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Not much to report, but we took a quick trip to Lincoln. Parts were fantastic, parts were difficult. The nice part was Lincoln itself. The difficult part was everything else. It rained very heavily most of the day, we couldn’t figure out the parking, and it was freezing cold (about 0C). Being Wisconsinites, the cold shouldn’t have presented much of an issue, but we dressed for English rain, leaving us shivering most of the day.

The highlight was the medieval Bishop’s Palace. Lincoln used to be a very rich and powerful diocese (reaching from the Thames to the Humber), and the church built a magnificent palace (mostly constructed by Bishop Robert de Chesney and Bishop St Hugh from 1155 - 1200). Unfortunately, war and crown intervened and ruined much of the structure. Henry VIII’s seizure of church lands removed the supply of money to pay for the site. Later, the Royalists in the English Civil War sacked the building, mainly by violently stripping the lead roof and plumbing fittings, which left the weather to do the rest. The site has since been picked up the English Heritage Foundation (since the church doesn’t want to pay for upkeep) who have done a magnificent job turning it into a topnotch tourist attraction. The admission includes an excellent audio tour of the site, and is well worth following. While marvelous, the only shortcoming was the lack of access to the the Victorian Bishop’s Chapel (built over the medieval service halls) because it is still in use by the current bishop.

A View of the Lower East Hall, with the well at the end.

A view of the ruined palace from Bishop Alnwick’s Tower and The Central Column in the Chapter House.

The rest of the day was screwy because of our adventure timing events. Being Sunday, the Cathedral was busy with service, but we snuck in during an intermission. Of note were the Lincoln Imp and the Chapter House (which was used as a double for Westminster Abbey’s Chapter House). It was beautiful, yet incredibly dark (so the photos came out slightly blurry from the handheld long exposure). To warm up, we had lunch and beers at two local pubs (The Strugglers Inn was the CAMRA recommended one*), but missed entrance to the Castle. To make us more upset, not only is the Castle an amazing building with a long and morbid history, but also houses one of the only four copies of the Magna Carta (owned by the Cathedral since 4 days after the signing in 1215).

* Note to selves: Pubs serve Sunday lunch generally until 2-2:30. Arrive early (since the pub had the most amazing sounding menu, that they refused to serve us).