Lincoln Museum

Lincoln Museum stands in the city of Lincoln, where the old cliff-top settlement meets the Witham valley. It brings together the Usher Gallery and the City and County Museum under one roof. The modern building sits on a steep slope that once carried a Roman road between fortress and river. A glass-covered alley runs through the centre, recalling medieval lanes and the British Museum’s Great Court. The Usher Gallery, built in 1927 to designs by Sir Reginald Blomfield, overlooks the lower town from its stone façade and small hillside park. The museum holds finds from every period of Lincoln’s past, from Ice Age bones to Roman mosaics. The largest recent mosaic discovery in Lincoln is displayed in a timeline that stretches from Stone Age tools to Viking brooches. The Iron Age Fiskerton log boat and Anglo-Saxon carvings such as the Horncastle boar’s head are shown alongside a satellite map of the county. The Usher Gallery displays clocks, furniture and paintings by Joseph Banks, J. M. W. Turner and L. S. Lowry, with a special focus on Peter De Wint, who once lived in Lincoln. Visitors enter at the uphill end and pass the café and shop before reaching the glass alley. From here they can choose the auditorium, education rooms or galleries for archaeology and touring exhibitions. The archaeological displays include a mosaic pavement found during construction and a county-wide geological map. The Usher Gallery offers four spaces for temporary shows, and its programme has featured artists such as Grayson Perry and Raimi Gbadamosi.