Sleaford

Sleaford is a market town and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. On the edge of the Fenlands, it is 11 miles (18 kilometres) north-east of Grantham, 16 mi (26 km) west of Boston, and 17 mi (27 km) south of Lincoln. It is the largest settlement in North Kesteven with a population of 19,807 in 2021. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington to the south-west, Holdingham to the north-west and Old Sleaford to the east. The town is bypassed by the A17 and the A15 roads. Sleaford railway station is on the Nottingham to Skegness (via Grantham) and Peterborough to Lincoln lines.

The first settlement formed in the Iron Age where a prehistoric track crossed the River Slea. It was likely home to a mint for the Corieltauvi in the 1st centuries BC and AD. Evidence of Roman and Anglo-Saxon settlement has been found. Medieval records differentiate between Old and New Sleaford, the latter emerging by the 12th century around the present-day market place and St Denys' Church; Sleaford Castle was also built at that time for the Bishops of Lincoln, who owned the manor. Granted the right to hold a market in the mid-12th century, New Sleaford developed into a market town and became locally important in the wool trade, while Old Sleaford (based near the site of the prehistoric settlement) declined.

From the 16th century, the landowning Carre family kept tight control over the town – it grew little in the early modern period. The manor passed by marriage from to the Hervey family (Earls and later Marquesses of Bristol) in 1688. The town's common lands were enclosed by 1794, giving ownership mostly to the Herveys. This coincided with canalisation of the Slea, which brought economic growth until it was superseded by the railways in the mid-1850s. These new transport links supported the development of light industries and expanded the town's role in the trade in agricultural goods. Long a centre for justice and administration in north Kesteven, Sleaford became an urban district in 1894 and was also home to the former Kesteven County Council (1925–1974). After a period of stagnation, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries the sale of farmland around Sleaford led to the development of large housing estates, causing the population to rapidly expand and the urban area to engulf Quarrington and Holdingham.

Though its traditional market has declined in the 21st century (and its cattle and corn markets shut in the 20th century) and much of its heavier manufacturing has departed, Sleaford's economy has diversified. The town remains an important administrative, service and commercial centre for the surrounding district. It houses supermarkets, shops and a large business park with offices and light manufacturing, and is home to the headquarters of North Kesteven District Council; three secondary schools (two of which are selective); four primary schools; three newspapers; police, fire and ambulance stations; several places of worship; many sports clubs; a leisure centre; and several medical and dental practices and care homes. Regeneration has transformed some earlier industrial areas, including through the construction of The Hub. The town is one of the largest employment centres in the district; the commonest employers in 2021 were the public sector, retail and, to a much lesser degree, manufacturing.