Edge of England

The untold story of a great English county and its people, from The Vikings to Brexit.

Lincolnshire is England's second-largest county — and one of the least well-known. Yet its understated chronicles, unfashionable towns and undervalued countryside conceal fascinating stories, and unique landscapes: its Wolds are lonely and beautiful, its towns characterful; its marshlands and dynamic coast are metaphors of constant change. From plesiosaurs to Puritans, medieval ghosts to eighteenth-century explorers, poets to politicians, and Vikings to Brexit, this marginal county is central to England's identity.

Canute, Henry IV, John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford all called Lincolnshire home. So did saints, world-famed churchmen and reformers — Etheldreda, Gilbert, Guthlac and Hugh, Robert Grosseteste, John Wycliffe, John Cotton, John Foxe and John Wesley--as well as Isaac Newton, Joseph Banks, John Harrison and George Boole. Lincolnshire explorers went everywhere: John Smith to Jamestown, George Bass and Matthew Flinders to Australia, and John Franklin to a bitter death in the Arctic. Artists and writers have been inspired--including Byrd, Taverner, Stukeley, Stubbs, Eliot and Tennyson — while Thatcher wrought neo-liberalism. Extraordinary architecture testifies to centuries of both settlement and unrest, from Saxon towers to sky-piercing spires; evocative ruined abbeys to the wonder of the Cathedral. And in between is always the little-known land itself — an epitome of England, awaiting discovery.

‘A wonderfully rich mixture of nature writing, memoir, history and local lore.’ — The Guardian

‘[A] remarkable new study of Lincolnshire… its scope is striking, its ambition impressive, and its creation to be much welcomed.’ — Lincolnshire Past & Present

‘I shall return to this book again and again and I warmly commend it to anyone who does not know what is, in so many ways, not just the edge of England but the embodiment of England.’ — The House

‘Painting in poetic and evocative words…[Turner] gives food for thought about the topics concerning Britain today such as climate change, Europe, the place of agriculture.’ — The Jackdaw

‘The wonderful evocation of Lincoln and Lincolnshire in this book is a joy to read, even if you have never been there.’ — The Salisbury Review

‘Edge of England is well worth reading. It is consistently well written, and the breadth of the project means that almost any reader will find things of interest.’ — H-Net