< Previous30 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY CAISTOR N estled almost at the highest point in Lincolnshire at the northern edge of the rolling Wolds is Caistor, a historic market town with style, heritage and community spirit. With some of the county’s most stunning scenes as a backdrop, the town continues to attract ramblers. Though there’s plenty of trails criss-crossing the Wolds, the Viking Way – the 147-mile trail running between the Humber Bridge and Oakham in Rutland – passes through the town. On foot isn’t the only way to take in the town’s beauty, though, with horse riders and cyclists a common sight. There are also few places better suited for a sunny Sunday drive, so readers should use the excuse to stop in and soak up all that this charming town has to offer. The land on which Caistor stands was used as a hillfort by early Britons who dubbed it ‘Caer-Egarry’. Later it became a Roman stronghold with the camp encircled by a massive wall, fragments of which can still be seen on the southern boundary of St Peter & St Paul church. The town grew out of this stronghold and was eventually involved in the Lincolnshire Rising in 1536. Given this long history, it’s surprising that the town centre is comprised predominantly of buildings dating back to the Georgian and Victorian periods. That’s because a devastating fire broke out in 1681 destroying almost all the medieval architecture. Only Session House, built in 1662, survived and remains standing to this day. Also standing is Caistor House which, in 1682, became the first brick building completed after the fire. Now there’s fifty-six listed buildings and you can see the blue plaques throughout the town centre. Later, in the 19th century, Caistor was a bustling stop off for traders, especially where sheep and cattle were concerned. In fact, the town lays claim to being one of the busiest and most important annual sheep fairs in England, with over 30,000 animals changing hands. Now you’re much more likely to tuck into a tasty lamb lunch in one of the town’s many restaurants than see a sheep in the street. For anyone interested in Caistor’s rich history – and, frankly, who wouldn’t be? – there’s plenty of services and offerings peppered throughout the town to take advantage of. The Caistor Civil Society, for example, offers a variety of guided tours giving locals and tourists alike the chance to delve a little deeper into Church Square or the Market Place. There’s even a special tour for wheelchair users. Then, of course, there’s the Arts and Heritage Centre itself. Located on Plough Hill in a renovated Methodist chapel, the Centre is home to an assortment of workshop and gallery spaces, a café, shop and library. Overlooking the latter, the library is open seven days a week and manned by a dedicated team of volunteers responsible for an excellent selection of books, plus literature on local history and a lovely little nook for kids to find their next favourite story. Here a cross section of the community can get their culture and heritage fix, while rooms for hire and workshop space means that the Centre is truly a community hub. On top of all that, it also hosts regular events including Spanish Conversation, Pleasurable Painting, family history workshops and a Dungeon & Dragons evening for young people aged between twelve and eighteen. The Centre also recently opened Caistor’s only charity shop which has been hugely successful with profits helping to fund this warm and charming community hub. When it comes to leisure, Caistor won’t be found wanting, catering as it does to all manner of hobbies and outdoor pursuits including shooting. One of the most popular is fishing and it’s easy to see why. The family-run Caistor Lakes Leisure Park and Restaurant is set in seven acres of the Wolds and offers three well-stocked fishing lakes for anglers of every kind. For horse enthusiasts, there’s the Caistor Equestrian Centre, a beautiful purpose-built establishment spread across more than thirty acres. It specialises in all aspects of riding, competitions, training and horse care. As we’ve already mentioned, horse riders can be commonly found throughout the town and trails on the Wolds and it’s one of the very best big heart 33 Á This month we take a closer look at Caistor, a historic market town brimming with heritage, leisure and community spirit. The market town with the 30-33.qxp_Layout 1 21/01/2020 11:57 Page 1LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY 31 CAISTOR 30-33.qxp_Layout 1 21/01/2020 11:57 Page 232 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY The Cross Keys Fine Ale - Good Food - Great Pub –––– THE PUB WITH THE VIEW –––– To make a booking please call us on 01652 628247 The Cross Keys Inn, Brigg Road, Grasby, Lincolnshire DN38 6AQ Email: info@crosskeys‐grasby.co.uk www.crosskeys‐grasby.co.uk Deliciously Deliciously Lincolnshire Platinum Awarded for outstanding quality and service by award WWW.LINCOLNSHIRETODAY.NET The Cross Keys’ menus are all about brilliant ingredients cooked simply to let the flavours shine, we offer menus that change with the season, have special nights focussing on steak and curry, a proper Sunday roast at the weekends, and a monthly taster and wine pairing evenings. Our menu is designed to provide something for everyone with meals being cooked to order using local sourced products whenever possible so whether you are looking for a light bite to accompany a drink, sharing a platter with friends or in need of a hearty meal The Cross Keys Inn is the place to be. NEW FOR MONDAYS PIE AND A PINT SPECIAL Valentine’s Set Menu Two Courses £24.95 Three Courses £29.95 14th - 15th February Free photo of the happy couple on the night Our main objective here at Greenacres