Lincoln Christmas Market, held in

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

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, is one of the largest

Christmas market A Christmas market, also known as ''Christkindlmarkt'' (literally: ''Christ Child Market'', but the term "Christkind" usually refers to an angel-like "spirit of Christmas" rather than literally the Christ Child), ''Christkindlesmarkt'', ''Chris ...

s in Europe, attracting over 250,000 people over the four-day event. Held around three weeks before Christmas - from the first Thursday in December to the following Sunday, the market spreads around the historic centre of Lincoln including the

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

and

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

. As well as stalls selling goods there is a funfair with

Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsules ...

, open air classical music and rock concerts and traditional events such as beer barrel rolling. The number of visitors is so great that a circular one-way system for pedestrians around the streets of Lincoln is put into place. The route includes travelling through the grounds of

Lincoln Castle Lincoln Castle is a major medieval castle constructed in Lincoln, England, during the late 11th century by William the Conqueror on the site of a pre-existing Roman fortress. The castle is unusual in that it has two mottes. It is one of only ...

History

Lincoln Christmas Market was the first Christmas market in the UK. It started in 1982, after Council Leader, Jim Sullivan, Bob Hodson and Charles Ireland visited

Neustadt an der Weinstrasse Neustadt (German for ''new town'' or ''new city'') may refer to: Places * Neustadt (urban district) Czech Republic *Neustadt an der Mettau, Nové Město nad Metují *Neustadt an der Tafelfichte, Nové Město pod Smrkem *Nové Město na Mora ...

(Lincoln's twin town) and were impressed by the Neustadt Christmas Market. When they came back to Lincoln, they set up their own Christmas market consisting of just eleven stalls. The market was cancelled in 2010 due to severe weather conditions both in the city of Lincoln and the surrounding region.The Lincoln Christmas Market
/ref> This was the first time the market had been cancelled in over 28 years. In 2017, the last day of the market was cancelled due to the forecast of bad snow. It turned out that the snow never materialised and Lincoln City council were left embarrassed by the decision as they received much criticism from the public and press.

Train transport

During the weekend of the market, charter trains are organised from around Britain. In 2006 this included

Central Trains Central Trains was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated a variety of local and inter-regional trains from 2 March 1997 until 11 November 2007. Overview Created out of the Central division o ...

hiring a Class 47 hauled set from the

West Coast Railways West Coast Railways (WCR) is a railway spot-hire company and charter train operator based at Carnforth MPD in Lancashire. Using buildings and other facilities previously owned by the Steamtown Carnforth visitor attraction, in June 1998 the com ...

, to provide additional and increased capacity services between

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

and

Lincoln railway station Lincoln railway station (previously Lincoln Central) serves the city of Lincoln in Lincolnshire, England. The station is owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Railway. East Midlands Railway provides the majority of services from the ...

Hertfordshire Rail Tours Hertfordshire Rail Tours was a company that operated charter trains in the United Kingdom. Founded in Hertfordshire by John Farrow, most of its trains started from London Terminals. The company was purchased by FM Rail in September 2005. FM Rai ...

organised a charter of its

Blue Pullman Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ob ...

train from London King's Cross. A train organised by the

Scottish Railway Preservation Society The Scottish Railway Preservation Society is a charity, whose principal objective is the preservation and advancement of railway heritage in Scotland. The society's headquarters is at Bo'ness Borrowstounness (commonly known as Bo'ness ( )) i ...

travelled down starting from the Scottish town of

Linlithgow Linlithgow (; gd, Gleann Iucha, sco, Lithgae) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a ...

, then proceeding via

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...

. In previous years, Central Trains had leased the use of an

InterCity 125 The InterCity 125 (originally Inter-City 125New trai ...

set from

Midland Mainline Midland Mainline was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated the Midland Main Line franchise from April 1996 until November 2007. Midland Mainline ran fast and semi-fast passenger services from ...

for the Nottingham to Lincoln shuttle. Other rail tours for the Christmas Market, including steam-hauled trains, have set out from

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

and the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

stations of

Finsbury Park Finsbury Park is a public park in the London neighbourhood of Harringay. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks ...

and

London Victoria Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street (not the Q ...

. Carriages from the classic Venice-Simplon Orient Express train have been used on some of these services.

References

{{coord, 53.2343, -0.5389, type:event_region:GB, display=title Events in Lincolnshire Lincoln, England Christmas markets in the United Kingdom 1982 establishments in England