Lincoln Cathedral - The West Front

 

A detail of the restored Romanesque frieze

Arriving at the west end of Lincoln Cathedral, after a quick walk along its south elevation, I was a little disappointed to discover that it was partially scaffolded, having set myself the task of taking a comprehensive set of photographs during my day out in Lincoln; however, I was lucky that I had not visited the year before, when most of the West Front was covered with scaffold.

 

The scaffold to the West Front

At the core of the West Front is the remains of the Norman cathedral that survived from the earthquake in 1185, with two tall round headed arches either side of the central west door, above and at the side of which are the Early English Gothic additions. These are composed largely of blind arcades, with decoration mainly in the form of floriated capitals and carved heads.

 

The upper part of the West Front

 

On this occasion, the scaffolding has a specially designed steel deck, incorporating a workshop, to enable work to be carried out to the southern part of the C12 Romanesque frieze and the C14 ‘Gallery of Kings’, which is positioned above the west door.

 

A detail of the West Front

 

The Romanesque frieze, a work of art of international significance, was commissioned by Alexander "the Magnificent" – the Bishop of Lincoln from 1123 to 1148. It has deteriorated to such an extent that the northern section was removed and cleaned with a laser and the Jos system, with the southern section left in situ and shuttered to prevent exposure to the elements.

 

The restored northern section of the Romanesque frieze

 

Only one of the original northern panels was put back in its original position, with the rest being replicas carved in the more durable Ancaster stone, which although quarried from the Lincolnshire Limestone Formation lacks the yellowish colour of Lincoln stone.

 

A detail of the restored section of the Romanesque frieze

Although most of the sculptures were hidden, there was still enough interesting architectural detail left to see on the West Front. The detailing of the cinquefoil window in the head of the arch, which replaced the original round headed Norman arch is quite spectacular – as also is the latticework that surrounds it.

 

Early English masonry on the West Front

When living in Lincoln back in 1993, work was also being undertaken to the West Front and I was invited up onto the scaffold by Mick O’Connor, the Clerk of Works at the time. I had been aware of the tendency for the Lincoln stone to fail by ‘bursting’, but I was surprised to see the extent of the deterioration of the stonework.

 

A detail of the central arch on the West Front

I have never known the cathedral to be free of scaffold since I first visited Lincoln in the early 1980’s, which is due to a continuous rolling programme of conservation and restoration work. Over the years this has resulted in the replacement of much of the original masonry, which can be seen when zooming in to the details on the West Front.

 

Restored ornamental masonry on the West Front