Lincolnshire selection

Boston is an interestingly sited town with a curious church and would justify more than the cursory visit I was able to give it when working there one day for a colleague.

The two entries at the North end are rather special. The Humber Bridge may well be the finest in England. Certainly the Humber is the widest stretch of water other than the Wash [south of Boston]. Lastly the entry on the saxon church will be short but it is a little historical gem.

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The bedrooms are modern enough anyway - en-suite with tea and coffee making facilities, telephone and TV.

The small town of Horncastle is an ideal place to stay as it claims to be the 'antique centre of Lincolnshire' with several quality antique shops. This really is quite a bargain.

Obviously I have not measured it and the statistics here come from the bridge website: http://www.humberbridge.co.uk/

It is a suspension bridge with a main span 1,410 metres long and side spans of 280 meters and 530 meters respectively, North and South. There is 30 meters clearance over high water and a tower height of 155.5 meters. Prior to the building of the bridge, traffic between, for instance, Hull and Grimsby had to go miles inland to cross the river at Goole. The building of the Humber Bridge seemed to make sense of the County of Humberside, created in the 1970s by abolishing the old East Riding of Yorkshire and putting it and part of Lincolnshire into the new county. The high tolls for using the bridge may have contributed to the dislike of Humberside on the South Bank though I guess it was more the feeling of having been taken over by the North which led to the campaign, eventually successful, for the South bank to revert to Lincolnshire.

The bridge has to be closed to high sided vehicles when there is a very strong wind as the Munber acts as a sort of wind tunnel. There are fine viewing areas on both banks and, because of the width of the estuary, it can be seen from a considerable distance away.

There is clearly an architectural break between the lower part of the tower, whose Anglo-Saxon origin is clear enough to anyone who knows anything at all, and the top part [belfry] which is clearly newer though still very old. I could not have dated this top part to the end of the 11th century with any confidence although I am sure the judgement that it must be dated to the Saxon/Norman overlap period is perfectly sound. Anyway the whole thing is a gem.

Lincoln's history predates the Romans and it was not until the 3rd century AD that the Roman settlement of Lindum was established there.

The Normans took less time in deciding on a major centre here. A castle was built shortly after the conquest and the cathedral was started in the 1070s. This is a wonderful building, one of England's three largest and with a tower whose height is only surpassed by Salisbury Cathedral. Originally it had an absolutely massive tower more than twice the height of the present one, whichnot too surprisingly failed to weather a 16th century storm.

There is still some Norman [Romanesque] work left but most of the cathedral, including the majestic nave shows splendid examples of Early English style. Of other buildings the Jew's House, dating from the middle of the 12th century and there are quite a number of 14th and 15th century buildings as well as Tudor half-timbered houses.

I am afraid I only had time for a whirlwind trip round and I should much like to have more time there.

The building which proclaims its presence most strongly is St Botolph's Church, better known as 'The Boston Stump.' It is the largest parish church in England and, building was started in the early 14th century. The huge tower, reaching 272 feet, was added in the following two centuries. I imagine the 'Stump' is a sort of joke in view of its height, although it does look a bit as though there should be a bit more at the top. This is part of its appeal. Anything added to this would necessarily have to be virtually copied and there is a splendid website which shows some of what I missed. This is http://www.bostonuk.com/historical/sites.htm