Since 1974 the Society has published numerous informative and well-illustrated books about the history and archaeology of Lincolnshire. Over the same period the former FLARE (which joined with SLHA in 2009) published or promoted an impressive series of monographs on the archaeology of Lincoln. Publications from both organisations are listed below.
Authors are invited to submit completed manuscripts or outlines of appropriate books for consideration by the Society.
SLHA 2023 (published as print-on-demand hard copy and e-book by Kindle Direct Publishing)
152pp paperback 260mm x 210mm
with more than 180 maps, photographs and other illustrations - many in colour
ISBN 978 0 903582 64 3
£15.00 (£18.00 by post UK) from booksales@slha.org.uk
or from Amazon website
Review: Martin Watkinson in 'Lincolnshire Past & Present', No. 131, Spring 2023
This is a fascinating, well-researched and beautifully presented book that will appeal to anyone with an interest in the Lincolnshire landscape.
SLHA 2021
172pp paperback 260mm x 210mm
with more than 110 maps, plans and photographs - many in colour
ISBN 978 0 903582 62 9
£14.95 (£17.95 by post UK)
Stamford's industrial engineering and manufacturing history is usually overlooked. In fact, it is surprisingly varied and, without doubt, important.
Stamford-made products were exported across the UK and beyond by firms such as Martin, Blackstone, Kitson, Hayes, Blashfield, Williamson Cliff and Cutting. These companies employed many local people and put the town on the world map. Many other businesses operated on a smaller scale, making products of importance to the local economy.
This book covers not only these manufacturing firms but also many other aspects of Stamford's industrial scene over the past three centuries, such as transport (railways, waterways and roads); wind- and water-milling; malting and brewing; the town's gas, electricity and water supplies; and printing. It also highlights the many successful local entrepreneurs who were prepared to take risks and market new products.
Neville Birch, who died in 2018, first wrote about Stamford's industrial history in 1972 and then spent over 40 years researching the topic in greater detail, leading to the publication of this book.
SLHA 2017
135pp paperback 260mm x 210mm
with more than 130 maps, plans and photographs - many in colour
ISBN 978 0 903582 57 5
£15.00 (£17.75 by post UK)
On steep western slopes of the Lincolnshire Wolds, between Market Rasen and Caistor, is a large outcrop of ironstone which was mined between 1867 and 1969. Most was dug by underground mining but some was gained by digging away the hillsides. Buildings, railways and tramways also helped to transform the hillsides above Claxby and Nettleton into an industrial landscape.
This book details the history of the development, growth and closure of the mines. It describes the machinery and tells of the miners themselves, the risks they took, how they worked and relaxed. It is a human story of exploration, innovation and hard physical work which has left a legacy to be seen in today's still beautiful landscape.
Stewart Squires has studied the Lincolnshire ironstone mines and examined their sites for more than thirty years. He has led numerous guided visits to the three mines featured in this book and, in conjunction with the Down Your Wold project of the Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service, has talked to dozens of local people who worked in the mines or have memories of them.
This book is dedicated to David N Robinson OBE who died in July 2017. From his wide knowledge of the subject, David generously provided valuable advice and information to the author and undertook to write the foreword for the book. A large proportion of the funding for this publication has been generated from the sales of David's books donated to SLHA in the year preceding his death.
Generous grants towards this publication are also acknowledged from Lincolnshire Wolds Small Grants Scheme and East Midlands Industrial Archaeology Conference.
Review 1: Brian Longbone in Lincolnshire Past & Present, No.111, Spring 2018
Within these pages Stewart Squires has related the formation of Wolds ironstone mining and its steady output of later years, dependent upon the parent company's iron- and steelworks at Scunthorpe.
By the means of maps, plans and layout drawings, the three mines' development is detailed along with appropriate photographic evidence and record; by combining these with the use of a wide range of available documents, from various sources, the author has spent considerable time gathering and adding to the story, to tell as whole a narrative as possible currently. The included map of the national ironstone deposits highlights the position - geographical and economical - of these Wolds deposits within a larger context. The industrial railway associated with the mines is indeed well covered here, which will delight the locomotive fraternity.
Of not the least interest is the author's gathering of local community records reflecting work and social aspects of the Mining Companies and their associated communities, and the utilisation of census material highlights the predominance of former Eastern Counties agricultural workers at Claxby - a process seen later in the Scunthorpe & Frodingham ironstone area, and with echoes in other trades and industries mopping up surplus and low paid rural workers.
External factors which lead from the 1950s to the demise of local mining include the declining global shipping rates on commodities such as ore and coal, instigated by expanding overseas economies. Local mining of much smaller tonnages, coupled with changing practices of making iron, all served to eliminate the minor concerns under discussion here.
Squires does a valiant job promoting the positive case on this Wolds ironstone mining. He concludes with the progress of the community keeping active the memories and lives of Nettleton Mines. As a document of recent industrial practice and employment in the assumed green fields of Lincolnshire, this volume is indispensable to the local and national ironstone mining records.
Review 2: Yusuf Sayed in Lincolnshire Life, April 2018
The foreword to this new book by Stewart Squires was written by former Lincolnshire Life editor and book reviewer, David N Robinson OBE, who sadly passed away last year. In it he confirms that the author's research interest was in fact spurred by an article in this magazine in 1971.
Focusing in the main on the history of the ironstone mines at Claxby and Nettleton (with a final chapter on attempts to mine at Walesby), with textbook clarity Squires pulls together a wealth of archival material - written, diagrammatic, journalistic and photographic - to tell the story of how areas suitable for this type of mining were identified in the county, before being excavated and worked over the years between 1867 and 1969.
With accompanying reproductions of geological particulars, geographical planning maps and personal archival materials, Squires explains the development and the processes of mining in the county in as much detail as the available sources allow him. This covers specialist techniques, such as calcining; structural problems; economic considerations that affected the fortunes of the mines; the changes to the landscape and surrounding communities by the operations; and the influx of incoming workers - as well as the perils faced by them in their daily work.
Tours in recent years show an ongoing interest in this subject, but Squires accepts that many of today's residents will have little idea of the mining that went on. For those who have connections or wishing to get a sense of the makeup of the land that made Lincolnshire a viable spot for such mining, Squires' book will no doubt take its place as the key text on our county's part in this industrial heritage.
SLHA 2017
136pp paperback
ISBN 978 0 903582 56 8
£12.50 (£15.00 by post UK)
In 1086, Boston was a village which was not even given a separate entry in Domesday Book but by the start of the thirteenth century the new town of Boston was one of the leading ports in the country and was the site of one of England's major fairs. It was at the forefront in a time when England's trade grew rapidly. Yet, this crucial period in Boston's history has been neglected by historians.
This new study examines the town's medieval layout, the history of its religious houses, the nature of its regional and overseas trade, the rise of its fair, the role of lordship in the town's success and the structure of its administration. It is aimed not only at readers with an interest in Lincolnshire history but also at scholars and students of medieval economic and social history in general.
Stephen H. Rigby is Emeritus Professor of Medieval Social and Economic History at the University of Manchester. He has published widely on medieval English history, on the towns of medieval Lincolnshire and, in particular on the development of medieval Boston.
