The mighty fane, with its three massive towers, rises majestically over the red roofs of the town.  Its most striking feature is the great Norman screen, running up without buttresses or projections to the parapet and hiding the bases of the square, richly decorated towers of the west front.  The plain centre of the screen is the work of Remigius, the first bishop.  The rest of it is relieved with rich arcading of Late Norman and Early English periods.  The wooden spires which crowned the towers were removed in 1807.

In 1192 Hugh of Avalon determined to rebuild the Norman building of Remigius, which an earthquake had shaken.  To him we owe the choir and eastern transept.  His successors completed the western transept and began the west end of the nave.  So much money had to be spent in rebuilding the central tower, which fell in 1239, that the canons could not rebuild the nave entirely, but had to incorporate the Norman end by Remigius.  Unfortunately the axis of the west front does not correspond to that of the nave, which is too wide for its height.  The low vaulting is a serious defect in the choir built by St. Hugh, but of the superb beauty of the Angel Choir, which encloses his shrine, there can be no doubt.  In its richness of sculpture it is one of the masterpieces of Gothic architecture in England.  The interior of the cathedral is remarkable for the harmony of its style, which is Lancet-Gothic, and the dim lighting of the nave only adds to its impressiveness.

[Illustration:  Photochrom Co., Ltd.

LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.

The original Norman building was built by Remigius, but the structure having been weakened by an earthquake shock, Hugh of Avalon in 1192 built the Choir and Eastern Transept, and his successors finished the work.]

SOMERSET, THE BIRTHPLACE OF TENNYSON

=How to get there.=—­Train from King’s Cross.  Great Northern Rly. =Nearest Station.=—­Horncastle (6 miles from Somersby). =Average Time.=—­from 3 to 4-1/2 hours. =Distance from London.=—­130 miles.

                     1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=—­Single 18s. 4d. ... 10s. 10d. 
          Return 36s. 8d. ... 21s. 8d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=—­No inn at Somersby.  Paying guests
  accommodated at Baumber’s Manor House at Somersby.  Hotels
  at Spilsby.

On August 6, 1809, Alfred Tennyson was born at the rectory at Somersby.  His grandfather, Mr. George Tennyson, M.P., resided at Bayon’s Manor, where the family had for a long period been known in Lincolnshire.  Alfred was the fourth of the twelve children of the Rev. George Clayton Tennyson.  Although there seems little reason for not believing that the scenery which surrounded him in his youth impressed itself on his mind, yet it is now stated with authority that the localities associated with his subject poems, “which had been ingeniously identified with real brooks and granges, were wholly imaginary.”  Those who visit Somersby, therefore, would be wise in avoiding what is pointed out as “Tennyson’s Brook,” merely gaining instead a general idea of the appearance of the country which impressed itself on the poet’s mind.