King's Lynn

The Town Hall and Guildhall

We are on our way home from an excellent few days in Norfolk and have decided to take a quick look at King's Lynn on the way. It is soon obvious that it deserves much more time than we have available. The town was was originally called Bishop's Lynn when it was founded by the Bishop of Norwich, Herbert de Losinga in 1093. It was one of England's busiest ports in medieval times. The name was changed to King's Lynn at the Reformation.

We had picked up a town trail map at our hotel in Blakeney and started our walk in the Saturday Market Place and admired the Town Hall and Guildhall complex (there is also the 18th century gaol just out of shot to the right). The Guildhall, on the right, was built for the Guild of Holy Trinity in 1422-28. The Town Hall harmonises well with it, although it dates only from 1895.

More or less opposite is the church of St Margaret, recently renamed King's Lynn Minster. It was founded in the 12th century and rebuilt in the 13th. The nave was substantially rebuilt in the 1740s after storm damage. I especially liked the great arches under the crossing.

Turning left out of the church brought us the the entrance to Nelson St. The building on the right is known as Hampton Court.

A simple gateway reveals a fascinating courtyard made up of four separate ranges developed from the 14th to the 17th centuries.

We walked along Priory Lane past cottages restored from the remains of a Benedictine monastery and right into Church St to reach the start of Nelson St, with Marriott's Warehouse on the left.

Nelson St is very picturesque and is apparently often used as a film set - it is conspicuously lacking in modern street furniture. It is a lovely street with buildings from many periods - and remarkably quiet.

At the end of the street, passing Hampton Court on the left, we turn into St Margaret's Lane, with teh Georgian St Margaret's House on the right and the half-timbered Hanseatic warehouse behind it. (King's Lynn was a member of the Hanseatic League, the commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns which was influential between about 1400-1800. We saw Baltic examples of Guild buildings in Riga and Tallinn recently.)

This brought us out on the spacious South Key, with the wide River Ouse flowing by.

We headed back into the town along College Lane to find a nice view of the facade of St Margaret's and then walked along Queen St past Thoresby College, founded in 1500.

Opposite is Burkitt Homes of 1909, its dramatic red brick Gothic slightly out of place in this street.

Queen St passes the Custom House (1683) on the quay on the left (currently under restoration) and leads into King St, where St George's Guildhall can be found on the left. The coffee shop in the undercroft was open, but unfortunately the 15th century Guildhall itself was closed.

King St leads into the wide expanse of Tuesday Market Place, seemingly the palce to find a lawyer of a financial adviser. The most striking building is the Corn Exchange of 1854, converted to a concert hall in 1996.

We crossed the square and headed towards St Nicholas's chapel. We got a shock when we reached it to be greeted by what looks like a substantial parish church. Pevsner explains that it was founded as a chapel of ease in 1146, but almost wholly rebuilt in 1419. The lead spire is by Sir George Gilbert Scott (1869).

Inside there is single large airy space. Attention is focused upwards when the roof has angels as hammerbeams. Most are playing a musical instrument like this lyre. Rather sadly, the church is now redundant but enthusiastic volunteers will tell you all about it and collect donations for its upkeep.

At this point we had to face the fact that we did not have time to complete our walk around this lovely town. Instead, we headed briskly to the main car park and headed off into the Friday afternoon traffic.

Conditions: hot and sunny.

Distance: 2-3 miles.

Rating: four stars.

Aylsham and Blickling Hall

Blickling Hall

Our main objective today was to visit the celebrated Blickling Hall, but we thought it would be good first to have a short work in the Norfolk countryside (we walked along a stretch of the north coast yesterday). We parked near Blickling and headed along minor roads towards the small town of Aylsham. We saw these sweet goats in a field on the way.

Aylsham has a charming market place with St Michael's church in view from the corner. The church dates from the 13th and 14th centuries. The lavish two storey porch is later, 1488.

At the back of the chancel is a monument to the gardener Humpry Repton, often seen as the successor to Capability Brown. Sadly, he does not appear to have worked at Blickling.

Inside we were quite taken by the wooden roof with some nice bosses including one of a mermaid.

In the Market Place there is a rather undistinguished Town Hall, but I loved the art nouveau decoration on this Victorian shop front.

On the other side of the square, the 18th century Black Boys Inn has a lovely frieze under the eaves.

We headed out along Cawston Road and turned right to follow a disused railway line for two miles. It was a classic of its kind.

Crossing a large field and walking back along a road brought us to the car and the short trip to Blickling Hall. The National Trust leaflet says "You'll never forget your first sight of Blickling" and I do feel that the image of Blickling at the head of this post will be etched in my brain forever. It is quite stunning!

Blakeney to Wells-next-the-sea

Blakeney

We have just arrived in Blakeney on the second stage of our Norfolk break. We immediately set off on a walk along the coast to Wells-next-the-sea. Blakeney, like a number of towns and villages in this part of Norfolk is some way back from the actual sea, up a creek which passes through salt marshes.

It is a charming place. Here is the narrow High Street, with the White Hart hotel where we are staying.

And here is the so-called Guildhall, in fact the impressive undercroft of a medieval merchant's house.

A raised red clay path leads off to the west and I begin to understand what salt marshes look like: a vast grassy area, with small or larger channels of water. Sail boats can be seen on the sea in the distance.

Inland, the landscape is agricultural as these hay bales witness.

As we approach Morston, which also seems to be known as Blakeney Harbour, the water channels become wider, dotted with picturesque small boats.

The harbour area itself is crowded and lively as seen from a viewing platform.

Looking back the way we have come it is easy to see that this is a popular walk!

We head through the large car park and on to an altogether quieter track. There are loads of White butterflies, but not much else, although we can see and hear a few birds. After a while, we can see the sandbank of Blakeney Point beyond the immediate waterways.

We passed Stiffkey (apparently pronounced Stukey, another of those places to cause despair to foreign visitors) inland of us. Then we saw, far out into the salt marsh, this fine old boat. Noah's Ark we thought not very originally.

As we approached Wells-next-the-sea, the path became a sort of raised dyke separating arable land from salt marsh.

Our first proper view of the town revealed a restored grain warehouse on the left, a busy quay with boats and people crabbing, and a sandbank opposite.

Looking away from the quay there was a lovely channel with moored boats.

After a desultory late lunch of crisps and chocolate we caught the Coast Hopper bus back to Blakeney. Such a good idea!

Conditions: hot and sunny. A bit hazy at first and clouding over in the end.

Distance: 7 miles.

Map: Explorer 24 (Norfolk Coast Central)

Rating: four stars. Fascinating to see a coastline completely different from any I have walked along in this country.

Norwich 1: The city centre

The Royal Arcade

We have just arrived in Norwich at the start of a short visit to Norfolk with our friends Merv and Pud. This post describes an excellent initial stroll around the city centre. The highlight was the incredible Royal Arcade, of which more later.

We started our walk, guided by Pud who was brought up in Norwich, in Elm Hill, a very picturesque street, and chuckled as we passed a jeweller's called Stoned and Hammered.

At the top is a wonderful old house, now a coffee bar and restaurant, called Britons Arms.

We passed The Halls, once the site of a monastery ...

... and in Bridewell Alley saw the former Bridewell. A plaque outside explains that it was built in the 14th century and was acclaimed as the finest piece of flint work in England. Closer inspection reveals that it was built with flints shaped into square bricks - how hard must that have been to do? It was originally a rich merchant's house, but became a prison for women and beggars (a ‘Bridewell’) in 1585 and in the mid 18th century became a conventional prison. Later it was a factory and warehouse, eventually becoming a museum.

From here Swan Lane and London St led us to Gaol Hill and the handsome Guildhall. It was built between 1407 and 1413 and served as the  seat of the city's government, including being the city gaol, from then until 1938, when it was replaced by the new City Hall.

On the left was the market occupying a site where it has been since medieval times.  We turned left into St Peter's Street to pass in front of the City Hall.

It is a fairly plain building, but the tower is imposing - a little like the contemporary example in Southampton - and the stylised lions outside the main door are pleasing. I was surprised by Pevsner's assessment however: "the foremost English public building of between the wars". Standing with your back to the City Hall, you can see the Castle perched on its hill.

Next up was St John Manthorp, an imposing 14th century church.

Inside all is light and the magnificent roof with its wooden fan vaulting and carved angels was a wonderful sight. We saw similar angels in Stamford recently.

We passed the new Forum, on the site of the city library which was destroyed by fire, and turned right into Theatre Street to visit the 18th century Assembly House. We liked the simple Georgian facade, but we felt the central portion just wasn't in quite the right proportions to the other parts.

Inside the main rooms were exquisitely painted and plastered.

Now we walked back down Theatre St and turned right beside St John Manthorp to reach Haymarket and Gentleman's Walk, where on the right we entered The Royal Arcade of 1899 by the architect George Skipper. 

Inside there was a harmonious composition of pale green and cream bricks with bands and panels of ceramic flowers.

There was also beautiful stained glass over the rear exit.

On the way back we passed this fine house in Princes St, Garsett House. It seems to have originally been medieval, hence the jettied out up storeys, but was then remodelled in Georgian times.

Finally, going through the area known as Tombland, we walked through the courtyard of Augustine Steward House built in 1549. We marvelled at the absence of straight lines.

My final picture shows Samson and Hercules House (after the figures in the porch who were put there in 1890) and which now houses an American-style lobster bar. It was apparently a dance hall in the 1930s and is said to date from 1657.

We were staying in the nearby Maids Head hotel, so this marked the of a wonderful introduction to the city. Tomorrow we will visit the Cathedral.

Conditions: warm with some cloud and some sunshine.

Distance: maybe 3 miles.

Rating: five stars. The Royal Arcade is an absolute gem.