Review 1 : James Masschaele (Rutgers University) in Economic History Review 71 2 (2018)
The fortunes of Boston in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries have long intrigued medieval economic historians. A small, non-descript village at the time of the Domesday survey, Boston had become one of England's leading ports and a major entreport for international trade by the start of the thirteenth century.
While historians have long recognized this basic trajectory, they have nonetheless lacked a clear and convincing account of Boston's rise to prominence. Steve Rigby's new book, partly a local history and partly a study of the town's economic development, sets out to assess and explain Boston's growth and commercial success.
The best explanation, according to Rigby, lies in the gradual accumulation of a series of incremental developments, none of which was truly exceptional except in combination with other factors. Investments in infrastructure were part of the dynamic, including improvements to navigation and waterfront facilities that cemented Boston's role as the outport for Lincoln and made it a prime destination for ships from Scandinavia and Germany. The reopening of the Foss Dyke in 1121 also played a role, extending Boston's reach further inland beyond Lincoln.
The town also benefited from the growth and prosperity of Lincolnshire as a whole relative to other parts of the country, particularly the steady expansion of wool production and the emergence of a regular trade with Flemish textile-producing towns. The county's prowess as a wool producer also gave impetus to textile manufacturing, particularly in the county town but also in smaller towns such as Stamford and Grimsby. The transformation of fenland into farmland in Boston's hinterland was another part of the equation, transforming what had formerly been one of the least developed parts of the country into a highly productive agricultural zone.
Perhaps the most important factor behind Boston's precocious development was the great success of its annual fair, which probably originated in 1114. Boston's fair became a major part of the English fair cycle of the period, one of the biggest and most lucrative commercial venues in the country by the end of the twelfth century. By the 1170s, it was consistently generating annual revenues of more than £60, well beyond what a knight could expect to receive from a typical fee at the time.
As Rigby shows, Boston's growth is even more remarkable in light of its political and constitutional development. Apart from a brief and uncertain experiment in 1204, the town acquired formal borough status only in the sixteenth century and thus failed to develop the kinds of governing institutions that emerged in most other successful towns of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Throughout its period of growth, the town lacked formal borough tenure, an independent borough court, elected borough officials, a merchant guild, and all of the other attributes of self-government that are generally viewed as integral parts of urban development. Boston was more a wildly successful manor than an exemplar of traditional urban growth.
Even more remarkably, as Rigby carefully delineates, four separate lordships controlled different parts of the town, begging the question of how investments in infrastructure and facilities could have occurred on such a scale. Rigby notes that a few other towns, most notably Coventry, also flourished under divided lordship and he cautiously suggests that political consolidation was not necessarily a requirement for economic growth. He also tentatively suggests that commercial development was not necessarily dependent on self-government and freedom from external political control, as has often been assumed.
Economic historians have generally shied away from studying the twelfth century on its own terms rather than as a bridge between Domesday Book and the much better documented thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Rigby's new book is thus a welcome addition to the literature, even if Boston's exceptional character limits its usefulness as a model for twelfth-century urbanization in general. It definitely shows the incompleteness and unevenness of the sources for the period and consequently how dependent historians must be on qualitative rather than quantitative sources to tell the story. However, it also shows how a careful sifting of qualitative sources can produce interesting and meaningful results that lead to further questions about an obscure but nonetheless important period of economic change.
Review 2: Neil Wright in Lincolnshire Past & Present No.109, Autumn 2017
Stephen Rigby's new book is essential reading for anyone interested in the origins of Boston and how it rose from, at most, a small hamlet, to a significant place in medieval England. Rigby produced several works in the 1980s on the economic history of medieval Boston and has now made two more contributions to our knowledge of Boston's early history, the first being a 23-page chapter on the economy, society and administration of medieval Boston in a 2012 volume on St Botolph's church and its medieval monuments.
His new book looks in greater depth at the first 150 years of the town's existence. This was a time of urbanisation, with not only growth of existing towns but also the creation of new towns, of which Boston was one of the most successful. It became a major port and one of the great international fairs of England. As is often quoted, a tax in 1204 showed Boston's trade as ranking second only to London in terms of the tax paid by ports on the east and south coasts; adding Lincoln to Boston, the trade of these two linked Witham ports was greater than London's.
Since Pishey Thompson's monumental History of Boston of 1856, some historians have studied medieval Boston but little has been published locally. Rigby draws on a variety of manuscript and printed sources, as well as on the findings of archaeologists, to trace the rise of Boston. He has produced a well-argued account of Boston's early days that clarifies many issues, and he challenges several local myths and legends that have arisen due to the shortage of records before the mid 13th century or to the misreading of some records that do exist. He adds much new information and quotes sources not included in previous histories, such as a reference to Boston in the Arabic geographical encyclopaedia compiled by Muhammad al-Adrisi in Sicily in the early 1150s.
He begins by locating the origin and early growth of the town, explores its early topography, traces the history of the lordships that make up the town, then outlines the trade and communications, the history of the great fair, the role of borough privileges in the growth of the town and then assesses Boston's role in the wider changes in the English economy including the reclamation of fenland and the reopening of the Fossdyke. In discussing the lordships and their role in Boston he adds a fourth player, the soke of St. Mary's abbey, York, which in 1242-3 was said to control a twelfth of the eastern side of the town, to the three seigneurial manors.
The lack of specific records for Boston is in part addressed by comparisons and contrasts with other towns in this period, for example in relation to 'borough' status. Stephen Rigby's account is likely to be the definitive account of Boston's creation for many years to come, as he has taken the evidence as far as it can go and only the discovery of new documents is going to add to what is written in this volume.
Neil R Wright
SLHA 2016
276pp paperback
ISBN 978 0 903582 55 1
£16.50 (£20.00 by post UK)
There was a golden age of theatres and acting in Lincolnshire between 1730 and 1850. This book, the first to cover the topic, tells the hidden story of drama in the county and adjacent towns during the rollicking Georgian era. It shows how theatre flourished and actors made a living in Lincolnshire without needing to go elsewhere. It describes their lives, their successes and failures, the pleasures and hardships of a life on the circuit.
In this period
Lincolnshire and neighbouring counties had more theatres than at any time
before or since. Robertson's main company, one of the largest, was based in
Lincoln and travelled round the county bringing the excitement of live theatre
to local towns as well as Newark, Peterborough and other places close by. Smaller
towns were also visited by other companies. They made a great impact on their
audiences, and the best actors went on to star in London and America.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neil Wright is a long standing member of SLHA and author of many books and articles on aspects of the history of Lincolnshire, including "Lincolnshire Towns and Industry 1700-1914" and editor of the prize-winning "Lincolnshire's Industrial Heritage - A Guide".
Christopher Padley
SLHA 2015
First published in Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, Volume 44, 2009
Reprinted with revisions and additional illustrations
60pp paperback A5
ISBN 978 0 903582 54 4
£5.25 (£7.00 by post UK)
In the late eighteenth century Caistor, like other Lincolnshire towns, needed a canal to link it to a wider world of trade and business. In due course a 4-mile stretch of canal was built eastwards from the Ancholme as far as Moortown, barely halfway to Caistor. For the next 80 years coal and other essential goods were brought in and local produce, especially corn was taken to distant markets.
