Lincoln Castle; a centre of national events, walk the entire curtain wall, see two mottes, a Victorian prison and a very rare copy of Magna Carta.
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Lincoln Castle is an amazing place to visit with its complete circular wall that can be walked with great views of the nearby cathedral. It is rather unusual with two Norman mottes and with its history of numerous medieval sieges. All the medieval sieges were of national importance and featured King Stephen, King Richard, King John and the nine year old King Henry III. In 1217, the castle was pounded by boulders fired from massive catapults known as trebuchets as part of the Battle of Lincoln. Victory of Henry III’s army led by the heroic William Marshall, just outside the castle walls, put an end to English rebels and French troops claiming the English crown for Prince Louis of France. Lincoln Castle, has its own copy of the original Magna Carta on display, an audio visual display explaining this highly important document and a small, but fascinating, museum. The castle grounds also house a Georgean and Victorian prison where original cells can be visited. Lastly, it even has its own resident dragon!
What is there to see?
The interior of the main entrance known as the East Gate. Unfortunately, the exterior view was covered with scaffolding and so I was not able to obtain a good photo. Originally, there would have been a drawbridge crossing a wide exterior dry ditch which was always dry because of the porous limestone bedrock.
An easy stroll along the wall walk can take you all the way around the castle. Nearby this area is a lift to enable wheelchair users access to the east section of the curtain walls to enable everyone to get a brilliant view of Lincoln Cathedral and some other spectacular views.
Looking down from the wall walk shows how difficult it would have been to scale a wall of such height.
Above: looking up at the wall from outside the castle. The round tower is known as Cobb Hall.
From the top of the curtain wall is a superb view of the stunning front of Lincoln Cathedral. Any day trip to Lincoln can incorporate a visit to both of them. The 1217 Battle of Lincoln took place in the area between the Castle and the Cathedral.
Below: The green arrow points out some early herring bone masonry possibly dating from the late 11th or early 12th century.
Below: the much transformed West Gate. The partial tower on the left would have been part of a substantial barbican created in the 14th century only to be blocked up in the 15th century and re-opened in the 1990s.
Above: continuing along the wall walk you get come across another corner and the Lucy Tower.
Above: approaching the Lucy Tower on the wall walk. You can see the bottom of the motte and a possible outer bailey wall.
Above: the Lucy Tower, a classic motte and bailey design castle with a shell keep on the top of the motte. The motte and bailey would have been relatively quick to build and would have had a wooden tower on the top rather than the shell keep. As you can see, it towers above the surrounding countryside and so was in an ideal location to see any potential enemy army marching towards Lincoln from a great distance, thus allowing defences to be manned before the enemy arrive. If you look at the shell keep, you may get the impression that it is not as tall as you would think and therefore not being too difficult to ascend once the motte had been climbed. Your impression would be right because the wall has been reduced in height.
Above: the interior of the Lucy Tower which was once occupied by wooden buildings. On the right of the photo, is the smaller of the two entrances to the tower.
Below: Another shot of the interior of the Lucy Tower, this time showing the 19th century burial ground for the inmates of the nearby prison. One of the stones marks the grave of Mary Anne Milner who hanged herself with a red silk neckerchief before the authorities could carry out her sentence of hanging. She had been found guilty of poisoning her sister in law.
Below: the red building on the right is the Victorian prison referred to in the previous paragraph. The brown walls projecting from it, is the exercise yard. The building on the far right is the end of Lucy Tower. In the middle is the Observatory Tower and the stone building at the far left is Lincoln Cathedral.
Below: looking across the inner bailey, (castle grounds) to the Courthouse. Built in 1826, replacing one built 50 years earlier which, in turn, replaced an old shire hall which stood in the middle of the bailey. Major crime trials were conducted here twice a year for such felonies as rape, theft and forgery which sometimes resulted in transportations and hanging.
Above and below: closer views of the Victorian prison exercise yard.
Above: the Lucy tower overlooking the prison and its exercise yard.
