Lincoln Companies - W I Binks

For many Lincoln people aged over 50, W I Binks was the main cycle dealer in Lincoln.

St Benedict's Square 1894 to 1961

William Irwin Binks was born in Lincoln in 1870. He trained as a cadet in the merchant navy

About 1886 travelled to the United states to work for his uncle, Giles Ambrose Binks

Returned to England about 1891 and became a successful racing cyclist. He was elected the first secretary of the Lincoln Road Club, winning the first 50 mile race.

It was announced in the Lincolnshire Echo of 23 January 1894 that W I Binks was taking over the management of R M Wright's Water Lane cycle depot, R M Wright negotiated with a cycle manufacturer to rebrand their cycles 'Stonebow'.

William Married Rosetta Serth at Bethnal Green in about February 1894.

Binks opened his own cycle business 5 and 11 St Benedicts Square in 1894. In December 1894 Binks advertised they were selling bicycles with the names "Humber-Synyer", "Rothwell", "Quinton Scorcher" and "Endurance" at their depot at 111 High Street opposite St Mary's Guildhall.

1895 Advert

In July 1895 Binks bought the former premises of Drury, Newbold and Hill at Wellington Works, 11 St Benedict's Square.

Harlock Middleton Drury moved to premises on High Bridge, in 1906 he was adjudged bankrupt. Drury lived on Wellington Street. Bink's continued trading from 111 High Street.

1900 Advert

The acquisition of the Wellington Works allowed Binks manufacture and market the Wellington bicycle, production ended in 1904 when mass produced cycles became available.

1901 Advert

Binks also sold cars and motor cycles

The depot at 111 High Street was closed in September 1895.

November 1896 alteration were being carried to the premises at the Wellington works when gas was smelt on the upper floor. Binks used a match to light the escaping gas but gas had accumulated below the floor and there was an explosion, Mr Binks was burned on his face, hands and arms. Part of the ceiling on the floor below was brought down. A large Renault car and several bicycles were lost in the fire.

May 1900 Binks opened a showroom at 333 High Street (Whitefriars).

J O Serth, William's brother in law, joined the business in 1904, he became a partner in 1905.

William travelled to New York on RMS Carmania, departing 14th June 1913 arriving 1st July 1913

Special constable during World War One

1917 Fell off his bicycle while riding with his youngest son on Station Road Waddington, he was taken to the County Hospital.

Louis Irwin Binks, William's son joined the company in 1919.

William Irwin Binks died from the injuries sustained while cycling in 1917 in 1921

Binks store was moved to the corner of Portland Street in 1961 and finally closing in 1975.

Josiah Serth died in 1972 at the age of 96.

William Edmund Binks died in 1975, maybe the last Binks involved in W I Binks "The Cycle People".

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Lincoln Arboretum

The Lincoln Commons Act of 1870 enabled Lincoln Corporation to purchase Monks Leys Common for the building of housing for Lincoln's booming population. Towns and cities throughout the country were recognising the leisure needs of their people, Lincoln was no exception in this and in 1870 undertook to provide a public park in what was to become a densely populated part of the City.  Temple Gardens, although privately owned, had been used as a public park on an informal basis.  Joseph Mawer Collingham, a son of the founder of the department store, Joseph Collingham, bought Temple Gardens in 1863 and built his new house on Lindum Road on the south side of Temple Gardens.  Read more about Temple Gardens here.

Edward Milner (1819-84) was commissioned to design what was to become The Arboretum.  Milner was responsible for the design of the grounds of Hartsholme Hall in 1862.  Three acres of Monks Leys Common was sold to fund the development of The Arboretum.  Milner also designed the West Gate Lodge and the Tea Room at the main entrance from Monks Road.  At the first flight of steps an Edward Milner designed a pavilion was erected but, following years of neglect and vandalism, it was taken down in 1948.

