Lincoln's Caroline Martyn - "the leading socialist of her day"

Caroline Eliza Derecourt Martyn (3 May 1867 – 23 July 1896), was born in Lincoln, the eldest child of Superintendent James William Martyn, who later became Deputy Chief Constable of Lincolnshire, and his wife Kate Eleanor (née Hewitt). Her parents were devout High Anglicans and active in the Conservative Party. She was educated at Miss Roome's Beaumont House School on Asylum Road (now Spring Hill) and at the age of eighteen began work as a governess.

Caroline joined the Conservative Primrose League, but while working as a teacher in Reading she lodged with her maternal aunt, Mrs Annie Bailey, who held strong left-wing views. She briefly became a radical and then a socialist. In 1891, she was appointed a governess at the Royal Orphanage Asylum in Wandsworth, London, and joined the London Fabian Society. 

The following year, ill-health forced her to give up work and she began to devote herself full-time to the socialist cause. However, this was tempered by the devout religious views she had inherited from her parents, and she strongly disagreed with the Marxist principles of many of her contemporaries. She gained a reputation as one of the foremost social orators of her day, large crowds turning up to hear her speak as she travelled the country. The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent, described her as ‘one of the most indefatigable lecturers of the Independent Labour Party.’ The Aberdeen Weekly journal considered Caroline to be ‘endowed with rare intelligence matured by a liberal education and close study’ and ‘one of the few female public speakers whose enthusiasm for their subjects is such that they seem to drop their identity for the time being and become thrilling mouthpieces for the arguments they adduce.’

​For a while, in 1893, she was a sub-editor on the Christian Weekly.

Although she had many articles published in journals, Martyn was predominantly known as a lecturer. She became nationally recognised and large crowds turned up to hear her speak as she travelled round the country, predominantly in Lancashire and Scotland. In 1896, she was elected to the National Administrative Council of the Independent Labour Party and became editor of Fraternity, the journal of the International Society for the Brotherhood of Man, and ILP trades union organiser for the North of Scotland.  Due to her rapid rise in the ILP many spoke of her as a future leader of the Party, even though Keir Hardie called her a middle-class woman.

The work and travel, however, undermined her already fragile health, Caroline had arrived in Dundee on the 13th July 1896 to encourage female workers to join the Dundee Textile Workers Union.  She collapsed after a meeting on the 22nd July, a telegram was sent to her mother to go to Dundee. Caroline died of pleurisy in the late evening of the 23rd July at 107 Murraygate. She was buried in Balgay Cemetery in the city on the 24th July, her funeral was attended by her mother and her brother.

Keir Hardie wrote that she was the leading socialist of her day, with 'a power of intellect and moral-force'

The History of the Usher Gallery & Temple Gardens

Temple Gardens

Temple Gardens is in one of the most historic parts of the City. On the eastern side of the Gardens is a Roman defensive ditch, and on the western side once stood the Roman wall and rampart of the lower city. In the northern part of the Gardens is the site of St Andrew's-under-Palace church, established during the 11th century; it was one of the 40 Lincoln churches pulled down in the early 16th century. 

Joseph Moore, a Lincoln solicitor, named the area Temple Gardens and opened it to visitors for an annual fee of 10s. (50p), payable in April of every year, in 1824 as a pleasure ground. The Gardens were laid out with plants and antiquities. Moore had built a copy of ​the Greek Choragic Monument of Thrasyllus. Band concerts and exhibitions were held in the Gardens.

The Choragic Monument of Lysicrates near the Acropolis of Athens was erected by the choregos Lysicrates, a wealthy patron of musical performances in the Theater of Dionysus, to commemorate the prize in the dithyramb contest of the City Dionysia in 335/334 BCE, of which performance he was liturgist.

The monument is known as the first use of the Corinthian order on the exterior of a building. It has been reproduced widely in modern monuments and building elements.

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5239070

The second annual "Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire Grand Brass Band Contest and Peoples Festival" was held on 6 June 1859 at Temple Gardens, total prize money was £50.  Sixteen bands had entered and the public could attend on the payment of 1 shilling (5p) the event ended with a "grand display of fireworks.  Cheap train tickets were made available throughout the area covered by the contest.

Band concerts and fetes were regular attractions at Temple Gardens.

Joseph Moore died on 21st May 1863, and the Gardens were closed. The plants and equipment were sold at auction by Brogden & Co on 4th April 1864.

The Gardens were left to become overgrown, and were eventually bought by the Collingham family of Mawer & Collingham, the Lincoln department store on the corner of High Street and Mint Street, and added to their house at 7 Lindum Road. The house and Temple Gardens were sold in the early 1920s to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

7 Lindum Road, the Collingham family home

Usher Gallery

The Usher Art Gallery (as it was once known) came about due to a bequest from James Ward Usher, a Lincoln jeweller. James was an avid collector of ceramics, watches, clocks, coins, silver, miniatures, and paintings. 

