Waddington, Lincolnshire

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For other uses, see Waddington (disambiguation).

Waddington village (left), and RAF base

Waddington (population of 6086 at Census 2001) is a large rural commuter village in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Situated approximately 6km (4 miles) south of Lincoln on the A607 Grantham Road.

[edit] Geography

The village straddles the Lincoln Cliff escarpment with commanding views over the valley of the River Witham from its old centre. The more modern areas of the village have developed down the steep hill towards the city of Lincoln. The Viking Way enters the village from the north on Far Lane and passes south along High Street then briefly along Millers Road.

[edit] Background Information

The village is a documented settlement in the Domesday Book of 1086. On Mere Road (airfield side of the A607) is All Saints CE primary school - built with the RAF families in mind, not the original village. The village pubs are the Horse and Jockey and Three Horseshoes on the High Street, and the Wheatsheaf on the corner of Mere Road and Grantham Road. Opposite the Wheatsheaf is the Co-op. The parish church St Michael, on the High Street, was built in 1954.

Around 1830, George Boole, the mathematician, taught at Waddington Academy boarding school in the village, run by Robert Hall. From 1838 to 1840, Boole lived in the village and became head of the Academy.

Today the village is best known for its large military base, RAF Waddington, an important airbase east of the village centre. One of the oldest airfields in the UK, it was founded in 1916 for the Royal Flying Corps. RAF Waddington is the RAF's E-3D Sentry (a.k.a. AWACS) reconnaissance aircraft base, having previously been home to part of the Avro Vulcan nuclear bomber force. There are 2 squadrons of AWACs (8 Sqn and 23 Sqn), sharing 7 aircraft, each aircraft being named after one of the seven dwarfs. The RAF's Nimrod R1 reconnaissance aircraft of No 51 Sqn are also based at Waddington as is No 5 Squadron, the operators of the Airborne Stand-Off Radar System (ASTOR) which comprises the Sentinel R1 aircraft and its ground stations. The station also hosts the annual RAF Waddington International Airshow.

A further major unit lodged at RAF Waddington is the UK Air Warfare Centre - which also, in turn, hosts the UK Defence Electonic Warfare Centre.