Hemswell Cliff is a village 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

West Lindsey West Lindsey is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Lincolnshire, England. Its council is based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Gainsborough, the district's largest town. The district also includes the towns of Caistor and M ...

district of

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

A631 road The A631 is a road running from Sheffield, South Yorkshire to Louth, Lincolnshire in England. It passes through the counties of South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. The road has many towns on its route including Rotherham, Maltby ...

between Caenby Corner and

Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to: Places * Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England ** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich * Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England ** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency) * Gainsborough, Saskatchewan, Ca ...

and on the

Lincoln Cliff The Lincoln Cliff or Lincoln Edge is a portion of a major escarpment that runs north–south through the historic divisions of Lindsey and Kesteven in central Lincolnshire and is a prominent landscape feature in a generally flat portion of th ...

escarpment. The civil parish also includes the western part of the hamlet of

Spital-in-the-Street Spital-in-the-Street is a small hamlet in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A15 road (Roman Ermine Street), north from Lincoln, east from Gainsborough, and north from the A15 and A631 crossroad at ...

on the

A15 road This is a list of roads designated A15. Entries are sorted in alphabetical order by name of country. * A015 road (Argentina), a road connecting the junction with National Route 14 at La Criolla and the Salto Grande Dam access-road * ''A15 road (A ...

(

Ermine Street Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London (''Londinium'') to Lincoln ('' Lindum Colonia'') and York ('' Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earninga ...

). According to the 2001 Census the parish had a population of 683. Hemswell Cliff

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

is in the village.

History

Until 1991 the parish formed part of the civil parish of

Hemswell Hemswell is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated just north of the A631 on the Lincoln Cliff escarpment, west from Caenby Corner and east from Gainsborough. According to the 2001 ...

, historically in the

West Riding The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The lieutenancy at that time included the city of York a ...

of the

Parts of Lindsey The Parts of Lindsey are a traditional division of Lincolnshire, England, covering the northern part of the county. The Isle of Axholme, which is on the west side of the River Trent, has normally formed part of it. The district's name origina ...

RAF Hemswell Royal Air Force Hemswell, or RAF Hemswell, is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Located close to the village of Hemswell in Lincolnshire, England the disestablished airfield is now in f ...

was located on the site from 1937 until it closed in 1967. The airfield site was subsequently redeveloped into a private

trading estate An industrial park, also known as industrial estate or trading estate, is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more heavyweight version of a business park or office park, ...

and the RAF married quarters into a

residential area A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

. In 1991 the eastern part of Hemswell parish, extending from the

B1398 road B roads are numbered routes in Great Britain of lesser importance than A roads. See the article Great Britain road numbering scheme In Great Britain, there is a numbering scheme used to Categorization, classify and identify all roads. Ea ...

east to the A15, including the area around the trading estate, became the newly created civil parish of

Hemswell Cliff Hemswell Cliff is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A631 road between Caenby Corner and Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Gainsborough and on the Lincoln Cliff escarpment. The civil ...

. By mid-2008 there was no longer an RAF presence on the site, which became

civilian A civilian is a person who is not a member of an armed force. It is war crime, illegal under the law of armed conflict to target civilians with military attacks, along with numerous other considerations for civilians during times of war. If a civi ...

. The site's old H-Block buildings contains an

antique An antique () is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely to describe any object that i ...

centre, shops, a

garden centre A garden centre (American English spelling; U.S. nursery or garden center) is a retail business that primarily sells plants and related products for Home gardening, domestic gardening. Gardening centers usually revolve around outdoor home imp ...

hairdresser A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A hairdresser may also be re ...

used book A used book or secondhand book is a book which has been owned before by an owner other than the publisher or retailer, usually by an individual or library. Sales Used books typically become available on the market when they are sold or given t ...

shop and

cafés A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargile ...

. The RAF sold the community centre (originally built as the Sergeants' Mess) in 2009 but it remained unused until 2021 when the

Broadcast Engineering Conservation Group The Broadcast Engineering Conservation Group (BECG) conserves historic broadcasting equipment. It is based at Hemswell Cliff in Lincolnshire, England and is a Charitable incorporated organisation. The group was founded by people with large pr ...

, a charity, bought it. They began to repair 12 years of decay and started to create the Broadcast Engineering Museum. The group held its first public open days in September 2022.

References

External links

*
Hemswell Cliff Parish Council site
{{authority control Villages in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire West Lindsey District