James never married and left his collection to the City of Lincoln together with almost £60,000 (equivalent to £3,447,000.00 based on the retail price index) to design and erect a suitable building to house it. 

The Ecclesiastical Commissioners imposed certain conditions when the land was sold to Lincoln Corporation; one of these conditions was that the building should stand in the north western corner of Temple Gardens; eventually it was agreed that the Gallery should be built on the tennis courts where it now stands. Sir Reginald Blomfield was commissioned to design the building; he also designed the Central Library and Westgate Water Tower, and William Wright and Son (Lincoln) Ltd. were engaged to erect the building, which began in August 1925. Two foundation stones were laid on 10th March 1926, by the Mayor of Lincoln, Councillor Miss M E Neville, the stones were left plain at the request of Miss Neville.  A total of 119 piles from 14 to 25 feet long were used to stabilise the ground. The cost of the building was in the region of £34,000.

1899 Advert

The Gallery was officially opened on the 25th May 1927 by the then Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) with a solid gold key.

The Collection archaeology museum is located on Danes Terrace near to the Usher Gallery, visit the Collection website: https://www.thecollectionmuseum.com/

Lincoln's Rarest Gem

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The Grey or Franciscan Friars were founded by St Francis in 1210, arriving in England about 1224, and Lincoln in about 1230. 

​In 1237 land was given to the Greyfriars by William de Benningworth, subdean of Lincoln Cathedral and the Corporation gave land "adjoining the Guildhall". The priory covered an area bordered by Broadgate, the river, Free School Lane and spread almost to Silver Street. ​

The building now known as "Greyfriars" was the ambulatory with a chapel above.

In 1535 the Greyfriars built a water supply to feed their friary. Water was taken from a spring on a hill near the end of what is now Monks Road; from here it was carried by lead pipes to St Swithin's Square. Grey Friars conduit stood in the north west corner of the square. 

Following the dissolution the city corporation took over the operation of the water supply, eventually extending it as far as St Peter at Gowts The priory was surrendered in 1538/9. The property was given to John Pope, who sold it to Justice Robert Monson. Monson established a free school in 1568 and in 1574 gave it to the Corporation in exchange for a forty years lease of the parsonage at Hanslope, Buckinghamshire.

​In 1612 the undercroft became a House of Correction until the 1620s when the Jersey School, for the teaching of spinning and knitting of wool was established.

​

In 1833 the Mechanics’ Institute moved into the undercroft, adding a library and newspaper room to the first floor. The Mechanics Institute moved to new premises in 1862 when the Free School was extended into the undercroft. George Boole, a Lincoln man and the inventor of Boolean Algebra was a member of the Lincoln Mechanics Institute. The free School closed in 1900 and by 1905 the building was vacant and, following restoration under the supervision of William Watkins, it opened in 1907 as the City Museum. The first curator was Arthur Smith who remained in the post until 1935, when he retired. Greyfriars was the location of the museum until 2001 when it was moved to the Collection on Danes Terrace.

The building has been mostly unused since the museum moved to new premises.  In 2006 it was estimated the cost of repairs to the building would exceed £100,000, rather than spending a reasonable amount of each years budget to improve the building little has been done apart from making the building water tight.  City of Lincoln Council and Heritage Lincolnshire have spent the passed few years looking for uses for the building but so far nothing has been decided.  It is an outrage that this unique Grade 1 listed building should be allowed to deteriorate.  

Click here to see the Buildings at Risk entry

If you feel strongly, as I do, about this neglect please contact your local Lincoln councillor

Lincoln Companies - H Newsum & Sons Ltd

The company of H Newsum, Sons & Co was established as a steam mill in 1856 by Henry Newsum (1833-1901) of Rotherham in Broadgate, Lincoln. These works were destroyed by fire in 1874, the Drill Hall was later built on the site, and Newsum moved to 17 Pelham Street. 

By 1881 Newsums employed 121 men and 12 boys. It was realised after World War I that the

joinery works there were too small for the Company’s expansion plans and a green field site next to the West Common south of Carholme Road was acquired. This was a large site complete with its own railway. Newsums expanded opening works in Gainsborough, Hull and Manchester.

The company continued to prosper until after World War II, exporting 1,000 wooden prefabricated houses to South Australia and also to Ajax in Ontario, Canada in the early 1950s.  In 1956 the company recorded a trading loss of £151,106, leading to the closure of the Lincoln site and a move to its site in Gainsborough.

Gainsborough closed in 1968 bringing to an end a company of over 100 years old.

Associated Electrical Industries (AEI), later English Electric Valves, moved onto the site and remained there until 2007 when the site was sold for housing. This was the end of manufacturing in this area of Carholme Road, Fisons having closed many years before.

Newsum's Villa

Newsum Villas were built in 1920 on the northern perimeter of Newsum's new joinery works.  One detached and eight 3 bedroom semi-detached houses were built for senior staff at the works.

Designed in a pseudo-Georgian style, the houses are well built in brick and well proportioned.  Sadly all the houses except one have had their Georgian proportioned sash windows replaced with upvc double-glazed units that detract from the design of the houses.  The house in the photograph was in the process of being renovated when I photographed it and has had its beautiful wooden windows replaced. 

Lincoln's Reformation

At the time of the Reformation Lincoln was suffering from 200 years of neglect; the once third most important city in England had been brought to its knees by the Black Death of the mid-14th century and the loss of the Staple in 1369. In less than a century Lincoln's population had declined from about 4,000 to 2,000. By 1540 many churches had no parishioners and former populated parts of Lincoln were being turned back to agriculture.

​An application was made to Parliament for the purpose of uniting the parishes, and an act was passed by in 1538, "for the union of churches in the City of Lincoln", authorising four people to carry it into effect, they were: John Taylor, the bishop of Lincoln; William Hutchinson, the mayor; George Stamp and John Fowler.

A copy of the deed of union, dated 4th September 1553, states that the parishes in the City, Bail and Close of Lincoln were reduced from fifty two to fifteen. One of the doomed churches was St Andrew's which stood on the junction of the High Street and the street now known as Gaunt Street.




St.Andrew's Church stood behind the wall in the centre of the picture. The graveyard remained there until West (of West's garage) built his house and shops on the site in the late 19th century.

The Sutton family lived in the large house that was known as "John O' Gaunts Palace" and petitioned the City Corporation not to demolish the church. The Sutton's annexed St Andrew's Church as their own private chapel and would have kept it at their own cost. The timber, the lead, the glass, and the stones were too valuable and Lincoln Corporation was set on a course they would not be deterred from taking. The church was pulled down in 1551, some of it was used in the repair of the remaining 15 churches.

Lincoln churches prior to the Reformation

Adjacent to St Andrew's was a small building where Isabella, an anchoress, lived. Anchorites and anchoresses voluntarily cut themselves off from the world, lived in a cell within or next to a church and lived a life of religious devotion. The entrance would be bricked up and they would live there for the rest of their lives. At that time Lincoln has another two anchoresses at St Andrew on the Hill, below the Bishop's Palace walls and Holy Trinity, near the bottom of Greestone Stairs. It is not recorded what became of Isabella or the other anchoresses.

Lincoln's fortunes wouldn't improve for another 300 years with the coming of the industries created by such men as Ruston, Clayton, Shuttleworth, Foster and others.

West's building on St Andrew's Graveyard

1885 map of the area

Lincoln Companies - Lincoln Gas, Light and Coke Co.

History

Gas was first used to light a house in 1792. By 1826 Stamford, Boston, Louth and Gainsborough all had opened gasworks. It wasn’t until 1828 Lincoln Gas, Light and Coke Co was founded at the junction of Carholme Road and Brayford Wharf North, by a group of Lincoln businessmen. The company had capital of £8,000 in shares and a mortgage of £1,800. Production of gas began in 1830.

First Year Accounts

First year accounts show a turnover of £1,515 and a loss of £330. Wages amounted to £436. 76 street lamps were lit in Lincoln.

​

The First Private Consumer

The first private consumer was Cornelius Maples of the Bail. He had to give the following undertaking:

“Gas to be consumed in the shop from sunset until the hour of nine for six days in the week. 

“I will not wilfully wastefully consume gas, and as far as I can I will not suffer the flame to exceed the height of 3 ½ inches, and I will not commence burning until sunset at any time and will extinguish such light within a quarter of an hour from the time here agreed upon, except on Saturday night when the burning shall, if I require it, continue an hour extra.

“The charge per half-year to be £2 per light, payable in advance”

The Cost of Gas 1830 & 1853​In 1830 cost of gas was 13/6d (67.5p) per 1,000 cubic feet, by 1853 the cost had reduced to 5/- (25p) per 1,000 cubic feet. The amount of gas produced was 15,000,000 cubic feet.

