Tag: Tuesday Market Place

Heritage Open Day 2026

A look back at Heritage Open Day (Sunday), with plenty of photographs.

Sunday was this year’s Heritage Open Day. King’s Lynn’s official brochure for the day featured a total of 64 sites. This post looks back at the day as it unfolded for me. I end this introduction with a picture of the map from the brochure:

The map from the official brochure for Heritage Open Day in King’s Lynn.

GETTING STARTED

I set off from home at 9:30AM, going by way of Bawsey Drain since my first definite target was the Tuesday Market Place, where I could pick up my brochure and look at the classic car display there. Along the way I passed True’s Yard, and went in (no pictures as they have a no photography policy) and passed the outside of St Nicholas Chapel…

A BUS RIDE

Just as I was thinking about moving on from the classic cars I spotted an old London Transport Routemaster bus picking up passengers, and as it was raining lightly and I could do with being under cover I decided to board it.

STARTING TO EXPLORE SITES

I began my explorations on King Street with one place that was well known to me and one that was new to me…

An Austin Seven – known to bridge fans as the make of car driven by Abbot Hugo Yorke-Smith of the Monastery of St Titus!
This building of Norman origin is one I know well and always enjoy visiting.
This picture marks the start of my perusal of Chequer House, previously unknown to me.

THORESBY COLLEGE AND THE RIVERSIDE

I reacquainted myself with Thoresby College on my way to the riverside , where I took the opportunity to go down on to the pontoon jetty to hear about the Baden Powell, an old cockling boat that has been extensively renovated in recent years and now runs trips from the town to The Wash, where at the right time of year seals can be observed.

I considered a second bus ride, but this one was going to North Runcton, so I decided against it in the end.
These last pictures are from Hanse House.

LUNCH AND A COUPLE OF OUTLIERS

I lunched at Roasta Food Court, on my way to the old library, which I was keen to see again, and I then reacquainted myself with the Red Mount Chapel…

BACK TO THE TOWN CENTRE AND STEWARDING

By this point I was thinking in terms of being ready for my stewarding, at The Secret Garden, Hampton Court, from 2PM to 4PM, but I made one more call, at Sommerfeld & Thomas, a long neglected warehouse which is currently being renovated, and spent some time in the environs of the Saturday Market Place. By this time the weather had long since cleared up, and for the two hours I was stewarding it was genuinely hot. I had some interesting history to tell folks as part of my stewarding, and The Secret Garden proved a popular port of call – about 350 people had visited before I started stewarding, and that was increased by over 200 in the two hours I was there. I had enjoyed my day, but it was also tiring.

A shot of part of the Guildhall of the Holy Trinity aka King’s Lynn Town Hall.
Medieval music
This instrument, similar in size to a violin save for the much deeper bowl (it also has only three strings rather than four) is carved from a single piece of wood.
A rather better known stringed instrument.
Sommerfeld and Thomas
The real star of The Secret Garden – 600 years ago when it was built these arches faced directly on to the river and were completely open, enabling direct transfer of goods from boats to the mercantile premises that Hampton Court then consisted of. By about the year 1700 the line of the river had changed too much for these to serve their original function, and the transition to private residences was underway. This arcade frontage is the only one of its kind anywhere in England.

Musical Keys

A personal account of yesterday’s Musical Keys at the scout hut on Beulah Street and a walk on either side of the session.

INTRODUCTION

Musical Keys sessions happened at the scout hut on Beulah Street yesterday. I was there both as NAS West Norfolk branch secretary and someone who enjoys the session. With it staying light later in the evening and yesterday being pretty benign for an early March day in England I got two good walks in on either side of my session.