Above: behind the Victorian prison, built in 1848, is the original Georgian prison, built in 1788. The Victorian prison was an extension with a new design to fit a new way of dealing with and reforming, the prisoners. The Victorians, new idea, called ‘the Separate System”, was where prisoners were kept separately from each other in order to keep prisoners from influencing each other into even more “evil ways”! Even in the prison chapel, each prisoner was separated from his neighbour by a wooden panel and only being able to see the prison chaplin from the pulpit. (more on the prison later)
Above: what is now known as the Observatory Tower, which was created on the second Motte. Most castles have only one motte, if at all, whereas Lincoln has two.
Below: The same building from the outside. The slope of the motte illustrates how hard it would have been to attack it successfully.
Above: having gone past the Observatory tower, this is looking back to it. The square tower/keep, was built in the 12th century, whereas the top turret was created in the 19th century so that the governor, at the time, could pursue his hobby of stargazing. The slits in the bottom half of the wall are arrow loops to allow defenders to fire their arrows safely.
Below: from the other side of the arrow loop showing how the defender can fire his arrows through the slit but be fairly safe. The chances of an arrow being able to get through the slit from outside are slim.
Below: the Cobb tower and its latest incumbent! Plenty of opportunity for a family photograph. This piece of fun deflects attention from the fact that the roof of Cobb Hall was used for public executions. From 1817 to 1859, 38 hangings took place here.
Above: the “Eleanor Cross”.
Below: David Griffith from the University of Birmingham has written about Eleanor of Castile and the Hardingstone Cross, one of the three complete remaining crosses (see David’s photo of Hardingstone Cross beneath his account)
The Hardingstone Cross, Northamptonshire, showing that the Eleanor Cross in Lincoln Castle is only a fragment of what the cross originally looked like. Each cross was different but were all of the same style.
2. Magna Carta is on display
Inside the Victorian prison block is a special vault containing two priceless items. One is an early copy of Magna Carta guaranteeing the various rights by King John and the other is the ”Charter of the Forest”, which guaranteed greater freedoms for those who traditionally had used the royal forests but had lost those freedoms when the Normans came to power. There is often a third document on display and this changes throughout the year.
Magna Carta is seen by many historians as one of the most important documents in history because it established first, in 1215, the principle that everyone is subject to the law, even kings and queens and it guarantees the rights of individuals, the right to justice and the right to a fair trial. It is significant because it put England on the way to democracy. Over time, the powers of English kings were curtailed, especially in the 17th Century. Furthermore, Magna Carta is often cited as having strongly influenced the American Bill of Rights in 1791 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rightist 1948.
Above; the seal of King John by an unknown 18th C artist.
Kings, after King John, agreed to later versions of Magna Carta and its principles of freedom from arbitrary arrest and no tax rises without the people’s consent which, in some form, are still valid today. One of the reasons for the English Civil War was that Charles I was arbitrarily raising taxes. He asked for “Ship Money” an ancient tax to be levied on coastal towns during war time but he asked everyone to pay the tax and England was not in a war. Furthermore, he tried to imprison anyone who refused to pay and he even attempted to arrest 5 MPs sitting in the House of Commons without getting any courts or judges involved.
In the USA, colonists opposing the British crown quoted Magna Carta, shouting no taxation without representation. Magna Carta strongly influenced the The American Constitution and several states’ constitutions. The 1791 Bill of Rights cites Magna Carta and it has been quoted for legal purposes in the USA ever since.
Above: is a copy of the 1215 Magna Carta on display at the British Library. Unfortunately, the authorities at Lincoln Castle do not allow photography in the vault and so, this is the nearest I can get to showing Magna Carta.
3. What can you see in the Museum?
There were several battles at Lincoln Castle and these arrowheads may well have been fired. There were several designs for arrowheads and these were known as “Bodkins”. They were sharp and strong enough to pierce plate armour and chain mail. Their design was particularly nasty because they were only loosely connected to the arrow shaft so that if the shaft was pulled out of a victim, the bodkin would stay embedded in the victim’s flesh. Longbow archers could sometimes fire as many as 14 arrows per minute and so 1000 archers standing outside a castle could send 14000 arrows per minute at the defenders and likewise 100 archers on the walls of Lincoln castle could send 1400 arrows at the attackers in one minute. Crossbows were often used to defend castles but they took time to load and could be fired at about 4 per minute. The plus side of the crossbow was that it was far easier to use.
