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Excavations at Lincoln. Second Interim Report: Excavations in the Lower Town 1972–8

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

Christina Colyer ,
M. J. Jones ,
R. H. Jones ,
D. Perring ,
N. M. Reynolds  and
J. S. Wacher
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Summary

Recent excavations have added considerably to our knowledge of the lower walled city in the Roman period, both in terms of internal structures (mainly houses) and of the sequence of the defences. Much, however, still remains to be learned about the early development and layout of the lower town, while the exact nature of the defensive system is imperfectly understood. Evidence is gradually accumulating to show that what had been the Roman city was still occupied during the fifth and sixth centuries. Whatever form this occupation took, excavations at Flaxengate have shown beyond dispute that the city was revitalized in the early Anglo-Scandinavian period and that some streets which had previously been assumed to be of Roman origin were part of a planned layout undertaken early in the Viking period. Detailed information has also been retrieved about domestic and commercial buildings in the lower part of the city in the post-Conquest period, and this has complemented the evidence from documentary sources, confirming that the city was extremely prosperous in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 59 , Issue 1 , March 1979 , pp. 50 - 91
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1979

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References

Notes

1 For the first interim report on excavations on the defences of the lower town, see Antiq. Journ. LV (1975), 227–66. Further interim reports are envisaged concerned with work in the suburbs of Lincoln and in the upper city.Google Scholar

2 The pressures caused by redevelopment were such that in 1973 the Trust could not cope with four major excavations simultaneously.

3 Mr. F.T. Baker, O.B.E., Vice-Chairman of the Trust, read the text at draft stage.

4 Records were kept of the stratigraphy within spits.

5 The street-pattern of the Anglo-Scandinavian period is to be discussed in more detail in a forth coming Trust fascicule Lincoln in the Anglo-Scandinavian Period: a Preliminary Statement.

6 For previous excavations at Flaxengate near the present site see J.R.S. XXXVIII (1948), 88Google Scholar; Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, VII (1973), 73–114.Google Scholar

7 These lowest levels, which were below the water-table, were not excavated so it was im possible to tell if the sandy deposit at the bottom of excavated features was natural or redeposited natural soil.

8 See n. 6.

9 It may have been askew to the street-system because the insula within which it lay was sparsely populated. The Roman building excavated at Steep Hill (above, pp. 77–8) likewise did not conform to the presumed alignment of Ermine Street.

10 For the discoveries made at the northern junction of Grantham Street and High Street see Arch. J. CIII (1946), 43.Google Scholar

11 The width of the masonry and the fact that the apse was obviously originally hollow below its floor-level both argue against its primary function being a buttress.

12 For a discussion of churches in this area see n. 5.

13 We are indebted to Professor Rosemary Cramp, Dr. J. R. Hunter, and Professor V. I. Evison for examining the large quantity of glass from these and later contexts, but scientific research is required, especially on some very important pieces.

14 Some items of copper-alloy can be attributed to this period but most of the metalwork is still undergoing laboratory cleaning and conservation.

15 The work of Mr. Dominic Perring has been especially useful in this respect.

16 To be published in the Monograph Series or the Lincoln Archaeological Trust: Coins of the Anglo-Scandinavian Period from Lincoln, by M. A. S. Blackburn, C. Colyer, and R. H. M. Dolley.

17 Collaboration between Dr. Lauren Adams and Mrs. Kathy Kilmurry, also working on Stamford ware, has resulted in the production of a well-dated type series.

18 Grantham Street is a name of seventeenth-century origin, and Flaxengate is first mentioned in 1661 (SirHill, Francis, Medieval Lincoln (1948), p. 362).Google Scholar

19 Brancegate is first mentioned in a document of 1185. We are indebted to Professor Cameron for pointing out this reference which is earlier than that cited by Hill (op. cit., p. 362).

20 We are again indebted to Professor Cameron for assistance with this identification.

21 The line of the Roman street leading to the postern gate at Saltergate (see above pp. 85–6 and fig. 12) if projected northwards should have cut through this site. It was not there.

22 Undertaken by Dr. Mark Noel, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

23 The name of the modern street nearby, Danesgate, may be an indication of the survival of a Scandinavian population in this area into a considerably later period. It was certainly known as Danesgate c.1200; Hill, op. cit., p. 361.

24 These sherds have been examined by Dr. D. B. Whitehouse and Mr. J. M. Rogers. The latter has pointed out that the closest parallels are unpublished wares from the Raqqa area.

25 The type and source of the stone objects from this site have been identified by Mr. F. W. Anderson to whom we are indebted.

26 We are grateful to Mr. C. D. Morris for drawing attention to recently excavated material from Birsay and to that published in P.S.A.S. CV (1972–1974), 301–7.Google Scholar

27 Verbal information from Ulf Näsman and Kristina Lamm.

28 By X-ray fluorescence spectrometer.

29 There is evidence that a great deal of earlier material of Roman, pagan, and Middle Saxon date was being melted down and reused.

