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Bourne, Lincolnshire

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Template:Infobox England place with map UA Bourne is a market town on the western edge of The Fens, in southern Lincolnshire, England. The town owes its origin to the Roman road upon which it was built, and also to the exceptionally fine-quality water supply derived locally from natural springs. The name "Bourne" (or "Bourn", as the town was originally known) is a common name for a settlement and derives from the Anglo-Saxon meaning "water" or "stream". The town lies on the intersection of the A15 and the B1193 (formerly A151) roads at Template:Getamap. As well as the main township, the parish includes the hamlets of Cawthorpe, Dyke and Twenty. The town economy was based on rural industries. The coming of the railway opened up a market for mineral waters bottled locally. Today the local economy is still mainly rurally-based, revolving around agriculture and food preparation and packaging geared towards the modern system of supermarkets, but there are also important light engineering and tourism activities. The district as a whole has one of the fastest-growing housing markets in the whole country, with much of the new building taking place in Bourne. The town population is now (2006) nearer to 15,000 than the 12,000 or so given in the 2001 Census data.

Bourne people

Bourne is reputedly the birthplace of Hereward Leofricson (in about 1035), although the twelfth century source of this information[1] refers in this connection, only to his father as being 'of Bourne' and to the father's house and retainers[2] there. Charles Kingsley used the De Gestis text for his lively novel which repeats the fundamental story with much descriptive embelishment[3].

Orm (or Ormin) the Preacher (flourished 1180) also worked at Bourne Abbey a century earlier than Robert Manning but his presence here has only been revealed during recent research. His collection of homilies known as The Ormulum has been well known to linguists and language historians ever since the 17th century but its source has only recently been established as Bourne Abbey. Orm's language provides a glimpse of the English vernacular of the time and before it was strongly influenced by the French. It is assumed that the manuscript remained at Bourne Abbey until the dissolution of the monasteries between 1536 and 1540 and after various owners, is now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.

Robert Mannyng (1264-1340) is perhaps the most notable of the town's past citizens in that he is credited with putting the speech of the ordinary people of his time into the recognisable form that we have today. He is best known as Robert de Brunne because of his long time residence as a canon at Bourne Abbey where he completed his life's work and in the process, popularised religious and historical material in a Middle English dialect that was easily understood by the people of his time. His work Handlyng Synne is acknowledged to be of great value because it gives glimpses into the ways and thoughts of his contemporaries and even more, shows us the language then in common use.

William Cecil (1520-1598) became the first Lord Burghley after serving Queen Elizabeth I for forty years, during which time he was the main architect of Britain's successful policies of that period, earning a reputation as a master of renaissance statecraft with outstanding talents as a diplomat, politician and administrator. He was born at a house in the town centre at Bourne that is now the Burghley Arms and a plaque on the outside reminds us of this event.

Job Hartop (1550-1595) was a farmer's boy working on the land near Bourne but hankered after a life of adventure and ran away to sea when he was 12 years old. After a short apprenticeship with a gunpowder manufacturer in London, he signed on with the English admiral Sir John Hawkins and sailed the Spanish Main in the company of the young Francis Drake. He was captured by the Spanish on his third voyage and spent ten years as a galley slave and thirteen years in a Spanish prison but managed to escape and make his way back to Bourne where he spent his final days recounting his adventures in the town's taverns, although the privations he suffered had taken their toll and he died at the age of 45.

Robert Harrington (philanthropist) (1589-1654) made large bequests to Bourne from which the community benefits to this day. Legend has it that he walked to London to seek his fortune and was most successful in his endeavours and when he died, he remembered his home town by leaving shops and dwelling houses in the Leytonstone area "for the benefit of his own people", namely the citizens of Bourne. The charity established in his name is by far the greatest currently administered by Bourne United Charities and fittingly, Harrington Street was named in his memory.

Dr William Dodd (1729-1777), was an Anglican clergyman, a man of letters and a forger. He was also the son of the Rev William Dodd who was Vicar of Bourne from 1727-56, graduating with distinction from Clare College, Cambridge, and then moved to London where his extravagant lifestyle soon landed him in debt and worried his friends who persuaded him to mend his ways and so he decided to take holy orders and was ordained in 1751. He became a popular and fashionable preacher but was always short of money and in an attempt to rectify his depleted finances, forged a bond in the sum of £4,200. He was found out, prosecuted and sentenced to death and publicly hanged at Tyburn on 27th June 1777.

Charles Worth (1825-1895) was born in this town, the son of a local solicitor who lived at Wake House in North Street which survives today as a community centre. He left Bourne when still a boy to seek his fortune in Paris where he became a world renowned designer of women's fashion and the founder of haute couture. His reputation was such that the French government awarded him the Legion of Honour and when he died, 2,000 people, including the President of the Republic, attended his funeral.

Robert A Gardner (1850-1926) was a bank manager in Bourne and also a talented artist whose work was exhibited in the Royal Academy. He never aspired to public office but his interest in the community inevitably resulted in a number of appointments, notably as a magistrate and chairman of the Bourne bench. But he is best remembered for his paintings and many of his works survive to this day, mostly in private ownership although some can be found hanging in the Red Hall.

