Lincolnshire Wolds

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Lincolnshire Wolds
Lincolnshire Wolds - geograph.org.uk - 2102712.jpg
Lincolnshire Wolds within Lincolnshire.png
The Lincolnshire Wolds near Stainton le Vale (top), location within Lincolnshire (bottom)
Location Lincolnshire, England
Coordinates 53°21′0″N0°6′0″W / 53.35000°N 0.10000°W / 53.35000; -0.10000
Area560 km2 (220 sq mi)
Established1973
Governing bodyLincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service

The Lincolnshire Wolds are a range of low hills in the county of Lincolnshire, England which run roughly parallel with the North Sea coast, from the Humber Estuary in the north-west to the edge of the Lincolnshire Fens in the south-east. A large part of the Wolds are a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), and form the highest land in eastern England between Yorkshire and Kent. [1] [2]

Contents

Geology

The Wolds are formed largely from a series of pure marine limestones formed during the Cretaceous period, known collectively as the Chalk Group. The chalk overlies a series of other sedimentary strata of late Jurassic/early Cretaceous age. The strata dip gently to the east and form a scarp which runs southeast from Barton upon Humber via Caistor before it loses its identity north of Spilsby. To the north of the Humber Gap, the same formations continue as the Yorkshire Wolds. [2] The rock succession in stratigraphic order i.e. youngest/uppermost first, is this:

The thin Hunstanton Chalk and the Ferriby Chalk formations form much of the west facing Wolds scarp but it is the overlying Welton Chalk Formation which forms the greater part of the easterly dip-slopes with the Ferriby Chalk extensively exposed within the dry dip-slope valleys. The Burnham Chalk Formation forms an indistinct secondary scarp to the east of the main scarp between Barton and Louth. In the north between South Ferriby and Grasby, the lower part of the scarp is formed from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation. A series of other rock layers intervene from the Caistor area southwards, uppermost of which are the green-brown Carstones:

Lower/early Cretaceous

Upper/late Jurassic

The numerous dry valleys cut into the dip-slope are typically floored by head, locally derived clay, silt, sand and gravel. The western valleys were created during recent glacial periods through the action of water over frozen ground whilst many in the east represent subglacial drainage. [3] During the last ice age (Devensian), ice encroached upon the Wolds from the northeast and entered the Humber gap from the east but did not cover the Wolds, hence there is no Devensian age glacial till on these hills. However, an earlier ice age left extensive spreads of till across the central and southern areas. [4] Sections of the main scarp, notably at Saxby All Saints and between Nettleton and Walesby have been subject to landslip. [5]

Geography

The Wolds comprise a series of low hills incised by characteristic dry open valleys.

View from Red Hill in August Lincolnshire Wolds.jpg
View from Red Hill in August

The Lincolnshire Wolds can be divided into four distinct areas: [2]

  1. the main area of chalk hills in the north,
  2. the north west scarp,
  3. an area of ridges and valleys in the south west,
  4. the claylands in the south east.

The Red Hill nature reserve near the village of Goulceby is notable for the unusual red colour of its soil and underlying chalk.

Wolds Top is the highest point in the whole of Lincolnshire and is marked by a trig point just north of the village of Normanby le Wold, at approximately 551 feet (168 metres) above sea level ( TF121964 ). [1]

Other hills include:

The Wolds provide views across the flat Fens and salt marshes of Lindsey and Holland: it is possible, from various points on the Wolds, to see all of the larger structures in the north and east of the county: the Belmont mast, Boston Stump, Grimsby Dock Tower, the Humber Bridge, Lincoln Cathedral, St James' Church in Louth (known locally as the 'Cathedral of the Wolds', though it holds only parish church status), the radar station near Normanby, Tattershall Castle and the wind turbines on the coast near Mablethorpe.

Waterways

NameLengthSourceSource Elevation (m)MouthMouth Elevation (m)Notes
River Bain Ludford 130 River Witham, Dogdyke 2Partly concurrent with the Horncastle Canal south of Horncastle.
Great Eau North Sea, Saltfleet Haven0
River Lud North Sea, North Coates 0Also known as the Louth Navigation due to its canalisation.
River Lymn Belchford 91 North Sea, Gibraltar Point 0
River Rase Tealby 118 River Ancholme, Bishopbridge 6
River Waring Belchford 100 River Bain, Horncastle 28

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

The Lincolnshire Wolds were designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1973, and are managed as such by the Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service. [6] [7]

The Wolds AONB covers 560 square kilometres, while the Countryside Service recognises a wider Lincolnshire Wolds Character/Natural Area which incorporates the AONB and the neighbouring areas of the (geographical) Wolds to the north and south. [2]

The Wolds AONB cuts across the council boundaries of Lincolnshire County Council, East Lindsey District Council, West Lindsey District Council and North East Lincolnshire Council. [1] [2] The boundaries of the AONB are marked by tourist signs incorporating stylized hills and trees, placed on roads leading into the area.

People and places

The Wolds are sparsely populated and have a rural character. They are 'ringed' by several small market towns that lie around their edge: [1]

Many of the place-names in the Wolds indicate a strong Viking influence in the area's history. There is also an abundance of mediaeval 'lost villages' – settlements abandoned due to changes in land use, soil exhaustion and disease.

Several notable roads and paths run over the Wolds. Caistor High Street, the path of a Roman road and now the route of the B1225, runs from Caistor to Baumber near Horncastle. The ancient Bluestone Heath Road follows the course of an ancient drove road from west to east across the Wolds, and several "A" roads also run through the AONB. [1]

The Wolds are now promoted as a tourist destination: the area's connection with Tennyson (who was born in Somersby) is being exploited, [8] [9] and farmers are being encouraged to diversify into the tourism industry. The roads of the Wolds are particularly popular with motorcyclists, and the area is home to Cadwell Park, one of the UK's top race circuits. [10] [11]

The area is also popular with walkers: the Viking Way long-distance footpath runs from Barton-upon-Humber in North Lincolnshire across the Lincolnshire Wolds and into Rutland, [12] [13] and there is a youth hostel in the middle of the Wolds at Woody's Top near the village of Tetford. [14] [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Ancholme</span> River in Lincolnshire, England

The River Ancholme is a river in Lincolnshire, England, and a tributary of the Humber. It rises at Ancholme Head, a spring just north of the village of Ingham and immediately west of the Roman Road, Ermine Street. It flows east and then north to Bishopbridge west of Market Rasen, where it is joined by the Rase. North of there it flows through the market town of Brigg before draining into the Humber at South Ferriby. It drains a large part of northern Lincolnshire between the Trent and the North Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Riding of Yorkshire</span> County of England

The East Riding of Yorkshire, often shortened to the East Riding, is a ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to the south-west, and Lincolnshire to the south across the Humber Estuary. The city of Kingston upon Hull is the largest settlement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downland</span> Area of open chalk hills

Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs. This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape in southern England where chalk is exposed at the surface. The name "downs" is derived from the Old English word dun, meaning "hill".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bolingbroke, Lincolnshire</span> Village in Lincolnshire, England

Bolingbroke, now called Old Bolingbroke, is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. Its present boundaries were formed by the amalgamation of the Parishes of Bolingbroke and Hareby in 1739. The population at the 2011 census was 325.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yorkshire Wolds</span> Area of East Riding of Yorkshire, England

The Yorkshire Wolds are hills in the counties of the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire in Northern England. They are the northernmost chalk hills in the UK and within lies the northernmost chalk stream in Europe, the Gypsey Race.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiltern Hills</span> Range of hills in Southeast England

The Chiltern Hills are a chalk escarpment in England northwest of London, covering 660 square miles (1,700 km2) across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshire, stretching 45 miles (72 km) from Goring-on-Thames in the southwest to Hitchin in the northeast. The hills are 12 miles (19 km) at their widest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Downs</span> Range of hills in south east England, UK

The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs. The North Downs Way National Trail runs along the North Downs from Farnham to Dover.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chalk Group</span>

The Chalk Group is the lithostratigraphic unit which contains the Upper Cretaceous limestone succession in southern and eastern England. The same or similar rock sequences occur across the wider northwest European chalk 'province'. It is characterised by thick deposits of chalk, a soft porous white limestone, deposited in a marine environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Wolds</span>

The Wolds is a term used in England to describe a range of hills which consists of open country overlying a base of limestone or chalk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolds Top</span> Hill in Lincolnshire

Wolds Top, also known as Normanby Hill, is the highest point of the Lincolnshire Wolds. The summit elevation is 168 m (551 ft). It lies some distance to the north of the village of Normanby le Wold in Lincolnshire. The Viking Way passes close by, on a minor road, and there is a radio mast near the summit. The summit is marked with an Ordnance Survey triangulation station, colloquially known as 'The Golf Ball' due to its resemblance to a golf ball on a tee. The station was erected in 1936, and is now used as part of the Ordnance Survey National GPS System.

Lincolnshire is one of the few counties within the UK that still uses the eleven-plus to decide who may attend grammar school, in common with Buckinghamshire and Kent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viking Way</span> 147 mile footpath in England

The Viking Way is a long distance trail in England running 147 miles (237 km) between the Humber Bridge in North Lincolnshire and Oakham in Rutland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Ferriby</span> Village in North Lincolnshire, England

South Ferriby is a village in North Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the south bank of the Humber Estuary and 3 miles (5 km) west from the Humber Bridge. North Ferriby is directly opposite on the Estuary's north bank. Village population was 651 in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of Yorkshire</span>

The Geology of Yorkshire in northern England shows a very close relationship between the major topographical areas and the geological period in which their rocks were formed. The rocks of the Pennine chain of hills in the west are of Carboniferous origin whilst those of the central vale are Permo-Triassic. The North York Moors in the north-east of the county are Jurassic in age while the Yorkshire Wolds to the south east are Cretaceous chalk uplands. The plain of Holderness and the Humberhead levels both owe their present form to the Quaternary ice ages. The strata become gradually younger from west to east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Somersby, Lincolnshire</span> Village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England

Somersby is a village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated 6 miles (9.7 km) north-west from Spilsby and 7 miles (11 km) east-north-east from Horncastle. The village lies in the civil parish of Greetham with Somersby in the Lincolnshire Wolds, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty; the parish covers about 600 acres (2.4 km2).

The East Riding of Yorkshire is a local government district with unitary authority status, and is a ceremonial county of England. It is named after the historic East Riding of Yorkshire which was one of three ridings alongside the North Riding and West Riding, which were constituent parts a Yorkshire ceremonial and administrative county until 1974. From 1974 to 1996 the area of the modern East Riding of Yorkshire constituted the northern part of Humberside.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humber Gap</span> Geological term in England

The geology of Lincolnshire in eastern England largely consists of an easterly dipping succession of Mesozoic age sedimentary rocks, obscured across large parts of the county by unconsolidated deposits dating from the last few hundred thousand years of the present Quaternary Period.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Ordnance Survey maps:
    Lincolnshire Wolds North (Map) (A1 ed.). 1:25000. Explorer. Ordnance survey of Great Britain. 3 April 2006. § 282. ISBN   978-0319238233.
    Lincolnshire Wolds South (Map) (A1 ed.). 1:25000. Explorer. Ordnance survey of Great Britain. 3 April 2006. § 273. ISBN   978-0319238219.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "NCA Profile: 43 Lincolnshire Wolds (NE440)". Publications and products. Natural England. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  3. ↑ "1:50000 Series England and Wales sheet 90, Grimsby (including sheet 91 Saltfleet), Solid and Drift Geology". Maps Portal. British Geological Survey. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  4. ↑ Kent, Peter (1980). British Regional Geology: Eastern England from the Tees to The Wash (second ed.). London: Institute of Geological Sciences, HMSO. pp. 118–125.
  5. ↑ "Geoindex Onshore". British Geological Survey. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  6. ↑ "Lincolnshire wolds". Lincolnshire wolds countryside service. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  7. ↑ "AONB facts and figures". Natural England. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  8. ↑ "The birthplace of Tennyson". St Margaret's Somersby PCC. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  9. ↑ "Birth Place of Lord Alfred Tennyson, Somersby, Lincolnshire". Explore Lincolnshire. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  10. ↑ "Cadwell park race circuit" . Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  11. ↑ Miodonski, James (23 August 2014). "BSB Round 8 Cadwell Park". MotoGoLoco.com. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  12. ↑ "The Viking way". Lincolnshire county council. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  13. ↑ "The Viking way". Long Distance Walkers Association. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  14. ↑ "Woody's Top". Youth Hostel Association. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  15. ↑ "Woody's Top youth hostel". Visit Lincolnshire. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
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