Humber
• Sibsey Trader Mill
• Stamford Meadows
• Stamford Museum
• Stow Minster
• Tattershall Castle
• Tattershall College
• The Collection
• The Humber Bridge
• The Lincolnshire Wolds
• The Museum of Lincolnshire Life
• The South Common, Lincoln
• The Wash
• The West Common, Lincoln
• Thornton Abbey
• Waltham Windmill
• Whisby Nature Park
• Woolsthorpe Manor

See also

• List of companies in Lincolnshire - Current and former companies
• List of monastic houses in Lincolnshire

References

1. http://www.iggi.gov.uk/towncent/2000/towncentres.txt
2. Sustrans Lincolnshire
3. Map of Lincolnshire IDBs [1]
4. "Lincolnshire Independents: Lincolnshire First!" is a new political party that was launched almost a year before the 2009 local government elections , achieving formal registration in December 2009
5. Pears Cyclopedia, 107th Edition,Penguin, London
6. Pears Cyclopedia, 107th Edition,Penguin, London
7. Lincolnshire Sayings and Traditions.
8. Equal Rites, Pratchett, 1987.
9. Civic Heraldry visited 22 December 2006
10. Image provided by the Margaret Thatcher Foundation
11. http://www.lincolnshireshowground.co.uk
12. http://www.deepingshow.co.uk/
13. http://www.heckingtonshow.org.uk/
14. http://www.corbyglen.com/sheepfair/gallery.html
15. http://www.raf.mod.uk/reds/
16. http://homepages.which.net/~rex/bourne/wbmeadow.htm
17. http://www.stamfordshakespeare.co.uk/
18. http://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/news/Not-the-end-of-Spalding.4433345.jp
19. http://lincscb.play-cricket.com/
20. Map of area served by the Waltham UHF analogue TV transmitter
21. Map of area served by the Belmont UHF TV transmitter
22. ITV 1968 - A Guide to Independent Television, Independent Television Authority, London, 1967, page 175
23. Map of area served by the Sandy Heath UHF analogue TV transmitter

External links

• Lincolnshire County Council website
• Visitlincolnshire.com
• Lincolnshire Pride magazine
• Lincolnshire Life magazine
• Lincolnshire Show official website
• Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire
• Lincolnshire Media
• gottheone.com, Lincolnshire's Online Directory
• SeeLincolnshire.co.uk See 360° Virtual Tours of Lincolnshire