The A151 road is relatively minor part of the British road system. It lies entirely in the
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
of
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Its western end lies at coordinates otherwise, .
The British Road Numbering System
In Britain, roads of greater and medium importance are numbered according to a system in which the smaller number of digits indicates a more major route. The
motorway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
s are prefixed by M and the principal other roads by the letter A. The roads
A1 to
A6 radiate from
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
with A1 as the axial route of the country, running between London and
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. Roads with numbers beginning with 1 lie to the east of the A1, clockwise when viewed on a map. The details are explained under
Great Britain road numbering scheme
The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Great Britain.
Each road is given a single letter (which represents the road's category) and a subsequent number (between 1 and 4 digits) ...
.
The A151: Summary
In the early 19th century, the A151 would have been called a cross-road since it runs across the pattern of these radial routes. As originally designated, it ran from the A15 at Bourne Market Place (TF095201), eastwards to Fleet Hargate, three kilometres east of Holbeach (TF393250), on the A17. Its present western section, between Colsterworth and Bourne, was part of the B676 road.
Road building and re-thinking of the road system have meant that nowadays, its western end is on the A1 near
Colsterworth
Colsterworth is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, less than half a mile (0.8 km) west of the A1, about south of Grantham, and north-west of Stamford. The village with the hamlet of Woolsthorp ...
, in the administrative district of
South Kesteven
South Kesteven is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Lincolnshire, England, forming part of the traditional Kesteven division of the county. It covers Bourne, Lincolnshire, Bourne, Grantham, Market Deeping and Stamford, Li ...
, and its eastern end on the A17 near
Holbeach
Holbeach is a market town and civil parish in the South Holland District in Lincolnshire, England. The town lies from Spalding; from Boston; from King's Lynn; from Peterborough; and by road from Lincoln. It is on the junction of the ...
, in the district of
South Holland
South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...
. On the way, it passes to the north of
Grimsthorpe Castle
Grimsthorpe Castle is a country house in Lincolnshire, England north-west of Bourne on the A151. It lies within a 3,000 acre (12 km2) park of rolling pastures, lakes, and woodland landscaped by Capability Brown. While Grimsthorpe is not ...
and at TF076200, just to the south of
Bourne Wood
Bourne Wood (also known as Bourne Woods) is an area of predominantly coniferous woodland just south of Farnham, Surrey, England and a film location, under 10 minutes from the famous film location of Hankley Common in Elstead. Locally it was k ...
. Then at TF095201, it bisects
Bourne
Bourne may refer to:
Places UK
* Bourne, Lincolnshire, a town
** Bourne Abbey
** Bourne railway station
* Bourne (electoral division), West Sussex
* Bourne SSSI, Avon, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrington, North Somerset
* Bourne ...
. It enters
The Fens
The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a ...
on the eastern edge of that small town. At TF154207, it passes through the hamlet of
Twenty
Twenty or 20 may refer to:
* 20 (number), the natural number following 19 and preceding 21
* one of the years 20 BC, AD 20, 1920, 2020
Music
Albums
* ''20'' (2nd Chapter of Acts album), 1992
* ''20'' (Cunter album), 2011
* ''20'' (Dr ...
, in Bourne North Fen. At
Guthram Gowt
__NOTOC__
Guthram Gowt is a small settlement in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated both east from Bourne and west from Spalding, and at a bend in the River Glen.
History
The word 'gowt' refers to a sluice or ...
, it leaves
Kesteven
The Parts of Kesteven ( or ) are a traditional division of Lincolnshire, England. This division had long had a separate county administration (quarter sessions), along with the two other Parts of Lincolnshire, Lindsey and Holland.
Etymology
Th ...
by crossing the
South Forty-Foot Drain
The South Forty-Foot Drain, also known as the Black Sluice Navigation, is the main channel for the land-drainage of the Black Sluice Level in the Lincolnshire Fens. It lies in eastern England between Guthram Gowt and the Black Sluice pumping ...
into
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
. The principal town of South Holland is
Spalding (TF245227), which is also the main town on the A151 route. Across the
River Welland
The River Welland is a lowland river in the east of England, some long. It drains part of the Midlands eastwards to The Wash. The river rises in the Hothorpe Hills, at Sibbertoft in Northamptonshire, then flows generally northeast to Market ...
