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St. Margarets Place, KING'S LYNN, PE30 5GH

King's Lynn, Norfolk, Saturday Market Place Information Board

The parish church of St Margaret was elevated to become King's Lynn Minster https://kingslynnminster.org/ in 2011, one of a wave of churches which gained Minster status around that time. On the right can be seen Hanse House http://www.hansehouse.co.uk/history/ ; this incorporates a mediaeval warehouse once owned by the Hanseatic League, which used the town as a trading post. Today the building has a variety of uses, including offices, an indoor market, three flats, function rooms and a wine bar https://www.therathskeller.co.uk/ .

The front is polite mid-C18th, but behind is a quadrangular arrangement of former warehouses dating back to c1475 when they were built for the Hanseatic Steelyard under the provisions of the Treaty of Utrecht (they are the only such buildings remaining in the country). Grade I listed. See spab.org.uk/news/building-focus-hanse-house-kings-lynn.

These lovely old brick buildings await their fate.

St Margaret's church (the church's full dedication is to St Margaret, St Mary Magdalene and All the Virgin Saints), situated on Saturday Market Place, is the second largest medieval church in Norfolk, measuring 235 feet (72 metres) in length. The church > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1921926 was built on the site of a Norman priory church and whereas the south-west tower > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1921902 of the building has survived in its original form, the priory, of which no trace remains, was dissolved in the 1530s. The church was further rebuilt and added onto during the 13th century but when the spire and top of the north-west tower collapsed in 1740 much of the nave was destroyed. The building was reconstructed in the 19th century, restoring the transepts, removing a row of shops on the north side and installing a clock > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1921936 on the south-west tower which shows the time of high tides. Beside the west doorway there are a number of markers > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1921940 recording the high water levels of 19th and 20th century town floods. Inside the church, the 14th century carved misericords > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1921969 in the chancel are a reminder of the former priory status and the screens in the aisles > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1921962 date from the 14th century also. The Flemish-style reredos > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1921954 dates from the late 1800s. The stained glass windows > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1921974 were installed in the 19th and 20th centuries, with the east window > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1921955 being an unusual round shape. The glass it contains was made by Ward and Hughes. Two of the most famous and largest C14 brasses in England can be found in the south aisle > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1921989 - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1921996 - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1921997. They are believed to be of Flemish workmanship and commemorate wealthy merchants who were mayors of King's Lynn. The other brasses in the church (there is a record of over 40) were sold by churchwardens in order to raise money for repairs and some others were stolen by a gravedigger who, after having been accused of theft, hanged himself in the belfry.