History and heritage or culture and vibrancy, the contemporary cathedral city of Lincoln is one of the UK’s Top 10 favourite cities. Lincoln has so much to offer you will be spoilt for choice. As well as all the historical sites there are parklands and open spaces to enjoy a relaxing stroll. Numerous cafes, bars and restaurants provide a range of menus including some of the favourite local food. Enjoy a traditional English tea at one of the tea shops. Visit the annual Christmas market for some traditional Christmas gifts. Lincoln is a compact city so everything is accessible on foot. Enjoy!

Arrival and Information

Both Lincoln's train station , on St Mary's Street, and its bus station , close by off Norman Street, are located "Down hill" in the city centre. From either, it's a steep, twenty-minute walk to the cathedral, which can also be reached by city bus or (depending on the success of various trials) an electric "people carrier". There are two tourist offices . One is in the shopping centre on The Cornhill, close to the train and bus stations (Easter-Sept Mon-Thurs 9.30am-5.30pm, Fri 9.30am-5pm, Sat 10am-5pm; Oct-Easter same days, but closes 4pm; tel 01522/579056, ), the other is at 9 Castle Hill, between the cathedral and the castle (same hours; tel 01522/529828, ). Both have a useful range of literature on Lincoln and its surroundings, take bookings for guided tours of the city, and operate an accommodation-booking service.

History of Lincoln

The earliest origins of Lincoln can be traced to the remains of an Iron Age settlement of round wooden dwellings near the modern Brayford Pool. Under the Romans, it became a settlement for army veterans, Lindum Colonia, which was later abbreviated to 'Lincoln' by the later English speakers.

During Viking times Lincoln was a important trading centre, and after the establishment of Dane Law in 886, it became one of The Five Boroughs in the East Midlands. In 1068, two years after the Norman Conquest, William I ordered Lincoln Castle to be built on the site of the former Roman settlement, for the same strategic reasons and using the same road.

By 1150, Lincoln was among the wealthiest towns in England, with an economy based on the export of cloth and wool to Flanders. Much of the old quarter survives clustered around the Bailgate, and down Steep Hill to the High Bridge, which bears half-timbered housing, with the upper stories jutting out over the river as London Bridge once had.

During the 13th century, Lincoln was the third largest city in England, but by the 14th century, the city's fortunes were beginning to decline. The lower city was prone to flooding, becoming increasingly isolated, and plagues were common. The Dissolution of the Monasteries further exacerbated Lincoln's problems - no less than seven monasteries within the city alone closed down, cutting off the main source of diocesan income.

Between 1642 and 1651, during the English Civil War, Lincoln was on the frontier between the Royalist and Parliamentary forces. Military control of the city therefore changed hands numerous times and much of the city was badly damaged. The city's fortunes only began to recover with the Industrial Revolution and the arrival of the railways. Lincoln began to excel in heavy engineering, and switched to war production for the two world wars. The first ever tanks were invented, designed and built in Lincoln by William Foster & Co. Ltd during the First World War, and during the Second the city produced a vast array of tanks, aircraft, munitions, and military vehicles.

Heavy industry declined towards the end of the 20th century, and today tourism provides a considerable part of Lincoln's economy. 

Lincoln City England, The Cathedral, Castle and The Museum of Lincolnshire Life

The Lincoln skyline is dominated by its magnificent cathedral elevated above the city. This is an ancient city set in the heart of some of England's most green and pleasant lands. The city boomed under the Roman occupation providing good settlements for Roman citizens. There are many Roman remains including the only roman bridge still used by traffic.

The Cathedral
Walk up 'Steep Hill' over ancient cobble stones, past antique and collector's shops towards the 'Cathedral Quarter'. Here you will find Lincoln Cathedral rising towards the heavens.

The cathedral has taken centuries to build and undergone many changes. This splendid example of medieval architecture will simply take your breath away. Its treasures are many including one of the four remaining copies of the original 'Magna Carta' - currently on loan to Lincoln Castle.
The arcading was designed by none other than Sir Christopher Wren. The Cathedral holds many rare books in 'Wren's Library', including first editions of Paradise Lost and Don Quixote.

Here you will see the shrine of St Hugh set in the beautiful Angel Choir. Bishop Hugh began the rebuilding of the cathedral in 1192.

The symbol of the city of Lincoln is the 'Lincoln Imp' which can be seen sitting on a pillar inside the cathedral. Legend has it that the imp was sent by Satan to destroy the cathedral and was turned into stone by an angel where it remains until this day.

Recently, the cathedral played host to the filming of 'The Da Vinci Codes' which led to some claims that here was the place where Mary Magdalene was buried. The stars of the film, including Tom Hanks, stayed in Lincoln for the filming and a tour of places they frequented is now available.

Spoilt for Choice

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Author Resource:- Ann Coveney is a freelance writer and part time school teacher. She can be hired to write articles on a wide range of topics. The web site she uses the most for low cost travel and hotel booking is http://www.AskVicki.co.uk

More about Lincoln

Reaching high into the sky from the top of a steep hill, the triple towers of the mighty cathedral of LINCOLN are visible for miles across the flatlands. This conspicuous spot was first fortified by the Celts, who called their settlement Lindon, "hillfort by the lake", a reference to the pools formed by the River Witham in the marshy ground below. In 47 AD the Romans occupied Lindon and built a fortified town which subsequently became, as Lindum Colonia, one of the four regional capitals of Roman Britain.

