And So To Lincoln

What would a stay in Lincolnshire be without a trip to Lincoln?

The town of Lincoln kneels at the feet of its great cathedral and medieval castle which tower over all on the top of a very steep hill. I can't say that I've walked up many streets that require a handrail to assist one from point A to point B, but this one does. 

The street is named Steep Hill, for obvious reasons, and having achieved the the summit one is anxious to find items of interest right there because there's no way you plan to go down again until home time.

Tourist information is here at the top of Steep Hill and two cheerful young lasses provide me with a map of the town and sell me a ticket for the open-topped tourist bus. The bus departs near the cathedral, does a tour of the city and deposits one back at the cathedral thus eliminating the necessity for any more hill climbing. The tour guide on the bus, a gentleman of seventy-eight years, is a mine of information giving passengers a great insight into the city of Lincoln and its known history which dates back to the Iron Age.

In AD 48 the Romans arrived and built a fortress on top of the hill that I've just climbed. By the 5^th century Lincoln's fortunes had declined along with those of the Roman Empire and the place was all but abandoned. Things looked up again in Lincoln when the Vikings arrived and it became an administrative centre after the establishment of the Dane Law in 886. And then along came William the Conqueror.

Two years after the Norman conquest William I ordered the construction of Lincoln Castle, to defend his new realm, on the site of the old Roman fortress, and there it stands to this day.

Twenty years later in 1088 work began on the first Lincoln Cathedral adjacent to the castle also within the bounds of the original Roman settlement. The Norman arches of this first cathedral still welcome worshippers and visitors one thousand years on.

Fifty years after the first cathedral was consecrated, fire swept through the timber roofing causing much damage to the structure. Building began again retaining what was salvageable and adding to its dimensions. Forty years went by before a severe earthquake caused a major collapse in 1185. Not to be put off by these disasters, a bigger and better cathedral was planned by the new Bishop, Hugh de Burgundy of Avalon, France. The cathedral architecture shifted from the Norman to the Gothic and Hugh's church had the latest thing in pointed arches, flying buttresses and ribbed vaults. 

Unfortunately Hugh, later to become St Hugh of Lincoln, died in 1200 before the great Nave and Transept were completed.

One has to admire the tenacity of these people because once more disaster struck in the 1230s when the central tower collapsed. They set to work once more on repairing the damage and extending the cathedral yet again. In the early 1300s the central tower was raised to its present height and at the end of the century the western towers were also heightened.

All was quiet, apparently, for the next 150 years then, one windy day in 1549, down came the spire of the central tower. Enough was enough, the spire was never replaced. Then, wouldn't you know it, the library burnt down in 1609 and was rebuilt to a design by Sir Christopher Wren in 1674, proving yet again that every cloud has a silver lining.

The remaining spires on the western towers were removed in 1807 (probably a wise move) leaving the cathedral with its present appearance.

Students of architecture hold Lincoln Cathedral in great esteem and visitors continue to flock here to admire this magnificent building and marvel at a great triumph of determination in the face of adversity.