85-604: The East Lincolnshire Railway was a main line railway linking the towns of Boston , Alford , Louth and Grimsby in Lincolnshire , England. It opened in 1848. The ELR Company had leased the line to the Great Northern Railway, and it was the latter which constructed the line and operated it, as its East Lincolnshire Line. As the Great Northern Railway completed its network, the East Lincolnshire Line formed
170-549: A colony and now part of the United States. The name Boston is said to be a contraction of " Saint Botolph 's town", "stone" or " tun " ( Old English , Old Norse and modern Norwegian for a hamlet or farm ; hence the Latin villa Sancti Botulfi "St. Botulf's village"). The name Botulfeston appears in 1460, with an alias "Boston". The town was once said to have been a Roman settlement, but no evidence shows this to be
255-400: A delaying effect in general. The line was recommended for partial closure in the 1963 Beeching Report as it was not felt to be economically viable. The closure went through two public enquiries before being approved at the end of the decade. The final decision was to retain services between Boston and Skegness, and retain the remainder of the line for freight. The passenger service throughout
340-513: A huge and unforeseen volume of traffic to the relevant parts of the line, and indeed at the peaks overwhelmed the capacity of terminals to handle the traffic. When passenger and goods transport by road became practicable and convenient in the 1920s and after, the use of the line gradually declined accordingly, and there was a possibility in the early 1960s that the whole network, including the Skegness branch, might close. Protests had an effect, but only
425-571: A lease at 6% of its paid-up capital, an arrangement described as "somewhat improvident". This lease was made immediately after the authorisation of the two lines, and was renewed later as a lease for 1,000 years. The East Lincolnshire Railway Company was from that time a financial shell, only concerned with distributing the lease charge of £3,600 annually to shareholders. Originally the ELR had intended to provide its own terminus at Pasture Street in Grimsby , but
510-442: A main line to Louth and Grimsby. In the latter decades of the nineteenth century seaside leisure pursuits became important, and the line became the trunk route supporting branches to Skegness, Sutton on Sea and Mablethorpe. Agricultural produce was important throughout the life of the line. As road transport became more convenient, the line lost custom, and in 1970 it closed except for the portion from Boston to Firsby, which supported
595-649: A mile north-east of the town, near the Seal Sanctuary, was the now-closed Theddlethorpe Gas Terminal , which supplied 5 per cent of the UK's gas. To the west is the Bambers wind farm , housing eight turbines and producing five MW of power since November 2004. An extension called Bambers II opened in November 2006 and produces an additional five MW of power. The two turbines of Mablethorpe wind farm, which produce 1.2 MW of power, were
680-566: A rectangular area inland along Alford Road towards Maltby le Marsh , as far as Grange Leisure Park, where Earl's Bridge crosses West Bank. The south of the former parish follows the Trusthorpe Drains, which are crossed at Bamber's Bridge on Mile Lane . Out towards Alford lies Strubby Airfield , with the Strubby Aviation Club and Lincs Gliding Club. To the north is the large parish of Theddlethorpe St Helen , which extends to
765-477: A revival when the Fens began to be effectively drained. The Act of Parliament permitting the embanking and straightening of the fenland Witham was dated 1762. A sluice, called for in the act, was designed to help scour out The Haven. The land proved to be fertile, and Boston began exporting cereals to London. In 1774, the first financial bank was opened, and in 1776, an act of Parliament allowed watchmen to begin patrolling
850-530: A service between Mablethorpe and Alford and Spilsby , usually every two hours. Lincolnshire County Council operates a demand-responsive CallConnect service linking remoter areas to connection points at Alford, Chapel St Leonards and Mablethorpe for mainline bus services. Mablethorpe, in the East Lindsey council district, is administered with Sutton-on-Sea and Trusthorpe as the civil parish of Mablethorpe and Sutton . The original parish of Mablethorpe covers
935-430: A service was started between Louth and Grimsby, and a number of new halts were opened: ( Fotherby Halt , Utterby Halt , Grainsby Halt , Holton Village Halt , Weelsby Road Halt and Hainton Street Halt ). The railmotors had mixed success; their limited passenger capacity led to problems at busy times; and they were incapable of hauling a tail load of any great weight. The East Lincolnshire Railway company had promoted
