St Margaret's Church sits on St Margaret's
Place and Saturday Market Place in King's Lynn. Founded by the first
bishop of Norwich, Herbert de Losinga, in 1101, it was built on 'The
Great Bank' at the edge of the water, and was originally dedicated to
St Margaret with St Mary Magdalen and All the Virgin Saints. That
building was much smaller than its replacement and little remains of
it today. Two towers were added shortly after completion, and portions
of these do survive.
The old church had been demolished by the early
thirteenth century, and the present building was put up in its
place. Further elements were added over subsequent centuries, with
the most recent major change being occasioned in September 1741 when
a storm brought the steeple of the south-west tower (furthest from the
camera) crashing down onto the nave. The new Georgian Gothic nave was completed in
1744. The Victorians restored the church in 1874.
The Union Baptist Chapel lies on the
northern side of Market Street, adjacent to the town's bus station.
The fine-looking building is Victorian, built in 1859 by persons who
seceded from various Baptist and Independent congregations. It is a
cruciform building in the Early English style, with a small tower
and square spire, and contained 500 sittings. It also contained a
schoolroom. The chapel closed about 1966, and was later converted to
house the Lynn Museum.
