The beautiful home in which I’m staying is situated in a building constructed in the 1600s as an addition to a large place built as a medieval home and warehouse around 1350 and added onto in the 1420s.  Located on the river’s edge, it was one of the most important buildings in the town.  As recently as the 1930s it was a disaster. In the mid-20^th century some people in the town of King’s Lynn organized a trust and raised funds to rescue this property and one other.  Now it houses 15 townhouses. One of them is owned by Helen, a gracious and charming lady who is hosting me for two weeks. Lucky me!

Each time I walk out the door I see a magnificent church built in the 12^th century. Next to it a small row of brick cottages, originally part of a priory (monastery) from about 1100 AD.  I see the spectacular city hall built in the 1400s. Next door is a warehouse built by the Hanseatic League in medieval times. Nelson Street, on which this house is placed, is lined for its entire length by medieval and renaissance era homes. I love being here! Thank you AirBnB!

Please come out with me now, on a walk out of my medieval home in King’s Lynn.

This big orange building is Hampton Court. The house across the street is from the medieval period.

Here’s the entrance to Hampton Court. Notice how the oak threshold has been worn away over the ages. The black posts on either side are also oak, but they feel petrified: hard as stone.

The arched doorway on the left is the entrance to the part of the house built about 1320.

Here’s “my” door, with spring bulbs and primroses blooming in pots by the door in February.

When I walk out this is the first sight I see.

This old cobblestone street runs between Helen’s kitchen on the left, and a warehouse built by the Hanseatic League in the 1400s.

This is the backside of the priory cottages built in the early 12th century. Notice all the different patches of brick and stone used as the buildings have been patched and changed. The owners maintain container gardens in the small space between their cottages and the church.

I can’t resist including this photo of a spring time window in one of the priory cottages.

I write this blog to share the things I’m enjoying on my travels with my family and friends. Others are welcome to come along, but I feel a need to explain that I realize my blog is more personal than most, but that’s what’s intended.

Libbie

The medieval town of King’s Lynn exists today. On narrow streets along the edge of a river named Great Ouse, buildings dating from the 12^th century through Georgian times proudly serve as homes and offices.  An 12^th century minster (a cathedral-like church shown above) anchors one end of town while the site of the ancient fair granted by a long-ago king is at the other.

Shakespeare played here! The 15th century theatre, one of the oldest in Great Britain.

A nearly 600-year-old theatre where it’s believed Shakespeare and his band of actors  once worked is still active.  Lovingly restored homes, inhabited by proud citizens of the town, bear plaques attesting to the century in which they were built. During the Middle Ages King’s Lynn was an important port city. Sifting sands moved the river, taking business and money away, and leaving the town in its original state. Today visitors can walk on the quays along the river and on the streets through original town, past relics of centuries past.

Originally a guild hall, today this 15th century building is the city hall. The “checkerboard” facade was created by alternating white stones with black.

One of the oldest and most important buildings is the town hall, built originally about 1400 by a guild of wealthy ship owners and merchants. The building was constructed one century at a time, but the checkerboard façade of white stone and shale keeps that a secret.

St. Margaret’s church was begun in 1101 and has been a place of worship since. The towers have both a clock and a “tide clock.”

Just across the narrow street stands the “minster.” A great church honoring Saint Margaret was built here beginning about 1100 AD. It would be a cathedral in another country. Extraordinarily long, the east end of the church is graced by a large stained glass window with a huge carved Tree of Jesse below it. A 20^th century stained glass masterpiece can be seen on the western end.

The other very impressive old church in King’s Lynn is St. Nicolas, built in the 1500s by the the town’s rich merchants and shippers.

Another church, Saint Nicolas chapel, is at the opposite end of the mile-long center of town. Built during the renaissance by and for the many wealthy ship owners, traders and merchants, this church now only serves its original purpose on Christmas and other special occasions.  The hammer-beam roof is graced by a large winged angel attached between each pair of roof trusses. The floor is paved in memorial stones and polished stone 17^th century sculptures memorialize entire families.

In a corner of St. Margaret’s: an old tree, some very old gravesstones and the buildings of the 12th century priory.

