On Tuesday 6 March, we were given a lively and and most informative talk by Dr Paul Richards, entitled England and the Hanseatic League: the Wash Ports. Dr Richards, an honorary alderman and former mayor of Kings Lynn, focussed his talk on Kings Lynn and on Boston, while bringing some other ports, notably Hull and Ipswich, also into the picture. It was amazing to discover how important both Kings Lynn and Boston were in past centuries, both for the export of cloth and wool and for the import of goods such as furs, wood and wax from Hanseatic ports in the Baltic. These ports were significant for trade as they both had large hinterlands and this fact is reflected in the history of these towns’ buildings and churches. The Hanseatic League was renewed in 1980 with the name Hansa and has 190 member towns from 16 different countries, including 4 towns in the UK; two of these are the Scottish ports of Aberdeen and Leith. After time for questions, the Chairman thanked Dr Richards for a most enjoyable and well-illustrated talk.
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