I am planning a major blog post for tomorrow morning, but there are a couple of things I wish to share now.
HERITAGE OPEN DAY
Heritage Open Day 2017 is on Sunday September 10, and as usual many King’s Lynn buildings will be opening their doors for the occasion. This year I will be among the volunteers. I will be stewarding at 11-13 King Street between 12 and 2PM. Here are a few pictures of the place taken today:
11-13 King Street, where I will be stewarding from 12 to 2PM on Heritage Open Day.
A WARNING FROM AMERICA
There is an online magazine called Autism Parenting Magazine. Amy Sequenzia, a very well known autistic person and autism advocate has had a very bad experience with them recently, as has one of her friends. I found out about this from americanbadassactivists, who put up a post linking to Amy’s original, which appears on the Autism Women’s Network. As someone who is both autistic and heavily involved witha charity that helps autistic people I am shocked by the attitudes and behaviour of the people who run this online magazine. Below, in screenshot form, is some of the detail from Amy’s piece:
A POSITIVE ENDING AND PHOTOGRAPHS
I always like to end my posts with pictures, but before I do here is a link to something much more positive than the last piece I linked to. This piece, from Science Whysis titled “We Are Family” and it ends with a wonderful quote from Maya Angelou: “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”
Now for those photographs:
The Vancouver statue (3 images)
A double ended cockling boat, the Baden Powell, currently moored at the jetty near Marriott’s Warehouse (four images)
Swallows often fly over the Nar outfall, but capturing them is hard due to their sheer speed.
The conclusion of my series about Heritage Open Day.
INTRODUCTION
This post completes my account of this year’s Heritage Open Day in King’s Lynn.
A HOUSE, A CLUB AND A FERRY
On way out for my afternoon’s explorations I poked my head round the door of the Rathskellar, but decided not to go in. Queues and crowds notwithstanding I decided that my first port of call of the afternoon would be…
CLIFTON HOUSE
This house is the residence of the current head of English Heritage, and featured rooms open to the public on five different levels, and viewing area on yet a sixth (basement, ground floor, the four intermediate floors of the tower and the roof of the tower). The first part of the building that was opened up featured the cellar, the kitchen and a couple of rooms which could be viewed but not entered. I started by going down to the…
CELLAR
When the house was first built the cellar had been accessible direct from the river (which is now about 50 yards west of the house), and a system of ropes and pulleys was used to offload cargo…
The first three pictures were taken en route to the cellar.
Note the vaulted ceiling of the cellar.Three iron rings through which thick ropes could run enabled cargo to winched from boats into the cellar. I am not certain if all three are visible in this picture, but I tried to show them all.
After the cellar, it was time for the rest of that part of the building, and on towards the tower by way of…
THE KITCHEN
There were some very interesting things to be seen even though this had the feeling of being merely on the way to somewhere else, because of course what everyone was really interested in seeing was the tower.
These canons were in a reception area just outside the kitchen.The remaining four photographs were all taken in the kitchen.
Apart from one last major queue because of limitations on the number of people being allowed in there at any one time (for obvious safety reasons) it was now time to venture the…
TOWER
There were interesting things to see on each level of the tower…
These antique maps and the model of the house were on the first floor of the tower.
One floor up was a room set up for a Jacobean supper.
This room was a further floor up
The ‘Prospect Room’ is one floor below the roof.
The views from the roof were amazing. Conscious of the number of other people who were waiting to savour the views I restricted myself to a few minutes taking the view from all angles, before heading back down.
Looking towards The WashThe Lower Purfleet from above
The view focussing between St Nicholas Chapel and the docks.
My humble abode viewed from the top of the Clifton House Tower.
Leaving Clifton House I headed for Ferry Lane, where I paid a call at the premises of
THE OUSE AMATEUR SAILING CLUB
This establishment, which has about 5o sailing members and somewhere around 500 ‘social’ members had opened its Ferry Bar to the public for the day. I consumed a pint of a splendid beer brewed in Lowestoft (just into Suffolk, but possibly close enough to count as local, especially as the other featured brewery is based in Southwold, a little further away). Having purchased my drink I took some photos inside…
I then went outside on to the balcony overlooking the Great Ouse, and took some photographs from this great vantage point…
It was at this point that my attention was caught by something downriver, which turned out to be…
THE ARRIVAL OF A FISHING BOAT
Given the role that fishing, and indeed the sea as a whole has played in the history of our town this was a particular splendid sight…
The first glimpse.
