The Roman walls, 10 feet to 12 feet thick, and 20 feet to 25 feet high,
included a nearly rectangular area, within which was the high ground
of the upper city. Of this enclosure, the northern or upper end was
cut off by a cross wall, and formed the military quarter, 385 yards
north and south, by an average of 517 yards east and west. Of the
four gates of the station, that to the north, upon the Ermine Street,
still bears a name which must have descended from the time when it was
first erected, and when it probably superseded an earlier structure,
and is called the New-port. Of the opposite, or south gate, only one
jamb remains. Of the east gate, the place is known, and a few of its
very peculiar stones are built into the adjacent enclosures. The west
gate was laid open a few years ago, but, as the arch gave way under
the process, it was removed. Of the walls which connected these gates,
some fragments remain. One lies west and another east of the north
gate, and there is a considerable mass south of the north-east angle,
capping which, the foundations of a round tower, of 9 feet interior
diameter, have been discovered. There is also a fragment of wall in the
slope of what is called the observatory mound, a little west of the
remains of the south gate. The exterior ditch, also more or less Roman,
is in parts very perfect, broad and deep along the north front, and,
though narrower, deep and well preserved about the north-east angle.
There is also, within the area, the side wall and part of the front of
a considerable building, known, probably from its mediæval use, as
the Mint. The exterior Roman walls are laid upon the natural ground,
although the earth is heaped up against their inner face as a ramp or
terrace.
The southern half of the Roman station is divided between the cathedral
and the castle, the church, though the later occupant, taking the
larger half. Some centuries, however, must have passed between the
departure of the Romans and the throwing up of the earthworks of
the castle, during which time the Roman walls were broken down, and
their contained buildings laid waste, as is shown by the dilapidated
condition of those remaining parts which have been found buried beneath
the castle works.
The English fortress is placed within the south-west quarter of the
Roman station, and its outline, roughly four-sided, was no doubt
governed by the lines of the two adjacent Roman walls. It stands on
the crest of the steep slope, covered, as in Roman days, by the city,
and descending about 200 feet to the river. It is contained within a
massive earth-bank, from 50 yards to 80 yards broad, and from 20 feet
to 30 feet in height, internally of easy slope, externally steep, and
which, though in substance within the Roman area, extends its skirts
beyond the line of the wall, so that the Roman west gate was found
buried within its substance, and a fragment of the south wall is still
seen to rise through its slope. This bank measures, upon its north
face, 180 yards, upon its south face 170 yards, its east 134 yards,
and its west 163 yards. Here, as at York, it is evident not only that
these earthworks are of post-Roman date, but that the Roman walls were
completely ruined before the earthworks were thrown up. The enclosure
may contain from 6 acres to 7 acres. At the south-east angle the bank
swells into, and ends in, a large conical mound, about 40 feet high,
and 50 feet diameter at the top. Besides this, there is a second and
larger mound, about 40 feet high, and 100 feet diameter at the top,
which was the citadel or keep of the place, and the site of the hall
of its English lord. This mound, though near the centre of the south
front, was not a continuous part of the regular earth-bank, which it
here replaced. It had its own proper circular ditch, communicating
on the outside with, and forming a part of, the regular ditch of the
place, as is yet evident, notwithstanding much filling up.
It will thus be seen that Lincoln Castle, as regards its earthworks,
belongs to that type of English fortress in which the mound has its
proper ditch, and is placed on one side of an appended area, also with
its bank and ditch. The general area, which at Windsor, Arundel, and
Berkhampstead is oblong, to suit the contour of the ground, is here,
as at Tonbridge, Tickhill, and Clare, where the ground is not strongly
marked, nearer to a more solid figure, of which, in this case, two
sides and the contained angle are governed by the line of the old Roman
wall. In general, these fortresses are much alike, and all belong
to that class of burhs known to have been thrown up by the English
in the ninth and tenth centuries, and at about the same time by the
Scandinavian settlers in Normandy. Two mounds, though not unknown,
are uncommon. At Lewes there are two, one at each end of an oblong
enclosure. At Hereford, besides the keep mound, now removed, there is
a mass of earth at the north-east corner of the outer area, a part of
the bank, and at Cardiff also, besides the keep mound, are two masses
of earth upon the north-east and south-east corners of the enclosure,
forming, which there the keep mound does not, a part of the bank. Such
subordinate mounds are not uncommon in earthworks of all ages, and
are totally distinct from the grand isolated moated mound which gives
character to the earthworks of the ninth and tenth centuries, both in
England and Normandy.
