Horncastle
Horncastle is a
market town of some 5,000 residents in the
East Lindsey district of
Lincolnshire,
England. It lies to the south of the
Lincolnshire Wolds, where the
River Bain meets the
River Waring, and north of the West and Wildmore
Fens. Horncastle was given its market charter in the
13th century. It was formerly known for its great August
Horse Fair — an internationally-famous
annual trading event which lasted until the early
20th century.
The
Romans built a
fort at Horncastle, possibly on the site of an existing
Saxon Shore Fort. Although fortified, Horncastle was not on any important
Roman roads, which suggests that the Bain was the principal route of access.
Roman Horncastle has become known as
Banovallum (i.e. "Wall on the [River] Bain") – this name has been adopted by several local
businesses and by the town's
Secondary Modern school – but in fact the
actual Roman name for the settlement is not definitely known:
Banovallum was suggested in the
19th century through an interpretation of the
Ravenna Cosmography, a
7th century list of Roman towns and road-stations [
1].
The walls of the Roman fort remain in places — one section is on display in the town's
library, which is built over the top of the wall. The
Saxons called the town
Hyrnecastre, whence its modern name.
Four miles from Horncastle is the village of
Winceby, where, during the
Battle of Winceby in
1643 – which helped to secure Lincolnshire for
Parliament –
Cromwell was almost killed. Local
legend has it that the thirteen
scythe blades which hang on the wall of the south chapel of the town's church (
St. Mary's) were used as
weapons at Winceby. This story is generally regarded as
apocryphal, and the accepted opinion is that they probably date from the
Lincolnshire Rising of
1536.
The great annual horse fair probably first took place in the
13th century. The fair used to last for a week or more every August, and in the 19th century was probably the largest event of its kind in the
United Kingdom.
"Horncastle for horses" made the town famous – the fair was used as a setting for
George Borrow's semi-
autobiographical books
Lavengro and
The Romany Rye – but the last fair was held in
1948.
Horncastle is
twinned with
Bonnétable, a
ville de marché (market town) in the
French département of
Sarthe with a
population of 4,000 (approximately). The towns' relationship is commemorated by a
Rue Horncastle in Bonnétable, and a
Bonnetable (sic) Road in Horncastle.
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School was founded in
1571, and is among the top schools in Lincolnshire; it has at times been one of the top in the country. It has been known for very strong sports teams such as the region winning tennis team in 2005 in the British Schools Tennis Championships.
The town is famous locally for its many
floods, notably in
1920 and
1960 – with 3 floods between
1981 and
1984. Folklore among Horncastle's more elderly and religious citizens will tell you how closely these floods coincide with the changing of Horncastle's
vicar. The vicar changed in
1919 and
1959, both less than a year before a flood. The flooding of the early
1980s has been all attributed to the change of vicar in
1980; it must be said however there was no flooding in Horncastle following the latest change in
1999.
Since
2003, Horncastle has been the centre of multiple apparent sightings of an
alien big cat (ABC), suspected of being an escaped
leopard or
panther. The mystery cat has been christened the "Lindsey Leopard" or "Beast of the Wolds" by the local press.[
2]
*
Horncastle*
Horncastle Today - local news and sport website*
Horncastle Discovered*
Horncastle Photoblog
