“ Louth has never been a parliamentary borough. The markets said to have been held from ancient times and the three fairs on the third Sunday after Easter and the feasts of St Martin and St James were confirmed in 1551. Louth was a seat of the wool trade as early as 1297; the modern manufactures seem to have arisen at the end of the 18th century, when, according to the charter of 1830, there was a great increase in the population, manufactures, trade and commerce of the town. ”

“ There are a town hall, a corn exchange and a market-hall, an Edward VI. grammar school, which is richly endowed, a commercial school founded in 1676, a hospital and several almshouses. Thorpe Hall is a picturesque building dated 1584. ”