Woodhall Spa is a civil parish and village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England about 10km south-west of Horncastle. The 2001 census gives a population of 3,657.

Woodhall Spa came into existence as the result of the sinking of a shaft by the Lord of the Manor, John Parkinson, in 1811 for a coal mine. The coal mine came to nothing, the shaft was abandoned in 1821 when at 311 m deep it by chance breached a spring (there is a story that the miners digging the shaft used to take lumps of coal and drop them at the bottom of the shaft so that the coal could be found later on and so ensure them a further week's work). The shaft filled with water and overflowed into a ditch, it was noticed that cattle drinking from the ditch were cured of their ailments. When the water was analysed it was found to contain six times more iodine and bromine than any other known mineral water.

By 1834, the then Lord of the Manor, Thomas Hotchkin, had built a pump room, bathhouse and hotel. The coming of the railways brought increasing popularity and an elegant spa town with wide tree-lined avenues grew up around the original facilities. Much of this Victorian elegance remains, but times change, the railway closed down, the use of the baths declined over the years and finally closed when the well collapsed in 1983, however Woodhall Spa still remains a popular holiday and retirement resort today.

In 2006 the owners of The Golf Hotel recreated the history of Woodhall spa by opening a new day spa called the 'Aqua Sante Spa' [http://www.aquasante.co.uk with the exact bromine & iodine content in its water as in the original waters.

The Pinewoods, a 7.8 ha woodland owned by the Woodland Trust was originally planted in 1811 by John Parkinson to produce pit props for his intended adjacent coal mine. It lies at the heart of the village and has long been a big attraction for visitors, particularly in the spring when the Daffodils and Rhododendrons are in flower.

The Kinema in the Woods situated in the centre of the Pinewoods is one of the treasures of Woodhall Spa and is completely unique. Housed in a converted cricket pavilion, when it opened in 1922 it was one of the first cinemas in Britain. It is the only cinema in the country to employ back projection and also offers regular entertainment on an original Compton Organ.

Jubilee Park, opened in 1937, lies adjacent to the Pinewoods and offers a facility that was fairly common once, but is rare today, a heated outdoor swimming pool. The pool can be a real sun-trap during the summer and is set in truly beautiful surroundings. The park also offers tennis courts, a bowling green, children’s playground, cafe and cricket ground.

Golf it could be argued is one of the main industries of Woodhall Spa with the first course of 9 holes being opened in 1890, this flourished until 1895 when the land that the course was built on was required for building. A new site was hurriedly found and another 9 hole golf course was laid out. By 1902 it became clear that the golf course would have to find another new home as the land was required for the expansion of the spa town once again.

Local landowner, Stafford Vere Hotchkin, offered a sandy tract of land off the Horncastle Road for the building of an 18 hole course. The course opened for play on 24 April 1905 and has come to be rated as one of the finest golf courses in the world, the Golf Magazine of America voting it the world’s 43rd best golf course.

The English Golf Union bought the course in 1995 in order to set up a National Golf Centre. The Union also secured enough land to build a second course and to provide extensive practice facilities. The second course, ‘the Bracken’, opened for play in 1998 alongside the original course, now aptly named ‘the Hotchkin’.

The Tower-on-the-moor, a four storeys high red brick built tower, stands incongruously next to the Golf Course promoting the reaction of ‘what’s-that'! when first seen. It is the stair turret of what is believed to have been a hunting lodge built in the mid C15 for Ralph, Lord Cromwell whose fortified house, Tattershall Castle, was located 6 km to the south. It is known that the tower was partly demolished in the latter part of C15 to provide brick for repairs to Tattershall Castle.

The Viking Way, passes through the centre of the village which has proved to be a popular overnight stopping point for walkers on the 235 km long long-distance footpath.

The Second World War saw Woodhall Spa’s two main hotels, ‘The Golf Hotel’ and ‘The Petwood Hotel’ (so called because it was originally built at the turn of the last century as a house for Lady Weigall who had it constructed in her favourite wood, her "pet wood") requisitioned for the RAF, an airfield built to the south of the village, RAF Woodhall Spa and the Pinewoods used to hide military equipment.

At the end of the war the hotels returned to their normal use, the Pinewoods became once again a place for the quiet enjoyment of nature and in 1964 RAF Woodhall Spa closed. A fine memorial to members of the famous 617 Squadron, the Dambusters, stands at the crossroads in the centre of the village.

Kirkstead

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The more ancient parish of Kirkstead amalgamated with Woodhall Spa in the early 1980s thus formalising what was already a reality. Kirkstead is the western part of Woodhall Spa between the village centre and the River Witham. It has its origins in a Cistercian abbey (the name Kirkstead means "the site of a church" ) founded in 1139 by Hugh Brito, lord of Tattershall and originally colonised by monks from Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire, it was around this abbey that the little hamlet of Kirkstead grew.

The abbey remained in existence until 1537 when the abbey was destroyed and the Abbot and three of the monks executed by Henry VIII, following their implication (probably unjustly) in the Lincolnshire Rising of the previous year. All that remains of the abbey today is a gaunt fragment of stone wall and a number of earthworks.

The church of St Leonard’s Without. (outside the gates of the Abbey) stands in a field by the side of the ruins of the abbey. Built between 1230 and 1240 it is an excellent example of the Early English style. Measuring only 12.8 m by 5.8 m it is up to “Cathedral standards” and may well have been built as a chantry chapel in memory of Robert de Tattershall who died in 1212. In use for many years as a church, it closed in 1877 (when the Presbyterian congregation were evicted) and from 1883 "The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings" fought to save it from total decay. Eventually during 1913 and 1914 it was restored by the architect Weir.

Kirkstead remained an isolated hamlet until the opening of the Lincoln to Boston railway line in 1848 provided it with a station. This was the nearest station to the increasingly fashionable spa town of Woodhall Spa, 2 km away, the resulting carriage trade, carrying the gentry to and from the spa, lasted until 1855 when a branch line opened from Kirkstead Station, (which then became known as Woodhall Junction) to Woodhall Spa and Horncastle (Woodhall Spa and Horncastle stations were closed to passengers in 1954. Woodhall Junction closed with the closure of its railway line in 1970). The arrival of the railways spelled the end of Kirkstead’s isolation and eventually of Kirkstead itself as Woodhall Spa’s increasing popularity, which came with the increasing ease of travel, led it to expand outwards into Kirkstead parish until it reached the banks of the River Witham.

External links

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• The Kinema In The Woods Official website
• Aqua Sante Spa - Home of the Woodhall Spa Waters

Villages in Lincolnshire | Golf clubs and courses in England