King's Lynn docks bustle with shipping in the 1960s

The town's waterfront was a busy place in the 1960s, with ships coming and going on the Ouse waterfront, along with the Alexandra and Bentinck docks.

The Alexandra Dock at King's Lynn. The south-east side (in the foreground of the picture) was to be modernised under a scheme costing £300,000, we reported at the time. A new 606ft quay was to be built, together with a new single storey transit shed and two electric cranes. (Image: Archant)

Along with coal, timber and grain, the Port of Lynn also did a busy trade in vehicles, exporting cars and tractors.

Tractors for Italy, cars and vans for Holland and Germany, waiting on the Bentinck dock at King's Lynn (Image: Archant)

The riverside was also busy, with ships moored up at Boal Quay with the twin towers of St Margaret's Church - now Lynn Minster - and the spire of St Nicholas Chapel in the background.

The outline of King's Lynn's St Margaret's church and St Nicholas' chapel provides the perfect backdrop for this view of Boal Quay. (Image: Archant)

The great cranes that towered over the waterfront are long gone, along with the rail lines that served the docks and the silos that stood on the quays.

The docks are busy with ships in the 1960s (Image: rchant)

Dredger Breckland is moored and on into the Bentinck, where vessels are discharging their cargoes of oil and timber in mid-January, 1963. (Image: Archant)