The monastic institutions of this county have had to be passed by in this volume. Although there are no vast or splendid remains (if Thornton Abbey gate-house and Crowland be excepted) above ground, still the excavations of the Rev. C. G. Laing at Bardney Abbey have proved how large and beautiful one at least of those buildings was.
The city of Lincoln, again, demanding a volume to itself, has not been dealt with here, save in so far as it appears in Roman times.
The greatest and noblest “memorial” of all is, of course, the mighty Minster, superb in its architecture and in its situation, with its great roll of bishops from St. Hugh and Grosseteste to Christopher Wordsworth and the much beloved, most saintly, Edward King. But this subject could not be treated of piecemeal, and has been deliberately omitted.
But Lincolnshire is particularly rich in splendid and interesting churches, and much will be found in this volume to justify these epithets.
Stamford, Boston, and Grantham all have had full justice done to them, while Tattershall Castle may well serve as a specimen of the best domestic building of the time of King Henry VI., as Doddington does of “the spacious times of great Elizabeth.”
The history of the county has been interesting, and at times very important. The wars of King Stephen, the battle of “Lincoln Fair,” the Lincolnshire rising in 1470, and the second insurrection in 1536 at the suppression of the monasteries, have had to be passed over; but the pre-historic facts, those of the Roman rule, and of the great Civil War will be found.
To the Rev. P. H. Ditchfield, the General Editor of this series, and to the Rev. G. E. Jeans, whose knowledge of Lincolnshire is unequalled, for much kind help and advice; to all my contributors, and to all who have given photographs or illustrations, I desire to tender my most sincere thanks.
E. Mansel Sympson.
Deloraine Court, Lincoln,
November 1910.
Note.—As the County of Lincoln possesses no heraldic bearings, the Lord Bishop has kindly permitted the use of the coat-of-arms of the See of Lincoln to be used on the cover of this volume.