Waddington, Lincolnshire

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For other uses, see Waddington (disambiguation).

Waddington village (left), and RAF base

Waddington is a large rural commuter village in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Situated approximately 6 km (4 miles) south of Lincoln on the A607 Grantham Road. According to the census 2001 the village had a population of 6,086.

1 Geography
2 Background Information
3 References
4 External links

[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 main road, known as High Dyke, that runs in front of the airbase, lies exactly on the line of the Roman Road Ermine Street. There is only minor evidence that High Dyke is Ermine Street, but the alignment is so exact that it is unlikely to be a coincidence. It is of note that Ermine Street as it passes Byards Leap, 20 miles to the south, is also called High Dyke at that point. The traceable line of Ermine Street peters out in the adjacent village of Harmston, and does not reappear until the other side of Lincoln. 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 present-day parish church of St Michael and All Angels is situated on the High Street. Built in 1954, it replaced an earlier 12th century church destroyed in a World War II air raid on the night of 8 May 1941.^[1] An account of that night is documented in the book Waddington at War 1939-1941.^[1]

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 two squadrons of AWACs (8 Sqn and 23 Sqn), sharing seven 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 hosts the annual RAF Waddington International Airshow.

A further major unit lodged at RAF Waddington is the UK Air Warfare Centre, which hosts the UK Defence Electronic Warfare Centre.