Other Suppliers

It wasn't viable for the company to lay pipes outside of Lincoln, companies like Porter & Co of Lincoln, supplied complete gas plants to large country houses and some villages so that gas could be produced locally. Hartsholme Hall had its own gas plant, probably supplied by Porters.
Bracebridge Gasworks

Bracebridge Gas Works 1933

The use of gas had grown considerably over the previous 40 years and there was little room to enlarge the site at the Carholme Road plus it was becoming more and more difficult to get a sufficient coal to carbonise, due to the size of barges on the Fossdyke. Bracebridge was growing from a village into a suburb of Lincoln and the recently opened Lincoln to Honington railway gave it easy access to coalfields therefore it was decided that a new gasworks would be built at Bracebridge. The Bracebridge gasworks opened in 1876.

The owners of the gasworks had tried for several years to sell it. In 1885 agreement was made with Lincoln Corporation to buy the gasworks.


1885 Statistics
163,000,000 cubic feet produced
5,789 consumers
Main 35 miles long


The Cost of Gas in 1913 was 2/- (10p) per 1,000 cubic feet


Helping the War Effort
During the First World War a by-product recovery plant was installed to extract Toluol and Benzol for the high-explosive industries


Showroom
First showroom opened in 1919, later moving to Silver Street.


1933 Statistics
Wages £25,996, 102 miles of mains, 17,796 consumers, 1,884 street lamps, 12,242 gas cookers, 33,257 tons of coal carbonised, 14,014 gallons of oil used, 21,617 coke made, 412,275 gallons of tar, 324 tons of sulphate of ammonia, 560,000,000 cubic feet of gas produced an increase of about 25% over the previous 10 years


A New Gasholder
The rapid increase in consumers during the previous 40 years meant that the maximum storage for gas was only enough for 12 hours consumption.
Various types of gasholder were inspected and in 1930 a new holder of the three-lift spiral guided type was ordered to increase storage capacity. The capacity of the new holder was 1,500,000 cubic feet.

The End of Coal Gas
Natural Gas was found in 1910 in Germany, in the mid-1950s BP discovered natural gas fiels in several places in the UK, a field was discover near Gainsborough in the late 1950s. It wasn't until the 1970s that drilling for natural gas in the North Sea became economically viable due to the 1973 oil crisis. Since that time coal gas production has ceased in the UK.​

The Virgin Mary and the Wain Well

Eastgate from Bailgate

The above image shows Eastgate from the Bailgate junction. 

The present road runs east-north-east from Bailgate to the the site of the Roman east gate. The junction of Bailgate and Eastgate would be north of Gordon Road and would run directly east to the gate in Roman times . The road heading west from the junction is now beneath Lincoln Castle, the west gate of the Roman settlement is below and to the north of the Castle’s present day west gate. The position of the road was probably moved during the medieval period to enable easier access to the east gate of Lincoln castle.  

The building on the right of Eastgate is The White Hart Hotel, a former coaching inn dating from the 14th century.  On the left of the junction was an ancient inn, the Angel; a gate to the Cathedral Close stood at this junction between the White Hart and the Angel.  The Angel Yard remains behind the Post Office.

Further down on the left is an Indian restaurant, this was once was The Black Horse Inn dating from 1674, the White Horse Inn was nearby. 

 Across the road, in front of the Cathedral, there is a stone wall which was once a row of buildings; there is a stone head in this wall, the head is possibly one of those removed during the Civil War by Cromwell's men.

In the grounds of the Lincoln Hotel is the base of the north side of the Roman east gate, the gate was still standing, with medieval additions until Sir Christopher Wray had it demolished to extend the garden of Eastgate House. 

The Lincoln Hotel was built in the early 1960s, previously the Eastgate Hotel, and attached to the west wing of the former Eastgate House.  Alfred Shuttleworth, the son of one of the founders of Clayton, Shuttleworth & Co, lived here from the 1890s.  Across the road from Eastgate House once stood the Dolphin Inn and other buildings. Alfred bought all the buildings and had them demolished because they spoilt his view of the Cathedral; he did a great service to the City of Lincoln by doing this but it was very unpopular at the time as the Dolphins was a popular inn.

On the corner of Eastgate and Priorygate stands “The Rest”. The Rest is a late 17th century building which was renovated by Alfred Shuttleworth in 1899 with sham timber cladding. At one time it was available for use by people who had ascended Lindum Road and needed a rest.

St Peter in Eastgate church is on the left side of Eastgate. In common with many churches in Lincoln, St Peter’s was badly damaged during the Civil War. The church was demolished in 1776, a new church was built in 1781 but was inadequate for the growing population of the 19th century and a new church was designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield and completed in 1870. In 1914 the south aisle, west porch and the choir vestry were added due to the generosity of Alfred Shuttleworth. At the same time, the Nave ceiling was enclosed as a ‘barrel roof’, the Rood Screen erected and St. Margaret’s Chapel, dedicated.

