indsey gained brief notoriety in 1536. The Lincolnshire Rising was a brief dissent of Catholics against the establishment of the Church of England by Henry VIII and the dissolution of the monasteries, in which the thirteen scythe blades which hang on the wall of the south chapel of the Horncastle's St. Mary's church were used as weapons. It began at St. James Church, Louth, after evensong on October 1, 1536, shortly after the closure of Louth Abbey. It quickly gained support in Horncastle, Caistor and other nearby towns. Angry with the actions of commissioners, the rioters demanded the end of the collection of a subsidy, the end of the Ten Articles, an end to the dissolution, an end to taxes in peacetime, a purge of heretics in government, and the repeal of the Statute of Uses. With support from local gentry, a force of demonstrators, estimated at up to 40,000 marched on Lincoln and, by October 14, occupied Lincoln Cathedral. They demanded the freedom to continue worshiping as Catholics, and protection for the treasures of Lincolnshire churches.
The moratorium effectively ended on October 4, 1536, when King Henry sent word for the occupiers to disperse or face the forces of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, which had already been mobilised. By October 14, few remained in Lincoln. Following the rising, Thomas Kendall, the vicar of Louth and its spiritual leader, was captured and executed. Most of the other local ringleaders met the same fate over the next twelve months. Soon, however, the Lincolnshire Rising helped inspire the more widespread Pilgrimage of Grace.
In 1633, Pilgrims from Boston (around three miles south of Lindsey's historic border, but decidedly within its sphere of influence) were instrumental in the foundation and naming of Boston, Massachusetts. This time also saw the beginning of Fen drainage, although after the chief backer of the drainage locally, Lord Lindsey, was shot in the first battle, the Fens returned to their accustomed dampness until after 1750. The Act of Parliament permitting the embanking and straightening of the fenland Witham was dated 1762.
THE CIVIL WAR
During 'the' Civil War, Lincolnshire was initially on the Royalist side. In 1643, however, Cromwell beseiged a Royalist Garrison at Bolingbroke Castle (near Horncastle), and engaged a force from Newark sent to relieve it at Winceby, having been warned of their approach by their attack on Horncastle where the Parliamentarians were staying at the Bull Hotel (having stabled their horses in St. Mary's church). The Battle of Winceby, between the two cavalry forces of roughly equal size, lasted only about half an hour; although Cromwell's horse was killed, nearly injuring the general himself in the process, the Royalists misunderstood an order and retreated. The Parliamentarians routed the Royalist horsemen, eventually massacring them in a gulley known romantically as Slash Hollow. After that, Lincolnshire was firmly within the Eastern Association of the Parliamentarians until the War's end, important in providing access between the great arsenal of Hull and the south and the Eastern Association's heartland in the east of England. It also offered a potential starting line for an advance across the English Midlands, cutting the north of England off from the west.The Battle of Winceby was the last great land battle to be fought on Lindisfaran soil.
MODERN LINDSEY (1800 - 2005)
n 1844, Lindsey was established as an administrative county, divided into three ridings, the North, West and South Ridings, and then into wapentakes. The West Riding covered the western part, including Gainsborough, Scunthorpe and Spital. The North Riding covered the north-east, including Barton upon Humber, Caistor, Cleethorpes, Brigg, Grimsby, and Market Rasen. The South Riding covered the rest, in the south-east, including Louth, Mablethorpe and Skegness. The point at which the Ridings touched was somewhere near Lissington. Lindsey, like the other parts of Lincolnshire had long had a separate county administration (Quarter Sessions). In 1889, this division was followed in the establishment of the administrative county of Lincolnshire, Parts of Lindsey, which had an elected county council. Lincoln and Grimsby were independent county boroughs.
The Parts of Lindsey were abolished on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972. The area of the administrative county was divided between two new non-metropolitan counties: the northern area of Lindsey was placed in Humberside while the remainder passed to Lincolnshire. The original Lindsey was divided between six non-metropolitan districts: East Lindsey, West Lindsey, Cleethorpes, Glanford, Scunthorpe, and Boothferry.
