Louth, Lincolnshire

Louth is at the foot of the Lincolnshire Wolds where they meet the Lincolnshire Marsh. It developed where the ancient trackway along the Wolds, known as the Barton Street, crossed the River Lud. The town is east of a gorge carved into the Wolds that forms the Hubbard's Hills. This area was formed from a glacial overspill channel in the last glacial period. The River Lud meanders through the gorge before entering the town.

To the direct south east of Louth is the village of Legbourne, to the north east is the village of Keddington, to the north west is the village of South Elkington, and to the south west is the village of Hallington. The towns of Wragby, Market Rasen, Horncastle, Mablethorpe, Grimsby and Alford are within close proximity to the town as well.

Louth Bypass

The Greenwich Meridian passes through the town and is marked on Eastgate with plaques on the north and south sides of the street, just east of the junction with Northgate, although this location is known to be incorrect as the line actually passes through a point just west of Eastgate's junction with Church Street. A three-mile (5 km) £6.6 million A16 Louth Bypass opened in 1991. The former route through the town is now designated as the B1520.

St James' Church Louth

Three handaxes have been found on the wolds surrounding Louth, dating from between 424,000 and 191,000 years ago, indicating inhabitation in Paleolithic era.[4] Bronze Age archeological finds include a 'barbed and tanged' arrowhead found in the grounds of Monks' Dyke Tennyson College.[5]

St Helen's Spring, at the Gatherums, off Aswell Street, is dedicated to a popular medieval saint, the mother of Constantine the Great, the first Roman Emperor to become a Christian,[6] but is thought to be a Christianised Romano-British site for veneration of the pagan water-goddess Alauna.[7]

The Anglo-Saxon pagan burial ground, northwest of Louth, dates from the fifth to sixth centuries, and was first excavated in 1946.[6] With an estimated 1200 urn burials it is one of the largest Anglo-Saxon cremation cemeteries in England.[8]

Æthelhard, a Bishop of Winchester who was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 793, was an abbot of Louth in his early life.[9]

Louth is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as a town of 124 households.[10]

Louth Park Abbey was founded in 1139 by the Bishop Alexander of Lincoln as a daughter-house of the Cistercian Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire.[11] Following its dissolution in 1536 it fell into ruin and, today, only earthworks survive, on private land, between Louth and Keddington.[12][13] Monks' Dyke, now a ditch, was originally dug to supply the abbey with water from the springs of Ashwell and St. Helen's at Louth.[14]

In 1643, Sir Charles Bolles, a resident of Louth, raised a 'hastily-got-up soldiery' for the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. Fighting took place in, and around the town and, at one point, Bolles was forced to take refuge under the Ramsgate bridge.[15] By the battle's end 'Three strangers, being souldgeres, was slain at a skirmish at Lowth, and was buryed'.[15] Human remains, found during archaeological visits to Louth Park Abbey during the 1800s, in 'a little space surrounded by a ditch', were believed to date from the Civil War as two cannonballs, from that era, were found with the bodies.[16]

A stone plaque on Bridge Street showing the flood water level.[17]

The Louth flood of 1920 occurred in the town on 29 May 1920, causing 23 deaths. One woman climbed a chimney to survive, another was the only survivor from a row of twelve terrace houses, which were destroyed by the flood waters.[18] Four stone plaques exist in the town to show how high the water level reached. Other, less devastating floods occurred in July 1968 and on 25 June and 20 July in 2007.

Margaret Wintringham succeeded her dead husband at the Louth by-election in September 1921, to become the Liberals' first female MP, and Britain's third female MP.[19]

The site of Louth station, goods yard and the former kilns. The last trains here were in 1980 before complete closure. The entire area is now a mix of housing, retail and industrial outlets. The station building can be seen in the distance with the chimneys.

Louth railway station was a major intermediate station on the East Lincolnshire Railway which ran from Boston to Grimsby from 1848 and was also once served by rail motor services. The station had an extensive good yards which served the malt kilns.

Louth was the northern terminus of the Mablethorpe Loop. The line which ran through the nearby villages and seaside towns of Mablethorpe, Sutton-on-Sea, Grimoldby, Saltfleetby, Theddlethorpe, Mumby and Willoughby. The station was the terminus on the Louth to Bardney Line which opened in 1876 but closed in 1951 to passengers and to freight traffic in 1960. Bardney was the connection of the branch line and the Lincolnshire Loop Line

The station closed to passengers in 1970 along with the Mablethorpe Loop Line and the section from Firsby to Louth of the East Lincolnshire Railway. The section to Grimsby remained in use for freight traffic until December 1980 when it closed and was later removed.

The station building and Louth North Signal Box remain in situ to this day as private dwellings. All of the station site has been built on by residential and commercial outlets.

