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Bourne Past and Present

This month we take a look at the ever-changing market town of Bourne

Words: Judith Spelman Pictures: John Smith

Bourne’s past

Few visitors to this little market town in the south of the county would realise at first glance what an interesting past Bourne has. It began as a settlement between the flat fenlands towards the east and wooded uplands towards the west. The Romans marched through Bourne on their way to Sleaford, leaving Car Dyke as a reminder of their amazing engineering skills. Roman coins have been found here and in the late eighteenth century a tessellated pavement was discovered.

A cluster of dwellings formed around Car Dyke and became a Roman station. The Saxons settled later and then the Normans built an abbey and a castle, said to have been a massive keep with square towers and two moats. The first surrounded the low mound of the keep and the second enclosed the bailey and covered some eight acres. The present Abbey Church was built in the 12th century and is all that is left of the abbey built for Augustinian canons.

But it is the people who were born, bred and lived in the town whose loyalty shaped its future and forged a colourful history. Their names remain in the town today, always there to remind us that these were the people who, often unwittingly, left a valuable legacy either locally, nationally or internationally.

The first was probably Hereward the Wake who lived around 1070. He led a Saxon uprising against the Normans and his exploits were romanticised to an extent by the novelist Charles Kingsley who suggested he was born in the town and was killed in Bourne Wood.

There is no doubt about the authenticity of Robert Manning’s life. He was a monk who spent almost 40 years as Master of the Abbey. As a teacher in the early part of the 14th century, and known as Robert de Brunne, he was the first to put everyday speech of the people of his time into a form we can recognise. He wrote in simple speech for the love of simple men. Some suggest that Bourne is thus ‘the cradle of the English language’. His first and what is considered his best book is called Handlyng Synne, a translation of a poem in bad French by William of Waddington. The results of pride, envy, anger, idleness and other sins are explained in 65 stories. His name remains in the town as a road and a school.

William Cecil is generally associated with Burghley House on the outskirts of nearby Stamford but he was born in the town in 1520 in a house next to the Town Hall which is now The Burghley Arms. He played an important role in the politics of his day and was created the first Lord Burghley by Queen Elizabeth I. Robert Harrington, who was born just before William Cecil died, was a great benefactor to the town. He is supposed to have walked to London to seek his fortune and certainly, he found it. He left much of his wealth ‘for the benefit of his own people’ or the people of Bourne. There is a charity set up in his name and a street in the town perpetuates his memory.

The architect who designed the unusual Town Hall in the early 19th century was Bryan Browning. He made two exterior recessed staircases and formal Doric columns. The Town Hall was paid for by public subscription and since it opened in 1821 has been used to enhance the public and social life in the town. At one stage dances were held here. Browning also designed the workhouses in Bourne, Stamford and Spalding and the House of Correction at Folkingham. Whether he was connected to the Browning family of architects in Stamford is unknown for his family lived in Thurlby for more than two centuries.

Perhaps the oldest surviving building in Bourne is The Red Hall that was built in the early part of the 17th century by Gilbert Fisher. It is a grand, imposing building with gables and a fine two-storied porch. It was once the home of Sir John Thimbleby, an important Roman Catholic leader, and then of the Digby family. It seems that Gilbert Fisher overstretched himself when building The Red Hall for the poor man died in debt in 1633. When the railway came to Bourne, the Hall and grounds were sold to the railway company and building was used as a station master’s house and ticket office. At the closure of the railway, the Hall was restored and became the headquarters of Bourne United Charities. More recently, it attracted TV and part of Moll Flanders was filmed there.

There are so many other names that are synonymous with the development of the town – William Wherry, Lorenzo Warner, Lilian Wyles, Robert Mason Mills, Henry Redshaw, Robert Gardner and Charles Sharpe are only a few. They made their contributions in different ways.

Perhaps the most internationally famous people of Bourne are Charles Worth and Raymond Mays. Charles Worth was the son of a local solicitor who lived at Wake House, now a community centre in North Street. He was born in 1825 and was still a boy when he left Bourne for Paris where he became an internationally renowned fashion designer. His famous perfume, Je Reviens, is still sold today, more than 100 years after his death.

