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Horncastle is a market town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, England. It is east of Lincoln. Its population was 6,815 at the 2011 census and estimated at 7,123 in 2019. City Population. Retrieved 7 January 2021. A section of the ancient Roman Britain walls remains.
Roman Horncastle has become known recently as Banovallum (i. e. Wall on the River Bain). Although this Roman name has been adopted by some local businesses and the town's secondary modern school, it is not firmly known to be original. Banovallum was merely suggested in the 19th century through an interpretation of the Ravenna Cosmography
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The place-name ‘Horncastle’ is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as ‘Hornecastre’. It appears as ‘Hornecastra’ in the Pipe Rolls of 1130. The name means “the Roman fort in the tongue of land” between the River Bain and River Waring.’The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names’, p.250.
The Roman walls remain in places. One section is on display in the town's library, which was built over the top of the wall. The Anglo-Saxons called the town Hyrnecastre, from which its modern name derives.
The annual horse fair was probably first held in the 13th century. It would last for a week or more every August. In the 19th century it was probably the largest such event in the United Kingdom. The slogan, "Horncastle for horses", was a sign of the town's standing in this trade. The fair was George Borrow's setting for some scenes in his semi-autobiographical books Lavengro and Romany Rye. The last was held in 1948. Livestock markets continued for pigs and cattle, the last cattle market being held in 2000. Lincolnshire Life - Join the Celebrations. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
In 1894 the Stanhope Memorial, designed by E. Lingen Barker, List of work, etc. Retrieved 24 June 2021. was raised in the centre of the Market Place in memory of Edward Stanhope MP. It is a Grade II listed structure made of limestone, red sandstone and pink and grey streaked marble.
The Joseph Banks Centre commemorates the botanist who sailed with James Cook on HMS Endeavour. Banks, who lived at nearby Revesby Abbey, contributed to botanical science, with around 80 plant species bearing his name, and helped establish Kew Gardens as a leading institution.
North of Horncastle are the villages of West Ashby and Low Toynton, and to their south Milestone House and Mareham on the Hill on the eastern outskirts. The Viking Way meets the River Waring, then north of the A158 the village of High Toynton. The A153 skirts the southern edge of the River Bain to reach Roughton and Thornton. The border follows the Old River Bain west of the A153 and north over the river meadows, crossing the Horncastle Canal and Viking Way. Eastwards it crosses the B1191 to the village of Langton and northwards to Thimbleby. It meets the B1190, then the A158 at the B1190 junction, following Accommodation Road to the east and skirting the north of the town along Elmhurst Road, past Elmhurst Lakes, to reach West Ashby at the River Bain near Hemingby Lane.
The Banovallum School is a non-selective community school serving Horncastle and surrounding villages; it forms a Science College jointly with Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School. The most recent Ofsted inspection in 2019 judged the school to be overall Grade 2 (good). "The Banovallum School, Horncastle", Ofsted report 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2012 It had a building added in 2010, with facilities for cookery, woodwork, metalwork, art and music.
St Lawrence School is a special-needs school with a county-wide intake. It comprises the Lincolnshire Wolds Federation with St Bernard's School, Louth.
The A158 through Horncastle becomes busy in the summer vacation with Skegness Tourism. To alleviate traffic pressure in the town centre a relief road, Jubilee Way, was built in the 1970s. Minor roads run from Horncastle to Bardney, Boston (via Revesby), Fulletby and Woodhall Spa.
Horncastle is a hub for the InterConnect rural bus service. Regular services run to Lincoln, Skegness and across the Wolds. The Viking Way long-distance footpath passes through the town.
Local radio stations are BBC Radio Lincolnshire on 94.9 FM, Greatest Hits Radio Lincolnshire on 102.2 FM, Hits Radio Lincolnshire, which broadcasts on DAB and County Linx Radio that broadcast online.
The Horncastle News is the town’s weekly local newspaper.
The town's cricket club at Coronation Walk has two men's and five youth teams.
Horncastle Community Members Squash Club in Hemmingby Lane was founded in November 2006 to preserve an existing club by buying out retiring owners who had run it for 25 years.
Folk belief associates the occurrence of floods with installations of new in Horncastle's Anglican Church. The vicar changed in 1919 and 1959, both less than a year before a flood. The flooding of the early 1980s was attributed to the change of vicar in 1980, but there was no flooding after the change of vicar in 1999. The River Bain and River Waring overflowed during the 2007 United Kingdom floods. Mentions both the rainfall record and the folklore link of floods with installations of Vicars.
