Description

In the first half of the 18th century, though still a quiet market town, Lincoln was growing and modernising, with a theatre built in 1732 and assembly rooms constructed only a year after the production of this plate. The Fossdyke, the canal connecting the River Trent to the city, was also deepened between 1741 and 1744 to allow for a great increase in trade. 

Part of the King's Topographical Collection, this view, from the 9th set of town prospects, is dominated here by the impressive cathedral on the hill, with the towers of the other churches rising above the houses and trees below. The two gentlemen to the foreground are engaging in the increasingly fashionable pastime of fly-fishing.