The Arboretum was opened in August 1872. The importance to local people of the new attraction was the fact that 25,000 people attended the opening ceremony (Lincoln's population at the 1871 census was a little less than 27,000).  The people were entertained by Professor Renzo’s Performing Dogs, Mr Emmanuel Jackson, the Midland aeronaut in his new balloon, brass band recitals and a ladies choir from Liverpool.

F J Clarke, a successful Lincoln chemist, in 1872 presented to the Arboretum a Coade stone lion by Austin & Seeley of New Road, Regent's Park.

The Arboretum Lion
Dave Hitchborne / The Lion, The Arboretum, Lincoln / 

CC BY-SA 2.0

Brass Band concerts* had become a popular event in the Arboretum and in 1884 a bandstand was erected on the large lawn in front of the terrace and a cast iron shelter constructed by Lockerbie and Wilson, of Tipton, Staffordshire, was also erected about the same time.

In 1894 Nathaniel Clayton Cockburn donated land to the north west for an extension to the Arboretum.  This was laid out by Edward Milner's son Henry Ernest Milner (1845-1906).

A fountain was erected in 1911 to celebrate the turning on of
the new water supply from Elkesley in Nottinghamshire.

Sister Swan's Nursing Home at Cold Bath House, stood near the Junction of Lindum Terrace and Sewell Road.  During the Second World War the House was bombed and eventually demolished. The house got it's name from a spring which ran into its cellar.  In 1953, to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the site was landscaped and added to the Arboretum, the spring is used to create a water feature in the Arboretum.  This extension increased the area of the Arboretum to 21 acres (8.8 hectares).

The Arboretum was renovated in 2002/3 at a cost of £3 million to bring it back to its original condition.

*In 1889 over 40,000 people attended the band concerts.

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Lincoln Companies - Fambrini & Daniels

 This unusual building stands on Canwick Road.

Joseph Fambrini, born in Italy in 1815, was a plaster manufacturer and landlord at the Packet Inn on Waterside North.  He later moved to the Crown & Cushion (The Pelham Bridge in the image below) on Melville Street.

Fambrini produced artificial stone and moulded it to customer requirements.  Fambrini and Joseph Daniels, his grandson, became partners in Fambrini & Daniels.  They produced decorative artificial stone mouldings, they were listed in street directories as artificial stone manufacturers and architectural modellers.

Fambrini produced artificial stone and moulded it to customer requirements.  Fambrini and Joseph Daniels, his grandson, became partners in Fambrini & Daniels.  They produced decorative artificial stone mouldings, they were listed in street directories as artificial stone manufacturers and architectural modellers.

Florence Villa later Villa Firenze

Fambrini no doubt benefited from the rapid growth of Lincoln housing in the latter half of the 19th century as he had a large house built on the corner of  Monks Road and Baggholme Road in 1876, naturally artificial stone was used to decorate it. It was named Florence Villa (Florence may be where he was born).  Fambrini resigned from the partnership in 1889 and Daniels continued trading as Fambrini & Daniels.  Fabrini died in 1890 and his house was renamed Villa Firenze.

In 1899 Joseph Daniels commissioned William Mortimer to design an office & showroom (top picture) for Fambrini & Daniels.  It was designed to exhibit many of the companies products.  The building is Grade II listed.  The eaves cornice has decorative corbels and banding, with above in parapet a projecting panel decorated with pendant flag and wreath. Rainwater heads in
form of monstrous heads. Side entrance facade has similar elaborate architectural detail. Topped with panel bearing Lincoln City coat of arms surmounted by segmental pediment
bearing date 1889.

The business was taken over by Lindum Stone Company about 1913.

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Lincoln's Gates

 

Lincoln's Gates

In the medieval age Lincoln had more gates than many other towns or cities of a similar size.

Newport Arch (Porta Principalis Sinistra)

Newport Arch by Skill

Newport Arch was the north gate of the upper Roman town of Lindum Colonia. It is now the only Roman arch in the country still open to traffic. It is the northern entrance to Lincoln’s historic centre that includes most of Roman and Medieval Lincoln.

