Big Changes to the River and to the Town of Lynn

Lynn has been described as the Warehouse of the Wash during the medieval period. During the Middle Ages it was as important to the country as Liverpool was during the time of the Industrial Revolution. Customs Revenue Records from 1203-1204 show that 17% came from London, 16% from Boston, 14% from Southampton, 13% from Lynn and Lincoln, 7% from Hull, 3% from York and Newcastle. However, Lynn’s historical success as a port didn’t happen by chance, and the outcome could have been entirely different.

How the River Found Lynn — and Left Wisbech Behind

A River with a Changing Mind

The Great Ouse is the longest of the Fen rivers. It rises not far from the Cotswolds and flows over 150 miles before reaching the sea at the Wash. But it didn’t always reach the sea where it does today. Like many lowland rivers, the Ouse has changed course more than once, sometimes through natural flooding, and sometimes because people forced it to.

One of the most important changes happened during the Middle Ages — and it gave a huge advantage to Lynn.

Before Lynn Had a River

In prehistory and early medieval times, the Great Ouse flowed eastwards from Huntingdon through Ely to Wisbech, where it met the sea. The rivers Nene and Great Ouse joined forces there, and Wisbech became a natural port. Meanwhile, the smaller Little Ouse flowed through the inland fens and passed near what would become Lynn. But at that point, Lynn had no direct link to the main river system.

Floods, Silting, and Roman Ditches

By the 13th century, the lower parts of the Great Ouse were silting up badly. Estuaries like that at Wisbech were becoming harder to navigate, and repeated inland floods were forcing the river to find new ways to drain.

Around the same time, the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry had land near Littleport, south of Lynn, which was regularly flooded. He had an old Roman drainage channel reopened and built a dam to help relieve the area. This artificial channel, though designed for local benefit, had wider effects: it diverted much of the Great Ouse’s flow into the Little Ouse, well upstream of Lynn.

The Great Break at Denver

In the early 13th century, a major flood caused the Great Ouse to breach a watershed near Denver, just a few miles inland from Lynn. The river began to shift its lower course northwards, towards the Wash at Lynn rather than east towards Wisbech. This was the decisive turning point.

The change didn’t happen all at once — new cuts were made from 1290 onwards to help manage the water, and the flow was gradually encouraged to follow the Lynn route.

By the 1470s, the River Nene was also diverted eastwards to join this new main channel, helping to keep it navigable. The old northern route towards Wisbech, already silting up, was now effectively cut off.

Lynn Builds Into the Water

As the river established its new route past Lynn, the town didn’t just benefit from it — it shaped it. Over the course of the medieval period, the east bank of the Ouse in Lynn gradually moved about 100 yards westwards. This shift happened partly through natural silting, but also through deliberate building by the townspeople.

Wealthy residents began by setting up private wharfs opposite their houses, often just wooden jetties over the mud. These trapped silt, making the land more solid. Soon, small buildings appeared — storehouses at first, then homes with attached warehouses. The riverfront slowly became part of the town.

Wisbech Declines, Lynn Rises

For Wisbech, the change in the river’s course was disastrous. It lost its deep-water access and, with it, its role as a significant port. For Lynn, it was a turning point. The town gained a navigable river route to the interior of England and beyond — one that would carry goods, wealth, and influence for centuries to come.

A Thriving Port

Part of the reason why exporters were able to transport their goods to Lynn, and why importers chose Lynn as their port of choice, was the extensive inland river system connected to the River Great Ouse which flowed into the Wash at the town and gave traders access to seven counties.

From the C13th onwards, towns such as Thetford, Bury, Cambridge, Ely, Bedford, Northampton, Peterborough, Boston could all be reached directly or indirectly via the Ouse.

The major export of wool would come into the town from the Eastern Region, and amongst other things, wine, wax, coal, and timber would flow to the buyers in the area (including to the many religious establishments). Lynn’s position on the East Coast also meant that it was perfectly suited to trade with Europe and the thriving Hanseatic ports in the Baltic region.

In addition to the commercial traffic, the port was also ideally suited to receive the many pilgrims on their way to the shrine at Walsingham. In the Middle Ages Walsingham was the most popular pilgrim site after the Shrine of Thomas Beckett at Canterbury. Pilgrims coming into the port would often visit the Red Mount Chapel before continuing their journey. The more affluent ones would hire a boat at the South Gates and continue up the River Nar to Castle Acre to shorten their journey on foot.

The port of Lynn was extremely busy. However, this level of traffic nearly never happened. It only did happen because of a quirk of fate.

A Note on Place-name Etymology

The name Wisbech is popularly claimed to mean “on the back of the Ouse” because the first element in the name appears to be similar to the river name Ouse that flowed through the town. This is almost certainly incorrect.

The Domesday entry for the town (1086) is ‘Wisbece’. The original elements are almost certainly ‘wisc’ + ‘bece” or ‘bæc’ meaning “marshy river valley or ridge”. Alternatively the first element may be the River Wissey, itself and the Old English name meaning “marshy stream”.

Lynn appears as ‘Lena’ or ‘Lun’ in Domesday and this is related to the Celtic word ‘llyn’ for ‘lake’ or ‘pool’. It is not difficult to see why an Old British word for such an important geographical feature (The Wash) survived the arrival of the later invaders.

Historically the Bishop of Norwich had held some rights and control over the town (see The Riot When Bishop Henry Despenser Came To Lynn) until 1524 when Henry VIII granted it a new charter and it became King’s Lynn.

See also: A Lot of Digging – Eau Brink Cut

Book a Walk with a Trained and Qualified King’s Lynn Guide

© James Rye 2021

Sources

Derby, H.C. (1940) The Medieval Fenland, Cambridge University Press

Ekwall, E. (1987) The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Place-names (4th Edition), Clarendon

Mills, A.D. (1991) A Dictionary of English Place-names, OUP

Rye, J. (1991) A Popular Guide to Norfolk Place-names, Larks Press

Websites all accessed September 2021

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Great_Ouse

https://waterways.org.uk/waterways/discover-the-waterways/river-great-ouse

http://users.trytel.com/tristan/towns/lynnmap1.html

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol8/pp476-533