Kings Lynn Town Wall (The Gatehouse Record)

Description

The town defences are based on a series of earthwork banks that were formed in the saltmarsh that once surrounded the town, and the line of the defences to the east follows the line of an old sea bank. Stone walls were constructed in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The walls were strengthened in the 16th century, and St Ann's Fort was constructed in 1570. Only a few fragmentary remains of the fort survive. The defences were replanned during the Civil War but construction was interrupted by a siege laid by Parliamentary troops and the earthworks were left unfinished until 1645. The line of the defences can be followed in modern streets and property boundaries, and the Civil War defences were closely based on the line of the medieval defences. In the 18th century several sections of the walls were demolished, but some stretches of wall are still standing, as well as the town gates, including the well-known South Gate. (Norfolk HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1003699, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number nf174b
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1219520 , 1298197 , and others
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 879529; 912480; 879533; 356533; 879530; 879539; 879531; 879534; 879540; 879536; 879537; 879532; 879527.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 5486.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- The ORB
  Friends of 'The Walks' and Friends of 'The Walks'
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 80-1
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 18, 24, 29, 30, 37, 88, 97, 111, 129, 134-5, 156, 180, 195, 222, 227, 231, 263
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 58
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 160
  Kent, Peter, 1988, Fortifications of East Anglia (Lavenham: Ternence Dalton)
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 311
  Wilton, J.W., 1979, Earthworks and Fortifications of Norfolk (Weathercock Press) p. 30-1
  Carter, A., 1977, 'The defences' in Clarke, H. and Carter, A., Excavations in King's Lynn 1963-1970 (Society for Medieval Archaeology, Monograph Series 7) p. 432-8
  Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) The plans and topography of medieval towns in England and Wales (CBA Research Report 14) p. 57-71 plan p. 63 download/view online
  Parker, Vanessa, 197?, The making of Kings Lynn: secular buildings from the 11th to the 17th century (Kings Lynn Archaeol Survey 1)
  Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 126-9
  O'Neil, B.H.St.J., 1960, Castles and Cannon: A Study of Early Artillery Fortifications in England (Oxford: Claredon Press) p. 46 plate 12
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co) p. 230-1
  Blomefield, F., 1808, 'Freebridge Hundred and Half: Lynn' An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk Vol. 8 p. 476-533 (tenurial history) online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
  Hoare, P.G., Vinx, R., Stevenson, C.R. and Eslers, J., 2002, 'Reused bedrock ballast in King's Lynn's 'Town Wall' and the Norfolk port's medieval trading links' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 46 p. 91-105 download copy
  James, E.M., 1987, 'A fresh study of the South Gate at King's Lynn in the light of recent restoration work' Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 40.1 p. 55–72
  Kent, P., 1985, 'King's Lynn' Fort Vol. 13 p. 49–60
  Kenyon, J.R., 1981 'Early Artillery Fortifications in England and Wales: a Preliminary Survey and Re-appraisal' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 138 p. 213
  Smith, T.P., 1976, 'The date of Kings Lynn south gate' Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 36 p. 224-32
  Smith, T.P., 1970, 'The medieval town defences of Kings Lynn' Journal of the British Archaeological Association (ser3) Vol. 33 p. 57-88
  Tingey, 1914, Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 18 p. 129-48
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1891-1916, Calendar of Patent Rolls (1258-1266) p. 596; (1292-1301) p. 74; (1292-1301) p. 491; (1338-1340) p. 240 (murage grants); (1338-1340) p. 110; (1374-1377) p. 459 (power to levy subsidy for defences); (1401-1405) p. 359 (commission of array compelling contribution to defences)
  - Also see the Gatehouse murage pages for full details of murage grants, petitions and other such.

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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