Pur Fleet

Purfleet (or Pur Fleet) in King's Lynn is a small, historic tributary of the River Great Ouse, exactly where the George Vancouver Statue and the Custom House stand today.

Originally, it was a tidal channel: at high tide, seawater flowed from The Wash into the Ouse and filled the Purfleet; at low tide, the water flowed back towards the sea.

The entire water level in King's Lynn – including the Purfleet Quay – therefore follows the rhythm of the tides, with high and low tide twice a day and sometimes a significant difference of several meters.

That tidal character made Purfleet important for trade for centuries: at high tide, ships could moor right up to the warehouses and the Custom House, while at low tide the quay largely dried out.

The tides still determine when larger vessels can safely navigate and load/unload in the port of King's Lynn; local tide tables and port authorities plan their traffic accordingly.

Nowadays, Purfleet is more an atmospheric historic body of water than a busy commercial channel, but when you stand there you still notice the influence of ebb and flow: the water level rises and falls visibly, and at spring tide the quay can come very close to the water.

Pascal Brackman