The maltings at Sleaford, a massive group of buildings, was built by Bass in 1901-7.

The central block with water tower and engine-house is flanked by the eight malthouses giving a total frontage of about 1000 feet. Operations ceased in 1959.

According to Pevsner: 'For sheer impressiveness, little in English industrial architecture can equal the scale of this building'.

Frank Robinson, 2010

A closer view of the Bass Maltings conveys the huge scale of the complex.

The total frontage of eight maltings plus engine house and workshops is almost 1000 feet (305m) long.

Three blocks were badly damaged by fire in 1976 but their walls still stand to full height, a testimony to their remarkably solid construction.

Chris Lester 2010

Viewed from the east with canopies over the former railway sidings just visible on the right hand side of the image. 

"With a frontage of nearly 1,000 ft and a total area of 50,000 sq ft, the maltings complex is believed to be largest of its type in England; the architectural historians Sir Nikolaus Pevsner and John Harris commented that "for sheer impressiveness little in English industrial architecture can equal the scale of this building.

In 1974, it was recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building in recognition of its importance as an example of a large-scale industrial malting complex in which "considerations of form, massing, symmetry and scale have produced a design of high aesthetic quality combined with clear functional expression"; it also represents the importance of the English brewing industry in the late-19th and early 20th centuries and large-scale malting at its peak.

Owing to its derelict state, the building was also placed on English Heritage's "Heritage at Risk" register in 2011"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass_Maltings,_Sleaford 

DB 27 May 2019 

Entrance gateway with workers' cottages beyond.

The first cottage on the left is described by Historic England :-

"Former workers cottage, now house. c. 1900" 

Designed by A. Couchman"

"This building forms an integral part of this nationally important maltings complex"

DB 24 July 2018

Detailed view of the one surviving gas lamp.

DB 24 July 2018

"Architect, H E Kendall.

Nine bay east range of 1830.

Seven bay south range of 1841-6.

On site of the house of the Carre family.

L-plan.

Range of early C19 almshouses in ashlar"

DB 24 July 2018 

"Garden in front with pump"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1062145 

DB 24 July 2018  

Carre's Grammar School was founded by local landowner Sir Robert Carre in 1603.

It first occupied its present site on Northgate in 1835 and new buildings were opened in 1904.

This is now a selective secondary school with special status as a Science and Sports College.

Undated postcard

"Built by Bishop Alexander circa 1130.

Site only remains, and 1 block of fallen masonry"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1061302 

DB 20 June 2018 

Panoramic view of site.

"Built by the Bishop of Lincoln in the early 1120s, it was habitable as late as 1555 but fell into disrepair during the latter half of the 16th century.

Two English monarchs are known to have stayed at the castle, King John and Henry VIII"

"The visible remains are now only a moat, a scrap of masonry (one small, toppled portion of a wall in the north-east corner of the inner bailey) and associated earthworks"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleaford_Castle 

DB 20 June 2018 

Cogglesford Watermill, on the Slea Navigation is alongside the top lock of the Sleaford Navigation half a mile from Sleaford town centre (TF 074461).

It was probably built in 1771, with a top floor added in the 1830s.

It is open daily from Easter to the end of September and at weekends in the winter.

Mark Acton, 2008

Cogglesford Mill, Sleaford was recently restored to working condition and its breast-shot wheel drives the stones and other machinery from time to time to produce flour.

This photograph shows the ground floor, an open exhibition area with milling tools and equipment.

A series of display boards describe the history of the mill and its millers.

Mark Acton, 2008

"Cogglesford Mill (sometimes referred to as Coggesford) is a Grade II listed working watermill in Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

It is possibly the last working Sheriff's Mill in England.

The mill sits to the north of Sleaford on banks of River Slea.

There is archaeological evidence of a Saxon mill on the site and records in the Domesday book of later mills; the present redbrick structure dates to the late 18th century, with alterations from the 19th Century"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogglesford_Mill 

DB 5 June 2015

Low breast shot internal wooden waterwheel.

DB 5 June 2015

Great spur wheel and two sets of millstones.

DB 5 June 2015

View under the great spur wheel.

DB 5 June 2015

"Farmhouse.

Mid C18 house, with late C18 and C19 alterations and additions"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1360438 

Being used as a restaurant.

DB 5 June 2015

A charming drinking trough for dogs on the west side of Northgate near the town centre.

The inscription reads:
"And whatten kind of folk will see
There's water for the doggies"

Ken Redmore 2011

"Gothic style canopy.

Inscription on cornice of roof:- In memory of Frederick William/6th Earl and 2nd Marquis of Bristol/by a few of his Lincolnshire tenantry/ erected in the year of our Lord 1874.

Stone slate pyramid roof with finial of coat of arms and coronet supported on 4 polished granite columns with stone bases and with oak-leaf capitals.

Frieze with inscription and vine scroll"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1360443 

DB 20 June 2018

"KEEP THE PAVEMENT DRY

T.KENNEDY PATENTEE

KILMARNOCK" 

Many water stand pipes supplied to Lincolnshire villages by Glenfield and Kennedy.

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Glenfield_and_Kennedy 

DB 20 June 2018

"Inscription on cornice of roof:- In memory of Frederick William/6th Earl and 2nd Marquis of Bristol/by a few of his Lincolnshire tenantry/ erected in the year of our Lord 1874"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1360443 

DB 20 June 2018

"Railway Signal Box. c1882.

Built for the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Rail-way"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1261326 

DB 21 June 2017 

"The Electricity Works building was built in 1901, which was quite early for a town the size of Sleaford.

The buildings are now used as a sub-station.

Sleaford Electricity Works were built in 1901 by the Urban District Council on a site at the junction of West Gate and West Banks, and officially declared open on 1st September 1901.

The engine house originally had two boilers supplied by Robey and Co. of Lincoln.

The works remained as a fully working electricity station until nationalisation in 1948.

In recent years it has been reduced to the level of a sub-station, with the electricity board having built a new transformer house at the rear of the original buildings. The main generating hall, several small off-buildings and the offices facing the road still remain.

The generating hall now houses all the large switch gear that control the electricity supply to Sleaford and its surrounding area"

http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MLI60465&resourceID=1006 

DB 20 June 2018

Warning notices on the outside of the sub-station.

DB 20 June 2018 

Former fire station now converted into offices. 

The entry in Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 reads

"Fire Brigade Station, West banks, C. E. Clements, capt"

DB 23 February 2019

"FIRE ENGINES 1829"

"REBUILT 1900" 

DB 23 February 2019

"Mid Cl9, architect probably Kendall"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1307098 

DB 23 February 2019

Detail of pediment with heraldic shield.

DB 23 February 2019

Henry Handley (1797-1846) was born in Sleaford and as in later life occupied Culverthorpe Hall.

He sat as MP (for a Wiltshire constituency) for nine years and was an entrepreneur with particular interest in steam power and agricultural improvements.

After his death a public subscription raised £942 towards this fine monument completed in 1852 on Southgate.

The architect was William Boyle of Birmingham.

The monument was built in honour of Henry Handley (1797-1846), son of a Sleaford lawyer and banker, who served as MP for Heytesbury from 1820-26 and Lincolnshire South from 1832-41.

He was described as ‘a tall, stout, good-looking man. He has a jolly, countrified countenance, with a complexion redolent of health. His face is full, and his features are regular and pleasing. His hair is of a light brown, and he sports a pair of whiskers of which any Spanish Don might be proud’.

undated postcard

An early twentieth century view looking northwards from the Handley Monument up the High Street, Sleaford's principal shopping street.

undated postcard

This mill has stood in Craven’s Yard close to Southgate since the late eighteenth century.

It had an associated granary and bakehouse and continued in operation until c.1900.