In 1996 these Humberside districts were re-grouped into unitary authorities. In other words, the new units perform the duties of both county and administrative district. One is North Lincolnshire (centred on Scunthorpe). This is the former districts of Glanford and Scunthorpe, as well as the Isle of Axholme which had become the southern part of Boothferry. The second is North East Lincolnshire comprising the former districts of Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes.
Today, East Lindsey has an area of 1,760 km2, making it the fifth largest district in England. Merger the former municipal borough of Louth along with Alford, Horncastle, Mablethorpe and Sutton, Skegness and Woodhall Spa former urban districts, along with Horncastle Rural District, Louth Rural District and Spilsby Rural District.East Lindsey is bigger than many English counties. On the list of largest counties, it compares to the 29th largest county, being larger than counties such as Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. East Lindsey has the highest number of people over 64 in Lincolnshire, being a hotspot for retirement homes. Not only is it the largest district by area in Lincolnshire, but the largest by population.
West Lindsey covers Gainsborough, Market Rasen, Sudbrooke, Cherry Willingham, Nettleham, and Welton. There is, however, a growing dissatisfaction in these last four villages with West Lindsey, and complaints that it is failing to serve them properly because of its base 20 miles away in Gainsborough. Proposals for a 'Greater Lincoln' authority (Greater Lincoln) have been made, and met with strong support from the villages near Lincoln.
Transport in Lindsey is backward, and several hospitals were closed in the late 20th Century; as a result Lincoln gained an air ambulance service in 1994.
The economy remains largely based on agriculture, though with a higher concentration of services than historically; Lindsey grows large amounts of wheat, barley, sugar beet, and oilseed rape. Mechanisation around the turn of the 20th century greatly diminished the number of workers required to manage the county's relatively large farms, and the proportion of workers in the agricultural sector dropped substantially during this period. Several major engineering companies developed in Lincoln and Gainsborough to support those changes, perhaps most famously Fosters of Lincoln, who built the first tank. However in 2003, of Lincolnshire's £8,419,000,000 RGVA, only £518,000,000 came from farming, £5,383,000,000 coming from service industries.
Lindsey has resisted change in education, still supporting the use of the eleven plus and Grammar schools, a position which Old Rectoryland supports as superior to other options.
A number of great men and women arose in Lindsey throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: Sir Joseph Banks, botanist to Captain Cook's expeditions, spent much of his life in and around Horncastle, and kept kangaroos at Revesby Abbey; Matthew Flinders, the first person to map the coast of Australia, was born in Donington on Bain in 1774; George Boole, the mathematician, was born in Lincoln in 1815; Poet Laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson, the bard of Lindsey, was born in in Somersby near Horncastle in 1809 and lived in the Market Town for most of his life; golfer Tony Jacklin was born in Scunthorpe in 1944; Jim Broadbent, the great actor, was born in 1949 to founding members of Lindsey Rural Players; and Michael Fowle, the astronaut, was born in Louth in 1957.
Otherwise, events largely passed Lindsey by during this time.
OLD RECTORYLAND (2005 - )
anny Wallace's inspired series How To Start Your Own Country was first aired on August 3rd 2005. In it, Wallace recorded his rather tongue-in-cheek attempt to start a new nation, which he called 'Lovely', based in his flat in London. Although Wallace's methods were suspect, his territory inadmissable (he didn't have any), and a glance at his website only a few months after the series aired demonstrated his interest in the project lapsed almost immediately, the television programme raised many 
interesting questions for people all over Britain. Every person on planet earth is a member of a Nation. This is a bizarre state of affairs, which most people take for granted. Who says what is, and isn’t, a country? On what authority do the leaders of these nations claim the power to lead their subjects? How do detestable and widely disliked dictators stay in power with the majority against them? How does one become a member of a Nation? What makes you a member of a Nation? What IS a member of a nation?
These questions lead to still further questions until you unpick the very fabric of modern society, leading to the realisation that the entire system is based on fire-power. It turned out that a state was not just something natural, nor voluntary; that it must always at some level be a tyrrany. A state like the United Kingdom is based on two things: a dependency on the public services of the State, and the threat of physical force--and has no intrinsic raison d'etre. There is, in theory, no reason someone should not seek to find the former in an alternative place, except the hard-to-justify threat of the latter.
