Bourne, Lincolnshire
Template:GBdot Bourne is a town in southern Lincolnshire, England. All of the citizens are basicly the bitches of their Mayor, Robert Griffin-Miller(More commonly known as God) It lies on the intersection of the A15 and the A151 roads at Template:Getamap. As well as the main township, the parish includes the hamlets of Dyke, Cawthorpe and Twenty. Agriculture and the related food preparation and packaging, light engineering and tourism are the major industries.
Bourne had a station on the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway, but this closed to passengers at the end of February 1959, well before the Beeching Axe.
History
The fenland 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 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. The Ormulum, an important Middle English Biblical gloss, was probably written in that abbey around 1175.
Bourne buildings
There are currently 69 listed buildings in the parish of Bourne, the most important being the Abbey and Parish Church of Ss Peter and Paul (1138) which is the only one scheduled Grade I. The others are Grade II, the most colourful being the aptly named Red Hall (1605), finished in red brick with ashlar quoins, many gabled and featuring a fine Tuscan porch. Surprisingly, it was once used as the town's railway station booking office and local councillors have twice tried to have it pulled down but the building is now well preserved by Bourne United Charities. Baldock's Mill (1800), once a working water mill, has been restored as the town's Heritage Centre run by Bourne Civic Society, the Baptist Church (1835), the Methodist Church (1841) and the United Reformed Church (1846) are all still in active use but the Old Grammar School, built in 1678 with a bequest from a local landowner, was closed in 1904 and although used for a variety of activities since, was condemned as unsafe in April 2003 and is now becoming derelict.
Bourne people
Bourne is reputed to have been the birthplace of Hereward the Wake (flourished 1070) who led the Saxon uprising against the invaders after the Norman Conquest of 1066 although little factual information about his life survives. There seems no doubt that he did cause problems for the Normans but his reputation rests mainly with the many fictional accounts of his exploits, particularly the colourful descriptions of him ridding Bourne of the invading army while the story of his death in Bourne Wood at the hands of the enemy is undoubtedly apocryphal.
Robert Mannyng (1264-1340) is perhaps the most notable of the town's past citizens in that he is credited with putting the speech of the ordinary people of his time into the recognisable form that we have today. He is best known as Robert de Brunne because of his long time residence as a canon at Bourne Abbey where he completed his life's work and in the process, popularised religious and historical material in a Middle English dialect that was easily understood by the people of his time. His work Handlyng Synne is acknowledged to be of great value because it gives glimpses into the ways and thoughts of his contemporaries and even more, shows us the language then in common use.
Orm (or Ormin) the Preacher (flourished 1180) also worked at Bourne Abbey a century earlier than Robert Manning but his presence here has only been revealed during recent research. His collection of homilies known as The Ormulum has been well known to linguists and language historians ever since the 17th century but its source has only recently been established as Bourne Abbey. Orm's language provides a glimpse of the English vernacular of the time and before it was strongly influenced by the French. It is assumed that the manuscript remained at Bourne Abbey until the dissolution of the monasteries between 1536 and 1540 and after various owners, is now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.
William Cecil (1520-1598) became the first Lord Burghley after serving Queen Elizabeth I for forty years, during which time he was the main architect of Britain's successful policies of that period, earning a reputation as a master of renaissance statecraft with outstanding talents as a diplomat, politician and administrator. He was born at a house in the town centre at Bourne that is now the Burghley Arms and a plaque on the outside reminds us of this event.
Job Hartop (1550-1595) was a farmer's boy working on the land near Bourne but hankered after a life of adventure and ran away to sea when he was 12 years old. After a short apprenticeship with a gunpowder manufacturer in London, he signed on with the English admiral Sir John Hawkins and sailed the Spanish Main in the company of the young Francis Drake. He was captured by the Spanish on his third voyage and spent ten years as a galley slave and thirteen years in a Spanish prison but managed to escape and make his way back to Bourne where he spent his final days recounting his adventures in the town's taverns, although the privations he suffered had taken their toll and he died at the age of 45.
Robert Harrington (philanthropist) (1589-1654) made large bequests to Bourne from which the community benefits to this day. Legend has it that he walked to London to seek his fortune and was most successful in his endeavours and when he died, he remembered his home town by leaving shops and dwelling houses in the Leytonstone area "for the benefit of his own people", namely the citizens of Bourne. The charity established in his name is by far the greatest currently administered by Bourne United Charities and fittingly, Harrington Street was named in his memory.
Dr William Dodd (1729-1777), was an Anglican clergyman, a man of letters and a forger. He was also the son of the Rev William Dodd who was Vicar of Bourne from 1727-56, graduating with distinction from Clare College, Cambridge, and then moved to London where his extravagant lifestyle soon landed him in debt and worried his friends who persuaded him to mend his ways and so he decided to take holy orders and was ordained in 1751. He became a popular and fashionable preacher but was always short of money and in an attempt to rectify his depleted finances, forged a bond in the sum of £4,200. He was found out, prosecuted and sentenced to death and publicly hanged at Tyburn on 27th June 1777.
Charles Worth (1825-1895) was born in this town, the son of a local solicitor who lived at Wake House in North Street which survives today as a community centre. He left Bourne when still a boy to seek his fortune in Paris where he became a world renowned designer of women's fashion and the founder of haute couture. His reputation was such that the French government awarded him the Legion of Honour and when he died, 2,000 people, including the President of the Republic, attended his funeral.
