A day at Lincoln

View of Lincoln Cathedral from the castle

On 15 September, we went to Lincoln on a British Studies field trip. Lincoln is one of my favorite destinations. It is a quaint city with a castle and a cathedral that are both really cool. The city was originally called Lindon which means "hill fort by the post". Now this city is really old - it was settled by the Romans in 48 AD and it actually had inhabitants before then.

Every time I visit the castle and the cathedral, I see something different and learn something new. The Romans made Lincoln one of the best cities in Britain. They even created an aqueduct that supplied drinking water from a source 1 1/2 miles away. After the Romans left, the Anglo-Saxons robbed the buildings of the tile and stone. Later on, the Vikings took over rule of Lincoln. Coins were minted in Lincoln at this time and there are actually old coins found in Scandinavia that were minted in Lincoln.

During the last 2000 years, the ground level of Lincoln has raised by 8 feet. Archeologists frequently dig here and find remnants from the Roman city. Few Roman structures, such as the Newport Arch, can still be seen today but unfortunately, most of the Roman city remains buried under the current city.

Newport Arch

All the students and most of the faculty went on the field trip. We were divided into small groups and had scheduled fun time as well as time to learn and explore the castle and the cathedral. My group went to the castle first...

Gate and walk leading to the Lincoln Castle

The castle at Lincoln is really old - even by British definition. The castle originally started out as a Roman fort in 60 AD. In 446 AD, the Roman rule in Britain collapsed. In 839, the Vikings started to invade Lincoln and from this point until the middle of 1000, the Vikings and Saxons continued to fight each other to gain control of Lincoln. In 1066, William the Conqueror, a Norman, invaded and conquered Britain, and Lincoln fell into Norman rule.

Now, William the Conqueror is an interesting bloke. He was first known as William the Bastard because of his illegitimate birth. In 1066, after the Battle of Hastings, William became King William I, the first Norman ruler of Britain. He also was known as William II of Normandy and Duke of Normandy. Not only was he a powerful man, he had lots of names! The year 1066 has great historical significance in Britain. It seems like everywhere we go there is mention of this year. Here is a sign in a museum in Lincoln that talked about the events that transpired in 1066...

Display at museum in Lincoln

I have to admit that before coming to Harlaxton and sitting in on the British Studies lectures, I never before gave much thought to the year 1066 - but here, this year is a huge deal! There are even people who have casual conversations in England who bring up this year in their discussions. I feel so educated when I walk around now and I actually know what people are talking about!

William the Conqueror began to build the castle in 1068 out of wood. He placed his prisoners in the castle after it was built. We did not see the original prison, but we did get to go into the prison that was built in 1787.

Dean in the prison - fortunately we let him out :)

 The prisoners were allowed to go to church, but they sat in coffin-like seats so that they could only see the minister - the seats are arranged so the prisoners were reminded of what would happen to them (their death was almost certain) and so that they could not see anyone of the other inmates. If prisoners were not killed, they were deported to Australia.

Looking up at Brian, our guide, in the pulpit

View from the pulpit looking down on the prisoners' seats

There were prisons for men and women. The women's space was very stark but parts of it reminded me of a church. Brian, our tour guide, told us that the idea was that prisoners should repent while they are in prison, so they were given a bible to read in their cells.

Church-like window in female prison

Eventually the wooden castle, originally built by the Normans was replaced with stone - fire destroyed much of Lincoln and since buildings made of stone would not burn, the castle was converted to a stone structure. This is one of two castles in Britain that has two mottes (or hills).

The wall of the moat outside the castle

The mottes were created by peasants and prisoners who would take dirt dug out of the moat and create this huge mound of dirt. Here is a picture of the Lucy Tower built on one of the mottes...

Lucy Tower

Another feature of a castle structure is the bailey - the bailey is the flat area at what I would call the base of the castle. It is the part where people could walk through the castle. Now the interesting thing I learned on this trip, is that when the prisoners were let out of prison, they were out on the bailey - this is where the phrase out on bail came from - pretty cool, don't you think?!?

Part of the bailey

In 1826 the Crown Court was built. The Crown Court building is still used for trials.

Part of the Crown Court Building - I really liked the castle looking projections that came off of it

The prison building currently holds one of the 4 remaining copies of the Magna Carta as well as the Charter of the Forest. The Magna Carta was a contract that was signed on 15 July 1215. Basically what happened is King John was falling out of favor with his barons. He was forced to sign this contract that outlined freedoms granted to the public. Even though he signed the Magna Carta, John never really intended to uphold its provisions, so a civil war ensued. The Magna Carta was really only legally valid for about 3 months. King John died in 1216 and his 9-year-old son, Henry, rose to the throne (I can't imagine being king at 9 years of age!). Following the civil war in 1217, the Magna Carta was amended by the Charter of the Forest. This is the only place in the entire world where you can see originals of these 2 documents together side by side. Just in case you were wondering why there were multiple original copies of these documents, here is the inside scoop. Since they didn't have copy machines or computers in the early 1200's, what happened during this time is that the monks (the only ones who really could write) would write several copies of the same document. The documents would then be placed at strategic places across the country for safe keeping and to ensure that everyone knew what the documents said. Unfortunately you can't take pictures of either document, so you will just have to go there yourself to see them :)

After we went through the castle, we went to Lincoln Cathedral. Whenever there was a castle, there was a cathedral nearby - the castle and cathedral are extremely close together in Lincoln. The castle was originally built by the Normans. The front of the castle still has Norman architecture.

