The earliest origins of Lincoln can be traced to remains of an Iron Age settlement of round wooden dwellings, discovered by archaeologists in 1972, which have been dated to the 1st century BCE.

On the basis of a patently corrupt list of British bishops said to have attended the 314 Council of Arles, the city is often seen as having been the capital of the province of Flavia Caesariensis, formed during the late 3rd-century Diocletian Reforms.

By the close of the 5th century, it was largely deserted, although some occupation continued under a Praefectus Civitatis – Saint Paulinus visited a man holding this office in Lincoln in 629 CE.

Excavations at Flaxengate reveal that an area deserted since Roman times received timber-framed buildings fronting a new street system in about 900.

In 1068, two years after the Norman conquest of England, William I ordered Lincoln Castle to be built on the site of the old Roman settlement, for the same strategic reasons and controlling the same road, the Fosse Way.

[13] During the Anarchy, in 1141 Lincoln was the site of a battle between King Stephen and the forces of Empress Matilda, led by her illegitimate half-brother Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester.

In 1190, anti-Semitic riots that started in King's Lynn, Norfolk, spread to Lincoln; the Jewish community took refuge with royal officials, but their homes were plundered.

[17] In the Second Barons' War, of 1266, the disinherited rebels attacked the Jews of Lincoln, ransacked the synagogue and burned the records that registered debts.

[20] The dissolution of the monasteries cut Lincoln's main source of diocesan income and dried up the network of patronage controlled by the bishop.

Coupled with the arrival of railway links, Lincoln boomed again during the Industrial Revolution, and several famous companies arose, such as Ruston's, Clayton's, Proctor's and William Foster's.

[23][24] Lincoln was hit by typhoid in November 1904 – August 1905 caused by polluted drinking water from Hartsholme Lake and the River Witham.

Over 1,000 people contracted the disease and fatalities totalled 113,[25] including the man responsible for the city's water supply, Liam Kirk of Baker Crescent.

Near the beginning of the epidemic, Dr Alexander Cruickshank Houston installed a chlorine disinfection system just ahead of the poorly operating, slow sand filter, to kill the fatal bacteria.

The first ever tanks were invented, designed and built in Lincoln by William Foster & Co. in the First World War and population growth provided more workers for greater expansion.

[32] Two parachute mines landed in fields on South Common on the night of 19 November 1940, which exploded and broke many windows in the town, but with no more damage.

Its success made it the city's largest single employer, providing over 5,000 jobs in its factory and research facilities, making it a rich takeover target for industrial conglomerates.

[38][39] Lincoln's second largest private employer is James Dawson and Son, a belting and hose maker founded in the late 19th century.

Bifrangi, an Italian maker of crankshafts for off-road vehicles using a screw press, is based at the former Tower Works owned by Smith-Clayton Forge Ltd. Lincoln is the hub for settlements such as Welton, Saxilby, Skellingthorpe and Washingborough, which look to it for most services and employment needs.

Tranquil destinations close by are Whisby Nature Reserve and Hartsholme Country Park (including the Swanholme Lakes SSSI), while noisier entertainment can be found at Scampton airfield, Waddington airfield (base of the RAF's Red Arrows jet aerobatic team), the County Showground or the Cadwell Park motor racing circuit near Louth.

[59] Construction of the first Lincoln Cathedral within a close or walled precinct facing the castle began when the see was removed from the quiet backwater of Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.

The rebuilt minster, enlarged eastwards several times, was on a grand scale, its crossing tower crowned by a spire reputedly Europe's highest at 525 ft (160 m).

[61] When complete, the central spire is widely accepted to have succeeded the Great Pyramids of Egypt as the world's tallest man-made structure.

It fills a gap in the Lincoln Cliff escarpment, which runs north and south through Central Lincolnshire, with altitudes up to 200 feet (61 metres).

[76] The lowest recent temperature was −10.4 °C (13.3 °F) in December 2010,[77] although another weather station at Scampton, a similar distance north of the city centre, fell to −15.6 °C (3.9 °F), so equalling Waddington's record low set in 1956.

It is served by direct trains to London King's Cross, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield, Doncaster, Grimsby Town and Peterborough.

The older of Lincoln's two higher education institutions, Bishop Grosseteste University, was started as a teacher training college linked to the Anglican Church in 1862.

The Lincolnshire LEA was ranked 32nd in the country based on its proportion of pupils attaining at least 5 A–C grades at GCSE including maths and English (62.2% compared with a national average of 58.2%).

[95][96] There used to be another station named Siren FM, operated by the University of Lincoln, but it ceased broadcasting at the end of June 2024 and the licences have been handed back to Ofcom.

The collapse of ITV Digital, which owed Lincoln City FC more than £100,000, in 2002 saw the team faced with bankruptcy, but it was saved by a fund-raising venture among fans, which returned ownership of the club to them, where it has remained since.

Since 1956 the city has played host to the Lincoln Grand Prix one-day cycle race, which for some 30 years has used a city-centre finishing circuit incorporating the challenging 1-in-6 cobbled ascent of Michaelgate.