Description

SK 9771 NW,
1941-1/8/62

LINCOLN,
CASTLE HILL,
Lincoln Castle

(Formerly Listed as: CASTLE HILL Castle remains, Observatory Tower at the Castle)

(Previously Listed as: CASTLE HILL Lodge on north side of entrance to Castle)

15/08/73

GV

I

Castle. 1068, C12, C13, C14, C19. Restored C20. Built for
William I. Coursed and squared stone and herringbone rubble,
with ashlar dressings and slate roofs.
PLAN: quadrangular curtain wall, east gateway and lodges,
observatory tower, Lucy Tower (keep), west gate, Cobb Hall
(north-east angle tower).

EXTERIOR: restored curtain wall has a crenellated parapet and
wall walk. East gateway, C11, extended C14, has a restored
double chamfered gateway and above, semicircular tourelles,
each with a doorway. Between them, a pointed wall. Under the
entrance arch, a C11 tunnel vault. Inside the gateway, a pair
of crenellated mid C19 lodges in the form of a barbican.
Semicircular western ends, two storeys, each with three stone
mullioned double lancets on each floor, with hoodmoulds.
Between them, a pointed archway with crenellated crest.
On the north wall inside the gateway, a reset canted C15 oriel
window with three ogee headed lancets and crocketed pinnacles,
from a house in the High Street opposite St Mary's Guildhall.
Square observatory tower, C11, to south-east, has C14 eastern
additions and extensive mid C19 remodelling. String course,
corbelled and crenellated C19 parapets, single lancet windows.
West side has a garderobe shaft in the form of a buttress,
flanked to left by a pointed doorway with a lancet above it.
East side has square corner towers. South side has sham arrow
slits. Above, to east, a chamfered pointed doorway and a
similarly chamfered ogee headed doorway, C14.
In the south-west corner, a C19 round tower with stepped
rectangular lights.
To the south, the motte and Lucy Tower, late C12, restored
C19. Roofless. Polygonal plan with string course, plain
buttresses, and consolidated parapet.
Projecting north-eastern gateway with billeted round arched
outer opening and segmental inner opening with hoodmould.
South-western minor entrance has a segmental head. To the
south-west, a small roofless chamber.
Square west gatehouse, C11, rebuilt 1233, has a blocked round
headed opening with an inserted doorway flanked by the remains
of barbican walls. Above, two slit windows and a blocked access
doorway to the right. Cobb Hall, C13, reduced in height and
remodelled C19, has a semicircular outer face with slit
windows, and a square inner face with a chamfered doorway
flanked by single slit windows. Crenellated parapet.

INTERIOR: Two storeys with chamfered rib vaulting forming four
vaulted cells in the lower part and six radial cells in the
rounded end of the upper storey. This building was formerly
used as a place of execution, and fittings for the gallows
remain on the outer parapet.

Scheduled Ancient Monument, County No.1.

Listing NGR: SK9756571832

External Links

• Historic England Listing

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)