Lincolnshire, England Genealogy

Lincolnshire, or Lincoln, is a maritime county and is located in the north eastern part of 'England'.

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LINCOLNSHIRE, or LINCOLN, a maritime county on the E of England. It is bounded on the N and NE, by the Humber, which separates it from Yorkshire; on the E, by the German ocean; on the SE, for about 3 miles, by Norfolk; on the S, by Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire; on the SW, by Rutlandshire; on the W, by Leicestershire and Notts; and on the NW, by Yorkshire. Its length, from N to S, is 73 miles; its greatest breadth is 48 miles; its average breadth is about 37 miles; its circuit is about 260 miles; its area is 1,775,457 acres; and its magnitude, as compared with the other counties of England, is the second, or less only than that of Yorkshire. About two-fifths of the surface are fens; and the rest is a diversity of swell and knoll and hill, with intersecting dale and vale. The fens occupy the Isle of Axholme in the NW, the vale of Ancholme in the N, a broad belt outward to the coast in the NE, and most of the country S and SE of Lincoln city... The Isle of Axholme began to be reclaimed in the time of Edward I.; the fen of Deeping, in the S, appears to have been partly improved even before the Roman conquest...  The other parts of the county are chiefly wolds, but include what formerly were called heaths; and they, at one time, were very generally bleak and waste, but, like the fens, though in a different way, have been so reclaimed as to exhibit now an aspect of luxuriance. The aggregate appearance of the county, notwithstanding the prevalence of level grounds, is very pleasing... The coast-line, including that of the Humber, is about 110 miles in length; and, excepting at Cleeness, near Grimsby, where there are high bold cliffs, it is all low and flat...

Lincolnshire contains 620 parishes, part of another parish, and 43 extra-parochial places. It is divided into the Parts of Holland, containing the wapentakes of Elloe, Kirton, and Skirbeck; the Parts of Kesteven, containing the wapentakes of Aswardhurn, Aveland, Beltisloe, Boothby-Graffo, Flaxwell, Langoe, Loveden, Ness, and Winnibriggs and Threo; the Parts of Lindsey, containing the wapentakes of Aslacoe in two divisions, Bolingbroke in two div., Bradley-Haverstoe, Calceworth in two div., Candleshoe in two div., Corringham, Gartree in two div., Hill, Horncastle, Lawress, Louth-Eske in two div., Ludborough, Manley in three div., Walshcroft in two div., Well, Wraggoe in two div., and Yarborough in three div.; and the boroughs of Boston, Grantham, Great Grimsby, Lincoln, Louth, and part of Stamford. It is divided again, for parliamentary representation, into North and South, the former consisting of the Parts of Lindsey, the latter of the Parts of Kesteven and the Parts of Holland...

The county is governed by a lord lieutenant, about 110 deputy lieutenants, and about 500 magistrates; and is in the Home military district, the Midland judiciary circuit, and the diocese of Lincoln. The assizes are held at Lincoln; and the quarter sessions for the Parts of Lindsey, at Kirton and Spilsby, -for the Parts of Kesteven, at Bourn and Sleaford,-for the Parts of Holland, at Boston and Spalding... Marriages in 1863, 2,857,-of which 644 were not according to the rites of the Church of England; births, 13,821,-of which 1,233 were illegitimate; deaths, 8,112, of which 2,987 were at ages under 5 years, and 276 at ages above 85...  The places of worship within the electoral county, in 1851, were 657 of the Church of England, 38 of Independents, 22 of Particular Baptists, 3 of General Baptists, 31 of New Connexion General Baptists, 6 of undefined Baptists, 9 of Quakers, 1 of Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, 462 of Wesleyan Methodists, 6 of New Connexion Methodists, 221 of Primitive Methodists, 14 of Wesleyan Reformers, 5 of Unitarians, 8 of isolated congregations, 5 of Latter Day Saints, and 13 of Roman Catholics. Population in 1801, 208,625; in 1821, 283,058; in 1841, 362,602; in 1861, 412,246.

The above extract was taken from: John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72). You can read the full account online at Vision of Britain.