Along the Edge

An ongoing project documenting a walk along the Lincolnshire Cliff.

From the south bank of the Humber Estuary runs an escarpment, a Jurassic limestone ridge of almost 60 miles in length.

Known to some as the Trent Cliff, to others the Lincoln Cliff, or as simply, the ‘Edge’, it runs almost straight to Grantham in the south. Along its journey it is broken only twice; once where the Edge meets the River Witham in the former Roman colony of Lincoln and, again, at Ancaster by the River Slea.

Along the Edge is a journey undertaken by foot, following public bridleways, footpaths and roads that in turn follow the contours of the ridge but also criss-cross its elevation. It documents a small section of this route, taking the north and south boundaries of West Lindsey District as the extremities of the journey.

In time, the project will grow and, eventually, cover the whole length of the Edge. This study is both a portrait of people and place, and an exploration that documents a landscape seemingly changed and unchanged at once. It is connected to its past by enduring physical markers such as Ermine Street, the Roman road that is now largely the A15, but it is also a landscape in transition, with dormant pubs and closed village stores bearing witness to the decline of a traditional form of village life.

Steven Hatton, November 2022

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