Washingborough is a village in the

North Kesteven North Kesteven is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England. The district is located to the east of Nottinghamshire, north-east of Leicestershire and south of the city of Lincoln. Its council, North Kesteven District Council, is b ...

district in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, 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-we ...

, England. Located east of

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

and from

Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington to the south-west, Holdingham to the nor ...

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

Lincoln Cliff The Lincoln Cliff or Lincoln Edge is a portion of a major escarpment that runs north–south through Lindsey and Kesteven in central Lincolnshire and is a prominent landscape feature in a generally flat portion of the county. Towards its northe ...

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 ...

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. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

where the

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 Riversi ...

breaks through it. The south side of Lincoln Cathedral 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 A fen is a type of wetland. Fen, Fenn, Fens, Fenns, may also refer to: People * Fen (name), a Chinese given name and surname * Fen Cresswell (1915–1966), New Zealand cricketer * Fen McDonald (1891–1915), Australian rules footballer * Kees ...

begin. The Fens were first drained by the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

and the Roman

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 age and, for many centuries, to have been taken as marking the western ...

ran from Washingborough to the

River Nene The River Nene ( or : see below) is a river in the east of England that rises from three sources in Northamptonshire.OS Explorer Map sheet 223, Northampton & Market Harborough, Brixworth & Pitsford Water. The river is about long, about of w ...

, near

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 ...

History

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

fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere' ...

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 network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's archaeological television programme ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

'', 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-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

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

crucible A crucible is a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. While crucibles were historically usually made from clay, they can be made from any material that withstands te ...

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

. The paris
church
is dedicated to St John the Evangelist. St John's Church has a Norman tower, and inside the church is a Norman font. Church windows depict a

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count 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 ...

raid on the village in 1916. An

shield was discovered near here in 1826. It is called 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 in Lincolnshire, England in 182 ...

and is now in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. The village was served by the

Lincolnshire Loop Line The Lincolnshire loop line was a double-track railway built by the Great Northern Railway, that linked Peterborough to Lincoln via Spalding and Boston. History The Lincolnshire loop line was authorised on 26 June 1846 as part of the London a ...

between Lincoln and

via

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 ...

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.

Amenities

The village has two public houses, the Ferryboat on High Street and the Hunters Leap on Oak Hill, a Chinese and an Indian takeaway, a pizza house, 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 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 ...

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 reports in 2017, 2012 and 2009 inspection.

Twin village

* Orgerus in

Yvelines Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.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