All the cycling data and info you'll need to climb Michaelgate (SW #28)

Climb Summary

           Lincoln Cathedral                                                      #28

The “Official 100 Climbs” ends a bit short of the top - keep climbing another 50 meters to the Castle Hill Square where you will have an excellent view of the western end of Lincoln Cathedral.  

Photo - Roy’s Blog

The first 100 meters of pavement gives way to classic cobbles for the remaining two-thirds of the climb - that’s right, you did the math correctly - this climb is only 300 meters, but what a 300 meters it is!  300 meters of continuous and steady 12-13% grade from start to finish.  

Paved for the first 100 meters.

Very narrow and very cobbled the last 200 of the climb’s 300 meters.

Michaelgate Cycling Club Facebook Page.

Lincoln, England:  

“Lincoln  is a cathedral city and the county town of Lincolnshire in the East Midlands of England. The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln had a 2012 population of 94,600. The 2011 census gave the urban area of Lincoln, which includes North Hykeham and Waddington, a population of 130,200.

The Roman town of Lindum Colonia developed from an Iron Age settlement. Lincoln's major landmarks are Lincoln Cathedral, a famous example of English Gothic architecture, and Lincoln Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle. The city is also home to the University of Lincoln, Bishop Grosseteste University and Lincoln City Football Club. Lincoln is in a gap in the Lincoln Cliff 141 miles (227 km) north of London, at an elevation of 67 feet (20.4 m) above sea level by the River Witham, stretching up to 246 feet (75.0 m) above sea level in the uphill area around the cathedral.”  Wikipedia - Lincoln, England 

CyclingUphill.com:

“A climb of just 33 metres may sound little more than a bridge over a railway line. But, that is only part of the story of Michaelgate. This short cobbled climb has provided a decisive factor in many major UK road races, in particular the annual Lincoln Grand Prix and also the 2015 British road race championships.

he full climb begins on Hungate and is 0.2 miles, climbing 136ft. The smooth road of Hungate gives way to the cobbles of Michaelgate and this is where the climb gets steeper. (Full climb on Strava)

It is an iconic climb with Lincoln castle on the left and Lincoln Cathedral on the right. There is a road called ‘Steep hill’ joining Michaelgate near the top of the climb.

The real test of Michaelgate is when it is ridden several times during a 100 mile road race. IT is one thing to blast up the cobbles once, but the repeated visits up the climb invariably split the race apart.”  More

Stay to visit Lincoln Cathedral: (Wikipedia - Lincoln Cathedral):

“Lincoln Cathedral or the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, and sometimes St. Mary's Cathedral in Lincoln, England is the seat of the Anglican bishop. Building commenced in 1088 and continued in several phases throughout the medieval period. It was the tallest building in the world for 238 years (1311–1549), and the first building to hold that title after the Great Pyramid of Giza. The central spire collapsed in 1549 and was not rebuilt. The cathedral is the third largest in Britain (in floor area) after St Paul's and York Minster, being 484 by 271 feet (148 by 83 m). It is highly regarded by architectural scholars; the eminent Victorian writer John Ruskin declared: "I have always held... that the cathedral of Lincoln is out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles and roughly speaking worth any two other cathedrals we have.

Remigius de Fécamp, the first Bishop of Lincoln, moved the episcopal seat (cathedra) there "some time between 1072 and 1092" About this, James Essex writes that "Remigius ... laid the foundations of his Cathedral in 1088" and "it is probable that he, being a Norman, employed Norman masons to superintend the building ... though he could not complete the whole before his death." Before that, writes B. Winkles, "It is well known that Remigius appropriated the parish church of St Mary Magdalene in Lincoln, although it is not known what use he made of it."

Up until then St. Mary's Church in Stow was considered to be the "mother church"[7] of Lincolnshire[8] (although it was not a cathedral, because the seat of the diocese was at Dorchester Abbey in Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire). However, Lincoln was more central to a diocese that stretched from the Thames to the Humber.

Remigius built the first Lincoln Cathedral on the present site, finishing it in 1092 and then dying on 7 May of that year, two days before it was consecrated. In 1141, the timber roofing was destroyed in a fire. Alexander (bishop, 1123–48) rebuilt and expanded the cathedral, but it was mostly destroyed by an earthquake about forty years later, in 1185 (dated by the British Geological Survey as occurring 15 April 1185). The earthquake was one of the largest felt in the UK: it has an estimated magnitude of over 5. The damage to the cathedral is thought to have been very extensive: the Cathedral is described as having "split from top to bottom"; in the current building, only the lower part of the west end and of its two attached towers remain of the pre-earthquake cathedral. Some (Kidson, 1986; Woo, 1991) have suggested that the damage to Lincoln Cathedral was probably exaggerated by poor construction or design; with the actual collapse most probably caused by a vault collapse.

