Former Lloyd's Bank, 1 Tuesday Market Place, King's Lynn, Norfolk

Summary

Bank built in 1928 to the designs of Henry Munro Cautley.

Description

Bank built in 1928 to the designs of Henry Munro Cautley.

MATERIALS: Portland stone ashlar with stone dressings.

PLAN: the building occupies the corner of Tuesday Market Place and Surrey Street and has a square plan.

The rear extensions are not included in the listing.

EXTERIOR: the building is in the Baroque style and has a chamfered corner entrance bay and two flanking bays, each with a street frontage. It has a double-height ground floor and an attic with the roof concealed behind a parapet. The corner bay contains a bolection moulded doorframe, with a double-leaf panelled door, above which is a classical label embellished with a circular band of bayleaf. This is surrounded by a classical doorcase with attached round columns with Ionic capitals from which hang a line of husks, and a frieze inscribed LLOYDS BANK. Above this, in a semi-circular niche of rusticated voussoirs with a scrolled keystone, is a sculpture of a man and woman, both half reclining and covered in classical-style drapery. A helmet is depicted on the man’s side; a torch – symbolising enlightenment – is shown on the woman’s side; and between them is a beehive – symbolising industrious activity – which is supported by a small stone tablet inscribed ESTABLISHED 1677.

The symmetrical flanking bays have a moulded plinth with LLOYDS BANK LIMITED in relief along the frieze above. The bays are defined by giant panelled pilasters supporting a modillion cornice and a frieze inscribed LLOYDS BANK. The tall metal-framed, multi-light windows have a semicircular top in which is set a circular glazing bar. The recessed semicircular window frames are enriched with bead-and-reel, and a scrolled keystone with acanthus leaf. The spandrels are filled with carved fruits and flowers in high relief. The attic bays are defined by panelled pilasters carrying a moulded cornice, and are lit by multi-paned, metal-framed, square windows in moulded stone frames. The window in the corner bay is similar except it is larger.

INTERIOR: the only surviving decorative element is the dentilled cornice in the full-height banking hall which is now open-plan.

History

King’s Lynn, first called Bishop’s Lynn, was founded in 1095 by Bishop Herbert de Losinga, who in the previous year had transferred the see from Thetford to Norwich. There was already an existing settlement which appears to have been based around a salt-water lagoon, or series of inlets, with its centre round the present All Saints Church. Losinga’s town developed to the north of this, between All Saints Church and Saturday Market Place where St Margaret’s Church and Priory were established from Norwich around 1100. Rapid expansion from the C12 onwards required an extension of the town, and Bishop William Turbe laid out a new settlement north of the Purfleet from around 1145, with its market at Tuesday Market Place and the Chapel of St Nicholas as a chapel of ease to St Margaret’s. Both settlements were united under a royal charter in 1204, the united town being named Bishop’s Lynn. Until the early C13, the Great Ouse emptied via the Wellstream at Wisbech, however following floods in the C13, the river was redirected to join the Wash at Bishop’s Lynn. The town became one of England’s busiest ports, serving the Ouse and its tributaries, exporting wool and cloth, and importing wine, timber and luxury goods, being adopted as a member of the original medieval Hanseatic League. This extremely influential trading association linked a group of towns around the Baltic and the North Seas, and played an important role in the prosperity and development of Bishop’s Lynn as a national port, which by the C14, was ranked as the third port of England (after London and Southampton).

Losinga’s town round the Saturday Market was protected from the river immediately to its west by the ‘great bank’, an earthwork which ran along the present line of Nelson Street, St Margaret’s Place and Queen Street. By about 1500 the river had moved approximately 50m west and was consolidated another 45m by the new South Quay in 1855. The period of development of the area between the Millfleet and Purfleet can therefore be identified, as well as building types and plans. The generous-sized plots are reflected in the surviving buildings dating from the C14 to the C17, which surround open courtyards. To the north, on Bishop Turbe’s ‘newe lande’, much the same pattern emerges: originally the west side of Tuesday Market Place was washed by the river, with King Street forming the line of the bank. The west side of King Street was built upon in the C13, with narrow plots, elongating in stages until river movement ceased in the C17. As land became available, warehouses were built straight onto the river front. When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1536-1537, the town and manor became royal property, and Bishop’s Lynn was renamed King’s Lynn or Lynn Regis.

Lynn’s prosperity as a national port was based entirely on trade, and the merchant class dominated the social and economic life of the town until the C19. When the Fens began to be drained in the mid-C17 and land turned to agricultural use, King’s Lynn grew prosperous from the export of corn: cereal export dominated from the C16, and especially in the C18. Coal and wine continued to be imported for distribution inland, and until the railway age, Lynn was the chief East Anglian port for both. Prosperity continued until continental trade was disturbed by the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), followed by a brief revival. The economy and population dwindled following the relatively late arrival of railway services to King’s Lynn in 1847, compounded by the irrevocable decline of coastal trading.

1 Tuesday Market Place was built as Lloyd’s Bank in 1928 to the designs of Henry Munro Cautley (1876-1959) who practiced in Ipswich between 1901 and 1957. A committed medievalist, Cautley served as Diocesan Surveyor for St Edmundsbury and Ipswich from 1914 to 1947 and was a leading authority on Suffolk churches. His book Suffolk Churches and their Treasures (1937) is still a standard work on the subject. Cautley is associated with eight listed buildings of which he designed four: Lloyd’s Bank in St Ives, Cambs (1924-1925), All Hallows Church in Ipswich (1938-1939), a dairy farm in Affpuddle, Dorset (1914), and the war memorial in Ipswich (1921), all listed at Grade II. The others are buildings to which he made later contributions, including the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Westerfield, Suffolk, which contains a white marble wall monument to Cautley and his wife.

Lloyd’s Bank on Tuesday Market Place replaced an earlier building on the site. The Ordnance Survey map regression shows that at some point between 1928 and 1966 the bank took over the adjoining premises of number 2, the southern half of a three-storey building probably dating to the late C18 or early C19 (not part of the listing). It was possibly at this point, or later, that the interior was extensively remodelled. A large extension was also built at the rear of the building. This is not included in the listing.

Reasons for Listing

The former Lloyd’s bank, built in 1928 to the designs of Henry Munro Cautley, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it is a striking building of refined architectural character which, given its relatively small size, achieves a remarkable presence;

* it has a well-proportioned composition that is beautifully detailed with sculptural embellishments using Portland stone worked to a high standard of craftsmanship;

* the classical idiom conveys tradition and solidity whilst the Baroque elements provide a touch of vitality and lend it an air of grandeur.

Historic interest:

* it forms an important element in Tuesday Market Place, described in Pevsner as ‘one of the most splendid open spaces in provincial England’, and makes a significant contribution to its rich architectural character.

Group value:

* it has strong group value with its surrounding buildings on Tuesday Market Place, most of which are listed.

External Links

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