This boulder called a “Cobb”, was found near the Cobb Hall in 1831 along with nearly 200 others. Experts do not know if It was used to smash the castle walls or was in readiness to shoot at the besieging enemy. It would have been shot by catapults such as trebuchets (see below), perriers or a mangonels, to damage walls or smash wooden defences.
Above: a trebuchet like this one at Warwick Castle would have fired the cob. They could also fire dead animals or even plague victims over the castle walls, a kind of early biological warfare.
Above: dice, possibly for gambling but necessary things to while away the hours when the castle was under siege or awaiting attack.
Above: A silver shilling coin dating from the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1. Her father, always desperate to get money so that he could fight the French, reduced the amount of gold and silver in his coins and replaced them with a cheap metal which was known as known as debasement. Despite Henry trying to persuade people that they were the same value, people were not conned and so the value of the coinage went down and prices therefore, went up. Elizabeth put a stop to this by melting down Henry’s old coins and going back to the old amounts of silver or gold, so that the coins would hold their value.
4. What was the Victorian prison like?
Below: the next two photos are of cells from the period. In the lower photo, some sort of activity would be done to occupy the prisoners such as finger knitting.
2. What were the key events in the history of Lincoln castle?
a) Why did William the Conqueror build a castle at Lincoln?
As you all know, in 1066 Duke William of Normandy defeated King Harold in the Battle of Hastings and became king of England, the mighty William the Conqueror. However, winning the battle and being crowned was the easy part of being king of England. William had about 8000 supporters in England but there were approximately 2 500 000 Anglo- Saxons living there and they did not like the idea of a “foreigner” being king over them. Rebellions soon broke out all over the country from Exeter in the west, to York in the north and East Anglia in the east. To consolidate his power, William rode north to York and ordered castles to be built at Warwick, Nottingham and York, where he was particularly opposed. On his return journey, he added to his list of castles at Lincoln, Huntingdon and Cambridge. The Lucy Tower mound was the original motte with a wooden tower on the top and a huge bailey, bigger than the existing castle grounds today. Apparently, it was one of the largest castles recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, William’s record of landholders, the value of their land and an early census/tax record of the whole population.
b) The king gets captured at Lincoln Castle during the “Anarchy”?
Lincoln Castle’s first experience of a medieval siege took place during a period known as the anarchy when there was civil war in England over the right to rule. The problem began when Henry I (Aug 1100-Dec 1135) lost his son, his only legitimate male heir William, in a shipping accident. Henry now had to plan for his daughter, Matilda (or Maud) to succeed him. When Henry died in 1135, his nephew, Stephen of Blois, had other ideas and this resulted in him challenging Matilda to the throne and succeeding. He became King Stephen I (Dec 1135-Oct 1154). However, Matilda was not going to accept this outcome and decided to fight for her claim which resulted in the civil war breaking out known as “The Anarchy”. A settlement finally occured twenty years later with Matilda’s son , Henry II being made Stephen’s heir. At the time when the country was continuously at war, the monarch was obviously not very strong and therefore, noblemen were free to do whatever they pleased with some deciding to build their own castles without royal permission.
In 1136, King Stephen had to deal with a Scottish invasion of the north of England. The ensuing treaty meant that land was given to King David 1 of Scotland, some of which was owned by Ranulf Earl of Chester. Ranulf was now prepared to revolt against Stephen to get back his lost land. A consequence of that was Ranulf storming out of Stephen’s court in rage. In 1140, the Ranulf, used some amazing trickery to seize Lincoln Castle from Stephen’s constable, on account of his mother, Lucy, the Countess of Chester who onced owned it. The story goes that the earl and his brother sent their wives to visit the the constable of the castle’s wife, having seen that the castle garrison had gone out hunting and leaving only a few men on guard. Soon afterwards, the Earl turned up at the castle gate without any armour on with three knights and said that he come to collect his wife and sister-in-law. Having got inside, he and his three men overpowered the guard and let his brother with his army, into the castle. Stephen made peace with Ranulf but soon afterwards heard complaints about Ranulf from some people in Lincoln and so led his army, on 6th January 1141, to besiege Lincoln Castle with Ranulf inside it.