, lie
Moulton
Moulton may refer to:
Places in the United Kingdom
;In England
*Moulton, Cheshire
*Moulton, Lincolnshire
**Moulton Windmill
* Moulton St Mary, Norfolk
*Moulton, Northamptonshire
**Moulton College, agricultural college
**Moulton Park, industria ...
, then Holbeach, near which the A151 ends at the A17 (TF350258). That road leads on to
King's Lynn
King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...
and
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
.
Turnpike roads
As elsewhere, roads in England have developed over many years. Perhaps some of the A151 lies on lines which are pre-Roman. In other words, parts are two thousand or more years old. However, change is constant and little of the road is that old. In the nature of things, these changes are poorly or not at all documented, so will be treated generally, in that light, in an overview below. The historical part of the story begins with the
turnpike roads.
The A151 was originally designated such in 1921. Then, the roads were much as they had been forty or fifty years before, under the turnpike trusts. Since the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, there has been much building of by-passes and the like so that the precise lines have sometimes changed but they are still fundamentally the same. The main difference in the present case is that the road designation has been extended from the A15 at Bourne to the A1 at Colsterworth, while at the other end, the easternmost three kilometres have been replaced by a new part of the A17.
In the field of
acts of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliament ...
founding turnpike trusts, much was happening locally in 1756. The Wansford to
Stamford trust on the
Great North Road had been set up in 1749 but in 1756, its sphere was extended through Stamford to Bourne. The last 1.6 kilometres of this road, as the trust left it, running down the hill to Bourne Market Place, are now part of the A151. It was freed from tolls on 1 November 1871. The half of this section which lies outside the modern town was probably built by the trust between 1756 and the
Bourne Enclosure Awards of 1770–1.
The Lincoln Heath to
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
Trust was also established in 1756. Its remit included the forerunner of the present A15 which crosses the end of the Stamford road at Bourne Market Place. However, also included with this was the road from the Stamford road west of Bourne (a place known locally as Stamford Hill), to Colsterworth. With the exception of the western extremity, in Colsterworth village, this is now part of the A151. It was freed from tolls on 1 November 1882.
The Lincoln Heath to Peterborough trust was organized in districts of which that covering the road from Colsterworth to Stamford Hill, Bourne was the ‘'West District'’. In 1860, it was re-grouped with the ‘'Middle District'’ which extended from Graby Bar (TF091295) to
Market Deeping
Market Deeping is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, on the north bank of the River Welland and the A15 road. The population of the town at the 2011 census was 6,008.
History
The town's mark ...
(TF138099).
From Spalding, through Holbeach to Long Sutton, beyond the end of the modern A151, the road was turnpiked in 1764. It was freed from tolls on 1 November 1866. It may not be coincidental that this was the year of the final opening of the
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
from Bourne to King's Lynn, the line having been opened in stages from 1858. This road was declared a main road by the Highways Act of 1878.
The road from Bourne to Spalding was turnpiked in 1822 and freed from tolls in 1860. It was declared a main road by the Highways Act of 1878. Before 1822, this section was in three parts. One led out from Bourne onto Bourne North Fen. The Spalding end led out from Spalding to the Spalding and Pinchbeck fen edge bank. The linking section was not officially a road. There was however, some
droving
Droving is the practice of walking livestock over long distances. It is a type of herding. Droving stock to market—usually on foot and often with the aid of dogs—has a very long history in the Old World. An owner might entrust an agent to deli ...
traffic which was frowned upon by the drainage authorities, whose embankments it tended to erode. According to Cary's map of 1787, the official route ran ''via'' Tongue End (TF155188) and crossed the
River Glen at Gurthram (TF173224).
