Playhouse, Sleaford

St George's Academy is a co-educational comprehensive secondary school based in the English market town of Sleaford in Lincolnshire, with a satellite school at nearby Ruskington. Its origins date to 1908, when Sleaford Council School opened at Church Lane to meet the growing demand for elementary education in the town. After the Education Act 1944, the senior department became a secondary modern. A second school building was constructed at Westholme in the 1950s and expanded in 1983, allowing the Church Lane site to close; to mark the occasion, it was renamed St George's School. After it became grant-maintained, the school became a comprehensive, received a Technology specialism, became a Technology College in 1994 and later converted to Foundation status. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, new buildings were added to the site. Coteland's School in Ruskington federated with St George's in 2007; they merged to form the Academy in 2010. The conversion included a government grant of £20 million to carry out extensive building work on both sites, completed in 2012 at Sleaford and in 2015 at Ruskington. The Sleaford school opened with a capacity for 600 pupils in 1908, but St George's had over 2,230 on roll across both sites in 2021, including the Sixth Form; the Ruskington site, with roughly 350 pupils, makes up a small proportion of the total. Pupils generally sit examinations for General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) or equivalent vocational qualifications in Year Eleven (aged 15–16), and they have a choice of three or four A-levels or vocational options in the sixth form, which is part of the Sleaford Joint Sixth Form consortium with the town's single-sex grammar schools. In 2019, the school received an "average" Progress 8 score; 31% of pupils achieved English and mathematics GCSEs at grade 5 or above, which was lower than the national figure. The average A-Level grade in 2019 was a C, slightly below the national figure; the government's progress score for the Sixth Form is "well below average". An Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspection in 2015 graded St George's Academy as "good" in every category. This rating was confirmed following a short inspection in 2019.

Westholme House is a historic building in the English market town of Sleaford in Lincolnshire, set in 32 acres of parkland and school grounds. Built around 1849 in the style of a French Gothic mansion by Charles Kirk for his business partner Thomas Parry, it was privately owned until the 1940s, when Kesteven County Council acquired the house and its grounds. It subsequently served as the county library and part of Sleaford Secondary Modern School (later St George's Academy). The stone house follows an asymmetrical layout and incorporates a range of Gothic elements in its design. In 1974, it was recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building, recognising it as of "special interest".

The Manor House is a set of connected buildings located on Northgate in the English town of Sleaford, Lincolnshire. A complex arrangement, parts of the Manor House date to the 16th century, but they were extended with the addition of the Georgian Rhodes House and later Gothic-Revival work. It was a private residence until the 20th century, and is now divided into commercial properties and residential apartments. The house was owned by a number of families and individuals, including local banker and businessman Benjamin Handley and Sophia Peacock, whose nephews, Cecil and Frank Rhodes, spent their summers at the estate as children. The building is divided into two plots: The Manor House (No. 31) and Rhodes House (No. 33). The former is a complex of buildings, mostly in stone. It is accessed through a cobbled courtyard, with a 19th-century Gothic west front, including a small tower; part of the north side of the yard is a 17th-century gabled building. The brick-built Rhodes House faces directly onto the street. Described by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner and John Harris as "a jigsaw puzzle", the Manor House is notable for its re-use of medieval masonry, some dating to the 14th century and others likely being removed from Sleaford Castle. In 1949, it was recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, recognising it as "particularly important ... of more than special interest."

Sleaford Castle is a medieval castle in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England. Built by the Bishop of Lincoln in the early 1120s, it was habitable as late as 1555 but fell into disrepair during the latter half of the 16th century. Two English monarchs are known to have stayed at the castle, King John and Henry VIII.

The Sessions House, also known as Sleaford Town Hall, is a judicial structure in the Market Place, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England. The structure, which used to be the main courthouse for the county of Kesteven, is a Grade II* listed building.

