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Sleaford is a market town and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. On the edge of the The Fens, it is north-east of Grantham, west of Boston, and south of Lincoln. It is the largest settlement in North Kesteven with a population of 19,807 in 2021. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington to the south-west, Holdingham to the north-west and Old Sleaford to the east. The town is bypassed by the A17 and the A15 roads. Sleaford railway station is on the Poacher Line and Peterborough to Lincoln lines.
The first settlement formed in the Iron Age where a prehistoric track crossed the River Slea. It was likely home to a mint for the Corieltauvi in the 1st centuries BC and AD. Evidence of Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon settlement has been found. Medieval records differentiate between Old and New Sleaford, the latter emerging by the 12th century around the present-day market place and St Denys' Church; Sleaford Castle was also built at that time for the Bishops of Lincoln, who owned the manor. Granted the right to hold a market in the mid-12th century, New Sleaford developed into a market town and became locally important in the wool trade, while Old Sleaford (based near the site of the prehistoric settlement) declined.
From the 16th century, the landowning Carre family kept tight control over the town – it grew little in the early modern period. The manor passed by marriage to the Hervey family (Earls and later Marquesses of Bristol) in 1688. The town's were enclosed by 1794, giving ownership mostly to the Herveys. This coincided with canalisation of the Slea, which brought economic growth until it was superseded by the railways in the mid-1850s. These new transport links supported the development of light industries and expanded the town's role in the trade in agricultural goods. Long a centre for justice and administration in north Kesteven, Sleaford became an urban district in 1894 and was home to Kesteven County Council's offices from 1925 to 1974. After a period of stagnation, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries the sale of farmland around Sleaford led to the development of large housing estates, causing the population to rapidly expand and the urban area to engulf Quarrington and Holdingham.
Though its traditional market has declined in the 21st century (and its cattle and corn markets shut in the 20th century) and much of its heavier manufacturing has departed, Sleaford's economy has diversified. The town remains an important administrative, service and commercial centre for the surrounding district. It houses supermarkets, shops and a large business park with offices and light manufacturing; the headquarters of North Kesteven District Council; three secondary schools (two of which are selective); four primary schools; three newspapers; police, fire and ambulance stations; several places of worship; many sports clubs; a leisure centre; and several medical and dental practices and care homes. Regeneration has transformed some earlier industrial areas, including through the construction of The Hub. The town is one of the largest employment centres in the district; the commonest employers in 2021 were the public sector, retail and, to a much lesser degree, manufacturing.
To the north-west of the centre, housing developments along Northgate (which becomes Lincoln Road north of the railway line), mostly built in the 20th and early 21st centuries, have brought the hamlet of Holdingham into Sleaford's urban area, which extends as far north as the A17 and A15 junction at Holdingham Roundabout..The names of locations can be found at "Sleaford". Bing Maps. Retrieved 19 June 2024. To the town's north-east, the built-up area has expanded along Eastgate, where 19th-century housing closer to the town centre gives way to modern ; the River Slea forms the southern boundary of these developments and, closer to the town, Lollycocks Field sits between one of the business parks, Eastgate and the Slea.. South of the river, the town's urban area extends eastwards along Boston Road, which runs from Southgate to the A17 at Kirkby la Thorpe. Except for Boston Road Park, the road is straddled by housing west of the railway; developments near the centre are mostly 18th- and 19th-century, while those around Old Place, at the Hoplands and south of Boston Road are mostly planned 20th- or 21st-century residential estates..
The Victorian train station can be found near the southernmost end of Southgate; Station Road includes some converted 19th-century warehouses. Mareham Lane heads south out of the town, past the vast disused Bass Maltings complex.. Also forking off from Southgate are Grantham Road and London Road, which fan out in a south-west direction. They link Sleaford with Quarrington village, which has a historic core that has been merged into the town's urban area by modern housing developments. The earliest suburban housing at the base of Southgate appeared in the 19th century and was known as New Quarrington.. Ribbon development along London and Grantham roads is mostly early-20th-century; much larger planned developments took place in the late 20th and 21st centuries at Quarrington Hill, Southfields and between the two roads. To the town centre's west is Westgate, medieval in origin but heavily developed with dense terraced housing in the 19th century;.. to its north is Westholme House, parkland which houses a school; south of Westgate is West Banks and its adjoining streets, between the River Slea and the Nine-Foot Drain, an area heavily built up in the 19th century.. South of Westbanks are the remains of Sleaford Castle.