The line of Caistor Canal can still be traced today and several locks survive (mainly on private land). However, records of the canal's construction and operation are scanty and this account brings together all known sources and adds previously unpublished information.
Chris Padley has had an interest in Caistor Canal for over 50 years. He is a member of the Industrial Archaeology team at SLHA.
Dennis R Mills
SLHA 2015
167pp paperback A4
ISBN 978 0 903582 53 7
£12.50 (£15.35 by post UK)
Cholera threatened Lincoln during the national epidemic of 1848-49. The book reproduces the street by street report by George Giles, an eminent engineer, on the insanitary condition of the city, as well as his state-of-the art sewerage scheme described in both text and maps. A lively debate ensued in the City but at two rowdy public meetings ratepayers succeeded in defeating the adoption of the proposals.
The author places the local story and characters within the wider debates about public health, urban development and changes in sewer technology, and provides biographical notes on the Lincoln men involved.
Dr Dennis Mills (1931-2020) was a highly regarded historical geographer who was educated in Lincoln and was a member of SLHA since its foundation in 1974. He was well known for his accessible books and articles on Lincoln and neighbourhood, including Historic Town Plans of Lincoln, 1610-1920 (edited jointly with Dr Rob Wheeler, published by Lincoln Record Society in 2004).
Review 1: Alan Crosby in 'Industrial Archaeology Review' published by the Association of Industrial Archaeology
During the 1980s, the theme of Victorian public health, sanitation and sanitary reform, long popular in academic research, fell out of favour. Now, though, it is being revisited, and considered from fresh and rewarding perspectives.
The provision of effective sanitation (and of the water supplies with which it was inextricably linked) was arguably the largest single element in the massive financial investment made by local authorities in Victorian Britain, fundamentally re-orientating the wider economic circumstances of local government. It was invariably the subject of heated political debate within councils and communities, as well as at Westminster, and became a powerful bargaining counter in moves to reorganise the geography of local government across the country.
Sanitary provision was also an astonishing feat of engineering and construction, both in terms of the innumerable separate projects of individual authorities and of the immense collective national effort spanning six or seven decades. And, of course, it was central to the major improvement in the health of the nation and its state of well-being which took place from the 185os onwards.
Yet despite the importance of all these themes, historians have largely failed to address their significance or to investigate much of the local experience. As is pointed out in this beautiful and fascinating new case study of Lincoln in the late 184os, most attention has been focused on the great cities, and of well over 1,000 urban communities in mid-Victorian England and Wales only a small minority have seen detailed investigation.
A wealth of material lies unused; and many potentially rewarding local studies are so far unrealised. Furthermore, the provision of effective sanitation is often regarded as an inevitability, the unchallenged conclusion of an inexorable process of improvement. Studies of sanitary reform tend to describe the existing condition of towns, often in lurid terms, and then skate over the lengthy debates, financial complexities and engineering challenges. That many people did not want these changes, bitterly resented the costs involved, and saw little or no reason to make the necessary investment is generally disregarded, or is presented as a reactionary response which was doomed to failure.
In Effluence and Influence, Dennis Mills takes the 1849 Lincoln sanitary reports produced by the consulting engineer George Giles and his colleague Robert Swan, and publishes them in full, accompanied by magnificent reproductions of sections of Giles's full-colour large-scale sewer plans which were the basis of his proposals for a comprehensive sanitary system. These originals are supported by very clear diagrammatic plans, drawn by Dennis Mills, showing the layout of the intended schemes across the whole of the city, with detailed close-ups of particular areas.
The accompanying text explains clearly and comprehensibly the engineering and hydrological rationale for the design, both in terms of flows of liquid and of the technical requirements of sewer design and dimensions. Combined with the plentiful maps and plans, this allows us to understand how a sanitary network was designed for an entire urban community, a uniquely informative exercise.
As Mills notes, the narrative then switches from the technical and engineering aspects to the political and financial. Giles's ambitious proposals were the subject of intense and often acrimonious public and private debate, and were eventually rejected by the combined forces of the small ratepayers of the city. Mills begins his analysis by giving biographies of the dramatis personae, reminding us that in every decision-making process such as this the views of influential individuals - whether the 'movers and shakers' or the bastions of the status quo - were of fundamental importance. He then describes the public meetings at which the pros and cons of the scheme were aired; the press coverage; and the private discussions about the issue.
This section reinforces the argument that, although the plans were impressive in their scope and realistic in engineering terms, there was no guarantee of their acceptability. Then, as now, expensive projects planned by local authorities met with vociferous objection from a certain section of the population. But Mills points out that financial considerations were perhaps not the only reason for rejection: others might include the unusually high percentage of small ratepayers; the longstanding tradition of parochial administration in Lincoln, and the relative weakness of the city council; and resentment at the interference of central government in local affairs via the Public Health Act 1848.
A useful section summarises the experience of other towns and cities, such as Chester, Portsmouth, Brighton and Hastings, emphasising that local circumstances and their variability were a crucial determinant of the nature and pace of change in Victorian Britain.
This is an imaginative and rewarding book, which should inspire research into other places from the perspective of financial, political and engineering considerations, as well as the more familiar mortality statistics and frameworks of legislation. It is also superbly produced, its value being greatly enhanced by many pertinent illustrations and, especially, the outstandingly good maps and plans.
Review 2: Richard Oliver in Sheetlines 105, April 2016, (journal of the Charles Close Society for the Study of the OS)
Dennis Mills' 'Effluence and Influence: Public Health, Sewers and Politics in Lincoln', 1848-50 is strongly commended as an example to be emulated.
Thanks to the work of Brian Harley and others, the public health mapping of the mid-nineteenth century is much better known than it was at the inception of CCS in 1980, but the large scales employed - usually 1:528 - has militated against much of this mapping being issued in any form.
Some of this work was undertaken by the OS, and their 1:528 survey of Warwick was issued in monochrome half-tone at a reduced scale in 1978, which was better than nothing, though not much more can be said.
'Effluence and Influence' is a step forward. In 1848 Lincoln was threatened with cholera; in September 1849 George Giles made a comprehensive report on the sewerage of the city, and prepared plans at both 1:1584 and 1:3168. Reproduced here are the report, and the 1:3168 plan, in A4 sections, with some additional names supplied, and there is a comprehensive account of the report's background.
It may be objected that the map is not entirely original, and owes much to James Sandby Padley's map at the same scale that had been published in 1842 and was reissued in 2004, but Giles betters Padley both by including contours - mostly at 10 feet intervals, which is better than anything OS has offered - and by showing his sewerage scheme, which embraced both existing sewers and new construction.
Similar atlases of towns with OS 1:528 mapping would be welcome.
Review 3: Jamie Margetts, Technical Director, RPS Water, Derby in Lincolnshire Past & Present No.105, Autumn 2016
All Water Companies in the UK are required to map and understand how their urban drainage systems perform. These "Drainage Area Plans" are refreshed every few years to plan future investment strategies to deal with population growth and climate change, and to confirm what impact these will have on the customer through improving flooding or river water quality, and ultimately the bills that they pay.
As a modern day urban drainage engineer, I was amazed at the similarities with the work and challenges we face today and those described in Victorian Lincoln in readiness for its first major sewerage project. There are many parallels and relevant lessons to be learnt from George Giles' work, excellently narrated by Dennis Mills, and Giles' ultimately unsuccessful attempt to drive through such major public health investment.
