LINCOLNSHIRE. 



faftiire of iron is carried on in this county. Tiie chief town During the Anglo-Saxon dominion in England, Lincoln. 



is Lincolntovvn. Alfo, a county »f Georgia, formed in fliiro was ineorporatfd witliin t lie kingdom of Merc;a, which, 



I7g6, containin'T fcven townnups, and 47(16 inli^ibitanls, in- accordmg to an old clironicle quoted by Leland, was then 



cludme 14^^ flaves. — Alfo, a county of Kentucky, con- divided into two provnices, nortli and foiith ; and as tlie Trent 



tainin? 8c J J inhabitants, of whom 17 JO were (laves. The was the line of feparation, the county of Lincoln conlhtntcd 



road from 'Danville on Kentucky river palTes through 

 fouth-wefterly, and over Cumberland mountain to Virginia. 

 — Alfo, a town in Mercer county, Kentucky, on the road 

 from D?.nville to Virginia; 12 miles S. E. of Danville. — 

 Alfo, a townlhip in Grafton county. New Hampfliire, in- 

 corporated in 1764, and containing 41 inhabitants — Alfo, 

 a townlhip in the N.E. part of Addilon county, Vermont, 

 containing 97 inhabitants. —Alfo, a toanfhip in Midd!efex 

 county, Malfachufetts, incorporated in 1754, and containing 

 756 inhabitanf! ; 16 miles N.W. of Bollon. 



LINCOLNSHIi<E, a maritime county of England, 

 is bounded on the N. by the river Huinbcr, which fepa- 

 rates it from Yorklhire ; on the E. by the German ocean ; 

 on the S by Cambridgelliire and Northamptonfhire ; and 

 on the W. by the counties of Rutland. Leicefter, Notting- 

 ham, and York. It is in length 77 miles, and about 48 in 

 breadth ; and contained, according to the return made to 

 parliament m 1800, 42,489 houfcs, inhabited by 208,557 

 perfons, viz. 102,445 males, and 106,112 females: 24,263 

 were Hated to be employed in trade and manufafture ; and 

 (50,584 in agriculture. By a return to the houfc of lords 

 in 1805, the area of this county is Itated to be 27S7 fquare 

 ftstute miles, equal to 1,783,680 ftatute acres ; the number 

 of inhabitants on each fquare mile 75 ; and the total number 

 of perfoMS 209,025. The total amount of the money railed 

 by the poor's rate in 1S05 was 145,848/. at the rate of 

 3.f . y/i m the pound ; and the grofs amount of the alTeirment 

 under the property tax of 1806 was 2,704,736/. The 

 average of the deaths for ten years appears to he as I to 49! 

 of the population. Mr. Stone, in his view of the agriculture 

 of this county, eltimatesthe number of acres at i, $193,100 ; 

 of which he fuppofes there may be 473,000 acres of mclofed, 

 marfli, aid fen lands, 200,000 of commons, wafles, and un- 

 embanked fait mnrfiies, 268 000 of common fields, 25,000 

 of woodlands, and 927,120 of inclofed upland. Mr. Arthur 

 Young Hates the area of this county at 2888 fquare miles, 

 or 1,848,320 acres; of which he fays, the wolds contain, 

 234,880; the heath 118,400; lowland 776,960; and mif- 

 cellaneous foils 718,080. 



That part of Britain which is now called Lincoladiire, 

 was, anterior to the Roman conquelt, poffelTed by a clafs 

 of Britons known by the name of Coritaiii. During the 

 Roman dominion, this dillrift was included within the pro- 

 vince of Britannia prima ; and was interfefted by different 

 roads, occupied by military llations, and fome of its natural 

 inconveniences removed by Roman fcience and induftry. 

 The principal roads were the Britilh Ermin-ftreet, afterwards 

 adopted by the Romans, and the Fofs-way. A. great work 

 of this county, generally attributed to the Romans, is the 

 Car-dyke, a large canal or drain, which extends from the 

 river Welland, on the fouthern fide of the county, to the 

 river Witham, near Lincoln. Its channel, for nearly the 

 whole of this courfe, an extent cf upwards of forty miles, is 

 fixty feet in width, and has a broad fiat bank on each fide. 

 This great canal receives from the hills ail the draining and 

 Bowing waters, which take an eaderly courfe, and which, but 

 for this Catchwater drain, as it is now appropriately called, 

 vffould ferve to inundate the Fens. Several Roman coins 



a conliderable part of South Mercia. Crida was the lirlt 

 Mercian fovcreign, and began his reign in 586. At this 

 time Mr. Turner, (I-Iillory of the Anglo-Saxons,) fuppofed 

 that the whole illand was governed by eight Anglo-Saxon 

 monarchs ; whence it fliould rather be denominated an 

 octarchy then an heptarchy. During the ellablilhment of 

 thcfe petty kingdoms, the Saxons were in condant warfare 

 with the Romanized Britons; and after thefe were fubdued, 

 the former were repeatedly embroiled ip conflicts with eaeh 

 other. In the riiidll of thele civil conmiotioiis Chriltianity 

 was introduced, and gradually made its prOt;refs through the 

 ifland ; giving a new turn to human purfuits, and diverting 

 and cngrofiing the attention of the barbarous heathens. 

 Peada, the fon of Pcnda, wa« the reigning monarch here, 

 when this religion was accepted by the South Mercians ; he 

 founded a monallery at Medeii-hamlled, now Peterborough. 

 He was foon afterwards murdered, as luppofed, by his wite. 

 Edwin tlij Great, the Firll Chrillian king of Northumberland, 

 conquered the counties of Durham, Cliellcr, Lancaller, the 

 Ifle of Man, and .\nglefea, carried his arms fouthward over 

 the Trent, and obtained all the province of Lindley. Pau- 

 lino';, who converted him to Chnlbanity, preached thegofpel 

 wherever that king's power extended. He built the cathe- 

 dra' of Southwell, a little wed of Newark, baptized many 

 thoufands in the river Trent, near to Tiovulfingaccller, and 

 converted Blecca, the governor of Lincoln. This was about 

 the year 630 The learned and pious Alklrid kept his court 

 at Stamford in 658. After the death of Ofwy, king of 

 Northumberland, I'gfrid, his ion, mvadcd Wulfere, and 

 wre'.led from him the whole pro\inceof Lindfey in Lincoln- 

 (hire. I 1 677 he erected theepifcopal fee of Sidnacelter, in 

 favour of EaJhed, who had been chaplain to his brother 

 Alkfrid, king of Deira. In 683, Eadhed removed to Ripon, 

 where he remained till his death. The fouth Mercian king- 

 dom and bilhop's fee being thus edabliflied, but few public 

 events are recorded, till the incut fioii of the Danes, who, in 

 the year 870, laid vialle great part of Lincolnfliire, and 

 burned the monailcrics of Bardney, Croyland, and Meden- 

 hamiied, putting all the monks to the fword. After the 

 defeat of the Danes bv Alfred, the fovereignty of Mercia 

 fell into his power. He did not, however, avowedly incor- 

 porate it with Weflex, but di'.contiiiucd its regal honours ; 

 and during the reign of Edward the Elder, it was found ue- 

 cefTary to conilru6t and fortify feveral places on the borders 

 of Mercia joining Northumbria, particularly on the banks 

 of the Humber. Mercia was foon afterwards annexed to 

 WefTex, but fome places were ftill held by the Danes ; 

 among thefe were the towns of .Stamford and Lincoln, even 

 fo late as 941, when Edmund the Elder expelled them 

 hence. 



The maritime counties of England being more direftly 

 expofed to attack from invading armies av.i piratical plun- 

 derers ; and in the early part of our civil ellablifhments, 

 being more populous than the midland ctuintry, were there- 

 fore frequently expofed to the confiitls of warfare; and 

 hence it is found that thele diftrifls abounded with military 

 works anc caftlcs or caftellated manlions. Bcfides the per- 

 manent nations of the Romans in Lincoln (hire, they threw 



have been found on the banks of this dyke. The whole of up callrametations in different places; to guard the vallies, 

 tlie prefent county is fuppofed to have been named by the protedt the great roads, and detend the mouths of the rivers. 

 Romans Linduin, and the principal ftatjon or town hmdcm In the continued wars between the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, 

 coloiiia. thele were again occupied by the conteniir.g parties ; and 



after 



