and on the grounds of Branston Community Academy. Also at Branston Community Academy secondary school, there is a medium-sized public library run by volunteers. Branston All Saints' Church is a Protestant Christian place of worship. Education Branston C of E Infant School is located on Beech Road, to the northern end of the village. Branston Junior School is located on Station Road, close to the Co-op supermarket. Branston's secondary school is Branston Community Academy, situated on the outskirts of the village on the road to Heighington; the public library is situated in the school. Further education opportunities include Branston Community Academy Sixth Form and Lincoln College. Due to the concentration of schools in the village, children travel to Branston for school from many nearby villages. The nearest Higher Education institutions are the University of Lincoln and Bishop Grosseteste University (four and five miles away, respectively). Economy Most local employment is the nearby city of Lincoln. Branston Potatoes, founded in 1968 employs 600 people nationwide as of 2018. The three schools in the village also provide employment. A 94 hectare solar park was built between Mere Road and Sleaford Road, to generate electricity for the National Grid. It has been estimated that it will produce enough electricity to power 15,000 homes. Planning permission is temporary, for 35 years, after which time it may be dismantled and returned to agricultural use. There has been a recent decline in retail businesses in the village, despite population growth. Since 1990 Branston has lost all its newsagents and post offices, as well as its hardware store and greengrocer. Formerly, the local economy was based around wool production, as evidenced by the remains of the Sheepwash on Rectory Lane and the name of Dye House Farm. Wool and other goods were transported to the River Witham along Branston Causeway. In 2016 the artist James Sutton was commissioned by the Branston Christmas Market Committee and Branston History Group to produce a metal sculpture called 'Lincoln Longwool Sheep Heading for the Sheepwash', located on the High Street, to commemorate this past and a local variety of sheep, which has the longest fleece of any breed in the world. Wool production became uneconomical for most of the United Kingdom in the mid-20th century, due to cheap imports, and farmland in Lincolnshire transitioned away from mixed farming, to specialising in arable cropping. References External links History of the church Junior