Lincoln Cathedral

The cathedral was rebuilt from 1192 after an earthquake wrecked the Norman church, and the result is early English Gothic at its most inventive: the vault of St Hugh's Choir is deliberately asymmetrical, with ribs that do not align across the bay, and is known as the crazy vault because nobody has satisfactorily explained whether it was experiment or error. A central spire completed around 1311 took the building to roughly 160 metres, taller than the Great Pyramid and the tallest structure in the world until it blew down in a storm in 1548. Ruskin called it the finest cathedral in Britain. The Lincoln Imp, a small grotesque figure high in the Angel Choir, is the city's emblem. One of four surviving 1215 Magna Carta originals is held at the castle across the square.

Highlights

• The crazy vault - deliberately misaligned ribs over St Hugh's Choir.
• The lost spire - the tower that made this the world's tallest building until 1548.
• The Lincoln Imp - a small carved grotesque high in the Angel Choir.
• The west front - a Norman screen widened and refaced in the thirteenth century.

When to go

Year-round; roof and tower tours run on set days and book out. Evensong is free to attend and is the best way to hear the building. Winter light through the coloured glass is poor by mid-afternoon.

Good to know

Entry is ticketed and not cheap for a parish-served building. The climb from the lower town up Steep Hill is exactly as described and hard going. Tower tours involve narrow spirals and are unsuitable for anyone uneasy with confined stairs.

Nearby

Lincoln Castle with its Magna Carta is opposite; the Bailgate quarter runs alongside.

Key facts