Cranky Jimmy, an Artist in Cork

James and Anne Anderton with
 a model of the Scott Memorial

James Anderton was born in Lincoln on 10th March 1825 and baptised in St Botolph's church on 12th April 1825, his father, Henry, was a collar and harness maker, working next to the church.

James didn't like school and, before his teenage years, worked as a day worker for local farmers, eventually he worked as a labourer on Towler's farm at Boultham. Towlers employed him to stop the cattle getting into the crops.

From an early age, James enjoyed making models. His first model was of a Chinese church, Italian and German artisans toured the country with plaster models of the Chinese church, made of wood, he covered the windows with fabric which, when lit from the inside with a candle gave it a spectacular appearance. Unfortunately, James' sister was showing it to some friends one evening and set fire to the church.

James next made a model of Lincoln Cathedral in wood, it took him over a year to complete. With the help of a friend he put it on a cart and took it around the area as far as some of the local villages, exhibiting it in the street. He blew a horn, and when a crowd had assembled he would uncover it and collect donations. The model was very heavy and the Mechanics Institute at Greyfriars agreed to display it for a year with the promise of a donation, there were no payments received so the model was withdrawn by James.

He next made a second model of Lincoln Cathedral but made out of corks as it would be much lighter than his wooden model Almost every day after working on the land he would walk to the cathedral to study it's architecture, on his way he would collect corks that had been thrown away. His work soon became well known and he would be sent corks from all over the country. His model of the cathedral comprised of an astonishing 1,000,800 corks. The model was built to a scale of a quarter of an inch to a foot, the dimensions were as follows 10' 5” long, height 5' 9”, width 7' 6”.

The West Front was the first part completed, using 13,500 corks: it was exhibited at the Great National Agricultural Show in Lincoln in 1854 where it was called “The eighth wonder of the world”.

In total, it took him 10 years 6 months to complete the model of the Cathedral and earned him the nickname of “Cranky Jimmy”

The fame of his model spread throughout Lincoln and he was visited by many hundreds of people, it was one of these visitors who suggested he should display it at the 1862 International Exhibition in South Kensington. A fund was set up to pay for the transportation of the model and £26.00 was raised. Unfortunately, one of the packing cases was dropped when it arrived in London and the contents badly damaged, it was five weeks before the model was repaired and ready to be shown.

The organisers of the exhibition could not give him a medal for his work as it was made from old corks and not normal materials, but he was presented with a season ticket to the exhibition and allowed to receive donations.

At first, he dressed in a good suit provided for him by an uncle, but soon realised that people thought he was already wealthy and didn't give donations, he instead wore the white smock that he had used when making the models and working on the farm, donations then poured in, he would receive donations of £10 to £12 daily.

His showing at the Exhibition was such a success that his hobby became his career and made him a wealthy man. Among other things, he built four cottages on Alfred Street, Lincoln. A plaque was placed in the wall of the cottage he lived in. “Perseverance, Cork and Glue, 1862” to indicate what was required to build his models. The cottages became known as “Cork Model Cottages”, they were demolished about 1969.

His next cork model was of St Botolph's church, where has was baptised and he married in 1849. He placed an inscription over the model:

“This is the church where he was wed,
A peal of bells rang over his head
This peal of bells you all shall hear
By putting in a copper here
When you have placed the money in
You look through the door below
The little figures will be pulling the ropes
As fast as they can go”

James showed the church model at the Lincoln and Boston fairs, the interest and money raised encouraged him to travel further afield with it.

The model of Lincoln Cathedral was badly damaged, the North Transept was completely destroyed because a lighted candle was left in it. It took him 7 months to repair it. When he had completed the repair he began a tour of the country, first visiting all the towns and many of the villages of Lincolnshire.

James made more models, including one of the Scott Monument in Edinburgh, which was also exhibited at the International Exhibition in South Kensington in 1862. He toured the country showing his models and earning a good living.

In April 1865 he crossed the Humber and began his Yorkshire tour in Hull where he was so impressed by St Stephen's church he built a model, taking him four months and 30,119 corks.

The Scott Monument was exhibited in Edinburgh in 1871 during the centenary celebrations of Sir Walter Scott's birth, alongside models of Lincoln Cathedral, St Nicholas Church in Newcastle and other fine models

The following 25 years he toured throughout England and Scotland exhibiting his models and living in caravans.

