City in Lincolnshire, England
Lincoln
For 238 years Lincoln Cathedral was the tallest building on Earth, and its steep hill still makes visitors puff.
Key information
- County
- Lincolnshire
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 103,000 (2021 Census)
- Known for
- Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln Castle with its Magna Carta, Steep Hill, the Lincoln Imp
- What locals are called
- Lincolnites
- Famous people
- Sir Joseph Banks, George Boole, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Sir Francis Hill
- Football clubs
- Lincoln City (the Imps)
About Lincoln
The tallest building in the world, for 238 years
Lincoln Cathedral's central spire, completed in the early 1300s, is thought to have lifted the building to about 160 metres, making it the tallest structure on the planet. It overtook the Great Pyramid of Giza, which had held the title for nearly four thousand years. The spire collapsed in a storm in 1548 and was never rebuilt, which is how Lincoln lost the crown. The cathedral still dominates the skyline for miles across the flat Lincolnshire countryside. It began after the Norman Conquest, when Bishop Remigius moved his seat here and started building around 1072. An earthquake in 1185 wrecked much of it, and the Gothic rebuilding that followed, led by St Hugh of Avalon, gave Lincoln the style many consider among the finest in Europe. The cathedral has also played a film role: it stood in for Westminster Abbey in The Da Vinci Code.
A Roman colony on a hill
Lincoln began as a Roman fortress, then became a colonia for retired legionaries, named Lindum Colonia. That name gave us both Lincoln and the word Lindum that still turns up on local businesses. The Romans left behind Newport Arch, a gateway on the Roman road of Ermine Street that is still used by traffic. It is often described as the only Roman arch in Britain through which vehicles still pass. The Fosse Way ran from here down to Exeter, and the city's position on the River Witham, with access to the sea, kept it important for centuries. In the Middle Ages it was one of England's richest towns, thanks largely to the wool trade.
The castle, the Charter and the Magna Carta
William the Conqueror ordered Lincoln Castle built in 1068, and the walls still stand. Few castles in England let you walk the full circuit of the wall, and Lincoln's is one of them. Inside is one of only four surviving copies of the 1215 Magna Carta, kept in a purpose-built vault. Lincoln also holds a copy of the Charter of the Forest from 1217. The castle served as a prison for a long time. The Victorian prison chapel has separate pew boxes, designed so prisoners could see the preacher but not each other.
Why a cheeky imp sits above the angels
Look up inside the cathedral's Angel Choir and you will find a small stone imp. Legend says two mischievous imps were sent by the Devil to cause trouble, and while one smashed furniture, the other was turned to stone by an angel for mocking the bishop. The figure became the city's emblem. It also gave Lincoln City Football Club their nickname, the Imps. A bit of Lincoln slang survives in the phrase Lincoln green. The cloth was dyed in the town in medieval times and is now tied to Robin Hood's merry men, though Sherwood Forest is some 20 to 25 miles to the west.
Steep Hill, sausages and Brayford
Steep Hill is exactly what it sounds like: a cobbled climb of about 1 in 7 connecting the lower city to the cathedral quarter. It has won awards for being one of Britain's best streets, and it is lined with independent shops and old buildings including the Jew's House, one of the oldest domestic buildings in England. Lincolnshire sausage, seasoned with sage, is the local food hero, usually coarse and herby. Another local staple is stuffed chine, a salted pork joint stuffed with parsley, though it is harder to find now. At the bottom of the hill is Brayford Pool, one of the oldest inland harbours in Britain, now a place for restaurants and the university. It is also the city's waterside heart, where the River Witham widens just below the hill.
Brains, bomber crews and big inventions
Lincoln is a city of ideas. George Boole, the mathematician whose algebra underpins modern computing, was born here in 1815. Sir Joseph Banks, the botanist on Captain Cook's first voyage, grew up in Lincolnshire and is closely linked to the area. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the poet laureate, was born in Somersby and educated in Louth, with a famous statue in the cathedral grounds. In the First World War, Lincoln's Foster's engineering firm built the first tanks. William Tritton and Walter Wilson developed Little Willie in 1915, and the city is rightly known as the birthplace of the tank. The Second World War left its mark too. Lincolnshire was bomber country, and the International Bomber Command Centre on Canwick Hill remembers the crews who flew from nearby airfields. Locals say Lancaster bombers returning home used the cathedral as a landmark.