[Illustration: PLAN OF LINCOLN CASTLE.
Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.]
When, in 1068, the Conqueror marched from York to Cambridge, he paused
at Lincoln, even then a very important place, fenced in and populous,
not indeed as yet boasting a minster, but numbering 1,150 inhabited
houses, a leading member of the famous Danish civic confederation, and
governed by twelve lawmen, who wielded powers elsewhere exercised by
the territorial lords. As he traversed the intrenchment that covered
the northern front, and entered the city through the strong Roman
gateway, still in use, he could not but appreciate the strength and
importance of the place, of which he seems to have been allowed to
take peaceable possession. Here, as at York and Cambridge, he at once
ordered the English stronghold to be converted into a Norman castle.
What was the precise condition of the existing work, or what was
immediately executed in obedience to William’s order, we do not know;
there were, of course, defences, probably of timber, along the crest
of the banks, and upon the summit of the mound, but whether William
merely directed these to be strengthened, or had them replaced by walls
such as were coming into use in Normandy, does not appear; probably
the former: as time pressed, and there was much work of the same kind
to execute all over England, it was important to secure an immediate
shelter for the Norman garrison. That the 166 houses which, we learn
from Domesday, were destroyed to make way for Lincoln Castle were not
removed to allow of the extension of its area is certain, for the
Norman walls stand upon the English banks. It is probable that, during
the long and prosperous reign of the Confessor, houses had been allowed
to be built upon the slopes and glacis of the ditch, and, perhaps,
actually within the fortress. This, of course, could not be tolerated,
and is probably the removal recorded. But, if timber was employed, it
was, of course, only until works in masonry could be erected, and,
whatever the Conqueror’s officers may have actually executed, there can
be little doubt but that they or their immediate successors designed
the gates, walls, and keep of the castles, as these now stand.
The castle is placed in the south-west quarter of the Roman station,
high above the city and the valley of the Witham, which lie to its
south and east, and somewhat elevated, artificially, above the table
land to its north and west. Its walled _enceinte_ lies just within the
Roman area, to the adjacent limits of which its southern and western
fronts are roughly parallel. The curtain wall, a very remarkable,
and, on the whole, a very perfect work, is built upon the ridge or
central line of the earth-bank, and therefore contains the same
space, and is in circuit about 650 yards; it is from 8 feet to 10
feet thick, and 30 feet to 35 feet or even 40 feet high, exhibiting
much herring-bone work, and certainly of Norman, and possibly early
Norman, date. Opposite to the great mound, where the earth-banks
cease, the wall is continued across the ditch and up the slope of the
mound, as at Tamworth and Tonbridge. To enable it to reach the level
of the battlements of the keep, it is raised by steps to the point of
junction, and there contains chambers which will be more conveniently
described with the keep.
In the wall are two principal gates, one to the east, opening into the
upper city, opposite to the Exchequer Gate of the Close, and the other
to the west, opening direct into the field. Besides these there is a
small door opening towards the south upon the lower city, and a door in
the keep in the same direction.
The main entrance is placed in the east wall at about 40 yards from
its south-east angle. The west gate stands in the west wall, about 30
yards from the north-west angle, which length is thrown back at a very
obtuse angle, probably to avoid the remains of the Roman west gate,
which stood about four yards in front of it. Both east and west gates
are of Norman date, and were originally much alike, each being a plain
arch, placed in a rectangular bay or recess in the wall, 18 feet wide
by 10 feet deep, instead of, as was more usual, in a regular square
gatehouse, as at Tickhill, Porchester, and Sherborne. The bay may have
been closed in the rear by a cross-wall with a second archway, of which
there is an indication at the west gate. There was an upper chamber
with a timber floor. At the east gate the arch is full centred, of
14 feet opening, without chamfer or rebate, or ornament of any kind.