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#17328487270221020-451: A substantial site for a new station has been set aside. Citations Sources Boston, Lincolnshire Boston is a market town and inland port in the borough of the same name in the county of Lincolnshire , England. Boston is the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Boston local government district. The town had a population of 45,339 at the 2021 census, while the borough had an estimated population of 66,900 at
1105-529: A through run between Lincoln and Grimsby, also connecting (as yet unproven) ironstone resources. The line was cut back for lack of money, and opened to Bardney in stages between 1874 and 1882. The hoped-for through trunk traffic did not appear, and the ironstone was available in small quantities only. The line remained a penniless local line. It was reluctantly purchased by the Great Northern Railway in 1883.It closed to passengers in 1951, and completely in 1960. As holiday traffic to East Coast resorts became dominant,
1190-580: A town for many centuries, gaining its market town charter in 1253. Coastal erosion means some of it was lost to the sea in the 1540s. Records of the Fitzwilliam family of Mablethorpe Hall date back to the 14th century. In the 19th century, it was a centre for ship breaking in the winter. Mablethorpe Hall is to the west of the town along Alford Road near the Church of St Mary . The Mablethorpe church parish includes Trusthorpe . Mablethorpe's first lifeboatstation
1275-509: A very heavy holiday traffic. Like Skegness, Mablethorpe developed as a seaside resort for excursionists and holidaymakers. A branch line was opened by the Louth and East Coast Railway in 1877. Sutton le Marsh, a few miles to the south, was also popular, and the Sutton and Willoughby Railway and Dock company opened a branch line in 1886, and used the pleasanter name Sutton on Sea for the resort. This line
1360-667: Is also north of the town. A Time and Tide Bell installed on the beach near the Seal Sanctuary in 2019 is one of a series around the UK, rung by high tides. Mablethorpe's cinema, the Loewen in Quebec Road, was previously known as the Bijou . The Dunes leisure complex lies on Mablethorpe's seafront. The seafront also gained a skatepark in 2008, which includes a small funbox , a spine and two quarter pipes . Several small caravan parks and guest houses provide tourist accommodation. Just over
1445-472: Is in the Lincolnshire Standard newspaper, January 1918. During the war the port was used by hospital ships and some 4,000 sick or wounded troops passed through Boston. The town was bombed by a Zeppelin on 2 September 1916, injuring three adults and killing a child. The first cinema opened in 1910, and in 1913, a new town bridge was constructed. Central Park was purchased in 1919, and is now one of
1530-501: Is known locally as Boston Stump and is renowned for its size and its dominant appearance in the surrounding countryside. The Great Sluice is disguised by railway and road bridges, but it is there, keeping the tide out of the Fens and twice a day, allowing the water from the upland to scour the Haven. Not far away, in the opposite direction, was the boyhood home of John Foxe , the author of Foxe's Book of Martyrs . The Town Bridge maintains
1615-565: Is located). This is likely to be where the Scrooby Pilgrims were imprisoned in 1607. There is a statue of Herbert Ingram , founder of The Illustrated London News , in front of the Stump. The statue was designed by Alexander Munro and was unveiled in October 1862. The allegorical figure at the base of the monument is a reference to Ingram's efforts to bring the first piped water to the town. He
1700-523: Is most likely to have been in Suffolk . However, he was a popular missionary and saint to whom many churches between Yorkshire and Sussex are dedicated. The 1086 Domesday Book does not mention Boston by name, but nearby settlements of the tenant-in-chief Count Alan Rufus of Brittany are covered. Its present territory was probably then part of the grant of Skirbeck , part of the very wealthy manor of Drayton, which before 1066 had been owned by Ralph
1785-405: The 2021 Census , the population of Boston is around 70,500. This is 9.1% higher than the 64,600 reported in the 2011 Census . This was a higher percentage of growth than the 6.6% national average for England during the same period. Much of this population growth is due to high levels of immigration to the town, especially from eastern Europe. The 2021 Census states that 23.6% of Boston's population