Flooding recurred in 2012. A £15 million, 30-year-old proposed flood-defence scheme was seen as unlikely to have prevented the 2012 flood, but new flood defences are being discussed. An anti-flood pump was installed in 2013.
On 7 October 1960 Horncastle entered the UK Weather Records with a "highest 180-minute total" rainfall of 178 mm. Highest 180-minute total 178 mm 7 October 1960 Horncastle (Lincolnshire) Water levels are said to have risen as a consequence.
Real-time river levels are available from the Environment Agency:
Flood warnings for the town:
Domesday Book
Horncastle is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book with 41 households, including 29 villagers and twelve smallholders, and had of meadow and two mills, all belonging to King William.
Church
Dating from the 13th century, well before the Reformation, the Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin. It is a Grade II* listed building in the Early English style, but was extensively restored 1859–1861 by Ewan Christian.
English Civil War
Four miles out is the village of Winceby, where in 1643 the Battle of Winceby helped to gain Lincolnshire for Parliament, although its leader, Oliver Cromwell, was almost killed. Local legend has it that the 13 scythe blades hanging on the wall of the south chapel of St Mary's Church were used as at Winceby, but this is mainly seen as . The historical opinion is that they probably date from the Lincolnshire Rising of 1536. Both theories on the scythes appear in the "Church History" Lincoln website.
Blood sports
Horncastle was once a centre for cockfighting and bull-baiting. BBC Lincolnshire – Lincolnshire Day. Retrieved 24 April 2019. The Fighting Cocks remains the name of a local pub. Bull-baiting was practised in the area known as the Bull Ring. One historian finds that the practise continued until about 1810. Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood. Retrieved 24 April 2019. Both these sports were banned in England and Wales under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1835. – Cruelty to Animals Act. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
Market and horse fair
Horncastle gained a Crown market charter in the 13th century. It was long known for its great August horse fair, a famous trading event that continued until the mid-20th century. It ended after the Second World War, when horses had largely ceased to be used on farms. The town remains a centre of the trade.
Notable buildings
The Grade II listed Old Court House in Louth Road was built in 1865. There are 116 other listed edifices in the town, including the three places of worship – St Mary's (Grade II*), Holy Trinity (Grade II) and the Congregational Church (Grade II) – and several sections of the Roman walls (Grade I). British Listed Buildings. The former Stanhope Hall was built as a drill hall and completed in around 1903.
Population
Historically, the civil parish lost population from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries, as urbanisation and agricultural changes drew people to cities, where more work was available. However, the population since the late 20th century it has risen, to 6,815 in 2011, its highest so far. The estimated population in 2019 was still higher at 7,123. City Population. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
Geography
Horncastle lies 7 miles from Woodhall Spa, 18 miles from Boston, 21 miles from Lincoln and 13 miles from Louth. It is near the main A158 road between Lincoln to Skegness, to the south of the Lincolnshire Wolds, where the north–south River Bain meets the River Waring from the east, and north of the West and Wildmore The Fens. The south of Horncastle is called Cagthorpe. Langton Hill to the west was part of Horncastle Rural District in the Parts of Lindsey, but is now in the district of East Lindsey, based in Manby.
Demographics
At the 2021 census, Horncastle's built up area had a population of 7,291. Of the findings, the ethnicity and religious composition of the ward was:
The religious composition of the ward at the 2021 Census was recorded as:
Horncastle: Ethnicity: 2021 Census White 7,142 97.8% Asian or Asian British 74 1% Mixed 65 0.9% Black or Black British 10 0.2% Other Ethnic Group 10 0.2% Arab 1 0.1% Total 7,291 100% Horncastle: Religion: 2021 Census Christian 3,741 55.1% Irreligious 2,957 43.5% Other religion 40 0.6% Muslim 35 0.5% Buddhist 8 0.2% Hindu 6 0.2% Sikh 4 0.1% Jewish 1 0.1% Total 7,291 100%
Economy
Lincolnshire Integrated Voluntary Emergency Service is based at the Boston Road Industrial Estate. The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust is based in Banovallum House. Mortons of Horncastle is a major national magazine publisher of classic motorcycles, aviation and road transport heritage titles, based in the industrial estate off the A153 (Boston Road).
Governance
An electoral ward of the same name exists. It includes Thimbleby and had a total population at the 2011 Census of 7,073.