This well researched book describes in detail the formulation of Lincoln's own first Drainage Area Plan, and the proposals of George Giles, as he and his contemporaries understood and quantified, first the public health benefits of an organised sewerage scheme, and then the technicalities of surface water and domestic drainage, hydrologic and hydraulic processes. The well-articulated benefits of his proposed sewerage scheme, the understanding of deficiencies and negative impacts on the population, and the detailed mapping of a proposed new sewerage system mirror studies completed today, albeit in a very different setting.
The book describes how George Giles developed these extensive proposals without the modern day luxuries of computer modelling, monitoring, detailed mapping and GPS surveying, relying on his own observations and training as a Victorian civil engineer in what was a rapidly advancing and innovative field at the time.
In further parallels to today the book outlines the controversies and challenges in adopting Giles' sewerage proposals, including high costs, disagreements about the benefits delivered, the impact on chargeable rates for the poorest customers, competing priorities for public funding, and differing views across civic and business stakeholders.
The book gives a good feel of the atmosphere at the time, caused by the arguments across the community and classes, and culminating in rowdy public meetings to decide whether to adopt the town-wide scheme. Over 150 years later, we have still not managed to square this circle, with large public infrastructure schemes still causing lively debate and emotion around cost and benefit.
Despite some confusing figure referencing, the author has produced an excellent piece combining the histories of public health, sewerage technical understanding, and the local political conflicts that ultimately mothballed Giles' excellent work. The level of detail in the mapping of the town and its sewer system is second to none for the time, and may still contain nuggets of golden information to help modern drainage engineers.
The contemporary discussion of public health and why sewerage is important is enlightening; particularly to modern day practitioners who, due to the lack of cholera, typhoid and typhus, can be forgiven for occasionally forgetting exactly why they design sewers. Our focus today is on preventing flooding of homes and improving river or bathing water quality; Giles' requirements resulted in a similar solution, but could be considered more pressing in terms of saving lives!
In navigating these different aspects, the author has constructed a narrative that will interest a wide range of readers. The dominant figures of Victorian Lincoln, where they lived and their roles in society at the time are given as much attention as the nuances of egg or oval shaped sewer design that will fascinate any engineer.
The hydrology of surface water runoff and its interaction with Lincoln's underlying geology and river systems will be of interest to today's hydraulic modelling community, but is also presented in a way to make it interesting and understandable to the lay person. This is a key aspect of the book, given the interaction of geographical and socio-economic factors affecting the public health position at the time, and the ultimate reasons for Giles' proposal.
The use of figures, plans and maps throughout brings the book alive, providing not just a local context, but a welcome break from Giles' original technical reports. The author has edited these to make them more readable to today's reader, but maintained the Victorian atmosphere and sense of formality. The detailed, colourful and well explained sewerage mapping with its colour coded sewers and dimensions will interest not only drainage engineers and map historians, but anyone involved in Lincoln's history given the level of information these contain on the layout of the town.
Following the technical proposals, the book outlines the controversies of the day around the attempts to adopt Giles' proposals. The sense of challenge, anger and frustration by those involved comes through adding an exciting narrative to the engineer's straightforward commentary about his proposed works.
Finally, the author also gives a nod to life after Giles' proposals were abandoned, and how ultimately the Victorian desire to deliver long lasting improvements to public health and life expectancy became common place, often at great expense. Maybe there is a lesson here for today's readers and decision makers as we deal with the challenge of needing similar large scale investment and innovation to mitigate our future problems of population growth, ageing infrastructure and, of course, climate change. Hopefully, for the sake of future generations, we make the right choices.
John T Turner
SLHA 2014
119pp
ISBN 978 0 903582 50 6
Paperback A4
£9.95 (£12.80 by post UK; £20.60 by post overseas)
Artur Immanuel Loewental (1879-1964) was a sculptor of rare talent who created medals of eminent people in Austria, Germany and Britain. Well known for his series of World War I German commemorative medals, his other subjects included Beethoven, Einstein and Kreisler.
Moving to Britain in 1934 - he was an Austrian Jew - his modelling skills with various materials continued to be in demand. The medals he sculpted of Kipling and Churchill achieved great acclaim.
For the last twenty years of his life he lived in or near Lincoln and large collections of his work are in either public or private hands in Lincolnshire today.
This study tells the story of a remarkable man and, for the first time, provides a detailed illustrated catalogue of the medals he sculpted.
Professor Michael Chisholm
Review 2: Dawn Heywood and Andrea Martin, County Heritage Service, Lincoln in SLHA Journal 'Lincolnshire History & Archaeology' Volume 49, 2014.
Artur Immanuel Loewental, a talented sculptor of the twentieth century, moved to Britain in 1934 but most people are unaware that he spent the last twenty years of his life in or near Lincoln. John Turner has diligently researched the life and work of this gifted individual and provided us with a comprehensive and detailed study.
The book tells the story of Loewental's life from his early years in Vienna, his desire to work in the arts as a sculptor, and his determination to succeed despite the disruption of two world wars on his career. His reputation was built on his early successes with a series of German commemorative medals during the First World War, but with the rise of Nazi Germany, as an Austrian Jew, he was forced to move to England. Loewental had a contact at the British Museum, the Director Sir George Francis Hill, who helped him achieve British nationality. This enabled him to undertake war work throughout the Second World War, an example of which is his highly acclaimed portrait medal of Sir Winston Churchill.
His main body of work consists of true to life portraits produced as bronze medals or plaques, though he also engraved and sculpted gemstones and minerals, and produced portrait busts.
This study includes a fully illustrated catalogue of all the examples of Loewental's medallic work John Turner has been able to trace outside of Germany and Austria, It is a very interesting and readable account of the life of a Lincolnshire resident who gained an international reputation.
Written by Peter Stevenson, with maps by Ken Redmore
SLHA 2014 (Reprint)
28pp
ISBN 978 0 903582 29 2
Paperback A5
£3.50 (£5.00 by post UK)
Grantham has a rich industrial past - from malting and brewing to machine making and engineering. Richard Hornsby took the name of the town across the world and many other companies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries added to Grantham's prosperity and importance.
Much of the town's industrial past has been swept away by modern development but this street by street guide identifies the many buildings and structures which remain, and brings the reader face to face with Grantham's impressive industrial heritage.
Joyce M Curtis
Edited by Hilary Healey
SLHA 2014
43pp
ISBN 978 0 903582 49 0
Paperback
£7.95 (£9.70 by post UK)
Pinchbeck, a large fenland parish, had an unusual number of mills - no fewer than five survived into the twentieth century. Today there is barely anything to be seen of these important village landmarks, but this well-illustrated study discloses a rich past of mill building in the parish. There are accounts too of the men who invested in windmills and the generations of millers who worked them.
Michael Credland
SLHA, 2014
ISBN 978 0 903582 48 3
A4 Paperback, 258pp
£16.95 (£20.60 by post UK)
The First World War Memorials of Lincolnshire provides a comprehensive gazetteer of the 295 external WW1 memorials in the historic county of Lincolnshire (it excludes memorials and tablets located within buildings). For each War Memorial the author gives the location and a description of the memorial along with its own particular story of how it was designed, funded, erected and unveiled. Each memorial is illustrated, many with historic photographs of the dedication and unveiling. The book includes a comprehensive register of all the names that appear on the memorials including those of the Second World War and later conflicts where these have been added to a Great War memorial. This is the first book to cover comprehensively Lincolnshire's commemoration of the Great War.
