Washingborough 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 North Kesteven 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. Located east of Lincoln and from

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 ...

. The population in the 2001 census was 3,356, increasing to 3,482 at the 2011 census and 3,664 at the 2021 census. It is situated on the lower slopes of Lincoln Cliff

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...

where the River Witham breaks through it. The south side of

Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, also called Lincoln Minster, and formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, is a Church of England cathedral in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lincoln and is the Mo ...

and its three towers can be seen from the village centre.

Geography

Washingborough is the point on the River Witham at which the Lincolnshire Fens begin and it can be argued that the village is the most northerly to be located within the region. The Fens were first drained by the Romans and the Roman

Car Dyke The Car Dyke was, and to a large extent still is, a long ditch which runs along the western edge of the Fens in eastern England for a distance of over . It is generally accepted as being a Roman invasion of Britain, Roman construction and was, f ...

ran from Washingborough to the

River Nene The River Nene ( or ) flows through the counties of Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk in Eastern England from its sources in Arbury Hill in Northamptonshire. Flowing Northeast through East England to its mouth at Lutt ...

, near

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

. Today, the village forms a built-up area with the nearby village of Heighington which had a combined population of 6,385.

History

The origin of the name 'Washingborough' is uncertain but is thought to mean either '

fortification A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

near the wash' or 'fortification of the people of Wassa'. There is a war memorial to the men of Heighington and Washingborough in the church. A dig involving

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's archaeological television programme ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4, Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned in 2022 on online platforms YouTube and Patreon. Created by television produce ...

'', on a site adjacent to the modern canalised course of the River Witham, found evidence of an important late

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

settlement of around 1000 BC. At this time the river was tidal and the evidence suggests a trading and metal working centre with trading connections to

northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other ge ...

. Copper ore and ingots were found as well as evidence of smelting in

crucible A crucible is a container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. Although crucibles have historically tended to be made out of clay, they can be made from any material that withstands temperat ...

s. The settlement may have lost importance as water levels rose and the site became unsuitable. Much of the settlement site was destroyed when the river was canalised in the 18th century as part of the effort to drain the Fens. The

Witham Shield The Witham Shield is an Iron Age decorative bronze shield facing of La Tène style, dating from about the 4th century BC. The shield was discovered in the River Witham in the vicinity of Washingborough and Fiskerton, Lincolnshire, Fiskerton in Linc ...

, dated to the

, was discovered nearby in 1826 and is now in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. The village was served by the Lincolnshire Loop Line between Lincoln and

via

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 Spalding. However, the station that served the village closed in 1940 to passengers and never reopened. The line closed to freight traffic in the 1970s and is now a trail called the "Water Rail Way" between Lincoln and Woodhall Junction.

Churches

The parish church is dedicated to St John the Evangelist. The lower parts of the tower are Norman. Inside is a Norman font. Windows commemorate a

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp. 155� ...

raid on the village in 1916. There is also an active

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

on Main Road. The church dates from 1857 and is part of the wider

circuit.

Amenities

The village has two public houses, the Ferryboat on High Street and the Hunters Leap on Oak Hill, a Chinese and a pizza takeaway, fish and chip shop, supermarket and post office with chemists. The Powell hut is the home of scouting and guiding in the village. The Peterborough to Lincoln Line passes through the south-west corner of the village.

Education

Washingborough Academy is the village primary school. The school gained a good rating in their

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

reports in 2017, 2012 and 2009 inspection.

Demographics

At the 2021 census, Washingborough's urban area had a population of 6,385. Of the findings, the ethnicity and religious composition of the ward was: The religious composition of the ward at the 2021 Census was recorded as:

References

External links

*
Washingborough Primary School

Parish council

Washingborough Archaeology Group
* {{authority control Villages in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire Archaeological sites in Lincolnshire Bronze Age sites in Lincolnshire North Kesteven District Areas of Lincoln, England Lincoln Urban Area River Witham