Raymond Mays, became well-known on the international motor racing scene and when he retired from the sport, opened his workshops in Bourne and developed the BRM car that won the world championship in 1962. What is not so well known is his addiction to his favourite soup. He would mix a can of mulligatawny soup with a can of tomato soup and heat them gently together. Try it.

There is one other person whose name should be recorded here and that is Rex Needle. A journalist, he has written many books and articles about the town and his knowledge of its history must be second to none. It is worth a visit to his websites to discover more. www.bourne-lincs.org.uk and www.intheheartofbourne.co.uk

Bourne today

Have you visited Bourne lately? This small market town tucked into the south-east corner of Lincolnshire has quietly been undergoing a renaissance. New shops are opening, run-down areas developed and there is a gradual improvement and brightening of the whole town. In the 21st century Bourne is beginning to bloom again.

A few years ago there was uproar when a huge development was planned for the south side of the town. People were either strongly for or strongly against the plans: some said it would ruin the town, some said it would make it. But in 2001 work began on the Elsea Park development, building 2,000 houses with a primary school, recreational facilities and shops. A year later work began on a south-west relief road for the town. A further 139 houses were built in 2002 at the Hereward Meadow Estate just off Exeter Road

‘Brownfield’ sites which give such a depressing air to a community when they are derelict and boarded up to deter vandals are changing. Despite much protesting, the old hospital was closed in 2003 and there is now a housing development on the site. A similar development is likely to take place on the Rainbow supermarket site on Manning Road.

There is a conservation area in the town centre but buildings with special architectural interest are listed throughout the town. Local residents got together to support the listing of the Victorian cemetery chapel when the Town Council had considered demolishing it. Smaller, but important improvements have also taken place. At Manning Road some new houses as well as old people’s sheltered housing are being built and The Mill opposite the Memorial Gardens is being turned into flats for older people.

The youngsters are not missing out either. There are plans for a skate park on the Recreation Ground and in 2004, a new headquarters for Bourne Youth centre in Queen’s Road was built at a cost of £400,000. Robert Manning School is now a Technology College, Bourne Grammar School spent £1 million to build a new teaching block and the Willoughby Special School is also thriving.

But what of the town centre itself because this is what the visitor will see? There are plans to develop this area further. Already there has been a new system of traffic lights installed. The old sewing centre is now the Jubilee Bar and the Angel Hotel houses Fratelli’s Café Bar. It is worth stopping and parking in North Street or in one of the town’s car parks which are all free of charge and taking a walk through the Angel Precinct and Crown Walk shopping arcade. Here are some typical market-town shops.

There is no shortage of places to eat, either. A variety of restaurants are springing up in the town with choices ranging from classic fish and chips to Indian food. New, traditional and refurbished pubs offer further choice.

The Market Square is at the back of the splendid Town Hall, which accommodates the Magistrate’s Court, the District Council and the Town Council. Market day is on a Thursday and with a smaller market taking place on a Saturday. Other markets – French, Continental and Christmas – are held throughout the year.

Nelly Jacobs is the Town Clerk at Bourne. She is strongly in favour of the new life that is beginning to breathe through the town. ‘I would like to see the town safe, clean and litter free,’ she says. She is involved with the East Midlands in Bloom Scheme which Bourne entered for the first time last year, winning a silver medal certificate with a point score of 121. ‘This year we are hoping to increase on the allocated points,’ she says. ‘Judging took place in July and the results are known in September.’ The competition is quite tough and although it is called ‘in Bloom’ it is not just about floral displays around the town. It is geared towards the improvements made to the general environment.

Bourne is blooming in every way. If you have not visited for a while, you should. I can guarantee you will find a really good cup of coffee, a variety of places to eat, some interesting shops – including another branch of Walker’s Bookshop that has recently opened– and a town with a fascinating historical heritage. Browsing around Bourne is a pastime fully recommended. Look on the website: www.bourne-lincs.org.uk, which has a link to the Town Council’s own website: www.bournetowncouncil.org.uk.