The New York?

York may pull the crowds into its Jorvik Viking Centre but Lincoln could well be a future contender in the visitor stakes. Both cities were important in Roman, Viking and medieval times but Lincoln can go one better. Excavations in 1972 showed evidence of an Iron Age settlement on the banks of the Brayford Pool, a natural lake on the river Witham in the Lincoln gap. The sophisticated Celtic tribe of the Corieltauvi had pottery, coins, ornate harness and chariot fittings and elaborately decorated swords and daggers. Many of the Lincoln finds are in the City and Country Museum.

'Lincoln will never eclipse York as a centre for archaeology or tourism', said Mick Jones, director of the City of Lincoln Archaeological Unit, 'but it is gratifying to have found that Lincoln's history is at least a century longer'.