John of Gaunt's Mistress

Katherine de Rouet was born in about 1349 in the County of Hainult, now in Belgium, the daughter of a Flemish Herald, Sir Payne de Rouet.  She was educated at a convent in Romsey, Hampshire and later joined her sister Philippa, who became the wife of Geoffrey Chaucer. 

Katherine married Sir Hugh Swynford of Kettlethorpe and Coleby, Lincolnshire,  a knight in John of Gaunt's service, about 1366.  Sir Hugh died in 1371 in Gironde, Bordeaux.  Katherine and John of Gaunt began their relationship sometime after  Hugh's death. 

John of Gaunt, the 3rd son of King Edward III was born in Ghent in 1340.  He married his first wife, Blanche of Lancaster, his third cousin, in 1359.  Blanche died of bubonic plague in 1368 at Bolingbroke castle.

After the death of John's first wife, Katherine became the lady-in-waiting to Blanche's daughters. She took care of them and managed the estates left to her by her late husband.

John married Infanta Constanza of Castile in 1371 at Roquefort near Bordeaux, assuming the title “King of Spain” in 1372.  In 1387 he tried, with the aid of King Joao I of Portugal, to conqueror Castile to make good his claim, but was unsuccessful.

During John of Gaunt’s marriage to Constanza he fathered four children by Katherine Swynford.  

Their relationship caused a scandal, leading to John being forced to break off their relationship in 1381. Katherine moved to Lincoln and lived in a rented house.  

The Chancery, Katherine's rented house

Despite the formal separation, Katherine maintained a cordial relationship with John and his family. In 1387, she was made a Lady of the Garter by King Richard II

Constanza died in 1394.

John married Katherine Swynford in Lincoln Cathedral in 1396/7.  Their marriage was recognized by a papal bull, legitimising their children, taking the surname of Beaufort, but were prevented from inheriting the throne.  The children were:

• John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (1373-1410)
• Henry Beaufort, Cardinal (c. 1374-1447)
• Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter (1377-1426)
• Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland. (1379-1440)

Henry Beaufort was bishop of Lincoln from 1398 to 1405 and was created Cardinal in 1426.

Although John of Gaunt didn’t inherit the English throne all sovereigns of England and Great Britain from Henry IV are his descendants.

John of Gaunt died in 1399, his estates were declared forfeit by King Richard II as John’s son and heir, Henry Bolingbroke, had been exiled.  

Henry returned to England to depose Richard and reigned as King Henry IV until 1413.

Katherine died on 10th May 1403 and is buried in Lincoln Cathedral.

Katherine Swynford's Tomb in Lincoln Cathedral

Katherine's children with John of Gaunt played significant roles in English history. Their descendants include Henry VII, the first Tudor king, and key figures in the Wars of the Roses

What Happened to Pond Street?

Over the years several streets in Lincoln have had name changes, Clay Lane to West Parade; New Road to Lindum Road; St Giles Gate to Wragby Road are just three. What seems at first like the most insignificant name change was that of Pond Street.

Pond Street,  parallel to West Parade and Newland Street West, joining both roads via Rudgard Lane, was built between the early 1870s and the late 1880s.  The fronts of the numbers 21 to 31 are built of brick but the back walls are of stone.  Windows in the stone wall have been replaced, but there are still some "original" windows of pointed arch design in the stonework. It may be that the builder re-used stone from a demolished building.

Why was the name of the street changed?  I have been unable to find a definite reason for the change of name, but it may be due to World War I.

Two soldiers living on Pond Street were killed during the war:

• George Christian, died 28th April 1917 age 19 , 8th Battalion
• Walter Henry Christian, 12th October 1918, age 22, 5th Battalion

George and Walter were sons of Charles (died 1912, age 44) and Hephzibah Christian, of 32, Pond St.  Leaving Hephzibah with one son, Leslie.  I believe the street name was changed to commemorate the sacrifice they made for King and Country.

The street was renamed St Faith Street about 1929, St Faith's Church stands behind the recently built houses at the end of the street (that may also the reason for the renaming).  There were 4 houses between number 11 and 13 which retained the name Pond Cottages, these have been demolished, together with numbers 7-17 (odd numbers only), and the area is now a green space.

Mr Arscott and the Baptist Sunday School

This is an architectural gem that thousands of people pass every week and most wouldn't notice it.  The former Baptist Sunday School was built by W Mortimer & Son of Lincoln in 1897, the ground floor shop was rented to tenants.

It was built with heavy clay Gault brick, very popular in the Victorian period.   Stone dressings enhance the Flanders Gothic Revival style.   Above the right door is a crested date stone inscribed "Baptist Sunday Schools 1897", although much of the wording has been eroded by time and weather.

After providing religious education for local children for over 70 years the first floor was converted into offices in about 1980.

c. 1905

R M Wright & Co were the first tenants of the shop, no 29 & 31, but in about 1905 William Arscott started his tailor's business there.  Willam was born in Wellington, Somerset. He moved to Lincoln in 1884 to take up a position as tailor's foreman.  William died in 1919 and Joseph Armscott carried on the business until at least 1942, although no 29 was by this time a ladies' hairdresser and a registry office for servants.

Fortunately it retains many of the architectural features that were built into it by our Victorian predecessors.  The building is Grade II listed so it should be preserved for many years to come.

 

How to Confuse the Visitor to Lincoln

 The wise Elders of earlier centuries of the City of Lincoln chose a unique way to name the streets of the city.

Castle Hill

Take, for instance, Castle Hill: Castle Hill is between Lincoln's castle and cathedral but try as I might I am unable to find much of an incline between those two buildings.  It's true that it stands at the top of the well-named Steep Hill and there is a slight slope from south to north, but a hill it is not.  It is often named by locals as Castle Square.

Staying on the subject of hills, what about Lindum Road, now that is a hill, unusually for Lincolnshire, quite a steep hill, 1 in 9 (or in modern terminology 11%), I believe.  Lindum Road perpetuates the lie that started when it was named New Road.

Yarborough Road is of a similar incline to Lindum Road, it would be a hill in many other cities.  Leading off Yarborough is Carline Road which is probably the second steepest hill in Lincoln.

A busy Cornhill

I nearly forgot the Cornhill, standing east of the High Street.  There may have been a hill of corn there (pre-EU) but a more accurate name would be Corn Square.

Moving to the south of the city Canwick Road heads south from Pelham Bridge (yes it is a bridge) and out into the country.  But as it leaves the city it climbs a steep hill but it is still called Canwick Road.

If we head south west from Canwick Road we come to Cross O' Cliff Hill - and it is a hill, obviously misnamed in a moment of forgetfulness.

Imagine someone on a cycling holiday, Lincolnshire is considered (wrongly) as being flat, and they would think they could get south to north through Lincoln without climbing a hill!

There are more examples of the special naming of roads in Lincoln and maybe in other parts of the country.

I think it's true to say the residents of Lincoln are more honest and call roads that give the impression of hills, hill: e.g. Lindum Hill, Yarborough Hill, etc.

Cold Harbours

 I have discovered 17 places in Lincolnshire named "Cold Harbour", many of them are names of farms, houses or just a patch of land. I have seen many suggestions for the name, the most common is 'a place where a Roman building once stood'.

Unfortunately it is not as exciting as that; if we remove the 'H' from the second word we get Arbour, which some keen gardeners build to make a pleasant shelter to sit beneath on a warm sunny day.

Historically a Cold Arbour is a clump of trees, a ruined building or a depression in the land where travellers could get some shelter from the weather.

The image below is a map showing the location (blue tag) of a cold arbour at the junction of the High Dyke and A52 near Grantham. It's interesting that the public house was called the Blue Harbour, possibly owned by the same Lord of the Manor who owned the "Blue" inns in Grantham.  See https://itsaboutlincoln.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-blue-inns-and-sign.html

Lincoln's Libraries

Prior to The Public Libraries Act of 1850 libraries were only available to subscribers, often in stationery and book shops.

The Public Libraries Act was eventually adopted by Lincoln Corporation on 21st January 1892.  The Corporation formed a Library Authority for 3 years from 9 May 1894.  To help with the costs of setting up the library  Sir Charles Seely, MP gave £1,200., The Corporation, £200 and William Crosfield, MP, £100.

The Buttermarket is the stone fronted building on the right

The City Assembly Rooms, above the Buttermarket as St Peter at Arches was converted to the library at a cost of £1,272 17s. under the supervision of the City Surveyor, Mr R A MacBrair.

Lincoln's Public Library opened on 9th May 1895 with 7,000 books and news and reading rooms with about 100 newspapers and periodicals.

By this time the Mechanics' Institute had moved from Greyfriars to Guild Court, Danesgate Terrace where they provided about 20,000 books but many of these were only available to subscribers.

Within 15 years the library had outgrown the former Assembly Rooms and a committee was formed with the aim of building a new Public Library.  Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-American industrialist, gave the City a grant of £10,000 toward the cost of building the new library.  Sir Reginald Bloomfield was appointed to design  the new library, he also designed the Usher Gallery

The new Library, on Free School Lane, was opened on 24th February 1914.

Lincoln Central Library on Free School Lane

By the 1990s the library had again outgrown its location and it was decided to rebuild the library, retaining the Bloomfield designed front part of the building.  Melvyn Bragg officially opened the new library on 30th October 1996.

The library continues to serve the people of Lincoln and district, as a source of information for the researcher and entertainment for the reader of novels.  Whereas, years ago you would see older people in the Reading Rooms with newspapers and magazines now you will see younger people on computers updating their Facebook status.

Who knows what the future may bring?

 

The Inventor "Blackmailed by the Government"

41 to 55 Westgate

I have walked passed this row of fairly unremarkable houses many times, but today I noticed something remarkable: no UPVC!!  Each house still has its original doors and windows painted black with white frames.  Although there is some deterioration of the bricks, the houses are generally in good condition.  We all crave increased comfort and lower bills so most older houses have had windows and doors unsympathetically replaced – not these houses though.  The reason for such for this may be that the houses stand in front of Lincoln Castle and planning permission for such modernisation is not granted but I prefer to believe that the owners like to keep their houses totally original.

These are the only residential houses still standing on the south side of Westgate, number

Detail showing numbers 47 to 53

11 to 35 disappeared beneath a car park over 80 years ago.

Whilst researching these houses, I searched in the 1911 census and it seems that certain members of the population were as unhappy with the Government as many of us are now. Frank Aspland Cooper put his occupation as “Inventor blackmailed by the government”, Industry “ruination”, Employer status “sufferer”, born in Cincinnati, USA.
He published a book, “Occupation Charges” in 1887, it may be worth a read.  Mr Cooper lived at number 43, the second house from the left.  He lived there until his death in 1932 at the age of 78

The census form can be viewed here: https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBC%2F1911%2FRG14%2F19748%2F0619&parentid=GBC%2F1911%2FRG14%2F19748%2F0619%2F1

This is a list of householders of the above houses in 1913:

Previously published  September 15, 2012