Lincolnshire Wolds

Wold - noun (usu. wolds)  in Britain, often in place names; a piece of high, open, 
uncultivated land or moor: the Lincolnshire Wolds.  
ORIGIN: Old English wold 'wooded upland,'  Germanic perhaps related to WILD. 

So our ancestors emerged from the wilds of Lincolnshire... 
at that time it was a pastoral landscape rich in grassland and wildflower meadows.  Despite modern developments, the traces of ancient routes and drove roads (where cattle were driven to market) still remain today -- as evidenced by old verges (British: grass edging such as that by the side of a path) containing an abundant variety of wildflower species including the green-winged orchid.  Hidden in the wolds are rare grassland plants such as adder's tongue fern and meadow saxifrage.  The barn owl, skylark, linnet and corn bunting can be spotted there too.  The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust is working to preserve the wolds -- a natural treasure and the scene of so much important history.  


   

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