The southern half of the Roman station is divided between the cathedral and the castle, the church, though the later occupant, taking the larger half. Some centuries, however, must have passed between the departure of the Romans and the throwing up of the earthworks of the castle, during which time the Roman walls were broken down, and their contained buildings laid waste, as is shown by the dilapidated condition of those remaining parts which have been found buried beneath the castle works.

The English fortress is placed within the south-west quarter of the Roman station, and its outline, roughly four-sided, was no doubt governed by the lines of the two adjacent Roman walls. It stands on the crest of the steep slope, covered, as in Roman days, by the city, and descending about 200 feet to the river. It is contained within a massive earth-bank, from 50 yards to 80 yards broad, and from 20 feet to 30 feet in height, internally of easy slope, externally steep, and which, though in substance within the Roman area, extends its skirts beyond the line of the wall, so that the Roman west gate was found buried within its substance, and a fragment of the south wall is still seen to rise through its slope. This bank measures, upon its north face, 180 yards, upon its south face 170 yards, its east 134 yards, and its west 163 yards. Here, as at York, it is evident not only that these earthworks are of post-Roman date, but that the Roman walls were completely ruined before the earthworks were thrown up. The enclosure may contain from 6 acres to 7 acres. At the south-east angle the bank swells into, and ends in, a large conical mound, about 40 feet high, and 50 feet diameter at the top. Besides this, there is a second and larger mound, about 40 feet high, and 100 feet diameter at the top, which was the citadel or keep of the place, and the site of the hall of its English lord. This mound, though near the centre of the south front, was not a continuous part of the regular earth-bank, which it here replaced. It had its own proper circular ditch, communicating on the outside with, and forming a part of, the regular ditch of the place, as is yet evident, notwithstanding much filling up.

It will thus be seen that Lincoln Castle, as regards its earthworks, belongs to that type of English fortress in which the mound has its proper ditch, and is placed on one side of an appended area, also with its bank and ditch. The general area, which at Windsor, Arundel, and Berkhampstead is oblong, to suit the contour of the ground, is here, as at Tonbridge, Tickhill, and Clare, where the ground is not strongly marked, nearer to a more solid figure, of which, in this case, two sides and the contained angle are governed by the line of the old Roman wall. In general, these fortresses are much alike, and all belong to that class of burhs known to have been thrown up by the English in the ninth and tenth centuries, and at about the same time by the Scandinavian settlers in Normandy. Two mounds, though not unknown, are uncommon. At Lewes there are two, one at each end of an oblong enclosure. At Hereford, besides the keep mound, now removed, there is a mass of earth at the north-east corner of the outer area, a part of the bank, and at Cardiff also, besides the keep mound, are two masses of earth upon the north-east and south-east corners of the enclosure, forming, which there the keep mound does not, a part of the bank. Such subordinate mounds are not uncommon in earthworks of all ages, and are totally distinct from the grand isolated moated mound which gives character to the earthworks of the ninth and tenth centuries, both in England and Normandy.

PLAN OF LINCOLN CASTLE.

Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.

When, in 1068, the Conqueror marched from York to Cambridge, he paused at Lincoln, even then a very important place, fenced in and populous, not indeed as yet boasting a minster, but numbering 1,150 inhabited houses, a leading member of the famous Danish civic confederation, and governed by twelve lawmen, who wielded powers elsewhere exercised by the territorial lords. As he traversed the intrenchment that covered the northern front, and entered the city through the strong Roman gateway, still in use, he could not but appreciate the strength and importance of the place, of which he seems to have been allowed to take peaceable possession. Here, as at York and Cambridge, he at once ordered the English stronghold to be converted into a Norman castle. What was the precise condition of the existing work, or what was immediately executed in obedience to William’s order, we do not know; there were, of course, defences, probably of timber, along the crest of the banks, and upon the summit of the mound, but whether William merely directed these to be strengthened, or had them replaced by walls such as were coming into use in Normandy, does not appear; probably the former: as time pressed, and there was much work of the same kind to execute all over England, it was important to secure an immediate shelter for the Norman garrison. That the 166 houses which, we learn from Domesday, were destroyed to make way for Lincoln Castle were not removed to allow of the extension of its area is certain, for the Norman walls stand upon the English banks. It is probable that, during the long and prosperous reign of the Confessor, houses had been allowed to be built upon the slopes and glacis of the ditch, and, perhaps, actually within the fortress. This, of course, could not be tolerated, and is probably the removal recorded. But, if timber was employed, it was, of course, only until works in masonry could be erected, and, whatever the Conqueror’s officers may have actually executed, there can be little doubt but that they or their immediate successors designed the gates, walls, and keep of the castles, as these now stand.

The castle is placed in the south-west quarter of the Roman station, high above the city and the valley of the Witham, which lie to its south and east, and somewhat elevated, artificially, above the table land to its north and west. Its walled enceinte lies just within the Roman area, to the adjacent limits of which its southern and western fronts are roughly parallel. The curtain wall, a very remarkable, and, on the whole, a very perfect work, is built upon the ridge or central line of the earth-bank, and therefore contains the same space, and is in circuit about 650 yards; it is from 8 feet to 10 feet thick, and 30 feet to 35 feet or even 40 feet high, exhibiting much herring-bone work, and certainly of Norman, and possibly early Norman, date. Opposite to the great mound, where the earth-banks cease, the wall is continued across the ditch and up the slope of the mound, as at Tamworth and Tonbridge. To enable it to reach the level of the battlements of the keep, it is raised by steps to the point of junction, and there contains chambers which will be more conveniently described with the keep.

In the wall are two principal gates, one to the east, opening into the upper city, opposite to the Exchequer Gate of the Close, and the other to the west, opening direct into the field. Besides these there is a small door opening towards the south upon the lower city, and a door in the keep in the same direction.