Toll gates
The principal source of information about the positions of toll gates is the
Ordnance Survey
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, logo = Ordnance Survey 2015 Logo.svg
, logo_width = 240px
, logo_caption =
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, seal_width =
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1 inch map published in 1824. It places them as follows:
* Corby Toll Bar. SK969234 (also 1834–6)
* T
rnP
ke SK991247
* T P. TF062210 (also 1834–6)
* T P. TF079198 (also 1834-6 but there shown as on the Stamford road)
* Friers Bar. TF117206 (Exeter Estate book but no gate shown.)
* T P. TF169223 (corroborated by Paterson's Roads) (also 1834–6)
* T P. TF198244 (corroborated by Paterson's Roads) (also 1834–6)
* T P. TF2724. (also 1834-6 and the O.S. map of 1890 shows "The Gate"
public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
).
* T P. TF466217. (also 1834–6)
The six digit National grid References of the marked positions on the 1824 map are taken from an equivalent modern map. The four digit references are much less accurate, being taken from an Ordnance Survey map by inspection of Wright Fig.3. The Ordnance Survey does not note the Friars Bar toll gate but in the Exeter Estate book, the position is called Friers Bar though no obstruction of the road by a gate is indicated. ''
Paterson's Roads
Daniel Paterson (1739–1825) was a British Army officer and cartographer, known for his books of road maps.
Life
Paterson was gazetted an ensign in the 30th (Cambridgeshire) Regiment of Foot on 13 December 1765, promoted to a lieutenant on 8 M ...
'' is a road book listing the features of roads and mileages from the ends of its itineraries, sequentially.
It is noticeable and a little surprising that according to the Ordnance Survey, it was possible in some cases to go a long way out of a town before coming to a toll gate. This is particularly noticeable eastwards from Spalding.
The Condition of the turnpike roads
We have a few references to the condition of parts of the turnpike forerunners of the A151. Arthur Young's book on the Lincolnshire economy was published in 1813, while the first Fosdyke bridge was still under construction. He therefore, will have taken the future A151 between Spalding and Fleet Hargate on his journey from
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
to
Wisbech
Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...
. He wrote of it thus: ''In the Hundred of Skirbeck to Boston, and thence to Wisbeach,
urnpike roadsare generally made with
silt
Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...
, or old sea-sand, deposited under various parts of the country ages ago, and when moderately wet are very good; but dreadfully dusty and heavy in dry weather; and also on a thaw they are like mortar. Take the
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
in general, and they must be esteemed below par.'' What he is saying is that the turnpike roads in the Townlands were made of the same marine silt as forms the land itself in that part of the country. The heaviness in dry weather to which he refers, arose from the loose, deep, sandy surface through which wheels would have to be dragged.
According to Wheeler, of silt was reckoned to cover in a length of a road, thick and wide, the silt costing about 8d. to 10d. per ton for digging and spreading. In some cases the road was turned over. That is a pit was dug in the road until the silt was reached then that was dug out and formed into the carriageway. The surface of the next length was dug and put into the pit as a foundation then the silt dug and placed on top of it and so on along the road.
Gravel was used where obtainable and from about 1870, Wheeler introduced
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
. By the end of the 20th century granite and
slag
Slag is a by-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and used metals. Broadly, it can be classified as ferrous (by-products of processing iron and steel), ferroalloy (by-product of ferroalloy production) or non-ferrous/base metals (by-prod ...
were being consolidated by
steam roller
A steamroller (or steam roller) is a form of road roller – a type of heavy construction machinery used for leveling surfaces, such as roads or airfields – that is powered by a steam engine. The leveling/flattening action is achieved through ...
[Wheeler. pp 441–445.] Of the Bourne to Colsterworth road, Young said ''we were every moment either buried in quagmires of mud or racked to dislocation over pieces of rock which they term mending.'' Materials and methods for repairing fenland roads are described by Wheeler. The best material available was dug locally from pits.
The Terrain
When roads are built by engineers with capital to support their work, they are successfully able to build roads across difficult soils. Modern road builders have less need to seek out easy geological conditions. When roads were made not by
civil engineers
This list of civil engineers is a list of notable people who have been trained in or have practiced civil engineering.
