More information : [Centred: SK 97477187] Castle [AT] (Remains of). (1)
Lincoln Castle was built by order of William I in the south-western corner of the upper Roman enclosure. The remaining part of the Roman city was annexed as an outer bailey, "the Bail", the boundaries as defined in 1390 being exactly those of the Roman enclosure (See SK 97 SE 26).
The castle does not conform to the usual motte and bailey type in that there are two mounds not, as Lewes, at each end of an oval bailey, but both in the south wall, their bases not 200ft apart. Castle, except modern building, scheduled. (2-4)
Lincoln Castle, a double motte and Bailey, is in an excellent state of preservation. The westernmost motte has a shell keep known as Lucy Tower. Inside the keep there is an old disused burial ground. The bailey is surrounded by a large curtain wall containing two gateways and an angle bastion on the N.E. Known as Cobb Hall. The gateway on the N.W. (the O.S. 'Postern Gate') is no longer in use : the gateway in the E. side is the principal entrance to the castle. (5)
As described above and in Official Guide attached.
See GPs AO/63/13/6 & 7 and AO/63/14/1-3
Published survey (25" 1932) revised. (6)
Listed by Cathcart King. (7)
Castle. 1068, C12, C13, C14, C19. Restored C20. Built for William I. Coursed and squared stone and herringbone rubble, with ashlar dressings and slate roofs.
PLAN: quadrangular curtain wall, east gateway and lodges, observatory tower, Lucy Tower (keep), west gate, Cobb Hall (north-east angle tower).
EXTERIOR: restored curtain wall has a crenellated parapet and wall walk. East gateway, C11, extended C14, has a restored double chamfered gateway and above, semicircular tourelles, each with a doorway. Between them, a pointed wall. Under the entrance arch, a C11 tunnel vault. Inside the gateway, a pair of crenellated mid C19 lodges in the form of a barbican. Semicircular western ends, 2 storeys, each with 3 stone mullioned double lancets on each floor, with hoodmoulds. Between them, a pointed archway with crenellated crest. On the north wall inside the gateway, a reset canted C15 oriel window with 3 ogee headed lancets and crocketed pinnacles, from a house in the High Street opposite St Mary's Guildhall.
Square observatory tower, C11, to south-east, has C14 eastern additions and extensive mid C19 remodelling. String course, corbelled and crenellated C19 parapets, single lancet windows. West side has a garderobe shaft in the form of a buttress, flanked to left by a pointed doorway with a lancet above it. East side has square corner towers. South side has sham arrow slits. Above, to east, a chamfered pointed doorway and a similarly chamfered ogee headed doorway, C14. In the south-west corner, a C19 round tower with stepped rectangular ights. To the south, the motte and Lucy Tower, late C12, restored C19. Roofless. Polygonal plan with string course, plain buttresses, and consolidated parapet. Projecting north-eastern gateway with billeted round arched outer opening and segmental inner opening with hoodmould. South-western minor entrance has a segmental head. To the south-west, a small roofless chamber.
Square west gatehouse, C11, rebuilt 1233, has a blocked round-headed opening with an inserted doorway flanked by the remains of barbican walls. Above, 2 slit windows and a blocked access doorway to the right. Cobb Hall, C13, reduced in height and remodelled C19, has a semicircular outer face with slit windows, and a square inner face with a chamfered doorway flanked by single slit windows. Crenellated parapet.
INTERIOR: 2 storeys with chamfered rib vaulting forming 4 vaulted cells in the lower part and 6 radial cells in the rounded end of the upper storey. This building was formerly used as a place of execution, and fittings for the gallows remain on the outer parapet.
Scheduled Ancient Monument, County No.1.
(Buildings of England : Lincolnshire: Pevsner N: Lincolnshire: London: 1989-: 505-506; Hill, Sir F: A short history of Lincoln: Lincoln: 1979-: 22-24). (8)
Although an important royal castle in the reign of William I, by the time of henry II's reign, it had fallen into disrepair, and was one of the few major cities not to have been fortified during the troubles of Henry's reign. It was repaired to some extent in the reigns of both Richard and John, and following large scale damage during the siege by Louis of France in 1217, was extensively repaired. A barbican was added in 1224-6. By the 14th century the castle was regarded as a possession of the Earls of Lincoln. Forfeited to the Crown in 1322, in 1327 it was recorded as poorly kept and would cost more than £1000 to repair. No such expenditure was forthcoming, beyond repairing the county gaol and shire house within the bailey. Henceforward, the castle's only function was to serve as an enclosure for those two buildings. (9)
Excavations of the West Gate have revealed an early gate replaced by a Norman one, which in turn was replaced by a 13th century gateway. (10) |