Lincolnshire

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This article is about the English administrative county. For the Illinois village, see Lincolnshire, Illinois; for the Kentucky city, see Lincolnshire, Kentucky.

Lincolnshire

Geography
Status:	Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county
Region:	East Midlands, except North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire which are in Yorkshire and the Humber
Area: - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area	Ranked 2nd 6,959 km² Ranked 4th 5,921 km²
Admin HQ:	Lincoln
ISO 3166-2:	GB-LIN
ONS code:	32
NUTS 3:	UKF30
Demographics
Population: - Total (2003 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop.	Ranked 19th 977,727 141 / km² Ranked 15th 665,270
Ethnicity:	98.5% White
Politics
Lincolnshire County Council http://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/
Executive:	Conservative
Members of Parliament
Ian Cawsey, Quentin Davies, John Hayes, Douglas Hogg, Edward Leigh, Shona McIsaac, Gillian Merron, Austin Mitchell, Elliot Morley, Mark Simmonds, Peter Tapsell
Districts
Lincoln North Kesteven South Kesteven South Holland Boston East Lindsey West Lindsey North Lincolnshire (Unitary) North East Lincolnshire (Unitary)

Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs) is a county in the East Midlands of England. It borders onto Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Rutland, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire and (for just 19 metres, England's shortest county boundary) Northamptonshire. Its county town is the ancient city of Lincoln.

1 Geography
- 1.1 Towns and villages
- 1.2 Transport
2 History
3 People
4 Culture
5 Public services
- 5.1 Education
- 5.2 Health care
6 Places of interest
7 External links

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Geography

Main article: Geography of Lincolnshire

The ceremonial county of Lincolnshire (composed of the 'administrative' counties of Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire and North-East Lincolnshire) is the second largest of the English counties and one that is predominantly agricultural in character.

For the purposes of a general geographical classification the county can be broken down into a number of sub-regions including: the Lincolnshire Fens, the Lincolnshire Wolds, and the industrial Humber Estuary and North Sea coast around Grimsby and Scunthorpe.

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Towns and villages

The county of Lincolnshire is characterised by the absence of any major urban area. The prinicpal settlements and their populations are: Lincoln (85,000), Boston (35,000), Grantham (34,000), Spalding (22,000) and Stamford (19,000). Many of the towns in the county continue to hold a weekly market, a centuries-old tradition reinvigorated recently by the growth of farmers' markets.

For a full list of Lincolnshire towns and villages see the List of places in Lincolnshire page.

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Transport

Main article: Transport in Lincolnshire

Being on the economic periphery of England, Lincolnshire's transport links are less well developed than many other parts of the United Kingdom. The road network within the county is dominated by single carriageway trunk roads (A roads) and minor roads (B roads) rather than motorways or dual carriageways — the administrative county of Lincolnshire is one of the small number of UK counties without a motorway and up until a few years ago, it was said that there was only approximately thirty-five kilometres (twenty-two miles) of dual carriageway in the whole of Lincolnshire.

The low population density of the county means that the number of railway stations and train services is low considering the county's large physical size. A large number of the county's railway stations were permanently closed following the Beeching Report of 1963. Lincoln retained its direct train service to London until the late 1980s, but it is now necessary to change trains in Newark, Nottinghamshire. However, the East Coast Main Line passes through the county and so it is still possible to catch direct trains to the capital from Grantham.

There is a local joke that Lincolnshire is the only county where most people's second car is a Massey Ferguson (a make of tractor).

Since April 1994, Lincolnshire has had an Air Ambulance service [1] which was extended to also cover Nottinghamshire in 1997. The air ambulance is stationed at RAF Waddington near Lincoln and can reach emergencies in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire within 19 minutes.

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History

Main article: History of Lincolnshire.

Lincolnshire derived from the merging of the territory of the ancient Kingdom of Lindsey with that controlled by the Danelaw borough Stamford. For some time the entire county was called 'Lindsey', and it is recorded as such in the Domesday Book. Later, Lindsey was applied only the northern core, around Lincoln, and emerged as one of the three Parts of Lincolnshire, along with the Parts of Holland in the south-east and Kesteven in the south west.

In 1888 when county councils were set up, Lindsey, Holland and Kesteven each received their own separate one. These survived until 1974, when Holland, Kesteven, and most of Lindsey were unified into Lincolnshire, and the northern part, with Scunthorpe and Grimsby, going to the newly formed administrative county of Humberside, along with most of the East Riding of Yorkshire.

A further local government reform in 1996 abolished Humberside, and the parts south of the Humber became the unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. These areas became part of Lincolnshire for ceremonial purposes such as the Lord-Lieutenancy, but are not covered by the Lincolnshire police. These two authorities are in the Yorkshire and the Humber region.

The remaining districts of Lincolnshire are Boston, East Lindsey, Lincoln, South Holland, South Kesteven, North Kesteven and West Lindsey. They are part of the East Midlands region.