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
...
but by people walking on the ground, the road followed the
soils
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former term ...
which were found to be easiest under foot.
The A151 passes across two types of country, the upland and the fen. The highest point on it lies within a kilometre of its western end at 123 metres above
mean sea level
There are several kinds of mean in mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...
. It then passes across a gently sloping dissected plateau of
Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...
rocks capped in its highest parts by glacial clay. After about 16 kilometres, it enters the fen and is soon at about two metres, rising to three, nearer the coast.
Description
The Western End
Having for some time, extended its influence by diplomacy and trade, The
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
began to take control in
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
from the year 43. An important part of the means of control was the building of soundly-built roads, running directly between key places. This led the engineers to overcome all but the greatest obstacles rather than going round them. One result of this was that they built roads on soils which others would have avoided. When the Roman authorities had withdrawn from Britain and their roads wore out, people began to wander from the
Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
lines where they could find a more secure footing by taking another line.
The Roman equivalent of the A1 was built to a very high standard, during the early years of Roman rule in Britain. The
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
successors of the Romans in Britain, called this road
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 ''Earningas'', ...
from their word for "soldier", compare the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
personal name, Herman. The twenty kilometre length of Ermine Street, at roughly the centre of which, the line of the A151 lies, passed over chalky till (boulder clay) which is very sticky when wet. As the Ermine Street carriageway broke up, people sought easier going by moving down towards the small
River Witham
The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversid ...
whose valley had been eroded through the till, into the
Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
below it.
Thus, in 1756 when the Colsterworth to Bourne road was
turnpiked, the toll road which was to become the A151 began at the crossroads in Colsterworth, further west than it now does, though the first toll gate noted by the 1824 Ordnance Survey map was about three kilometres from there. When the Colsterworth bypass was built, its southern half was placed virtually on the Ermine Street line so that now, while the A151 still begins at the A1, it is not at the old Great North Road but at Ermine Street, on the chalky till soil that we start our journey. Bourne Road, Colsterworth, the section removed from the A151, remains part of the B676, the road which leads westwards, towards
Melton Mowbray
Melton Mowbray () is a town in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester, and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, known below Melton as the Wreake. The town had a population 27,670 in 2019. The town is sometimes promo ...
.
Once the clutter associated with a trunk road junction is left behind, the road passes through agricultural land and woods. To the north are fairly level fields and to the south,
Twyford Wood, which cloaks the remains of
North Witham airfield.
Corby Glen
At the end of the wood, we leave Colsterworth parish. Three kilometres from the start, at the hamlet of Birkholme, the road finds a shallow valley formed by erosion which has cut through the till and exposed the underlying Jurassic limestone soils. Here, the 1824 map shows our first toll gate, Corby Toll Bar. The road follows this valley, under the railway main line, past the second toll gate site at the junction with the Boothby Pagnel road (B1176), then down to the River Glen at
Corby Glen
Corby Glen is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is approximately south-east of the market town of Grantham and 8 miles (13 km) north west of Bourne.
History
The Church of England paris ...
, where it turns a little southwards to avoid more glacial till and keep to the upper
Lincolnshire limestone
The Lincolnshire Limestone Formation is a geological formation in England, part of the Inferior Oolite Group of the (Bajocian) Middle Jurassic strata of eastern England. It was formed around 165 million years ago, in a shallow, warm sea on the mar ...
.
The land between Colsterworth and the western edge of Bourne is a plateau, gently sloping down to the east and much dissected by erosion during periods when it was near but not under ice caps. The River Glen which we crossed at Corby Glen is also called the West Glen and is in one of the two main dissecting valleys.
East of Corby Glen, we are on a strip of un-dissected plateau. The surface dips very gently towards the east but the
geological strata
In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...
dip more steeply so that a kilometre out of Corby Glen, the road passes onto the strata above the limestone, known as the
Upper Estuarine Series, the
Blisworth Limestone
The Blisworth Limestone Formation is a geological formation primarily consisting of limestone deposited during the Bathonian stage of the Middle Jurassic, found in the Jurassic ridge which extends north and south through England. It was laid down ...