Politics
Horncastle has always been a safe area for the Conservative Party, except for two years in the early 1920s, when it had Liberal Party representation. It had an eponymous parliamentary constituency for 98 years, from 1885 to 1983. It then became Gainsborough and Horncastle, and after 1997 Louth and Horncastle. Henry Haslam served as MP in the Second World War and the five years of the Churchill wartime government. The veteran politician Sir Peter Tapsell was MP for the town in 1966–1983 and 1997–2015, being Father of the House of Commons from 2010 to 2015. After a redistribution of parliamentary constituencies, Edward Leigh was MP from 1983–1997. In 2024 Victoria Atkins was re-elected as the Conservative MP for Louth and Horncastle.
Education
Primary schooling
Horncastle Primary School stands in Bowl Alley Lane.
Secondary schooling
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School was founded in 1571, and is among the top schools in Lincolnshire, "The Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Horncastle", BBC News having been at times among the top schools in the country. Its tennis, hockey, netball and cricket teams compete regionally, and the tennis team was a regional winner in the 2005 British Schools Tennis Championships. Queen Elizabeth's is a specialist Science College and Language College. Its Design and Technology department recently entered two teams in the National 4X4 for Schools engineering competition, one of which came first nationally in its age group, while the other came second nationally overall.
Colleges
Horncastle College was a "lifelong-learning" adult education college that ran short and residential courses in I.T., art, and local history. It has been replaced by Fortuna Horncastle Business Centre.
Transport
Roads
Horncastle sits at the crossroads of two major Lincolnshire roads: the east–west A158, joining the county town of Lincoln with the resort of Skegness on the Lincolnshire coast, and the north–south A153 joining Louth with Sleaford and Grantham in the south. These meet at the Bull Ring in central Horncastle.
(1997). 9781872375250, Lincolnshire Books. ISBN 9781872375250
Railway
The Great Northern Railway's Lincoln–Boston line ran through Kirkstead, from Horncastle, and a branch line from Kirkstead (later Woodhall Junction) through Woodhall Spa to Horncastle opened on 11 August 1855. The last passenger service ran in 1954, with complete closure to goods traffic in 1971. Horncastle railway station was demolished in the 1980s and replaced by housing. The nearest railway station now is Metheringham () on the Peterborough to Lincoln Line. Part of the old railway is followed by the Viking Way footpath.
Waterways
Horncastle Canal, based on the River Bain, was begun in 1792 and opened in 1802.
In 2004 it was suggested that the canal be renovated with the help of private capital and promoted as a route for pleasure craft, as has been done successfully in other areas. A local kick-start programme raised money for the project.
Media
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and ITV Yorkshire. Television signals are received from the Belmont TV transmitter. BBC East Midlands and ITV Central can also be received from the Waltham TV transmitter.
Sport
Field games
Horncastle Town FC, founded in 1873, is an amateur club based at The Wong. It joined the Lincolnshire Football League in the 1996/1997 season.
Court games
Horncastle and District Tennis Club has served for over 70 years. Initially on grass courts in Stanhope Road, the club moved to the current Coronation Walk location in the 1970s.
Floods
The town has been susceptible to flooding, notably in 1920 and 1960, and with three floods between 1981 and 1984.
Twin town
Horncastle is twinned with Bonnétable, a ville de marché (market town) in the French department of Sarthe, with a population of about 4,000. The towns' relationship is commemorated by a Rue Horncastle in Bonnétable and a Bonnetable Road in Horncastle (without the acute accent).
Tourism
Walking Tours
Horncastle offers several self-guided walking routes that highlight the town's Roman origins and Georgian architecture. The "Horncastle Town Trail" guides visitors through narrow alleyways and past former coaching inns, with blue plaques marking significant historical sites including the Roman wall fragments and the 19th-century grammar school.
Outdoor Activities
The River Bain, England's shortest river, provides opportunities for kayaking and wild swimming at designated access points north of the town. Horncastle serves as the southern gateway to Viking Way long-distance footpath, with the first section leading walkers through the gentle hills and ancient woodlands that inspired Tennyson's early nature poetry. Nearby Snipe Dales Nature Reserve, just 5 km southwest of the town center, offers rare wet valley habitats supporting over 60 bird species, including the increasingly uncommon willow tit and yellowhammer.
Notable people
Anderson, Robert Charles (1995). 088082042X 088082042X was an early English settler in New England and the first European settler of modern-day Boston and Rhode Island.
External links
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