On Sunday morning we drove once again up to Lincoln Castle. This time, it was to have a look at an event held in the castle grounds called ‘The Lincoln Barons’ Reunion’. The photo of the Baron above is the ‘Baron of the Crystal Hues’. (Unfortunately, my husband’s shadow is hiding his name!)
This event, held from Thursday, September 24th until Tuesday, October 1st, is a chance for people to see all 25 Barons together before they’re auctioned on the evening of October 1st. The money raised will go to the national charity, The Trussell Trust – who organised the construction and displaying of the Barons in the city, along with Lincoln BIG, a business improvement group.
The Baron’s Trail was devised by ‘Wild in Art’ – an organisation that aims to make creativity and enjoyment of art accessible to people by working with artists, communities and schools and producing high profile and popular events. Individual artists from all over the country created the colourful barons, which have been displayed in locations around Central Lincoln throughout the summer. This one, the ‘Anything Goes Baron’ was standing on the bridge over the River Witham along the High Street:
I wrote about the reason for ‘The Barons’ Trail’ in an earlier post but, in a nutshell, it was part of the city’s celebrations to mark 800 years since King John signed the Magna Carta (Great Charter) at Runneymede. One of the original copies of the Treaty is housed in Lincoln Castle, so the city was justified in hosting so many celebratory events.
The Barons who ordered John to sign the Treaty are represented in these life-sized, smile-inducing models we are now saying ‘Goodbye’ to. Last week, they were gathered up from their different sites and I’ve no doubt that the area will look quite dull without them. They’ve been a big attraction for locals and tourists alike, the characterful barons and the ‘Trail’ proving to be one of the highlights of the Magna Carta anniversary celebrations nationwide. Children in particular found it great fun to find the code letter on each one in order to claim the promised bag of gold coins (gold paper-covered, chocolate ones, of course).
There were a lot of people already in the castle grounds when we arrived just after 10 am – the opening time. Consequently, it was difficult for photo-taking. We’d hoped to be able to get a few good shots of many of the Barons all together, but that wasn’t at all easy. Firstly, the barons were placed further apart than shown on the advertising blurb, and secondly, people were standing close to individual Barons. That’s understandable, so we just went with the flow and got some ‘not-so-good’ photos. Here’s a few of them:
A mini ‘Paint Your Own Baron’ can be bought at The Lincoln Visitor Information Centre (shown below in the wonderful old building located on Castle Hill, between the castle and the cathedral) and a competition to win a free mini model of a Baron is also up and running. And finally, every shop in the city centre will be given their own mini Baron to paint and decorate in time for the Christmas season. By doing so, they will be creating a Christmas Baron’s Trail. These mini characters, unlike their bigger brothers, will be harder to find. Many will be ‘ hiding’ amongst other items displayed in the windows of shops and businesses.
I’ll probably do an update on the mini barons around Christmas. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find and photograph some of them in their hiding places. Until then, I’ve got a few more posts on Malta and other places we’ve visited this year to keep me going.
Millie Thom 