Wednesday, 26 October 2022. Our short break in Lincoln continues with a visit to the famous cathedral.
Wednesday morning starts with breakfast in the hotel as we look forward to visiting the cathedral and hopefully discovering the Lincoln Imp - a carving of a supernatural being, supposed to be a bit mischievous, but not supposed to be easy to find!
We walk through the grounds to the cathedral entrance. Some parts of the cathedral are free to enter, others require an entry fee. The upkeep of a building like this must be enormous (1.6 million pounds in 2021) so we didn't begrudge paying. Following the directions from the lady on the desk we arrived at the cloisters. Building started in the year 1072 and continued sporadically over several hundred years. In fact it was largely destroyed by a magnitude 5+ earthquake in April 1185. Only the lower part of the west end and its two towers exist of the former building. In 1311 a steeple was added to the central tower making Lincoln Cathedral supposedly the tallest building in the world for 238 years, the spire collapsing and somewhat spoiling the legitimacy of the claim in 1548.
The north walk of the cloister has open archways rather than continuous windows in a wall and an arch made a nice frame for a view of the central tower (previous photograph), whilst here you can see the grassed area that the cloister surrounds.
The Chapter House was the first octagonal chapter house in England and was used to depict that of Westminster Abbey for the filming of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code in 2005. Polystyrene replicas of Isaac Newton's tomb as well as other feature of Westminster were used, though the use of the cathedral for this purpose was not without controversy.
A painting of four former Bishops of Lincoln, all thought to be buried within this area of the church. They are: Robert Bloet 1094-1123; Alexander the Magnificent 1123 -1148; Robert de Chesney 1148-1167; and William of Blois 1203-1206. The painting is by Venetian artist Vincenzo Damini who in 1728 had been asked to restore an original painting from medieval times but instead just painted over it. As you do... The wall tablet beneath commemorates a bequest of the proceeds of bonds received by Dame Margaret Thorold after the failure of the South Seas Company "bubble" to be distributed between "Six poor old men of the city and Lincoln Cathedral".
There are so many sculptures of people, animals and imaginary beings on the walls of the cathedral that it is almost mind boggling. For instance, there are 33 different depictions of the Green Man (faces made up out of foliage or human faces with leaves and vines growing from facial orifices). Yes, I know... gross... but fun to spot!
A modern (2014) sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus by Aidan Hart in the Chapel of St Nicholas, or Cantilupe Chantry.
St Hugh's Choir. The stalls are in three tiers with the rear for canons, centre tier for Vicars Choral and the front row for choristers - where they can be kept an eye on! Hugh was elected Bishop of Lincoln in 1186, the year after the devastating earthquake. He had a pet swan that was devoted to him, eating out of his hand and following him everywhere, whilst attacking anyone else who tried to approach Hugh. He is the patron saint of swans, sick children, sick people and shoemakers. Work that one out...
The organ of 1898 has four manuals and 64 stops.
The pulpitum screen separates the nave from St Hugh's Choir. It dates from the 1330s and was originally colourfully painted.
On this detail photo of the pulpitum screen traces of red and green or blue pigment can be seen.
The head shrine of St Hugh - his head was detached from his body. I didn't find out how or why or if it was that turncoat of a swan... The modern iron sculpture represents the back and curved neck of the swan.
And finally... we found impish faces all over the place. But not the one we were looking for. In the end we asked and were told to look on a pillar above a king's head near the shrine of St Hugh. You can put 20p in a slot to light a spotlight that shines on him - thus picking him out but making a photo almost impossible against the surrounding gloom - The stonework looks a lot lighter here than it did in reality!
Someone had just invested 20 pence, so I waited until the light went out and took several photos of which this was the sharpest I could manage. The legend goes that Satan sent two imps to the region. They caused all sorts of mischief in many churches until at Lincoln Cathedral an Angel sorted them out after they smashed tables and chairs and tripped up the Bishop. One hid under the wreckage of the furniture but this one climbed the pillar and was turned to stone by the angel whilst the other escaped.
A general look down the nave. By now it is getting perilously close to time-for-a-cup-of-tea, so we leave the calm of the cathedral and rejoin the secular world outside.
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