Lincoln Castle’s £22m restoration: from Magna Carta to medieval walls
Huge conservation project is now being featured on national television
A £22-million project to restore Lincoln Castle is being showcased in a new television series about historic castles.
The major conservation project repaired the castle’s vast medieval walls, improved access along the wall walk and preserved the Victorian prison at the centre of the site.
Around £12 million of the funding came from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, with the remainder provided by Lincolnshire County Council.
The restoration is now being highlighted in the new Sky History series Great British Castle Rescue, which begins with an episode focusing on Lincoln Castle.
Simon Thurley, chair of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, said the site is one of England’s most remarkable castles.
“Lincoln Castle is one of the great castles of England,” he said.
“Because it’s so close to the cathedral, it’s one of the few places where you can get a real sense of what these places were like in the Middle Ages.”
The project also helped conserve some of the castle’s most famous features - including Lincoln’s copy of the Magna Carta, one of only four surviving originals of the historic 1215 document.
Visitors can also explore the castle’s Victorian prison, which remains largely unchanged and offers a rare glimpse into how prisoners were once treated.
“The wonderful thing about this prison is the way that it’s pretty much unaltered,” Mr Thurley said.
“It really tells you how the Victorian mind worked in terms of trying to reform prisoners and not just punish them.”
As part of the restoration, people were also trained in the specialist skills needed to maintain historic stonework.
“The walls - they’re absolutely gigantic,” Mr Thurley said.
“They don’t just stay up by themselves, they stay up when people maintain them and look after them properly.”
The programme featuring Lincoln Castle airs on Sky History in March.