Five on Friday: The Romans in Lincoln

For Amy's Five on Friday this week we're going back to Lincoln, this time to look at the Roman remains.  Don't forget after you've looked at this to visit her site Love Made My Home and see what other people have to offer.

I'm not going to write much historical about these photos.  I already did a fuller post on my other blog with more history included. You can see that here if you want to.

We were staying at the Lincoln Hotel, but back in the days when I lived in Lincoln it was called the Eastgate.  That's because the remains of the city's old East Gate can be found right outside it.

Don't ask about the hotel. The term 'spoiled for a ha'porth of tar' comes to mind. However, Here's the old East Gate - or its foundations at least. It was a very impressive two-storey structure in its day, with semicircular towers on each side. These are the remains of one of the towers.

This is rather cool. If you look carefully you can just make out - along the edge of the cars - a row of circles set into the road surface. (The street's called Bailgate.) These circles mark the positions of the pillars across the front of the old Roman Forum. I've seen models and drawings of fora before, but I've never really grasped how big they were until I saw this.  It's a great way of bringing the old town to life.

This was one of my favourite discoveries while we were there. The castle has had a massive makeover since my day. Back when I worked as a journalist on the Lincolnshire Chronicle I used to cover the coroner's court hearings. Imagine my surprise to discover the court room is now the castle gift shop! However, the rest of the building has been updated and now includes a fascinating museum section with artefacts that have been dug up on site.  Here are a couple of them - an antler comb and a couple of bone hair pins.
I love this kind of item when I see them on display. A comb is so personal. I can imagine a Roman lady dressing her hair (or allowing her slave to dress it for her) and laying this down onto a table, or placing it into a box until it was needed again.

Fancy having this in your back garden! It was originally part of a reservoir, or water tank, that's believed to have served the local bath house. It had hefty foundations and was lined with waterproof cement. It's tucked away down a narrow street and I had no idea it existed, even though I lived about 300 yards from it for six months!

And this is possibly Lincoln's Roman pride and joy. It might not look much now, but it was a significant gateway into the town and crossed the old Ermine Street - the York to London route. It's the only Roman arch in the UK that's still open to motor traffic. (All those bits in York are later sections of the city walls.) This is Newport Arch and I think it's wonderful.

The wall in the previous photo is about six houses down on the right of this picture. And I lived a similar distance off to the left. (In Cecil Street, for anyone who knows the area.)

Now visit other people at Amy's Love Made My Home by clicking on the picture below.

Five from Lincoln Cathedral

We've been away this week celebrating my birthday. We had two days in Whitby, then moved on to Lincoln. I've selected five things from Lincoln Cathedral so I can take part in Amy's Five on Friday. Click on the block at the bottom of this post to see what others are offering. 

First up, let me revisit something I already covered in the Friday Fives - the Green Man. Lincoln has several, if you look hard, but one of the most intriguing is this one, carefully concealed within the foliage decorating an archway.

He's been helpfully lit up by cathedral authorities to make him easier to spot. 

This rather magnificent window is called the Bishop's Eye.

It contains medieval glass. It was one of two windows added to the cathedral in the late middle ages but was reconstructed in 1330. 

In the north east corner of the building stands the magnificent octagonal chapter house. This is the central pillar, leading to the vaulting. I just find it beautiful and my photo doesn't begin to show you the majesty of the room. 

Captain Matthew Flinders, the English navigator and cartographer, was the first to circumnavigate Australia and identify it as a continent. He was born in Donington near Spalding, Lincolnshire, and named several places on the south coast of Australia after towns and villages in his native county. 

He is commemorated with a number of items in the Navy chapel at Lincoln Cathedral, including this bronze of him and his cat. It's a maquette for a larger sculpture that stands on the concourse outside Euston Station in London.

And finally, I couldn't leave without a photo of this guy:

He is, of course, the Lincoln Imp. The story goes that many years ago an imp flew into Lincoln Cathedral to admire the Angel Choir. He settled on to a pillar top to look at his surroundings and was so overcome by the beauty that he forgot he should be home before dawn. And with the sunrise he was turned to stone. You can still see him there today.

Now visit other people at Amy's Love Made My Home by clicking on the picture below.