Lynn

Lynn, King's Lynn, or Lynn Regis, a parliamentary and municipal borough and seaport in Norfolk, on the right bank of the Ouse, about two miles above the Wash and 48 miles W.N.W. of Norwich. Prior to the Reformation, when it passed into the hands of the Crown, it was the property of the Church and was called Bishop's Lynn or Lynn Episcopi. On the land side there are remains of ramparts and a fosse, and the town contains several timber-built houses, enriched with carvings. The buildings include a fine church ranging in style from Norman to Perpendicular, a Guildhall, a custom-house (1683), and a grammar school which existed in the reign of Henry VIII.

Lynn received its first charter from King John in 1205. During the Middle Ages it was one of the chief ports in the kingdom, and, though it long since lost this position, it still carries on an extensive shipping trade, mainly in corn, coal, timber, and the produce of the fisheries, which consists chiefly of shrimps, shell-fish, and smelts. There are two large clocks, constructed between 1869 and 1884.

Many of the inhabitants are employed in shipbuilding, iron-founding, malting and brewing.