An extract from my forthcoming book

King's Lynn

King's Lynn and the Great Ouse

King’s Lynn, or Bishop’s Lynn as it was, or just Lynn as she is to locals, was once the third largest port in the country, and a member of the lucrative Hanseatic League. The name derives from a word for a lake, and the King was Henry VIII. 

The Trinity Guildhall

Trinity Guildhall, with its flushwork (the patterning that contrasts freestone with knapped flint) facade has stood on the Saturday Market Place since the early 15th century. Today it forms part of the Town Hall, and houses the Stories of Lynn Museum and the Old Gaol House.

Windows of the Trinity Guildhall

Just across the Saturday Market Place is another great building - King’s Lynn Minster, 

St Margaret's Church, now King's Lynn Minster

which was founded in 1101 by Herbert de Losinga, the first Bishop of Norwich. It has been considerably altered since then, with the west front showing four centuries of the development of English church architecture.

The High Altar - The Minster

The King's Lynn Heritage Action Zone area, with the Conservation Area at its heart, contains 462 listed buildings (17 Grade I, 55 Grade II* and 390 Grade II), including the Grade I St Nicholas Chapel, England’s largest surviving parochial chapel;

 

St Nicholas' Chapel

the Grade I St George’s Guildhall, the largest surviving medieval guildhall in the country 

Outside the Guildhall of St George

and the Grade I Hanse House (1485), the only surviving Hanseatic Warehouse in England.

The Hanse House

A 42 acre restored 18th century park, known as The Walks, contains the 15th century Red Mount Chapel, one of only two octagonal chapels in Europe.

Red Mount Chapel

This was once a wayside chapel for pilgrims to Walsingham, many of whom arrived by ship in King’s Lynn. Near by is Greyfriars Tower, all that remains of a Franciscan Friary founded in the early 13th century.

Greyfriars Tower

The Lynn Museum, just by the bus station, tells the story of West Norfolk, and includes the Seahenge which was found on the coast near Holme. True’s Yard Fisherfolk Museum covers the town’s maritime heritage and also has a traditional tea room and shop, all housed in a reclaimed Victorian cottages.

True's Yard

Today Lynn is much changed since its heyday but it’s a busy place, with warehouses, quays and bars alongside the Great Ouse.

Old Warehouses by the Great Ouse

In the Tuesday Market Place

Dancing in the Tuesday Market Place

there has been a traditional fair, called the Mart, every February for over 800 years, and for over seventy years the King’s Lynn Arts Festival has brought classical music and the arts to Lynn in July. 

The Mayor - Councillor Paul Bland

For 39 years Festival Too has taken place in King's Lynn and in 2024 28 acts performed across three weekends in the summer, ranging from emerging local talent to internationally renowned musicians. The Guildhall of St George, on King Street, was probably built in the 1430s and is still a working theatre, with a recently discovered arch possibly leading to the dressing room Shakespeare used in 1593.

The Deputy Mayor - Councillor Andy Bullen

The port is still active, and in 2022 it handled 420,939 tonnes of cargo carried by 191 vessels. The commodities handled included aggregates, barley, fertilisers, steel, stone, sugar beet, salt, timber, and wheat. Fishing and pleasure boats tie up alongside Marriot’s Warehouse, and a ferry will take you across the river to West Lynn….

The Old Custom House, on the Purfleet

On the Purfleet there is the old Custom House, designed by Henry Bell and built in 1683, and there is a statue of explorer George Vancouver, who gave his name to, among other places, Vancouver, Vancouver Island and two Mount Vancouvers, one in the Yukon and the other in New Zealand.

Captain George Vancouver

If you would like to explore the town the best way to start is with a guided walking tour of Historic Lynn with the King’s Lynn Town Guides. The walking season is from Easter Bank Holiday Monday until 31st October and all walks start at the Saturday Market Place, outside the Tourist Information Centre (unless otherwise specified). For more information about these and other walks or to book an individual tour, visit

 www.kingslynntownguides.co.uk

Hampton Court, part of Historic Lynn

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Although the layout and some of the pictures will not appear like this, the text is an extract from my new book, Starting from Snettisham, which is designed as an introduction to/appreciation of some of the joys of North-West Norfolk, from King's Lynn to Wells-next-the-sea, both for those who visit or who may be new to the area, and also as a reminder to those who know Norfolk well just how fortunate we are to live here. It could make a perfect gift for visitors and relatives as well…..

The reason I have called it Starting from Snettisham is that the village of Snettisham became our home when I moved here with my wife, Amanda, a few years ago. Although Amanda was already suffering quite badly from fronto-temporal dementia, we managed to explore the area around us for a couple of years before her condition deteriorated so much that she had to move into residential care, though even then I would take her out in her wheel chair to visit places around us, such as Burnham Market, Sandringham and Hunstanton. 

The cover of the new book

In 2023 I produced A Snapshot of Snettisham, a 72 page all colour book about the village, which I sold to raise money for The Friends of St Mary’s Snettisham (which was set up for those with or without faith who are interested in supporting and protecting the church building itself and the significant role it plays within the village and the wider community) and The National Brain Appeal (the charity dedicated to raising funds for the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and the University College of London Queen Square Institute of Neurology, which cared for Amanda). 

The cover of last year's book

Amanda died on February 1st, 2024, and I decided to produce another book in memory of the places Amanda and I explored before her dementia got the better of her. It is in the same format as its predecessor, and again I am hoping to raise money for the same two charities.

The price is £12 a copy, and once the printing costs are covered every penny will go to the two charities. If you would like to purchase one please get in touch via email (richardpgibbs@aol.com) and as soon as I can I will mail them out - though of course I will also have to charge some postage.

{Incidentally I reprinted a few more copies of A Snapshot of Snettisham, at the same price, if you think you might like one of them too!}