This is the parish church of Margery Kempe whose autobiography of 1436 is now much studied as a source of understanding lay piety, gender roles, and the development of written English.  In this large parish church it is possible to see that the parishioners were often well out of earshot of anything said, as opposed to sung, at the altar.  During Lent a huge veil was suspended in the sanctuary reaching almost to the ground, which remained throughout the weekdays so that the observers were completely blocked off from the clergy singing their office or saying Mass.  Margery's vocal outbursts may be seen as fitting into this situation where sound may have substituted for sight even in the "regular" performance religious ritual.

4. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, plan 1102-1481, length 236 feet. The 13th-century hexagonal Chapter House, was off the arm of the south transept, destroyed in the 15th century to build the Thoresby Chapel (Thomas Thoresby mayor in 1477, 1482, and 1502), now also destroyed. After E.M. Beloe, F.S.A., Our Borough: Our Churches: King’s Lynn, Norfolk (Cambridge, 1899).

5. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, facade, south tower: base 12th century, upper levels, 14th century. North tower 1452.

5a. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, facade. Note location of burial ground around the church.  The churchyard closed in 1754 and parishioners were buried on the north side of St. Nicholas’s churchyard. After John Britton and Edward Wedlake Brayley, The Beauties of England and Wales (London: Vernor & Hood, 1801-16).

6. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, south exterior, as it was in 1685. After William Taylor, The Antiquities of King’s Lynn (London, 1844).

6a. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, Charnel Chapel, ca. 1350, built on north west tower, destroyed 1779.  The upper level was a funerary chapel dedicated to St. John the Evangelist; the lower room was a consecrated vault where the authorities of St. Margaret’s could place the bones of the dead that had been disturbed in forming new graves in the burial grounds surrounding the church.  After William Taylor, The Antiquities of King’s Lynn (London, 1844).

7. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, interior of nave. State close to what is was during the time of Margery Kempe. Arcade before 1230, clerestory and roof rebuilt 1481. (Destroyed by collapse of the spire of south tower during a storm of 1741 and rebuilt 1745 with different proportions.) After William Taylor, The Antiquities of King’s Lynn (London, 1844).

8. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, exterior of choir, south side.

9. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, interior of choir, looking east to the high altar, arcades before 1230, clerestory and roof rebuilt probably 1481 or a few years earlier.

10. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, interior of choir, high altar, medieval location Easter Sepulcher, now destroyed.

11. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, interior of choir, location of medieval Easter Sepulchre (now destroyed)

12. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, interior of choir, north side.

13. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, interior of choir, south side. After William Taylor, The Antiquities of King’s Lynn (London, 1844).

14. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, interior of choir, detail of 14th-century screens separating choir from aisles.

15. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, detail of 14th-century choir screen and 13th-century pillar and capital.

16. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, north choir stalls with misericords, 1370-7.

17. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, north choir stalls, details of misericords, 1370-7. After William Taylor, The Antiquities of King’s Lynn (London, 1844). Description from G. L. Remnant, A Catalogue of Misericords in Great Britain (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1969), 102-3. [from east]
1. Youthful head wearing ermine-trimmed cap (or flowers). Supporters: flower.
2. Youthful head wearing wreathed chaplet.  Supporters: foliage
3. Woman’s head wearing cap and hood.  Supporters: leaf.
4. Foliage. Supporters: flower
5. Shield charged six escallop shells (arms of Scales [Robert de Scales?]). Supporters: five petalled flower.
6. Head of old man, with arms and hands supporting the bracket.  Supporters: five petalled flower.
7. Foliage. Supporters: large formal leaf.
8. Head of man with curly hair and beard, his hands on each side of his head supporting bracket.  Supporters: acanthus-leaf.

18. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, north choir stalls with misericords, 1370-7, nos. 5, Arms of Scales, 6, head of old man, and 7, foliage.

18b. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, north choir stalls with misericords, 1370-7, nos. 7 foliage, and 8, head of man with curly hair.

19. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, south choir stalls, details of misericords, 1370-7. After William Taylor, The Antiquities of King’s Lynn (London, 1844). Description from G. L. Remnant, A Catalogue of Misericords in Great Britain (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1969), 102-3. [from east]
1. Head of Edward III. Supporters: foliage
2. Foliage. Supporters: foliage
3. Face with foliage springing from mouth (Green Man). Supporters: leaf.
4. Head wearing cap bent sideways; the right hand together with the head, supports the bracket; the left hand is bent downwards.  Supporters: leaf.
5. Foliage. Supporters: flower.
6. Spray of Flowers. Supporters, flower.
7. Head of Edward the Black Prince. Supporters: Left, shield charged sable, three ostrich feathers enscrolled or. Right, shield charged diapered, six water bougets [question identification as water bougets; could this be the tincture ermine?, born by John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond, d. 1399] (arms not recorded).
8. Head of Henry Despencer, Bishop of Norwich (1370-1407).  Supporters: Left shield charged three mitres (arms of the see of Norwich); Right, shield parted quarterly, argent and gules, in the second and third quarter a fret or, overall a bend gules, in a border sable, mitred of the third (arms of Despencer).  From each shield depends a six petalled flower.

20. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, south choir stall, misericord 3, Green Man (sprouting foliage).

21. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, south choir stall, misericord 4, man supporting bench.

22. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, Coats of arms on back of choir seats 1370-7. After William Taylor, The Antiquities of King’s Lynn (London, 1844).
1. Six escallop shells (Scales).
2. Sable a cross engrailed or (Robert Dufford, earl of Suffolk; his daughter Catherine was the wife of Robert, Lord Scales).
3. Three cinquefoils; if or three cinquefoils azure (Bardolf); if azure three cinquefoils argent (Fitton).
4. Gules a bend between six crosses crosslet fitchy (here shown as botonny fitchy) argent (Howard).
5. Ermine a cross sable (Sir Robert de Bois; his daughter Alice was the wife of John Howard).
6. A chevron (Unidentified but appearing with the arms of Howard in that family’s funerary chapel, East Winch, now destroyed).
7. Barry of six pieces (unidentified) [as in no. 12].
8. Azure a fess between two chevronels argent (Tempering).
9. Sable a fesse dancetty between three mullets pierced argent (Weasenham).
10. On a chevron three crosses botonny fitchy (Unidentified).
11. Sable, three mallets argent (Rainham).
12. Barry of six pieces (unidentified) [as in no. 7].
13. Azure, three crescents argent (Thorpe).
14 Gules a saltire engrailed argent (Kerdeston).
15. Argent a chevron between three boar’s heads couped sable (Mosel)
16. Quarterly or and gules, in a border sable bezanty (Rochfords).

23. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, south aisle of choir (St. John’s Chapel), Adam de Walsoken and wife Margaret, 1349, 118 x 68 in. Detail of bottom, men carry grist to mill and carry Walsoken in litter over stream. Brass executed on continent. After John Sell Cotman, Engravings of Sepulchral Brasses in Norfolk (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1838).

24. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, south aisle of choir (St. John’s Chapel), monumental brass of Robert Braunche with both Letitia, first, and Margaret, second wife, 1364, 106 x 61 in., detail of Peacock Feast at bottom. Brass executed on continent. After John Sell Cotman, Engravings of Sepulchral Brasses in Norfolk (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1838).

25. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, choir, monumental brass of Robert Attelath, 1376, merchant, mayor in 1374 (was originally represented with wife Johanna).  Brass executed on continent, destroyed before 1813 but known from a rubbing of male figure only by Craven Ord taken in 1780.  After John Sell Cotman, Engravings of Sepulchral Brasses in Norfolk (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1838).

26. King’s Lynn, St. Margaret’s, north aisle of choir (Trinity Chapel), monumental brass of Walter Coney, 1476, four times mayor of Lynn.  Motto Laus Trinitati (Praise to the Trinity) on scrolls and Coney’s merchant’s mark on shield (the commoner’s substitute for heraldic charge).  Coney was a prominent member of the Trinity Guild. Largely destroyed, known from rubbing. After William Taylor, The Antiquities of King’s Lynn (London, 1844).