A priory, just south of the minster, dates from the early 1100s.  Today the row of ancient 2-story buildings where monks once lived advjacent to St. Margaret’s church are small homes sharing a secret garden. Medieval windows and walls built of a jumble of stone and bricks overlook the minster church.

Buillt in sections between 1350 and the early 1600s, Hampton Court is comprised of four connected former warehouses than now house large homes.

Remnant of an old monastery, the Red Tower is now the centerpiece of “The Walks,” the town’s large, central 18th century park.

All over the town buildings that are centuries old have become gracious homes and offices. One such is Hampton Court, a large connected group of 14^th and 15^th century warehouses rescued by citizens of King’s Lynn and converted into 15 gracious townhouses. The streets near the river’s edge are the oldest in town. Many Georgian-era fine brick homes are seen on the city’s streets interposed with older homes, some of them medieval. A large park forms the center of the city. Designed for exercising the upper class in the 18^th century, today it’s perfect for walkers and runners. In “The Walks” as the park is known, the visitor finds the remains of a city gate and a small part of the old city walls. In the center of the park a small, squat tower on a gentle rise named the “Red Mount Tower,” built in the 1483 and restored recently is open to visitors. Nearby a Victorian library and a church built to “seat everyone” (unlike the other churches in the city which sold seating) represent community life in King’s Lynn in the 19^th century as do terraces of large and small brick homes.

A view of the “”High Street” shopping district in King’s Lynn.

King’s Lynn’s traditional “High Street” shopping area is comprised of several blocks of popular retail shops as well as antique stores and theatres.

Two Sunday morning joggers pass by the charming Duke’s Head Hotel.

Continue the “historical” ambience of time spent in King’s Lynn at one of several long-serving hotels which are still active here.  The Duke’s Head hotel, overlooking the ancient marketplace, is a lovely shade of blue.  Near it, the Globe Hotel is also a long-time favorite. The Bank House is a fine hotel near the Custom House and the river. All these hotels have traditional English restaurants. Other fine dining establishments are found throughout the old town.  On river’s edge, Marriott Warehouse is a wine bar and popular restaurant – try their Sunday lunch!  Hotels and restaurants to fit all budgets are plentiful in King’s Lynn.

A repurposed old warehouse on the quay is a fine restaurant and summer eating space now.

To discover a town that proudly protects and enjoys its history, add this lovely small city to your next U.K. itinerary.

A few weeks ago I reconnected with friends Charlie Moore and Annie Lucky who moved from New Bern to California last year. Charlie wrote to me about his experience of living in England for many years. I thought you would enjoy reading what he said.

Once upon a time I decided that I would move to the UK or Ireland and that I would spend a year to find my new home. I flew into Heathrow, rented a car for a month, and drove up the east coast of England and into Scotland, then west to Blackpool, into Wales, and south along the west coast, into Somerset and down to Devon where my people lived before immigrating to America in 1640.  When I got to the little town of Wellington, Somerset, near my ancestral home, I knew I had found my home. I rented a small apartment, and lived there for 19 years, in a country farmhouse in the Blackdown hills. But it was not to be forever… I ended up returning to America after a long and happy time in England. I still think of it as home.

And a second part of Charlie’s story:

Let me tell you about Dunkeswell. Near the border between Somerset and Devon is a little town called Dunkeswell, Devon. It was the site of the only US Navy base in England during the war, and it was from there that B-24 bombers flew to bomb the Nazi submarine pens in Holland and Belgium. Since I was the only Yank Navy vet living nearby (in Somerset) I was asked to serve on the Board of Directors of a museum to conserve the remembrances of the then-abandoned air base. It was an interesting experience for me. My old US Navy uniform still hangs in the museum, as far as I know. It was eerie in that you could still see the tire marks of the big planes in the turf, and could almost hear the roar of their engines as they lined up for their missions to the continent. It was from this place that Joseph Kennedy Jr. flew when when his plane blew up on a mission to Europe. His gravesite is in Dunkeswell, a funeral attended by President Kennedy and the Kennedy family.

Charlie

Here’s a link to the museum’s website.

I’ve never before known the details of how Joe Kennedy Jr. died. The story is in this Wikipedia article. You may find it to be interesting.

The photo at the top of this post is from http://www.devonandsomersetmc.co.uk/Dunkeswell_History1.jpg