Lincoln

Lincoln (Roman) was a legionary fortress, then the colonia of Lindum, where the river Witham flows east through the ridge of the Lincoln Edge. The earliest known fortress, under the later town, was constructed by legio IX Hispana c.60, but there may have been earlier military occupation south of the river. In the early 70s IX Hispana was replaced by legio II Adiutrix which left the fortress in the late 70s, and the colonia was probably founded in the 80s. As at Gloucester, the legionary defences, on the hilltop, were maintained and fronted in stone, but at Lincoln the defensive circuit was extended down to the river as earthwork in the later 2nd cent., later fronted in stone. This brought the defended area to c.100 acres. The gates, including the surviving Newport Arch, were impressive. The principal public buildings were in the ‘upper’ colonia, including a forum/basilica incorporating the extant Mint Wall, baths supplied by an aqueduct which crossed the Roaring Meg stream on arches, and a sewer system. The evidence of houses, mosaics, sculpture, and burials suggests a considerable degree of prosperity and Mediterranean-style culture. In the 4th cent. Lincoln may have become a provincial capital; a bishop may have attended the Council of Arles in 314.

Alan Simon Esmonde Cleary

post-Roman

After five centuries of near-desertion Lincoln was revived by the Vikings as a river port. The Normans planted a castle and cathedral in the upper city (the Roman site); the commercial centre spread downhill, where it still is. Lincoln's heyday was the 12th and 13th cents., when it was one of the six largest English towns, with 47 parish churches and a thriving textile industry. Its importance and strategic position made it the scene of decisive civil war battles (1141, 1217) and a second coronation of Henry II (1157). It declined spectacularly in the 14th and 15th cents., a decline which grants of privileges from the crown (culminating in county status in 1409) could not avert. Lincoln revived only modestly as a social centre in the 18th cent. and as an industrial town in the 19th; it has thus been able to preserve much of its historic fabric. Jewels in Lincoln's crown include the cathedral (called by Ruskin ‘the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles’), the only Roman gateway in Britain still used by traffic, and the only medieval bridge in Britain still lined by shops and houses.

David M. Palliser