King's Lynn

King's Lynn (usually known simply as Lynn locally) is a town in Norfolk, England (population 34,564{{ref|population}}) on the River Great Ouse. It is part of the Borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.

Related Topics:
Norfolk, England - Great Ouse - King's Lynn and West Norfolk

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Originally named "Bishop's Lynn," the town was part of the manor of the Bishop of Norwich in the 12th century.

Related Topics:
Manor - Norwich - 12th century

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When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1538, it became royal property. The name "King's Lynn" reflects this change.

Related Topics:
Henry VIII - 1538

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The Guildhall (1421) and the Town Hall (1895) are King's Lynn's most impressive secular buildings, built with flint-chequered facades, and adjacent to the Saturday Market Place (the original hub of the town). It also has two impressive churches: St Margaret's (also on the Saturday Market Place) and St Nicholas' Chapel - the latter built close to the new Tuesday Market Place, at the heart of a massive Georgian expansion and one of the finest public squares in England. The roads connecting the two markets contain many fine historic buildings, and run parallel to the quays that lined the River Great Ouse (now largely superseded by docks). The Ouse at Lynn is a very wide estuary, and is the outfall for much of the drainage system that created the Fens (systematically drained from the seventeenth century onwards). It flows into the Wash, a bleak landscape of saltmarsh, shifting sandbanks and tidal flows.

Related Topics:
1421 - 1895

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In the 14th century, the town ranked as the third port of England. It became very prosperous from the 17th century through the export of corn; the fine Customs House was built in 1683 to the designs of local architect Henry Bell. The town went into decline after this period, and was only rescued by the relatively late arrival of railway services in 1847. In the post-Second World War period it was designated a London Expansion Town, and its population roughly doubled as thousands of people were relocated from the capital.

Related Topics:
14th century - England - Corn - 1683

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The Deputy Collector of Customs in 1757 was George Vancouver. He navigated the American coast in 1790 and gave his name to Vancouver Island and the city of Vancouver some 5,000 miles away from King's Lynn.

Related Topics:
1757 - George Vancouver - 1790 - Vancouver Island - Vancouver

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King's Lynn has always been a centre for the fishing and seafood industry (especially inshore prawns, shrimps and cockles). There have also been glass-making and small-scale engineering works (many fairground and steam engines were built here), and today it is still the location for much agricultural-related industry including food processing. There are a number of chemical factories and the town retains a role as an import centre. It is a regional centre for what is still a sparsely-populated part of England - the nearest large towns are Peterborough to the southwest (35 miles), Cambridge to the south and Norwich to the east (44 miles).

Related Topics:
Glass - Norwich

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King's Lynn railway station is the terminus of the Fen Line, and gives connections to Ely, Cambridge and London King's Cross.

Related Topics:
King's Lynn railway station - Fen Line - Ely - Cambridge - London King's Cross

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