Sleaford is a market town and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington to the south-west, Holdingham to the north and Old Sleaford to the east. The town is on the edge of the fertile Fenlands, 11 miles (18 kilometres) north-east of Grantham, 16 mi (26 km) west of Boston, and 17 mi (27 km) south of Lincoln. Its population of 17,671 at the 2011 Census made it the largest settlement in the North Kesteven district; it is the district's administrative centre. Bypassed by the A17 and the A15, it is linked to Lincoln, Newark, Peterborough, Grantham and King's Lynn. The first settlement formed in the Iron Age where a prehistoric track crossed the River Slea. It was a tribal centre and home to a mint for the Corieltauvi in the 1st centuries BC and AD. Evidence of Roman and Anglo-Saxon settlement has been found. During the period of Danelaw, the area was actively populated. There are not only many names of places in the area that end in -by or -thorpe, but also the -gate ending of streets in Sleaford itself (North Gate, Eastgate, Westgate, South Gate and Watergate). All these bear witness to a population with a profoundly Scandinavian origin. The medieval records differentiate between Old and New Sleaford, the latter emerging by the 12th century around the present-day market place and St Denys' Church; Sleaford Castle was also built at that time for the Bishops of Lincoln, who owned the manor. Granted the right to hold a market in the mid-12th century, New Sleaford developed into a market town and became locally important in the wool trade, while Old Sleaford declined. From the 16th century, the landowning Carre family kept tight control over the town – it grew little in the early modern period. The manor passed from the Carre family to the Hervey family by the marriage of Isabella Carre to John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol in 1688. The town's common land and fields were legally enclosed by 1794, giving ownership mostly to the Hervey family. This coincided with canalisation of the Slea. The Sleaford Navigation brought economic growth until it was superseded by the railways in the mid-1850s. In the 20th century, the sale of farmland around Sleaford led to the development of large housing estates. Sleaford was mainly an agricultural town until the 20th century with a cattle market. Seed companies such as Hubbard and Phillips and Sharpes International were established in the late 19th century. The arrival of the railway made the town favourable for malting, but the industry has since declined. In 2011, the commonest occupations were in wholesale and retail trading, health and social care, public administration, defence and manufacturing. Regeneration of the town centre has helped to regenerate the earlier industrial areas, including construction of the National Centre for Craft & Design (The Hub) on an old wharf.

Carre's Grammar School is a selective secondary school for boys in Sleaford, a market town in Lincolnshire, England. Founded on 1 September 1604 by an indenture of Robert Carre, the school was funded by rents from farmland and run by a group of trustees. The indenture restricted the endowment to £20 without accounting for inflation, causing the school to decline during the 18th century and effectively close in 1816. Revived by a decree from the Court of Chancery in 1830 new buildings were constructed at its present site and the school reopened in 1835. Faced with declining rolls and competition from cheaper commercial schools, Carre's eventually added technical and artistic instruction to its Classical curriculum by affiliating with Kesteven County Council in 1895. Following the Education Act 1944, school fees were abolished and Carre's became Voluntary Aided. New buildings were completed in 1966 to house the rising number of pupils. After plans for comprehensive education in Sleaford came to nothing in the 1970s and 1980s, Carre's converted to grant-maintained status in 1990. Foundation status followed and the school became an Academy in 2011. The Robert Carre Trust, a multi-Academy trust with Kesteven and Sleaford High School was formed in 2015. Admission to Carre's is through the eleven-plus examination and entry is limited to boys in the lower school, although the Sixth form is co-educational. The total number of pupils on roll in 2013 was 817, of whom 240 were in the Sixth Form. Teaching follows the National Curriculum and pupils generally sit examinations for ten or eleven General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) qualifications in Year Eleven (aged 15–16). They have a choice of three or four A-levels in the sixth form, which is part of the Sleaford Joint Sixth Form consortium between Carre's, Kesteven and Sleaford High School and St George's Academy. Of the 2013 cohort, 100% of pupils achieved at least five GCSEs at grade A*-C and 96% achieved that including English and Maths GCSEs, the eighth highest percentage in Lincolnshire. An Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspection in 2013 graded Carre's "good" overall with "outstanding" features. On 21 June 2022, a further inspection was conducted where the school received a rating of "inadequate". The Headteacher Nick Law disputed the new rating in a public letter written to Ofsted, where he claimed their judgement was "illogical and unfair".Carre's has also created an Outreach programme in which smaller schools can be assisted financially and with sporting staff. For instance, St Andrew's Primary School in Leasingham received £8,400 in 2013. This was used to improve their general PE curriculum and play equipment for break times. The Carre's Outreach programme aims at improving: the quality of PE, competition, health/wellbeing and community spirit.

