Market Rasen

Market Rasen is a town and civil parish within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the River Rase northeast of Lincoln, east of Gainsborough and southwest of Grimsby. Market Rasen has a population of 3,200 people.

Description

Market Rasen is a small market town on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds. The town lies on the main road between Lincoln and Grimsby, the A46, and is also on National Cycle Route 1 (part of EuroVelo 12) of the National Cycle Network.

The town centre has a homogeneous 19th century red brick appearance of mainly Georgian and Victorian architecture, centred around an active market place dominated by a medieval church albeit much "restored" in the 19th century.

The town is known for its racecourse (Market Rasen Racecourse), as well as its rugby and golf clubs.

The River Rase flows through the town and can be crossed via Jameson Bridge, Caistor Road Bridge and Crane Bridge. The town apparently takes its name from the Anglo-Saxon version of this name, meaning "plank".

Market days are Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Additionally, on each Tuesday there is an auction of goods and produce, and on the first Tuesday of every month there is a farmers' market. Also every Friday, the WI holds a "country market".

Market Rasen is twinned with the town of Mamers, in the Sarthe region of Pays de la Loire, France.

Market Rasen's community fire and police station (opened December, 2005) is one of the first purpose built combined fire and police stations in the UK. The former police station was built in 1849 and was the third oldest police station still in operational use in the country.

History

Originally, "Rasen", as it is known locally, was called "East Rasen" and also "Rasen Parva" or "Little Rasen". With the coming of the railway in 1848 Little Rasen quickly outgrew its neighbours West and Middle Rasen, and is now by far the largest of the three.

Education

The only secondary school is De Aston School, a rural co-educational 11-18 comprehensive with approximately 1,190 pupils, both day pupils and boarders. It was founded in 1863 as a small grammar school as part of a legal settlement following a court case involving funds from the medieval charity of Thomas de Aston, a 13th century monk. Until recently, the school's foundation governors also owned the chapel at the site of the charity's almshouses at Spital-on-the-Street, a few miles away to the west.

February 2008 earthquake

On 27 February, 2008, a significant earthquake occurred, centred on the neighbouring parish of Middle Rasen, approximately north of Market Rasen. The earthquake, which according to the British Geological Survey measured 5.2 on the Richter Scale, struck at 00:56 47.8s at a depth of and was felt across much of the UK from Edinburgh to Plymouth and as far away as Bangor in Northern Ireland and Haarlem in the Netherlands. The 10-second quake was the biggest recorded example in the United Kingdom since the 1984 Lleyn Peninsula earthquake struck North Wales, measuring 5.4M.

Notable inhabitants

• Bernie Taupin, Elton John's lyricist was married in the town in April 1971.
• Rod Temperton, a De Aston pupil, wrote the title track on the second biggest selling album of all time, Michael Jackson's Thriller.

See also

• Market Rasen railway station
• Great Grimsby and Sheffield Junction Railway
• Market Rasen Racecourse

References

External links

• Market Rasen Town Council
• Market Rasen Town Band
• Market Rasen Development Trust
• The Story of the Town
• Article from Lincolnshire Life Magazine
• Visitor Guide
• The Market Rasen Nostalgia site
• The local paper's website
• De Aston School
• De Aston School - Ofsted report
• Market Rasen Racecourse
• The Transport Hub Project
• The North Sea Cycle Route
• Market Rasen and Louth Rugby Union Football Club (RUFC)
• Mamers Tourism page (in French)
• Market Rasen Band