Record Details

NHER Number:14629
Type of record:Monument
Name:Medieval to post medieval tunnels, possibly sewer or aqueduct

Summary

The remains of medieval to post medieval sewers or tunnels were uncovered in the mid 19th century. A brick arch was found in 1978 in a pipe trench along Blackfriar's Road. An open aqueduct is shown on this site on historic maps of the town.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TF 6225 2024
Map Sheet:TF62SW
Parish:KING’S LYNN, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

27 April 1978.
Brick arch reported in west face of north to south pipe trench along Blackfriars Road, but not on east side. 1.2m to 1.8m (4 to 6 feet) deep. Reported by [1] as 'tunnel from Gaywood Palace to Lynn' mentioned in legend. Not on 1848 map of sewers.
Also reported by [2] who is aged about 80 and says that a man much older than himself dug up a tunnel on same line but 'veering towards Red Mount' when he was a boy, on land to east of road (now school playground). 1848 sewers map (see file at King's Lynn Museum) shows L-shaped reservoir on this land, running from Railway Lane (now Wyatt Street) to Blackfriars Road then north to Littleport Street where it disgorges into a tunnel to Fisher Fleet. Probably 'tunnel' found by boys was this reservoir after it had been covered over.
Arch in Blackfriars Road presumably an offshoot added after 1848.
E.M. James (KLM).

Note however open aqueduct running west from here to Blackfriars site on Bell's map of 1680 (S1) and Rastrick's map of 1725 (S2). Blackfriars had an aqueduct from Brookwell at Middleton, see (S1).
E. M. James (KLM), 30 September 1980.

Monument Types

  • ARCH (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • SEWER? (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • TUNNEL? (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • WATERCOURSE (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD? to 1900 AD?)
  • AQUEDUCT (17th Century to 18th Century - 1680 AD to 1725 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
<S1>Map: Bell, H. 1680s. The Groundplat of King's Lynn.
<S2>Map: Rastrick, G.. 1725. Ichnographia Burgi perantiqui Lennae Regis in Agro Norfolciensi accurate delineata.
<S3>Monograph: Page, W. (ed.). 1906. The Victoria History of Norfolk. The Victoria History of the Counties of England. Vol 2. p 426.

Related records - none

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