Above; King Stephen.
Somehow, Ranulf managed to escape and teamed up with his father in law, Robert Earl of Gloucester (father of Maud of Gloucester). Robert, was also the illegitimate half-brother of Matilda and so Ranulf was now firmly on Matilda’s side. They now set out to recapture Lincoln and set free Maud, Ranulf’s wife but who is also, Robert’s daughter. They made the journey speedily and caught King Stephen ill-prepared. Stephen could have fled but his honour was at stake and so battle took place on 2nd February 1141. So the story goes, before the battle, Stephen went to Lincoln Cathedral for a service and God’s blessing but two omens occurred. First a candle that Stephen presented to Bishop Alexander of Lincoln, suddenly shattered into pieces and secondly, the container carrying the consecrated bread for mass made a crashing noise as it fell to the floor with its chain having snapped.
Unfortunately for King Stephen, the omens turned out to be correct. In the middle of the fighting, King Stephen’s sword broke. Fortunately, he was given a battle-axe but he was soon overwhelmed and fell to the ground having been hit by a stone. A stunned King of England was then captured and with his men surrounded, there was no escape. The victorious rebels now proceeded to Lincoln where buildings were set alight, valuables were pillaged and many of the inhabitants were slaughtered. From here Stephen was taken to be imprisoned in Bristol Castle and Matilda was made the new monarch. The end of the story is that Matilda was captured in Winchester and prisoner swapped for Stephen. Peace eventually was restored when they came to an agreement that Stephen could remain the king but when he died, the crown would go to Matilda’s son, Henry, who became Henry II.
c) The second siege of Lincoln Castle in 1191.
Under Henry II, the constable of the castle, a royal appointment was Gerard de Canville. This appointment went on into the reign of Richard I, (the “Lionheart’) but when Richard was out of the country on crusade, they rebelled and sided with Richard’s brother, Prince John, against the temporary regent, Chancellor William Longchamps. Whilst Gerard was elsewhere with Prince John, Longchamps decided to besiege Lincoln Castle under the control of Gerard’s wife, Nicola de la Haye. She managed to hold out for 40 days and eventually negotiated peace with Gerard keeping his job. However, when King Richard the Lionheart returned to England in 1194, Gerard was dismissed and heavily fined. The tables were reversed when Gerard’s old ally, Prince John, came to the throne in 1199 and re-appointed Gerard to the job of Constable.
Above: King John
d) Hero, seventy year old William Marshall saves England from the French and English rebels, just outside Lincoln Castle.
In his reign, King John upset most of the influential and powerful people in the country. Civil war, known as the “First Baron's’ War”, began and was temporarily halted when to broker peace, King John agreed to Magna Carta. Needless to say, John failed to keep his side of the bargain and rejected the Charter with the Pope’s agreement. Once more rebellion broke out again, this time with French help under Prince Louis, heir to the French throne. In October, 1216 King John died leaving his heir, Henry III, a nine year old, to run the country. Fortunately for him, the very competent and totally loyal, William Marshall, who had served the previous four kings, was made his regent and victor in this latest war.