Michael Credland is an authority on the First World War and in particular on the role of the Lincolnshire Regiment in the conflict. He has campaigned for the restoration of several Lincolnshire war memorials and he designed the memorial to the Lincolnshire Regiment at Sobraon Barracks, Lincoln, and also a memorial near Loos, France, commemorating the battle for the Hohenzollern Redoubt in which regiments from the East Midlands played a major role. He has studied Lincolnshire's War Memorials for over three decades and brings his research and expertise together in this publication.
Review 1: REVIEW in 'This England' magazine, Winter 2014
Commemorative monuments abound in our land and The First World War Memorials of Lincolnshire by Michael Credland is an excellent illustrated portrayal of what one can find in one corner of the UK.
Review 2: Cathryn Pike, Lincolnshire Remembrance: Memories and Memorials project officer in SLHA Journal 'Lincolnshire History & Archaeology' Volume 49, 2014.
'He is not missing, he is here'. The famous words of Field Marshal Lord Plummer at the unveiling of the Menin Gate at Ypres in 1927 perhaps capture the essence of the war memorial movement that characterised the end of the Great War. It was a war of industrial proportions that had tragic consequences for almost every community in Britain. A million British citizens were killed including approximately 18,000 from Lincolnshire. Communities; both family and friends of the fallen needed a focus for their grief, and a ceremonial object for commemoration and remembrance. As a result communities worked together to raise funds for war memorials.
Today, the war memorial is a familiar part of the landscape in town and village; we walk past them every day with barely a glance or thought and our connections to the people named on the memorials are generations apart. The publication of Michael Credland's gazetteer of the First World War Memorials of Lincolnshire is a timely reminder of the significance of these monuments within our communities.
The book is much more than a gazetteer though; Mike's training as an architect has provided the book with a wealth of information on the architects who designed the monuments, with clear descriptions of each memorial and a section which explains the significance of many of the common designs, both religious and secular. The central gazetteer provides an entry for each outside memorial in the historic county of Lincolnshire. Each entry includes (where the information is available) a description of the memorial, materials used, location, who commissioned the memorial, the cost of the memorial and details of the unveiling ceremony. This section is also enriched by the many fascinating historic photographs and postcards which Mike has collected over many years.
The introductory section also includes very useful background information; on a local level there is a section which explains briefly the role of the Lincolnshire Regiment in the First World War. Mere is also a mention of Lincoln's war-time industry and the significance of the development of the tank. Information has been gathered on the monumental masons who erected many of Lincolnshire's memorials. The book explains that many of the memorials were chosen from existing pattern books rather than being architect designed. Another useful introductory section g provides a 'who's who' of the dignitaries invited to dedicate war memorials. Many of Lincolnshire's high ranking military personnel were frequently called upon to perform this duty as well as the titled and landed gentry.
Mike Credland's passionate dedication to the preservation of war memorials is reflected in the book as a whole which has captured and recorded Lincolnshire's outside memorials. This is underlined in the section which records lost and demolished memorials and his own personal involvement in the reinstatement of the Lincolnshire Yeomanry memorial at the County Hospital. He has also painstakingly organised an index of the casualties who are inscribed on the memorials; including those of the Second World War casualties who have had their names added to the First World War memorials.
Inevitably,
there are a couple of errors and omissions in the memorial
information but this only emphasises the enormity of the task which
Mike has undertaken, and the difficulty of trying to obtain a
consistent picture when you are reliant upon eclectic local sources
of information. Overall, this book is a brilliant resource for those
interested in the aftermath of the Great War period in Lincolnshire.
Whether it is used for specific reference work or to dip into out of
curiosity there is interest on every page.
Aspects of City and County since 1700
S Brook, A Walker and R Wheeler
SLHA 2011
143pp
ISBN 978 0 903582 42 1
Paperback
£4.50 (£8.00 by post UK)
A tribute to Dr Dennis Mills on his 80th birthday. Nine academic colleagues and friends have written contributions (detailed below) which relate to Lincoln and area and cover themes known to be of interest to Dr Mills.
An account of the prominent members of the Sibthorp family of Canwick Hall between the 17th and 19th centuries. Outstanding perhaps is Dr Humphrey Sibthorp (1712-1797) who despite his eccentricity (a family trend), made a name for himself as the Sherardian Professor of Botany at Oxford.
This chapter examines the role of carriers in both rural and urban environments and examines the importance of carriers in their role as a link between the two communities. It also attempts to discover whether Lincolnshire's carriers fit the accepted paradigm of the carrier trade in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
This chapter investigates how the pressures of complex socio-economic and demographic changes affecting Britain impacted upon the number, density and control of alehouses in Kesteven. It also examines how central government legislation of the licensed trade was implemented at local level by the Kesteven bench from 1755 to the passing of the Beer Act in 1830.
A brief outline is given of the factors affecting agricultural change and rural settlement in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as identified by Dennis Mills in 1959. The article then examines the impact of agricultural improvements, funded by loan capital, on dispersal of settlement, illustrated by examples from the Lincoln area.
This chapter examines the encounter between the rural and urban in Lincoln and suggests that, rather than having a romanticised view of the rural, leading townspeople sought to guard against some rustic aspects which regularly threatened their hard-won urban orderliness and control.
This chapter considers the 'production' or interpretation of city space and the development of an urban image for the railway tourist in Victorian Lincoln. It examines the impact of railway tourism from the 1840s, the presentation of the city to visitors and how they consumed the urban space.
This chapter considers aspects of Dennis Mills's work that can assist with histories of the later twentieth century up to the present. Open and close settlements, rural and urban planning, community identity, case studies in Lincolnshire and Devon, and the task of the local historian today, are among the perspectives featuring in this appreciation.
Catherine Wilson with Sue & Alan Stennett
SLHA 2012
64pp
ISBN 978 0 903582 46 9
Paperback
£8.95 (£11.20 by post UK)
The development of Lincolnshire's distinctive farm animal breeds - Lincoln Longwool sheep, Lincoln Red cattle, Lincolnshire Curly Coat pigs, Lincolnshire Buff poultry and the Shire horse - are traced from the earliest times to the present day. In the years around 1900 all the county's livestock breeds were recognised nationally for their quality and were being sold in quantity to markets around the world.
This well researched and superbly illustrated book also shows how, from a low point in the 1960s and 1970s, work by a few dedicated individuals, enlightened marketing and better promotion through shows and breed societies have ensured that there is a future for these special animals.
Review in Heavy Horse World, Winter 2012
The Shire breed merits its own chapter in a new book focusing on the farm livestock of Lincolnshire.
The book was launched at Heckington Show and has been published by the Society for Lincolnshire History & Archaeology and the Heckington & District Agricultural Society. With a foreword by farmer and broadcaster Adam Henson and written by a former director of the Museum of Lincolnshire Life, Catherine Wilson OBE (with Sue and Alan Stennett) its aim is to celebrate the very considerable part played by the county in the development of nearly all types of farm livestock.
