Young or Old, get thee to the Castle! (Lincoln Castle)

Member Name: JIL123

Product:	Lincoln Castle
Date:	26/06/01 (371 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: So interesting, Very Intact, Beautiful Setting

Disadvantages: Lots of Steps!

In 1989 it cost 75p to get into Lincoln Castle of a weekend. I was 14 and studying (amongst others) GCSE History. We learnt all about the castle, the names of the towers and various inhabitants etc, and had to do quite a few field trips. Although I've forgotten most of this, it was a really special place for me. I remember walking round the turrets with the 3 other people in the class, laughing and having picnics. Then, at the weekend, when we'd spent our pocket money in the town centre (cream teas at Stokes Coffee Shop - which hasn't changed one little bit in eleven years!), we would traipse up the imaginatively named 'Steep Hill' to the castle and sit at the top of the Observatory Tower with the world at our feet (Lincoln was the whole world when I was fourteen!) talking our lives away! It was such an idealic time, I was one of those rare and lucky teenagers who had great friends and knew that her school days were the best days of her life, and whenever I think of Lincoln Castle it's always bathed in sunlight and echoing with the sound of my old friends' laughter.

There, wasn't that poetic! Well, I had to leave Lincoln two years later (possibly the biggest tragedy of my life) and I'm writing all this twaddle as a way of setting the scene and giving you an idea of how I was feeling when I took my three and a half year old son to visit the castle nearly twelve years after I had left. I was pretty apprehensive at first, especially as my Dad had once taken us back to the place where he grew up - raving all the way about the huge fabulous park he used to play in, the beautiful old church he used to go to and the great swimming pool with the massive slides. When we got there the park was tiny - about the size of our local common -the church was locked , and the swimming pool had been replaced by a Chinese restaurant! He's drummed it into me ever since that you can't go back!!

However, Pierce had ha
d a toy castle for Christmas and wanted to see the castle in Mummy's photos. So here we were twelve years later heading home again for the day. The first thing I noticed was the price: £2.00 per adult and £1.20 for Pierce, why I thought it would stay the same after so long I don't know! Still the price is great for what you get, and everything else was just perfect. In fact, as a nice little touch, the sun even broke through an otherwise cloudy day just as we were approaching the castle, and shone for the whole visit!

Anyway, the purpose of this opinion (somewhat lost beneath the misty eyed memories I know!) was to tell you all why you should pack up a picnic hamper right away and head straight off for Lincoln Castle. So I'll get on with it. Firstly, It's situated in the Bailgate area of Lincoln, a very 'Olde Worlde' part of the town at the top of a hill. Opposite the castle, just across the square, is one of Englands' most beautiful cathedrals; the site of ancient Roman ruins is just around the corner, and the museum of Lincolnshire life (one of the few museums I have ever been to that makes history interesting for kids) is within walking distance. Not to mention all the gorgeous little shops and cafes. So you really can make a great day out of it.

The castle itself was built in 1068 by William the Conquerer. It's one of only two in Britain to have two mottes! Lewes Castle is the other. What makes it such a great castle to visit is its completeness, you can really get a feel of what it would have been like to live there all that time ago. Inside the castle walls is a large grassed area (they occasionally have concerts here - I saw Clannad play at night many moons ago - magical!) and several buildings which house the County Court and old victorian prisons - in use between 1787 and 1878 - which they have now set up with waxworks to show the conditions in which the prisoners were kept. You can see the Mag
na Carta in the little museum and there's a lovely gift shop and café.

One of my favourite places is the eerie prison chapel. The pews were designed like rows of individual upright coffins which prevented the prisoners from distracting each other and reminded them of their ultimate fate! (I used to play hide and seek in them as a youth!). There is one raised bench at the back that condemned prisoners would sit on to hear their final sermon. All of this is accessible and you can get in to the pews and aisles.

You can walk almost right round the castle walls, viewing the whole of Lincoln City. One of the things that breaks the circle is the Lucy Tower, named after the mother of the Countess of Chester who had the tower built. Originally it was twice the current height and had rooms built onto the sides - you can just see the joist holes where the beams would have sat. Later it was used as a grave yard for prisoners, and is one of the most peaceful places in the whole of Lincoln (as long as you don't go on bank holiday weekend!). Leaving the Lucy Tower and continuing round to the right, you come to the Observatory Tower with it's rooms at the base. You need to be fit for this one. As the name suggests, it was the look out tower for oncoming attack and the spiral stair case seems to go forever! The views are worth it though. Take some twenty pence pieces with you as there are little telescope dotted round the turret and at the top of the tower. If you have young child like mine, expecting them to pass a telescope without having a go is just fool hardy!

Moving in the same direction round the castle walls, you'll come to an innocent looking wooden platform on top - this is where they used to hang folks!. There are steps going down to the dungeons from this platform. When you go down the first flight of stairs you reach a kind of landing before going down to the real dark dungeons. Take a close look at the seats b
y the window. Prisoners would sit here while the gallows were being made ready for them and there are carvings in the walls of Christ on the Cross. They've been covered with perspex to preserve them but are still quite easy to miss. Down then into the dungeons. Again none of this is off limits and you feel really free to explore. Pierce loved this, though he held my hand tight while his eyes got accustomed to the dark!

There are regular free guided tours if you want to make sure you don't miss anything, and they do a range of special events throughout the year - medieval re-enactments, the famous Christmas market, firework displays etc. I'd say you have to be reasonably fit to see Lincoln castle properly, there are a lot of steps! But it's worth it, and if you take a picnic (plenty of grassy slopes in the grounds) it's a very cheap day out that will keep the kids interested and maybe even teach them a little about history.
Personally, I'm just glad my castle's still the same and my lovely memories are intact!

Summary: