Holbeach

Holbeach
Mosaic in Holbeach
Holbeach  Holbeach shown within Lincolnshire
Population	9,448
OS grid reference	TF358248
District	South Holland
Shire county	Lincolnshire
Region	East Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SPALDING
Postcode district	PE12
Dialling code	01406 42****
Police	Lincolnshire
Fire	Lincolnshire
Ambulance	East Midlands
EU Parliament	East Midlands
UK Parliament	South Holland and The Deepings
List of places: UK • England • Lincolnshire

Holbeach is a fenland market town with 6,457 residents in the South Holland district of southern Lincolnshire, England. The town lies 8 miles (13 km) from Spalding; 17 miles (27 km) from Boston; 20 miles (32 km) from King's Lynn; 23 miles (37 km) from Peterborough; and a 43 miles (69 km) by road from the county town of Lincoln. It is on the junction of the A151 and A17. The main High Street is the B1515.

The Prime Meridian of the world passes through the west of Holbeach.

History

A number of Roman and Romano-British pottery finds have been made in and about the town.^{[citation needed]}

The town's market charter was awarded in 1252 to Thomas de Moulton, a local baron. All Saints' Church was built in the 14th century and incorporated parts of de Moulton's ruined castle^{[citation needed]}. The associated All Saints' Hospital, for a warden and fifteen poor persons, was founded by Sir John of Kirton, in 1351. It had ceased to exist before the suppression of chantries and hospitals. The antiquarian William Stukeley reported that his father removed the ruins from the site now occupied by the Chequers Inn.

Until the beginning of the 19th century, the sea came to within 2 miles (3.2 km) of the town and there were severe floods recorded in the 13th and 16th centuries. The land drainage programmes of the 18th and 19th centuries moved the coastline of the Wash to 9 miles (14 km) away, leaving Holbeach surrounded by more than 23,000 acres (93 km²) of reclaimed fertile agricultural land.^{[citation needed]}

The Spalding and Norwich Railway, (later incorporated in the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway), opened Holbeach railway station in 1862. Like the rest of the M&GN route it closed to passengers in 1959 (before the Beeching Axe) and the line closed entirely in 1965.

The 19th century also saw the building of several small churches, including a Weslyan and a Baptist chapel.^{[citation needed]}

The World War Two defences constructed at nearby Lawyers Creek comprise a number of pillboxes including the rare Ruck machine gun post.

Multiple Holbeaches

Signpost in Holbeach

The name "Holbeach" also applies to the entire parish of Holbeach. This is one of the largest parishes by area in England and extends from Cambridgeshire to the Wash, measuring 16 miles (26 km) north to south and about 3 to 4 miles (6.4 km) east to west. The total population of this area is almost 24,000 with around 5,000 in Holbeach town.

Along with the town of Holbeach proper, the name is found in several villages in the Lincolnshire Fens:

• Holbeach Bank
• Holbeach Clough
• Holbeach Drove
• Holbeach Fen
• Holbeach Hurn
• Holbeach St Johns
• Holbeach St Marks
• Holbeach St Matthew

This repetition of a name for a collection of close-lying villages is common in the Fens (cf. Gedney, Tydd, Walpole etc.)

Holbeach itself has the most inhabitants and services compared to the villages surrounding it which also incorporate its name.

Facilities

Education

Primary schools

There are two primary schools in Holbeach - Holbeach Primary School and William Stukeley Church of England Primary School.

Secondary school

The local secondary school was the George Farmer Technology & Language College on Park Road but in September 2011 it became the University Academy Holbeach.[1]

University

Holbeach is home to a campus of the University of Lincoln, redeveloped in 2004 on the Park Road site of the former Holbeach Agricultural Centre and now known as Holbeach Technology Park. The campus is dedicated to the study of food manufacturing technology.^{[citation needed]}

Pubs

Local pubs are the Black Bull on Fleet Street, the Chequers Hotel on High Street, the Horse & Groom on High Street, the Mansion House on High Street, the Crown Hotel on West Street and the String of Horses on Boston Road South (currently up for sale). However recently the Station Inn, the Red Lion and the exchange have closed.

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force maintains a bombing range, known officially as RAF Holbeach, on salt marshland at the coast of Holbeach parish, near the village of Gedney Drove End.^{[citation needed]} The RAF station is situated approximately 11 miles (18 km) north west of Holbeach town centre.

Sport

The local football club is Holbeach United, founded in 1929. They play in the United Counties League of the English football league system and are known as "the Tigers", in reference to the "Fen Tigers", 18th century locals who adopted guerrilla tactics in an attempt to stop the destruction of their way of life through the draining of the Fens.^{[citation needed]}

Speedway racing took place at nearby Bell End. Details of the events are sketchy and some reports suggest the venue had grass surfaced straights and dirt surfaced bends. The venue is known to have operated in the immediate post-war era.^{[citation needed]}

Local economy

Much of the economy has been based on food processing and bulb growing. The United Kingdom's largest bulb supplier (Taylor's Bulbs) is situated to the north of the town and flour milling continues to this day at Barrington Mill (owned by Smith's Flour Mills).^{[citation needed]}

The drainage of land around Holbeach is now the responsibility of the South Holland Internal Drainage Board, Part of the Water Management Alliance, formerly known as the King’s Lynn Consortium of Internal Drainage Boards.

Radio

The town is served by the local South Holland radio station Tulip Radio from nearby Spalding.^{[citation needed]}

Notable people

• Norman Angell, Nobel Peace Prize winner, 1933
• Boz Burrell, bass guitarist, King Crimson and Bad Company
• Geoff Capes, shotputter and former World's Strongest Man
• Cyril Lowe MC, DFC, rugby union international, First World War flying ace, and supposedly the inspiration for W. E. Johns' character "Biggles"
• Walter Plowright, veterinary scientist who devoted his career to the eradication of the cattle plague rinderpest
• Christine Russell (née Carr), Labour MP for Chester
• Stuart Storey, BBC sports commentator
• William Stukeley (1687–1765), antiquarian who pioneered the archaeological investigation of Stonehenge and Avebury, was born in the town
• Tommy Clay, sports writer, coach and administrator, founder of Holbeach Athletics Club, awarded the BEM for services to sport. (His picture appears, top right, in the Holbeach Mosaic).

General references

• Foot, William (2006). Beaches, fields, streets, and hills ... the anti-invasion landscapes of England, 1940. Council for British Archaeology. ISBN 1-902771-53-2. 

External links

• Holbeach Today
• Visit Lincolnshire
• Lincolnshire Life
• Holbeach Town Band
• University Academy Holbeach
• University Campus