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.

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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. 

The Lost Houses of Lincoln - Hartsholme Hall

The Lincoln Waterworks Company was established in 1846 to provide fresh drinking water to the growing city of Lincoln. One of the main requirements. of a fresh water system is a reservoir: Prial Drain gave a regular supply of fresh water so the Company built a dam adjacent to the road to Skellingthorpe.

The lake covered 25 acres and held 23 million gallons of water. The water was piped to the Boultham filter beds near Altham Terrace and then pumped to a service reservoir in Lincoln. The lake supplied a total of 733 homes and was used until 1911. It was long thought that the Skellingthorpe lake was responsible for the Lincoln Typhoid outbreak of 1905 but it was caused by human waste in the upper Witham.

Joseph Shuttleworth was a successful engineer, a partner in Clayton Shuttleworth & Company, and needed a home suitable to his status. In 1861 he bought the lake and grounds, in 1862 Hartsholme Hall, designed by Major F H Goddard, was built for him. As well as the grand Hall a stable block, cottages, laundry, battery house, farmstead, lodges on Skellingthorpe Road and Doddington Road were also constructed. The interior of the Hall took a further 2 years to complete.

The grounds were designed by Edward Milner, the Victorian landscape gardener, who later designed the The Arboretum

The Doddington Road Lodge was built in 1879 and the size of the estate was increased to about 300 acres. The boathouse was built in 1881 and is the last building on the park to display the Shuttleworth crest. 

Joseph died in 1883, and his widow moved to Heighington Hall. Hartsholme Hall passed to his eldest son, Alfred. 

​Alfred lived mainly in The Close in Lincoln, later extending Eastgate House, now part of 

the Lincoln Hotel . Nathaniel Clayton Cockburn moved into the Hall in the mid 1890s.

In 1902 it was sold to Colonel Thomas Harding. Harding installed electricity in the Hall and re-erected a monument originally erected by the waterworks company to commemorate the building of the reservoir.

By 1906 the Hall was substantial, having five main ground floor rooms, a winter garden, and nineteen bedrooms as well as kitchens and servants' quarters ​

Lord Liverpool (Sir Arthur William de Brito Savile Foljambe (1870-1941)) bought the estate in 1909 for £16,250. Lord Liverpool was Governor, later Governor-General. of New Zealand. He died at Canwick Hall in 1941.

January 1939, J E Walter & Sons, the Lincoln estate agent, was 

instructed to sell the Hartsholme Estate. The Estate comprised of 2,700 acres and included 

"Hartsholme Hall with beautiful Gardens, Grounds, Ornamental Lake, with extensive Kitchen Gardens, Greenhouses, 2 Lodges, 3 Estate Cottages, 2 Keepers Cottages, Laundry Cottage, Butler's and Gardener's Cottage."

"687 Acres of Woodland", "The Most Attractive Residence known as Stones Place with choicely laid out Gardens and Greenhouses, etc.", 

"15 Farms & Small Holdings. Valuable Building Frontages and Accommodation Lands, 20 Cottages & Gardens."

The Hall was purchased by Thomas Place, timber Merchant, of Northallerton. He did not take up residence in the Hall, he may have bought it for demolition and sale of the building materials: it was common practice to do this as the value of the building materials was often greater than the value of the building.

The estate was requisitioned by the Army in 1942 for military training. The Hall was an officers mess.

At the end of hostilies the Hall was used used by homeless families, by 1947 32 families were squatting in it. Thomas Place put the estate up for sale and demanded compensation from Lincoln Corporation.

The Hall and 130 acres were sold to Lincoln Corporation, the sale was eventually completed in 1951. The Hall was to be to converted to an old peoples home but the neglect and damage sustained to the structure of the building meant that there was no alternative but to demolish it at a cost of £600.00. The kitchen block and other buildings were left standing for Civil Defence use. The kitchen block was eventually demolished in 1964.

Other Lincoln Houses

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

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

Quads two days apart, really?

This is a report from the The Gentleman's Magazine: and Historical Chronicle. From January to June, 1814.

"1814 -March 4. The wife of Mr. James Pickworth, grazier, of Sempringham, Lincolnshire, delivered of two boys, after which she was so much composed, that she got up the next day, and remained in that state till the 6th, when she was delivered. of two more boys!"

Could this be true? It is difficult to know after two hundred years, but I have done some investigating and found the following.

Baptisms:

James Pickworth 5 March 1814
Thomas Pickworth 5 March 1814
William Pickworth 6 March 1814
Robert Pickworth 6 March 1814

Baptised at Sempringham, parents James and Anne Pickworth

Sad to write all 4 children were buried on 10th March 1814 at Billingborough.

