Millfleet Burial Ground, Kings Lynn, Norfolk

I thought I might catch up on my ‘Tour of Kings Lynn’.  Kings Lynn is our nearest large town….although Kings Lynn is not that large, it is brimming with history and historical buildings.  What I like most, is the little snap shots of history that you find in any our of our towns, Kings Lynn has several of these. The odd archway or remains of a building that once was a great Priory, I find fascinating, I love to research them.

So to add to my tour, here is something that I have passed by, on nearly every trip in to the town centre and not realised what it was.  A couple of weeks ago, on maybe the last really hot sunny Sunday, I took a fancy to visit the park in the town, which starts at the ‘Walks’ ( I will post about these later).  Parking the car I walked past this gate and came to a sudden stop…..what an earth had I just walked passed.

Walking back to the gate I read the green plaque.

‘Millfleet Burial Ground…….Within these walls is the cemetery of a community of Dutch Jews, who lived in Lynn C1750 -1846.  Despite royal protection an earlier Jewish community in Lynn had been massacred and property burnt by Sailors on their way to the third crusade in 1190.  Jews Lane in Medieval and Tudor times is now Surrey Street’.

What we are looking at, is really a square shape brick box with no roof……a very old brick box and has some wonderful Hebrew headstones.  I found the round sphered globe shaped one very interesting, very modern, like a work of art.

As I explored around the sides of the walls, I found a wonderful cobbled road, although only a small stretch, it was enough to fire up my imagination, although I did have to ignore the flats in the back ground.

The gate is padlocked, you can get the keys if you so wished and the cemetery is administrated by the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

It is one of the those little snap shots of time that I nearly missed, although I had passed by so many times before……