Sleaford
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Template:GBdot Sleaford is a town in Kesteven, Lincolnshire, England. It takes its name from the River Slea, a tributary of the River Witham. Until recently it was primarily an agricultural town, and supported a cattle market and seed companies. It is now also developing tourism & crafts. The town's population is around 15,000. It is north-east of Grantham and north-west of Boston. Sleaford lies 115 miles north of London, and the city of Lincoln is eighteen miles to the north.
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Buildings
The most prominent church in Sleaford is St. Deny's Church - the church abuts the market place, where a large weekly market & farmer's market is held. The church has one of the oldest stone spires in England, and mostly dates from 1180 - but parts of the church were rebuilt after an electrical storm in the 1700s. The altar rail is by Sir Christopher Wren; the church is also known for its stained glass, traceried windows and interior carved heads.
Nearby landmarks include the Handley Monument, the Bass Maltings and the Picturedrome (once a cinema, but recently adapted to a pool hall, then a night club). Cogglesford Water Mill (open April to September), on the banks of the Slea, dates from the 17th century.
Since 2000 the town has undergone significant expansion & improvement; with the building of numerous new private housing estates on the periphery, and refurbishment of town-centre buildings with a £15-million SRB 'Sleaford Pride' grant.
In 2005, a £55-million project was announced by Prince Charles and The Phoenix Trust, to restore The Bass Maltings complex on the southern side of the town. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner considered the huge brewing malthouses to be Lincolshire's most important industrial architecture.
In April 2005, the Channel 4 magazine Location, Location, Location named Sleaford as one of the Top 10 'house price hotspots' in England, forecasting a strong surge above Spring 2005 prices before the end of 2005.
Attractions
In October 2003 the largest public-funded crafts & design gallery outside London, 'The Hub', opened in Sleaford. The development cost £2.4-million, offers 2000 sq.ft. of display space, and occupies a former seed warehouse. It incorporates 'The Pearoom', previously in nearby Heckington village. Entrance to The Hub is free. There is also a new riverside walk with sculptures, alongside the Hub.
There is a large street market in Sleaford's main square. Market days are on Friday, Saturday & Monday. In 2003 Daily Telegraph readers voted Sleaford the 7th best market town in England. Maypole dancing happens in the market square on the first May bank holiday Monday.
Around three miles from Sleaford is the famous Cranwell Aviation Heritage Centre, part of the Royal Air Force College for RAF officers and the home of the Red Arrows.
Woodhall Spa Golf Course (http://www.woodhallspagolf.com/) is nearby.
Schools
The primary schools in Sleaford are The Quarrington School and William Alvey. Secondary Schools for older pupils are Carre's Grammar School (for boys only), the Kesteven and Sleaford High School (for girls only), and St. George's (for either sex secondary). These three schools feed a unique joint sixth-form consortium.
Travel
The three-platform railway station provides a junction served by local trains using the Peterborough-Doncaster Joint Line, and the busier Nottingham-Skegness line.
Grantham - and its express East Coast Main Line rail link to London - is twenty minutes away from Sleaford by road, or around twenty-five minutes by rail. Travel by train to London Kings Cross from Sleaford usually takes just under two hours (including connections).
The town is situated south of the intersection of the A17 and A15 roads at the Holdingham roundabout. The town was bypassed by the busy A17 in the late 1970s, and by the less busy A15 in the early 1990s.
There are plans to make the River Slea navigable again by boats.
History
Old Sleaford was probably a tribal centre of the Coritani. There may have been a pre-Roman coin mint here.
A Roman road, Mareham Lane, used to run through Sleaford, from Tattershall to Ancaster.
In 1858, just to the south of the town, a large Anglo-Roman cemetery was found, showing a mix of pagan and Christian burial practices.
Under the Anglian Saxons, Sleaford was part of the Flaxwell Wapentake.
William the Conqueror gave the manor of 'Eslaforde' to Remigius, the first Bishop of Lincoln around 1086.
About 1130, Bishop Alexander built a castle just southwest of the town. The footings and moat can still be seen, in what is now the Castle Fields. It was demolished in the Elizabethan era.
The common lands were enclosed in 1777.
The Sleaford Navigations were made in the late 1800s.
From 1829 to 1831 the street pattern of the entire town was reworked, a new Town Hall built, and better drainage laid.
The railways arrived from 1858. Sleaford was eventually the junction of six major roads and five railway branch-lines, making it a regional centre.
People
- Bernie Taupin, Elton John's songwriter was born just outside Sleaford at Anwick.
- Actress Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous) was born in Sleaford.
- The actor Eric Thompson , famous as the narrator of the 1960s TV series The Magic Roundabout, was born here in 1929.
- Sir Joseph Banks created the Sleaford Navigations in the late 1800s; the river was dredged and linked to the canal system.
- Sleaford provides a good base for those interesting in following in the footsteps of Hereward the Wake, whose adventures mostly happened in the fenland east of nearby Bourne.
- Abi Titmuss lived in rearby Ruskington, but went to school in Sleaford and took her A-levels in the town.
External links
- Sleaford Museum Trust (http://sleafordmuseum.org.uk/)
- The Hub Centre for Craft Design & Making (http://www.thehubcentre.org)
- Sleaford Navigation Trust (http://www.sleafordnavigation.co.uk/)
- St. Deny's Church (http://www.stdenys.fsnet.co.uk)
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