THERE HAVE BEEN several books published on the history of Bourne from various sources in past years and each has increased our knowledge of this small market town. The definitive account can be found in A Portrait of Bourne, a massive work that can only be contained on CD-ROM, and so I have produced this shorter and more accessible version for the general reader.  

It contains all of the main events that have affected the growth and appearance of Bourne together with descriptions of the important buildings such as the Abbey Church and the Red Hall, and institutions and organisations that have survived the years. These accounts embrace the growth of agriculture, religion, crime and education, the aerated water industry which became famous throughout the world and the arrival of the railways which brought a new prosperity for more than a century.  

There are also tales of the people who lived here because it is through them and their day to day lives that we begin to understand exactly what life was like in past centuries, especially their role in the many conflicts that brought them first-hand experience of the horrors of war. 

Once this book has been read and enjoyed, then perhaps it would be time to move on to the CD-ROM which over the past thirteen years has become a massive work now containing over 1½ million words and 5,000 photographs of the town past and present. One would think that this is all that can be written about a small Lincolnshire market town yet the quest continues.

Rex Needle
Bourne
February 2012