Focus On Kings Lynn - Once Hub Of European Trade Voted To Leave The EU

KING'S LYNN, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 05: The Custom House (R) is seen on the former harbour area Purfleet Quay on February 05, 2019 in King's Lynn, England. The seaport town of Lynn grew rapidly through the 1100s and 1200s by strengthening trading ties with other European merchant towns around the Baltic and North Sea. Main trade was in the export of wool, grain and salt and imports of pitch, fish and iron. This grew into the Hanseatic League, a commercial and defensive union of merchant guilds beginning with a handful of towns in North Germany, the name coming from Die Hanse (The Hanse) - the German word for convoy. In the early 1300s, visiting merchants from the Baltic and Hamburg were afforded the right to maintain houses in the town, that had become known as Bishop's Lynn, while other foreign merchants had to take lodgings. This led to significant investment in the infrastructure. The Hanseatic League dominated trade in the area for three centuries waning slowly after 1450. During the trade boom, The Hanseatic Warehouse, St George's Guildhall and the Red Mount Chapel were built, all still standing today. In 1537 Edward VI took control of the town and it became known as King's Lynn. Despite a long history of trade and social ties with Europe, King's Lynn residents voted by 66.4% to leave the modern European Union in the Brexit referendum of June 2016. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)