The Collection & Usher Gallery

Lincoln's premier museum is actually two museums in one. Housed in a slick, modern building, "The Collection" tracks through the history of Lincoln with a particular emphasis on the days when the town was home to a large Roman garrison. The prime exhibit is, however, a wonderfully well-preserved dug-out canoe, carved from a single oak tree and conserved in the mud of the River Witham for almost 3000 years.  Across the street, in a proud Victorian building, is the Usher Gallery, where the emphasis is on temporary exhibitions of contemporary art. The gallery is named after its original benefactor, James Ward Usher, a local jeweller and watchmaker, who invented the legend of the Lincoln Imp in which the devilish imp is turned to stone when he tries to talk to the angels carved into the ceiling of Lincoln cathedral; the imp is now the town’s mascot.