Coningsby 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

East Lindsey East Lindsey is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Lincolnshire, England. Its council is based in Horncastle and the largest town is Skegness. Other towns include Alford, Lincolnshire, Alford, Burgh le Marsh, Coningsby, L ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England, it is situated on the A153 road, adjoining Tattershall on its western side, north west of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and south west from

Horncastle Horncastle is a market town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, England. It is east of Lincoln. Its population was 6,815 at the 2011 census and estimated at 7,123 in 2019. A section of the ancient Roman walls rema ...

.Home of the world famous Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

Governance

Coningsby is the most populous parish in the

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

of Coningsby and Tattershall. The population of this ward taken at the 2011 Census was 6,943.

Geography

The town takes its name from the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

''konungr'' meaning "King" and the

noun ''by'' meaning "settlement", which gives "settlement of the King". Coningsby is about south of

on the A153 Horncastle to

Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. On the edge of the The Fens, Fenlands, it is north-east of Grantham, west of Boston, Lincolnshire, Boston, and sou ...

road, with the

Lincolnshire Wolds The Lincolnshire Wolds which also includes the Lincolnshire Wolds National Landscape are a range of low hills in the county of Lincolnshire, England which runs roughly parallel with the North Sea coast, from the Humber Estuary just west of the t ...

to the east and the

Fens A fen is a type of wetland. Fen, Fenn, Fens, Fenns, may also refer to: People * Fen (name), a Chinese given name and surname * Fen Cresswell (1915–1966), New Zealand cricketer * Fen McDonald (1891–1915), Australian rules footballer * Ke ...

to the west. The B1192 Kirton to

Woodhall Spa Woodhall Spa is a former spa town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, on the southern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, south-west of Horncastle, Lincolnshire, Horncastle, west of Skegness, east-south-east o ...

road passes through the town. At the town's western end it is separated from the village of Tattershall by the

River Bain The River Bain is a river in Lincolnshire, England, and a tributary of the River Witham. The Bain rises in the Lincolnshire Wolds at Ludford, Lincolnshire, Ludford,J. N. Clarke, (1990), ''The Horncastle and Tattershall Canal'', Oakwood Press, ...

. The Kirkstead and Little Steeping Railway passing through the town opened on 1 July 1913 but closed on 5 July 1970. The former Coningsby railway station has been demolished and nothing remains except for the station master's house. A temperature of , which is the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK, occurred on 19 July 2022 at Coningsby.

Climate

Education

Coningsby St Michael's C of E Primary School
is on School Lane. The secondary school is

Barnes Wallis Academy Barnes Wallis Academy (formerly Gartree Community School) is a coeducational secondary school located in the village of Tattershall in Lincolnshire, England. History In 1950, Woodhall Spa Urban District proposed the idea of a school in Woodhal ...

, th
Gartree Community School
is just outside the Coningsby boundary in Tattershall, near the A153. Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School provides sixth form education to pupils graduating from Gartree and other secondary modern schools. RAF Coningsby Nursery and Kids Club provides childcare for military personnel and the community. The nearest

further education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is additional education to that received at secondary school that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It ...

college is in

. In late March 2008, renovation of the Tattershall/Coningsby Library included a small learning centre provided by

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

Media

Local news and television programmes are provided by

BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, sometimes abbreviated to BBC Yorks & Lincs, is the name for the BBC's twelfth English Region, based in Kingston upon Hull and created from the division of the former BBC North region, based in Leeds (now known ...

and

ITV Yorkshire ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

. Television signals are received from the Belmont TV transmitter,

BBC East Midlands BBC East Midlands is the BBC English Region covering Derbyshire (except High Peak, Chesterfield, North East Derbyshire and the northern areas of the Derbyshire Dales), Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire (except Bassetlaw), Rutland, South Kest ...

and

ITV Central ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee in the English Midlands. It was created following ...

can also be received from the Waltham TV transmitter. Local radio stations are

BBC Radio Lincolnshire BBC Radio Lincolnshire is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the county of Lincolnshire. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios near Newport Ar ...

