Leaving St Nicholas’ chapel via the south porch leads to the churchyard where you can find a small 7th Century cottage known as the “Exorcist’s house”. The building dates from 1635, and is thought to replace an earlier building which was home to members of the clergy who served St Nicholas’ chapel, located adjacent to the cottage.

The reason for the unusal house name has been lost over time. Maybe a priest associated with the adjacent St Nicholas’ chapel lived there and provided spiritual healing.

Jhumpa Lahiri

The following link explains the historic features that can be found within the chapel:

A tour of St Nicholas’ Chapel

The Minster and Priory Church of St Margaret, St Mary Magdalene and all the Virgin Saints was founded as a Benedictine Priory in 1101 by Herbert de Losinga, the first Bishop of Norwich. For 400 years it was the monks’ home as well as the Parish Church for the town. It was always known as St Margaret’s.

Within the parish there was also St Nicholas’ Chapel to the north and St James’ Chapel to the east. These were ‘Chapels of Ease’, not Parish Churches. All Saints Church, outside the town walls, is the ancient Parish Church for South Lynn. In the 19th century, St John’s Church was built to the east as a new Parish Church and the ancient parish of St Edmund’s North Lynn was combined with St Margaret’s parish. By then, the medieval St Edmund’s Church was derelict and St James’ Church had been demolished. St Nicholas’ Chapel is no longer used for regular services, but the three Parish Churches work together as the King’s Lynn Group Ministry.

St Margaret’s Church was made King’s Lynn Minster by the Bishop of Norwich in December 2011 in recognition that it provides a ministry far wider than that of a normal Parish Church. It is the civic church for West Norfolk and frequently holds services and events for the western part of the Diocese of Norwich. The historic and architectural significance of the building were also factors in the decision to make this a Minster. The title belongs to the building, so the parish served by the Minster is still called the Parish of St Margaret with St Nicholas and St Edmund, King’s Lynn.

Castle Acre Castle and town walls are a set of ruined medieval defences built in the village of Castle Acre, Norfolk. The castle was built soon after the Norman Conquest by William de Warenne, the Earl of Surrey, at the intersection of the River Nar and the Peddars Way. William constructed a motte-and-bailey castle during the 1070s, protected by large earthwork ramparts, with a large country house in the centre of the motte. Soon after, a small community of Cluniac monks were given the castle’s chapel in the outer bailey; under William, the second earl, the order was given land and estates to establish Castle Acre Priory alongside the castle. A deer park was created nearby for hunting.

After civil war broke out in England in 1135, the third earl, also called William, set about improving the defences of the castle. He began to build a tall keep on top of the motte, reinforcing the surrounding earthworks with stone walls. A planned settlement was established alongside the castle, surrounded by its own earthworks and walls, and the Peddars Way was redirected to pass by the castle, town and priory, all important symbols of the de Warennes’ power in the region. Hamelin de Warenne acquired the castle through marriage and curtailed the building work on the keep around 1165, but completed the construction of three large stone gatehouses in the castle and town. One of these, the town’s bailey gate, still survives intact.

The de Warennes continued to hold the castle until 1347, when it was inherited by Richard Fitzalan, the Earl of Arundel. By 1397 the fortifications were in ruins and, despite restoration work by Sir Edward Coke at the start of the 17th century, the decline continued until the 20th century. In 1971, Thomas Coke, the Earl of Leicester, placed the castle into the guardianship of the state. In the 21st century, it is managed by English Heritage and open to visitors. Historic England consider the castle’s huge defensive earthworks to be “among the finest surviving in England”.^[1]

Castle Acre Priory was a Cluniac priory in the village of Castle Acre, Norfolk, England, dedicated to St Mary, St Peter, and St Paul. It is thought to have been founded in 1089 by William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey (the son of the 1st Earl of Surrey who had founded England’s first Cluniac priory at Lewes in 1077). The order originated from Burgundy. Originally the priory was sited within the walls of Castle Acre Castle, but this proved too small and inconvenient for the monks; hence, the priory was relocated to the present site in the castle grounds about one year later.

The priory was dissolved in 1537, and its ruins are in the care of English Heritage, along with the nearby Castle Acre Bailey Gate and Castle Acre Castle.

The church itself was consecrated sometime between 1146 and 1148. While the Warenne family may have been the main benefactors of the priory, others also gave generously to it, for example Scolland of Bedale, steward of Alan Earl of Richmond, who was in fact buried there. Like other Cluniac houses, Castle Acre Priory was directly subject to the authority of the Abbot of Cluny; for practical reasons, however, the Prior of Lewes was usually instructed to act for the abbot when any problems arose at Castle Acre. However, this obedience owed to a foreign abbot caused difficulties when the kings of England were at odds with France and/or Burgundy. In the mid 14th century the English Cluniacs settled this difficulty by buying a special legal recognition from the king as ‘native’ religious houses. The priory was home to some 20 to 30 monks.

