Lincolnshire Local History Society

Lincolnshire Local History Society
Name	Lincolnshire Local History Society
Formation	1920s
Type	Historical society
Region	Lincolnshire, England
Headquarters	Lincoln
Publications	Transactions

Lincolnshire Local History Society is a county-level historical organisation focused on the study of Lincolnshire, its towns and villages, churches and landscapes. Founded in the early 20th century, the society engages with local archives, parish records and heritage sites to promote research into Lincolnshire's medieval manors, industrial developments and coastal communities. It collaborates with universities, museums and conservation bodies to support scholarship and public history across Lincolnshire, including Lincoln, Boston, Skegness and Grimsby.

History

The society emerged amid interwar antiquarian revival linked to figures associated with Society of Antiquaries of London, Victoria County History, Royal Historical Society, Institute of Historical Research and county archaeological initiatives in the 1920s and 1930s. Early membership included clerics and landowners connected to Lincoln Cathedral, Ely Cathedral, Beverley Minster, Gainsborough Old Hall and estates recorded in the Domesday Book. In the post‑war period the society interacted with national programmes such as the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, the National Trust's conservation of country houses, the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England surveys, and collaborations with the University of Nottingham, University of Lincoln and University of Cambridge local studies units. Later decades saw partnerships with English Heritage, Historic England, the National Archives, the Local Government Act 1972 reorganisations, and community archaeology projects inspired by the methodologies of the Council for British Archaeology.

Activities and Publications

Regular activities include lectures, exhibitions and guided walks featuring sites like Lincoln Cathedral Close, Bastion Gardens, RAF Scampton, RAF Cranwell and medieval churches such as St Botolph's Church, Boston. The society publishes an annual journal and occasional monographs recording research on subjects from Anglo‑Saxon cemeteries documented in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to 19th‑century maritime trade linked to Grimsby Docks and the Lincolnshire coast. Collaborative publications have been produced with the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the Lincolnshire County Council heritage service and local record offices including those in Lincolnshire Archives, North Lincolnshire Archives and the Nottinghamshire Archives. Lecture series have featured scholars from the Royal Historical Society, archaeologists affiliated with the Society for Medieval Archaeology, and historians connected to the Economic History Society.

Structure and Governance

Governance follows a committee model with officers such as chair, secretary and treasurer elected at the annual general meeting, mirroring structures found in the British Association for Local History and similar county societies like the Cambridgeshire Antiquarian Society and Yorkshire Archaeological Society. The executive committee liaises with statutory bodies including Lincolnshire County Council, local parish councils, the Diocese of Lincoln and regional museums such as the Museum of Lincolnshire Life. Financial oversight has included grant applications to funders like the Heritage Lottery Fund, trusts including the Pilgrim Trust and partnerships with academic institutions such as University of Hull.

Membership and Outreach

Membership is open to individuals with interests in Lincolnshire heritage, attracting participants from towns and villages including Louth, Horncastle, Spalding, Sleaford and Alford. Outreach programmes have targeted schools and community groups via workshops linking to curricular topics in schools and projects with the Lincolnshire Learning Partnership, local secondary schools and adult education providers at institutions like Bishop Grosseteste University. The society supports local history fairs and collaborates with heritage volunteers engaged with sites such as Temple Bruer Preceptory, Tattershall Castle and coastal conservation efforts at Humberston and Theddlethorpe.

Projects and Research

Research themes include landscape change evidenced in tithe maps compared with Ordnance Survey mapping, ecclesiastical history traced through registers of the Church of England parishes, agricultural transition during the enclosure movements, and industrial archaeology of ports and railways including the Great Northern Railway and the Lincolnshire Wolds studies. Major projects have catalogued probate inventories, transcribed parish registers for genealogical research linked to the General Register Office, and produced gazetteers of deserted medieval villages analogous to national studies such as those by the Deserted Medieval Village Research Group. Partnerships have supported archaeological fieldwork coordinated with the Council for British Archaeology and university archaeology departments.

Awards and Recognition

The society and its members have received local and national recognition for contributions to preservation and scholarship, including awards and commendations from Historic England, the Lincolnshire Heritage Forum, the Society of Antiquaries of London and occasional funding successes from the Heritage Lottery Fund and charitable trusts. Individual members have been cited in academic journals produced by the Royal Historical Society, the Archaeological Journal and regional periodicals covering Midlands and East Anglian history.

Category:History of Lincolnshire Category:Historical societies of the United Kingdom