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#17328487270221870-597: The Belmont TV transmitter. Radio coverage for Mablethorpe is provided by Radio Mablethorpe - local community radio station (launching early 2025) BBC Radio Lincolnshire and Hits Radio Lincolnshire . The community's primary school is Mablethorpe Primary Academy School. The Mablethorpe site of Monks' Dyke Tennyson College closed in August 2016. Mablethorpe hosts a unique beach-hut festival each September. Privately owned beach huts compete in outward design, amidst
1955-729: The East Lincolnshire Railway from Grimsby to Boston and the simultaneous building of the Lincolnshire Loop Line by the Great Northern Railway , which ran between Peterborough and York , via Boston, Lincoln and Doncaster . This line was built before the East Coast Main Line and, for a short while, put Boston on the map as the GNR's main locomotive works before it was relocated to Doncaster in 1852. Boston
2040-513: The ONS mid-2015 estimates. Boston's most notable landmark is St Botolph's Church , colloquially referred to as 'The Stump', the largest parish church in England, which is visible from miles away across the flat lands of Lincolnshire. Residents of Boston are known as Bostonians. Emigrants from Boston named several other settlements around the world after the town, most notably Boston , Massachusetts, then
2125-641: The 32 council seats, losing all but four of them in the subsequent election in 2011. Boston received its charter in 1546. It is the main settlement in the Boston local government district of Lincolnshire, which includes the unparished town of Boston and 18 other civil parishes . The borough council is based in the Municipal Buildings in West Street. As of 2015, Boston Borough council consisted of 30 members: In 2017, six county council divisions existed for
2210-697: The Borough of Boston, each of which returned one member to Lincolnshire County Council: The town is part of the Boston and Skegness parliamentary constituency , currently represented by Reform UK chairman, Richard Tice . Prior to the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union , Boston was part of the East Midlands European Parliament constituency , which elected five members. According to
2295-403: The East Lincolnshire Line and all branches was closed on 5 October 1970, with the exception of Boston - Skegness. A special train ran that evening, with 1,000 spectators at Louth station. Skegness was to continue to be served by train from Boston via the 1881 curve at Firsby. All the stations on the original East Lincolnshire Line closed, but the Skegness trains traversed the line from the site of
2380-417: The East Lincolnshire Line led the directors to consider how passenger operation might be made cheaper. In the early years of the twentieth century, a number of railway companies experimented with railmotors. These were self-contained passenger coaches which had a small integrated steam locomotive. Central retractable steps enabled passengers to board and alight from simple platforms at ground level. In 1905, such
2465-416: The East Lincolnshire Line to Wainfleet, which was a semi-defunct port halfway to Skegness. It opened in 1871, and road transport completed the journey to Skegness. This wasn't satisfactory either, and in 1873 a line from Wainfleet to Skegness completed the branch line. The junction at Firsby faced away from the most important traffic, and a west to south curve was installed in 1881. The Skegness branch carried
2550-544: The Eastern Counties Railway or the London and North Western Railway from Peterborough southwards. The East Lincolnshire Line formed a spine from which a number of branch lines diverged. Its straight course led it to by-pass several important towns, and the development of seaside holidays and excursions from the 1860s generated a demand for easier transport links. Geographically from south to north, these were: Spilsby
2635-564: The GNR agreed with the Great Grimsby and Sheffield Junction Railway to use its Grimsby station. The following year on 2 July 1847 a further act of Parliament authorised the ELR to build a branch half a mile in length to make the connection to the GG&;SJR. The Great Grimsby company soon merged with others and became the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. Further share capital of £10,000
East Lincolnshire Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
