Market Rasen is a town and
civil parish within the West Lindsey
district of Lincolnshire
, England
.
It lies on
the River Rase northeast of Lincoln
, east of Gainsborough
and southwest of Grimsby
. The
2001 census shows Market
Rasen has a population of 3,200 people.
Description
Market
Rasen is a small market town on the edge of the Lincolnshire
Wolds
. The town lies on the main road between
Lincoln and Grimsby, the
A46, and is also on National Cycle Route 1 (part of
EuroVelo 12) of the National Cycle Network.
The town centre has a homogeneous 19th century
red brick appearance of mainly
Georgian and
Victorian architecture, centred
around an active market place dominated by a
medieval church albeit much "restored" in the 19th
century.
The town
is known for its racecourse (Market Rasen
Racecourse
), as well as its rugby and golf clubs.
The River Rase flows through the town and can be crossed via
Jameson Bridge, Caistor Road Bridge and Crane Bridge. The town
apparently takes its name from the
Anglo-Saxon version of this name, meaning
"plank".
Market days are Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Additionally, on
each Tuesday there is an
auction of goods
and produce, and on the first Tuesday of every month there is a
farmers' market. Also every Friday,
the
WI holds a
"country
market".
Market
Rasen is twinned with the town of Mamers
, in the
Sarthe region of Pays de la Loire
, France
.
Market Rasen's community fire and police station (opened December,
2005) is one of the first purpose built combined fire and
police stations in the UK. The former police
station was built in 1849 and was the third oldest police station
still in operational use in the country.
History
Originally, "Rasen", as it is known locally, was called "East
Rasen" and also "Rasen Parva" or "Little Rasen". With the coming of
the railway in 1848 Little Rasen quickly outgrew its neighbours
West and
Middle
Rasen, and is now by far the largest of the three.
Education
The only
secondary school is De Aston
School
, a rural co-educational 11-18 comprehensive with approximately 1,190
pupils, both day pupils and boarders. It was founded in 1863
as a small
grammar school as part of
a legal settlement following a court case involving funds from the
medieval charity of Thomas de Aston, a 13th century monk. Until
recently, the school's foundation governors also owned the chapel
at the site of the charity's almshouses at Spital-on-the-Street, a
few miles away to the west.
Near to the centre of the town is Market Rasen Church of England
Primary School. Here the pupils enjoy a well organised,
wide-ranging and challenging curriculum. The school was built in
the 1930s and was a secondary school until 1974, when the primary
school moved to the site. As it was formerly a secondary school,
the classrooms are spacious and the outside play areas are
extensive. Each of the classes are named after popular British
birds, Wrens, Robins and Kestrels for example and the school logo
is the Wagtail. The school currently has 266 pupils ranging from
4-11 years old.
February 2008 earthquake
On
27 February,
2008, a significant earthquake occurred, centred on the
neighbouring parish of Middle Rasen, approximately north of Market
Rasen. The earthquake, which according to the British Geological
Survey measured 5.2 on the
Richter Scale, struck at 00:56 47.8s
at a depth of
Seismic Alert: Market Rasen,
British Geological Survey, 27
February, 2008
and was felt across much of the UK
from
Edinburgh
to Plymouth
and as far away as Bangor
in Northern Ireland
and Haarlem
in the
Netherlands
.The 10-second quake was the biggest recorded
example in the United
Kingdom
since the 1984 Lleyn
Peninsula earthquake
struck North Wales
, measuring 5.4M.
Notable inhabitants
See also
References
External links
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