Robert A Gardner (1850-1926) was a bank manager in Bourne and also a talented artist whose work was exhibited in the Royal Academy. He never aspired to public office but his interest in the community inevitably resulted in a number of appointments, notably as a magistrate and chairman of the Bourne bench. But he is best remembered for his paintings and many of his works survive to this day, mostly in private ownership although some can be found hanging in the Red Hall.
Frederic Manning (1882-1935) wrote what is considered to be one of the finest novels dealing with the Great War of 1914-18 and much of this work was completed while staying at the Bull Hotel in Bourne, now the Burghley Arms. Manning was an Australian who chose to live here after a spell at Edenham where he stayed with the vicar, the Rev Arthur Galton, who had been his tutor. Her Privates We was at first published anonymously, to much critical acclaim, but eight years after his death, it was published in 1943 under his own name and is still in print almost 70 years later. In the book, Manning acknowledged his affection for this town by calling his hero Private Bourne.
Lilian Wyles (1885-1975) was a major influence in the acceptance of women into the police force. She was the only daughter of the Bourne brewer, Joseph Wyles, and after a spell of duty on the streets of London with the new women patrols to assist young girls at risk, was promoted inspector in 1922, becoming the first woman officer of the Metropolitan Police's CID department.
Charles Sharpe (1889-1963) was a farmer's boy from Pickworth, near Bourne, who ran away from home and joined the army. During the Great War of 1914-18, an act of conspicuous bravery earned him the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest decoration for valour, and he subsequently inspired many young men to enlist. On return to civilian life, he worked at a number of jobs, notably as a physical training instructor to boys at the Hereward Camp approved school who regarded him as a role model.
Raymond Mays (1899-1980), son of a local businessman, achieved fame in the world of international motor racing, both on and off the track. After a successful career as a driver, he opened workshops in Bourne where he developed the BRM, the revolutionary car that eventually became the first all-British model to win the world championship in 1962. Mays, who lived at Eastgate House in Bourne all his life, was honoured with a CBE in 1978 for his services to motor racing.
Agriculture
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.
Motorsport
Bourne is renowned in motorsport circles as the town in which two famous racing car marques, English Racing Automobiles and British Racing Motors, were founded, both by Raymond Mays, international racing driver and designer, ERA in 1934 and BRM in 1949 when the first car was unveiled at Folkingham Airfield. Success was slow in coming but new workshops were opened in 1960 where engines and cars were developed and in 1962 the BRM became the first all-British car to win the world championship with driver Graham Hill at the wheel.
By 1965, the company had 100 employees in Bourne and this was another victorious year when BRM cars gained either a first or second prize in every Grand Prix race that was held. But after that, their cars had mixed fortunes until the Mexican driver Pedro Rodriguez scored a comeback victory in the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. There were further successes but advancement was dogged by mechanical failures and soon after Mays died in 1980, Rubery Owen decided to sell the BRM collection of racing cars and the sale created international interest when it took place during the Motor Show at Earl's Court, London, in October 1981.
The former workshops are now used as an auction saleroom but the achievements of Raymond Mays and the motor racing connection with Bourne are remembered with a Memorial Room at the town's Heritage Centre, filled with photographs, memorabilia and an impressive display of silverware won by BRM cars and drivers on international circuits while a stone motor racing memorial was unveiled in South Street in 2003.
Bourne continues to be closely connected with the motorsport industry. In 1975, BRM's former Chief Designer, Mike Pilbeam, set up Pilbeam Racing Designs which is still based in the town. Pilbeam is particularly known for its outstanding successes in hillclimbing in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Nearby attractions
- Bourne Civic Society's heritage centre in Baldock's Mill, South Street is opened by volunteers on Saturday and Sunday afternoons (except Christmas) from 2 to 4.
- Bourne Wood; 400 acres (2 km²) of woodland which has been a resource since primeval times. There is now a sculpture trail and the wood forms part of the 19-mile Bourne cycle Trail.
- Grimsthorpe Castle. A landed estate, large country house and tourist attraction.
Local government
Lincolnshire County Council
Bourne's two county councillors:
- Bourne Castle ward: Ian Croft, Conservative. (Planning & Regulation Committee, Environmental Wellbeing Scrutiny Panel and Economic Wellbeing Scrutiny Panel):(Highways Policy Development Group).
Councillor Ian Croft recently appeared before the Adjudication Panel, and on 31st March 2006 he was found guilty on several charges of misconduct. The Panel ordered that he is suspended from office as a Councillor for fifteen months. Councillor Croft has twenty-eight days within which to lodge an appeal, but has indicated that he does not intend to do so. The date for the election of a new councillor is Thursday, 6 July 2006.
- Bourne Abbey ward: Mark Horn, Conservative. (Economic Wellbeing Scrutiny Panel): (Economic Development Policy Development Group).
South Kesteven District Council
Bourne's six district councillors:
- Bourne East ward;
- Bourne West ward;
References
Birkbeck, John D. A History of Bourne (1970)
Davies, Joseph J. Historic Bourne (1909)
Needle, Rex. A Portrait of Bourne - the history of a Lincolnshire market town in words and pictures (1998-2006, on CD-ROM, including half a million words of text and 2,700 photographs from past and present)
Needle, Rex. The Bourne Chronicle - the town's history in dates and events, people and places (2005)
Swift, John T. Bourne and People Associated with Bourne (about 1925)