,
Blisworth clay,
Cornbrash
The Cornbrash Formation is a Middle Jurassic geological formation in England. It ranges in age from Bathonian to Callovian, the uppermost part of the Middle Jurassic. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the forma ...
and
Kellaways clay, in that order.
Edenham
At Irnham crossroads, the A151 leaves Corby Glen parish for that of Edenham and is back down on the cornbrash. To the north, unseen in its little valley beyond the woods is Irnham, once the home of Sir Geoffrey Luttrell, who commissioned the
Luttrell Psalter
The Luttrell Psalter (British Library, Add MS 42130) is an illuminated manuscript, illuminated psalter commissioned by Sir Geoffrey Luttrell (1276–1345), lord of the manor of Irnham in Lincolnshire, written and illustrated on parchment ''circa'' ...
, a book which tells us so much of English everyday life in the 14th century.
The road dips into the valley of the stream which flows on to form the lake in Grimsthorpe Park. Just skirting the glacial till, it rises to the crest at the other side, on the Kellaways clay and sand and turns sharply left onto the till. It used to go straight on and pass the north front of
Grimsthorpe Castle
Grimsthorpe Castle is a country house in Lincolnshire, England north-west of Bourne on the A151. It lies within a 3,000 acre (12 km2) park of rolling pastures, lakes, and woodland landscaped by Capability Brown. While Grimsthorpe is not ...
. When the soil in the field beyond the bend is bare, its course can still be seen. The castle's owner did a deal with the turnpike trustees. He brought land on the other side of the road into his park and built them a new, though longer road around it. Once the semi-circular diversion is completed, the road turns sharp left again, through Grimsthorpe where it is on Jurassic clay. The 1824
Ordnance Survey
, nativename_a =
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, logo_caption =
, seal =
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map shows both the old and the new roads.
At Grimsthorpe village, the A151 is in the second of the main valleys dissecting the plateau, that of the East Glen river. From its association with Edenham, this river is often called the Eden. The West and East Glens join near Wilsthorpe, at . Through Grimsthorpe and Edenham, there are numerous bends and winds across the small exposures Jurassic soils, glacial gravel and alluvium, until the road climbs out of the valley over the till-capped ridge which separates Edenham parish from Bourne. On the glacial clay soil of the till, it passes between woods, including
Bourne Wood
Bourne Wood (also known as Bourne Woods) is an area of predominantly coniferous woodland just south of Farnham, Surrey, England and a film location, under 10 minutes from the famous film location of Hankley Common in Elstead. Locally it was k ...
.
Bourne
As the road arrives back on the Jurassic clay, it meets the
A6121, a road designation which ends here, having begun at Morcott, in
Rutland
Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire.
Its greatest len ...
, on the other side of the A1, hence its beginning with the digit 6. In 1824, there was a toll gate here. The course of the A151 is directly down the slope into Bourne. It is clear archaeologically that the road used to run parallel with this and about 200 metres to the south. Historically, there appears to be no commonly available record as to when the move was made. It was certainly in two stages. The move of the upper part was probably made in the 18th century; the lower, in about 1140, when Bourne castle was built across it. Its present course is dictated by the former presence of Bourne Castle at the town end and by a desire to keep to the crest of a slight ridge in the hillside.
It is towards the top of this section that it is possible to detect a change in slope betraying the former presence of a shore of the
Devensian periglacial
Periglaciation (adjective: "periglacial", also referring to places at the edges of glacial areas) describes geomorphic processes that result from seasonal thawing of snow in areas of permafrost, the runoff from which refreezes in ice wedges and ot ...
lake, which was impounded by the ice into the Fenland basin. It was more evident but the declivity of the road has been smoothed out a little.
Much more modern, is the bypass road which joins from the south at the entrance to the town and just below the level of the surface of the former lake. This opened for use on 8 October 2005. In the town, the A151 passes immediately outside the castle site, along the latter's northern edge. However the plots along this side of the road were first laid out for houses in around 1280, so that the castle is no longer casually apparent.