At the Langworthgate and Greetwellgate fork, there was once a well, the Wain Well, which, on 11th August 1498, Joanna Burton fell in. The well was about 66 feet deep plus 6 feet of water so her survival of the fall seemed doubtful, “but according to sworn testimony of nine women”, she was in the well for an hour and she was carried from the well in the arms of the Virgin Mary. It seems strange to me that this wasn’t seen as a miracle, England was still a Roman Catholic country at that time.

Banks and High Bridge

Joseph Banks, painted 1773 by Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Sir Joseph Banks is well-known as a naturalist and botanist, the son of William Banks a wealthy Lincolnshire land owner. Joseph was also a farmer and business man and was instrumental in promoting the Horncastle Canal.

An Act of Parliament was passed in 1792 approving the building of the canal: the canal was completed by 1802 but was partially in use some years before this.

In order to make the canal viable it was essential that barges could navigate to and from the Trent: the only route was through Lincoln.  

Richard Ellison had acquired a 999 year lease for the Fossdyke Canal and river Witham in 1740, he dredged and improved the canal and the river east of Lincoln but was

prevented by Lincoln Corporation from improving the navigation below High Bridge. Lincoln Corporation earned valuable revenue from porterage fees, barges were unloaded one side of the Bridge and reloaded the other.  The problem was so severe that in exceptionally dry summers it was possible to drive a coach across the bed of the river west of High Bridge.

High Bridge c 1836

The reluctance of the Corporation to act on the navigation under High Bridge forced Joseph Banks to look at alternative routes.  William Jessop, the noted canal builder (locally he built the Grantham and Sleaford canals), was commissioned to investigate a likely route.  Jessop put forward a scheme to route barges from the Fossdyke southwards on the upper Witham to Sincil Drain, in effect by-passing Lincoln. The Corporation realised this would be devastating for the economy of the city and, in 1795, the bed of the river beneath High Bridge was lowered at the expense of the proprietors of the Horncastle Canal. To celebrate the event boards were laid on the dry river bed and a dance took place under the bridge.

The building of the Great Northern Railway from Lincoln to Boston in 1848 dramatically increased the traffic on the Horncastle Canal but in 1854 a line was opened from Kirkstead to Horncastle: the canal closed in 1889.  

By Mail Coach to London

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"Royal Mail" coach operated from
the Reindeer and the Saracens Head.

1828 Pigot & Co Directory

Before the arrival of the railways getting from point A to point B wasn't easy. Walking was probably the most common form of travel for most people, travelling by horse was for those who could afford it but the more fortunate would travel by Mail Coach.

The Mail Coach came into being in the late 18th century.  The period from 1810 to 1830 was the "Golden Age" of coach travel, road surfaces had improved and coaches could attain average speeds of 12 mph.

This is a record of the Journey by mail coach from Lincoln to London, before the arrival of the railway:

"Leaving Lincoln by the mail at 2 p.m., supping at Peterborough at 9, the traveller, after composing himself for an uneasy slumber about Yaxley Barracks (from whence the waters of Whittlesea Mere might be seen shimmering in the moonlight), grumbling through a weary night at the obstinate legs of his opposite neighbour, and sorely pinched in the small of the back, was only delivered, cold and cross, at the Spread Eagle, Gracechurch Street, about 5 the next morning. He had then the choice of going to bed, with feet like ice, in a fireless room, opening out on an open-air gallery (where a box was fixed for the barber to shave travellers), or of sulking in a fusty coffee-room till the waiters were astir and the world was aired." - The Lincoln Pocket Guide, Sir Charles H J Anderson.

Fifteen hours to London may seem slow to us today but in the early 19th century it must have been quite rapid.

People made their wills before they were "received into the York stage-coach, which performed the journey to London (if God permitted) in four days."

In 1786 the cost of a coach from Lincoln to London via Newark, Grantham, Stamford, etc. was £1 11s 6d (£1.58) for inside passengers and 15s 9d (£0.79) for the less fortunate on the outside.  To put the price into perspective, in 1797 an agricultural labourer earned £30.03 per annum and surgeons £174.95 per annum.

Denbigh Hall bridge which took the railway over Watling Street

With the arrival of the railways some enterprising coach operators saw an opportunity to take advantage of the faster method of travel.  In April 1838 Denbigh Hall Station opened at Denbigh near what is now Milton Keynes.  Denbigh Hall was a temporary terminus of the London and Birmingham railway.  A coach named "The Railway" departed from Lincoln's Saracen's Head Inn at Six o'clock Monday to Saturday mornings, breakfasting at eight at Sleaford, passing through Folkingham at 9.15, Bourne at 10.15, Greatford 11.00, Stamford 11.30, Duddington 12.00pm, Weldon 1.00, Kettering 2.00, Northampton for dinner at 3.30, arriving at Denbigh Hall at 6.15.  The 48 miles from there to Euston station, London took 2 hours by steam train.