All over the British Isles there are local breeds of domesticated livestock, says Catherine Wilson, such as the 'Suffolk Trinity' of the Suffolk Punch horse, Red Poll cattle and Suffolk sheep. "But Lincolnshire can do better than that," she adds. "Lincolnshire is the only county in the country to have its own native breeds of sheep, cattle, pigs and poultry, and to be able to claim a large part in the development of the best-known heavy horse, the Shire".
Whole books have been devoted to the story of individual livestock breeds, but there is no summary of the history of the Lincolnshire breeds together - this book aims to fill the gap. Catherine Wilson, a great supporter of heavy horses and a regular visitor to the National Shire Horse Show, explores the historical background of the development of the Lincolnshire breeds before devoting chapters to the Lincoln Longwool sheep, Lincoln Red cattle, Lincolnshire Curly Coat pigs, Lincolnshire Buff poultry, and the Shire horse.
Beautifully written and well-illustrated with colour and black and white photographs, the 64-page book would be of great interest not just to Lincolnshire farmers and country folk, but to devotees everywhere of the history of farm livestock and of course the Shire.
SLHA 2011
136pp
ISBN 978 0 903582 44 5
Paperback
£9.95 (£12.70 by post UK)
This book, with its well-researched contributions from a variety of authors, traces the story of people, past and present, who have helped to make Lincolnshire the premier potato county.
From soil types through machinery development to storage and marketing the book describes the story of the innovation, enterprise and sheer hard work that went into growing potatoes from the mid-nineteenth century and which continues to the present day.
There are over 150 illustrations, mostly in colour.
This edited account provides an informative critique of potato production in Lincolnshire, a county which was historically famed for growing the most and best main crops. The wide-ranging account covers not only the history of the potato and the Lincolnshire dialect, but also the transformation of almost all aspects potato-growing, from planting to harvesting and storage, as well as the marketing, processing and retailing of potatoes in a multitude of guises.
The text, a significant part of which has been written by the editors, is complemented by pertinent contributions from leading experts in the historical development of the county and those with specialist knowledge of particular aspects of potato production.
Dennis Mills provides a historical evaluation of the 'Great Potato Boom', when new varieties were developed while, for example, Peter Dewey's 'Mechanisation and Lincolnshire Manufacturers' gives a detailed critique of the contribution of local machinery companies to transforming production.
Abigail Hunt's chapter offers an excellent insight into the mobilisation of different sources of labour to harvest the crop, and Stewart Squires provides an illuminating account of the role which Lincolnshire played in the popularising of fish and chips. The final chapter contains an extensive list of recipes illustrating various ways of cooking potatoes.
There is considerable variability and inconsistency between the different chapters, not only in terms of their length but also quality of the analysis. Some concentrate on reviewing particular aspects of the story, with a limited focus, and few references to the sources are used. There are also a small number of factual errors.
It would be inappropriate to judge the quality of the text by strictly academic conventions. Instead, evaluating it in terms of its relevance and appeal to a more general audience reveals its considerable merits. A multitude of interesting and relevant issues are covered in relation to virtually all aspects of the potato in Lincolnshire.
There is an impressive collection of photographs, diagrams and illustrations and the book provides a perceptive critique which will appeal to those interested in the history of Britain's most important source of food, as well as those interested in the history of Lincolnshire.
Winner of National Award
Association for Industrial Archaeology: Best Occasional Publication 2009
Stewart Squires and Ken Hollamby
Lincoln Record Society & SLHA 2009
151pp
ISBN 978 0 9015038 62
Large format hardback
£30.00 (£37.00 by post UK)
High quality photographs taken by the engineer working on this railway line's construction in the 1890s are juxtaposed with colour photographs from the same viewpoints today.
Expert text and other material related to the construction of the line contribute to an exceptionally vivid and informative book.
See review in The Railway Magazine, Book of the Month, April 2010
Review by Joe Greaves (on Amazon website, 10.10.09)
The new benchmark for railway books, and much more.
Many railway books these days are little more than a collection of black and white photographs with spartan captions, no index and relatively cheap production. They fulfil their purpose but you don't buy them to read, merely to look at the pictures occasionally and put away on the shelf again.
'Building a Railway - Bourne to Saxby' is different. I can imagine some people being put off by the price, after all, you could buy several books for the cover price of this one, but I guarantee you it is worth every penny. It is a magnificent, sumptuous work. This is not just a railway book in the conventional sense either. The photographs were taken by Charles Stansfield Wilson, a keen amateur photographer and the Resident Engineer responsible for the construction of the railway line from Bourne in Lincolnshire to Saxby Junction in Leicestershire during 1890 - 1893.
Fearing that they had started to deteriorate and keen to see them preserved and brought to a wider audience, with great foresight, the husband of his great-granddaughter offered the family collection of photographs to the Lincoln Record Society (LRS) in 2007.
Their initial idea was to produce a booklet using them, but it became clear that the subject matter, the construction of a railway line in the late Victorian era, was so rare that they deserved much more.
The LRS and The Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology decided that a large hardback book was a much more suitable way to present this material, and the result is one of the finest railway books, in fact finest books I have ever seen.
It is beautifully made, laid out in such a way that each photograph has the space it needs to be properly appreciated and with detailed descriptions interpreting what is actually shown in the pictures. Each of the photographs, around the size of an A5 sheet, is accompanied by a colour photo taken in 2008 or 2009 of the same location, along with maps and original drawings from the construction work. There is also a comprehensive nine page index. How many railway books have that?
The photographs are of national historical importance as there were very few taken of any railway construction in the Victorian period. Only those of Frank Sutcliffe of Whitby, recording the line from Whitby to Loftus in 1875 - 81, and S W A Newton on the Great Central Main Line from 1894, both professional photographers, are comparable.
The authors spent months painstakingly identifying the location of each photo along the 16 mile route and it is fascinating to see how much of what was there in 1890-93 has survived. Even a specific tree in one picture, although amazingly it was blown down in a gale just a few weeks after they took the modern photograph of it.
The latter part of the book is a completely re-set and re-printed version of John Rhodes' 52 page A5 sized 1989 paperback book 'Bourne to Saxby' (ISBN 0-948017-07-4) which gives the history of this part of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway from the construction until it closed in 1959.
But this is not just a book for railway enthusiasts, in fact there are hardly any locomotives to be seen (just the Manning Wardle 0-4-0s used by the contractor).
For M&GN enthusiasts, here is a book with over 70 photographs you have certainly never seen before, and from the dawn of the line. There is even a picture of all the Midland and the Great Northern directors at Saxby Station during their inspection visit in April 1893. This was the section of line that finally connected the M&GN to the 'outside world' and opened the way for the famous 'Leicesters' and the exploitation by the company of the holiday potential of the Norfolk coast.
Any other enthusiast of Victorian railways will also find it fascinating, especially those who prefer the infrastructure to the 10,000th picture of '4472 at Grantham' (and yes, I know 4472 isn't a Victorian loco!)
For family historians, the construction work was being undertaken during the 1891 Census, so you may be able to spot a relative in one of the pictures (unlikely, I'll admit, but possible) and I believe there may be more to come from the authors on this subject in future. Have a day out this weekend and see the bridge your great-grandfather built.
