Saturday 12 February 2011

Scenic Saturday - Lincolnshire

Number 28 in the series.



Between Norfolk and Lincolnshire lies a large, square-shaped bay known as the Wash. This, according to the BBC, is one of the most outstanding coastal wetlands in Europe with its bleak, yet beautiful landscape of saltmarshes, mudflats and open water. The most famous incident associated with the Wash occurred in 1216 when King John lost the Crown Jewels. He was apparently travelling from Spalding in Lincolnshire to Bishop's Lynn (now King's Lynn), in Norfolk, when he was taken ill and decided to return. While he took the longer route by way of Wisbech, he sent his baggage train, including his crown jewels, along the causeway and ford across the mouth of the Wellstream, a route usable only on the lower part of the tide. The horse-drawn waggons moved too slowly for the incoming tide, and many were lost.

Not far from the edge of the Wash is the town of Boston. It was presumably emigrants from this Lincolnshire town who founded the large American city. Boston, Lincs, is surrounded by low-lying land and the tower of St Botolph's church, 271 feet high and known affectionately as the Boston Stump, is visible from miles around.

Spalding, situated appropriately enough in the district of Holland, is the centre of the English tulip-growing industry and holds an annual tulip parade.

And we should not forget the city of Lincoln itself, whose cathedral is reckoned by many to be one of the finest in England and where one of only four copies of the original 1215 Magna Carta is on display. This week's picture shows the west front of the cathedral as seen from the castle.

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