Local Projects

Folklore Round Horncastle
The Society is excited to have secured funding from Story Tellers to enable us to commission an artist to illustrate the foklore stories collected by Rev James Alpass Penny in his Folklore Round Horncastle published in 1915. The book is now very hard to get hold of, which sadly means that the stories he collected are fading from memory and most now go untold. We want to change that and are looking forward by bringing them to life for new audiences. The project will see our volunteers work with professional artists, Arts&Heritage, and Spalding Gentlemen’s Society and local heritage organisations. Visit their website for more infomation or to details of the commission.

Batemans Ales Sign Restored

We commissioned the renovation of an old and much loved “ghost sign” on the old Cross Keys on the corner of East Street and Queen Street during 2025.  The sign advertised the ales of local brewer Batemans, but it had suffered over the years from weathering and finally had been painted over.  Using the skills of local traditional signwriter Tim Fry, we had the sign restored to its original condition.

We are very grateful to the owners of the property for allowing the work to be done, and to Batemans Brewery, Wainfleet, for meeting the costs.

Horse Fair & Plaque

The Great August Horse Fair in Horncastle was once said to be the largest in the world, but it declined with the rise of motor transport until the final fair in 1948. In 2023 to mark 75 years since the last fair we helped revive the Horse Fair as a community celebration of arts and heritage, working with Sessions Arts, East Lindsey District Council and Horncastle Town Council, and passionate local volunteers.

To celebrate the revival and mark the 75th anniversary we unveiled a new a new blue plaque commemorating the Fair in 2024 on the wall of Kennedy’s shop where it is passed by visitors to the Bull Ring everyday. You can find a photo our home page.

Interpretation Boards and Horncastle Heritage Trail

In 2024 we celebrated as one of the Society’s longest projects concluded, the installation of 20 interpretation boards around the town on the route of the Horncastle Heritage Trail. This was the work of many years of careful development and research alongside partners at Horncastle Walkers Are Welcome, Horncastle Town Council and East Lindsey District Council.

The boards are full of old photos, maps, and documents from the Society’s Town Archive, and help to bring to life Horncastle’s rich history to new audiences, both local residents and visitors alike. You can pick up a copy of the Horncastle Heritage Trail leafet at the Joseph Banks Centre or Horncastle Library, or online here. Each board also has a QR code so if you do spot one you can download the route to follow the rest of the trail.

50 Years Since the Closure of the Horncastle Railway
In 2021, we launched a special virtual exhibition to mark 50 years since the former branch line to Horncastle finally closed on the 5th April 1971, alongside a physical exhibition at the Joseph Banks Centre which was attended by over 2,000 people. Our volunteers tracked down photographs, plans, and objects, many of which had never been seen before.  The online exhibition is still available.

We also worked with Lincolnshire County Council to produce a new Spa Trail guide to help people walk and cycle the old railway line and spot the sculptures along the wa.y

We’re very proud to say that the exhibition won the prestigious Flora Murrary Award from the Society for Lincolnshire History & Archaeology.

Thomas Sully a Forgotten Horncastle Artist
A lot of research has been undertaken by Colin Gascoyne on the life and works of the famous American painter Thomas Sully, who was born here in Horncastle.

We erected a new plaque in Sully’s honour in autumn 2020. You can find this in Dog Kennel Yard on the brick wall facing the Co-op Food Store.
Click here to find out more, or pick up a leaflet from the Co-op, or visit our Town Archives at the Joseph Banks Centre for full details of his life and artistic output.

Mareham Le Fen Booklet

Two books of notes were donated to the Society recording life in Mareham Le Fen from the 1920’s onwards. They were just ad hoc memories and in no particular order but very evocative of those times. The memories could relate to any small community at that time with lots of shops and small businesses and the church being the mainstay for many people.

In 2020, we published a booklet based on these notebooks.  You can find more details including how to buy the booklet on our Publications page.

Saving Horncastle’s Roman Wall

The Society led a successful project to save Horncastle Roman Wall, which had been on the Heritage at Risk Register since the first one over 20 years ago. This was a partnership with our friends at Horncastle & District Community Association who run the Community Centre, and helped rescue the tallest and the most publicly visible sections of the Roman Wall on Manor House Street and and St Mary’s Square. This began with commissioning a detailed specialist condition survey carried out by Dr David Watt of the wall’s condition and which costed the works required to save it. This complex and specialist work was estimated to cost over £100,000, which was quite a challenge for the volunteers already working hard to keep the Community Centre going.

We helped them lead a very successful fundraising campaign including a major grant from Historic England, and match funding from the Pilgrim Trust, Horncastle Town Council, East Lindsey District Council’s Councillors Community Grants, The Leche Trust, Tesco Bags of Help, the Medlock Trust, the Michael Cornish Charitable Trust and over 100 public donations to our Sponsor a Stone appeal.

Then in March 2021 after delays caused by the pandemic work finally started on site to conserve the wall for future generations. This was carried out by experts from Cliveden Conservation and overseen by our lead advisor Dr David Watt. Visit our dedicated Roman Wall page for more information and videos of the conservation work in action.

Pig Market Sculptures

The area of The Wong adjacent to the Old Drill Hall was the site of the Pig Market and has recently been restored by Horncastle Town Council with new flower beds, pig sculptures and a restored old weighing machine. The area has been allowed to fall into disrepair and was a blemish on the Boston Road entry into the town, which led the Society to investigating installing some sculptures (similar to the horse sculptures) depicting the pig market and the people attending. A great deal of investigative work has been done by Dr Lawrence and a report produced. So we were delighted when the Town Council decided to progress this project themselves, and we helped contribute historical information for the new signage on the site.