THE FRIENDS’ VISIT TO LINCOLN AND THE WOLDS 2009

written by Revd Penelope Rundle

This year’s visit maintained the excellent tradition of making the journey part of the holiday. Between an early start in Salisbury, and our arrival in Lincoln for supper, we enjoyed a fascinating visit to the site of the Battle of Bosworth, or more or less, because no-one is sure exactly where the battle took place. Probably it ranged to and fro over some miles of the countryside. Afterwards the dead were gathered up and buried in the local churchyard. It was a windy day when we came, but there were magnificent views of fields and woods and distant churches; there was also a most interesting visitor centre, setting the battle in its historical context. And so to Lincoln, and our hotel. It was an undistinguished 1960’s building but clean and comfortable, and the best thing was the situation – right in the Cathedral Close and opposite the Cathedral.

The next day we spent the morning exploring Lincoln on foot. The area at the top of the hill, around the Cathedral, is full of interesting shops, including a marvellously eccentric secondhand bookshop run by a champion beekeeper. He had prize certificates on the wall, pots of honey on the shelves among the books, and a backyard full of hives and humming with bees! The top of the hill is the site of Lindum Colonia (a settlement for retired Roman soldiers) and still has the Roman street pattern, the forum and an impressive gate, now half buried by the present street level but still high enough to take modern traffic driving through. We also visited the medieval Bishop’s Palace and the Castle, both impressive buildings on their hilltop site. Then down the narrow and precipitous Steep Street one reached the lower town and the waterside by Brayford Pool, once an important inland harbour on the River Witham. After lunch we set off for Gainsborough Old Hall, stopping on the way back to visit St Mary’s Church in Stow. This was an inspired late addition to the programme, suggested by the 4* awarded to the church in Simon Jenkin’s ‘Thousand Best Churches’. Stow is a huge Saxon church, enlarged by the Normans and then largely untouched until a comprehensive (but successful) Victoria restoration. The massive lofty pillars give the interior a feeling of dignity and peace; it is a wonderful church. Gainsborough Old Hall was so unexpected: a stunning 15th Century house once surrounded by gardens and fields, but now engulfed by the town, and hemmed in on all sides by rows of rather run-down houses. In spite of this unpromising setting it was magnificent, and being well used as a resource by local schools. The interior has been decorated and furnished as it would have been in the 15th Century; quite different from the valuable antique furnishings of a National Trust property, but giving a real idea of what life would have been like at the time. The larder even contained a whole deer and a wild boar (stuffed, of course!) waiting to be roasted for the next banquet. The entire house was full of evocative details and the visiting children clearly loved it, as did we.

By contrast, the next day we saw the wide open spaces, the vast, flat arable fields of rural Lincolnshire, dotted with many airfields. By the roadside and running across the land were ditches filled with water and fringed with tall, windblown reeds, a reminder that here was the beginning of the Fenland. We got quite good at spotting the remains of the windmills, conspicuous in this open landscape. After a visit to the Church followed by coffee in Louth and time to explore its pleasant streets, we went on to Boston for the main visit of the day. We were accompanied by an excellent local guide, a Norwegian woman who had already guided some of us round Lincoln – we were pleased to see her again. In Boston we visited the Stump – the church whose tower was a famous landmark for sailors coming home – and some people climbed up the tower and were rewarded with splendid distant views. Besides the Stump, Boston has a fascinating series of waterside buildings down on the quay, including a fine 18th century Custom House. And further on there are the remains of a medieval abbey, one building used as a local theatre.

Our final complete day saw us going across the Humber suspension bridge to Beverley. The bridge is a magnificent piece of modern engineering and it is only by crossing it that you realise just how very wide the Humber is at this point, and how far down below (nearly 100ft). The bridge was opened in 1981 and joined Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire has not only the spectacular Minster (a Simon Jenkins 5*) but the great parish church of St Mary. This church is particularly notable for its carvings. The capital of one of the pillars shows five minstrels, each playing a different instrument. Elsewhere in the church there is a carving of a rabbit with a pilgrim’s staff and scrip, said to be the inspiration for the White Rabbit in ‘Alice in Wonderland’. As for the Minster, it survived the Reformation to become a notable medieval parish church, complete with a Norman font and no less than 34 musicians playing every sort of medieval musical instrument. There is also the riotously decorative tomb of Lady Eleanor Percy c.1340. The tower is notable for the central boss which could be lifted to allow materials to be brought up to the glaziers’ workshop there, and the Minster has windows commemorating the types of aircraft produced locally. Nowadays, Beverley is quite a small town but a wonderful place to see.

During our stay in Lincoln we had the opportunity in the early evenings to go to sung Evensong in the Cathedral – and to be thrilled by the sight of the two peregrines swooping through the sky near the tower where they nest.

Finally on our journey home we spent time at Belton House in Grantham (Lady Catherine de Burgh’s house in the BBC series Pride and Prejudice). Altogether a memorable visit to a beautiful and varied part of the country.

click on image for larger picture

Lincoln Cathedral	Guided Tour of Lincoln Cathedral	Lincoln Cathedral Centre garden	St Mary's Church, Stow	Belton House	Belton House - North Front

Lincoln (Hotel through arch)	Gainsborough Old Hall	Beverley Minsterl	St Mary's, Beverley	Boston 'Stump'	Battle of Bosworth battlefield