Lincoln Cathedral

Magna Carta

Hugh of Wells, Bishop of Lincoln, was one of the signatories to Magna Carta and for hundreds of years the cathedral held one of the four remaining copies of the original, now securely displayed in Lincoln Castle.^[24]

The Lincoln Magna Carta was on display at the British Pavilion during the 1939 New York World's Fair.^[25] In March 1941, the Foreign Office proposed that the Lincoln Magna Carta be gifted to the United States, citing the "many thousands of Americans who waited in long queues to view it" and the US passage of the Lend-Lease Act, among other reasons.^[25] In 2009 the Lincoln Magna Carta was lent to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.^[24]

There are three other surviving copies: two at the British Library and one at Salisbury Cathedral.^[26]

Little Saint Hugh

In August 1255 the body of an eight-year-old boy was found in a well in Lincoln. He had been missing for nearly a month. This incident became the source of a blood libel in the city, with Jews accused of his abduction, torture, and murder. Many Jews were arrested and eighteen were hanged. The boy became known as Little Saint Hugh, to distinguish him from Saint Hugh of Lincoln, but he was never canonised.

The cathedral benefited from these events because Hugh was seen as a martyr, and many devotees came to the city and cathedral to venerate him. Geoffrey Chaucer mentions the case in "The Prioress's Tale" and a ballad was written about it in 1783. In 1955 a plaque was placed near "the remains of the shrine of 'Little St Hugh'" in the cathedral, that decries the "Trumped up stories of 'ritual murders' of Christian boys by Jewish communities."

Lincoln Imp

A carving in the Angel Choir is known as the Lincoln Imp, and since the late nineteenth century it has become the symbol of the city.^[27][28] The carving dates from the 13th century^[29] but received little attention until the late 19th century, when it figured in Arnold Frost's poem, "The Ballad of the Wind, the Devil and Lincoln Minster".^[30]

Wren library

The Wren Library houses a rare collection of over 277 manuscripts, including the fifteenth-century "Thornton Romances" found in the Lincoln Thornton Manuscript.

Rose windows

Lincoln Cathedral features two major rose windows, which are a highly uncommon feature among medieval architecture in England. On the north side of the cathedral is the "Dean's Eye" which survives from the original structure of the building and on the south side is the "Bishop's Eye" which was most likely rebuilt c. 1325–1350. This south window is one of the largest examples of curvilinear tracery seen in medieval architecture. Curvilinear tracery is a form of tracery where the patterns are continuous curves. This form was often done within pointed arches and squared windows because those are the easiest shapes, so the circular space of the window was a unique challenge to the designers.

A solution was created that called for the circle to be divided into smaller shapes that would make it simpler to design and create. Curves were drawn within the window which created four distinct areas of the circle. This made the spaces within the circle where the tracery would go much smaller, and easier to work with. This window is also unique in that the focus of the tracery was shifted away from the centre of the circle and instead placed in other sections. The glazing of the window was difficult as the tracery for many of the same reasons; therefore, the designers cut back on the amount of iconography within the window.

Most cathedral windows during this time displayed many colourful images of the Bible; however, at Lincoln there are very few images. Some of those images that can be seen within the window include saints Paul, Andrew, and James.

Vaults

One major architectural features of Lincoln Cathedral are the vaults. The varying vaults within the cathedral are said to be both original and experimental. They demonstrate the experimental aspect seen at Lincoln. The vaults differ between the nave, aisles, choir, and chapels. Along the North Aisle there is a continuous ridge rib with a regular arcade that ignores the bays. In the South Aisle there is a discontinuous ridge rib that puts an emphasis on each bay. The North West Chapel has quadripartite vaults and the South Chapel has vaults that stem from one central support column. The use of sexpartite vaults allowed for more natural light to enter the cathedral through the clerestory windows, which were placed inside of each bay.

Saint Hugh's Choir exhibits a series of asymmetrical vaults that appear to almost be a diagonal line created by two ribs on one side translating into only a single rib on the other side of the vault. This pattern divides the space of the vaults and bays, placing the emphasis on the bays.

The chapter house is a decagonal building with a single, central column from which twenty ribs rise producing unusual vaulting.

Each area of Lincoln can be identified solely by the different vaults of the space. Each vault, or each variation of the vault, is unique. The vaults are attributed to French-Normand master mason Geoffrey de Noiers.^[31][32] de Noiers was succeeded by Alexander the Mason, who developed the nave's more elaborate, but symmetrical tierceron vaulting, the crossing vaulting, Galilee Porch and western facade screen.^[33][34]

• 
  Vault of Angel Choir
• 
  Crossing of Secondary transept
• 
  Vault of Entrance to Chapter House
• 
  Vault of Secondary Transept
• 
  Vault of Main Transepts
• 
  Vault of Nave

Tower clock

A clock by John Thwaite^[35] was installed in the north west tower in 1775. This was later improved by Benjamin Vulliamy and moved to the broad tower around 1835. It was replaced in 1880 by a new clock built by Potts and Sons of Leeds, under the instruction of Edmund Beckett QC. Cambridge Chimes were a feature of the new clock.^[36] The machinery, featuring a double three-legged gravity escapement to Beckett's designs, weighs about 4 long tons (4.5 short tons), with the driving weights being 1.5 long tons (1.7 short tons), suspended by steel-wire ropes 270 feet (82 m) long, and the pendulum weight of 2 long hundredweight (100 kg). The beat is 1.5 seconds.

The hour hammer is 224 pounds (102 kg), striking upon the Great Tom bell. The striking trains require winding daily, when done manually it took 20 minutes. The going train required winding twice per week. The clock mechanism contains the inscription Quod bene vortat Deus Opt. Max., Consiliis Edmundi Beckett, Baronetti, LL.D., Opera Gul. Potts et Filiorum, civium Leodiensium, Sumptibus Decani et Capituli, Novum in Turri positum est Horologium, A.D. MDCCCLXXX.

Bells

The South West tower of the cathedral contains a fine ring of 13 bells, all cast by John Taylor & Co in Loughborough. The back 8 bells were cast in 1913, with 4 new trebles being added in 1927. In 1948 a flat 6th was added to allow for ringing on the middle 8 bells. The treble bell weighs 5cwt 0qr 2lb (281 kg), with the tenor weighing 23cwt 3qr 23lb (1,217 kg) and striking the note D (nominal 600.0 Hz). The bells are rung from the section of the tower just above The Great West Front, with the ringing chamber having three windows on all but one side. The bells themselves are hung below the louvres to minimise tower movement as much as possible.

Wartime history

Sometime during the later stages of the Second World War, the accomplished RAF pilot and future Black British civil rights leader, Billy Strachan, almost crashed his aircraft into Lincoln Cathedral. Strachan credited this experience with ending his piloting career, as he found it psychologically impossible to continue flying combat missions.^[37]

Lincolnshire was home to many Bomber Command airfields during the Second World War, giving rise to the nickname of "Bomber County".^[38] The station badge for the nearby RAF Waddington depicts Lincoln Cathedral rising through the clouds.^[39] Until the opening of the RAF Bomber Command Memorial in 2012, the cathedral had the only memorial in the United Kingdom dedicated to Bomber Command's large losses of aircrew in the Second World War.^[40][41]

During the war, "priceless British treasures" were placed in a chamber sixty feet beneath the cathedral for safekeeping.^[42] This did not include the cathedral's copy of Magna Carta as it was on loan in the United States.^[42]

21st century

A major renovation of the West Front was undertaken in 2000. It was discovered that the flying buttresses on the east end were no longer connected to the adjoining stonework, and repairs were made to prevent collapse. Additionally, the stonework of the Dean's Eye window in the transept was crumbling, meaning that a complete reconstruction of the window has had to be carried out according to the conservation criteria set out by the International Council on Monuments and Sites. There was a period of great anxiety when it emerged that the stonework needed to shift only 5 mm (0.20 in) for the entire window to collapse. Specialist engineers removed the window's tracery before installing a strengthened, more stable replacement. In addition to this the original stained glass was cleaned and set behind a new clear isothermal glass which offers better protection from the elements. By April 2006 the renovation project was completed at a cost of £2 million.

It was announced in January 2020 that since 2016, archaeologists had found over 50 burials during the renovations, including a priest buried with a chalice and paten. Among the artifacts recovered was a coin depicting Edward the Confessor, who was king from 1042 to 1066. During the dig, sections of some extensively decorated Roman buildings and related artifacts were also discovered. Some of the Roman, medieval and Saxon objects were to be displayed at the visitor centre which was expected to open later in 2020.^[43][44] In 2022 the scaffolding of the Lincoln Cathedral was removed from its west front after 36 years.^[45]

Maintaining the cathedral costs £5.86 million a year (as at 2016).^[46] Between 2006 and 2009, 200,000 to 208,000 people visited Lincoln Cathedral annually. In 2010 the figure dropped to 150,000, making it the 16th-most visited attraction in the East Midlands.^[47] The fall in visitor numbers was attributed to the cancellation of the Lincoln Christmas Market that year.^[48]

The cathedral website states: "Everyone is free to enter and gaze at the glory of the nave; you can sit in the peace of the Morning Chapel or visit the shop. If you want to explore further, we do ask you to pay."^[49] The cathedral offers tours of the cathedral, the tower and the roof. The peak of its season is the Lincoln Christmas Market, accompanied by an annual production of Handel's Messiah.^[50]

Cathedral stone

Lincoln Cathedral is one of the few English cathedrals built from the rock on which it stands.^[51] It is mostly built from Lincolnshire Limestone.^[52] The cathedral has owned the existing quarry, on Riseholme Road, Lincoln, since 1876.^[53] As of 2016, the quarry was expected to run out of stone in 2021.^[54] The cathedral's stonemasons use more than 100 tonnes of stone per year for maintenance and repairs.^[54]

Choir and organists

The choir is currently formed of adult singers (who are either lay vicars or choral scholars), and teams of about 20 girls and 20 boys. The cathedral accepted female choristers in 1995. Lincoln was the second cathedral in the country to adopt a separate girls' choir (after Salisbury Cathedral) and remains one of few which provides the same musical opportunities and equal weekly singing duties to both girls and boys. The choristers can now attend any school and are currently drawn from over ten local schools.

The Master of the Choristers (director of music) is Aric Prentice, who conducts the choir of boys and men; the Cathedral Organist and assistant director of music is Jeffrey Makinson, who conducts the choir of girls and men. The organist emeritus is Colin Walsh, previously organist and master of the choristers and then organist laureate.

The records of cathedral organists at Lincoln are continuous from 1439 when John Ingleton was the incumbent. Notable organists have included the Renaissance composers William Byrd and John Reading and the biographer of Mendelssohn, William Thomas Freemantle.

Organ

One of the best examples of the work of "Father" Henry Willis, and the last he designed before his death, the cathedral organ dates from 1898. Willis had completed the design by 1885 but a shortfall in funding delayed construction and installation. This was made possible in 1898, after a donation of £1,000 (equivalent to £660,000 in 2023)^[56] from Alfred Shuttleworth, an engineer and later chairman of Clayton & Shuttleworth.^[57] This, together with other private gifts and a public subscription, allowed work to progress. On St Hugh's Day, 17 November 1898, the organ was inaugurated at a service attended by 4,700 people. Willis had intended that the organ be electrically-powered, the first organ in an English cathedral to be powered in this way. As the Brayford Wharf Power Station had not yet been completed,^[58] manual power was instead provided by infantrymen from the Lincolnshire Regiment.^[59]

The organ has been restored twice, in 1960 and in 1998. On both occasions the work was undertaken by Harrison & Harrison. It is one of only two Willis organs in English cathedrals with its original tonal scheme.^[59] The organ specification is held on the National Pipe Organ Register.^[60]

In literature

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Lincoln Cathedral,
a poetical illustration
by L. E. L.

In Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poetical illustration Lincoln Cathedral to a painting by Thomas Allom, she remarks on the derivation of Gothic tracery from "the arches of the old oak trees". This was published in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837.^[62]

In media

The cathedral was used for the filming of The Da Vinci Code (based on the book of the same name).^[63] Filming took place mainly within the cloisters, and chapter house,^[63] of the cathedral, and remained a closed set. The cathedral took on the role of Westminster Abbey, as the abbey had refused to permit filming.^[63] Although there was protest at the filming,^[64] the filming was completed by the end of August 2005. To make the Lincoln chapter house appear similar to the Westminster chapter house, murals were painted on a special layer over the existing wall, and elsewhere polystyrene replicas of Isaac Newton's tomb and other abbey monuments were set up.^[63] For a time these murals and replicas remained in the chapter house, as part of a Da Vinci Code exhibit for visitors, but in January 2008 they were all sold off in an auction to raise money for the cathedral.^[63]

The cathedral also doubled as Westminster Abbey for the film Young Victoria, filmed in September 2007,^[65][66] and did again in June 2018 for the Netflix Shakespeare film The King.^[67]

During 2022 the cathedral was also one of the locations for the 2023 Ridley Scott film Napoleon, in which it serves both as Notre-Dame cathedral for the coronation scene and Milan cathedral in a sequence shown within the extended director's cut of the film.^[68]

The cathedral is LCR FM's transmitter site.