Lincoln stands on a hill surrounded by level country. First a British
settlement, it became a Roman colony. In 1074 the decree that all
bishoprics should be in fortified places caused the removal of the See
of Dorchester to Lincoln. Even at this time Lincoln was an important
commercial town. Many parliaments have been held in its chapter-house,
and Henry VII. offered his thanksgivings after Bosworth in the
cathedral.
The mighty fane, with its three massive towers, rises majestically over
the red roofs of the town. Its most striking feature is the great Norman
screen, running up without buttresses or projections to the parapet and
hiding the bases of the square, richly decorated towers of the west
front. The plain centre of the screen is the work of Remigius, the first
bishop. The rest of it is relieved with rich arcading of Late Norman and
Early English periods. The wooden spires which crowned the towers were
removed in 1807.
In 1192 Hugh of Avalon determined to rebuild the Norman building of
Remigius, which an earthquake had shaken. To him we owe the choir and
eastern transept. His successors completed the western transept and
began the west end of the nave. So much money had to be spent in
rebuilding the central tower, which fell in 1239, that the canons could
not rebuild the nave entirely, but had to incorporate the Norman end by
Remigius. Unfortunately the axis of the west front does not correspond
to that of the nave, which is too wide for its height.
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