Holbeach facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Holbeach |
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 Skyline of Holbeach |
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 Holbeach
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| Population | 10,458 (2011) |
| OS grid reference | TF358248 |
| • London | 85 mi (137 km) S |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SPALDING |
| Postcode district | PE12 |
| Dialling code | 01406 |
| Police | Lincolnshire |
| Fire | Lincolnshire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| EU Parliament | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament |
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Holbeach is a market town and civil parish in the South Holland District in Lincolnshire, England. The town lies 8 miles (13 km) from Spalding; 17 miles (27 km) from Boston; 20 miles (32 km) from King's Lynn; 23 miles (37 km) from Peterborough; and 43 miles (69 km) by road from Lincoln. It is on the junction of the A151 and A17.
The Prime Meridian of the world passes through the west of Holbeach and is marked with a millstone at Wignals Gate.
History
A number of Roman and Romano-British pottery finds have been made in and about the town.
The town's market charter was awarded in 1252 to Thomas de Moulton, a local baron. All Saints' Church was built in the 14th century and the porch, which was built around 1700, possibly incorporated parts of de Moulton's ruined castle. The associated All Saints' Hospital, for a warden and fifteen poor persons, was founded by Sir John of Kirton, in 1351. It had ceased to exist before the suppression of chantries and hospitals. The antiquarian William Stukeley reported that his father removed the ruins from the site which is now occupied by the Chequers Inn.
Until the beginning of the 17th century, the sea came to within 2 miles (3.2 km) of the town and there were severe floods recorded in the 13th and 16th centuries. The land drainage programmes that followed moved the coastline of the Wash to 9 miles (14 km) away, leaving Holbeach surrounded by more than 23,000 acres (93 km2) of reclaimed fertile agricultural land.
The Spalding and Norwich Railway, (later incorporated in the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway), opened Holbeach railway station in 1862. Like the rest of the M&GN route it closed to passengers in 1959 (before the Beeching Axe) and the line closed entirely in 1965.
The 19th century also saw the building of several small churches, including a Wesleyan chapel, built on Chapel Street in 1808, and a Baptist chapel, which was built on Albert Street in 1845 using red brick and colourwashed render.
The Second World War defences constructed at nearby Lawyers Creek comprise a number of pillboxes including the rare Ruck machine gun post.
Geography
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The name "Holbeach" also applies to the civil parish of Holbeach. The parish is one of the largest by area in England, and extends from Cambridgeshire to the Wash, measuring 16 miles (26 km) north to south, and about 4 miles (6.4 km) east to west. The total population of the parish is almost 24,000 with approximately 5,000 in Holbeach town. The town has the most inhabitants and services compared to the villages surrounding it which incorporate its name.
Along with the town of Holbeach proper, the name is found in a number of villages in the Lincolnshire Fens: Holbeach Bank, Holbeach Clough, Holbeach Drove, Holbeach Fen, Holbeach Hurn, Holbeach St Johns, Holbeach St Marks and Holbeach St Matthew. This repetition of a name for a collection of close-lying villages is not unknown in the Fens: Gedney, Tydd, and Walpole are other examples.
The drainage of land around Holbeach is now the responsibility of the South Holland Internal Drainage Board, part of the Water Management Alliance, formerly known as the King’s Lynn Consortium of Internal Drainage Boards.
Community
Local public houses are the Horse & Groom, the Mansion House and Chequers Hotel on High Street, the Crown Hotel on West Street and the String of Horses on Boston Road South. The Station Inn, Red Lion, the Exchange and the Black Bull on Fleet Street have closed.
The Royal Air Force maintains a bombing range, known officially as RAF Holbeach, on salt marshland at the coast of Holbeach parish, near the village of Gedney Drove End. north west of Holbeach town centre.
The town is served by the local South Holland radio station Tulip Radio from nearby Spalding.
Economy
Much of the economy has been based on food processing and bulb growing. The United Kingdom's largest supplier of tulip and daffodil bulbs is situated to the north of the town and flour milling continues at Barrington Mill.
Sport
The local football club is Holbeach United, founded in 1929. The team plays in the United Counties League, part of the English football league system, and are known as the Tigers in reference to 'Fen Tigers', 18th-century local people who fought against the destruction of their way of life through the draining of the Fens.
Speedway racing took place at nearby Bell End at Whaplode St Catherine. Details of the events are sketchy and some reports suggest the venue had grass-surfaced straights and dirt-surfaced bends. The venue is known to have operated in the immediate post-war era but closed in 1948.
Education
There are two primary schools in Holbeach – Holbeach Primary School and William Stukeley Church of England Primary School.
The local secondary school on Park Road was called the George Farmer Technology & Language College but, in September 2011, it became the University Academy Holbeach.
Holbeach is the base for a campus of the University of Lincoln, redeveloped in 2004 on the Park Road site of the former Holbeach Agricultural Centre and now known as the National Centre for Food Manufacturing. The campus specialises in food manufacturing technology.
Notable people
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- Norman Angell, Nobel Peace Prize winner, 1933
- Boz Burrell, bass guitarist, King Crimson and Bad Company
- Geoff Capes, shotputter and former World's Strongest Man
- Susanna Centlivre (c. 1667 to 1670 – 1 December 1723), born Susanna Freeman, was actress, and "the most successful female playwright of the eighteenth century"
- Tommy Clay, sports writer, coach and administrator, founder of Holbeach Athletics Club, awarded the BEM for services to sport. (His picture appears, top right, in the Holbeach Mosaic)
- Henry Holbeach (c. 1477 – 2 August 1551), monk and Bishop of Lincoln
- Cyril Lowe MC, DFC, rugby union international, First World War flying ace, and supposedly the inspiration for W. E. Johns' character "Biggles"
- Walter Plowright, veterinary scientist who devoted his career to the eradication of the cattle plague rinderpest
- Christine Russell (née Carr), Labour MP for the City of Chester from 1997 to 2010.
- Stuart Storey, BBC sports commentator
- William Stukeley (1687–1765), antiquarian who pioneered the archaeological investigation of Stonehenge and Avebury, was born in the town
See also
In Spanish: Holbeach para niños