Turning into the docks and therefore presenting a side-on view.
After finishing my pint I headed for the
FERRY
I finished my day by taking the special ‘Heritage Open Day’ trip on the ferry, which involves a small amount of travel along the river as well as across it. This was my first trip on the new ferries, which are equipped with caterpillar tracks for crossing the exposed mud at low tide. The King’s Lynn Ferry has been in operation for over 800 years.
The other historic bus (my second post in the series featured the one put on by Towler’s), this one a routemaster.
A continuation oof my personal Heritage Open Day 2016 story which takes it up to lunch.
INTRODUCTION
This is my second post about Heritage Open Day 2016. There will be one more covering my post lunch activities.
THE ATTRACTIONS
On leaving the London Road Methodist Chapel I walked through the parkland and past the train station to the edge of the bus station and the..
LYNN MUSEUM
I took advantage of the fact that it being Heritage Open Day admission was free to have a look round this establishment. The trip round the museum starts with…
SEAHENGE
This is a circle of standing timbers revealed by a particularly low tide (the North Sea coast has been progressively moving west since the end of the last period of glaciation some 10,000 years ago, and a lot of land from even historic times is now below the surface, including the well known fishing grounds now called Dogger Bank) and ever since taking its place in the museum has been the prime exhibit…
This is one of two historic buses doing duty on the day, of interest because Towler’s are local, being based near Wisbech.
There was too much reflection from this side!
These last two pics are of a speculative model of Seahenge in it’s original surroundings.
The rest of the museum, although it plays second fiddle to Seahenge is by no means devoid of interest either…
King’s Lynn circa 1967My part of Lynn, circa 1967This sort of poster could do with being pressed back into service!
With apologies for the reflections, about which I could do nothing. This was a marine reptile and a contemporary of some dinosaurs but not a dinosaur itself.
After this museum I got an inside look at something I had witnessed being worked on from my own humble abode…
NEW BUILD ON BAKER LANE
This owes its presence on the Heritage Open Day roster to the fact that it is in a conservation area and therefore obliged to be in keeping with what is already there. The stairs by means of which my flat is accessed are directly across Baker Lane car park from this development. I was reasonably impressed by what I saw…
I next paid a brief call at the building on Queen Street (Baker Lane is a side street off Queen Street) where the Civic Society had set up shop, where my eye was caught by this tapestry map of Norfolk…
I saw three more places before breaking off for lunch…
ALMSHOUSES, A COLLEGE AND A SECRET GARDEN
The Victorian almshouses, which like the Baker Lane development are visible from my flat, allowed admission to the upstairs of the front of the building and to a courtyard..
The Great Hall at Thoresby College has something in common with Headingley cricket ground – looking up is better than looking down!
This is why I recommend that visitors to the great hall at Thoresby College look up!This A3 sheet shows some of the attractions in and around King’s Lynn
The secret garden mentioned in the header of this section is behind Hampton Court, where my aunt lives. The land-facing wall is an old warehouse frontage which back in the day (14th century) abutted directly on to the river so that cargoes could be offloaded direct into the building. Later, when the river had assumed its current position, about 50 yards west of the old warehouse the site of what is now the garden was a waste dump. There is one original door, which used to provide access to Summerfeld & Thomas.
LUNCH
My aunt had laid out some food on her kitchen table, for which I was very grateful. It was very good food too.
Welcome to the fifth and final post in my series on Heritage Open Day, which was a week ago yesterday. The previous four posts give a personal perspective on the places that I and my two companions for the day visited. This one is there to tie things together and sum up the whole experience.
KING’S LYNN AND PUBLIC FESTIVITIES
This day provided further proof of how good King’s Lynn is at putting on a public show. Whether it is water-skiing on the Great Ouse, the Lynn Festival, The Hanseatic Festival or the “Fawkes in the Walks” public firework display (which attracted 15,000 last year) the event seems to work splendidly.
THE DAY AS A WHOLE
By the end of the day I was thoroughly exhausted, but I had greatly enjoyed myself. My cousin Edward and his partner Rachael were excellent company, the weather stayed decent throughout, and it was a joy to see so many people enjoying what King’s Lynn had to offer.
This is the regular tourist map of Lynn, which can be picked up at the bus station among other places.This is what casual visitors can find out about Hampton Court any day of the year.
If you are anywhere close to King’s Lynn for Heritage Open Day 2016 don’t miss it – it is a wonderful thing to be part of!
The fourth in my series of posts about Heritage Open Day, featuring the Red Mount Chapel, The Guildhall, “Cormorant Platform”, the South Gate and the Bandstand.
INTRODUCTION
This is the fourth post in my Heritage Open Day series (there will be one more small post to finish the series) and features several classic sites, starting with…
THE RED MOUNT CHAPEL
I have shown pictures of the outside of this building in many previous posts, so therefore I am concentrating my attentions on the inside, which a little like that of the South Gate contains more than you would believe from looking at the outside. The only windows most of the building possesses are tiny slits, while the uppermost level has fleur-de-lys windows which are not visible from the ground. At various stages of this buildings history its true purpose had to be concealed, because it was not safe to be known to be a centre of Catholic worship (n.b. the danger was never from unbelievers such as me, who also could not declare themselves at the time I am writing about – it was from those whose interpretation of Christianity differed from that of the Catholics). Now for some pictures…
A prettied up fleur-de-lus windowAn original fleur-de-lys window
After this we spent a bit of time outside waiting for signs of the spitfire fly past but none materialised, and we had to buy bread as a contribution to lunch, which thanks to my aunt was a feast. After lunch we started by paying a visit to the…
GUILDHALL
This is the second most iconic building in Lynn (behind the Custom House), due to its possessing this frontage…
This pic was taken yesterday – i got none of the outside on the day itself.
Heritage Open Day however represented an opportunity to check out the inside of the building, including a ceiling that definitely dates from at the latest the early 1420s…
Decorative stonework in the Guildhall.
The 1420s ceiling (maybe even older)
The plan was to visit the South Gate, and then go back to the park to catch some of the live music at the bandstand. A special tour bus (think routemasters of yesteryear!) caught our eyes but it was full, and it definitely was not worth waiting 20 minutes for the next. The walk to the South Gate needed little tweaking to take in one of my favourite minor attractions, which I have dubbed…
CORMORANT PLATFORM
Thankfully, the cormorants did me proud, and I was not required to provide any explanation as to my name for the structure…
There were no further diversions before arriving at the…
SOUTH GATE
No external picture of this – I have shown many in the past, and on this day it was all about the inside of such buildings. Suffice to say that my companions for the day, my cousin Edward and his partner Rachael endorsed my earlier description of this building as a ‘medieval TARDIS’ – there is much more inside than you would believe possible from the outside…
Following a short cut well-known to me to not to that many others (at least when it comes it King’s Lynn I can say echoing Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings that “My cuts, short or long, don’t go wrong”) we arrived in the parkland area via the Seven Sisters gate, walking past the Walks Stadium (home of the mighty Linnets, a.k.a King’s Lynn Town FC – just another five promotions would see them in the premier league!) and the Guanock Gate to arrive at our last attraction of the day…
THE BANDSTAND
The Bandstand dates from 1904 and regularly hosts live music. For Heritage Open Day we had a brass band who produced some excellent music for us…
The third post in my series dedicated to heritage Open Day 2015 in King’s Lynn. This takes in a Napoleonic era militia, a 15th century construction and the present day work of the Eastern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to this, the third post in my series on Heritage Open Day, which took place a week ago today. We are covering a lot of ground today, starting with…
A NAPOLEONIC ERA MILITIA STRUTTING THEIR STUFF
As part of the efforts to protect Britain against invasion by Napoleon, militias were organised everywhere coastal ready to act if necessary. Norfolk had two, the West and East Norfolk militias, and although King’s Lynn is on the western edge of Norfolk, it was the East Norfolk Militia we saw in action. There was also someone dressed as a captured Frenchman – note the dark blue jacket. It would be fair to describe this particular militia unit as not being the best drilled you would ever see (actually I would not have been that surprised to see Baldrick or hear someone shouting “Don’t tell him Pike”).
Once we had seen this, we crossed the lower Purfleet on the bridge you can see in the picture above (after a brief diversion so I could show the others the Navigators display) and headed across King’s Staithe Square to the…
BANK HOUSE HOTEL
Who had opened up their cellars for the occasion…
This map was on display in the hotel itself.
Then it was down to the banks of the Great Ouse, not at ultra high tide, but neither with vast areas of mudflat on display, and a chance to learn about the work of the…
EASTERN INSHORE FISHERIES AND CONSERVATION AUTHORITY
and to look around one of their research vessels, which also meant a chance to get down on to the pontoon/jetty where visiting boats have mooring space…
This camera will function at depths of up to 80 metres, comfortably enough for investigating inshore waters around the Norfolk coast.
After finishing here we decided it was time to see how my mother and aunt were faring at the…
SECRET GARDEN
This is the communal back garden of Hampton Court, and unlike the courtyard itself which anyone can look in on at any time it is rarely possible for ordinary members of the public to look at it. By the time we got there my aunt had been temporarily relieved by my mother, and clearly lots of folk had already visited. Part of the garden had been blocked off at the request of one particular resident, but not being able to venture there did not lessen the experience…
Turning the requirement to restrict access one part of the garden into a benefit.
This map and the next picture, even on that day, was not viewable by ordinary members of the public – they adorn the walls of my aunt’s house.
The second post in my series devoted to Heritage Open Day – this one covers King Street, starting from the Tuesday Market Place end and finishing at the Custom House.
INTRODUCTION
This is the second post in my Heritage Open Day series, and takes in King Street, virtually every building alon which had opened its doors for the occasion.
BEHIND THE ARTS CENTRE
There was some remarkable stuff on display between King Street and the river, accessible from two directions.
Rachael, one of my companions for the day looking closely at this curio.
WHEN TWO BECAME ONE
The premises of Kenneth Bush solicitors does indeed consist of two buildings that were joined together to become one. It also had fine garden, in which stall selling homemade cakes and biscuits.
A CONCEALED TREASURE
When you first appoach them, the premises of Metcalfe, Copeman & Pettefar don’t look like they are going to be massively impressive, but you soon discover that on the inside you are looking at a Norman building…
The attic, not accessible, but those beams are very impressive from below.
This mirror was working rather too effectively – you get the photographer as well the photograph!This view is not pretty – I include only because it is Baker Lane car park, and just out of sight to the top right as you look is a set of iron stairs which lead up to an intermediate level outside space up from which a spiral iron staircase leads to my own outside space.
INSIDE THE ICON
The ground floor of the Custom House serves as King’s Lynn’s principal tourist information office, but beyond that there is a mini museum, which was accessible that day, and as our next planned activity was watching a Napoleonic era militia in action nearby we decided to have a look to fill the last few moments before that started. Custom House marks the end of King Street, after crossing the lower Purfleet the road bifurcates, one fork becoming King Staithe Square and then the quayside and the other Queen Street which feeds in to the Saturday Market Place. Here are some final pics from the Custom House…
I had to darken this considerably to get the text to stand out.
It isn’t only Lord’s that has a Long Room! (I concede that this one is not quite so impressive as theirs!)
Walter Dexter’s painting of the Custom House in his day. Later for comparison there is a photograph taken by me on September 6th 2015.
The first of a series of posts about Heritage Open Day 2015, which happened last Sunday. The focus here is on the Tuesday Market Place, an air raid shelter, some classic cars and a masonic lodge.