The nave of the church is one of the oldest parts of the ruin. Subsequent additions continued to be added until the priory was dissolved in 1537 under Henry VIII, and when the King gave the dissolved priory to the Duke of Norfolk complete with its estates, the remaining monks were turned out.

The estates eventually passed to Sir Edward Coke, whose descendant, the Earl of Leicester now owns the ruins and Castle Acre Castle.

The ruins today are very impressive, the great west front of the building is almost complete, and the prior’s lodging is in a similar condition.

The day started with Mr C encountering another ’shower incident’. This time there was water but it was cold. During breakfast another couple mentioned to the waiter that they had had no hot water that morning so Mr C added that we hadn’t either. This prompted another couple to speak up and say that only one of them had had a lovely warm shower earlier in the morning.

The waiter noted the problem so that it could be investigated. As it was our last morning in the hotel we will never know the outcome!

After breakfast, our final one before travelling home, we set off towards Peterborough for our first stop of the day. Once again the SatNav had other ideas and took us past the waypoint (Peterborough) causing us to have to retrace our steps.

When we arrived in Peterborough, we walked to the Cathedral to find that there was a T. Rex exhibition in part of the Cathedral with animatronic dinosaurs from the National History Museum. It was entitled ‘T. Rex: The Killer Question’. It explored the question of whether T. Rex was a ferocious hunter or just a scavenger.

We purchased tickets which also allowed us to see all of the Cathedral as part of the building could only be seen if you purchased a ticket for the exhibition. It was quite strange to hear dinosaurs roaring within the Cathedral.

Our next stop was Bosworth Battle field. We re-programmed the SatNav so it didn’t have the opportunity to bypass another waypoint. Before we arrived there, we stopped of at Welland Vale Garden Centre and had lunch in Orchard Café. I chose a basil and tomato open toasted sandwich with dressed leaves.

Mr C thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition at Bosworth, and if time had permitted, I would have enjoyed a walk around the battlefield site.

To make dining easier we picked up a ready made Indian takeaway from Sainsbury’s, sadly, the weather was not quite warm enough for us to enjoy dining on the patio.

We used a free leaflet to guide us on a walking tour pointing out historical places of interest in King’s Lynn. The tour took us to St Nicholas’ church which was currently housing an art exhibition. One of the church guides told us we should not miss going to see the nearby exorcists house which we found to be quaint and highly unusual. Unfortunately, it being Monday, we weren’t able to visit the museums as they were closed. We stopped for elevenses in a very down to earth café near the bus station, where we enjoyed the friendly banter and chatter between the locals and staff.

Whilst on the walk I chatted to a lady who had seen me taking photos and she asked what I thought of King’s Lynn. I said I liked the historical parts of the town. She told me she had moved there from South Africa about a year ago to be closer to her son and that she loves the place.

We had lunch in the delightful Tipsy Teapot where we decadently had a glass of wine to accompany our fish goujons which came with vegetable crisps and salad. After we had eaten, we completed the history walk ending up back by our hotel.

We hopped in the car and drove to Gooderstone Water Gardens which was a lovely way to spend the afternoon. Due to the lack of rain we found that the water levels in parts of the garden were low, especially so near to the bird hide.

Before dining in the hotel restaurant we relaxed in our hotel room taking in the view over the River Great Ouse

Because the main dining area was being set up for a wedding later in the day, our final breakfast in the Old Vicarage took place in a more cosy dining area.

We loaded the car then headed off for King’s Lynn where we were going to stay for the remainder of our holiday. We had programmed the SatNav to include way marker destinations along our route.  After a while it became clear that the SatNav was not leading us to our first planned location, Horsey Thatched Church. By the time we realised the error it was not really feasible to backtrack. We had also missed out the coastal road that Mr C had been keen to drive along. This was a shame but we have it all to look forward to when we are next in the area.

We carried on towards Cromer taking in a couple of churches along the way; Trimingham with its 15th century rood screen and St Botolph’s Church in Trunch with its early 16th font canopy. We parked in Cromer and walked along the seafront before heading into town in search of a crab sandwich.

Cromer was absolutely heaving with people and a stark contrast to the tranquil setting of the Old Vicarage in Crostwick. Mr C noticed a place called Hot Rocks that advertised their seafood was brought in by their own fishing boat. The menu offered crab sandwiches so we took a seat inside and when they arrived the crab sandwiches were totally delicious.

After we had lunched, we returned to the car via the seafront before heading to Wells-Next-The-Sea which was even more crowded than Cromer so we decided not to stop and headed straight to King’s Lynn where we checked into the Bank House Hotel and unloaded the car before walking into town for refreshments and a quick visit to King’s Lynn Minster. Because of flooding earlier in the week we were unable to see some of the Minster’s treasures but we enjoyed what we could see.

Now it was time to freshen up in the hotel before dinner. We dined in the hotel restaurant where the food was delicious and the staff attentive. We had a nightcap in the bar and found it a refreshing change that the bar to stayed open for its advertised hours.