Month: January 2015

I am inspired to write this because some pictures I posted on twitter helped to convince one of my followers (@MrStuchbery) that King’s Lynn would be worth a visit. Thus post will comprise a personal list of the places I think should not be missed on a visit to King’s Lynn:

1. King’s Lynn Minster, nee St Margaret’s Church. This vast Norman edifice dominates the recently revamped Saturday Market Place, which is at one end of the High Street.
2. The Custom House & Lower Purfleet. I am treating these two together because the Custom House backs on to the Lower Purfleet. The Custom House is King’s Lynn’s most iconic building and calls for little comment from me. As well as being generally scenic, the Lower Purfleet is home to two favourites of mine, the statue of Captain George Vancouver after whom the Canadian City is named and the compass shaped display of King’s Lynn navigators, including Friar Nicholas who may have reached the Americas over a hundred years before Christopher Columbus.
3. The Tuesday Market Place. Revamped fairly recently and now possessing much more open space, this is surrounded on all sides by historic buildings, the Corn Exchange first among equals.
4. St Nicholas’ Chapel. This building, currently under repair is remarkable both inside and out.
5. Bawsey Drain. In spite of the uninspiring name and the fact that it is too often used as a dumping ground, a walk along the banks of this waterway, one of the four that keeps King’s Lynn from being submerged, can be very rewarding.
6. Lynn Sport. This is a modern building, but outside it there are some interesting things, including a brick bus and a very ornate mile post. Also it represents the start of a parkland section of walking if you have gone out along Bawsey Drain.
7. The Walks, The Red Mount Chapel, The Vancouver Garden, Guanock Gate and Seven Sisters. This parkland area is home to a wide variety of bird and animal life, the Red Mount Chapel and Guanock Gate are highly scenic, while leaving via Seven Sisters keeps on track for my next site. For more on the Red Mount Chapel, see the post dedicated to it in my series on Heritage Open Day: https://aspiblog.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/heritage-open-day-9-the-red-mount-chapel/
8. The South Gate. Rather than write further about this here, I simply direct you to the appropriate blog post: https://aspiblog.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/heritage-open-day-8-the-south-gate-a-medieval-tardis/
9. Harding’s Pits. This is lovely to walk through and it gets to you to the banks of the Great Ouse for you route back to the town, which is a useful bonus. There are various wooden sculptures that may take your fancy, and there will be trees laden with fruit at all times of the year.
10. “Cormorant Platform”. Situated where the Nar joins the Ouse, I have named this structure in honour of its most frequent users, and if you are keen on bird life it provides many opportunities for superb pictures, with West Lynn Church on the opposite bank being ideally situated for providing a backdrop. Pictures from here feature regularly in my blog posts, e.g: https://aspiblog.wordpress.com/2014/09/30/kings-lynn-in-two-moods/
11. Old Boal Quay/ The Dike. This immediately follows or precedes “Cormorant Platform” depending on your direction of travel, and is always enjoyable.
12. The Millfleet and South Quay. This takes us back to the Lower Purfleet, and completes a long but manageable circuit. Between the carcass of Somerfeld and Thomas, Marriott’s Warehouse, the new jetty, and of course the Millfleet itself, the bridge over which is now adorned by a high water mark from the December 2013 storm surge this is a very interesting little area.
13. King’s Lynn Public Library. This extraordinary building sits at the top end of Millfleet, looking across the start of the Broadwalk (another way in to the parkland areas). Adjacent to the library are the main King’s Lynn war memorial and Greyfriars Tower, the remnants of the Franciscan Friary.
14. Separated from these by the width of Millfleet is the tiny Jewish Cemetery, worth a brief diversion because it is so unusual.
15. Coming back to where we started, facing King’s Lynn Minster across the Saturday Market Place is the Guildhall, with its unique chessboard frontage. This is a building that everyone should see.
16. Last of all, at the bus station you will find the Lynn Museum, prize exhibit “Sea Henge”.

I have some photos from today, which bear some relation to what I have been writing about…