Old Rectoryland followed several steps in gaining independence: first the original territory (of about an acre) was ceded to King Danny’s nation of Lovely, but as this gave neither the residents nor the territory any special recognition, and it became apparent Wallace's series was just the silly stunt for TV most people perceived it as, Dominic Hinkins decided this wasn’t enough.
In October of 2005, Old Rectoryland made its decision to become fully independent, announcing this decision formally on the 17th of that month, in the first version of OldRectoryland.com. However notices of secession weren't issued to Her Majesty's Government until November 23rd of that year. By the time this notice, an informal missive unreminiscent of a fully formed declaration of independence, was dispatched, Old Rectoryland had already annexed another two acres of territory as well as gaining its first "colony" in the shape of Edlingtonhal, Edlington, which was to be governed by Sir Louis McQuade (later to become Chairman Governor, or Prime Minister, of the Imperial Parliament). The decision to designate territories geographically distant to Old Rectoryland itself as colonies rather than exclaves was made in order to decentralise government, and allow local 'governors' the maximum of control. This attracted more governors who were sceptical and untrustworthy of Old Rectoryland's powers to hand over land than would otherwise have been the case in such a localised area.
Immediately on secession, it became apparent a head of state would be required, and as the senior male family member, and nominal head of the household, Christopher John Hinkins was elected the first King of Old Rectoryland. It has since been pointed out that this practice of primogeniture was in fact rather implicitly sexist, but it seemed appropriate at the time.
Due to personal issues, King Christopher abdicated the throne in January 2006, briefly leaving Old Rectoryland. Although he shortly returned, and intrafamilial relationships were recovered, renewed, and restrengthened, Prince Dominic ascended to the throne in the same month, dissolving the Principality of Vejgaarden, and appointing the King Father first Duke of the Office.
With greater administrative power and an interest in the improvement and expansion of the state, King Dominic I threw himself into the role of monarch with great vigour. One of his first acts as King was to deliver a rousing speech before a crowd of his fellow pupils at the Grammar School in Horncastle which resulted in several onlookers ceding territory to the nation and becoming Colonial Governors in the rapidly expanding Empire.
In the following years, Old Rectorians drafted and ratified a liberal constitution and bill of rights, established their own broadcasting company and space agency, expanded the main territory of Old Rectoryland vastly, held a census of the entire Empire, introduced a unique and legally acceptable currency, set up a national Scouting Organisation, mapped the territories, and established regular meetings of the Imperial Parliament.
In 2007 and 8, Old Rectoryland annexed two adjacent villages, Moorby and Wilksby, as semi-autonomous metropolitan areas, receiving at first the rage, and then the growing interest, of residents. Today, Old Rectoryland is a large and prosperous nation, by no means the smallest in the world, and passing wealthy. It is set to launch its first probing missions into orbit, and continues to attract local interest, despite a degree of quietness in the ancestral lands since the King and his contemporaries left home briefly to attend university. As the King stated in his 2008 Christmas Message to the nation, however, Old Rectoryland is far from disinterested disintegration.
As of 2009, the King has reopened the question of Lindisfaran independence, first broached and sidelined in 2006. The administration hope to increase interest in the question of Lindsey's right to self-determination, and her unique history and identity, outside Old Rectoryland in the next few years.
SOURCES
Old Rectoryland's Cranicsdæl is indebted to the following sources of information:
- Wikipedia
- Prehistoric Lincolnshire by Jeffrey May
- The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey by Kevin Leahy
- BBC History
- The Lindsey Chronicle
- the Lindisfaran Cranicsdæl
he Kingdom of Lindsey is a thriving, 21st century nation, which prides itself on its modern and liberal views. Old Rectorians & Lindisfaras, though, look back with pride on their nation's history, and on its unique heritage, which dates back thousands of years before the nation now known as Old Rectoryland declared independence from the United Kingdom on November 23rd, 2005.
