The Castle

The Romans had built a fortress on the current location of the Castle. William the Conqueror built the current castle on top of it. Lincoln was an incredibly important town in those days. Ermine Street, a major Roman road and England’s main north-south route, passed through Lincoln on its way to York. In fact, I’d walked along a section of Ermine Street as I’d struggled up the cobbled Steep Street earlier this morning. The Fosse Way was another important Roman route connecting Lincoln with the city of Leicester and the south-west of England. The River Witham was a waterway that connected to the River Trent, via the Fossdyke Roman Canal and to the North Sea via the Wash. Lincoln was a 11th century communication hub and William wanted to protect it by building the castle. 

It was a motte and bailey castle and Lincoln Castle was unusual in that it has two mottes. A motte was a  mound on which a Keep was built. A bailey was the fortified enclosure built next to the motte. As in Lincoln’s case, prisons were sometimes placed in the bailey area. Debtors would be separated from the more serious felons and would have more privileges such as being able to walk freely within the bailey area. This is where the term to be ‘out on bail’ comes from. I later went on a guided tour of the grounds (it was free as part of the admissions ticket) and the guide came up with interesting information such as the above. 

Cobb Hall

I decided to walk anti-clockwise around the walls. The council had made a really good job of providing a safe path including safety fencing, stairs and interesting information boards along the way. Cobb Hall was the first major structure I reached along the wall. This defended the north-east section of the castle. It had a dungeon underneath where graffiti had been carved on the walls by the prisoners. Between 1817 and 1859, 38 condemned prisoners were hanged on wooden gallows constructed on the tower’s roof. These public executions were watched by vast crowds outside the castle walls. Thomas Cook, the newly created ‘holiday’ company, were even said to have arranged trips to the executions. Initially, the hangings used more of a strangulation method and bets would be made within the crowd as to how long each prisoner would survive. Later on, Lincolnshire hangman William Marwood performed executions using his long drop method. In this case the prisoner would die instantaneously. I suppose that was progress, but wasn't appreciated by the punters. Marwood was actually a cobbler by trade; your mind must wander to other things as you fixed holes in shoes. An information board had a print of his business card. It said,
WM. MARWOOD,

EXECUTIONER,

CHURCH LANE,

HORNCASTLE,
LINCOLNSHIRE, ENGLAND.   
That was quite a job title.    

The dragons rumbled again. I was above them now. Apparently they are called Lucy and Norman. There is a ‘Lucy Tower’ later on along the wall. As for ‘Norman’, well I’ll let you work that one out...

West Gate And The Battle Of Lincoln

The perimeter of the Castle walls wasn’t actually that long and I soon reached the West Gate. In medieval times, this gate led into open country. During the Battle of Lincoln (1217) it played a pivotal role when it was used by Royalists to gain access to the besieged castle when the invading French were installed in the town below. I have to confess that I didn’t know a lot about this battle before my visit. It was a battle between the forces of the future Louis VIII of France and those of King Henry III of England. Louis had entered London in 1216 and proclaimed himself King of England. He was supported in the claim because many English barons were unhappy with the incompetent rule of King John (more of that later with the Magna Carta). John died in 1216, making his 9 year old son Henry III the King of England. The Barons who had supported Louis were now inclined to support Henry. William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke. mustered a relief force of around 400 knights and 250 crossbowmen , as well as a large number of foot soldiers. Over 6 hours of battle, Marshal’s forces defeated the French who then fled Lincoln. What might have been a joyous occasion seemed less so when Marshal’s army ransacked the town on the pretence that it was loyal to Louis. This event was later euphemistically called the ‘Lincoln Fair.’ 

Courthouse

The Courthouse was just below me now. It looked a fine Gothic style building and it seemed odd that it was still in use as a Crown Court. Earlier, I’d seen a prison van make its way towards its entrance. It was built in 1826 (replacing an earlier 1776 version) for the twice-yearly sittings of the Lincolnshire Assizes. Visiting judges would deal with the most serious offences such as murder, rape, theft, forgery and punishments such as hanging and transportation. 

The views to the south started to open up as I walked down the west wall. Lincolnshire is as flat as a billiard table, except for this hill where the Castle and Cathedral stand. There was no rolling landscape here. I could see for miles and miles. In the far distance I could see a power station. I tried to remember its name, but my memory failed me. There is beauty in hills, but there can also be beauty in flatness too. 

Lucy Tower And Observatory Tower

The west wall finished and I turned south. It didn’t take me long to reach Lucy Tower, a polygonal Keep on the top of a mound. A door led into the grassy inner sanctuary that hosted a tree. In the 19th century the area began to be used as a burial ground for those who had been executed or died of natural causes in prison. A few graves are visible. The original walls of the Keep were a little higher. It is thought the name Lucy derived from a woman who was a daughter and wife to Sheriffs of Lincoln.    

A door led me out of Lucy Tower and a short walk along the wall brought me to the Observatory Tower. This had a quirky small turret on the top which I was disappointed to find was built in the early 19th century. John Merryweather was prison governor at the time and was a keen amateur astronomer and so it is thought he had it built to pursue his love of stargazing.    

It had taken about half an hour to complete a circuit along the walls. The wall wasn't as long as the one at York, but the views to the Cathedral and across the flat Lincolnshire landscape were amazing. 

The Grounds

I wandered around the Bailey for a while. The leaves on the trees and those of the climbers on the Courthouse were changing to their autumnal hues. It was really quite pretty.  The dragons hissed and grumbled as I made my way to a statue that was surrounded by a low hedge. This turned out to be a stone bust of King George III that once sat on a huge stone column known as Dunston Pillar. The pillar had acted as an inland lighthouse to guide travellers crossing the wild heathlands south of Lincoln. The statue and one third of the pillar were dismantled in 1941 to prevent aircraft from nearby RAF bases crashing into them and the bust ended up here at Lincoln Castle. 

Guide

I waited at an upright stone near to the East Gate for my guide to turn up. A plaque said that the stone was all that remained of a  memorial to Queen Eleanor (1241-1290). I recount the story of Eleanor in my Captain’s Log of Lincoln Cathedral. 

‘It’s a cold wind isn’t it?’ The question  came from an old fellow who had crept up on me as I’d been studying Eleanor's stone. I agreed that it was and I asked him if he was waiting for the guided tour too.  
'Well, I’m actually the one giving the tour’ he said. He reminded me of my old school Latin teacher, who used to decline various verbs as he paced in front of the class and when he'd ended with the 3rd person plural, he would spit out of the open window. I hoped my guide didn’t have the same habit, especially on a windy day like this. A young Greek couple were the only other people on the tour. The fellow turned out to be an excellent host and made the tour of the grounds very interesting. He often referenced students and so it wouldn’t have surprised me if he had been a lecturer in his working life. He certainly brought the stories of Lincoln Castle to life and the hour passed very quickly. It was also useful to take the guided tour before entering the Prison since he gave some useful background information to what I would see in there.

Prison

My ticket also gave me access to the Prison. The guide told us how the debtors were separated from the more serious felons. The Georgian gaol initially held both debtors and criminals, but in 1848 the felon’s block was replaced with the forbidding red brick Victorian gaol. Our guide told us about the ‘Separate System’ that was adopted by Lincoln. In the 19th century, the spread of criminality was thought to be like an infection and so criminals should be separated from each other(hence how the role of warders got its name). The Separate System tried to eliminate all contact between prisoners, to the extent that there could be no communication at all. The prisoners had to wear hoods with holes for their eyes so that they could not recognise each other.  The most bizarre implementation of the system was in the Prison Chapel. Each seat in the Chapel was corralled into its own pen so that the only thing you could see from the seat was the pulpit. I’d once seen a documentary of a similar setup at a prison in Tasmania from the same period, but I’d no idea that they’d attempted the same system in England too. When in the Chapel I walked up to the pulpit and looked at the auditorium of seats. Some dummy figures had been placed into some of the pens. It just seemed unreal that anybody might think this would work. In fact the system was never fully implemented at Lincoln, probably because of the number of prisoners and the overhead of actually maintaining the system. 

A consequence of the system was that the cells were actually well provisioned with a basin, toilet, hammock, table and stool. The female and male prisoners were kept separate, including in the exercise yards. The prisoners were expected to work on a series of monotonous tasks such as unravelling old ropes for reuse. Some cells had now been converted to individual museums which gave a flavour of the life of a prisoner. There was a grim, windowless punishment cell too. The door and walls were thick and so it essentially implemented sensory deprivation. There was an example of a punishment device where the prisoner had to turn the crank handle. The resistance of the handle  could be increased. This is where the term ‘screws’ for prison guards come from. The prison was interesting, but a little disturbing. 

Museum

Some of the rooms had been converted into a small museum that housed artefacts that had been found at the Castle. This included items from the Roman era to the 19th century. I was intrigued to find a couple of toothbrushes made from bone and horsehair. They were invented by William Addis in 1790. Later the bristles came to be made from pig or badger hair. 

The ‘Graffito’ stone was also displayed. This was a stone on which the names of four convicts brought to the gaol between 1807 and 1808 had been carved. The four were waiting for transportation to Australia and all had been convicted for theft. They were all pardoned after 7 years incarceration on the prison hulk Captivity moored at Portsmouth. 

There were plenty of Roman artefacts such as an Antler comb and hairpins. I was interested in finding a 14th-15th century toothpick and ear scoop. What a great idea! Or, maybe not, thinking about it.  

A 13th century Cobb was on display. These were large rounded stone balls that were used in trebuchets. I wondered whether the phrase ‘sweating cobbs’ came from this, but research revealed it to probably come from the workhorse ‘cobs’ that used to sweat profusely. During repairs to Cobb Hall in 1831, 200 cobbs were found; they were probably stored for ammunition to defend the castle. This was probably how Cobb Hall got its name.

Magna Carta

Lincoln is famous for holding the Magna Carta and these can be viewed by the public in a specially built building accessed from the prison. Part of the exhibition includes a cinema where a short film about the Magna Carta is displayed on a continuous loop. It was well worth going to see the film although at the time I saw it, the soundtrack had an annoying glitch that made the narrator sound like Norman Collier. This was a shame since they’d obviously spent quite a lot of money on the cinema and the film production. 

I say ‘the’ Magna Carta, but there were many versions of the document. Maybe it is best to step back a bit and explain what it is. King John reigned from 1199 to 1216 and was hated by just about everybody. He was cruel, disloyal, skimmed money into his own pockets and he was rubbish at wars. This didn’t go down well with the Barons of the time, who wanted a more stable environment where they were unlikely to be killed or lose their own ill gotten gains at the whim of the King. They therefore got together and drafted a charter that was basically a declaration of rights for them. There has since been a lot of talk about this document being the foundation of democracy. Some say it influenced the U.S.A constitution by establishing the principle that the government is not above the law and that individuals have rights and protections. Obviously the current US incumbent hasn’t read their constitution. I think it is important to remember the context in which the document was written. For example, the charter refers to rights for ‘freemen’, but not many people were classed as free in 13th century England. A more inclusive term for‘freemen’ occurred over many years. Later versions of the Magna Carta included a Charter of the Forest. This additional document granted rights to commoners to use royal forests for resources like grazing, firewood and food and limited the King’s power over these lands. 

As stated above, there were many versions of Magna Carta and the version control is by date:
1215 - The original version was  annulled by Pope Innocent III almost straight away on John’s request. Four original copies of this version survive; two are held at the British Library, one at Salisbury Cathedral and one at Lincoln Cathedral.
1216 - A reissue by King Henry III, issued on behalf of the young King.
1217 - Another reissue by King Henry III including the Charter of the Forest.
1225 - The definitive version issued by King Henry III having grown out of nappies and being able to string words into a sentence. It is definitive because he was not put under duress to agree to it. Four copies of this version survive.
1297 - Reissued by King Edward I. This is the version that became part of English statutory law.

Lincoln has one of the four original 1215 versions of the Magna Carta. It also has the 1217 version of the Charter of the Forest. The documents are on loan from Lincoln Cathedral, but presumably the clergy feel safer that they are now stored in a prison, in a castle with a courthouse a couple of hundred yards away.     

I’d recently seen versions of the Magna Carta at Durham Cathedral (see the Captain’s Log for Durham Cathedral) where I’d had to go through a double door into a room where the documents had been environmentally sealed. It seemed odd that there was no similar environmental control here. 

Exit

I decided to get a coffee before I left the Castle but it had closed early due to ‘staffing issues.’ I wandered from the Prison building onto the grounds again. The dragons were still grumbling and smoking. It looked like some people were setting up an event in the grounds that involved an outdoor cinema. Some of their deck chairs had already blown over. It seemed a brave event to organise for the end of October. A couple of snack bars were preparing some death burgers. Given the large number of porta-loos, they must have been expecting quite a few people to turn up. I watched a threatening black cloud creep above the Castle’s western wall and I wished them luck.    

My Lincoln Castle visit was far better than I was expecting. The wall walk wasn't particularly long, but there were plenty of historical things to review and the surrounding views of the Cathedral, city and landscape were spectacular. I would definitely recommend going on the ‘free’ ground tour; it was very informative and entertaining. The Prison was quite an eyeopener and had the bonus of the museum artefacts. The piece-de-resistance was obviously seeing one of the original 1215 versions of the Magna Carta.