Other places with Lynn in the name include Dublin, Ireland, with An Dubh Linn meaning “the Black Pool.” The presence of salt, which was relatively rare and expensive in the early medieval period, may have added to the interest of Herbert de Losinga and other prominent Normans in the modest parish.

[5] In 1101, Bishop Herbert de Losinga of Thetford began to build the first medieval town between the rivers Purfleet to the north and Mill Fleet to the south.

A heart carved on the wall of the Tuesday Market Place supposedly marks the burning of an alleged witch, Margaret Read, in 1590.

He also designed the Duke's Head Inn, North Runcton Church and Stanhoe Hall, having gained ideas while on travel in Europe as a young man.

The Fens began to be drained in the mid–17th century and the land turned to farming, allowing vast amounts of produce to be sent to London's growing market.

A fearsome example of penal brutality occurred on 28 September 1708, when a seven-year-old boy, Michael Hammond, and his 11-year-old sister Ann were convicted of stealing a loaf of bread and sentenced to hanging.

The Member of Parliament at the time was Sir Robert Walpole, generally regarded as the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

The town was also served by the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GN), with offices at Austin Street and a station at South Lynn (now dismantled), which was also its operational control centre.

During the First World War, King's Lynn was one of the UK's first towns to suffer aerial bombing, on the night of 19 January 1915 by a naval Zeppelin, L4 (LZ 27),[18] commanded by Captain Lieutenant Magnus von Platen-Hallermund.

When the Second World War began in 1939, it was assumed that King's Lynn would be safe from bombing and many evacuees were sent from London, but the town suffered several raids.

[20] The Borough Council commissioned and accepted a 2008 report by DTZ that dubbed King's Lynn's workforce as "low-value" with a "low skills base" and the town as having a "poor lifestyle offer".

Average earnings were well below regional and national levels, and many jobs in tourism, leisure and hotels were subject to seasonal fluctuations and likewise poorly paid.

While it planned to spend £1.6 million widening Hardwick Road, the Sainsbury's bid was preferred by the Council as offering the town more benefits.

[2][30][31] The town lies about 5 miles (8 km) south of the Wash, a fourfold estuary subject to dangerous tides and shifting sandbanks, on the north-west margin of East Anglia.

The Walks as a whole had a different, earlier origin, conceived of not as a municipal park, as one understands the term today, but as a promenade for citizens, away from the smell, grime and bustle of the town centre.

However, whilst the percentage of floor space in comparison shopping and that occupied by multiple retailers is above the national average, King's Lynn offers a more limited range of choice.

Within the town and across the nearby Fenland are some of the finest historic churches in Britain, built in a period when King's Lynn and its hinterland were wealthy from trade and wool.

It is 720 metres long, from Morston Drift to Millfleet, with buses in both directions, and features a separate path for pedestrians and bicycles, which coincides with the bus route when crossing the Nar sluice.

The local college has a web-based TV station run by media students, entitled SpringboardTV.com, and holds an awards ceremony at the end of each academic year.

The first is known for its physical education department, King's Lynn Academy for its maths and IT specialities, and Springwood for performing arts and drama.

Research by the University of East Anglia confirms as probable the oral history of King's Lynn that William Shakespeare performed in the Guildhall in 1593.

Composer Ralph Vaughan Williams visited King's Lynn in January 1905 and collected several folk songs from the area.

It is primarily known for classical music, but also hosts jazz, choral, folk, opera, dance, films, talks and exhibitions, along with fringe events each year.

Set within the newly-revealed vaulted undercroft of the 15th-century Trinity Guildhall, it presents the town's collection in an extensive, nationally significant interactive and multi-media exhibition.

Performers have included Midge Ure, Deacon Blue, Suzi Quatro, 10cc, Mungo Jerry, the Human League, the Buzzcocks, M People, Atomic Kitten, Kieran Woodcock, S Club and Beverley Knight.

King's Lynn's main venue for concerts, stand-up comedy shows and other live events is the Corn Exchange in Tuesday Market Place.

[67] In the 16th century, King's Lynn's Tuesday Market Place hosted two trade fairs that attracted visitors from as far as Italy and Germany.

As the importance of such fairs declined, the Mart has become a funfair, reduced to a single fortnight's annual event that begins on 14 February (Valentine's Day).

The town appeared as the Netherlands in The Silver Fleet (1943) and One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), as Germany in Operation Crossbow in 1965,[citation needed] and as France in 'Allo 'Allo!, the long-running BBC comedy.

[citation needed] In the early 2000s, the BBC used the town bus station, local roads and the nearby Royal estate of Sandringham in the comedy drama series Grass, featuring Simon Day.