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.

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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