Lincolnshire Wolds - People and Places

People and Places

The Wolds are sparsely populated and have a rural character. They are 'ringed' by several small market towns that lie around their edge:

• Alford
• Horncastle, billed on tourist signs as the "gateway to the Wolds", lies just outside the south end of the AONB
• Louth, "the capital of the Wolds"
• Market Rasen
• Caistor
• Spilsby

Many of the placenames in the Wolds indicate a strong Viking influence in the area's history. There is also an abundance of mediaeval 'lost villages' - settlements abandoned due to changes in land use, soil exhaustion and disease.

Several notable roads and paths run over the Wolds. Caistor High Street, the path of a Roman Road and now the route of the B1225, runs from Caistor to Baumber near Horncastle. The lonely Bluestone Heath Road follows the course of an ancient drove road from west to east across the Wolds, and several "A" roads also run through the AONB.

The Wolds are now promoted as a tourist destination: the area's connection with Tennyson (who was born in Somersby) is being exploited, and farmers are being encouraged to diversify into the tourism industry. The roads of the Wolds are particularly popular with motorcyclists, and the area is home to Cadwell Park, one of the UK's top race circuits.

The area is also popular with hikers: the Viking Way long-distance footpath runs from Barton-upon-Humber in North Lincolnshire across the Lincolnshire Wolds and into Rutland, and there is a Youth Hostel in the middle of the Wolds at Woody's Top near the village of Tetford.