St. Mary's Guildhall, Lincoln
| St. Mary's Guildhall, High Street, Lincoln | |
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| Location | Lincoln |
| Coordinates | 53°13′20″N 0°32′38″W / 53.2222°N 0.5439°WCoordinates: 53°13′20″N 0°32′38″W / 53.2222°N 0.5439°W |
| Built | 12th Century |
| Architectural style(s) | Medieval Stone Hall House Complex |
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Listed Building – Grade I
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| Designated | 8 October 1953 |
| Reference no. | 486049 |
 Location in Lincolnshire
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St Mary's Guildhall is a major domestic complex, indicating the highest social status, built in the part of the medieval city of Lincoln, England known as Wigford. The Guildhall faces directly onto Lincoln High Street and stands to the north of Sibthorp Street. To the south is the late Saxon church of St Peter at Gowts. Stocker describes it as "the only survivor from the small group of the king's town houses which existed in several major towns….St Mary's Guildhall is a domestic complex on a palatial scale, indicating the highest social status, and as such is representative of a little known urban building type".
It is now thought that the Guildhall was a built as a Royal palace of Henry II and completed by 1157, although there is no absolutely certain evidence that it was in Royal ownership before 1228. In 1251 the building was sold by Henry III’s butler, Michael de la Burne to the guild of St Mary of Lincoln. It remained in the ownership of the guild until 1547 when it passed into the ownership of the Lincoln City Council. Until 1614 it was leased to various tenants, but in that year it was leased to the recently established Lincoln Christ’s Hopital Blue Coat school. This lease continued until 1633, although the school had moved to a new site on the Christ’s Hopital Terrace, just below Lincoln Cathedral in 1623. Subsequent leases were to the Fawkes family who sub-let parts of the property. In 1815 it was leased to Coningsby Waldo Sibthorp, M.P. of Canwick Hall. and the lease shows that the northern part of the property was being used for malting. Following the Municipal Reform Act in 1835, his son Charles de Laet Sibthorp was able to purchase the Guildhall and the Paddock behind for £455 The paddock behind the buildings was used as the first home of Lincoln City Football Club between 1884 and 1895. Gradually the Lucas family of builders took over the leases for the property. The Maltings had been leased to the Brewing firm Warwicks and Richardsons, which ceased operations around 1913. The Sibthorp street estate was laid out in the 1890s and the two early houses of the west wing of the palace were demolished in 1896 to make way for the street. In 1930 the building was scheduled as an Ancient Monument. Following the death of Coningsby Charles Waldo Sibthorp in 1932 an appeal was launched to purchase the Guildhall, but in 1938 the City Council stepped in and purchased the Guildhall. The building continued to be occupied by Lucas’s as a builder’s yard until 1981, when it was leased by the Lincoln Civic Trust. Between 1981 and 1986 excavation and recording of the buildings took place and between 1984 and 1986 restoration followed. The Guildhall is now used as the offices of the Lincoln Civic Trust and as a church hall.
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