The History of Lynn, Vol. 2 [of 2]

by William Richards

The original chapel, built by bishop Turbus, or de Turbe, about the time of king Stephen, (the middle or latter part of the 12th century,) having proved too small for the accommodation of the inhabitants, it is understood to have been taken down and rebuilt upon its present scale, in the latter part of Edward the 3rd’s reign, and of the 14th century: “For the pope’s bull to that effect is stated by Parkin (p. 595) to have been granted to the mayoralty of Jeffrey Tall, or Talbooth, who served that office in 1371 and 1379. And it is recorded that in the latter year, pope Urban VI sent his bull hither, which was received with great veneration, to authorise and allow the baptizing of infants and others in this chapel.” This is supported by the authority of Parkin and Mackerell, and corroborated by the gravestone and history of William de Bittering. Moreover “the figures of a lion and an eagle upon the summit of the South porch, are thought to be the armorial supporters of Edward III: and there was very lately in the centre of the west window, a figure greatly resembling the usual portraits of that monarch, with three crowns upon his sceptre. The ornaments which surmount the two canopied niches in the buttresses on each side of the western door, also appear very like the crest of the same king, as it is represented in his first gold coin, the quarter florin.”—[see Folkes’ Tables p. 121.]—Repeated efforts were made to render both the original chapel and the present one independent of the mother church; but those attempts were always opposed and frustrated by the bishop. But it really seemed sometimes to be considered as independent by the inhabitants; and the parish of St. Nicholas occurs in old records as distinct from that of St. Margaret: and in the reign of Philip and Mary the extent of each parish, and the limits or boundary that divided them appear to have been accurately marked out. Afterwards, however, the managers of St. Nicholas’ parish were found to encroach on their neighbours of St. Margaret; which produced a dispute between them that occasioned the interference of the Hall to put a stop to it, by declaring afresh the proper bounds of each parish. This happened in 1585, as appears from a passage in an old record, now in the hands of this writer, mostly extracted, as he thinks, from the Hall-Books of those times. [1097] About fourteen years after, as we learn from the same document the corporation’s title to St. Nicholas’ church yard was seriously disputed, but it is not said by whom. [1098] The last effort to establish the independency of this church and parish was in 1609, but it was then crushed by the consistory court at Norwich, and set for ever at rest. At present the two ministers serve this church and that of St. Margaret alternately; and it would be no very easy matter, perhaps, to find any two churches that are better served. At the general dissolution of the monasteries, the impropriation of these churches was purchased by the corporation; but it seems that the provision they made for the ministers was more ample formerly than it has been latterly.

3. All-hallows, otherwise All-saints, or South Lynn Church. Mackerell, from its nearness to the site of their convent, infers that “that this church did formerly belong to the Carmelites or White Friars”—he might as well have inferred that St. James’s formerly belonged to the Grey Friars, and St. Nicholas’s to the Augustinians, as they stand equally near to the sites of their convents. He also informs us that it has been used for a parish church, ever since the abolition of the Carmelite convent; as if South Lynn, (or Suthsoken as it was anciently called) had been without a parish church till the reign of Henry the 8th; than which there cannot be a more groundless supposition. Of its former state, in other respects, his account is more correct: “This fabrick (says he,) though it cannot be said to be large, yet it is a neat, regular, and solid structure, built in the form of a cross, within a fair cemetery, or church-yard, well walled and fenced in. The steeple is square and flat, with proper battlements round it. In the middle is a streight pinnacle, upon which is placed a weather-cock, and has five tuneable bells. Here are two convenient porticos, one on the south side, and the other at the west end. The dimensions of the whole here follow—From east to west within, 139 feet; from north to south, 48 feet; length of the cross isle, 83 feet; height of the steeple, 83 feet; height of the spire, 31 feet. The body consists of three alleys, and in a cross isle besides the quire are very many grave-stones for monks, and others, [of the different orders of friars] who came thither about the reign of Henry III, and here settled, building themselves convents in different parts of the town” [as divers protestant sects have also done in more recent times.]—Of this Edifice, in its more modern state Parkin says; “This church is dedicated to All Saints: it is a regular pile built in form of a cross, with 3 isles and a chancel, covered with lead; the whole being about 140 feet long; breadth 48 feet; cross isle 83 feet long. At the west end was a strong tower—and 5 tuneable bells. The tower fell down in 1763, and part of the end of the church, which is now repaired with a strong brick wall; on the top of which is a kind of cupola of wood, &c. in which hangs one small bell.—At the dissolution this impropriate rectory being in the crown, was assigned to the Lady Mary (afterward queen Mary) and was valued 11l. 0s. 9d.—present value, or annual product.] In the 20th. of James I. it was possessed by Sir John Jolleys,” [and at present by Sir Martin Browne Folkes bart.] The vicarage is in the gift of the bishop of Ely; but is a very poor one, and said to be worth very little if any thing more now than it was 150 years ago.

4. Old Lynn, or West Lynn Church; otherwise West Lynn St. Peters. This edifice, as its last name implies, is dedicated to St. Peter; meaning, as we presume, the apostle so called. It stands on the western bank of the Ouse, nearly opposite to St. Margaret’s. It is not the original church of old Lynn; nor does it stand on the same spot: that stood to the east of it, and within the present bed of the river. It is said to have been destroyed, together with the church-yard, about the 56th. of Henry III, or 1271, by an inundation of the sea; or rather, perhaps, by the vast increase of fresh water in this harbour, from the addition of the Grant, the Ouse, and the Nene, about that time, to those other rivers which before had their passage to the sea by this town. The present church, it seems, was erected very soon after, on a piece of ground which the rector, William Pakenham, had procured for that purpose; who, to avoid all disputes, allowed the former patron, the prior of Lewes, the soil or ground, and the right of patronage. To this new church was afterwards added a chapel dedicated to our Lady, in which was her image: also a chauntry, endowed with much land and divers tenements; all which was seized by the crown at the dissolution, and granted afterwards to the L’estranges of Hunstanton. This church is a rectory:—it is covered (says Parkin) with lead, and the chancel with reed; and he adds, “it has a square tower with 3 bells.” So much for this consecrated fabric.

5. North Lynn church, or, (as we may call it) Lynn St. Edmund’s, from its being dedicated to a royal saint of that name. Of this sacred structure not a vestige now remains. We have been able to discover neither the time when it was built, nor yet when it disappeared. But it was probably built soon after the death, or canonization of king Edmund, called the martyr, to whom it was dedicated. It seems to have stood many ages; for it was standing in the latter part of the reign of Henry VII; and it probably stood a good while after that; even to the time of the reformation or later. It appears from Parkin’s account, that it was standing at the beginning of the 16th century; for John Byrd, the then rector, and who calls himself parson of OLD LYNN, (which, by the bye, seems to imply that the name of old Lyn was then applied to both parishes,) by his will dated 1505, wills to be buried in the chancel of this church. This proves that it was then standing, and that there was no apprehension entertained of its being in any great danger of falling, or of being swallowed up by the waters. Yet it certainly underwent that catastrophe sometime after though perhaps not very soon: so that both church and church-yard were completely swept away. It is supposed they stood in the present bed of the river, somewhere nearly opposite to the fort, or the block-house. Since that period the North-Lynn rectory has been a sine cure. Repeated attempts, if are not mistaken, have been made since (though in vain) to have this benefice bestowed on the corporation, for the better maintenance of the ministers of the town. One of those attempts was made in the reign of Charles I, as is evinced by the following extract from the Hall-books—“1647, Dec. 17. Ordered a Letter to Mr. Alderman Toll and Mr. Recorder, to acquaint them with the death of Mr. Scott, minister of North-Lyn, and to get that living by some means to be bestowed on this town toward the maintenance of the ministers thereof.”—The present incumbent, being also one of the ministers of the town, the object then had in view may be said to be in some measure secured during his life-time. But it is not certain, or even very likely, that it will be secured any further.

