Market Rasen ( ) is a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

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 ...

within 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. The River Rase runs through it east to west, approximately north-east from Lincoln, east from Gainsborough, west of

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 ...

, and south-west from

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town in Lincolnshire, England with a population of 86,138 (as of 2021). It is located near the mouth on the south bank of the Humber that flows to the North Sea. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes dir ...

. 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

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

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''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, 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. The

Corn Exchange A corn exchange is a building where merchants trade grains. The word "corn" in British English denotes all cereal grains, such as wheat and barley; in the United States these buildings were called grain exchanges. Such trade was common in towns ...

was designed by Henry Goddard and completed in 1854. Market Rasen's community fire and police station opened in December 2005. Market Rasen is served by a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

which opened in 1848.

Geography

The River Rase flows through the town and crosses Waterloo Street at Crane Bridge. In 2011, it was one of the towns chosen for the Portas Review of small-town retailing businesses.

Education

Market Rasen's

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

is De Aston School, a co-educational 11–18 former

comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 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 restricted on the basis ...

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 Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

as part of a legal settlement following a court case involving funds from the medieval charity of Thomas de Aston, a 13th-century monk. The main primary school is the Market Rasen

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Primary School.

February 2008 earthquake

On 27 February 2008, a significant earthquake had its

epicentre The epicenter (), epicentre, or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Determination The primary purpose of a s ...

approximately north-west of 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 Richter in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg, and pr ...

, 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 Earth science, geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. ...

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

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

, and as far away as Bangor in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

and

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

since the 1984 Llŷn Peninsula earthquake struck

North Wales North Wales ( ) 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, with Snowdon ...

, 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.

Local media

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire 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 nearby Belmont TV transmitter. The town newspaper is the weekly '' Market Rasen Mail'', which was founded in 1856. 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, DAB radio station, Hits Radio Lincolnshire and County Linx Radio, a community online station.

People

* The evangelist Ann Carr was born here in 1783 *

Bernie Taupin Bernard John Taupin (born 22 May 1950) is an English lyricist and visual artist. He is best known for his songwriting partnership with Elton John, recognised as one of the most successful partnerships of its kind in history. Taupin co-wrote th ...

, lyricist and long-term collaborator with Elton John spent his teenage years here * Philip Oakes journalist, author and poet died here in 2005 *

Jim Broadbent James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1972, he came to prominence as a character actor for his many roles in film and television. He has received various accolades ...

, actor grew up in nearby Holton cum Beckering *

Rod Temperton Rodney Lynn Temperton (9 October 1949 – 25 September 2016) was an English musician, songwriter, and record producer. Temperton was the keyboardist and principal songwriter for the 1970s funk band Heatwave, writing songs including "Star of a ...

, 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, photographer & baronet lived in the Lincolnshire Wolds nearby *

Roger Scruton Sir Roger Vernon Scruton, (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher, writer, and social critic who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of Conservatism in the United Kingdom, c ...

, philosopher born in nearby Buslingthorpe * Harriet Bibby, actress best known for appearing in Coronation Street was born here

References

External links

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