Caistor – from the Latin, castrum, a fortified camp - was a Roman settlement of some importance.
Nestling on the hillside at the northern edge of the Wolds, Caistor is an attractive mixture of Georgian and Victorian buildings built since a ferocious fire destroyed the town in 1681. It's a bustling little market town whose population swells a little each week with the Saturday market gathering around the town pump, a cast iron affair depicting a lion on a massive pedestal to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
There are a few Roman remains but it's the massive tower of the church of St Peter and St Paul that catches the eye. Its earliest influences are 11th and 12th Centuries with Victorian restorations and magnificent Victorian stained glass. The church is also home to a strange and unexplained custom: The Gad Whip should be cracked by a man from Ravensthorpe on entering the church on Palm Sunday, and should then be held above the vicar's head.
If you're walking the Viking Way, it will take you through the town, otherwise you could do worse than to stop off for lunch on your way to the Wolds.
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