Pictures:
Top - The riverside at Gainsborough. Middle - All Saints Church. Bottom - Gainsborough's Old Hall, now a museum.
Gainsborough - mill and manor
To the South East is Gainsborough (16M), another ancient market town, located hard against the river Trent, and accessed by a bridge with three arches built in 1791.
Although at one time the town was notable for its heavy industry, much of this has now passed into history along with its mill – said to have been the inspiration for George Eliot’s “Mill on the Floss”. The waterfront has been regenerated to create viewpoints, footpaths and a sculpture trail.
Close by is All Saints Church, which combines a 15th century tower with a Georgian nave and apse, and vestries added in the 20th century. It is lavishly coloured internally and dominated by its substantial columns and galleries.
But Gainsborough’s main claim to fame is its brick-built Old Hall, built between 1460 and 1480, which is a substantial timber-framed mediaeval manor – and reported to be one of the most intact examples remaining.
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