Sandringham Camping & Caravan Club Site, Norfolk

It rained all through Tuesday night and continued on through Wednesday morning, without break and keeping us caravan bound. Eventually Chris felt compelled to attend to the utilities, the waste and replenishment of water no matter the inclement conditions. We took the opportunity to pop out to Dersingham, going by way of Snettisham in error, which gave us reason to say that we did go touring at one point of the day. But then it was back to toasted sandwiches, novels and puzzles to entertain ourselves. By mid-afternoon the rain had eased a little and I ventured across to the amenities block. New sand hills had appeared, larger than yesterday and I wondered what excessive industry was required by the moles in such wet conditions. 

On the way back to our site I paused to chat briefly with our immediate neighbours who had arrived yesterday; two women and two large dogs. “Leaving already?” I asked.

“Yes”, said the driver, “we’ve had enough. Our clothes are all wet and we have nothing more; we’re going home.” 

When I recounted this to Chris, he drew my attention to the state of their caravan, dirty from unwashed winter mould rather than just road grime. This gave rise to imagine their story, an activity that can keep us amused for hours. Or me, at least.

The victim of this very wet Wednesday was Houghton Hall, which was to have been the day’s destination and we had no spare days to squeeze it into our already tight schedule; the penalties for having booked our next sight ahead.

However this morning dawned drier than yesterday but cold enough to don warm clothing.  Today was the day to explore King’s Lynn, the ancient port straddling the mouth of the River Great Ouse just inland from where it oozes into The Wash, just a few miles south of us on the coastal road.

We found our way to the car park at one of the two town’s markets, the Tuesday Market Place; the other is the Saturday Market Place. Needless to say, given that this was Thursday, there were no markets in town today.

We had a list of places to visit and had been alerted to the fact there were many fascinating old buildings. King’s Lynn is a very old town and so much of the original still stands within a small area beside the river. 

Many of the references to the town and the attractions about refer only to the town of Lynn, and this is because it was known as “Bishop Lynn” prior to the Dissolution, after which Henry VIII created another charter for “King’s Lynn” ousting “Our Lord of Norwich”.

But the first king to be given great status here in the town was King John; it was he who granted Lynn a royal charter in 1204, reflecting its rapid growth over the previous century to become the fourth port of the Kingdom by that date, only surpassed by London, Boston and Southampton. And it was here that King John set out from in October 1216 when his baggage train was lost in the Wash by careless bearers, as he travelled via Wisbech to Newark where he died. He probably enjoyed his last meal here by the River Great Ouse. 

In 1271 the merchants of the Hanseatic League (a group of powerful trading towns and cities around the Baltic Sea and North Sea) were granted the freedom to trade in Lynn. This medieval trading league dominated trade in northern Europe between the 13^th and 15^th centuries, the network of merchant guilds and their cities spanned from Novgorod to Lisbon and from Stockholm to Venice. Lynn benefitted commercially and culturally from being a Hanseatic trading post. Lynn’s position as one of the most successful ports in the country made it very rich, and from this era many historic buildings and important objects remain to this day. 

After parking up we spent the morning walking about, visiting Purfleet Quay to see the Customs House, the rather bleak river bank and the fine stature of George Vancouver, who sailed the Pacific with James Cook as a teenager then later went on to navigate the north coast of western America, thus giving his name to the capital of British Columbia. We wandered down through narrow streets past fine old merchant residences until we arrived at the fine Trinity Guildhall rebuilt on  earlier foundations in 1422, with its wonderful chequered flint and stone façade. We visited the “Stories of Lynn”, the museum situated in the Guildhall and the adjoining Old Gaol House, where we gleaned an overview of the town’s last 800 years of history. 

The town is proud to exhibit two of its many treasures here in the museum: the Red Register which is 700 years old and said to be the oldest complete paper archival book in England and an elaborately  bejewelled cup, known as The King John Cup.

Opposite this facinating building is the Minster, formally St Margaret’s Church, which was founded in 1101. The church was partially rebuilt in 1741 after the spire collapsed onto the nave in a storm, but what I found most interesting were the flood level markings by the west entrance door.

This reminded us that all of the land about is so very low lying; the fens. Even the one full day of rain we had endured had caused the small river in the park we later walked across, to flood and had put a stop to the ferry yesterday, that which ferries pedestrians from one side of the Great Ouse to the other.

We spent the rest of our time in King’s Lynn wandering up through the High Street, walking through the Guannock Gate, originally part of the town’s defences,  and along The Broad Walk, a lovely avenue of alternating chestnut and lime trees, planted in 1753, a promenade where only the wealthier inhabitants were once allowed to stroll and the lower class were excluded by gatekeepers. Here in the park is to be found the Red Mount Chapel, seeming more like a folly than a serious chapel, for the pilgrims who arrived in the area en route to Little Walsingham to prostrate themselves before the Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham. This strange little octagonal brick building was built  in the 1480s and probably would have served more as a pub to offer refreshment to weary wanderers, but what would I know. 

We visited the Public Library funded and opened by philanthropist Dale Carnegie in 1905; here we had more printing done with the assistance of most co-operative library staff. We walked across the gardens where once a Franciscan friary stood, dating back to the 1230s, but now only Greyfriars Tower stands to recall those far off times.

It was still only mid-afternoon when we arrived home, even after stopping by at the superstore in South Wootten to stock up yet again. We spent the rest of the day with our feet up and happy for the cozy interior of our caravan. Hopefully tomorrow will be warmer and the forecasted showers will not amount to much; we will be away again mid-morning heading further north.