James Pickworth 4 days old
Thomas Pickworth 4 days old
William Pickworth 4 days old
Robert Pickworth 4 days old

Therefore Anne did give birth to four children on two separate days, but the result was not as James and Anne would have liked.

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

Packhorse Bridge or not Packhorse Bridge? That is the question

 The age of Northbeck Packhorse Bridge at Scredington is disputed, there are no records of when it was built.  It has been suggested that it was built for Gilbertine monks to travel between Sempringham and Haverholme in c1250, but it is also claimed that it may date from the 15th or even as late as the 17th century due to the style of the arches.  I can reveal it was originally a timber bridge dating from the early 11th century, and rebuilt in stone in the mid-18th century.

The bridge is now about 3 metres wide which indicates it was built to carry horse and carts,  a packhorse bridge is usually the width of a horse.  Packhorses were superseded by horse and carts in the 16th and 17th centuries.

See also:
West Rasen and the Packhorse Bridge

Lincoln's Lost Cinemas

The number of cinemas in Lincoln grew until World War II, two were lost during the conflict, and gradually cinemas closed down until by 1988 there was only one commercial cinema in Lincoln. The same decline is now being reflected in the closure of public houses.

The Central

Opened 1904 Closed 06/03/1944

This site may have been used for entertainment in the mid 19th century. The landlord of the Green Dragon. James Budd opened Budd's Alhambra Concert Hall at the rear of the pub in 1857.  Budd's wife died in 1870 about the same time that the Alhambra closed and before 1872 a new landlord took over at the Dragon. 

The New Temperance Hall was opened on 20th October 1902 on St Swithin's Square, replacing an earlier Temperance Hall. It screened its first film in 1904 during the run of a pantomime “A Christmas Dream”. The hall could seat 1,000 in stalls and circle levels.

The popularity of the new moving pictures meant that the building went from presenting live theatre to full-time cinema use, it was renamed the Central Cinema. The Central Cinema was the first in the city to present a sound on disc film “The Donovan Affair” on 12th August 1929. The first sound on film was presented on 23rd September 1929.

An organ was installed in 1944, but during installation, the building was destroyed by fire on 6th March 1944. The ruins were eventually demolished in 1960.

The Astoria

Opened 1910 Closed 23/06/1956

The Corn Exchange was built on the north side of Cornhill in 1879. It opened as the Cinematograph Hall on 28th May 1910 and was the first permanent cinema to open in the city. All seating for 1,760 was on a single floor. The building continued to operate as a corn exchange.

A Western Electric sound system was installed on 6th April 1931, and the first ‘talkie’ to be screened here was “Third Time Lucky”. By 1934 it had been re-named Exchange Kinema.

The cinema closed early in 1954 for refurbishment and was renamed Astoria Cinema. “River of No Return” starring Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe was the first Cinemascope film shown at the cinema. In January 1956, the Astoria Cinema was taken over by the Rank Organisation, and it was closed on 23rd June 1956.

Known locally as the "Ecky", thank you Mark Robinson.

The Grand

Opened: 1911 Closed 21/02/1960

The façade of Garmston House was erected in 1772 and incorporates parts of a 12th-century building, including an arch and a Norman fireplace of the later 12th-century in its north wall. 

Located near the top of the High Street, at numbers 262 and 262a, almost opposite Grantham Street. The garden behind Garmston House ran as far as Hungate and is believed to be the site of Lincoln's second synagogue, built in the 12th century.  Central Picture Theatres (Lincoln) Ltd, converted the right side of the building (262a) into Lincoln’s first purpose-built cinema, opening in May 1911. The floor was not on a slope as in more modern cinemas. In 1913 it was renamed the Grand Electric Cinema, and later renamed simply the Grand

The first ‘talkie’, Paul Robeson in “Showboat”, was screened on 23rd September 1929. The cinema closed on 21st February 1960, 'Gigi', Starring Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan, Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold was the last film shown there.

There were proposals to build a relief road through the site and along Grantham Street, it is not known whether it closed due to that or because of falling attendances. Fortunately, the relief road idea was abandoned, but not before the destruction of the houses of Grantham Street, but a Lincoln building with medieval roots was saved.

The Regal

Opened 18/01/1915 Closed 26/02/1966

The Picturehouse was at 217/8 High Street near the Stonebow. Opened in 1915, the Mayor, Cllr M A Ashley, with leading citizens, attended the opening ceremony. The film they saw was “The Fighting Strain of Old England”, probably very appropriate at that time. John Smith & Co's wholesale and retail grocery shop had traded there for the previous 70 years. Conversion to the cinema involved the gutting of the ground and first floors, the second-floor facade was retained. The Regal's first-floor cafe, with its balcony overlooking the High Street, was a popular meeting place. There was a seating capacity of around 1200.

