Flaxborough is a fictitious town in

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 ...

, created by author and local journalist Colin Watson as the background for a series of comical detective novels (''The Flaxborough Chronicles'') featuring Detective Inspector Walter Purbright. Flaxborough cannot be precisely identified with any real town from the texts. It is a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

, with a borough police force and Chief Constable, a yacht club, and docks. It is often identified with

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 ...

. But it also had a cathedral, suggesting identification with Lincoln itself - although Lincoln, or rather Lincoln Jail, is explicitly mentioned too. The descriptions of the townscape, and in particular Lucilla Teatime's antiques business or charity offices, most closely resemble

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia ** Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

. In the BBC television adaptation ''Murder Most English'', most locations were filmed in Spalding.

''The Flaxborough Chronicles''

*''Coffin, Scarcely Used'' (1958) *''Bump in the Night'' (1960) *''Hopjoy Was Here'' (1962) *''Lonelyheart 4122'' (1967) *''Charity Ends at Home'' (1968) *''The Flaxborough Crab'' (1969) - U.S: ''Just What the Doctor Ordered'' *''Broomsticks over Flaxborough'' (1972) - U.S: ''Kissing Covens'' *''The Naked Nuns'' (1975) - U.S: ''Six Nuns and a Shotgun'' *''One Man's Meat'' (1977) - U.S: ''It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog'' *''Blue Murder'' (1979) *''Plaster Sinners'' (1980) *''Whatever's Been Going on at Mumblesby?'' (1982)

TV Adaptation

Four of the books were adapted for television in 1977, and starred Anton Rodgers as Detective Inspector Purbright and

Christopher Timothy Christopher Timothy (born 14 October 1940) is a British actor and narrator. He is known for his roles as James Herriot in '' All Creatures Great and Small'', Mac McGuire in the BBC One daytime soap opera '' Doctors'' and Ted Murray in the BBC ...

as his Detective Sergeant, Sydney Love. The four books adapted were ''Hopjoy Was Here'', ''Lonelyheart 4122'', ''The Flaxborough Crab'' and ''Coffin, Scarcely Used''. The series was dramatised by Richard Harris, produced by Martin Lisemore and directed by Ronald Wilson.

References

{{reflist Fictional populated places in England Lincolnshire in fiction