2720-642: The Netherlands from Boston. At that time, unsanctioned emigration was illegal, and they were brought before the court in the Guildhall . Most of the pilgrims were released fairly soon, and the following year, set sail for the Netherlands, settling in Leiden . In 1620, several of these were among the group who moved to New England in the Mayflower . Boston remained a hotbed of religious dissent. In 1612, John Cotton became
2805-589: The River Great Eau at Saltfleetby . The town is the eastern terminus of the A52 . The town is also accessed by the A1104 and A16 through Alford. The A157 heads west towards Louth and is said to be the "sixth bendiest A-road in the UK". At the 2021 census, Mablethorpe and Sutton's built up area had a population of 12,668. Of the findings, the ethnicity and religious composition of the ward was: The religious composition of
2890-556: The River Witham, on the north approach to the skew bridge over the Grand Sluice. It was soon realised that this was not proper, and the section was made double track by a deviation (to the other side of the houses) on 11 May 1850; the point of junction of the East Lincolnshire Line was shifted slightly as well. These line openings enabled through journeys to be made to London from Lincolnshire and from Hull (by ferry to New Holland), using
2975-619: The Skegness branch, which continued in use. All intermediate stations on the ELR, and all of the route from Firsby to Grimsby were closed to passengers in 1970. The East Lincolnshire Railway was authorised by the East Lincolnshire Railway Act 1846 ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. lxxxviii) of 26 June 1846, with permitted share capital of £600,000. The authorisation was to build a 47 + 1 ⁄ 2 mile line built from its own terminus at Pasture Street in Great Grimsby to Boston, where it
3060-510: The Staller , Edward the Confessor 's Earl of East Anglia . Skirbeck had two churches and one is likely to have been that dedicated to St Botolph, in what was consequently Botolph's town. Skirbeck ( map ) is now considered part of Boston, but the name remains, as a church parish and an electoral ward . The order of importance was the other way round, when the Boston quarter of Skirbeck developed at
3145-572: The Vicar of St Botolph's and, although viewed askance by the Church of England for his nonconformist preaching, became responsible for a large increase in Church attendance. He encouraged those who disliked the lack of religious freedom in England to join the Massachusetts Bay Company , and later helped to found the city of Boston, Massachusetts, which he was instrumental in naming. Unable to tolerate
3230-537: The beginning of the First World War , a number of the town's trawlermen, together with some from Grimsby , were taken prisoner after their ships were sunk by German raiders in the North Sea. Their families did not know what had happened to them until late September 1914. The men were taken to Sennelager camp, then on to Ruhleben POW camp , where most remained until repatriated in 1918. A full report of their homecoming
3315-570: The boom years of the 13th and 14th centuries—were all expropriated. The refectory of the Dominican friary was eventually converted into a theatre in 1965 and now houses the Blackfriars Arts Centre . Henry VIII granted the town its charter in 1545 and Boston had two Members of Parliament from 1552. The staple trade made Boston a centre of intellectual influence from the Continent, including
3400-644: The case. Similarly, it is often linked to the monastery established by the Saxon monk Botolph at "Icanhoe" on the Witham in AD ;654 and destroyed by the Vikings in 870, but this is doubted by modern historians. The early medieval geography of The Fens was much more fluid than it is today, and at that time, the Witham did not flow near the site of Boston. Botolph's establishment
3485-433: The company decided to build a railway to fill the gap; that opened in 1888. This had the effect that the holiday trains nearly all approached Mablethorpe by running through (and calling at) Sutton. The Sutton and Willoughby company was absorbed by the Great Northern Railway in 1902, followed by the Louth and East Coast Railway in 1908. The Louth to Bardney line was planned to run to Five Mile House, near Lincoln, and provide
East Lincolnshire Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
3570-453: The construction of the line to connect Grimsby to Boston. It was fortuitous that the Great Northern Railway built an important route through Boston, giving useful connectivity to the East Lincolnshire Line, as it became. Nevertheless, the intervening terrain was largely rural and very thinly populated. Trunk passenger travel from Grimsby to London was not enough to sustain the line. The development of Skegness, Mablethorpe and Sutton on Sea brought