After the end of the last Ice Age (around 6000 BCE) Britain was cut off from the rest of Europe. By 12,000 BC Britain had been reoccupied, as shown by archaeology. By around 4000 BC, the Lindsey region was populated by people with a Neolithic culture (as shown by, for instance, the beaker graves excavated at Thoresway, and barrows at Ludford, Burgh on Bain, Salmonby etc.). No literature of pre-Roman Lindsey has survived, so its history, culture and way of life are known mainly through archaeological finds, although there is also a small amount of linguistic evidence, found in hill and river names. Lindsey remained backward technologically, cut off as it was from Europe, until much later.
southern Europe. Iron was stronger and more plentiful than bronze, and its introduction marks the beginning of the Iron Age. Iron working revolutionised many aspects of life, most importantly agriculture. Iron tipped ploughs could churn up land far more quickly and deeply than older wooden or bronze ones, and iron axes could clear forest land far more efficiently for agriculture. There was a landscape of arable, pasture and managed woodland, with many enclosed settlements, making land ownership important. The dominant 'tribe' in the Lindsey area at this time were the Coritani (Corieltavi/Corieltauvi) who inhabited a swathe of land across the middle of England.
Other roads of Roman origin are the Salters' Way, continuing the line from the Leicestershire border across Ermine Street near Old Somerby, to the then coast at Donington. King Street including The Long Hollow road, joined Ancaster to the fen edge and Durobrivae near Peterborough. Two roads linked Lincoln to the coast across the Wolds. There are also scores of smaller sections of roads branching off from the three major routes which are certainly Roman as well, linking Ermine Street with the Wolds and King Street with the coast.
ewly Post-Roman Lindsey, despite its relative safety before and during the occupation, seems to have come under increasing attack from coastal 'barbarian' raids in the fifth century. Between 415 and 455, a Briton named Wthyr Pendraeg is known to have appointed himself vicarius by exploiting the fears of the 60,000 strong population of Lindseyand promising protection. Pendraeg was based at Lincoln and at Yarbrough Camp, and oversaw the maintenance of the remaining Roman fortifications. Although he successfully held off the Anglo Saxon invaders in this way, Pendraeg grew extremely unpopular: the largely rural population, had continued to worship Pagan gods unmolested throughout the Roman occupation, despite the official policy of Christianisation after 200CE, but Pendraeg, and his successor Artorius, were aggressively Christian and destroyers of sacred sites. 
By the time of the Anglo Saxon invasion of Lindsey in 489, therefore, unrest had grown, and the warlord Winta Uoding who led the raiders was able to ally with the British in his attacks on Artorius. According to the Lindsey Chronicle, Winta engaged with the vicarius five times in 489-90, at South Ferriby (near Glanford Brigg), secondly at Burton, third at Scunthorpe, fourth at Kirton, and fifth at Gainsborough (on the Trent), gradually weakening and forcing his forces back. By the time of the Battle of Gainsborough, Artorius was so weakened that he was forced to flee (he is later known to have joined the command of Ambrosius Aurelianus and continued fighting the Anglo Saxon settlers). Following the joint victory, the Britons elected Winta their king (though of course the degree to which this was voluntary is arguable!)
ollowing the invasion of the Danes, Mercia was split in half, and Lindsey was well within the area known as "Danelaw", though the region retained its boundaries. The Danes settled in large numbers, and their influence can still be seen in place-names today, and even in the language: although Anglisc ('Old English') was the first English language to borrow from Latin, the Danish incursion marked the first wholesale influence of an invading culture on the language (which admittedly originated in Frisia). Lincoln itself was refortified by the Vikings, in order to protect their new holdings.
pon invading England, William the Conqueror drove out and replaced the Lindisfaran nobility, replacing them with Norman Lords. When William reached Lincoln (then one of England's major settlements), he found a Viking commercial and trading centre with a population of 6,000 to 8,000.
The remains of the old Roman walled fortress located 60 metres (200 ft) above the countryside to the south and west, proved an ideal strategic position to construct a new castle, for which 166 residences in the south-west corner of the upper walled town. Lincoln castle is very unusual in having two mottes, the only other surviving example of such a design being at Lewes.
Another castle was built in Tattershall, although the keep that remains on the site today was built in 1434 by Ralph, Lord Cromwell - Henry VI's Treasurer - on the site of an earlier 13th century stone castle, of which only remains can still be seen.
