Bourne is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England.

The earliest documentary reference to Brunna, meaning stream, is from a document of 960, and the town appeared in Domesday Book of 1086 as Brune.

The business stimulus it brought caused major development of the town and many of the buildings around the medieval street plan were rebuilt or at least refaced.

Improved communications allowed a bottled-water industry to develop and coal to be delivered to the town's gas works.

The local authority at the time, Bourne Urban District Council, was active in the town's interests, taking over the gas works and the local watercress beds at times of financial difficulty and running them as commercial ventures.

During the Second World War a German bomber shot down in May 1941 crashed into the Butcher's Arms public house in Eastgate.

[12] Other religious congregations in the town include Methodist, Baptist, United Reformed and Roman Catholic churches.

Under the Local Government Act 1972, Bourne UDC was dissolved into the newly formed South Kesteven district.

Details of the designated flood risk areas can be found on a number of government web sites.

The town's bus services provide a frequent public transport link to Peterborough, and are operated by the family-owned Delaine Buses.

There is a daily long-distance coach between Grimsby and London Victoria, which stops at Bourne bus station.

Until the mid-19th century, the present Bourne Eau was capable of carrying commercial boat traffic from the Wash coast and Spalding.

Passage became impossible once the junction of the Eau and the River Glen was converted from gates to a sluice in 1860.

[28] These teams play their home games at the Abbey Lawn, a recreation ground privately owned by the Bourne United Charities.