Denbigh Hall Station closed in November 1838 when the railway continued north west to Birmingham.

It was noted in the Lincolnshire Chronicle of 10 May 1839, "Horses at our great April fair at Lincoln have not sold so well as usual, neither can they be expected, for the railways are superseding coaches and posting, and in a few years we shall neither require horses nor the oats to feed them".

Travelling by coach wasn't always plain sailing,
Lincolnshire Chronicle 13 July 1838

By 1841 the Lincoln Railway Coach was connecting at Blisworth railway station, an eleven hour journey.  Long distance coaching from Lincoln had more or less ceased by the late 1840s.

The demise of long distance coach travel had a retrograde effect on taverns and inns, in particular the hamlet of Spital-in-the-Street where the number of coaches supported two inns.

Click here to learn more about travel by mail coach

Please visit our  Facebook  page to read more about Lincoln & Lincolnshire, its places and people.  You are welcome to contribute anything relevant to Lincoln.

The Schoolboy who Killed a King

John Hutchinson

Charles Brandon,
1st Duke of Norfolk

St Katherines Priory was a religious house of the Gilbertine Order, it stood on a site west of St Catherines, south of Sincil Drain and north of Hamilton Road. William Griffith, the last prior, surrendered the priory in 1535 to an agent of King Henry VIII. The property, and most of the monastic lands of Lincolnshire, was granted to Henry’s former brother in law, 

The stone from the priory was used to build, St Katherine’s Hall, a grand Elizabethan house. The house became the property of Sir Thomas Grantham, member of Parliament for Lincoln from 1604 to 1629, on the death of his father Vincent when Thomas was still a minor. The Grantham family had been prominent in Lincoln since the early 1400s and made their fortune as wool merchants.

In 1603 King James I stayed at St Katherine’s Hall on his journey to London, during his stay he knighted Thomas.

Some years later John Hutchinson, a pupil of Lincoln Grammar School at Greyfriars, lived at the Hall as a guest of Sir Thomas.  Hutchinson was more interested in military matters than academic subjects and later became a colonel on the parliamentarian side. During the Civil War Hutchinson was governor of Nottingham castle and refused on three occasions to surrender it to his Royalist Opponents.

Hutchinson was one of the 39 signatories of the death warrant of James I’s son, Charles I.

In October 1663 Hutchinson was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in what was known as the Farnley Wood Plot. Hutchinson was to be transported to the Isle Man, but instead was sent to Sandown Castle in Kent in May 1664, he died of a fever there on 11 September 1664, aged 49.

He was buried at St Margaret's Church, Owthorpe, Nottinghamshire.

Lincoln's Industrial Revolution

In The Decline and Rise of Lincoln I wrote about how Lincoln fell from its position as one of the most important cities in England to a rural backwater hardly able to support itself. Now I will cover the times when Lincoln grew in prosperity again but never regained it’s former importance. In 1821 Lincoln’s population was 11,776, while Boston’s, which gained the Staple from Lincoln in 1369, stood at 10,373.

Lincoln was about to go through immense change, Richard Ellison had purchased a 999 year lease on the Fosdyke Canal in 1740 and set about improving navigation on the canal and the river Witham east of Lincoln. Farm produce and others goods could be sent from Lincoln by barge to other parts of the country and coal and lime could be brought in. Lincoln, surrounded by agriculture, was late in embracing the Industrial Revolution.

It was the 1840s when the Industrial Revolution arrived in Lincoln.  These people made a massive contribution to the growth of prosperity of Lincoln, click on the links to learn about their companies
William Rainforth
Nathaniel Clayton and Joseph Shuttleworth
Richard Duckering
Robert Robey
William Foster
Joseph Ruston
John Cooke

... and many more here

Lincoln's Waterside Industrial Area Today 

Lincoln was one of the last major centres of population in England connected to the railway, the Midland Railway arrived in Lincoln in 1846 and the Great Northern in 1848, bringing with them traffic delays on Lincoln’s High Street.

In the period 1841 to 1861 Lincoln’s population grew by over 50% to almost 21,000, the population of St Swithin’s and St Peter at Gowts parishes, where most of the engineering firms were based, almost doubled.  At the end of the 19th century the population of Lincoln was 48,784 more than three times that of Boston.

Clayton & Shuttleworth's Iron Works in 1869

The Decline and Rise of Lincoln

Arms of the city of Lincoln 

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lincoln is one of nine cities and nine towns in England that were given the status “County of the City of …”, such places are called County Corporate.

