This striking chapel is one of the most peculiar late medieval Gothic structures in England, built to an octagonal plan and standing three storeys high. The Chapel was probably modelled on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site of Christ’s tomb and ultimate goal of pilgrims to Jerusalem. It was a popular place for pilgrims on their way to Little Walsingham. It was built in 1483 as a wayside chapel for pilgrims landing here at King’s (then Bishop’s) Lynn; a place to stop and pray and make an offering before undertaking the overland journey to Walsingham, or to pray before leaving England after a visit to the shrine. It was known as the Chapel of Our Lady of the Mount. What was the relic in here we do not know, but perhaps it was the head of St Margaret?
The upper section of the chapel exterior was built later by Robert Currance for the Benedictine prior of St Margaret’s Church. The upper chapel with its fine fan-vaulted roof was added in 1506, possibly by Simon Clerk and John Wastell, the mason responsible for the fan-vaulted ceiling in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. It was so popular that the stairs were designed so the pilgrims did not have to cross each other going up and down. It is a unique one-way system.
The Benedictine Priory (but not the Parish Church of St Margaret’s) was suppressed by Henry VIII in 1537. Surprisingly, the chapel was not destroyed, though it was later robbed of tiles and bricks for building materials. In 1586, it was converted into a study for the vicar of St Margaret’s Church. During the Civil War, it was used to store gunpowder by the Royalists, and during an outbreak of plague in 1665, it was used a charnel house. Around 1780, the chapel was a stable, then in 1783 it was converted into an astronomical observatory. The chapel narrowly survived a bombing raid in 1942 when German bombs fell in The Walks nearby. After the war, it was used briefly as a place for interdenominational worship, but this ceased when the local Catholic church found the terms of the lease too costly. It is now cared for by the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk.
Curiously, though it formed a part of the popular pilgrim’s route to one of the most sacred sites in Europe, the Red Mount Chapel only served as an active religious building for just about 50 years of its history.