Click
on the bold text for more information on the location mentioned,
or go to the bottom of the page and follow the Heritage Trail
About
Woodhall Spa
Woodhall
Spa began as one man's vision. John
Parkinson's dream was to open a coal mine, plant a forest and build
a new town. In the process of looking for coal in 1821 he found
the Spa water and by a quirk of fate it was this that was to prove
his most lasting legacy.
 The
extraordinary and colourful history of the development of the comparatively
new community that is Woodhall Spa has ensured its enduring appeal
as a social, recreational and leisure centre for Lincolnshire
A
Planned Community
Woodhall
Spa is unique in Lincolnshire, having more in common in its history
and ambience with Spa towns like Harrogate, than with the traditional
market towns and rural villages of the county.
From
the start, the architect commissioned to create the Spa, Richard
Adolphus Came, had a vision of his own - an elegant and spacious
community in a woodland setting, with broad tree-lined avenues
and large residential plots. This is still percieved as one of
our greatest assets - 'the space is the place' is an often quoted
observation. To achieve it, Mr Came created a stringent set of
design and planning guidelines, even  specifying
that Woodhall Spa should not have 'streets', a policy maintained
today.
At
the heart of this new community were the Pinewoods and Spa
Baths, now semi derelict, the luxurious Victoria Hotel nearby,
(the site of the Coronation
Hall) which burnt down on Easter Day 1920 and the Royal
Hotel and Winter Gardens (where Royal Square is today), which was destroyed
by a parachute aerial mine in 1943. There were many other smaller
hotels and boarding houses to accommodate the visitors who flocked
to take the waters, arriving at Woodhall
Junction, which had direct links to London, and travelling
into the second station in the centre of the Spa on the Horncastle
branch line.
A Fashionable
Resort
In
its Edwardian heyday, the cream of society, including royalty,
visited Woodhall
Spa. Accordingly the community enjoyed many more facilities than
would normally be expected in a village of its size - still the
case today. Distinguished guests at the Victoria
Hotel would be
seen in full evening dress strolling through woods hung with Chinese
lanterns before dinner, there was even a regular visitor list printed.
Although
the Spa became a less fashionable destination after the First World
War, the community continued to prosper in a quiet way as both
as an elegant leisure destination and as a centre for healing.
The internationally famous Golf Course was redesigned by Colonel
SV Hotchkin MC and CK Hutchison in the 1920's and has since remained
virtually unaltered. It is a world ranking Championship course
and was recently voted the 'Best Inland Golf Course' by Golf World
magazine. In 1995 it was purchased by the English
Golf Union, who built their HQ in the grounds and added a second
golf course.
 The Jubilee
Park and swimming pool were built and given to Woodhall Spa
by Lady Weigall in 1935, a facility as far from the municipal
baths of the time as it was possible to be. She also oversaw
the conversion of her concert pavilion to the famous Kinema
in the Woods. Visitors from all over the country came to
take the waters, many staying at the Alexandra Hospital for this
purpose, returning year after year. Bottles of Spa water were
posted throughout the UK. Like other Spas, it also attracted
a cosmopolitan mix of ex-colonial families, writers and artists,
many of whom came to live here.
Woodhall
Spa at War
During
the Second World War the Spa took on the atmosphere of a garrison
town, recording more air r aid
warnings than Lincoln. The streets rang to the sound of marching
feet as regiments from across Britain disembarked at the Junction
and marched down the Witham Road to billets in the large houses
and hotels or the camps on Kirkby Lane. Armed guards surrounded
the pinewoods where edwardian aristocrats used to walk and where
equipment and ammunition were now stored. Paratroopers went directly
from the Spa to Arnhem and came directly back here from the battlefield.
The RAF used the Petwood
Hotel as an officer's mess, most famously for the
617 'Dambuster' Squadron. At the end of the war, as the British
troops left, thousands of Polish troops arrived, continuing the
cosmopolitan experience.through the next 30 years, Woodhall Spa
evolved to its current role as a conference, leisure and social
centre for the county and beyond, with its range of hotels, restuarants,
shops, pubs and the many sporting, and social clubs. The Woodhall
Spa Agricultural Show ran for more than 50 years, in its heyday
second only to the county show in popularity. As car use grew,
cuts in railways saw the Horncastle
branch line, which ran through the centre of the Spa, close,
followed by Woodhall Junction in 1970 when the Lincoln to Boston
line along the River Witham was closed too.
 Until
1974, Woodhall Spa had its own urban District Council and remained
very much in control of its own fate, determining the style and
type of developments, maintaining its own tree-lined
avenues and
developing the park and other public spaces.
With local government re-organisation, the Urban
District Council ceased to exist to be replaced by a Parish
Council.
Whilst surrounding villages rejoiced in the new powers of parish
councils, Woodhall Spa had the opposite experience. Planning control
and the running of Jubilee Park, road and tree maintenance and other
powers passed to the new District and County Councils, a loss keenly
felt to this day.
It was from the early 1970s that Woodhall Spa began
to see a more concerted house building programme in its Woodlands
- Arnhem Way and Woodland Drive were built and houses were added
to infill the existing avenues and road. As pressure to protect
the remaining woods and the special character and heritage of the
Spa led to the creation of the Cottage
Museum, the designation of
the Conservation Area and the first village plan in 1988, with the
help and support of a planning officer at the District Council.
The Village Plan, and its successor District Plan,
has seen many old properties tastfully renovated and new developments
in the centre of the Spa that have enhanced and enlivened the village.
New Pressures
Woodhall Spa has always thrived on a steady influx
of new residents. However, the recent growth in the rate of house
and flat construction, mostly in the executive category and promoted
heavily in the south-east of England, is clearly seen by residents
as a threat to the maintenance of a balanced, inclusive and sustainable
community. It is also percieved as having the potential to destroy
the essential design features and unique Spa resort ambience that
has been at the heart of Woodhall Spa's enduring attraction.
The pressure on services, traffic issues and questions
over the former Spa Baths and the future development of Jubilee
Park have all added to the feeling of a village under threat, a feeling
which is reflectied in the high response rate to the Parish Plan
Questionnaire and the attendance rate at public meetings on these
issues over the past couple of years.
Some preconceptions need to be challenged; often
Woodhall Spa is considered to be a wealthy village and although it
is true that many are comfortable there are a large number who are
not wealthy and could be penalized by this way of thinking. The parish
needs as much help as the next including financial support for projects
and investment to ensure future success.
The Parish Plan is Woodhall Spa's way of showing
all those in a position to influence the development of our community
what aspects we most value, what changes we would like to see and
what we want to avoid. It highlights the shared responsibility of
all agencies in helping us to achieve this blueprint for our future.
Addendum
In
the early 1980's Woodhall Spa absorbed the ancient parish of Kirkstead,
which brought with it the ruin of the great Cisterian Kirkstead
Abbey and the 13th Century St
Leonard's Church. These and the medieval Tower
on the Moor, Woodhall Spa's symbol, are the tangible reminder of the history
of the area before the Spa was born. There are also records of
Iron Age finds and evidence of even earlier settlements.
Heritage
The
local Cottage Museum houses
a changing display of the history of the village. If you would
like to know more about the history of Woodhall Spa then why not
visit the museum at the:
The
Bungalow
Iddesleigh
Road
Woodhall
Spa
Telephone:
01526 353775
Or follow the online 'Woodhall Spa Heritage Trail'
below (please note however that this is still under construction) |
Arts
& Crafts
Click
on the numbers to visit the next point on the Woodhall Spa Heritage
Trail (Under construction - only 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 16, 17 & 19
are currently active) 
Top
of page