King's Lynn Norfolk From The Middle Ages Till Today
Norfolk is the beautiful county which is home to King's Lynn, once named Bishops Lynn until Henry VIII renamed it for himself. Lynn is a word from medieval English, and it is used to describe a tidal pool, which is the Oust at Kings Lynn, so this is actually both a port and a market town.
Founded in 1095, where a settlement grew up around a Benedictine Abbey, this area was part of an estate owned by one Bishop De Losinga. Rights to hold markets were granted in 1101 and this charming Norfolk Town is still a market town today. Starting on Valentines Day a great fair is still held for two weeks.
In honor of the patron saint of sailors, Bishop Turbus erected the St. Nicholas' church in the 12th century and the town steadily grew and had a population of around 5 500, which was considered to be large in those days. They exported grain, salt and wool to Europe, and imported pitch, wood, iron and fish from Scandanavia. Together with these goods, Britain's most deadly import came in from Europe, the Black Death.
Fire was always a problem in medieval times as most of the buildings were wood and in 1331 a terrible fire almost destroyed the town. Not long after in 1348, the Black Death came and decimated the population by half. For three centuries the plague came and went, finally ending in 1665, and fires were also always a problem, but in 1572, thatched roofs were banned in Kings Lynn.
Guild halls were built for trades people and religious followers and by the 13th century the town was protected by stone built walls. In 1406 the guildhall, St. Georges, was built and this still stands, it was renovated and made into a theatre in the 20th century.
Being a magnet for pilgrims and religious orders the then Bishops Lynn, got Thoresby College in 1500, this was completed in 1510. However by 1537 King Henry VIII was on the rampage regarding the Catholic religion and he took over the town, renamed it Kings Lynn, closing down a swathe of friaries, Priories and Abbeys, and the rest as they say is history.
One of the most significant landmarks of this town is the Greyfriars Tower. This is a piece of the religious history of Kings Lynn. It is remarkable in that wear and subsidence have made the tower lean.
In 2003 Greyfriars Tower was featured in the BBC restoration series and it has not been restored and stabilized. The leaning tower is the only part left surviving or an early Franciscan Monastery, and its restoration was considered to be of vital importance.
