The city of Lincoln is strategically located at the point where the River Witham cuts through a long escarpment, which is why the Romans built here and ultimately why it's an excellent tourist location. Alas I only had a short time to explore while changing trains, once at the start of the day and once at the end, but just long enough to walk Lincoln's amazing main street from bottom to top. Few high streets evolve quite so dramatically (and are quite so knackering). [map][10 photos][Visit Lincoln]
⇉ lower High Street ⇉
I joined the high street in its lowly lower section, the end of the town centre you'd visit for Argos, Poundland and The Sausage Grill. The big retail offering here is a former mainline station they turned into a shopping mall - St Mark's - after the railway was diverted in 1985. They kept the ionic portico, which now shields Sports Direct, but everything else was flattened and the signal box opposite Debenhams is a fake. The railway continues to slice through the high street at a busy level crossing, creating a major obstacle in the lower town. A few years ago National Rail added a footbridge to provide safe passage at all times, but most shoppers prefer to wait for the barriers to rise rather than take a lengthy hike (or wait for two lifts). A separate footbridge one street to the west, overlooking Brayford Pool, was opened lastsummer and is both architecturally more impressive and (importantly) more direct.
⇈ middle High Street ⇈
Across St Mary's Street, where the remaining station is, the High Street broadens out and steps up a notch. Banks and clothes shops start to predominate so you get a better class of teenager hanging around, or I imagine you do in drier weather. Two Waterstones would appear to be overdoing things, but the larger branch inside the old Corn Exchange is your better bet. The key building to look out for is the half-timbered Pasty Express, which it turns out is one of England's oldest buildings-on-a-bridge. Alleyways to either side lead down steps to the Glory Hole, an age-old nickname for the low arch which delivers the River Witham underneath the high street. If your beam is wider than 15 feet your craft won't squeeze through.
⇈ upper High Street ⇈
A castellated limestone building almost blocks the climbing high street, a Tudor obstruction with Victorian upgrades. This is the Guildhall and to proceed you walk through an arch called the Stonebow which marks the southern entrance into the walled city. Lincoln council meetings still take place in a beam-roofed chamber on the first floor. Beyond are more shops befitting of a county town, peaking with House of Fraser, plus an ever-increasing density of restaurants. Having explored Grimsby's retail offering barely an hour earlier, it was a big jolt to see quite so many non-essential shops.
⇈ The Strait ⇈
The pedestrianised street continues relentlessly upwards before suddenly splitting, the main drag veering off to the right. The road is now of medieval width, and cobbled, and lined by quirkier lifestyle brands. It's charming, aided and abetted by one of the cathedral's towers now poking out above the bunting. On the next bend is Jew's House which dates back to the middle of the 12th century and is one of Britain's oldest surviving townhouses. It's now a restaurant. The road junction out front also marks the unofficial dividing line between the areas of town that locals often call Downhill and Uphill. They are not joking.
⇈ Steep Hill ⇈
It makes perfect sense that the people of Lincoln would have called this Steep Hill because that's exactly what it is. The steepest stretch has a gradient of 1 in 6 and a handrail if you need it, plus a choice of paved or cobbled ascent. It's not too draining a climb but vehicles are strictly prohibited, and I doubt that many folk with mobility scooters choose to retire to Lincoln. That said it is terribly attractive, and the corridor of old shops towards the top of the hill reflects that. This section's all tea rooms, soap boutiques and fudge pantries, if you like that kind of thing, and I suspect normally a lot busier in August than I experienced.
⇉ Castle Square ⇉
Here we are finally at the top of the hill, the 75m summit being unusually high for Lincolnshire. You can see why the Romans built fortifications up here, and the Normans a castle and a cathedral. The castle is now a top visitor attraction, particularly for its wall walk, dungeons and copy of the Magna Carta, though not as typically medieval as you're probably imagining. The cathedral was the world's tallest building for 200 years until its spire fell down, and is still phenomenally imposing, even with scaffolding across much of the west front. Unfortunately I was here as Great Tom struck five which meant it was tourist chucking-out time, and anyway I needed to be back down at the Poundland end of the high street to catch my train home. I left the surrounding maze of streets preparing for the evening's fine diners and smart drinkers, and worked my way back down in status and in elevation.
