Steep Hill is a street in the historic city of

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. At the top of the hill is the entrance to

Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, also called Lincoln Minster, and formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, is a Church of England cathedral in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lincoln and is the Mo ...

and at the bottom is Well Lane. The Hill consists of independent shops, tea rooms and public houses. Its name arises from the gradient of the hill, which is difficult to ascend and descend. The hill has a one-in-seven (14%) gradient.

Route

The bottom leads to The Strait. Three-quarters of the way up is the junction with Wordsworth Street, on which is Chad Varah House, the former home of the Departments of Conservation & Restoration and History of Art & Design of the

University of Lincoln The University of Lincoln is a public university, public research university in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England, with origins dating back to 1861. It gained university status in 1992 and its present name in 2001. The main campus is in the hea ...

, and of the Lincoln School of Theology, currently being converted into dwellings. From this junction, the road narrows and leads past the Wig & Mitre pub and Brown's Pie Shop and to Castle Hill to the left and Exchequergate to the right. The central (and steepest) part of the route has a one in five (20%) gradient, is unsuited to any form of vehicle, and only passable on foot. A handrail is provided along this section. The route is part of the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

route from the ford over the

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 , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversi ...

to the Forum in modern Bailgate, and thus the final part of

Ermine Street Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London (''Londinium'') to Lincoln ('' Lindum Colonia'') and York ('' Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earninga ...

and Iter VI of the

Antonine Itinerary The Antonine Itinerary (, "Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is an , a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibly in part from a survey carried out under Augustus, it describes t ...

Architecture

Two

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

houses lie on the street, Jew's House and

Norman House Norman House on Steep Hill, Lincoln, England is a historic building and an example of Norman architecture#Domestic architecture, Norman domestic architecture. The building is at 46–47 Steep Hill and 7 Christ's Hospital Terrace. The architectu ...

, the latter formerly known as "Aaron the Jew's House". Both display characteristic Norman

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

ed windows. Adjacent to and above the Jew's House stands Jews' Court, said to be from the Norman period but not displaying any obvious Norman features. There are some

jettied Jettying (jetty, jutty, from Old French ''getee, jette'') is a building technique used in medieval timber framing, timber-frame buildings in which an upper floor projects beyond the dimensions of the floor below. This has the advantage of incr ...

half-timbered Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

houses towards the top. In 2011, Steep Hill was named "Britain's Best Place" by the Academy of Urbanism, an award which aims for planners and architects to be able to "learn about place".

References

{{Authority control Areas of Lincoln, England Streets in England Roads in Lincolnshire