GETTING THERE

I made a quick visit to King’s Lynn library before heading for the scout hut by way of the Broad Walk and the Sandringham Railway Path. I had sufficient spare time to take some photographs en route…

dscn4393
This town centre cafe is the venue for an NAS West Norfolk coffee morning on Wednesday

dscn4402
Here are some of the trees from which it takes its name, on the bank of the highly sculpted stretch of the Gaywood river that passes through The Walks.

dscn4394
The library, fresh from recent repair works.

dscn4395
The first of four flower pictures – all featuring crocuses.

dscn4396dscn4397dscn4398dscn4399dscn4401dscn4404

AT THE SCOUT HUT

I arrived with the youngsters session still in progress – here are some pictures I took before my session started.

dscn4405dscn4406dscn4407

Before getting into details of what I did, I have a short subsection about…

A SPEAKER SYSTEM FROM Q BRANCH

This is best shown in a series of photographs…

dscn4408
The speaker system in use

dscn4423
Partially closed up – machine and bag of cables in the centre, the two speakers forming the sides of the case.

dscn4424
And fully closed – a stout black plastic suitcase.

MY SESSION

I was on the computer, using Scratch 2. Once again I consider a series of photographs to do a better job than words…

dscn4409
A modest but sufficient set up – I have eight notes on my chosen instrument (Cello) set to be played by pressing a, s, d, f, h, j, k, and l respectively, and various extras, including getting the cat avatar to move and draw, with the pen size increasing each time I pressed one particular key.

dscn4410dscn4411dscn4412dscn4413dscn4414dscn4415dscn4416dscn4417dscn4418dscn4419dscn4420dscn4421

THE JOURNEY HOME

Once the session finished, and the clearing up and locking up was done it was time for the walk back. I journeyed back by a different route, heading for Bawsey Drain, the Tuesday Market Place and King Street. Here are some photographs from this walk.

dscn4425dscn4426dscn4428

A King’s Lynn Walk

An account of a walk in an around King’s Lynn.

This walk started and finished at my compact town centre flat, and with frequent photography stops occupied two and a quarter hours.

I was on my way down the stairs that take me to street level when I took my first pic of the day, the top of the Clifton House Tower…

????????????????????????

From there I crossed the Baker Lane Car Park, took the bridge over the upper Purfleet and headed for the lower Purfleet and the Custom House…

????????????????????????

Just in shot above you can see part of the statue of Captain Vancouver…

????????????????????????

Where the lower Purfleet joins the Great Ouse is a glass sculpture…

????????????????????????

The next point of interest is the new jetty on the Great Ouse, not in use at the moment in deep midwinter…

????????????????????????

Hot on the heels of this comes Marriott’s Warehouse, which required two shots to do it justice…

???????????????????????? ????????????????????????

Next up was the carcass of the old Somerfeld and Thomas building…

????????????????????????

After crossing the lower Millfleet on the bridge that has a high water mark from December 2013 the next site was the remains of Boal Quay…

????????????????????????

A few minutes later came the meeting of the Nar and Ouse, and the structure I have dubbed ‘Cormorant Platform’. Sadly none of the birds in question were there today, but still the picture is a fine one…

????????????????????????

My next port of call was Hardings Pits…

???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????

Crossing the Nar as I headed towards the next stage of the walk I got this picture…

????????????????????????

Next, as I headed towards the parkland areas came one of King’s Lynn’s most distinctive landmarks, the South Gate…

????????????????????????

From here I walked along London Road as far as the light controlled crossing, crossed and headed through Terrace Court and an alleyway to the Seven Sisters entrance to the parkland area…

????????????????????????

As I headed towards Guanock Gate and the Vancouver Garden I got a sight of The Walks, home to King’s Lynn Town FC (only two more promotions needed to gain league status)…

????????????????????????

The Guanock Gate came next, closely followed by a shot of the Red Mount Chapel looking along the upper Millfleet…

???????????????????????? ????????????????????????

Next came the Vancouver Garden, which I entered via one bridge and left via the other (these are the only two means of getting in or out unless you fancy a dip in open water – definitely not recommended in an English January! This area is always worth a good few photographs, and so it proved once again…

???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????

