Earliest Meeting: Wednesday 20th September 1721
Final Meeting: Thursday 21st September 1721
The Lincolnshire coastal village of Saltfleet lies in the East Lindsey district of the county, some 8 miles north of the better known seaside town of Mablethorpe, and just over 10 miles east of Louth. The village boasts the Grade 1 listed church of Saint Botolph, a Manor House which dates from 1673, and a Grade II listed windmill from the 19th century. Although Louth was staging widely reported race meetings by 1760, it is thought that they had held races well before that date. However, Saltfleet is set in beautiful open countryside and used it to good effect when it held its own races in the early part of the 18th century, with a 2 day meeting advertised in the Stamford Mercury on Thursday 24th August 1721. Details of that meeting, which took place on Saltfleet Sands on Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st September 1721, are shown below. Although the newspaper advertised the meeting, unfortunately it did not report results from the meeting.
The newspaper extract below is shown courtesy of the Stamford Mercury and British Newspaper Online.
Much of the information about this course has been found using internet research and is in the public domain. However, useful research sources have been:-
London Illustrated News
Racing Illustrated 1895-1899
The Sporting & Dramatic Illustrated
Northern Turf History Volumes 1-4 by J.Fairfax-Blakeborough
The Sporting Magazine
A Long Time Gone by Chris Pitt first published in 1996 ISBN 0 900599 89 8
Racing Calendars which were first published in 1727