3655-501: The current one, costing £35 million and doubling the current department in size. Boston railway station is a stop on the Poacher Line ; East Midlands Railway operates a generally hourly service between Nottingham , Grantham and Skegness . These services are run by the Class 170, 158 or the older Class 156 trains. The railways came to Boston in 1848, following the building of
3740-536: The east of the Maud Foster Drain. The railway reached the town in 1848, and it was briefly on the main line from London to the north. The area between the Black Sluice and the railway station was mainly railway yard and the railway company's main depot. The latter facility moved to Doncaster when the modern main line was opened. Boston remained something of a local railway hub well into the 20th century, moving
3825-519: The entire East Lincolnshire Railway authorised system was now complete. Work had been proceeding on the GNR Loop Line, and the 58 miles from near Peterborough through Boston to Lincoln opened on 17 October 1848. That line was double except for a mile at Boston immediately south of the junction of the East Lincolnshire Line and the Loop Line. This was awkwardly squeezed in between houses at Witham Town and
3910-475: The feathery aspect of this was still reflected in the presence of the local bedding company named Fogarty. ) This and the religious friction put Boston into the parliamentarian camp in the Civil War , which in England began in 1642. The chief backer of the drainage locally, Lord Lindsey , was shot in the first battle and the fens returned to their accustomed dampness until after 1750. The later 18th century saw
3995-696: The first such in Lincolnshire when built in July 2002. All three wind farms are owned by Ecotricity and stand at the corner of West Bank and the Trusthorpe Drains. Mablethorpe's Star of the East is on the seafront. The local weekly newspapers are the Mablethorpe Leader and The East Lindsey Target . Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and ITV Yorkshire & That’s Tv Humber , Television signals are received from
4080-551: The focal points of the town. Electricity came to Boston during the early part of the century, and electrical street lighting was provided from 1924. During the Second World War , 17 residents of the borough were killed by enemy air raids. A memorial in Boston Cemetery commemorates them. The Haven Bridge, which now carries the two trunk roads over the river, was opened in 1966, and a new dual carriageway, John Adams Way,
4165-517: The former junction at Boston to Firsby South, and then over the Skegness branch. In addition the section from Grimsby to Louth remained in use for goods trains to Associated British Maltsters at Louth, but this ceased in December 1980. The line was offered to the Grimsby to Louth Preservation Society to run as a heritage railway, but they could not afford the £400,000 required. A special passenger train ran over
4250-531: The head of the Haven , which lies under the present Market Place. At that stage, The Haven was the tidal part of the stream, now represented by the Stone Bridge Drain ( map ), which carried the water from the East and West Fens. The line of the road through Wide Bargate, to A52 and A16 , is likely to have developed on its marine silt levees. It led, as it does now, to the relatively high ground at Sibsey ( map ), and thence to Lindsey . The reason for
4335-525: The highest such vote in the country. In the 2019 Borough elections, the Conservatives were confirmed as the majority party on Boston Borough Council with 16 of the 30 seats, followed by independents with 11. In May 2007, a single-issue political party, the Boston Bypass Independents campaigning for a bypass to be built around the town, took control of the council when they won 25 of
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#17328487270224420-461: The late 1980s and became a working mill again. It stands next to the drain after which it is named, and is unusual in having an odd number (five) of sails. The Guildhall in which the Pilgrim Fathers were tried was converted into a museum in 1929. The cells in which the pilgrims are said to have been held at the time of their trial are on the ground floor. After a major refurbishment during which
4505-551: The line before it was lifted. In March 2021, two bids were submitted to restore the line from Louth to Firsby and the line from Mablethorpe to Firsby as part of the third round of the Restoring Your Railway fund. The Lincolnshire Wolds Railway now operates a heritage railway system. It owns the five miles of trackbed from its present terminus at Ludborough to the Fairfield Industrial Estate at Louth, where
