Lincolnshire Historic Places

04/09/2026

DID YOU KNOW that one of England’s kings was born in Lincolnshire, Henry IV was born at Bolingbroke Castle, to his mother Blanche of Lancaster and his father John of Gaunt. Before becoming king in 1399 he was known as Henry Bolingbroke. Henry came to power by deposing his cousin, the king Richard II, using his descent from King Henry III (ruled 1216–72) to justify his usurpation of the throne, during his reign Henry IV had to squash many uprising. As the first monarch of the house of Lancaster; his actions contributed to the dynastic disputed of the war of the Roses. Shockingly/amazingly He was the first monarch with English as his first language since the Norman conquest in 1066, 300 years earlier.

Have a look at our record for Bolingbroke castle here:
https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI43574

14/08/2026

📢 Calling all our fellow local history lovers, we need you! 📢

Here at LCC's Historic Places team we are working on a project to enhance public engagement with the Historic Environment Record (HER). The HER is a brilliant database of all the known archaeological sites within the county.

SHARE Lincs - Showcase Heritage, Access Records, Explore Lincolnshire - will be a project that looks to support our local communities with engaging with the wealth of historic information contained within the Historic Environment Record, to develop a deeper understanding of the places you call home.

A big part of this will be through our website - the Lincolnshire Heritage Explorer - and we are currently looking to gather feedback on the site as it is currently, to inform the ways in which we can develop and enhance it further going forwards.

If you would like to complete the following survey, we would really appreciate your time and your thoughts on this: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/CJbj3pbrPz

01/08/2026

These photographs of churches in East Lindsey (Wyham and West Barkwith) were taken in the 1980s prior to their demolition. The Lincolnshire Historic Environment Record is the repository for huge quantities of this kind of material, which helps our understanding of Lincolnshire's history even when the buildings themselves have been lost.

Wyham:
https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI82793

West Barkwith:
https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI40336

31/07/2026

This week's is an early medieval copper-alloy Anglo-Saxon mount or harness mount, dating from the late fifth to sixth century AD.

The object depicts a gilded relief consisting of Style I zoomorphic limbs terminating with toes, claws or talons. They surround a central boss with a red glass or gem inset.

The completeness and excellent condition of this find is rare.

https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1229690

28/07/2026

Very exciting news from the Lincolnshire Portable Antiquities Scheme!

The new Portable Antiquities Scheme database goes live today! 🎉

The redeveloped site aims to create a new user-friendly experience. Take a look around the site using the usual link 👉 https://finds.org.uk/database

Please get in touch with any queries you may have.

26/07/2026

If you're heading to Heckington Show today then come and say "hello!" 😊👋

We're chatting all things Mud and Stud on the stand, but we've also got some handling objects and information about the other work we do too. You'll find us in the Heritage Village.

If you're not at the show but would like more information about the Mud and Stud project do have a look on our Heritage Explorer site, here: https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/mudandstud

21/07/2026

There are more than a few interesting heritage tidbits in Gainsborough, from the medieval rabbit farm at North Warren Road (possibly destroyed not long after the Royalists took the town during the English Civil War, we assume for non-rabbit related reasons), to the Danish and-later cemetery under Silver Street which has gone from only being known from 16th century writings to jaw bones dug up by groundworkers and 2010 excavations, but we’re especially struck by this map of 1690 showing how dramatically Gainsborough has grown. It’s amazing to think if you’d been standing on Beaumont Street you would have seen rolling fields, rather than Marshall’s Yard! What a transformation it would be to see it go by in the blink of an eye.

With the summer holidays upon us, we thought we'd share some inspiration for those of you sightseeing across Lincolnshire over the next few weeks. Here we have our first instalment of our series, keep your eyes peeled for more coming soon

If you were interested to know more, our Extensive Urban Survey for Gainsborough attempts to bring together the historic character of the town, and makes a great starting point:https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/eusreports/gainsborougheusreport-compressed.pdf

26/06/2026

🌞While the heatwave continues outside, we thought we'd cool down with some interesting information about a very 'cool' kind of building...

Icehouses are buildings that were used for storing and preserving ice, prior to the invention of refrigeration. Ice would be cut from a local source, like a lake, during the winter months and kept in the ice house for up to several months.

The concept of an ice house has been around for thousands of years, but first arrived in England in 1619 at Greenwich Park. Since then, they became a staple of the English country house estate - usually found within the parkland, close to a water source where fresh ice could be harvested and easily transported to the icehouse, and within a wooded area for shade.

Icehouses can come in all shapes and sizes, but were often made up of a brick-lined structure with a domed roof. Most also had a round base in order to retain any melted ice, though some also featured a drainage system. The bricks acted as reverse insulation, keeping the heat OUT rather than letting it in.

The Lincolnshire Historic Environment Record currently has 32 listed examples of icehouses throughout the county. You can find out more on our Heritage Explorer site, here: https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/thesaurusterm/71409

📸Here is a fine example from Hainton Hall. Image from the Historic Environment Record.

22/06/2026

Last week our team had the pleasure of exploring Boston as an 'away day' - getting us out from behind our desks and expanding our knowledge of the town's extraordinary history and wealth of heritage sites.

We had a fantastic tour with guide Jane Keightley, a walk around Boston Guildhall and glimpses at exciting developments happening for both Blackfriars Theatre and Shodfriars Hall.

📖If you'd like to find out more about Boston's history, why not have a read of our Extended Urban Survey of the town. You'll find this on our Heritage Explorer site, here:https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/eusreports/bostoneusreport.pdf

📸Photographs courtesy of Papamattzzi

10/06/2026

Since 2023 Lincoln Castle has hosted a series of concerts with performances by artists such as Madness, McFly and James. Behind the scenes, a key part of our work in the Historic Places Team is looking after the Lincoln Castle in preparation of these events. All major activities in the castle are assessed for their impact on the historic fabric, and measures are always recommended to mitigate harm as much as possible, so not only can we stage fantastic events such as these we also ensure the castle is looked after for future events and people to enjoy.

https://www.lincolncastle.com/events?page=1