Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

Carmelite Priory, site of.
Only remains are the Whitefriars Gate. Context 1.
A 19th century print in (S1) shows as an open gateway with ogee cusped niche above, string courses, putlog holes, and the edge of a stone frame. Drawing by Messent in 1933 (S2) after gate restored, shows that the edge of this frame has been made into the edge of the gate itself.
A late 16th century map of Rising Chase (S3) has a little map of Lynn apparently showing the priory church still standing, with tower at west end - but not necessarily accurate.
E. Rose (NAU), 1 May 1981.

In fact the tower did remain standing, being used as a dovecote in 1588, and collapsing in 1631 after stone had been removed to build almshouses.
See (S4).

Priory founded in about 1260 with an anchorage (hermitage). Dissolved 1538, sold to corporation 1544.
Information from (S5).
E. Rose (NAU), 18 August 1982.

26 May 1987. Found outside 5 Whitefriars' Terrace in soil removed from AWA trench.
Human skull, no dentition, frontal structure closed (fragmentary) ?from monastic graveyard?
Reported to police.
Information from [1].
E.M. James (KLM), 4 June 1987.

2 October 1991. Revisit.
No change to gatehouse, except that a street lamp is leaning against it.
E. Rose (NLA), 4 October 1991.

May 1995. Excavation of trench 'in exact centre' of Whitefriars' Terrace and centre of road for emergency repairs to burst water main by Anglian Water.
Side of trench collapsed revealing human skeleton at depth of four feet. After vain attempts to contact an archaeologist, skull was removed and pronounced by police pathologist to be 'between 500 and 700 years old'. Bones replaced in trench below repaired main.
Information from [2].
Presumably not the skull found in 1987 and replaced, as No. 5 is not in centre of Terrace.
E. Rose (NLA), 31 May 1995.

Copy of details and schedule in file.
Specifications and record for restoration (1996) in file.

August 2000. Site visit.
Gateway in excellent condition following 1996 restoration, but already plants have started to grow out of the top again.
The leaning lamp post has been removed.
E. Rose (NLA), 25 August 2000.

A very different account to (S4) is given by (S6) which states that Valinger removed stone for his almshouses in 1694, the tower became a dovecote in 1612 and fell in 1630. The illustration shows a house covering part of the gatehouse.
E. Rose (NLA), 13 November 2001.

During sewerage works in 1900 a bridge was found at around TF 6187 1950 leading to the gate and suggested as being older than the gate in its lowest courses. At the eastern end of Bird Cage Walk opposite the Goat Inn at approximately TF 6199 1948 was a ring-stone or voussoir which helped form the crown of a Gothic arch. A portion of a window jamb of Barnack stone was discovered a few feet beneath the surface. The mouldings of both were Perpendicular and may relate to a lost building which was once part of this friary.
Information from (S7).
Site boundary extended slightly to north to incorporate these discoveries.
E. Rose (NLA), 28 May 2004, amended A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 10 June 2019.

May-August 2009. Trial Trenching.
This work saw the excavation of four trenches in what would have been the westernmost part of the friary precinct. The northernmost trench exposed a section of the medieval brick and chalk precinct wall that extended westwards from Whitefriars Gate. Apart from several mortar surfaces next to the wall there was little else exposed that could be firmly associated with the friary. All four trenches exposed similar broadly similar deposit sequences, with alluvial deposits overlain by dumped layers of medieval and post-medieval date. Although a number of pits and walls were identified these were all thought to be associated with post-medieval phases of activity. The absence of medieval remains suggests that the westernmost section of the friary precinct had probably been mostly undeveloped open ground.
See report (S8) and NHER 62634 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 9 April 2018.

October-November 2010. Excavation and Watching Brief.
Excavation of site on line of new Public Transport Route between Boal Quay and Wisbech Road. Although the area investigated was large (encompassing much of what had been Whitefriars' Car Park) the depth of the excavation was limited to the formation level of the new road. As a result little in the way of medieval remains was exposed, although the excavation was sufficiently deep to again expose a section of the northern precinct wall. This was shown to have been built in two phases, with the later, entirely brick-built section likely to be of the same date as the adjacent gatehouse. At its western end the wall appeared to turn to the south although as only a short stub of this second wall survived it was impossible to tell if it represented part of a building or the start of a western precinct wall. A large amount of medieval building material had been incorporated into later, post-medieval structures, including a substantial north-to-south aligned possible boundary wall that extended at least 55m southwards from the precinct wall.
See report (S9) and NHER 62634 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 9 April 2018.

The former mapped extent of this record previously indicated that the southern boundary of the friary precinct ran along the line of Whitefriars Road [4]. However, as noted in (S9), cartographic evidence suggests that the precinct of the friary comprised the block of land now bounded by Carmelite Terrace to the north, The Friars to the west, Friars Street to the east and Gladstone Road to the south. This land passed into the hands of the Town Corporation in the 16th century and survived as a single, separate area of land until the 19th-century, when the northernmost part was developed for housing. The land to the south still belongs to King’s Lynn Borough Council and is occupied by Whitefriars' Primary School.
P. Watkins (HES), 9 April 2018.

Monument Types

• BRIDGE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• INHUMATION (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• CARMELITE FRIARY (Medieval to 16th Century - 1260 AD to 1538 AD)
• GATE (Medieval to 16th Century - 1260 AD? to 1539 AD)
• HERMITAGE (RELIGIOUS) (Medieval to 16th Century - 1260 AD? to 1538 AD)
• PRECINCT (Medieval to 16th Century - 1260 AD to 1538 AD)

Associated Finds

• HUMAN REMAINS (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument
• Listed Building

Sources and further reading

Related records

Find out more...

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