Probably there is a portcullis groove, but if so it is blocked up
and completely concealed by the woodwork of the modern doors. It is
certain that the main entrance of a Norman castle could never have been
so constructed that there should be no rebate against which the door
should be pressed when closed, and probably the fitting was composed
of a ring of stones inserted, as in the doorway in the cross-wall of
Rochester keep, without bond, into the exterior arch. Over the door
is a pointed window, probably an early English or early Decorated
insertion. Later in the Decorated period, this gateway has been masked
by a front containing a bold equilateral arch, springing from two
angular corbels, behind which the Norman doorway is seen. Above, the
two outer angles are capped by two round turrets, corbelled out of the
angle and rising about 6 feet, and between them the curtain projects at
a low angle, the salient being over the entrance. The arrangement is
unusual, but the effect is good. It is said that the turrets contained
staircases, ascending from the upper floor to the battlements, but they
are not now accessible. There were lateral walls projecting forward
from each side of the entrance. Across the ditch, and between them,
was the drawbridge, traces of the recesses for working which still
remain. The entrance was flanked by two stone lions, of one of which
a fragment is preserved in the castle; the interior additions to this
gate are entirely modern.
The west gate, of the same age and pattern, has fortunately been
long walled up, and so has escaped alteration. Here the portcullis
groove is exposed to view, and there is a rebate for the door, though
concealed by the cross-wall. Here also is what looks like the springing
of an arch across the inner face of the bay, though Norman mural
towers were sometimes, as at Ludlow, left open, to be closed only
with brattice-work. The upper floor has two small Norman windows in
front, and a small door, flat headed, but with a round-headed arch
of relief; this opened upon the battlements of the barbican. Of this
barbican, which was composed of two flanking walls and an outer gate,
the north wall remains and part of the south. The wall rises to the
level of the upper floor of the gatehouse, projects about 30 feet, and
is 7 feet thick. The masonry is evidently of the date of the gateway,
and contains some herring-bone work. The approach must have been very
steep, the sill of the gate being some feet above the level of the
counterscarp.
Another work of Norman date is a rectangular tower, about 25 feet by
40 feet, placed upon the summit of the south-eastern mound; it is of
two floors, vaulted, and chiefly built in ashlar; it contains a good
straight mural staircase. To the Norman work has been added, in the
Decorated period, a front, upon the east face, also of two floors,
flanked by two square turrets, bringing up the whole tower to a square
of 40 feet. The peculiarity of this tower is that, instead of flanking
the curtain, it is set back a little from its line. A modern _gazebo_
has been added above, and the whole is dignified by the name of the
Observatory.
In the curtain, at the foot of the observatory mount, and between it
and the keep, is a pointed arch of relief, and below it, beneath a rude
flat lintel, composed of two large stones, is a small door, either
never opened, or closed at a very early period. This arch is certainly
late Norman, and seems of the same date with that part of the curtain
in which it is imbedded.
The Keep, also Norman, is an unusually perfect example of a shell keep.
It is in plan a somewhat irregular polygon, 64 feet north and south by
74 feet east and west within the walls, which are about 8 feet thick.
Within, it has twelve sides, of irregular lengths. Without are fifteen,
and each angle is capped with a broad flat pilaster, all rising from a
common plinth. At about two-thirds of the height there is a set-off,
common to wall and pilaster; the latter has also a bold roll moulding.
The wall is 20 feet high to the rampart walk. The parapet is gone.
The keep stands upon the line of the curtain, which abuts upon it at
opposite sides; so dividing it that there are eight facets outside the
wall, and seven inside. The main entrance is by a full-centred arch
of 7 feet opening, set in a broad, projecting buttress or pilaster
towards the north-east. The arch of the actual doorway and of its
inner recess is segmental. There was no portcullis, and the door had
a stout wooden bar. Above the outer arch is a hood-moulding, with a
light Norman ornament, said to be a restoration from the original. At
present a straight steep flight of steps leads up to the door, and
these, though modern, probably represent the original mode of approach.