Built in the 3rd century, Ermine Street passed through it to link Lincoln to another major Roman provincial centre, York. The arch was enlarged when the city became capital of the province Flavie Caesariensis in the 4th century. The remains we see today are of the inner arch and a footway on the east side of the arch, the outer arch was demolished in the late 18th century. The arch was much higher in Roman times, approximately 2.4 metres of it are below today’s ground level. More about the design of the gateway was discovered in 1954 when the north-west bastion, a semi-circular structure, was excavated, the remains of which are still visible. There would have been another bastion on the north-east side of the gateway, the remains of that are now below the adjoining cottage.

Drawing of Newport Arch dated 1784.  The north gate can be seen
through the arch.  On the right is a sign for the Windmill Inn which
dated from 1756

The East Gate

Drawing of the Roman and medieval east gate by Nathan Drake c 1740

The Roman east gate (Porta Praetoria) was re-discovered in about 1730, it had been used as a wall wall between a house and stables. Sadly, it was demolished in 1763 on the orders of Sir Cecil Wray when Eastgate House was extended.

The remains of the Roman East Gate are visible in the grounds of the Lincoln Hotel opposite the north side of the Cathedral Chapter House.

The West Gate

Roman West Gate uncovered, to the right can be seen
the Norman west gate which was reopened in 1993.

The Roman West Gate of the upper city lies below the west wall of the castle. It was discovered in 1836 when the west side of the Castle Dykings were excavated. It was in almost perfect condition but had to be covered up because the weight of the Norman castle wall was causing it to collapse.

The Exchequer Gate

Exchequer Gate by Benjamin Howlett 1836

The Exchequer Gate, at the west front of the Cathedral, was the main entrance to the Cathedral Close. Built mid 14th century. It was originally a double gate with a courtyard between the gates. The western gate had fallen into disrepair and was pulled down in 1800, the stones were used to build the previous St Swithin's Church, a replacement for the church destroyed by the Royalists during the Civil War, ​ The Great Tom Inn was on the southside of the courtyard, the inn closed in 1822.

The South Gate

A Drawing of the Roman South Gate
by Nathan Drake c 1740

The Roman South Gate (Porta Principalis Dextra) stood near the top of Steep Hill. Parts of this gate were still standing in 1788 when Gough visited the city, but the arch was demolished in the early 1700s by a householder on the east side of the gate. According to Thomas Sympson writing in the early 18th century: (the arch was knocked down) "though not without much difficulty, as I have been informed by an eye-witness; for when the workmen, with a great deal of labour and pains, had battered one of the stones in the crown of the arch in pieces, rest being laid without mortar, sunk so equally on both sides that the hung as firm as ever, and their work was to begin anew". The position of the gate is marked by foundation stones on the side of the road

The Old Registry or North Gate of the Close

This double gate stood over the road on the east side of the Cathedral, the south gate on the site of the present Priory Gate the north gate near "The Rest".

​Both gates were pulled down in 1815 and the present Priory Gate was built in 1825.

The Bail Gate
On Steep Hill, near the junction with Michaelgate/Wordsworth Street/Christ's Hospital
Terrace stood the Bail Gate, a medieval arch that was demolished in 1775. Separated the Bail
from the city.  I can not find an image of the gate but it was probably similar to the Newland Gate

White Hart Gate

"A gateway near the White Hart Inn, and another opposite are of a workmanship very different from the rest of the erections on the wall of the Close: they possess little beauty and afford still less interest to the beholder. The appearance of that nearest the White Hart, is little superior to that of a country barn; is entirely without battlements, and the upper part projects considerable over the lower, and is supported by props resembling inverted buttresses." - Adam Stark (1815).

Clax le Gate

Clax le Gate or Clask Gate was situated at the junction of what is now Broadgate and Clasketgate. It is said the Knights Templars were confined there click here to read more. It was pulled down in 1785 when New (Later Lindum) Road was constructed.