There are plans to eventually have Louth as the southern terminus of the Lincolnshire Wolds Railway which would utilise the trackbed from Louth to Holton-Le-Clay, although it will be to the north of Louth due to the station building now being occupied and the station site around it built over. This would mean Louth would have a rail connection for the first time in almost 50 years, since the closure to passengers in 1970, but at a new station site.

A canal was built between 1765 and 1770 to connect Louth to the sea at Tetney. It was formally abandoned in 1924. A fuller account is at Louth Canal.

There are regular buses connecting Louth with the nearby Grimsby, Skegness, Mablethorpe and Lincoln. There is also a direct service once a month to York and National Express coaches call at Louth bus station. All services are operated by different companies but the main one is Stagecoach. However, unlike other towns. The town is not served by late-night services with the last bus departing the town at 7:00 pm.

The nearest active railway stations are now Grimsby and Skegness.

Lincolnshire Rising plaque in Louth

The town was the origin of the Lincolnshire Rising, which started on 1 October 1536 in St James Church. The rising began after Rev. Thomas Kendall, the incumbent, gave an 'emotive sermon',[27] the evening before the King's Commissioners were due to arrive and assess the church's wealth.[28] Some of the townspeople, fearful that the church treasury would be seized by the men of the Crown, demanded the building's keys.[27] The townspeople kept vigil that night, and, the following day, rang the church bells, 'an ancient call to rebellion', to gather a crowd.[28] Having begun marching from Louth, 50,000 supporters converged to camp at Hembleton Hill, the following evening, before they continued to Lincoln to confront the King's Commissioners.

The town's skyline is dominated by St James' Church, Louth, the spire.[29] A recent survey has confirmed the height of the stonework as 287 feet 6 inches (87.63 m) and to the top of the cockerel weather vane as 293 feet 1 inch (89.33 m). It also confirms it as one of the very finest medieval steeples in the country[30] Though shorter than both Norwich Cathedral 315 feet (96 m), and Salisbury Cathedral 404 feet (123 m), in terms of spire height it is the tallest medieval parish church in the United Kingdom. The building of the spire commenced in 1501 and was finally completed in 1515.

In 2015 came a remarkable discovery from the adjoining Rectory garden in the form of two pieces of a pre-Conquest standing stone Cross dating to c950. In form the Cross is of the 'ring' or 'wheel head' type, the central design being of Christ crucified. The type is more commonly seen today in Ireland. The Cross and its implications for the archaeology, history and the early church in Louth are discussed in a major article by Everson and Stocker The Cros in the Markitte Stede'. The Louth Cross, its Monastery and its Town. (Medieval Archaeology Journal, vol. 61/2, 2017).[31] The Louth Cross is on display within the church and a small booklet is available from the gift shop.

In 2017 funding was raised to fit a viewing door to the cell just below the spire floor that holds the original medieval treadwheel that was used to haul up the stone and mortar for the building of the spire (1501–1515). Substantial records exist in the churchwardens' accounts from 1501 onward for the construction and use of the wheel which was to become known as The Wild Mare. A small booklet about this rare survival is available from the church gift shop.

Much of the town centre is lined with brick buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Former ABM Pauls Malt Kiln

Louth Museum has a Panorama Gallery, which features two back-lit replicas of William Brown's Panorama of Louth viewed from the top of St James' spire in 1844. The two original paintings that together form the panorama hang side-by-side in the Louth Town Council building - the Sessions House - on Eastgate. The panorama gives a unique and vivid representation of the streets, businesses, homes and people of the town and the landscape as far as the North Sea to the east and northwards to the Humber Estuary and beyond.[32]

ABM Pauls used to have a large malt kiln, which was the first of its kind built in Europe to an American design out of reinforced concrete in 1949. The site had been the location of a maltings since 1870 which was destroyed by German bombs in 1940, and had to be built on the old site to qualify for war compensation.[33] At its height the maltings processed 50,000 tonnes of barley per year, with exports handled through the nearby port of Immingham. The maltings closed in 1998 and the 120 feet (37 m) tall structure was left derelict for many years. The German supermarket chain Aldi was granted permission to build a new store on the site, and it was demolished in 2014/15.[34]

Hubbard's Hills is one of the town's main attractions. It was opened to the public in 1907. The park is dedicated to the memory of Annie Pahud, the central figure of a historic, tragic love affair. The park is in a glacial overspill channel that forged the course for a small river, the Lud. It meanders along the deep, flat valley bottom between steep, wooded slopes on either side.

Aerial view of part of Louth

The Belmont television and radio mast, once one of the tallest structures in the European Union (until its height was reduced in 2010), is in the nearby village of Donington on Bain, 5 miles (8 km) west of the town.