There is another and smaller door, diagonally opposite to the main
door, to the south-west; this is quite plain, the arches segmental, the
outer boldly splayed. The opening is 5 feet 6 inches wide. There are
traces of something like a third door in the eastern face outside the
curtain, opening from a bay in the wall. Opposite to this, in the west
wall, is another bay, also 12 feet wide, but no trace of an opening.
There are no loops in the wall of the keep, no trace of any buildings
within its area, nor have any foundations been discovered there. It
is pretty clear that any accommodation provided there was by means of
timber structures placed against the wall, leaving an open court in
the centre. There are indications, on the masonry, of an upper floor.
Where the two curtains join the keep, each contains, at its rampart
level, a mural chamber, about 6 feet wide by 12 feet long, the floor of
which is about 10 feet or 12 feet from the ground. These chambers are
choked with brambles and not accessible, but they have no door towards
the ramparts of the curtain, and seem to have been entered from the
upper part of the keep; that to the west is a garderobe, and has a loop
and shoot upon the north or inner face; the other has a loop only, and
that outwards: one of them is said to have been groined and vaulted,
the vaults springing from columns in the angles. This is probably that
towards the east, and it may have been an oratory, as at Arundel.
The above works, curtain, gateways, observatory tower, and keep contain
the only Norman masonry now extant. The curtain, for its great length,
is singularly deficient in flanking towers. At the south-west angle the
wall has been laid open by a wide breach, and built up, and there may
have been a tower, but it is more probable that here was the junction
with the city wall.
Generally, the lower two-thirds of the curtain look much older than the
upper part, and the line of junction is very uneven, as though the wall
had long been left in a ruinous condition. This may have been so; but,
as there is no diminution in the excessive thickness, it seems more
probable that the new work is confined to the facing. No doubt when the
castle was taken by the county much was done to the walls; but they
could scarcely, at that time, have been much lower than they are now,
for to rebuild them at their present thickness would have been a great
and quite unnecessary expense.
The herring-bone work is of a superficial character, confined to the
facing; not, as in the Roman work, carried through the substance of the
wall. Mr. Wilson, in his paper on this castle, states that, when the
foundations of the curtain were laid open during some repairs, they
were found to be worked in with a sort of framework of timber, tieing
the whole together. Such a precaution was often taken by the Norman
builders, even to the extent of enclosing ties in the superstructure,
especially where the work was laid upon made ground. The cavities left
by the decay of such ties are seen at Rochester and elsewhere.
There is a flanking tower capping the north-east angle of the place, an
insertion, though whether replacing a Norman structure is not known. It
is called “Cobbe Hall,” and is in plan very slightly horseshoe, with
prolonged sides and a square rear. It is in breadth 25 feet, and in
length 40 feet. It has a basement and first floor, both covered in with
acutely-pointed vaulting, with deeply-splayed loops towards the field.
The basement is reached by a trap-door and ladder, and the upper floor
and battlements by a stone stair. It seems, from the rings let into
the wall, to have been a prison. It has been called a chapel, probably
because its round or apsidal end looks towards the north-east.
There is a deep well in the north side of the great enclosure, still in
use, and the bottom of which has recently been enlarged into a cistern.
The castle stands upon the oolite rock, and is mainly built of that
material, laid as roughly-coursed rubble, but the keep, the observatory
tower, and the Decorated work are mostly of ashlar.
It is difficult to form a decided opinion as to the age of the several
works in masonry remaining in this castle. The two gateways and much of
the curtain, especially its north and west sides, are probably early
Norman. The keep and observatory tower are later in the same style.
