Gainsborough is a town in Lincolnshire, England. The West Lindsey Council headquarters are based in Gainsborough.

The town's main attractions are Gainsborough Old Hall, Gainsborough Castle and West Lindsey Leisure Centre.

Gainsborough Old Hall is a large 15th century timber-framed medieval strong house, it is over 500 years old and is one of the best preserved manor houses in Britain. Sir Thomas Burgh built it between 1460 and 1480. It boast a magnificent Great Hall and strong brick tower. King Richard III in 1483 and King Henry VIII in 1541 both stayed at the Old Hall.

Plans to expand Gainsborough as a new town, linked with Sheffield, never came to fruition, so it remains a small market town. The River Trent runs right alongside Gainsborough, and recently the river banks have been renovated to provide residents and tourist with access to the riverside and a sitting area to enjoy the view.

Historically, Gainsborough is the 'capital that never was'. King Cnut allegedly performed his unsuccessful attempt to turn the tide back in the River Trent at Gainsborough, but nevertheless, the town was a capital city of Mercia during the Dark Ages. During the post-WW1 years, money was poured into the area, and residents from London's East End, Newcastle, Glasgow, Liverpool and other towns were lured here by the promise of lots of jobs in a new boom town. However, the jobs were not sustainable and eventually disappeared, leaving Gainsborough with a high unemployment rate and a population of first and second generation town dwellers stranded in a rural backwater with little and low paid work, moulding the town into what it is today, a town that has more the feel of an urban inner city than a rural market town (c.f. with Grantham or Louth).

Gainsborough has a long-standing history with industry. The town was the manufacturing base of Marshalls, a major boiler manufacture. The company occupied Britannia Works, which when built was the biggest in Europe. The site has now been split between many different companies, Tesco and Dransfield . The remainder of the site is occupied by local companies. Tesco a demolished large section of the Works to create their large store arround 5 years ago. While Dransfield are in the process of remodeling about 9 acres of the site to include shopping area, and a new heritage museum.

Another area of Gainsborough’s Industry is Roses. They produced seaside Rock making machines along with packaging machines - including those that where used to make Roses Chocolates - where the company got its name.

Today Gainsborough has a wide variety of industrial companies. The Strtch from the European Leader in Exhaust systems, one of the World leaders in Golf products to the Worlds Biggest manufacturer of novelty products. The town also welcomes Steel Works, Pet Food Suppliers.

Gainsborough is also famed as being Britain’s most inland port - and so has a long history with river trade - the town’s Trent bridge prevents most barges from go beyond it and so many will have to offload their goods at the town. There is currently one wharf in the town - mainly a source of wood.

The town has a good source of education. This includes one of the top state schools in the country - Queen Elizabeth High School however; this school is thought to be a rather pompous place to attend. The town also has a school (The Castle Hills Community Arts College) which has recently achieved the status of performing arts college for the second time around, and has amazing facilities including one of the best dance floors in the East Midlands. The town's other secondary school is noted for its technology department but not much else. The town has good links with the John Leggott Sixth form college in Scunthorpe, one if not the best in the UK which features many international students. There is also Gainsborough College which focuses on vocational education.

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