Bourne is a town in Lincolnshire, on the A15 between Market Deeping and Sleaford. Agriculture and tourism are the major industries.

Several media stunts have associated themselves with the name of the nearby hamlet of Twenty, in the past few decades; most notably by The Sun newspaper around its 20 pence price.

History

The feland area east of Bourne is reputedly the birth area of Hereward the Wake, although the ancient sources are not precise enough to pin his birthplace to a particular town or hamlet. The writer Charles Kingsley vividly describes the fenland east of Bourne in his novel Hereward, the Last of the English.

Bourne Abbey , established 1138, formerly held and maintained all the fenland east of Bourne under the name of 'Bourne Abbots'. The area appears to have appropriated by the Abbey, or else been given by Baldwin Fitzgilbert, during the 12th and 13th centuries. Possibly the area around Twenty was was acquired under the Abbott David from 1156, as fisheries in the 'Bourne marsh'. No record of how the fens were reclaimed is known, but the Abbey probably sub-let large areas in return for a smaller grant of land once the process had finished. The Abbey was run by an Arrouaisian sect of the Augustinian order.

Sugar beet was first successfully raised in the fenland east of Bourne, after trials elsewhere in the country had proved unsuccessful, by British Sugar Ltd. Although Britain's ravenous demand for sugar was mostly fulfilled by European beet imports until shortly after 1900, the successful sugar beet production in areas such as that around Twenty, fulfilled the nation's sugar requirements during World War I & World War II.

Nearby attractions

• Bourne Woods. 500 acres (2 km²) of primeval woodland, with sculpture trail and cycle rides. The Woods form part of the 19-mile Bourne Cycle Trail.

• Grimsthorpe Castle. A landed estate, castle and tourist attraction.

External links

• Dictrict Council page on Bourne.
• Lincolnshire Life article on the area around Bourne.
• Location map of Bourne, Lincolnshire

See also

• Bourne,Surrey
• Bourne,Wiltshire