Counties Corporate were created during the Middle Ages, and were effectively small self-governing counties of no prescribed size but usually including some surrounding countryside and villages. They usually covered towns or cities which were deemed to be important enough to be independent from their county. Each town or city’s charter was drafted according to its needs, in some cases there was a security issue which brought about the status, i.e. Poole was plagued by pirates so became County of the Town of Poole.

Lincoln's Stonebow,
Meetings of the Corporation/Council have been held here for five centuries  

While they were administratively distinct counties, with their own sheriffs, most of the counties corporate remained part of the “county at large” for purposes such as the county assize courts. From the 17th century the separate jurisdictions of the counties corporate were increasingly merged with that of the surrounding county, so that by the late 19th century the title was mostly a ceremonial one.

Lincoln’s County Corporate status was made by a Royal Charter dated 21st November 1409. The main points of the charter were:

• The election of two sheriffs instead of bailiffs.
• The city to be called the County and City of Lincoln.
• The Mayor to be the King’s Escheator¹.
• The power to render accounts to the King’s Exchequer by attorney.
• The Mayor and Sheriffs with four others to be justices of the peace, with defined jurisdiction.
• A yearly fair beginning fifteen days before the feast of the deposition of St. Hugh (17 November) and continuing for fifteen days after.
• The receipt in aid of the payment of the city rent of £180 of the annual rent of £6 paid to the Crown by the weavers of Lincoln; strictly and fully reserving the exemption from the jurisdiction of the City of the Cathedral Church, the Close, and the Dean and Chapter.

The Charter was witnessed at Westminster by the archbishops of Canterbury and York, the bishops of London, Durham, and Bath and Wells, Edward duke of York, John earl of Somerset, chamberlain, John Typtot, treasurer, master John Prophete keeper of the Privy Seal, and John Stanley, steward of the household..

By the 15th century Lincoln’s fortunes were on the wane, it’s Jewish community, the second largest in he country after London, had been expelled 100 years before and in 1369 the Wool Staple² was moved to Boston: the population of Lincoln had fallen to its lowest level because of these reasons and the Black Death which ravaged most of England at this time. Buildings were demolished and the land was turned back to farming, even within the city walls. Lincoln’s population at this time was in the region of about 2,000, drastically down from its 6,000 at the time of the Conquest. Many churches were closed, some were demolished, there being parishes that were uninhabited.

Lincoln started to revive in the 18th century due to many factors, the main one being Richard Ellisons leasing and making navigable again the Fosdyke. The population grew and at the 1801 census there were over 7,200 people in Lincoln, and by 1901 the population had grown to nearly 49,000. The Industrial Revolution had arrived!

In 1466 a Charter was granted by Edward IV “to the Mayor Thomas Grantham and the citizens, in relief of the desolation and ruin which had come upon the city, that the villages of Braunstone, Wadyugtone, Bracebrigge and Canwik should be separated from the county and annexed to the county of the city, with the transfer of all jurisdiction of sheriffs etc., that all their inhabitants should contribute to "scot and lot" and all the charges of the city, and none be allowed to dwell within the liberties of the city who should refuse so to do… “

County Corporates were abolished through Government Acts in the 19th century, notably the Militia Act 1882 and Local Government Act 1888, Lincoln becoming part of Lincolnshire County Council but retaining it’s City Council status.

The list of Counties Corporate and when created

1. County of the City of …

• Canterbury (1471)
• Coventry (1451, abolished 1842)
• Exeter (1537)
• Lichfield (1556)
• Lincoln (1409)
• London (1132 until 1965)
• Norwich (1404)
• Worcestor (1622)
• York (1396)

2. County of the Town of

• Bristol (1373, City since 1542)
• Chester (1238/1239, City since 1541)
• Gloucester (1483, City since 1541)
• Newcastle upon Tyne (1400)
• Nottingham (1448)
• Poole (1571)
• Southampton (1447)

3. Borough and Town of …

• Berwick upon Tweed (1551)

4. Kingston upon Hull became County of Hullshire by charter of 1440, restricted to Town and County Kingston upon Hull in 1835

1 A person appointed to receive property of a person who died intestate.

2 Lincoln was originally granted the Wool Staple in 1313 due to the importance of its Cloth industry, its loss was a blow the Lincoln didn’t recover from for a very long time.

First published on Wordpress 1st May 2013

Click here to read the next part of this story

What’s this Lincolnshire Stuff?

Posted on August 10, 2013

Lincolnshire Longwool Sheep

Lincolnshire Longwool was once one of the most important breeds of sheep in this country. These sheep made the fortunes of many families in Lincolnshire: the wool from the sheep was exported to Europe and the sheep were walked to London and killed for their mutton and lanolin.

