Description
Louth, a municipal borough, a market-town, and a parish in Lincolnshire. The town stands on the river Lnd, has communication with the Humber by the Louth Canal, and has a station on the East Lincolnshire section of the G.N.B. It is situated at the E foot of the Wolds, 15 miles S from Grimsby, 26 ENE by E from Lincoln, and 148 from London. It was anciently called Lnda, probably from the river Lud, and had so early as 1139 a Cistercian monastery called De Parco Lude, founded by Bishop Alexander. It took an active part in 1536 in the rebellion called " the Pilgrimage of Grace," and some of its leading men, including its vicar, then fell victims to the king's displeasure. So many as 754 of its inhabitants were carried off by plague in 1631. William de Luda, bishop of Ely, was a native, and Echard the historian was long a resident. Louth was incorporated by charter in the reign of Edward VI., which charter was extended and confirmed by Elizabeth and James I., and is now governed by a corporation consisting of a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors, who also constitute the urban sanitary authority. The borough has a commission of the peace, and is the head of a petty sessional division and county court district. The site and the environs are salubrious and pleasant. A stratum of clay or chalk marl, fully 70 feet in depth, slopes from the Wolds beneath the town to the sea, extends several miles to the N and to the S, and is incumbent on a stratum of gravel whence supplies of water are obtained by artesian wells. Hills of hard chalk capped by an argillaceous soil afford shelter on the W and the S, and a wooded plain lies on the E. The town is upwards of a mile in length, neat and well built, and has a number of streets rather irregularly disposed but well paved and airy. The town-hall and police station in Eastgate is a pleasing large edifice of brick and stucco erected in 1854, and contains a spacious and lofty assembly room, but stands in a crowded locality closely impacted with other buildings and approached through narrow streets. A market hall and shops erected in 1866-67 form a large block of buildings in the Freneh Gothic style, and include a brick clock tower over 100 feet high. The petty sessions court-house and county constabulary station stand on a part of the site of the old prison, and were erected in 1874. The corn exchange was built in 1853 at a cost of about £6000, has a stone front, and is neat and convenient. The savings bank in Eastgate was built in 1860, and is in the Decorated Pointed style, of brick with stone dressings. The railway station is a very handsome structure. A mechanics' institution is in Upgate, includes a well-supplied reading-room, and has a library of about 5000 volumes. The hospital and dispensary in Crow Tree Lane is a building of white and red brick, and has accommodation for twenty in-patients. It was erected in 1873, and the dispensary was established in 1803. The workhouse in Holmes Lane is a large building of brick, was erected in 1837 at a cost of £6000, and has accommodation for 350 inmates. The free grammar school in Schoolhouse Lane, founded by Edward VI., at which Tennyson was educated, acquired handsome and spacious new buildings in 1869; it is associated with almshonses for twelve poor women, has an endowed income derived from 380 acres of lands with several houses of about £1400 a year, and was reconstituted in 1878 as a first grade school under a scheme issued by the Charity Commissioners. Two ancient churches (St Mary's and the chapel of St John) have disappeared. The parish church of St James is a fine building in the Early decorated and Perpendicular styles, comprises nave, aisles, and chance], with lofty tower and spye, has a seven-light E window with remarkably beautiful tracery, and was restored partly in 1846, more extensively in 1869. The ante-church at the W end contains a beautiful canopied monument in Caen stone to W. Allison, Esq. The tower is of four storeys, and crowned by four octagonal turrets. The spire was blown down in 1634 and restored by Turner; it rises to the height of 300 feet; it is octagonal and crocketed, and is supported by flying buttresses. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Lincoln ; gross value, £429 with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Lincoln. The ecclesiastical parish of Holy Trinity was formed in 1867 out of the mother parish of St James. The church was originally a brick structure of 1834 with an octagonal tower, but was rebuilt in 1866, and is now a building of Ancaster stone in the First Pointed style. It comprises nave, aisles, and chancel, with NW tower. The living is a vicarage; gross value, £300 with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Lincoln. The ecclesiastical parish of St Michael was formed in 1863. The living is a vicarage ; gross value, £300 with residence, in the gift of the rector of Louth. St Michael's Church was built in 1863, is in an Italianized variety of the First Pointed style, exteriorly of stone, interiorly of polychromatic brick, and has a Galilee porch, an elaborate reredos, and a bell-turret. There are also two Baptist, two Free Methodist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, Wesleyan, and Roman Catholic chapels. The cemetery lies on the London Road, was formed in 1854, comprised originally 10 acres, but was enlarged in 1884 by the addition of 4 acres. The town has a head post office, three banks, a savings bank, and a penny bank, two principal hotels, and publishes two newspapers. A weekly market chiefly for corn is held on Wednesday, another weekly market is held on Saturday, markets for sheep and cattle are held at Quarry Hill every Friday throughout the year, and fairs for sheep, cattle, and horses are held on the last two days in April, the Friday before 18 Sept., the Friday before 28 Oct., and 23 Nov. There.are iron foundries and agricultural implement manufactories, and establishments for mailing, brewing, rope-making, bone-crushing, lime-burning, and brickmakmg. There are numerous charities and educational endowments, in addition to that of the grammar school, producing in the aggregate about £400 a year, and there are also ten almshouses for ten poor men, which were erected and endowed in 1885 by the Eev. Frederick Orme of Lynton, Rutland. Lcuth Park, half a mile E of the town, formerly an extra-parochial tract, is now included in the ecclesiastical parish of Holy Trinity and the civil parish of Louth, but is not included within the limits of the municipal borough. Area of the borough, 2749 acres; population, 10,040. Area of Louth Park, 841 acres; population, 114. Population of the ecclesiastical parish of St James, 5680; of Holy Trinity, 2025; of St Michael, 2449. The borough is divided into North and South Wards; population of North Ward, 4508; of South Ward, 5532.
Louth or East Lindsey Parliamentary Divison of Lincolnshire was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act,. 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 46,923. The division includes the following:- Louth-Alvingham, Authorpe, Biscathorpe, Brackenborough, Burwell, Calcethorpe, Carlton Castle, Carlton (Great), Carlton (Little), Cawthorpe (Little), Cockerington (North),. Cockerington (South), Conisholrne, Covenham (St Bartholomew), Covenham (St Mary), Donington-on-Bain, Elkington (North), Elkington (South), Farforth-cum-Maidenwell, Fotherby, Gayton-Ie-Wold, Grainthorpe, Grimblethorpe, Grimoldby, Grimsby Parva, Hallington, Haugham, Keddington, Kelstem, Legbourn, Louth, Louth Park, Ludborough, Manby, Muckton, Ormsby (North), Raithby-cum-Maltby,. Reston (North), Ruckland, Saltfleetby (All Saints), Saltfleetby (St Clement), Saltfleetby (St Peter), Skidbrook-cum-Saltfleet, Somercotes (North), Somercotes (South), Stewton,. Tathwell, Utterby, Walmsgate, Welton-on-the-Wolds, Withcall, Wyham and Cadsby, Wykeham, Yarborough; Market Rasen-Binbrooke (St Gabriel and St Mary), Buslingthorpe, Claxby, Croxby, Faldingworth, Friesthorpe, Holton-le-Moor, Kelsey (South), Kingerby, Kirkby-cum-Osgodby, Linwood,. Newton, Normanby, Owersby (North End), Owersby (South End), Rasen (Market), Rasen (Middle), Rasen (West), Stainton-le-Hole, Tealby, Thoresway, Thorganby, Thornton-le-Moor, Toft, Usselby, Walesby, Willingham (North); Wragby -Apley, Bardney, Barkwith (East), Barkwith (West), Benniworth, Burgh-upon-Bain, Bullington, Fulnetby, Goltho, Hainton, Hatton, Holton Beckering, Kirmond-le-Mire, Langton-by-Wragby, Legsby, Lissington, Ludford Magna, Lud-ford Parva, Newball, Panton, Eand, Sixhills, Snelland, Sotby, Stainfield, Stainton-by-Langworth, Torrington (East), Torrington (West), Tupholme, Wickenby, Willingham (South), Wragby; Alford (part of) - Gayton-le-Marsh, Mablethorpe, South Reston, Theddlethorpe (All Saints), Theddlethorpe (St Helens); Grimsby (part of)-Coates (North), Fulstow, Grainsby, Hawerby-cum-Beesby, Holton-le-Clay, Humberstone, Marshchapel, Swinhope, Tetney, Thoresby (North), Waythe, Wold Newton; Homcastle (part of)-Asterby, Baumber, Belchford, Bucknall, Cawkwell, Gautby, Goulceby, Hemingby, Horsington, Minting, Ranby, Scamblesby, Market Stainton, Stenigot, Stixwould, Sturton (Great), Waddingworth, Wispington; Louth, municipal borough.