Stonebow

The name Stonebow is from the Norse Steinbue meaning stone arch
Many streets that run nearby end in -gate which is Norse for street.

The Stonebow lies at the southern end of the Roman city of Lindum Colonia and stands on the site of the southern gate of the lower Roman town spanning Lincoln’s High Street, known as Ermine Street in Roman times. The Roman gateway existed into the mediaeval period but it was demolished in the 14th Century because it was unsafe.

In 1390 Richard II ordered a new gate be built to replace the demolished one. There were many delays in building the new arch, mainly that Lincoln was no longer the prosperous city it once was and could not afford the expense of a new gateway. The Stonebow, was eventually completed by William Spencer, a freeman of the city, in 1520 and is now a Grade 1 listed building. 

Newland Gate

Newland Gate stood on Newland a little west of Wigford Way, first recorded in 1275. It was the
west entrance of the lower city. A tall building with gables with a pointed archway, above were
arched windows. The gate was added to during the Civil War to defend the city against the
Parliamentarians. Demolished before 1800 because it was causing congestion in that part
of the city.  

Dernstall Lock

Dernstall Lock (sometimes mistakenly referred to as "St Dunstan's Lock") was the lower entrance to the Jews' quarter in mediaeval times. It is not known whether there was a gate, a chain was placed over the road and locked to keep the Jews in there at night.  

Great Bargate
Great Bargate stood on the High Street a few feet north of the Sincil Drain. It was the main
entrance from the south into Lincoln. Removed in the middle of the 18th century.  

​Little Bar Gate
Little Bargate stood east of Great Bar Gate on a bend in the Sincil Drain, it stood over the
route of the Roman Ermine Street.  The gate was removed in the middle of the 18th century
and the bridge removed in 1825. 

​Swine's Gate
Swine's Gate was located south of Great Bar Gate. Here stood the first of the Eleanor Crosses.

A Walk Up Steep Hill

Steep Hill is part of the north-south route that leads from Bargate in the south to Newport in the north. The route was established by the Romans almost 2,000 years ago, Ermine Street, the main route from London, would join the Fosse Way from Leicester and the south-west and leave Lincoln (Lindum Colonia) en route for Barton on Humber and York.

Steep Hill links the lower city to the older, upper city. During the later Middle Ages Steep Hill was an enclave of the Jews. Lincoln had the second larget population of Jews in England after London.

​Three of the oldest domestic buildings in Lincoln are on Steep Hill, two of them, Jews House and Jews Court are known to have belonged to Jews.

Jews House
Jews House is the last house on the Strait, but it is included here. It was built about 1170, like most houses of this age, it had a first floor hall with storage on the ground floor. The first floor window surrounds and decorative features are original although the windows are of more recent date

Originally, the ground floor would not have had windows, but ventilation holes would have been made into the walls. The chimneys on the roof are of more modern date: The house's chimney was built into the front wall over the main entrance, the arch would have had supports.

During the 12th and 13th century Jews throughout England suffered persecution: In Lincoln the Jews were blamed for the death of a Christian boy called Hugh. In 1290 Belasset of Wallingford, a Jew, lived in the house and was hanged in London for the offence of coin clipping.

The house then came into the possession of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln Cathedral.

Most of the alterations to the House took place in the 18th and 19th centuries, the ground floor windows and additional doors were added during this time.

It is believed to be the oldest house still existing in England.

Jews Court
Jews Court stands at the southern, lower, end of Steep Hill. Built in the late 12th century and altered in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
One of the upper rooms, it is thought, was used as a synagogue, but there are many factors which seem to disprove this and the general view is that the synagogue was at the rear of this building or the Jews House. At the 1290 inquest about the expulsion of the Jews it was stated that Jews Court was part of the communal Jewish property.

