It is not really known when King's Lynn first had a football club that represented the town just that Lynn Town was reformed in 1879 having gone out of existence "a few years earlier". At that time there were a number of football teams in Lynn, the most notable probably being Lynn CEYMS and Lynn Alexander - the later competing in the Norfolk County Cup along with Lynn Town in the 1881-82 season.
At one time Lynn could claim to be the centre of football in Norfolk. It was in the Black Horse in Chapel Street, King's Lynn that the Norfolk Football Association was formed in 1881 and prior to the arrival of professionalism in Norwich in 1905 Lynn were regarded as probably the strongest team in the county.
The town even had its own football newspaper -The Lynn Football Star which was published from 3 October 1903 to 23 January 1915, three copies of this are in Lynn Museum.
In those days it is said that Lynn were known as "The Shrimpers", although there seems little evidence of this in match reports, and their colours were not always as they are now with black and white being mentioned in some newspaper reports. The match report for the game against Cromer on 17 March 1923  says that Lynn "turned out in their new colours of old gold and royal blue" so perhaps this was the first time the now traditional colours were adopted.

SWITCHING LEAGUES
Early league action saw them play in the Norfolk & Suffolk League and, additionally, the East Anglian League winning the former on eight occasions. Football in those days had something of a charm to it in that the outcome was never too certain. Indeed on more than one occasion it is recorded that the visiting team refused to complete the match for fear of missing the train home.
After the First World War Lynn Town became King's Lynn but it wasn't until the 1935-36 season that Lynn changed competitions by joining the Eastern Counties League.
After the Second World War Lynn played in the United Counties League but on turning professional for the 1948-49 season they moved back to the Eastern Counties League and achieved the league and league cup double in the 1953-54 season. A brief spell in the Midland League - where they played such "Midlands based" teams as Rotherham and Scarborough, they joined the Southern League for the 1958-59 season.
Lynn's geographical position and the structure of the non-league competitions has always meant a fair degree of travelling whether it be to Taunton and Poole or Gateshead and Workington. A restructuring of the league at the end of the 1979-80 saw Lynn transferred to the Northern Premier League. This was quite a remarkable promotion as the 79-80 season saw us finish eighth in the Midland Division of the Southern League.
Not surprisingly the first season in the Northern Premier League was a struggle with Lynn finishing 19th.
The following season saw a very creditable 5th followed by a 9th with the consolation of winning the Northern Premier League President's Cup. Unfortunately it was a trophy we were never allowed to defend as Lynn we moved back to Southern League for the 1983-84 season.
Their return south saw them finish in sixth place and the following season they finished runners-up, the promotion contest being decided on the last day of the season.
There then followed a number of very disappointing seasons with Lynn being relegated to the Midland Division at the end of the 1986-87 season. Further relegation might have followed but for other teams either opting for other leagues or going out of business.
Promotion from the Southern League Eastern Division was won in the 2003-04 season but failure to win a play-off against the Western Division champions, Redditch United, resulted in Lynn taking a place in the Southern League Premier - which as a result on re-organisation, was just as far away from the Nationwide Conference as before. The 2005-06, and 2006-07 seasons saw Lynn reach the play-offs for the Conference regional leagues but once again just couldn't achieve the final step upwards.
Then in 2007-08 Lynn achieved the success they deserved - winning the Southern League title on the last day of the season with a 2-0 win at Merthyr Tydfil to put them clear of second placed Team bath by two points.

  UP FOR THE CUP
One of the lesser known facts that might come up in a sports trivia quiz is that Lynn are one of the most successful teams in the FA Cup. Successful, that is, in terms of the proportion of games won compared to the number played.
Lynn's FA Cup debut came in the 1900-01 season and ended in the third qualifying round with defeat against Luton at The Walks having accounted for Kirkley, Harwich and Lowestoft in the previous rounds.
This must have been quite a season for Lynn as they also reached the final of the FA Amateur Cup - possibly typical of Lynn's luck this was before the finals were staged at Wembley. Lynn took Crook Town to a replay but lost it 3-0.
The next notable foray in the FA Cup was in 1906 when we conceded ground advantage and were promptly thrashed 11-0 at Aston Villa in front of a 23,000 crowd.
Cup success in terms of appearances in the First Round Proper of the competition was hard to come by prior to the Second World War although defeat in the qualifying rounds often came at the hands of what might now be considered tough opposition such as Shrewsbury, Southend and Stockport County.

