Romans

Although fortified, Horncastle was not on any important Roman roads, which suggests that the River Bain was the principal route of access to it.

Roman Horncastle has become known recently as Banovallum (i. e. Wall on the River Bain). Although this Roman name has been adopted by some local businesses and the town's secondary modern school, it is not firmly known to be original.^[2] Banovallum was merely suggested in the 19th century through an interpretation of the Ravenna Cosmography, a 7th-century list of Roman towns and road-stations,^[3] and may equally have meant Caistor.

The Roman walls remain in places. One section is on display in the town's library, which was built over the top of the wall.^[2] The Saxons called the town Hyrnecastre, from which its modern name derives.

The former Horncastle Town Hall

Domesday Book

Horncastle is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book with 41 households, including 29 villagers and twelve smallholders, and had 100 acres (0 km²) of meadow and two mills, all belonging to King William.^[4]

Church

Dating from the 13th century, well before the Reformation, the Anglican parish church is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. It is a Grade II* listed building in the Early English style, but was extensively restored 1859–1861 by Ewan Christian.^[5]

English Civil War

Four miles out is the village of Winceby, where in 1643 the Battle of Winceby helped to gain Lincolnshire for Parliament, although its leader, Oliver Cromwell, was almost killed.^[6] Local legend has it that the 13 scythe blades hanging on the wall of the south chapel of St Mary's Church were used as weapons at Winceby, but this is mainly seen as apocryphal. The historical opinion is that they probably date from the Lincolnshire Rising of 1536.^[7] Both theories on the scythes appear in the "Church History" Lincoln website.^[8]

Blood sports

Horncastle was once a centre for cockfighting and bull-baiting.^[9] The Fighting Cocks remains the name of a local pub. Bull-baiting was practised in the area known as the Bull Ring. One historian finds that the practise continued until about 1810.^[10] Both these sports were banned in England and Wales under the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1835.^[11]

Market and horse fair

Horncastle Market Place with Stanhope Memorial

Horncastle gained a Crown market charter in the 13th century. It was long known for its great August horse fair, a famous trading event that continued until the mid-20th century. It ended after the Second World War, when horses had largely ceased to be used on farms. The town remains a centre of the antiques trade.^[12][13]

The annual horse fair was probably first held in the 13th century. It would last for a week or more every August. In the 19th century it was probably the largest such event in the United Kingdom. The slogan, "Horncastle for horses", was a sign of the town's standing in this trade. The fair was George Borrow's setting for some scenes in his semi-autobiographical books Lavengro and The Romany Rye. The last was held in 1948.^[14] Livestock markets continued for pigs and cattle, the last cattle market being held in 2000.^[15]

In 1894 the Stanhope Memorial, designed by E. Lingen Barker,^[16] was raised in the centre of the Market Place in memory of Edward Stanhope MP. It is a Grade II listed structure made of limestone, red sandstone and pink and grey streaked marble.^[17]

Notable buildings

The Grade II listed Old Court House in Louth Road was built in 1865. There are 116 other listed edifices in the town, including the three places of worship – St Mary's (Grade II*), Holy Trinity (Grade II) and the Congregational Church (Grade II) – and several sections of the Roman walls (Grade I).^[18] The former Horncastle Town Hall was built as a drill hall and completed in around 1903.^[19]

Primary schooling

Horncastle Primary School stands in Bowl Alley Lane.^[24]

Secondary schooling

Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School was founded in 1571, and is among the top schools in Lincolnshire,^[25][26] having been at times among the top schools in the country. Its tennis, hockey, netball and cricket teams compete regionally, and the tennis team was a regional winner in the 2005 British Schools Tennis Championships. Queen Elizabeth's is a specialist Science College and Language College. Its Design and Technology department recently entered two teams in the National 4X4 for Schools engineering competition, one of which came first nationally in its age group, while the other came second nationally overall.

The Banovallum School^[27] is a non-selective community school serving Horncastle and surrounding villages; it forms a science specialist school jointly with Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School. The most recent Ofsted inspection in 2019 judged the school to be overall Grade 2 (good).^[28] It had a building added in 2010, with facilities for cookery, woodwork, metalwork, art and music.

St Lawrence School is a special-needs school with a county-wide intake. It comprises the Lincolnshire Wolds Federation with St Bernard's School, Louth.^[29][30]

Colleges

Horncastle College was a "lifelong-learning" adult education college that ran short and residential courses in I.T., art, languages and local history.^[31] It has been replaced by Fortuna Horncastle Business Centre.^[32]

Roads

Bridge Street

Horncastle sits at the crossroads of two major Lincolnshire roads: the east–west A158, joining the county town of Lincoln with the resort of Skegness on the Lincolnshire coast, and the north–south A153 joining Louth with Sleaford and Grantham in the south. These meet at the Bull Ring in central Horncastle.

The A158 through Horncastle becomes busy in the summer holidays with Skegness holidaymakers. To alleviate traffic pressure in the town centre a relief road, Jubilee Way, was built in the 1970s. Minor roads run from Horncastle to Bardney, Boston (via Revesby), Fulletby and Woodhall Spa.

Horncastle is a hub for the InterConnect rural bus service. Regular services run to Lincoln, Skegness and across the Wolds. The Viking Way long-distance footpath passes through the town.^[33]

Railway

The Great Northern Railway's Lincoln–Boston line ran through Kirkstead, 8 miles (12.9 km) from Horncastle, and a branch line from Kirkstead (later Woodhall Junction) through Woodhall Spa to Horncastle opened on 11 August 1855. The last passenger service ran in 1954, with complete closure to goods traffic in 1971.^[34] Horncastle railway station was demolished in the 1980s and replaced by housing. The nearest railway station now is Metheringham (15 miles, 24 km) on the Peterborough to Lincoln Line.^[35] Part of the old railway is followed by the Viking Way footpath.^[33]

Waterways

South Basin of the Horncastle Canal, Horncastle

Horncastle Canal, based on the River Bain, was begun in 1792 and opened in 1802.^[36]
In 2004 it was suggested that the canal (originally opened in 1802) be renovated with the help of private capital and promoted as a route for pleasure craft, as has been done successfully in other areas.^[37] A local kick-start programme raised money for the project.^[38]

Field games

Horncastle Town FC, founded in 1873, is an amateur club based at The Wong.^[43] It joined the Lincolnshire Football League in the 1996/1997 season.^[44]

The town's cricket club at Coronation Walk has two men's and five youth teams.^[45]

Horncastle Hockey Club is a voluntary field-hockey body set up in November 1970 at Coronation Walk, Horncastle.^[46] In 2020 it had two men's and two women's teams and a junior section.

Court games

Horncastle and District Tennis Club has served for over 70 years. Initially on grass courts in Stanhope Road, the club moved to the current Coronation Walk location in the 1970s.^[47]

Horncastle Community Members Squash Club in Hemmingby Lane was founded in November 2006 to preserve an existing club by buying out retiring owners who had run it for 25 years.^[48]