Lincolnshire, a maritime county of England, and, after Yorkshire, the largest in the country, is bounded on the N. by the estuary of the Humber; E. by the North Sea, the Wash, and Norfolk; S. by Cambridge, Northampton, and Rutland shires; and W. by Leicester, Nottingham, and York shires. Measuring 75 miles from north to south and 48 miles from east to west, it has a seaboard of about 90 miles, and contains 2672 sq. m., or 1,767,879 acres. Pop. (1801) 208,557; (1881) 469,919; (1891) 472,878. The surface is comparatively flat: along the coast stretches a line of low-lying marshes, varying in breadth, from which in places the sea is only kept out by means of earthen embankments. To the west of these marshes lie the Wolds, a range of chalk downs, which, commencing near Barton-on-Humber in the north, extend thence in a south-easterly direction for about 40 miles to the neighbourhood of Spilsby and Horncastle. The western side of the county, from the Humber in the north through Lincoln to Grantham in the south, consists principally of light uplands, whilst in the south-east are fens forming part of the Bedford Level (q.v.). The efforts to drain the Fens and the Isle of Axholme encountered great opposition from the 'stilt-walkers,' from the reign of Charles I. down to the first quarter of the 18th century. The chief rivers of Lincolnshire, besides that which forms its northern boundary, are the Trent, Witham, and Welland; and a noticeable feature of the county are the numerous canals which intersect it—Car-dyke and Foss-dyke, the two largest, being probably the work of the Romans. Clay, sand, loam, chalk, or peat, varying with the locality, are the prevailing soils. Near Ancaster limestone is extensively quarried, and in the western districts ironstone abounds. The chief crops are corn and turnips, and in places flax is cultivated; but from an agricultural point of view the county is best known for its rich 'warp-lands' along the banks of the Trent, and for the immense flocks of sheep grazed on its pastures. Horse-breeding, too, is extensively prosecuted, the horse-fairs at Horncastle and Lincoln attracting many foreign and London dealers; and amongst other industries may be noted the manufacture of agricultural implements and machinery, and the great shipping trade and fisheries connected with the port of Grimsby.
Lincolnshire is divided into three districts or 'Parts,' as they are called—viz. the Parts of Holland in the south-east, comprising the greater part of the Fens, the Parts of Kesteven in the south-west, and the Parts of Lindsey, which is by far the largest, occupying the remainder of the county. These Parts, each of which has its own county council, are subdivided into thirty-one wapentakes or hundreds, the city of Lincoln and the municipal boroughs of Boston, Grantham, Great Grimsby, and Louth, with part of that of Stamford (the remainder being in Northamptonshire), and contain in all 757 parishes, almost entirely situate in the diocese of Lincoln and midland circuit, the assizes being held at Lincoln. For parliamentary purposes the county is divided into seven divisions, and the boroughs of Boston, Grantham, Grimsby, and Lincoln, each of which returns one member. Other towns are Cleethorpes (practically a suburb of Grimsby), Gainsborough, Sleaford, Spalding, and Sutton.
The history of the county apart from Lincoln is soon told. It was here that in 1536 first broke out the insurrection known as the 'Pilgrimage of Grace,' which had for its object the restoration of popery and re-establishment of dissolved monasteries; and in 1643, during the Civil War, Ancaster, Gainsborough, Grantham, and Winceby were the scene of contests between the rival forces. To the antiquary Lincolnshire is of special interest on account of the beauty of its many churches—Boston, Crowle, Grantham, Heckington, Louth, Long Sutton and Tattershall amongst them; whilst of other places of interest it will suffice to mention here the ruined abbey of Crowland, and Bolingbroke Castle (of which but little remains), the home of John of Gaunt and of his son Henry IV., who was born there. Other eminent persons associated with the county include John Foxe, the martyrologist; William Cecil, Lord Burghley; Captain John Smith; Archbishop Whitgift; Heywood, the dramatist; Sir Isaac
Newton; Thomas Sutton, founder of the Charter-house; Dr Busby, head-master of Westminster; John Wesley; Scott, the commentator; Sir John Franklin; Dr Dodd, the forger; Dr Lingard; Lord Tennyson; and Professor Conington. See works by Allen (2 vols. 1834) and Sir Charles Anderson (1880), and Murray's Handbook to Lincolnshire (1890).