Modern Lincolnshire Part II (1945–present)

Decommissioning Bomber County and the Cold War years (1945–present)

Following the Allied victory in 1945, Lincolnshire faced the task of decommissioning its vast military landscape. Bomber County had served as the core staging ground for the air war, leaving behind 49 active military airfields that altered the rural geography.

While most runways were dismantled, a select group of strategic bases remained active. Stations like RAF Waddington, RAF Scampton, and RAF Coningsby evolved into vital Cold War frontlines, hosting the iconic V-force bombers on 24-hour alert.

The reduction of these vast restricted zones allowed local communities to reclaim large expanses of flat terrain. The return of these airfields to farmland allowed the agricultural heart of the county to beat once more without obstruction.

The mechanisation of the Lincolnshire fields (1945–present)

The post-war decades transformed Lincolnshire's farms beyond recognition. Diesel tractors replaced working horses, chemical fertilisers boosted yields, and new drainage schemes opened up previously waterlogged fenland to intensive cultivation.

The county's flat terrain and fertile soils made it perfectly suited to large-scale industrial farming. Food-packing factories and processing plants grew up around market towns like Spalding and Boston, feeding Britain's rapidly expanding supermarket chains.

Today Lincolnshire grows around a third of England's vegetables and produces a fifth of the nation's food. The county's agricultural output is greater than many small countries, yet few people outside the region fully appreciate its scale.

Skegness and the age of the seaside holiday (1948–present)

For millions of working-class families in the 1950s and 1960s, Lincolnshire's coast was the closest thing to paradise. The 1938 Holidays with Pay Act had given workers the right to paid leave, and Skegness and Mablethorpe were ready for them.

Butlin's holiday camp at Skegness expanded rapidly to meet demand, offering affordable all-inclusive breaks that were beyond reach just a generation earlier. Hundreds of caravan parks stretched along the eastern shore, transforming small coastal villages into busy seasonal resorts.

Sir Billy Butlin (1899–1980) had opened the camp in 1936 and kept expanding it for decades afterwards, rebuilding after wartime requisition and adding new attractions right through the boom. He retired from the business in 1969.

The boom brought real prosperity to the eastern edge of the county. Today Lincolnshire attracts over 32 million visitors a year, though the vast majority are day-trippers rather than traditional holidaymakers.

Grimsby and the death of a fleet (1958–1976)

Grimsby's decline as a fishing port did not happen overnight. The Cod Wars between Britain and Iceland began as early as 1958, a bitter three-phase dispute over access to the rich North Atlantic fishing grounds.

Those grounds were the ones Grimsby's trawler fleet had worked for generations. Each successive round of negotiations left British vessels with less sea to fish.

When the final settlement came in 1976, British ships were excluded from Icelandic waters entirely. Grimsby's deep-sea fleet, once among the largest in the world, collapsed within years.

The human cost was severe. Thousands of fishermen, dock workers, and merchants lost their livelihoods as the quaysides fell silent. It was one of the most abrupt industrial collapses any British town had experienced in the 20th century.

The university and the renewal of Lincoln (1996–present)

By the 1980s Lincoln was struggling. The engineering firms that had built tanks and aircraft during the First and Second World Wars had largely closed, and the city centre was tired and underpopulated.

A bold solution arrived in 1996 when the University of Lincoln opened its doors at Brayford Pool. The waterfront site had been largely derelict for years.

Within a decade, student numbers had transformed it beyond recognition. Bars, restaurants, and apartments filled the old warehouse buildings, and the city began attracting businesses and visitors it had never seen before.

Lincoln today is a confident, forward-looking city with a growing reputation for engineering, food science, and digital technology. The university that opened on a derelict waterfront in 1996 made all of that possible.

Character actors and comic legends (1949–present)

Lincolnshire's flat, unassuming landscape has produced a surprising number of household names. From comedy to film to motorsport, the county's entertainers have quietly punched above their weight on the national stage.

Jim Broadbent (b. 1949), born at Holton cum Beckering, won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Iris in 2001, capping a career built on stage with the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

His father converted a disused RAF Nissen hut near Wickenby into a theatre. Broadbent still runs it today, a few miles from the village where he was born.

Two more county natives found fame in comedy. Jennifer Saunders (b. 1958), born in Sleaford, co-created French and Saunders and Absolutely Fabulous. Robert Webb (b. 1972), born in Boston and raised in Woodhall Spa, found fame with Peep Show.

Sheridan Smith (b. 1981), born in Epworth, became a BAFTA-winning and OBE-honoured actress who still returns home often. Guy Martin (b. 1981), the Grimsby-born racer turned television presenter, was named after Guy Gibson of 617 Squadron.

Grimsby and the North Sea wind (2000–present)

Few towns in Britain have reinvented themselves as dramatically as Grimsby. The same docks that fell silent after the Cod Wars are now among the busiest green energy ports in Europe.

They now service the vast offshore wind farms that stretch across the southern North Sea. The transition began in earnest in the early 21st century as Britain committed to ambitious renewable energy targets.

Grimsby's location, its existing port infrastructure, and its pool of skilled maritime workers made it a natural base for the offshore wind industry.

Today the town sits at the heart of a green energy revolution that extends far beyond Lincolnshire. The North Sea wind farms serviced from Grimsby's docks generate enough electricity to power millions of British homes.

This makes the county a quiet but crucial part of Britain's clean energy future.