4590-444: The line closed completely in 1958. The East Lincolnshire Railway followed a direct path to Grimsby, and in doing so passed by the coastal towns. As seaside holidays became popular in the third quarter of the nineteenth century, these towns realised that they suffered from not having a good railway connection, and in some cases set about rectifying the matter. The Wainfleet and Firsby Railway was authorised in 1869 to build from Firsby on
4675-468: The line of the road to Lindsey and from its western end, looking at the river side of the Exchange Building to the right, it is possible to see how the two ends of the building, founded on the natural levees of The Haven, have stood firm while the middle has sunk into the infill of the former river. From 1552, Bostonians used to have their jail near the Stump (about where the red car in the photograph
4760-495: The museum was closed for several years, it reopened in 2008. The Pilgrim Fathers Memorial is located on the north bank of The Haven a few miles outside the town. Here at Scotia Creek, the pilgrims made their first attempt to leave for the Dutch Republic in 1607. The ruined Hussey Tower is all that remains of a medieval brick-fortified house, built in 1450, and occupied by John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford until he
4845-401: The next, he levied a "fifteenth" tax ( quinzieme ) of 6.67% on the moveable goods of merchants in the ports of England: the merchants of Boston paid £780, the highest in the kingdom after London's £836. Thus, by the opening of the 13th century, Boston was already significant in trade with the continent of Europe and ranked as a port of the Hanseatic League . In the thirteenth century it
4930-433: The old Haven bank. After the Norman conquest , Ralph the Staller's property was taken over by Count Alan . It subsequently came to be attached to the Earldom of Richmond, North Yorkshire , and known as the Richmond Fee. It lay on the left bank of The Haven. During the 11th and 12th centuries, Boston grew into a notable town and port. In 1204, King John vested sole control over the town in his bailiff . That year or
5015-409: The original development of the town, away from the centre of Skirbeck, was that Boston lay on the point where navigable tidal water was alongside the land route, which used the Devensian terminal moraine ridge at Sibsey, between the upland of East Lindsey and the three routes to the south of Boston: The River Witham seems to have joined The Haven after the flood of September 1014, having abandoned
5100-418: The port of Drayton, on what subsequently became known as Bicker Haven. The predecessor of Ralph the Staller owned most of both Skirbeck and Drayton, so it was a relatively simple task to transfer his business from Drayton, but Domesday Book in 1086 still records his source of income in Boston under the heading of Drayton, so Boston's name is not mentioned. The Town Bridge still maintains the preflood route, along
5185-413: The produce of the district and the trade of the dock, plus the excursion trade to Skegness . Boston once again became a significant port in trade and fishing in 1884, when the new dock with its associated wharves on The Haven were constructed. It continued as a working port, exporting grain, fertiliser, and importing timber, although much of the fishing trade was moved out in the interwar period. At
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#17328487270225270-429: The religious situation any longer, he eventually emigrated himself in 1633. At the same time, work on draining the fens to the west of Boston was begun, a scheme which displeased many whose livelihoods were at risk. (One of the sources of livelihood obtained from the fen was fowling, supplying ducks and geese for meat and in addition the processing of their feathers and down for use in mattresses and pillows. Until 2018,
5355-479: The roundabout route from the Midlands and Northern population centres to Skegness via Boston (reversing direction there) became increasingly an irritation. In 1911 the GNR decided to build the New Line, between junctions east of Kirkstead and west of Little Steeping. The line was 15 miles long, and it opened in 1913. Much of the holiday traffic was diverted over it; its local traffic was modest, and confined to agricultural business. The long and thinly populated tract of