St Denys' Church is a medieval Anglican parish church in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England. While a church and a priest have probably been present in the settlement since approximately 1086, the oldest parts of the present building are the tower and spire, which date to the late 12th and early 13th centuries; the stone broach spire is one of the earliest examples of its kind in England. The Decorated Gothic nave, aisles and north transept were built in the 14th century. The church was altered in the 19th century: the north aisle was rebuilt by the local builders Kirk and Parry in 1853 and the tower and spire were largely rebuilt in 1884 after being struck by lightning. St Denys' remains an active parish church. The church is a Grade I listed building, a national designation given to "buildings of exceptional interest". It is a prime example of Decorated Gothic church architecture in England, with the architectural historians Sir Nikolaus Pevsner and John Harris noting that "it is a prolonged delight to follow the mason's inventiveness". The church's tracery has attracted special praise, with Simon Jenkins arguing that its Decorated windows are "works of infinite complexity". Built out of Ancaster stone with a lead roof, St Denys' is furnished with a medieval rood screen and a communion rail, possibly by Sir Christopher Wren, and has a peal of eight bells, dating to 1796. The church also houses several memorials, including two altar tombs commemorating members of the Carre family, Sleaford's lords of the manor in the 17th century.

Sleaford railway station serves the town of Sleaford in Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the Peterborough–Lincoln line. The station is 21 miles (34 km) south of Lincoln Central. The station is now owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Railway who provide all rail services.

Sleaford Islamic Centre, also known as Sleaford Mosque, is a mosque in the town of Sleaford in Lincolnshire, England.

The Hub (sometimes The National Centre for Craft & Design) is an arts centre in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, which holds England's largest exhibition space for craft and design. It comprises a shop, cafebar, galleries, dance studio, and design workshops. The centre provides space for contemporary artists and makers, workshops, talks, classes, competitions and performance. It has creative links to local schools, and is a focus for the Design-Nation creatives network. The NCCD began as 'The Hub' in 2003, in a converted Hubbard and Phillips company seed warehouse. In 2011 it changed to The National Centre for Craft & Design, funded by North Kesteven District Council and Arts Council England.Prior to the NCCD re-brand, the building spent nine years as 'The Hub', after transferring from The Pearoom in Heckington which was turned into a heritage, craft and tourism centre for the village in the 1970s. Until a move to Sleaford in 2003, the current home was a seed warehouse from 1939 to 1972 and a storage area thereafter. The Hub is today an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, owned and supported by North Kesteven District Council and operated by Lincs Inspire Limited, a Lincolnshire-based charity. A £1.2 million refurbishment in May 2021 followed closure because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hub is part of Lincolnshire One Venues (LOV), aided by Lincolnshire Arts Trust to promote, and achieve funding for, ten arts centres within Lincolnshire. and is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, owned and supported by North Kesteven District Council and operated by Lincs Inspire Limited.

London Road is a cricket ground in Sleaford, Lincolnshire. It is the home of Sleaford Cricket Club and an occasional venue for Lincolnshire County Cricket Club. The ground was established in 1851, when Sleaford played an All-England Eleven. In 1860 and 1864, two first-class matches were played on the ground in the North v South fixtures. The first Minor Counties Championship match played on the ground was in 1912 between Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. To date the ground has hosted 45 Minor Counties matches.The first List-A match played on the ground came in 1983 NatWest Trophy between Lincolnshire and Surrey. From 1983 to 2002, the ground hosted five List-A matches, the last of which came in the 2002 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy between Lincolnshire and Glamorgan.