is to provide a home in which you will feel settled, comfortable and happy. Greenacres is a small, friendly care home situated in the historic town of Caistor, surrounded by the stunning countryside of the Lincolnshire Wolds. Facilities include: • Short term respite care • Long term residential care • Individual diets catered for • 24 hour call system • Residents access to a GP • Highly trained nursing staff • Personalised care plan • Access to 24 hour care • And much more 17/19 Grimsby Road, Caistor, Lincs LN7 6QY Tel: 01472 851989 www.greenacrescarehome.org.uk Find your perfect wedding dress with Bridal Reloved boutique Bridal Reloved is an independent boutique under the Bridal Reloved Franchise specialising in top quality re- loved, sample and new wedding dresses. It only sells the best bridal designers and sizes start from 6 up to its plus-size range. All dresses are half the original RRP or less, so you’re guaranteed to find a beautiful designer dress for less without compromising on quality, style or design. Stock changes quickly and dresses can be viewed anytime through the boutique’s online platforms. Situated in Caistor, Bridal Reloved help brides across Lincolnshire and beyond to find their dream wedding dress. It offers one-to-one appointments, minimum two- hour appointments with a ‘one bride at a time’ policy so you can relax and enjoy your visit. To find out more, follow @bridalrelovedcaistor on Facebook. 30-33.qxp_Layout 1 21/01/2020 11:57 Page 3LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY 33 CAISTOR ways to take in the area. While there’s plenty of outdoor pursuits, there’s also fitness to be found inside with gyms, and hairdressers, salons and beauty specialists to ensure you’re kept trim and pampered. The town’s shopping experience, meanwhile, is truly one of the best. There’s the market itself, of course, held every Saturday, but also an assortment of boutiques and stores specialising in everything including bridal wear, furniture, antiques, fashion, computers, home interiors and even model railways. With a few supermarkets thrown in, Caistor has struck the perfect balance between modern convenience and everything a market town should be. One of the trends that is very much alive and flourishing in the town is upcycling. This term is often only applied to furniture but in Caistor, you can also find upcycled bridal wear and other fashion. Basically, it’s about taking something pre-loved, giving it some TLC and making it into something special. These are crafts, furniture pieces and fashion that you won’t find anywhere else, so if you’re looking for something to set your newly decorated living room off, or to wow your wedding guests, head down to Caistor’s Market Place and surrounding side streets. But no market town worth its stripes would be complete without a community spirit which, fortunately, abounds in Caistor. Look no further than Caistor Community Cinema. Set up in 2018, the cinema shows a film once a month at Caistor Town Hall with tickets sold at the Post Office or online. Upcoming films include Downtown Abbey, Sorry We Missed You and, in an open air showing, Mamma Mia!. Elsewhere there’s beautiful hotels and pubs, stunning floral displays and springs bubbling up from the chalk hillside. For all its lifestyle and heritage, Caistor is also a great place for business, hosting an assortment of companies ranging from recruitment and financial services right through to photographers. With services, workspaces and amenities constantly improving and expanding, the town will continue to attract more businesses and nurture new companies. Add to that the new homes that are being developed and bringing new families to the area and it’s obvious that Caistor’s star will continue to rise. 30-33.qxp_Layout 1 21/01/2020 11:57 Page 434 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY L ittle is known about Woodhall before mediaeval times when two Cistercian abbeys were founded nearby at Kirkstead and Stixwould; even then the surroundings remained largely remote, wild heathland. Woodhall appears next in the historical record when Ralph Cromwell of Tattershall castle, England’s Lord Treasurer, built a hunting lodge there, today known as the Tor’o Mor to the east of the present village, where it’s remains still tower over the golf course. There is a gap then until the early C19th. In about 1811 John Parkinson, a local entrepreneur, became convinced that there was coal beneath the village and began what was to be an ultimately fruitless search for it, a process prolonged (it is said) by miners smuggling pieces of coal down the shafts to be conveniently “found” and thus extend their work. The episode is recalled today by the name of Coalpit Wood and on the village sign along Stixwould Road. All was not lost however since Parkinson’s abandoned mine shafts flooded and local Squire Hotchkin, noticing the beneficial effects of the waters on poorly cattle, had them chemically analysed. They were found to contain unusually high concentrations of iodine and bromine (unique in England) and his discovery soon led to the development of a spa. Its popularity was a major factor in promoting and building the Horncastle branch line railway in 1855. (The railway survived until 1971; the carpark behind the little triangular shoe shop at the end of Broadway occupies the former station site and a short section of track is preserved nearby.) The spa however kept going until 21st September 1983 when the wells collapsed although a “Rheumatism Clinic” sign survives in Coronation Road. The railway’s impact upon Woodhall’s popularity was immediate. The village expanded rapidly through until Edwardian times, (tripling in 30 years) evidenced by the contemporary architectural style