A few minutes after this I arrived at Tennyson Road, and two more interesting things, the educational fence, a sample fo which I photographed and the King’s Lynn signal box…

???????????????????????? ????????????????????????

From there until Lynn Sport, a few minutes later, there is nothing of great significance, though for the first part of that distance the path runs between two academies for those interested in such things. Lynn Sport has some interesting stuff outside it, notable the brickwork bus and the ornate mile post. It also boasts an elaborate weathercock…

???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????

Shortly after this comes the first glimpse of Bawsey Drain, which I was going to follow all the way back to town, but I started with a shot looking the other way…

????????????????????????

The walk along Bawsey Drain did yield a few interesting (for me at least) shots, reproduced below, the large number of flying birds as approached the town end of it being particularly impressive…

???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????

Getting a good shot of St Nicholas Chapel is a challenge because you need to be far enough away to get it all in. Also, it is undergoing repairs/ renovations at the moment. I was pleased with this one…

????????????????????????

From St Nic’s it was on to the Tuesday Market Place, where as well as getting a full shot of the Corn Market I also noticed a glass sculpture on the same lines as the one where the lower Purfleet meets the Great Ouse…

???????????????????????? ????????????????????????

Finally, I delayed my return home just sufficiently to get some shots of the Guildhall (8 in total) and King’s Lynn Minster…

???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????

I enjoyed doing this walk, and enhancing my photo collection.

Heritage Open Day 2: Air Raid Shelter

The sheer numbers of people wanting to see the air raid shelter meant a loss of flexibility in terms of how one went round it, but it was a very interesting experience. At one point they turned the lights out and gave us the sound effects to make it seem like a raid was taking place, which was a nice touch.

I hope that my photography gives a good feel of what those tunnels must have been like when they were full of people sheltering from a real air raid.

on leaving the shelter my next target was the Mason’s Temple which is inside the Dukes Head, a stones throw from the air raid shelter – watch this space and meanwhile enjoy these pictures…

A clear marker.
A clear marker.

Tunnel
The lights were on most of the time, so I DID NOT USE THE FLASH!!

?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ??????????

People dressed in authentic uniforms were part of the show
People dressed in authentic uniforms were part of the show

?????????? ??????????

THE ONLY USE OF TH FLASH I MADE IN THE WHOLE DAY!
THE ONLY USE OF TH FLASH I MADE IN THE WHOLE DAY!

??????????

Heritage Open Day 1: Start of Play

Yesterday was Heritage Open Day, and King’s Lynn was magnificently en fete for the occasion. It is unfortunate that almost every mode of arrival into King’s Lynn exposes one to ghastly rubbish because once you get beyond the products of 1960s architectural vandalism King’s Lynn still has more historic and interesting sites than almost any other town of comparable size that I can think of.

There were so many wonderful things to see that a) I barely scratched the surface and b) I have so many fine photographs that the only way to present this is as a series of posts.

I arrived at the Tuesday Market Place just about dead on 10AM start time, and took some photos of classic cars which were on display there as part of the occasion before and during queueing for my first target of the day, a World War II air raid shelter directly beneath the market place.

My nest post will feature the air-raid shelter as captured by Nikon P520 Coolpix but meantime to get an early feel for the kind of day it was enjoy these photos…

Racing Car Cooper ??????????

This early Ford is a fine vehicle
This early Ford is a fine vehicle

Cooper
This 1909 Cooper was the star of the classic cars, but plenty of other fine specimens were also on display.

Cooper
This 1909 Cooper was the star of the classic cars, but plenty of other fine specimens were also on display.

??????????

Later in the day music would blare forth from this shelter
Later in the day music would blare forth from this shelter

Twin Atlantas
These two Atlantas made a fine photo

?????????? ?????????? Tuesday Market Place

Cooper Poster
This poster explains the significance of the Cooper

?????????? ??????????

This vehicle gives an idea of why cars were once termed "horseless carriages"
This vehicle gives an idea of why cars were once termed “horseless carriages”

Tuesday Market Place Mascot - close up