INTRODUCTION
Sunday was Heritage Open Day, with no fewer than 57 sites open to the public for the day. While my aunt and my mother were both involved in actually running the event – one of the venues being right next to my aunt’s home, I was merely unofficial guide for my cousin Edward and his partner. This post is the first of several which will be devoted to telling you about the day, accompanied by loads of splendid pictures.
This, on the Tuesday Market Place, was the place to find information about the event as a whole.
THE PRELIMINARIES – FEATURING CLASSIC CARS
The event itself ran from 10AM to 4PM, but, remembering from last year, I reckoned that we needed to be early for our first destination, the air raid shelter underneath the Tuesday Market Place. This was confirmed to be the case – even though we were so busy checking out the cars that we missed being at the front of the queue we only had a brief wait. Before moving on here are some early pictures…
THE AIR RAID SHELTER
This air raid shelter made use of pre-existing tunnels, which are known to have been used as storage in the 17th century, and it would probably not have survived a direct hit. Here are some photos of those tunnels we were allowed to see (we were going round in groups of 20, and during the war these tunnels sheltered 200 people at a time)…
One of the smaller ‘wardens’!
THE MASONIC LODGE
Philanthropic Lodge 107 to give it its formal title is housed inside the Duke’s Head Hotel which looks out on to the Tuesday Market Place. The person who told us about freemasonry also told us that there is now a female lodge in Norfolk, though he does not where (apparently the nature of the initiation ceremony is such as to prevent mixed lodges from being a possibility). The only thing I was not allowed to photograph (an even then it was put to me as a request) was a single framed certificate. The masonry part of a freemasonry is a reference to the stone masons who built the pyramids of ancient Egypt although I respectfully beg leave to doubt as to whether the freemasons have actually been around for all that time.
Here are some pictures from this remarkable establishment…
This clock is in the hotel before one gets to the lodge.The doormat at the entrance to the lodge
This is the temple, the heart of the lodge.
Not easy to photograph a ceiling decoration!
An interesting little document.
MOVING ON FROM THE TUESDAY MARKET PLACE
Having seen and enjoyed to Masonic Lodge it was time to move on, and of all the streets leading off the Tuesday Market Place, the best one to follow both in terms of the overall direction we wanted to head in and in terms of finding interesting things to see was King Street, virtually every building along which was open for the occasion. This will be the subject of the next post in this series. I leave you with the last set of pictures from the Tuesday Market Place, going to town on a one hundred year old Ford…
An explanation of why I have not published a post since Sunday morning and details of some upcoming posts, with a couple of ‘aperitif’ picttures
JUST SO YOU KNOW
My last published post was on Sunday morning, and as I will probably not get another full post up before tomorrow I thought a few words of explanation were appropriate (I do not like having big gaps between posts). Sunday was Heritage Open Day, and because I was at work yesterday and will be again today to get the imaging done for our next auction I have not yet had time to edit all the photos I took from Heritage Open Day. So, upcoming on this blog for definite are:
Tomorrow: At least one, probably two posts about Heritage Open Day
Thurs AM: Heritage Open Day continued
Fri AM: Heritage Open Day continued
Saturday: If I have not already done so I will finish the multi-post account of Heritage Open Day, and I will be putting up another of my London Underground posts, this time covering the Bakerloo line.
I leave you with a couple of pictures…
The brochures produced for the occasion.The stairs down into the first attraction that I and my companions visited on Heritage Open Day – an old air raid shelter.
A short post mainly devoted to sharing links, but with some photos also included.
INTRODUCTION
This is a brief post, principally to share some interesting and important links, At the end, there will be a few photos from in and around King’s Lynn.
LINKS
Today’s link’s divide naturally into two sections, starting with…
#JezWeDid
Yes everyone – #JezWeCan is now #JezWeDid – Jeremy Corbyn not only won the election outright in the first round, he did so with an absolute landslide, leaving even the 57% achieved in the first round by Tony Blair when he won the leadership behind him. I have three links that relate to this news…
If you are a former ILF recipient, living in the Waltham Forest Council area can you please email us at mail@dpac.uk.net, or if you know someone who is, could you please ask them to contact us.