In March 2017, the walled city of Lincoln was attacked by the rebels and soon surrendered. Only the castle, under Lady Nicola de la Haye, refused to give in and despite rebel reinforcements coming to Lincoln she still held out. Siege engines were then brought in and began to bombard the castle but again, Nicola stood firm. The bombardment continued through the rest of March, April and May but to no avail. It was at this point that Prince Louis, head of the French, made a fateful error. He divided his troops in two with half moving north to help the rebels at Lincoln and the other half going south to capture Dover castle. It was now up to the seventy year old William Marshall to defeat the rebels and their French allies. He now gambled on bringing it all to a head in one very risky action at Lincoln. The rebels with their French allies were not at full strength and this was his best chance. William’s numbered 406 knights, 317 crossbowmen and infantrymen. whereas the rebels and allies had in excess of 600 knights and several thousand infantrymen. It was a big risk to take them on but William believed it was a risk worth taking.
Above: William Marshall’s effigy in the Temple Church London.
To help William, the papal legate (representative from the pope) excommunicated the French army and their allies, whilst absolving William’s army from their sins. They could now see themselves as holy warriors and bear white crosses on their surcoats. Adding to his determined mindset were William’s rousing speeches warning his men that a French victory would result in mass French seizure of land and property. In Churchillian fashion, he called out that, “it is God’s wish that we defend ourselves” and “the road that lies ahead” must be freed “with blades of iron and steel”. At first, William sneaked some reinforcements into the castle. To discover the best way to enter the city, William sent out reconnaissance parties and it was the Bishop of Winchester’s party, (in armour) who discovered an undefended, disused, gateway that had been blocked by masonry and rubble. William now set about creating diversionary tactics so that the rubble could be cleared and the gateway used to sneak into the city. The plan was a success and a large force of knights now charged in to meet the rebels and French in the area between the castle and the cathedral. William’s excitement was such that he pushed to the front and began to charge without his helmet. This could have easily led to his death and so he had to return to get his helmet before going into action. Even at the age of seventy, William was at the front, in the thick of the fighting! One chronicler in describing the scene used phrases, “like mown down and slaughtered like pigs’, when describing what happened to the rebel barons. Ferocious fighting then followed but momentum was with William’s army and after one of the rebel leaders, Thomas of Perche was killed, some of the rebels fled and the others surrendered. England was saved and young Henry III would rule until his death in 1272.
Above: a copy of Henry III’s effigy in the Temple Church, London.
e) August 1541, Henry VIII and Queen Katherine (Howard) visited Lincoln Castle to re-assert his total authority over the English people.
Between 1536 and 1541, Henry VIII, ably assisted by Thomas Cromwell, closed down all monasteries, priories, convents and friaries. This came after abandoning the Catholic Church, creating a replacement, the Church of England or Anglican Church and making himself “Head of the Church in England”. This meant he could give himself a divorce, have no changers to the leadership of the English people ie no papal intervention and take action to seize church assets to make him a very wealthy monarch. Closing the monasteries meant he could claim religious property and, in particular sell, off vast amounts of monastic land. To many of the ordinary people this was the path to hell and damnation. Who would administer alms to the poor, and medicine to the sick? Above all, people had always left money and property to monasteries, in order that the monks continually pray for them when they were dead to ensure they got to heaven. Look elsewhere in my blog to see their views of Heaven and Hell in the Doom Paintings. Life on earth was very brief and so they had to make sure they would have a blissful time in Heaven. For wrongdoers, eternity in Hell was the most unpleasant thought a human could have and so must be avoided. King Henry swept all this away and as a consequence the people of Lincolnshire rebelled in 1536 which inspired others in the north of England in what was known as the Pilgrimage of Grace. The rebellion was ruthlessly put down but in 1541 Henry made a trip to Lincoln and its castle to re-assert royal authority.
Above; King Henry VIII.
f) May 1644 Lincoln Castle was besieged once more, this time in the English Civil War .
The English Civil War took place between 1642 and 1651 with Lincoln changing hands several times. In May 1644, the Royalists were in control of the city under the leadership of Sir Francis Fane with about 2000 men. On May 3rd, the Earl of Manchester’s army of about 6000 troops recaptured the lower parts of the town with the Royalists occupying the area around the Castle and Cathedral. On the 4th, heavy rain meant that every attempt to get up the castle slopes resulted in the Parliamentarians slipping and sliding and easily being repulsed. To make certain the Royalists could not get help, Oliver Cromwell put his troops between Lincoln and any potential Royalist rescue army. On May 6th, the Parliamentarians attacked the Castle area again and despite having rocks hurled at them and using scaling ladders which were too short for their task, they defeated Royalists. Between 650-800 Royalists were captured and about 50 were killed at a cost to the Parliamentarians of 8 killed and 40 wounded. From here, eventually, Parliament went on to win the war.