For students of photographic history, here is the best, in fact possibly only, collection of amateur photographs (remember Mr Wilson was a full time engineer but only an amateur photographer) of a railway being built in England during the Victorian era.
And for people who appreciate a beautifully produced book, I cannot recommend this volume too highly. My only fear is that relatively few will discover it before it goes out of print.
If a better railway book is produced this year, I will be amazed. As I said in my title to this review, this is the new benchmark for the genre. I would advise that you buy yours now while you have the opportunity.
SLHA 2009
49pp
978 0 903582 37 7
Paperback
Now reduced to £5.95 (£7.45 by post)
About the bridge that gave the village its name and also about the settlement and port that grew up next to the bridge, the main road and railway that linked Norfolk to the lands to the west, the surprisingly short-lived dock, and the long-vanished RAF base in Wingland.
An enlarged and revised edition - now extensively illustrated - of the earlier publication
SLHA and Cantoris Records 2009
5051078 915227
CD (61m 41s)
Now reduced to £4.95 (£6.85 by post)
A re-issue of recordings, originally on 3 LPs, produced by the Lincolnshire Association in collaboration with the Tennyson Society in 1969. The sound had been remastered digitally. A FULL TRANSCRIPT of the poems is included.
Review by Ray Carroll for Lincolnshire Past & Present, 2009-10
The disc produced by SLHA is a welcome reissue of recordings by noted readers of the county's dialect poetry made 40 years ago and long unavailable.
It is doubly valuable as it conserves knowledge of how Lincolnshire natives spoke in times past. The poems are, of course, masterly of their type: they were all written in the last years of Tennyson's life long after he left the county; but he clearly had an enormous recall of his native speech and its rhythms, used here to great humorous effect.
SLHA 2008
63pp
978 0 903582 33 9
Paperback
Now further reduced to £4.95 (£7.20 by post)
Examines all known papermaking sites in Lincolnshire and comments in detail on the families of papermakers. Includes site plans, photographs, watermarks and other documents not previously published.
This is a first-class piece of research. It has taken the author many years of digging in archives, touring the various sites where papermaking took place, studying old maps and delving into family histories.
The standard histories of papermaking spread a wide net over the early origins of the creation of material suitable to take pen and ink and, much later, type and illustrations. Such volumes take a world view that ranges from the Egyptian papyrus and Chinese use of bamboo to the first European factory in Italy in the thirteenth century and the first in England (Hertfordshire, 1495). Such matters are touched on here by way of introduction but the focus is strongly on the local. A long-term resident in Tealby, the author became interested in the village's paper-making facilities sited on the stream by Papermill Lane. Being in a hilly area with ample supplies of clear running water and access to rags from which handmade paper was made, it became a centre that eventually had three mills in operation. Mr Nott first looks at these mills and has dug out many fascinating details of their origins, working methods and the families associated with them, the latter having a long section of their own.
He then provides similar details of the sites and associated families in Leasingham, West Deeping, Barrow-on-Humber, Louth and Houghton Mill, near Grantham. The earliest reference is to "a paperman" living at Evedon, near Sleaford, in 1617. Each chapter also has its complement of site maps, photographs of any remains, old engravings, documents and family portraits. Well produced on good paper, another facet of the county's industrial history is admirably covered.
2. Review by David Robinson, Lincolnshire Life, 2008
The earliest record of a paper mill in Lincolnshire was at Leasingham in 1617. The main requirement was a river with enough energy to power a watermill to pulp rags that were the papermakers' raw material. This book incorporates new research identifying seven other sites - three at Tealby (where the author lives and his interest started), and at Louth, Houghton in Grantham, Barrow on Humber and West Deeping. He visited each to trace what remains of the mills and drying sheds; some have completely disappeared but mill buildings remain at Louth and West Deeping.
There is information on the people who worked the low-tech hand-made paper producing mills and how the busineses were run. Even watermarks have been found, which show that good quality white paper was made for printing and writing. Today we take paper for granted but in the seventeenth century it was a rare and expensive commodity.
A section describes the method of papermaking, first developed in China nearly two thousand years ago, and another on the working of the paper mill. Evidence for those in Lincolnshire includes documents from archives not previously published, site plans, watermarks and photographs to demonstrate the extent of the industry in the county. From the 1830s competition from mechanised steam-powered mills elsewhere overwhelmed local producers, some of which converted to corn mills, and the last paper mill to close was at Houghton in 1890.
Lincolnshire Folk Remember the War
Linda Crust
SLHA 2008
72pp
ISBN 978 0 903582 31 5
Paperback
Now reduced to £5.95 (£8.20 by post)
The distillation of a countywide oral history recording project which contains lively personal accounts of daily life among rural families in Lincolnshire under the extraordinary circumstances of rationing, blackout and compulsory war service.
Review by Ray Carroll for Lincolnshire Past & Present, 2008
The result of a project undertaken by several members of the SLHA, this book brings vividly before us memories of the war at home in the county. Twenty contributors have given their accounts of what impinged most in their youth when faced with bombing, rationing and all sorts of other shortages and deprivations.
Mrs Crust has skilfully woven all these differing voices into sequences, the topics covering|: the start of the war, local activities (airfields, PoWs, bombing), the effects of evacuation, the arrival of WAAFs and Land Army women, ARP, Home Guard units, fire watching and much more.
A short final section concentrates on good times that also kept breaking through. It is all very readable though leaving in the family history in some people's memories may puzzle readers.
SLHA 2013 (reprint of 1992 edition)
80pp
ISBN 978 0 903582 28 5,
Paperback £8.95 (£11.75 by post UK
SLHA 2008 (reprint of 1992 edition)
56pp
ISBN 978 0 903582 35 3
Paperback £6.75 (£9.00 by post UK)
Detailed examination of Bayons Manor, Tealby, home of the Tennyson D'Eyncourts. Over 50 illustrations, including photographs, drawings and plans, together with an historical survey and contemporary correspondence.
SLHA
2009 (reprint of 1990)
84pp
ISBN 978 0 903582 36 0
Paperback £9.95 (£12.25 by post UK)
Special offer: both Country Houses & Familes volumes for £16.95 (£20.50 by post UK)
Houses include Dunton Hall (Tydd St Mary), Edlington Hall, Lobthorpe Hall, Kettleby House, Kyme Tower, Eresby, Cranwell Hall, Sapperton, Scrivelsby Court, Langton Hall, Aswardby Park, Harpswell, Aisthorpe Hall, South Thoresby, Boothby Pagnell, Halstead Hall, Irnham Hall, Sempringham, Knaith, Stainfield Hall, Cammeringham Manor, Reasby Hall, Torksey Castle, South Kelsey Hall, Glentworth Hall, Snarford, Thorpe Hall, Fenton Hall, Bassingthorpe Manor, Ashby Hall (Ashby de la Launde), Marston Hall, Osgodby Hall.
With many illustrations.
