Cathedral Cities of England

by George Gilbert

In 1121 Henry I. materially altered the great Foss-Dyke, extending a matter of eight miles from a great marsh near Lincoln to the river Trent, to serve the double purpose of draining the adjacent level and of constructing a high waterway for vessels from the Trent to Lincoln.

For defraying the expenses of draining, it appears that in general a rate was levied upon all lands in the contiguous wapentakes.

With this preface of the general character of the district, we propose to give a history of the city from its commencement.

On the summit of a hill close to the river Lindis, which is now called the Witham, the ancient Britons established a city of considerable importance from the most remote period of the British history. They christened the city after the original name of the river. This, on the invasion of Britain, passed into the hands of the Romans. They made it one of their chief stations in this part of England and established a colony. Instead of calling the city something "cester," they appear to have Latinised the Celtic name, signifying "the hill port by the pool," and called it Lindum Colonia. Through process of time and differences of pronunciation, consequent on the various dialects spoken successively by the Saxons, Danes, and Normans, the title became abbreviated to Lin-coln. The date of the Roman occupation is given as being in the year 100 A.D.

Their plan of the city consisted of the form of a parallelogram about 400 yards in length by the same number of yards in breadth, defended by massive, strong walls and intersected by two streets running at right angles.

Presumably the extremities of these streets pointed to the four cardinal points. They terminated in gates, the sole one of which—an excellent example of Roman architecture in England—is the North Gate, or, as it is generally called, Newport. It is composed of a central arch, with two lesser ones, one on either side, and is on a lower level than that of the street. Through this gate passes the great Roman Road called Ermine Street, out into the country for a distance of about ten miles or so. To the south-west of this entrance is supposed to have been a mint. This seems to be borne out by the discovery of many Roman coins found in the vicinity. The Exchequer Gate is a very fine specimen of the thirteenth century. It bears a carved representation of the Crucifixion, which lends it considerable interest.

At the top of High Street is Pottergate and Stonebow, over which is the Guildhall. The latter is an ancient embattled structure, rebuilt in the reign of Richard II.

Besides the Northgate, the Romans appear, according to remains found, to have contributed the inevitable bath and sudatorium. On their departure from Britain, Lincoln was made the capital of the kingdom of Mercia by the Saxons in 518. Vortimer, who endeavoured to oppose them, was slain and interred here. From 786 Lincoln suffered repeatedly from visitations of the Danes, control being recovered by Edmund II., according to agreement with Canute in 1016. Throughout the whole of this period the only peace the city had enjoyed was when Alfred the Great subdued the Danes. However, Edmund II., better known as Edmund Ironsides, did not live many days longer, being murdered at Oxford. Whereupon, in 1017, Canute took possession of the murdered monarch's territory, in which Lincoln was included. William I. then came along in 1086, swept away close upon two hundred houses to make room for the erection of a castle—on a site which meant the occupation of nearly one-fourth of the old Roman city.