He died at Blandford hospital in Dorset in 1892 at the age of 67. By this time his fame had spread worldwide with obituaries as far away as Australia.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to establish what happened to the models after his death.
​

The Lost Houses of Lincoln - Monk's Manor

Monk's Manor was built in 1877* for Joseph Ruston of Ruston, Proctor & Co. It was a design similar to Queen Victoria's house on the Isle of Wight, Osbourne House. I can find no record of the architect but some sources suggest it was designed by Major F H Goddard of Goddard and Son, Lincoln; Goddard designed a picture gallery for Joseph Ruston's growing art collection in 1883, he also designed the Drill Hall which was paid for by Ruston. 

Map of Monk's Manor house and grounds in 1905
Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

The house stood in approximately 25 acres between Greetwell Road and Wragby Road, the largest grounds of any of the uphill entrepreneur's houses.

Following Joseph Ruston's death in 1897 Jane, his widow moved to Stonefield House on Church Lane. His son Joseph Seward Ruston moved into Monk's Manor.

Joseph Seward Ruston moved to Lindum House, Sewells Road in 1912 and Charles Pratt, the wine and spirit merchant, lived at Monk's Manor from then until his death in 1932.

It was announced in August 1933 that the Monk's Manor site was to be redeveloped for new housing,

Dowse & Quincey, the Lincoln builders, would demolish the house and build a new house, called The Manor House, for the current owner, Mrs F E Pratt, to the east of Monk's Manor. The architect for the new house was Henry Gilbert Gamble, former partner of William Scorer.

Dowse & Quincey built private houses on the the site on Ancaster Avenue.

The wrought-iron entrance gates of Monks Manor were moved to the Boultham Park Road entrance to Boultham Park in 1934.

*Some sources remark it was built in 1870, but Ruston was living at Washingborough in 1875.

Other Lincoln Houses

The Lost Houses of Lincoln  - Boultham Hall
The Lost Houses of Lincoln  - Hartsholme Hall
The Lost Houses of Lincoln  - Eastgate House
The Lost Houses of Lincoln  - Monk's Tower

The Lost Houses of Lincoln  - Cold Bath House

The Lost Houses of Lincoln  - Sibthorp House

The Lost Houses of Lincoln - Eastcliffe House

The Old House on Corporation Street

The Crooked House and the Harlequin

Grand House Built on the Sale of Drugs

The Foss Dyke

The Foss Dyke Navigation is about 11 miles long, from Torksey Lock on the river Trent to Brayford Pool in the centre of Lincoln; it is the oldest canal in Britain, however, we do not know for sure how old it is. Sometime before 1774 a bronze statuette of the Roman god Mars was found in the Foss Dyke at Torksey; this discovery dated it as Roman.  Click the link to see image and description of the statuette http://bit.ly/marsfoss

The canal was reputedly used by the Danes when they invaded England and by the Normans to carry stone to build Lincoln Cathedral in the 11th century.

But the earliest mention of the canal is in the year 1121, in Symeon of Durham's, Historia Regium : "In the same year, king Henry cut a large canal from Torksey to Lincoln, and by causing the River Trent to flow into it, he made it navigable for vessels." The absence of any other documentary evidence indicates that the Canal was built during the reign of Henry I.

The Romans may have built a canal from Torksey to Hardwick, at the centre of a large Roman farm; this canal was probably extended during Henry I's reign.

The Foss Dyke enabled Lincoln and the Fens of Lincolnshire to communicate with Gainsborough and Hull, and with the Ouse and York.

Over the centuries the canal went into decline due to lack of maintenance. Katherine Swynford, who lived at Kettlethorpe near to the canal, is credited with having organized a protest to repair it, in 1375. The canal continued to deteriorate, until by the 17th century it was virtually impassable.

