Lincolnshire

:This article is about the English administrative county. For the Illinois village, see Lincolnshire, Illinois; for the Kentucky city, see Lincolnshire, Kentucky.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Lincolnshire

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The ceremonial county of Lincolnshire (composed of the 'administrative' counties of Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire and North-East Lincolnshire) is the second largest of the English counties and one that is predominantly agricultural in character.

Related Topics:
North Lincolnshire - North-East Lincolnshire

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For the purposes of a general geographical classification the county can be broken down into a number of sub-regions including: the Lincolnshire Fens, the Lincolnshire Wolds, and the industrial Humber Estuary and North Sea coast around Grimsby and Scunthorpe.

Related Topics:
Lincolnshire Fens - Lincolnshire Wolds - Humber Estuary - North Sea - Grimsby - Scunthorpe

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Towns and villages

The county of Lincolnshire is characterised by the absence of any major urban area. The prinicpal settlements and their populations are: Lincoln (85,000), Boston (35,000), Grantham (34,000), Spalding (22,000) and Stamford (19,000). Many of the towns in the county continue to hold a weekly market, a centuries-old tradition reinvigorated recently by the growth of farmers' markets. The county of Lincolnshire appears to be experiencing a resurrection of old village and hamlet placenames and, in some instances, the creation of new placenames. This makes the compilation of a definitive list of Lincolnshire villages an especially open-ended task.

Related Topics:
Lincoln - Boston - Grantham - Spalding - Stamford - Farmers' markets

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For a full list of Lincolnshire towns and villages see the List of places in Lincolnshire page.

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Transport

Main article: Transport in Lincolnshire

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Being on the economic periphery of England, Lincolnshire's transport links are less well developed than many other parts of the United Kingdom. The road network within the county is dominated by single carriageway trunk roads (A roads) and minor roads (B roads) rather than motorways or dual carriageways - the administrative county of Lincolnshire is one of the small number of UK counties without a motorway and up until a few years ago, it was said that there was only approximately 35kms (22 miles) of dual carriageway in the whole of Lincolnshire.

Related Topics:
Motorways - Dual carriageways

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The low population density of the county means that the number of railway stations and train services is low considering the county's large physical size. A large number of the county's railway stations were permanently closed following the Beeching Report of 1963. Lincoln retained its direct train service to London until the late 1980s, but it is now necessary to change trains in Newark, Nottinghamshire. However, the East Coast Main Line passes through the county and so it is still possible to catch direct trains to the capital from Grantham.

Related Topics:
Beeching Report - Newark - East Coast Main Line

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There is a local joke that Lincolnshire is the only county where most people's second car is a Massey Ferguson (a make of tractor).

Related Topics:
Massey Ferguson - Tractor

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Since April 1994, Lincolnshire has had an Air Ambulance service http://beehive.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/default.asp?WCI=SiteHome&ID=4781&PageID=24114 which was extended to also cover Nottinghamshire in 1997.

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The air ambulance is stationed at RAF Waddington near Lincoln and can reach emergencies in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire within 19 minutes.

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