Marian Pilgrimage- Our Lady of Lincoln

 TheOilgrimage now heads south to Lincoln and the cathedral there. Leaving Axholme the medieval pilgrim would have had two basic choices. One route would be along the Lincoln Edge following the Roman road Ernibe Street that runs straight as a die from Lincoln to the Humber. The other possibility would be to travel beside or on the Trent south to the Foss Dyke created by the Romans to link the Trent to the Witham at the Brayford Pool in the centre of Lincoln and ultimately the Wash. Whichever way they travelled they sooner or later they would see, many mikes ahead the triple spires and commanding bulk of Lincoln Cathedral 

  

 The west front of Lincoln Cathedral before the removal of the timber and lead spires in 1807.

The spire on the central tower collapsed in 1548.

Although almost certainly not the 584 feet high often quoted it was something approaching that and the tallest building in the world until the later nineteenth century.  

A painting by A.C.Pugin 

Image: Whitworth Art Gallery Manchester 

 

If the objective on the Pilgrimage was the statue of Our Lady by the High Altar the Cathedral could also offer shrine of St Hugh , of his head, of Little St Hugh and rge tombs of two bishops popularly regarded as potential saints, Robert Grosseteste and John of Dalderby.

My previous posts about the Marian devotion at Lincoln can be accessed from that for last year at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Lincoln

Although some of the treasures of the various shrines had been confiscated by 1541 according to Gareth Russell’s excellent biography of Catherine HowardYoung & Damned & Fair, quoting the great historian of Lincoln Sir Francis Hill, one golden statue of the Virgin was hidden away in the vaults of the cathedral when Thomas Cromwell’ s agents came and it was not rediscovered until 1586. 

The modern statue of Our Lady in Lincoln Cathedral

Image: The Orthodox Art Journal

May Our Lady of Lincoln intercede

 for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray