Bourne is a market town on the western edge of the Fens, in southern Lincolnshire, England. The town owes its origin to the Roman road upon which it was built, and also to the exceptionally fine-quality water supply derived locally from natural springs. The name “Bourne” (or “Bourn”, as the town was originally known) is a common name for a settlement and derives from the Anglo-Saxon meaning “water” or “stream”. The town lies on the intersection of the A15 and the B1193 (formerly A151) roads at . As well as the main township, the parish includes the hamlets of Cawthorpe, Dyke and Twenty.

The town economy was based on rural industries. The coming of the railway opened up a market for mineral waters bottled locally. Today the local economy is still mainly rurally-based, revolving around agriculture and food preparation and packaging geared towards the modern system of supermarkets, but there are also important light engineering and tourism activities. The district as a whole has one of the fastest-growing housing markets in the whole country, with much of the new building taking place in Bourne. The town population is now (2006) nearer to 15,000 than the 12,000 or so given in the 2001 Census data. There are approximately 5424 households in Bourne as of 2007.