5440-448: The same time, the decline of the local guilds and shift towards domestic weaving of English wool (conducted in other areas of the country) led to a near-complete collapse of the town's foreign trade. The silting of the Haven only furthered the town's decline. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII during the English Reformation , Boston's Dominican , Franciscan , Carmelite , and Augustinian friaries—erected during
5525-428: The station buildings were John Grey Weightman and Matthew Ellison Hadfield of Sheffield. The 14-mile section between Louth and Grimsby opened on 1 March 1848. The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway opened its line from Grimsby to New Holland on the same day. The MS&LR and the GNR both used the Grimsby station; the MS&LR and GNR arranged to run over each other's lines. The original passenger service
5610-423: The streets at night. In the 19th century, the names of Howden, a firm located near the Grand Sluice, and Tuxford, near the Maud Foster Sluice, were respected among engineers for their steam road locomotives, threshing engines, and the like. Howden developed his business from making steam engines for river boats, while Tuxford began as a miller and millwright. His mill was once prominent near Skirbeck Church, just to
5695-399: The teachings of John Calvin that became known as Calvinism . This, in turn, revolutionised the Christian beliefs and practices of many Bostonians and residents of the neighbouring shires of England. In 1607, a group of pilgrims from Nottinghamshire led by William Brewster and William Bradford attempted to escape pressure to conform with the teaching of the English church by going to
5780-493: The ward at the 2021 Census was recorded as: The town's one retail bank branch, Barclays , closed in July 2019. There are four supermarkets – a Co-op (which also includes a branch of Boyes ), Lidl and from October 2021 the very first Tesco opened its doors. 'Lord Bros' an independent supermarket on Victoria Road has been open since the early 1960s. Branches of some high street chains are present, but most shops in Mablethorpe are independently operated. Market days vary through
5865-420: The year: Monday (Summer),Thursday (year round). Family attractions include a small fairground and an award-winning beach with traditional seaside amusement arcades and one of the largest family entertainment centers in England named The Mirage. One of Mablethorpe's long-standing features, its sand train, takes visitors to and from the northern end of the beach. Mablethorpe Seal Sanctuary and Wildlife Centre
5950-423: Was 12,531 at the 2011 census and estimated at 12,633 in 2019. The town was visited regularly by Alfred, Lord Tennyson , a 19th-century Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom . Some town features have been named after him, such as Tennyson Road and the now closed Tennyson High School. A hoard of Roman treasure was found in Mablethorpe in the 1980s, as were a Roman brooch and pottery. Mablethorpe has existed as
6035-407: Was a significant market town, and a branch line from the East Lincolnshire Line at Firsby was promoted locally. It opened in 1868. Although the branch line was busy enough, servicing loans taken out during the construction period was perpetually problematical, and in 1891 the Great Northern Railway purchased the company. The passenger service was suspended in 1939 as a war economy, and never reinstated;
6120-402: Was also instrumental in bringing the railways to Boston. Born in nearby Paddock Grove, son of a butcher, he was also MP for Boston , from 1856 until his death in 1860, in a shipping accident on Lake Michigan . The seven-storeyed Maud Foster Tower Windmill , completed in 1819 by millwrights Norman and Smithson of Kingston upon Hull for Issac and Thomas Reckitt, was extensively restored in
6205-508: Was authorised. A further act of Parliament of 9 July 1847 authorised the acquisition of the ELR Company by the Great Northern Railway, although this was not acted on. It was the Great Northern Railway which built, and later, operated the line. Most of its extent was a perfectly straight line with no heavy cuttings. There were ten bridges, three over the line and seven under the line. The contractors were Waring and Sons of Louth. The architects of
6290-581: Was born outside of the UK. 5.6% of the population of Boston was born in Lithuania and 5.4% was born in Poland . This is the highest proportion of Lithuanians anywhere in the UK and the second highest number of Poles, behind Slough, Berkshire . Polish is the main language of 5.68% of the inhabitants. Boston has historically had strong cultural connections to the Netherlands , and Dutch influence can be found in its architecture . The parish church of Saint Botolph
