Norfolk Heritage Explorer

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Full description

December 1951. Listed Grade I.
Listing Description:
House; of stone, c1180, possibly with warehouse to ground floor and hall above, rear extensions C14-C16, timber-framed shopfront to southern half of facade (Nos 28-30) late C14, early C19 brick skin to north part (No.32). Restored 1978-82. 2-storey timber-framed element of façade.
Information from (S1).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S1) for the current details.
H. Hamilton (HES), 12 September 2017. Amended by H. Hamilton (HES), 8 November 2019.

Before 1971. Survey.
Nos. 30 and 32 are shops attached to dwelling houses, and are thought to have belonged to medieval merchants. They are probably also medieval workshops, despite being located in one of the busiest commercial streets in the town. The two shops are on the ground floor of a two storey timber range fronting onto the street and roofed parallel to it. Behind the northern shop is a hall, the stone side wall of which is built up to the street on the ground floor, indicating that the hall and shop are of a single build. Only the front wall and the gable ends on the first floor upwards are of timber, since stone was used for side walls in Lynn to prevent the spread of fire. It is likely that a hall in a similar position once stood behind No. 32 but this has disappeared. Both shops measured about 4.3m (14ft) square and over 3.4m (11ft) high. The front wall of each shop carried the first floor sill on four timber posts. In medieval times it is likely that some form of wooden shuttering was used to close the shops at night, but there would have been no permanent infill between the timber uprights and the whole of the shop was open to the street, and protected from the elements by a pentice roof. The mortice holes for these pentices are still visible on the façades of these shops. Unusually, the first floor is not jettied on these buildings.
Nos. 30-32 have probably the oldest timber-framed fore range that survives in Lynn.
See (S2) for details.
H. Hamilton (HES), 12 September 2017, amended A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 27 February 2020.

April 1974. Field survey.
Nos. 28 and 30 are a medieval timber-framed building with two medieval shopfronts. Rear of Nos. 28 and 30: medieval hall with blocked gothic doorway.
No. 32: possibly 18th century with perhaps an older core.
S. Dunmore (NAU), April 1974.

July 1974. Building survey during restoration work.
Stripping of the walls has revealed evidence for a stone building dating from just after 1200. This building was parallel to the street, occupying the front part of Nos. 30 and 32. It was of two storeys with stone walls on the north, south and most of the east sides, and was entered from the street via an off-centre doorway. Nothing remains of the western wall fronting King Street.The interior had blind arcading on the gable walls. There is no evidence for the internal organisation of this building. At some time in the 13th century a masonry range was built behind the southern tenement containing an open hall entered by opposed doors in the side walls.
In the early years of the 14th century the southern part of the original house was dismantled except for the southern gable, and rebuilt in timber framing, along with a similar timber-framed building on the plot to the south (No. 28). This rebuilding, along with that at No. 22 (NHER 12767) may have been part of a coordinated building project of three or perhaps four houses, each seemingly of the same plan. The two surviving houses (Nos. 28 and 30) consist of a front range of two storeys and an attic, with a hall range behind. Each has a single room on each floor and the ground floor rooms were probably shops. The upper storey, clad in boarding, was presumably a solar but has no evidence for lighting or access. The timber frame is unusual in that it consists of square storey-height posts.
In the early 16th century the hall range behind No. 30 was heightened and new windows inserted. At about the same time the hall behind No. 32 was rebuilt or modernised. The hall of No. 30 was floored over and chimney stacks inserted here and in the front range in the late 17th century. In the early 19th century No. 32 was almost entirely rebuilt.
See (S3) and (S13) for further details.
A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 27 February 2020.

1978. Documentary research.
(S7) states that at the time of the Newelond Survey in 1280 this was part of the most wealthy area of Lynn north of the Purfleet, and therefore it is not surprising to find such a substantial building in this location. The evidence suggests that the King Street site (Nos. 28-32) may represent an original messuage, and that the stone building, which took up the northern 40 feet of the King Street frontage was already divided into two by 1280. The presence of a window in the south gable indicates that the southern part of the site was still open at this time.
A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 27 February 2020.

1974-1978. Restoration work.
See also magazine article (S4), 1975 NAU Interim Report (S5), 1976 Interim Report (S6), documentary research (S7) press cuttings (S8) .
H. Hamilton (HES), 12 September 2017, amended by A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 27 February 2020.

November 1977
Timber framing exposed to street, filled with modern brick nogging. No sign of shop fronts. Purchased by King's Lynn Preservation Trust for restoration.
E. Rose (NAU).

Addenda - the shopfronts are the large ground floor windows, said to be 14th century. There is said to be 12th century stone arcading.
E. Rose (NAU).

June 1980. Excavation.
Excavations under the floor of 28-32 King Street to investigate the original stone house on this site.
A brick floor in no. 28 with medieval coarse sherds above, and scrap of metal below.
Finds to KLM October 1982.
See interim reports (S10) and (S11), photographs (S12), and press cuttings (S14), (S15), and (S17) for further details.
See (S13) for full excavation report.
E. Rose (NLA), 5 February 1990.
Updated H. Hamilton (HES), 12 September 2017.

1984. Dendrochronology.
Samples from 6 oak timbers were analyzed, following unsuccesful previous attempts as reported in (S13). Three samples could be dated and the earliest felling dates for these are 1296 (first floor of No. 30), 1275 (Post D, No. 28) and 1267 (timber 7, No. 28).
See report (S16) for further details.
H. Hamilton (HES), 12 September 2017.

See NHER 20690 for description of north wall exposed in adjacent house.
E. Rose (NLA), 4 July 2006.

The stone hall parallel to the street of which the gable-ends survive as Nos. 30 and 32 was built c. AD 1180. During the 13th century an open hall was constructed to the rear of the southern half of the building dividing the original building in two. In c. AD 1300 the southern end of the original house on the street side was dismantled and replaced with a timber-frame and a new block was erected to the south (No. 28) with a similar street-side timber-frame. These buildings are rare examples of late Romanesque domestic urban structures. A rare c. AD 1300 timber-frame of light scantling, widely spaced studs resting directly on a plinth without a sole plate with straight braces and joist ends exposed form an irregular jetty in No. 30.
Information from (S20).
S. Howard (NLA), 15 June 2010.

Monument Types

• FINDSPOT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FIRST FLOOR HALL HOUSE? (Medieval to 16th Century - 1200 AD to 1539 AD)
• HOUSE (Medieval to 18th Century - 1200 AD to 1800 AD?)
• MERCHANTS HOUSE (Medieval - 1200 AD to 1300 AD?)
• WAREHOUSE? (Medieval to 16th Century - 1200 AD to 1539 AD)
• HALL HOUSE (Medieval to 21st Century - 1300 AD to 2050 AD?)
• SHOP (Medieval to 18th Century - 1300 AD to 1800 AD?)
• TIMBER FRAMED BUILDING (Medieval to 21st Century - 1300 AD to 2050 AD)
• WORKSHOP? (Medieval to 16th Century - 1300 AD to 1539 AD)
• OFFICE (Early 20th Century to 21st Century - 1901 AD to 2100 AD)

Associated Finds

• POT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Protected Status

• Listed Building

Sources and further reading

Related records - none

Find out more...

• Parish Summary: King's Lynn (Parish Summary)