By the late 18th century sales of Lincolnshire wool had been in decline for many years. The Revd Gideon Bouyer was Rector of Theddlethorpe St Helen and of Willoughby from 1771 to 1810, noticing the poverty and lack of work available in the area, founded a village school, set children spinning and started the Stuff Ball.

The first Stuff Ball was held at the Windmill Inn, Alford in 1785. Lincolnshire Stuff was the wool from the Lincolnshire Longwool, in the early days ladies would be given free admittance to the ball if they were wearing a dress made of Lincolnshire Stuff and the same for men if they were not wearing silk or linen; a different colour for the Stuff was chosen for each year to ensure the ladies always wore new dresses, the colour for the first ball was orange.

By 1789 the ball had become so popular it was moved to the County Assembly Rooms in Lincoln. The ball had been previously held in November but was moved to January.

Woollen dresses can be very warm during dancing and in 1803 the rule for free admittance was changed: the ladies were admitted free if they took six yards of the better stuff or 10 yards of the plainer material.

The Stuff Ball continued until 1929 but was revived in 1938, finally ending in 1947 when the Patroness, Lady Worsley, chose mauve and silver as the stuff colours.

The Lincoln Stuff factory was on the corner of the High Street and what is now Robey Street, becoming a boarding house after the Stuff trade declined and then subdivided in private houses.

Link: http://www.lincolnlongwools.co.uk/

The Bridge of Sighs

James Mayfield was a boot and shoe dealer at 19 Waterside North (a little west of the present Mayfield Bridge), he was born in Louth in 1805. 

James noticed that the shops in the Sincil Street area south of the river were much busier than his was. The nearest crossings of the river were at High Bridge and Magpies Bridge, he had little passing trade from the Sincil Street area. In November 1867 he asked the Corporation to contact the Great Northern Railway (the lessees of the river Witham) to get permission to build a bridge over the river at the north end of Sincil Street.

“The Mayor remarked that there was already an order on the books for the erection of a bridge on the site Mr Mayfield mentioned, and when the funds of the Corporation admitted of it, no doubt the bridge would be erected. (Laughter)” - Lincolnshire Chronicle 23/11/1867.

The original bridge, photograph taken in the 1930s prior to the slum clearance on Waterside North. The 'Sackville' lanterns have been replaced by more conventional lamps 

The Corporation asked for tenders for the manufacture and erection of the bridge, the following quotations were received: M Penistan, Lincoln, £147; D Barnes, Lincoln, £160; F Binns, Lincoln, £170 6s; C de Berne and Co., Manchester, £185; J T B Porter and Co., Lincoln, £216 3s.

The Corporation had received about £65 from public subscriptions and agreed that the lowest quotation would be accepted providing the promoters of the bridge (headed by James Mayfield) provide £70 within 14 days of the meeting. “Mr Brogden said the thanks of the public were due to Mr Mayfield for the energy and perseverance he had displayed in promoting the movement, and he would suggest that the structure should be named ‘The Mayfield Bridge’.” (Laughter)

The bridge was completed in April 1869 at a total cost of £154 2s (£154.10) and designed by Drury and Mortimer of Lincoln. ‘Sackville’ gas lanterns were fitted at each end of the bridge; patented by Gregg and Son of Dublin they were circular in plan and free from sidebars which would otherwise cast broad shadows, a reflector in the top enhanced the light from the lantern.

The 1869 bridge, the New Bridge Inn on the left and Savoy cinema on the right. 

Penney and Porter Ltd surveyed the bridge in 1923, in their opinion the bridge was unsafe and submitted a quotation for the supply and erection of the ironwork for a new bridge. The bridge was periodically repaired but no major restoration works were completed.

The condition of the bridge was next raised at a Corporation meeting in March 1940. It was at this meeting that the nickname for the bridge was coined: ‘The Bridge of Sighs’ due its poor condition. There were concerns about movement of “people from places of entertainment in the case of an air raid”, due to its condition and lack of width. The bridge was further discussed in September of the same year and it was agreed that due to the war it would be difficult to find sufficient materials to restore or replace the bridge. 

The original bridge was eventually replaced in 1958, this bridge was replaced in 1991 and again in 2001.



The 1869 bridge and the 1958 bridge shortly before the removal of the earlier bridge. Note the wooden planks used to support the side of the 1869 bridge.


The 1958 Bridge

​What of James Mayfield? James sold his boot and shoe business to Thomas Mawby in 1874 and became licensee of the Globe Inn on Waterside South, moving to Edmonton, London in 1881 to open a boot and shoe shop; he died there in 1887.


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