Above: Oliver Cromwell
Essential information.
Getting there.
The Castle’s website gives the following information;
Lincoln Castle is located in the heart of Lincoln’s historic Cathedral Quarter. This area is sometimes referred to as ‘uphill Lincoln’ and is full of quaint streets and independent shops, including the Bailgate shopping area and Lincoln’s famous Steep Hill – voted Britain’s Best Street.
There are many ways to travel to Lincoln Castle. The information below will help you to plan your journey whatever mode of transport you use.
Lincoln Castle
Castle Square
Lincoln
LN1 3AACAR
Lincoln Castle is well signposted on brown signs on all major routes into the city.
There are several small car parks close to Lincoln Castle but capacity in these is very limited.
Postcodes for these are:
St Paul's Lane - LN1 3AL
Castle Hill - LN1 3AA
Westgate 1 - LN1 3BG
Westgate 2 - LN1 3BG
Westgate 3 - LN1 3BG
The Lawn - LN1 3BU
There are more car parks across the city with greater capacity.
Postcodes for these are:
Flaxengate - LN2 1JX
Flaxengate 2 - LN2 1LJ Open Weekends and Bank Holidays only
Langworthgate - LN2 4AW
Lucy Tower Street - LN1 1XL (multistorey)
Broadgate Multistorey - LN2 5AP
Thornbridge - LN5 7HW
For more details on the park and ride scheme
TRAIN
There are direct lines to Lincoln from Newark, Nottingham, Sheffield, Leicester, Peterborough, Doncaster and London. Northern Rail offer special train fares to the city.
Lincoln Central train station is located in the city centre. From the station it is a 10 minute drive or 20 minute walk to Lincoln Castle. A taxi from the station to Lincoln Castle costs around £4.50 and there is a taxi rank outside the station.
BUS
There are good bus connections throughout Lincoln and Lincolnshire. Lincoln bus station is located in the city centre next to the train station. Bus numbers 7, 8, 17 and 18 run between the bus station and Lincoln Castle.
All four buses come into the uphill area of Lincoln where you can get off at the Lincoln Hotel, Radio Lincolnshire, Cecil Street or the Museum of Lincolnshire Life, all a 5-10 minute walk from Lincoln Castle.
The Lincoln Walk & Ride bus service links the Cathedral Quarter (where the castle is located) with the rest of the city including the bus and train stations. It runs throughout the day from Monday to Saturday and tickets can be purchased on the bus.
BICYCLE
If you travel to Lincoln Castle by bicycle there are spaces to lock bikes in Castle Hill car park just outside the Castle’s East Gate entrance.
ON FOOT
If you are walking to the castle from the south side of the city please note that there is a very steep hill on the approach to the castle, called appropriately enough Steep Hill.
This wonderfully picturesque street lined with independent shops and boutiques is well worth a visit, but we felt it only fair to warn you of the steep gradient!
Tickets
There are several types of tickets and so click here for the latest information.
Opening Times
The castle is open 7 days a week from 10.00am to 5.00 pm (click here for the latest information)
Accessibility
Click here for the latest information. Wheelchair users have access to the east section of the wall to see the cathedral and some other great views, as well as access to the grounds and buildings.
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The old phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words” is very appropriate when looking at the magnificent Wenhaston doom painting. In the medieval world where few people could read, a painting of the events of the “Last Judgement” would carefully show what was going to happen to souls when the world would come to an end. This would guide people to manage their lives to ensure a wonderful future. The picture of Hell left no one in doubt that sinners would have a horrible future. The doom painting at Wenhaston is in remarkable condition with very little missing or incomprehensible.