Jon Sass Collection, illustration c.1798

The ogee cap on Money's Mill is a replica of the timber original.

Location of mill: TF 069 456

Peter Kirk Collection, 1998

Mosque under construction.

Reported by Sleaford Standard that the dome was lifted into place 27 March 2018.

https://www.sleafordstandard.co.uk/news/watch-video-dome-is-lowered-into-place-on-top-of-new-mosque-for-sleaford-1-8433565

Building on the site of an old warehouse. 

DB 24 July 2018 

On 18 December 2013 the BBC reported that

" A redundant toilet block in Lincolnshire is to be converted into a museum.

The Sleaford Museum Trust has received money from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to establish the £104,000 museum, which will tell the story of the town.

It will exhibit artefacts that have been presented to the trust over the years.

The planned museum in Monument Gardens on Southgate is due to open in January 2015.

A trust spokesman said it would give the collection, which had led a "wandering life" since being started in the 1970s, a permanent home.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-25422674

DB 21 June 2017 

"The National Centre for Craft & Design is an arts centre in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, which holds England's largest exhibition space for craft and design.

It comprises space for galleries, teaching, and design workshops for designers in residence"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_National_Centre_for_Craft_%26_Design 

http://nccd.org.uk/ 

DB 20 June 2018

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1889 states :-

"Here is a Catholic school-chapel, erected in 1882, dedicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, and affording 100 sittings.

The erection of a new church, dedicated to Our Lady of Victories, is about to be undertaken"

In fact the new church was dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel and the 1919 Directory reports :-

"The Catholic Church, erected in 1889 at a cost of nearly £1,500 and dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel, is an edifice of brick, with Ancaster stone dressings, in the Gothic style, and will seat 300 people"

DB 23 February 2019

Statue of Our Lady on the south front of the church facing Jermyn Street.

DB 23 February 2019

A foundation stone relating to the present church opened in June 1889.

"This stone was blessed and laid by the Rev Father Hermann Joseph Sabela the Founder of this Mission On Sept 14th 1888"

Another foundation stone, not pictured, relates to the original church and school :-

"This stone was blessed and laid by the Right Rev Edward G. Bagshawe Third Bishop of Nottingham on November 24 1881" 

DB 23 February 2019

A view of the nave looking north towards the sanctuary.

DB 23 February 2019

Nave looking south towards the main entrance.

DB 23 February 2019

Detail of the reredos, behind the altar, dating from 1882 when the church was first opened.

DB 23 February 2019

Portable font dating from 1998.

DB 23 February 2019

The organ has been moved from its original home in the nave and placed by the side of the main altar. 

http://our-lady-of-good-counsel.org.uk/church-history/ 

DB 23 February 2019

"C18. 3 storeys in red brick with pantile roof"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1062123 

DB 24 July 2018

Former Picturedrome Cinema, later known as Sleaford Cinema, which opened in 1920 with 900 seats.

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/18430 

DB 24 July 2018

"Sleaford Playhouse is a Grade II listed Georgian building dating from 1820.

Prior to it being restored and re-opened as a theatre in 2000 it had been used as a benefits office and library.

The Grade II listed Playhouse started life as a theatre and was built for a local printer and actor Joseph Smedley. 

In 1841 the theatre was sold to John Hyde and was later taken over by Jane Hill and William Pidd-Fischer in 1853. 

In 1855, despite attempts to re-open it as a theatre, the building was sold to Thomas Parry who in turn sold the building to the Church of England. 

