The Old House on Corporation Street

The opening of Yarborough Road in the 1880s and growth of housing in West Parade had a dramatic effect on traffic entering the northern part of the High Street.  The City Corporation took the decision to build a new road to join West Parade to the High Street and across to Butchery Street (now known as Clasketgate).  This road is Corporation Street.

Unfortunately, this once grand house stood in the way and had to be demolished.  It was a large, well-built house, originally enclosing three sides of a square, leaving the south side open; the east side, next to the High Street, had been altered over the years but the north and west sides remained comparatively unaltered. The main staircase was inside the north-west angle, and led up to large rooms on the first floor, in one of which, the one with a four-light mullioned window in the photo above, had some good oak panelling of early 17th-century date. The room with the seven-light window (three of which are blocked) of late Tudor date, was also large, and above all was a false roof running around the north and west sides. The east side was supported by three large buttresses and can be seen in the view, the centre one being the best and strongest.

The house was probably built as a private house and was about 50 yards north of Park Lane.  It is obvious from the photo that the house had suffered many years of neglect.


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The Blue Inns and the Living Sign

Inn Signs - At Grantham in Lincolnshire, from the eccentricity of the lord of the manor, who formerly possessed the majority of the houses in the town, there is at the present time the following inns that have the word BLUE attached to their signs: viz.-- , Blue Boat, Blue Sheep, Blue Bull, Blue Ram, Blue Lion, Blue Bell, Blue Cow, Blue Boar, Blue Horse, and Blue Inn. By way of completing this blue catalogue, a wag, whose house belonged to himself, and who resided near the residence of his lordship, a few years ago, actually had the Blue Ass, placed on his sign.

In Castlegate, Grantham, near the church, a Bee-hive is substituted for a sign-board, with the following inscription underneath:

Stop! Traveller, this wond'rous sign explore,

And say when thou hast viewed it o'er,
Grantham, now, two-rarities are thine,
A lofty steeple, and a living sign.

- The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1833.

The Castle, the King of France and the Dolphins

The Castle

Somerton Castle in 1801

Antony Bek, Bishop of Durham, inherited Somerton from his mother, Eva de Grey, in the mid 13th century, at the time there was a grange on the site. Bek obtained a licence to crenellate at Somerton in 1281. It was built in the style of Welsh castles of the time, quadrangular with circular towers at the angles and linking curtain walls. It was not built as a defensive structure but rather as a demonstration of power and wealth, and an administrative centre for the surrounding country.

The length of the walls was as follows: North 230 ft, South 210.5 ft, East 276.5 ft, West 251 ft.

Bek died in 1311 and Edward I took possession of the castle, granting it to William de Beaumont.

The King of France
On the 20th September 1356, during the 100 Years War, Edward, the Black Prince, against massive odds beat and captured King John II, John the Good, at the Battle of Poitiers.

John was brought to England in May 1357, the party landed at Sandwich and travelled onto Canterbury where, after making offerings at the shrine of St Thomas Becket, they rested for the night. Following two more overnight stops, the party arrived in London on 24th May. John, on his white charger, rode through London to the palace of the Savoy. Late in the summer John and Prince Philip visited Windsor Castle where they enjoyed the sport of hunting.

Towards the end of 1358, a series of restrictions were placed on the captives. On 12th December 1358, Roger de Beauchamp was ordered to watch the captives with 69 men-at-arms and moved them to Somerton Castle, 10 miles south of Lincoln. Four large casks of wine were transported there and a ship carried his goods to Lincolnshire by sea. John only remained there for four months and was transferred to Hertford Castle on 4th April 1359.

King Edward III decided to move his important captives back to Somerton; and appointed William, Baron D'Eyncourt, custodian of the Royal prisoners. Two Baronets Sir John de Kirketon, and Sir John D'Eyncourt, and two knights Sir William Colevill and Sir Saier de Rochford, agreed to the safe conduct of the king of France from Hertford Castle to Somerton. It was agreed that Lord D'Eyncourt and his associates should supply, as a guard during the journey, 22 men-at-arms, 20 archers, and 2 gaytes, all of whom were to dine at the Lord D'Eyncourt's table, at the cost of the king, and were to receive daily the following wages: each of the baronets 4s., each of the knights 2s., each of the esquires 12d., each of the horse archers 6d., each of the foot archers 3d., and each of the gaytes 6d., amounting to 39s. per day; whilst, to make up the sum to 40s. the Lord D'Eyncourt was to have an additional 1s. per day. In accordance with this order, D'Eyncourt commenced the removal of the royal captives from Hertford to Somerton on Monday, the 29th of July, 1359, dining at Puckeridge, and sleeping at Royston. On Tuesday, the travellers dined at Croxton, and slept at Huntingdon, remaining there until the following day. On Thursday they dined at " Gerston" (Glatton?) and slept at Stamford, where they remained over the Friday. On Saturday they dined at Easton, slept at Grantham, and stayed there until after dinner on Saturday, August 4th. After leaving Grantham, and following the straight course of the Roman Ermine Street in the evening they arrived at Somerton. Most of the journey would have followed Ermine Street. 

In February 1360 there were concerns about a possible French invasion to attempt to release the captives, Edward III ordered that they should be imprisoned in the Tower of London.

Following an agreement about payment of a ransom, King John and Prince Philip were released on the 30th June 1360. The King agreed to send hostages to guarantee the payment of the ransom.

The King and his entourage arrived at Dover on 5th July, where he was entertained by the Black Prince. He sailed from Dover in July arriving in Calais where he was held for three months while he obtained the first instalment of the ransom.

1850 Plan of the castle
and earthworks. 
Drawn by J S Padley

Louis, the Duke of Anjou and son of King John, the most important of the hostages, escaped from his captivity and returned to France with other hostages. King John was mortified when he learned of the escape, returned to England and offered himself as a hostage. The palace of Savoy was again his residence, sadly he did not long survive his generous act. Following a short illness in the spring of 1364, John passed away in April 1364, after having made a will, at the age of 44.

Somerton Castle remained in royal ownership until it was sold by Charles I in 1628.

Samuel and Nathaniel Buck's engraving of 

Somerton Castle, 1726.

Today the south-east tower is complete, the house attached to it is said to be Elizabethan (but I suspect it was built in the 19th century). The northeast tower is vaulted, and supported by a single pillar, from which to the sides spring twelve arches forming as many niches in the walls. The lower part of the south-west tower is still visible. The north-west tower and curtain walling no longer exist, probably removed for the development of the farm buildings in the 19th century.

There are remains of moats around the castle with a double moat and earth banks to the south.

The remains of the Northeast tower in 1801

Northeast tower vaulting

The Dolphins

The Dolphins was an Inn northeast of Lincoln Cathedral.  The attached notice was displayed in the inn for many years. There are a few inaccuracies in the notice; the Dauphin wasn't held with the King, it was Prince Philip and Saier de Rochford was not the owner of the castle.  

Was the name a misspelling or an insult to the French?









    A modern copy of the notice
            in the Dolphins

The Dolphins Inn, removed by Albert Shuttleworth
in 1892 to improve his view of Lincoln Cathedral
from his Eastgate House

Recent images of the Castle and Earthworks 

Somerton Castle was bought a few years ago by a local businessman and is now being restored.

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The Church that Moved – or did it?

Posted on July 18, 2012

by itsaboutlincoln

The church that stood on the corner of High Street and Silver Street was known as St Peter at Arches, the “Arches” came from its position close to The Stonebow.

There is evidence that by the 11th Century two St Peters stood in the churchyard: St Peter at Arches and St Peter at Pleas (so-called because of its proximity to the Moot Stone which was located near Ruddock's shop).

In 1719 an application for a brief for rebuilding the church of St Peter at Arches was made to the City Council.  A loan of 1000 shillings ( the equivalent of about £4,500 today) was taken up at interest by the city for the rebuilding of the church, repayable over 10 years.  The church was built by William Smith and consecrated in 1724 as the Corporation church.

Some notes from the Corporation records:

In 1722 Lord Thanet donated 40s. towards the rebuilding.

In 1723 a further 600s. was voted by the Corporation for the completion of the church

In 1738 “two persons” gave 8s. for a clock and chimes at St Peter's

18th-century drawing of St Peter at Arches Church

In 1786 4s. granted in addition to 6s. already granted to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens of St. Peter-at-Arches among such persons as shall sing or perform upon any musical instrument in that church during divine service on the Lord’s day.

St Peter at Arches was closed in 1929 and demolished in 1933.

St Giles church was designed by W G Watkins and built in 1936 on the new St Giles estate northeast of Lincoln in the same style as St Peter at Arches.  Much of the decorative stonework was used but the structural stone was replaced by brick.  It can be seen from the pictures that an additional bay was added to the building of St Giles Church.

St Giles Church shortly after completion in 1936

The 1794 organ, built by J Lincoln of London and restored by “Father” Henry Willis of Henry Willis & Sons, was also moved to St Giles and installed by Cousans, Sons and Co.  The 8 bells of 1728 were installed together with the peal board of 1756, the oldest surviving in the county

St Giles Church is quite unique in that it is one of the few churches with its altar at the west end of the church, the probable reason for this is that it was built opposite St Giles Junior School with its main door facing the school.

The Dawber window removed from St Peter at Arches

Lincoln's High Bridge, Unique In This Country

by itsaboutlincolnHigh Street passes over the original Norman stone bridge, erected about 1160, possibly replacing one made of wood. 

 

High Bridge on Lincoln’s High Street is the oldest surviving bridge with buildings on, in this country. It marks the spot where the Roman Ermine Street crossed the Witham by way of a ford, a bridge was built c2nd century.

The river was much wider than today and High Bridge was thought to be made of five arches, today only one arch remains.

There were many bridges like High Bridge in the middle ages, London Bridge for example, but all the others have long since disappeared, the only other bridges with buildings on in England are Frome Bridge dating from 1667 and Bath’s Pulteney Bridge of 1773.

At the Reformation there were as many as 52 religious buildings in Lincoln, one of them was the chapel dedicated St Thomas the Martyr which stood on the eastern side over the vaulted arch of the bridge. The chapel was paid for by Lincoln Corporation c 1200. Following the Reformation the Corporation converted the chapel into a house, it was let as a hall to the Company of Tanners and Butchers, and finally a warehouse until it was demolished in 1763. An obelisk was then erected which was also a water conduit that brought water from near the end of Monks Road. The original pipes for this were laid by the brothers of Greyfriars in the early 16th century. The obelisk was removed in 1939 due to concerns about the strength of the arch supporting it. A reconstruction of the obelisk can be seen at St Mark's Shopping Centre.

The Glory Hole,
showing medieval ribbing

The river route under the bridge was once named "The Murder Hole", bodies could be dropped in the water here without being seen and, with luck, would float downriver to Boston and onto the Wash. The maximum height of 9 feet and width of 22 feet together with an awkward angle under the bridge sets a limit on the size of vessels that can use the Witham from Brayford Pool to Boston, and vice versa. It now has the much happier name "The Glory Hole", this may come from the difficulty of getting large vessels through, there would be some "glory" when a boatman made it through!

Until the 1790’s the river was not navigable all year, in summer the bed of the river was often dry; there are tales of horse and coaches driven across the river in summer just west of High Bridge. Joseph Banks (1743-1820), the botanist and naturalist had commissioned the building of the Horncastle Canal, he could see that revenues on his canal would by severely restricted by the problems at High Bridge. The Corporation was reluctant to improve the navigation under the bridge because they earned porterage from the transshipping of cargoes. This reluctance forced Joseph Banks to look at alternative routes. William Jessop (1745-1814), 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 Brayford 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.

1902/3 Reconstruction

The buildings on High Bridge were renovated and put back to their original half-timbered design in 1902/3 under the direction of architect William Watkins. Jettied forward of the first-floor are carvings of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.

The High Bridge remains an architectural gem opposite some of the ugliest buildings of the 1960s and 70s. Stokes coffee shop is an excellent place to enjoy a coffee. R W Stokes Co. has ground and blended coffee here for over 100 years.

Either side of the shops on High Bridge there are steep narrow steps leading towards Lincoln’s Brayford, where barges and ships loaded and unloaded their cargoes. From the footpaths on the west side you can get an excellent view of the rear of the shops.