In 13c Britain, Lincoln Cathedral was the centre of a diocese the size of a small country that stretched from the Thames to the Humber; its fortune was built on Lincolnshire wool and on the prodigious energies of its early bishops. The first building was completed in 1092, only to be badly damaged by an earthquake in 1185. It was rebuilt by the charismatic Burgundian Carthusian St Hugh of Lincoln, a man so saintly he wore a hairshirt and kissed lepers on the mouth. When he died, pilgrims flocked to his shrine, enormously increasing the wealth of the cathedral. It was he who ordered the astonishing battery of interlacing early Gothic arches across the full width of the west end. He was declared the patron saint of the sick, and of cobblers, and of swans, in honour of his closest friend the Swan of Stow, who ate from St Hugh’s hand and guarded him while he slept.
In 1237, a century after St Hugh died, the main tower collapsed, to be rebuilt in the following century with stone taken from the town wall; the other two towers followed. The three 14c towers, built of the soft ochre Lincolnshire limestone on which they lie, still rise proud above the fens. The central tower houses the “great Tom of Lincoln” bell we may be fortunate to hear while there. With the spires that once adorned them, they formed the tallest building in the world. Before it collapsed in 1548, blown over by a severe storm, the wooden and leaden-cased central spire (1311-1548) surpassed in height the Great Pyramid. The soft ochre West Front provides a magnificent backdrop to some of the finest 13c carving in the British Isles.
Our entry into the nave at Lincoln is immediately uplifting as we respond to its extraordinary elegance and harmony. Once inside, our emotions range from sheer awe at the beauty of the nave, to astonishment at the decorative madness of the ribs of St Hugh’s choir, and excitement at the foliate gorgeousness of the well-named Angel Choir, humorously supported by the famed Lincoln Imp with one leg crossed over the other. The gentle grey Purbeck marble colonnettes reach up to burst out in capitals like unfurling ferns in spring. The ribbed arches they support are like the trajectories of shooting stars, while one colonnette from the arcade reaches up and up until it breaks, with the structure of fennel or indeed of the webbed feet of swans into the vaults. It expresses to perfection the interests in the natural world of its patron, the 13c renegade bishop Robert Grossteste, philosopher, theologian and early scientific thinker, the English challenger to the papacy. It speaks to the extraordinary excellence and dedication of anonymous craftsmen and sculptors.
We pass from this elegance to the thrilling insanity of Geoffrey de Noiers’ hugely inventive and infamous ‘crazy vault’. From there we enter the lush ‘‘garden” of the angel choir begun in 1256, an ebullient expression of the new delight in natural florescences.
Nearby, the Chapter House is like a firework, bursting up to the ceiling only to rain down its lines of ribs on the Dean and Chapter seated beneath.
The startling 13c stained glass of the great transept rose windows, the Dean’s Eye and the Bishop’s Eye, is some of the finest in England. It is as if, with these Eyes, the cathedral’s face is on guard for the candelabra of Heaven and the darkness of oblivion.
In addition to revelling in the Cathedral’s architectural glories, we have arranged a special private visit to the treasures of the Wren Library’s 5000 early books and illuminated manuscripts: the manuscripts of Bede; a source for King Arthur; one of only 250 copies of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and A Book of Hoursdesigned to fit in a pocket; a private tour of the clearest examples from 8,600 documented examples of ancient graffiti in the Cathedral, including scratched drawings of ships, board games and musical instruments; and a private tour of the conservation workshops for the Cathedral where we can see the remarkable continuation of medieval techniques for the working of wood and stone.
Other great treasures of Lincoln await us: Magna Carta in Lincoln Castle, one of four original copies; the grandeur of the Bishops Palace; the exquisite Cathedral Close with its medieval Vicars Court; and the town with its unusually intact medieval street plan, and ‘most picturesque city street in England’, containing not just one but two stone Norman merchants’ houses, truly extraordinary medieval survivals, one built for the moneylender who advanced vast sums to Henry II. They remain two of the oldest still-inhabited town houses in the country. Nearby, the High Bridge, built in the 1160s, is the only remaining English bridge still crowned with houses.
Lincoln offers one of the most complete and compact experiences of medieval England available anywhere in Britain. It combines architecture, engineering, sculpture, history, politics, law, religion, and landscape in a remarkably concentrated setting. A thousand-year story of survival, through earthquake, war and plague, it contains some of the finest, most remarkable medieval buildings in Europe. The Cathedral, one of the masterpieces of English Gothic, alone warrants closer study for which this short tour will offer unusual and varied experience.
Please join us as we will explore one of the most influential cathedrals ever built, encounter an original Magna Carta in its purpose-built vault, walk the streets of medieval England, and discover the artistic, political, and spiritual forces that shaped the nation. We will surely come to understand John Ruskin’s opinion:
“the Cathedral of Lincoln is out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles, and roughly speaking, worth any two other cathedrals we have.”
A classic cathedral town small hotel, The White Hart has a long history of distinguished guests. Located in Lincoln’s historic district just steps away from the Cathedral and Lincoln Castle, it is surrounded by colourful shopfronts. Each room is individually decorated in restful colours, and there are two restaurants at our fingertips as well as room service should you wish.
COST includes one night’s accommodation in a classic double room in the four-star White Hart Hotel, breakfast, two lunches, dinner with wine in a private room at the hotel, Cathedral entry, Wren Library donation, tour of Bishops palace, entry to Magna Carta, service and VAT: £498 Single Room Supplement £114. We regret that numbers must be limited to twelve participants.
Booking Information:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
This private tour ‘The Magic of Haddon Hall’ has been developed by Louise Friend and will be presented by Nicholas Friend.Cheques are not a viable option at this time. Instead, please make your payment to Friend&Friend Ltd by bank transfer to our account with Metrobank, bank sort code 23-05-80, account number 13291721 or via PayPal to nicholas@inscapetours.co.uk, or credit/debit card by phone to Henrietta on 07940 719 397. She is available Tuesdays 2-5 pm or Thursdays 2-5 pm.
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