Through a variety of donations and grants it was converted into the town's first infant school by local builders Parry and William Kirk, at a cost of £1,085"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playhouse_(Sleaford) 

"Former Playhouse. Early C19"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1168678 

DB 20 June 2018 

"A List And Brief Details Of Chapels In The Sleaford Circuit Past And Present" prepared by  Colin Shepherdson & Peter Robinson June 1996 states :-

i) A Society was formed in 1821 and a schoolroom opened in Westgate on the 5.4.1835, with the first chapel being opened on the 8.11.1841. The premises were closed in 1907, with the opening of the new chapel, and are now a pair of houses, 65A & 65B Westgate.

ii) The second chapel, erected along the road towards the town centre and on the same side as the first, was opened on the 11.7.1907. The last service was held on the 5.1.1964 when the Society joined with that at Northgate. The chapel was demolished in the early 1980's and the site, No 53, is now occupied by the telephone exchange. 

DB 20 June 2018

Closer view of the date stone.

DB 20 June 2018

Sleaford Station.

British Rail Class 156 Super Sprinter 156405 ready to depart for Skegness.

"On 21 October 1993, 156405 became the first Sprinter to accrue 1 million miles, whilst working the 10:10 Great Yarmouth to Norwich service"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_156  

DB 24 July 2018 

"Railway station.

Built 1857 for the Boston, Sleaford and Midland Counties Railway, extended 1882 for the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1062114 

DB 21 June 2017 

Map of Sleaford West Junction dispalayed on a plaque at the station.

DB 24 July 2018

A view of the navigable River Slea a short distance to the east of Sleaford town centre.

Houses in Eastgate are seen to the left; the popular walk along the river bank leads to Cogglesford Mill and the first lock on the Navigation below Sleaford.

Undated postcard

This small steel footbridge over the Slea was completed in 2010, shortly before this photograph was taken.

The terminus of the former navigation is 200 metres to the left and The National Centre for Design is close by.

Ken Redmore 2010

A notice displayed at the church stated that

"Riverside church can trace its origin in Sleaford back to 1776 when a group of Sleafordians who wanted to worship God without the constraints of the prayerbook met together in Jermyn Street.

Some years later they constructed their first building which still stands today as flats number 30-32 Jermyn Street. 

This particular building was completed in 1867 by which time the church was known as Sleaford Independent Church.

It later became known as Sleaford Congregational Church and in 1972 Sleaford United Reformed Church. 

In the last few years the building has been extensively upgraded and the new rooms at the front were completed in 2007.

The interior of the building has now been modernised to bring it up to date and make it more available to the community as a whole. 

In 2008 the United Reformed Church in Sleaford amalgamated with Sleaford Community Church to form the Church who now worship here under the name of Riverside Church"

DB 20 June 2018

A notice displayed at the church sated that

"In the last few years the building has been extensively upgraded and the new rooms at the front were completed in 2007.

The interior of the building has now been modernised to bring it up to date and make it more available to the community as a whole. 

DB 20 June 2018

"A Wesleyan Reform Methodist chapel opened in West Banks in 1864, but since 1896 has been occupied by the Salvation Army"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleaford 

DB 20 June 2018

Designed by H E Kendall, the Sessions House was built in 1831.

The building is Gothic in style, with a ground floor arcade of open arches facing the Market Place.  It remained in use as a court until 2008.

The building now houses a club and a restaurant.

Undated postcard

"Sleaford Town were founded in 1968.

They joined the Lincolnshire League, where they were generally successful, being a regular top-ten team.

In 2003, Town announced plans to seek a higher level of football in the United Counties League.

They had their best-ever season in 2003–04, winning the title for the first time in twenty-three years, and gaining promotion to the UCL.

After leaving their previous ground, Sleaford played for three seasons at RAF Cranwell, but despite winning the Division One title in 2005–06, they were not allowed promotion until their new Eslaforde Park ground was ready the following season, and they finished runners-up"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleaford_Town_F.C. 

DB 27 May 2019

The west end of St Denys church adjoins Sleaford Market Place.

The doorway in this west elevation, with three orders of shafts, dates from the late 12th century.

The broach spire, one of the earliest in the country, was rebuilt in 1884.

The church of St Denys has a Decorated nave and north transept, while the chancel and clerestory are Perpendicular in style.

The church is renowned for the beautiful tracery of its windows and for its medieval rood screen, restored in 1918.