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People

Lincolnshire is relatively unusual in the composition of its population, being one of the least ethnically diverse counties of the United Kingdom (98.5 percent of the population describe themselves as "white"). Over recent years inward migration by people from ethnic minority communities has increased (particularly to population centres such as Lincoln) but the absolute number of non-white Lincolnshire residents remains very low.

Recently, the county has also witnessed a growing trend towards an in-migration of retired persons from other parts of the United Kingdom, particularly those from the southern counties of England attracted by the generally lower property prices and generally slower and more relaxed pace of life. Skegness was recent voted the most popular place in Britain to retire to, with Spalding and Mablethorpe also recommended, by a recent study [2].

Those born in Lincolnshire are sometimes given the slighly comic nickname of Yellowbellies (often spelt "Yeller Bellies", to reflect the pronunciation of the phrase by the typical Lincolnshire farmer). The origins of this phrase are much speculated upon but remain unclear.

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Culture

Lincolnshire is a rural area where the pace of life is slow. Sunday is still largely a day of rest, with generally only shops in Lincoln (and some of the larger market towns) and on the North Sea coast remaining open. There is a relatively high proportion of elderly and retired people, and this is reflected in the many of the services, activities, and events. An example of this is the relatively large number of garden centres and plant nurseries, although this is also partially attributable to the due to the longstanding agricultural heritage of the county.

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Unofficial anthem

The unofficial anthem of the county is the traditional folksong, 'The Lincolnshire Poacher', which dates from around 1776. A version of the song was the theme to BBC Radio Lincolnshire for many years.

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Search for a flag

In August 2005 BBC Radio Lincolnshire and Lincolnshire Life magazine launched a vote for an unoffical flag to represent the county. Six competing designs were voted upon by locals and one won - see here. You can visit the Lincolnshire Flag website by clicking here.

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Accent and dialect

The accent and dialect words of Lincolnshire are poorly known outside the county when compared to Scouse or Cockney, which have received far more media exposure. The effects of modern media, education, and in-migration to the county have indeed diluted the traditional accent, and many dialect words have been lost. However, the accent certainly exists, and a native 'Yeller Belly' will still easily pick out a Lincolnshire speaker, even distinguishing between the various parts of this large county - the northern residents of Lindsey tending towards Yorkshire dialect; the south-east of the county (Holland and the Fens) more like that of East Anglia.

In common with most other Northern and Midlands dialects in England, "flat" a is preferred, i.e. [baθ] over [bɑθ], and also in words like water, pronounced watter. Similarly, [ʌ] is usually replaced by [ʊ]. Features rather more confined to Lincolnshire include:

Elaboration of standard English [eɪ] or [iː] into a complex triphthong approximating, and often transcribed -air- or -yair-. For example: "mate" [m(j)ɛːɚt]; "beast" [b(j)ɛːɚst]; "tates" (potatoes) [t(j)ɛːɚts].
An equivalent elaboration of standard English [əʊ] - commonly [oː] in Northern England - into -ooa-. For example "boat" [bʊːɚt].
Insertion of an extra schwa into the standard English diphthong [aʊ]. For example, the town of Louth is pronounced [lawəθ] by some inhabitants.
Vocabulary: "duck" as a term of endearment or informal address, "mardy" meaning upset or angry, "while" as a substitute for standard English "until", and the inimitable salutation "now then!?" (hello), sometimes written nairn to reflect pronunciation, but often drawn out into a sing-song nyEEEAaairn-myeeeaaairt!!! in the mouth of the more rural and traditional speaker.

Lincolnshire has its own dialect 'champion', a farmer from the village of Minting called Farmer Wink (real name Robert Carlton), who has produced videos about rural life, narrated in his broad Lincolnshire accent, and who has a regular slot on BBC Radio Lincolnshire.

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Food

Lincolnshire has a number of interesting local dishes:

stuffed chine - this is roasted and sliced belly of pork, stuffed with a strong sage, or parsley stuffing (other ingredients are normally kept secret). Served cold, it's considered by many in the county to be an acquired taste
haslet - a type of pork loaf, also flavoured with sage
Lincolnshire pork sausages - most butchers in Lincolnshire have their own secret recipe for these and a competition is held each year to judge the best sausages in the county
Batemans ales - a beer brewed in Wainfleet and served in many pubs in the county and further afield

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Events

Every year the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society stages the Lincolnshire Agricultural Show on the last whole week of June at its showground at Grange de Lings. First held in 1869, it is one of the largest agricultural shows in the country, and is attended by around 100,000 people over its two day opening.

Since World War II, RAF Waddington has been home to the Waddington International Air Show, which usually takes place on the last weekend in June. The two day event attracts around 100,000 people each year.

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Public services

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Education

Lincolnshire is one of the few counties within the UK that still uses the Eleven plus to decide who may attend grammar school.

Skegness Grammar School is notable as the first school in Great Britain to apply for and receive, 'grant-maintained' status.

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Health care

The United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust is one of the largest trusts in the country, employing almost 7000 staff and with an annual budget of over £250 million.

Lincolnshire shares the problems of elsewhere in the country when it comes to finding an NHS dentist, with waiting lists of three months not uncommon.

Some of the larger hospitals in the county include: