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Lincoln Cathedral, Lincolnshire

 

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G.K. Chesterton, in describing the Gothic architecture of Lincoln Cathedral, has written: "The truth about Gothic is, first that it is alive, and second that it is on the march. It is the Church Militant... All its spires are spears at rest; and all its stones are stones asleep in a catapult. In that instant of illusion I could hear the arches clash like swords as they crossed each other. The mighty and numberless columns seemed to go swinging by like the huge feet of imperial elephants. The graven foliage wreathed and blew like banners going into battle; the silence was deafening with all the mingled sounds of the military march... And amid all the noise I seemed to hear the voice of a man shouting in the midst like one ordering regiments hither and thither in the fight; the voice of a great half-military master builder; the architect of spears" (from A Miscellany of Men by G.K. Chesterton).

 

Churches and the military have always been linked, ever since early castles and spiritual sites shared the same circular banks and ditches. When the Normans conquered Britain in 1066 one of William the Conqueror's closest supporters, Remigius de Fechamp, was made Bishop of Lincoln, and ordered a cathedral to be built. The cathedral of this fighting bishop stood for almost a hundred years before it was destroyed by an earthquake. The cathedral which replaced it is largely the one we see today, a huge building, the third largest cathedral in Britain, behind St Paul's and York Minster. And according to G.K. Chesterton, the military link continued in the architecture of the new cathedral. As well as seeing this link in the architectural details Chesterton mentions, there is also the fact of Lincoln Cathedral's height. Until the spire collapsed in 1549, Lincoln Cathedral was reputed to be the tallest building in the world. And this sense of height is important in military and religious terms. In ancient societies hills were used to build fortified refuges. The Normans built artificial hills and put castles on top of them. As well as places of physical safety, hills have often been seen as spiritual places. The Hindus had their mythic Mount Meru, the Japanese revered the goddess Fujiyama, who dominated the landscape from Mount Fuji; and the Christians had Mount Sinai. With hills and mountains being spiritual places, it made sense to build artificial hills to celebrate the gods. The Egyptians did this with their pyramids, the people of Mesopotamia with their ziggurat, and the Maya with their temples at Uxmal and Chichen Itza. In England neolithic people built Silbury Hill. And of course taking the analogy one step further, church towers can also be seen as echoing the hills on which ancient forts and shrines were built. Although there is some doubt about exactly how high Lincoln's spire was, we can be sure it was very tall, and might have reached higher than those other spiritual hills, the pyramids of Egypt.

 

Into modern times it seems fitting that the spiritual and military link should continue. Bomber crews returning to Lincolnshire airfields during World War Two used Lincoln Cathedral as a navigational landmark. Lincoln Cathedral has the only memorial in Britain dedicated to the men of Bomber Command. In a wider sense Lincoln Cathedral survives today as a memorial to the link between people's efforts to find physical and spiritual security.

Lincoln Cathedral holds a copy of the Magna Carta - in 1215 the Bishop of Lincoln Hugh Wells was one of the powerful figures who forced King John into signing a document which confirmed that monarchs were subject to law. There is also a memorial to Isabella, wife of the ferocious late thirteenth century king Edward I.

In August 2005 Lincoln Cathedral was used as a film location for The Da Vinci Code, standing in for Westminster Abbey which refused to allow filming.

 

 

Opening Times: 29th June to 28th August, weekdays 7.15am - 8pm, weekends 7.15am - 6pm. For the rest of the year weekday opening is 7.15am - 6pm, weekends 7.15am - 5pm. There are occasional temporary restrictions. Check before you visit using contact details below.

Floor tours take place 11am and 2pm Monday to Saturday.

Roof tours take place 1.30pm Monday to Friday, and 11am and 1.30pm Saturday.

Tower tours take place 1.30pm on Saturday until spring. Booking is advised for all tours.

Directions: Lincoln Cathedral is in the centre of Lincoln. Click here for an interactive map centred on Lincoln Cathedral.

Address: Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln, LN2 1PX

Access: Ramps allow access into the cathedral, but access is limited in many areas. For visitors with sight problems there is a model of the cathedral with an audio commentary. There is also a touch exhibition of the materials the cathedral is built from, stone, wood and metal.

Contact:

telephone: 01522 561600

e-mail: visitors@lincolncathedral.com

web site: http://www.lincolncathedral.com/

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