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Sleaford is a town within the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is thirteen miles (21 km) northeast of Grantham, seventeen miles (27 km) west of Boston, and nineteen miles (30 km) south of Lincoln, and had a total resident population of around 14,500 in 6,167 households at the time of the 2001 census.

The name Sleaford is from the Old English esla+forde, meaning "ford over a muddy stream" (the muddy stream now being known as the River Slea). In 852 the name first appears as Slioford. In the 1086 Domesday book, the village is given as Eslaforde'

Until recently Sleaford was primarily an agricultural town, supporting a cattle market and famous seed companies such as Hubbard and Phillips and Sharpes International Seeds (whose history can be traced from their merger with Zeneca Seeds in 1996, which formed Advanta Seeds, right back to 1560). Today however, Sleaford is developing as a tourist and craft destination.

A rare Bronze Age torc was found nearby at Sudbrook, in the early 1990s.

The modern centre of Sleaford originated as New Sleaford. Excavations in the market place in 1979 uncovered the remains of a small Anglo-Saxon settlement of eighth century date. Old Sleaford, towards the eastern end of the modern town, was probably a tribal centre of the Iron Age Corieltauvi. There may have been a pre-Roman coin mint here, since the largest hoard of coin pellet moulds ever found in Europe was excavated here. Few Iron Age coins were found here however, and it is believed that after being poured into the pellet moulds, the coins were taken to Leicester to be stamped.A Roman road, Mareham Lane, used to run through Old Sleaford, and southwards along the fen edge, towards Bourne. Where it passed through Old Sleaford, excavations have revealed a large stone-built domestic residence with associated farm buildings, corn-driers, ovens and field systems, as well as a number of burials.

In 1858, just to the south of the town, a large Anglo-Roman cemetery was found, showing a mix of pagan and Christian burial practices. A large Anglo-Saxon cemetery, of some 600 burials was found during construction of the new railway station in 1882. Further to the south-west, in nearby Quarrington, a substantial Anglo-Saxon settlement was excavated during a new housing development. To the north of the town, a small early Saxon settlement was investigated prior to the construction of the new McDonald's restaurant at Holdingham roundabout.

Under the Anglo-Saxons, until conquered by the Vikings, Sleaford became part of the Flaxwell Wapentake. Sleaford ('Eslaforde') was then held by a man named Bardi.

William the Conqueror gave the manor of 'Eslaforde' to Remigius de Fécamp, the first Bishop of Lincoln, in around 1086.

About 1130, Bishop Alexander of Lincoln built a castle just southwest of the town. The footings and moat can still be seen, in what is now the Castle Fields. This was the period in which the town moved westwards. The castle was demolished in the Elizabethan era, not later than 1600.

King John who was disliked by the baronage visited Sleaford in 1216, the day after he had lost his baggage train. He was already ill but someone spread the story that while staying overnight at Swineshead Abbey, he was poisoned by a monk with toad venom. After leaving Sleaford, the King continued his journey reaching Newark, where he died.

From 1556 the ownership of the town and its lands passed from the church to local absentee landowners.

Carre's Grammar School was established in 1604 by Robert Carre of Aswarby (later Sir Robert Carr of Old Sleaford), who went on to found Carre's Hospital in 1636 (Sleaford Hospital survives as a charitable trust, owning and operating the almshouses at the junction of Carre Street and Eastgate immediately to the south of St. Denys Church and a later set of almshouses in Northgate).