Today, only fragments of the Roman city survive, mostly pieces of the third-century town wall, and these are outdone by reminders of Lincoln's medieval heyday, which began during the reign of William the Conqueror with the building of the castle and cathedral . Lincoln flourished as a centre of the wool trade with Flanders, until 1369, when the wool market was transferred to neighbouring Boston. It was almost five hundred years before the town revived, the recovery based upon its manufacture of agricultural machinery and drainage equipment for the fenlands. As the nineteenth-century town spread south down the hill and out along the old Roman road - the Fosse Way - so Lincoln became a place of precise class distinctions: the "Up hill" area, spreading north from the cathedral, became synonymous with middle-class respectability, "Down hill" with the proletariat. It's a distinction that remains - locals selling anything from second-hand cars to settees still put "Up hill" in brackets to signify a better quality of merchandise. For the visitor, almost everything of interest is confined to the "Up hill" part of town, and it's here also you'll find the best pubs and restaurants .

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Lincoln Castle

From the west front of the cathedral, it's a quick stroll across Castle Hill to Lincoln Castle (April-Sept Mon-Sat 9.30am-5.30pm, Sun 11am-5.30pm; Oct-March Mon-Sat 9.30am-4pm, Sun 11am-4pm; £2.50). Intact and forbidding, the castle walls incorporate bits and pieces from the twelfth to the nineteenth century and the wall walkway offers great views over town. The earliest remains are those of the Lucy Tower , built on the steep grassy mound that was once the site of one of the two original Norman mottes. The castle was turned into a prison in the 1820s and some of the prisoners were unceremoniously buried here at the top of the mound - a sad and lonely spot if ever there was one, especially as the tombs were only allowed to carry the prisoners' initials. The spacious grounds enclosed by the walls hold the old prison , a dour red-brick structure that is now home to one of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta as well as a remarkable prison chapel . Here, the prisoners - who were kept in solitary confinement - were locked in high-sided cubicles where they could see the preacher and his pulpit but not their fellow internees, an arrangement founded on the pseudo-scientific theory that defined crime as a contagious disease. Unfortunately for the theorists, their so-called Pentonville System of "Separation and Silence", which was introduced here in 1846, drove many prisoners crazy, and it had to be abandoned thirty years later, though nobody bothered to dismantle the chapel.

Leaving the castle via the west gate, you reach The Lawn , formerly a lunatic asylum and now a leisure complex incorporating - among several modest attractions - the Sir Joseph Banks Conservatory (April-Sept Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat & Sun 10am-4pm; Oct-Easter daily 10am-4pm; free). This is a large tropical glasshouse named after a local botanist who travelled with Cook on his first voyage to Australia.

Not a hill at all, Castle Hill is a wide, short and level cobbled street that links the castle and the cathedral. It's a charming spot and its east end is marked by the arch of the medieval Exchequergate , beyond which soars the glorious west front of Lincoln Cathedral (daily: May-Sept 7am-8pm; Oct-April 7am-6pm; except during services when access is restricted; £3.50 with guided tour), a sheer cliff-face of blind arcading mobbed by decorative carving. Most striking of all is the extraordinary band of twelfth-century carved panels which depict biblical themes with passionate intimacy, their inspiration being a similar frieze at Modena cathedral in Italy. The west front's apparent homogeneity is, however, deceptive, and further inspection reveals two phases of construction - the small stones and thick mortar of much of the facade belong to the original church, completed in 1092, whereas the longer stones and finer courses date from the early thirteenth century. These were enforced modifications, for in 1185 an earthquake shattered much of the Norman church, which was then rebuilt under the auspices of Bishop Hugh of Avalon , the man responsible for most of the present cathedral, with the notable exception of the (largely) fourteenth-century central tower.

The cavernous interior is a fine example of Early English architecture, with the nave's pillars conforming to the same general design yet differing slightly. Looking back up the nave from beneath the central tower, you can also observe a major medieval cock-up: Bishop Hugh's roof is out of alignment with the earlier west front, and the point where they meet has all the wrong angles. It's possible to pick out other irregularities, too - the pillars have bases of different heights, and there are ten windows in the north wall and nine in the south - but these are deliberate features, reflecting a medieval aversion to the vanity of symmetry.

Beyond the rood screen lies St Hugh's Choir , its fourteenth-century misericords carrying an eccentric range of carvings, with scenes from the life of Alexander the Great and King Arthur mixed up with biblical characters and folkloric parables. Farther on is the Gothic Angel Choir , completed in 1280, its roof embellished by dozens of finely carved statuettes, including the tiny Lincoln Imp. Finally, a corridor off the choir's north aisle leads to the wooden-roofed cloisters and the polygonal chapter house , where Edward I and Edward II convened gatherings that pre-figured the creation of the English Parliament.

On every day but Sunday, usually a couple of times a day, the cathedral offers two sorts of guided tour . The first - the Floor Tour - is a quick gambol round the cathedral's salient features, the second, the Roof Tour, takes in parts of the church otherwise out of bounds. The latter is very popular, so it's a good idea to book in advance - call 01522/529241 or see .

Hidden behind a wall immediately below (and to the south of) the cathedral on Minster Yard are the ruins of what would, in its day, have been among the city's most impressive buildings. This, the medieval Bishop's Palace (April-Oct daily 10am-6pm; Nov-March Sat & Sun 10am-4pm; £2.50; EH), once consisted of two grand halls, a lavish chapel, kitchens and ritzy private chambers, but today the only coherent survivor is the battered and bruised Alnwick Tower - where the entrance is. The damage was done during the Civil War when a troupe of Roundheads occupied the palace until they themselves had to evacuate the place after a fierce fire.

Lincoln (external links)

• Lincoln Cathedral Official site
• Lincoln (Wikipedia)
• Visit