Horncastle

Although fortified, Horncastle was not on any important Roman roads, which suggests that the River Bain was the principal route of access to it.

Roman Horncastle has become known recently as Banovallum (i. e. Wall on the River Bain). Although the name has been adopted by some local businesses and the town's secondary modern school, it is not firmly known to be Horncastle's Roman name.[2] Banovallum was merely suggested in the 19th century through an interpretation of the Ravenna Cosmography, a 7th-century list of Roman towns and road-stations,[3] and may equally have been Caistor.

The Roman walls remain in places. One section of them is on display in the town's library, which was built over the top of the wall.[2] The Saxons called the town Hyrnecastre, from which its modern name derives.

Horncastle Town Hall

Horncastle is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as consisting of 41 households, including 29 villagers and twelve smallholders, and had 100 acres (0 km²) of meadow and two mills, all belonging to King William.[4]

Dating from the 13th century, prior to 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 between 1859 and 1861 by Ewan Christian.[5]

Four miles from Horncastle is the village of Winceby. During the 1643 Battle of Winceby, which helped to secure Lincolnshire for Parliament, its leader, Oliver Cromwell, was almost killed.[6] Local legend has it that the 13 scythe blades which hang on the wall of the south chapel of St Mary's Church were used as weapons at Winceby, but this assertion is generally regarded as apocryphal. The accepted historical opinion is that they probably date from the Lincolnshire Rising of 1536.[7] Both theories about the origin of the scythes are discussed in the "Church History" Lincoln website.[8]

Horncastle was once known as a centre for cockfighting and bull-baiting.[9] A pub there still bears the name The Fighting Cocks. Bull-baiting was practised in the area of town known as the Bull Ring. One historian has estimated that the practise continued until about 1810.[10] Both these sports were banned in England and Wales under the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1835.[11]

Horncastle Market Place with Stanhope Memorial

Horncastle was granted its market charter by the Crown in the 13th century. It was long known for its great August horse fair, an internationally famous annual trading event which continued to be held until the mid-20th century. It ended after the Second World War, when horses were generally no longer used for agriculture. The town is now known as a centre for the antiques trade.[12][13]

The great annual horse fair was probably first held in the 13th century. The fair used to last for a week or more every August. In the 19th century it was likely the largest event of its kind in the United Kingdom. The slogan, "Horncastle for horses", was an indication of the town's standing in this trade. George Borrow set some scenes of his semi-autobiographical books Lavengro and The Romany Rye at the annual horse fair. The last horse fair was held in 1948.[14] Livestock markets continued to be held in Horncastle for pigs and cattle, and the last cattle market was held in the year 2000.[15]

In 1894 the Stanhope Memorial, designed by E. Lingen Barker, was erected in the centre of the Market Place in memory of Edward Stanhope MP. Built of limestone, red sandstone and pink and grey streaked marble, it is a Grade II listed structure.[16]

The Grade II listed Old Court House in the town centre 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).[17]

Horncastle Primary School is situated at Bowl Alley Lane.[22]

Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School[23] was founded in 1571, and is among the top schools in Lincolnshire;[24] it has at times been one of 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.

The Banovallum School[25] is a non-selective community school serving Horncastle and surrounding villages; it forms a science specialist school jointly with Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School. The most recent Ofsted inspection, in 2019, judged the school to be overall Grade 2 (good).[26] It had a building added with facilities for cookery, woodwork, metalwork, art and music in 2010

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.[27][28]

Horncastle College was a "lifelong-learning" adult education college that runs short and residential courses in I.T., art, languages and local history.[29] It has now been replaced by Fortuna Horncastle Business Centre.[30]

Bridge Street

Horncastle sits at the crossroads of two of Lincolnshire's major 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.

The A158 through Horncastle becomes busy in the summer holidays with Skegness holidaymakers. 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.[31]

The Great Northern Railway's Lincoln–Boston line ran through Kirkstead, 8 miles (12.9 km) 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.[32] Horncastle railway station was demolished in the 1980s and replaced by housing. The nearest railway station now is Metheringham (15 miles, 24 km) on the Peterborough to Lincoln Line.[33] Part of the old railway is followed by the Viking Way footpath.[31]

South Basin of the Horncastle Canal, Horncastle

Horncastle Canal, based on the River Bain, was begun in 1792 and opened in 1802.[34]
In 2004 it was suggested that the Horncastle Canal (originally opened in 1802) be renovated with the help of private capital and promoted as a route for pleasure craft, as has been done successfully in other areas.[35] A local kick-start programme raised money for the project.[36]

Horncastle Town FC, founded in 1873, is an amateur football club based at The Wong.[37] It joined the Lincolnshire Football League in the 1996/1997 season.[38]

The town has a cricket club at Coronation Walk, with two men's and five youth teams.[39]

Horncastle Hockey Club is a voluntary field-hockey body set up in November 1970 at Coronation Walk, Horncastle.[40] In 2020 it had two men's and two women's teams and a junior section.

Horncastle and District Tennis Club has offered tennis for over 70 years. Initially on grass courts in Stanhope Road, the club moved to the current Coronation Walk location in the 1970s.[41]

Horncastle Community Members Squash Club in Hemmingby Lane was founded in November 2006 to preserve an existing club by buying out owners who had run it for 25 years and wished to retire.[42]