King’s Lynn Town FC

Let's continue our tour of East Anglian National League teams and pay

@officialKLtown a visit.

King’s Lynn Town FC, known as The Linnets, carries the history of a proud town. Currently perched second in National League North, The Linnets look perfectly placed to swoop in on promotion this season.

Their current badge features the Linnet bird, a type of finch, in a direct reference to their nickname. Before 2010, their badge used a simplified version of the town’s coat of arms, showing three dragon heads swallowing three crosses. This references St Margaret of Antioch, patron saint of the town, who, according to legend, was swallowed by a dragon and burst free when the cross she carried tickled the monster's throat. Her name lives on in St Margaret’s Church, one of King’s Lynn’s most iconic landmarks.

King’s Lynn’s story begins in the medieval period, when it became one of the most important ports in England. In 1204, King John granted it Royal Port status, allowing it to import wine and collect duties. By the late Middle Ages, King’s Lynn was one of the largest ports in England and played a vital role in the Hanseatic League, the powerful European trade network. Today, the Hanseatic Warehouse, the only surviving one in the UK, stands in the town as a reminder of this era of European trade.

Medieval travellers to King’s Lynn often passed through The Walks park (officially opened as such much later in the 18th century), which is home to the Red Mount Chapel, built as a stop-off for pilgrims journeying to Walsingham. Like much of pre-Reformation East Anglia, the pilgrimage trade was big business—see our post about Brentwood FC for another great example. Today, The Walks is home to the Linnets stadium. So, a pilgrimage of sorts still takes place every time there is a home game.

Just like many of the other badges we have seen, the team's identity has been shaped by that break with Rome engineered by Henry VIII. In 1537 the town, previously controlled by the Bishop of Norwich, was taken under crown control. Bishop's Lynn, as the town had been called, rebranded to reflect its new owner: Kings Lynn was born.

King’s Lynn sat surrounded by the marshlands of the Fens. This large tract provided many with livelihoods in reed beds and wild birds, but for centuries others saw its potential as a vast and fertile area for agriculture. Evidence shows the Romans had tried to drain the area with mixed success, but over 1,000 years after their exit, things got more serious.

The 4th Earl of Bedford, Francis Russell, was instrumental in the draining of the Fens in the 17th century, working with Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden (who also built Canvey Island’s sea defences—see our post on Concord United) to transform the marshes into farmland. For Bedford's efforts, he and his investors were rewarded with large portions of the reclaimed land, which greatly enriched Bedford's estate. This ambitious project had a significant impact on the local economy, particularly in King’s Lynn, as it boosted agriculture and improved trade routes. However, the drainage efforts were met with fierce resistance from local communities, known as the Fen Tigers (surely a better name than "Stars" for King’s Lynn's Speedway Team?), who relied on the wetlands for their traditional livelihoods. Despite the conflict, the Earl’s work in the Fens remains a landmark in land reclamation and economic transformation in the region.

Today, such ambitious engineering would be scrapped because Mrs Scoggins from 22 Garden Lane wrote a letter to the council complaining about too many trucks on her road. Thankfully, Britain used to have bigger ambitions.

Fast forward to World War I, and King’s Lynn faced modern threats when it was bombed by German Zeppelins in 1915. This tragic event, one of Britain’s first air raids, shook the town.

Later in the 20th century, King’s Lynn acquired an industrial landmark with the construction of the Campbell’s Soup Tower in 1959, the American company’s first factory in the UK. The tower employed generations of locals and became a key part of the town’s identity before its demolition in 2007.

From shipping to saints, from soil to soup, King’s Lynn has always found a way. And The Linnets are only just beginning to write their story.