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Gainsborough is a market town in the parish of its name, wapentake of Coringham and parts of Lindsey - 150 miles N by W from London, 18 NW by N from Lincoln, 25 SSW from Hull, and 39 NE from Nottingham; pleasantly situate on the eastern bank of the River Trent, about thirty miles from its junction with the Humber. The Chesterfield canal falls into the Trent at Keadby, a few miles below Gainsborough. This town appears to have been founded by a tribe of Saxons, soon after their first invasion of Britain." "Lincolnshire Directory," Pigot & Co., 1840

History

In Saxon times, Gainsborough was sometimes part of the Kingdom of Northumbria, and at other times included in Mercia. In 868, Alfred the Great celebrated his marriage with Ealswitha here.
In 1013, Sweyne, King of Denmark, brought his ships up the Trent and landed his forces in the town. Sweyne is believed to be buried near Gainsborough's Castle Hills.
From the defeat of the Danes a few years later, until the Civil War, Gainsborough maintains a low historic profile. In June, 1643, Lord Willoughby of Parham, a zealous Parliamentarian, took Gainsborough and made a prisoner of the local governor. The town changed hands several times in this conflict.
Gainsborough was a small village when recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book, without even a church.
In 1787, parliament approved the building of a bridge across the Trent to Nottingham. The stone bridge, with three arches, was completed in 1791.
In 1820, Gainsborough had increased river portage to the point that a Branch Custom House from the port of Hull was established in town. In 1841, Gainsborough was designated independent of Hull and given its own privilege of bonding. On 6 January 1841, the Port of Gainsborough was opened to foreign goods. Ships drawing up to 12 feet could navigate up the river Trent to Gainsborough. The primary cargo in the early 1800's was corn.
The first gas street lights were installed here in 1826.
In 1832, Cholera swept the town, killing 41 people out of the 223 stricken. All died between June 5th and August 2nd.
In 1842, Marshalls of Gainsborough founded, bringing new lines of farm machinery.
In 1848, the Gainsborough Railway Station was opened.
A hiring fair for servants, the "Michaelmas Statute", was held annually on November 5th. This was in addition to the traditional "May Day Statute" for hiring servants, held on May 14th.

Names, Geographical

The name derives from the Old English Gegn+burh, meaning "stronghold of a man named Gegn". It appears as Gainesburg in the 1086 Domesday Book.
[A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991].

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