BOURNE AND NEIGHBOURHOOD
 IN 1835

Reproduced from Pigot's Directory of Lincolnshire
for that year

Bourne is a very neat and cleanly market town in the parish of its name, Wapentake of Aveland and in the parts of Kesteven, bordering on the fens; 97 miles north from London, 10 miles north east from Stamford, 18 miles south from Sleaford, and 11 miles west from Spalding; situate on the great road from London to Lincoln. 

Contiguous to the town is a fine perennial spring, called the Well Head from which the town derives its name, Bourne being the Saxon word for brook. The water gushes from this spring with such copiousness as to turn three mills within a short distance from its source. A legendary tale asserts that this water flows underground from Stoke, a village sixteen miles distant, and that a white duck once sunk with the stream at that village and in a short time was seen to rise at Bourne Well Head; and three of the mills turned by this stream pay an acquittance to the lord of the manor of Stoke to this day.

In some old writings in the possession of Mr Presgrove who inherits the right of fishing here, it is called Peter's Pool. At the extremity of the town this stream forms a navigation called the Bourne Ease which unites with the river Glen and ultimately falls into the Welland. There is reason to believe that Bourne was once a Roman station; several vestiges existing in the vicinity confirm this surmise. The present abbey was rebuilt in 1764, upon a site of the ancient one founded by Baldwin in 1138, from which a subterraneous passage was believed to have been carried to the then existing castle, a distance of 150 yards. 

The name of the founder of this castle is unknown, together with the date of its erection; the last vestige of this fortress, called the Gate House, was taken down some years ago, in order to furnish materials for a barn; the outer and inner moats are, however, still visible. The Abbey is the property of George Pochin Esq, a minor, and was left to this family by Sir Thomas Trollope, bart; it is a very commonious residence, well adapted for a family of distinction. Red Hall, the residence of the widow of James Digby Esq is very ornamental to the southern entrance of the town. 

Few towns owe more to the laudable spirit of improvement, which characterizes the present age, than Bourne. An elegant Town Hall, which graces the east side of the market place, has been recently erected; it was built by Mr Browning, the architect, and was completed in the short space of five months. The present tasteful structure has supplanted one on the opposite side, which had nothing but its venerable age to cause regret at its demolition. Beneath the present edifice are very commodious shambles for the butchers; and the poultry and butter venders have also accommodation. The Marquess of Exeter, who holds a large property here, was a munificent donor towards this fine improvement. The venerable building, now the Bull Inn, was built by one of the ancestors of the present Marquess. The sessions for the parts of Kesteven are held here four times a year, when a great deal of the county business is transacted; it is also one of the stations, appointed by the new Boundary Act, for receiving votes at the election of county members to represent the parts of Kesteven and Holland.

The church, dedicated to St Peter and St Paul, originally possessed two towers, but a fragment only of one now remains; the west front exhibits specimens of the architecture of the time of Edward I, with insertions of subsequent periods; the interior contains a chancel, nave, and aisles, with a southern transept, all in the early Norman style; and there is a fine organ, built in 1830. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the patronage of the Earl of Pomfret. Here are also baptist and methodist chapels; and two alms-houses for six poor men and six poor women, each endowed with £30 per annum. The free school, in the Church-yard, was endowed in the second year of Charles I with an annual income of £30 for the master, by William Trollope, Esq who also founded a hospital. One of those useful institutions, a national school has been lately established. 

Bourne is distinguished as the birthplace of the heroic Hereward, lord of Brun, who was buried in the abbey; the great Lord Burleigh and the unfortunate Dr Dodd were also born here. The market is held on Saturday, and four fairs annually, viz. April 6th, May 7th, September 30th, and October 29th. The parish of Bourne (including the hamlets of Cawthorpe and Dyke) contained, in 1821, 2,242 inhabitants, and in 1831, 2,589.

POST OFFICE, South-street, Edward Gough, Post Master. - Letters arrive every morning at a quarter before six, and are despatched every evening at a quarter before eight. 

NOTE: Small editorial amendments have been made to the above text 
to make it more accessible to the modern reader.

Go to:     Main Index    Villages Index