Outside of the town's urban area, but included in the civil parish boundaries is Greylees, a settlement built in the early 21st century on the site of the former Rauceby Hospital..
The town centre lies about above sea level and has formed around the River Slea, which runs west to north-east through it. A band of Jurassic Cornbrash limestone forms the bedrock under Holdingham (where the ground rises to above sea level in places), parts of central Sleaford, and most of the housing at Quarrington (where elevations exceed over at Quarrington Hill) and southern Greylees. The bedrock on the eastern parts of the town comprises Jurassic Kellaways sandstone and siltstone. To the west, the Slea follows a shallow valley underlain by Jurassic Blisworth clay and limestone and, at its lowest elevations at Quarrington Fen and Boiling Wells Farm, earlier Jurassic Rutland Clay mineral rocks and Upper Lincolnshire limestone. Greylees and the northern fringe of the Quarrington Hill estate sit on the southern edge of this valley, on the Blisworth clays and limestone. Alluvium deposits are found along the Slea's course, and sand and gravel of the Sleaford series are found to the east and south. Most of the soil is free-draining, lime-rich and loamy, though some of the eastern parts are on loamy soils with naturally high groundwater.
Two Local Nature Reserves sit within the civil parish boundaries: Lollycocks Field, providing mostly wildflower and wetlands habitats alongside Eastgate, and Mareham Pastures, consisting of wildflower meadows, new woodland, hedges and open grassland. There is also Sleaford Wood in the north of the town and Sleaford Moor to the north-east, near the A17 and A153's Bone Mill Junction.
During the Roman Britain (AD 43–409), the settlement was "extensive and of considerable importance".. It may have been an economic and administrative centre for stewards and owners of fenland estates.. There are signs of a road connecting Old Sleaford to Heckington, where Roman tile kilns have been uncovered and may imply the presence of a market.. When the first roads were built by the Romans, Sleaford was bypassed as "less conveniently located" and more "geared to native needs".. A smaller road, Mareham Lane, which the Romans renewed, ran through Old Sleaford, and south along the fen edge towards Bourne. Where it passed through Old Sleaford, excavations have shown a large Roman domestic residence, associated farm buildings and field systems, and several burials. Other Roman remains, including a burial, have been excavated.
The earliest documentary reference to Sleaford occurs in a 9th-century charter,. when it was owned by Medehamstede Abbey in Peterborough, a royal foundation.. There is little evidence of estate structure until the late Saxon period, but there may have been a market and court before the Norman Conquest, and it may have been an economic and jurisdictional centre for surrounding settlements.. The Slea played a big part in the town's economy: it never ran dry or froze, and by the 11th century it supported a dozen . The mills and others in nearby Quarrington and the lost hamlet of Millsthorpe formed the "most important mill cluster in Lincolnshire".; Quarrington means "settlement of millers".
In the later Middle Ages, the Romano-British settlement became known as Old Sleaford, while New Sleaford was a settlement centred on St Denys' Church and the market place.. The Domesday Book of 1086 has two entries under Eslaforde (Sleaford) recording land held by Ramsey Abbey and the Bishop of Lincoln. The location of these manors is unclear. One theory endorsed by Maurice Beresford is that they focused on the settlement at Old Sleaford, due to evidence that New Sleaford was planted in the 12th century by the bishop to increase his income, a development associated with the construction of Sleaford Castle (1123–39). Beresford's theory has been criticised by the historians Christine Mahany and David Roffe who have reinterpreted the Domesday material and argued that in 1086 the Bishop's manor included the church and associated settlement which became "New" Sleaford...
