Market Rasen ( ) is a town and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

within the

West Lindsey West Lindsey is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England. Its council is based in Gainsborough. History The district was formed on 1 April 1974, from the urban districts of Gainsborough, Market Rasen, along with Caistor Rural Dis ...

district of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, England. The

River Rase The River Rase is 16 mile (25 km) long tributary of the River Ancholme that flows through Lincolnshire, in the east of England. Course The source of the river is a series of springs known as Churn Water Heads, that occur on Bully Hill no ...

runs through it east to west, approximately north-east from Lincoln, east from Gainsborough, 14 miles (23 km) west of Louth and south-west from

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of L ...

. It lies on the main road between Lincoln and

, the A46 and is famous for its racecourse. In 2001 the town had a population of 3,200. In the 2011 census the population of the civil parish was 3,904.

History

The place-name 'Market Rasen' is first attested in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086, where it appears as ''Rase'', ''Rasa'' and ''Resne''. The name derives from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

''ræsn'' meaning 'plank', and is thought to refer to a plank bridge. The river name ' Rase' is a back-formation. Originally "Rasen", as it is known locally, was called "East Rasen", "Rasen Parva" or "Little Rasen".

In the 19th century the touring theatrical companies performed in theatres in the town. David Grose opened 'a very neat and comfortable theatre' in 1834. In May 1844 the Giffords performed in the town. Market Rasen's community fire and police station opened December 2005.

Geography

The town centre has a homogeneous 19th-century redbrick appearance of mainly Georgian and

Victorian architecture Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian w ...

, centred on a market place with a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

church, restored in the 19th century. The River Rase flows through the town and is crossed by Jameson Bridge, Caistor Road Bridge and Crane Bridge. In 2011 it was one of the towns chosen for the Portas Review of small-town retailing business.

Education

Market Rasen's

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

De Aston School De Aston School is a mixed secondary school with academy status in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, England. It also has a sixth form but no longer has a boarding house as of 2020, following the country's decision to leave the European Union, due ...

, a co-educational 11-18 former

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is re ...

now an academy member with approximately 1,300 pupils, including day pupils and formerly boarders. It was founded in 1863 as a small

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

as part of a legal settlement following a court case involving funds from the medieval charity of Thomas de Aston, a 13th-century monk. Within the Market Rasen area are Market Rasen

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

School, Middle Rasen School and Pre-school and schools at Osgodby, Faldingworth and Legsby. Market Rasen Church of England Primary School is the biggest school in the area and is near to the centre of the town: it was built in the 1930s and was a secondary school until 1974, when the primary school moved to the site. Middle Rasen School is within of Market Rasen town centre. The independent Middle Rasen Nursery is situated on the site of the school, and provides progression to full-time education.

February 2008 earthquake

On 27 February 2008 a significant earthquake had its epicentre approximately north-west from Market Rasen, near the neighbouring parish of Middle Rasen. The earthquake, which according to the British Geological Survey measured 5.2 on the

Richter Scale The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...

, struck at a depth of Seismic Alert: Market Rasen
,

British Geological Survey The British Geological Survey (BGS) is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. The BGS hea ...

, 27 February 2008 and was felt across much of the UK from

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to ...

, and as far away as Bangor in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

and

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The 10-second quake was the largest recorded example in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

since the 1984 Llŷn Peninsula earthquake struck

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, ...

, measuring 5.4. There were no recorded local injuries and only one recorded injury elsewhere in the UK, in South Yorkshire, when a chimney was dislodged from a house roof, falling down through the house's roof and landing on the male resident, who was in bed at the time, causing a broken pelvis.

Community

Market days are Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. On each Tuesday there is an

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition e ...

of goods and produce, and on the first Tuesday of every month, a

farmers' market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or o ...

. Every Friday the Women's Institute holds a country market. The town newspaper is the weekly ''

Market Rasen Mail ''Market Rasen Mail'' is a weekly newspaper which serves Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, England and the surrounding area. According to data from analysts JICREG, weekly circulation of ''Market Rasen Mail'' was 4,097 between January and June 2009, ...

'', which was founded in 1856. It is published by

Johnston Press Johnston Press plc was a multimedia company founded in Falkirk, Scotland, in 1767. Its flagship titles included UK-national newspaper the '' i'', ''The Scotsman'', the ''Yorkshire Post'', the ''Falkirk Herald'', and Belfast's ''The News Letter ...

People

* The evangelist Ann Carr was born here in 1783 *

Bernie Taupin Bernard John Taupin (born 22 May 1950) is an English songwriter, singer and visual artist. He is best known for his long-term collaboration with musician Elton John, a songwriting partnership that is one of the most successful in history. Tau ...

, lyricist and long-term collaborator with Elton John spent his teenage years here *

Philip Oakes Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

journalist, author and poet died here in 2005 * Tim Bradford, illustrator and author grew up here, his childhood memoir Small Town England: And How I Survived It set between 1978 and 1983 was published by Ebury Press in 2010 *

Jim Broadbent James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. He won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his supporting role as John Bayley in the feature film '' Iris'' (2001), as well as winning a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe for ...

, actor grew up in nearby Holton cum Beckering * Rod Temperton, hit songwriter for Michael Jackson was at school here * Philippa Lowthorpe, television director was at school here * Gordon White, co-founder of Hanson plc grew up here *

Simon Marsden Sir Simon Neville Llewelyn Marsden, 4th Baronet (1 December 1948 – 22 January 2012) was an English photographer and author. He is known best for his uncommon black-and-white photographs of allegedly haunted houses and places throughout Europe ...

, photographer & baronet lived in the Lincolnshire Wolds nearby * Roger Scruton, philosopher born in nearby Buslingthorpe *

References

External links

* {{authority control Towns in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire Market towns in Lincolnshire West Lindsey District