Lincoln Cathedral dominates this town
I love a great English cathedral town, and we’ll be visiting several of them on this journey. I booked a stop here in Lincoln for two good reasons: 1) it’s reasonably on our trajectory up the East side of England toward Scotland; and 2) the town is dominated by a huge medieval cathedral. So here we landed for a couple nights.
What I didn’t realize when I put Lincoln on our map is that 1) it’s kind of a smallish town; and 2) it’s off the American tourist route.
It turns out there are places Americans go and places they don’t. Our previous stops have all seemed flooded with American tourists. In hotels and restaurants it seems like half the voices you hear have American accents. Not so here in Lincoln. Sitting at breakfast you hear all English accents of one sort or another. One woman here just used the word “bloody” twice in one sentence.
On our first evening, two college age lads were sitting at the table next to us, and they seemed to take some interest in us. Finally, they asked where we were from, admitting that they were just baffled as to where our very exotic sounding accents could be from. We enjoyed quite a bit of conversation. Just as we are Midwesterners who made our way to the big city of New York (which they are fascinated by), they are from the Midlands, contemplating a path to better places.
Turns out they are brothers from the very industrial town of Derby, famed for making cars, including Rolls Royces. Fergus, 26, has managed to move up a bit, landing in Lincoln, where he is doing a PhD in neurosciences. Malachy, 20, is still back in Derby — and dreams of going to New York some day.
Fun dinner conversation with Malachy and Fergus
A view from the lower town toward the upper town and cathedral — before the road gets steeper and steeper
An elegant gateway just before the roads starts to really climb
The actual road name gets right to the point
Tantalizing views of what’s at the top of this monster hill
The features that really stand out in this surprisingly small-feeling town: 1) the 12th century cathedral that just dominates the place, hulking over the town from every angle; 2) the huge 11th century Lincoln Castle, built under orders from William the Conqueror; and 3) the incredibly steep road that gets you from the train station up to the town.
Now we’re set to climb back down that crazy steep road to catch the train to our next stop, which is York. I was in York with my parents 33 years ago and loved it. York, too, has a huge cathedral. But, as Fergus and Malachy insisted, we’re going to really love it because it’s a real town!
Did I mention that the cathedral dominates the town? That would include the view from our room!
An interior shot of Lincoln Cathedral
The cathedral is so huge that the services take place inside this large but comparatively intimate choir area
Inside the roof of the cathedral
Details from the roof
Lincoln Castle from the cathedral roof
One feature of Lincoln Castle is a Victorian era prison. Prisoners had private cells because the jailers believed that they were more likely to reform if they were kept from each other’s wicked influence. They would also bring the prisoners to services in this chapel, with little stalls built so they could see the preacher — but not each other.
The prison had a special exhibit about record album covers. You could sit in various prison cells and look at old album covers while they played the music for you. Very weird.
On a somewhat more sophisticated level, the prison also displayed one of the four existing original copies of Magna Carta from 1215
These people have the right attitude
Glorious views of architecture representing several centuries from lunch at a great tapas place
The dining choices here were limited enough that we went right back to the same tapas place for dinner
It was a good idea to change the name of this club