It was taken over by the Associated British Cinemas( ABC) chain in 1930, and after a refurbishment, re-opened as the Regal Super Cinema in 1931 with Conrad Nagel in “A Lady Surrenders”. The re-opening ceremony was attended by film star Dodo Watts (1910-1990). A cafe was opened on the first floor (previously it had been inside the cinema) with a balcony overlooking the High Street.

ABC closed the Regal Cinema on 26th February 1966 with Julie Andrews in “Mary Poppins”. 

The Plaza

Opened 1931 Closed 23/05/1943

The building was designed in a Gothic style by Lincoln architect William Watkins and built for the Freemasons in 1871. There was seating for 1,500 in stalls and a balcony. It was used for public entertainment and concerts.

In 1901 alterations were made to the building and it became the Empire Music Hall.

It was acquired by the MacNaghten Vaudeville Circuit on 6th January 1902 and was renamed The Palace Theatre, it became the main variety theatre in Lincoln, with many famous stars appearing there, including George Formby, Gracie Fields and Harry Tate. The Palace Theatre closed on 17th May 1930 with the stage revue “Lincoln Calling”.  In 1931 it was sold to Central Picture Theatres Ltd., and re-opened as the Plaza Cinema on 26th January 1931 with John McCormick in “Song of my Heart”.

The Plaza Cinema was destroyed by German bombs on the night of 23rd May 1943, a night watchman, who was on duty at that time, was killed. The building lay in ruins until 1953 when the remains were demolished. ​

The Savoy

Opened 1936  Closed 20/10/1988

The Savoy Cinema, operated by Associated British Cinemas, was officially opened on 14th December 1936 by the Mayor of Lincoln, Coun J E Fordham. It was designed by Scottish architect, William Riddell Glen. 1,936 seats were provided in stalls and circle levels, there was a large stage and twelve dressing rooms.

The first film shown at the cinema was “A Tale of Two Cities” starring Ronald Colman.

'Henry Hall and His World Famous Band' performed at the Savoy Cinema in Lincoln on 19th March 1939; in aid of the Echo Cot Fund at the County Hospital;

From the early 1950s to 1971 many live shows were presented on stage, including many of the top acts of the time.

The Savoy was renamed the ABC in 1961

A Compton organ was installed as the cinema was built, it was removed in 1965 and installed in a private cinema in North Muskham near Newark.

In 1972 the stalls were converted to a Star Bingo Club and the circle became the cinema.

​On 15th November 1986, the ABC chain was taken over by the Cannon Group, and the cinema was re-named The Cannon. The cinema finally closed on 20th October 1988 and was demolished in 1990. The Waterside Shopping Centre was built on the site in 1991.

The Ritz

Opened 1937 Closed 21/10/1981

The Ritz Cinema, designed in an Art Deco style by Leslie C Norton for the Segelman family’s Central Pictures (Lincoln) Ltd. It opened on 22nd February 1937 with the film "San Francisco" starring Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, and Spencer Tracy. It was capable of seating a total of 1,750 (1,240 in the stalls and 510 in the circle).

There was minor damage to the cinema due to German bombing in 1941

CinemaScope was installed in the cinema in 1954, the first cinema in Lincoln to have it and the first CinemaScope film was “The Robe” starring Richard Burton.

The Rank Organisation acquired the Ritz on 2nd January 1956: it was re-named Odeon on 20th August 1956.

The Odeon closed on 17th October 1981 and remained closed, until in 1984, Barry Stead, an independent exhibitor, took over the cinema. 

The cinema reverted to its original name and opened as the Ritz Cinema on 15th February 1985 showing Walt Disney’s "101 Dalmations". In 1995 it was converted to a triple screen cinema, closing 16th March 1996, it then re-opened as a J D Wetherspoon pub called “Ritz” using only the ground, the former circle and projection areas were closed off.

The Ritz Cinema re-opened at the end of 2013 as a 450 seat cinema in the former circle area.

The Radion

Opened July 1939, closed September 1939 due to WWII, re-opened 1947, closed 16 July 1960

The Radion was Lincoln's last single-screen cinema to open, and the only one built outside the city centre and had the shortest life. Designed by cinema architect and entrepreneur Major W J King in a modernist style. Opening on 27 March 1939 it closed shortly after the outbreak of World War II and was requisitioned by the military. Re-opened in 1945 it eventually closed 16 July 1960. The reason for the closure was not due to lack of patrons but because of the vandalism the building suffered. 

The building became a supermarket and later the studio for Radio Lincolnshire in 1980.

Which was your favourite cinema?

What was the best film you saw at a Lincoln cinema?

Did you used to say "This is where we came in?

Please post your answers in the comments below

Monday, January 8th 1940