St Mary'S Guildhall

St Mary's Guildhall, Lincoln

St Mary's Guildhall is a major domestic building of exceptional historical importance, possibly the town house of Henry II, dating to around 1157. It incorporates in its foundations part of the 3rd-century Foss Way. The building is arranged in a C-plan with dressed stone and ashlar dressings under pantile roofs, combining single and two-storey ranges.

The west range comprises five bays with shallow buttresses and a chamfered plinth. A decorative band with bird and beast masks runs across the northern part. Near its centre stands a moulded carriageway arch with a segmental pointed inner arch, flanked by single buttresses, with two reset masks above. To the left is a single light window, and to the right a 20th-century casement. Above these, the left side has a bracketed square louvred opening and the right side two 20th-century casements. The south gable features 20th-century fenestration and above it two reset corbels.

The north range's south side contains, to the left, a single-storey range of three bays with a doorway flanked by two unglazed wooden-mullioned windows. To the right stands a two-storey building of two bays, known as the Norman House, with a shallow central buttress and moulded first-floor band. A wide mid-20th-century door and an unglazed formerly-mullioned window occupy the left side, while the right side has a shouldered doorway and small window. Above are two double round-headed windows, the right one missing its central shaft, and to the left a small pointed light. The south range, fronting Sibthorp Street, comprises five bays and incorporates several reset 12th-century stone fragments.

The interior of the west range's north-west corner contains a fireplace with joggled lintel, flanked by a blocked window and doorway. The north-east corner retains a restored doorway and a 12th-century stone spiral stair overlaid by a late 20th-century stair. The north wall has a window opening. The first-floor hall features a fireplace on its west side, flanked to the left by two windows and to the right by a single window, all with keeled shafts. The north gable displays a blocked double-arched opening with a central round pier. A restored 17th-century single purlin roof spans this range. The north range interior contains several reset 12th-century fragments, and its east end has a 17th-century scissor-braced double purlin roof.

St Mary's Guildhall represents a rare surviving example of the small group of royal town houses that existed in several major towns during the medieval period. As a domestic complex of palatial scale, it indicates the highest social status and exemplifies a little-known urban building type. The building served as the headquarters of the Great Guild of St Mary, Lincoln's most important guild, from 1251 to 1547, and began to be used as a maltings during this period. Early in the 17th century it was remodelled for use as the Bluecoat School and was subsequently adapted for industrial purposes, primarily malting, continuing in this use until 1981. Following archaeological excavation between 1981 and 1986 and restoration in 1984–86, it now serves as the offices of the Lincoln Civic Trust and a church hall.

The building is a Scheduled Ancient Monument (County No. 46).