Lindum Colonia was a town in the Roman province

Roman province

In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...

 of Britannia

Britannia

Britannia is an ancient term for Great Britain, and also a female personification of the island. The name is Latin, and derives from the Greek form Prettanike or Brettaniai, which originally designated a collection of islands with individual names, including Albion or Great Britain. However, by the...

. Today it is called Lincoln

Lincoln, Lincolnshire

Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....

, in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county of Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

.

Fort and name

The Romans conquered this part of Britain in AD 48 and shortly afterwards built a legionary fortress

Castra

The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...

, possibly south of the River Witham

River Witham

The River Witham is a river, almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire, in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham, at SK8818, passes Lincoln at SK9771 and at Boston, TF3244, flows into The Haven, a tidal arm of The Wash, near RSPB Frampton Marsh...

. This was soon replaced, around AD 60, by a second fort for the Ninth Legion, high on a hill overlooking the natural lake formed by the widening of the River Witham (the modern day Brayford Pool

Brayford Pool

The Brayford Pool is a natural lake formed from a widening of the River Witham in the centre of the city of Lincoln in England. It was used as a port by the Romans - who connected it to the River Trent by constructing the Foss Dyke - and has a long industrial heritage.-History:The Pool has been the...

) and at the northern end of the Fosse Way

Fosse Way

The Fosse Way was a Roman road in England that linked Exeter in South West England to Lincoln in Lincolnshire, via Ilchester , Bath , Cirencester and Leicester .It joined Akeman Street and Ermin Way at Cirencester, crossed Watling Street at Venonis south...

 Roman road

Roman road

The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...

. That pool is very likely to have given Lincoln its name. The etymology of the name is derived from the phrase 'colonial settlement of lindum'; the British Celtic word lindo meaning 'the pool' combined with the Latin colonia. Lindo+colonia = Lincoln Fusions of Latin and local dialects were common with proper nouns in Britain, for example Corwin is Latin for heart (Cor) and Welsh for friend (wynn), ergo Heart's Friend.

Town development

Around AD 80, the fort was converted to a colonia after the legion moved on to Eboracum

Eboracum

Eboracum was a fort and city in Roman Britain. The settlement evolved into York, located in North Yorkshire, England.-Etymology:The first known recorded mention of Eboracum by name is dated circa 95-104 AD and is an address containing the Latin form of the settlement's name, "Eburaci", on a wooden...

 (York

York

York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

) in the year 71. This was an important settlement for retired legionaries, established by the Emperor Domitian

Domitian

Domitian was Roman Emperor from 81 to 96. Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty.Domitian's youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his brother Titus, who gained military renown during the First Jewish-Roman War...

 within the walls and using the street grid of the hilltop fortress, with the addition of an extension of about equal area, down the hillside to the waterside below.

The town became a major flourishing settlement, accessible from the sea both through the River Trent

River Trent

The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...

 and through the River Witham. Public buildings, such as the forum

Forum (Roman)

A forum was a public square in a Roman municipium, or any civitas, reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, along with the buildings used for shops and the stoas used for open stalls...

 (with lifesize equestrians statues) and basilica

Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...

 and the public baths

Thermae

In ancient Rome, thermae and balnea were facilities for bathing...

, were erected in the 2nd century. The hilltop was largely filled with private homes, but the slopes became the town's commercial centre. They gained stone walls, like the upper region (including the Newport Arch

Newport Arch

Newport Arch is the name given to the remains of a 3rd century Roman gate in the city of Lincoln, Lincolnshire. It is reputedly the oldest arch in the United Kingdom still used by traffic.- History :...

), around AD 200. There was also an industrial suburb over the river which had pottery production facilities. The town had the best developed sewerage system in the province and a fine octagonal public fountain and part of its aqueduct

Aqueduct

An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....

 have been partly uncovered. There were temple

Temple

A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...

s dedicated to Apollo

Apollo

Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...

 and Mercury

Mercury (mythology)

Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...

. Lindum became the provincial capital of Flavia Caesariensis

Flavia Caesariensis

Flavia Caesariensis was one of the provinces of Roman Britain.It was created in the early 4th century under the reforms of Diocletian and it has been suggested that its capital may have been at Lincoln...

 when the province of Britannia Inferior

Britannia Inferior

Britannia Inferior was a subdivision of the Roman province of Britannia established c. 214 by the emperor Caracalla, son of Septimius Severus. Located in modern northern England, the region was governed from the city of Eboracum by a praetorian legate in command of a single legion stationed in...

 was subdivided in the early 4th century and it sent a bishop to the Council of Arles in AD 314. The original church at St Paul-in-the-Bail may have been late Roman.

Decline

The city and its waterways eventually fell into decline, and, by the end of the 5th century it was virtually deserted. However, the church of St Paul continued as a place of worship until 450 and its churchyard was in use into the 6th century. When Saint Paulinus

Paulinus of York

Paulinus was a Roman missionary and the first Bishop of York. A member of the Gregorian mission sent in 601 by Pope Gregory I to Christianize the Anglo-Saxons from their native Anglo-Saxon paganism, Paulinus arrived in England by 604 with the second missionary group...

 visited in 629, it was apparently under the control of a Praefectus Civitatis called Blecca. The name Lindum Colonia even survived, being shortened in Old English to become 'Lincoln': see Lincoln, Lincolnshire#History.

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