A charter to hold a fair on the feast day of St Denis was granted by King Stephen to Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1136–1140. Between 1154 and 1165, Henry II granted the bishop of Lincoln the right to hold a market at Sleaford and Edward III confirmed this in 1329. The town later had at least two comparable to those found in developed towns.. However, there was no formal charter outlining the town's freedoms;. tight control by the bishops meant the economy was mainly geared to serve them. It thus retained a strong tradition of demesne farming well into the 14th century... A survey of burgage tenure from 1258 survives,; the survey was examined in . analysis of which indicates that demesne farming centred on the hamlet of Holdingham.. As the economic initiative passed more to burgesses and middlemen who formed ties with nearby towns such as Boston, evidence suggests that Sleaford developed a locally important role in the wool trade... In the Subsidy roll of 1334, New Sleaford was the wealthiest settlement in the Flaxwell wapentake, with a value of £16 0s. 81/4d. Meanwhile, Old Sleaford, an "insignificant" place since the end of the Roman period, declined and may have been deserted by the 16th century..
Industry was slow to take hold. By the second half of the 18th century, Cogglesford Mill was the only working corn mill in the town. An old mill at the junction of Westgate and Castle Causeway supplied hemp to the rope-making business of the Foster and Hill families. As the local historian Simon Pawley wrote, "In many respects, things had changed little by since the survey of 1692," with few of the buildings or infrastructure being improved. (quote at p. 51). Major changes to agriculture and industry took place in the last decade of that century. Sleaford's three medieval open fields (North, West and Sleaford Fields) were Enclosure in 1794, with over 90 per cent of the of the open land being granted to Lord Bristol..
New Sleaford's population more than doubled from 1,596 in 1801 to 3,539 in 1851. Coinciding with this is the construction or extension of public buildings, often by the local contractors Charles Kirk and Thomas Parry.; The gasworks opened in 1839 to provide lighting in the town.. Sleaford's Poor Law Union was formed in 1836 to cater for the town and the surrounding 54 parishes. A workhouse was built by 1838, able to house 181 inmates. Despite these advances, the slums around Westgate were crowded, lacking in sanitation and ridden by disease; Northgate, as the entry point from the north along the Turnpike trust, had also attracted notoriety for its taverns, lodging houses and brothels in the early 19th century: it was the "plague spot of the town"... The local administration failed to deal with these issues, prompting a heavily critical report by the General Board of Health, which set up a Local Board of Health in 1850 to undertake public works..The report is: . By the 1880s, Lord Bristol had allowed the Board to pump clean water into the town, though engineering problems and his reluctance to sell land to house a pumping station had delayed the introduction of sewers.. In the meantime, despite Anglicanism dominating official institutions, non-conformist chapels were flourishing in the poorest parts of the town, at Westgate from the early 19th century and at Northgate after 1848, where they sought to provide spiritual care and education. Temperance was so prominent in the town that an aerated water factory, Lee and Green, opened in c. 1883 and became one of Sleaford's most important manufacturers..
Sleaford's population remained static between the wars, but the Great Depression in the 1930s caused unemployment to rise. The Council housing put up along Drove Lane proved insufficient for the low-income families after the Westgate slums were cleared in the 1930s; Jubilee Grove opened in that decade to meet the demand.. In the post-war period, there were housing developments at St Giles Avenue, the Hoplands, Russell Crescent, Jubilee Grove and Grantham Road., figure 8 (overleaf from page 5). Parts of the town were redeveloped: in 1958, the Bristol Arms Arcade opened, the Corn Exchange was demolished in the 1960s and the Riverside Shopping Precinct opened in 1973, as did Flaxwell House, designed to house a department store, though later becoming the national headquarters for Interflora.. Old industries departed; Ward and Dale closed down in 1939 and Lee and Green around the 1940s; Bass shut the maltings in 1959, and Hubbard and Phillips's pea-sorting factory closed in 1972. New Industrial park and business parks were built off East Road in the late 20th century..
By 1979, the major landowner, Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol, was heavily in debt and sold most of his estates in Sleaford and Quarrington. The estate office closed in 1989.. Much of the land went to property developers and subsequent decades brought new housing and a considerable rise in population. According to a council report, people were attracted to the town by "the quality of life, low crime rates, relatively low house prices and good-quality education".. From 1981 to 2011, Sleaford's population more than doubled; the growth rate in 1991–2001 was the fastest of any town in the county.. The infrastructure struggled to cope, especially with increased traffic congestion. Two bypasses opened and a one-way system was introduced. Between 1995 and 2001, the Single Regeneration Budget granted over £10 million to Sleaford to deliver 13 major regeneration programmes collectively known as "Sleaford Pride", including improvements to the town centre, the conversion of the old Navigation stables, and the development of The Hub arts centre (opened 2002) on the site of a former Hubbard and Phillips seed warehouse.
In 2011, the district council found that Sleaford's retail and service offer had not kept pace with its growing population, leading many shoppers to travel elsewhere to buy high-value goods, use services or engage in leisure activities: 85p in every pound spent on higher-value were spent outside of the town.. In 2015, another report estimated that 23% of shopping spend in Sleaford's catchment area was spent in the town (accounting for £62m spending);. although the town had 210 shops and a higher ratio of shops to residents than many other urban areas in the region, these were dominated by outlets selling Comparison goods and services.. The ratio of "multiple" brand shops compared to independent shops was 20% lower in Sleaford compared with regional benchmarks, which was thought to be a factor driving consumer spending out of the town; Lincoln was believed to be the key beneficiary of this outflow.. To address this, the district council proposed creating a new "retail anchor" at the disused Bass Maltings,. improving parking, removing parts of the one-way system, and regenerating Southgate and Money's Yard..For a summary of proposals, see . Though the maltings project stalled after an investor withdrew in 2015, the Riverside Centre was refurbished in 2017 and town centre regeneration continues as of 2024.
In the early 2020s, Sleaford includes one of the district council's three "strategic employment locations", Sleaford Enterprise Park, which is adjacent to other business parks at Woodbridge Road and East Road. In 2023, the district council opened the first units of an extension, Sleaford Moor Enterprise Park. Combined, in 2024 these estates housed at least 95 businesses, according to Google Maps; these included: 11 wholesalers, builders' merchants or plumbers' merchants; 11 vehicle repair shops or MOT centres; 11 furniture and furnishings shops; 7 manufacturers, including Sleaford Quality Foods (a food producer) and the ingredients' maker, J. L. Priestley and Co; five vehicle dealerships; four plant and equipment suppliers; four tyre shops; two gyms; a dance studio; and a bus company, Sleafordian Coaches.
Slower rates were recorded for the urban district between then and the 1931 census, though the pace picked up again in the 1930s; by the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 there were 7,835 residents. Sleaford's population grew very slowly in the post-war years, reaching 7,975 by 1971,. largely due to the fact that Lord Bristol remained owner of the vast majority of the undeveloped land around the town. However, as the 6th Marquess sold the land from the 1960s onwards and speculative housing blossomed around Sleaford, the civil parish's population expanded rapidly;. the population growth rate between 1991 and 2001 was the fastest of any town in Lincolnshire.. Between 1981 and 2011, the population more than doubled, reaching 17,671;For the population in 1981, see ; for the population in 2011, see this had risen by a further 12% to 19,815 by the 2021 census.Query the dataset PP002 – Sex via Nomis: Official Labour Market Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2 June 2024. This accounts for 17% of North Kesteven's population, making Sleaford the most populous civil parish in the district.
The 2021 census also lacks parish-level data on religion. In 2011, 72% of Sleaford's population said they were Religion and 23% said they Irreligion (England: 68% and 25% respectively). Compared to England's population, Christians were a much higher proportion of Sleaford's population (70%), and all other groups were present at a lower proportion than the national rates; Muslims were the largest religious minority, accounting for 0.4% of the town's residents compared with 5% nationally; all other groups were present in very low numbers.
| Male | 48.4% | 49.2% |
| Female | 51.6% | 50.8% |
| Married | 50.3% | 46.6% |
| Single | 28.9% | 34.6% |
| Divorced | 10.5% | 9.0% |
| Widowed | 7.1% | 6.9% |
| One-person households | 29.2% | 30.2% |
| One-family households | 65.4% | 61.8% |
| Mean age | 40.0 | 39.3 |
| Median age | 41.0 | 39.0 |
| Population under 20 | 24.3% | 24.0% |
| Population over 60 | 23.2% | 22.0% |
| Residents in good or very good health | 82.1% | 81.4% |
| Owner-occupiers | 68.5% | 63.3% |
| Private renters | 15.8% | 16.8% |
| Social renters | 13.8% | 17.7% |
| Living in a detached house | 39.2% | 22.3% |
The 2011 census found the mean age was 40 and the median 41, compared with 39 and 39 for England. 24% of the population was under 20 (England: 24%), and 23% of Sleaford's population was aged over 60 (England: 22%). 82% of the population were in good or very good health (England: 81%).
In 2011, Sleaford had a higher proportion of Owner-occupancy (69%) than in England (63%), a similar proportion of people who privately rent (16%; England: 17%) and a smaller proportion of Council house (14%; England: 18%). The proportion of households in detached houses was higher than average (39%; England: 22%), while the proportion in Terraced house houses (19%; England: 25%) and purpose-built flats (9%; England: 17%) was lower.
| Economically active | 63.1% | 60.9% |
| Employed | 60.6% | 57.4% |
| Economically active but unemployed | 2.5% | 3.5% |
| Economically inactive | 36.9% | 39.1% |
| Agriculture, energy and water | 2.9% | 2.3% |
| Manufacturing | 10.0% | 7.3% |
| Construction | 8.4% | 8.7% |
| Retail, hotels and restaurants | 21.0% | 19.9% |
| Transport and communication | 6.0% | 9.7% |
| Financial, real estate, professional and administration | 10.6% | 17.4% |
| Public administration, education and health | 37.2% | 30.3% |
| Other | 4.0% | 4.6% |
| Managers and directors | 11.1% | 12.9% |
| Professionals; associate professionals | 30.4% | 33.6% |
| Administrative and secretarial occupations | 9.8% | 9.3% |
| Skilled trades | 10.6% | 10.2% |
| Caring, leisure and other service roles | 10.3% | 9.3% |
| Sales and customer service roles | 7.6% | 7.5% |
| Process, plant and machine operatives | 8.8% | 6.9% |
| Elementary occupations | 11.4% | 10.5% |
The Indices of Multiple Deprivation (2019) show that North Kesteven contained the lowest level of deprivation of any district in Lincolnshire.. The indices divided the Sleaford parish into 10 statistical areas (). Of these, five placed in the least-deprived 30% of LSOAs nationally (one in the least-deprived 10% nationally); these were concentrated in Quarrington and the Holdingham ward. However, the eastern part of Holdingham ward and the central parts of the Westholme and Castle wards are among the most-deprived 40% of areas nationally. "Indices of Deprivation: 2019 and 2015" (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, 25 September 2019). Retrieved 4 June 2024.
The railways arrived in the 19th century. Early proposals to bring a line to Sleaford failed, but in 1852 plans were made to build the Boston, Sleaford and Midland Counties Railway and its Act of Parliament passed in 1853. The line from Grantham opened in 1857; Boston was connected in 1859, Bourne in 1871 and Ruskington on the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway in 1882. The line to Bourne was closed in 1965.. As of 2024, Sleaford is a stop on the Peterborough to Lincoln Line and the Poacher Line, from Grantham to Skegness. Grantham, roughly by road and two stops on the Poacher Line, is a major stop on the East Coast Main Line. Trains from Grantham to London King's Cross take approximately 1 hour 15 minutes..
Plans to canalise the River Slea were drawn up in 1773, Archived at the Internet Archive on . but faced opposition from landowners who feared it might affect fenland drainage. Plans were approved in 1791 with the support of the 5th Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven who owned estates and quarries that he hoped would benefit. An Act of Parliament passed in 1792, establishing the Sleaford Navigation, which opened two years later. After falling revenues due to competition from the railways, the navigation company closed in 1878. The river, although no longer navigable, passes under Carre Street and Southgate. The Nine Foot Drain, also unnavigable, meets the Slea just before Southgate.
Sleaford Poor Law Union, overseen by a Board of Guardians, was founded in 1836 covering Old and New Sleaford and surrounding parishes.. The parish of New Sleaford, excluding the hamlet of Holdingham, was made a local board district (LBD) in 1850, governed by an elected local board of health (LBH). Holdingham was made its own civil parish in 1866. The Public Health Act 1872 established urban sanitary districts (USD) to cover the areas in LBDs and made the LBH the urban sanitary authority. Public Health Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 79), ss. 3–4. Retrieved 9 June 2024. The New Sleaford USD was enlarged in 1877 to include Holdingham, Old Sleaford and Quarrington.
The Local Government Act 1894 converted the USD into New Sleaford Urban District, overseen by an urban district council (UDC). Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), s. 21. Retrieved 9 June 2024 – via Legislation.gov.uk. In 1900, it was renamed Sleaford Urban District. During a reorganisation of local government, Sleaford Urban District was abolished on 1 April 1974, being absorbed into the new district of North Kesteven..Urban districts were abolished with effect from 1 April 1974: Local Government Act 1972 (1972, c. 70), s. 1(10). Retrieved 9 June 2024 – via Legislation.gov.uk. A successor parish called Sleaford was created on 6 July 1973 covering the area of the urban district, which had the effect of abolishing the four parishes of Holdingham, New Sleaford, Old Sleaford and Quarrington. The Local Government (Successor Parishes) Order 1973 (1973, no. 1110). Retrieved 21 November 2023 – via Legislation.gov.uk. The new parish council declared its parish to be a town at its first meeting on 14 November 1973, allowing it to take the style "town council" and letting the chair of the council take the title of mayor. Local Government Act 1972 (1972, c. 70), s. 245. Retrieved 21 November 2023 – via Legislation.gov.uk.
Following cholera outbreaks in the 1850s and 1870s, the Sleaford Water Act 1879 set up the Sleaford Water Company to provide clean water; Sleaford Water Act 1879 (42 & 43 Vict., c. xxxiii). Retrieved 5 February 2025 – via the Legislation.gov.uk. it built a reservoir at Quarrington Hill, mains piping, and pumping machinery and waterworks, all opened in 1880. In 1948, the urban district council took over the company; in 1962 its operation was handed to the Kesteven Water Board, which was absorbed by the Anglian Water Authority in 1973.. The Anglian Water Authority Constitution Order 1973 (1973, no. 1359). Retrieved 10 June 2024 – via Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 January 2025. Until the 1880s, Sleaford's raw sewage was conveyed through "an antiquated system of drains, open cesspits and inadequate sewers";. the town's effluent was discharged into the Slea, which was also the source of drinking water. The local board of health purchased land for a sewage farm on the eastern fringe of the parish in the early 1880s and converted Cogglesford Mill into a pump to convey wastewater to the farm.. This system was in place from 1884. Initially let to tenants, the urban district council took over management of the farm in 1903. In 1954, a treatment plant was built on East Road; expanded in the 1970s, it was upgraded in 1994.
Kesteven County Council built an electricity generating station on Castle Causeway in 1901, which remained beyond nationalisation in 1948; by the 1970s it had been extended to include a transformer and converted to a substation..The order was the Sleaford Electric Lighting Order 1900 enacted by the Electric Lighting Orders Confirmation (No. 4) Act 1900 (63 & 64 Vict. c. xlviii) – via Great Britain: Local and Personal Acts: 26th Parliament: Seventh Session, vol. 2 (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1900). Following nationalisation, the East Midlands Electricity Board provided electricity until privatisation in 1990. A "virtually carbon neutral" straw-burning power-station opened in 2013; most electricity generated is fed into the National Grid though it provides free heat to Sleaford's public buildings.
Sleaford's post office was based at Lindum House (23 Northgate) from 1897 to 1933, when it moved to Southgate.. As of 2024, Sleaford Post Office still operates in Southgate. There is also Woodside Post Office on Lincoln Road. The town's telephone exchange was also based at Lindum House from 1897 to 1967, when an automated exchange opened on Westgate. Sleaford Library has occupied its present building on the Market Place since 1987, having previously been based in the former fire station at Watergate since 1956.. As of 2024, the library includes a local and family history section and microfiche machine.
The United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust provides services at four hospitals: Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Grantham and District Hospital, Lincoln County Hospital and the County Hospital Louth. As of 2024, Sleaford has two GP surgeries: Sleaford Medical Group and Millview Medical Centre. The town also has three dental surgeries and four pharmacies. Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Trust runs Ash Villa at Greylees for the NHS Mental Health Service. There are also two care homes: Oakdene and Glenholme Holdingham Grange.. Search for Sleaford and filter by "nursing homes". Between 1902 and 1997, a mental institute, Rauceby Hospital, operated west of Quarrington, initially run by the county council and from 1948 the NHS; its patient enrolment peaked at 590 in 1958. The town had an NHS clinic at Laundon House, which opened as a maternity hospital in the 1930s, was taken over by the NHS in the 1940s and converted to a clinic in the post-war decades, before closing in 2016.
The town has three secondary schools, each with Sixth form: the two grammar schools (Carre's Grammar School and Kesteven and Sleaford High School) are Selective school: pupils are required to pass the eleven plus exam.. The other school, St George's Academy, is not selective.. Carre's is a boys' school (with a coeducational sixth form) founded in 1604 with 806 pupils on roll as of 2024;. it converted to an academy in 2011 and was judged to be "good" by Ofsted in 2023. It is run by the Robert Carre Trust. Kesteven and Sleaford High School is a girls' school (with a coeducational sixth form) founded in 1902.. It became an academy in 2011 and was judged to be "good" by Ofsted in 2017. It was taken over by the Robert Carre Trust in 2015. As of 2024, it has 763 pupils on roll. St George's Academy is a mixed-sex comprehensive school. It traces its origins to 1908 when Sleaford Council School opened; it became a secondary modern school after the Second World War, a comprehensive in 1992, a technology college in 1994 and an academy in 2010. As of 2024, it operates a satellite school at Ruskington; and has 2,319 pupils across both sites. Ofsted judged it "good" in 2015. The coeducational Sleaford Joint Sixth Form consortium allows pupils from each school to choose subjects taught at all three schools..
As of 2024, Sleaford has one independent special school: Holton Sleaford Independent School, which opened in 2021. It caters for pupils with "social, emotional, and mental health difficulties". At its latest Ofsted inspection in 2022 it was rated "good"..
In the Middle Ages, Old Sleaford had its own church, originally dedicated to All Saints and later to Saint Giles. It disappeared at the end of the medieval period. It was in the possession of Ramsey Abbey at the time of Domesday and later Haverholme Priory, and was eventually served by a vicar. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536–41), the king took over collection of the , later leasing them to Thomas Horseman and then selling them to Robert Carre. In the 17th century, the rectory of Quarrington and the vicarage of Old Sleaford were combined to form the ecclesiastical parish of Quarrington with Old Sleaford.. As of 2024, the parish is served by St Botolph's Church in Quarrington village.. It is in the deanery of Lafford and archdeaconry of Lincoln. In 1932 a church hall was built on Grantham Road and used as a community centre as of 2009..
The prebendary of New Sleaford or Lafford had a seat in the Lincoln Cathedral; it is not known when it was established, but it was confirmed by the Pope in 1146 and 1163,. and was in the patronage of the bishop. The Prebendal Court of Sleaford had jurisdiction over New and Old Sleaford and Holdingham to grant administration and probate.;.