SLHA
2008 (reprint of 1991)
118pp
ISBN 978 0 903582 34 6
Paperback
Now reduced to £9.95 (£12.75 by post)
Special offer: both Country Houses & Familes volumes for £16.95 (£20.50 by post UK)
Houses include Hougham Manor, Doddington Hall, Aubourn Hall, Horkstow Hall, Red Hall (Bourne), Dowsby Hall, Billingborough Hall, Scawby Hall, Brumby Hall, Thorganby Hall, Brocklesby Hall (and the Pelhams), Grimblethorpe Hall, Coleby Hall, Bloxholm Hall, Hagworthingham Old Hall, Hainton Hall (and the Heneages), Kelstern Hall, Folkingham Manor and Nocton Hall.
With many pedigrees and over 100 illustrations.
SLHA
2007
267 pp
ISBN 978 0 903582 27 8
Paperback
Now reduced to £9.95 (£13.50 by post)
TEMPORARY SALE PRICE (Until 31 December 2018) £5.50 (£9.05 by post UK)
A wide range of essays and articles on historical, geographical and wildlife themes, most with a particular Lincolnshire connotation, reflecting the breadth of David Robinson's interests.
Review by Robin Brumby, Taunton (Mayor of Louth, 1970-71), 2008
My reaction when asked to review this book was delight, knowing David Robinson and his multifarious involvements with Lincolnshire life; I anticipated many insights about the county where I spent my youth. Anticipated delight became actual when the book arrived. A first look showed that I knew many of the contributors and the list of contents made clear that here was something for everyone. The most striking tribute to David Robinson is that everything is for him. That is the thread that links the articles together. As the editors say: 'This is not a disparate selection, but an acknowledgement of the wide diversity of David's interests and expertise: most of all they represent his passion for All Things Lincolnshire'. And what a well-chosen title! All here is about Lincolnshire and the whole of Lincolnshire is here; and, if that second claim is somewhat bold, that is surely forgivable.
Delight also in the physical appearance of the book, good both to view and to handle. The typeface is clear and it is well illustrated with photographs, cartoons, pen and ink drawings, diagrams; and I know exactly where the cover painting was made! Unfortunately, pages 171-8 are printed upside down and in reverse order in my copy. Is mine the only rogue copy? Besides the foreword, lists of contributors and subscribers and editorial notes there is a list of David's own publications.
The contents form two groups - Reflections and Studies. There are 12 of the former which in general provide memories of David and Joyce Robinson but include one poem, one article on Lincolnshire humour, one on Brian Ansell and a carving for Louth Museum, and one by Joyce Robinson.
The 29 Studies take up 230 pages and form the major group of articles on the county past and present. The worth of the book stands on the quality of these - and triumphantly stands. They vary markedly in length. While six pages are average Linwood Warren: a journey of discovery by Catherine and Peter Wilson takes 30 pages in a detailed exploration of the historical and natural history of this site.
The range of topics is wide: local history, archaeology, geology, landscape and spires, county personalities across the ages, wildlife and The setting of Horncastle College by David himself - and more. Something for everyone's interests and, for me in particular, articles by Ray Carroll on John Speed's map of Lincoln, Brian Dawson's entitled Two songs and a singing game and Roger Norburn's Jean Ingelow and her poetry. I am sure other readers will find their own favourites.
I end unashamedly with two studies where I have personal links with the material and again, I am sure, other readers will have this experience with some articles. The members of Parliament for Louth by Lord Norton brought back memories of my active part in Labour campaigns, particularly the 1966 election when I was Labour candidate. His account is thorough and interesting in recounting the ebb and flow of support for the major parties since 1885 and the mini biographies of the MPs themselves, weighted to those since 1945. I thought Mrs Wintringham warranted more attention as only the second woman to sit in the House of Commons and thus a more significant figure than the later Tory knights to whom Lord Norton devotes space.
Roger Evans in Grasby in 1873 writes of Charles Turner, Vicar of the village and an incident in which my antecedents could have among the "scoffing rabble". Roger Evans writes attractively and authoritatively about the event and the issues behind the uproar and suggests links between the happenings and two of the vicar's sonnets. There are vivid contemporary illustrations. This study is an example of the high quality of the book.
I can recommend this wide-ranging and worthy tribute to Lincolnshire's own Renaissance man to all interested in all things Lincolnshire. The irony is that probably the only person capable of adequately reviewing such varied riches is David Robinson himself!
SLHA 2005
72pp
ISBN 0 903582 22 8
Paperback
Now reduced to £2.95 (£5.00 by post)
Contains chapters on the history and development of Lincolnshire roads, canals, railways, bridges, ports and vehicle manufacture.
2004
86pp
ISBN 0 903582 21 X
Paperback
Now reduced to £5.00 (£7.00 by post)
A detailed study of the Castle, with contributions on the early castle, early topography, archaeology, architecture, medieval defences, the Castle's occupants. Many photographs and drawings.
Winner of National Award
Association for Industrial Archaeology: Best Occasional Publication 2004
Neil Wright
SLHA
2004
A5
105pp
c200 photographs
ISBN 0 903582 20 1
Paperback £4.50 (£6.50 by post UK)
A comprehensive guide to the county's mills, railways, canals, bridges, factories and other important industrial remains. Over 400 entries - descriptive and historical information plus scores of photographs - arranged in a pocket-sized book.
2000
76pp
139 figs & Illustrations
ISBN 0 903582 16 3
Paperback £4.95 (£7.00 by post UK)
During WWI Lincoln became one of the largest aircraft production centres in the world. This book, with the aid of many previously unpublished photographs, describes the work of four city engineering firms.
SLHA
1998
106pp + maps & photos;
ISBN 0903582 11 2
A4, card covers, £4.95 (£7.50 by post UK)
A collection of articles illustrating the variety of air photo information already available about Lincolnshire - and how this relates to other archaeological techniques.
SLHA
1994
62pp
30 figs (10 plates)
ISBN 0 903582 03 1
A4
Card covers £2.00 (£4.00 by post UK)
An account of a ditch complex containing coarse pottery, a brooch and clay sling shots; also a C4 Romanised stone building and an enigmatic timber structure.
SLHA
1989
92pp
25 figs or plates
ISBN 0 904680 96 3
Paperback £2.95 (£5.70 by post UK)
Essays based on lectures about the lives and works of Edward Trollope, A R Maddison, T Langley, W O Massingberd, R W Goulding, C W Foster, Sir F Stenton, Sir F Hill, E Peacock, A Stark, Sir A Welby.
1983
25pp
ISBN 0 904680 21 5
Paperback 50p (£2.60 by post UK)
Pre-eminent in this local family was Robert Carr Brackenbury, leading 18th Century Methodist who built the oldest surviving Lincolnshire chapel over his stable at Raithby by Spilsby.
1993
156 pages
ISBN 0951498770
£10.00 (£12.10 by post UK)
1996
215pp
ISBN 1899641009
£5.00 (£8.50 by post UK)
Report on vertebrate remains from various sites in the City of Lincoln
1977
60pp
A4
Paperback
No ISBN
Now reduced to £1.00 (£3.10 by post)
1977
42pp
A4
Paperback
No ISBN
Now reduced to £1.00 (£3.10 by post)
1977
54pp
A4
Paperback
No ISBN
Now reduced to £1.00 (£3.10 by post)
£2.50 (£4.50 by post UK)
An educational introduction to the City's history and archaeology, with suggestions for activities designed to help children grasp essential concepts. Published 2000. 92 pages.
