The Crutch, Kings Lynn (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
'ye croche'

In the civil parish of Kings Lynn.
In the historic county of Norfolk.
Modern Authority of Norfolk.
1974 county of Norfolk.
Medieval County of Norfolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TF63372221
Latitude 52.77255° Longitude 0.41996°

The Crutch, Kings Lynn has been described as a certain Artillery Fort.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

The centre of this site is a sub-rounded mound with a potential east to west length of 115m and a width of 80m. This is almost certainly a saltern mound, and forms a small group along with sites NHER 27129, 27130 and 27131. This in turn is part of an extensive saltern complex on the former saltmarsh at South Wootton. Dating evidence for the salterns is scarce although isolated finds from sites further to the north would suggest that the majority of these mounds are medieval in date.
The mound is enclosed by a relatively large sub-rectangular ditch, which has a width of up to 8m in 1946, although it may be much altered and silted up by that time. The ditch may be contemporary with the saltern but the size of the features has given rise to the identification of the site as a fort, possibly from the Spanish Armada period (1588). Two cannon were also allegedly found on the site. This location may have been strategically important to guard the approach up the River Ouse, and a saltern mound may have been utilised to build such an installation under urgent circumstances. However, NHER 31431 to the immediate west appears more like a fortified site, although they may both be fortifications of different periods. (Norfolk HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 356578.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 13784; 31431.

Books
- Kent, Peter, 1994, 'Armada and 17th-Century Defences' in Wade-Martins, P, (ed), An Historical Atlas of Norfolk (2edn Norwich; Norfolk Museums) p. 136-7
  Kent, Peter, 1988, Fortifications of East Anglia (Lavenham: Ternence Dalton) p. 225
Periodical Articles
- Hurst, D.G., 1968, 'Post-medieval Britain in 1967' Post-Medieval Archaeology Vol. 2 p. 176-7
  Cozens-Hardy, B., 1938, 'Norfolk Coastal defences in 1588' Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 26 p. 310-14

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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