Louth will be the eventual southern terminus of the Lincolnshire Wolds Railway, based at nearby Ludborough. The town was formerly on the East Lincolnshire Railway from Peterborough to Grimsby, an important north-south route especially for holidaymakers in the summer. It opened in 1848. The line to Mablethorpe started in the town from 1877, closing in 1960. The section to Wainfleet closed in 1961, with the Louth to Grimsby section later continuing for passengers until October 1970, with freight stopping in 1980. The former station[35] is now residential flats; there are other reminders[36] still standing.

Alfred Lord Tennyson was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School. A stone inscription to commemorate this forms part of a wall on Schoolhouse Lane in Louth.

Shops on New Street

Louth is noted for the wide selection of independent retailers, with around 70% of businesses independently owned.[37] In 2012, it was named 'Britain's Favourite market town' by the BBC's Countryfile.[38]

The town's long retail history is represented by a number of longstanding businesses, including the department store Eve and Ranshaw, whose history can be traced back to 1781,[39] Dales & Sons, poulterers since 1896,[40] and the century-old butchers, Lakings of Louth.[40]

The first building society branch office was opened by the Peterborough Building Society (now Norwich & Peterborough) in 1973. The town was also the headquarters of the former Louth, Mablethorpe and Sutton Building Society, a local society with several branches and agents in Lincolnshire, which was taken over by the Bradford & Bingley in 1990.[41]

Louth is also known for its specialist grocers,[40] and local butchers, Meridian Meats, have won numerous awards.[42] It is also home to The Cheese Shop, which has gained nationwide recognition, including in The Daily Telegraph,[43] The Guardian,[44] and on The Hairy Bikers' Food Tour of Britain.[45]

Street market in Louth

Louth holds market days on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. There is a farmers' market on the fourth Wednesday of each month. A cattle market is held each Thursday at the Louth Livestock Centre on Newmarket.

There is a small Morrisons, formerly a Somerfield store,[46] which opened in 1985, and a Co-operative supermarket, which opened in 1989. The Co-op was given approval for an additional smaller store in 2013.[47]

In 2008, a local pressure group, Keep Louth Special, was formed by residents, shoppers and business owners, to lobby against a proposal for a major supermarket on the former cattle market site.[48] The group was criticised by a town councillor, the following year, as 'outsiders' who wanted to live in a 'museum town',[49] but a 2012 council report, while recommending a 'large retail development' as ‘necessary’, acknowledged that 'a majority 50 per cent' of surveyed residents opposed it.[50] An initial 2009 planning application by Sainsbury's for a new 30,000 square feet (2,800 m²) store,[51] was rejected by the Council, after appeal, in 2012.[52] Keep Louth Special described a 2013 proposal for an Aldi store as 'not bad news' because it was intended for an 'eyesore' site,[53] and as Aldi stocks 'own brands and a limited fresh-food offering', it would not be 'going head-to-head' with the town market or independent retailers.[54]

Old Market Hall, Louth

Many national food campaigning organisations are based on Eastgate under the umbrella organisation the Processed Vegetable Growers Association,[55] notably:

• The Asparagus Growers Association[56]
• The Brassica Growers Association[57]
• The British Herb Trade Association[58]
• The British Onion Producers Association[59]
• The Leek Growers Association[60]
• The Radish Growers Association
• The Turfgrass Association[61]

Playhouse Cinema, Louth.

The town's Playhouse Cinema is on Cannon Street, and is home to Louth Film Club, which won the British Federation of Film Societies' Film Society of the Year Award in 2008.[62] Louth Playgoers Society's Riverhead Theatre[63] is on Victoria Road, to the east of the town.

Louth is home to The New Orleans Club,[64] a not-for-profit members' club dedicated to keeping alive the music of jazz.[65] There are several other local bands, apart from jazz, in and around the town.

Corinne Drewery of Swing Out Sister, grew up in the area and Robert Wyatt is a resident.[66]

Transition Town Louth[67] is a community project, which organizes various events in and around the town aimed at promoting awareness of climate change and unsustainable resources. Part of a large social movement, many Transition Towns are now developing. A sub-group, the Community Food Gardens[68] are encouraging a shift towards sustainable communities.

Louth's twin town is La Ferté-Bernard, close to Le Mans in Pays de la Loire, France.

Inhabitants of Louth are known as Ludensians, taken from the Latin name of the town (Lude, Luda).

The Following have received the Freedom of Louth.

• The College of Air Warfare Manby: 21 October 1965.[80]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Louth, Lincolnshire.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Louth.

• Official website
• Louth Town Partnership
• Louth Leader
• Louth Museum
• Transition Town Louth
• St. James' Church
• Hubbard's Hills
• Louth Town Council
• Louth Navigation Trust