Lincoln Castle was built on top of a previous Roman fortress. The name "Lincoln" comes from the Roman Lindum Colonia, founded during the reign of Nero or later, and garrisoned originally by the Ninth Legion. The Lindum part of the colony's name was probably from an earlier Briton name, "lindon" meaning pool or lake.
The castle is unique in England (but for one other) in that it has two mottes as part of its defenses. (The illustration shows the remains of a Roman wall in Lincoln.) Lincoln had a very sophisticated water supply, fed by a spring in the northeast and run through ceramic pipes that ranged from 7.5" in diameter to 4". The spring itself is in a lower elevation, so there must have been some structure (long since vanished) that raised the water up to create enough pressure to let it flow into and throughout the town. There was a Roman bath house.
Lincoln Colony also became known for its pottery production. It produced something called Dales ware in the 3rd and 4th centuries that has been found widely distributed across northern Britain. Dales ware is a brown-gray color with a distinctive wide rim, distinguished also by the addition of shell fragments into the clay. Dales-type jars were used as funerary urns in Roman York.
More on medieval Lincoln tomorrow.
