Lincoln

Introduction

Cloisters

© Churchmous

Lincoln is a city in the East Midlands English county of Lincolnshire. It has about 90,000 inhabitants.
uch of prehistoric Lincolnshire was wetland, but a scarp of chalk and sandstone ran north-south, a natural transport corridor and vantage point. The River Witham broke through midway, so you had to descend from the scarp, squelch across the valley then climb the other side. The Romans turned this route into Ermine Street and colonised the north slope as Lindum. The river was navigable yet the upper settlement was flood-free, so Lindum prospered through agriculture and as an ecclestiastical centre. Thus Lincoln became a substantial medieval cathedral city; its woollen wear was dyed with blue woad and yellow meld to create "Lincoln Green".

The city saw strife with 12th century civil wars and anti-semitic pogroms, French incursions, the Dissolution of the Monasteries which cut ecclesiastic income, and the 17th century civil wars. It recovered with advances in agriculture of the Georgian era, especially the drainage of Lincolnshire which greatly increased arable land. It developed heavy industry in the 19th century but from the visitors' point of view had two strokes of luck. The Great North Road (later A1) took a more westerly route from Peterborough through Newark to avoid the Humber, as did the London-York railway, and city industry was down in the valley not up on the scarp. This meant that the medieval centre wasn't re-developed, and remains one of the most attractive in Britain.

Sights and Activities

• Lincoln Castle - home of one of the four remaining copies of the Magna Carta
• Lincoln Cathedral - M-Sa 10:00-16:00, Su 12:00-15:00. One of the finest Gothic buildings in Europe, at the heart of the medieval city. It was completed in 1092 but torn asunder by Britain's strongest recorded earthquake in 1185. Rebuilt, it became a great ecclesiastical centre, though the tower collapsed in 1237 and the spire in 1548. Notable features are the vaulted ceilings, the rose windows, the 1422 Medieval and 17th century Wren libraries, the 18th century clock tower, and the baleful Lincoln Imp - look for him just left of the great east window. 21st century repairs found that many flying buttresses had lost contact with the walls, so the cathedral was being kept upright by little more than the power of prayer, which perhaps has advanced since the last major collapse, and is another motive for the regular Anglican services here. Adult £9, conc £7.20, child £4.80.
• Lincoln City FC is one of the 92 professional football clubs in the higher tiers of English football. For the 2017-8 season, the team is in League 2 (the old league division 4).

Getting There

By Plane

Manchester Airport will often be the most convenient, for its range of flights at competitive prices and good onward transport, see below.

Other airports lie closer but have far fewer flights or onward connections. They do have car hire, which you'll need to explore Lincolnshire beyond the city. They include Leeds-Bradford, East Midlands Airport near Derby and Humberside towards Hull.

By Train

Trains run to a range of destinations including Newark-on-Trent, Grimsby, Nottingham, Leicester, Sheffield and Peterborough. East Midlands Trains operates direct trains from Lincoln Central to London St Pancras via Nottingham and Leicester railway stations. A fast train service direct to Lincoln from London Kings Cross operates 4 times a day.

By Car

From the south follow A1 to Newark (where the junction is often congested) then A46. This loops north side of Lincoln and continues to Grimsby.

A15 follows the line of the Roman road from Peterborough and Sleaford, looping east side of the city and continuing to Scunthorpe, Humber Bridge and Hull. It's an undivided highway, often arrow-straight so people speed, but with many blind spots and pitfalls.

From the north the usual route is A1 to Markham Moor then A57 and Dunham toll bridge (car 40p). You could also turn onto M62 / M180 east then A15 south.

Don't bring a car into city centre unless you've planned ahead where you're going to park. The multistorey car park north side of the bus station has 1000 spaces and several EV charge points. The Park & Ride is northeast, by the junction of A15 and A46.

By Bus

ational Express runs twice daily taking 5-6 hours from London Victoria via Nottingham, where you may have to change onto the bus starting from Birmingham. Both services continue to Hull. Megabus doesn't run to Lincoln.

Stagecoach buses converge on the city from across Lincolnshire, for instance from Grimsby, Market Rasen, Louth, Skegness, Horncastle, Sleaford, Grantham, Gainsborough and Scunthorpe.

Lincoln bus station is across the street from the railway station. It's modern, effectively a single corridor: buses to the cathedral area leave from Stands C and D. There's a cafe but more choice in the adjacent streets.

Getting Around

By Public Transport

Stagecoach is the main bus operator but there are ten others. Buses you might use are the 2, 31, 33, 34 south for Bomber Command, 3, 8, 18 for Museum of Lincolnshire Life, and 16, 48, 49, 83 southwest for Hykeham.

The Walk & Ride bus doesn't come into the station, but circles Silver St, the cathedral, Lincoln Hotel, Bailgate, The Lawn, Castle Square, Park St and so back to Silver St. It runs every 20 minutes.

By Foot

Walk wherever possible. The medieval spine of town isn't suitable for anything more elaborate than a pack-mule or hand-cart. A sightseeing bus circulates in summer.

By Bike

Hire Bike Lincoln have shared pedal and e-bikes. Casual use is £3 / hour up to 3 hours, or you can register for longer use. They're more useful for the suburbs than exploring the old centre: there are docking stations at Newport Arch and Union St but none just by the castle or cathedral.

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet cafés can be found in many cities and towns. All UK public libraries provide access, often branded as "People's Network", usually at no or little charge, though there is usually a time limit. Some hotels/hostels also offer internet access, including wifi, but most times at a cost. Using the internet on your personal phone can become expensive very quickly, with carriers charging 100's of times the local rate for data. To avoid these expensive roaming charges, you can hunt for wifi at a local cafe or hotel, or rent a mobile hotspot via several providers including DATAPiXY, and XCOM Global.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

The country calling code to the United Kingdom is: 44. To make an international call from the United Kingdom, the code is: 00

In case of emergency, call 999 or 112 from any phone. Such calls are free and will be answered by an emergency services operator who will ask you for your location, and the service(s) you need (police, fire, ambulance, coastguard or mountain rescue). You can call this number from any mobile telephone as well, even if you do not have roaming.

Although the number is declining, you can still find payphones in many public areas, especially stations, airports etc. You can usually pay with cash and sometimes by creditcard or, for international calls, special phonecards are still available.

Mobile phones are heavily used. The main networks are T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange and O2. 3G data services are available, usually priced per megabyte and coverage is usually very good in the UK, however it may lack in rural areas. Roaming on your personal phone plan can be expensive. To manage costs, consider purchasing a local UK SIM card for your phone. Several companies offer local SIM cards including Telestial, and CellularAbroad.

Post

The Royal Mail provides postal services in the United Kingdom. The Royal Mail's store fronts are called Post Office and offer services ranging from sending letters and packages to foreign currency exchange. Use the branch locator to find the nearest Post Office branch. There will be at least one post office in any town/city and there are quite often post offices in larger villages. It's common for a post office to be incorporated into a grocery store, where there will be a small counter located at the back of the store for dealing with post related matters. All post offices are marked with signs that say 'post office' in red lettering. Post boxes can be found at any post office and standalone large red post boxes on the streets or red boxes in the sides of public buildings.
For sending packages overseas, it might be a good idea to check prices and services with international companies like TNT, UPS or DHL.

External Links

• Official Governmental Website