The Museum of Lincolnshire Life ~ A Visitors Guide
So much did I enjoy my trip to Lincoln on Monday I began searching through leaflets and books for an excuse to return.
The Museum of Lincolnshire Life veritably beckoned ‘come hither’ - not only was it well worth the visit but also a place to get you thinking about things other than Lincolnshire Museums.
The museum covers a great deal, agricultural and rural life, Victorian domestic and commercial life, transport from wooden carts to a Bullnose Morris, steam engines and a very impressive military section which is staged chronologically taking you through all the major conflicts in order of date that Lincolnshire regiments fought in.
All the exhibits were impressive, rooms and shops etc re created faithfully and providing a great insight into life in the various times - it really is well worth visiting.
I think the section which most caught my eye was the military one, it includes, and I must say arguably, perhaps their most impressive piece - a World War I tank and one of the first tanks developed during The Great War by a firm actually based in Lincoln - William Foster & Co.
The Mark IV ‘Female’ tank
I took the above shot from this angle as I wanted to try and reproduce what was in my mind whilst looking at it.
How would you feel as a teenage boy/young man cowering in a trench, for reasons which were beyond you, and watching something such as this approaching and about to drive over your trench !
A Scene Taken from the Trenches
This First World War Trench reconstruction requires little imagination in order to perhaps just begin to understand the full horror of the situation those soldiers found themselves in - it’s truly unimaginable to those of us born to subsequent generations.
It’s certainly impossible to imagine that the vast majority of young men today could even begin to handle a fraction of the things their forefathers once did.
Not all the young men and young women today are dead beats you go get the occasional glimpse of hope but there’s simply not enough of them to . . .
make Britain great again
Initially Codenamed Water carriers for Mesopotamia During Production
One thing that was very apparent on looking through the domestic settings was how much simpler life once was.
I cannot help but feel our seemingly insatiable appetite for non-essential acquisitions and a need amongst most simply to throw away every penny they get has largely been responsible for landing us in the dire straits we are now in - there’s only one answer.
I don’t say they were ‘The Good Old Days’ but certain aspects of them were a great deal better than today - only a fool would ignore what history has to teach us - take the best of the past and mix it with the best of today - simple really
So simple in fact . . . it will never be done !
I’ve included a video below, it’s not original to the band, they never did one for this track. It’s Death or Glory by Motorhead so a bit heavy but great lyrics for the theme of this post - please do give it a listen
Humbly Yours
Rod
Femme Fatale said,
July 14, 2009 @ 1:28 pm
Rod,
All I can say is WOW, what a fabulous find.
I have visited Lincoln on many occasions and never knew the existence of this Museum but, thanks to you I will now put it on my to do list, for the children and I to visit during the summer holidays, which will be upon us on Friday of this week
Also I have not got the Motorhead video, just a blank white square with a little red X in the corner
FF
xx
Femme Fatale said,
July 14, 2009 @ 1:34 pm
Rod,
Got the video now, I needed to run flash player!! where are the kids when you need them?
FF
xx
Rod said,
July 14, 2009 @ 5:15 pm
FF,
it was my first visit there and I’ve been to Lincoln 100s of times.
Definately well worth a trip.
You may have been better off not getting the video
Regards
Rod
Annie Flinn said,
July 14, 2009 @ 6:37 pm
A German friend and I made a trip to Verdun, one of the horrible battle sites of WWI. As we approached the tunnels and remaining barricades on this summer day, the weather became brutally cold. One could just imagine what it must have been like in winter for the soldier assigned there– men knee deep in mud and muck, enduring endless barrages of artillary, fighting day after day to take only a few feet of ground. When the soldiers finally succumbed to battle fatique, they were labeled cowards and either sent back to the front lines, or executed. Who ever thought that sending wave after wave of men into the teeth of machine gun fire was a smart way to do battle?
I think it is good that museums try to show the misery of war, rather than the glorification of it. Kudos to the Lincoln museum for all its displays.
Annie
Rod said,
July 14, 2009 @ 7:24 pm
Annie,
Lest We Forget
As time passes so, sadly, do those who fought in order to give the likes of me the freedom to swan around like the Village Idiot - we need reminding for two reasons:
To honour those whose to whom we’ll always be beholden
To ensure the like doesn’t happen again
Museums like this do a great job in doing this, especially for the young ‘playstation generation’ who may well now never have touch with anybody who did National Service.
For anybody wondering what trench warfare and life in the trenches was like then you really should read the novel Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks (in fact you should read it anyway whether trench warfare ever crossed your mind or not - it is a sublime piece of work)
Cheers
Rod
Little Brother said,
July 14, 2009 @ 9:08 pm
Rod,
Dad told me on Sunday that our Grandfather once said that it’s easy to criticise the young but they’re alright to be sent to war and killed. Made me think I can tell you.
LB
Rod said,
July 15, 2009 @ 8:06 am
LB,
it’s easy to criticise the young but they’re alright to be sent to war and killed
There’s more than a little truth in that.
It’s also easy to take income tax from them but not let them vote or let them have sex but not let them have a cigarette afterwards !
Who’d be young again ?
Not me !
Best
Rod