Front of the castle - semicircular arches are Norman style (aka Romanesque)

The cathedral was built in 1072 to establish Norman power over Lincoln. As long as the kings controlled the church, the kings had control over the land and the people. The cathedral was destroyed by a fire in 1141 and then an earthquake hit in 1185, causing more damage to the church. The church was rebuilt in the Gothic style starting in 1192. Gothic is very different from Norman. Buildings built in Gothic style have a more pointed archway and as the building progresses from 1150 to 1250, the style becomes much more ornate and you start to see very ornate and large windows.

Kings above entrance indicating their rule over the church

The cathedral is laid out in the shape of a cross. The entrance is on the west side and the altar is on the east side - the altar points east because that is where the holy land is.

Dean's Eye window - north side of building

Bishop's Eye - south side of building

The placement of these windows again shows the relationship between church and state when the cathedral was built. The Gothic nature of this cathedral is just beautiful. I am always in awe over how the stone workers were able to make such intricate carvings out of stone.

Carving out of stone

The infamous imp of the cathedral

At times the stone workers would play tricks and they would put funny little creatures in strange places. The imp is one of the more famous characters in the Angel Choir section of the cathedral. He is located way up high near the altar.

The altar

Stained glass above altar

There are some really important people buried around the altar. Here is the Fleming Cadaver Tomb:

 There is a really nice resemblance of Bishop Fleming on the top of the tomb. On the bottom of the tomb, it looks like a rotting and emaciated corpse. The basic message is be careful of what you do on Earth because we all end up looking the same and  having the same fate. It's an amazing message! Another thing I really noticed in the cathedral were all the small doors. Here are some of them...

Heather displaying a little door

Another really cute and little door!

The other place that I found very peaceful was the monks cloister area...

Looking into the outside part of the monastery area of the cathedral 

After our tours, we were starved, so most of the faculty headed to the Wig and Mitre, a great little pub with guess what - yes, good food and even better ale!

Lauren, Heather, John and David at the Wig and Mitre

The pub is located at the top of Steep Hill. It is a combination of 14th and 16th century and "new build". The pub has been open since 14 December 1977 - thank goodness they were open when we were there - it really filled our stomachs with great food.

After lunch, I headed down Steep Hill to check out some of my other favorite parts of Lincoln. Steep Hill is a road that is a really steep hill. Here is one shot of it...

Looking up part of Steep Hill

Jew's House and Jews Court

Jew's House and Jew's Court are two very historical buildings on Steep Hill - Jew's Court (the building further up the hill) is the oldest synagogue in Britain. It dates back probably to the 12th century and was a synagogue until the Jewish people were expelled in 1290. Jewish services are held in this building today while another part of it is a bookstore. Jew's House is now a restaurant. It is really cool.

While we were in this area, we found another really cute little door in front of Jew's Court...

And then I found 2 more cute little doors going further down Steep Hill...

The little doors are just abundant here - I could hardly contain myself! While we were in the area of Jew's House and Court, we met a nice American named Billy who is in the US Navy. While we were talking with Billy, this gentleman who looked a little strange came up to us and told us that there were never any Romans in the city of Lincoln - they were all Normans. He was very odd and felt the need to talk to us for quite some time - he said, "I know you have been told that there were Romans here, but they lie! There were no Romans in Lincoln, only Saxons and Normans!" Billy and I thanked him for the information and we finally were able to separate ourselves from him. Billy then walked us down to a really cool museum. We were able to touch a lot of the displays and even could try on a few objects - playing dress up and getting to play is one of my favorite past times in a museum :)

Mike and I playing Neanderthal Man....

Me in a Roman Hat

Carla the Roman

This was a really cool museum and an awesome find. We never would have known it was in Lincoln if we hadn't met Billy. This is one thing I really like being here - people figure out pretty quickly that we are not "natives" and then they start talking to us...it is amazing how nice people are overall.

More dress up - darling, don't I look marvelous ??

Mike, Carla and I continued down Steep Hill. You just haven't seen Lincoln if you don't venture down the hill. Here are some of the cool sights at the bottom of the hill...

Canal at base of the city

However, what goes down must go back up...so back up the hill we went. It wasn't as hard on the knees, but it was a great cardio workout - I know we walked off our ale and food on the way back up the hill.

Going Up!!!

I thought I'd try some creative photography on the way back up...it doesn't seem so steep if you tip your camera on a pretty good angle!

Flying Buttresses 

Once we got up the hill, we had a few minutes to shop and then we had to get to the bus. We were able to see the cathedral from the outside a little better then. The picture above is a great example of a flying buttress according to the experts on this trip. The buttresses are used to help support the structure of the building.

Judgment Door

We also saw a statue of Lord Alfred Tennyson...

in a beautiful garden. And one last archway...

What an awesome and full day. We left at 0900 and returned at 1730 - We got a little wet, were well-fed and slept well that night! All of us learned, all together - we learned more about British history and we learned more about ourselves and each other. I am not sure how the Normans and the Romans started all this - but they did a great job - I can't believe that structures built in 1066 still stand and that we can go into them today - these buildings are almost 950 years old - now that is old! How fortunate we are to be able to experience these miraculous structures. Life 950 years ago was not always kind but the buildings that remain are incredible!