A Light Hearted Whistle Stop Tour of the History of King's Lynn

October 27, 2020

A Light Hearted Whistle Stop Tour of the History of King's Lynn

The town of King's Lynn is the main town of west Norfolk.

Originially known as, 'Lynn', a name which was derived from a celtic word for pool or lake.

Lynn is first mentioned in 1086 in the Doomsday Book. This was an index of towns, villages and assets which, William the Conqueror, used to see how much money he could screw his subjects for. Thus giving future authorities of all shapes and sizes a ripping good idea!

Lynn, was a major trading centre during the 12^th century. It was known as, 'the warehouse on the wash', and remained a prominent trading centre until the introduction of the railways in the 19^th century. Traders swopped alliegiance to the railways as being more convenient and able to reach a whole new customer base.

King John's Charter in 1215 gave the town of, Lynn, borough status which endowed it with a level of self governing. Following the charter the town became known as Bishop's Lynn. (This may well have been an attempt to suck up to the local clergy who, having a big boss, had a fair amount of pull over the people)

King John's Charter was a statement claiming, among other things that, 'all men are equal in the eyes of the law', (yeh right!) and was forced out of the old boy by the lords and clergy of the time. They, along with land owners and the common man, were fed up with the way the king had screwed the people for every penny they had, gave back handers to all his mates and generally behaved in quite a disreputable manner – who does that remind you of?

Back to the story.

In 1475 the Hanseatic League – a powerfull consortium of traders from Germany and the Baltic states – made it's commercial head quarters in Bishop's Lynn thus securing it as a significant trading centre and port. It remains a port to this day, but without the bells and whistles it had in the past.

It is worth mentioning at this point that there is a long history in Britain of conflict between the church and the state who tussled endlessly. Both were figures of authority and both sought power and control over the lives of the people.

Following the dissolution of the monastries in 1536 by Henry VIII – who had the right hump with the catholic church over a little domestic difficulty - Bishop's Lynn became, Lynn Regis and subsequently, King's Lynn. I suspect this was either a very diplomatic move or an attempt to stick it to the clergy, who could be just as shameful in their manipulation of the people as the ruling classes were.

The 1600s was a busy time in King's Lynn.

In 1607 a high tide flooded the town. It took more than a few mops and buckets to sort it out.

In 1643 the siege of Lynn took place.

The siege began on 28^th August 1643. The town had declared it's allegiance to Charles I during the English civil war. This really annoyed Oliver Cromwell, who was not noted for his sense of humour or tolerance so he sent in his Parlimentary forces to lock the town down (and not a virus in sight...). They cut off the water supply to the town and, in a very ungentlemanly act, fired a cannon ball through the west window of St Margarets church.

The towns people ceded to the Parlimentary forces after 3 weeks of this bullying.

However, it may have done them more good than harm because Olly Cromwell replaced the Royalist governer with his Bother in law, Colonel Valentine Walton, and the town's traders continued to prosper.

Due to the increasing prosperity of the towns traders the following 100 years saw many improvements and facilities for the towns people.

Possibly as an apology for the broken window, a noted church organist was brought to King's Lynn from London - Charles Burney – to fulfil the roll of church organist at St Margarets church.

St Georges Guildhall was adapted to provide a theatre for amateur and professional productions and by 1764 there were 85 ale houses known to exist in the town.

In 1766 New assembly rooms were built which housed a ballroom and card room. (No, I have no idea why they needed a special room to play cards either but, there you go...).

In 1862 Queen Victoria and her squeeze, Prince Albert, purchased Sandringham House, a few miles outside the town, for their son and heir, Prince Albert Edward, The Prince of Wales and his Fiance Princess Alexander of Denmark.

There is evidence of residency on the site of the house going back to 1296, and Roman artifacts have been found in the area surrounding the present house.

With this in mind, Albert decided to do a little touching up of the house and got totally carried away. Between 1870 – 1892 he practically rebuilt the house to the edifice that you see today.

It's just as well it is in the middle of nowhere, otherwise they could have been considered the neighbours from hell!

King's Lynn, along with Great Yarmouth, were the first towns to be bombed by German Zeppelins during the Great War of 1914-1918.

On 19^th January 1915 Count von Zeppelin – a humourless German bloke – sent his flying bombs over the east coast in the hope that they would cause terror to the population and force the British to cede to German authority. (LOL!)

Great Yarmouth was the first place to receive his attempts at death and destruction. Not content with that he next set his sights on King's Lynn.

There was no strategic advantage to bombing either of these towns other than to spread fear and panic. What the nerk had not taken into account was the British stoicism and, more importantly, the Norfolk approach to life – 'put the kettle on and we'll have a nice cup of tea before I get that mess cleaned up'.

This attitude continues to the present.

To demonstrate the Norfolk folks approach to life I offer this glimpse of local advice. There is a hand made sign attached to a lampost on Wootton road whch runs between Gaywood and South Wootton which reads:

30 MPH: SLOW YOU DOWN BOIE!

I couldn't have put it better myself.

REFERENCES

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/Kings-Lynn-Norfolk/

https://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/lynn-museum/whats-here/civil-war-and-polite-society

https://sandringhamestate.co.uk/history

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27517166