"1518, 10 June. A collection begins to be made towards the cleansing and repairing of the Foss-dyke, for which the King has sent down his commission. [The work was found to involve more cost than it proved easy to discharge, and on 14 Dec. it is reported that the Bishop of Lincoln had issued a commission to all curates and others in his diocese for aid, and granted pardon to all them that helped in the same, and collectors are appointed in consequence to ride to divers towns. Collections continued to be made for a long time, including York and Hull in their range.]" 
"1571 24 March Where[as] within the county of Lincoln, timber, wood, coal, turf and other necessaries have been almost clearly felled, taken away, consumed and spent by many greedy persons, owners of the same since the dissolution of the late religious houses, to the great decay of the poor ancient city of Lincoln, formerly served out of the said county with these necessaries for the relief of the said city and for setting the poor people on work; and for that there is yet some plenty of timber, &c. within the counties of Nottingham, Derby and York next adjoining, whence the said poor city could be well served if the same could be brought by water; [it is desired] that an Act of Parliament may be made for a commission to assess all persons within seven miles of the city for the dyking, cleansing and scouring of Foss-dyke, in order that sufficient water may be brought from the Trent to bring the said timber, etc." - The corporation of Lincoln: Registers, vol. IV (1564-99)

King James I transferred ownership of the canal to the Corporation of Lincoln.

In 1671, during the reign of Charles II, Lincoln obtained an Act which authorised improvements from Boston to the Trent. Work was carried out on the Fossdyke, but only the first 100 yards (91 m) of the Witham, from Brayford Pool to High Bridge, received attention. The work was carried out by Samuel Fortrey, a man with previous experience of draining the fens. He was required to bear some of the cost himself, in exchange for some of the profits. The work was completed in 1672, and included a navigable sluice or lock at Torksey, which had first been proposed by Simon Hill in 1632. Warehouses and wharves were built at Brayford Pool.

1685 July 21.—Whereas for these several years now last past it hath been a custom in this city for the mayor elect and the two sheriffs elect severally to make and give a treat or banqueting on every Holy Rood day, being Sept. 14, presently after they were elected, and the said treat or banquetting not only being a great trouble and charge, and several abuses and misdemeanours committed on that day by the freemen and inhabitants and the great number of foreigners which constantly resort to the said treat, to the great disturbance of the King's peace and abuse of the said treat; and for that the said treat or banquetting upon serious consideration is looked upon to be a thing altogether unnecessary and useless; therefore it is hereby ordered that the said treat . . . . shall for the future be clearly laid aside and none made. And the city being much in debt for money borrowed for the Foss dyke and for renewing the charter, 13l 13s. 4d. shall yearly be deducted from the Mayor's allowance of 90l., and 26l. 6s. 8d. from the sheriffs' allowance of 46l. p. 398. - The corporation of Lincoln: Registers, vols VI and VII (1653-1710)

By 1717, passage from Torksey was again difficult. Coal traffic averaged 1,357 tons per year, bound for Lincoln, but tolls were insufficient to finance repairs. 

The corporation in 1741 granted a lease of two-thirds of it for 999 years, at a rent of £50 per annum, and of the remaining third, for 99 years, at £25 per annum to Richard Ellison of Thorne, and it was reopened in 1745. Previously to this period coals were sold at twenty one shillings per chaldron ; but when Ellison cleared the canal, and re-opened the river in 1745, they were offered and sold at thirteen shillings.  He dredged it to provide 3.5 feet (1.1 m) of depth, and re-opened it in 1744. Two years later, the tolls were £595, and continued to increase. Under his son, the tolls were £2,367 in 1789, while his grandson collected £5,159 in 1811.

"From that time to the present, this long neglected canal has been improving, and the increasing number of vessels daily floating on its surface, renders it an almost inexhaustible mine of wealth to the lessee, an incalculable benefit to the commercial part of the city, and a never failing source of employment to the industrious poor."
- The History of Lincoln; Containing an Account of Its Antiquities - 1825

1826 Plan of the Fossdyke Navigation

The Great Northern Railway negotiated with the proprietors of the Witham and Fossdyke in 1846, to guarantee them an income by leasing the waterways. Richard Ellison IV had agreed a lease for 894 years, at £9,570 per year, based on the average profit for the previous three years plus 5 per cent.

A series of takeovers and mergers resulted in its ownership changing several times, before it was nationalised, and became the responsibility of the British Waterways Board in 1948.

Today the Foss Dyke is a popular pleasure boating canal, boats from Lincoln and Boston can connect with the canals system of England, subject to beam width.

Today Torksey Lock is a popular mooring for pleasure boates.