Lincoln History

Lincoln is a charming city with narrow streets and medieval buildings but its outstanding attraction has to be the cathedral, which is the third largest in the country. The limestone ridge on which it sits has been fortified for thousands of years and St. Mary’s Cathedral rises up, high above the surrounding fenlands.

The Romans made Lindum Colonia one of their four regional capitals and part of their legacy is Newport Arch at the end of Bailgate, which is one of the few remaining Roman gateways, still passed by traffic. Near Eastgate there is evidence of the Roman walls but their greatest achievement was digging the first manmade canal, Fossdyke Navigation, linking the rivers Witham and Trent.

A Saxon Minster, which was part of a See that extended from the Thames to the Humber, had stood in Lincoln since 953 but post 1066 the Normans made Lincoln the capital of the Bishopric and work started on a cathedral. In 1092 the first cathedral was consecrated but suffered fire damage nearly fifty years later. Not fifty years after that more bad luck followed, as the cathedral was badly damaged in an earthquake, though the impressive west front and three towers survived. The cathedral then stood relatively unchanged for three hundred years until 1549 when the spire that stood on top of the centre tower blew off in a violent storm.