The visit of Exeter City in the First Round Proper of the competition in the 1951-52 season saw Lynn's biggest gate of just under 13,000. Lynn were defeated 3-1 although the match reports suggest that they could have done much better had they played as well in the first half as they did in the second when they only had ten fit players left.
The 1959-60 season produced a the dream cup draw - Norwich against Lynn. The only trouble was that Norwich had to win a cup replay against Reading first and they didn't. So Lynn went to Reading in the Second Round proper and lost 2-4. It was around this period that Lynn seemed to have got the hang of cup competitions and this culminated in their only appearance in the Third Round Proper where they bowed out to Everton at Goodison Park in front of a crowd of 44,916 which earned them a cheque for £4,300. On route to Goodison, Lynn overcame Coventry City which resulted in the departure of the Coventry manager who was replaced by a certain Mr Jimmy Hill. Had it not been for Lynn's cup exploits, it can be claimed, Jimmy Hill might never have become the household name he is today.
(KLFC have much to answer for!)
History was made in the 2006-07 season when Lynn reached the Second Round Proper of the competition and were drawn at home to League One Club Oldham Athletic. This match was chosen by Sky Sports to be broadcast live whilst BBC Radio Five gave second half football commentary. In addition to reaching an international audience the club received £75,000 from SKY and £4,500 from the BBC although some of this had to be spent on ground improvements in order to get the capacity raised to 5,733.

Away from the FA Cup Lynn have regularly picked up the Norfolk Senior Cup and have had successes in the East Anglian Cup although in recent seasons they have declined to compete. The FA Trophy and FA Vase runs have invariably been a disappointment.

THE WALKS
It seems that football has been played at The Walks since the club was formed in 1879. What is less clear is when the first grandstand was built, only that by 1905 it was in such a bad state of repair it had to be demolished. A sum of £250 was borrowed and builder William Smith was employed to build a wooden grandstand one hundred feet long and capable of seating five hundred. This debt was paid off by virtue of the visit to Aston Villa the following year in the FA (then English) Cup. This was almost certainly one of the reasons why Lynn switched the tie from the Walks to Villa Park. The deal being £250 plus a percentage of the gate over a certain figure. As a result of the cup tie Lynn eventually received £264 16s 4d (for younger people who do not understand this kind of money please ask your parents - or maybe grandparents ).

It was the Supporters Club who are largely responsible for the ground as it appears today.
When the club became professional in 1948 it became the ambition of the Supporters Club to build a new stand together with offices for officials, dressing rooms, canteen and gymnasium. A reserve fund for the project was opened in 1950 and stood at £500. By the end of the 1954 season, however, the club had debts of £2,600. The Supporters Club rose to the challenge, and whilst attempting to clear the club's debts erected concrete terracing and shelter to accommodate four thousand people with seating for seven hundred and eighty on the north side of the ground. (The 780 seats, incidentally, were later sold to Hereford United on their promotion to the Football League). On completion of the North Stand the supporters turned their attention back to the original project and in May 1955 the club announced that it had sold the now 50 year old stand to a Spalding firm and had received planning permission for a new stand made of brick and steel which would be over 200 feet long with seating for 1,400 and a front enclosure for a further 3,000. The plan was to have a ground that could provide covered accommodation for 8,000. In August 1956 that aim was realised.

On Saturday 18 August 1956 the new grandstand was opened by Mr Arthur Drewry, the Chairman of the Football Association and President of FIFA. The stand cost £27,000 to build and a crowd of over six thousand attended the opening and the Midland League game that followed (a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Rotherham Reserves).
The FA Cup run culminating in the visit to Everton was probably one of the few bright spots in the 1960s as the club struggled against debt. In the early months of 1960 the club was wound up and restarted as a limited company and almost immediately a "Save the Linnets" fund was launched - the target being £5,000 that was needed to see the club finish the season. Finances have, in effect, dominated the fortunes of the club ever since and therefore the changes to the ground have been more modest.
Floodlights were installed and switched on for the first competitive match on September 25 1963 when a crowd of 2,391 watched Lynn defeat Cambridge City in the first leg of the Culey Festival Cup. (This was not the first time that a match had been played at The Walks under "lights". On 15 September 1893 Lynn entertained Wisbech in what was known as the "Electric Light match" and lost 5-1.)

Since the early 1960s it has been a process of improving and replacing as required. The floodlights have been replaced, the interior refurbished, the terraces improved, in fact all that has needed to be done has been done and in the spring of 1997 the ground passed inspection for entry to the Conference.
In helping the club carry out the necessary work to the ground it was reported that King's Lynn & West Norfolk Council didn't feel that The Walks was an ideal place in the town for a Conference club.
With ever changing Health & Safety regulations and revised standards the capacity of The Walks was often revised downwards. In January 2000, the council and the club both contributed £8,000 in order that the safety capacity of the ground could be raised  from three to four thousand.
The summer of 2007 saw the roof of the grandstand and the seating replaced as part of a £350,000 project. The plans to renovate the 50-year-old stand were announced after securing a £150,000 grant from the Football Foundation's 'Football Stadia Improvement Fund' (FSIF) in a successful joint bid with partners West Norfolk council.
Council officials had already earmarked £200,000 of capital funding towards the project . More work took place than anticipated as during the roof replacement work rainwater damaged the rooms below and these were totally refurbished.