He further informs us, that—
“in 17 Edward, IV. Edmund Bedingfeld, lord of the manor of Hall Place, (in the hamlet of Seche Parva, in South Lynn) and in a court held of the said manor, grants to John Norris, [553a] vicar of South Lynn, the scite of the Hospital of St. Lawrence (which was then burnt) till it was rebuilt.” [553b]
Section VIII.
Of the Red Mount, and our Lady’s Chapel there—also her Chapel by the Bridge which still bears her name—St. Ann’s Chapel, with those of St. Catherine, St. Laurence, &c.
From the particular situation of the Red Mount, (on the out-side of the town-walls, and within the wet foss which flanked those walls,) there can be little doubt of its being once a small fortress, or fortified and castellated place; so that it might without much impropriety be denominated a castle. What will further corroborate this opinion is a fact noticed among our remarkable or memorable occurrences, that in 1469 king Edward IV. came to Lynn with a great retinue, and was lodged in this place; from which it may be very naturally inferred and concluded, that it was then well fortified; for the king in his then situation, (retreating before Warwick,) would hardly have been lodged without the walls in an unfortified place. From the same premises it may be likewise fairly inferred, that it was also a large and sumptuous structure—Edward’s numerous retinue requiring it to be of the former description, and his royal dignity of the latter: had it been small it could not have accommodated so large a company, and had it been mean, the king would not have been lodged there—[554] But however strong, large, or sumptuous the edifice on the Red Mount then was, most of it has long ago disappeared, and the little that now remains is chiefly the chapel, which was once of considerable celebrity, but is now in a dilapidated state. Of this curious piece of antiquity, one of the most remarkable that Lynn can boast of, the following description has lately appeared in a popular and respectable work, which we have often before referred to—
“At the eastern extremity of the town is a curious ancient building, called The Lady’s Chapel, or The Red Mount. It has been erroneously named a castle, but is evidently an ecclesiastical structure. [555a] It consists of an octagonal wall of red brick and is constructed on a very singular plan, of which, perhaps, not a similar example is to be found in the kingdom. Within the exterior wall is a handsome cruciform chapel, measuring from east to west seventeen feet seven inches, by fourteen from north to south, and thirteen in height. The roof is formed of stone, with numerous groins, &c. and exactly resembles the much admired ceiling of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. This curious building is in a dilapidated state, and it is much feared will soon fall a victim to neglect and wantonness. Such a singular edifice should be carefully preserved, and as the expence to effect this would be trivial, it is hoped the corporation, to whom it belongs, will not neglect it, and thereby entail on themselves the perpetual reproaches of history, and the lasting censures of antiquarian record.” [555b]
At what time this notable fabrick was erected, does not appear; but we may pretty safely conclude that it was at a period subsequent to the conquest, and perhaps not before the 12th or 13th century. It appears to have been dissolved, or laid by, at the reformation, and it was defaced, as Parkin says, before the 3rd of Elizabeth. As there has been little or no attention bestowed upon it ever since that time, it is no wonder that it should be now in so ruinous a state. It has been often said that this place was, in its day, the receptable of the pilgrims, in their way to, and from Walsingham. If so, it amounts to a pretty good proof, that it was very capacious, and well endowed, or furnished with ample revenues; for the pilgrims to Walsingham, like those to Loretto, swarmed on all the roads that led thither; but on no road more, or perhaps so much as that through Lynn, as all the devout people from the northern and north western parts of the kingdom must have passed this way, perhaps by hundreds at a time. That house must have been both large and wealthy, that could lodge and entertain such hosts of travellers.—Another reason for pilgrims frequenting our chapel on the Mount might be, because there was there also an image of the Virgin, which had attained to some celebrity; not indeed like that at Walsingham, [556] but evidently beyond any thing of the kind at Lynn. We may therefore be very sure that the holy travellers to Walsingham would pay a greater regard to the chapel of our Lady on the Mount than to any other religions place in this town. It has been observed before, that the offerings to this image of the Virgin on the Mount exceeded sometimes the offerings to all our other images and in all our other religious houses here, numerous as they were. In short, we may venture to affirm, that in former days no one place in Lynn was of greater note or celebrity than the Red Mount, and especially our Lady’s Chapel and Image there.
Of the Chapel of our Lady on the Bridge, we know much less than of that on the Mount, though our knowledge of the latter also is but very imperfect. When the former was erected, whether before or after the other, or why there should be two chapels in this town dedicated to the Virgin, are questions which we are unable to resolve. They were both probably more ancient than some of our other religious houses: but they were dissolved, or laid by at the same time with most of the rest. They were probably demolished not long after, and this on the bridge much more entirely than the other. Parkin says, that this chapel was defaced before the reign of Elizabeth, as appears by an inquisition taken in her third year. Our Lady’s Gild in Lynn had seemingly some connection with this chapel, as well as with that on the Mount; but we know too little of the constitution and circumstances of that ancient fraternity to pronounce any thing positively on this head. [558] Some small remains of this chapel, converted into a little dwelling, stood, till very lately, on the eastern side of the bridge; but when the said bridge was widened, by order of the paving-act commissioners, those remains were entirely removed, and there is no longer one stone upon another of that consecrated and venerated fabrick, or the least sign or indication, except in the name of the bridge, that such an edifice ever stood there.—The modern substitutes for this and the other ancient chapels, here suppressed and demolished, are four very decent and commodious dissenting meeting houses; one in New Conduit Street, one in Clough Lane, and two in Broad Street; all, or most of them, at present pretty well attended. Of each of which a particular account shall be given in the course of this work.
Of St. Ann’s Chapel very little is at present known. That it stood somewhere near St. Ann’s Fort, and that the latter took its name from it, can scarcely be doubted. The stones that are still to be seen in some of the adjacent walls did once, in all probability, belong to this ancient consecrated structure. [559] We have, however, no reason to suppose that it was a very large edifice, but rather one of our smaller size chapels, like that of our Lady on the Bridge, and some others. It probably stood contiguous to other houses, without any yard, or burying-ground adjoining; which may be one, and, perhaps, the chief reason, why its site has so entirely disappeared, so as to baffle, or render fruitless every attempt to discover the exact spot on which it stood. All that can now be fairly concluded is, that it must have been somewhere near the Fort.