A surprising link between Catch Up e-letters 5 & 6 Jane’s photograph across the River Thames from Blackfriars Station and Christine’s article about King’s Lynn Mart in catch up newsletters of 20 April and 27 April, triggered the thought that there is a connection between the two locations. This thought was further endorsed by re-reading a Shardlake story and needing to know the location of the Hanseatic League Steelyard on the north bank of the Thames. (Steelyard is derived from the Middle Low German word stalhof.) Hanseatic League Warehouse, Kings Lynn The Steelyard was the centre of the Hanseatic League trading operations in London from the 13th century. King’s Lynn (then Bishop’s Lynn) was also a Hansa League port and the listed building formerly known variously at St Margaret’s House and No 1 St Margaret’s Lane but was originally the Steelyard or Hansa House. Such a beautiful building – an architectural historian’s dream – build c1475 (licence to build as granted in 1475). There have been many additions over the centuries but it is essentially a timber framed building with red brick infill and some splendid jettying. No such buildings remain on the Thames path but a clue is to be found in the name of Steelyard Passage which runs under Cannon Street Railway Station. The Banker pub occupies the spot where the Hansa Weigh House once stood and what remains of the Walbrook trickles down a pipe into the Thames. This plaque on a wall at the Thames path end of the Steelyard Passage is in memory of the Hansa location. Steelyard Passage plaque And the Hanseatic League? It was the medieval equivalent of the European Union. It began on an island in the Baltic Sea and quickly spread to local ports and then across the North Sea to the British Isles. Trade was in timber, furs, wool, and cloth. Fascinating history and much to be read on the subject. The north bank of the Thames was particularly attractive to the League by the outflow of the Walbrook. The merchants were able to build their own walled community with warehouses, weighing and counting houses, a chapel and, of course, a residential area. The heyday for the London trading post was probably in the 15th century when the German merchants became very enthusiastic about the English cloth making trade. In recent years King’s Lynn has revived its connections with the modern Hanseatic League which works to encourage contact between its member ports. _______________________________________ Background information Various websites and personal course notes .