Mareham Lane

Last updated April 22, 2019

Mareham Lane is an unclassified road between Graby and Sleaford in Lincolnshire, England. It is approximately 10.6 miles (17.1 km) long.

Sleaford is a market town and civil parish in Lincolnshire, England. Since 1973, the parish boundaries have included Quarrington to the south-west, Holdingham to the north and Old Sleaford to the east – contiguous settlements and former civil parishes which, with New Sleaford, had formed an Urban District. The town is on the edge of the fertile Fenlands, about 11 miles (18 km) north-east of Grantham, 16 miles (26 km) west of Boston, and 17 miles (27 km) south of Lincoln. With a population of 17,671 at the 2011 Census, the town is the largest settlement in the North Kesteven district. Bypassed by the A17 and the A15, it is connected to Lincoln, Newark, Peterborough and King's Lynn. Sleaford railway station is on the Nottingham to Skegness and Peterborough to Lincoln Lines.

Lincolnshire is a county in eastern England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders Northamptonshire in the south for just 20 yards (18 m), England's shortest county boundary. The county town is the city of Lincoln, where the county council has its headquarters.

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north-northwest. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

The Roman Road

For most of its length Mareham Lane follows the route of a minor Roman road, and the name is also used for that Roman road from Bourne to the original ford at Sleaford^[1] and perhaps on to Lincoln (Lindum Colonia).^[2]^[3]

Bourne is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the eastern slopes of the limestone Kesteven Uplands and the western edge of the Fens. The population at the 2011 census was 14,456.

Lincoln is a cathedral city and the county town of Lincolnshire in the East Midlands of England. The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln had a 2012 population of 94,600. The 2011 census gave the urban area of Lincoln, which includes North Hykeham and Waddington, a population of 130,200. The Roman town of Lindum Colonia developed from an Iron Age settlement on the River Witham. Lincoln's major landmarks are Lincoln Cathedral, an example of English Gothic architecture and the tallest building in the world for over 200 years, as well as Lincoln Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle. The city is home to the University of Lincoln and Bishop Grosseteste University, and to Lincoln City FC and Lincoln United FC.

Lindum Colonia, was the Roman name for the settlement which is now the City of Lincoln in Lincolnshire. It was founded as a Roman Legionary Fortress during the reign of the Emperor Nero (58-68) or possibly later. Evidence from Roman tombstones suggests that Lincoln was first garrisoned by the Ninth Legion, Hispana which probably moved from Lincoln to found the fortress at York around c. 71 AD Lindum was then garrisoned by the Second Legion Aduitrix, which then went on to Chester in 77-78 AD

Margary numbers

Ivan Margary allocated the following Margary numbers in his classification scheme:^[4]

Ivan Donald Margary (1896–1976) was a historian who, during his lifetime, was the leading authority on Roman roads in Great Britain. He wrote numerous works on Roman roads of which his most influential and complete was Roman Roads In Britain.

Margary numbers constitute the numbering scheme developed by the historian Ivan Margary to catalogue known and suspected Roman roads in Britain in his 1955 work The Roman Roads of Britain. They remain the standard means used by archaeologists and historians to identify individual Roman roads within Britain. It is not known how the Romans identified the roads they built within Britain, and well-known names such as Watling Street and the Fosse Way largely date from the Anglo-Saxon period, are sometimes ambiguous or duplicated, and cover only a small proportion of the known network.

RR260 Bourne-Sleaford
RR262 Sleaford-Bracebridge Heath

Selection of photographs from the collection on Wikimedia Commons

Beacon Hill farm on Mareham Lane
Mareham Lane near Scredington
Ford just north of Graby
Roman Alignment through cornfield