Section II.

Brief account of the different dissenting chapels in this town.

Of all our present sects the Jews and the Catholics seem to claim the precedence in point of antiquity. The former composed a part of the population of Lynn at a pretty remote period; and the treatment they here experienced ought to be spoken of only in terms of the utmost reprobation. They were pillaged and massacred in the most brutal manner, and had their very habitations burnt and destroyed, as has been related in a former part of this work. [1103] There are still some Jewish families resident here; and we believe they have always had a synagogue in the town. It was for many years in Tower Street; but that has been lately pulled down, being part of the premises which the Methodists have purchased for the purpose of erecting there their intended magnificent and capacious temple. We have not learnt that the Jews have yet been able to procure another synagogue; but we may suppose that they will not be long without it. At present they probably meet in some private apartment fitted up for the purpose, till a more suitable place can be obtained.

As to the Catholics, they were formerly our predominant sect, and constituted the established church of England and of Lynn, for near a thousand years. They have long been reduced here to a small society, and are not at present likely to become more numerous or considerable. They have generally a priest stationed among them. Their present chapel is a small room in Ferry Street, and those who attend are, of course, but few in number. The present minister is a French emigrant, of fair character, and very well respected in this town, to whom many of our townsmen are indebted for the proficiency they have made in the knowledge of the French language. The Roman Catholic religion being no longer the religion of the state, it has ceased to be oppressive or formidable to our other religious communities; and it is supposed to have lost (at least in these kingdoms) much of that intolerant and sanguinary character which distinguished its professors in former times. By many the Catholics in these realms, and especially in Ireland, are thought an oppressed people; and it is much to be wished that every just reason for such an opinion might entirely be done away.

3. That respectable body of protestant Dissenters, who have assumed the name of Friends, and are by others called Quakers, have long had a place of worship in this town, and formed a reputable part of its population. It seems that some of our townsmen have been of that denomination ever since the year 1655. George Fox himself visited this town in the course of that year, and preached here with considerable effect. A Person was sent about the town to apprize the inhabitants of his arrival, and invite them to give him a hearing, especially the more sober and pious part of them, together with the officers of the garrison. A large congregation appears to have assembled, many of whom were much affected by the sermon: consequently, as we learn from Fox’s Journal, a fine meeting or congregation was formed here, “who had come from the hireling teachers to sit under the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ.” From that time to this it is supposed that there has always existed here a society of Friends or Quakers. Fox, however, was not the first of that Denomination who visited Lynn. It was visited, as Sewel informs us, by Thomas Briggs two years before, who warned the people to repent, but appears not to have been much listened to, and even to have met a very unchristian reception—“a great mastiff (says Sewel,) was set upon him; but the dog coming near, fawned upon him, and would do him no harm:” so that the poor brute behaved to him much better than those of his own species. But it has often so happened to those who endeavoured to reform the world and turn mankind from the errors of their ways. Fox visited Lynn again in 1662, when some of his Friends were confined here in prison. We find that he preached here then with acceptance; which was, probably, what excited the magistrates to have him apprehended and imprisoned; but before they could effect their cruel purpose, he escaped out of their jurisdiction. Where those of his persuasion held their meetings here in those troublesome times does not appear, but they afterwards met in the Cross Yard near Lady Bridge, which continued to be their place of worship till the erection of their present place in New Conduit Street. This is a neat, but small place; though quite large enough for their congregation, which is supposed to be now much smaller than it has been in former times, as is also the case in most parts of the kingdom—the modern Quakers having but a small portion of that zeal in disseminating their principles which was manifested by their early ancestors. This is to be regretted, as some of those principles are certainly very excellent, and deserve every possible exertion to disseminate them throughout the world. Of the particular tenets of the Quakers a full account may be found in Barclay’s Apology, and also in Clarkson’s Portraiture of Quakerism. They have no preaching among them, here except when a stranger comes, as they have no public friend or minister among themselves. They have three burying places in this town, which may indicate that they have had here three different meeting houses.