on 94.9 FM, Greatest Hits Radio Lincolnshire on 102.2 FM, and

Hits Radio Lincolnshire Hits Radio Lincolnshire is an Independent Local Radio station serving Lincolnshire and Newark in Nottinghamshire. The station is owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio Network. The station has rebranded from its o ...

which broadcasts on DAB. ''

Lincolnshire Echo The ''Lincolnshire Echo'' is a weekly British regional newspaper for Lincolnshire, whose first edition was on Tuesday 31 January 1893, and is published every Thursday. It is owned by Reach PLC and it is distributed throughout the county. The ...

'' is the town's local newspaper.

Parish church

Coningsby is overlooked by the tower of its 15th-century

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

, St Michael's, with its one-handed clock face. The face is painted directly onto the wall of the tower and was probably installed in the 17th century. It is in diameter and its hand is nearly long. The driving weights are large stones and its

pendulum A pendulum is a device made of a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate i ...

swings once every two seconds. The pendulum is not attached to the clock but some distance away, linked by a connecting rod. There are three wheels in the timekeeping mechanism, which needs winding once a day. The tower on which the clock face is painted is on the outside of the building. There is an arched passage under the tower which is part of a public footpath from the A153 High Street to the school in School Lane, through the churchyard. There is also a

canonical sundial A tide dial, also known as a mass dial or a scratch dial, is a sundial marked with the canonical hours rather than or in addition to the standard hours of daylight. Such sundials were particularly common between the 7th and 14th centuries in Europ ...

, dating from the 12th century, on the south wall of the church. In 1730, Britain's youngest Poet Laureate, Laurence Eusden who was appointed aged thirty, was buried in the church where he had been Rector. Two decades later another poet,

John Dyer John Dyer (1699 – 15 December 1757) was a painter and Welsh poet who became a priest in the Church of England.Shaw, Thomas B. ''A Complete Manual of English Literature''. Ed. William Smith. New York: Sheldon & Co., 1872. 372. Print. He was m ...

, was appointed as Rector and while living in the village completed his poem "The Fleece". He died there of

consumption Consumption may refer to: * Eating *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically known as consumption * Consumer (food chain), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of n ...

(tuberculosis) in 1757, and was buried without memorial in the church chancel. England international footballer Beaumont Jarrett was curate there from 1878 to 1882.

Amenities

Public houses A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

include the Black Swan, The Castle Inn and the White Bull, are all on High Street, and the Lea Gate Inn on Leagate Road ( B1192).

RAF Coningsby

Half a mile (1 km) to the south of the town is RAF Coningsby, one of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

's most important stations, home of No. 3 Squadron, No. XI Squadron, No. 29 Squadron and No.41 (R) Squadron The airfield houses part of Britain's heritage, the

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) is a Royal Air Force Flight (military unit), flight which provides an aerial display group usually comprising an Avro Lancaster heavy bomber and two fighters, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurr ...

formed in 1957 to commemorate the Royal Air Force's major battle honours, with a

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

, five Spitfires, two

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

and a Dakota. These aircraft still fly and can be seen at air shows during summer, as well as at events of national importance or RAF significance. From 1950 RAF Coningsby was home to three squadrons of Washingtons, the RAF name for the Boeing B-29 Superfortress and for the first 18 months these were maintained by

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

technicians whose conscription was extended to 24 months because of their particular skills.

Economy

Pellcroft Engineering Ltd, in Coningsby, is a company selling agricultural fans.

References

External links

*
Coningsby Town Council

"St Michael & All Angels, Coningsby"

Geograph Geograph Britain and Ireland is a Web application, web-based project, begun in March 2005, to create a freely accessible archive of geographically located photographs of Great Britain and Ireland. Photographs in the Geograph collection are cho ...

.org.uk
"River Bain, Coningsby"
Geograph.org.uk
"Railway Bridge at Coningsby"
Geograph.org.uk {{authority control Towns in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire East Lindsey District River Witham Coningsby