Entering the county from the south, at _Stamford_, we will make for _Sleaford_. These are the two towns which give their names to the divisions of South and North Kesteven. _Grantham_ lies off to the west, about midway between the two. As this is the most important town in the division of Kesteven, after taking some of the various roads which radiate from Sleaford we will make Grantham our centre, then leave South Kesteven for Sleaford again, and thence going on north we shall reach _Lincoln_ just over the North Kesteven boundary, and so continue to _Gainsborough_ and _Brigg_, from which the west and north divisions of Lindsey are named. From each of the towns we have mentioned we shall trace the roads which lead from them in all directions; and then, after entering the Isle of Axholme and touching the Humber at _Barton_ and the North Sea at Cleethorpes and Grimsby, we shall turn south to the _Louth_ and _Horncastle_ (in other words the east and south) divisions of Lindsey, and, so going down the east coast, we shall, after visiting _Alford_ and _Spilsby_, both in South Lindsey, arrive at _Boston_ and then at _Spalding_, both in the “parts of Holland,” and finally pass out of the county near the ancient abbey of _Croyland_. By this itinerary we shall journey all round the huge county, going up, roughly speaking, on the west and returning by the east; and shall see, not only how it is divided into the political “parts” of Kesteven, Lindsey and Holland, but also note as we go the characteristics of the land and its three component elements of Fen, Wold and Marsh. We have seen that the Wolds, starting from the Humber, run in two parallel ridges; that on the west side of the county reaching the whole way from north to south, but that on the east only going half the way and ending abruptly at West Keal, near Spilsby. All that lies east of the road running from Lincoln by Sleaford and Bourne to Stamford, and south of a line drawn from Lincoln to Wainfleet is “Fen,” and includes the southern portion of South Lindsey, the eastern half of Kesteven, and the whole of Holland. In this Fen country great houses are scarce. But the great monasteries clung to the Fens and they were mainly responsible for the creation of the truly magnificent Fen churches which are most notably grouped in the neighbourhood of Boston, Sleaford and Spalding. In writing of the Fens, therefore, the churches are the chief things to be noticed, and this is largely, though not so entirely, the case in the Marsh district also. Hence I have ventured to describe these Lincolnshire churches of the Marsh and Fen at greater length than might at first sight seem warrantable. [Sidenote: PERIODS OF ARCHITECTURE]