MINSTER CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET
King's Lynn, Norfolk
The first Bishop of Norwich, Herbert
de Losigna,
wrote a
missive to the men of Lynn (not yet King’s Lynn) in 1101 saying
that “at your
request I have begun to build a church at Lynn”. This gives us a
pretty firm
foundation date for St. Margaret’s, the oldest church in
King’s Lynn.
In the early Norman period a small
priory of four
monks
seconded from Norwich Cathedral Priory was attached to St.
Margaret’s Church to
look after the priory’s affairs in the west of the county. During
this period,
and indeed right up until the time of Henry VIII the town was known as
Bishop’s
Lynn – the town was surrendered to Henry and thus became
King’s Lynn.
King’s Lynn was one of only three UK
towns
in the Hanseatic
League (along with London and Ipswich) and as such developed into
England’s
largest port. By the 13th Century St. Margaret’s
was
far too small
to cope and it was totally rebuilt leaving very little of the original
Norman
work. In turn this 13th Century rebuild is
barely visible
now after
a massive rebuild in the 15th Century. At this
point the
church
began to take on its Cathedral-like size and appearance. The north west
tower
was rebuilt in 1453 after its predecessor began to sink into the soft
ground.
The south west tower had a spire on it until 1741 when it blew down.
Unfortunately it landed on the nave and aisles and all was rebuilt once
again
immediately following that disaster.
By the Victorian period King’s Lynn
was in
decline and only
the arrival of the railway began to turn that around. In 1874 Sir
George
Gilbert Scott arrived and began working on St. Margaret’s,
clearing out all the
18th Century galleries over the aisles and
crossing and
opening up
the church “from end to end”. Stained glass was placed back
into the windows to
replace the clear glass installed after the 1741 storm. The final
Victorian
addition was G F Bodley’s massive reredos which was erected in
1899.
St. Margaret’s today feels a little
‘squashed in’ amongst the
merchant’s buildings of the Old Quay Quarter of King’s
Lynn, but recently the area around the west front has been cleared and
you can now see the Church in all it's glory.. King’s Lynn has recently
undergone a series of regeneration
projects which
may help put the town back on the path to glory. The Church has also
recently been raised to Minster status.
Photo - Andrew J. Müller
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Text copyright - Raving Loony Productions and
Andrew J. Müller,
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and Shaun Runham
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