King's Lynn Guildhall, more fully referred to as the Guildhall of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is a municipal building in Saturday Market Place in King's Lynn,

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. It is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The building was substantially extended in 1895, with the whole complex now generally known as King's Lynn Town Hall, with the 1895 extension being separately listed at Grade II. It is the usual meeting place of King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council.

History

The building was commissioned to replace an earlier guildhall which had been destroyed in a fire on 23 January 1421. The new building, known as the "Stone Hall", which was designed with a steep arched roof, a large window and chequered patterned exterior, was built between 1422 and 1428. It was established as a meeting place for the Guild of the Holy Trinity, a religious group of merchants in the town. Following the suppression of the chantries and religious guilds under

King Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

in 1547, the eastern part of the

undercroft An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground (street-level) area which is relatively open ...

was converted into a

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in 1571 and the western part was converted into a

house of correction The house of correction was a type of establishment built after the passing of the Elizabethan Poor Law (1601), places where those who were "unwilling to work", including vagrants and beggars, were set to work. The building of houses of correctio ...

in 1618. An extension with a porch on the ground floor, which was designed with the same chequered patterned exterior, was built to the west of the original structure in 1624. The arms of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

, which had been removed from St James' Church, were mounted above the main window over the porch in 1624, and the arms of Charles II were erected on the gable in 1664. The building was extended further to the west along Queen Street, on the site of a former public house, to create municipal offices in 1895. On 25 January 1946 the Guildhall received a visit from Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Elizabeth (subsequently and collectively referred to as the "three queens"). The complex continued to serve as the meeting place of the King's Lynn Borough Council until 1974, when it became the headquarters of West Norfolk District Council, renamed King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council in 1981. The council moved its main offices to a modern building called King's Court on Chapel Street in 1981, but continues to use the town hall for meetings.

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hearings continued to be held in the building until the courts moved to a new courthouse in College Lane in 1982. Queen Elizabeth II visited the Guildhall, as part of celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne, on 9 February 2012. Following extensive restoration works to the building costing £2.6 million, which were financed by the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

, by the Borough Council and by other donors, the Duke of Gloucester visited the Guildhall to mark the completion of the works and officially open the "Stories of Lynn Exhibition" on 31 March 2017. Important artifacts and other works of art held in the building include King John's charter to the Burgesses of Lynn (c.1204), the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

King John's Cup (c.1325) a

window sill A windowsill (also written window sill or window-sill, and less frequently in British English, cill) is the horizontal structure or surface at the bottom of a window. Window sills serve to structurally support and hold the window in place. The ...

from the house of Walter Coney, a former mayor of Lynn, (15th century) and the first portrait painted of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (c.1937).

References

{{reflist Grade I listed buildings in Norfolk City and town halls in Norfolk Government buildings completed in 1428 King's Lynn