The tower dates from about 1180 and the broach spire is one of the earliest in the country - though both were rebuilt after a lightning strike in 1884.

Undated postcard

At the centre of the imposing west front of St Denys Sleaford is the late Norman and Early English tower, which supports a broach spire of circa 1220, one of the oldest in the country, (but rebuilt after a lightning strike of 1884).

The church is renowned for the beautiful flowing tracery of the Decorated windows in the nave and transept.  Clerestory and chancel are 15th century.

The medieval screen carries a Rood dating from 1918 designed by Sir Ninian Comper.

See: National Heritage List for England

Viewed from The National Centre for Craft & Design with Carre's Hospital in the foreground.

DB 29 October 2017

"Decorated font, much repaired"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1062157 

DB 20 June 2018

This monument for Sir Edward Carre (d.1618) and family is close to the south side of the chancel arch.

It was created by Maximilian Colt.

June 2015

The recumbent alabaster effigies of Sir Edward Carre and his wife, sculpted by Maximilian Colt, in the monument by the chancel arch.

June 2015

The heads of Sir Edward Carre and his wife sculpted in alabaster. His head rests on a woven straw mat.

On the panel behind are depictions of death.

June 2015

Modern stained glass window in memory of Yvonne Double in the south aisle.

June 2015

The west bay of the north aisle is separated from the rest of the aisle by a strainer arch, built on the pattern of Wells Cathedral and dating from 1853.

June 2015

First World War memorial.

DB 20 June 2018

This was a Particular Baptist Church built for the congregation of Edward Samuel, a Polish Jew who had converted to Christianity.

Now a piano showroom.

https://sleafordheritage.co.uk/about/locations/the-temple/ 

http://www.wspianos.co.uk/  

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states

"The Baptist chapel, Eastgate, was erected in 1881 at a cost of about £650, and will seat 150"

DB 20 June 2018

"Post 1914.

6 steps to sexagonal stone base with niches with cusped heads containing names of dead and supports 3 statues of warrior kings and a slender shaft terminating in a Rood"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1307053 

DB 20 June 2018

The Chapel in Northgate opened in 1848. It was replaced by a new building on the same site in 1972.

Postcard posted in 1908

"Sleaford is the last remaining market town in Lincolnshire to be served by both north-south and east-west lines"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleaford_railway_station 

DB 20 June 2018

"Early-mid Cl9"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1062136 

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1885 has two references to the White Hart :-

Mehew George, Old White Hart family & commercial hotel, Southgate

Nixon Henry, New White Hart P.H. Southgate

The Sleaford Heritage Trail states the yard at the rear once held the Sleaford wool market and hosted Lincoln Cathedral’s famous bell, Great Tom, for a night on its journey to be installed.

https://sleafordheritage.co.uk/about/locations/the-white-hart/ 

DB 20 June 2018 

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states :-

"Alvey's Endowed & National, Eastgate (boys, girls & infants), was founded under the will of William Alvey esq. dated 26th August, 1726, who bequeathed a freehold estate of 53 acres, at Fishtoft, to the vicar of Sleaford for the time being & six other trustees, upon trust to apply £20 yearly "in teaching the poor children of Sleaford to read, write, sew & knit":

& £8 yearly to the vicar & churchwardens of Balderton upon a like trust for the poor children of Balderton :

the remainder to be divided in the proportion of two-thirds to Sleaford & one third to Balderton:

the income of the charity is now (1918) about £90 yearly; new schools, together with a master's house, were erected in 1851, at a cost of £800, on ground given by the Marquess of Bristol & the present infants' school was built in 1888; the united schools will hold 400 children ; average attendance, 160 boys, 140 girls & 50 infants ; George Colborn Bartlett, master; Miss Mary W. Beavis, mistress; Miss Margaret Waters, infants' mistress"

DB 23 February 2019

School renovated in 2018.

DB 23 February 2019