Flag of the county of Lincolnshire, England

Lincolnshire (/ˈlɪŋkənʃər, -ʃɪər/), abbreviated Lincs, is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to the north, the North Sea to the east, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland to the south, and Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire to the west. The county is predominantly rural, with an area of 6,959 km2 (2,687 sq mi) and a population of 1,095,010. After Lincoln (104,565), the largest towns are Grimsby (85,911) and Scunthorpe (81,286). For local government purposes Lincolnshire comprises a non-metropolitan county with seven districts, and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The last two areas are part of the Yorkshire and the Humber region, and the rest of the county is in the East Midlands. The non-metropolitan county council and two unitary councils collaborate through the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority. The county is the second largest in England and has a varied geography. The south-east contains part of the Fens, a naturally marshy region which has been drained for agriculture, and the south-west is an upland region. A wide vale runs north–south from the centre to the north of the county. To its east, the chalk hills of the Lincolnshire Wolds, which have been designated a national landscape, occupy the north-east, with a coastal plain and the Lincolnshire Marsh beyond. The west of the vale is demarcated by the Lincolnshire Edge, a long escarpment; at its northern end are the Coversands, an area of heath. Beyond the edge, the western border of the county contains the eastern part of the Trent Valley and, in the north, part of the Humberhead Levels, with the River Trent itself forming part of the border. Lincolnshire has had a comparatively quiet history, being a rural county which was not heavily industrialised and faced little threat of invasion. In the Roman era Lincoln was a major settlement, called Lindum Colonia. In the fifth century what would become the county was settled by the invading Angles, who established the Kingdom of Lindsey in the north of the region. Lincoln became the centre of a diocese in 1072, and Lincoln Cathedral was built over the following centuries. The late Middle Ages were a particularly prosperous period, when wealth from wool trade facilitated the building of grand churches such as St Botolph's Church, Boston. During the Second World War the relatively flat topography of the county made it an important base for the Royal Air Force, which built several airfields and based two bomber squadrons in the area.