of its hotels and houses; prominent examples being The Mall Hotel and The Kinema. The latter was originally an Edwardian sports pavilion and was converted in 1922; it’s one of the oldest in the country and still going strong, with its unique back projection system and preserving a nostalgic “days gone by” atmosphere. We must not forget either that enduring Woodhall institution the Teahouse in the Woods (built around 1906), was “the” place for tea after your spa treatment, and remains as popular as ever. Another grand Edwardian neo-gothic building is the Petwood Hotel built for heiress Baroness Grace von Eckhardstein in the early 1900’s. She later married wealthy M.P. Sir Archibald Weigall who WOODHALL SPA Woodhall Spa’s history is long and varied; we visit and explore. heritage Lincolnshire explored 34-35.qxp_Layout 1 21/01/2020 11:31 Page 1LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY 35 entertained the cream of Edwardian high society there. In WWI the house became a military hospital and then a hotel from 1933. During WWII it was the “home” of the famous Dambusters (617 Squadron) whilst they were stationed nearby. The Dambusters raid of 16th May 1943 using Barnes Wallis’s “Bouncing” bomb on German dams is honoured by the massive memorial in the shape of a “breached” dam in Royal Gardens. The name “Tirpitz is also inscribed there since the 617 squadron (although not with Guy Gibson) also played a prominent role in the sinking of the infamous German battleship in Norway in November 1944 using another of Wallis’s inventions the “Tallboy” bomb. A separate black marble 617 Squadron memorial stands nearby. Their exploits can be remembered in the Petwood hotel’s “Squadron Bar” with its memorabilia. The hotel also has an original Barnes Wallis bouncing bomb preserved in the grounds. Sadly, Royal Square was the unfortunate scene of wartime action too. It was occupied by one of Woodhall’s grandest hotels, The Royal Hydro, which was almost completely destroyed by an enemy bomb on the night of 23rd August 1942. Only a small part, now The Mall inn, survived. There is also an WWII Arnhem memorial outside the Cottage Museum. As a legacy of all this wartime history there is a WWII Heritage Trail with eight illustrated information boards; the first is at the corner of Royal Gardens by the crossroads and has a map showing the locations of the others. For a village Woodhall is also extremely well catered for in terms of leisure amenities in addition to the historic Kinema mentioned above. For instance, it is now well known as the “home” of the English Golf Union and Woodhall’s golf club has a long history. Golf came to Woodhall in the 1890’s at a nine-hole course off Tattershall Road. Another course briefly occupied land astride Stixwould Road but then in 1902 local landowner Stafford Hotchkin offered land beside Horncastle Road where an 18- hole course (belatedly named after him in 1998) was established. Comprising eighteen holes, it was opened on 30th June 1905 and still occupies the same site. The English Golf Union bought both club and course in 1995 and built a second 18- hole course (The Bracken) in 1998. The Weigalls feature again in the history of Jubilee Park, gifting the land (part of a former golf course) in 1935 to commemorate the jubilee of King George V. The park is now a charity (Jubilee Park Woodhall Spa Ltd) and its outdoor swimming pool, beautiful rose gardens, pathways and café remain extremely popular. At the other end of the village is the famous Cottage Museum housed in a Victorian pre-fab, a historic building in its own right, with a fascinating local history collection and an Arnhem memorial in its garden. Unusually, and I think uniquely in Lincolnshire, Woodhall has a different village sign illustrating aspects of its heritage on each of its four approach roads from Stixwould, Roughton, Tattershall and Kirkstead Bridge. They depict a coal mine, the Tor’o Mor, Kirkstead Abbey and the railway respectively. With all this heritage Woodhall offers a fine destination for visitors at any time of year. by Hugh Marrows 34-35.qxp_Layout 1 21/01/2020 11:31 Page 236 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY FASHION dressed Much as we love Valentine’s Day, dressing up in your favourite outfit can be its own excuse. With that in mind we cast a look over some of our favourite outfits from the current season and look ahead to see what the spring lines will bring us. Best 36-45.qxp_Layout 1 21/01/2020 11:49 Page 1LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY 37 FASHION Masai Masai offer stunning, well fitted clothing in an assortment of stylish colours that flatter, flaunt and compliment. With its tapered sleeves and drawstring neck, this top is the perfect example. 36-45.qxp_Layout 1 21/01/2020 11:49 Page 238 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY FASHION Left: Masai You’re sure to get noticed in this flowing Masai dress with its contrasting colours and adorable cut. Middle: Ichi While the little black dress is a staple for many, there’s something to be said for this red number from Ichi with its flattering fit and shorter sleeves. Pair with boots, a bangle and necklace for maximum impact. Photo courtesy of: DK Company - ICHI Right: Numph With this, Numph offer an outfit that assures us spring will soon be on the way. The light flowing fit and gentle floral pattern will be right on trend. Opposite: LauRie Look a little closer at this LauRie outfit to see the stylish intricacies: the buttons on the trouser cuff, the neckline and the floral pattern itself. It’s a complete, carefully considered outfit that’s just begging for a place in your wardrobe. 36-45.qxp_Layout 1 21/01/2020 11:49 Page 336-45.qxp_Layout 1 21/01/2020 11:49 Page 4Next >