Lindsey - Local Government

Local Government

When the English shires were established, it became part of Lincolnshire. It and each of Kesteven and Holland, acquired the formal designation of Parts. Thus it became the 'Parts of Lindsey'.

Lindsey was itself divided into three ridings, the North, West and South Ridings, and then into wapentakes. The West Riding covered the western part, including Gainsborough, Scunthorpe and Spital. The North Riding covered the north-east, including Barton upon Humber, Caistor, Cleethorpes, Brigg, Grimsby, and Market Rasen. The South Riding covered the rest, in the south-east, including Louth, Mablethorpe and Skegness. The point at which the Ridings touched was somewhere near Lissington. Lindsey, like the other parts of Lincolnshire had long had a separate county administration (Quarter Sessions). In 1889, this division was followed in the establishment of the administrative county of Lincolnshire, Parts of Lindsey, which had an elected county council. Lincoln and Grimsby were independent county boroughs.

Within the rest of Lindsey there were various urban districts and rural districts, established by the Local Government Act 1894. The rural districts were Caistor, Gainsborough, Glanford Brigg, Grimsby, Horncastle, Isle of Axholme, Louth, Spilsby, Welton. A rural district of Sibsey also existed until 1936, when it was merged into Spilsby.