At Bourne Market Place, the A151 crosses the A15. This road used to be part of the Lincoln Heath to Peterborough turnpike road, whose act of parliament is dated 1756. It was this trust which, in 1820, demolished the old town hall which used to stand in the street here.
At the junction, the road to the north led directly form the main gate of the castle. The market place was positioned immediately across a moat and a
pomœrium, outside the gate but those are no longer visible from the road. However, our road continues not straight ahead but on a 45° angle toward the south. This bend arose because it passed around the perimeter of the pomœrium until it met the road leading eastwards from the gate. As the A151 reaches this, it turns back through 45° and continues eastwards along that approach road, across the line of the Roman version of the A15,
King Street and past the
Abbey Lawn
The Abbey Lawn in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England, is a centrally located space used as the principal recreation ground in the town. The cricket, tennis, bowls, pétanque, and football clubs play their home fixtures here. The hockey club practices ...
. This is now a picturesque
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
ground, but was an 18th-century sheep lawn. Soon, the road leaves the 12th century,
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
road, heading towards the pre-Norman town. On arrival, it turns eastwards again, at the same time as crossing the now-buried course of the
Car Dyke
The Car Dyke was, and to a large extent still is, an long ditch which runs along the western edge of the Fens in eastern England. It is generally accepted as being of Roman invasion of Britain, Roman age and, for many centuries, to have been ta ...
and onto the fen-edge gravel. This is material which drifted down the slope which we have followed, while it was under the water of the Devensian periglacial lake.
The Car Dyke is generally taken as the boundary of The Fens, though here, it heralds the more commercial part of the town. At once, the road passes the former works of
BRM
British Racing Motors (BRM) was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM wo ...
, the
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
motor racing Constructors' Champion in 1962. The firm is gone but it has left an engineering tradition in the town. Shortly, the road turns north-eastwards, following the bank of the
Roman artificial river across the fen, the Old Ea. At the edge of the town, it turns away from the now hidden river bed, almost eastwards across the black,
humic Humic substances (HS) are organic compounds that are important components of humus, the major organic fraction of soil, peat, and coal (and also a constituent of many upland streams, dystrophic lakes, and ocean water). For a long era in the 19th an ...
soil of Bourne North Fen. Here we begin to see The Fens as the region more typically is, a broad, nearly flat, agricultural land.
At , the road turns due eastwards at Friar Bar, where to judge by its name, at one stage was a toll bar. The Ordnance Survey does not note it but on the Exeter Estate book, it is called Friers Bar. The road from Bourne to Spalding had been turnpiked in 1822, after the survey had begun. So it looks as though the Ordnance Survey had overlooked it. From here, the road runs , straight to
Twenty
Twenty or 20 may refer to:
* 20 (number), the natural number following 19 and preceding 21
* one of the years 20 BC, AD 20, 1920, 2020
Music
Albums
* ''20'' (2nd Chapter of Acts album), 1992
* ''20'' (Cunter album), 2011
* ''20'' (Dr ...
.
The Car Dyke marked the western boundary of the
royal forest
A royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), is an area of land with different definitions in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The term ''forest'' in the ordinary modern understanding refers to an area of wooded land; however, the ...
decreed, by one of the
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
kings. It extended south and east, across the fens to the Welland. There seems to be no precise agreement as to when the land was disafforested. It was somewhere between 1190 and 1230. The obvious occasion was the signing of
Magna Carta
(Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...
in 1215 or perhaps, on one of its re-issues. That document mentions
King John's afforestations.
Roads on the black soils tend to crumble at the edges as the soft humus collapses and oxidises. This road is typical of fen roads, in needing frequent attention to deal with that. It is typical too, in that it rises and falls as it passes over the silt banks left amongst the peat by small to medium marine creeks from the Middle
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
, 3 to 3½ thousand years ago. This was before the peat in the soil was laid down.
In the black fens, the buildings are virtually always to be found on these old creeks, known as roddons. The many small roddons in Bourne North Fen merge at Twenty. There, the road uses part of this larger roddon by turning along it towards Guthram. Nowadays, this place is called Guthram Gowt but until the steam drainage engine was erected there, in 184?, it was Guthram Cote.
