The history of Quakers in King's Lynn
The Religious Society of Friends is thought of as beginning in 1652 when George Fox and the other religious seekers around him began to have a sense that they were part of an enduring religious movement. George Fox visited King's Lynn in 1655 and, according to William Richards' History of Lynn (1812) "From that time to this it is supposed that there has existed here a Society of Friends or Quakers". George Fox visited again in 1662, and this time he was visiting a number of Friends in prison. Click here to read an extract from Fox's journal.
Friends may have met at Crisp's Yard in Stonegate Street, named after a family of Quakers. There is a more definite record of them meeting in the Cross Yard near Lady Bridge. This area was named after a medieval chapel of "Our Lady on the Bridge" and this is the origin of the name of today's Bridge Street. From 1774 there was a meeting house in New Conduit Street. There was a caretaker's cottage and burial ground attached to this property, which had been part of the family home of Captain George Vancouver.
Quakers who left their mark upon the town included Thomas Buckingham, a shipowner who bequeathed land for the benefit of local Quakers. Part of this, located behind Buckingham Terrace on London Road, was to be used as a burial ground. There was a paddock there, too, where out-of-town Friends could leave their horses when coming to meeting.
In 1949 the upkeep of the New Conduit Street meeting house became too much for a dwindling number of Friends, so it was sold, and meetings were held at the home of Daniel Burlingham the jeweller and clockmaker. Later the hall of Thoresby College was used for an hour of worship every week. It was not until 1986 that Lynn Quakers had their own meeting house again, on Bridge Street, very near to where the Cross Yard meeting house had been. The building had been an eighteenth century inn, called The Hulk. Not many Friends Meeting Houses have 'Bar Parlour' blazoned on their windows and 'Smoke Room' on the door to the meeting room. Please click here to find out more about the history of the Quaker Meeting House.
Friends may have met at Crisp's Yard in Stonegate Street, named after a family of Quakers. There is a more definite record of them meeting in the Cross Yard near Lady Bridge. This area was named after a medieval chapel of "Our Lady on the Bridge" and this is the origin of the name of today's Bridge Street. From 1774 there was a meeting house in New Conduit Street. There was a caretaker's cottage and burial ground attached to this property, which had been part of the family home of Captain George Vancouver.
Quakers who left their mark upon the town included Thomas Buckingham, a shipowner who bequeathed land for the benefit of local Quakers. Part of this, located behind Buckingham Terrace on London Road, was to be used as a burial ground. There was a paddock there, too, where out-of-town Friends could leave their horses when coming to meeting.
In 1949 the upkeep of the New Conduit Street meeting house became too much for a dwindling number of Friends, so it was sold, and meetings were held at the home of Daniel Burlingham the jeweller and clockmaker. Later the hall of Thoresby College was used for an hour of worship every week. It was not until 1986 that Lynn Quakers had their own meeting house again, on Bridge Street, very near to where the Cross Yard meeting house had been. The building had been an eighteenth century inn, called The Hulk. Not many Friends Meeting Houses have 'Bar Parlour' blazoned on their windows and 'Smoke Room' on the door to the meeting room. Please click here to find out more about the history of the Quaker Meeting House.