A town with a well-recorded history stretching back well over a thousand years, and one of the five ‘Danish Boroughs’. It was an important medieval town boasting 14 parish churches and numerous religious houses, after which there was decline till the late 17th century with the re-opening of the Welland Navigation and the growth of the coaching trade. The 18th century saw a ‘boom’, when its many fine Georgian houses were built. When the railway came it by-passed the town, which stunted its industrial growth but helped to preserve the ancient town, which now prospers, as the author describes in this very readable book.