EXPLORING ROMAN LINCOLN
Tracking Down the Hidden History on Lincoln’s Modern Streets.
The Newport Arch.
We have discovered our new favourite way of exploring cities: searching for the ancient Roman ruins. It would honestly shock you just how much is left tucked away from Roman Britain. Even after 2000 years of life and development, these ruins remain overlooked by the commuters and the city goers as they rush through the modern city.
Lincoln or Lindum Colonia as the Romans called it was actually a very important Roman City and there is still a lot of evidence left of its Roman Occupation. It was first settled upon by the Ninth Hispana Roman Legion in around 50AD built originally as a wooden fortress base on their way up to York.
The site of Lincoln was an incredibly important thoroughfare of the time linking two key Roman Roads, The Fosse Way and Ermine Street as well as the providing River Witham and naturally forming Brayford Pool. The Romans transformed these waterways into an inland port for trade, widening and deepening the river and building several canals in the process. From Lincoln they shipped lots of produce and goods up the Fosse Way to supply the northern frontline and northern settlements making the Brayford the UK’s oldest example of an inland harbour.
Beginning life as a timber fortress, it wasn’t long before such an important strategic location got an upgrade and the grand city of Lindum Colonia was founded around 86AD under Emperor Domitian. Colonia were key, important cities in Roman Times and as a result Lincoln underwent extensive public works seeing the construction of an elaborate Roman City. Complete with Forum, Basilica, Bath Houses, and even an Aqueduct! practically bursting with Roman Culture. The Colonia themselves were essentially the show cities of the Roman Empire, where they would bring all of their structure and culture as the perfect example of the Roman Way of Life.
The main population of a Roman Colonia would have initially been retired legionnaires and Lindum Colonia was a thriving community that is estimated to have had a population between 5,000 - 10,000 people. So how much of this thriving Roman Colonia is still left to be discovered today? Well stepping off the bus onto the lower high street we were ready to find out.
After beginning life as a timber fortress it wasn’t long before such an important strategic location got an upgrade and the grand city of Lindum Colonia was founded at around 86AD under the Emperor Domitian.
Roman Tombstone.
The first stop on our Roman Tour and the first stop for any visitor to Lincoln is a rather unassuming Church located right next to Lincoln Train Station. This is the Church of St Mary Le Wigford and it is actually the oldest parish church in the City of Lincoln having stood in this commercial centre since Saxon times. So what’s the Roman connection?
Well the Romans weren’t responsible for the construction of this church but it is in the building of the Church’s Tower during Saxon Times that a little bit of Roman Britain appears. It seems that we have been recycling for centuries with the Dedication Stone for this Church actually being a repurposed Roman Tombstone.
“Eirtig had me built and endowed to the glory of Christ and St. Mary, XP” is the Saxon inscription that can be found engraved above the original Roman inscription which reads as: “To the departed spirits and to the name of Sacer. Son of Bruscus, a citizen of the Senones and of Carssouna, his wife and of Quintus, his son…”. A quirky piece of Roman Britain in a rather unexpected location.
Continuing up the high street from St Mary Le Wigford we cross over onto the sight of the Lower City of Lindum Colonia. Lindum Colonia consisted of two major sites, the Upper and the Lower City. The Upper City is housed in the current Cathedral Quarter and is the oldest part of the Roman City where the original fortress would have stood before being developed into a Colonia. Part of this development led to the creation of the Lower City as the Colonia expanded and developed and more and more people began to settle here. Walls were added and then expanded creating two walled segments within which the city of Lindum Colonia was housed.
It seems that we have been recycling for centuries with the Dedication Stone for this Church actually being a repurposed Roman Tombstone.
City Hall Wall.
It is one of these walled segments that we have our sights set on next, with maybe a brief stop at Stokes Coffee House for some fuel (We mean why wouldn't you? It's literally the only building on a Medieval bridge in Britain and it serves excellent coffee!). Lincoln City Hall is about a 5-10 min walk from St Mary Le Wigford (via Stokes Coffee House) and reflects a fascinating juxtaposition between the brutalist modern architecture of the Council Building and the ancient crumbling remains of the Roman Lower West Wall and West Gate.
This Lower City Wall was added around the 2nd Century to protect the sprawling settlement that had developed below the older Upper City. As Lindum Colonia developed and expanded, walls were strengthened and gates were added to reflect the importance and impressive prestige of a Colonia City.
All of this development and strengthening leads to more examples of ancient recycling, much like the first stop on our tour, making for some fascinating archaeological finds like the beautifully decorated Roman Cornice Stone that is on display in the foyer of City Hall. This cornice stone was actually found at the base of one of the 4th Century additions to this section of Roman Wall, the gate tower. It is believed to have come from an earlier elaborate Roman Building and was simply reused in later construction projects regardless of its stunning carved stonework. They also found fragments of altars and all sorts simply reused as building material for the defensive walls.
