King’s Lynn in Norfolk was known as Bishops Lynn prior to the 16th century – the word Lynn being derived from the word for a tidal pool. It was a port town and during the ages has been used to export different produce.
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 the 12th Century Bishop Turbus a church was erected in the honor of the patron saint of sailors, St. Nicholas, and Kings Lynngrew to become a large and very important town with a population of around 5 500 residents. Salt, wool and grain were exported from this port, while timber, pitch iron and fish came in from Scandinavia by sea and this may have proved its downfall.
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.
Stone walls had been built to protect the town by the 13th century and in 1406 St Georges was built as the firs religious guildhall – this was converted into a theatre as late as 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.
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