| The North End -
The traditional home of the King's Lynn fisherfolk |
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The yard complex of True's Yard is virtually all that remains of
the fishing community through whose endeavours much of Lynn's wealth was built. The unique
and totally enclosed community of Northenders lived within the shadow of the beautiful
medieval chapel of St. Nicholas. The North End had its own shops, pubs, boat builders,
chandlers, rope and twine makers and school.
The North End streets can be traced back to the 16th century, and provided a natural home
for the fisherfolk whose boats were moored in the nearby Fisher Fleet. The streets would
be lined with houses, while the space behind was infilled with small clusters of cramped
housing - the North End yards
The North End streets The traditional North End was made up of North Street, Pilot Street (right), Austin Street, Chapel Lane and St. Ann's Street. When the Fisher Fleet moved beyond the docks, the fisherfolk moved with it into the 'new North End' with its modern houses. Most of the old North End was demolished in the 1960s to make was for new roads to be built, with only a few houses in Pilot Street left today. |
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The Yards Behind the houses were the Yards - small collections of houses built with the intention of housing as many people as possible in any available space. These houses would be very cramped and had no running water and sanitation. There were around 35 yards in the North End containing 195 houses and nearly a thousand people. |