For: North Lincolnshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Lindsey was a unit of local government until 1974 in Lincolnshire, England, covering the northern part of the county. The Isle of Axholme, which is on the west side of the River Trent, has normally formed part of it. It originated with the Kingdom of Lindsey in Anglo-Saxon times, whose territories were merged with that of Stamford to form Lincolnshire.

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. 1 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.

The Humberside phase

The Parts of Lindsey lasted until April 1 1974 when, as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, the northern zone (not the North Riding) of Lindsey was placed in the newly-formed non-metropolitan county of Humberside while a new Lincolnshire authority took over the remainder.

The original Lindsey was divided into six non-metropolitan districts, as follows

Present authorities

In 1996 these Humberside districts were re-grouped into unitary authorities. In other words, the new units perform the duties of both county and administrative district.

• One is North Lincolnshire (centred on Scunthorpe). This is the former districts of Glanford and Scunthorpe, as well as the Isle of Axholme which had become the southern part of Boothferry.
• The second is North East Lincolnshire comprising the former districts of Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes.

The two unitary authorities represent the most urbanized part of traditional Lincolnshire.