After the earthquake, a new bishop was appointed. He was Hugh de Burgundy of Avalon, France, who became known as St Hugh of Lincoln. He began a massive rebuilding and expansion programme. With his appointment of William de Montibus as master of the cathedral school and chancellor, Lincoln briefly became one of the leading educational centres in England, producing writers such as Samuel Presbiter and Richard of Wetheringsett, though it declined with importance after William's death in 1213. Rebuilding began with the choir (St Hugh's Choir) and the eastern transepts between 1192 and 1210. The central nave was then built in the Early English Gothic style. Lincoln Cathedral soon followed other architectural advances of the time — pointed arches, flying buttresses and ribbed vaulting were added to the cathedral. This allowed support for incorporating larger windows. There are thirteen bells in the south-west tower, two in the north-west tower, and five in the central tower (including Great Tom). Accompanying the cathedral's large bell, Great Tom of Lincoln, is a quarter-hour striking clock. The clock was installed in the early 19th century. The two large stained glass rose windows, the matching Dean's Eye and Bishop's Eye, were added to the cathedral during the late Middle Ages. The former, the Dean's Eye in the north transept dates from the 1192 rebuild begun by St Hugh, finally being completed in 1235. The latter, the Bishop's Eye, in the south transept was reconstructed a hundred years later in 1330. A contemporary record, “The Metrical Life of St Hugh”, refers to the meaning of these two windows (one on the dark, north side and the other on the light, south, side of the building):

"For north represents the devil, and south the Holy Spirit and it is in these directions that the two eyes look. The bishop faces the south in order to invite in and the dean the north in order to shun; the one takes care to be saved, the other takes care not to perish. With these Eyes the cathedral’s face is on watch for the candelabra of Heaven and the darkness of Lethe (oblivion)."

After the additions of the Dean's eye and other major Gothic additions it is believed some mistakes in the support of the tower occurred, for in 1237 the main tower collapsed. A new tower was soon started and in 1255 the Cathedral petitioned Henry III to allow them to take down part of the town wall to enlarge and expand the Cathedral, including the rebuilding of the central tower and spire. They replaced the small rounded chapels (built at the time of St Hugh) with a larger east end to the cathedral. This was to handle the increasing number of pilgrims to the Cathedral, who came to worship at the shrine of Hugh of Lincoln.

In 1290 Eleanor of Castile died and King Edward I of England decided to honour her, his Queen Consort, with an elegant funeral procession. After her body had been embalmed, which in the 13th century involved evisceration, Eleanor's viscera were buried in Lincoln cathedral and Edward placed a duplicate of the Westminster Abbey tomb there. The Lincoln tomb's original stone chest survives; its effigy was destroyed in the 17th century and replaced with a 19th-century copy. On the outside of Lincoln Cathedral are two prominent statues often identified as Edward and Eleanor, but these images were heavily restored in the 19th century and they were probably not originally intended to depict the couple.

Between 1307 and 1311 the central tower was raised to its present height of 271 feet (83 m). The western towers and front of the cathedral were also improved and heightened. At this time, a tall lead-encased wooden spire topped the central tower but was blown down in a storm in 1549. With its spire, the tower reputedly reached a height of 525 feet (160 m) (which would have made it the world's tallest structure, surpassing the Great Pyramid of Giza, which held the record for almost 4,000 years). Although there is dissent, this height is agreed by most sources. Other additions to the cathedral at this time included its elaborate carved screen and the 14th-century misericords, as was the Angel Choir. For a large part of the length of the cathedral, the walls have arches in relief with a second layer in front to give the illusion of a passageway along the wall. However the illusion does not work, as the stonemason, copying techniques from France, did not make the arches the correct length needed for the illusion to be effective.

In 1398 John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford founded a chantry in the cathedral to pray for the welfare of their souls. In the 15th century the building of the cathedral turned to chantry or memorial chapels. The chapels next to the Angel Choir were built in the Perpendicular style, with an emphasis on strong vertical lines, which survive today in the window tracery and wall panelling.”  More