By 1879 a Catholic Church missionary was conducting services in the town. A Catholic school and chapel were built in 1882 on Jermyn Street and in 1889, Our Lady of Good Counsel Roman Catholic Church, opened beside it.; . As of 2023, the Catholic parish sits in the Fenland Deanery of the Diocese of Nottingham.. As of 2024, Mass is celebrated on Sundays and throughout the week with a Vigil mass on Saturday.
A congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses was founded in Sleaford in 1955; they built a Kingdom Hall on Castle Causeway in 1972, which was rebuilt in 1999. As of 2024, the congregation meet on Wednesdays and Sundays. Sleaford New Life Church began meeting in the 1960s; in 2002, they purchased a site at Mareham Lane and built a new church there; as of 2024, the congregation meet there for worship on Sundays. The church also runs a food bank. Sleaford Spiritualist Church was founded in 1932 and opened its church building on Westgate in 1956. As of 2024, a divine service is held there on Sundays.
Sleaford hosted an annual carnival in the 20th century; it was last held in 1995 before being revived in 2013; it ran for three years before the planned 2016 carnival was cancelled. The RiverLight Festival, offering activities, open days and exhibitions, has taken place annually since 2022. As of 2024, Sleaford Live Week is organised annually to showcase local musicians and artists.
Sleaford Museum Trust was formed in the 1970s to preserve historical artefacts from the town's history; it opened a museum on Southgate in 2015. Sleaford and District Civic Trust was founded in 1972 to "preserve the best features" of the town. Sleaford Rotary Club received its charter in 1956; it runs charity and community events. Founded in 1999, Sleaford and District Town Twinning Association has maintained links with Marquette-lez-Lille since 1999 and Fredersdorf-Vogelsdorf since 2009.
Sleaford Leisure Centre originated as an outdoor lido in 1886; a children's pool was added in 1960 but closed in 1981, and the older pool was converted into the modern indoor leisure centre in 1984.. In 2013 North Kesteven District Council rebuilt the centre and its gym. Owned and managed by Sleaford Town Council, Sleaford Recreation Ground on Boston Road (opened in 1897) spans 13.8 acres. Other smaller open spaces and playgrounds are managed by the town council.
Cogglesford Mill is a testament to the historic economic importance of the Slea.. During the Industrial Revolution, the Sleaford Navigation Company constructed offices along Carre Street (their reputed location is now grade-II-Listed building),. while the Gothic gasworks on Eastgate lit the town from 1839. Henry Handley, a local MP, is commemorated by the Handley Memorial on Southgate, a Gothic monument in the style of an Eleanor Cross. During the 1850s, the railway station was built in a Gothic style. Sleaford's agricultural location and transport links encouraged seed trading and malting in the late 19th century; the seed merchant Charles Sharpe's listed house, The Pines, is on Boston Road. The Bass maltings, built off Mareham Lane between 1892 and 1905, has a frontage over 1,000 feet long..
The religious controversialist Henry Pickworth was born in New Sleaford and challenged the opponent of Quakerism Francis Bugg to an open debate there. John Austin, a religious writer, was educated at the grammar school. William Scoffin was the town's Presbyterian minister and preached there for more than forty years, while Benjamin Fawcett, a Presbyterian minister, was born and educated at Sleaford.
In science, Richard Banister, the optician, practised for 14 years in Sleaford. Henry Andrews, astronomer and astrologer, worked in Sleaford in his youth. The botanist David H. N. Spence was born in Sleaford;. and the sociologist Sheila Allen attended Kesteven and Sleaford High School.
The royalist poet Thomas Shipman was educated at Carre's Grammar School, as was the novelist Henry Jackson.. Joseph Smedley, the actor and comedian, built the theatre in 1824, before settling in the town in 1842. The children's author Morris Gleitzman, the actress and comedian Jennifer Saunders, the singer Lois Wilkinson of the Caravelles, (2025). 9780199726363, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199726363 Bernie Taupin (Elton John's lyricist), (2025). 9780199726363, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199726363 and Eric Thompson, who narrated The Magic Roundabout television series, were all born in Sleaford. The professional footballer Mark Wallington grew up in the town.
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