6375-401: Was built in 1883. It was closed temporarily in 1917 due to crew shortages in the First World War but the closure was made permanent in 1920. It reopened as an inshore lifeboat station in 1965. It operates two lifeboats, an Atlantic 85 and a smaller D-class . In 1953, Mablethorpe was hit by the disastrous East Coast floods . The seawall was breached on 31 January. A granite rock memorial
6460-534: Was built in 1976–8 to take traffic away from the town centre. A shopping centre, named the Pescod Centre, opened in 2004, bringing many new shops into the town. Boston Cottage Hospital opened in 1871, was rebuilt in the 1960s, and is now called the Pilgrim Hospital , having been officially opened by Princess Anne on 23 June 1977. The hospital is currently building a new Emergency Department extension next to
6545-587: Was executed in the wake of the Lincolnshire Rising . 2 miles (3 km) east, Rochford Tower is another medieval tower house. Mablethorpe Mablethorpe is a seaside town in the civil parish of Mablethorpe and Sutton , in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire , England. In 1961 the civil parish had a population of 3,611. On 1 April 1974 the parish was changed to form "Mablethorpe and Sutton". The population including nearby Sutton-on-Sea
6630-417: Was five trains each way on weekdays over the 30 miles between Louth and New Holland, with two trains each way on Sundays. New Holland was the ferry terminal for Hull. Later that year, the East Lincolnshire Line was further extended southward, from Louth to Firsby (at that time spelt Firstby). This opened on 3 September 1848, and on 2 October 1848 the line was opened from Firsby to a temporary station at Boston;
6715-534: Was his last and has been described as a "lost masterwork". Mablethorpe and much of east Lincolnshire lost its rail service in 1970 to the Beeching Axe , despite its long history . The station site is now the town's sports centre. Stagecoach operate an hourly service to Skegness, as well as a service to Louth and Lincoln. Grayscroft Coaches operates several services from a base in Victoria Road. Brylaine runs
6800-563: Was immense jubilation. Paul was wild with joy for his mother's sake. She would have a real holiday now. He and she sat at evening picturing what it would be like. Annie came in, and Leonard, and Alice, and Kitty. There was wild rejoicing and anticipation. Paul told Miriam. She seemed to brood with joy over it. But the Morels' house rang with excitement." Mablethorpe is the seaside setting for the Ted Lewis crime novel GBH , published in 1980. The novel
6885-413: Was more practical, as it was south-facing, enabling an easier approach for the holiday trains. A major part of the Sutton and Willoughby Railway and Dock was the construction of a fishing harbour to rival Grimsby, but the company never generated enough money to attempt the dock. (Later on, other companies promised to open it, but they also failed.) The distance between Sutton and Mablethorpe was not great and
6970-567: Was said to be the second port in the country. Edward III named it a staple port for the wool trade in 1369. Apart from wool, Boston also exported salt , produced locally on the Holland coast, grain , produced up-river, and lead, produced in Derbyshire and brought via Lincoln , up-river. A quarrel between the local and foreign merchants led to the withdrawal of the Hansards around 1470. Around
7055-481: Was the southern terminus of the East Lincolnshire Line to Louth and Grimsby, until its closure in 1970. Bus services in the area are operated predominantly by Stagecoach East , Stagecoach East Midlands and Brylaine Travel. Key routes link the town with Lincoln, Skegness and Spalding. Boston residents voted strongly (75.6%) in favour of leaving the European Union in the 2016 UK referendum on EU membership ,
7140-489: Was to join the Loop Line of the Great Northern Railway, which had been authorised the same day. The potentially much larger Great Northern Railway immediately entered negotiations to lease the East Lincolnshire Railway. The GNR's purpose was to secure territory to itself, and it did so by acquiring, by lease or by purchase, authorised lines in areas it sought to control. The GNR took the East Lincolnshire Railway on
7225-399: Was unveiled on the coast on 31 January 2013 on the 60th anniversary of the disaster, in memory of the town's 42 victims. Mablethorpe is the destination for the fictional Morel family's first holiday in the still popular D. H. Lawrence novel, Sons and Lovers , published in 1913: "At last they got an answer from Mablethorpe, a cottage such as they wished for thirty shillings a week. There
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