This 4th Century West Gate and a rather impressive length of surviving wall is what remains visible today underneath the Council Building, overlooked by the various offices and meeting rooms and still being walked through today by visitors from the car park.
It’s time to get back on the beaten track now and head right into the heart of Roman Lincoln, The Upper City. It is impossible to properly visit the City of Lincoln without tackling Steep Hill and heading up into the famous Cathedral Quarter.
This 4th Century West Gate and a rather impressive length of surviving wall is what remains visible today underneath the Council Building, overlooked by the various offices and meeting rooms and still being walked through today by visitors from the car park.
Roman Mosaic within the grounds of Lincoln Cathedral.
The fourth steepest street in England, Steep Hill isn’t for the faint hearted, but people have been dragging themselves up and down this 16.12 degree gradient slope since the times of Lindum Colonia. It was actually the Romans that are the reason Steep Hill is such an important part to the City of Lincoln as they created this connection between the Upper and Lower City, although back in Roman Times they did have steps to assist the steep ascent.
Evidence of Lindum Colonia can be found at no 44 Steep Hill where the remains of the Roman South Gate to the Upper City are incorporated into the brick walls of the independent shops and businesses that line the hill. So whilst you're catching your breath keep an eye out for this trapped piece of Roman history.
One of the most iconic centrepieces to the City of Lincoln and one of the rewards for the steep climb is the impressive gothic building of Lincoln Cathedral that was first commissioned in 1072 and the next stop on our tour. The origins of this fine building can be traced back to William the Conqueror, who was also responsible for the construction of Lincoln Castle (the other reward for trekking up the hill).
Desperate to consolidate his Norman power and rule William chose Lincoln as a strategic point of connection between the North and the South and ordered the Cathedral to be built here as the new centre of ecclesiastical power to try and unify the Norman power further north. This strategic connection between the North and the South is a large part of the reason for Lincoln’s rich and important history and is the same reason for the creation of the Roman City of Lindum Colonia.
Lincoln Cathedral has experienced some turbulent and incredible history as well as impressive feats; the replacement of the Central Tower and addition of a wooden spire in 1310 made Lincoln Cathedral the tallest building in the world for over 200 years surpassing the Great Pyramid of Giza, it is also the home to one of the few copies of the Magna Carta and houses one of the two last surviving libraries designed by the famous architect Christopher Wren. It really isn’t a location to miss but it was some much older history that had drawn us in on this occasion.
In 1793 work in the cloister garden of Lincoln Cathedral revealed an extraordinary and elaborate Roman Mosaic. This fine mosaic pavement is important evidence of the kind of quality of life that was led inside of Lindum Colonia. The knowledge of exactly what kind of buildings were contained within the Upper City is rather fragmentary due to it being such a historic area of conservation with many of the discoveries, like the Roman Mosaic within the grounds of Lincoln Cathedral, being largely accidental as opposed to planned excavations. The elaborateness of this mosaic suggests a level of wealth that was present within the Upper City as a large, successful and thriving community.
Since its discovery the mosaic has been carefully removed and transplanted beneath the Library stairs where it can be found by visitors on display. A fascinating relic of Roman Lincoln hidden within the vast gothic arches of Lincoln Cathedral.
This strategic connection between the North and the South is a large part of the reason for Lincoln’s rich and important history and is the same reason for the creation of the Roman City of Lindum Colonia.
Circular road setts mark the site of the Roman Forum.
Mint Wall.
Large and important Roman Cities such as Lindum Colonia had to have had a Forum, the central hub and civic centre where most of the Colonia’s important public buildings and market place would have been. Lincoln’s Roman Forum can be found in the heart of what is known today as the Bailgate, just a short walk from the Cathedral, and blueprints of the impressive colonnade that would have fronted the Forum are actually cemented into the modern street.
Keeping our eyes on the pavements and the road we are hunting down these circular road setts that mark the site of the Roman Forum. Constructed from granite cobblestones and set into the modern tarmac these road setts are almost reflective of roman mosaics marking out the site where the impressive Roman Columns would have stood. The bases and location to these columns were first discovered accidentally in 1878 during excavations for a new sewer. 19 are marked out in the road and pavements of the Bailgate, mapping out what would have been an incredible and grand colonnade. Several of these circular road setts even show double or triple column sites which would have marked the entrances into the Forum.
But the best space to discover Lindum Colonia’s Roman Forum is in the small garden space that has been created to commemorate and contain the important archaeological discoveries that have been made during construction in the city as well as providing a peaceful location to enjoy a pastry and a coffee from nearby bakeries. This is St Paul in the Bail where you can sit and explore the Roman Forum surrounded by a Roman Well, Church Site and nearby Basilica Wall. Various informative plaques are placed around the garden containing the story of what life would have been like in the Roman Forum as well as the details of the archaeological discoveries that have shaped our knowledge of this Roman City.
The rather foggy well (it does need a good clean), is believed to have been dug by the Ninth Hispana Legion who initially settled in Lincoln and as Lindum Colonia developed and grew it was incorporated into the Roman Forum. This well would have been essential to the shops and businesses housed within the Roman Forum such as iron smithing, copper and silver working. The well was abandoned in the 17th Century after being used as a source of water for over 1600 years possibly due to an internal collapse or as a result of corruption during the Civil War.
Much like the colonnade it is more setts and markings that reveal to us the hidden archaeology and foundation to St Paul in the Bail, the site of one of the earliest Christian Churches in Britain and name of this archaeological urban garden. There used to be a Victorian Church that stood on this site but after its demolition in the 1970s the subsequent excavations revealed a plethora of churches that had existed on the site since the 4th Century. The earliest church is believed to be the Timber Roman Church that would have stood in the courtyard of the Roman Forum.
Moving on from this archaeological oasis at the instruction of the informative plaques and down the narrow lane of West Bight it’s important to keep your eyes peeled for the impressive Roman Wall that is tucked away behind the Castle Hotel. Known as the Mint Wall from the incorrect musings of an 18th Century Lincolnshire Antiquarian, William Stukeley, who believed this to be the site of a Roman Mint, this 23 metre stretch of Roman Wall is actually the outer wall of the Roman Basilica.
The Roman Basilicas were essentially the Town Hall of Roman Times where all the legal proceedings, business matters and even speeches would take place. Standing at 7 metres in height above our modern street level this wall is an incredibly rare Roman survivor and could be the largest fragment of non defensive Roman Wall to survive to this day in Britain. As with most Roman Wall construction the both decorative and structural lines of Roman Tiles can be visibly seen across the fragment as well as various put log holes which reveal important details about Roman construction as these are scars left over from the scaffolding stages of building the wall.
Lincoln’s Roman Forum can be found in the heart of what is known today as the Bailgate, just a short walk from the Cathedral, and blueprints of the impressive colonnade that would have fronted the Forum are actually cemented into the modern street.
The Newport Arch.
Following down the footpath on West Bight and turning right at Chapel Lane brings you round to possibly the most famous of Lincoln’s Roman Ruins, The Newport Arch. This Roman Arch dates from the 3rd Century and is the surviving section of the Northern Gate to the Colonia that spans the old Roman Ermine Street. It is the only Roman Gateway in the Country that is still used by modern traffic and as a result it has had its fair share of run ins, neary being demolished by a lorry in the 1960s that rather famously got stuck under the arch and a couple of close calls since with various lorries and large vehicles.
Originally it would have been a very impressive entrance way into the Roman City with a second storey and two semi circular towers that would have flanked the archway. These towers would have been added as the city developed into a provincial capital and various improvements and developments were undertaken to reflect its great and important status.
To the right of this impressive arch is East Bight, a tiny and beautiful English Lane which takes you down the route of the northern Roman Defences and Roman developments to the city, and the final section to our tour. One of these such Roman developments and defences can be found halfway down at the bottom part of several cottage gardens where a rather impressive fragment of Roman Wall and Water Tank still survives.
This is the remainder of a Roman reservoir that was built as part of the aqueduct complex that served the city. Lincoln’s aqueduct and water supply system is of national significance, an impressive feat of roman engineering and construction that was fully integrated into the city. It is not exactly known how the Roman Aqueduct would have functioned as bringing the water uphill for over a mile without the use of steam or electricity would not have been easy and it remains an archaeological mystery to this day.
This particular reservoir would have held 12,000 litres of water and possibly supplied the nearby site of the public baths which were incredibly important to the Roman way of life providing a socialising venue that they would have frequented much like a modern day pub.
The end of East Bight leads straight into the final stop on our little Roman Tour of Lincoln that is situated in the carpark of the Lincoln Hotel. This is the foundation to one of the towers of the East Gate of the Roman Upper City.
During the original settlement by the Ninth Legion a wooden gate would have stood here which is marked out in the ruin by wooden posts but the majority of what you can see is the later and much grander stone gate which would have been so grand and impressive that it stayed in use long after the Romans abandoned Britain.
One Roman Tour of Lincoln completed and it's been an eye opening day exploring the ancient city. Sometimes you really don’t appreciate the history until you get out there on the streets and hunt it down. Now there are still plenty more pieces of Roman Lincoln that are a little bit harder to look around and still remain on our list to explore, so maybe watch this space, the Roman adventure isn’t over just yet …
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