Route details

Point	Coordinates (Links to map resources)	OS Grid Ref	Notes
Footpath to Cawthorpe	52°46′53″N0°22′37″W / 52.78136°N 0.37688°W / 52.78136; -0.37688 (Footpath to Cawthorpe)	TF095216	King street deviates from modern A15, to go through Stainfield to Ancaster. Start of Roman Mareham Lane
Old Beck culvert	52°49′59″N0°22′56″W / 52.833°N 0.382338°W / 52.833; -0.382338 (Old Beck culvert)	TF090273	Bottom of Windmill Hill, Rippingale. Start of linear Roman alignment on OS map
Layby at Graby	52°50′45″N0°22′45″W / 52.84589°N 0.379076°W / 52.84589; -0.379076 (Layby at Graby)	TF092288	Modern A15 straightened in the late 20th century. Roman alignment continues into lay-by
Footpath to Graby Lane	52°50′52″N0°22′42″W / 52.8479°N 0.37839°W / 52.8479; -0.37839 (Footpath to Graby Lane)	TF093290	Roman alignment continues across field as public footpath
Graby Lane	52°51′06″N0°22′34″W / 52.85179°N 0.376201°W / 52.85179; -0.376201 (Graby Lane)	TF094294	End of footpath. Start of Modern Mareham Lane
Ford	52°51′33″N0°22′32″W / 52.85909°N 0.375624°W / 52.85909; -0.375624 (Ford)	TF094303
Dry Ford	52°53′28″N0°22′31″W / 52.891069°N 0.375180°W / 52.891069; -0.375180 (Dry Ford)	TF094338	Seasonally intermittent Stream, sometimes appears across road. Stream flows into Ouse Mere Lode
Billingborough crossroads	52°53′35″N0°22′34″W / 52.89308°N 0.37610°W / 52.89308; -0.37610 (Billingborough crossroads)	TF093340	Billingborough road, Folkingham Folkingham road, Billingborough.
Stow Green	52°54′08″N0°22′29″W / 52.902246°N 0.374673°W / 52.902246; -0.374673 (Stow Green)	TF094351	Site of Stow Fair. Site of Anglo-Saxon nunnery.
Threekinghham crossroads	52°54′51″N0°22′38″W / 52.914059°N 0.377324°W / 52.914059; -0.377324 (Threekinghham crossroads)	TF092364	Modern A52 crosses Modern Mareham Lane.
Mareham House	52°55′43″N0°22′45″W / 52.92864°N 0.379285°W / 52.92864; -0.379285 (Mareham House)	TF090380	Road junction at Spanby
Bend	52°58′51″N0°23′14″W / 52.980883°N 0.387184°W / 52.980883; -0.387184 (Bend)	TF083438	Northern end of Roman alignment on OS map. Modern road deviates, and Roman Alignment becomes unclear.
Corner	52°59′21″N0°23′28″W / 52.989179°N 0.391002°W / 52.989179; -0.391002 (Corner)	TF081447	Modern Mareham road turns left. This different alignment continues toward the old ford at Sleaford as a footpath.
Parish boundary	52°59′31″N0°23′35″W / 52.992037°N 0.392937°W / 52.992037; -0.392937 (Parish boundary)	TF079450	Modified alignment continues past modern Mareham Lane as parish boundary Public footpath alongside.
Sleaford level crossing	52°59′43″N0°24′31″W / 52.995258°N 0.408493°W / 52.995258; -0.408493 (Sleaford level crossing)	TF069453	End of modern road called Mareham Lane at Sleaford level crossing.
cropmark	52°59′05″N0°23′10″W / 52.984625°N 0.386017°W / 52.984625; -0.386017 (cropmark)	TF084442	Possible continuation of straight alignment after the bend^[5]
cropmark	52°59′50″N0°23′08″W / 52.997205°N 0.385548°W / 52.997205; -0.385548 (cropmark)	TF084456	Well-founded discovery of Roman road not on expected alignment.^[6]
Ruskington	53°02′16″N0°23′19″W / 53.037701°N 0.388510°W / 53.037701; -0.388510 (Ruskington)	TF081501	Well-founded discovery of Roman road to south of Ruskington, on public footpath.^[7] Speculative northern continuation from Sleaford to Lincoln

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References

↑ RR260: Margary, Ivan Donald (1973). Roman roads in Britain. J. Baker. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-212-97001-8.
↑ Historic England. "Roman Road RR260 Bourne to Lincoln via Sleaford (1061192)". PastScape. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
↑ Historic England. "Roman Road RR262 Sleaford to Lincoln via Bracebridge Heath (1061215)". PastScape. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
↑ Margary, Ivan Donald. Roman roads in Britain.
↑ Historic England. "Cropmark near bend in the road (1044205)". PastScape. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
↑ Historic England. "Cropmark to east of original alignment (1049491)". PastScape. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
↑ Historic England. "Cropmark on Footpath near Ruskington (1049494)". PastScape. Retrieved 27 February 2011.

Whitwell, J B (1992). Roman Lincolnshire. The Society of Lincolnshire History and Archaeology. ISBN 0-902668-16-1.

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External links

Route map:

KML file (edit • help)

Roman Roads in Lincolnshire

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[IM-1] RR260: Margary, Ivan Donald (1973). Roman roads in Britain. J. Baker. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-212-97001-8.

[2] Historic England. "Roman Road RR260 Bourne to Lincoln via Sleaford (1061192)". PastScape. Retrieved 27 February 2011.

[3] Historic England. "Roman Road RR262 Sleaford to Lincoln via Bracebridge Heath (1061215)". PastScape. Retrieved 27 February 2011.

[4] Margary, Ivan Donald. Roman roads in Britain.

[5] Historic England. "Cropmark near bend in the road (1044205)". PastScape. Retrieved 27 February 2011.

[6] Historic England. "Cropmark to east of original alignment (1049491)". PastScape. Retrieved 27 February 2011.

[7] Historic England. "Cropmark on Footpath near Ruskington (1049494)". PastScape. Retrieved 27 February 2011.