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- Newport Arch and the Stonebow -
To live in Lincoln during the Roman occupation in the 1st century AD was to be an important person indeed. Soon after their invasion of Britain the Romans chose Lincoln (a Celtic name meaning pool or Marsh) as the site for their northernmost fortress, and by AD90 Lindum Colonia, one of only four colonia established in Britain and therefore an imperial town of great importance.
Two major Roman roads – the Fosse way and Ermine Street – met in Lincoln, and the commanding position of the colonia on top of the hill made it an important strategic location. The Roman city could be entered by four gates, and part of one of them survives to this day – Newport Arch, the Northern gateway at the end of Bailgate. Between the 1600s and 1800s the other three gates either collapsed or were demolished.
The original gateway on this site would have been built of timber, but in the 3rd century it was dismantled and rebuilt in stone, with two stone towers flanking an arched stone tunnel. What survives today is only the inner wall of the gateway, but it is the oldest archway in England still used by road traffic on a daily basis.
A fragment of the first Roman south gate survives in Steep Hill, but as Lindum Colonia grew in size, so newer gateways had to be added. The new Roman south gate stood in the High Street on the present-day site of the Stonebow, which is its medieval replacement. Richard II ordered the rebuilding of the original Roman gate in 1390, but the work was not finished until 1520. The Stonebow has since been much renovated, especially in the 19th century. Inside is Lincoln’s Guildhall, with the council chamber directly over the main arch, and the city’s civic insignia. The Mote Bell on the roof bears it casting date of 1371 and is believed to be the oldest bell in England.
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