Description

Bourne, a union and market-town and parish in Lincolnshire. the town stands on a flat tract, adjacent to the fens, with a station on the Bourne and Essendine branch of the G.N.R., 10 miles E of Stamford. The town has ahead post and telegraph office, two banks and a savings bank, and some good hotels. A large spring, known as the " Well Head," is the source of a rivulet called the Bourne Eau, which is crossed by an old Saxon bridge. Hereward the Wake had a camp here, the remains of which are still visible. A strong castle was built in the Saxon times, made long and vigorous resistance to William the Conqueror, and was given by William Rufus to Walter Fitzgilbert, but has disappeared. An Augustinian abbey was founded in 1138 by Baldwin Fitzgilbert, but is known now only by its site. The town suffered severely by fire in 1605 and 1637, and now consists chiefly of four streets diverging from the market-place. The Bull Inn is an edifice said to have been built by William, Lord Burleigh. The Red Hall, a brick structure long held by the Digby family, has been converted into a railway station. A new branch railway was opened in 1893 connecting Bourne with Saxby, forming a connection with the M.R. and G.N.R., and reducing the distance between the Midlands and Spalding, Lynn Harbour and Docks, Melton Constable, Tukenham, Sherringham, Cromer, Norwich, and Yarmouth. The town-hall, in the market-place, built at a cost of £3600, includes court-rooms. The petty sessions are held here every alternate Thursday, a county court meeting monthly, and the quarter sessions for Kesteven are held alternately here and at Sleaford. A public hall and corn exchange was erected in 1870 at a cost of £2000. The parish church is chiefly Norman, consists of nave, side aisles, a short south transept, and a lofty chancel, had formerly two large west end towers, and was renovated in 1852, again in 1883, and beautifully restored in 1892. There are also Baptist, Congregational, and Wesleyan chapels, an endowed grammar school, alms-houses for six men and six women, other charities, and a workhouse erected at a cost of £9000, with accommodation for 300 inmates. A weekly market is held on Thursday, and fairs on 7 March, 6 May, 30 Sept., and 29 Oct. Wool-stapling and mailing are carried on. The great Lord Burleigh was a native. The parish includes also the hamlets of Dyke and Cawthorpe. Acreage, 10,103; population, 4191. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lincoln; net value, £290 with residence, in the gift of trustees. The town possesses charities worth about £700 a year.