Lincolnshire

This article is about the English administrative county. For the Illinois village, see Lincolnshire, Illinois; for the Kentucky city, see Lincolnshire, Kentucky.

Lincolnshire
Geography
Status:	Ceremonial & (smaller) Administrative County
Region:	East Midlands
Area: - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area	Ranked 2nd 6,959 km² Ranked 4th 5,921 km²
Admin HQ:	Lincoln
ISO 3166-2:	GB-LIN
ONS code:	32
NUTS 3:	UKF30
Demographics
Population: - Total (2002 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop.	Ranked 19th 969,569 139 / km² Ranked 15th 657,843
Ethnicity:	98.5% White
Politics
Lincolnshire County Council http://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/
Executive:	Conservative
Members of Parliament
Ian Cawsey, Quentin Davies, John Hayes, Douglas Hogg, Edward Leigh, Shona McIsaac, Gillian Merron, Austin Mitchell, Elliot Morley, Mark Simmonds, Peter Tapsell
Districts
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 city of Lincoln.

Geography

Mainly agricultural, Lincolnshire stretches from the southern border with Norfolk at the Wash to the Humber in the north where it borders Yorkshire. It is a county of contrasts, going from flat, marshy land (much of it reclaimed from the sea) via the rolling Lincolnshire Wolds in the middle of the county to another flat low-lying area near the major fishing port of Grimsby.

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

Residents of Lincolnshire are nicknamed 'Yeller Bellies' (a play on the pronunciation of 'Yellow Bellies' by the typical Lincolnshire farmer). The origins of this phrase remains unclear. However, a number of theories exist:

• The uniforms of the old Lincolnshire Regiment were green with yellow facings. The fastenings of the uniform tunic, which were known as frogs, were also yellow.
• Opium extracted from poppy heads and taken to relieve malaria that was prevalent in the fens in earlier centuries turned the skin a shade of yellow.
• Sheep grazing in mustard fields were dusted by pollen from the blossom that turned their undersides yellow. Alternatively, the long under wool of sheep grazing in the Lincolnshire Wolds became discoloured by the yellow clay.
• Women traders on street markets in past times are reputed to have worn a leather apron with two pockets, one for copper and silver and one for gold. At the end of a good day they would say they had "a yellow belly" meaning they had taken a large number of gold sovereigns.
• The expression is based on the old belief that if a person born in Lincolnshire placed a shilling on their abdomen on retiring to bed and slept flat on their back all night, then the next morning the shilling would have turned into a gold sovereign.
• The stage coaches that operated in Lincolnshire in times past had yellow body work.
• The term originated from Elloe, the name of the rural deanery that serves the fen area of the Lincoln Diocese. This in turn took its name from the Saxon Wapentake which was referred to as Ye Elloe Bellie - Elloe meaning out of the morass while bel was the Celtic word for hole or hollow.

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.

Towns and villages

There appears to be a developing trend to resurrect old place names in Lincolnshire, or even create new ones, making the list list of villages in Lincolnshire difficult to keep 100% up to date. Recent 'inventions' include Skendleby Psalter, Thorpe Park and Witham St Hughs. None of these three existed in 2000 AD.

Witham St Hughs, for example, is the name of a newly sprung up housing development, on the site of the old World War Two RAF base at Swinderby, which technically is in Thurlby parish. Thorpe Park is the name of another ex RAF site, on the outskirts of Woodhall Spa, and Skendleby Psalter has appeared near Ulceby Cross, near Louth.

For a full list of Lincolnshire Villages see the main Lincolnshire villages index page

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.

Speed Cameras

Lincolnshire has over 50 static GATSO speed Cameras

• Speed Camera locations

Places of interest

• Alford Manor House
• Alford Windmill
• Alkborough Turf Maze
• Ayscoughfee Hall
• Belton House
• Bolingbroke Castle
• Boston Stump
• Branston Hall
• Cogglesford Watermill
• Crowland Abbey
• Doddington Hall
• East Lighthouse, Sutton Bridge - former home of Sir Peter Scott
• Gainsthorpe
• Grimsthorpe Castle
• Harlaxton Manor
• Heckington Windmill
• Lincoln Castle
• Lincoln Cathedral
• Normanby Hall
• Gibraltar Point
• River Ancholme
• Tattershall Castle
• The Wash

There are 56 Golf Courses in Lincolnshire

References

• Lincolnshire Yellowbellies