The bustling burg of Sleaford is home to over fifteen thousand people who are more than happy to call this beautiful slice of earth home. Lincolnshire is a particularly ravishing county in general when it comes to beauty but Sleaford just may take the cake when the conversation turns to the loveliest part of the area. It is little wonder, then, that Sleaford is an increasingly popular tourist destination but the truth of the matter is that the Sleaford of today isn't exactly like the town that it used to be in ages past.
One need only visit "Old Sleaford" to see remnants of the town's past. For the majority of Sleaford's history it was something of an agricultural town and this is why so much of the city is still untainted with industry or apartment buildings. All the same, Sleaford is growing every day and the old town, while nothing like it was in the old days, is still the first step toward uncovering the Sleaford of the past. Sleaford was once inhabited by Romans during the first years of the first century A.D and excavations over the years have uncovered such treasures as Iron Age coins and Roman graves. Naturally, Sleaford was far less advanced than it is today and it can be argued that even during that time Sleaford wasn't so much a town as it was a settlement. By the 1100s, however, Sleaford could no longer be denied entry into the exclusive club of English Medieval cities. In 1130 the famed Bishop Alexander of Lincolnshire (hence the name of the county) erected a massive castle right outside where the town now stands. This caused quite a bit of growth but, sadly, the castle can no longer be seen as it was demolished in the late 1500s. The moat that once surrounded the castle is still around, though, and visitors can at least walk among the ruins and imagine what it must have been like to live in a castle in Sleaford during those days.
Though the castle isn't visible anymore, there is one stunning landmark that nearly every tourist in Sleaford makes a point to see: The Church of St. Denys. This is one of the most beautiful churches ever built and it has the added distinction of having one of the oldest stone broach spires in the entire nation. The church as a whole is very old and most of it dates back to around 1180. A Grade I listed building, people come from all around to lay eyes on this masterpiece and a trip to Sleaford is not complete until a snapshot of this treasure is taken and saved. There is of course plenty of other things to do in Sleaford but it is truly refreshing to see a town that can thrive on the tourism of its beautiful and storied past rather than succumbing to popular opinion and demolishing these works of art in order to make room for strip malls and gift shops. Sleaford can be seen as the thinking man's tourist town and it is a shame that there are so few tourist locales that follow the town's suit.
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