Frederic Manning (1882-1935) wrote what is considered to be one of the finest novels dealing with the Great War of 1914-18 and much of this work was completed while staying at the Bull Hotel in Bourne, now the Burghley Arms. Manning was an Australian who chose to live here after a spell at Edenham where he stayed with the vicar, the Rev Arthur Galton, who had been his tutor. Her Privates We was at first published anonymously, to much critical acclaim, but eight years after his death, it was published in 1943 under his own name and is still in print almost 70 years later. In the book, Manning acknowledged his affection for this town by calling his hero Private Bourne.

Lilian Wyles (1885-1975) was a major influence in the acceptance of women into the police force. She was the only daughter of the Bourne brewer, Joseph Wyles, and after a spell of duty on the streets of London with the new women patrols to assist young girls at risk, was promoted inspector in 1922, becoming the first woman officer of the Metropolitan Police's CID department.

Charles Sharpe (1889-1963) was a farmer's boy from Pickworth, near Bourne, who ran away from home and joined the army. During the Great War of 1914-18, an act of conspicuous bravery earned him the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest decoration for valour, and he subsequently inspired many young men to enlist. On return to civilian life, he worked at a number of jobs, notably as a physical training instructor to boys at the Hereward Camp approved school who regarded him as a role model.

Raymond Mays (1899-1980), son of a local businessman, achieved fame in the world of international motor racing, both on and off the track. After a successful career as a driver, he opened workshops in Bourne where he developed the BRM, the revolutionary car that eventually became the first all-British model to win the world championship in 1962. Mays, who lived at Eastgate House in Bourne all his life, was honoured with a CBE in 1978 for his services to motor racing.

History

Bourne Abbey, (charter 1138), formerly held and maintained land in Bourne and other parishes. In later times this was known as the manor of 'Bourne Abbots'. Whether the canons knew that name is less clear. The estate was given by the Abbey's founder, Baldwin fitz Gilbert de Clare and later benefactors. The Abbey was established under the Arrouaisian order. Its fundemental rule was that of Augustine and as time went on, it came to be regarded as Augustinian. The Ormulum, an important Middle English Biblical gloss, was probably written in the abbey in around 1175.

Economy

Agriculture

Sugar beet was first successfully raised in the fenland east of Bourne, after trials elsewhere in the country had proved unsuccessful, by British Sugar Ltd. Although Britain's ravenous demand for sugar was mostly fulfilled by European beet imports until shortly after 1900, the successful sugar beet production in areas such as that around Twenty, fulfilled the nation's sugar requirements during World War I & World War II.

Local government

Lincolnshire County Council

Bourne has two County Council wards:

Bourne Abbey:

  • Mark Horn (Conservative). (Economic Wellbeing Scrutiny Panel): (Economic Development Policy Development Group).

Bourne Castle:

Mrs Farquharson was elected after a by-election was held on 6 July 2006. The previous Councillor, Ian Croft (Conservative), appeared before the Adjudication Panel on 31 March 2006 and was found guilty on several charges of misconduct. He was an associate of disgraced former Leader of the Council, Jim Speechley, succeeding him as Leader. The Panel ordered that Mr Croft be suspended from office as a Councillor for fifteen months. He did not lodge an appeal, and resigned from the Council.

South Kesteven District Council

Bourne has two District Council wards, each electing three councillors:

Bourne East:

Bourne West:

Councillor Mrs Neal is the current Leader of South Kesteven District Council.

Bourne Town Council

Bourne Town Council has two wards which are identical to the South Kesteven District Council wards. Bourne East elects seven councillors to the town council and Bourne West eight.

From 1899 to 1974, Bourne had an Urban District Council in the former Parts of Kesteven. Under the Local Government Act 1972, Bourne UDC was dissolved into the newly-formed South Kesteven district. Urban districts which disappeared in this way formed successor parishes and were given a dispensation to call their "parish" councils "town" councils, and the chairman is given the title Town Mayor. These town councils were allowed to adopt the Coat of Arms granted to the former UDC.

A Bourne Rural District also existed from 1894 to 1931, when it was abolished to form part of a larger South Kesteven Rural District. The parish of Bourne had formed part of Bourne RD from 1894 to 1899. South Kesteven R.D.C. had its own distinct Coat of Arms which disappeared along with that of Kesteven in 1974, and very few copies of either remain in existence.

Since October 1989, Bourne has been twinned with Doudeville, Seine Maritime, France

Sport

Bourne Town Football Club, known affectionately as "The Wakes", plays soccer in the United Counties Football League and the junior club runs teams for young people at all ages in local league competitions. The cricket team is one of the strongest in the Lincolnshire Premier Division and often provides players for the Lincolnshire Minor Counties team. These teams play their home games at the Abbey Lawn, a recreation ground privately owned by the Bourne United Charities. Also at "The Lawn" are the tennis and bowls clubs, along with a particularly fine open-air swimming pool. The Rugby club has a ground outside the town. The hockey club is obliged to play elsewhere, as there is not a suitable all-weather playing surface in the town. Bourne also hosts a number of other sporting clubs, particularly in the field of martial arts. The Leisure Centre is attached to Robert Manning Technology College and caters for a number of indoor activities, including a swimming pool.