In the late medieval period, people lived on the fen edge and the Townlands but the fens themselves were thinly populated. There were however, a few comparatively grand establishments called Halls, Neslam Hall at , for example. It was a grange of
Sempringham Priory
Sempringham Priory was a priory in Lincolnshire, England, located in the medieval hamlet of Sempringham, to the northwest of Pointon. Today, all that remains of the priory is a marking on the ground where the walls stood and a square, which are i ...
on the site of the modern Mornington House round which the district boundary is still diverted as it was when the abbey, on the Kesteven fen edge, owned it. There were more but still rather few smaller dwellings called cotes. Moors Cote lay in Bourne North Fen, to the south-east of Twenty and Guthram Cote stood on the boundary between Kesteven and Holland, on an island of Devensian deposits, the Abbey sand and gravel. The road book, Paterson's Roads, of 1826, lists a toll gate at Guthram Cote, a distance of from Bourne. Just to the east of this was the bridge over what it calls the
South Forty-Foot Eau(15).
Pinchbeck
The Kesteven-Holland boundary is formed by the
South Forty-Foot Drain
The South Forty-Foot Drain, also known as the Black Sluice Navigation, is the main channel for the land-drainage of the Black Sluice Level in the Lincolnshire Fens. It lies in eastern England between Guthram Gowt and the Black Sluice pumping ...
, the main land drain of the Black Sluice Level. The present layout of the drainage dates from the Act of Parliament of 1765 but this part of the South Forty-foot is a re-use of one of the main drains of the Lindsey Level, a scheme which was declared complete in 1638. On the other side, in Pinchbeck North Fen, the road begins to wind, something quite unusual in these fens. It was laid out on the bank of a
soak dike
Soak may refer to:
* Steeping
* Bathing
* Soakage (source of water), a source of water in Australian deserts
* Soak dike, ditch or drain
* Soak testing, a method of system testing in computing and electronics
* Soak (singer), Irish singer-songwrit ...
called the Weir Dike, which was cut in about 1600. In Pinchbeck North Fen, the dike is now largely defunct. The instructions stipulated that it should be at a distance of 100 feet (33M) from the bank of the River Glen. As the river bank meandered a little, so the road does(13).
The river is the one the A151 crosses at Corby Glen and Edenham. Here the two parts are combined. Beyond the Glen, to the south, is an area of dense
Romano-British
The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a ...
occupation. On this side, a little is known but if there is more, it is covered with post-Roman marine silt(14). It looks as though this part of the river began as a single sea bank, keeping the tide out of Pinchbeck South Fen but allowing it into the lower part of that area behind the townland to the north of the road. In the late Roman or early post-Roman period, the Glen escaped from its artificial Roman course of which the Bourne Old Ea was part. (The road follows the bank of this while leaving Bourne) and found its way to these tidal flats. Later, at some early but unknown medieval date, the marsh was turned into a polder of sorts and the Glen was directed along the old sea bank which then became one of the river banks. Thus, the course of the road was determined ultimately, by that of the sea bank.
The River Glen will have been in the phase when it flowed into the tidal marsh, with its mouth at Guthram, at around 500, the time when the unknown writer who goes under the name of
Nennius
Nennius – or Nemnius or Nemnivus – was a Welsh monk of the 9th century. He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the ''Historia Brittonum'', based on the prologue affixed to that work. This attribution is widely considered ...
tells us that
King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
fought his first battle against the English settlers at the mouth of the River Glein. See
Historia Britonum
''The History of the Britons'' ( la, Historia Brittonum) is a purported history of the indigenous British (Brittonic) people that was written around 828 and survives in numerous recensions that date from after the 11th century. The ''Historia Bri ...
numbered paragraph 3. See also
Sites and places associated with Arthurian legend
The following is a list and assessment of sites and places associated with King Arthur and the Arthurian legend in general. Given the lack of concrete historical knowledge about one of the most potent figures in British mythology, it is unlikely ...
.
Footnotes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:1-0151
Roads in England
Roads in Lincolnshire