On the face of it, this is a beleagured and battered old building, quite a contrast with the nearby splendours of St Margaret or the busy activity of the Annunciation. Despite this, the setting of All Saints is interesting; it is unusual in England, and is certainly unique in East Anglia. In the late 1960s, the Georgian terraces around were demolished, and several hundred four and five storey deck access local authority flats were erected on three sides of the graveyard. Fortunately, the Hillington Square complex foreswore the concrete enthusiasms of the time and was constructed in the red brick Scandinavian style then becoming popular. The graveyard has become a large, unfenced square in between the blocks, and presumably the idea was that the church would be an adornment to this. The flats have lasted well, and seem looked after, but All Saints has obviously suffered from serious vandalism.

The east and west windows are boarded up, and there is also damage to the window in the south transept. This is obviously a poor area, but I couldn't help thinking that if these were grand three-storey town houses looking out onto the square then the local authority would be pressing the Diocese to smarten its act up.

All Saints is beleagured in another way, because it is the lonely Anglo-catholic presence in Lynn. I had hoped that this would mean we would find it open, but it wasn't. We tried ringing the Parish Priest, but all we got all day was his answer machine. I intend to go back, and will make an appointment next time. This will have to do as the entry for now.

All Saints was probably the original parish church of Lynn, and there are Norman survivals in the chancel walls. More famously, and also on the chancel, are the traces of outbuildings and a chapel that are generally believed to have been the home of an anchorite hermit. They date from the 14th century (we got rather serious after the Black Death, and young men and women went into seclusion to pray for us) by which time the transepts had been added. There was a tower added at this time, but it fell down in 1763, a bad time for rebuildings, and the west wall is functional at best. The Victorians tried to ameliorate it with a bell turret. There is a 19th century stone figure in the niche over the south porch. It depicts Christ as the Good Shepherd, which is nice, and not St Jude, the patron Saint of lost causes, as I first feared it might be.

I would liked to have seen inside; there is a medieval nave roof, font and screen, as well as the Jacobean screen from West Lynn. Pevsner tells us that the vandalised south window was by the great William Wailes. There are still older buildings to the south of the church, including Lynn's original 19th century Catholic school, now a day centre.

Even with our backs turned to the flats, it was impossible to ignore their presence. The graveyard is crossed by footpaths, and people were busy going about their business; young mothers with shopping, groups of young black men, old white men on their own. There was music playing from some of the flats, and the sound of laughter. But the church sat there sulking, ignoring all this life. I doubt that many locals are customers of All Saints, and so I couldn't help wondering that if, instead of maintaining its Anglo-catholic tradition, All Saints had been reinvented as some kind of evangelical drop-in centre, it might be more valued by the people in the flats around than it obviously is today.

However, so many people have contacted me to say nice things about this church that I am really looking forward to revisiting, probably some time in the Spring. I shall update this entry when I have done so.

Simon Knott, November 2005

Postscript A parishioner writes: 'I attend All Saint's Church in Kings Lynn. I am sorry that you were unable to enter the church, but because of its location it does have to remain closed as people have taken things from the church in the past. We have a wonderful priest, and even though the congregation tends to be on the small side, the services are lovely. There is Sunday Mass, Wednesday evening and also a short Mass on Friday morning. We are trying to raise money to restore the church, but it is a slow process. The windows were taken out by golf balls, except for the front window which was removed because the wood holding the window in place was rotting away, hopefully we will be able to replace it one day. We are hoping to raise more money as there is a chance that the church will be closed permanently, which would be a shame with its history in the town. On your next visit, please come to a service, everyone is welcome.'