This area is famous for the story of "Little St Hugh", a Christian child said to have been murdered by Jews in 1255. The story was a fabrication and a plaque was placed in Lincoln Cathedral at the site of Hugh's burial​

"By the remains of the shrine of "Little St. Hugh".
Trumped up stories of "ritual murders" of Christian boys by Jewish communities were common throughout Europe during the Middle Ages and even much later. These fictions cost many innocent Jews their lives. Lincoln had its own legend and the alleged victim was buried in the Cathedral in the year 1255.
Such stories do not redound to the credit of Christendom, and so we pray:
Lord, forgive what we have been, amend what we are, and direct what we shall be"


The Jews' Court was traditionally believed to be the site of the falsified martyrdom of Little Hugh and a well in a corner of the basement was alleged to be the place where the body was concealed. In 1911, Mr Dodgson who then owned Jews Court charged visitors 3d to see the well in the basement of Jews Court, claiming it was the very well Little Hugh had been found in. Plenty of people bought a ticket, but they were duped for not only was there no connection between Jews Court and Little Hugh, but the well had only been dug in 1910 by Harry Staples of Hereward Street, Lincoln, on Mr Dodgson's instructions.

In the late 1920s Lincoln was going through a major slum clearance, Jews Court narrowly escaped demolition, due to the efforts of Lincolnshire Architectural and Archaeological Society (LAAS) who were given the building by Lincoln Corporation on condition it was refurbished.

It is now the home of the Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology where an excellent new and secondhand bookshop can be found.

Well Lane

Well Lane is thought to be the route Roman horse-drawn vehicles would take to reach the upper Roman town.  The tapered square case with cornice cap on the left of the image contains a mid-19th century water pump.

Soon the steepest part of the hill is reached, a handrail is provided to help with the ascent.  

The Mayor's Chair

A Lincoln mayor from a much earlier age provided seating against the wall at the end of this section for the weary walker. A good place to sit to view the lower city, although this view is partially blocked when the tree to the left is in leaf. A new Mayor‘s Chair was installed in 2010.

Harding House
Harding House is a 16th century half-timbered building restored in the second-half of the 20th century.  The home of "Aaron the Jew" was on this site in the 13th century . Aaron was a wealthy money-lender, lending money to kings as well as cathedrals and monasteries.

Today it is an art and craft gallery, run by an artists co-operative.
​
The Ground Floor Gallery features work by members of the co-operative, plus a wide variety of work by other artists and makers from around the country.

The Upper Gallery hosts an exhibition programme in all disciplines.


The Harlequin

the building known as "The Harlequin" is late 15th century, it was altered in the 19th century and restored in the 20th century.  It has more recent refurbishment to preserve the building for many more years.The Harlequin inn opened in the 18th century and was renamed the Harlequin & Columbine* when it became the theatre inn; the theatre was at the far end of Wordsworth Street on Drury Lane. The Inn was closed by the city corporation in 1931 as unsuitable premises for a public house. 

It was a secondhand bookshop for over 50 years until it closed in 2017.

*Harlequin & Columbine are characters in the Mother Goose Pantomime

Bail Gate

the Bail Gate stood on the flat part of Steep Hill above the Harlequin, Click Here to Read More

Norman House

Norman House was once known as “Aaron the Jews House”, but Aaron may have lived in the Bail, above here, or in a house on the site of Harding House, a little further down Steep Hill.

It is a late 12th-century dressed stone and brick house situated on the east side of Steep Hill. It originally had shops on the ground floor and domestic rooms above. It has had a lot of rebuilding over the centuries, restored in 1878 and during the 20th century, but traces remain of the front chimney stack, ornamental string-course and doorway. The building is now home to a bag shop and a tea retailer.

The ground floor has two central entrance doorways, the left door is an 18th century insertion with an attached bow shop window and the right door is round headed with single shafts and crocket capitals under a truncated hood. To the far right is a casement shop window with a wooden pilaster surround and cornice and to the far left is a partially blocked small two light casement window.

Roman South Gate

The Roman South Gate (Porta Principalis Dextra) of the upper town stood near the top of Steep Hill.  Parts of this gate were still standing in 1788 when Gough visited the city, but the arch was demolished in the early 1700s by a householder on the east side of the gate.  According to Thomas Sympson writing in the early 18th century: (the arch was knocked down) "though not without much difficulty, as I have been informed by an eye-witness; for when the workmen, with a great deal of labour and pains, had battered one of the stones in the crown of the arch in pieces, rest being laid without mortar, sunk so equally on both sides that the hung as firm as ever, and their work was to begin anew".  The position of the gate is marked by foundation stones on the side of the road


Brown's Pie Shop

The building now known as "Brown's Pie Shop" was previously the Fox & Hounds inn. 

16th Century building re-fronted in the 18th century and a shopfront added in the 19th century.

In 1827 a horse called Bessy Bedlam won the Lincoln Gold Cup, the inn was renamed in honour of the horse. Sadly, many Lincoln people lost money having backed the horse to win the St Leger. The name reverted to the Fox and Hounds in 1849.


In 2011 Steep Hill won an award as "Britains Best Place", from the Academy of Urbanism.

Lincoln's Royal Bishop

Geoffrey Plantagenet was an illegitimate son of Henry II.  He was born about 1150, before his father married Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Even though he had not taken holy orders he was appointed Archdeacon in 1171, in 1173 he was elected Bishop of Lincoln and his position was confirmed in 1175.

Bishops of the middle ages were often involved in military battles, Geoffrey was no exception, in 1173 and 1174 he led a campaign to put down a rebellion by his legitimate half-brothers in the north of England.  The King's sons we unhappy about the gifting of three castles, in the inheritance of Henry the "Young King", to John, his youngest son, as part of a marriage settlement.  The rebellion which covered an area from southern Scotland to northern France was put down. Henry and his sons were reconciled.  Henry II ordered 10 castles demolished after the rebellion.

Geoffrey was not remarkable in any religious way but he did clear off the bishop's mortgage and add two bells to the Cathedral.  Geoffrey resigned in 1182 to become Archbishop of York and was ordained in 1191 in Tours, France.

He was the only one of Henry II's sons attending when his father died in 1189.

As Archbishop of York he was in constant dispute with his clergy and the king and, following a dispute with King John in 1207 about taxes, he fled to France where he died in 1212.

 

 

Lincoln's Traffic Problems: A Missed Opportunity?

 

Image from Google Earth

Have you ever thought what the name Outer Circle Road means?  .

In October 1917, towards the end of the First World War, the city council discussed the possibility of building a road from Greetwell Road to Wragby Road.  The war over, in December 1920 the Ministry of Transport agreed to contribute half the estimated cost of £14,210. Like many other projects in this country at that time it was seen as way to give work to the vast numbers of unemployed.  The road was completed in 1922

James Hole & Company Ltd of Newark applied in February 1924 to the Licening Justices for a licence for serving intoxication liquor at proposed premises at the junction of Wragby Road and Outer Circle Road - The Bowling Green Hotel.  The Bowling Green opened in July 1926, Ronnie Sewell, former professional footballer for Burnley and Blackburn Rovers, was the first landlord.

With the building of the St Giles' Estate, a new road was built from Wragby Road opposite Outer Circle Road and called Outer Circle Drive; possibly the powers that be decided "Drive" would be more attractive to the people who were being moved from properties in Stamp End and other parts of the city.

Owners and tenants of 208 to 218 Doddington Road were summonsed to court for "failing to abate a nuisance in regard to drainage", the magistrates were not prepared to make an order, they felt it was the corporations responsibility.  Robert Horton, the owner of 216 & 218, produced a plan provided by the corporation in 1929, when the houses were built, the letter accopanying the plan referred to a proposed "Outer Circle Road"; it seems the intention was to continue the road around the north and west of Lincoln and joining with Newark Road at Swanholme.

There were many complaints about the state of footpaths on St Giles, Outer Circle Drive was often covered by mud, it seems the Corporation didn't have the money to complete Outer Circle Road.