30 Access to the corner of this site was gained in the summer of 1978 by permission of Mr. J. S. Anderson, Director of Planning and Architecture for Lincoln City Council, and Mr. F. Golding, Chairman of the Housing Committee.

31 Seen. 12.

32 First mentioned in a document of 1310 (Hill, op. cit., p. 361).

33 Hill, op. cit., p. 154.

34 Miss Colyer's identification; for discussion see n. 5.

35 Probably deliberate archaizing (Hill, op. cit., p. 153, note).

36 Registrum Antiquissimum of the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, viii, ed. Dr. Major, K. (Lincoln Record Society, 1958), 75–82.Google Scholar

37 The street-frontages of the medieval buildings were visible during observation of service-trenches in 1975 and lay approximately 16.5 ft. (c. 5 m.) to the west of the area excavated.

38 The internal passageway of the Jew's House (Wood, Margaret, Norman Domestic Architecture (1974), pp. 40–2), nearby at the junction of the Strait and Steep Hill, is currently under investigation by Miss Colyer. This was perhaps originally vaulted.Google Scholar

39 Ibid.

40 Daniel Defoe, Tour (Everyman ed., II. 91): ‘Lincoln is an antient, ragged, decay'd, and still decaying city; it is so full of the ruins of monasteries and religious houses, that, in short, the very barns, stables, out-houses, and as they shew'd me, some of the very hog-styes, were built church-fashion; that is to say, with stone walls and arch'd windows and doors’ (quoted by Hill, op. cit., p. 172, n. 1).

41 See n. 37.

42 Buildings D and F may be those referred to in a charter published in Reg. Ant. viii (n. 36 above), number 2269, dated 1215–20.

43 On account of nineteenth-century cellars and the havoc created by the Period II terracing.

44 The north room of building D must have been considerably longer, for the medieval street-frontages lay considerably further to the north. The room excavated, therefore, is likely to have been the hall to the rear of the room(s) opening on to the street. It was at least 26 ft. 3 in. (8 m.) north-south as excavated and it is likely, therefore, that it had a subdivision and/or a passageway.

45 The medieval street-level could not be ascertained on account of the slope of the hill. Undercrofts were usually lighted by windows at ground-level, so the ground floor-level is likely to have been slightly higher than its contemporary medieval street-level.

46 See notes 37 and 38.

47 If the position of the eastern wall of this build ing is as conjectured, probably on the same line as that of the Period I building.

48 The latest date when it is mentioned is c.1299 (Hill, op. cit., p. 362).

49 Seen. 18.

50 Reg. Ant. viii, nos. 2260–62.

51 Seen. 44.

52 If there was originally a subdivision, the hearth is more likely to have been placed nearer a wall (cf. Flaxengate, figs. 4 and 5 above, pp. 62 and 65.

53 Seen. 38.

54 Cf. Flaxengate, p. 54 above.

55 Town houses of substantial size were not common in Britain until after the middle of the second century (Walthew, C. V., ‘The Town House and the Villa House’ in Britannia, VI (1975), 189–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

56 Probably of late twelfth-century origin although little of the existing structure could be shown to be of medieval date (Margaret Wood, op. cit. in n. 38, p. 42 with fig. 9).

57 Title deeds referring to nos. 6 and 7 Steep Hill (deposited in the Lincolnshire Archives Office) show they were divided into two during the ownership of Robert Reynolds (1788–1813). Information from Mr. C. P. C. Johnson.

58 Hill, op. cit., pp. 145 ff.

59 The Roman wall on this site is shown on Stukeley's map of 1722 and described as surviving to a height of 18 ft. (5.5 m.), with a core pitched in alternate directions (Stukeley, W., Itinerarium Curiosum, 2 nd ed. (1776)Google Scholar, ch. 90). It is also drawn in Buck's sketch book of 1724 (Bodleian Library, Gough MSS., Lincoln 15, p. 19) and noted by Sympson, (Adversaria (1737), p. 578)Google Scholar as being ‘everywhere miserably peeled and excoriated’. John Ross, writing about 1850, said that part of the wall here was removed within living memory (Ross MSS. 1, 33, 35 in Lincoln City Library) (eds.).

60 There is a reference to the Friars being granted permission to block a postern in 1275 (Rotuli Hundredorum, p. 311).

60 See Silver Street above, p. 84.

62 There is a reference to the ancestors of the citizens of Lincoln having built houses on the wall of the city in this area in a charter of Edward III (Hill, op. cit., p. 157).

63 The four stones first found were reported in Britannia, VI (1975), 284–5.Google Scholar The fifth stone, at ‘A’ on the drawing, survives rather more com pletely than the others.

64 Harwell laboratory number HAR-863.

65 Byzantine in manufacture and of tenth-century date (information from the Ancient Monuments Laboratory of the Department of the Environment).