Open every Wednesday and Sunday from May to September, 1.00pm to 4.00pm. The building is not open in the winter months so that we don’t disturb our resident bats.
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Click here to read A Brief Tour of the Red Mount Chapel – a leaflet produced by the Norfolk Museums Service for the Borough Council.
Click here to watch a guided tour of the chapel. [With thanks to Nick Sellers — Springboard TV, The College of West Anglia, Tennyson Avenue, King’s Lynn. www.springboardtv.com — www.cwa.ac.uk]
Historic images of The Red Mount Chapel
Click on the thumbnails for a larger image
The Red Mount Story
LITHUANIAN TRANSLATION — POLISH TRANSLATION — RUSSIAN TRANSLATION
In the 1300s, Lynn, then known as Bishop’s Lynn, was the third most important port in England. America had not yet been discovered, so most trade was on the East coast connecting with Europe.
The Black Death came to Europe in 1349, the Children’s Pestilence in 1365, together killing almost 40% of the European population. For the survivors of these plagues, the shortage of workers meant better terms of employment and living standards.
While the plagues continued, the Church did well as people were willing to pay for indulgences to get through purgatory, or be spared the illness or death they feared.
By the 1400s the Church was “feeling the pinch” due to less money being raised so they need to look for new ways to raise funds.
Why did they need the money?
They were the first Social Services, providing hospitality for travellers, food for the hungry, care for the sick, hospices for the dying and in some cases education for the young.
At first a “holy relic” was put in St Margaret’s church, but as this was not successful, another plan was needed. It was decided to build a “stopping off” chapel for pilgrims travelling through Lynn on their way to Walsingham, the second most holy shrine in England after Canterbury. The pilgrims came from all over England and Christian countries in Europe.
The chapel provided a “virtual” visit to Jerusalem for the pilgrims and also brought much needed trade to the town.
The fates have been kind to the chapel. It was not destroyed at the Reformation nor in the Civil War, German bombs missed it by a whisker in 1942 and the Heritage Lottery folk gave us £4m to restore the Chapel and The Walks around it.
Click here to read A Brief History of the Red Mount Chapel
Click here to read the English Heritage Grade I listing details