To judge from the little postern, the curtain between the observatory
mount and the keep, and probably the part beyond it, are also late
Norman; that is to say, the English defences of the keep were the
last to be replaced, and it was a century before the isolation of its
mound was broken by the carrying the curtain across its ditches, and
the completion of its general _enceinte_. Altogether it seems probable
that the lower stage of the two gateways, and the older part of the
curtain, were constructed during the reign of the Conqueror, or, at
any rate, before the close of the eleventh century. The keep and
observatory tower were probably built, the upper floor of the gateways
added, and the curtain raised and completed, in the reign of Stephen,
who granted, with the castle and city of Lincoln, to Gernons, Earl
of Chester, licence to fortify a tower in the castle, and to hold it
until he recovered his own castle of Tickhill,—and even then, when he
surrendered Lincoln, he was to retain his own tower, which his mother,
Countess Lucia, had fortified, in the castle, of which also he was to
retain the hereditary constableship. As the keep was the only part of
the castle which could be held independently of the rest, it must be to
it that the charter relates. It is curious that Tickhill should also
have a mound and polygonal keep.
As to the later works, Cobbe Hall, and the additions to the observatory
tower and the eastern gateway, are probably the work of Thomas of
Lancaster, Earl of Lincoln, who held the castle from 1312 to 1322.
The Pipe Roll of 2 John, A.D. 1200, records a charge of £20 by the
constable of Lincoln Castle for the repairs of the new tower, probably
the keep.
The additions directed by the Conqueror to the defences of the hill,
already strong by nature and by art, rendered Lincoln, under the
Norman dynasty, even a more important city than it had been under the
earlier governments. Its castle was the almost impregnable fortress,
held by or for the sovereign, of a very important division of England;
but it was a division strong in its rivers and marshy ground, in its
English and thoroughly disaffected feeling, and open to the visits of
the Danes, no longer as enemies, but as allies to the cause of the
people. Its position, dominating the whole shire, challenged comparison
with Belvoir, which received a similar accession of strength, and
Nottingham, on the brow of which a rectangular keep of the first
class was then in progress; but what confirmed its central authority,
and placed it far above any castled eminence of the counties of the
Midland, was the recognition of the hill as the centre of an important
bishopric, and the foundation by Remigius of the stately pile to which
many succeeding centuries have added beauty and grandeur.
The castle long remained a part of the demesne of the Crown but was
administered by constables, whose office was, at times, regarded as
hereditary, and, on one very important occasion, was held by a lady.
Always a strong position, it became especially valuable upon the death
of Henry I., when the long civil war broke out between his daughter and
his nephew, and, by one party or the other, all existing castles were
strengthened and an immense number of new ones built. In such a state
of anarchy a castle became a necessary of life, and the bishops vied
with, and even surpassed, the lay barons in their examples of military
architecture. Sherborne, Malmesbury, and the strong and magnificent
Devizes were the work of Bishop Roger of Salisbury, as were Newark and
Sleaford of his nephew, Alexander of Lincoln; and the castle of Ely, of
Giles, another nephew, and prelate of that see. Durham, also, was held
by its bishop, and the Close of Lichfield strongly intrenched.
Of the lay adherents of Matilda, Robert Earl of Gloucester, her wise
and faithful brother, built the castles of Cardiff, Bristol, and
Gloucester; Fitz-Alan held Shrewsbury; D’Albini, Arundel; Talbot,
Hereford; Paganel, Ludlow; Brian Fitz-Count, Wallingford; D’Oyley,
Oxford; Robert of Lincoln, Wareham; Mohun, Dunster; Lovel, Castle Cary;
Mandeville, Walden and Plessis; and Fitz-John, Melton. Dover, much
strengthened by Maminot, was surrendered to the queen. It is curious
that, of all these castles, six only, Sherborne, Bristol, Ludlow,
Walden, and Dover, with Hedingham, held by De Vere for Stephen, are
certainly known to have had square keeps; of the others, seven are
doubtful, but thirteen had shell keeps upon mounds.
Among those who at first adhered to the cause of Stephen were the two
half-brothers, William de Roumare and Ranulph, Earl of Chester, who
had hereditary claims upon a large Lincolnshire property, and, of some
sort, upon the castle of Lincoln. These, as regarded the castle, were
exercised mainly by the Earl of Chester, the younger, but, in England
at least, the most powerful of the two.