Motorsport

For the past 80 years, Bourne has been noted in the field of motor sport under the names of Raymond Mays, English Racing Automobiles, British Racing Motors, the Hall Brothers and Pilbeam Racing Designs.

Bourne is renowned in motorsport circles as the town in which two famous racing car marques, English Racing Automobiles and British Racing Motors, were founded, both by Raymond Mays, international racing driver and designer, ERA in 1934 and BRM in 1949 when the first car was unveiled at Folkingham Airfield. Success was slow in coming but new workshops were opened in 1960 where engines and cars were developed and in 1962 the BRM became the first all-British car to win the world championship with driver Graham Hill at the wheel.

By 1965, the company had 100 employees in Bourne and this was another victorious year when BRM cars gained either a first or second prize in every Grand Prix race that was held. But after that, their cars had mixed fortunes until the Mexican driver Pedro Rodriguez scored a comeback victory in the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. There were further successes but advancement was dogged by mechanical failures and soon after Mays died in 1980, Rubery Owen decided to sell the BRM collection of racing cars and the sale created international interest when it took place during the Motor Show at Earl's Court, London, in October 1981.

The former workshops are now used as an auction saleroom but the achievements of Raymond Mays and the motor racing connection with Bourne are remembered with a Memorial Room at the town's Heritage Centre, filled with photographs, memorabilia and an impressive display of silverware won by BRM cars and drivers on international circuits while a stone motor racing memorial was unveiled in South Street in 2003.

Bourne continues to be closely connected with the motorsport industry. In 1975, BRM's former Chief Designer, Mike Pilbeam, set up Pilbeam Racing Designs which is still based in the town. Pilbeam is particularly known for its outstanding successes in hillclimbing in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Culture and attractions

Bourne buildings

File:BourneRedHall.jpg
Red Hall, a Grade II listed building in Bourne, Lincolnshire
The Abbey and Parish Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul

There are currently 69 listed buildings in the parish of Bourne, the most important being the Abbey and Parish Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (1138) which is the only one scheduled Grade I. The others are Grade II, the most colourful being the aptly named Red Hall (ca. 1620), finished in red brick with ashlar quoins, many gabled and featuring a fine Tuscan porch. From 1860 to 1959, it was the town's railway station booking office and waiting room. At two stages, in the 1890s and 1960s, it came close to demolition but the building is now well preserved by Bourne United Charities. The former station booking office serves as the BUC's office.

Baldock's Mill (1800), once a corn-grinding water mill, together with the miller's house, has been converted by Bourne Civic Society to serve as the town's Heritage Centre. It houses many interesting artefacts, most recently a water-wheel has been installed and a newly-created replica of a Charles Worth dress is on display.

The Baptist Church buiding dates from 1835 but the Church itself was established here in the 1640s. This building, the Methodist Church (1841) and the United Reformed Church (1846) are all still in active use but the Old Grammar School building, built in the seventeenth century and largely rebuilt in 1738 was closed in 1904. It stands in the Abbey churchyard and has since been used for a variety of purposes but the roof was condemned as unsafe in April 2003 and the building is now becoming derelict.

Nearby attractions

Education

Communications

M&GNJR Junction Diagrams. Click on the map to enlarge it.

Bourne Market Place is the crossroads of the A15 road and the A151. Piece by piece, routes providing access to the commercial part of the town are being assembled so that the Market Place is now relieved of much of this traffic. The town's bus services are provided by Delaine.

Bourne had a railway station which was on both the Great Northern line from Essendine to Sleaford and the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway connecting the Midlands to East anglia. Both these were closed to timetabled passenger service by the end of February 1959 and the lines were closed to occasional use by the Beeching Axe. With the exception of the Red Hall, the principal station buildings were demolished in 1964, the year after the Beeching Report.

Until the mid-nineteenth century, the Bourne Eau was capable of carying commercial boat traffic from the Wash coast and Spalding. This resulted from the investment following the Bourne Navigation Act of 1780.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Bevis, T. translator De Gestis Herwardi Saxonis Westrydale Press. (1982) ISBN 0-901680-28-1 Chapter II
  2. ^ De gestis Chaper XIV
  3. ^ Kingsley, C. Hereward, the Last of the English (1866)

References

  • Birkbeck, John D. A History of Bourne (1970)
  • Davies, Joseph J. Historic Bourne (1909)
  • Needle, Rex. A Portrait of Bourne - the history of a Lincolnshire market town in words and pictures (1998-2006, on CD-ROM, including half a million words of text and 2,700 photographs from past and present)
  • Needle, Rex. The Bourne Chronicle - the town's history in dates and events, people and places (2005)
  • Rhodes, John. Bourne to Essendine (1986) ISBN 0-948017-03-1
  • Swift, John T. Bourne and People Associated with Bourne (about 1925)


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